Bible Treasury: Volume N12

The death of Sarah follows, and God takes special notice of it, not only for Abraham's sake, but, as it would seem, for its typical bearing, since it comes after the sacrifice and resurrection of the son, and before the call of the bride. In this point of view we must remember that, as Hagar represents the legal covenant of Sinai, Sarah is the shadow of the covenant of promise (Gal. 4). One cannot wonder that her death as a figure is unintelligible to those who regard her as symbolic of our best and characteristic church blessings. But it is not so: scripture is right, theology as usual wrong. Sarah sets forth the covenant of promise presented to the Jew after the cross (but on his unbelieving refusal) passing away to make room for the call of the church to heavenly glory and union with Christ on high. Of all this the reader may find the key in studying the early chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. Compare especially chapter 3, which answers to Sarah, with chapter 9, on the total rejection of this in the death of Stephen, when God begins to send the gospel outside Jerusalem, raising up Paul as minister of the church in its full character.

Certain it is that Abraham's wife is the only woman whose years are carefully noted. To her death and the account of the purchase of a burying place the whole chapter is devoted. “And Sarah was an hundred and seven and twenty years old: these were the years of the life of Sarah. And Sarah died in Kiriath-arba; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her” (vers. 1, 2). Faith does not enfeeble affection; it heightens our sense of the havoc sin has wrought. But we sorrow not as others who have no hope, looking for His coming who is the Resurrection and the Life.

Again, we are expressly told in Heb. 11 that these all (Sarah included) died, not in possession, but in faith. Of this the scripture before us is the most striking witness. Till the burial of Sarah Abraham possessed not so much as to set his foot on. He abides the pilgrim and stranger to the last. He has to buy even for a burying-place. He would have Canaan only under the glory of the Lord, and in the day of resurrection. He is content to wait till then. The time of faith is the time of Christ. While He is hidden, believers are hidden also; when He appears, then shall they also appear along with Him in glory.

There can be no greater mistake than that faith destroys lowliness, or promotes a want of considering others. It really brings God in, and thus is self judged, and love can flow. See the admirable bearing of Abraham with the children of Heth.

“And Abraham stood up from before his dead, and spake unto the sons of Heth, saying, I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight. And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him, Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchers bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulcher, but that thou mayest bury thy dead. And Abraham stood up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth.

And he communed with them, saying, If it be your mind that I should bury my dead out of my sight; hear me and intreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar, that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for as much money as it is worth he shall give it me for a possession of a burying-place amongst you. And Ephron dwelt among the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying, Nay, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead. And Abraham bowed down himself before the people of the land” (vers. 3-12). God had given him the moral respect of his neighbors; but he neither presumes on his favor in their eyes, nor will he take advantage of their feelings. As he rises above the sorrow that pressed on his heart, so he does not accept what cost him nothing for the burial of his dead. If he exceeded the sons of Heth in courtesy, he was none the less careful that the fullest value should be paid in due form, and with adequate witness.

“And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt give it, I pray thee, hear me: I will give thee money for the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there. And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him, My lord, hearken unto me: the land is worth four hundred shekels of silver; what is that betwixt me and thee? bury therefore thy dead. And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.” [W.K.]

Abraham:12. Genesis 23

Gen. 23 (continued)

“And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city” (vers. 13-18). Faith never was meant to encourage a careless spirit, as Abraham's conduct in this business exemplifies, at a moment when any one else would have rather availed himself of another's help. Whatever the circumstances, faith makes the believer superior to them all.

“And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying-place by the sons of Heth” (vers. 19, 20). God works, doubtless; but the believer himself is exercised before Him and is delivered from his own will, or from the influence of objects such as the enemy uses to divert from God. So it was here. God gave Abraham such a place in the esteem of his neighbors that there was no difficulty whatever; but Abraham bore himself as one who sought not his own things but the will and pleasure of Him who had called him out by, and to, His promises—promises as yet unfulfilled.

Burial in the land began with Sarah. It was no mere feeling or fancy, sentiment or superstition, but a fruit of faith, in Abraham. He looked to have from God's hand the land wherein he laid her body. The gift of Canaan was far surer than any possession of a burying-place meanwhile. I deny not that he desired a better country, that is, a heavenly, that he looked for the city which hath foundations whose builder and maker is God. But he rejoiced to see the day of Christ and expected in it the wresting of the earth from the hands of the enemy, and knew that all the land of Canaan would be his for an everlasting possession.

Hence the importance to the patriarchs, while preserving their pilgrim character, of burial in Canaan. So, when Abraham was gathered to his people, his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the same spot, “in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre, the field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife” (chap. 25:9,10). There too was Isaac laid by his sons Esau and Jacob (chap. 35:27-29). And so it was with Jacob, though he died in Egypt, for Joseph had him embalmed; “and his sons did unto him according as he commanded them, for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying-place of Ephron the Hittite before Mamre” (chap. 1:12, 13). Joseph again (chap. 1. 25, 26) “took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.” Hence he too was embalmed and put in a coffin in Egypt; but when deliverance came, Moses took the bones of Joseph with him (Ex. 13:19). which the children of Israel in due time buried, not in the cave of Machpelah but in Shechem, “in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver; and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph” ( Josh. 24:32).

Very different is the spiritual feeling which the hope of Christ's coming forms in the breast of the Christian. As His presence on high, in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, calls one in worship from earth to heaven, and thus makes it no longer a question of Jerusalem any more than of “this mountain,” so we look for Christ to come, gather us round him in the air, and present us in the Father's house, as well as to reign with Him after a heavenly sort over the earth. A special resting-place here below vanishes from a mind thus formed and nourished. We look, not for death though we may meanwhile fall asleep, but for Him who is the Resurrection and the Life, and will change us whether we wake or sleep into His glorious image, transforming our body of humiliation into conformity to His body of glory according to the working of the power which He has, even to subdue all things to Himself. Thus the opening of the heavens for us, consequent on redemption and our Lord's ascension, makes the earth to be of no account for the Christian in any way or for any present purpose.

Gen. 24

It is not my purpose to dwell at length on the call of Bethuel's daughter to be the bride of Isaac, however attractive the subject may be; but I would only point out in passing the striking propriety that here, after the death of Sarah, we should have the introduction of Rebekah. He who is at all instructed in the ways of God recognizes in the latter the bride for the risen Son and Heir of all things, and this after the figure of the covenant of promise in Sarah has passed away. Till the Jews had refused the fresh summons of God to own their Messiah, now risen and glorified, there could be fittingly no bringing in of the Gentiles, no formation of a heavenly bride, the body of a heavenly Christ.

Not that the tale of Rebekah opens out the mystery which was reserved hidden in God for the apostle Paul to reveal to us, itself revealed not to the Old Testament writers, but to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This however does not hinder, but rather help, us, now that the secret is revealed, to understand the type of Rebekah as far as it goes; but it may be noticed that it does not set out either of the two great parts of the mystery—first, Christ, the Head of all things, heavenly and earthly; secondly, the church, in which Jewish and Gentile distinctions disappear, united to Him as His body in that universal supremacy, conscious of the relationship even while here on earth by the Holy Ghost sent down from on high. The type fits in with all, but cannot be said to reveal it.

My task now is to say a little of Abraham's part in what is here recorded. “And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and Jehovah had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: and I will make thee swear by Jehovah, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest? And Abraham said unto him, Beware that thou bring not my son thither again. The Jehovah God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from thence. And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again. And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter” (vers. 1-9).

In all this the Father's purpose seems clearly foreshewn; a new thing was in progress—a bride to be fetched for His Son. None but the most careless can forbear to see the great and unusual solemnity of the transaction. Thus his trusty Eliezer is employed “that ruled over all he had,” who aptly prefigures the place of service which the Holy Spirit is pleased now to take in executing the purpose of God as to the church in this world. In no other case, not of Genesis only but of all the Old Testament, do we find an oath introduced, the purport of which is so urged again and again. The subject of it too is no less to be observed. A wife must on no account be taken for Isaac from the daughters of Canaan. She must be sought from the country and kin out of which the father of the faithful had himself been called. Angels are not called, fallen or unfallen: sovereign grace chooses from the world. But there is another provision no less insisted on—the risen Son must on no account be brought again to the world for calling His bride. It is the Holy Ghost who accomplishes this work, not the Bridegroom. The Spirit is sent down from heaven to preach the gospel, and so to effect the formation of the church. The risen Bridegroom abides exclusively in heaven, while the call proceeds. Most impressively does Abraham admonish us in type of what moment it is to see that Christ has nothing but a heavenly relation to the church, and in absolute separation from the world.

How true this is in Christ for the Christian! “We all with open face beholding [or reflecting] the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Lord the Spirit.” “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” So our Lord Himself said (John 16), the Comforter, on coming, should “convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment of sin, because they do not believe on me; of righteousness, because I go away to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” The righteous One was cast out by the unjust and lawless world, but God the Father has accepted and exalted Him at His right hand. This is the righteousness of God in its heavenly aspect; and there we know Him, not as the Messiah reigning on earth, but as the rejected One exalted in heaven. He is in no sense of the world; and Christians are not, even as He is not. Nay, more, “As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly; and as we have borne the image of the earthy, so shall we also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Cor. 15). The practice depends on the principle: the position of Christ determines the walk, as well as the spirit, of the Christian. Rebekah was to have Isaac in Canaan before her; there only was to think of him. On no account—not even to win his bride—must the bridegroom leave his place, save only to receive her to himself at the end. Isaac stays in Canaan and there only is known, while she is being led from her father's house, across the desert, by trusty Eliezer.

We may notice next the place which prayer receives in the servant, and this, not through pressure of trial as in Jacob, but in giving (as here) character to the walk of faith. “And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water, at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water. And he said, O Jehovah God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: and let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master” (vers. 10-14).

So it is with the Christian in the world. “We walk by faith, not by sight.” “Pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” “In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.” Intercourse is established between the believer and God. He knows Whom he has believed. “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we seek anything according to his will, he heareth us; and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” “And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand and gave him drink. And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. And the man wondering at her, held his peace, to wit whether Jehovah had made his journey prosperous or not” (vers. 15-21).

Thus faith is kept in constant happy exercise. It is the work of the Spirit in man, especially now that redemption is known. Conscience is at rest, and the affections are free.

But there is more than prayer which distinguishes the Christian and the church. The power of the Spirit finds ground of thanksgiving as well as of prayer and supplication. It is indeed the hour when the true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him, and the figure of this we find here. “And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ear-ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold; and said, Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in? And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor. She moreover said unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in. And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped Jehovah. And he said, Blessed be Jehovah God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, Jehovah led me to the house of my master's brethren” (vers. 22-27).

That which came forth from God in guidance goes forth to Him in praise, a still more evident characteristic of the Christian. If we live in the Spirit we should walk, as well as worship, in the Spirit.

Along with this difficulties disappear. As the Lord directs, so He opens the door and blesses. There is the comfort of this—the comfort of knowing that it is His own hand that does all. Whatever may be the hindrances, the mission of the Spirit is accomplished. It stands not in persuasible words of man's wisdom, but in the power of God. No doubt there are gifts which accompany from the first the message of the witness, and array the bride, but the work is eminently one of faith and not of human influence. And hence it looks for, and has, the blessing of the Lord.

“And the damsel ran, and told them of her mother's house these things. And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban; and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well. And it came to pass, when he saw the earrings and bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man: and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well. And he said, Come in, thou blessed of Jehovah, wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels. And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men's feet that were with him. And there was set meat before him to eat: but he said, I will not eat until I have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on. And he said, I am Abraham's servant. And Jehovah hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great; and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses. And Sarah my master's wife bare a son to my master when she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath. And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell; but thou shalt go unto my father's house, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son. And I said unto my master, Peradventure the woman will not follow me. And he said unto me, Jehovah before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father's house: then shalt thou be clear from this my oath, when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give not thee one, thou shalt be clear from my oath. And I came this day unto the well, and said, O Jehovah God of my master Abraham, If now thou do prosper my way which I go: behold, I stand. by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh forth to draw water, and I say to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink; and she say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: let the same be the woman whom Jehovah hath appointed for my master's son. And before I had done speaking in mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the well, and drew water: and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee. And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made the camels drink also. And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the earring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands. And I bowed down my head, and worshipped Jehovah, and blessed Jehovah God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son. And now if ye will deal, kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me: that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left. Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from Jehovah we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as Jehovah hath spoken. And it came to pass that, when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshipped Jehovah, bowing himself to the earth. And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things” (vers. 28-53).

Lastly it is the work of the Spirit to give, and keep up, and strengthen the desire of being with Christ and of His coming, whatever communion of saints may be enjoyed here. “And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master. And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go. And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing Jehovah hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master. And they said, We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth. And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go” (vers. 54-58).

So, in the Revelation, the Spirit and the bride say, Come, when Christ presents Himself as the bright, the morning, star. It is the cry, “Behold the Bridegroom! go ye out to meet him,” which awakens the slumbering virgins at midnight. It is this which recalls the saints now to go out, as they were called at the first, to meet the Bridegroom. “And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men. And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahai-roi: for he dwelt in the south country. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: And he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master therefore she took a vail, and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death” (vers, 59-67).

So will it be with the heavenly bride. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up, together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” The Father's purpose shall not fail of accomplishment, and all heaven shall rejoice and give honor to Him, “for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.”

Gen. 25

The first part of the chapter, comprehended in these verses, gives us the closing scenes of Abraham's eventful and instructive history. The Jewish tradition which identifies Keturah with Hagar is not only without Proof but set aside by verse 6, which speaks of “the sons of the concubines which Abraham had;” and as Hagar was one, so Keturah was the other, not (as I think) to imply that she filled this relation during any part of Sarah's life, but rather to affirm her inferiority of place. Koturah is expressly called Abraham's “concubine” in 1 Chron. 1:32; as Hagar, on the other hand, is styled his “wife” in Gen. 16:3. Nor need we revert to the Gentile difficulty, that sons were begotten of Abraham after Sarah's death, which has induced not a few of old as now to believe that Abraham took Keturah during Sarah's life-time, and that the whole paragraph, if not chapter, is placed out of its chronological sequence in order not to break the main narrative. Proof of this is wanting, as the whole paragraph flows naturally, after Rebekah's marriage with Isaac, up to the several portions of the sons, as distinguished from the heir, and the death of the patriarch which was severed from Sarah's by at least thirty-seven years.

“Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country” (vers. 1-6).

Here then we see, after the call of the bride, the blessing of nations associated with Abraham. It is a very distinct thing from that which faith receives now; for they which are of faith, the same are the children [sons] of Abraham. It is now a blessing open to all or any of the nations; and they are blessed with faithful Abraham. Through the cross the blessing comes to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith; and as Christ is dead and risen, and thus the accomplisher as well as object and crown of the promises, so there is no Jew nor Greek. Fleshly distinctions disappear. All are one in Christ Jesus. In that which is typified by the concubines' sons to Abraham we see the strongest possible contrast with Isaac. Midian may be there, and Jokshan, with the rest; perhaps Sheba, Dedan and Ephah, the son's sons. All these were Keturah's children.

Still it is written that “Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.” The risen son is the heir of all things; and if we are of Christ, then are we Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise. But unto the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away. They receive gifts, not the inheritance of the promises; and they are sent away, instead of abiding in the house forever, as does the son.

So it will be in the age to come on earth, when, the church being completed, the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready. Blessing will flow, and the land of the morning will be no longer “the immovable east.” I do not speak of Israel, the head of the nations under Christ's reign here below; still less of the glorified saints on high; nor do I mean only those that may then be born of God in every nation or people or tribe under the sun. But all the Gentiles are to rejoice with His people—a principle more deeply true, doubtless, in the present election for heaven from among Jews and Gentiles, but to be far more openly and widely seen in that bright day; and this, too, even in that quarter of the globe where dark superstitions of Christendom grow up rank, and side by side, with the Mahometan imposture and heathenism of every type.

“And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years. Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. And his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; the field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife” (vers. 7-10).

Thus peacefully passed away the man who, of all in Old Testament story, most strikingly combines the title of “friend of God” with “stranger and sojourner on the earth.” Not that others—his son, grandson, and other descendants—did not carry on the blessed line of pilgrims who also walked with God. As a whole, however, what saint of old equaled him in these respects? Still less could any be said to surpass “the father of all them that believe.”

Let us not at the same time forget that we have to do, not so much with the promises as he had, but with accomplishment in Christ (Rom. 4); and that, whatever promises of God there be, in Christ is the yea, and in Christ the amen, for glory to God by us. We are more than Abraham's seed, being blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3). Sovereign grace alone accounts for a purpose so rich and above the thoughts of men or even the ancient oracles of God. Do we believe it for our own souls and for all that are Christ's? Do we walk and worship accordingly as we wait for Him from heaven?

W. K.

The Fullness of Christ: Part 2

He confesses the name of the Lord Jesus. For I am supposing that the man adopts it—that he stands to it—that he does not apostatize openly—so that I am not raising any of the controversial questions of the time. I am only speaking of the thing itself, baptism, and assert that it is not so small a matter as some people imagine. It does not give life: so to say is false and superstitious. But baptism does at any rate change one's status, and the baptized person, by the very fact of being baptized as much as says, I own Him who died and rose again; I own Him who is the only Savior of sinners; I own Him who has already accomplished that work.

Now, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, I need not say, still goes on in its effect. It is not a question of outward profession, of which baptism, with Water is the sign. The baptism of the Holy Ghost is a real Divine work. But what does it bring to us? Not merely the remission of sins, which baptism with water represents. The baptism of the Holy Ghost associates livingly with Christ at the right hand of God. For that reason the Spirit comes from heaven. Our Lord, even after He rose from the dead, never baptized with the Holy Ghost. He said before He went up to heaven— “Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” To whom did he say that? To the disciples. They were not Unbelievers. There were only believers then present. But they needed another work to be wrought in them that had not been wrought in one solitary man in the whole world. Never since the world began had there been baptism with the Holy Ghost. It is a work that follows His ascension to heaven.

I call your attention to this, because all great vital truths are founded on facts. They are not ideas. They are not mere reasonings hammered out of the intellect of man. They are the drawing out through the person of Christ of the truths that follow from all the great facts of the Lord Jesus; and as you have the work of atonement depending upon His death, and the liberty and brightness of the Christian's life from His resurrection, so His ascension has to usher in a fresh blessing. I do not say it is the only blessing, but it is a great one-that now the Lord Jesus from the right hand of God sends down the Holy Ghost to associate livingly with Himself every soul that believes the gospel. The Son of man indeed was sealed in his own moral perfectness (John 6:27), as was meet; we only in virtue of His redemption, who is gone on high and sent down the Holy Spirit to seal us.

And what is the result of that? A heavenly character is impressed upon every Christian. “As is the heavenly, so are they also that are heavenly.” We are not earthly men. We were, and indeed worse than that—we were lost men. A Jew at the very best is only an earthly man as such; but a Christian is not an earthly man. He has to learn what is spiritually discerned. He rests upon a Person. His grace flows down from that one Man, the head of the new family—the Man who is in heaven, but whom all heaven worships; all the angels of God worship Him. And further, wondrous to say, Christians are not merely born anew and forgiven, not merely justified and children of God, but they are associated with Christ. They are united to Christ at the right hand of God.

Suppose the greatest lord of this land were to select some person in this room to be his wife. What would be the result of that relationship? If a young girl became the object of his affection and were married to him, what would be the consequence of that union? Why, for her at once a total change. She enters into all his dignity, and she gets a new name from him. There is a new relation, and if he has possessions without bound, he shares them, of course, with her. Well, that is exactly what is true of the Christian. The union of the Christian with Christ is founded upon the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He is by the power of the Spirit united to Christ at the right hand of God. And so we find the Apostle opening out the consequence in chapter 15 of First Corinthians— “As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the Heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the Heavenly.” Is it not very striking that the Apostle wrote thus to the disorderly Corinthians? Every tyro has a slap at the Corinthians. They were indeed very faulty, but there are many saints now who are not at all better than the Corinthians. Yet these were the persons to whom the Holy Ghost addressed these words. Had they been predicated of the choicest saints on earth, we might have said— “Oh yes, these are heavenly men.” It does not, however, rest on merit. It is not a question of superior intelligence or of higher endowments spiritually. Of course, there ought to be intelligence and there ought to be practical spirituality; but we must never forget that the maiden's exaltation to be a Duchess, or a Princess, if you will, does not at all depend upon her deserving it, nor because she had a sweeter character or a prettier face than other people. Perhaps it was not so at all. A far more important thing decides: it depends on the Prince, and he was pleased to choose her.

This, I affirm, is what is pre-eminently true of our blessed Savior. We know that all is accomplished according to the grace and wisdom of God, and that He looks watchfully that they who are called by His grace should comport themselves to it suitably. It is a question of conforming them accordingly to Christ; and if they do not carry themselves according to the Lord Jesus, you know the Lord has His way of dealing with them. Why did some of the Corinthians die? Why were many of them troubled? Why were they sick? They had walked as men, as Greeks. But, then, were they heavenly? To be sure they were. This is the very thing that made their conduct so bad. The more we see of the grace of the Lord, the greater ground for self-condemnation, if we behave ourselves unworthily of the Lord Jesus.

But the first thing is, let us leave room for the grace of Christ. Let us without hesitation rest upon the word of God—the word of His grace, inviting us, encouraging us, removing obstacles out of the way, bringing the full tide of blessing into our souls. Then when we have got the blessing, let us sit in judgment upon our souls, the Holy Ghost being in us a spirit of power, of love and sound mind, and bringing us into a new association with Christ at the right hand of God, which stamps them as heavenly. As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall bear the image of the Heavenly. How perfect the description! All see that we do not bear the image of the Heavenly. We bear the image of Adam still. Who, then, are heavenly? The title is conferred upon us, although we have got very little to show for it in present appearance. But still there it is: Christ has made us heavenly. He has brought us into that relationship of glory, and will ultimately conform us to the image of Himself, when we shall shine in all the beauty and glory of Christ. As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the Heavenly.

This, then, is the double work of Our Lord Jesus—the mighty work He wrought on the cross, and the mighty work He inaugurated from the right hand of God. But His glory is set forth in other ways, though we are unworthy of it. He is in heaven, but we are on earth, and consequently here exposed to difficulties, dangers, and snares. We require, therefore, a Friend on high, and the light of the grace of Christ for all the difficulties. God may employ others; but the true test of any ministry is the bringing of souls to know Christ in a way He was never seen before. If I get fresh glimpses of Christ with renewed confidence of His love; if I have the truth and the grace of the Lord brought before my soul in a manner which I had not previously realized, my soul receives a strength it never possessed.

Now, in this way it is that the Spirit of God shows us the immensity of Christ, and that the whole practical power of Christianity lies in His person and work. Everyone admits that the great object in the Scripture is Christ: that the object of faith is Christ; but it is not so generally seen that “Christ is all.” I have endeavored to illustrate that in deed and truth Christ is all. When we are delivered from the burden of our sins; when we are brought into association with Christ by the power of the Holy Ghost, we want a center for our hearts. Man cannot be without a center. Only God is self-sufficient; we are not except in sin; and even where we pretend to be self-sufficient we always come down. Now, man was made to look up, not to look down. A brute looks down, but man does not. Often, however, he only looks up as far as the stars and the sun, and worships them. You must look above them, all up to God—not to the sun or any other objects man has always been ready to deify.

We need a center for our hearts. There is an energy in the heart of man, which otherwise denies God or deifies the creature. Man was made by God to rule; an angel was not. You never hear of an angel sitting on the throne or governing. On the contrary, the saints are to judge the angels. So that nothing can be more certain than that man was made to rule. For that reason, with others, we require always a center to work to; and for want of this people injure themselves or dishonor God. If a man has a consciousness of being unfit for it, he sets up another man and trusts to him. It is the same amongst scholars. They set up schools of opinion, of philosophy, of sciences, of languages, according to their tastes or their habits, and they make these their object, their practical center, to which they are gathering. All their energies, their labors, are for the promotion of that central object towards which they work. We also require one—the simplest Christian as much as the greatest; the greatest because he might otherwise set himself up, and the simplest because he feels the want of it. Now, God gives us one, and this is taught in a very remarkable way here.

The first man we read of who officially had disciples was John the Baptist: I do not at all mean that he was wrong. Far from it; but still he is the only man, as far as I know, where God distinctly sanctioned disciples. John had his disciples, and it is evident that he was a man singularly honored (Matt. 11:10, 11) “Again, the next day after” (John had given his great testimony to the Lord Jesus), he sees Him, “and looking upon Jesus as he walked he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! and the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.” Surely this is very striking. Now there was a Divine center on earth; and 1 John the Baptist, the very first man who had disciples, so speaks of Jesus that his own disciples leave him and follow Jesus. How rarely we find that. It is not what men like. Even the good are too often jealous if men leave them, but John the Baptist showed the power of God. He manifested a simplicity of faith most seasonable. No wonder the people took him for a prophet. What is it that marks the prophet? The man that sees God's mind and makes it known. Other people may make known the truth, may preach the gospel; but the man that puts your conscience in the presence of God is a prophet. So the woman of Samaria, when her conscience was awakened to her sin, said, “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.” It is the consciousness of God given to the soul that is the true test of a prophet. Now, so it was here. John the Baptist so speaks of our Lord that his own disciples turn from him to Jesus. He was right and they were right. He was right to bear his heart's testimony to the Lord Jesus; and it is remarkable enough that it was not a long effusion that he spoke, but a few words he uttered. How often is that the case “Behold the Lamb of God!” John rendered that testimony to Christ, and the moment that his disciples heard it they followed Jesus. They heard John, they followed Jesus, and the Lord invited them to remain with Him that day.

Now there is exactly where you find the needed center. One of the two that heard John and followed Jesus was Andrew, and he first goes and finds his brother Simon Peter, and tells him “we have found the Messiah,” and he brought him to Jesus. Jesus is the true center for men on earth. I do not mean merely a Savior, but also a center to work to. What am I doing now that I am washed in the blood of Christ, and that I am associated with Him in heaven! Am I serving the world? I do not mean by that am I carrying on my occupation in a Christian manner? That is all right, and in its own place most important. It is a bad job for any man who has not something to do: such an one is generally a nuisance. But the Christian that has an occupation by which he lives is called to stick to it, and do it thoroughly. It is my opinion a Christian man ought to do his work a great deal better than any other; and it would be a real shame to him if he did not, because his carelessness could not but bring a stigma on the name of Jesus. Only senseless men run down a man for cleaving to his honest occupation. Let us heed the Apostle Paul, that if a man will not work he ought not to eat.

But in this case, where Christ and the soul are concerned, it is another thing altogether. Have I now a divine object that fills my heart? What I want is not to make money or a name, nor yet that I should accomplish this purpose or that. Further, it is not mere serving my country or serving my Sovereign, or anything of that kind (although, of course, it is quite right to serve the Queen); but there is another service, another center to which we work infinitely higher and more commanding, that does not really end when you have done your work, but which abides beyond all time. The one thing that God wants is, that whatever you do should be to Christ, with a happy heart; no murmuring or complaining, or striking for more wages. The one who helps you to meet and overcome all these aberrations and puts your heart at rest is Jesus. There was a time, no doubt, when men set up what they called a city for Jesus —a commonwealth for Jesus. But this was a kind of fanatical monomania, for after all the city was only for themselves. There was no reality in it for Christ. It was a mere outburst of fanatical folly. But I am speaking now of simplicity and assiduity in the sight of God.

Faith is not just to be limited to believing in Jesus for salvation, or believing in Him as to this duty or that duty. It is more. It is a cleaving to a living Person as a center that commands my soul in all the work I begin to do. The disciples went to Jesus, and one of them goes and finds another and brings him to Jesus. How was this? Had Christ been only a man, they never would have left John the Baptist. Why should they? They were John the Baptist's disciples, and of all men born of woman there had not been a greater than John. Why did they leave him? Because they found a greater—one that was to be preferred before him—the Eternal One.

Are you conscious that in all your religious life you refer to the Lord Jesus—that He is really and truly your center? Most people you know go by where they were born or bred, christened or converted, by their country, by their families, or something of that sort. But these disciples did not. They for the first time in their lives recognized a man of Divine glory and authority who had absolute claims on their affection and allegiance. I leave that to work in every breast here. Be sure whatever you do—more particularly in religious life—that you have no superior authority to Jesus. Look alone to Him, then, whatever dark questions may perplex you, and He will give you light.

That is not all. We are going through a wilderness. We have to pass through a world where there are manifold and subtle snares. We want, therefore, not only a center to work to, but a path to follow. Where shall we find the true path for our souls? Not surely when we go to heaven. There we shall not need a way, because all is brightness there. But where all is wrong, where you are surrounded by enemies of every kind, you, you want an unerring way. Where shall such a path be found? I answer, in the Saviour. The Lord, therefore, the next day brings out that truth— “The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.” Now, there is the path—the one only true way for the Christian. Whatever comes—whatever difficulties or trials—search and see what the will of the Lord is; and the moment you cleave to His will, you are following Him. He was always doing the will of God. He reveals the will of God in His word. You follow His word and so follow Himself.

There is another thing. We are in a world where there are false paths of all kinds, and men are ensnared by them. Some have their tastes here, some have there their predilections and their prejudices. I require, therefore, to have an object before my soul to keep it right; and what do we find to be the declared object in the end of the chapter? The Son of man. Remark that He is not spoken of as the Son of God. Just before, He is. But He that is the Son of God is also the Son of man, and it is as Son of man that He is brought before us here. “Hereafter (or, henceforth) ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” —the highest angels of God waiting upon the humbled Man—the One who came down so low. Such is the object for the Christian, no matter what he is. If I look at the foundation for my soul, the Lamb of God is that. If I think of the power that lifts to heaven, the Spirit He gives is the power. If I look for a center to work to, He is that center. If I want a path to follow through the intricacies of the world, He and He alone is the path. If I look for an object for my soul, He is the only one.

Do not treat even Scripture poetry as mere poetry. I grant that even from that point of view there is nothing like it, and that all that Shakespeare or Milton ever wrote so grandly is poor indeed compared with Scripture. Take even Milton, who had the benefit of Scripture and used it. He puts all wrong because, if I listen to him, the devil is reigning in a very fine palace. What a vain dream! I deny he ever reigned in hell. The devil will be the most miserable object all his life in hell. This is not reigning. So you see that the effect of the Miltonic picture is that it disorders men's minds about the truth. The devil is reigning in this world now—here, and not in hell. I press this for the purpose of having the truth to settle our souls—to give us true objects as seen in the light of God; to make us firm and constant in His grace and truth, His light shining down upon our every step through this wilderness world. May God in His rich mercy grant that these remarks may help to lead some weary wayfarer out of the darkness of the enemy into the marvelous light of God. Amen.

(concluded)

W. K.

Studies in Mark: 66. The Deaf Stammerer Healed

CHAP. 7:31-37

“And again he went out from the borders of Tire, and came through Sidon unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the borders of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to lay his hand upon him. And he took him aside from the multitude privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue; and, looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. And his ears were opened, and the bond of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. And he charged them that they should tell no man; but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it. And they were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh even the deaf to hear and the dumb to speak” (7:31-37, R.V.).

From the neighborhood of the districts of Tire and Sidon, the Lord journeyed in the way of His ministry towards the northern shores of the sea of Galilee, leaving behind Him the grateful woman and her delivered daughter as witnesses of His mercy to the stranger who had sought refuge “within the gates” of Immanuel's land. This tour in its circuit brought Him through Decapolis, where His fame as the Prophet of Nazareth had been previously spread abroad. For it was in this locality that the healed demoniac of Gadara proclaimed the love and power of Jesus his Deliverer. In the fullness of his gratitude the restored man had sought to follow the Lord when He crossed the sea, but was not permitted, but bidden to go home to his friends and tell them what great things the Lord had done for him, and what mercy He had shown him. And we are expressly told that this disciple thereupon published in Decapolis his account of what the Lord was doing, with the result that “all men did marvel” (Mark 5:19, 20).

Decapolis seems to have been a place where the word of the Sower fell into “good ground,” and brought forth fruit abundantly. The name occurs in the comprehensive summary of the labors of the Lord given by Matthew in the early part of his Gospel. Of five districts there mentioned, Decapolis is one of those where multitudes were gathered by His ministry; the others being Galilee, Jerusalem, Judea, and “beyond Jordan” (Matt. 4:23-25). For this territory was the Galilee of the Gentiles, concerning whose inhabitants Isaiah prophesied: “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Isa. 9:2).

This benighted neighborhood was at that time a very populous one. Modern explorers of Galilee find evidence of crowded cities and villages spread over wide areas in the northern territory, so that the extent of the population in the days of the Lord must have been far greater than is usually conceived. And the “large crowds,” mentioned by the first Evangelist may therefore be understood from this point of view. Referring to this visit of the Lord to Decapolis mentioned by Mark, Matthew records that these great multitudes came unto Him, bringing with them the dumb, and many others, and He healed them all (Matt. 15:29-31); while Mark specifies one case only. We must not fail, in comparing the two narratives, to note the wide and lavish display of Messianic grace characteristically set forth in Matthew's account. The people of the Decapolitan district were no doubt much debased by heathen influence, but nevertheless, the Lord, seated on the mountain, received and, in the regal affluence of His power and mercy, blessed all those who thronged to Him. Matthew's record (to which we may again refer) is that great multitudes came unto Him, having with them the lame, blind, dumb, maimed and many others, and laid them down at the feet of Jesus, and He healed them all; while this gracious and abundant exercise of the prerogative of mercy by the King of the Jews so moved the populace that they glorified the “God of Israel” (Matt. 15:29-31).

Mark, however, does not summarize the manifold activities of the Lord in this locality as Matthew does, but selects a single typical instance, which he narrates in much detail, portraying the Patient and Faithful Servant of Jehovah in His unutterable love, concerned intimately in the individual case before Him, and displaying the utmost interest and pains in the exercise of His healing grace.

It is noteworthy that this miracle and that of the opening of the eyes of the blind man of Bethsaida (7:22-26) are two which are mentioned in the Gospel of Mark only. Both miracles were Wrought privately, and do not appear to have a special sign-character to the nation like those which were given a more public display.

THE DEAF STAMMERER

Here then we learn that some unnamed friends brought to Jesus a man who was deaf, and who also had an impediment in his speech. The afflicted person was without a sense of hearing, and if he was not absolutely mute, he was unable to speak intelligibly because of some defect in the organs of articulation. Previously to this occasion the Lord had cured many deaf persons (Matt. 11:5; Luke 7:22), and subsequently He cast a dumb and deaf spirit out of a lad at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration (Mark 9:25).

The friends implored Jesus to lay His hands upon the sufferer, as Jairus also, on behalf of his little daughter, besought the Lord to do; though the latter, in his paternal distress was the more importunate, for he besought Jesus “greatly,” saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death; I pray thee that thou come and lay thy hands on her that she may be made whole and live” (Mark 5:23).

It was a way of the Lord to adopt this gracious attitude in the bestowal of blessing. In the early days of His ministry, when the crowds came to Him at Capernaum for succor, He laid hands upon all who were needing relief: “And when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases, brought them unto him: and he laid his hands upon every one of them, and healed them” (Luke 4:40). On another occasion He “laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them” (Mark 6:5). Similarly, He laid His hands upon the blind man at Bethsaida (Mark 8:23, 26), and upon the bowed woman (Luke 13:13).

Love and sympathy were conveyed by this act, but not necessarily the power of cure, for this went with His word and will, as we see from those instances in which He sent forth His word and healed; even at a distance. This distinction is of importance to note always, for there are still many who erroneously attach a primary value to the formal act of this nature on the part of those who unwarrantably claim to be the Lord's delegates for the purpose.

(continued from page 12)

(To be continued)

Notes on Matthew 14

CHAP. 14.

“At that time” connects with what had gone before. It is a wonderful chapter. For we have a picture of what will be after the church is gone. In chap. 13. we had in the mysteries of the kingdom a picture of what is now, while the Lord is in heaven.

But here in chap. 14. we get a picture of what is to be in the future. There is the wicked king Herod, and there will be a wicked king in the land hereafter. In connection with him there will be apostate Christendom represented by the wicked woman of Rev. 17; 18. We see also a wicked woman here in our chapter. In Rev. 11 there are two witnesses killed, and the wicked woman who rides the beast is held responsible for it (Rev. 17.6). So here we have God's faithful witness slain, and Herodias urges it, as Jezebel urged on the weak Ahab. Then you get in Rev. 12, a remnant of people that flee unto the wilderness, and are miraculously fed for three and a half years, the last half of the week. Here you get five thousand fed in the wilderness. Then you get them on the sea, toiling in rowing, making very little progress, and they had only got half way across, which evidently sets forth the great tribulation of the future. There are some specially marked out in Daniel, and Peter seems to represent them.

“For the elect's sake those days shall be shortened,” said the Lord, and “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? This does not mean that there will be no faith, but that things will be so bad that even saints of God will despair of deliverance. It was when Peter was beginning to sink that the Lord stretched forth His hand and caught him. They then worship Him, and day breaks. Is it not a wonderful picture?

Having now seen the dispensational side of it, let us look into some of the particulars. Herod's conscience was at work. It was Herodias who had got him to put John into prison. Herod's father was an Edomite, a descendant of Esau, and the most bitter persecution often comes from those who are connected with the people of God.

I don't think you could get a more striking fact, as witness of the honesty of the writer of this Gospel, than, after such a cluster of miracles that proved the mighty power of this wonderful King, we are told that His immediate forerunner was allowed to languish in prison, and afterward to be beheaded. We know the Lord could have delivered the Baptist, as He did Peter afterward, but it was all permitted of Him in divine wisdom. John was a faithful witness, and Herod feared him, but John did not fear Herod, though Herod was the king. John was straightforward and outspoken, Herodias was the granddaughter of Herod's father; there was the prohibition of consanguinity in the Levitical law. Herod was civilly affected by Herodias, as Ahab was by Jezebel, and you hardly wonder but that it is intended that she should be representative of the wicked woman in the Revelation, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. God has shown us how He will deal with, her. He will put into the hearts of “the beast” and the ten kings to destroy her. Herod feared the multitude. Messiah is of quick understanding in the fear of Jehovah, and He is the One who will destroy the “wicked one”. Herod did not think of God; he thought of his own respectability. For his oath's sake he would not reject her. Only think, a moment's sinful gratification, in seeing the dancing—immodest dancing—of that girl; it appealed to the man's lust, and he is so carried away by it he makes this rash vow! Ahasuerus only promised half his kingdom, Herod pledges himself to whatsoever she should ask. This is the convenient season—convenient to Herodias—to get rid of God's faithful witness. The charger was a large deep dish, only think of it! It is an awful picture of a woman so hardened. Sin is not only degrading but hardening. What a spectacle these two women present!

His disciples came, and took up the body, and buried it, and went and told Jesus (verse 12). What an example for us to tell Jesus all our circumstances of grief and sorrow! “When Jesus heard, he departed thence,” etc. There He was in all His ability to meet their need, and to respond to faith. Here He is—do not let us hinder Him by our unbelief. The multitude itself how little to be relied on! They followed round the north end of the lake. The applause of the multitude is most unreliable. There is a hindrance to faith, according to John 5; how can ye believe “which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from the only God.”

If there were a great multitude there would be sure to be many needing healing. This was the first time they had known a multitude fed. It is remarkable that this is the only miracle related by one each of the four Evangelists. Psa. 132:15 seems to refer to this, “I will abundantly bless her provision, I will satisfy her poor with bread.” The distribution to the disciples disappears from the better text in John 6:11, but is recorded by Matthew, Mark and Luke.

This is a precious gospel subject. Of course the One Who produces the grape could produce the wine at Cana, and the One Who produces the corn can produce the food, and does so here in a quicker way. It is the same One—the great Provider—whom Paul spoke of in Acts 14:17: “In that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” He is the bountiful Provider of Psa. 145 (the only Psalm which is entitled David's psalm of praise) “Who satisfiest the desire of every living thing” (vers. 16).

Verse 19: He “blessed” (Matthew Mark, Luke), He “gave thanks” (John). The word is not quite the same as “gave thanks” but is allied to it. It is the same One Who gave the manna of old Who is feeding them now. The multitude, in John's Gospel, wanted to disparage the Lord, and said, Moses fed many more than five thousand. But it was His Father Who gave them the true Bread. There is the “living Bread” in the same chapter and the “Bread of God,” the “Bread that giveth life unto the world” —the world-wide aspect of the gospel.

The Lord would have them at ease in His presence. He would have them recline. John tells us there was “much grass” in the place, and Mark speaks of “the green grass.”

In the presence of the Lord there is never any lack. It is an awful thing for men professing to be teachers of the Word, to despise a miracle, and seek to get rid of it in the terrible way they do. Are not we ourselves witnesses of miracles, and is not our conversion the greatest miracle of all?

How blessed to know there was so much more at the end of the meal than at the beginning. But how sad to doubt Him!

Lev. 10 gives us the failure of the priesthood; Num. 10 the failure of the leader. After showing in chapters 9, 10 that God would be their Guide and all were to be in subjection to His will when the cloud started, now in verse 31 Moses says to Hobab “Thou knowest... and thou mayest be to us instead a eyes.” It is indeed sad, and Jehovah resents it.

The multitude sent away (ver. 22) would seem to refer to the mass of the Jews in the future day, and those in the ship to the remnant. To be in darkness is not the path of a Christian. “He that followeth me,” said our Lord, “shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” The place of a Christian is that he is in the light. “If we walk in the light” —which is where we are now brought—our responsibility henceforth is to walk according to the light. “Ye were sometime darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord; walk as children of light... proving what is well-pleasing unto the Lord” (Eph. 5:8-10). But the godly Jewish remnant of a day to come will pass through this awful experience of having no light. Isa. 1:10 will be true of them. But it will be a necessary and appropriate experience for them to pass through the time of Jacob's trouble. Conscience needs to be plowed up, and they will mourn, every family apart, even husbands and wives apart (Zech. 12:12-14). The case of Joseph and his brethren may illustrate this, and is instructive. Joseph's treatment of his brethren had the desired effect, and brought home to them their brother's anguish when they sold him Judah was the spokesman then, and it is in Judah that the spirit of grace and supplication will be poured out. The ten tribes will not go through “the great tribulation” of Jacob's trouble in the land of Palestine, as will the two tribes, but will be brought “into the wilderness of the peoples.” The rebels all purged out, then shall the house of Israel enter the land, and the two sticks shall be joined together, and so “all Israel” —the nation, shall be saved-not indeed every soul of Israel's race. The great mass will accept the anti-christ, or east of Rev. 13, and “the smoke of their torment riseth up forever and ever who worship the beast and his image.” Compare Ezek. 20; 36; 37; Rev. 13; 14

The elements seemed all against them, and it was very trying. It was the fourth watch of the night, and they had been through all the other watches. But if He constrains them to enter into a ship He will take them through. They do the Lord's bidding, there is no hesitancy; but there must have been exercise. If they went in the only ship, how was He to join them? All this besides the tempest. The lake was only seven miles across, so it shows what a storm it was, and how little progress they were making that they got only half-way over, but His way is in the sea. Egyptian hieroglyphics represent impossibility by walking on the sea. Man cannot do it, rough or smooth. We need to remember this especially in Peter's case. Jesus rejoins them, and so He will hereafter. He will come at the fitting moment for the deliverance of His people out of all their troubles in the age to come. Here “they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.” One thing the Scripture shows us its that though we have not to do with angels, they have to do with us. They are innumerable, but “are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” And if a Christian seeks to enter into his heavenly inheritance he will have to wrestle with the wicked spirits in heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). It is a matter of faith; they are there though we don't see them.

Verse 27: “Straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.” What grace!

Peter would not venture without the Lord's word; and if he had that he could do it in faith. What is really fancy is very often called faith. It is not faith unless we have the word of God for it. It was only a little word that Jesus said, “Come!” but Peter could and did act on it. And it seems as if he got pretty close to the Lord. There is wonderful encouragement for us here. He can enable His saints to do that which is impossible for flesh and blood. We can put the two together, “With God all things are possible” and “All things are possible to him that believeth.”

Peter had had a previous experience of the Lord in Luke 5. It was the last thing he wanted that the Lord should depart! but he had seen a little bit of His glory, and felt how unfit he was for it. Then also he had acted on the word of the Lord. And he was the one who, when some did depart, said, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”

In one way we see a picture of ourselves here. We have been called out of the world to meet the Lord, and the path is a path of faith. “We walk by faith, not by sight.” If Peter had walked by sight he would not have taken one step. And We are converted to wait for the Son from heaven, as the Thessalonians were, to go forth to meet Him. The failure was in that Peter took his eye off the Lord. Those lines are very sweet:

“But on Thine outstretched arm rely,

And fix on Thee a steady eye

Until all storms be o'er.”

The wind had done its work. When Jesus got into the ship it ceased. He holds the winds in His fists, and the waters in the hollow of His hand. There is no cause for fear.

The Lord sometimes said to the disciples as He did to Peter, “Ye of little faith!” Great faith counts wholly on the Lord. It is very beautiful when the Lord says “great faith.” He said it to the Syro-phcenician woman, but of the centurion “So great faith.” He saw the glory of His person Who said “Light be,” and “Light was.” Here was the prayer, “Lord save Me.” Well, every saint of God gets brought to his wits' end. You find that in Psa. 107 “They are at their wits' end. Then they cry unto Jehovah in their trouble, and He saveth them out of their distresses.”

“And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand,” etc. Here was the immediate response of the Lord. He stretched forth His hand. When we look up to the starry heavens, and think what that hand has done, “meted out heaven with the span,” —the hand of Omnipotence! How safe are those whom He holds! How satisfied we should be to be in that hand! And none shall pluck us out therefrom.

“If any lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not,” but He does upbraid for unbelief. Hosea said, “Israel shall say, My God, I know Thee.”

I suppose as far as the dispensational figure is concerned, when the Lord returns to Israel, and those who, since the captivity have had “Lo Ammi” written on them, will, under the blessing of the new covenant, be His people and He their God, then blessing will go out to all the world. Take Isa. 60 It shows us there that things will be put right in the world when Israel has its place. The N.T. shows us the whole creation groans and waits for Our manifestation (Rom. 8). We are unknown now. When He is manifested we shall be also, and all creation groans till then. But

“He'll bid the whole creation smile

And hush its groan.”

“When He shall appear then shall we also appear with Him in glory.” What a change will be then even for this scene! And the miracles which the Lord performed are samples; they are called in Heb. 6 “The powers of the world to come.” What the Lord did in a limited area will then be world-wide. The Spirit will be poured out on all flesh. That is quoted in Acts 2 from Joel to show those there that they ought not to have been surprised; it does not say it was fulfilled. The Spirit has been given, and He is still here. We are enjoined “to be filled with the Spirit,” a very different thing to asking for Him to be poured out. They were right to wait for it before He came at Pentecost, but now He is here.

Verse 35: The people here, are those who in chap. 8, asked the Lord to depart. They had got wiser now-they did not want Him to depart. He is Called in Haggai, “The desire of all nations.” People are conscious that things are not what they ought to be, and they want some one to put things right. In that way they desire Him, though it may not be intelligently.

Verse 36: This is the character of the healing. When the Lord touched, it was a touch of power. Here it was the touch of faith, and the Lord always responds to faith.

“Made perfectly whole” —not half a cure. All will feel the power of His beneficent sway, even to the ends of the earth. The Lord, in the day of the kingdom, ever goes beyond our highest expectation.

One Thing

NOTES OF AN ADDRESS ON Luke 18:18-25 AND PHILIPPIANS 3:13, 14

In the portion we have read from Luke's Gospel we have an account of a man who came to the Lord and was morally very fair to look upon, but, according to the Lord's estimation, he lacked one essential thing. The Lord, in order to convict him of his shortcoming, tested him in respect of that particular qualification, and he failed in the test.

In the Philippian passage we have the utterance of a man who long before had come to the Lord and who was still following Him. He expressed the habitual attitude of his heart and spirit in the words, “This one thing I do.” Excluding other minor considerations, he was pressing forward with concentrated energy “toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

The first instance affords a solemn warning to all, because it is clear that a person may possess a great many moral recommendations and yet fail to possess that needful thing which makes the essential difference between a child of God and a child of this world. Therefore the personal question should arise, How do I stand in this respect? I may have many outward virtues, yet lack the very thing that is more necessary than anything else.

The other person stands out as a great example of a man pressing forward to that supreme object, that is, “the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus.”

In Luke then, we read of this young ruler who was sufficiently interested to come to the Lord, and he was in earnest also, for another Gospel tells us he came “running.” He was clearly anxious to embrace the opportunity of an interview with Christ. We are told that he came and knelt to Christ: this attitude showed an absence of pride in him. He had some regard for the “Prophet of Nazareth,” and so he did Him reverence by bowing his knee to Him. He then asked Him the question of all questions, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life? This life was something the law could not give him. There was an attraction about Christ Jesus and His teaching that gave the ruler to feel that Jesus could help him to find the treasure he sought. He wanted “life,” the life which is the real life. “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

And the Lord looking upon him, as we are told by Mark, “loved him.” That great and compassionate heart of divine love was specially moved towards the ruler because he had put the question so many people forget altogether. They pass through the world as though they were on the same level with the beasts that perish, and think nothing of the life that is beyond the grave. They utterly disregard the fact that it is within their power to bow their knees before the Holy God and to seek His face. But here was a man who had thought about the life which was the true and the eternal. He had come to the right person to learn, and the Lord loved to see such a movement in the heart of one of the rulers towards Himself. There were so many of that generation who despised Him. Simon the Pharisee, for instance, invited Jesus into his house just to see what He would do, just to take Him off, as it were, little thinking that the Lord knew all about his motives. We often forget the Lord's omniscience.

But Jesus listened to the young man's question, and answered it in His own way, saying, “Why callest thou Me good?” The term was true, but the question gave the opportunity for the ruler to exercise his faith in the Lord and to confess His name He was looking upon Him who was a “Man of sorrows,” and yet that humble Man was the Man whom God had anointed, who was God's Fellow, the Son of God here below. This Man before Him was God Himself in person—to believe on if he would. Jesus was good because He was God, and if the young ruler had only believed on Him, his words would have been perfectly true and proper.

Then Jesus referred the ruler to the commandments, and he said, “All these have I kept from my youth up.” Here was the young man's mistake. He had come to Jesus to know what he must do to inherit eternal life. By the law righteousness could never come, nor life either. There was no person ever able to keep the commandments. The young man, however, according to his own estimation, had kept them, but he forgot that it was not a question of what he himself thought and saw, but the important question was what God saw, and God saw that he had failed.

You children here to-night know that when you do your home lessons you may think that they are written quite nicely and correctly, but when teacher marks them the next morning, she puts a large cross against some of them, which means that they are wrong. In your own eyes they were quite right, but in your teacher's eyes they were wrong. It is just the same with us: our actions may appear in our own eyes to be quite correct, but not so in God's sight. So that it is no use for any to base a hope for salvation upon what they have done or upon what they can do.

And so the Lord put the test to the profession of this man, “Yet lackest thou one thing, sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come, follow Me.” The Lord, as it were, put the test in this way, What do you think of Me? I am come down from heaven, I was rich but for your sake I became poor. I have come down to be here as a man; I have not come to be ministered unto; I am going through this world teaching My disciples to look forward to that glorious time which is not of this world; will you follow Me? will you be on My side? You will have much to put up with. Do you think I am worth following? Do you think I am worth the renunciation of all that you have in this world? Do you esteem Me to be greater riches than all your possessions?

The young man broke down at this trial. He had no heart for Christ, no eyes to see that He was the “chiefest among ten thousand.” He turned away very sad about it, sorry that he could not have eternal life on some other terms, more suitable in his own eyes.

Saul of Tarsus, too, at one time lacked the one thing, but that one thing could not be known until he was broken down. His pride, his confidence in his own righteousness, was all humbled when he saw the beauty of Christ.

God in His own way applies this test to us individually. We should all ask ourselves whether we are prepared to give up all things for Christ.

But the young ruler went away from the Lord. It was such a blow to Jesus when men went away from Him.

The voice of the Lord Jesus calls here to-night, “Come, follow Me.” Who will respond? who will be on the Lord's side, and follow the Lord Jesus Christ? If you believe on Him you will never be ashamed. He will carry you through every difficulty in the face of every foe, and bring you through this world into the glory that lies beyond.

In the other scripture that I read we have a word which applies particularly to those who profess to be followers of the Lord Jesus. There are those who say they follow Him, but their hearts are really far away. I quite understand that a person may believe in Christ, and not confess Him with his mouth. There are such curious persons to be found in the world; for it is possible that a person may have believed in his soul that the Lord Jesus is his Savior, but never dared to breathe it to anyone else. This is a very improper state for any, and there is a very solemn word in Scripture in connection with it. There is a verse in Rom. 10 which says that a person has not only to believe in his heart, but to confess with his mouth. A man may believe in his heart that Jesus is the Lord, but then there must be the other thing, the confession made with the mouth.

In Phil. 3 you have a word which applies expressly to those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle says in the 13th verse, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

Just referring again to those here who go to school, you know that at the end of the term there is usually one prize offered for the best scholar, but it is not so in the Christian life; there will be a prize for all who have loved and served Christ faithfully here below.

W. J. H.

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Features Peculiar to Matthew

CHAP. 11

We had the King's court in chap. 10; now in chaps 11, 12, we have the King's rejection. In chap. xi. the rejection of His Galilean ministry, and in chap. 12. His rejection by the religious leaders, and mostly at Jerusalem. In the early part of this Gospel John had said, “Whose fan is in his hand and he will throughly purge his floor.” John did not suppose the Lord's rejection with its consequence, the calling out of a new body, to be the Church, so that we cannot be surprised at the question he puts here. Wonderful prophet as John was, he as much as others needed the Lord's upholding care. Here he is not as he was before. In John 1 it is not “we,” but “I,” and his testimony at the end of John 3 is also very beautiful. But it is sweet to see how the Lord deals with him, and therein is a lesson for all of us. Verse 6 was a little rebuke to John, but how graciously given! He should not have stumbled or been offended, yet how the Lord praised him when the messengers were gone! We should be faithful to a person to his face, but ever ready to stand up justifiably behind his back. “John did no miracle,” we are distinctly told, so when he heard in prison the works of Christ he sent these messengers. Now he shall have testimony not only of that which was generally spread abroad, but of those things again which the two disciples he had sent both heard and saw. After all, the greatest thing was that the poor had the gospel preached to them. They heard that. If we turn to Isai. 35:5, 6, which no doubt John knew yell, we get the features of Messiah's day. “Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped; then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing.” These were to be the signs of Messiah's presence, and that is what they saw. John would know the meaning of the message. We ought never to allow a doubt of the truth. Nothing is more dishonoring to God's word, or to the work of the Lord Jesus; and our concern as Christians should be to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called.

It may appear on the surface as if John were a reed easily shaken, but he was no coward. If Herod feared John, John did not fear Herod. Of course those who go in for luxury will be found in king's palaces; there is nothing like that with John. He had a very distinguished place; he was indeed “more than a prophet,” for he was the subject of prophecy, both by Isaiah and Malachi. And further, he was the immediate forerunner of the Messiah.

I suppose verse 11 has puzzled a good many, and there have been all kinds of twisting to make it fit men's conceptions. You could reckon up many things that would show how the believer now has a greater place than even John. One can understand an O.T. saint reading the promises about the new covenant and with true faith looking forward to them; but now that Messiah had been here and redemption now accomplished, the blessing of the new covenant is not only secured for Israel's day, but a much fuller blessing is already ours. John 7 anticipates the Spirit to be given in the present dispensation after that Jesus was glorified, and Acts 2:33 gives its fulfillment. God is putting honor on His beloved Son in blessing us accordingly. Speaking of the Psalms, if we take up Psa. 32, which is quoted in Rom. 4 we must not think David's experience given there reaches to that of a saint now. The Psalm refers to a particular sin, which David had confessed, and he had the prophet's word that that sin was put away. Now all believers are entitled to the blessing of a purged conscience, to know that sin can never be imputed to them as guilt. This is little understood, but it is the privilege of all believers. If you take the disciples, who were so blessedly placed (for Matt. 13:16, 17 shows that they were in “a superior place” to the O.T. saints who looked forward to all this) the Lord says to them “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth,” showing that when the Holy Ghost came they would be in a far superior place still. Our great fault is that we don't appreciate it.

The kingdom of heaven is the rule of heavens on the earth. The kingdom of God would include the kingdom of heaven. There could not be the kingdom of heaven until the Lord was in heaven. Since His rejection it is in mystery; we shall have that before us in chap. 13. In the millennium the kingdom will be manifested. Now it is “the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ"; then it will be His kingdom and power. “The kingdom of his dear Son” implies that we are brought under the sway of His Son; we are not left to do our own will. This is a present thing for the Christian now, to love and obey Him. Paul woke up to it as soon as converted— “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Heaven is used in different ways in scripture. There is the heaven where the birds fly; the heaven where the stars are; the heaven where God's throne is. In the millennium heaven and earth will be brought together, men will be able to see heaven then.

Ver. 12: “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, etc.” John was cast into prison, and it is generally considered he was kept there 12 months, at any rate his ministry preceded the Lord's. He was sent to prepare the way for the King. What made them fit subjects for the kingdom was repentance. His testimony and that of the Lord was that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. And those who had faith in the Messiah were ready for the kingdom. Naturally there was a lot to hinder them, to break away from that which was Jewish. The Jews were far different from the Gentiles, for they knew they were God's people, and that their religion was of divine origin. So it was not those with very little interest who would get the blessing. This verse shows there must be real earnestness—the violent take it by force.

“For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John” (ver. 13). It is very transitional. It shows clearly you are on the verge of something new. John was the last of the prophets; when we get to the Epistles we get prophets there, but it is not “prophets and apostles,” but “apostles and prophets” —the prophets are after the apostles. So John Baptist finishes the list as far as the O.T. prophets are concerned. If you turn to 1 Cor. 14. it says, “Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.” That has not ceased. Tongues have ceased, as all the sign gifts have, but prophecy remains. We may all covet to prophesy. What the Lord says about the effect of prophesying here (in contrast to speaking with tongues) and what the woman in John 4 says, “Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet,” shows that a prophet is one who brings the soul by what he says into the presence of God. In the Epistle to the Ephesians we are said to be “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,” viz., those who were inspired to give us the truth—Mark and Luke, for instance, who were not apostles but prophets, though alike inspired.

“If you will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come” (ver. 14). John came in the spirit and power of Elijah, and it laid the responsibility upon them. They could not say, this cannot be Messiah, because Elijah must come first. They were left without excuse.

“He that hath ears to hear let him hear” (ver. 15). You get this too in the addresses to the seven churches. It makes it intensely individual. They were individually responsible.

That generation (ver. 16) has not passed away. Sometimes the word “generation” is used of those living when the Lord was here, as “who shall declare His generation.” Then it is used of a class of people also, “this generation shall not pass, etc.,” a Christ-rejecting generation. John was too severe for them, and the grace of the Lord they could not understand.

“But Wisdom is justified of her children.” John was right and the Lord was right. John had justified Him and others had too. It is a true test. The dying thief very blessedly justified Him. In Luke 7 the Lord uses the same words (ver. 35), and immediately after you get the woman of the city coming to anoint Him.

At the close of this chapter we have the Lord's loving invitation, and, in the beginning of the chapter which gives that magnificient description of Wisdom (Prov. 8), you get her crying at the gates “Unto you, O men, I call.” But here is a better invitation, “Come unto Me!” and here we get His rejection, the rejection of His Galilean ministry. This fits in with Isa. 49. Most of the Lord's mighty works were done round the sea of Galilee, and He says there, “I have labored in vain, and spent my strength for naught and in vain.” That is just what we get here. So He upbraids the cities because they repented not, He upbraids His own because they believed not. This is the only place where Chorazin is named. Philip, Andrew, and Peter all belonged to Bethsaida. These verses are very solemn; we need to weigh them well. Repentance is real submission of soul to what God says in His word about me. There is a lot of subtle teaching about, about another chance deduced from that we have here. Let it be clear; everything about eternity is settled in this life. Nobody will be judged to see if they are saved or lost; the dead will be judged for their works. Condemned already (John 3:18), they are condemned then.

Why should the Spirit of God in 1 Peter 3:20 refer the believers to whom Peter was writing to that particular class that heard Noah preach? Why are they only singled out? Those to whom Peter wrote were comparatively few only, as in Noah's day there were only eight saved, whereas the many who then perished are here spoken of as now in prison. No, don't think you are wrong because you are few. There must have been a tremendous population on the earth then, yet only eight were saved!

So Tyre and Sidon had been visited in judgment by God; for instance, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed them, but God has not done with them. Temporal judgments are not eternal ones. They will have to be before the Great White Throne. It is then it will be more tolerable for them. They were a dissolute people, but their guilt was not so great, and their punishment will not be so great as those who rejected the testimony of Christ.

It is very solemn and very striking about Sodom. Those who rejected Christ will have severer judgment, severer penalty at the Great White Throne, than even the filthy Sodomites. God alone knows how to apportion the measure of guilt to each. So it will be more tolerable for Sodom itself than for those who rejected Christ. The greatest guilt that can rest on any soul is the rejection of Him.

There are those who take up Luke 16, and say Lazarus was the Gentile, and the rich man the Jew! But then it would teach it were impossible for the Jew to be saved, and that would make God a liar! To the Jew first and also to the Gentile. No. It shows that the believer enters into blessing and the unbeliever into misery, as soon as he departs, though it may be long before they get their resurrection bodies.

Ver. 25. In these verses, 25 to 30, what evidences we have that it is a divine Person! His looking up to the Supreme Who does as He will. His Father is sovereign Lord of heaven and earth; it must be always right if it be good in His sight. And if He was rejected by man “the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand.” “No man knoweth the Son but the Father.” In that sense it will always be true, inscrutable, and incomprehensible. We know Him as Savior, but there is that in His Person which is unfathomable. There is an aspect of the death of Christ that is wholly for God, the burnt offering. Then the meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, corresponding to Luke 1:35; unleavened wafers anointed

With oil, corresponding to His baptism; but all the frankincense was for God. There was that which God alone could enter into; that is what we get here. But it is not that we don't value it all. It was all necessary, a perfect life that was given up, that which God could accept. But His life is not our righteousness. Paul could glory and rejoice in having a very excellent knowledge of Christ, but although he had that he had an earnest desire to have a better; yet he would never be able to get to the end. The Father alone knows the Son. We have some apprehension but

“The Father, only Thy blest name

Of Son can comprehend”

or take it all in. The Son revealed the Father. “The Father” always carries with it the thought of grace. “The Father judgeth no man.”

We get something very similar when the seventy come back in Luke 10. The Lord could fall back on what the Father did as absolutely perfect. There was an adoring acquiescence in the Lord. It is well to remember that this was the close of His Galilean ministry, but from Isa. 49 we learn that He could fall back on God's approbation and care, “My judgment is with Jehovah and my work with my God.” Then to His Father He speaks of His absolute sovereignty—Who does as He will. He never Himself addresses the Father as Lord, though He calls Him Lord of heaven and earth. But it was a divine person speaking. This almost reminds us of John's language. When He asks He demands; a different word is used about others.

“Wise and prudent,” i.e., self-sufficient ones. “Wise” according to its use in the N.T. would be those who are educated, trained, such as we find among the Greeks; “prudent” would be shrewd. In both cases it implies self-sufficiency. “Babes” not the reasoners but receivers. “Except ye be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” It is a principle that is laid down here. All human pride is banned by God, and no flesh can glory in His presence. Man gets the blessing, God the glory, in doing things this way.

“All things are delivered unto me of my Father” (ver. 27). In John 3 we read “The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand''. There is far more than omnipotence in the statement “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth,” —there is authority too. So in John 13 when taking the low place, it was as knowing that the Father had given all things into His hand. That which is deepest in the cross of Christ can only be fathomed by God Himself.

“Mystery” does not of itself necessarily mean something very difficult; its general meaning is something secret; but “the mystery of godliness” (1 Tim. 3:16) can never be fathomed; great it is, “without controversy.”

The Son objectively makes the Father known, the One Who was always without a break in the bosom of the Father. It is not “the Father” who forsook the Son, but God, “My God.” On the cross He was never more than then the Father's delight. “God” forsook Christ, not the Father forsook the Son. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is far sweeter than even our Father. Jews never knew Him in that way. And we Gentiles should never have had this knowledge but by the Son who hath told Him out. There were some whose eyes were opened to behold the moral beauties of Christ, as it says, “We beheld His glory” yet

“Only those His glory saw,

To whom Thou gavest sight.”

The “labor” and “heavy laden” correspond to the “yoke” and the “burden.” Animals draw, in places, with the yoke, but a burden is carried on the back. We must connect this with what precedes. If the Lord here is rejected as the King by the people among which He had been pleased to dwell, yet is there blessing for an even wider circle than Israel— “Come, unto me all ye that labor,” etc. He has rest, blessed be His name, for any who will but come to Him. “I will give you rest.” It is all of grace.

What a blessed thing to be bound up with Him. “Take my yoke” (ver. 29). Naturally, the very opposite to Him, yet if His meekness and lowliness be produced in us, this is how we get it; and the one in whom it is produced will be himself unconscious of it.

Fragment: Grace in Ephesians

Just a few thoughts in connection I would like to put before you. Grace has a wonderful place in Ephesians. It has in all the word of God, but in some places is more conspicuous than others; so here. When we think where this Epistle came from, how we see that all things serve His might! The dear apostle, taken from active service, and kept in prison two years and subsequently, at Rome—but what a loss to us if it had not been? And God over-ruled it thus for His glory! Taken aside while God made known to Him His will; and so we get the precious Epistles to the Hebrews, Philippians, Colossians, Ephesians. We can take them up full of comfort and blessing.

We are told in ch. 2:5 “By grace ye are saved.” It is blessed to turn to the unmerited favour of God to us, but before ver. 7 of chap. 1 it might not appear as if there was any sin connected with us; then we get redemption. To be holy and without blame before Him in love was absolutely true of Christ as a man down here below, and we have the same nature. There is nothing said about faults or failures, but we are taken back to eternity and God's eternal plans. Then in ver. 7 we find we are sinners, and need a Saviour. Great as God's glory is as Creator, He has greater glory as Redeemer. And the great thing is not that we should be sure we are going to heaven, great as that is, but greater still is it that God has put His hand on us, poor hell-deserving sinners as we are, and picked us up to give eternal joy to the heart of His beloved Son. That is worth having existence for! “To Him be glory in the assembly throughout all ages!” You and I form part of that assembly by His grace. He is going to get glory through it throughout all ages, world without end.

We found redemption in the Lord Jesus Christ, by blood and by power. Here it is through His blood. It is true we are all bought, and we are all redeemed. The difference ought to be a big joy to us. All the world is purchased—the unconverted as well as the saved. “Denying the Lord that bought them” we read. By being purchased, we change masters; every believer is purchased, and every sinner too. In redemption I change my status. Every believer is redeemed. Our liberty is to do His will, to serve God and to serve our brethren. The riches of His grace are found in this—we have redemption. Is there anything higher ? Yes, chap. 2 takes us on to the future. In ver. 7—the “exceeding riches of His grace” He will show, not for us to see, but for others to see in us. That's His purpose. Is there anything higher than that? Yes, blessed be His Name! something higher still. If it had been said, “Taken us into favour in Christ,” it would be wonderful, but it is not put so, but “in the beloved.” There was One here of Whom the Father could say at His baptism, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased"; then on the Mount of Transfiguration, “This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him.” If God says in Him is found all His delight, we believe it, don't we? Nothing counts but Christ. That thought has been a great blessing to me. God wants to let us know what is the very glory of Christ. He has accepted us in the Beloved, in Him in Whom is all His delight. You can never reach a higher point than that.

We are not adopted “children.” Children is a question of birth. A new born babe in the family of God, we see it at once in John 1:12. “As many as received him to them gave he power to become children of God.” You cannot make a mistake in this. John in his Gospel and Epistles reserves the word Son for One only, and that is the One Who occupies the bosom of the Father. The only exception is in Rev. 21. “Which were. born not of blood,” —not natural descent, “nor of the will of the flesh” —no; of God by His own will; “nor of the will of man” —what can he do? “but of God,” in the sovereignty of His love. That is how we occupy the place of children (1 Peter 1:2, 3; 2:2); this is eternal, and can never be set aside.

But with regard to “sonship.” Angels are sons, but never children. Angels are witnesses that God can make a glorious creature and keep him from falling; and they are learning now in us God's various wisdom—not seeing it in the wonder of creation, but in you and me. But in the millennium they will learn that however blessed a creature may be, unless kept he is bound to fall. Sonship tells of privilege, of position. “Because ye are sons God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” That is a privilege the saints of old could not know.

But our brother wanted to put the truth so that we live more to His glory, and I apprehend that the better knowledge we have of His love will help us and draw out our hearts to Him. We want to see it more, to rejoice in the worthiness of that blessed One. That is what we want, to rejoice more in Him. And I thought of 1 Sam. 17. —a heart acknowledging the worthiness of another. It is David—the beloved, and it often helps us to remember its sweet meaning— “the beloved one.” When Jesus is called David it is as the Beloved. And we know Him who emptied Himself and became obedient unto death, wherefore God hath highly exalted Him (Phil. 2). Oh, that blessed scripture! How it tells God's estimate of the only absolutely perfect One! Every created intelligence shall bow the knee to that blessed One.

“In whom we have obtained an inheritance.” What is the inheritance? Everything in heaven and earth. He is the appointed Heir of all things—the whole universe. You and I are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. It is too vast; we cannot take it in. It all belonged to Him before He became man, but He has got it now as Man that you and I may share it with Him. Oh, what do we not owe Him!

But I was thinking of that scene in the valley of Elah, and I think we would all agree that it is God bringing before us Calvary-the great victory there showed forth by what took place there. The great champion a type of Satan, and David of Christ. The challenge is given, and no one can take it up. Yet there was One, the despised One, who was not called when Samuel came to anoint him, but they could not sit down till the Beloved came. The despised, misunderstood one—and there was One more misunderstood than anyone. But David goes out with his sling and stone; and Gen. 3 tells of a Deliverer-but a suffering One. I don't want to go into all the details, but David slung the stone and it struck Goliath in the forehead and he was prostrate. What a change in the feelings of the trembling host! There was no sword in David's hand, but I read in Hebrews “that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death.” So as the power of death was the devil's own sword, so it was the giant's own sword in the hand of the Beloved that cut off the giant's head, and they were made more than conquerors; they had the spoil—the result of the victory—and David the praise! Then afterward I see David before Saul with the head in his hand; so typically I see Christ in resurrection (Col. 2:15). Well, there was one singled out who had seen all this (1 Sam. 18:1) a heart won! There was more than one victory won that day the heart of the king's son was won— “knit with the soul of David, and he loved him as his own soul.” I am sure that is a voice to us, not recorded for nothing God intends us to learn by that. Ah, we want to be better acquainted with the cross of our blessed Savior— “Gazing with adoring eye, On Thy dying agony.” We don't want to limit it to the Lord's day morning, but every day let us feed on Him, Christ our Passover.

It is not only simply stated, but there were the results of that love. Jonathan stripped himself. It is very lovely to see. It was not a perfect love—David's love was greater, but we won't speak of his failures. The Holy Spirit records these details here, and in the light of the cross we listen to the truth, “Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price.” I appeal to each one, Is there anything we ought to keep back from Him? It is all right to sing “the dearest object of my love” etc. —but there is so much—time, talents, wealth, everything. I am His bondman now. May God give us grace to surrender all to Himself. He is worthy. Amen.

J. A. T.

Abraham: Genesis 12-13

Genesis 12; 13

What we see in the word of God before this remarkable account of the call of Abram, though profitable surely for us, is also humbling; and none the less the more we think of it, and see what God has told us of man's sin and ruin, not merely as bringing on the flood, but as following it. What was to be done now? For God had hung out a sign in the very heavens that He would no longer visit the iniquity of the race as He had done in the deluge. There had been a secret principle of grace with God that He always acted on; but now this principle was to be brought out manifestly. What had made the difference in the case of Abel, of Enoch, or even Noah? It was grace that had flowed to them and wrought in them whatever was good and holy and true. But there is a new thing that comes out in the history now before us. It was to be no longer the favor of God in its hidden dealings.

Promise was to be thenceforth a public ground of action on the part of God. Is not this a most weighty and instructive change? God was no longer content that He should act after a secret sort. If He had Himself called souls without any one knowing it outside, now He would make the call distinct and plain, drawing to it the attention of friends and enemies: and this so definitely that it has been the invariable starting point with God from that day to this. It was the call of God, no more secret but evident to all.

So we are told in this place: “Now Jehovah had said to Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee.” We are apt to pass over such a statement of the ways of God because of the tendency to confound what is a secret of grace with what is manifest. But, Abram was called by God to a place of separation, and this so as to be manifest, the express point, with which the chapter opens, and the great principle that God would have us now to weigh with all seriousness, as we read His word.

By Israel at Sinai the ground of law was taken. Yet God had called His people by grace out of Egypt; but they were, as most know, put (or put themselves) under the law. The consequence was that, however divine the principle was, it fell through in the case of the chosen nation. So again, God has now applied the self-same principle to the call of the church. There it is not (one need not say) a body put under law, but the very contrary, dealt with in sovereign grace: It is not merely mercy towards the soul, for this has always been true; but God has a body publicly called in this world, composed of such as are meant to be witnesses of His grace in Christ on high, just as much as Israel ought to have represented the law graven on stones and manifested it before the whole earth.

This will show, then, how early and wide the principle is. But the Lord begins, as you can easily understand, first of all with an individual; and there was great wisdom and much force in this. Long centuries after, it was the resource of the prophet Isaiah, impressed upon his heart by God when Israel was passing into a desperately, low condition, and with the prophecy of still greater ruin at hand. How does he seek to comfort the people? With the fact that God called Abraham alone. He falls back upon what was the salient principle of God's dealing at this very time. It was as good as saying, “Be things as they may, count on the Lord. Impossible to be lower than that with which Israel began; for when God called and blessed at first, it was Abraham alone.”

To what end was this? Not only that he himself should be blessed, but to be a blessing: and this not only to his own seed, but to others far and wide. “In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

In the earth and with men, as they are, such is the sole possible way of blessing. In the line of His call God brings out His promises, and there it is that His blessing is found and maintained. Man may, no doubt (not to say that he must, when put on the ground of law), end in more manifest ruin than ever; but the principle of His call is not only sound but invariably true. If there is to be blessing at all in a world that is ruined, it must be on the ground of one who comes out obedient to the call of God, not staying where he is, nor attempting to reform the evil in the midst of which he may be. God made it particularly manifest at this time; for it was now for the first that the world had seen nations and families and tongues, all arranged in the elements of that which is in our day approaching its finally developed form. The world was no more as it had been before the flood; it was separated into its distinct nationalities. Government also had now been instituted. This was of course an outward mercy for the world. Wickedness was not to go on unpunished, iniquity must be restrained by the judge. God had accordingly given responsible charge on the earth to man who was thenceforth to curb evil in the world. He had authority for it from God. (Gen. 9)

But now that idolatry had entered (Josh. 24:2), separation to God, the true God, comes in as the recognised place. Instead of having souls to walk individually with Him, although seeking to please Him by faith, God, from that day to this, takes up what was then a wholly new thing for man, that, if He was to be pleased or magnified, if His will is really to govern, it must be as separate to Himself, and not merely by our looking to Him individually where we are, and in the midst of all our national associations. God looks for more now; He calls out. Hence the force of the word here, “Get thee out,” etc.

It is not simply “believe;” this was not at all the question put. The great object of faith was not brought out, though we find a type of the way of faith in chapter 15, where Abram's faith is seen exercised on the word of promise that God gave him; but still it is not a question here of the gospel being sent out, nor of Christ being presented personally. It is God who separates to Himself at His own word, a man who was in the midst of all that is evil his own family worshipping false gods like the rest. For although God had already marked off a certain part of the sons of Noah as preserved for blessing, and Shem particularly so—that it might be proved it was in no way an after-thought, but God's purpose in all steadfastness and not depending on a certain part of mankind as in themselves better than others (though in fact piety was there); yet here too was the solemn fact that the family of Shem had gone into idolatry no less than others. In spite of the predicted purpose of God, Shem's sons had proved faithless. What next could be done? Was there no way of securing God's honor? This was the way: the call of God goes out in sovereign grace, separating to Himself a man no better than his fellows but avowedly involved in the idolatries of his fathers. “Get thee out of thy country... unto a land that I will show thee.”

Now the first thing I would press is that faith is shown, not so much by following what others have received before, but in believing what God brings home now to one's own soul and for one's own path. For God has a will about each successive stage in all the varying phases of life, as evil itself grows and works in the world. Satan does not limit himself to the same snares of falsehood and sin, but becomes more and more subtle and determined in his plans. God looks for faith in His word accordingly. So in this case (I refer now to Shem's line) the very family that had whatever there was to hope for were fatally involved in his meshes just like other men. But God has a way, a blessed and worthy way, of vindicating Himself; and this is a way which, giving all the glory to Himself, faith at once feels is just what it ought to be. The call comes without the slightest ground for it in Abram himself. This we see to be perfectly consistent with the dealings of God. He meant the blessing to be in that line; He meant to take up this man and make him the father of the faithful; but he was evidently a child of the unfaithful, and no doubt an unfaithful child himself. The calling was, accordingly, of grace: God Himself called; and God, at the same time, was fitting this man for the place of blessing; and God had, before Abram was fitted for it, pronounced what it was in His heart to give him, so that it might be, not of Abram who deserved it, but of God that called him. It was grace. “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great.”

The whole principle of the blessing as flowing out of the call of God had been manifested in a man distinctly separated to Him, and (I would add) called out without disturbing the arrangements of the world. There was no setting him up with a mightier sword in his hand to put down the workers of iniquity. The world was left, after having been arranged under the providence of God in separate families, nations, and tongues, but not till government was by man sanctioned by God. But there God's honor being completely set aside, and false gods worshipped, He separates under His promise of blessing the man who comes out at his call to the land He would show him.

This then is God's own blessed way—one most effectual, as it is also peculiar to Himself; and on it in fact God has acted in our own call, whether to Himself or into the church. It is on my heart to dwell a little on the general truth of the call of Abram, so as to illustrate the way in which God connects the principle of the call with the promises and with the whole place of faith here below. It was much for God to say “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great.” But there was another word, and this was especially dear to the heart of one so blessed himself. “Thou shalt be a blessing.” This was to make him not only the object of grace, but the instrument of it. It was to give him communion with God Himself in the activity of His own goodness. “Thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee” (of course on the earthly side); “and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

Abram then acts on the word of the Lord. “He departed, as Jehovah had spoken unto him.” But there was more than one drawback. Lot his nephew went with him and we shall see the consequence of that. Further, Abram not only took Lot, “his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran,” but in the chapter before we have a remarkable intimation not brought before us here. It was not that Abram took Terah, but that “Terah took Abram.” This was not merely a hindrance, it was a false position as long as it lasted. It acted as an interference with the call of God; for although the call might seem to nature harsh, and that which no doubt man would have been quick to condemn, the word of God was plain— “Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house.” Abram does get out of his country, though hardly from his kindred; but instead of getting “out of his father's house,” his father takes him. There was clearly an influence at work that was inconsistent with the call of God. It was not merely that Terah was with him; the Spirit of God has not put it so, and of course it was incompatible with due relationship that a man should or could be said to take his father. It was “Terah took Abram.”

Here then was that which positively hindered the accomplishment of the will of God as long as Terah lived. The call of God should be paramount but the honor due to a father who was not in it must oppose. “Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees.” The simple fact is stated in chapter 11; and one can see that the reason why it is stated there is this. It was purely a question of Abram acting from his own judgment, from himself, and not from the call of God, who therefore does not make it a part of chapter 12. No doubt, the move was after the call of God spoken of in chapter 12, but inasmuch as it was not the accomplishment of His will, God puts it in the chapter of nature and providence (that is, chapter 11) and not in that of grace and promise, chapter 12. We have in chapter 11 simply a list of fathers and sons from the flood, and among the rest Abram and Nahor. Sarai is seen there with no child. This was nature; and had it simply been a question of nature, so it would always have been Sarai always barren. When grace begins to act, we find the dawning of hope in the heart of Abram (at any rate what we can now well understand to point in that direction); finally God gives the distinct word that Sarah shall have a child. But this was after grace begins to be developed. At first there is nothing of the sort, and it is here therefore we have the account of Terah taking his son Abram and coming as far as Haran, and dwelling there. Accordingly there also we have the days of Terah shown us, and Terah's death.

But now there is another side so distinct that, although the same facts are alluded to, God begins an entirely new unfolding of His mind. In chapter 12 he is not speaking of the family as viewed in nature but of his call. Although Abram believed in God, yet nature was at work and had its way. Accordingly God takes no notice of it here. Thus we see that what looks a great difficulty in the two chapters—a thing which people have often put one against another—is perfectly solved the moment we come to see that the one chapter is the story of the family in nature, the other is the secret of grace now made manifest.

“Now Jehovah had said to Abram, Get thee out.” Note that so He “said to Abram,” not to Terah. As long as Terah was there, he was the acting person, as indeed he had the claim of father; and if (not God but) you bring a father on to the ground of faith, what is the effect? If he is not in the call of God and you are, what must result from allowing your father's authority to have its way there? It swamps you. It is not that you raise him into the higher regions of faith, but that he drags you down into the quagmire of nature. This is what we may see in these two chapters; so that, spite of the blessed call of God, we have the fact brought before us that Abram remains at Haran and fails to reach Canaan.

At length however “Terah died in Haran;” and what follows? We are told next (ver. 5) that “Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came.” Now what a different tale! Not that everything was according to God, for there is no perfection save in One; but still Abram could now act and not before. Lot was his nephew only, and did not bar the way as his father had done. While he was alive along with him, Abram must needs be subject, but henceforth he was free. Lot might act selfishly and be an encumbrance; but his father, if there at all, must have a father's authority; and so it was. He found himself in a sort of half-way ground, and this was what compromise leads to. It is certainly no longer Ur of the Chaldees, but yet only Haran, and not Canaan. The fact brought before us in the previous chapter explains how it is he can get no farther. Terah, who was not in the call of God, was nevertheless the one who “took Abram” thus far, and Terah acted so positively as a hindrance, that, as long as he lived, Abram could never get on; but the moment that Terah is taken away, as we read, Abram took Sarai, etc., “and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came.”

W.K.

(To be continued)

Notes on Matthew 7:1-12

It is quite possible to make a very bad use of the first verse. For instance, if it was made an excuse for not exercising discipline. There are spheres in which we are bound to judge, as Scripture clearly enjoins elsewhere.

First of all, we should judge ourselves; and self-judgment is not comparing ourselves with even the most godly brother we know, but comparing ourselves with Christ; and if that is duly exercised there will be no disposition to judge where we should not. The Corinthians were told, “If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world.” Further, the assembly is called to judge, “Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth” (1. Cor. 5:12, 13). The world is outside our province now. “Them that are without God judgeth.” But we have to think of the Lord's claims in His assembly, and according to the light of the New Testament, we have to judge in His assembly. The toleration of evil, doctrinal or moral, cannot be allowed therein. “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven.”

It may be that the evil cannot be purged out, but the believer's obligation to depart from evil is not thereby relieved. For, as in a great house there are vessels of gold and also of earthenware, and some to honor, and some to dishonor, so, if a man purge himself from the vessels to dishonor, he shall be a vessel to honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, prepared to every good work. But we cannot judge motives. God only can do that. There are cases as to Christians which we could not judge. We have this seal amid all the confusion, “The Lord knoweth them that are His.” But there is also the reverse side of the seal which speaks of our responsibility, “Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

Yet we have to be specially on our guard against judging motives. And I am sure it becomes us always to put the best possible construction on our brethren's actions; so we may well pray to be delivered from a censorious spirit; and this scripture shows that those who indulge in it come in for a large share of it from others. They are constantly spoken evil of by others. “For with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.” Then it goes on to show us that if there is not self-judgment there is the danger of minimizing our own faults and magnifying the faults of others. Whereas it is self that needs to be judged constantly. How continually the blessed apostle exercised it! “Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men.”

I hardly know which is worse—to be content to go along with sin on the conscience, or, on the other hand, not to be conscious of sin. Both are terrible. We are delivered from the guilt of sin, and we are delivered from the power of sin, but we are not delivered from its presence. Yet we shall be in a little while, when at home with the Lord, and that absolutely. So it is most deplorable not to be conscious of sin.

John 1:8 says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” But then it is terrible too to go along with sin on the conscience, because that shuts us off from communion; and what is our life worth, if we do not enjoy communion with the Father and the Son?

“Herein do I exercise myself.” It will indeed cost us something in a world like this to have always a conscience void of offense. Conscience alone is not a sure guide. Paul shows us this when he says, “I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary to the name? of Jesus of Nazareth.” But in another place he says, “My conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost.” If you get the word and the spirit and the conscience all in harmony, it is all right.

Verse 3 supposes a case where there is a very serious evil overlooked by a person in himself, and a much smaller thing taken notice of in a brother—a defect, a splinter, as one may say. Here it is some defect which one thinks he has detected in another. And the one who has not judged himself is altogether unfit to deal with another. “He that is spiritual” is the one to restore, if another is overtaken in a fault. The one self-judged before God is conscious that whatever another has done he is capable of doing the same or worse. “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.” Hezekiah was left of God that he might know all that was in his heart, and what awful failure ensued. Nothing worse could happen to us than to be left to ourselves. Get the large thing removed first, the thing which hinders you from seeing clearly; and most likely you will find the mote in the brother's eye is gone too. Very often these motes are discovered by those who are in a bad, sour, state of soul. And if we really do see failure in another what is the best use we can I make of that discovery? To correct it in ourselves. Then may we help our brother.

“Thou hypocrite” (verse 5), to be said to a disciple, is a strong word, but it is here uttered by the One who is the Truth, and knows the hearts of all. There is the possibility of even a true saint acting hypocritically. If we cover up our sins we are acting hypocritically. So appearing to others to be what we really are not, is hypocritical. Just in that sense you can understand a disciple being called so. Peter dissembled, and that was in the same lines. Well, then, first deal with yourself. You will see much more clearly when self has been judged before God. If that is neglected, we shall find it easy enough to see faults in others rather than in ourselves. To prove a thing you want a standard, and the standard God has given us is His written word. We have to prove everything by that word. In listening to the best teacher that ever lived, I am bound to prove all he says, “Take heed what ye hear,” but in listening to the word itself the instruction is, “Take heed how ye hear.” But it is a necessity for us to test everything by the word of God. The two standards of truth are the person of Christ, and the word of God. “The doctrine of Christ,” in 2 John, is the teaching of the Holy Spirit about the divinity and humanity of the Lord Jesus.

“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,” etc. (ver. 6). This has nothing to do with the gospel. The gospel has to do with every creature, no matter how bad they are. God's grace goes out to the most unlikely and the most unworthy. But we must be careful of putting that which specially belongs to the believer before the unsaved. Dogs and swine describe what we all were before grace met us. Turn to 2 Peter 2:22, “It hath happened to them according to the true proverb, the dog is turned to his own vomit, again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.” The countries that have been outwardly affected by Christian doctrine will go back to greater filth than that from which they have been delivered.

The apostasy has to come, if not already at the door, the apostasy of Christendom. Men have taken the place of being Christians, but they are not sheep. Everything must act according to its nature, and it is not according to the nature of a sheep to go rolling in the mud. These, of whom the apostle speaks, had never been born again. The Gentiles, in contrast to the Jews, were dogs. The Syro-phoenician woman addressed the Lord as “Son of David,” and the Lord said, “It is not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs.” She had taken the place of covenant relationship, but she understood what the Lord said, and cast herself on His mercy, and no soul ever cast himself on His mercy in vain. She bowed to the truth. But grace as well as truth came by Jesus Christ. She took the place of a little dog, and the Lord told her she had great faith. But there is a very blessed connection between her and what follows in the same chapter. The Lord never gives a “crumb.” The woman counted on a crumb, but the Lord always gives above our highest expectations. So we find there was a crowd of four thousand besides women and children, and to feed them there were seven loaves and a few small fishes, so that if literally broken up there would have been but a crumb each. But they were all filled, and more was taken up than they had to start with.

But to go back to our verse. Let us be careful what we talk of to the unsaved. Let us be sure they have laid hold of the gospel before we tell them the deep things of God. The scripture shows it will do them no good, and they will do us harm. But do not let us be deterred from preaching the gospel. It goes out to the vilest and the worst, the most unworthy and the most unlikely. Simon Magus was never a sheep. He believed and was baptized; yet what he believed in was that there was a superior power to anything he had ever exercised; but he was exposed when Peter and John came down. He thought what could be bought could be sold. He was not a child of God. To believe because of miracles does not necessitate a work of grace in the soul; the question of sin must be raised. The Lord did not believe in, or trust Himself to, those who believed because they saw His miracles, for He knew what was in man (John 2:23-25). There is a play on the word man of this last verse of chap. 2, and the first verse of chap. 3. Nicodemus was one of those who believed in Jesus because of the miracles, but such belief was not sufficient for seeing or entering the kingdom of God. “Verily, verily,” says the Lord to him, “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And so I do not think much of those who lecture about Christian evidences. The understanding may be convinced and yet the conscience and heart untouched. There must be repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. A person may have the Bible at his fingers' end, and be able to put everyone who argues with him into a corner, and yet not have a spark of divine life in his soul.

The Lord had previously given His disciples instructions as to prayer, but in the verses we now come to they are very blessedly encouraged to pray. “Ask, and it shall be given you” (verse 7). Oh, if we always acted on it! The apostle James says, “Ye have not because ye ask not,” and he also adds, “Ye ask and receive not because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts” (4:2, 3). Now the way to ask rightly is the secret shown in John 15:7. “If ye abide in me” —a life of dependence— “and my words abide in you” —they are formative and produce right desires— “ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” And this corresponds with Psa. 37:4, because if I am delighting in the Lord, right desires will be created. Neglect of the word of God would be neglect of the true safeguard. “Ask” implies something I desire to have; “seek” something I have missed, and “knock” wanting an entrance. It means increased importunity. There is more intensity in “seeking” than in “asking;” and again, in “knocking” than in seeking.

Studies in Mark 7:24-30: The Mother's Prayer

CHAP. 7:24-30

THE MOTHER'S PRAYER

It was a mother who sought the presence of, Jesus on the borders of the land of Israel. As a parent, she was torn with anxiety and distress for the sufferings of her little daughter, who was “grievously vexed” with a demon. “A woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Greek, a Syro-phoenician by race. And she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.”

We cannot but observe in the Gospels what respect the Lord paid to parental concern for their families. In dispensing His blessings, He had special regard for the institutions of family life. Among the comparatively few specific cases of the Lord's miracles of healing which are recorded, we find that the Lord hearkened to the prayer of: -

(1) a mother for her daughter (Matt. 15:21-28);

(2) a father for his daughter (Matt. 9:18-26);

(3) a father for his son (Matt. 17:14-18);

(4) a courtier for his son (John 4:46-53);

(5) the mothers for their infants (Luke 18:15, 16);

(6) a centurion for his servant (Luke 7:2-10).

In the home life the influences of natural affection are mightily powerful upon the young for good or for ill. In the same circle the terrible effects of the presence and operation of sin are perhaps more visible than anywhere else. There, too frequently, alas, cases are found where example and counsel are unavailing to deliver from corrupting and destroying evil. But mothers, fathers, masters, the responsible ones of the household, are encouraged by the cases given in the Gospels to make believing appeals for their charges to Jesus who is able to control and heal the evils of the soul, even as He did the diseases of the body.

The woman of Canaan had heard of Jesus; we read that for some while before this date His “fame had spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee” (Mark 1:28), and when the multitudes flocked to Capernaum because “they had heard what great things He did” those about Tire and Sidon were among them (Mark 3:7, 8; Luke 6:17). It was a wealthy queen among the Gentiles who heard of the wisdom of Solomon and came to him with her choice gifts from the ends of the earth that she might see and hear for herself. A greater than Solomon was now lodged in an obscure corner of Galilee, but it was only one of the descendants of Canaan, weighted from the days of Noah with a curse (Gen. 9:25), who came to do homage at His feet and to present her petition. The Psalmist prophesied that when Jehovah's King came to Zion the daughter of Tire would be there with a gift (Psa. 45:12), but this poor woman had nothing to bring to Jesus save the fruit of her body, possessed, alas, by an evil demon. Baffled by the power and subtlety of the wicked spirit, she, in her womanly weakness, and in her mother's love, cried out to Him who had blessed so many of the afflicted daughters of Israel, “Lord, help me” (Matt. 15:25).

(Continued from vol. 11.)

A Thought on Miracles: Part 1

The case of the poor mother was a pathetic one, and would naturally awaken the sympathies of the tender-hearted. But the Great Prophet of the kingdom of God could not be swayed by sentiment or emotion merely, and thrown from His just balance in the administration of the mercy of Jehovah. In Him mercy was perfectly tempered with truth and righteousness, as was the case with none other of the servants of God. Jonah, that former prophet of Galilee, knew neither mercy nor grace, and repined in his bigotry, at the forbearance of God shown to the Ninevites who repented at his preaching. Though he had himself experienced how Jehovah's power and mercy miraculously delivered a disobedient servant from a just retribution, Jonah could not endure that the ignorant Gentiles unable to “discern between their right hand and their left hand” should be spared from the threatened judgment. But Jesus, while full of compassion for the stranger, was equally full of truth as of grace. His mercy, “the sure mercies of David,” was exercised according to the inflexible truth of God. Bounds were set to the flow of the living waters. Jehovah had for many centuries drawn broad and deep distinctions among the families of mankind, based upon His promise and His oath. In Abraham the olive tree of promise was established, and successive prophets had declared that his seed were the appointed participants in its “root and fatness.”

According to the oracles of truth, therefore, the seed of Abraham were the chosen people of God, and nationally were brought into filial relationship with Him. “Out of Egypt I have called my son,” said Jehovah, carrying the nation out of the house of bondage into the land of plenty, the “land flowing with milk and honey.” Because of their gross idolatry and moral depravity, the aboriginal inhabitants of Canaan were driven out to make place for those known in prophetic language as “sons of the living God.”

Dispensationally, therefore, as the whole scheme of Old Testament promise and prophecy showed, the descendants of Israel were nearer God than the Gentiles. And the Lord Jesus in His ministry of the abundant grace of God recognized the divine restrictions imposed in former days. He had not come to destroy the law and the prophets (Matt. 5:17); and what God had established He would not permit man to waive or ignore. Even in this case of dire extremity, the woman was not entitled by reason of her necessity to set aside the ruling and ways of God for centuries. The Messiah was sent to Israel, and salvation was of the Jews. She must learn that her only hope lay in the sovereign mercy of God.

The question involved in the woman's plea, therefore, was one of proper decorum in approaching the Majesty of heavenly grace. Seemliness in the eyes of heaven is the due recognition of the dignity and authority of what is of God. Distinctions must not be set aside save by the One who made those distinctions. Soon it would be declared of human depravity that “there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God"; and further, of divine sovereignty, “there is no difference, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him” (Rom. 3:23; 10:12).

But in the days of our Lord's ministry, there were still those who nationally were of the family of God and those who were not. In relative dispensational position, therefore, the two classes were as far removed from one another in the household as children and dogs. Hence the Lord said to the woman, “Let the children first be filled; it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to the dogs.”

In this reply, the Lord, as it were, appealed to what was in harmony with divine appointment in the matter of government among men. When the order of the coming heavenly kingdom is fully established upon the earth, there will then be a class who have a right to eat of the tree of life, and to enter through the gates into the city: there will at the same time be “dogs,” but these are said to be “without” (Rev. 22:15).

The words of our Lord challenged the woman whether she would accept these limitations imposed by God in the course of His sovereign dealings with men. The divine decree to Joshua was that the Canaanite should be exterminated from the land, and now the anointed King in that land had used to her a term of reproach which seemed to be harsh and humiliating. What would she do? In her self-abasement, she accepted the term in its full religious import. She could not claim to be a child, and she did not refuse to acknowledge herself before the Lord and His disciples to be an unclean dog. The word of truth had truly entered her soul, and cast out all Gentile pride, convincing her that by race she was an outcast from Israel, and therefore without any prescriptive claim upon the Messiah of that nation.

THE WOMAN'S SAYING OF FAITH

The woman's reply to our Lord indicated what was in her heart. She did not dispute His word that the children had a prior claim and should first be filled, nor that it would be unseemly to cast the children's bread to the dogs. Outward appearances at that time seemed to suggest that the relative position of the two races was the reverse, for the Jew was under the yoke of the Gentile. Nevertheless, the suppliant owned that Israel was the people of God, as Rahab, another Gentile woman, by a similar faith, had done at an earlier day (Heb. 11:31).

But the faith of this stranger went a step farther. She believed the prophet's word that the seed of Abraham were “children” in the sense of Ex. 4:22; Hos. 1:10; 11:1; but she also trusted God and His messenger to whom she had come that somehow there would be help for her and her daughter, in spite of her gentile extraction.

From whence did her faith arise? It is written that she had “heard of him;” and “faith cometh by hearing.” The news she heard of the Lord brought her to His feet in supplication. Then His word to her, molding and correcting the terms of her request, further developed the faith of her heart which, like Jacob of old (Gen. 32:26), would not part with Him without His blessing.

The Lord described the woman's faith as “great” (Matt. 15:25), and there is but one other instance besides recorded in the Gospels, which He similarly characterized—that of the Roman centurion (Matt. 8:10; Luke 7:9). And it is noteworthy that the same Discerner of hearts who pronounced the faith of these two Gentiles to be “great” declared that of the disciples and that of Peter to be “little” (Matt. 8:26; 14:31).

“Great” faith appears to have grown out of a sense which these two believers had of the illimitable (1) power and (2) grace of Jesus. The two Gentile claimants freely acknowledged their personal unworthiness, but their “great” faith did not consist of their humility. Each presented to the Lord with much fervor a case of great urgency, but their faith did not become great in proportion to the importunity of their petitions. In addition, however, to lowliness of spirit and earnest appeal, they both placed themselves unreservedly in the hands of the Great Benefactor. In other words, they showed unrestricted confidence in His will, acting in His love, to help and heal. Such faith the Lord had not found in Israel, for they said to Him, “What doest thou for a sign that we may see and believe thee?” (John 6:30)

There appear at the same time to be differences between the cases. The centurion trusted the power of Jesus, especially in His capacity as the administrator of the Kingdom of God. He did not at all expect the Lord to come beneath the roof of a Gentile; indeed he did not consider that His bodily presence was essential. The Master needed only, as he said, to utter the word of command, and his servant would be healed (cp. Psa. 107:20). These expressions of the Roman officer showed his absolute confidence in the supreme power wielded by the Nazarene; and the Lord recognized this when He said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”

In the second instance, the woman of Canaan expressed her confidence, not so much in the fullness of the authority as in the over-flowing goodness and bounty of Jesus. The Master who had prepared a table for the children of the kingdom did so, she believed, with a lavishness worthy of the God of heaven. The Messiah had come to fill the hungry with good things. At His feast there was ample provision for all. And while it was not meet that bread should be withdrawn from the children and thrown to the dogs, there were fragments from the feast that remained, crumbs that fell from the table loaded with the Master's benefits, portions of the plenty unneeded, neglected, despised by the rightful guests. Of these fragments, the dogs of the household under the table might surely, she pleaded, be permitted to eat with freedom, though indeed Lazarus desired in vain those that fell from the table of Dives (Luke 16:21).

As a Gentile stranger, she could not claim a chief seat at the feast, nor indeed could she claim a seat as guest at all. Nor, to anticipate the apostolic figure, had she, as of the wild olive, any desire to “boast herself against the branches” (Rom. 11:18), but in singular and appropriate humility she abased herself to a dog's place beneath the table that there she might be authorized by the Master to partake of the crumbs of heavenly mercy. Thus, humbling herself to the lowest, but clinging ever to the All-highest, she became to the Lord's eyes “great in faith,” giving glory to God.

HER PERSEVERANCE IN PRAYER

The pertinacity of the woman in presenting her requests is marked in the narratives of both Matthew and Mark, and she affords a striking example of that continuance in prayer to which the apostle of the Gentiles exhorts the church at Colosse (Col. 4:2).

The persevering suit of the woman was based, as indeed all real believing prayer must be upon a sense of the love and grace of God revealed in His Son. This active cause is brought out in the following quotation (slightly abridged).

“Need and faith in the goodness and power of the Lord give perseverance, as in the case of those who carried the paralytic man when the crowd pressed around Jesus (Mark 2:3-5). But there is something in the woman's heart beside confidence, which grace had produced there. She recognizes the rights of the Jews as God's people; she owns that she is but a dog with regard to them: but she insists upon her demand, because she feels that, even though she be but a dog, the grace of God is sufficient for those who had no rights. 'Even the dogs,' she says, ‘eat of the children's crumbs.'

“She believes in God's love towards those who have neither rights nor promises; and in the manifestation of God in Jesus outside of, and above, all dispensations. God is good, and the fact of a person being in misery is a claim with Him. Could Christ say to her, No, God is not good as thou dost suppose? He could not say this: it would not have been the truth.

“This is great faith, faith which recognizes our own wretchedness, and that we have a right to nothing, but which believes in the love of God clearly revealed in Jesus. We have no right to expect the exercise of this love towards us, but we can be sure that coming to Christ, impelled by our wants, we shall find perfect goodness, love that heals us, and the healing itself.

“Let us remember that true need perseveres because it cannot do without the aid of the power which was manifested in Christ, nor without the salvation which He brought; nor is there salvation without the help which is to be found in Him for our weakness. And that which is in God is the source of our hope and of our faith; and if asked how we know what is in God's heart, we can answer, 'It is perfectly revealed in Christ.' Who put it into God's heart to send His own Son to save us? Who put it into the Son's heart to come and suffer everything for us? Not man. God's heart is its source. We believe in this love.

“The grace of God was fully shown forth towards the poor woman, who had no right to any blessing, nor to any promise; she was a daughter of the accursed Canaan; but faith reaches even to the heart of God manifested in Jesus, and in like manner the eye of God reaches to the bottom of man's heart. Thus God's heart and man's heart meet, in the consciousness that man is altogether bad, that he has not a single right; indeed he owns truly this state, and gives himself up to the perfect goodness of God. But the Jewish people, who pretended to possess righteousness and right to the promises is set on one side; and, as to the old covenant, is shut out from God's favor."

FEATURES PECULIAR TO MATTHEW

A comparison of the terms in which this incident is recounted by Matthew and Mark respectively, affords illustration of the distinct purposes of the two Evangelists in their histories. Mark, who presents Jesus as the Great Servant-Prophet of Jehovah, executing His earthly commission with unexampled perfection and grace of manner, shows Him in the outskirts of Immanuel's land, feeding the Syro-phoenician woman with the “bread of heaven.” Mark's account is briefer than the companion one, but sufficient to excite our adoring wonder at the readiness of the Lord to take up His active service even when the Gentile stranger sought His presence in the house where He “would have no man know it.” This prophet's kindness to the woman who came out of the borders of Tire and Sidon recalls the mission of Elijah to the widow of Zarephath, a city of Zidon. In the days of famine she was preserved from starvation by the power and mercy of Jehovah through the prophet, though she was a Gentile and not a widow in Israel (1 Kings 17:8-16; Luke 4:26).

The principal points which appear only in the account by Matthew, and which illustrate His regal demeanor, are as follows:-

(1) The woman addressed the Lord as Son of David.

(2) The Lord remained silent at first.

(3) The disciples in the Jewish spirit of exclusiveness desired that she might be sent away.

(4) The Lord made reference to His mission to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

(5) The Lord commended the greatness of the woman's faith.

The first Gospel presents Jesus especially as of the Royal House of David, and its first verse reads: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

As the Old Testament records those who confessed the fugitive David to be the anointed king of Israel (2 Sam. 23, et alia), so Matthew most fully of the four Evangelists records those who owned Jesus of Nazareth to be the Son of David. There are six such instances:-

(1) two blind men in Galilee (9:27);

(2) the multitude in Galilee (12:23);

(3) the woman of Canaan (15:22);

(4) two blind men near Jericho (20:30, 31);

(5) the multitude at the entrance to Jerusalem (21:9);

(6) the children in the temple (21:15).

But the Pharisees will not own Him either as David's Son or David's Lord (22:41-46). There are three Gentile women named in the genealogy of the Royal Child, viz., Tamar, Rahab and Ruth (1:3, 4, 5), and one other is honorably mentioned, though not by name (12:22), among the few who hailed the Nazarene as the Son of David.

Though the Lord remained silent, was not this confession sweet to Him, though coming from the mouth of a Gentile? He was in the territory of the tribe of Asher, of whom Jacob prophesied, “He shall yield royal dainties” (Gen. 49:20). So although there was no table in Zion for David's Son, there was one spread in the wilderness of Asher, where He had royal dainties to eat that Israel knew not of, and where there were crumbs of grace for hungry Gentiles too.

W. J. H.

(To be continued)

Miracle

When the iron was made to swim (2 Kings 6), or Peter given to walk on the water (Matt. 14), this was not “a suspension of the laws of nature,” but God's withdrawal of the particular person or thing for the time being from the operation of the specific law. Everywhere else the law was, not suspended but, in full force.

A Thought on Miracles: Part 2

Faith delights to accredit God in all His ways either in His giving laws for the ordering of the universe, or in His suspending them, graciously, acting upon principles which man is constantly discerning, or in wondrously displaying His power and right to set aside for a given purpose His usual methods.

The sun stands still (Josh. 10:12). The earth quakes (1 Sam. 14, Matt. 27). The waters are turned into blood (Ex. 7:20), or stand “on heap” (Josh. 3:13). The violence of fire is quenched (Dan. 3:25), and even man himself becomes as a beast (Dan. 4), or is swallowed by a fish (Jonah 1) at His decree. Scripture testifies to the working of miracles in all ages. Sometimes directly by the divine hand alone, and sometimes by the instrumentality of chosen servants. Both the Old and the New Testaments furnish us with their marvelous records.

In Egypt, in the Wilderness, in the Land, in Captivity, the O. T. records the working of God by His power, for or with His people; whilst in the N.T. we read of signs being wrought by the Lord Jesus and the apostles, as well as by those who believed their testimony (Mark 16:17). Early church history also bears witness to their having been wrought while as yet Christianity was combating the forces of pagan emperors, and the powers of darkness. The purpose of God in using miracles may be gathered from the words used in scripture to express them, namely, signs, wonders, and powers. As “signs” they witnessed that God had visited His people; as “wonders,” arresting the attention of a godless world to His rights in it; and as “powers,” as being superhuman and accomplished only according to His permission, and the working of His sovereign will. We find all three words used in reference to the miracles wrought by the Lord Jesus Himself (Acts 2:22); by those wrought by the apostle Paul (2 Cor. 12:12); and to those which will be by the antichrist in the near future (2 Thess. 2:9).

Seeing then that we have this general testimony of Scripture concerning miracles, we may ask, to what cause can we attribute the fact that we do not see them wrought around us in the present day? Certainly none dare question the prerogative, or right, of God to act as He pleases in the heavens, or on the earth, and it may be that even now He puts forth His hand to over-ride some law of nature locally, for the deliverance or succor of His children: but such action does not take the form of a public testimony, because the Holy Spirit is not only now present in the church, but to convince (ελέγχειυ) i.e., to reprove, bring to light, and put to shame, the world as such, before God, by the instrumentality of His word now completed, and which would not be made more effectual even were it accompanied with miraculous powers. It is mighty in itself to the pulling down of strongholds (2 Cor. 10:4), and when its working is manifested by spiritual power seen by a gainsaying world in the believer, or in the church, and made known for the obedience of faith in the preaching of the gospel for the deliverance of souls from death and destruction, no material sign of the testimony being owned of God is required. For it is manifest that a miracle of grace has been wrought in every soul delivered from Satan's power; and the entire sufficiency of the word of God as the sword of the Spirit, would be less distinctly seen, did it please God to allow signs following to confirm the word now (Mark 16:20. Compare also 1 Thess. 1:5-10; 2:13). We cannot rely too implicitly on, or press too earnestly, the sole authority of the Scriptures now completed, and accompanied by the presence of the Holy Ghost, sent down from heaven, who uses them. But the solemn fact is revealed that He who now letteth will be “taken out of the way” (2 Thess. 2:7); and the world, left to itself and its darkness, will worship the anti-christ, who will exercise power, and signs and great wonders (Rev. 13:12, 13) —lying wonders—which God will permit to delude those who believed not the truth (2 Thess. 2:11). May He give us to discern the times and the spiritual blessings wherewith He now blesses us, together with the power of His word to accomplish all His will!

The Coming of the Lord: Part 1

“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, that the day of Christ is at hand” (2 Thess. 2:1, 2).

There are two great parts in the future advent of our Lord Jesus Christ which need to be carefully distinguished. They are both of the greatest importance, but they have each a very distinct character; and the confusion of that which is distinct always leads to the enfeebling, if not the destruction, of the truth.

It is so with every truth of God. If I look at the person of Christ there are two great sides to it. There is His deity and His humanity. If I confound them, or use one to neutralize the other, I have lost the truth about Christ. It is not true that He is God only, nor that He is man only. Nor is it true that it is a confusion of the Godhead with the humanity of the Lord, There is His person, but most assuredly there is a Divine nature and there is a human.

So, again, if I look at the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ; there is the very fullest grace, but there is righteousness. If I forget the righteousness, undoubtedly I shall use the wondrous self-abandonment of the Son of God, who suffered for our sins, in a selfish manner. If I only see love in it, I shall make light of sin; and if I do not see love and the fullness of love in it, I shall never have peace with God. So that the confounding of things that differ—no matter what the theme you take up, or the test by which you prove the truth of it—the confounding of things that differ is one of the most dangerous ways of losing the power of that which God reveals for the blessing of our souls.

It is not otherwise with the second advent, as it is called, of our Lord Jesus. There is one side of it which is the expression of the fullest love and sovereign grace. There is another side—that there will be the execution of the most solemn judgment. Here the distinction is even more marked, if possible, than in the atonement, or even in the person of our Lord, because the expression of judgment falls upon man objectively, whereas the Christian is now and ever safe in Christ. As to the person of Christ it is the same principle. One needs to be subject to the truth of God as to the deity and humanity of the Lord. In the atonement, it is just the same thing. It is the believer who reaps all the blessedness of God's unsparing judgment of sin; and it is the believer who enters into all the fruit and perfect results of God's perfect love. But in the second advent of our Lord Jesus there are different objects. It is not only that there is the twofold side of the truth, but the sovereign grace which is manifested in the coming again of our Lord Jesus will give to those who know Him a definite, distinct, and intimate relationship with Himself; whereas the execution of judgment is on those who abide His enemies. To confound these, therefore—to suppose they are bound up together in one and the same transaction—we shall find to be a mistake fraught with consequences wholly destructive of spiritual intelligence. Whereas, when we discriminate between these two things so different, then I am persuaded we are on the way to find that a great deal of the Word, otherwise hidden from the believer, will become more and more plain to him. Therefore I press very much the distinctness of these two doctrines as an important element—as important as any other—for those who believe the Word of God.

And, one must add, it is the more necessary to do so, because the confounding of these two things is rather common in fact, a natural tendency of the heart. I have not the slightest doubt from the translation that is given in our ordinary Bibles that those who made it excellent men as they were, and learned—did not distinguish between the two. To me that is manifest from the mistake into which it led them—a mistake which I have not to combat now, I am thankful to say. You have all got the Revised Edition of the New Testament in your hands, I suppose, and anyone who takes the trouble to compare the Revised Version with the old, will find that what I have often insisted upon—very probably in this town—has now been effected. Undoubtedly the revisers did not make that alteration because they believed in what I am going to set before you to-night. They did it very much as a question of language. I suspect that very few of them knew the truth in respect to the question. I say this not in the least out of a disposition to slight their knowledge of languages; and I am persuaded that they themselves would allow that this is the case-more particularly, also, as there appears to be a mistake in the way in which they translate the first verse. But they have been faithful in this, that they let you know that the true meaning of the last clause of the second verse is that the day “of the Lord” —for this is the true reading of the best copies—is not “at hand,” but present.

It is not a question of translation—in the day “of the Lord” rather than “of Christ” —it is a question of text, and their text is better there. But the last word is a question of translation. They say, “is now present.” I need not tell you that this makes an enormous difference. To say that the day is “at hand” represents the day as future. To say that the day is “now present” is in contrast with the future. Now, there the main error lay. What our Authorized Translators say—that the day of Christ is at hand—was really true; whereas, to represent the apostle as combating its nearness is not true. It is a most serious mistake. The false teachers were preaching that the day was already come, but the Authorized Translation makes it appear that the apostle denies this to be true. Elsewhere, in the thirteenth chapter of Romans, the apostle says— “The night is far spent, the day is at hand.” He could not possibly say in chapter thirteen of Romans it is true, and that it is false in 2 Thess. 2:2. That is what the Authorized Translators really involve-that the apostle contradicts to the Thessalonians what he affirms to the Romans. That could not be; nor is it true. Any scholar knows that the word is quite different, and that the word “at hand” is perfectly right in Rom. 13:12, and “at hand” utterly wrong in the A.V. of 2 Thess. 2:2.

The Revisers are here right. What the false teachers taught was that the day of the Lord was now come. You would naturally ask how that could be. It seems such an egregious thing to assert that the day of the Lord was already come. They clearly had a sort of figurative understanding about the day of the Lord. They knew the day of the Lord to be an outburst of trouble and perplexity—a time of darkness and thick clouds, according to the Old Testament prophets; and they pointed to all the trouble the Thessalonians were suffering and said— “The day of the Lord is come.” The apostle says, “No; it is not arrived. It cannot come yet. There are tremendous evils which must take place before the day of the Lord can deal with them.”

The important theme to-night is not the day of the Lord. I merely make these preliminary observations to show you how mistaken it is to conceive of the coming of the Lord as the same thing with the day of the Lord. Beyond controversy, it is evident that the Thessalonians would not have allowed for a moment that the Lord was come. That was contrary to the sense of all—contrary to every appearance of the truth. They knew that when the Lord comes—the apostle had shown them that carefully the dead in Christ should rise first, “and we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” All this was not come—therefore the Lord could not have come. There was some figurative meaning given to the day of the Lord, and that was exactly where the folly of the false teaching showed itself.

The apostle elaborately enters into this, for the purpose of putting both truths in their right relation the one to the other. “We beseech you, brethren” (not here in regard of, but) “by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The word the Authorized Version has translated “by” —and, I think, not improperly— is the word referred to first, and I believe we do not get so good an equivalent in the Revised Version. Thus what betrays that the revisers did not understand the argument of the apostle is that they say “in regard of” or something equivalent. Now, by this they show that they conceived the coming of the Lord and the day of the Lord to be the same. They thought that the subject which the apostle was discussing was the coming of the Lord. Now, this is not so. The subject under discussion is the day of the Lord. The error was that the day was present. The false teachers did not trouble themselves about the coming of the Lord; but they were very full of the day of the Lord, and they took advantage of the circumstances of the Thessalonians to say that the day had begun—that that day had actually arrived.

For what, then, does the apostle bring in, in verse 1, the coming of the Lord? To lift up their eyes from their circumstances, from their troubles, from their persecutions, from the darkness and clouds of the earth, to heaven. Do you not know that the Lord is coming—that He Himself is coming in person? No one could say that the Lord was come. This would have been so utterly to contradict common-sense that they would themselves have repudiated such an assertion. But the apostle recalls them to the great and blessed hope of the Christian. We all know—all of us who are familiar with the New Testament, with the First Epistle to the Thessalonians more particularly—that the bright hope of the Christian is that the Lord is coming. What is He coming for? Not to put away our sins: He has done that already. Not merely to bless the earth, because this is not our hope, although we expect it. There are many things we expect that are not our proper hope. What is our spiritual hope? Himself; He Himself, to take us to the Father's house; Himself, to present us in His own beauty and glory to THE FATHER; Himself, that as He has gone into the Paradise of God He will come to fetch us there—not even leaving it to the highest angel in heaven to bring us there, but Himself will come, that the objects of perfect favor may enjoy it where there is nothing inconsistent, where there is glory, where there is the absence of all that can grieve or distract the heart, where there is everything to promote the enjoyment of His love, and where all will be according to that love. Glory is not the highest thing, but love; and, therefore, in the seventeenth of John, our Lord Himself tells us that the glory will be the proof to the world of the love that is set upon us. But a proof to the world never can be so deep as the thing itself. We all know, supposing a subject were arrayed by his Sovereign in the most gorgeous robes, and put in a position however high, it would not be the same as enjoying the love and confidence of the Sovereign in the most intimate way. And what is a Sovereign's love compared with that of Christ? Remember, too, that it is not a love that is for a little season only, but full and forever.

Well, then, this is the hope of the Christian; and it is of the greatest importance that you should remember this is our true hope, that the Lord Jesus will come to take us to be with Himself, and like Himself, and this where He will be forever. It is not merely going to heaven, and still less is it reigning over the earth. I fully allow that both these things are true. God never made the earth to be merely a football for the devil. He will not allow the earth to be a place for His enemy to harass His creature and put dishonor upon Himself. He means to make this earth a part of His glory. It may be the outer circle of it, but this earth shall know the glory of Jehovah. It is not only the knowledge of His glory, but the glory of Jehovah shall fill the earth; not merely the heavens, but the earth. The heavens are higher than the earth, and so the glory unveiled there will be of a superior character to that which will embrace the earth. Accordingly there is where the Lord will give us this blessed hope in all its fullness and in the depths of its power; when the Son of God will come to receive us unto Himself, and present us with Himself on high the objects of God's love—the love that rests upon Him resting upon us, and ourselves brought into a suitable relationship to God. Now we are members of His body; then we shall be His bride. Of course I know, and you know, that these are but figures; but the figures of Scripture are not the flourishes of rhetoric, nor are they to be regarded as words that signify nothing; on the contrary, they signify everything that they express—that is, they are vivid images of the truth, which God will most surely make good in that great day.

But there is another thing of very great moment. You will see why it is that if Christ personally be the center of our hope, as He undoubtedly is, it exactly falls in with all truth. What is it that makes any part of divine revelation vague or indistinct? I will tell you, separating it from Christ. If you are a believer, yet if you allow the very smallest separation of any truth from Him, if you do not see all truth in Christ and with Christ, you will be, comparatively speaking, feeble in the faith. That is the reason why, if you take up a book on theology or divinity, as it is called, it is all so cold, and has so little in it which attracts the heart. It is only a skeleton. It is not really the living Christ. Everyone feels this who has any kind of spiritual sensibility. Therefore it is that when persons draw their views from books of divinity rather than from Christ, as revealed in the Word of God, the effect on their souls is to make them cold. There may be power of reasoning, order, or even imagination in the book; but imagination is more like the coruscations of electricity than the real, true warmth of living power. Nothing but Christ has life. Christ is our life, and the Holy Ghost will never act except in view of Christ and for Christ. The Holy Ghost has been sent down from heaven for the express purpose of glorifying Christ. He does not glorify Himself, and He certainly will not glorify any mere article of faith, although it may be true.

[W.K.]

(To be continued)

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Abraham: Genesis 12-13

Genesis 12, 13

There is no failure, so far, in the accomplishment of the purpose of God. When they reach Canaan, what is it that God sets before us? “The Canaanite was then in the land” (ver. 6). Things were not yet according to God. It was not only that Abram's faith shows the weakness of man, but further, the state of Canaan was altogether opposed to that which befits the nature and proper purpose of God. It was not only that the world already left behind by the man of faith was still pursuing its idolatries; but if there were, men on earth peculiarly under the curse of God, it was the very race that Satan planted in Canaan. “Cursed is Canaan.” What a solemn thing, the meeting of the blessed one, about to be a blessing, with the cursed ones, that God would sure deal with in the day that was coming (and so accordingly we find)! Satan's object by it was no doubt to thwart the purpose of God: but it only gave Him the opportunity of carrying it more thoroughly and gloriously to the enemy's shame and everlasting contempt.

We never understand the importance of our walk here below, unless these two things are distinctly and steadfastly before us, not merely that we are objects of God's tender mercy and personal interest, but that we are called out to Himself, as well as to “the better country” that He has shown us. But He has told us too who has meanwhile usurped possession of it. The heavens are now opened, and we see by the Holy Ghost sent down thence Him who is on the throne of God, interceding for us as cleansed by His blood, and gone to prepare a place for us. The heavens were opened not merely for Him to enter as the victorious Savior, but they are open still, where He is exalted. This is the way in which He is now revealed to us. They will be open until the Lord has brought us there. I do not say that they will be closed after that, but that judgments will fall thence. In grace they are open for us to look now into. He whose blood opened them for us is the One on whom they opened, not for judgment, as we read once in Ezek. 1, but, as in the very beginning of the New Testament (Matt. 3:16), that God might express His delight in Him, His Son, the perfect man withal here below.

Let us remember then that we too are identified with God's great starting-point for Abram; we are called out, and blessed, to inherit and to be a blessing. Does the grace of it (and it is no, the richest part of our blessing) fill our hearts at all times? Take for instance our ways as members of Christ's body, the church, etc. It is not merely that we come together to acknowledge His mercy to us, which of course we do. Thankfulness should be the first thought of the heart that has been opened by the grace of God. Who are we that now speak to God, looking up and singing praises? Sinners brought out from guiltier evil than that out' of which Abram was called. I can understand those who never had sin celebrating His praise, where sense of personal delivering grace is not the special character of their thank-offering before God.' But who can understand a soul that is redeemed presuming to begin with anything but hearty. thanksgiving for the mercy that has plucked him from destruction, and put him so that he can look up to God and magnify his Savior? But what., ever we begin with should not be the end for us. It is very right that we should feel evermore what it is to be the object of the tender mercy of God, in awakening our hearts and lips to thank Him; but we should go on to praise Him for what He is as well as own all He has done. For now we see how worthy He is, and can delight in what He is even apart from ourselves. The heart can thus go out in adoration of another and a higher character, in praise and blessing as well as thanksgiving.

But I was going to dwell upon another point. It is not only that we are blessed, and that the spring of thanksgiving is touched, and that praise flows forth from those that are blessed; but there is more than this, an activity of love that looks around according to the goodness we have learned in Him, as well as love breaking out in praises as we look on high and see Him who in our midst praised and taught us to praise before He went there. So we see here: “Thou shalt be a blessing,” and “in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Take the occupation of the Lord's day. That which calls forth our hearts, is it only when we gather round the Lord at His supper? Has not such grace and truth as His furnished special occupation all through the day? I should say that its entire course has its calls and place no less than the assemblage at His table, and I say it the more because there is a danger of a little reaction. Time was when men used to think the chief thing worth hearing was a gospel sermon, and when they used often to bear a great deal that tried them to get what was not even a good sermon, longing to hear something: that might help, comfort, and strengthen their: souls. There are many Christians in that state still. Are we in the enjoyment of better blessings from God? Have we the sense of what His grace has done for us in heavenly places? But do we, as well, keep up the activity of His love in our souls? Or are we settling down, content simply to give thanks for the blessing that we possess as children of God?

Do you suppose that a person can be at the spring of blessing without also knowing more or less of joy in the power of its active going forth? Depend upon it that this is of great importance to the Christian as such and to the assembly; for it will always be found true, that if we are not going forth in the power of blessing, the world in its power of evil steals in upon us. There will be a withering influence that will show itself under perhaps fair forms. Do you say, why should I go and listen to the gospel? What have I to do with the message to the unconverted? You have, you ought to have, a great deal to do with it. You may not be a preacher; but is there no such thing as fellow-working? Or even loving interest if not positive help? Are there no hearts that go forth with every word that is said by the evangelist, none to pray with him for every soul that listens, and especially for those awakened by the Spirit? I do say that we are called on, not to be as we once were, with our heads down and our eyes anxiously looking out, if haply we might get something to satisfy our starving souls. By grace we now know God to be no hard master, and we can in our measure see and enjoy the rich provision of His glory. We of all men then should not appear like the bold beggar that having got his morsel goes off therewith content. Can it be that this is what it has come to with any of us? Or that any soul would sanction such selfishness? Take care that we never seem to come short in this respect. Let us look to it that we put far from us every semblance of heeding only our own things but the things of Jesus Christ as to sinners as well as saints. If we value the things of our Lord in the church, so also let us not be slack in the gospel. Let us have this simply and fully before our hearts, to remember that we too have Abram's portion, not only as objects but as instruments and channels of blessing. For indeed it is meant that we should draw from the very spring of grace that is ever flowing, whether for the help of those who are already Christ's, or for those in that darkness out of which we have been delivered by infinite mercy.

There is a fresh point I should point out. “Jehovah appeared unto Abram” find)! Satan's object by it was no doubt to thwart the purpose of God: but it only gave Him the opportunity of carrying it more thoroughly and gloriously to the enemy's shame and everlasting contempt.

He not only spoke but “appeared,” language to me not casual, but intentional. “Jehovah appeared to Abram and said.” How it was done, we do not know; but we do know what is written. All that we read the first time is that “Jehovah had said,” but now we find “Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land.” There is nothing vague any longer, but precise. It is not “a land that I will show thee,” but “unto thy seed will I give this land.” What is the consequence? There “he builded an altar unto Jehovah,” and not this merely, but “unto Jehovah who appeared unto him.” It is quite evident therefore to my mind that in this was the needful preliminary to worship, which necessarily awaits the manifestation of the Lord. Worship follows, when he has appeared, and the heart knows Him as He has made Himself known. So Abram, when Jehovah has not merely spoken but also appeared, builds an altar to Him.

Do we know how blessedly true this is in our Lord Jesus Christ? This is precisely what He was showing, but what the disciples were so dull to take in. You remember Philip saying, “Lord, show us the Father,” when the Lord Jesus had been showing them the Father in His own self all the while here below. It is what the Holy Ghost soon after made real, not when Jesus was there, but after He had gone, that it might be completely a matter of faith, and that we who never saw but believe might have the joy no less. Need I say, that what the word of God gives us of our Lord Jesus Christ is incomparably more to us than if we had but seen Him ever so long with our bodily eyes? I hope we all really understand this; for it is of no slight moment. We can easily imagine what a wonderful thing it was to have looked on Him and to have heard Him; but no intelligent believer need hesitate to say that we have far more of Himself in and by the word than if we had seen and heard Him all through his life and ministry on earth without that word. Do we not appreciate this? If we believe it, let us give God thanks now as we shall forever.

I will explain why this as so. Are your eyes and your ears as good as those of God? The word is not merely Peter's or Matthew's or John's impressions of the Lord, but God's truth, though no doubt He employed them to write it. Then think of the advantage we possess in having it not only perfectly but permanently, not left to the shifting sands of memory under the ebbs and flows of the heart, still less to anything before the eye for a passing moment. Here we have God's mind about Jesus faultlessly, completely, and imperishably, in the word of God.

And now is sent down the Spirit that we might see the Father in One who alone could make known the Father. What is the consequence? Wherever the heart surrenders itself to God as He manifests Himself, there is an altar built. This is by grace the way and the effect. It is not therefore the fact, observe, that we had the worship all at once. Not the least trace of it appears till now. Possibly Abram may have built altars on his pathway from Ur of the Chaldees to and in Haran; but this I do say that, if so, God makes nothing of it at all. The only altar up to this He mentions is now in Canaan after He had appeared to Abram. It may well be, in point of fact, the first altar that he ever erected; but of this we must be sure, that it was the first that God thought worth naming to us. What a lesson for our souls!

Abram was now in what answered to the heavenly land, and there the Lord gave a fresh manifestation of Himself. It is when the soul has reached this in faith, when (not merely His word and His work, but) the Lord Himself is personally known to us brought nigh to Him (for this is the point that it sets before us as a principle), that one truly worships. If He has brought me near Him and shown Himself to me in Christ, what can I do but use the altar built for His worship? For “we have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle” —they who prefer Jewish forms and shadows to Christ, now that He is come and has wrought redemption and placed us as children before His God and Father.

But there is more than this. Abram “removed from thence;” but if he pitches his tent elsewhere, he none the less worships. Move or not, Abram has his altar, wherever he finds himself in the land of Canaan. “There he builded an altar to Jehovah, and called upon the name of Jehovah.”

Alas! a new scene opens to us. “There was a famine in the land, and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there.” Did he ask Jehovah before going there? Did he spread the circumstances of the land before Him? Not a word is said implying it; and I think there is the strongest reason to gather from the silence of scripture that He did not. For its silence, if we are familiar with it, speaks to us no less than what it utters. God brings before us now the sad slip into Egypt of the man who, once called out in the face of difficulty and spite of hindrances which his own unbelief had brought in or allowed, had at last found himself in the place of blessing with God; but, there getting into trial, he goes unbidden into the place of the world's plenty. “There was famine in the land.” Why did he not then lay all before Jehovah? Undoubtedly Canaan was not yet as it should be according to God; but had He not called him there? And could not He keep him there? Abram goes down to Egypt to sojourn in it without a word of guidance from Jehovah. It was the direction of common sense, “For the famine was grievous in the land.” God states the fact without reserve; He never withholds the truth, albeit to the shame of those He loves.

“And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now I know thou art a fair woman to look upon; therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife; and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive. Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister.” How solemn it is when a saint takes and perseveres in the downward path! It is not only now that he departs from the land that Jehovah had shown him, and given to his seed; that he is distressed just like a Gentile by the famine, and bound for a country (Egypt, figure of the world, as Canaan of heaven) where there was abundance without a word from God; but now, further, having put himself into these circumstances of nature, he falls even from its proprieties.

Indeed, I may ask, do you ever find a child of God taking the ground of nature without going below it? When the Christian deserts Christ to stand on character, wonder not if his character utterly fails. Is God with him in it? A Christian is called to be a witness not merely of justice and. right but of Christ. Do you look for no more than honesty in a Christian? Where then is his testimony to the grace and truth of Christ? He is content to give up Christ if he is content to be only an honest man. “He does not want to be always praying and singing, preaching and bringing in his religion.” To slight Christ thus is a solemn thing. I did not ask for his religion, but that he should manifest Christ. Is he ashamed of Him? Is his conduct such, his bearing such that it would not do for Christ to be named by him? Is it not to be feared so? He does not like to name Christ, lest persons should ask, Who is this that talks so about Christ? He who by faith behaves in a way which becomes that excellent name does not shrink from speaking of Him. But the unfaithful Christian is content to be known among his own class as an honest man. Will this last since God is not with him? God upholds those who humbly confess Christ. To speak of Christ is to sound the silver trumpet of the Lord, who thereon will own and be with you; but you who do not sound His name, have you the Lord to protect you? Assuredly you will fail.

So it was with Abram at this time. He goes down without Jehovah directing his way, as he seems not to have called on His name and in Egypt, sad to say, the father of the faithful is guilty of equivocation, with no purpose higher than that of protecting himself at the expense of his wife: not a noble place for a husband, nor a worthy use to make of his wife. But so it is, when one who ought to have been walking in faith falls back on the slippery paths of his own fears and the world's favors.

See another result. Everything now flourishes outwardly. Abram had never been so rich. Had he ever been prospered before as now? Was it not the marked blessing of the Lord? “He had sheep and oxen, and he-asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she-asses and camels.” We do not read of this in past times. But how was it all gained? Oh, if Abram had only now got before the Lord, if Abram had but placed himself before Him that appeared to him, not a single acquisition but would have been a wound in his heart, and the keener too as it was through the denial of his wife. Was this to live Christ?

The Lord nevertheless dealt in His own marvelous way; for He did not smite Abram, or even Abram's servants to thin them down, but “he plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues.” How striking are the ways of the Lord, and how full of instruction for us! The righteous government of God was at work: for Pharaoh knew well enough that he had no right to take the woman, even if she were Abram's sister. He was taking advantage of his position to claim what did not belong to him. The issue is that, struck by the evident hand of God, Pharaoh calls Abram and finds out the truth. Now it was Abram's turn to feel. If Pharaoh was plagued, Abram was put to the blush: what a humiliation for him! The very world reproaches Abram. And what can he say? He came without God and he went without honor.

Abram quits Egypt. Pharaoh had learned somewhat of God's righteous ways: what could he think of Abram? Were his riches to his credit? He had gravely compromised himself, and been rebuked by a heathen; but at least he is on the right road again. “He went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south,” and afterward goes to Bethel “unto the place of the altar which he had made there at the first, and there Abram called on the name of Jehovah” (chap. 13:4).

Yet surely, brethren, that passage in Abram's life had not been in vain. Did not grace then as now cause all things to work for good to those who love God? No slight work was that which went on in Abram's soul. He had been compelled to review his conduct, and we see clearly that it was the Lord who brought him back to the point whence he ought never to have departed. Repenting before His sight he returns, and in due time and place is found again a worshipper. But it is in Canaan, not in Egypt, where scripture hints not a word at either tent or altar.

Lot now comes before us. If I do not dwell more on him now, let me remark at this juncture how nobly Abram comes out. There was a strife among their respective herdmen; and what does Abram do? Lot was the nephew, he the uncle. To Abram, not to Lot, all had been promised; nevertheless, when dispute arises, he stands up for no rights of his. He had learned too well his wrongs. He had been down before the Lord, and is as far as possible from taking a high place, even with one who ought to have been subject.

But mark the blessedness of bowing before the Lord and of refusing to fight for our rights, however natural to the heart. The moment that Abram gives up to Lot, Jehovah appears again; and never was a gift in such distinct and large terms to man as that which He now gives to Abram. Lot “lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan,” and chose the best of it. Now Jehovah says to Abram “after that Lot was separated from him, [that is, after he had taken possession of his ill-gotten gains,] Lift up now thine eyes” how blessed are the words of the Lord! — “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.”

How sweet for Abram to have trusted in the Lord, leaving all the question, though apparently with Lot, really with Jehovah! When shall we learn to be thus simple and confiding? Assuredly, we shall also learn at the same time that there never is a giving up of self that is not answered by the Lord, in His grace and in the sweet assurance of it to our souls, by a better gift still through Jesus Christ our Lord!

[W.K.]

(To be continued)

Notes on Matthew 7:13-29

This is a very searching word, and a word that we need. It shows, as also the verses lower down, that an empty profession will not do; we must remember that we are in a world where everything is against Christ. And I often think people make too light of what Christianity means. “If the righteous scarcely (or, with difficulty) be saved” —this alone shows that it is not an easy thing for a Christian to go through this world. We know that we are in a different position from what these disciples were, and full provision was made for us, after the Lord died and rose, by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. But this is the side we need to look at. Not only is it a narrow entrance, but narrow all the way; the path is narrow. There are two paths in the world, one broad, which would speak of self-pleasing without reference to God; the other narrow, that of self-denial. “If any man would come after me let him take up his cross daily and follow me.” This is not the Lord's cross, but every saint has his own cross in a world like this. In Luke, it is “Strive to enter in at the strait gate,” and that would apply to real earnestness. It is where the question was put “Are there few that be saved?” The Lord never answered a curious question, curiously; He always answered morally. So here you be in real earnest to be right individually. Gate and door have a like significance—that of entrance. A door is generally to a house, a gate gives entrance to a pathway. But the most important part no doubt is the end of the journey. The end of the broad road is destruction; the end of the narrow path, life. Of course it presupposes life if you are to enter, and to pursue it. We commence with eternal life, and the end is eternal life. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,” that is the starting point; “ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end, everlasting life” —life in all its blessedness at the end of the journey. The broad road pleases the many; but as to the narrow, “few there be that find it.” So we ought not to be surprised at the unpopularity of the narrow path of faith and obedience.

I have no doubt that Peter's reference to the deluge in his First Epistle (3:20) was given as an encouragement to the Jews scattered abroad, only a few of whom confessed Christ. So in Noah's day, whilst the ark was preparing, there were, he says, “few, that is, eight souls, saved” out of the vast population living on the earth at that time; for we must remember that man's life then was but little short of a thousand years. So it ought not to discourage those to whom Peter was writing, if so few accepted Christ as the Messiah. The Lord Himself, for us, is the Way. It does not matter whether it is a religious world or anirreligious one; there is, as has often been said, not only the dirty side, but the clean side of the “broad” way; and this is the “way” that causes no exercise. On the contrary, the “narrow” way is that which calls for exercise of conscience, so, as ever, to please God. As Paul could say, “Herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men,” and he was thought narrow and bigoted in consequence. False teachers would affirm the path to be not so narrow as scripture lays down. The character of the false prophets in Ezek. 13 was their making it very easy for people to go along: for they prophesied out of their own heart. The serious thing was that they followed their own spirit and heeded not the words of God.

There should be a “But” before ver. 15. Of course, we now, as Christians, are in a different position to these disciples. They were to know the false prophets by their fruits, but we have the Holy Spirit and the written word whereby to “try the spirits whether they be of God.” The two great tests are, the person of Christ, and the word of God. If you find anything derogatory to the person of Christ you may be sure that it is not of God, for the Holy Ghost is here to glorify Christ. Sheep's clothing is what is suitable to a sheep; but these false men have a fair exterior, but by their fruits ye shall know (or, recognize) them. This is all very searching, and shows thoroughly how these false prophets had not divine life in their souls. “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” If we take this as a figure of men, “there is none good"; “there is none that doeth good, no not one"; so, if there is any good, it can only be from a new, a divine, nature. Thorns cannot produce grapes, nor thistles figs, and those who do not produce good fruit have only one end, and that is the fire for “every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.” It is all connected.

Ver. 21 shows us that these were evidently self-deceived. It was quite right to call Him “Lord” as He says of His disciples in John 13, “Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well; for so I am.” Yes, He was, and is, the Lord; and all through this portion He speaks with authority, not only as the great Teacher, but also as the Judge. Every one of the human race shall have to do with Him. In the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth; and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. But here, in Matthew, it is of those who make profession and call Him Lord by lip only. Scripture plainly reveals that profession alone will not suffice; there must be much more than profession. “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord,” and this is practical holiness. “The grace of God that bringeth salvation” teaches us (and you cannot divorce the doctrine from the grace) “that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.” There is the danger of making everything of the profession. I think there is often a mistake in dealing with souls as to this. It is thought to be the great thing to get people to say 'I believe.' You should get them to believe, and, to this end, present Christ. But there must be subjection to Him, to His will, to His word. It is true that we who are the Lord's are “elect, according to foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” That is, we are set apart by the Spirit, the very first moment He begins to work in us, not only to the sprinkling of the blood of Christ, but also to the obedience of Christ.

Ver. 22. The Lord does not deny that they had prophesied. It was possible for a wicked man to do so. Balaam prophesied magnificent prophecies, but he perished with the enemies of the Lord. Caiaphas also prophesied. It is possible to understand all mysteries, and yet not be saved. It is well for us to take notice of what is said here, “In Thy Name have cast out demons.” A man may be a wonderful preacher, and used of God to the conversion of souls, but yet have not life in his own soul! Paul says, “I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast-away.” He is referring to the Grecian games. He does not mean that he feared his being reprobate, for he ran, not as uncertainly, nor did he beat the air, but that if keeping under of the body did not go along with his service, it would but prove him a counterfeit. It was the apostle's way, when enforcing the unpalatable rather than the pleasant, to apply the former to himself as illustration. But where it was matter of what was pleasant, he loved to bring in others by way of example. “In Thy Name done many wonderful works.” All this might be true. A man might indeed be used to turn a lot of drunkards into respectable citizens, and yet, sad to say, be lost! “I never knew you.” But the Lord does know them that are His (2 Tim. 2:19). There is no such thing as a child of God being “lost.” “I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of My hand,” is what the Lord Himself has said. How emphatic! Yet one may be a mere professor, able to speak of wonderful deeds he has done, and yet have no love to Christ!

That was the difference between Judas and Peter. Peter's was an awful fall, but he did love the Lord, and had faith in Him, which Judas never had; though I have no doubt the Iscariot participated in the powers conferred on the apostles, being one of them. Another scripture says “We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets” (Luke 13). We may suppose a regular attendance at the preaching, or a partaking of the sacrament so called—a resting on these privileges, yet with no real link between the soul and God, no divine life and indwelling of the Holy Spirit! There is no such thing as a simple believer saying, Lord, I was resting exclusively on the value of Thy precious blood, and the Lord saying to such an one, “I never knew you.” Think of the solemn words, “Depart from me” —to be shut out from all blessings! if you have not Christ. As 2 Tim. 2:19, there is not only God's knowledge of His own, but also our responsibility. I mean the responsibility of those that are saved. I do not for a moment believe in what some teach, that God has done His part and I must do mine. No; we cannot mix 'up our works with God's plans. Christ's finished work alone gives us a standing before God.

Coming back, then, to our chapter, there is the good tree and good fruit. A true profession, and working iniquity cannot go together. It is not what we give up, or do, or bring. Every false religion says, “Something in my hands I bring.” I am a receiver; and after conversion, I am only elevated by my wants, for they lead me to God.

The Lord is showing, from ver. 24 and onwards, that the great thing is to have the right foundation, that which will bear all testing. It is true that it is not enough to hear, it is “Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them.” In Luke, it is, “Whosoever cometh to me,” etc. The coming would speak of faith. You get this in Hebrews, “He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that r diligently seek him.” It would go to show that if there is merely hearing and not doing, the root of the matter is not there. In the case of Simon Magus, he heard and he believed when he saw, and yet he had no part nor lot in the matter; there was no faith in him. Hearing, with the doing also, supposes reality; and nothing but reality will do for God. Here it is evidently reality in contrast with mere profession.

Ver. 25. It stood all the testing, and where there is reality

“We to the end shall endure,

As sure as the earnest is given;

More happy, but not more secure,

The spirits departed to heaven.”

Ver. 26. If one does not hear you cannot speak of building at all. Hearing brings responsibility with it; here it is, “and doeth them not.” John 13 says – “If ye know these things; happy are ye if ye do them.” We shall not be rewarded for merely knowing (though it is a blessed thing to be “filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding"), but for doing. “Happy are ye if ye do them.”

The rock is in contrast with the sand. The apostle Paul writes “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ.” There is the foundation of the apostles and prophets, but that is their testimony in connection with Him, but He is the corner stone and holds all together; and He is also the head stone, the place of exaltation (ver. 27). We ought not to be satisfied to be uncertain about this matter: the building is for eternity. I suppose this verse contemplates profession without even the desire to do His will. “If any man desire to do His will he shall know of the doctrine.” There is a great deal of comfort in that. Many say, 'I want to do it' who would not like to say, ‘I do it' (vers. 28 and 29). There is the difference between the Lord and the highest apostle or the greatest prophet. They say “Thus saith the Lord.” He never did. He is the Lord “I say unto you.” He is the One with whom all have to do. He taught them as one having authority. In Mark 16 we find “they believed not” them, and this again and again. But after that the Lord had spoken to them, the disciples went forth and preached everywhere. His word had effect, for He speaks with authority.

Philippians 4

The first verse really belongs to the previous chapter. It is the one epistle (as I suppose most of us know) that is devoted to Christian experience. Paul does not here write as an apostle—his apostleship is not brought forward in any wise. When it was a question of saints being led away by bad doctrine, he makes a great deal of his apostleship. But this is a Christian speaking of his own experience. This epistle is very stimulating and encouraging, and should help us to go on in the Christian path. And it is characterized by joy. In that respect it corresponds with Deuteronomy in the O.T. Deuteronomy has seven distinct references calling on the people to rejoice, and the charge that the Lord has against them is that they did not serve Him “with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart” (28:47).

The law of liberty belongs to us—not liberty to do our own will, but the will of God, and to serve His saints. The verse that would stand out as giving the character of the epistle is, “To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (1:21).

In chap. 2 we have Christ as the great Pattern (vers. 5-8). And there the One who went down, in wondrous grace, lower than any other, is the One who is exalted above all. Then in the next chapter (3) you get the Lord Jesus as the Object of faith. Paul has his eye on Him in the glory, and cannot be satisfied till he is with Him there. He was the object of Paul's desire “That I may know Him,” etc., and then He is the object of our hope (vers. 20, 21). That is but a little outline of what we have in these three chapters; now in chap. 4 we get the wonderful resources which we have in Him.

First then, he would put these two sisters right. There seems to have been some alienation between them. The impartiality of Paul comes out in his addressing both (ver. 2). It must affect Christian joy if we are at variance with our fellow-believers. So as far as in us lies, we are called to live peaceably with all men, not only with fellow-believers. I dare say we forget sometimes we do not “see ourselves as others see us,” and that others have to forbear with us as we with them. I may try them as much as they perhaps try me. I could quite imagine a worldly Christian finding it difficult to get on with a more spiritual one. I heard a lady recently say that Paul must have been a difficult man to get on with; at any rate, Demas could not do so.

Ver. 3. “True yokefellow” —Whom was he addressing? It appears to me that Epaphroditus, who brought these things to Paul, was in all probability writing this epistle at Paul's dictation. We have reason to believe that every epistle Paul sent was written by an amanuensis, except that to the Galatians. I don't know that he put his signature to the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, which was the first he wrote; but in the Second Epistle he said they were to look out for his signature as proof of its being genuine. So in all probability, Epaphroditus was writing at Paul's dictation, and it looks as if he was addressing him. Well, as that verse finishes up, there is seen something far greater than any service. When the disciples came back, telling the Lord the demons were subject to them, He said, “Rejoice not in this; but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven.” That is all grace.

What ought to characterize us is joy (ver. 4). The scenes around ought not to affect our joy in the Lord. We ought to be superior to all that is passing around. Paul, in prison at Rome, and chained to a soldier, you would have thought to be the one who needed comfort, but he is the one who is ministering joy to those in more favorable circumstances than himself. With the Christian joy and sorrow go together. The Man of sorrows is the Lord Jesus, but He was the happiest Man that ever walked the earth. “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places, yea, I have a goodly heritage.”

Everything changes here—there is nothing to rest on. But we have stability and unchangeable blessings in our Lord Jesus, so whatever we are pressed with here we should always rejoice in the Lord. Of the world we may say they enjoy “the pleasures of sin for a season,” and it is possible for a child of God who is indifferent to communion with the Father and the Son to be less happy than a worldling. He is spoiled for the world, and has not got the proper Christian enjoyment in Christ.

Ver. 5. “Moderation” here, is “yieldingness,” “gentleness,” or “mildness” — not standing upon our rights; giving up rather than dishonor the Lord or grieve another. This ought to be seen in each of us. “The Lord is at hand” is the reason. That would apply to time or to place. So some take it as meaning His presence, as in Psa. 16 “The Lord... is at my right hand"; others again, that He will soon be here. You get that at the end of chap. 3. He is the object of our hope. He will soon be here so we can afford to be yielding. We don't want to be grasping here, or demand what as men we have a right to. We can afford to give in. Let us illustrate it. Suppose a man is working for a master, and that master always pays his due, and expects the man to be there at the proper time—that is a righteous man requiring righteousness. But if the man falls ill, and the master, instead of being only righteous, sends his wages every week—that is a good man, and the servant would feel 'I could die for him, he has been so kind.' Psa. 112 tells us what a good man is, so we need not go outside the word.

Ver. 5. I have heard a man say, 'I seek to act righteously to others, and I expect them to act righteously by me.' But that falls much below what we have here. Then we are told to “Be anxious for nothing” (ver. 6). Bengel has said, “Care and prayer are as opposed to each other as fire and water.” If you really know what it is to have to do with God, the care goes; and if you are still carrying it, you have failed in prayer to God. It is showing us the secret of having a quiet heart and mind. We cannot keep our own hearts. There are things come along that disturb and distress us, but there is One who can keep it for us. And “in everything” —great matters and small ones. G. V. W. used to speak of “handing up everything to God.” Of course there is always room for thanksgiving and earnest supplication. And then I have the sense of having left it in the hands of One of almighty power: and here is the secret of a quiet heart and mind.

“And the peace of God” —quite a different thing from “peace with God.” This goes with justification at the end of Rom. 4, speaking of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus “Who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification. Therefore, being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” There I have peace of conscience, and am cleared of everything. That is what the Christian life starts with. I have peace with God, and that can never be changed. “That which shakes the cross, can shake the peace it gives.” Well, what is the peace of God? God is up above all the evil of the world and all the power of Satan. He sees the end from the beginning, “Who doeth these things known from eternity.” “He worketh all things according to the counsel of His own will.” He makes the wrath of man to praise Him, and makes everything work for His own glory. That peace which can never be discontented—that comes down into this poor heart, and keeps it as a garrison.

If I look around, and see the state of the church, its fragmentary condition, it ought to cause me grief, but I ought to remember it has not taken God by surprise, and His purposes will be accomplished. Many here have heard of the two carpet weavers, one of whom was greatly disturbed by all the confusion. 'Well, ' said the other, do you see any design in the carpet you are weaving? No, of course he didn't, he was working at the back of it; the pattern was on the other side. We see things on the back side now, but we shall see them right side up by and by. That would be the teaching of Haggai when some were weeping and others rejoicing at the building of the house. But the prophet was inspired to tell them, “the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former” —looking forward to the millennium. We look back to Pentecost, and we shall not get comfort from that. But look on to the Revelation, whence we have it at the end in all its beauty and glory. Pentecost is not to be compared to that. There is the secret. This is not stoicism. It is not to make us hard, but more feeling, more tender, not to be indifferent to joy or sorrow.

Ver. 8. Whatsoever things are “true,” “venerable,” “just,” “pure.” We should have our mind occupied with the good. Even if duty compels us to deal with evil, it is defiling; and one is not in a condition to deal with evil unless occupied with good. “Virtue” is a word constantly used by the heathen, but this is the only time Paul uses it. Peter uses it three times. “Add to your faith virtue,” or courage. The heathen made everything almost, of courage, and that is the form of it there. You need courage to live out the proper Christian life. Believers have been “called out of darkness”: and we are to show forth the “virtues” or excellencies of Him Who hath called us. This is an evil world, and if we are not watchful, we shall have the mind constantly occupied with evil.

Ver. 9. “Heard” —-i.e., what he had taught them. Now we don't want to look at that in a vague, general way, but it shows you how to have “the God of peace” with you. He is never called the God of joy. Joy is an uneven thing—it fluctuates.

“My love is ofttimes low,

My joy still ebbs and flows,

But peace with Him remains the same,

No change Jehovah knows,”

Let us think now of the Christian walk and the teaching of Paul. The Christian is not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, and in Rom. 6 Paul teaches them that they have a new master as well as a new life. Don't let sin govern you. Then he goes on to show that the Lord Jesus died unto sin. It is a question of the evil nature which we shall not get rid of till we are out of this scene. The believer has faith, and the word of God for it, that he is justified; and he expects to be able to walk along full of joy in a holy path. But he finds he has an evil nature still, and that the evil is stronger than the good, according to Rom. 7 “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?” What an awful experience! Then he sees it all accomplished—he sees it in Christ—and he is free then to be occupied with Christ and not with himself. Then chap. 8 begins: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,” and now begins Christian experience. But then we are to carry it out practically. It is not only “heard” but “seen in me.” If we turn to 2 Cor. 4 we find we have this treasure in earthen vessels... always bearing about in the body, the dying of the Lord Jesus—that is, making a right use of the cross.

You see as Paul said, “To me to live is Christ.” No doubt the figure here is Gideon and his men. You get the breaking of the pitcher and the shining in this experience-the life of Jesus manifested in our body; but it is only through making a right use of the cross.

“So then death worketh in us, but life in you.” How was that? It was using the cross and the putting to death of Jesus, and keeping the flesh inactive, so that what came out in Paul was not flesh at all. Death was dealing with old Paul, and blessing going out to the Corinthians in consequence.

The Coming of the Lord: Part 2

I do not condemn articles of faith. For my own part I rather admire the Articles of the Church of England; I don't mean the ecclesiastical or political, but the doctrinal. I consider them very fair; sound, for the most part; and certainly moderate in their statements. Even the Athanasian Creed, which many clergymen are anxious to get rid of, I consider to be the best of the three Creeds. As to the Apostles' Creed, it is a very poor affair; and I suppose you know that no apostle had ever anything to do with it. This is merely one of the frauds of the early Fathers. Then the Nicene Creed is anything but a successful production. The great point in it is, “I believe” —not in the church— “I believe the church;” which has tended to set the church up as a teacher. But the church is nothing of the kind. It is all a mistake. God is the source of teaching. The instrumental means by which the church is taught is through His ministers, but the church does not teach. It is all an error of Popery, but it is an error that has got into all kinds of bodies very far removed from Popery. I only now refer to it to show the importance of the truth, and I say again that, while allowing the value of these articles of faith where it is set forth in creeds, still there is no life in them. They may have their value in guarding against error, or in being a kind of bulwark; but we want something more than that. It is not enough that the house be empty, swept, and garnished. Far from it. We don't keep out error merely by an abjurement of error. We need the power of the truth. We want a living power to preserve our own souls individually. There is that which tends to death, because it tends to corruption, and there is but one thing which counteracts it all; the Holy Ghost working through the Word, and through the Word revealing Christ to men.

I say, therefore, that exactly as we see the true grace of God in all Christ's fullness of glory—because the grace of the Lord depends upon the glory of His person—so exactly is His grace efficacious and effectual. A man dying on a cross is nothing, but a Divine Person dying there is everything for God and man. A mere death on the cross, what would that be? Why, there were two men died along with Christ, and what did their death signify so far as others were concerned? One of them died an impenitent criminal. The other, through the grace of the Divine Sufferer beside him, died a blessed death. We want the death of One who can turn death into infinite and endless bliss. That is what the death of Christ effects. As the person of Christ is everything in every truth of God, so there is nothing which contains real living power apart from His person. In the future the same thing is true. Take away Christ's person, and make it merely a going to heaven, how cold a thing it will be! It is blessed, no doubt, to go to heaven; but people begin to doubt about going to heaven unless Christ is before them. They sometimes say they have doubts and fears in forgetfulness of Christ.

Who could look in the face of the Lord Jesus and say they have doubts and fears? Certainly the penitent thief had not. He had been a sinner up to the last moment. He had not been brought out of his sins till then. What was it that delivered him? The hearing of faith, the believing in that Blessed One who was dying beside him. No doubt there must have been a lighting up of every atom of the revealed Word of God ion his soul. Messiah he had heard of before only as in Scripture. But when he put the person of Him who was dying along with the Word of God, when the Holy Ghost connected the two, when there was a spark, as it were, put to the coal—what a change! This is what is needed. Faith does bring in Christ, and that is what the faith of God's elect has always done. The Old Testament saint had Christ before him as truly, though not so fully, as we have. Abel rested in Christ, as did Enoch, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the rest of the Patriarchs. Did not Abraham rejoice to see His day and was glad, as the Lord Himself tells us? And so with all the other Old Testament saints. You may depend upon it that this is a universal truth, and that no soul will be in heaven along with Christ that has not seen Christ by faith. But now that He is come, and now that He has done the infinite will of God His Father on the cross, there is a tendency to rest upon the work without the Person, and the consequence of this is that you deprive the Word of half its value at the least. You deprive it of all that gives force and fullness to it if you separate the person for a moment from the work; which is just the tendency of some teachers about the matter.

Do not suppose I am pleading for any looseness of dogmatic teaching. On the contrary. Perhaps one may be a greater stickler for orthodoxy than many persons who think themselves more orthodox. Assuredly I am pleading for carefulness about the great foundations of the church of God, and I thank God that these have been maintained. Even in the Romish Church it is one's comfort to think that after all they have the doctrine of the Trinity—that truth which never can be touched for a moment without danger—and that they believe in the reality of the Deity and of the this obnoxious denial of the fruit of redemption is humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. There are other views that tend to destroy the force even of these truths. I mean the exalting of other beings; the multiplying of mediators, and the bringing in of the sacrifice of the Mass, to the destruction of the power of the one sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.

I return to the great truth before insisted on, that is, how essential it is that the person of Christ be a prominent point in the Christian hope, as in all other truths. Just as for our souls, it is not merely a salvation, but a Savior. “Believe” not in the blood, not in the work, not in the cross—that is not the message of the apostle Paul to the inquiring jailor “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” That Blessed Person brings in His blood, brings in His work, brings in His death and resurrection; but if I merely put forward the work, I may dwell simply upon the fact and not upon the person. But there is another effect of it too. A person draws out my affections towards him. Christ draws me to His feet to worship Him. The faith of a man is small if it does not produce a worshipping spirit.

Just so as to the coming of our Lord Jesus. It is not my going to Him. It is not your going, or any other person's going, or all the persons in the world going, divided as they are in place and in circumstance. Such is not our hope. Our hope is one; not this split up and quite diversified hope. Our hope is bound up with Himself coming for us. If you are the children of God, do not suppose that I mean that you lose nothing meanwhile if this is not your hope. I have no sympathy with the modern attempt to revive the old patristic notion that the believer in dying goes into some prison or safe-keeping where he is until the morning of the resurrection. You may ask, Who teaches such nonsense as that? Very respectable persons indeed. Perhaps you are not so much used to it on the north side of the Border; but I hear a great deal too much of it in the south, and it is not confined to mere objectors, but, I am sorry to say, even in some Christian societies taught. For what does it all turn upon? That it is essential to your enjoying the true hope that your soul be founded upon the truth of the first coming of the Lord Jesus. Have you entered into that which Christ has brought near? Do you know yourselves to be whiter than the snow, in the sight of God? That is what the blood of Jesus accomplishes. It is not merely a temporary cleansing. This was what the Jew got. The Jew had cleansing of the flesh, but it was just as long as the particular atonement for the sin lasted. Thus there was a frequent renewal, a constant repetition, just because the whole thing was imperfect. The perfect work of our Lord Jesus is contrasted with that in the Epistle to the Hebrews. The whole point there is the many sacrifices of the Jews because of their imperfection —the one sacrifice in its abiding perfection and in its efficacy for you, for me, and for all who are believers in Him.

It is of importance that you should enter into this view of the subject, and I shall tell you why. How can you glorify God and His Christ if you do not know that all is clear between yourself and God, and clear forever? You may tell me of the danger, and I admit it. There is nothing that the Wicked One will not pollute—nothing he may not turn to license, unless the Christian uses in faith the guards that the Word of God supplies. But nothing can atone for enfeebling the truth. Is it the truth that by one offering Christ has perfected forever them that are sanctified? Then make that truth your own. But do not fall into the Methodistic, or Quaker, or Pearsall-Smith idea of sanctification—all of which are substantially the same. The true Scriptural meaning of sanctification is that you are set apart to God. It is not at all a question of whether there is no evil in your flesh, for there is a great deal. Why, that is all fallen nature is made of. But yet you are sanctified. Sanctification has nothing whatever to do with the extinction of evil in the flesh. That idea, begun with Pelagius, revived by Thomas a Kempis, handed down through Jeremy Taylor, the French and Dutch mystics, W. Law and John Wesley, has passed into other communions where they have no notion whence it came.

Beloved friends, the old doctrine you ought not to have forgotten in Scotland, and I trust you have not, and I do not mean to say you have, but, still, I know it is forgotten in a great many places—namely, that the believer has two natures and not one. All teaching that sets forth the nature improved is false. The old man in the saint is always bad. While we are living men here below, the will of the flesh is opposed to God: there is that which God does not improve, and which does not in the least degree admit of improvement. Our old man is not extinguished, but crucified. “Let not sin, therefore, reign over you.” It is not gone, but the allowing it to reign over you is exhorted against. It is like a wild beast which you are to keep under lock and key; but the wild beast does not become tame by merely locking it up. And the overlooking of that point quite accounts for a Christian falling into what is wrong. He sins when he is careless or off his guard. There is in the believer on the one hand, that old nature of the flesh which is always prone to evil; and on the other the new man, or the new nature—that which loves God and His will; and it is in virtue of this that the man is said to be sanctified. He has got a nature he never had before. He is set apart to God, and, being brought by faith under the power of Christ's work, he is said to be washed, sanctified, justified. Don't you allow the idea that justification is in the wrong place there. Nothing of the sort. God does not make mistakes in that way, and, depend upon it, the apostle Paul knew quite as well as you or I what he was writing. There are no mistakes in Scripture; for this is what God has written. “Washed, sanctified, justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God.”

You may ask, what has that to do with our hope? It has this to do with it, that you will never fully get the true hope until your heart is resting simply on Christ alone. If you are not submitting to what the Apostle calls “the righteousness of God,” in His redemptive work, you will shrink from Christ's coming, and want to put it off as long as you can. You are afraid of Christ then, and regard Him as a judge. I quite admit He is judge of all men as such. He will judge the world. But to say that He is judge to His body, the church, is all wrong. Such is not His relationship to the church at all. He is the church's Bridegroom. Do you think, when a woman is to be married to a man, that she could look upon him as a judge? Even though he were a judge officially, he would only be a judge to others and not to her a judge to prisoners, but not to his wife. What confusion of thought! And yet it is confusion made by highly respectable persons in all ages. Hence I wish to press this upon you, that the source of difficulty and doubt about our hope is the failing to grasp the full truth about what Christ has already accomplished for us. Therefore, the first requirement of every soul is to search and see what the Bible says on that head. Are you set free (Rom. 8:2)? It is not enough that you should be merely converted or quickened. This, of course, every believer must be. But you will find a great many truly converted persons who are not really at ease. They are not quite at liberty of heart. They have got their anxieties in their relationship to God. When they are in that condition, how can you expect them to welcome the Lord Jesus? Clearly the reality of waiting for the Lord Jesus Christ has never taken possession of them.

I remember a celebrated author, a servant of Christ, who wrote the biggest modern work upon the Book of Revelation. I once had some correspondence with him on this subject, wherein he conveyed— “If I could think of the Lord possibly coming to-morrow, I should be much afraid and agitated!” This showed, surely, that his heart was not resting, as a Christian man is entitled to do, on the perfect love of Christ his Savior. You can readily understand the expectant bride waiting to be married to her future husband, and you might say that she was agitated. There might be no little excitement, one could understand; but, surely, when there was true and confiding love between the two, it would not savor of alarm. It would not be the agitation of fear. Now, that is exactly what my departed friend acknowledged. And what did it betray? Very likely what is at work among some here, a want of conscious liberty of heart, because of everything being clear between the conscience and God. And the source of that bondage of fear is the want of simplicity of subjection to what God tells us in His Word that He has found in the blood of Christ for us. The death of the Lord Jesus is of perfect and everlasting efficiency, and it ought to be a point of honor, if I may so say, that believers never should allow aught to overcome their resting in assurance on Him.

May a person, then, not be overcome? Yes, but treat it as a sin: do not nurse doubt; do not allow it to master you. Treat it as evil—not because you do not deserve to be troubled, but because God does not deserve to be doubted. That is the point. When the Son of God has wrought a perfect work in glorifying God about sin, it is a disgrace to Him as well as to me if I allow anything to cloud confidence in His love. “Be strong,” says the apostle Paul to Timothy, “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” This is beautifully shown in the case we have already referred to—namely, the robber on the cross, the penitent and believing one. It is very difficult, especially amongst those who reason a great deal, constantly to maintain an unclouded sight of Christ; and I have observed that much controversy on religious questions has a very injurious effect in that way too. No man ought ever to read controversies unless his duty compels him to do so. Don't read them for the purpose merely of knowing all the great questions and the great answers that have been made in this world. There is a far more blessed thing. Acquaint yourselves with God Himself. Acquaint yourselves with Christ. Grow in grace and the knowledge of Him; and the effect of this will be that all objections of Satan will fall before Christ, and your soul will be kept in the unclouded favor of the God of love.

Where this is the case, the waiting for Christ is simple and certain. He that rests upon Christ only and His redemption, waits for Christ alone. There will be many other elements. Sweet and blessed to think that we shall be with all the redeemed; that we shall know them as they will know us, and that there will be the joy of life and the joy of companionship. Not merely the blessed fellowship of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, amid all the delights and songs of heaven—we shall have every kind of joy. Not a single element of holy joy shall be wanting in the heavenlies. All these things, we know, we shall have by the grace of God; but there will ever be one commanding object, and that object is Christ.

Therefore now we may come back to Christ Himself. And look how the truth binds these together. The moment He comes, every saint that has ever been, rises to meet Him. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, from every land and of every tongue, from every age and people at once—not a few selected ones, but all the saints shall rise and meet their Lord. Banish from your minds those ideas that are found rising up again to pollute the air for God's children—that it is only those who know more than their fellows that shall be caught up, and that other Christians shall be left to pay the penalty of their want of intelligence at this time. Where do they get that? There is one black spot upon all these theories, and naturally, that the people who preach that a selected class shall be caught up to meet the Lord always have the misfortune to mean themselves. If I came to tell you that none of my co-religionists, as they are sometimes called, although I entirely repudiate that expression, desiring no religion but Christ—but if I came saying to you that only those who share my views, whatever they be, on this or any other matter, are the favored few that are to be caught up to meet the Lord Jesus, you might well hiss me out of your town, as I should deserve to be rejected as a false teacher, at least as one merely crying up a party. No, the saints of God shall all share it. It is not merely what strictly is the church of God—not merely those who are indwelt by the Holy Ghost, and have been since the day of Pentecost—but all saints that have ever been in this world, that will answer to the call of the Lord Jesus.

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout. Did you ever learn that this word “shout” only occurs this once in the New Testament? There are words for shouting found elsewhere, but this word is quite peculiar. What is the peculiarity? The word thus employed is the technical word for an admiral's call to his seamen, or a general's to his soldiers. It is, to put it more broadly, any special call of command to those who were in special relationship to him that commanded them. And thus you see the bearing of the word on this great topic. It is not a call to the world—it is not a call to everybody. The gospel is that, and thank God for it; but this shout is only for those who know His voice, who have heard Him already—those who are familiar with His love, those who are His own, those who have learned to obey—those, therefore, that know that it is the great Captain of Salvation who is calling from on high, who is calling His own to be with Him on high. The word “shout” has nothing to do with the question of loudness, any more than it has to do with universality—the very reverse, it rather excludes it. It is exactly what would not be used by even a scholarly man in a vague general way—how much less by an inspired apostle. “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout” —it is a word of command; it is an assembling call-"with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God.” All these, you see, are entirely unconnected with the world. They have to do with God's own people, for “the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

There is another point I should like to say a word upon in connection with it, because it helps to make plain a saying of Christ. In the fourteenth chapter of John there is a very beautiful setting forth of this blessed hope. “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in me.” At first it sounds very peculiar that the Lord should here tell believing disciples to believe in Him. I do not think it means that they were merely to increase their former faith. “Ye believe in God, believe also in me.” I take it that the force is this You believe in God though you have not seen Him; believe in Me, who am going to become invisible to you. I, who have been your visible Master, your Teacher in your midst, am going to leave the world. I am going, therefore, to enter a condition of invisibility as far as you are concerned, because I shall be no longer on earth, but in heaven. This follows most simply and naturally from the words of the next verse “In my Father's house are many mansions.” It is not that the Lord was going to have done with His body; He never will do that to all eternity. In that sense, therefore, it will never be a question of absolute invisibility, but only relative to those disciples certainly so. And this is necessary for Christianity. If I were asked to give in very few words one specific difference between Christianity and Judaism, I would say that Judaism was a religion of sight; Christianity of faith. We walk not by sight, but by faith. Here then, now, to test the truth of it all, the Lord enters that condition, but not by becoming a spirit. The Lord is not a spirit; He has a spiritual body. An angel is a spirit; but the Lord Jesus is not. “A spirit hath not flesh and blood.” We must not at all allow such a notion as that the Lord Jesus, in His risen condition, has not flesh and bones—of course He has. He has no longer a life in the blood, because this is a life in connection with earth, a life which lives by food, air, etc.

[W. K.]

(To be continued)

SHORTLY

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Abraham: Genesis 14

Genesis14

I have contented myself now with reading the remarkable scene with which the Spirit of God closes the public history of Abram. We may, if permitted, look a little by and by at the beginning of that which is of a more private and personal nature; but we must now follow up the close of Abram's call with its consequences. It was intended to be of the most public nature in its effects, if not in the fact itself. As already shown, it was not that the secret choice of God was a new principle—He had always acted on the ground of election in His own mind; but Abram was a person chosen and called out to be a publicly separated witness. This helps us a little more to see the force of that often misunderstood chapter, Rom. 11, where we have the figure of the olive tree introduced. Its root is the divine call of Abram into a separate place of privilege, and consequently of testimony on earth—testimony that might be of an outward character simply, as in the case of the children of Israel, or rise to a higher object as Christians are responsible for now. But the Jews were what the chapter describes as the natural branches of the olive tree. Nevertheless it is plain that God's glory was for the time being connected with that very testimony; and our Lord Jesus Himself was pleased to go into it as minister of the circumcision, and we ourselves now form a part of it, grafted in there by the grace of God. It must be remembered that this is not at all the highest part of our testimony; and it is only referred to now for the purpose of illustrating the difference between what we have had, and what we may have in what follows.

From the beginning of Gen. 12 to the end of chapter 14 is the more public part of Abram's history, which illustrates the dealings of God, not so much with his soul, as bringing him out into a place of testimony for the glory of God here below. He is here seen therefore soon put to the proof; for this is a discipline from which no person escapes here below. It will presently be shown how this bears on the chapter just before us. But I mention it in order to remark, the more definitely, the difference between what we have had already, ending with chapter 14, and what begins in chapter 15.

Here the results soon appear of that which had already come out in the respective ways of Abram and Lot. What took place in the land of Canaan might seem to have not the smallest connection with the struggles of these powers of the earth. But a witness for God, let me remind my brethren, is a very important thing, both to Him who raised it up on the one hand, and to the enemy on the other. Now we are slow to learn this. The first great lesson of a soul—and that which our hearts feel most (at our starting-point at least) —is when the mercy of God arrests us in the path of our folly, awakens us to our excessive danger, brings us to Himself through our Lord Jesus, and gives us then in peace to enjoy the grace wherein we stand. And there, practically, many of the children of God stop. But there is much more than this, and indeed this is not the first thing that comes out. For the main lesson we have here is very different from what we might have anticipated. If we had had to do with the history of Abram, I do not hesitate to say that we should have begun with chapter 15. Ourselves believers, we might have thought first of his soul's need, and so of bringing him out distinctly as one quickened and then justified by faith. But God shows us here another thought. It is not as if all this and more is not all-important, and the gospel now makes it quite plain. But here God is pleased to give us first of all a general sketch of the public place of Abram. By “public” I mean what Abram was called out to be as a witness for God.

Now Lot, as we know, had chosen for himself. He coveted what seemed to be, and what I suppose really was, the fairest in the land. For as a single eye is very quick to discern that which concerns the glory of Christ, a covetous one is sharp enough to see its own interest. But there is a truth, beloved friends, that some of us have to learn, deeply it may be, that it is better to trust the “Lord's eyes than our own; and that although, no doubt, in the world shrewdness may discern much, yet the world at its best is but vanity and assuredly deceives those who love it most. Nor is it only true that God will expose its folly and evil in the day that is coming; for one of the precious lessons we have learned from the word is, that now is the time when God deals with us in the way of government, just because we belong to Himself; and being in the public place of testimony for God brings us peculiarly under it. Hence, to illustrate practically what effects ourselves in connection with this, God has been pleased in His grace to put us who believe in His Son in a place not merely to gather blessing for our souls, now that by faith we are enjoying His salvation, but in our little measure to be identified with the glory of Christ in the world. Do we know what it is to be in the place of testimony for the truth of Christ? What is the consequence of it? That things, which might once seem little become great, as the great have dwindled wonderfully. Thus the old definitions of great and little well-nigh disappear. And no wonder, as we find while God brings us, little as we are, into connection with His greatest things, on the other hand our little things (or that which flesh, when it wants its own way, would call the least) become of importance because they concern Christ and represent Him either truly or falsely.

Now it must have seemed to Lot a very natural thing to choose what would suit himself, as Abram appeared wholly indifferent where he went. At any rate thus he may have reasoned. Evidently there was not a thought of testimony for God or of faith in this. Abram shows in general one who walked in dependence on God. There was this difference in their character: not that there was not faith and practical righteousness in Lot, nor that there was not failure sometimes in Abram, for we see how clearly scripture has laid both before us: but for all that there was generally this marked difference, that in Lot we see one who profits by his opportunities, wherever he may be, while Abram shows us one who went out, as it is said, “not knowing whither he went.” Would Lot have done this? I cannot conceive it. Lot, on the contrary, took good care where he was going, first with whom, and next, when alone, he looked well out for what would be useful to his cattle, that is, to himself. As Abram did not seem to be so very particular, Lot thought he would be; so he chose the best he could see. After all he made but a bad calculation, as men always do in such cases; just because they have come into the place of the testimony of God. Lot never thought of this. It did not enter his account; but God had Lot before Him, and He does not forget it.

And allow me to remind you, brethren, that we too are there. No doubt there are some that understand the truth better than others, having a graver sense of the conflict, and a more solemn feeling of responsibility to the Lord: but whether we have thought of it or not, whether we have weighed it passingly or gravely, there we are. And what is more, the world feels it, and, one may add further, Christians feel it; and therefore they are concerned and occupy themselves with all who are testifying to Christ in a way altogether disproportionate to their apparent importance. It might be a very simple soul, and perhaps ever so young, occupied with work of the humblest kind; but they feel, all of them, that here is a person distinctly and avowedly identified with Christ before God and man. Consequently what might pass with others, and produce no remark or feeling at all, draws out at once the judgment of those that see and hear him. So we find in this very case: only here it is a more solemn thing, for in this chapter we have God marking, by what He brought about, and by what seemed altogether remote from what is before us, His decision about the matter.

This comes in, it may be observed, very abruptly. God leaves us to form a spiritual judgment as to the connection of it with what we have had before. For it is always by the Spirit of God, simply following His guidance, that we are enabled to form a distinct and (in the measure of our faith) an assured judgment as to the lesson that God is showing us. Be this as it may, it came to pass in these days that there was war between the kings named. War doubtless was no such uncommon matter; but there was something very unusual in the results of this battle. God indeed ordered things so as to draw unmistakably the attention of all to Himself. There was a lesson thereby shown to the world, as there was a lesson now taught to Lot, that ought not to be forgotten. I do not say that Lot did not fail afterward; for he did. But there was a lesson in this which, if Lot overlooked it afterward, God has preserved for our instruction now.

These kings then came to a conflict, which raged not at all in the far distant east of some of those engaged in the strife. God's witting hand brought it close to the spot where His witness walked. We see them in the vale of Sodom. There things came to an issue that seemed final, as it is said, “the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain. And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their victuals, and went their way.” Now comes the connection with our story in verse 12. “And they took Lot, Abram's brother's son.” Here we find no particular stress laid on, nor express reference to, any part of Lot's previous life. Why so? Because God looks for a spiritual understanding in His people. He has not told us the previous tale of chapter 13 in vain. He looks for our understanding why it was, without further explanation. Yet we may ask here why not Abram? Why Lot? “They took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods and departed.” This might seem natural enough; but we shall see whether all could be merely natural before we have done with the chapter.

I do wish to impress it strongly as on my own mind, so on yours, my brethren: never forget that we as believers have to do with what is supernatural every day. In no case allow yourselves to be beaten out of the true groundwork of faith for yourselves, nor permit men of the world to drag you down from God's word to what they call “good common sense” —an excellent thing for the world, but wholly short and misleading for the Christian in that which concerns God. And the simple reason is, that we are bound to walk by faith. It is our call. We are entitled to confide in God and His word. What to a man looks so foolish as that? If God is still “the unknown God” to the world, His ear is open to us.

There is a word the apostle uses which perhaps you may never have weighed well, never have had it so before you as to make an impression on your mind; and that is where scripture tells us that “every creature of God is sanctified to us by the word of God and prayer.” Ευτευὲις is not the ordinary word for “prayer.” There is a reason for that; because in 1 Tim. 4. it is not the expression of mere want. This indeed is not the idea at all. Ordinary prayer is the drawing near to God, and asking Him for what we have not got; but in this case it is clearly not that, because it is supposed we may have the thing in our possession. But—is there therefore to be no going out of heart to God about it? Suppose now it is what we have actually in the house. Common sense would say, “You cannot ask God for what you have got.”

The fact is, it is the expression of a heart open, not only for God to speak to us, which was always true, but for us to draw near to God. It is intercourse with God that is the point, and not only the expression of want: free, simple, happy, communication with God—such is the idea. And this should be our thought and feeling and way in partaking of anything that God's mercy grants to us, whether we have it at the present moment or not. If we have it not before our eyes, it is before His eyes. He loves us, and cares for us:- why should we trouble? Does He really hear us as we speak to Him? We have only to bethink ourselves for a moment in order to rebuke our unbelief. But suppose we have the things needed: are we to be independent? God forbid. If there be no wants to present to God now, have you no wish to speak to God now? —no sense of the blessing of God upon you? Do you not want to tell Him how greatly He loves you, how truly He is caring for you? This is what is specified here; and in this sense to us every creature of God is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

The word translated “prayer” here, you may not have perceived, is the opening of this intercourse with God by which we can speak to Him about anything and everything—even the commonest matters which concern us day by day. I refer to it because all this is very intimately connected with the strength of our testimony. Abram knew its principle well; but now God has revealed Himself incomparably more fully than in the days of Abram, and our familiarity with God ought to be in the measure of His communications to us. As it is said, “every creature of God is sanctified by the word of God.” It must begin with Him. It is first He who speaks to us; then we speak to Him; and the consequence of His so speaking to us is that we freely speak to Him. It was just the want of simplicity and vigor, if not reality, the want of living thus before God, that enfeebled the testimony of Lot. Assuredly power of public testimony depends, after all, on faith in what is unseen, and the resulting intercourse that goes on between God and our souls.

Here it comes out plainly. God reminds us that Lot dwelt in Sodom. This would at once disclose or recall what Lot's behavior and unbelief had been; how little his soul could taste in daily life of “the word of God and prayer.” Was there not the very reverse? It was not Lot standing only for God, but striving to care for himself. The consequence is, when the strife and turmoil of the battle between the powers of the world take place, there is an end of Lot's settling down for the present. But that which was no small rebuke to Lot was the occasion for Abram to come out as one who walked with God confiding in Him, and who shows us, too, that power of grace which rises above whatever had been personally wrong. There was no doubt about Lot's failure in testimony. But Abram thought nothing about his faults now. What he looked at was a righteous man (for no doubt Lot, spite of all, was righteous) swept away by the contending potsherds of the earth. This drew out his feelings of loving desire for Lot's rescue. “When Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Daniel".

We must not misuse such a fact as this. No doubt we do find, in the history not only of Abram but of Daniel and others, that which could be no kind of direction for the Christian now. Most of us know that to use the superior mind or the strong arm to deal with the world would be anything but suitable for a Christian; but then we must carefully remember that there are things, which, though right enough morally, would be quite wrong for the Christian because he is brought into heavenly associations in Christ. This I hold to be a very important consideration for practice, as it is a grave principle to understand in scripture; because otherwise we get either into capricious laxity or into undue severity of judgment. We may begin to reason and conclude that this was a wrong thing on the part of Abram, because it does not become a Christian. If a line of action is clearly outside the path of Christ, does not this decide for us? What were the ways of our Lord when He was here, and what suits Him now (for it is with Him as He is that we are united) is the question for us. We have thus to use the light of Christ to see what is becoming for a Christian now; but it would be altogether a wrong measure to judge Abram by. God had not yet brought in any such unfolding of His mind as we have. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ; it was not fully uttered before. The true light had not shone, before which darkness fades away. Hence there are ways that not only were not wrong in Abram, but that God Himself was pleased to bless him in, regarded in those early days without even a sign of disapprobation; and no doubt this was one of them. I see no ground whatever to suppose that Abram had made any mistake, or acted wrongly, in employing these three hundred and more trained servants that were born in his house, with whom he pursued the retreating kings to Daniel

“And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.” Have we not a very marked fruit of Abram's testimony here? Just as Lot had come to nothing, which was the end of his lending himself to his own thoughts, and of his desires unjudged; so on the other hand here was the power and honor of God with Abram. It was, I need not say, far from being a natural affair. Here were victorious kings marching home with their armies; and a private individual, a pilgrim and a stranger, was so led and strengthened of God, that the victors are vanquished in their turn and the faulty believer rescued.

But this gives the occasion now for a closing scene of the deepest possible interest in another way, and for one of our grandest types of that which will be displayed in our Lord Jesus at the end of the age. The New Testament makes grave and interesting use of it. “And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter... and Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought forth bread and wine; and he was the priest of the most high God.” It will be observed, there is an intentional abruptness in the introduction of the royal priest. It is with distinct design that the Holy Spirit introduces him without the slightest previous mention. He comes forward and he disappears from the scene in a like mysterious way. What are we to gather from this? That Melchizedek was an angel? That Melchizedek was an apparition of the Son of God? No more than it is Shem under a new name. There is no hint of such a disguise here or in any part of the scripture. Melchizedek was a priest, as he was also a king; scripture says so, But there is no ground to suppose that the peculiar manner in which he is here named indicates that there was more than a real and royal and priestly personage in Melchizedek himself. It is the way in which he is introduced by the hand of the Spirit of God that is so remarkable. There is no hint of anything angelic or divine in his person. And one whose ancestry or descendants are expressly hidden stands in full contrast with Shem.

Again, he who met Moses on his coming out of Egypt, and who, under very important circumstances, counseled him in the wilderness, was both a priest and king. It was therefore in early days, by no means so uncommon a combination, Prophecy shows that it will be so again in our Lord Jesus, when He reigns over the earth. We may see the principle of it at any rate in David when he wears the linen ephod and dances Before Jehovah. This was of course short of the reality; but it showed that even in the days of his throne in Israel, the glory of Jehovah was dearer to him in that which concerned the sanctuary than anything which touched his own person, about which Michal showed jealousy of unbelief fatal to herself. All these might be shadows; but the, great and abiding reality is coming for the world, and the Lord Jesus is the One who alone will display it unfailingly. But still, as a matter of fact, there were men who were both kings and priests in those days of yore, and Melchizedek is one. Further, I see no reason to doubt that he was then living, a real king and priest, at this very time, and in this very quarter; but the Spirit of God introduces him in a way that becomes typically most striking, appearing on the scene and vanishing from it after a singular sort.

Notes on Matthew 8:1-17

You do not, as a rule, find chronological arrangement in this Gospel; that is not the design of the Spirit. Events are grouped rather dispensationally in Matthew, whilst in Luke they are given us morally. In chaps. 5, 6, 7, we have had the King revealing to us the principles of His kingdom, though these chapters suppose also His rejection. But principles alone are not sufficient; you want also the right man. Here we have One who can do everything; One with infinite compassion; One who can heal diseases, forgive sins, control the elements; One who is almighty. So in chaps. 8, 9, you find the right Person as well as the right principles. The leper shows what Israel was nationally. Leprosy is a remarkable figure of sin in the flesh in its polluting character. The condition described in Isaiah 1 is often looked at in a wrong way. That condition was the result of God's chastisement, as ver. 5 shows— “Why should ye be stricken any more?” They had been so beaten in God's governmental dealings that that had become their condition when Isaiah wrote, though of course it was their sins which necessitated the chastisement.

The Old Testament shows us that the leper had to be put outside the camp, he was not fit to be numbered with the redeemed people. He was like a sinner unfit for the presence of a holy, sin-hating God.

God required that those gathered around Him should be holy. It is well for us to remember how that came in. There was no restriction to Aaron going in at all times, till the fire came out and consumed the sacrifice. Then Nadab and Abihu took strange fire, and God resented it. Fire again came out and consumed them. Probably they were intoxicated, at any rate they were not rightly concerned with what was due to God, as Christendom is unconcerned about it now. Then it was that God said, “I will be sanctified in them that come near me.” There can be no toleration of evil. Then also God gave instruction concerning putting a difference between holy and unholy, and prohibited Aaron from going in except on one day in the year, the tenth day of the seventh month, the day of atonement. Following this we have the details of their instruction for putting a difference between clean and unclean, and then God deals with the leper in Leviticus 13; 14 And I have no doubt, in ourselves we are all lepers. But it may be well to go over the details of the cleansing, they are full of beautiful typical teaching.

First, he is brought to the priest and outside the camp. The only ground where God can meet the sinner is where Christ suffered. And it is an unnamed one who brings him to the priest. There must be the unseen action of the Holy Ghost in the soul. He takes two sparrows, alive and clean, to typify the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus. “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?” I suppose their use here shows us that the one who knows and apprehends most the value of the work of Christ is sensible of how feeble is his thought of what the cross really is. It is what that sacrifice is to God, and not our thought of it, that gives its efficacy. One of the sparrows is killed in an earthen vessel over running water. The sparrow belongs to the firmament of heaven; and this tells us of the One Who came from heaven, and became flesh that He might die. We see here the truth of 1 Corinthians 15, that Christ “died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” Then the priest takes a piece of cedar wood and also hyssop. Now the Spirit tells us that Solomon wrote of all things from the highest to the lowest, “from the cedar tree... even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall.” These then are taken, and also scarlet wool, and dipped, with the live bird in the blood of the slain bird, and then that blood is sprinkled on the leper, thus showing identification. The priest then pronounces him clean. The leper has not to judge himself clean, nor have we. He sees it all accomplished for him, and he is the recipient of it. Then the live bird is let loose into the open heaven, type of the Lord Jesus raised from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

The man in our chapter seems to have believed in the Lord's ability, but not in His love. Some would rather view it as that he realized the Lord's sovereignty, and makes it a matter of that; but whichever way you take it, you get the opposite in the case of the man who brought his lunatic son when the Lord came down from the mount of transfiguration. The demon cannot be cast out until the Lord comes down. The disciples had failed, and the father says, “If thou canst do anything.” The Lord says, the “If” is, “If thou canst believe.” There is the contrast between “If thou wilt” and “If thou canst.” In Luke 18 we are told “With God all things are possible"; here, by faith using Him all things are possible to him that believeth.

Again, the Lord touches the leper. A living Christ on earth is for the Jews, a risen Christ in heaven for the church—for us now. If the Lord touches, it is a touch of power. If a needy sinner touches, it is a touch of faith. When in the next chapter the multitude thronged Him there was no sense of need on the part of the multitude; and the Lord inquires “Who touched me?” The Lord responds to faith and to owned need; and both are here.

The Lord would not have it told to anyone, for He shunned popularity. When they come to, make Him a king (John 6), He would not have it. The poor people followed the Lord; you do not find the priests following Him, but the Lord will have testimony borne to them. This was the time when the leper should go to the priest—the day of his cleansing. This brings out the Lord's sovereignty in blessing. He spake and it was done. He upholds everything by the word of His power. And He says, “I will, be thou clean!”

Was there ever a king like this? He is going to forgive all their iniquities and to heal all their diseases by and by. So ver. 4 refers to what we had in Leviticus 14. Had any other touched a leper, he would have contracted defilement by the contact. But He was undefilable. He was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” His was the touch of power; and the disease is gone. What a testimony that Jehovah Himself was here, for none but He could heal the leper. In 2 Kings 5:7 the affrighted king owns that it required the God of resurrection to effect the cure of leprosy. Still when a leper was covered all over, and the leprosy was all out, then could the man be pronounced clean. So also with a sinner. “I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin” (Psalms 32).

Before that instruction was given when Moses was told to put his hand into his bosom (that is where the leprosy is) it was leprous when he took it out; but when he puts it in a second time it is healed. In Num. 12 Miriam is smitten with leprosy for speaking against Moses and the Ethiopian woman he had married, no doubt Zipporah. If we take up the cudgels in our own defense the Lord may withhold His hand and leave us to our own efforts; but if we leave our case with Him, He will see to it. Moses was “very meek." ... “And the LORD spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam"... “And, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow.” This was God's solemn government. They see their folly and make confession; but the Lord would make them feel it, and Miriam is shut out seven days. All this goes to show God's holiness, and what is due to Him, as it says in Heb. 12 “Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear; for our God is a consuming fire.” It is God in His own nature as the Holy One.

This Gospel of Matthew was written for the Jews, and nothing is given therein to puff them up. So in the next incident (8:5-13) we have no, elders of the Jews mentioned as in Luke 7:3. The beloved physician, writing to Gentiles, appropriately gives us in his Gospel the honored place of the Jews as God's people, for at that time the middle wall of partition was not yet broken down. In both these cases—of the leper, and the centurion—there is faith. In the first, it is personal faith but in the case of the centurion it is the faith of one person for another. If leprosy represents sin in its polluting character, palsy shows man in his helplessness. It is a great point for a sinner to make that discovery. It is more to acknowledge I am helpless than that I am a sinner. To the Gentile centurion the Lord says, “I will come and heal him.” In the case of the nobleman in John 4 He says, “Except ye see signs and wonders ye will not believe,” and in spite of his reiterated request that the Lord would come down Jesus did not go, although he healed his son. No doubt he belonged to Herod's court. As the leper in the beginning of our chapter is the only one specifically mentioned in the three Synoptic Gospels some think he was “Simon the leper” (Matt. 26:6; Mark 14:3) in whose house at Bethany “they made him a supper” (John 12 '8).

The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed.” I suppose he had a good dwelling, he seemed to be pretty wealthy; but there was the sense of his unworthiness, and of the Savior's dignity. He recognized that here was an omnipotent One, and that no word of His could be void of power. He says, “I am a man” —not in but— “under authority.” A Roman captain over 100 men, he was a long way from being the head of the Imperial army; but even so he had this power to order the soldiers under him. There is something very sweet about that. His argument is that the Lord had all the authority in Himself. He had a glimpse of the Lord's glory such as Nebuchadnezzar had, when he said, “He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what doest thou?” (Daniel 4:35). This is a sample of what was to be. The blessing in the millennial earth will not be confined to Israel; Gentiles will be blessed though not as now with the middle wall of partition broken down. Then they will be blessed through Israel. But the Lord here had not found so great faith in Israel. Faith is the gift of God, but where it is found the Lord commends it Syro-phoenician woman's faith is called “great"; the disciples' “little.” The only two cases of faith which the Lord commends are Gentiles' There are only two, also, to whom the Lord gives Himself away, so to speak—the woman of Samaria and the blind man of John 9.

Now the Lord goes on to show (vers. 11, 12) “that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness, etc.” Of course the children of the kingdom were the Jews, and those cast out will be the unbelieving portion of them. When that kingdom comes, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will be in their glorified bodies, and in the heavenly department of it, though not forming the Bride. They will be included in the symbolic number of the twenty-four elders of the Revelation, and in “the spirits of just men made perfect,” i.e., Old Testament saints. In Rev. 19 you have the marriage, but there are those “called to the supper,” as well as the Bride. The Old Testament saints will have their joy in it, though they will not have her place and portion.

The leper represents Israel in their condition of uncleanness, and the Lord coming in grace and displaying His power, a witness that Jehovah was there; and in the next case, that of the centurion's servant, grace goes out to the Gentile. But if grace does go out to them, the Lord's heart is still towards Israel. Peter was the apostle of the circumcision. No doubt this is a dispensational picture, but there are other lessons too. We have had man in his polluted condition, and we have had man in his helpless condition, and now we have man in his ungovernable passions—the fever. Idolatry is looked at as adultery in the Old Testament, and those who go after idols are spoken of as inflaming themselves. So here we have One who can deal with that which is ungovernable, We also see that while the fire of sinful passions is flaming you are unfit for service. The fever had to be subdued before she served. In one Gospel, she arose and ministered to Him. We are set at liberty to serve both the Lord and those who are precious to Him. Of course, we were noticing the difference between the Lord's touch and the sinner's. The Lord touched the leper, but not the centurion's servant, and He touched Peter's wife's mother. You get a measure of faith in the leper and great faith in the centurion; here there is no appeal, but there is need. The Lord always responds to faith and need.

That next paragraph (vers. 16, 17) is very important. You see the Lord Jesus, in every case He took up, felt it in His own spirit. Of course, He was Jehovah, Who could and did forgive their iniquities and heal their diseases. To human eyes the great thing is to cure the body; we know the greatest thing is to meet the need of the soul. Plenty of men will profess to absolve sinners, but they cannot save one who is down with a fatal malady. The Lord takes that up in a later case, when He asks whether it is easier to say Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say Arise and walk. “But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins he saith to the sick of the palsy, Take up thy bed and go unto thy house.” In Him was omnipotent power for in Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; but He never wrought mere works of power. He felt it all deeply in Himself. In Mark you get this specially.

So “When even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils; and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick.” In many of the cases when the even is mentioned, it is the close of the Sabbath, though the Lord would heal, if need be, on the Sabbath day; but one could not say certainly that it was so here. But the great thing in the first case in this chapter is His sovereignty; in the second His word, so here “He cast out the spirits with his word, and he healed all that were sick"; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet saying, “Himself took our infirmities, and bear our sicknesses.” I do not think we should have interpreted that verse so if the Spirit had not interpreted it for us; He took it all on His spirit.

(To be continued)

Christ the Way, the Truth and the Life (Duplicate): Part 1

I think, if you study the Gospel by John, you will find it is taken for granted in chap. 11 that the Jews would not have Him. He, the Son of God, brings in the doctrine of resurrection; in chap. 12 there is a flitting across the earth of His various glories—Son of man and Son of David. Then chap. 13 and 14 form a little compartment by themselves. Chap. 13 gives a most amazing display of the Christ Jesus, when the time was come for the Paschal Lamb. He takes the ground of knowing all about the saints up to the present time. So you and I have a standing in chap 13, seeing the Lord prepares us for all the evil that has taken place on the earth. Chap. 14 is in strong contrast to chap. 13. There He knew everything about the men down here; now about the Father up there. This extends from vers. 1-20, and from ver. 21 to the end. He speaks and acts as the One who knew everything about His saints, and what would alone make them happy down here. He is bringing out all the amazing truth about “Abba,” and how it is to be learned; and that it is the word for us. In the first chapter then of this Gospel we find a remarkable testimony of the Spirit of God to the higher glory of the Son, as the only-begotten Son of the Father, ver. 14; and then in ver. 18, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” There is this contrast between the two verses: in ver. 14 it is Himself presented as the Word made flesh; but what shines out, because it is seen to be in Him, is this glory of the Father. “We beheld His glory;” not merely Messiah presented with all the promises, but in the adorable Person of the Lord there was a glory that surpassed altogether the glory for the earth, whether as promised to Abraham or to David, “The glory as of the only-begotten Son of the Father.” Then in ver. 16 He speaks of our receiving out of His fullness grace for grace. In ver. 18 we see what the great object of the Lord was in coming into the world. It was not merely that He had the light in Him, but He “declared Him.” He told God out. The word translated “declared” has a particular force and meaning. He was the perfect presentation of the Father. In the Lord Jesus I get all about the Father. Any one whose eyes were opened saw nothing but the Father, and saw nothing superadded to it.

In chap. 14 He takes the place of teaching them something more in detail about Him; and the way He approaches the subject is remarkable, and shows His grace. When He got to talk about the Father, neither Thomas, nor Philip, nor Jude could make out what it was all about; but He approaches the subject in a very beautiful way, by bringing the place belonging to the Father before them. He says, “If I go away, I am going to a place where My presence is needed to make it ready for you"; so He brings in this thought of the Father in that way to them, in connection with the place.

But oh! what was in the heart of Christ at that time, with all the sorrows pressing upon Him connected with the place He was going into as sin-bearer, as being the one forsaken of God—to bring before the cavilings of His disciples that He knew all about the Father? He displays His knowledge about the Father; He was going to the Father, and He was going to prepare a place for them there. Do you know the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is up there in glory, connects you individually (if you are believers in Him) with Abba, Father? Where was the first thought of “sonship” found? If I say, “The Father,” you say, “Well, I understand that, because I am one of His children.” It is very blessed to say this, but more blessed to say, “That Father had one only Son, and He deputed Him to bring many sons to glory. The only-begotten Son is the One to whom He committed it to bring many sons to glory.”

I suppose I may be bold to say, beloved, that never does a single child of God occupy the mind of the Lord Jesus, but His mind approaches him, as taking him up in connection with His Father, who gave them to Him. The Lord Jesus, if He looks upon me as a son of God, says, “Well, poor thing, My Father gave you to Me; and in you I see the estimate of My Father's thought of the worth of My blood, in your blessing and acceptance of Me.” Is this your thought when you say, Abba, Father? The Father thinks of the blessedness of having such a Son as that Son was and is; and of that Son to enlarge the circle, bringing us in. He knew me as one the Father had given to Him. I was a child of wrath once, as others, and am now brought home to enjoy and live to God. I had nothing to bring to God and Christ in their holiness but my sins; and He has taken them all away, and given a stab to my selfishness; and yet something far better than that-Christ looks upon me as one in whom He sees His Father's estimate of His work. He thinks, “There is a man that I have plucked out of the world that belongs to Satan—there is a man that is to be led by Me into the Father's house.”

So He introduces the subject here. “I am going away, and where am I going? Well, My Father has got a house in heaven, and you could not be there; but I am the beginning of the creation of God Myself; I shall get there; and once there, the place will be ready for you.” If you think of all God's glory, the light and the brilliancy—if I think of the house which the Lord has made ready for me, I say, “What a blessed place, for my Lord will be there! not to do a work, but as the One in His Father's house.” The Lord will be up there at home, and you and I will find out what makes it a home; and this is, His own Self in the place.

Then He goes on to show what His own personal love is to the people He will come to fetch. He says, “I shall not do a work in the house, and send some one else to fetch you there—no, I shall do it.” “I shall come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” “I shall want you to be with Me.”

When He got to this point, He had made the first step in His subject. Then He enters on what is His subject. He says, “Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” He knew right well what the effect of His saying it would be. He was right in what He said; and what was He looking at? He was looking at the Spirit which was inseparably connected with them. There was a good deal more knowledge than they had any idea of. Thomas thought he had caught the Lord saying something inconsistent. “We cannot know where You are going until You tell us; how can we know the way? We cannot, until You tell us where You are going; for who can tell the way to any place whose name has not been mentioned?”

Just one word in connection with that as a practical point. You and I ought to receive things because Christ says them, not because we understand them. Take an instance of this. Suppose I had been with the Lord Jesus in chap. 5, and heard Him say, “He that heareth my word, and believeth [on] him that sent me, hath everlasting life.” I might have done one or two things on hearing that word. I might have said “I know nothing about that word, eternal life, and therefore can form no judgment at all as to what its introduction depends on;” or else, here is a Person who knows all about it, and He says, “If any man believes God, he has the blessing.” Which of the two is the wise man? He is talking about what He understands; and I receive it, What is the consequence? He says, “Hath everlasting life,” and He also takes the other side, “Shall not come into condemnation.” What Thomas ought to have done was not to have judged the words of his Master. He was only bandying words with the Lord. Surely, instead of saying what he did, he ought to have asked, “Well, Lord, and what next?” and thus taken the place of a learner. It makes a wonderful difference whether we take the place of being receivers from Him, or the place of being able to judge of what He says.

The Lord then takes another step, and He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The Lord Jesus Christ is presented down here on earth as the One who could say of Himself, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” Philip had said, “Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” Jesus says, “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?”

Before I go on to follow that out, I would remark that there are three things presented here. First, Himself “as the way” to the Father (not to God, this is in Hebrews), which you will find extends to the end of ver. 15. Secondly, having spoken of Himself as “the truth,” He opens it out in vers. 16, 17, 18. Then as “the life,” He shows this out in vers. 19, 20. These verses are a kind of divine commentary by the Lord about Himself as the way, the truth, and the life.

Jesus said to Philip, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me?” etc. The human mind often makes great difficulties for itself on this subject—difficulties that do not exist. People have often said to me, “I do not like that word Trinity; I do not see how there can be three in one, and one in three.” My answer is very simple: “I have no particular love for the word, yet I have a particular love for the truth which men have coined that word to represent, though I cannot say I understand it.” Very often learned men have gone entirely wrong, upon it, and simple men too. There are certain landmarks laid down in scripture. I remember an essay by a man who was thought most highly of, which speaks of the Trinity as being three different, forms in which the one person is spoken of. My simple answer is, that I find at the baptism of Christ all three together. The Father was saying, “This is my beloved Son;” the Son coming out of the water; and the Spirit descends on Him. That meets the question entirely.

A person says he wants to understand the how and why of it! Let me take a point nearer myself. I am spirit, soul, and body. If I were only a spirit I should not be a man, but rather an angel. Do I doubt the fact? No. Do I know the why or the how? Not a bit. I believe, if my body were killed to-night, my spirit would go to Jesus; but my body may stay in the grave as Stephen's has. Can I understand the how of it. Certainly not. I see a doctor often has a resource: he can arouse the body by appealing to the mind; through the mind he arouses the body. I do not understand it; but am I going to sit in inquest over it? Here are three Persons in one can I understand God? Certainly not. As you read the pages of Scripture, they show that He is God. and you are man: if I cannot understand it, is it any wonder? Do I understand myself? Certainly not. Abraham's body will rise, and Abraham's soul and spirit will dwell in that body: is it then for me to ask how? Certainly not.

If you take the name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, it was new. Israel had known something of the Spirit and the name of Messiah, but never as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. If I think of the blessed Lord as a Babe laid in a manger, or a Man Standing in the water, can I say there was not a direct line of connection between Him and the Father? A man is a fool that argues upon this question! Every work of Christ was fully done in co-operation with His Father: there was a real connection between them that none but God could understand.

When the Lord was speaking in this way to Thomas, first of all saying, “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also,” I suppose He was referring to that hidden union which but one eye could trace. Yet Philip says, “Now do show us the Father: then it will be all plain!” Smart words from a fool! He was talking about things he did not understand. It is my wisdom to take the place of being a learner: it would have been wisdom for Philip to have said “We wait to hear a little more about this;” but his mind brought forth, as ours do, very foolish things. “Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.” Christ knew better than Philip about it. He knew that, if Philip could have been present in glory, it would not have been pleasant to him.

God put all His glory in the Son of man, as being a vessel or lamp fit to show it forth. He put it into the Lord Jesus. What an exquisite dealing on the part of the Father! The Lord does not tell us about Himself. He says, “Do you know, have you heard, about a Man dwelling upon earth who is called Jesus? have you seen His works, marked His words? Well, in all these you see Me; I am in the Father:”

(To be continued)

The Coming of the Lord: Part 3

(Concluded from page 32)

The Lord is capable of taking food. He partook of a piece of honeycomb and a fish; but this was not because He required them, but because they required to learn that He was truly risen from the dead. His, we know, is a spiritual body glorified in heaven. And so shall we be; but the Lord here speaks of our faith meanwhile. “Ye believe in God, believe also in me.” Although He had taken a body, and although He was to take that body after the resurrection, still He would be invisible by going to heaven. It is the Christian's faith contrasted with Jewish sight of the Messiah reigning visibly over the earth. “In my Father's house are many mansions.” He was going thither. Observe the statement, “there are many mansions,” signifying that there is room for you as well as for Him. Room enough and to spare—room for all the faithful. “If it were not so, I would have told you.” I would not implant in you a desire that could not be realized. “I go to prepare a place for you.”

Now, the Chiliasts were quite wrong in thinking that heaven would be merely this earth in a renewed condition. Perfectly true that the earth is to be renewed—perfectly false that we are not to be in heaven. Thus to be with Christ in heaven is true, and is the truth which is taught here; and there is where our hope should be resting. Only it is wrong to disconnect heaven then from the earth. This will be the peculiarity of the kingdom, that it will not be as now—the heavens separated from the earth by the sin of man, but heaven and earth both put under the Lord Jesus Christ, the glorified Son of God, the Head of both heaven and earth. Those who now believe in Him, those who have believed in Him from the beginning—we shall all be with Him. “In my Father's house are many mansions. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again— (not you will come to me, but) —I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Death is never the hope of the Christian. There is the hope of the resurrection of the body; but the turning-point is Christ's coming. When the Lord takes the rule, we shall share along with Him. When the Lord comes in judgment to the world, we shall follow Him out of heaven, but we shall always be with Him— “Forever with the Lord.” There is our proper place. Where He has now gone—where He is now in the presence of the Father—there we shall be. How simple! Would not a father love to have his children near him? So we shall be. But is there not One above all nearest to the Father? It is He, the Son of God, and He will introduce us there—the fruit of His infinite work, and the objects of His Father's love, even as He Himself is.

Now that is the hope of the Christian, the coming of the Lord Jesus—that, and not changes on the earth. There is to be great glory to God, and, let me tell you, there are to be evil and judgments first. I quite admit that truth will surely prevail in the end; but “the end!” that is a serious word. And, further, I quite admit that the Lord is to bless the world. There will be the power of the Holy Ghost, and on the ground of Christ's redemptive work all the earth will be blessed. But, still, it will be the reign of Jesus. How infinitely more blessed that will be than if we could do it ourselves! As the Apostle says “Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” He would not like anything that detracted from the Lord Jesus. And is it not most suitable and worthy that He who was crucified should be exalted? that He who was rejected should be glorified in this very scene of His shame and suffering? This is our hope, and surely it is one not to make the Christian ashamed, although it may well shame those unbelieving believers who put proud aspiring man in the place of Christ. Amen.

W. K.

The Day of the Lord: Part 1

“Now, we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand."- 2 Thessalonians, 2, 1-2.

I showed last night the importance of not confounding the day of the Lord with the promise of His coming. On the other hand, we must take care also of confounding the coming of the Lord with His day here spoken of. That is, we must keep each separate; each in its own distinctness. The coming of the Lord, I have endeavored to show, will be the consummation of the Lord's grace. The day of the Lord will be the execution of the Lord's judgment. Hence, if we mix up the coming of the Lord with His day, we weaken the solemnity of judgment, just as if we mix up the day with the coming we lose all the freshness and fullness of His grace. In short, grace and judgment must each have their due expression, and as the coming of the Lord Jesus is that which Scripture employs to express the Lord's return to earth to receive His own people and present them arrayed in His glory in the Father's house on high, so the day of the Lord embraces His intervention with men on earth, putting down all the pride, malice, and unbelief of men, and bringing in a new system of divine government, where all things shall be subjected to His authority. I do not say all men converted, but all men brought under His rule. There will be a feigned obedience rendered during that day of the kingdom here below. You cannot be surprised that it should be so, because not only will there be a spared remnant of men at the beginning of that day of the Lord, but its course will embrace not less than a thousand years, and during that long period of unbroken prosperity, with every mark of divine goodness lavished upon the men that are living here below, there will be millions of persons born to those who were spared from the beginning. Of these millions Scripture nowhere teaches that they will be born of God. They may or they may not be, but even those that are not born of God will have no longer the evil to contend with that man has now. No more will there be want; no more oppression; no more the temptation to open wickedness; no more wars or fightings; no more disease or pestilence; no more Satan even allowed to tempt men, for he will be under restraint during the whole of that time.

You who read the Scriptures cannot be ignorant of these things; and, happily, in this country, at any rate, most men read the Bible, and you must know that I am referring to plain positive Scripture in what I have been saying. The Bible is an open book in Scotland, and the children learn to read it, even though sometimes their elders do not explain it to them as it might he looked for. But there it is, and in very plain terms in the last book of the New Testament. Further, it is quite a mistake to suppose that it is only the last book of the New Testament which speaks of that day. On the contrary, all the Old Testament prophets are full of it, though they do not define it as a period of a thousand years. This was hidden from them. It awaited a prophet still greater than they. It was suitable in God's wisdom that John the Evangelist should be also John the Prophet, and that he should remove the veil off those times and seasons which the Lord would not allow His disciples to occupy themselves with when He was going up to heaven. It was enough for them to know, not the times and seasons of the redemption of Israel, but that now God the Father was about to accomplish the promise of the Holy Ghost, and to make them witnesses for Jesus throughout all the earth; and this is going on now. Witnessing to the Lord Jesus by the Holy Ghost is now proceeding. That is what we commonly call the gospel, and very rightly. But along with the gospel you must always remember there goes the church—the gospel being the testimony of God to every creature, and the church being the gathering together of those that receive the gospel and acknowledge the Lord Jesus, baptized by one Spirit into that which is called in Scripture the body of Christ.

Now, I have a little to say in explaining this matter more fully—that is, the day of the Lord; and I shall still keep up the contrast between the coming of the Lord and the day of the Lord, because as to these the most important point is that you should be clear about your own position as believers; that you should know your own portion in the day of grace. The coming of the Lord Jesus to make good all that His love has secured to faith is of prime importance. The day of the Lord, although it be of great interest in a positive way, is, as far as we are concerned, more negative, and we must not mix up the bearings of judgment with the dealings of grace, if we would avoid serious dishonor to the truth. This confusion was evidently a danger from the beginning. Here we see it in these verses— “Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and [by] our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” The word “by” has no business there at all. It is printed in italics to show you that it is not in the original, but there is even more than that: the original excludes the word, and, therefore, it was really a mistake on the part of our translators to introduce it. The particular form of phrase employed by the Holy Ghost brackets the two ideas, and makes them to be one connected whole. The coming of our Lord Jesus and our gathering are the two parts of one great transaction. Now, if you bring in the word “by,” it separates them, instead of combining them together. It is remarkable that the translators, who were real scholars, should have overlooked the point; but any person to whom it is pointed out, who knows the Greek language, will see in an instant what I mean. It is one of the peculiarities of that language that one article is used when it is intended to bring in two things. If they mean to separate the two, they bring in a second article. There is no second article in this case. For instance, where it is said “Our God and Father” there is one article used, because the same person that is God is also Father, and in order to combine the two the one article is used.

This, however, is by the way, but it strengthens what I have already referred to, that the translation of the Christians that are now here below, as well as of the Old Testament saints, is the necessary and immediate consequence of our Lord's presence in the air. The moment He comes all that are His instantly rise in a changed or glorified state to meet Him on high, and these two events are bound up together in the one phrase. Thus the force of the first verse is this: We beseech you by your blessed hope, by that which is full of comfort and joy—His presence to gather you to Himself on high—do not be alarmed by the false rumor that the day of the Lord has already come. It has not come, and it cannot come until certain terrible evils are accomplished, which are future.

Now, you must carefully notice that the Apostle does not say that the Lord cannot come first. That “day” it was on which they were so entirely mistaken. To use a vulgar phrase, the cart was put before the horse. That is to say, they put the day of the Lord before the coming of the Lord, whereas the Apostle implies that the true relation of these events is the Lord's coming first of all, not to be occupied with His enemies, but to assemble His saints in His presence. He has a much nearer object. He has a loved object. The first thing the Lord does when He comes from heaven is instantly to gather to Himself all that are waiting for Him. We must always bear in mind that all children of God are supposed to wait for Him. Don't allow yourselves the thought that persons who may be somewhat unenlightened about it do not wait for the coming of the Lord. The truth of it is, that all saints do so more or less, though some of them have got erroneous notions. Some suppose that there must be intervals and terrible events between the present and the coming of the Lord; others suppose that there will be a long period of blessedness. They are both untrue.

Let me tell you, however, that what is commonly said by some to be the coming of the Lord (namely, when the Lord takes His place on the great white throne to judge all the dead) is not the coming of the Lord at all. If you look at the twentieth chapter of Revelation, you will see it is not His coming. When you talk about the Lord's coming, you ought to mean that the Lord is coming back here—coming from whence He has gone. This is the true meaning of it—He that is absent will be present. We are not told where the great white throne will be, and the reason we are not is very simple. Always in judging of distance we naturally judge from the earth, where we are. Such is the point from which all distance is naturally measured by man. It follows necessarily from his situation, and quite rightly so. Now, when the great white throne of judgment is set, the heavens and earth that now are will have completely passed away. There will be, for the time, a total dissolution both of heaven and earth.

There can be no question of coming in that case. There will be everlasting judgment. All the dead shall go and stand before the great white throne, but where that is, no man can tell. Only God knows. The reason is, that the heavens that now are, vanish, and the earth likewise, and where it is, it is impossible to say. Its elements will be in space somewhere, and we can perfectly understand that, when the wicked dead stand before the Judge of all, it is not of the least importance to say where. We know also the accompanying fact, that the heavens that now are will have completely disappeared. Therefore it is too late to speak of coming. The coming of the Lord must be before this universe disappears. That is plain; and it is what every one who speaks about the coming of the Lord must mean. He who once came in humiliation is coming again in glory; not said to be coming to the new heavens and the new earth, although I have no doubt He will be there also; but this is not what is meant by the expression, the coming of the Lord.

All creeds acknowledge that Christ will come to judge the quick and the dead, and that the heavens must receive Him till the times of the restitution of all things. This means that everything that is now groaning will be put right; that this poor world, which is now a scene of travail and sorrow, will be changed; and that this mighty change will be brought about by the intervention of the Lord in power, not by the nostrums of men. All the physic that learned men might give the world would not make a bit of difference on the earth, nor would it change the nature of the race. This mighty change is to be effected by a greater than man, and the greater One is the Redeemer. That is essentially to be the glory of the Lord Jesus. Even the Holy Ghost will not effect that change. The Holy Ghost did not become incarnate; nor did He suffer for our sins. It is the Savior who is to be glorified in the sight of all men—not merely in heaven, but on earth. Now is the Christianity that is founded upon the cross. The Lord is now glorified, and we, who walk by faith and not by sight, enter into that. Unbelievers in this day know nothing about God; nothing about themselves; nothing about God's Son. I do not upbraid them; God forbid. I feel most deeply for their carelessness, prejudices, and guilt, because if any man reads the Word of God he will find there the most powerful body of testimony to its truth. It is not merely the reasonings of men. These will never really satisfy the soul—can never set one heart right. Christ alone can do this by the power of His redemption; by His infinite love; by grace and truth, by a life of holiness and righteousness. There is no other object that one's heart can rest on. Even the wisest king that has ever lived became a fool at last. I know no person in a more pitiful position than old king Solomon giving in to the follies of his Egyptian wife, of his 700 wives, and 300 concubines. That is a sad and evil history, and yet Solomon was the son of the great king David. We want great David's greater Son. That greater Son is the Lord Jesus; the true Son of David, the one specific for the good of men; the only One that shows the perfection of holiness, but who nevertheless died that He might win the most unholy to God. There is the Person to transport the heart and bind it forever to the God which it had hitherto traduced. We had thought Him some hard taskmaster, and people talk very often to the great dishonor of God. They think it an awful thing that God should condemn a man for eating a thing so small as an apple. This is not the true way to put it. Adam sold God for such a small thing as an apple. Is not this the humbling truth? It is Adam giving up God—the woman first, I am sorry to say. She worked upon him through his affections; the man would not be severed from her even in sin. It is well when a man is not too proud to follow his wife in what is good—sometimes they do not; but to follow a wife or anybody in what is bad is a sad piece of folly as well as sin. Therefore, one wants not merely God to show Himself as He is in grace to all man's wickedness, but God in the person of a man, the Son of man that God might be glorified thereby.

All the talk of those who love to speak about the perfection of man and the glory of man is put to shame by the name of Jesus, because, after all, what does their talk come to? They are great on the theory of evolution. They think their fathers had been monkeys at one time, but all that, I need not say, is as contrary to the truth of God as it is contrary to all science, because nobody ever saw the leg of a monkey merge into the leg of a man. There is nothing of the sort in any fossil remains, not to speak of present phenomena. All true science goes upon fixed principles and observed facts. No doubt there are variations of species. Everyone knows and fully allows that. There may be a very wide variety in every species, but still you never find one species turning into another. Nobody ever met an apple that was becoming a pear. Is it not an extraordinary thing that clever men should produce such fancies as science?

Returning to our subject, here we have the Apostle exhorting from the blessed motive of hope, and telling the Thessalonians that they should not be alarmed by the false fear.

(To be continued)

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Abraham: Genesis 14, Continued

Genesis 14 (Continued)

All this combination of facts was ordered of God for the purpose of making him so much the better a shadow of the glory of the Lord Jesus as the sole royal priest. The very meaning of the word is “king of righteousness,” as the apostle Paul insists in Heb. 7 and after that “king of peace,” referring to his place of reign. The person, of course, was before the place. The name of the person was Melchizedek, that is, “king of righteousness,” and his relation to the place was king of Salem, which means “peace.” These facts the Spirit of God, by the apostle Paul, uses beautifully as a prefiguration of the glory of our Lord. It is true of His person, of that which is come and seen now; and this was particularly telling to a Jew, because the story is introduced in that part of scripture which every Jew acknowledged to be divine. If there was indeed any part which to his mind had supreme place in point of authority, it was the five books of Moses; and here in the first of them, in the earliest section of the word of God, stands out this marvelous intervention of a person who appears after the stirring scenes of the defeated kings, and blesses returned and Victorious Abram. Now the father of the faithful was no small personage in a Jew's estimation; he had naturally and rightly a very great place; but here comes one who, suddenly and strangely appearing, occupies an incontestably greater. To him Abram pays tithes, as he also confers blessing on Abram; and, beyond controversy, the sacred homage from the one and the blessing from the other alike imply the stranger's superiority over the patriarch.

The bearing of this can scarcely be exaggerated. It is a prophetic type. In that land there will be a mighty conflict at the end of this age; and in it the guilty people of the Lord will be involved; and when the victory seems to be won that sweeps them away, the mighty power of God by a greater than Abram will interfere. Then that blessed One whom we await, not merely for our own joy and glory in the heavens, but for changing the face of the earth and all things on it, will answer both to the victorious Abram and to the blessing Melchizedek. It is our Lord Jesus at His coming again, and this at the issue of the world's conflicts when all will be reversed to the glory of God.

This closes, we may see, the public testimony. Then will be another scene not so much of testimony as of the application of God's kingdom in power. For the Lord will bring in the kingdom when He comes in His glory. What is going on now unseen, to be then displayed in the kingdom, is proclaimed in testimony. It may be well to say so much here, as often the thoughts of many a child of God are not distinct about the place of Christ as the true Melchizedek.

It is plain that the priesthood in question is altogether peculiar, for Melchizedek offers no sacrifice, nor is there anything of intercession. He brings out bread and wine for man, without a word of sprinkling blood before God. And it is remarkable that, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, which refers to Gen. 14 and Psa. 110, the moment we come to the exercise of the priesthood of Christ, Melchizedek is dropped, and Aaron is brought forward, and this is what makes the difficulty, though not to a spiritual mind. First of all our Lord is brought before us as the true priest. This is done as early as the end of chapter 2. In chapter 3 it is still pursued. Our Lord is evidently alluded to as answering to the type of both Moses and Aaron. In the end of chapter 4. Moses entirely disappears, and Aaron remains a type of Christ. But the point there is not at all what Melchizedek was doing, but intercession grounded upon sacrifice. It will be noticed that in this scene of Abram and Melchizedek there is neither one nor other of these things. Melchizedek does not offer up a sacrifice, whatever the ignorance of Fathers or Romanists may dream; it would have been entirely inappropriate here. Nor is there any such thing as intercession in a sanctuary. It is all public. We have seen throughout that the testimony had been public, and so here the action of the royal priest is of this character; whereas the very point of propitiation is that it goes up to God, and the efficacy of it simply to Him, though it may be for man here; and intercession is that which proceeds within the veil in the presence of God. Neither of these had any place in the scene before us.

But let us pursue for a little moment what we find in the Epistle to the Hebrews, to profit by this instance of the beautiful interlacings of the truth, seeing the way in which Old Testament facts are handled by the Holy Ghost in the New.

Aaron beyond doubt is prominently before the mind as the type of our Lord's priesthood in chapter 5. This closes with a digression, which goes through chapter 6, and then in chapter 7 Aaron is dropped, and Melchizedek introduced. What is the reason of so remarkable a break in the chain? It seems to me plain. The apostle wants to show the incontestable superiority of the priesthood of Christ to that of Aaron, although Aaron might be the great high-priestly type of Christ. This he proves by the fact that of old a royal priest came out to Abram who gave him tithes of all and received his blessing. The head of a family like Abram was superior to his descendants by the common acknowledgment that a father is above his sons; so the fact that Aaron was only a branch of Levi, as Levi was of Abram, and that it was

Abram himself who paid tithes, showed therefore his subjection to a greater than himself. Nay further, not only did Abram pay tithes to Melchizedek, but more than that, Melchizedek blessed him; and, as we are told, “without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.” The person that confers a blessing is greater than the person that receives it; and so it was that Abram did not pretend to bless Melchizedek. There was an act on Abram's part which implied subjection to Melchizedek, and an act on Melchizedek's part which implied superiority to Abram, giving a double illustration and witness of surpassing dignity.

Such is the argument in Heb. 7 and nothing can be more complete in its place as against those who cried up the Aaronic priesthood to deny Christ. For now the apostle shows that Melchizedek was not merely a conspicuous personage of old, of the highest authority and with evident glory attached to him, a king and a priest; but, further, he is introduced by Moses in a most striking manner. As far as scripture tells about him, he has “neither beginning of days nor end of life.” Not that he was not born, nor that he did not die, but that scripture says not a word about either; never alluding to children, any more than to his father or mother. So far as the history goes there is a blank as to all this. Scripture treats it with absolute silence in order to make him a type of the One, who, as Son of God, clearly had no father or mother, though He might, as born of the Virgin Mary, still be Son of God, as in fact He was; yet He would not have been Son of God, as born of Mary, if independently of this He had not been so in His own divine right and being. And thus it is evident that there was a deeper glory in the person of the Son of God, on which all the glory that was seen in this world hung, that this glory was eternal, and that it belonged to Him in the title of His own divine nature and person from eternity to eternity.

But the royal Psalmist also takes up the same truth hundreds of years after this scene of Abram and Melchizedek was over. Psa. 110 speaks of a certain person in quite as extraordinary a way; a man, David's son, whom nevertheless his inspired father, to the contradiction of mere human nature, owns as Lord, and calls Lord. And He whom David thus calls his Lord, though (as our Lord reminds the Jews) really his son, (the great and insuperable difficulty to unbelief,) takes a place quite peculiar to Himself on the throne of Jehovah.

And He is not merely there on the throne of God, but acknowledged to be priest. “Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” He is a priest like Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron: a truth of all-importance to rightly understand the Epistle to the Hebrews. I purposely dwell a little on this, because it is so extremely momentous that we should have simple faith in it, and due understanding of what is meant by it. The meaning is clearly this: —in Aaron's case there was a succession, for his was a priesthood of dying men following each other; the clean opposite of what is said of Melchizedek, (viz. “that he liveth,") not a word being said in Genesis or elsewhere of his death. The apostle uses this as a type of One that ever lives in the fullest sense. Hence Melchizedek is brought before us as a suited type of Christ, who is forever after that order, instead of dying like Aaron and his sons. Christ stands alone an undying Melchizedek and so needs no successor, the sole and sufficient priest, as the Christian knows.

Melchizedek is, however, soon dropped again. We have him introduced simply to show the glory of his person, and his superiority to Aaron, whether in life, not dying, or consequently alone, as needing no transfer of his functions to successors. But the moment we come to the actual unfolding of priesthood in application to the believer, the apostle takes up Aaron again, and drops Melchizedek. Why is this? The reason is obvious. Though He is the great Melchizedek, He is not acting in that quality yet. What is He doing now? He is interceding in the heavenly sanctuary before God, and this grounded on the propitiation once for all offered for our sins. What has this to do with Melchizedek? Nothing.

Thus you see how perfectly the truth hangs together, and how God uses the person for His own, purposes, and then takes up an exercise wholly different. The truth is that the application of Melchizedek, not to the person of the Son in His superiority to Aaron, but to what He will do as Melchizedek, will be at the end of the age, and not before. The force of his bringing out bread and wine to Abram has nothing at all in common with our eating and drinking wine in the Lord's Supper; and it is extremely important to carry this in our minds distinctly and to understand the ground of it. Popery, being blind, has an immense hand in thus leading the blind into this ditch. One of the chief errors of the catholic system of old was applying things to the church which were promised to Israel, and so antedating the dealings of God. It is on this ground that Popery now claims to put down and rule the governments of the world. There is a time coming when the Lord will do so, reigning in Zion, but it will be when Christ takes the reins. The church is incompetent to do it in its present state, as it is also wholly foreign to the grace which is characteristic of the Christian. To suffer with the rejected Christ, while espoused as a chaste virgin to Him who is on high, and looking to reign with Him at His coming, alone, suits the heavenly character of the church of God while on earth.

But when our Lord Jesus appears as Melchizedek by-and-by, then will be the day for our glory with Him; and the various traits here prefigured will coalesce in Him, not merely the sole dignity of the priest but the exercise of the priesthood in its character of blessing. Then will be the answer to Abram's putting down of the victorious powers of the world, the deliverance of the poor though faulty people of the Lord (shown by Lot), and finally the bringing out the symbol of what God gives not only for the sustenance of His people but for their joy—the bread and the wine of that day. So it is that the Lord will then act; for this will be one of the wonderful differences between the Lord Jesus as the priest on His throne and all others that have ever governed in this world. It is the sorrowful necessity of those that govern now that they must take the means of maintaining their dignity and grandeur from the people whom they govern; that even the poorest contribute to that which the world owns as greatness and majesty. It must be so; it is the necessity of earthly glory which never can rise above its source; for the haughtiest monarchy of the world is after all founded, whatever the sovereign gift and ordinance of God, on the least contributions of the least people on earth. But when creation is arranged according to the mind of God, and when His kingdom comes in its proper power and majesty, how different! It will be His prerogative to supply all. The instinctive sense of this was what made the people wish the Lord Jesus to be king when He was here below. When He miraculously fed the multitudes with bread, they as it were said, That is the kind of king we want—a king that will give us plenty of food without our working for it.

And doubtless the day is coming when the kingdom will be so ordered. That which the corrupt heart of man would like very well now, to avoid toiling in the sweat of his face, the Lord will give, according to His own goodness, when man is bowed down as well as broken and the riches of God's grace are no longer made the cloak of man's selfishness to His dishonor. This is one of the great distinctive features of that future kingdom, and Melchidezek shows it here. It is not only that there is food for the hungry, but he brings out bread and wine for the conquerors. That is, it is not merely the meeting of the necessities of man, but God acting after the victory is won according to His bounty and as is due to His own glory. And so it is that in the great day of the coming kingdom God will do these wonderful things on man for the earth. But mark His wise and righteous way—not before the cross, that is, the mighty work of the Son, is a fact; not before the Spirit of God has wrought to bring the souls of those very men into the acknowledgment of Him that wrought it, and into the appreciation of the value of that atonement which was accomplished on the cross. God will have wrought this work in the remnant of His people whom He will make a strong nation, when the day arrives for the Lord Jesus to manifest Himself in the exercise of His Melchizedek priesthood—not merely to be the anti-typical Melchizedek, for this He is now.

At present He is not yet bestowing His Melchizedek favors; but when that day comes, it will be, I repeat, for the exercise of the priesthood, and not merely the glory of that one sole priest. The need of man too will be secured in that day. The people will be prepared for blessing. If there will be power and glory, it will be the portion of a people poor in spirit, confessedly contrite and broken down, sensible of the mercy that God had shown their souls, and made honest enough by grace to confess their sins, a people in short that will have found all their boast in that Savior whom they once despised and in that which was their abhorrence. Then it will not be a base and selfish seeking of what merely suits themselves and allows them to vegetate in idleness, Not so; but it is the day for the King to lavish what He has Himself wrought, and for God to manifest what was ever in His heart. For God has always longed to bless men; but He awaits the day when He can righteously as well as freely bless them. Alas! man has never yet been in the state wherein he can be blessed. For to bless him when his heart is at enmity to God, where would be the good of it for man, not to speak of God? Would it not be, on the contrary, the grossest mockery to pour out blessing on man who, being unrenewed and unrepentant, must after all be cast into hell? Such is the state of every man naturally; no showers of blessing from above, if this were all, could change the soil. In his natural state he is not fit for heaven, nor even for the earth under the reign of our Lord Jesus, but only to be cast into the place that is prepared for the devil and his angels. But in the day that is coming the Lord will have a people born of God, washed every whit clean, and rescued out of the hand of the spoiler, by His own redeeming grace and power; and then we see the Lord Jesus bringing out all that will manifest the goodness of God and glory of God, making the heart of man to rejoice before Him; and his face glad forever. Then shall man know what is the God he has to do with, when he sees reversed and set aside and rooted out every vestige of Satan's old lie that God does not take pleasure in goodness and in lavishing the fruits of it on man here below.

This then is the scene that is soon to open, surpassing fable indeed, and yet true. Mark too how all confirms it in the context. Christ is the antitype of Melchizedek, the king of righteousness and afterward of peace. Then will be the day of peace founded on righteousness. But further He is the “priest of the most high God.” Glorious title! It is not merely “Jehovah,” nor merely “Almighty.” The almightiness of God comes out in protecting His poor pilgrims; and His character of Jehovah, as of old in judgment when the people were under the first covenant, so under the second, particularly when He shows Himself the unchangeable God, who cleaves to His purpose of blessing a people that were alas! changeable more than all others on the earth. But “the most high God” —what is its force? Just this. When all other oracles are dumb, when every false god becomes, like Dagon, a fallen and dishonored stump before the true ark and Him whose glory dwells there, then and then for the first time, since Satan foisted idol-worship into the world, shall every idol vanish out of it, and their worshippers be ashamed before the only true God. Then shall God have His place as “the most high God.”

Yet He is not only this, but “the possessor of heaven and earth.” When will that be, and what will display His possession of heaven and earth? We all know He is so now in real title; but when is the due testimony to it on the earth? Where the power that enforces it? As far as one sees, man is the possessor of the earth now; and if one bows to scripture, who can deny that the devil is the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air? It is only faith can say that God is really so; but in that day it will be evident to all. His possession of heaven and earth will be manifest when the Lord Jesus comes. For whence does He come? Not from Bethlehem then, but from heaven. He will come from God's right hand and put down all contrary powers here below, and the heavens and earth, long severed, will be manifestly at one. The mind of heaven will be no longer as now in contrast with the mind of the earth. Then will come the reconciler, the blessed One who will unite, for God's glory and under His own sway, “all things, whether they be things in heaven or things on earth” —even in Him “in whom we have obtained an inheritance.”

This then is the evident meaning of the glorious foreshadowing brought before us in this divine tale of Melchizedek.

I need dwell no more on the history, except to point out one moral feature, the beautiful manner in which Abram, thus blessed, and deeply affected by both God's dealings on the one hand and this remarkable confirmation of his faith on the other, answers the king of Sodom, who, feeling all thankfulness for the mighty intervention of divine power through Abram, offers unsought to give Abram the goods. But Abram at once shows us that faith is more generous still, knowing what it is to be rich toward God, and refusing to tarnish His testimony by anything that would enable the king of Sodom to say “I have made Abram rich.” At the same time he pleads for the others. Whatever may be the self-renouncing grace of Abram, he in the largeness of his heart forgets not what is due to those who had not his faith. He asks for Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre, who had helped him. It was only and quite right that they should participate in the spoil.

I need not spend many words in exploding the petty and nauseous hypothesis which regards the whole chapter, the battle of the kings and the interview of Melchizedek and Abram, as a traditional patch worked in at this point. Certainly there is a discriminating use of the divine names in the different portions of Genesis as everywhere in Scripture even to the Revelation of John in the New Testament; but only the credulity of an infidel could have thence been induced to believe that Genesis, any more than the Revelation, is a compilation of distinct documents by differing writers.

(To be continued)

Notes on Matthew 8:18-34

In the next case we get a wonderful picture. It discovers to us that it is not an easy path to follow a rejected Christ. “Now when Jesus saw great multitudes about him, he gave commandment to depart unto the other side” (ver. 18). I dare say, as far as the dispensational picture is concerned, it is the Lord leaving the earthly people and revealing that the walk of faith is not an acceptable path to flesh and blood.

“And a certain scribe came and said unto him, Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest (ver. 19). Here is a man who elects to follow Him. Many there are who do so. It is a fearful thing to tell an unsaved soul to follow Jesus. For he is dead in sins, and needs life and righteousness. If he has these, then his duty is to follow His steps. The Lord knew the heart of this man, and that he was after present advantage. So He says, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” Foxes and birds are His creatures, and mischievous creatures too.

This is the first time the Lord uses this name “Son of man,” in the N.T. When love proffered its welcome, He accepted that which was done for His comfort; for instance, as, when Martha received Him into her house. Where this incident comes out historically, we find it was when He passed through Samaria, and the Samaritans would not receive Him, which made James and John so indignant that they wanted to call fire down from heaven to consume them. Then it was He used these words. Here then the man is exposed, and we hear nothing more of him.

In the next verse, the Lord shows that He will not have a divided heart. It may be this man thought “I have been a dutiful son, and I would like to do all I can for my father till he is gone; then I shall be at liberty.” But the Lord's claims are paramount. When it is a case of the Master's claims and those of nature, the Lord must have the first place. He says, “Follow me.” — A disciple is a follower. “Let the dead,” i.e., those who are “dead in trespasses and sins” “bury their own dead” —those who died naturally. Now here is the connecting link. First of all, it is a mistake to think of personal advantage; secondly, the Lord must have an undivided heart; thirdly, “his disciples followed him.” There is a play here on the word “follow.”

If they had gone on with the multitude they would not have had the storm. Their following Him led them into the storm. “And behold” the Holy Ghost says. Now you mark the result— “there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves; but he was asleep” (ver. 24). We never see in what is recorded of our blessed Lord a single case of fear of any of His creatures. How could it be? He was the dependent Man, always confident in Jehovah; so in the storm we see Him at perfect rest—there was no fear there, and if they had had a right appreciation of His Person, the disciples would have had no fears either, for fears in that case are groundless.

It is sufficiently clear that this storm came as sent by the devil, for the Lord rebuked it. Satan is called “the prince of the power of the air,” and in the book of Job we see how he used this power. Following Jesus involves much tribulation. “His disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord save us; we perish” (ver. 25). Now, was it a blessing for them to be in this storm? The word in Rom. 5 says, “We boast in hope of the glory of God.” I suppose we all know that the words “boast,” “glory,” and “rejoice,” may be but a translation of one and the same word of the original. “And not only so but we boast in tribulations also"; they are no loss to us. Why? “Knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience” —experience of what I am, but also experience of what the Lord is for me. They experienced what cowards they were, but they also learned something of what He was. If I am a child of God and self-willed, the Father's chastening comes upon me, and this for my profit. I could not boast in that if the Lord is chastening me. “No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous.” But if I am following Jesus, how different! I can “glory in tribulation,” in that which comes upon me for His name's sake. To “suffer for His sake” is a gift (Phil. 1:20). Faith is the gift of God, and so is suffering for Christ. Every true child of God suffers with Christ, but not every one suffers for Him.

First then, He speaks to them, and shows them how unworthy of them to be so perturbed. “Then he arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.” Was there ever a king like this, with power to control all the elements? The winds and the sea obey Him. It was a blessed experience for them. In our deep trials we prove what the Lord is for us.

Who would “the men” be of ver. 27? It looks as if there were men there in special charge of the ship. It is quite different in chap. 14:33 there the effect was that “they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.”

All that we have been looking at up to now, is connected with His Galilean ministry. It is in chap. 12 that He is rejected by the religious leaders of Jerusalem.

“When He was come to the other side” (ver. 28). They get there, you see, in spite of the tempest. In the other Gospels you get one man possessed with demons. Here you have two. Constantly in Luke you get two, and frequently also in Matthew, but for quite a different reason. Matthew gives us “two or three witnesses” as affording adequate testimony. But in Luke it is always by way of contrast: “two sons,” elder and younger; “two debtors,” they are contrasted; “two men” go into the temple to pray; “two thieves,” and they are contrasted, but only so in Luke's Gospel. I take it that in this case as given in Mark 5, where we have only one mentioned, it is the more striking of the two men, and so more details are there given. In type you have the last condition of Israel here. These demoniacs mercifully delivered, and so in a future day there will be a remnant saved; but in the swine you get the great unclean mass of the nation. God will reserve some to Himself. In Israel you constantly get a remnant. In Elijah's time He had seven thousand which had not bowed the knee to Baal. The mass will receive the antichrist, and there will be worse idolatries than ever before. Here is One Who can not only heal diseases, forgive sins, control elements, but Who casts the demons out. This He will do, and so Satan shall be cast into the prison house for a thousand years, and then for all eternity into “the lake of fire.”

We can see the malignant, as well as the deceptive, power of the devil. We Christians ought to be more on our guard against his deceptions, and not be ignorant of his devices, as so many of us seem to be. There are, individuals in whom you see his malignant power. You get the world pictured as a great hospital in John 5. In another sense it is a scene of tombs, sin and death go together. So here these two have their dwellings in the tombs. Thank God we have not. We have been delivered. God is conducting many sons through the wilderness on to glory.

This malignant power of Satan is beyond the power of man to subdue. One of these had been often bound with fetters and chains, but “neither could any man tame him.” All Acts of Parliament, and all the societies of men will be unsuccessful to tame him. Only One can. “The demons believe and shudder.” Alas, that this is more than we can say of man in his hardness! Man's believing does not make it true, nor does his unbelief make it false. “The demons believe.” “What have we to do with thee, thou Son of God?” “Jesus” ought not to be there, according to the best text. There is no Savior for demons. “He taketh not hold of angels” (Heb. 2:16). A perfect man, and perfectly a man, He passed the angels by. The fallen angels fell without a tempter; man fell by a tempter; and God will judge that tempter. “Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” The time will come. The devil has access to heaven now, but he will be cast out of heaven and his angels too. The Lord was looking on to Rev. 12, when He said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” After the church is taken home the devil will be cast out, and then ultimately put in the prison house. For a thousand years man will not have a tempter. Yet after all, though they have seen the contrast between the Lord's reign and Satan's sway, at the close of the millennium the great mass of the human race will fall by Satan's deception of the nations, as easily as Adam fell. It only shows that there is nothing stable but a real work of grace in the soul.

We were seeing that this wonderful King could heal all His people's diseases and forgive their sins. Psa. 103 is a millennial Psalm. People read it and get comfort from it now, but it is the language of those under the new covenant. There is no covenant made with the church, but we have the “blood” of that new covenant by which is given us blessing even more than will be when the new covenant is established with both houses of Israel. But there is something more than sin and disease—there is the one who brought sin into the world. Here is One who can deal with him. “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness.”

Things will never be right here till the devil is chained. How could you have a millennium with the devil here? He will be put into the prison house then—not the final place of torment, but into “the bottomless pit.” It needs the personal presence of the Son of God to accomplish that. You get Satanic power shown in two ways here. There is his open, manifest, malignant power in some individuals; whilst others may be very polite. Those who asked the Lord to depart out of their coasts were under Satan's power as well as were the demoniacs. We have more to dread his wiles than his malignant persecuting power. But these two “were exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.” Satan's power is superhuman, and he can use those under his power to do mischief in a variety of ways. Where we get more particulars we are told, “Neither could any man tame him.” No matter what schemes men may make, they cannot alter man's nature. The Lord Jesus is the only One Who can do this.

You never find a demon confessing to Him as Jesus. There is a scripture which says, “No man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost.” Read with its context it shows that there is the ministry of the Holy Ghost and a ministry of demons. And so then, arises the test—which was which? Anything that would put a spot on Him, take away from His glory or from His work—that is of the devil. The youngest believer is responsible to prove all things, and hold fast that which is good. The First Epistle of John brings out the second test of truth, the written word of God. “He that is of God heareth us,” that is, the apostles. Perhaps all had passed away except John, but it is the company of the apostles and prophets who had given them the Word of God, which now we have complete in written form.

The demons say, “What have we to do with thee, Son of God? Art thou come to torment us before the time?” “The demons also believe and tremble.” They own Him Son of God, for to Him every knee must bow, and every tongue confess. Yet is there no Redeemer of angels. Their case has not been taken up for redemption. The tempter is always worse in God's sight than the tempted. So God interferes in His grace to rescue man, but “of angels He taketh not hold” (Heb. 2:16), i.e., fallen angels. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to bondage.” He became the Deliverer by becoming man, and then all that He is as a divine Person enters into all that He did, and gives it divine efficacy. The demons believe there is one God—they believe what is revealed in God's word. Satan may quote and pervert it to his purpose. Demons know their doom. The very first gospel announcement declares it, where it is said of the Seed of the woman, “It shall bruise thy head” (Gen. 3:15). Hence you find Satan's animosity in the O.T. against anyone who is even a type of the Lord Jesus. Satan gets man to believe that God does not mean what He says, and that there is no such thing as “eternal judgment.” If man did not discern who the Lord was, the demons could say, “We know thee who thou art.”

The Lord did not annul the devil at the temptation, but He spoiled his goods, and thereafter cast the demons out. He annulled him at the cross. Satan is in the heavenlies now, but he will be cast into the earth, and then, “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea!” Then later he will be cast into the abyss. When loosed out of his prison, the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth shall be gathered by him to encompass in battle the camp of the saints, and the beloved city Jerusalem; but fire comes down and destroys the nations, and Satan is cast into the lake of fire, to be tormented forever and ever. Not all angels have fallen. There are the holy and elect angels. No creature can stand unless kept. All the human race have fallen in Adam their federal head (Rom. 5:12-19; 1 Cor. 15:22).

We know that demons are in the heavenly places because the word of God says “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). The Lord Jesus said to His disciples when they told Him the demons were subject unto them, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” He was looking forward to the time of Rev. 12:9. Satan is not in paradise, the third heaven. We get light from 2 Cor. 12 as to what paradise is. It is the immediate presence of God, the highest place of blessing, and that is where the poor thief went! Satan has access to accuse the saints. We see his access in Job 1; 2 And he accuses “day and night” (Rev. 12:10). It is after the rapture of the saints to heaven that he is cast out. I take it to be the middle of Daniel's seventieth week, and the last half of that week is the time of “the great tribulation.”

Mary Magdalene was conscious of what the Lord had done for her in casting out seven demons “She ministered unto Him.” In Luke 7 we find a nameless woman, and it is wonderful grace that keeps her name secret. But people jump to conclusions and. so identify Mary with her; but not so. There is nothing to show that Mary's past had been impure.

If we take the whole universe there is not a single thing, however small, left to chance. Nothing can happen without God's commission or permission. He either permits it, or it is according to His will. God permitted man to fall. If you could take all the mystery out of the Bible you might have proof that it was not of divine origin. The wisest amongst us would own that he has but touched the fathomless depths of the word of God.

The only thing the devil can do is to take man downwards. The swine rushed down. Until a man is converted, every step from his birth has been downward and hell-ward. We only begin to go upward when we know Jesus as our Savior and Lord. He gave permission to the demons to enter the swine. When the Lord wanted to show that sin is not only degrading but defiling, he gave a picture of a Jew tending swine. There are many things in Scripture to show that demons have a longing to inhabit something, man or beast. This shows us an object lesson-the devil is a destroyer. While they know indeed that they are fallen, and know there is punishment for them, we must not think they will have any sway at all when that punishment falls. The most abject of all will be the devil himself. Now is his reigning day. But when the day of punishment comes, at which they tremble now, for they know nothing can stop it, the heaviest punishment will be theirs. They are bent on mischief. Many a man is deluded by them to think he puts an end to his existence by committing suicide, and finds it but a lie of Satan, when it is too late.

Ver. 34.-What comes out here shows that man values his temporal possessions more than the presence of the One Who could cast out demons. They would rather have the devil and the demons, and their possessions, than Christ. They begged Him to go, and He took them at their word. But it would appear, from Mark, that the preaching of the man had effect, as there were some prepared to receive Him afterward. He tells what Jesus had done, and how He had had compassion on him.

Christ the Way, the Truth and the Life (Duplicate): Part 2

Man could not meet God without a mediator. I am not afraid to draw near and study Abba's character in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?” It was a hidden union between Him and God the Father. We could not trace the union between the two Persons in the Godhead, but the Lord Jesus put it out to be received in simplicity.

I have the grace of the Lord in this chap. 14. He must get down upon a lower testimony (ver. 10). There were certain words and works. He drops the other question for the present, and descends to words and works. “Who wrought these words and works in me? What do you think of them?” If they would not receive them, they were denying His place as servant. He would not say His own words and works: “The Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works.” All my works I work in fellowship with my Father. Those works that you saw, did they bring you to Abba or to myself? There were certain works: whom did they bring you to? Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works' sake. A person says, How can it be? You are simply to receive “that I am in the Father, and the Father in me.” Nothing could be plainer than ver. 11.

What do I understand by “abiding in the Son"? Never a thought or an action ought to flow from me, save as one actually hidden in the Lord Jesus Christ. I never think of God the Father having anything to say to me, apart from my being in Christ. My place is to be hidden in the Son, and to abide in Him. I am to be seen as a person inside Christ, never a bit of me to appear outside; to be seen by God according to His thoughts of the person of Christ, who had to come here to show out the ways of the Father. He says, “That is what my words and works have been.” “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” “See the sort of love I have towards you for the Father's sake. While the Father has given Me words and works, I mean to work in you down here; and there will be greater works done by you than by Me because I go unto My Father.” I suppose in all simplicity, that this refers to the beginning of Acts. There we see one hundred and twenty left as the result of His work, gathered in an upper room; but on the day of Pentecost, when Peter was speaking, there were three thousand brought in at once. It was from Jesus glorified at God's right hand, “He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.” Most remarkable that anybody should be converted through a man like Peter, and most marvelous that there should be at most but some hundreds (1 Cor. 15:6) through Christ's ministry! It was through the gift of the Holy Ghost; the Spirit had come to testify through them.

The next step He takes here is a most remarkable token of His identity with His Father in practical affection. Ver. 13, He says to them, “When you get into any difficulty, just come in My name, and pour it out, and see if I do not answer.” “If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it.” What does this say to our hearts, beloved friends? Whatever you fear, take it in. I have certain things on my heart; I go in and ask God for them, and the petitions are granted me, because they were asked in Christ's name. Another time I draw near burdened, and do not know what I want; but there is Christ up there, who looks down and sees the thing that I need, and He says, “I will give it for My Father's sake.” He sits there until there are no more children to be gathered, and then He rises up—the expression of His Father's mind still.

My thoughts have been led a good deal into this subject in this verse. If I say to a child, “What do you know about your father?” he would answer very sharply, as the child of a friend did to me as to what his was, and so on. “But what do you know about him?” The child thinks he knows all about his father and yet, when you come to the point, what he puts forth is very little indeed. You will find he has got what appears to me a very defective answer. I am a son in the same family in which the Lord Jesus Christ is the First-born among many brethren. I say this presents the Father's thoughts and mind; I want to have an answer that will bear the test of that presence. If a person says “What do you know about Abba?” I say, “Well I do know a little about the Lord Jesus Christ, and in everything that I do know, I find the Father presented. Everything that He does presents the Father's thoughts and mind.” This throws the whole question upon my knowledge of a certain Person, in whom the Father was revealed—who came into the world to declare Him.

In Eph. 3 we read, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” Suppose I address myself to a poor illiterate person, and say, “What do you know about Christ?” If that person is walking near to Christ, Christ is dwelling in his heart by faith. There is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily presented in Christ there. I can quite understand that if you said to many simple souls, “Are you filled into all the fullness of God?” they would say, “Oh no!” If you say, “Have you much to do with the Lord Jesus Christ?” they would say, “Blessed be His name, I have nothing else!” If Christ dwells in your heart by faith, you are filled into all the fullness of God.

Just take up one instance out of many, as an illustration of the truth before us, the Person of the Lord and His words and works as presenting God, John 4. He comes into the world thirsting for poor sinners, and He goes off down to Samaria, because He knows a certain poor woman is there whom He is to bless. First of all, He spreads out the various beauties in Himself, and the water He had to give her; but she cannot understand Him. Then He steps off the divine side of the question, and gets on the ground of her conscience, saying, “Go, call thy husband.” She says, “I have got no husband.” “Now, quite true,” He says, “you have no husband."... “Oh, dear me,” she says, “there is that question about worship; where is the place for it?” “Poor thing,” He says, “My Father is seeking worshippers who shall worship Him in spirit and in truth; He has sent His own Son into the world to look for such” —Christ speaking the thoughts of God and doing His works. She answers Him again. “Well,” she says, “if you bring your knowledge forward in this way, I know something; when Messiah cometh, He will tell us all things.” Jesus said, “I that speak to thee am He.” She goes off just in the line of His thoughts. She says, “I have found You out; You have no heart to condemn me: I will serve your turn.” So she fetched out the poor Samaritan sinners. “Ah,” they say, “your tidings brought us out; and we have found, not merely Messiah, but the Savior of the world.” The Lord takes up that; when the disciples come back, He says, “Do you not see that the fields are white already to harvest?” His work was to accomplish what was in the mind of the Father to gather out those who should worship Him, not at Jerusalem or Samaria, but in spirit and in truth.

If you look through this Gospel of John, you will find in every scene something that gives you knowledge of Abba.

There is a wonderful difference in the feelings of the human mind. I might say, “I know the Lord Jesus and I would go anywhere to meet Him; I would go into the light, though it is very strong.” A very different thing to say, “I know the Lord Jesus, and in whatever form He has presented the Father to me, there is nothing to terrify me in the thought of going into His presence.” When I see Christ on the tree, I see Him as God's Sin-offering—God's Lamb. Am I afraid to meet God, who sent His Son to bear my sins on the tree? If that is God, I am prepared to meet Him. I do not want to send forward a messenger: He has sent a messenger to me. “I have sent My Son to bear your sins on the cross.” I shall not think about the light, however bright that light may be; I shall only think about the God who receives any one who comes through Christ, though they may have dipped their hands in His blood.

Whoever thought of such a thing as the Father seeking those who should worship Him in spirit and in truth? He wanted people to share in the admiration that ever dwells in the heart of the Son about Himself. The Son is perfectly delighted with the Father. All presented in the Son showed the Father's desire to have those who could enjoy Him in their measure. If you have received eternal life, has it never struck you what a blessed person is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ? He has a Father whose heart is wholly set upon Him. I have “fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ,” —fellowship with them, not merely with things belonging to them. I can say, “The throne cannot be shaken.” I bless God that there is that throne; but having all things in heaven is not like having the Person. I can think of the Father's thoughts about Christ: when I think of Christ standing before the throne, I can rejoice in everything in heaven.

It is an important thing to read the Father in the Son, to read Him in all the ways common to both; in His subjection as a Servant, in the words He spoke and the works He wrought, so that Abba will be no stranger to you. “The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works.” There is the truth and the life; just see how He makes it good for the believer. If you believe, you have got Abba's love perfectly declared in Christ's words, works and sufferings.

“And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth.” Who is the truth? Christ. What is my connection with Him? The Spirit of truth dwells in me. He is a Guardian. Christ is our Paraclete up there; the Holy Ghost is our Paraclete down here. When Christ went away, He sent another Paraclete. I have One up there, and One down here. He says, “I have charged myself with all the people of God: if any man sin, he shall not lose the blessing; I am yet there to renew his communion with the Father.” Here He sends the Paraclete, who charges Himself with the care of the people down here. It is not a Comforter merely; but like a man who takes charge of an orphan family, He takes the whole management of them. When the Holy Ghost charged Himself with these souls, He took the whole responsibility of them. He rebukes and corrects, as well as comforts. He does everything for them that Christ would do for them down here. We have a Guardian up there who advocates our cause, and we have a Guardian who charges Himself with all our concerns down here. Mark the sort of knowledge you and I ought to have about the truth, if the Spirit of truth is dwelling in us. “At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” We ought to know all about Him, as far as Scripture reveals Him up there, and all about His to-morrow, when, He comes forth in glory. Let me ask you if you know all about Him? I am afraid, in that respect we are very much behind hand.

Then at last when the Lord speaks about the life: how beautiful! how unsearchable! how it makes one feel that the things of the Lord must be received by faith! “Because I live, ye shall live also.” I say to myself, “Does Christ live?” “Yes, without question.” “Do I live?” “Yes, because Christ lives.” He does not leave me there only. Is He in the Father? He is. There is that unity between Him and the Father that comes from unity of being. Scripture tells me He is in the Father, and I am by grace in Him. The wise men of the world say I am a fool if I believe it.

I remember speaking, thirty years ago, of the truth in the Epistle to the Ephesians. Some one came up to me afterward and said, “You must excuse me; but what you have been saying is contrary to common sense. I cannot be in two places at once.” I replied, “You must settle that with the Lord. If He says so, I would rather deny my being down here than deny my being up there.” Where is He? In the Father. Where am I? In Him. This is connected with the life. “And ye in me.”

Then there is another thing. “And I am in you.” There are two Scriptures I might refer to in connection with it, Christ dwelling in my heart by faith, and the Holy Ghost dwelling in me to the end of time. If I am filled with the Spirit, I know Christ is in me, dwelling in my heart by faith. Look at it quietly; ask yourself whether there ever was a person who knew all about the Father—who was so happy to stoop down and talk to such stupid things as you and me; so that, if you knew Christ, you knew the Father, for He is the very image—He declared Him. Abba will be familiar to you as the Lord Jesus Christ when down here. He says, “You have now Abba's love passing through Me down to where you are. Now that I am going up to God you will see His love coming down to you where your feet are walking here, if you only simply understand what I am as declaring the Father. You want to know what connection you have with the truth? I shall be up there, and the Spirit of truth will be in you, and directly He comes into you, He will cry, ‘Abba, Father.' Then about the life, take Me as an expression of it. I shall be in the Father up there, and you in Me, and I in you.” What could He say more?

As to my life, it is not the privilege I am thinking about, but the reality of you and me possessing life come down from the Father. This life which is Christ to us, is it governing our lives down here? Are we walking down here as He walked? To me it is unspeakable blessing.

(Concluded)

G. V. W.

The Day of the Lord: Part 2

And let me tell you that a favorite weapon of the devil in injuring God's people lies in fear. Very likely he draws them into something wrong first. He entices men, perhaps, into sin. That is one fault; and then he distracts and overthrows their conscience, and makes them judge God according to their own notion of what they deserve. On the other hand, he works also by falsehood, and makes even the believer stand in doubt of God. But his great weapon, in many ways, has always been terror. What is the weapon of God? What is His way of drawing men from Satan's power, and from evil of every kind? Faith—not fear; faith of God's grace and truth as revealed in His Son; not only in the person, but in the infinite work of the Savior. His person alone would not suffice. But, on the other hand, His work could not have sufficed without His person. I am not called to worship grace, but to worship Him who died upon the tree. It is an easy thing to slip away from the truth, and turn the work of the Lord into an object of idolatry, as we see in the Roman Catholic system, where the Lord's Supper is converted into one of the most hideous forms of idolatry. One can understand that men should get on by slow degrees to idolize a wafer. One might reason about it, of course, as being almost incredible, but there is the fact. Our forefathers all worshipped it; all Christendom Worshipped it once, with a very slight exception—a thin line of witnesses whom the Lord raised up, but who, for the most part, were spoken of as the vilest of the earth; and remember it was not merely bad men who persecuted them. The best of the Popes encouraged the persecution of the Waldensians. Through their vain traditions and their unholy prejudices they really played a most evil part in persecuting these true children of God who stood up against that corrupt woman—that great city Babylon.

As the enemy works by fear, the Lord does by faith. You see that is exactly what is brought out in these verses. What is the great object of hope in the words before us? It is the coming of the Lord. Behind His coming to take us up to heaven I see dark clouds and coals of fire. I see that the wrath of the Lord is, to break forth—for let us not forget the wrath of the Lamb. But, surely, we must not mix these things up together, and make a mere medley of grace and judgment. This is precisely what faith disentangles. Faith lays hold of Christ as the true object of the Christian's hope. Judgment is for unbelievers. Never allow the thought that a man is not responsible for his unbelief. Grace gives a man faith to believe; but a man is truly responsible for his unbelief. He knows very well that he is fighting against the Word of God.

Take, for instance, those men who say that there never was such a character as the Lord Jesus Christ; never anything so humble, so loving, so holy, so sublime. I admit freely and entirely that if the Lord Jesus was not the Only-begotten Son of God He was not holy or sublime. People who tell lies are not very admirable folk; and I say if Christ was not God He was not good, because it is impossible that One who was good should pretend to be other and better than He was. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ does constantly leave the impression upon the soul, indirectly as well as directly, that He was God. Take, for instance, these words — “Before Abraham was, I am.” Before Abraham came into being I am—not “I came into being.” He was the self-subsistent One before Abraham was in existence. Abraham was born; the Son of God never began to be the Son of God. He was born as man; the Word was made flesh, but He was the Only-begotten and the Eternal One before He ever tame into the world. That is what lies at the very bottom of all truth as to Christ; and, therefore, if persons object to this and try to overthrow it, just look at the insult to God. Think what God feels about the rejection of His infinite love—of the One that all heaven worships! Think of poor puny men pouring contempt upon the Lord!

I suppose there never was a time in the history of the world when so many respectable baptized persons rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not so very long ago since a Bishop on the other side of the Tweed preached a sermon urging the Jews to become Christians; and a clever Jew replied to his Lordship, telling him that it was a very inopportune moment to ask the Jews to become Christians, when so many Christians were ceasing to be Christians. This was a very painful thing to hear; but I am afraid the Bishop could not well get out of the scrape. That is, he could not fairly deny the fact that many nominal Christians are abandoning nominal Christianity, particularly among educated men. I daresay the working men of England are rather disposed in that way too, at least they were some time ago. But on the opposite hand, the teachers, the barristers, the medical men, and the clergy have shown them a remarkably bad example. Why do I say this?

Just that we may, at any rate, have the truth before us and not be left in a foolish paradise of our own ideas; that we may truly realize the solemnity of the present moment, and that we may personally cleave to the truth with full purpose of heart. The truth is found inseparable from Christ.

That which the Holy Spirit brings up to meet the lie of Satan is the truth. Faith lays hold of the truth, and the truth as to this matter is that Christ Himself is coming to gather all that are His to meet Him on high, changed into His glorious likeness. The Apostle presents that hope to neutralize the fear of the “day.” The fear that the evil one was creating amongst the Thessalonians was that the day of the Lord was come. Perhaps many of you recollect the time when a person in America named Miller produced a fearful condition of things. He pretended to fix the date when the day of judgment was coming—the day of the Lord on the earth—and the consequence was that numbers of persons gave up their business, shut up their shops, abandoned their farms—they were chiefly persons in that class of life. The day came, but there was no such thing as the day of the Lord; and it was not merely that the faith of the great mass of the people was shaken to its center, or that a good many lost their businesses and were ruined, but numbers of them from the shock lost their reason. That, however, was not at all a new thing in the world. In the year woo there was a great time of alarm. Ignorant people thought that there was a fatal charm in the word thousand, and, according to the reckoning of the doctors, they were taught that the day of the Lord would be then. The day came and passed, and there was no appearance of the day of the Lord. Before that time, in the year 600, there had been another but perhaps milder shock of that kind of earthquake. These all passed away, and what was the effect? People got hardened more and more in unbelief. Why was this? Because it was not the truth. They had no right to talk about the day of the Lord in that way. They were puzzled and alarmed about the day of the Lord, because they did not realize the Apostle's motive of comfort in the coming of the Lord.

There is a true order of events. The Lord is coming-that is the first thing—coming to gather His own together; and, therefore, they need not trouble themselves about the alarming cry that the day of the Lord was there, for even, when it does come, it will not affect them. It will fall upon those that know not God, and those that obey not the gospel.

I may direct the attention of any of you who wish to understand the subject to the chapter before this. You will find that there is a most careful preparation for the due understanding of the day of the Lord. The Apostle presents truth to them in the previous chapter, showing that they were quite mistaken in their anticipations of the nature of that day, because they feared that it would fall upon the saints. Not at all. When that day comes, you will arrive with it. Who, then, are the people that will have trouble on that day? The people who are troubling you now—your persecutors. The day of the Lord is a day of trouble, not for God's people, but for God's enemies. They were all wrong in their thoughts, and he sets them right about the nature of the thing before he brings in the elaborate refutation in the second chapter.

I now turn to this, for it is very full of spiritual instruction for our souls. Observe, first of all, the careful preparation of the ground, and, secondly, the careful setting right of the heart. “We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of the Lord” —that is the motive for the sake of (ὑπέρ) which he entreats them. It is not the subject matter that troubled them. Here the Revisers of the New Testament have done harm, I think, because their version connects the coming of the Lord with the day of the Lord. They take it to be the subject of which he is speaking in the first verse; but it is not. It is the motive against the rumor, the fear of which had taken possession of and troubled them. Clearly the “day of the Lord” is the subject, and the coming of the Lord Jesus is the motive of comfort against the false representation and the fear that it was come. To confound the two is fatal; and I have no doubt it was that which led to the mistranslation, and to the day of the Lord being understood to be “at hand,” and not to have actually come, as the heterodox said.

I remember glancing at a book by a certain Regius Professor of Greek upon the Epistles to the Thessalonians. You would expect a Greek Professor of Oxford to understand Greek; but the extraordinary thing was that he continued the same mistranslation as is in the Authorized Version. There is no ground to doubt that the closing verb means “is present,” not “at hand:” an error alike of rendering and of doctrine, which would contradict the Apostle's own teaching in Rom. 13:12, that the day is at hand. Certainly the false teachers did not anticipate what the Apostle taught; they pretended to have his authority for saying that the day was come, to the alarm of the Thessalonians. There is no just reason for questioning the regular sense. What is now admitted by every Greek scholar worth consulting eluded the Professor. How do you account for that? People go to the New Testament with their own ideas of what it ought to be, instead of to receive what God says. This is the way that people do when they rise up against the plainest truths that are in the Bible. It is because their minds are preoccupied. They have got a certain pre-conceived idea, and because of this they make the greatest blunders. Remember I do not say that the person who is addressing you is not liable to as great a blunder. I am sure we all are if we go to the Bible in that spirit. You will not, therefore, suppose I mean to speak disrespectfully of any person, but to press positive facts. We ought to, have far more homage for the truth than for persons. I do not understand a man writing to keep back the truth. It may seem a wonderful thing to find a person who has the just reputation of being a scholar misinterpreting plain Greek. But he did so; and it was entirely owing to the fact that he had got a system in his mind which falsified his views of Scripture and the translation of Scripture. The only way in which a man can get rid of that is when, by grace delivered from prejudice, he looks to the Lord and approaches Scripture with the desire to learn what God says.

The Apostle, having given the motive of comfort why they should not be agitated about this report which had so alarmed them, lets them know that the people who had spread that report were no better than they should be, because they had actually given out a letter of their own as if it were a letter of the Apostle's. You must not suppose that it is his First Epistle they had misinterpreted. What he says is— “That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us.” He does not say it was his letter. If he had referred to the first epistle, he would have said, the letter from us. He would have referred to it as a well-known letter. If he had referred to it vaguely, it might have been any letter, but he would not have said “as from us,” but ours. What he meant was that it pretended to be what it was not. The worst morality is shown particularly in implying what is not true was inspired. Forging is a great sin. It was not merely that they pretended to a revelation, or to a word spoken in the assembly, but they really pretended it was Paul's letter. When the truth is lost, how often men cease to be truthful!

And now the Apostle goes into the facts of evil, which must precede the day which is to judge them. He says— “Let no man deceive you by any means; for [that day shall not come] except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” I do not recollect the Revised Version, but I have no doubt you will find it is “the falling away,” which is the regular word for the apostasy. It is not merely an indeterminate expression— “a” falling, as in the Authorized Version. Next, the man of sin. The apostasy referred to what was already known among the Christians and even among the Jews. In the eleventh of Daniel we hear of a king that should do according to his own will, that was to come by-and-bye; and this king is described in very characteristic coloring. He rejects false gods, he refuses his father's god, he would not have what is called the desire of Israel, that is, the Messiah; and he rejects the true God. Yet, for all that, he falls a victim to a god of his own device. Like Jeroboam, he sets up a new religion in order to accomplish political ends. It is not merely an ambitious prelate who sets himself up—this would be bad enough—but it is one who claims the honor due to God. He makes no hypocritical pretense to be a servant of His servants. He claims for himself supreme and exclusive divine worship in the temple of God.

I think that it is unjust to say that this has ever yet been realized to the full. I have as bad an opinion of Popery, I suppose, as anybody here; but I do not believe that Popery is the apostasy. The apostasy is a great deal more, and a great deal worse. I believe that a man might be saved who is a Roman Catholic; I believe, in the midst of the terrible corruption and superstition of the Romish Church, there is enough of the word of God read, enough of Christ, for a poor soul to lay hold of the great truth of a Divine Person who became man and died for sinners. Hence, I believe that there have been not only Roman Catholic laymen, but Roman Catholic priests saved, and, what is more, Roman Catholic Popes. I believe Pope Leo was a good man (although he was ambitious), as also Pope Gregory the First. Alas, Gregory the Seventh was a very different man. I only refer to these as two occurring to me that seem to have shown a fear of God and a love of His truth in the midst of abounding darkness and superstition. We must not allow ourselves to be carried away too strongly by controversy. We must hear in mind that there are persons who may be objects of divine grace under most untoward circumstances. I can conceive of a Roman Catholic being saved, but who can conceive of a Unitarian being saved? The latter denies the divinity and atonement of Christ. Indeed, anyone who denies even the true humanity of the Lord is worse than a Roman Catholic. The falling away, or apostasy means the rejection of all revealed truth.

(Continued)

(To be continued)

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Abraham: Genesis 15

A rationalist may be learned; but he is necessarily ignorant of God's mind in Scripture, as his false principle leads him to deny it, and hence not even to seek it, as the believer does who sees in the word of God the Spirit's testimony to Christ.

CHAP. 15.

There is a sensible difference between the portion we are entering on now, as compared with the chapters we have had before us. They have given not only a distinct, but also, as it appears to me, within their own line, a complete view of that side of the truth which it was in the mind of the Spirit of God to convey. In this way chapters 12, 13, and 14 form a whole; and, as we have already seen, the great thing there before God was the call of Abram, and its consequences from first to last, the public step that He was Himself taking in His own ways, in having a man, not only walking by faith, as others had done before, but set apart openly to Himself as none had ever been before. I do not mean merely separate spiritually now, for no doubt Abel was so, to begin at the beginning. No one can doubt that, before the difference between him and Cain, or the terrible issue came out into view, the moral distance between the first brothers had been existing, and was felt, not only by themselves, but by every one else. It is plain that Cain's own spirit found it intolerable; and it was just this conviction which he resented, and which carried him to lift up, first his hand in violence against his brother, then his voice in irreverence and rebellion against God, as his heart had been a stranger to Him all through.

Here is another thing. For the first time we see the efficacious principle of a separate witness, to whom God conveyed a promise, and a promise too that had to do not only with what was unseen but with what all could see, after coming out at God's word. The latter was indeed the earlier of the two; for Heb. 11 shows us that, first of all, Abram was actuated by faith in leaving the country to which he belonged, and when he came into the land that God promised to give him, then, his eyes were lifted higher still. Thus does the Spirit of God show us the introduction of the great principle which God has never given up since, but has always been carrying out. He set it publicly before Israel in an earthly way, and now He is giving it effect after a heavenly sort. This seems to be the subject of chapters 12, 13, 14. That it is concluded there is manifest from this, that we have a scene which brings distinctly before us the last great conflict—the battle between the kings of the earth, and the victory which the man of faith enjoys by the power of God, even over the powers previously victorious. In short, it is there we have the type of the great “Priest upon his throne” in Melchizedek, active toward God as well as man, blessing man in the name of the “most high God,” and blessing the “most high God” on the part of man. All this will assuredly find its due place and season when Christ appears in glory.

To this I have referred in a brief summary, to show you that there is a complete whole in these chapters, starting with the call, and ending with the glory; so that we have the general public picture of the life of faith, with its worship, its drawbacks, failure, and recovery; the disclosure of the earthly mind too, its covetousness, and its disasters; faith's triumph over the world it had left behind, and the sudden appearing of Him who will display the glory of God in the blessing of man, and the harmony of heaven and earth; all brought before us within the compass of these three chapters.

But what follows seems rather to come back again, and make a new start. That this is true is most evident from chapter 15, as compared with those before it, and indeed it relieves one of no little difficulty when seen to be so intended by the Spirit. For if it be viewed simply as a continuance of the former chapters, would it not be very extraordinary to hear how Abram is justified by faith? There is naturally, therefore, a fresh beginning. Of course, it is not denied for a moment that what took place at this time did literally occur after the scene, with Melchizedek; but we are now speaking of the ulterior and deeper aim which the Spirit of God had in recording these matters. It is a question not only of facts, but of God's mind in His word; and we are seeking to regard it as a divinely given source of profit for ourselves, and of gathering from the Lord why it is; for we may with reverence inquire, and indeed are bound to inquire, seeing this is the way in which we grow in the knowledge of the mind of God.

Why then, we ask, does the Spirit of God introduce the theme at this particular place? It appears to me that here we have a fresh start, and another course of divine lessons for our souls, in looking at the new dealing with God with His servant. And it will be shewn further that there is a series, as it is not merely an isolated fact; but, just as we saw in what went before, a chain of circumstances all connected one with another, and completing the subject as a whole. A similar principle governs here as there. There is this remarkable difference, that here we come to what is far more personal, as one may call it. We have no longer public testimony. What we have had bears this character right through from first to last. But here another thing is impressed on us, and very important in its place—that we are not merely witnesses. Here, accordingly, personal faith comes first before us.

Some of us must be more or less aware of the danger to the soul from being so occupied with that which is public as to neglect what is personal. Take, for instance, the gathering together of the saints to the Lord's name—our assembling around His table. Who does not know that, however precious the privilege, however closely bound up with the Lord's glory, however full of comfort, and blessing, and growth to our souls, if used alight, there remains much which is not a question of testimony, but of the exercise of faith individually, carrying one more into God's presence, and intercourse between Him and our souls?

Here, at any rate, in the wonderful book before us, begins a new series of instruction. God is showing His own dealings with the soul of Abram, not viewing him so much as a witness for Him before others. He is looked at alone as in his house, but, above all, with God. Every one could see when Abram had left his country, and set out for a promised land; they could see too that he sometimes failed for a season to accomplish what was before him. And it is all most instructive. Then, again, his pitching his tent, or rearing an altar, was all visible, and meant to be so. So, further, the victory over the powers of the world was that which men generally could not only hear of but feel: it was a real and public testimony. But had this been all, it would not have met what God meant to give, and what He loves to give, for the blessing of the soul. There is such a thing as living too much in the public walk and activity of a saint, to the neglect of that which is more personal. This seems precisely what the Spirit of God enters into here from chapter 15—the dealings of God with the soul individually, beginning with its wants, but leading on to a far deeper communion with Himself.

The first thing to notice by the way is, “After these things.” This is the usual way of marking off a new division or a fresh subject. You will find a similar expression at another and similar section in chapter 22. There clearly begins a line of things quite distinct from what preceded. So it is here. “After these things the word of Jehovah came unto Abram.” We have not had this expression before, although we have had “Jehovah said to Abram.” What makes it more remarkable is, that in the counterpart of it in the Acts of the Apostles (chap. 7.), we are told that “the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham” at that very time. Thus it is the more striking, because, although He did appear, it is not so said in Gen. 12 It was according to the mind of God only to speak of His speaking to Abram. Of course it remains perfectly true that He did appear, but not a word of it is mentioned in the history, which adds indeed to the point of it, by the seventh verse of the same chapter, where it is distinctly declared that God appeared to him; and worship is thus grounded on it, that is, on the positive revelation of God to his soul, and not merely on a revelation from God. Such, too, is the form in which God presents that which has come out now in Christ our Lord. There the Father was showing Himself in Him. We are called to the knowledge of the Father and the Son, and truly our fellowship is with both, the Holy Ghost being the power that gives the enjoyment of it. Thus it is not merely His words we have, but the showing of Himself. So one of the disciples said, “Show us the Father,” though this indeed He was ever doing, but they were dull to see it. An hour was coming, however, when they should see it. This was the hour for Christian worship, which is the answer of the heart, the precious and spontaneous effect of the revelation of God to the soul.

Here then, as one sees, is a new form we have not had before. It is not merely that Jehovah “said,” still less that Jehovah “appeared,” but, suitably to the fresh lesson of the Spirit of God, “After these things the word of Jehovah came unto Abram.” What “the word” calls for is faith. There we discern at once the reason of it; and faith is the groundwork of all dealings between the soul and God. As, on the one hand, it is “the word of Jehovah” that came to Abram; so on the other, faith answers to His word; and this is the point of truth illustrated here.

But there is another trait noticeable, the wisdom of God in not always putting—indeed we may say never—the highest truth first. He thinks of the soul's need. This is of great moral interest. Even' if it were the Lord Jesus from heaven speaking to Saul of Tarsus, still after all He is dealing first with his conscience, though by the light of the glory in Himself. There might be that which Saul, afterward pondering, enters into far more deeply than when he was converted; but the thing that was blessed to his soul was a divine person, yet a man in heaven, judging all, but in perfect grace, and not something that supplied merely a wonder for the mind to be occupied with. This was not the point. He was made nothing of before the Lord. No flesh may glory. One can glory, but only in the Lord. And so I find here. This scene may not be at all so deep, high, or large in its character as what follows, but it just marks the way of the Lord in dealing with the soul to justify it.

The truth is, when the “word of Jehovah” comes to a man, it not only finds wants but awakens them. Such is its just fruit. It is not merely that we are needy. The present case of Abram was not that of one disturbed and anxious about its condition. Abram long ago had been quickened of God, and indeed had walked in His ways, as we know, for many years before this; but God was pleased to make the chapter that comes before us the first of a new series for the opening of His truth in the more hidden and personal life of His servant. The first thing seen here is that He sets him in perfect confidence in Himself.

“Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” No doubt there was a beautiful suitability in this revelation after what had just passed. Abram had refused what the world had to give, and God graciously owns this with complacency, and announces Himself his sufficient reward. If God were his shield, Abram need not fear the jealousy of the Canaanite, no! even the hostile reprisals of the kings he had defeated, nor yet from any other quarter. “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” God would be true to His own word. Here was a bulwark of protection, and source of supply, at once secured to His servant. But mark the effect. It awakens the sense of wants, and draws out too the expression of those wants. If Abram had long felt in secret any such desire, there is no reason to suppose that he had ever told it out to God before. Now he does. God had given him the land of promise, but with this he was not content, and God meant that he should have more. His unfolding Himself to him in this new way leads Abram to breathe out what he had perhaps never defined to himself before. He was not content with the general terms God had hitherto used to him. He says, “Lord Jehovah, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless?” Where was the value of God's being ever so great a reward, if after all he was childless, “and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?” What matter the lands he might have, if all was to go to his servant?

Now I do not say that this is by any means the highest point of Abram's faith; on the contrary, it seems to me far from what we see not long after. But still there was reality, and this is assuredly one point of moment for us here—that God would always have us in the truth of our state, whatever this may be. Suppose a person is not at ease about his sins, let him not gloss it over. If God is dealing with his soul, He brings it clearly out. If to be fully blessed, the person is made as unhappy as he can be, and in fact the same grace which gives to the soul the assurance that God blots out and forgives also brings the soul to look at its own sins to the very depth. So again, yet more, supposing a person is clear enough about his forgiveness, still he may be troubled about the sin that dwells in him. This is another exercise for souls. But, whatever the occasion, God will always have reality; and though He encourages in grace, that He begins with it is what we find in His dealing with Abram now. He sounds Abram's wishes and thoughts, and He brings out from his lips what was at the bottom of his heart. He who had the promises was not satisfied, because he had not a son to inherit all that God had given him. And so he takes this place “Behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.”

Soon the word of Jehovah comes to him again. “This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.” And then he is taken abroad, and bid to “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars if thou be able to number them; and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in Jehovah, and he counted it to him for righteousness” —that very fruitful scripture, which the New Testament uses over and over again for the most important purposes. In all these, however, it will be observed, that the object is to meet the soul at the starting-point individually, which is exactly what I am showing in the account of Abram, though in fact the thing occurred in Abram's history after he had been a believer some time. Still, even the New Testament shows that life is not justification, so that the truth abides substantially alike everywhere. But even though quickened, a person cannot go on steadfastly, or enter into the mind of God fully, until he is clear as to the grave point of righteousness. This too gives us an instructive lesson for ourselves in having to do with others. It makes us feel the incomparable mercy that God has shown us in this respect; for if there is one thing that He has been pleased to bring out into distinctness, and to give the simplest soul to enjoy through faith in Christ and His work, it is that personal freedom, and deliverance from every question, which it is our privilege now to enjoy; and I believe that a greater mercy there cannot possibly be for the believer individually.

Very likely what first arrested one was something quite different. It may have been with us as it was with Abram. Many of those called out in our day were brought into and occupied at first with the public ways of God. What we had understood as the church was learned to be a mere ruin. We had received from God truth as to His own will and counsels about us, as Abram had; but God wrought, and powerfully too, in another way. Not of course that any one could assume in such a state to have more than a very partial insight into God's mind in that respect. But this one may say, that unless a soul be at one time or another-perhaps not always at the start—brought into clearance, into thorough enjoyment of its own place by grace through faith, the public walk of faith in testimony and worship will not always possess its charm, still less will the soul always hold it in power for the Lord's glory. The real reason, one will find, why souls (and not unfrequently, grievous to say) slip out of the place of witness to Christ, is that they have never been thoroughly broken down as individuals. They have never really been brought into that which would make the preciousness of Christ alone, and liberty by and in Him, enjoyed by their souls. They have slurred over the great matter of personal clearance with God. The public life, in short, has been not only that on which the soul first entered but where it abides, and this entails an unconscious escaping from the question of finding and getting the answer to our wants personally with God.

Now this seems to me of no small moment, not only for ourselves, but also in dealing with the persons we meet from day to day. Were it only a question of what is public, it would not bear the stamp of the truth of God. It might be true, but still there would be something wanting for spirituality of soul.

I believe it, therefore, to be a matter of profound thankfulness to our God that He has not only brought out from His word the path of faith in worship and public walk, and given some few to enter into it more or less, but He has brought the same souls into the liberty with which Christ makes free. Doubtless there are differences of apprehension, and there must be so among the people of God; we are not all equally spiritual or simple. But it remains true that God has of late wrought so that we should by grace enjoy both these aspects of the truth, the public and the personal, and that the very same testimony which on one side of it has made clear to us what is publicly for the glory of the name of the Lord Jesus, has brought the word of God unto our souls to establish us in His righteousness more clearly, and with greater power, than we ever knew before we trod that public place of testimony. Can I not appeal to the souls that read these words for the truth of them?

But as some despise what is public in desire for the supply of personal need, so others may merge all in what is public. There is danger, therefore, on either side. The general testimony may expose to the danger of neglecting the more personal part of the truth. As we see, it was not so with Abram; and it is of great consequence that we should look to this for ourselves, if we are not in perfect peace, and for souls generally.

Never assume that those who bear the Lord's name in Christendom are personally clear before God. It they are in thorough departure from the mind of God ecclesiastically, they are just as ignorant and unestablished as to the soul. It is a good thing to bring them out of all that hinders them; but seek far more than that. Do not fail to probe the soul as to the consciousness of its place with God. Do not be content that they should hear a little of what is meant by the assembly; that they should see the importance of what it is to worship the Father in spirit and in truth. This is well, and also most important; but there is a nearer want, which may never have been fully faced and met. Can the person take the place now of standing before God in calm and constant confidence, without spot or stain? Does he know what it is (for that is the form the truth takes for us) to be not only justified by faith, but dead to sin, and crucified to the world? Sometimes, through unwillingness to offend, or assumption that a believer must know, we are apt to slur over these matters, just as if, because they have taken a public stand, all the rest must be settled. Often it has never been so; and very generally, if not always, it will turn out that those who have slipped aside from the testimony are men that never enjoyed the individual clearance of their souls. “That day” may show that all who have departed from what is due to the name of the Lord Jesus were weak personally. Indeed, if we ourselves come to search, looking back, and weigh that which they have talked, or (it may be) preached, do we not see ground enough to infer that there had always been a lack there? No wonder that the public walk failed, if the personal faith was never according to the just measure of the truth of God.

This then is the prominent point here; and you will observe that in this chapter Abram does not rise above the answer to his wants. Let none slight what is so needful and important in its season. It is no use to he asking for great things, if there be an unsatisfied want that is near the heart; and this was the case with Abram. Undoubtedly God meant all through to have given him a son; nevertheless He would have Abram's heart thoroughly searched, and sends His word purposely to bring out what was there, meets him where he is, answers the faith that was exercised, and gives him further enlargement, with a token by which he should know that he should inherit the land. Thus his heart is first drawn out about a son, and if a son, then an heir. The inheritance follows, though after intervening sorrow and trial.

“And he said unto him, I am Jehovah that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord Jehovah, Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcass Abram drove them away” (vers. 7-11). It was of course no question of expiation here, but of confirming the divine grant of the inheritance; and in the character and variety of the animals slain God (as it seems to me) took into account the weakness of faith that asked the sign. He does not decline to give Abram the bond that he asked, or to make all sure by death. (Compare Jer. 34:18, 19.) But it was not to be made good without tribulation as well as patience on the part of the seed. “And when the sun was going down,” more followed for his discipline and our instruction, which was very appropriate as a sign of this: “a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a horror of great darkness fell upon him.” You see it is not one that stands in the light of God, but one that lingered in the region of his own wants, and of all the sorrow that belongs to wants connected with such a world and such a state.

“And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; and also that nation whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full” (vers. 13-16).

Ultimately we find the land of promise secured to Abram as punctually as in a map. “When the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces” (ver. 17). Jehovah knew what was in Abram's mind, and so He enters into this covenant— “Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates, the Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites” (vers. 18-21).

Throughout the chapter, then, it is what man wanted, and this made it a suited scene for illustrating justification. It was not God appearing, but the word that came, and Abram believed, and his faith was counted to him for righteousness. Jehovah had adapted His word to bring this about by saying, “I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.” Then Abram asks and has the promise of a son and heir out of his own bowels, his seed to be as the stars for number. The pledge follows whereby he should know his inheritance of Canaan. It is sealed by a sacrifice; and the horror of great darkness which fell on sleeping Abram seems to be in keeping with the prophecy of affliction for his seed in a strange land, however surely Jehovah would judge the nation they should serve, and they in due time come again to Canaan when the iniquity of the Amorites was ripe for divine vengeance. So it was in fact as we all know.

A smoking furnace and a lamp of fire passing between the pieces point to this too, while the same day Jehovah covenants with Abram, marking the limits of the land and the devoted races of Canaan. Throughout it is the wants of man on the earth, and God securing the answer, in His grace, by sacrificial death. It is the earthly people to be delivered by judgment on their enemies in and out of the land. Those who fall under the judicial dealings of the Lord are met in grace with definite pledges for their tried faith; and the prophetic word, excellent as it is for all, casts its light as from a lamp on the dreary scene of man's lawlessness where the sword of the Lord clears the way for the scepter according to His mind. In none of these passages do we see the counsels of grace for heavenly glory. It is first the individual justified by faith; and next the people to pass through tribulation, but to be saved at the end of God's allotted time.

Notes on Matthew 9:1-17

Capernaum is called His own city because, though the Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem and brought up in Nazareth, He had made His home there. Thus was Capernaum “exalted to heaven.”

We have had sin before us in its polluting character, now we have man in his helplessness. “And behold!” The Holy Spirit in effect says “Now mark!” The man could not come himself, he was dependent on others to bring him. In Mark we are told he was borne of four. “When he saw their faith” his, as well as theirs who brought him. He always responds to faith. There is an utterly helpless man laid before Him. Why did the Lord say, “Thy sins be forgiven thee"? They had brought him to Jesus that He should effect a physical cure. This He did, and much more. Could we suppose the Lord would say “Thy sins be forgiven” to one not troubled about them? He knew the man's heart, others saw his helplessness. The Lord shows He not only knew what was going on in him, but also He knew their thoughts; He is the Omniscient One. The scribes say, “This man blasphemeth.” They were the blasphemers really, blind to the true glory of the One Who was there.

It is easy for a man to say “Thy sins be forgiven thee"; a wicked man can say it, but where is the proof of his authority for so saying? When they accused Him of blasphemy, He who searches the heart says, “Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and walk?” That is the point. If one can give the man power to walk, He must be God, and have power to forgive sins also. “But that ye may know that the Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins,” etc. He is never addressed as “Son of man,” but the Lord constantly uses the title Himself. It is not so limited as Messiah, and it is on His rejection as Messiah that it is brought out. It is Messiah in Psa. 2, Son of man in Psa. 8, but, the same Person. There is nothing saving in merely knowing scripture, or committing it to memory, though excellent in its way; for without faith in Christ as a divine Person it will not avail for your soul. “Whom say ye that I am?” “The Christ, the Son of the living God!” This knowledge was divinely communicated to Peter by an act of grace; as says the Lord, “Blessed art thou"... “for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven (16.).”

“But when the multitudes saw it, they were afraid (R.V.) and glorified God, which had given such power unto men” (ver. 8). This was not really God-honoring, or honoring to the Lord. They were blind to the true glory of the Lord, as much as were the religious leaders. It should read here, “they were afraid” not “they marveled” as in our A.V.

We were seeing that in this Gospel we do not get things so much in order of time. In each of the Gospels we get a selection—a small selection of events, but it is a divine selection and a divine arrangement. In Matthew this is dispensational.

In these two chapters, 8, 9, we get this wonderful cluster of miracles to prove that He who gave the principles of chaps. 5-7, is able to do everything which it is the object of the Spirit to give us in this wonderful group.

It is very lovely to see how the incident which follows (vers. 9-13) is given by Matthew. He seeks to hide himself. It is only in this Gospel that Matthew the writer, when giving the list of the apostles, calls himself there “the publican” or tax-gatherer—an opprobrious name. Thus he humbles himself whilst here he hides himself, for you would not know, from what Matthew tells us, that it was in his house. For this we are indebted to Luke, who beautifully tells us that “Levi (i.e. Matthew) made Him a great feast in his house” (chap. 5).

It is one thing for a person to elect to follow the Lord, and quite another for the Lord to call one to follow Him. In a previous chapter, a certain man said he would follow, and the Lord lets him know that such a course demands sacrifice, for nature has its attractions. We do not know the thoughts of the heart, the Lord does. When those polite enough to beseech Him to depart, did so, He went. Well, Matthew was ready at once to abandon his position and follow Jesus. That indeed delighted the Lord. He does not want divided hearts. He wants all our heart. The response of Matthew brings this out. He was ready to follow the Lord, and it was given to Luke to disclose to us that this Levi made for the Lord a feast, yea, a “great” feast.

The word “Behold” introduces something significant in these narratives. What the Spirit attracts our attention to here is that many publicans and sinners came and reclined with Jesus and His disciples. We are not told they were invited. Publicans and sinners are often classed together—the tax-gatherers who farmed the Roman taxes, and the sinners. Tax-gatherers are generally disliked, and with a corrupt government the dislike was inveterate. Matthew was not the only one blessed, there was Zacchaeus also, and there were others not mentioned by name.

“And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your master with publicans and sinners?” (ver. 11). These religious men looked down with contempt on publicans and sinners. In the Gospel of Luke we see that publicans were permitted to go into the temple, but the Pharisee looked at himself as on a higher pedestal.

When the Pharisees saw this, they said to the disciples what was really a charge against the Lord: “Why eateth your master,” etc. And when Jesus heard, He said unto them, “They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.” There you have two classes; those who trusted they were righteous did not realize their need of the physician, though really needing Him as much as any. It is a dangerous thing to attack the Lord's disciples. The Lord uses scripture more against the adversaries than against the disciples in ver. 13. “I am not come to call the righteous but sinners.” This was, the business of the Lord here. He came on behalf of poor sinners — “to seek and to save the lost.” He is the One who wills, who shows mercy. If a soul is saved and blest, it is because God has had mercy. We all belong to one common lump, and those saved are vessels of mercy afore-prepared unto glory; while in the case of the lost, He endures “with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” —fitted not by God, but fitted by themselves to destruction.

They were complaining of the Lord having to do with publicans and sinners, and He lets them know that such were the objects of His coming. “To repentance” is not properly here and should be left out. It is given in the parallel passage in Luke. Repentance is, as is faith, the gift of God, “Then hath God also to the Gentiles, granted repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18).

“I will have mercy.” It is very beautiful. He retreated into Himself when Israel forfeited everything. They did not appreciate the grace that had dealt with them, for it is all grace, sovereign grace, up to the end of Ex. 18. Law came in by the way, and the people showed they did not value the grace, by their taking the ground of conditional blessing, and so they forfeited everything. God could not have gone on with them if He had not retreated into Himself. You get the book of Exodus divided into three parts—first, pure grace; then, pure law; and lastly, a mixture of law and grace. What follows now takes up the attempt to mix up grace and law. That is just what is pleasing to the natural man. How little is it seen that we are “not under law,” though “legitimately subject (ἔννομος) to Christ.” Law demanded what man could never give, and cursed him for not giving it. Grace gives us power to keep the law and blesses us for doing it. “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8). Patchwork and broken bottles will not do for God, if they do for man.

We never read of the Lord fasting except during the forty days before His ministry. Fasting is all right in its place, but in the presence of the bridegroom it is out of place. The disciples here represented the children of the bride chamber. The bridegroom was a familiar figure in the O.T. Take for instance, the nook of Song of Solomon. We have to distinguish between the bride of Christ, and Israel. Jerusalem is looked upon as the bride, and the cities of Judah as her companions. But the bride of Christ is composed of all saints between Pentecost and the rapture of the saints to meet the Lord in the air. We are in the position now of being “sorrowful but always rejoicing.” For here there is so much to make us sorrowful—the condition of the Lord's people and of the world: and, if we but look at ourselves, how little do we respond to His wondrous grace!

Some people speak of practical truth, but every bit of truth ought to have its due effect upon us. God was not on speaking terms with Lot. He is never called the God of Lot, though Lot was just, and vexed his righteous soul. But with Abraham God did not hide from him what He was about to do, He told him His bosom secrets. There we have a picture of what effect dispensational truth should have on us. It made Abraham an intercessor.

New cloth is what grace is bringing in now. It is not to be used to patch up the old. That is what men seek to do; it is an awful mistake. They mix up Judaism and Christianity. What the Lord was bringing in was not suitable to the old forms at all. Truth must have its own proper form. Then both are preserved.

The Fullness of Christ (Duplicate)

The glory of Christ is the central truth of the Bible. Any one could see His humiliation; Pilate and Herod and the unbelieving Jews, the Roman soldiers, all the multitude did. But the sight of His humiliation was nothing to His glory; and when His glory was discerned, it was the humiliation of the Lord Jesus that filled the heart with shame and with abasement. This always deepens in presence of the love which made One so high to stoop so low; and whatever humiliation was seen in the days of our Lord was only the type of a deeper humiliation. “Himself bare our sorrows and took our sicknesses,” says the Evangelist Matthew, looking upon His earthly ministry and it was true. The quotation, which is from Isaiah, does not refer to the atonement, I admit; but His path was one that led straight to the atonement. The bearing of our sorrows and sicknesses is quite a different thing from the bearing of our sins; but it was the same Person in grace. Jehovah Messiah was of course a Divine person, but, partaking of blood and flesh, He took the place of man in weakness. He drew from God the Father as a dependent man for every need that came before Him. It mattered not what it was: a sick body, a disordered soul, a mind filled with all that Satan can infuse of fear and terror and all that is most hateful to God and man; nay, death itself— nothing stood in His way. Whatever He needed, He drew down from God to meet each case, but He always bore the sorrow on His heart. He never was like those we may see any day who get rid of an importunate beggar with a sixpence; He never did so; but He bent under the weight of every sickness and sorrow He relieved. This is perfection. It was the perfection of His life as a man here below, even in doing miracles. Signs and wonders might be wrought by people that have no communion with God, and no compassion for man. He wrought them with grace peculiar to Himself.

The Lord Jesus was always in an unbroken bond of perfect relationship with God and of perfect compassion and pity towards man. Yet He well knew that all this was but preliminary to the great work that lay before Him. And what was that? His death as the Lamb of God a work not yet seen in all its effects, and never to be seen till not only the kingdom—which is a grand display—be established on the earth, but full perfection be reached: the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. No longer will even government be needed-righteousness will dwell in peace, when evil and wretchedness are gone. There will be the fruit not only of grace, but of grace reigning through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Therein is a great ground of confidence for a poor soul that is anxious about its sins. I do not say that the Lord Jesus has taken sin out of the world yet. This is not quite true; but He is the One who is to do it. There is but One, “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” Without saying that it is done, there is the Person; and if you ask me where is the work through which that infinite power is to be effected, on which it rests, and in virtue of which it will be done, I answer unhesitatingly, the cross. Love could not banish sin. Power could not banish sin according to God. It might do so, but where love and righteousness? Had the Lord Jesus appeared merely to put away all evil from before Him, where must we have been? Where could sinful souls find refuge? If I am to stand and lift up my head in the presence of God I must do it on the ground of His righteousness. And this is exactly what the Lord Jesus provided on the cross. On the one hand, there was God, in His love and holy nature, in His righteousness and majesty; on the other, there was man in all his sin and ruin; and the Lord Jesus comes between both. He goes not from man to God; but He comes from God to man. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The Lord Jesus did not produce one atom of love in the heart of God that was not there before; by atoning work on the cross He removed all hindrance for every soul that bows down and owns his sins, but for none other. No one will receive the blessing of grace without faith and repentance. In vain you talk about faith without repentance; and it would be no blessing to man or glory to God without it. There must be the work of the Spirit in our hearts to produce self-judgment with confidence in God through that which the Lord Jesus had borne for the sake of sinners. Is the heart unaffected? Is conscience harder than a millstone? How could such a soul give praise to God in heaven?

God is not merely working for heaven, He is raising a testimony for Christ in human hearts on the earth before they go to heaven. The best robe for the prodigal does not represent heaven. When heaven comes, there will be no elder son out in the field—no murmuring is heard there—less insult if possible to the Father. Nobody in heaven will act thus. It is here and now, alas! that it is done. But there is where people very often stop. They think the only thing that is now true in the gospel is the Father coming out to kiss the son, the Father taking away his rags, investing him with the best robe, and putting a ring and shoes on him. I would to God that even this was better known. There are many who would lessen the guilt of sin and wrong Christ still. Men are not ashamed of it, and do not see it is deep dishonor to Christ, defrauding Him of His just wages. That which God delights in is to make men righteously happy now and in this world; and this, not in the smallest degree because of any merits on the sinner's part, but entirely as the fruit of God's grace in His own Son and His redemption work. But then the heart must bow to it; and this not only by the faith that receives it from God, but by the repentance that judges self, not one's evil works only, but the flesh.

Now the feast is given; the calling of the friends and neighbors together is what follows; but it follows here not merely in heaven. When in the heavenly city, there will be the tree of life with its twelve manner of fruits, and every month. But what the parable of the prodigal son shows us is a feast begun on earth—God's joy (for it was not merely the prodigal's joy) in having back His erring son safe and sound. Beloved friends, what meaning has that to you? Are you, first of all, in the delivered condition of the prodigal? and, secondly, are you entering into the joy and love of God, which goes out and shares your joy? This is what God looks for now in this world. In heaven, no doubt, we shall have it in perfection; but the Christian man is the man who enters into the love of God and joy of God while on the earth. He is not merely a forgiven man. He is not merely a man who is forborne with. That was the case before the death of Christ on the cross. When God was dealing in Old Testament times with His people He forbore to press the debt, and they were then, as men are now in their natural state, liable to punishment. But then the work of Christ was not done, and God thought it most suitable not to exact the debt. He passed over the sins. There was a praetermission of sins; now there is a remission of sins. Not only does the Lord not judge the sins-they are completely gone. Just as if you had to do with a wise, indulgent creditor who knew that you were greatly tried, but who thought proper to pity you, whatever might have brought about your straitened circumstances. He was merciful to you, and did not press the debt. But is that all the gospel? The gospel goes farther, and says that your sins on believing are completely gone. Remember this is only the first step—the threshold of the gospel and this is what brings me to the next truth which I wish to present to you.

He that is the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, the same is He which baptiseth with the Holy Ghost. There is the work which immediately follows. It is He who baptizes with the Holy Ghost, and it is of importance to see that. He has gone up to heaven, but His interest in His people is none the less if possible He is in a better position to show it. All power, all authority has been given to Him in heaven and on earth. And what is He doing now? Many things, of which one is here singled out by the Holy Ghost—His baptizing with the Holy Ghost. What does this mean? Baptism always means closing one condition in which you have been, and introducing you into an entirely different one. Such is the meaning of baptism in every case. It is always a closing of the past, and the introduction into a new position. It may only be a position, and it may only be external. A man might be baptized and none the better for it as far as regards his soul. This has been the case with thousands—nay, millions. But when a man is baptized even with water only, a solemn responsibility is placed upon him. A baptized person stands in a new and grave position. He is no longer a mere heathen. He is no longer a mere Jew.

(To be continued)

The Day of the Lord: Part 3

The Apostle then tells us that the day of the Lord cannot come until the apostasy and the revelation of “the man of sin.” That is perfectly plain. The Lord told Abram, as a reason for not judging the Amorites, that the cup of their iniquity was not yet full. The cup of Sodom and Gomorrah was filled, as we know, but that of the Amorites was not. They were allowed to follow their evil courses until the earth was ready to spue them out, and then the sword of retribution fell upon them at God's command. It is always a principle in God's dealings that the iniquity which He judges must he thoroughly out. The lawlessness of Christendom is not thoroughly open. There is still, in the midst of a great deal that is very sad, a great deal of conversion going on. There is also not a little of devotedness to Christ. The forms and the reality of truth are yet apparent, and it is as yet “the mystery of lawlessness.” It will be a totally different thing in that day.

Thus we come to what I am now to dwell on—that from the coming of the Lord differs the day of the Lord, not only in character but in time. There is an interval between. How long that interval is must be learned from other scriptures, where the times and the seasons are taken up—namely, in the Book of Revelation. Where would you look for prophetic seasons so readily as in that book? What do you find in it, looking at it as a whole? You have the epistles to the seven churches, giving a prophetic view of the church as long as she should be here below; and at the end of the last of the seven churches—the church of Laodicea door is opened in heaven, and the prophet is permitted to look in, and he sees a new company in heaven, never, in fact, seen there before—twenty-four elders round the central throne of God, themselves seated on thrones.

Who are these crowned elders? In my judgment they are symbolical of the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints—the great company of the heads of the heavenly priesthood. This is the reason why they are said to be four and twenty—which was the number of courses of priests under the Mosaic dispensation. You must not suppose that the twenty-four means twenty-four individuals——there might be thousands, possibly millions of saints. The great idea of the symbol, I take it, is that the twenty-four are the heavenly priesthood—the chief-priests of glory. God is to have other priests and kings besides these. Who are they? Persons who are called to the knowledge of God after the elders are taken to heaven. For, remember, the elders are never added to; you never find twenty-five or twenty-six—still less have you thirty-six or forty-eight. There is no addition. It is a complete body. Now, that is a very important fact. Others will be objects of divine grace, but they are not added to the four-and-twenty elders—they are grouped by themselves. They are a company blessed of God —glorified, no doubt, in due time, but not added to the twenty-four.

We must leave room for the dealings of God. God is sovereign; and if I can believe in the sovereignty of God now in one form, I can believe it in another. The Book of Revelation shows particularly this very principle. Later on in the book, for instance, you have a company seen standing on a sea of glass; and, what is very remarkable, on a sea of glass mingled with fire. In the fourth chapter of Revelation there is a sea of glass, but no fire. In the fifteenth chapter, Where you have this fresh company of conquerors, it is a sea of glass mingled with fire. What does this mean? They have passed through tribulation. The others, you see, have gone up before that terrible tribulation. In their case the symbol of fire would have no meaning.

Perhaps I ought to explain what is meant by this symbol of a sea of glass. Whether in reference to the first company or to the second, the sea would be a natural thought. A sea of water would be for washing us from the defilements we acquire in our passage through this world. The priests, you know, used to be first washed all over; but afterward, whenever they went to do service in the Temple, they washed their hands and their feet. In the heavenly sea there is no longer water but glass. Why? Because it is no longer a question of getting impurity removed. Theirs is all gone. It could never have an entrance to heaven. Therefore, you see, first of all, when the elders are caught up to heaven at the coming of the Lord—nothing else could take them up—there is a sea of glass, but no mingling with fire.

Then, in the central part of the book, you have this great tribulation—the most awful judgments of God upon man's wickedness. The tribulation goes on; and in the fifteenth chapter you have the new company standing upon the sea of glass, with harps of gold in their hands, and singing the song, not of the Lamb merely, but of Moses and the Lamb. The twenty-four elders sing the song of the Lamb merely. We do not sing the song of Moses. It will be all very well by-and-by for the converted Jews to do so, and so they will; but we have learned, by the grace of God, the surpassing glory of the Lord Jesus. On the mount of transfiguration the Apostle asked to be allowed to build three tabernacles—one for Moses, and one for Elias, and one for Christ. No, says God the Father; “This is my beloved Son, hear ye him.” He is the one surpassing and exclusive Object in this new song. Don't let anyone suppose that I mean the smallest disrespect to Moses as a servant of God. Far from that. I hold every word Moses has written to be inspired. The Lord Jesus never was called to write anything, because He was the Word, and it would not have been suitable to His glory that He should have written a line. He was above all that. It is not a question, then, of His writing, but of the Holy Ghost leading others to write about Him. Thus, you see, in the sixth chapter of Revelation, the elders sing merely of God and the Lamb, whereas this new company that come through tremendous tribulation will sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. It is not called a new song at all. It is very important to lay hold of these differences in Scripture.

Now, then, apply this to what we have before us. The Lord will come, and, as the instant effect, will gather all His own to be with Him in heaven. The Spirit of God will begin the work of converting souls by the word, particularly amongst the Jews, but it will not be confined to them. He will work a work both in the Jews and in the Gentiles; only they will not be brought into one body. That remarkable property, that exclusive quality, of the church of God, the obliterating distinction between Jew and Gentile, will no longer characterize the work of God; but the Jews will be converted as Jews, and the Gentiles as Gentiles. In the seventh chapter of Revelation they are seen as two distinct bodies—first, out of all the twelve tribes, and then all the multitude that no man could number.

I am aware that there are learned men who say they are the same; but, really, their mode of interpretation is a matter of constant wonder to me. No simple man could believe they were the same. Sometimes it requires a deal of reasoning to make one receive such a thought as that. When people get completely occupied with a thing, it is astonishing how they can persuade themselves and others to believe it. To my conviction, there will be two companies. I think this lies clearly upon the face of the statements of Scripture—not only for the simplest reader, but for the most profound theologian. There will be a company out of all Israel that are sealed, and an immense company out of the Gentiles. Over these, during the millennium, the Lord will reign when He comes again. But, besides these, there will be a number of persons who are killed. They do not live to be under the Lord's reign; and thus, if the Lord did not work something very blessed for them, they would lose both the heavenly glory of the church, and the earthly joy of those who are to people the earth when He comes to reign in glory. What does He for them? He waits until the very last man has suffered, and then also He brings them risen from the dead into heavenly glory.

I know there are those who manifest a great deal of confusion about that. They fancy that everybody must be raised exactly at the same moment. It is perfectly true that we shall be raised at the same moment; but why all others should be raised along with us seems to me peculiar. I do not see any necessity for it at all, but the reverse. The fourth verse of the twentieth of Revelation bears very distinctly on the importance of distinguishing between the coming of the Lord and the day of the Lord “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God; and those who worshipped not the beast, neither his image, neither received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

Who were these? The first were the elders that came out of heaven. These were the persons who had long been in heaven, and consequently in their case, you observe, they had their seats upon the thrones already, and judgment was given unto them—not judgment executed on them. The very reverse. They were to judge the world, to judge the angels, as we are told by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians.

Next, “And [I saw] the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God.” I saw the souls—not the bodies. There, clearly, you have a company of people that had suffered after the elders had been taken to heaven, and they were still in the separate state. He saw the separate spirits or souls of those that were beheaded. Do not be carried away with the idea that souls sometimes means persons. Of course we know that; but it is easy to discriminate whether separated souls or living persons are meant. “Seventy souls went down into Egypt.” That is very intelligible. They were not separated souls, but persons; but if I said seventy souls of the people went down into Egypt, this would be another thing. In short, a different form of phraseology would have been used. Scripture is always most precise. I entirely deny what unbelievers say, that things are loosely expressed there. Had it been— “I saw seventy souls that had been beheaded,” it is evident that it would be so many persons that were meant.

Lastly, “And which had not,” etc. There is here a slight but unfortunate mistranslation. It should be, “and those who (or, such as) had not worshipped the beast” —a third class of persons. This is now generally conceded. I do not think that any scholar has any doubt about it. Dean Alford, who was a good scholar, takes it as here—a third class. The late Mr. Elliott does the same. I mention them, because they do not agree with me in many respects; but I agree with them and they with me in this, that there are three classes. The first is those already glorified, and not a word, therefore, about their souls; whereas, in the second and third classes, we find the souls—first, the souls of persons that had been beheaded for the word of God, and then those that would not accept the mark of the beast, in the last part.

If you want to find confirmation of this, you will find it in the sixth chapter of Revelation, where the souls were seen underneath the altar-in a separate state, of course—and they were told that they were to wait till the number of their brethren that were to be slain as they were should be fulfilled. There is the second class. There were to be two bodies of sufferers—the first body in the beginning of Revelation, and the second body in the fifteenth; and now both classes are here before us. But before we hear of these two in their separate state, we have the elders in their glorified state. (1) “I saw thrones, and they sat upon them... and (2) I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus... and (3) those that had not worshipped the beast... and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Why is it said that the two last classes lived? Because till now they were in the separate state. It is not said of those who sat upon the thrones, as being needless; but it was necessary to tell us that those were to live who had been martyred in the Apocalyptic crisis.

When did all this beheading take place, and this sealing of those that would not accept the mark of the beast? During the time of the great tribulation. So you have those who had to pass not merely a sea of glass, but a sea of glass mingled with fire. The coming of the Lord involves the translation of those now waiting for Him. Then comes an interval of tremendous trial, through which souls are to be born to God, many of whom will have to suffer; but they will have their sufferings made up to them by being raised up when the Lord appears in glory, and they will all reign together—they that had been already caught up, and those that now rise; while they that are still alive are the blessed people of the millennium, who will form the nucleus of that great scene of blessing which will fill the whole earth; for surely Jehovah Jesus will reign in that day.

I have now presented to you as clear a sketch of this important subject as I could in a single lecture. But the great point I press is the essential difference between the exercise of grace in the coming of the Lord to take His own to be with Him, and the exercise of judgment when it is the day of the Lord. That is the distinction you have to bear in mind—the Christian characterized by a grace that takes him up to heaven; the Jew characterized by the Lord's appearing to exercise judgment, which will leave him unimpeded by his enemies here below. Our blessing does not depend upon the execution of judgment. Our blessing is of pure sovereign grace. We had no claims, no deserts, not even pleas in support of our case; and when the Lord comes to receive us, there will be no execution of judgment on the earth whatever. But it will be different when He appears to save the poor Jews. They must go through a retributive time of tribulation; and then the Lord, at the last moment, when they seem about to be swept away, comes down on their enemies and delivers the godly remnant.

In this you have, I believe, an outline, and it is for you to make the truth your own. Search the word, and you will find abundant proofs crowding upon you as you read with faith; but you never will so read, and never get full profit, unless your souls are thoroughly clear as to your own redemption. This is the indispensable condition of growing in the knowledge of Christ, and of real intelligence in the word of God. If you are not clear about the gospel, where is the good of talking much about the second advent? And, therefore, I press upon you to take care your souls have shared in the blessing of the first. Amen.

(Concluded)

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Abraham: Genesis 16-17

Genesis 16

But Abram did not know how to wait; and Sarai takes no happy part in the action of this chapter. It is first “that which is natural,” though we can also add, “afterward that which is spiritual.” Flesh is impatient, and seeks at once the accomplishment in its own way. She proposes her Egyptian bondmaid, Hagar, and, Abram hearkening instead of walking by faith, the maid conceives, and her mistress is despised. The Epistle to the Galatians gives the certain clue to what we else might never have understood. It is the covenant of Sinai which she represents, answering to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. The law works not peace but wrath, not the accomplishment of the promise but fleshly pride, and a child born in sorrow who cannot be heir. What a contrast to blessing and praise through the royal priest in chapter 14, or the altars of chapters 12, 13! If the justified man take up the law (save to convict others), no wonder if the issue be disappointment on all hands. Such is the solemn admonition of our chapter. The law is good if one use it lawfully; but it is not applied rightly to righteous persons, but to lawless. The believer has no more to do with it for himself now, than Abram then should have taken Hagar. It is interesting to observe that as Hagar was really of Egypt and a slave, so she typically is mount Sinai in Arabia, the covenant that genders to bondage (Gal. 4). The flesh, the world, and the law work together, and the gospel delivers the believer from all by the death of Christ, as unbelief exposes to mischief from them all.

Gen. 17

But now we come to another scene of a wholly different nature. “When Abram was ninety years old and nine, Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me and be thou perfect.” What a change! We see here that it is no longer Abram bringing out what was concealed in his own heart, but God unfolding Himself with a greater fullness than He had ever been pleased to do before with Abram or indeed any one else. Here is the then characteristic revelation of Himself, and farther than this none of the patriarchs ever advanced. El Shaddai (God Almighty) is the substance of the distinctive truth on which the fathers flourished. Here was that which especially became their joy and their source of strength. This they learned in the face of all difficulties and of every foe. “I am the Almighty God.”

We must not look at these words merely from the blessedness into which we are brought. It were well to reflect how such a revelation must have told on Abram. He had just before this been proving how feeble he was, and how little he could see before him. He had experienced the danger of listening to his own wife. What ill-feeling followed as the immediate consequence and what trouble there was likely to be in store! Now we have God revealing Himself, though of course in a grace suitable to those He was blessing. Still it is not in view of man's wants on earth, as in chapter 15. There, as we have seen, Abram had been faithful, he had not only conquered the enemy's power but refused the world's honor in his jealousy for the Lord; who thereon speaks to him, and, if one may so say, rewards him. Abram accordingly asks according to his own measure. He thinks of what would be sweet and comforting for him then, but it was connected with himself; and so, again, what the Lord shows him is a vista, bright in the end, connected with his seed and with the land which was to be their own. It was all consequently of a comparatively narrow character, gliding into prophecy as to Israel and the land. Not so here, and for the simple reason that now there is a still deeper lesson to be taught and learned.

It is not failure by the way; this we have had in chapter 16. It is not merely want supplied, most true and important in its place, and useless to be slurred over. How vain to ignore what we do lack, and talk of things we do not feel! Abram brought out what he felt, and God met him there most abundantly.

But now there is far more than this; not what Abram feels or wants, but what God wanted for him and loved to give him. God therefore imparts the richest revelation ever made known up to that time. “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.” What was the consequence? No horror of deep darkness follows now, no deep sleep falls on him here. “Abram fell on his face;” nor was this all: “God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.” Those enumerated in the end of chapter 15 were the enemies, the races that had usurped the land and were to be subdued; but now a far higher range of things opens. Abram should have a child, and be the father “of many nations.” It is evident therefore that the circle is immensely enlarged, and all in pure grace. Abram has not asked a word; nor does he seek any pledge or token.

It is not Abram now that presents what God had, as it were, suggested and drawn out of him, what was then in his heart, and what was of importance to be forced out because it was there. Far other things are here. Abram had been humbled, feeling his weakness and his foolishness, and Sarai's too. Accordingly God now, out of nothing but His own grace, unveils Himself in this special manner: “I am the Almighty God: walk before me and be thou perfect.” If He was the Almighty God, it was not merely a question of enemies now. Not a single word is said about them. It would have been unsuitable at this time to have talked of putting down this or that people. They do not require God's almightiness to deal with them; and Abram had already counted on His power upon this fresh revelation of Himself; and surely not in vain. But He needed to be the Almighty, God to bring about the blessedness He is here speaking of. The connection of El Shaddai, I repeat, is not with putting down foes, but, wonderful to say, with Abram's walk before Him! “Be thou perfect.”

What an introduction of Abram to new privileges! What a groundwork to go on! There he was, a stranger, surrounded by those who wished him evil, and after having just proved his own weakness. No matter what all else might be: “I am the Almighty God: walk before me, and be thou perfect; and I will make my covenant between me and thee.” Is it not intensely personal too? All the questions that could rise up as a matter of trial, all thoughts of disappointment, have now disappeared. God had already met his wants as a man; and if these had not been perfectly met, would there have been the same suitability in this fresh vision? But they were: the void for his heart would be filled; nothing in this respect could trouble more. The one thing that remained lacking for Abram's present comfort, a son and heir, God would take in hand. His wife's expedient had only brought sorrow on them all by her haste. He had everything else. But now he leaves all in the hands of God, who here speaks after a wonderful way.

After God has brought in Himself in His almightiness before Abram, He speaks of the land forever given to him and to his seed. But not a word of this in the first instance. It was of all importance to Abram that there should not be a word about his prospects till after the revelation of God Himself. God does not even say “I am thy God.” He does not connect Himself with Abram in any such way. The first word here was the simple revelation, “I am the Almighty God.” On this Abram's heart rests. It is not Abram seeking it of himself with God, but God unfolding Himself to Abram. Such is the great thought, and this as “the Almighty.” “I will make a covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.” How it was to be He does not yet explain; but it follows in due time.

Then see the effect on Abram. He never felt so overwhelmed in the presence of God, just because he had never been so near Him in spirit before. “He fell upon his face, and God talked with him.” Yes, Abram is in the dust before Him. It is not worship at the altar, nor a sacrifice to secure a promised gift, but communion: God deigns to talk with Abram. His falling on his face is not conviction of sin, or darkness of soul, but lowliness before God. He is really far nearer God practically than in Gen. 15, and can confide more simply in His word. Then he had unsettled questions: then too a horror of darkness; and failure ensued in chapter 16. But here is the blessing of Abram personally, the establishment of an everlasting covenant between himself and his seed, and the promise of many nations and kings.

Notice further the expression of communion. “God talked with him.” It is so put purposely by the Spirit of God; for He had nowhere else used this language before. It serves, I have no doubt, expressly to show nearness of intercourse; and a very weighty thing it is. Such is the force we see in 1 Tim. 4., where we are told of the wondrous place into which we are brought, far beyond that of Abram (though the scene we have before us may be viewed as a kind of premonition and shadow of it), that “every creature of God is good,” — “for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer,” that is, by free intercourse with God in His grace.

Here in Abram's history we have it. If the “word of God” comes in Gen. 15 and in the chapter which follows, as we have seen, now we have this familiar intercourse with God in chapter 17. The word “prayer” in 1 Tim. 4:5, as is well known, is not the ordinary expression of wants. It is not the word for supplication; which has its own place and a very important one too. However blessed we may be, we never get out of that need here below. Were any one to assume now that, because we have intimacy of fellowship in Christ, we cease to be in the place of need, and no longer are called to persevere in prayer as the expression of our dependence on God, need one say what a dishonor to Him is done, and what a downfall must be at hand? But still there is something more than prayer; there is the enjoyment of intercourse; and where souls do not enter into this, where they cannot get near enough to God, so to speak, and do not habituate their souls to His talking to them in His word, and their free pleading before Him, which is what the Christian is entitled to now (I am not speaking of formally kneeling down and presenting our needs, but of being able to draw near to God and speak about everything), there is a great lack in the private personal life of the Christian.

It is well to note that the intercourse in the scene before us is the fruit of God's revealing Himself more perfectly to the soul. Thus all was founded, not on a fresh start taken by man, but on His gracious ways with the soul. It is far from the vain idea of a self-consecration, or the higher life that men prate about, however one may share their protest against the habit of others to go on sinning with a measure of contentment, or at least with a sense of necessity that so it must be. The reverse is seen here; even God's unfolding Himself by a fuller revelation of His name. He was making Himself known in a way that never was heard of before. It is one thing for man to summon up from his own mind what he would say to God; quite another what God says about Himself as the suited revelation for the blessing of a man's soul. Here there can be no doubt about its character. He appears to Abram, and says “I am the Almighty God.” He does not even say He is the Almighty God to him. It was not called for.

When a soul is young in the ways of grace, God links Himself with him, vouchsafing various helps to the soul that yet knows Him feebly, unable to enjoy Him unless He stretches out His hand to help the struggling sinking soul. But it is not so here. Abram did not want it at present. He had learned both about himself and about God, and he shows the profit of it here. Now that God says “I am the Almighty God,” it is enough for Abram. No doubt He adds, “I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly,” but the way in which He reveals Himself is not so much what He was to Abram, but what He is in Himself. When justified by faith, we are entitled to enjoy this. We can joy in God (not only in the blessing but in the Blesser) through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore it is that, though in the first dealings of God with our souls there is no one that has not found it an immense thing to know Him as Father—the “babes” (1 John 2:13) being distinguished by this very thing, they “know the Father,” and there being no Christian who does not enjoy Him as such, no matter how long he may be in the ways of the Lord—yet I am persuaded that when a soul advances in the knowledge of divine things, there comes out, not merely the cleaving to Him as Father, but the ability to “joy in God.”

But if one has to do with worldly men, they do not know what you mean when one speaks of God as his Father, save as the Father of everybody. They use this which is true to deny His special relationship to the Christian. It is then no small thing for the soul to know that “God is my Father,” in the Spirit to cry Abba Father; but it is another thing, where all questions are settled, and we are able peacefully to enjoy Him as God. This is assuredly of great moment and will be found to be true in the ways of God with our own souls. It is evident that our Lord Jesus meant that we should find and enjoy it; for if we refer to the message on the resurrection day, He says, “I ascend unto my Father and your Father” —but this is not all— “and to my God and your God.” I do not believe it is possible to enjoy “His God and our God” until we have known what it is to look up with perfect rest in Christ and in conscious relation to God as “His Father and our Father.” In short all true real believing enjoyment of God as such follows the enjoyment of the Father.

As long as there remains a single question unsettled, there will always be a shrinking from God as such. Note the calmness of Abram here. He can enter, without anything to come between, into what God is in Himself as “the Almighty God.” But further, it is said, “God talked with him;” not “the Almighty” nor “Jehovah,” but “God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations I have made thee.”

Not merely has the patriarch a new name given him, but mark how everything rises now. It is not only the land where the Kenites and others dwelt, but “I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee; and I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant.” It is not then alone that there is such an immensely greater sphere opened out for the hopes of Abraham, but the time also is unlimited. It is an “everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger.” God had not forgotten the lesser gift in presence of greater things— “all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”

Observe too another thing that goes along with this. No longer now does Abraham ask for a token whereby he should know that he is to inherit the land. Not a word of the kind is dropped. But God speaks of the seal of circumcision. It is not now something outside him, as we saw in the dead animals of chapter 15, but “Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant which ye shall keep, between me and you, and thy seed after thee: every man-child among you shall be circumcised.” What does it mean? Flesh mortified before God; the sentence of death put on man in His sight, and this in Abram's own person as well as in his seed afterward.

Circumcision here accordingly is not introduced in a legal way, any more than the sabbath in Gen. 2. It is really the answer in man to the grace of God. It is that which God has made the Christian's portion in our Lord Jesus, that “circumcision without hands,” which God has given us in Him, for in Him we are circumcised. It is not the death of a victim now, but every child of Abraham takes the place of death by this sign, which typically sets forth our death with Christ, the perfect deliverance of the individual as dead with Him. Until one knows what it is to be thus dead, there is no possibility of enjoying what it is to be free unto God. What a precious thing it is that this is precisely what God has made true in an incomparably better way to us now, bringing us into the calm and peaceful enjoyment of Himself, with the certainty that everything that is offensive to God our very nature as children of Adam has the sentence of death on it, not only pronounced but executed! This is what one knows now as a Christian. It is no longer a sign, precious as this was to Abraham (and I pretend not to say how far he entered into it), but we are entitled to understand its truth; it is a part of the wonderful blessing in Christ that God has given us. It is not merely His meeting our wants; for I do not believe when it is a question simply of wants, that a soul ever enters into the sense of personal liberty and deliverance. But after having Christ for all our need and wretchedness, there is the further blessing that He is bringing us into, living intercourse with Himself now. We require a sound and solid basis for this; and God has given it to us in our death with Christ.

But this also you may observe: it is not our asking for a token. Who would have looked for such a thing as to be dead with Christ, or risen with Christ? Never did such a thought enter the heart of man. It is all God's grace, His own perfect wisdom and goodness to our souls. Yet is it all the fruit of the work of Christ Jesus our Lord, It is not merely a man risen; persons had been raised from the dead: but what was this to Christ being raised? They would all have to die again. But now we have got to the knowledge of resurrection in a wholly different and far superior way to this, for Christ rose, breaking the power of death for us, and we shall experience it soon as the consequence of that which He has done already. As dead and risen with Christ, we are waiting for a resurrection like His from among the dead, or a change, which is the same thing practically—when we shall be with Him, and be like Him, endued with the same incorruptness and glory according to the power of His resurrection.

But he that had obtained such favor was moved for the child of the bondwoman and said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before thee” If Sarai was to be thenceforward Sarah, to become nations, and kings to be of her, though he and she were no better than dead, why should not Ishmael share the covenant? But nay: the child of promise and of the free-woman is the one with whom God establishes His covenant, though Ishmael for Abraham's sake goes not without His blessing, begets twelve princes, and becomes a great nation. And the selfsame day Abraham is circumcised, Ishmael and every male born in his house or bought with his money (vers. 25-27). Thus fall the reasonings of a saint, and God's will alone stands, even in blessing outside the covenant of promise. Even there no flesh shall glory in His presence. In no case is it improved but passes under sentence of death.

May the Lord, then, give our own souls to enter into these wondrous lessons of God, whether they be the public ones for a life of testimony, or the individual ones for personal intercourse with God!

[W.K.]

Notes on Matthew 9:18-38

“While he was speaking these things to them, behold, a certain ruler came and worshipped him.” Or, “behold, a ruler came in and worshipped him” (ver. 18). This would seem exceptional. For we know that on one occasion, to the officers who had been sent to apprehend the Lord, and who had been too struck with the power of His words to do so, the scribes and Pharisees said, “Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers, and of the Pharisees believed on him?” (John 7:45-48). But here was one who had heard of Jesus, and who said, “My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.” From Luke we learn that she was his only daughter. We get the word “only” three times in Luke— “only” son (7: 12), “only” daughter (8:42), “only” child, or begotten (9:38).

It was quite in keeping with the Jewish character to desire the Lord's presence, and His hand upon her. A living Christ on earth is for the Jews. Jairus seems to have had the faith of Abraham—that faith in God Who raiseth the dead. You do not get much detail here, but the Lord responds, by rising and following him, and is on His way when He is interrupted. This is not an exceptional thing; and you often get interruptions in Matthew.

In the next chapter the gospel of the kingdom is sent out, and they are told, “Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.” But the testimony was interrupted by the rejection of Christ, and the cities will have to be inhabited again for that testimony to go on. Again, at the end of chap. 12, the Jewish testimony is set aside, and the whole of chap. 13 is taken up with what the Lord is doing now. But He breaks faith with nobody. If He could break His word with Israel, what have we got to trust in?

The Holy Spirit directs our special attention to the fact that, while He is on His way to raise the dead Jewess, “Behold, a woman which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment, for she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment I shall be whole” (vers. 20, 21). Another Gospel says, “she had heard of Jesus.” She had heard enough to lead her to the conclusion that could she but touch Him she would get the blessing, and this after “she had spent all.” While she had a halfpenny she kept away. But I think there is a practical lesson for us in this—that we do not make truth our own unless we practice it. If you have your head full of truths, and they are floating about in your brain like a lot of notions, it will do you no good. That sort of knowledge puffs up. We might be ever so orthodox, and yet know little or nothing of communion with the Lord Jesus. It is a state of soul one may well dread. We are not to be occupied with our communion. It is very blessed when one is so led along as to be oblivious or forgetful of self.

We need not go into the particulars given in the other Gospels, but we would look at it as presented here. The Lord Jesus recognized the touch of faith. He turned; and seeing her said, “Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour.” “Daughter” was a term of endearment. Perhaps she was not conscious of her faith, but there it was, and it was right, for it was in Jesus. It is very necessary to see that her faith was in the person of Christ. Very strong faith in a wrong thing will not make the faith right nor the thing right. What gives faith its value is its object. Faith in Christ is always right. This incident is very encouraging for a poor sinner, and a great help to us in preaching the gospel.

What the Lord does is always worthy of Himself, and, like Himself, perfect. He is a divine person, and there was infinite fullness in Him to respond to all need. It was a puzzle to the disciples when He said “Who touched me?” It was such a throng that the question might rather have been, “Who did not touch me?” But this was a touch of faith and of need, and He never fails to respond to such. It is a very precious thing that we have this record, for He will never fail to respond to the faith that has to do with, and confides in, Him.

He arrives then at Jairus' house, where he finds mourners; no doubt paid mourners. “He said unto them, Give place; for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn.” They would have lost their work, so to speak, if she was not dead; and their pay too would be gone. Man had introduced all that. All that was needed was, for them to give place if He was there. “Be silent, O all flesh before the Lord.”

On a later occasion we find the Lord speaking of Lazarus as “sleeping.” It was His way of speaking. He was going to raise Lazarus, and He was about now to raise this girl. He raised her, from her bed; the young man of Nain, from the bier; and Lazarus, from the grave. It required the same power for each case-the power of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life. Unbelieving man may be ready enough to explain this away, and say it was a trance. But the case of Lazarus gives the lie to any such supposition. Jesus allows only in the chamber the father and mother of the damsel and three favored disciples, Peter, James and John, who should be witnesses. How very awful that the minstrels and people laughed Him to scorn! They derided Him. That of itself was testimony that they thoroughly believed she was dead.

It is well indeed when enemies, in spite of themselves, become the witnesses. How very different is this case from the raising of Dorcas, or of the two children in the O.T. raised by Elijah and Elisha-each of them being a contrast to the way of the Lord! Not that He was not ever here the dependent One. Even where you have the divine side, as given in John, you have nevertheless His perfect dependence as Man. When about to raise Lazarus, He lifted up His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank thee,” etc.

“But when the people were put forth, He went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.” A picture of what is going to take place in the coming day. That will be the condition of Israel when the Lord shall come to them. They will be raised out of their graves then, as in Ezekiel's vision of the dry bones—their national resurrection.

“And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.” That is very sweet, but that which is yet to be will go far beyond that land. Instead of great light, great darkness is coming first, and when the Light arises on them it will shine forth to all the world. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising” (Isai. 60.). Such is the way. Things will never be right in this world till He comes whose right it is to reign, and Israel have then their place. God has not picked them up because of any superiority in them. “But, I have loved you, because I have loved you.” He retreats into Himself when giving a reason for His love. Israel has rejected their Messiah, but it is impossible for them to stop the flow of love from the heart of God, and in consequence, they have been kept distinct from, and not absorbed by, other nations. “This generation shall not pass till all these things be done.”

“And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying. Son of David, have mercy on us.” In each of the Synoptic Gospels we find the Lord, in His last journey to Jerusalem goes through Jericho, and heals Bartimus. Israel are blind as well as dead. “Blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” So this is their condition, but God will give them sight by and by. A vail is on their heart now, but when it is taken away, “In thy light we shall see light.” Then they will appropriate the prophecy of Isai. 53. That will be the language of the future remnant For though we Gentiles may get the enjoyment of it for ourselves who now believe, it is really for Israel. They are blind to the glory of the Messiah, and that blinds them to everything else.

In Peter's First Epistle, where he is writing as the apostle of the circumcision to believing Jews, he speaks of them as “brought out of darkness into God's marvelous light.” That moral darkness was over the whole world. John's Gospel begins with it. “The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.” It was more gross than the natural darkness of Gen. 1. We see distinctly the “Son of David” is a Jewish title. “Son of man” has a wider glory. If rejected as Son of David in Psa. 2, He gets the wider glory of Psa. 8, everything put under His feet. Of course it will be upon the ground of mercy that Israel will be blest by and by. You get that in Rom. 9-11, and its consequent burst of praise in the closing verses of chap. 11.

“Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this” (ver. 28)? They want mercy from Him, and believe He has got ability to meet their need. “Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith, be it unto you.” The first one they gazed upon was their Deliverer. It is very sweet for us to think of what is in store for Israel. The Lord had His own fitting reason for telling them not to advertise it (ver. 3o). But they were disobedient. Oftentimes you get a thing stated without any comment. An old writer has said of “straitly charged,” that He spoke to them in thunder, but we may dismiss this as chimerical. I judge the Lord's reason was that He knew He had come to that part of His ministry wherein He was rejected as Messiah. And just after, we get the rulers attributing His wondrous works to the devil himself; they could not deny them. Just to confirm this I was thinking of chap. 16, where the Lord charges the disciples that they should tell no man He was the Christ, and from that time forth began to speak of His sufferings and death.

Israel will not always be dumb as to the praise of Messiah. They will yet sing when that day comes. “Praise waiteth for Thee, O God, in Zion.” Many scriptures prove it. “Let Israel rejoice in him that made him. Let the children of Zion be joyful in their king” (Psa. 149). It will be quite in its place by and by for an earthly people to have the dance and the instrumental music. But we are “holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling,” and God has given us no warrant for such things now that the Holy Ghost is here since Pentecost, and we have the Holy Spirit indwelling the Christian, and the church. On the contrary, where singing in the assembly is spoken of, it is, “I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.” Do we want more?

The Pharisees said, “He casteth out the demons through the prince of the demons.” What an awful remark! We have it brought before us again in chap. 12. Chapters 8, 9 go together; chap. 10 has a place by itself, and then chaps. 11, 12 go together. Here we find this again.

“And Jesus went about... teaching... and preaching... and healing,” etc. But when He saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion. They were harassed or troubled; the word means tired or worn out. Their condition is brought before us to show the heart of the Lord toward them, so different to that of their religious leaders. They little understood the heart of this blessed One. In the two chapters we have had before us we get a cluster of miracles showing that He had a heart toward them, but they had no heart for Him, so He anticipates in the next chapter what He tells them to pray for here. He sends out the laborers into His vineyard. We get nothing like this prayer in the Epistles; evidently it was answered here. Everything we need now is given by an ascended Christ as head of His body the church, and the Holy Spirit dividing to every man severally as He will.

Studies in Mark 7:31-37: The Deaf Stammerer Healed

The Way of the Lord in This Healing

The Lord displayed a special, personal interest in this case of the deaf stammerer, and the record shows very fully how the Lord performed this cure, and how deeply He was affected by the sad condition of the sufferer. It is interesting to note in the next chapter that a similar fullness of detail is found in the narrative of the other miracle peculiar to this Gospel. There is also a general correspondence in the Lord's procedure in the two cases, as may be seen from the following comparison of the sevenfold descriptions of the recorded actions and words, though it also reveals peculiarities in each of the cases.

Placing the clauses of the two accounts side by side, we find that the Lord-

Taking the features which are analogous, the Lord in both instances,

(a) healed privately,

(b) touched the afflicted members,

(d) spake.

But, distinctively, the Lord, in the first instance, looked up, sighed, and said, “Ephphatha"; and in the latter case He took the man by the hand, inquired whether he saw after He put hands on him, and made him look up. Thus, there is general agreement in four of the clauses, and differences in three.

A few remarks upon these various points are offered by way of suggestion.

(1) Privacy. The Lord took the deaf man aside (κατ’ἰδίαν). This Greek phrase is used in several instances in the Gospels, and is variously translated “apart,” “privately,” “when alone,” as well as “aside.”

On seven occasions the Lord sought privacy for Himself alone; or in company with a few of His disciples, separately from the multitudes. They were as follows:-

(1) when He went into the mountain to pray (Matt. 14:23);

(2) when He called His disciples into a desert place to rest awhile (Matt. 14:13; Mark 6:31, 32; Lu. 9:10);

(3) when He took Peter, James and John into the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17; Mark 9:2);

(4) when He expounded the parables to the disciples (Mark 4:34);

(5) when He impressed upon the disciples their exceptional privileges (Lu. 10: 23);

(6) when He instructed His disciples concerning His coming death (Matt. 20:17);

(7) when He took the deaf man aside for healing (Mark 7:34).

In addition to these, there are two instances of the use of the same phrase, when the disciples sought the Lord in private, viz.-

(1) when they failed to cast out a demon (Matt. 17:19; Mark 9:28);

(2) when they inquired concerning the future (Matt. 24:3; Mark 13:3).

From these references, as well as from other instances where the exact Greek phrase under consideration is not used, though the occasion was similar, it appears that retirement was sought by the Lord (1) at specially solemn epochs in His ministry in order that they might be spent in communion with His Father, and (2) for the communication of such instruction as was of particular interest and special importance to the disciples as distinct from the crowds. It was on such occasions that the apostles were prepared for their future service in the world as the Lord's witnesses, when He Himself should be absent.

In the present case it would certainly be for the, man's own moral and spiritual benefit that he should be alone with the Divine Healer, while the Lord, with delicate regard for the acute sensibilities common to most persons so afflicted, spared him in this way from the coarse and curious gaze of the gaping mob. With a similar observance of due propriety in circumstances of solemnity and sorrow, He removed the hired mourners from the death-chamber of the daughter of Jairus. While in a matter of moral wrong and personal offense, the Lord taught His disciples the value of a private interview, enunciating His golden rule for the adjustment of differences between man and man: “If thy brother sin against thee, go, show him his fault between thee and him alone” (Matt. 18:15).

If privacy has its value in an interview between man and man, how much more was this so when the interview was between the man and His Savior? There were spiritual impressions, of the rarest character to be received as well as a physical benefit. The Messiah of Israel was present; was it not important that the man should experience for himself the loving regard which He showed in the case of every individual sufferer? Such an experience would be ineffaceable. Hence the deaf man was taken apart from the curious crowd and from his excited friends, so that his attention might not be distracted from the Master, and that His demeanor, His words and His doings, in their full sweetness and power, might ever live in his memory.

(2) The touch.-The kindly friends besought the Lord to lay hands upon the man. Accordingly, when He had gone aside privately with him, He put His fingers into the deaf ears, and touched the fettered tongue. Without pretending to assign specific motives to the Master for these actions, we may surely, without presumption, learn from the incident how thoroughly the Lord in His exquisite sympathy placed Himself in contact with the infirmities of those whom He blessed. If in Him there had been power alone, He might have exhibited it from afar, but there was love also, and this in its exercise must be near at hand.

Hence the Savior in His compassion came near enough to touch the ear and the tongue, that in an undisturbed privacy the deaf and the dumb might learn the marvelous ways of the God of love present to restore His sin-blighted creation. For the divine love for the sinner was even more wonderful than the divine power to heal. Had He not, by that same power, first fashioned the organs of hearing and speech? Should He not therefore well understand how to recover them when their functions were deranged?

The Lord therefore touched, communicating healing and strength, but contracting no defilement. It was as the touch of the sunlight upon the noisome places of the earth, which vivifies and purifies, but is never soiled. In the service of His healing mercy, Messiah fulfilled what was spoken by Isaiah the prophet: “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses” (Matt. 8:17).

(3) The upward look and the sigh.-With His hands upon the five loaves and two fishes, the Lord had looked up to heaven and blessed, and thereupon the tiny store of food was multiplied to satisfy the famished multitude (Mark 6:41). Here with His hands, as it were, upon the ears of the deaf and the tongue of the dumb, He looked up to heaven and sighed. As food and gladness are associated gifts of God (Acts 14:17), awakening thanksgiving, so sickness is accompanied by sadness and sorrow, which are audibly expressed by sighing. The perfect adaptability of Christ is seen in each of the two instances. Looking up to heaven was His habit, whether the occasion called for joy or grief. We also see that while He rejoiced to dispense divine bounties to the hungry and the weary, He mourned to see before Him the mutilated image of God without a tongue to bless His Maker's name, or ears to hear the voice of His Sent One.

Heaven, as we learn from the Lord's attitude is the only resource for the sin-stricken earth. There the Father is, and thence His kingdom will in due course come. Meanwhile, the presence of sin abides below, and sighing over its grievous fruits is the lot of all, wittingly or unwittingly. The prevalence of this under-current of sadness the apostle expressed when he declared that “the whole creation groaneth [lit., is sighing] and travaileth in pain together until now, and not only, so, but ourselves also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan [lit., are sighing] within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:22, 23). In another Epistle, Paul wrote, referring to the body and its infirmities, “In this we groan [sigh]... for we that are in this tabernacle do groan [are sighing], being burdened” (2 Cor. 5:2, 4). It is to be observed that in each of these instances the Spirit, in conformity with the action of our Lord in the presence of the deaf man, directs the eye of hope upwards for that release from bodily imperfection to be granted when the Father's kingdom shall come.

For in the day of God's glory in the earth, this constant burden of the spiritual heart will certainly be removed, and the sigh or groan of the needy and of the imprisoned (Psa. 12:5; 79:11) will no longer be known. Then will be the fulfillment of that prophecy of which this Galilean miracle was the earnest: “Behold your God... will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped... and the tongue of the dumb shall sing... and the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion... and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isa. 35:4-10).

(4) The word of authority.-Following His touch of sympathy, the Lord uttered His word of command, Ephphatha. The Servant of Jehovah, in the plenitude of His rights as the Son of God, spoke, and it was accordingly done, for His word was equally potent to control and to correct as it was to create. Had He not “planted the ear” (Psa. 94:9)? If He made the hearing ear (Prov. 20:12), should He not cause the deaf ear to hear His voice? Addressing therefore the impotent member rather than the man himself, the Lord said, Be opened, and accordingly the ears of the deaf man were unstopped, and the bond of his tongue loosed, so that he spake aright.

The miracle was wrought in secret, and not as a public sign. Hence the Lord, having opened the ears and mouth of the man brought to Him, gave direction that no one should be told. But this command fell upon the deaf ears of disobedience, for the more He charged this upon them, so much the more a great deal they published it.... Being beyond measure astonished they said, “He hath done all things well: he maketh even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.”

[W.J.H.]

A Different Gospel Which Is Not Another

“He that knoweth God, heareth us,” says the apostle. “He that is not of God, heareth not us; thereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error” (1 John 4:6).

Is it apostolic teaching? For in this we are called to continue; and though an angel preach otherwise than what we have received through the apostles (1 Cor. 15; 2 Tim. 3:14), Paul does not hesitate, in the Holy Ghost, to say, “Let him be accursed.” For no lie is of the truth, but works evil always, however insidiously.

Are we wiser than God? Is not our duty to obey, unquestioningly, the plain word of God? “And this is love, that we walk after His commandments.”

Wings

There is one thing this general break up of things ought to lead us to do, and that is to make good use of our wings! The eagle stirs up her nest in order to teach her young ones to fly (Deut. 32:11). Daring and presumptuous man has been learning to fly, not in faith and subjection, but in defiance of the divine order of the heavens and the earth. In the beginning the earth was the appointed sphere for man as man. He was told to have dominion and to subdue the earth (Gen. 1:28), not to conquer the air! The air was the appointed sphere for birds, who have wings to fly. The air is also the sphere now of the prince of darkness, a murderer and liar from the beginning! “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:2). How little men thought, when they began to talk of a man-lifting kite, what it would develop into, and what an engine of murder and destruction it would become in the hands of the enemy. But what could be expected when men presumed to rise out of their own proper sphere into that of another? So likewise, they have invaded the sphere of the fishes with like result! So now, man in the air, And man under the sea, can murder and destroy to his heart's content.

But we, as Christians, should learn to fly. The Lord in His great love has opened up for us a new sphere through His precious death and resurrection. Having through death conquered sin, death and Satan, He rose triumphant over all and led captivity captive! And passing through the heavens—the sphere of Satan and wicked spirits—went up, up, and was made higher than the heavens: our perfect Savior, our holy Priest, Advocate and Leader, who has opened up the way for us! In Him we have died to this lower sphere, in Him we have risen into His sphere, and should be rising the shiny way on the wings of faith, hope, and love (Eph. 4:8-10; Heb. 4:14; 7:26; Col. 3:1-4). And is He not coming to take us up to His world?

“Then as we upward fly,

That resurrection-word

Shall be our shout of victory,

' Forever with the Lord.'“

But should we not be using our wings now? Yet how prone to be making our nest here! Job thought to die in his nest (Job 29:18), but what a shaking up poor Job had! But was it not in love for his ultimate good? So it ever is when the Lord stirs up our nest, and shakes all things here. Is it not that we may learn to fly? What a beautiful word that is of David's in Psa. 68:13, “Though ye have lien among the pots (a low, degraded, impure condition) yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove (beauty and purity) covered with silver (in the power of redemption) and her feathers with yellow gold” (in the beauty of divine righteousness and glory).

As I am writing, the guns are barking and I am thinking of you all, as I often do, and of the happy times in R—— in the days gone by... Our nest there seems to be, not only disturbed, but broken up; but

Let's spread our wings and soar above

This scene of conflict and of woe;

And rise to His bright world of love,

His own sweet peace and joy to know.

C. J. D.

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Abraham: Genesis 18

Genesis 18

The portion read now is founded a good deal upon the previous chapter, and the general train runs on to the end of chapter 21. We can see at a glance that chapter 22 introduces a series of truths altogether new. The distinctive mark already mentioned, “After these things,” makes a decided break, a fresh start in thought; and you will observe how completely this is the fact, because there it is not only an altogether new train of communications from God, but also of a different character. The death and resurrection of the promised son are brought before us in a figure, and all the other dealings of God that are founded on this grave fact; as for instance the passing away for the time of the covenant of grace with Israel in Sarah, and the call of the bride in chapter 24.

Of course I do not mean to enter on these subjects just now; but I make the remark in order to help persons to read the scriptures for themselves, that they may have a clearer understanding of the order of these things, and have more fixed in their souls the consciousness that it is the word of God, and not the thoughts of ingenious men, really a matter of divine truth, and altogether independent of anybody's fancies. This I hold to be a capital point for the children of God, particularly in these days; that they may have a distinct ground to go on, not only for their own souls, but also in case of being challenged by others. For there are those who, not knowing the truth, are the more ready to doubt the reality of the blessing which they do not themselves enjoy. They have the miserable desire to spoil the happiness to which they are themselves strangers. Hence we cannot be too simple. Besides this, we, do well to seek to be thoroughly established in the truth that we receive to see how it is all bound up with the personal work of Christ, as well as revealed in the word of God, foreshadowed in the Old Testament and clearly set out in the New.

In this case then the communication is in a measure founded on chapter 17, which we saw introduced an unfolding of God's name in a way that was an advance on all before. But in this case it was not as with Jacob, where he sought to know the name of God, who withheld His name. Indeed the difference is remarkable. With Abraham there was more ease, and God begins to speak out plainly. Not but that Jacob was afterward brought to hear God unfolding the very same name of “the Almighty God;” but to Abraham it was brought out at once. There was no such thing as the desire—still less was there any “wrestling.” Abraham, on the other hand, intercedes with Him; and indeed “wrestling” is not exactly the word that would be suitable to the character of Abraham's intercourse with God. It was both more peaceful and of a higher character. In Jacob's case there was immense activity of nature. I do not mean sin, of course, but nature in its best sense, that is, domestic affection. The love of family was exceedingly strong in Jacob's case: no one of the patriarchs seems more marked by it than Jacob. It is not meant of course that either lacked in this way, for they did not. Witness in Isaac a character remarkable for his home attachments, with a life more equable than Jacob's.

Abraham, however, had this distinguishing feature, that he was a man who very simply went to God about everything as it rose. Consequently God could act more freely and immediately in His dealings with him. There was not so much that required first to be broken down, as we find in Jacob's case: how often he must be made nothing of before God could be revealed! Therefore it was comparatively late in the history of Jacob before God made His name known to him. To Abraham, as we saw, Jehovah appeared, and opened out His name, unasked, as the “Almighty God;” and there followed the making of the covenant, which supposed the death of the flesh, the express figure of that which we now know in its truth and power in Christ; would that so wondrous a weapon of deliverance from all on that score were well wielded by all saints! What a source of trial, difficulty, and perplexity, do the great mass of God's children find through not knowing it! For, as many know, it is not in their case a question so much of the faith that overcomes the world, as it is really doubt about their own personal clearance before God. He that is dead is justified from sin, but this they do not perceive. They are as yet under law. But we have seen that here circumcision is not at all connected with the law, but, on the contrary, with that covenant God made in grace long before it. It is the sign of blessing God was to give in Christ Himself. Circumcision is viewed as the type of the complete setting aside of the flesh before God. This is what we have had in Gen. 17 Now we enter on a further activity of God, and its consequences, which are carried on to chapter 21.

Here again the Lord appears, though we may notice this special feature about it now, that He leaves it to Abraham to find out Who was visiting him. There is no outward token of the majesty of His presence—no special intimation betrays Who was there. It is also to be noticed that on this occasion the Lord personally came, attended by two others, who, no doubt, were outwardly much like Himself. He deigned to take the appearance of a man; as it is said, “He (Abraham) lift up his eyes, and looked, and lo, three men stood by him.” We have no reason to suppose that it was in such a manner that God was pleased to appear to His servant on former occasions. It was a dealing with Abraham, founded on what went immediately before in chapter 17, but having its own distinct character. This is preserved throughout.

“When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door.” He was one of those who, like Lot in the next chapter, had an ungrudging hospitality, which had its reward in this, that, ready as they were to receive those who looked but strangers, they were really entertaining “angels unawares.” Nay, more: this present occasion was the most remarkable entertainment ever enjoyed by any on the earth until Jesus came. Some might count it even more wonderful than that; because the Lord Jesus, being pleased by being born of a woman to become a man and to tabernacle amongst us, came down habitually into human circumstances as a man with men. I do not doubt, however, that, in all these manifestations of the Lord in the Old Testament, we are to understand the Son of God was the one manifested. Not only was He pleased to come in the appearance of a man, which may have been the case on other occasions also, as seen in the history of Noah, Gideon, and others; but here it is said there were three men, meaning by this of course what they seemed to the eyes of men. The peculiar privilege here was that God Himself deigned to be the guest of Abraham: yea, and more than that, for He treats him as His intimate, stamping on the patriarch forever that remarkable designation, “the friend of God,” which is founded on this very chapter. Assuredly the circumstances are such, that we do well to look into them with care.

Abraham then “bowed himself toward the ground” —as far as we are told, at first not knowing who the three were. But God is gracious to His people, and leads on step by step. We can see at a glance whose grace it was that put into the heart of Abram the habit of what we might call indiscriminate generosity and kindness; and this readiness is the more to be observed as it was the part of one called out to be separate to the Lord. A grave and important lesson it is for us in this respect, that the man who was most of all separate is the same whose heart went most of all out towards others, and that strangers.

There is nothing in the most complete separateness to the Lord to hinder the largest and most active kindness, not merely to the people of God, but to all men. Abraham did not know at this time who or what his visitors might be; he merely saw three men, and his heart was at once towards them. Not strained nor scanty was the flow of divine goodness; there was a heart ready at once to meet and even seek others, desirous of their blessing. Is it not in the highest sense so with the Lord? Does He not constantly pour blessing into the heart of the man that was intent on the blessing of others? In this case, too, there was a greater honor in store, though the object of it knew it not.

Though we must not suppose that at first Abraham knew the divine dignity of one of “the three men,” there is the remarkable fact that he addressed himself to one, and I can hardly doubt to which of the three. However that may be, he says, “My lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant; let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet.” He does not confine himself to the one to whom he had at first addressed himself. He is thinking of that which was needful, not only in courtesy but in love. “Rest yourselves under the tree, and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts.” We can scarce doubt, I think, that he is treating them according to the appearance in which they stood, though we shall find that it is not long before he learns more. “After that ye shall pass on, for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do as thou hast said.”

Abraham accordingly hastens, making Sarah the partner of his kindly toil, and soon after stands by them under the tree as they eat. Then comes their turn before us. They said to him, “Where is Sarah thy wife?” Perhaps it was then that the first word, intimating the divine power of Him who deigned to be there, fell on the attentive ear of Abraham. “I will certainly return unto thee.” It does not become man to talk of certainly returning. Was this lost on Abraham? Assuredly not; more particularly when his long-cherished hope is about now to enjoy the promise of a specified, and, I may say, dated accomplishment. “I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.” If it appeared vague before, it was henceforth distinct and defined. But the one who was immediately concerned had not the same sense as Abraham of the presence of God. There was not the same preparedness of heart for it. Sarah, no doubt, was an honored woman, but her state was spiritually different from that of Abraham. We hear of her during this conversation behind the door. I dare say she ought not to have been there, but there she was; and if she was where she ought not to have been, need we wonder that she indulges in feelings that little became her? She laughed in her doubt of the word. Could any of us imagine Abraham behind a door? Was there not a simple dignity in him incapable of hiding and listening behind a door?

We can understand easily an eastern wife's temptation to conceal herself in more modern times, when woman was more of a prisoner, and otherwise degraded; but it is evident that in those early days no such reason operated, and no excuse could thence be for anything of the kind. For we find Rebekah, and others far later, going to the well, without any idea of impropriety. Sarah must no doubt have enjoyed no less a degree of freedom, but would have from her circumstances much more. She, the matron, by no means young now, was under no conceivable custom of keeping out of sight. Wherever such manners as those before us are resorted to, never expect anything good or worthy. It is no light mercy to be delivered from all the darkness and all the pettiness of nature, and to be brought to walk in the light as God is in it. It is sweet to think of it as the Christian's place, but it is what we all want to learn more of. What else enables one to stand so simply in the presence of man? Not that we begin with man, and then know how to stand before God, but just the other way: God gives us the root of the matter first, and this is where we are brought in virtue of our Lord Jesus Christ. He could not do more, nor would He do less. He has brought us by and in Himself near to God. This is what in its spirit was true of Abraham; and he was one who enjoyed much of the conscious presence of God; and it is this that I am persuaded had its reward now. He had a conviction of who it was that was addressing him in words which could not fail. There was a sort of instinctive feeling, a growing assurance, in Abraham's soul who the guest must be he was entertaining.

It is remarkable, however, that he hears these words quietly. No astonishment is expressed. How happy when the soul is thus kept calm before God! We are not then taken by surprise: we expect good, and not evil. Instead, therefore, of stooping to the ways which let out how mean the flesh is, the sense of His presence preserves, and true dignity is associated with the utmost simplicity. It is not in this case self-possession, nor the pride of being anything, nor the vanity of desiring what we have not; but all is founded in the deep sense that it is God with whom we have to do, and whose voice we hear and obey.

Abraham, then, as I have said, stands in marked contrast with Sarah hiding behind the door, and laughing within herself. But when charged with it, she is ashamed to own the truth, which she felt an ignominy to herself. But He that was on the other side of the door soon shows that such an obstacle could not keep Him from seeing and knowing what passed in the heart of Sarah, as well as where she was. “Jehovah said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?” How surprising it must have been to her, and how sharp the rebuke, though conveyed without a harsh word! “Is anything too hard for Jehovah?” How blessed to accustom ourselves, beloved brethren, to this one answer to all difficulties! For this we are called to walk by faith, not by sight. God never had a thought of a Christian, or of His church, being exempted from difficulties. To hinder this is the main effort of man after the flesh.

Directly men look at the church as a human institution, they want to smooth its way, to put it on the ground of natural rules and arrangements, and thus reduce the Christian to a walk of mere prudence and common sense. They forget it is God's habitation through the Spirit, and cease to walk in dependence on the Lord. No doubt morality is quite according to the law of God: I quite admit it. But all that is entirely distinct. Supposing a person were to walk within the letter of the ten commandments every day, he never would behave in a single particular as a Christian ought. The doing of all the commandments would not meet the will of God about the Christian. It would be very proper for a man, and excellent in a Jew; but far from being Jews, now that we are in Christ, we are no longer sons of Adam, but, according to His grace, His children by faith. We are born of God, and brought into a new place by redemption, and are blamed if we are walking as men.

So the Apostle Paul with the saints at Corinth. He reproaches them because they “walked as men,” not as bad men, but “as men.” It was unworthy of grace that they should be on mere human ground. If a brother offended another, is one to have him up before the law-court? We can understand that the Christian might easily reason about it, and say, “For my part I cannot but feel that a Christian is a great deal worse than a man of the world if he is guilty of a wrong, and therefore I must have him tried and punished by the magistrate.” The premise is true; the conclusion false. For it is not at all a question of wrong or right, but of Christ. I perfectly grant that a Christian may do wrong, and that the assembly should judge it; but to do right is not enough for a Christian. He is sanctified to the obedience of Christ, to obey God as the Lord did. It is a question, not of doing the law, but of obeying like Christ. This is what is written on us, as the law was on the tables of stone. Israel ought to have represented the law graven upon stones. We have Christ on high, and are called to walk and witness accordingly. This is the point of the apostle's words in the chapter referred to. The Christian is the “epistle of Christ,” and nothing short of a manifestation of Christ can satisfy the mind of God as to him.

Here we see Jehovah as man in a beautiful way. So it was, I believe, in this case, although not of course as yet the Word made flesh, yet the nearest approach to it; and just as we shall see in the series that follows (chap. 22.), the resurrection of the Son of God in type, and the dealings of God founded on that great fact, so here we have, as far as it could be, the coming down of God to be among men, and the grace that accompanied His presence here below. Thus I read this very scene; and that is the reason why here, and here alone, the Lord takes the place of a man.

How beautiful to look back, and see how suitable it is that, before the series that introduced the work, there should be the series that introduced the person, in as near an approximation to His taking flesh as was possible to be beforehand! If there be one thing that marks a man with others, it is sitting at the same table in social intercourse. This is what the Lord does here. It is one of the very things in which an unbeliever finds an enormous difficulty: but what is poison to an infidel is the food and joy of faith. Accordingly, where faith receives it, we rejoice in so blessed a thing as God thus deigning to be at Abraham's table, and partaking of his hospitality, with His angels round Him; but this in the guise of men.

After He has thus put Himself along with His servant on familiar terms, He speaks of that which was nearest to the heart of Abraham. He knew that he was surely to have a son; but he had waited long, and wanted to know when the son would come. Now it is fixed; there is a distinct time allotted, and for the first time. God here too shows Himself considerate of Abraham's feelings. As we saw, Sarah was not up to the mark yet; she needed a rebuke. The communication that God makes brought out what was not according to the proprieties of the presence of God. She was not used to it, like her husband, in spirit, day by day; and when the Lord did come, she did not know how to behave herself; but Abraham did, and there is nothing more remarkable than the ease, and calm, and comeliness of Abraham in all this scene. He was in no way thrown off his balance when it begins to dawn upon him Who it was that deigned to talk and eat with him; the wonderful fact that he stood before the true God, the Lord of heaven and earth-the pledge of the incarnation, when He should take flesh and dwell among us.

Jehovah brings all out plainly now. “Is anything too hard for Jehovah? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah laughed in her incredulity and then, convicted, she denied it, saying, “I laughed not” —denied it for the same reason that some of us may have had to reproach ourselves for no less. “She was afraid!” How often these sad departures from the truth arise from nothing but the want of moral courage! What would train up the soul in unflinching and most scrupulous truthfulness is exactly what Abraham cultivated, and what Sarah failed in—habitual acquaintance with the presence of God.

There is no safeguard so efficacious, even supposing we be ever so disposed to exaggerate, uncareful, quick to speak, slow to consider and weigh what is said. There is nothing that would keep and form the soul more simply in truthfulness than this very thing, the constant sense of the presence of God. This it is that characterized Abraham more than most; not that we may not find failure, for Abraham was not Christ. In this particular too, under solemn circumstances, Abraham broke down, and, sad to say, twice about the same thing—once in the earlier part of his career, and once later. For God would give the terrible lesson, that flesh in no way ever improves, and that Abraham needed the presence of God to keep him towards the close of his career, just as much as at the beginning.

[W.K.]

(To be continued)

Notes on Matthew 10

CHAP. 10.

But now you see we have come to the part of the Gospel where the King must have His court; so here we get the twelve apostles who will yet sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Here is the One spoken of in Isa. 32, “Behold a king shall reign in righteousness and princes shall rule in judgment.” A little later in this Gospel when He is rejected, it is, “Behold a sower went forth to sow.” Here He calls to Him the twelve disciples (ver. 1). Then in ver. 3, — “The names of the twelve apostles are these.” He has not only the heart and the power to do everything, but He delegates that power or authority as it pleases Him. Two words are translated “power,” one meaning “authority,” the other power as “force or ability.” Here He gives authority “over unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.” A wonderful court is this. Never was there one like it. We must not lose sight of this, that it is the King Who calls these twelve apostles. Matthew uses the word “apostles” once only, Mark once, Luke six times, and John in his Gospel, once, and that in a general way— “he that is sent” (13:16), which is the meaning of the word “apostle.”

We get a list of them in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the Acts. In each case Peter is first, and Judas last, except where Matthias takes his place. These little undesigned coincidences are very comforting, as showing—what we believe so heartily—the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures. The names are grouped in three fours; the twelve tribes are divided into four threes. Twelve is a complete number. Four plus three makes seven, the perfect number: and four times three gives us the perfect administrative number. Peter, James, John and Andrew form the first group always, and Peter is always the first, but the other three are not always in the same order. Philip is always the first of the second four, who are always grouped together; whilst James the son of

Alphaeus is always the first of the last four. Simon was not a Canaanite but a Zealot, a member of a sect of the Jews so called. We ought to take notice of these little things. It is only in this list given by Matthew, that Matthew is called the publican. Matthew and Thomas are always put together, but when Matthew writes he puts Thomas first. There are many little things in this Gospel which bring out his humility.

Another thing we may notice. They are first called twelve disciples, then twelve apostles. In the Acts, I think the word “apostles” is used about thirty times. The apostles and prophets that we are built on, are the N.T. inspired men who were used to give us the word of God. In Acts 21:16, it says, “There went with us also certain of the disciples of Cæsarea, and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple with whom we should lodge.” Now, although that word “disciple” occurs so often in the early part of the N.T., this is the last occurrence of its use.

The Holy Ghost, not the church, is the One Who now sends forth. Acts 13:3 should read “they let them go.” The Holy Ghost sends forth as in the next verse. He only is the vicegerent of Christ. Now the Lord gives them their commission. “These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not” (ver. 5). That at once stamps the mission with a peculiar character. They were not even to go to their neighbors, the Samaritans. There is nothing conflicting in “The laborer is worthy of his meat” and “Freely ye have received, freely give.” The apostle felt this when he labored with his own hands, rather than receive of the carnally walking Corinthians. We are glad to know that the salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles now. The last chapter of Acts adds, “And they will hear it.” The others had rejected it.

Ver. 9: “Provide neither gold, nor silver nor brass in your purses.” That applied to that day. John commends Gaius for setting the brethren forward in a worthy way. Paul could endure hardness himself, but he was very thoughtful of his brethren. The Lord refers to this sending forth of the twelve in Luke 22, when he says, “when I sent you without purse or scrip, lacked ye anything?” In fact, for others, there was always plenty in the presence of the Lord. He provided them with everything needful. We never read of the Lord Jesus having any money. When on one occasion He wanted a penny, He said, “Show me a penny.” When the temple contribution collectors wanted the didrachmas, He instructed Peter to go “to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened its mouth, thou shalt find a double didrachma; that take and give unto them for me and thee.” His was a life of perfect dependence. What a pity that Peter answered for the Lord in that last instance! Even a prophet might go beyond the word. Look at Nathan and David about the house. If a portion of God's word is disputed, and you are sure it is His word, this is then a controversy with God.

“Freely ye have received, freely give” (ver. 8). What have we that we have not received? “Of thine own have we given thee,” said David, and it may have amounted to about nineteen millions sterling of his “own proper good.” God fills our hands now with Christ, and Christ it is whom we bring to God in our worship. Nothing counts with God but Christ.

The word “meat” in verse 10 means food or nourishment. How simplicity is stamped on the instructions given here! They were to be relieved from all anxiety. Some have been somewhat puzzled by the words “nor yet staves;” occurring here, while in another place they are allowed to take a staff. We know there is nothing contradictory. In this case the Lord here says, “Provide not,” that is, they were not to go and procure one, but if they had one, they were permitted to take it (Mark 6:8).

“Into whatsoever city or town ye enter inquire who in it is worthy.” We see this cannot apply to the gospel now, because it goes out to the most unworthy and unlikely. Those only were the worthy ones who believed in the Messiah. In the coming day those who receive the messengers, the Lord's brethren, or Jews, will be the sheep on His right hand when the Son of man shall have come in His glory and there are gathered before Him all the nations, living Gentiles on the earth (Matt. 25). The messengers then will be those who now are like dogs in a manger. That work will be done in a short time, and none but the Jews will accomplish it. Scattered all over the world, and remarkable as linguists they will be fitted to preach “the gospel of the kingdom.”

The gospel of the kingdom is very different from the gospel of the grace of God. The everlasting gospel of Rev. 14 has its announcement in Gen. 3 The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head—the execution of coming judgment. By His death on the cross, the seed of the woman has annulled Satan, and He is going to bruise him. He will be bruised under the saints' feet shortly.

The Lord's commission here is to the twelve, and as also looking on to a future day (ver. 23). The Apostle of the Gentiles worked with his own hands. That was grace on his part, and he would not allow the Corinthians to rob him of his privilege. Evidently the remnant will go by these instructions. This ministry was interrupted by the death of Christ, but it will ultimately be resumed. There comes in now a big parenthesis of time; but the preachers in a day yet to come will resume the testimony now interrupted, and these instructions will apply to them.

“And when ye come into a house salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy let your peace return to you” (vers. 12, 13). That was a blessing for those saluted, but the salutors would not be losers if the message was rejected, and the salutation would not be lost. In principle that may be true now. When a faithful message is not received, a blessing returns to the messenger. The Lord Himself was limited in His works by their unbelief.

“Shake off the dust of your feet.” Paul and Barnabas did it in Acts 14. They had been addressing both Jews and Gentiles. Paul says in another place, “I am clean from the blood of all men.” I was thinking of Ezek. 33 in connection with this. There Ezekiel was set as a watchman, and if he failed to blow the trumpet, he was responsible for those slain. Was not Paul referring to that. How necessary to be faithful to what is committed to one! He was faithful as a steward, and a very blessed responsibility it is.

“Verily, I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.” Here is a very solemn lesson! In the O.T. (and that has led many astray who do not see the teaching of God's word as to atonement, and who make light of sin) we do not get eternal judgment; and eternal life is only mentioned twice, and in reference to the millennium. But when Christ came, Who is the Truth, everything came out, and you get blessed teaching about eternal life, and solemn unfolding of eternal judgment. You get that very expression in Heb. 6. God has not finished with the O.T. sinners. What brought down His judgment on Sodom and Gomorrha? The moral filth of those wicked cities is not so bad as the guilt of grace slighted! God is never in a hurry to execute judgment. The language of Gen. 19 shows us He is righteous in all His ways. He will be justified about all He has written in His word, and clear when He is judged. One thing in Scripture, whether stated or not in any particular place—God never sends a stroke without warning; and the space between warning and stroke is called His longsuffering.

This chapter, we may observe, is divided into three parts: each part concluding with the words, “Verily, I say unto you.” The first part ending at ver. 15 gives directions; then to ver. 23, tells of persecutions; and from ver. 24 to the end we get encouragements.

Our section to-day commences (ver. 16) with “Behold” —calling special attention. If sheep were simply exposed to wolves it would be bad enough, but to be sent among them is more serious still. “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise (prudent) as serpents, and harmless (guileless) as doves.” You want the combination. It is a sad thing to have only the prudence and a very weak thing to have only the guilelessness. I suppose to be prudent as serpents would save them from rashness, from running into danger; but on the other hand they were not to injure others. We never ought to give men just cause to charge us with anything unseemly. They had to be on their guard. “But beware of men.” This supposes theirs was a testimony within the borders of Israel. The “men” here were their kinsmen, but their animosity to Christ would lead them to deliver up and scourge even those who were related to them.

“Ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them, and the Gentiles.” We see this in the Acts, where Paul is brought before Felix, and Festus, and then before king Agrippa. Clear instructions are given them in verse 19. It is misapplied if spoken of the preaching of the gospel. It has no reference to any service for the Lord, but would save them from anxiety when on their trial.

“For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit,” not of God, but “of your Father.” That would be beautifully exemplified in Acts 26. In Acts 21 we have Paul's going up to Jerusalem, but he does not there appear on the highest level; he had been swayed by his affections for Israel, his brethren, but in chap. 26 he is quite recovered, and what a splendid testimony he is enabled to give. Instead of being, as was thought, an enemy to Israel, he shows their advantages in Rom. 9 more than they could themselves.

“And brother shall deliver up brother to death.” It is Christ that brings out the true character of everyone. The tenderest ties of nature are set aside here in their animosity for those true to Christ. This is the beginning of the testimony of the future, and we get (ver. 22), “He that endureth to the end shall be saved.” At that time they will be exposed to terrible pressure, when they are unable to buy or sell unless they have the mark of the beast. “And cause them to be put to death.” There will be some preserved to go into millennial blessing on the earth, and others who will be martyred—to have their part in the first resurrection. We get this resurrection in Rev. 20:4. “They lived,” that is how it is described. The first resurrection commenced with the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He is the first fruits, not of course of the wicked, but of those who have “part in the first resurrection,” for “blessed and holy” are all such. The title “Son of man” (ver. 23) is connected with His coming in judgment, never with His coming for us. In chap. 25:13 the words “Wherein the Son of man cometh” are well known to be an interpolation.

Now we come to the last section of our chapter, wherein the Lord gives instruction that would illustrate being “wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” It is not for the follower of Christ to “stand up for his rights.” Evidently this particular testimony was but for a short period. It was broken by the death of Christ and will be taken up again. “He that endureth unto the end.” Of the remnant some will be spared, some martyred. It you turn to Rev. 12:13, where the dragon persecutes the woman, you have there the Jewish nation “of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came,” as the special object of his animosity. Then is the last half of the week when they will be subject to the most awful pressure, not only hated of all nations, but of the apostate part of their own nation. There will be among them those who will endure to the end. The Lord Jesus says in one place “When the Son of man cometh shall he find faith on the earth?” That is, real saints, with divine life in their souls will be subject to such pressure that they will despair of God's interference. We find a picture of it in chap. 14 of this Gospel. Just as Peter is about to sink, the omnipotent hand of Messiah saves him. “Except those days should be shortened, no flesh should be saved; but for the elect's sake whom he hath chosen those days shall be shortened.” You have a magnificent outburst at the close of Habakkuk as to what God can be to His people in the darkest days. The remnant will indeed know God as the God of their salvation. You get pictures of it frequently in the O.T., as for instance, in Egypt under Pharaoh, when he sought to destroy all the male children. Then again in Ahab's reign, when for three years and six months the heaven was shut up and there was bitter persecution. God cared for His people. Obadiah was in Ahab's household, and Pharaoh's own daughter brought Moses up.

There are three companies in the last part of Matt. 25, the sheep, the goats, and the brethren. Those that fear God will be kind to the Jews; if not kind to them, they are His enemies. The sheep go into millennial blessings on the earth; the goats to everlasting punishment. The sheep answer to Shiphrah and Puah, who feared God and He made them houses (Ex. 1).

Vers. 24, 25: The Lord is encouraging them here, as in all this third part. “It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his Lord.” “If they have called” (or surnamed, it is more a surname or nickname) “the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?” You get there the relation of the disciple to the teacher, the relation of the servant to his Lord, and of the inmates of his house to the master. They ought not to be surprised at the way they were treated when they thought what the Teacher, the Lord, the Master got. “Fear them not” occurs twice in verses 26 and 28. He encourages them to be bold and courageous. Paul and Barnabas waxed bold. Boldness goes along with confidence in the Lord. “They so spake that a great many believed.” How did they speak? “Confiding in the Lord.” If you have a gift you need the Lord's help, and if you are weak and nothing, you will surely have it.

Ver. 28: It shows here that the punishment of the wicked is in their bodies, “Fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” Gehenna, the lake of fire. Hades the place of torment is for those in their disembodied state. The torment of the lost begins at once, as the believer's blessedness also does. Mark 9 is very solemn, even if you take Gehenna as the figure, but the Lord says “their worm dieth not,” —man's conscience. It is terrible to think of man's conscience in hell approving God's righteous judgment against itself, as it must. And it is well to test that now. Paul, knowing the terror of the Lord, persuaded men. Seeing what an awful thing it is to die unsaved ought to stir up the servants of the Lord. John Newton said: “By the mercies of God I beseech men; by the terrors of the Lord, I persuade men!” There is something most solemn in the denial of eternal punishment. It belittles the death of Christ. Only the Eternal Son could meet the wrath of the Eternal God against sin. It is remarkable that those who hold non-eternity of punishment constantly fall out amongst themselves. How the cross is the true measure of everything! All was brought to an issue there. It is sweet to be able to say:

“The torment and the fire mine eyes shall never see.”

All this is to encourage them to be courageous and bold, “They overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.”

“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.” God is so great that He can take notice of these little things. He is great in great things and great in little things. A thing so insignificant, and apparently so worthless! noticed by your Father! The word “heavenly” is dropped here.

“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” This is to impress them with the inscrutable care of their Father.

“Fear ye not therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows.” We must listen to the Lord in John 17 to get an inkling of what we are worth. God could have created what in man's eyes might have been a far better world than this for each saint, and one perhaps more glorious than this was at the creation, but what could all have been in comparison with that which He has given us in Christ, and we have indeed more than this even—yea, the love of Him that gave it all.

What blessed encouragement we have here! It is given in view of circumstances which may cost a great deal to confess the Lord. Animosity showed itself in Cain and Abel, and the same principles have prevailed ever since. You cannot eliminate from the word of God the fact that “all that will live godly shall suffer persecution.” There is a tremendous lot of underhanded persecution even if it appear not openly. There is only one instance in the N.T. where it looks like a Christian desiring punishment on a foe, viz., 2 Tim. 4:14. But it should read, “The Lord will reward him according to his works.” Paul did not desire Alexander's punishment, but he knew enough of God's ways to know He would deal with him. We know of course, that when the church is gone the godly remnant will be full of the cry for vengeance, and will rightly take up the imprecatory language of the Psalms.

Vers. 34-42: The object of the Lord's coming was not the sending of a sword, but such was the result through man's condition. The Lord could not do an unworthy thing. What He brings introduces what is quite irreconcilable with the principles of the world. Light and darkness never coalesce. Men in their unregenerate state are hateful, and hating one another; the Lord was hated without a cause. Those most like Him are hated and despised too, for they are the very ones who are the most offensive to proud, self-assertive man. If you turn to 1 John 3:12, you find the first two men that were born into the world, and the elder hates the younger (Gen. 4:5). Directly the man of faith was accepted by God, the countenance of Cain fell.

The Lord here, in this passage, demands a love beyond the tenderest earthly affection. Where there is a real conversion and a godly testimony, there is often terrible family opposition. Both Peter and Paul, in presenting the gospel, say, Thou and thy house (Acts 11:14; 16:31). Even if not the head of the house, may I not count on God for them all? Rahab did. But the Lord's words would show how it is possible to have terrible family variance and antipathy. That would be a cross. Every believer has his cross, but this in ver. 38 is in connection with family persecution. Some in taking, in faithfulness, this cross may have to suffer to the giving up of life, or if not that, to the losing of all earthly prospects, even being disinherited from their part in the family inheritance, etc. Yet are they not losers, but great gainers, if it is through faithfulness to Christ.

The word “sword” (ver. 34) is of course used figuratively. The Lord in Luke 22, when referring to this very chapter, told them all this was set aside, and they were to buy a sword. When the Lord was here they had the benefit of Messiah's presence, but now it was all to be changed, and they were to accept persecution. The civil government is raised up for our good. The worst government that ever was is better than none, and we should acknowledge it with thankfulness.

Ver. 39 is quite a paradox to most. The Lord uses it more than once (chap. 16:15; John 12:25). Life is looked at in both a higher and a lower sense here; the life temporal and transient, and that which is spiritual and eternal, that which is “really life.” Yet there are those who have been taught ‘to make the best of both worlds.' How that would clash with this! The best and divine way is to serve Christ.

In the Epistles we get something more definite. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable (or intelligent) service.” There it does not mean you are constantly to be doing it, but what you have given to the Lord you would not take back again. If you have laid it on the altar it would be singular to take it away again!

It is not that the difficulties of the way and of the life are hid from them, but the Lord gives His own great encouragement. What wonderful dignity is in ver. 40, and the Lord's rewards, how wonderful they are! the rewards of grace, but not presented as motives. The motive should be the glory of God and love to Christ. The crown of life, the crown of glory, the crown of righteousness, are rewards and encouragements.

It is very sweet that the disciples are called “little ones.” No doubt the expression is taken from Zech. 13:7. How precious to Him these little ones are! There is a gradation in verses 40-42: first, Himself; then, a prophet—one who reaches the conscience, not simply a foreteller of future events, but one who brings the soul into the presence of God (the testimony of a prophet in the assembly would make the unlearned own that God was with them of a truth, 1 Cor. 14.); then, one who is not a prophet if he has a heart for a prophet shall receive the reward as if he were a prophet, it shows that it is all of grace; then again, the righteous man, and he receives the seal of righteousness; and lastly, “whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. We can take it literally, but if it is the smallest possible thing done to one because he belongs to Christ (Mark 9:41), God does not forget it. Compare Heb. 6:10 “toward His Name,” this is the great point. We may gather from this 42nd verse that many things will be rewarded which may have been unwittingly rendered, or deemed of so little value as not to be worthy of notice. Though we know Matt. 25:40 applies to others than ourselves, yet the principle abides for all. This is a secret act here. Where the heart is prompted from love to Christ to show even the least possible kindness, the Lord will not forget it.

Ver. 23 is an insuperable difficulty if people do not see dispensational teaching. Daniel's seventy weeks were running out, and unless we see the great gap between the sixty-ninth and the seventieth we get into awful confusion. There will be some that will take up the testimony that was broken off by the rejection of the Messiah—a special testimony to the Jew, and also a special testimony to the Gentile. Even in the Acts we can see that Jews and Gentiles are differently addressed. The apostles take the Jews up upon the Scriptures, as, for instance, in Acts 13, where we have a wonderful sermon taking up the O.T. writings, for to the Jews were committed the oracles of God. But to the Athenians in chap. 17 the apostle said nothing about the Scriptures. The Jewish martyrs will overcome by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; but in Rev. 14:7, it is, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and fear him that made heaven,” etc. He is coming to judge and He is the Great Creator.

Studies in Mark 7:31-37: Ears and Tongue in Divine Service

CHAP. 7:31-37 (continued)

Ears and Tongue in Divine Service

It may be of some help and interest to bring together a few remarks by way of suggestion on the subject of the connection between dumbness and deafness, and of the general analogy in spiritual things presented by them. The subject of service, too, has a direct bearing upon the special feature of the Second Gospel.

Deafness and dumbness are frequently associated as disorders in the same person, and, except in cases where there is malformation in the organs of speech, inability to speak is the direct result of an inability to hear. So that, generally speaking, the deaf man is also dumb. And, in consulting the various occurrences in the New Testament of the word κωφός, usually in the A.V. rendered “deaf,” we find that in some instances it is translated “dumb.”

Thus, in the case of a certain demoniac brought to Jesus for healing, we read, “They brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. And when the devil was cast out the dumb spake” (Matt. 9:32, 33; Lu. 11:14). Literally, in these instances the word “dumb” might be translated “deaf,” the fact being that the man was both deaf and dumb.

Take the case of another demoniac. A father came to Jesus with his lad, saying to Him, “I have brought unto thee my son which hath a dumb (ἄλαλον) spirit.” But the boy appears to have been deaf as well as dumb, and presumably he was dumb because he was deaf. At any rate, the Lord, in ejecting the demon, addressed him as, “Thou dumb and deaf spirit (τὸ ἄλαλον καὶ κωφὺν)” (Mark 9:17, 25). It will be noticed that in the narrative of this incident a distinct Greek word (ᾶλαλος) is translated “dumb.”

Further, the dumb persons in the Decapolitan region who were made to speak by the Lord's power were, according to the literal translation of the description, deaf (Matt. 15:30, 31). Also, Zacharias became speechless (κωφός), but it is clear from Luke's account that he was deaf at the same time (cp. Luke 1:22 with 62).

In connection with these foregoing examples of Scriptural usage, it may be useful to quote from modern encyclopedias the following extracts, which present the intimate relation of deafness and dumbness from a physiological standpoint. One authority states: “It is not an uncommon supposition that deaf mutes are dumb on account of some vocal or organic defect, whereas the dumbness arises, with very rare exception, from the deprivation of hearing caused by some natural or accidental disease.” Another says: “Dumbness is the consequence of deafness. Children ordinarily hear sounds, and then learn to imitate them, i.e., they learn to repeat what they hear other persons say. It is thus that every one of us has learned to speak. But the deaf child hears nothing; it cannot therefore imitate, and remains dumb.... The ear is the guide and directress of the tongue; and when the ear is doomed to perpetual silence, the tongue is included in the ban: though if we could by any means give to the ear the faculty of hearing, the tongue would soon learn for itself to fulfill its proper office. To correct the error involved in this apparent misnomer, some authorities use the term deaf simply, others speak of the deaf-dumb and deaf-mute. The latter term is common in America, as in France is its equivalent Sourds-muets. In the Holy Scriptures the same original word is translated ‘deaf ' in some places (as in Mark 7:32) and ‘dumb' or 'speechless' in others (see Matt. 9:33 and Luke 1:22).”

It is therefore well-established that the function of speech is dependent upon the function of hearing, and in order to communicate rightly to others it is necessary to hear well. The two faculties are indispensable to a person who acts as a medium between one and another.

Applying this principle in the spiritual plane, the faithful and useful servant would be the one whose ear and voice are so accurately attuned that he transmits without failure the exact message he receives. Accordingly, Jehovah, in commissioning Jeremiah to be His prophet, said to him, “Whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak” (Jer. 1:7). Also, the Lord, when sending forth the twelve Apostles, said to them, “What ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops” (Matt. 10:27; Lu. 12:3). The Apostle Paul writes in one of his epistles, “I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you” (1 Cor. 11:23). And again, John writes similarly, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard ... of the word of life... that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you” (1 John 1:1-3). In the Apocalypse the Lord's “servant John” (as he terms himself in the first verse) on about thirty different occasions states his record to be what he “heard.”

THE SON AS HEARER AND SPEAKER

The Incarnate Son of God in the exercise of His office of Mediator between God and man was pleased to exhibit an absolute dependence upon God in the presentation of the grace and truth that came by Him. His ear and His tongue were ever in perfect accord with the divine will with respect to His service.

This obedient attitude was fore-determined in the eternal counsels when the Son voluntarily elected to take the place of the coming Servant to do the will of God with great delight. The Holy Spirit revealed this secret planning in one of the Psalms: “Mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me: I delight to do thy will, O my God” (Psa. 40:6-8). This great purpose, originating in eternity, was fulfilled by the incarnation of the Son and by His sacrifice, as the apostle expressly declared (Heb. 10:5-10).

The marvelous spirit of meek submission assumed by the Creator Son is also the subject of one of the prophecies of Isaiah. Looking forward in the power of the inspiring Spirit, he saw that the ear of the Servant of Jehovah would be opened continually to receive directions from the Lord God, and His tongue guided from on high to speak the words of divine comfort. The beautiful passage runs thus: “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary; he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. The Lord God hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back” (Isa. 50:4, 5).

The New Testament records the fulfillment of these predictions, for in the Gospels the acts of the Lord Jesus all testify how He “emptied Himself,” and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And in the Fourth Gospel especially, where the Son of God stands most revealed of the four, there are written many of His own verbal testimonies to this subjection of His own will to that of the Father.

Thus, surveying at its close the execution of His earthly mission, the Son, in the outpouring of His heart to the Father, declared, “The sayings which thou gavest me I have given them” (John 17:8). Similarly, the Lord instructed His disciples concerning the true source of that stream of heavenly wisdom which had come down to them: “All things that I heard from my Father, I have made known unto you": “The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me” (John 15:5; 14:24).

To the Jews the Lord testified that God was then speaking to them in a manner different from the days of old, for they were, in His teaching, listening to the Son (Heb. 1:1), who had assumed a relation of obedience for this purpose. On one occasion He said to them, “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me” (John 7:16). Again, “the things which I have heard of him [the Father], these speak I unto the world": “For I speak not from myself; but the Father which sent me he hath given me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak” (John 8:26; 12:49).

These passages all combine to show that the Servant-Prophet in His work as Jehovah's Spokesman to the nation was Himself first of all the Hearer of God, illustrating thereby for all time the essential nature of true and approved service.

So absolutely was this attribute true of the Lord, that even when speaking of the exercise of the divine prerogative of judging which the Father had committed to Him as Son of man, He said, “As I hear, I judge.” The whole passage reads, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just: because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which sent me” (John 5:30).

ISRAEL A DEAF SERVANT

The term “servant” is frequently used in Scripture with reference to persons commissioned by God for the performance of some special duties for Him. Amongst others it is applied to Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Job, and even to the first great head of Gentile dominion, Nebuchadnezzar (Gen. 26:24; Num. 12:7; Judg. 2:8; 2 Sam. 7:8; Job 1:8; Jer. 25:9; 43:10). Each of these men was called of God to serve Him in some particular capacity.

The same term is employed in a national sense with reference to the chosen people of God. As Adam was set in the world to be the representative of his Creator, and to rule for Him over the works of His hands, so Israel was elected from among all other nations to be the accredited representative of Jehovah in the earth. They were formally appointed as a people to execute certain important functions of direct service to the Lord.

This high purpose with regard to the seed of Abraham was clearly enunciated by Jehovah to Moses in mount Sinai, when He said, “For unto me the children of Israel are servants: they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt” (Lev. 25:42, 55). This national relationship was recalled by Isaiah in words which Jehovah spoke to the people through him: “But thou Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham my friend; thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the corners thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant” (Isa. 41:8, 9; cp. also 44:1,2). Accordingly, this favored people, in their capacity as God's agents, were made the recipients and custodians of His holy oracles, the exponents of the worship of the One and Only Deity, and the seat of Jehovah's earthly government among the nations of mankind. In consequence of the service due from them in these and in other respects, it was necessary that Israel should be faithful to this trust and obedient to all the precepts of Him who dwelled between the cherubim in their Holy of holies.

The people, however, did not possess a circumcised ear for the messages which came to them from on high. Their attention was continually claimed by Jehovah, and the great declarations by Him when they became the repository of the divine law were prefaced by that significant formula which they vainly made their boast: “Hear, O Israel” (Deut. 5:1; 6:3,4; 9:1; 20:3). But Israel was deaf to all the revelations made. Their condition of irresponsiveness to the divine communications is the charge brought against them by the prophet Isaiah, who said to the Servant-nation, “Thou heardest not; yea, thou knewest not; yea, from of old thine ear was not opened” (Isa. 48:8). Again, deploring their spiritual deadness, the same prophetic messenger said, “Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I send? his ears are open, but he heareth not” (Isa. 42:18-20). They had a separate and favoured position given them as a nation, and they are accordingly described as the “blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears” (Isa. 43:8), inasmuch as they utterly failed to utilize the privileges and opportunities afforded them.

Clearly then, the Jews were spiritually incapable of hearing the voice of God, even as the Lord said to them, “Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word” (John 8:43). Still mere inability to hear was not a condition without remedy. There was a Great Physician for those who were not obdurate. He had come to make such as were not willfully deaf “hear joy and gladness.” Did not the prophetic Spirit of Christ invite the nation to listen to the voice of mercy? saying “Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live” (Isa. 55:3). And when Messiah was present in Jerusalem, He said, “The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live” (John 5:25).

But in addition to those who were so incapable of hearing that they are even described as “dead,” there were those who would not hear. They were deaf also, but willfully so. Like the deaf adder, they deliberately stopped their ears (Psa. 58:4; Isa. 33:15; Zech. 7:11), lest they should hear the words of wisdom and truth and life spoken unto them by the Great Prophet of God. They were the rebellious people who had ears to hear but heard not (Jer. 17:23; Ezek. 12:2). This obstinate refusal on the part of the Jews to hear their Messiah aggravated their guilt to the utmost, as the Lord declared, “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin” (John 15:22).

The stage of willful deafness is followed by serious results. For Scripture speaks of a third category which consists of those who, having refused to hear the word of God, become subject to the terrible infliction of a judicial deafness. Having exceeded the limits of the divine forbearance by closing their ears in the day of their visitation, they are no longer permitted to hear.

Isaiah warned the people of Israel that such a judgment would come upon them if they failed to receive the messages of Jehovah. The sentence pronounced upon them would be, “Make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy... lest they hear with their ears... and be healed” (Isa. 6:10). This solemn prophecy is cited by each of the four Evangelists in connection with the stubborn unbelief of the Jews in the face of the Lord's teaching and miraculous signs (Matt. 13:13-15; Mark 4:11, 12; Luke 8:10; John 12:37-40).

A comparison of these passages shows that the quotations from this prophecy made in the Synoptical Gospels, as well as that by the apostle Paul in his address to the Jews at Rome, refer to the willful closing of the ears on the part of the nation. “Their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes have they closed” (Acts 28:27); this wording being taken from the Greek version of the Old Testament which gives this turn to the passage. Their sin therefore was due to their own deliberate action, for which the nation is accordingly held responsible.

John, however, views their conduct in a stage subsequent, as it were, to their willfulness. Having hardened their own hearts, their hearts are thereupon hardened penally. They would not believe, therefore they could not believe. John's words are emphatic that a judicial infliction from God had fallen upon the people. He says, “For this cause they could not believe, for that Isaiah said, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and should turn, and I should heal them” (John 12:39, 40). This quotation is made from the Hebrew text of Isaiah, where the ultimate result of unbelief upon the nation is the prominent theme.

It will be observed that only a part of the original prophecy is quoted in the Fourth Gospel, and that the clause relating to their hearing is not included. From the context we see that the Evangelist is speaking of the signs of Jesus rather than of His teaching (ver. 37), and His miracles were for the eyes of the people while His doctrine was for their ears. John brings forward therefore only the clauses referring to their eyes and heart, which God had blinded and hardened because of their stubborn opposition to the gospel of the kingdom. But the principle of judicial penalty is equally applicable to the ear, as the actual form of the prophecy of Isaiah shows.

THE SEA OF GALILEE.

As this occasion is the last one in which the Sea of Galilee is mentioned in this Gospel, it may be of interest and help for further study to bring together the various passages where the name occurs. They serve at any rate to skew how large a portion of the recorded ministry of Jesus was exercised in the northern province.

1:16, walking on its shores, Jesus called Simon, Andrew, James, and John;

2:13, Jesus taught the crowds gathered by the seaside;

3:7, Jesus withdrew to the sea from the plottings of the Pharisees and Herodians;

4:1, from a boat Jesus taught the people who were assembled on the shore;

4:39, Jesus stilled the storm upon the sea;

5:1, Jesus crossed the sea to the country of the Gerasenes;

5:13, the herd of swine under the impulse of the demons stampeded into the sea;

5:21, Jesus re-crossed the sea;

6:47, Jesus walked upon the sea to His disciples during a storm, and stilled it;

7:31, Jesus returned to the sea of Galilee after His journey to the vicinity of Tire and Sidon.

This beautiful lake, which is a striking natural feature of the North of Palestine, is only mentioned three times in the Old Testament, where it is referred to as the Sea of Chinnereth in connection with the division of the land of Israel among the several tribes (Num. 34:11; Josh. 12:3; 1327).

Many Mansions

( John 14:2)

“In my father's housse are many mansions. If it were not soo, I wolde have tolde you. I goo to prepare a place for you” (Tyndale, 1526).

It was an exceedingly happy inspiration of the first translator into our English tongue, of the New Testament from the original Greek to give us the beautiful and appropriate word “mansions” here.

Wycliffe's version of the fourteenth century (from the Latin) reads thus: “In the hous of my fader ben many dwellingis; if anything lease, I hadde seid to you, for I go for to make redy to you a place.” Coverdale (1535) gives also “dwellinges,” and the Geneva Testament of 1557 “dwelling places.”

Whilst others may give “chambers"! (S. Sharp), “abodes” (T. S. Green) or “resting places"!! (Weymouth), the greater part, including even the Rhemish (1582) has from the A.V. down to the R.V. happily cleaved to Tyndale's adoption.

For if the Lord here reveals the Father's house as having many abodes or dwellings, what can these be but infinitely beyond the dwelling-places of men? Are they not worthy of the Father? And what human workmanship can compare with the Divine handiwork, if I may so say? Hence if man had his “mansion,” there are “mansions” that fall not short of the Father's thoughts and desires —they are insurpassable indeed.

Further, many a “mansion” here may be lavishly adorned and equipped, but nevertheless be wanting a suited occupant. We have known such cases. The house palatially garnished, but alas! no one found suitable to enter upon or retain its possession!

Not so here, blessed be His name! The Lord Jesus tells us of what is perfectly suited to the Father's house— “in my Father's house are many mansions.” But more “I go to prepare a place for you"!... and will receive you to Myself, that where I am, ye may be also.” We are to be suited to those heavenly mansions. No incongruity will be there! His work—for we are God's workmanship—will be in divine accordance with all that blessed scene. Oh, the marvels of divine grace!

Vers. 23: Here the same word (μονή)-for this chapter presents its only two occurrences in the whole Bible-is suitably rendered “abode.” “We will make our abode with him” who is the keeper of the Savior's word, the proof of our love to Him.

May it be ours to enjoy this abiding of the Father and the Son with us day by day. Amen.

Published

LONDON

F. E. RACE, Publisher, 3 & 4, London House Yard,

Paternoster Row, E.C.

Abraham: Genesis 18, Continued

Gen. 18 (continued)

Now we see that as the Lord convicts Sarah for her own good, so He blesses Abraham more and more. But though it is sad that a saint of God should fail in truthfulness, it is no small mercy that God should make that untruthfulness felt where the soul has been guilty. I do not know anything worse for any one who has fallen into untruthfulness than that such a one should go without the discovery of it, and without its being painfully brought home to the soul by God Himself. Here we have it. The Lord does not do it in this case as in so many others in the Bible; for one of the remarkable features elsewhere plain is that we have cases of untruthfulness, and other things equally bad, found in God's people, but they are left, either without conviction, or with the fact simply stated. Here it was brought home for Sarah's profit, and we know that she gained it. But we must turn to the Lord's way with Abraham.

This is the very thing that perplexes unbelievers. It is not so to faith. God disciplines and exercises the hearts of His people in judging these things from their acquaintance with His own character, and with His word in general. In this particular case there was a lesson to be taught, and therefore God does not pass it by. He does not permit that Sarah should simply say, “I did not laugh;” so He says, “Nay, but thou didst laugh.” The sin is brought home by the unmistakable voice of God. Oh, what a thought for Sarah afterward, and how humiliating, not only that she lied, but that she ventured on a lie to God Himself, and that at her one interview with Him, this she should have to reflect on! It was the last word that passed between her and God Himself.

This, no doubt, is a serious thing for our own souls, worthy of reflection, yet full of comfort also. For what a God we have to do with! What patience, long-suffering, goodness! and this with (not a human being merely, but) a child of His! And His way is to let a word from Him act on her conscience. Never do we hear of any repetition of the evil on Sarah's part. It was a lesson not to be forgotten, yet how gracious!

We read next that “the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom.” Here we enter on another part of Jehovah's action at this time. We have had Him coming down in richest grace, and dealing with the utmost possible tenderness, even with such a failure as that of Sarah. But now we have to see the manner in which all this operated spiritually on the heart of Abraham. “And the men rose up, and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them, to bring them on the way.” Here is another beautiful feature in Abraham, which also had its reward. His was not a mere hospitality that receives like a patron without going farther. There was nothing of what we may call the condescension of a great man in Abraham, which is scarcely to be called true, or at least Christian, hospitality. He in whom that is found will, on the contrary, be found filled with the importance of himself, his family, and his position; he scorns to act below the idea he has, and would impress on others, of his own dignity. Who that reflects could call this grace? “This did not Abraham.” Genuine humility was there, and yet withal an unmistakable stamp of dignity in his character, yet none the less of true kindness, of lowly and persevering love. Thus he hangs upon their steps; and no wonder. At this time it was not merely the ready heart for a stranger, but a sense of the glory of his visitors, and among them of One especially. Who can be surprised that Abraham was loth to see them depart, and accompanied their way? But again, let me say that scripture speaks of such a reception of strangers as though it were no unwonted thing for this generous man. I do not suppose that it was the first time for him to bring such forward on their journey after a godly sort, any more than to receive them into his tent, and treat them as he did.

“And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of Jehovah, to do justice and judgment; that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.” What a character! But I would ask myself as well as you, beloved brethren, is that what the Lord can say of you and me? Does He really know this of us? I do not mean that He said it to Abraham, but in His word about him. Now He has written it for us; and for what purpose? That we should merely know what He felt towards Abraham? Nay, but that we should search ourselves, and see whether there are grounds for the Lord to speak so about ourselves and our households. For you generally find that a saint's ways are shown, not merely in his own personal conduct, but even more in the relation of his family all round to the Lord, as the fruit of his faith or the lack of it. This is the reason why (in the New Testament), no matter what gift a man had, no matter how much he might be personally excellent, if his household were unruly and not in subjection, such an one could not be an elder or bishop. How could a person rule the church of God, if he could not rule his own home? Because, where moral power would be shown most is, not in a discourse, or in company, or in a visit, but where a man unbends, where he is no longer the teacher or preacher, where he can either familiarly bring in God or habitually leave Him out, where he can have a free and constant circulation of that name, with all its fruitful consequences, in the family, or he proves that his heart is in ease. Show or money for them is really for himself.

The Lord assuredly looks for a reflex in the household of the ways of God with the head of it; because there it is that God should manifestly be owned, and habitually govern; and there it is that the one who stands at the head is responsible to God for showing what his mind and heart value. It may be done with great simplicity, one need not say, with tender attention and care and interest in what goes on with each member of the family. And I do not mean merely the children, though the children have the nearer place; but servants also, supposing there are such in the, house. Servants, it is true, are not expressly mentioned in 1 Tim. 3., possibly because some of the elders might be among the poorest, and perhaps servants themselves. Therefore God puts the matter in a general way; but where there are such domestics, just the same thing should be found. For that which sheds blessing among the children secures blessing among the servants. At any rate there should be godly order, even if the children or servants be not yet brought to the knowledge of God. So it most assuredly was at this time, and ordinarily, true of Abraham's house.

“For I know him:” was it ever so said about Lot? It would have had a sorrowful meaning in Lot's case; it has a blessed one in Abraham's. For this is the knowledge of approval, of divine complacency; it is the knowledge that prepared the way for his being the depositary of the secrets of Jehovah—the one to whom He could communicate that which no angel knew, save those who had their orders from Him and were just about to be the executioners of His judgment. But the angels in general, I venture to presume, knew little or nothing of it. It was enough for them to learn it when the thing had taken place. Thus it is that they learn about the church, and the wonders that God has shown to us. The church of God is His living lesson-book for the angels (Eph. 3); it is by the dealings that He carries on with individual Christians, and with the assembly above all, that He is instructing them in His ways; as He did already by our Lord Jesus Christ in the highest degree, when He was here and exalted on high. He was not pleased to tell them of Christ beforehand; whereas one of the most remarkable privileges saints of old had was the revelation, as far as it went, of the sufferings of Christ and the glories after these. And now we know things to come, as well as the things of Christ above. “Ye, therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before.” This is, or ought to be, one of the cherished privileges of the Christian.

For every child of God now really has, not only a priestly place in the grace of Christ, but what may be called a prophetic one. He is not of course a prophet, in the sense of giving out inspired communications from God. This the prophets did, as part of the foundation of the church, and it might be in what is called prophesying. But all ought to enjoy the reality of seeing, and testifying the things that are not as though they were, according to divine revelation, giving us to enter into the mind of God before His word comes to pass. The whole of the New Testament supposes that a part of what the Holy Ghost is come down here to do is, not only to “take of the things of Christ, and show them to us,” but to show us “things to come” (John 16).

In this chapter, and in the fresh scene that I am dwelling on, we have the very pattern of Christ when He was present here; I do not say when the sacrifice of Christ was offered in sign, which comes before us in chapter 22. But here there is a remarkable anticipation of the presence of Jehovah—of God's presence in Christ, when He tabernacled as a man among men. Hence the wonderful opening out of that which was in His own heart; just as the Lord did in John 15, which may be viewed as the counterpart of what we find here. He had, as we know, been with the disciples in the tenderest love. There, it is true, it is not courteous furnishing of water for His feet, but (wondrous way!) His washing theirs. Supper-time was come for Him and them: and He would stoop down and wash their feet, as a witness of His work of love when He should leave them; but, before He goes, He would tell them what was in His mind. He is treating them as friends; so He lets them know what the Holy Ghost is about to do when He Himself is absent on high. “Is it expedient for you that I go away, else the Comforter will not come.” But He went, and the Holy Ghost came and more than made up for His absence. So we find in measure with Abraham. The angels proceed; Jehovah remains behind with Abraham, who enters into a phase of communion with Him far beyond what he had enjoyed before.

“And Jehovah said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto, me; and if not, I will know.” He is speaking here just after the manner of men. Jehovah adopts the familiar language of common life, and deigns to adapt Himself to that which every one could understand in a man. Is it wholly above our comprehension how God knows all things at once, without inquiry or investigation. He condescends here to speak so that Abraham might be thoroughly free in His presence.

“And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before Jehovah. And Abraham drew near, and said.” How precious is this access to Him who had thus come down! Abraham shows no shrinking behind the door. He has confidence in God. “Abraham drew near.” The Christian can understand it all, now that redemption has been accomplished, and sin has been judged, and we have been left, according to the word of God and the work of Christ, without a single spot or stain to arrest the eye of the Judge. Such is the efficacy of the blood in which we have been washed from our sins, even as we ourselves are a new creation in Christ before Him. But is there always in us, as here in Abraham, a real readiness to draw near and speak to our God? Are we happy in making due use of the privileges we possess? This is a serious question for our souls. We see how it was with the patriarch.

“He drew near” and says, “Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” Now, mark, it is no longer a question about himself, or about the son. The son was soon to come. All this was settled. He rests upon it, his heart is perfectly free. He has no longer a single want for himself; not one suit remains to be spread before Jehovah. His heart is drawn out in a spirit of grace, which answers to the grace of the Lord towards himself. He entreats Jehovah about others. He does not yet mention the one that no doubt lay heavily on his heart. His nephew was in Sodom; Lot dwelt there. Who was there living that knew the faults of Lot better than Abraham? But Abraham entered, in his measure, into the feelings of God. For if faults, if blots, could have turned away the love of God, where should we be? Lot had done Abraham no little harm; he had been the cause of considerable trouble. It was a case of risking life itself on one occasion never to be forgotten.

All this, however, made little or no difference to Abraham. But now he could only think in sorrow: of Lot as in the very midst of the doomed city. We need not suppose that he had only mourned over Lot for the first time. Could it be an entirely new thought to Abraham that Sodom and Gomorrah were nests of wickedness, and utterly unfit for the sojourn of that righteous man, Lot? Why should he “vex his soul” there? It was certainly not God who had called him into it. Was the old man hankering after wealth or honor in town, as once for the well-watered plains of Jordan near it? He had not learned his lesson, and now a far more serious chastening was at hand. Now he was only going to be saved so as by fire. Soon must he abandon that seat of honor in the gate of Sodom he too dearly loved. Lot must now taste the bitterness of what he had chosen. Whatever is our wrong must in the long run be our chastening.

But look at Abraham. “Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?” All his heart is moved, now that he has a glimpse of the destruction so swiftly coming on the plains which had beguiled his kinsman. “Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city, wilt thou also destroy, and not spare, the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?” Such is his plea with Jehovah. He pleads as one whose heart felt deeply; and when our hearts are engaged, the work is not done badly. That is the real secret of it. We may do things simply—and we cannot be too simple—but we see the mark clearly where the heart feels aright. It was so with Abraham. He intercedes earnestly and with perseverance, giving expression to that sentiment which the New Testament brings forward under the hand of the Apostle Paul— “Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?” Of course He will, and here we have the answer of grace: “Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.”

Then Abraham ventures to take a little more courage, and brings his request down to forty-five, to forty, and to twenty (vers. 27-31). At last he says, “Oh, let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once. Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.” Why “this once"? Alas! our faith never reaches up to the grace of God. We weary and fail, not He. We get enough, through His grace, for our blessing, but rarely do we venture into its depths. Sound as we may, we certainly never get to the bottom. It was to be proved so here; for although Jehovah answered to the full all that Abraham's faith and confidence in His grace essayed, His grace far exceeded, for it descended after all to that one person who lay on the heart of Abraham, though he had not the boldness to say so. But Jehovah knew it; and while He surely did not spare that wicked place (and it was according to His righteous government that it should be made an example of divine judgment), none the less did He rescue that righteous soul spite of his faults.

But I refer to this now in order to note the gracious effect on Abraham's spirit of being brought into the knowledge of God's mind about brought into the knowledge of God's mind about the future. For it issues not merely in prayer, but in intercession for others. It may be well to ask, beloved brethren, whether we are given to similar intercession, who know that the Lord is soon coming to judge the habitable earth? There are few persons in this room who do not know a great deal more of what is coming to pass on the earth than those who have the credit for learning and theology in this day of ours. We know how great are our shortcomings, and how little we know; but still, as a matter of undeniable fact, it is certain that we are accustomed to look into the future, that we are used in spirit, where God has made Christ our all, to enter into that to which He points us on. We have no doubt what is coming on the world, and on the different parts of the world, as clearly as if we saw it on a map— one painted blue, and another black. We know perfectly well that there is a land where the eyes of Jehovah rest, and He will surely magnify His name. On the other hand, we know of other lands that shall be given up to desolation. The revealed future is thus a matter of settled knowledge to us which has its results practically, though of course in different degrees.

But I ask again, what is the present effect of all on our souls? Does it draw us out in intercession? Are we pleading with the Lord? Ought it not to be so, if we really believe what is coming to pass on the flower of Christendom? Has it engaged our hearts in intercession? Are we sufficiently alive to the way in which God's children are at this moment dishonouring Him by unworthy, mistaken, unbelieving thoughts? or to the great danger from this to their souls? Can any of these things be without loss or peril to them? They are deeply injurious, these false expectations, as well as the want of faith in what is before men. They look for the improvement of society and the progress of Christendom. They believe not in a judgment of the living to be executed by our Lord when He comes in His kingdom at, or just before, the end of which He will judge the wicked dead.

This trifling with the word of God, this blotting out from the future of God's warning, have present consequences of the most serious kind; but do they stir our hearts in desire for the saints of God? We know, of course, that nothing can stay the judgments that are coming on the ungodly, and that God will shelter the righteous in that day; but are our hearts going out to Him about His people? We see how Abraham interceded. The Lord give us to be like Him! It supposes hearts at rest in His grace as to all that concerns ourselves before Him. But that very grace gives us confidence in Him for others dear to Him; and their failures, or dangers, should draw out intercession; yet HE is beyond all that we ask or think. [W. K.]

Notes on Matthew 11

43.-ANOTHER MIRACULOUS MEAL

“In those days, when there was again a great multitude, and they had nothing to eat, he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; and if I send them away fasting to their home, they will faint in the way; and some of them are come from far. And his disciples answered him, Whence shall one be able to fill these men with bread here in a desert place? And he asked them, How many loaves have ye? And they said, Seven. And he commandeth the multitude to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he brake, and gave to his disciples, to set before them. And they set them before the multitude. And they had a few small fishes, and having blessed them, he commanded to set these also before them. And they did eat, and were filled; and they took up, of broken pieces that remained over, seven baskets. And they were about four thousand: and he sent them away. And straightway he entered into the boat with his disciples, and came into the parts of Dalmanutha” (8:1-10 R.V.).

The first two only of the Evangelists record that on a second occasion our Lord multiplied a few loaves, and therewith fed a great concourse of Galileans. Taught the gospel of the kingdom and fed by the King, these people may, in a sense, be said to have tasted, “the good word of God and the powers of the world to come.” For the two miracles constitute a double testimony to the coming blessing for the chosen nation under the direct rule of their Messiah—that time of relief from weary toil of which the great Year of jubilee was a type. The terms of the institution of this feast provided that while the people of Israel were not to sow nor to reap, yet they should “eat their fill,” and the children of the strangers sojourning in their land should likewise participate in the special bounties of the year (Lev. 25:8-55).The blissful era of the anti-typical jubilee is always in Old Testament prophecy associated with the reign of the Seed of David. The ancient men of God lived in joyous anticipation of the day when David's Son and David's Lord shall have dominion from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth, and when the blessings of sinless Eden shall be restored to mankind in a multiplied fullness.

As we read of the Lord taking in His hands the few loaves which were to satisfy the multitude before Him, do we not hear again these picturesque words of the millennial psalm: “there shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains: the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon” (Psa. 72:16)? For in the regeneration the primal penalty upon Adam and his race “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread” (Gen. 3:19) —shall be displaced, and the tree of life, yielding month by month her twelve manner of fruits, shall be constant evidence that the curse has gone from the ground forever (Rev. 22:2, 3). Of that day of abundance the Lord gave a pledge to the few Galileans before Him when, without waiting with long patience for the precious fruits of the earth, their hunger was satisfied by the bounty multiplied a thousand fold before their very eyes.

THE WEARY AND HUNGRY CROWD

The miracle was performed in the Decapolitan district which lies to the northward of the Sea of Galilee. The population of this neighborhood was numerous, and their race of a mixed character, giving rise to the term, “Galilee of the Gentiles.” There the Lord healed the deaf-mute who was one of a great company of persons, diversely afflicted, also brought to Him and restored to health. There, also, it would seem, the Lord “taught” those assembled, instructing them in the new kingdom-doctrines. Attracted by the sweetness of those lips of heavenly knowledge, they tarried and tarried around Him for three days, nor was He loth to continue His ministry.

The great multitude had assembled from far and near to see the works and hear the words of Jesus. These sheep of Israel and also other sheep not of that fold were “consumed with hunger in the land.” For the Pharisees and scribes were hireling shepherds, and their days were like those of which the prophet Amos wrote, saying, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it” (Amos 8:11, 12). Is it any wonder, then, that the crowds listened with untiring eagerness to the words of life from Jehovah's diligent Servant who spoke with authority and love, not as the scribes, nor indeed as any other man? How many of them, listening to the divine utterances, felt, though they could not express it as the Psalmist had already expressed it for them in the fullness and beauty of that stanza: “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb” (Psa. 19:10). At any rate, they thought not of departure from Him, but waited for Him to conclude His discourses and His healings, and to dismiss them to their homes.

This attentiveness on the part of the simple peasantry of Northern Galilee to His heavenly message was surely gratifying to the soul of the Great Teacher, burning in His zeal that they might “hear,” and their souls live. He beheld a great company round Him, imbued to a degree with that fine spirit of the patriarch who said, “I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food” (Job 23:12).

But the Lord Jesus, while joying to serve them with the wonders of divine mercy and truth, marked their physical faintness. The bodily exertions of bringing their numerous invalids to the Great Physician, their excited joy at the recoveries, and the mental strain of attention to the prolonged discourses had a reactionary effect upon the physical condition of the great crowd. This weakness the Lord saw and pitied, for He who healed their diseases and forgave their sins knew their frame also, and remembered that they were dust. Was He not among them as the Servant of Jehovah, who was a God full of compassion and gracious (Psa. 111:4)? Nay, was He not Himself Jehovah, gracious and full of compassion? (Psa. 113:4; 145:8). According to the multitude of His mercies, therefore, His heart yearned over their frailty, and He purposed in Himself to satisfy their mouth with good things and renew their strength for their journey home.

The people were weary with listening, and foodless; but was not the Lord Himself weary with speaking and serving them throughout those three days? The Blessed Master, however, had come not to be ministered unto but to minister. He was most truly that Servant raised up to Israel “like unto Moses,” to whom the people in the wilderness came daily with their problems, and “stood by him from morning unto evening"? But in Galilee there was no Jethro to remonstrate with Jesus, and in love, if not in intelligence, to warn Him: “Thou wilt surely wear away... this thing is too heavy for thee” (Ex. 18:18). Consumed with zeal for the Father's will, the Lord was the Ideal Servant of God, flawless in perfection and glory. Paul spoke truly of his own ministry in the gospel carried on “in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness” (2 Cor. 11:27); but in all these respects he was but an imperfect imitator of the self-denying service of Christ, sustained in his devotion, however, like Him, by that secret food of which the world knows not (John 4:31-34).

THE LORD'S CALL FOR CO-WORKERS

The Lord then beheld this great company of famished men, women and children, with a full knowledge of the physical infirmities, the mental anxieties, and the spiritual cravings that brought them to His feet, of their reception of His ministry during the three days, and of the extent of the journey home. In the spontaneity of His love for them, His heart overflowed with compassion, and He who looked in vain for some to take pity upon Himself in His sufferings sought to awaken the sympathy of His disciples in the needy condition of this people. The Lord called His disciples to Him, and spoke to them, for He would not have them see their brethren in need, and shut up the “bowels of their compassion” against them, as if the love of God did not dwell in their hearts. He said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and if I send them away fasting to their homes they will faint by the way; and some of them are come from far.”

But there was no sympathetic response on the part of the disciples. They, under the influence of Jewish prejudice possibly, expressed no pity for the people, and offered no suggestion for their help. Could the memory of the Lord's former goodness in feeding the seven thousand under similar circumstances have altogether gone from them? It would seem so. Helpless themselves, they utterly failed to realize what an inexhaustible fund of help there was in the Savior. The disciples had yet much to learn. When the Great Shepherd of the sheep was brought again from the dead, then they, as under-shepherds, would be responsible to “feed the assembly of God which he purchased with his own blood.” Then the same voice would come to them with a new significance, “Give ye them to eat,” and then they would not fail in the exercise of the ministry allotted to them.

The Lord had said to the disciples, “I would not send them away fasting” (Matt. 15:32), but they reply, “Whence shall one be able to satisfy these men with bread here in a desert place?” Foolish forgetfulness and unbelief! Whence was food given for the tribes of Israel in the deserts of Sinai? whence was it supplied to a similar company only a few weeks earlier, and not so many miles away? They themselves had wrought many mighty works in the name of the Lord (Mark 6:13), but while they must have known that divine power had been exercised in other circumstances, they failed to remember that divine power might be applied in this instance, and their captious words were not like the words of apostles. Even Satan knew that the Lord had but to command it, and the very stones would become bread.

THE KING SERVING AT HIS TABLE

The Lord thereupon called upon the disciples to mobilize their resources, saying to them, “How many loaves have ye?” He was about to illustrate before their eyes His own adage, “To him that hath shall be given.” They answer, Seven. And these loaves the Lord took as a nucleus of the food-supply for the people. He did not as of old call down bread out of heaven, but He made use of what came out of the earth (Job 28:5). To this fruit of human toil, already multiplied from the bare grain, He gave a further increase.

After Himself commanding the people to sit down on the ground (on the previous occasion the disciples were told to do this) the Lord took the loaves in His hands, and in consequence all eyes would be fastened upon Him. All the people would know that their food was coming to them from His hand. Would David's song of praise have occurred to any of them? “Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom... The LORD upholdeth all that fall and raiseth up all those that be bowed down. The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing” (Psa. 145:13-16; also 104:27).

While the eyes of the multitude were waiting upon the Lord, they could but observe that His eyes were upturned to heaven, as He gave thanks. Had He not taught His disciples to pray to their Father in heaven, and in addition to petitions of a spiritual order to say, “Give us this day our daily bread"? Now He who had taught to pray for daily sustenance teaches by example to tender thanks for the same.

The Lord who was the Guest of Simon the Pharisee and of Simon the leper and of many others, sometimes welcome, sometimes, alas! unwelcome, acted as Host on that day to the great assembly. He it was who broke the bread. The disciples, as stewards of His bounty, distributed from His hand the broken pieces to the multitude, who ate and were satisfied.

Besides the loaves, there were a few small fishes. These the Lord also took and blessed, and the disciples passed them to the people. Thus He provided bread and fish for their repast, as after His resurrection He did for the seven apostles in Galilee (John 21 g). It was not then the day of the glory of the kingdom. When that day comes, He, as Melchidezek, will dispense bread and wine to the men of faith. When the ark is brought to its final resting-place in Mount Zion, the Lord will re-enact, but far exceed the bounty of David, who gave “to the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine” (2 Sam. 6:17-19). But the joy of full victory over the sin of the world was still future; hence the Lord said to His disciples on the night of His betrayal, “I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom” (Matt. 26:29). He also said, “Blessed are those servants whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching. Verily, I say unto you that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and come and serve them” (Luke 12:37).

THE RICHES OF THE LORD'S GOODNESS

The word “riches” conveys the idea of an excess of supplies beyond the bare necessity. The rich man of the parable, for instance, required larger barns wherein to store the goods not immediately in demand for passing needs. As applied to men and to their actions and possessions, riches must be understood in its limited sense, and but seldom in a good sense. For the Lord said that only with great difficulty can those that have riches enter the kingdom of heaven.

On the other hand the dealings and ways of God manward are ever characterized by richness and riches. Both His grace and His glory are revealed to men in their riches (Eph. 1:7; 3:16). And the Lord Christ in His unsearchable riches is rich unto all that call upon Him (Eph. 3:8; Rom. 10:12). Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, and the free gifts of God are ever bestowed in overflowing profusion.

That affluence which marks the act which is purely divine was witnessed by the crowds that day in Galilee. The beneficent Power that causes the sower's grain to yield a hundredfold multiplied the seven loaves and the fishes until every one of the thousands present was satisfied, and even then there was abundance to spare. For “they did eat and were filled,” and gathered up of the broken pieces sufficient to fill seven large hampers.

This miracle was a great and a special exhibition of the active love of God in a selfish world, and it would be worth while, in our private meditation, if we did not hurry past this beautiful picture of the grace of Christ who, though He was rich yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich. It was in the days of His “poverty,” that our Lord gave these instances of divine compassion. He Himself, the Son of David, knew hunger outside the gates of royal Zion (Mark 11:12), and at Sychar weariness and thirst also ( John 4:6, 7), as well as in the wilderness (Matt. 4:2). Humbled thus, bearing their infirmities and carrying their sorrows, He pitied the hungry and weary throng before Him on this occasion, while the people themselves found abundant grace in Jesus, the Prophet of Nazareth, to help in time of need.

There is none good save One, that is, God, said our Lord, and in the bountiful meal of His free provision, these Galileans beheld a vivid illustration of what the apostle in a striking verse calls the riches of the goodness of God. Appealing to those who neglect such evidences, Paul inquires, “Despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance"? (Rom. 2:4).

W. J. H.

(Continued from page 112) (To be continued)

Hold Fast That Which Thou Hast

There is a striking coincidence in the facts of the word of God with the ways of God at this present moment. I daresay many have been struck with, and unable to account for, the circumstance—and I remember when it exercised my own mind many years ago—that God should have given such setting forth of His grace in the twenty-first of Numbers, when the children of Israel were nearing the end of their journey. I think that we should have more readily thought of it at the beginning. But God is always wise. We may be exercised. He may bring in apparently a difficulty; but a difficulty overcome by faith, in the mind of God, a difficulty that has long been uncertain, when once apprehended, what a gain it is, not merely to our own souls, but for others, as leading into fresh confidence in God and His word!

And truly the word of God is a mighty thing, not merely for us but for Him at this moment, a moment when Christendom is abandoning it, and when its leaders, blindly, I am sure, and not knowing what they do, are doing what they can to undermine it. His grace has caused that word to shine out in fresh power. For I speak not only of the beauty of the word, but of its authority; and this has a most weighty place. By it God Himself puts and keeps us in subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ.

I would first ask, beloved brethren, whether we have not felt that which answers to it, that God has given the living power not merely of much in His word that we had not known, but also of fundamental truth that we knew imperfectly?

Has He not given us back again the gospel, and that which is the fruit of receiving it? Not that He has poured out the Holy Ghost again, as some have wrongly asked at His hand, but most assuredly He has given us back the truth of it again. I do not speak now of individuals. It has been very properly said, that when we are speaking of that which is the mind of the Lord, we must distinguish between that which is for His own glory and for the church at the present stage of it, and His special guidance and working in individual souls. It would hinder a little misunderstanding of thoughts very precious in themselves, but very capable of being misused.

It is the mind of the Lord at the present time to be forming and fashioning the church as the bride of Christ. It is His mind that we should be awaiting Him from heaven. But it would be a very grave mistake to substitute that which is His will for the individual, for that which is His mind for the church His body. It is the truth for us all—what the church should never have forgotten. But this does not in the least degree interfere with the particular work of the Spirit of God by each individual believer.

Therefore, whether in the fishing or the feeding [which we have had brought before us], servants have each their place—they in no wise supersede each other. When the heart is filled with Christ, the heart recovered to Himself personally, Himself as an Object before us, and Himself in His moral discerning power—for this is one of the most remarkable features of the way He reveals Himself to the church in Philadelphia—are the fishers to be less simple, earnest or devoted? is the feeding to be relaxed? The very opposite! There is a heavenly impulse given to it. There is also a freedom from excitement, a solidity and a separateness of character. Not a single want that is not met in the fullness of Christ. The love of Christ constrains.

Knowledge puffeth up, love buildeth up. You cannot separate love rightly from the truth. This personal revelation of the Lord Jesus at the present moment—this use of truth, not as putting something between us and the Lord, but putting away all that separates—is what we must all have found not only our deepest joy, but our best security.

Let me recall this word as a very solemn one. Do you think any are in such danger as the men of Philadelphia? I do not find that such a sifting goes on elsewhere. But I do not believe that Philadelphia is gone. I believe that Laodicea is come, but that Philadelphia is not gone, and will never go until the Lord Jesus comes; and that what He has set forth as a testimony, by revelation of His person, will never be rendered void. I do not believe that Philadelphia will go, but that the souls that fall short of attachment to Christ there revealing Himself, will go, and that grace will bring others to fill up more worthily their place. Assuredly the grace of God which began will keep those that have been there and go on with Christ.

But further, it may be well to observe that the most painful elements in the forming of Laodicea may well have had their place in Philadelphia, when faith failed and flesh gave place to Satan. But if they were in Philadelphia (or separation to Christ), they never were of it. They were such as never appreciated the testimony of Christ; for my heart fully goes along with our beloved brother in the thought of the Lord having a present mind.

I believe that, while something more has come in, we must not allow that which we have to slip from us, as it would if we were to get under the clouding depression that Philadelphia has so failed that there is no longer now anything of that character. I am saying this as a word of supplement. I believe this is on His mind, that those who are accounted of Philadelphia—surely not a mere question as to position but morally—do specially need His grace; for Satan uses all his arts to deceive and injure them. Where the heart is with Him, there He is all to the heart. But you have not Christ thus unless the Lord has led you back into understanding of what His church is to Himself. The most remarkable features of the appeal to Philadelphia suppose a knowledge of the truth and of grace found nowhere else. There must therefore be a very striking commentary within that Epistle. It is simply true. “Behold, I come quickly.”

But we find that the Lord warns. “Hold fast that which thou hast, that none take thy crown.” Do we not know, beloved friends, that never were men more liable to be carried away by feelings, and to be caught with novel teaching? People outside do not believe it; they think if you know one, you know all! We know a very different thing, and that as grace began the thing, so grace alone sustains and completes it. If any people are liable to be moved, we are. The very fact of being alone with Christ, away from the various means of occupying (I might say, of entertaining) the saints of God—for what else could I call the excitement of gathering thousands, with the attraction of music, etc.—makes us seem ungenial and ungracious in these days of exposure to the efforts of Satan in ways most trying and delusive. Let us cleave to the evident truth of the Lord. It is a caution given to Philadelphia more than to any other. “Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.” It is hard for love to look unamiable; but Christ should be beyond all to us, and His love is alone true.

There are other reasons. This I would add: If you look back over what the Lord has been doing, you find that when souls do slip away, it is rarely into Sardis, still more rarely into Thyatira, but Laodicea is the common direction into which those who fall from Philadelphia gravitate; and there you have that which is most painful, nay, repulsive, to the Lord Jesus. Self-complacency of knowledge abounds, but Christ is outside the door. It is not lapsing from first love, it is far worse than that. It is indifference to Himself, with total lack of spiritual discernment. What state is farther from the mind of God?

Philadelphia, I believe, according to marks that, to my mind, are incontrovertible and sure, will be found when Christ comes. I believe that as Sardis does not supersede Thyatira; the state abides, but, through the infinite mercy of God, I see in Philadelphia the saints enter there as a question of Christ. It is not merely a true thing here or there known, but the truth bound up with Christ is apprehended, and there only presented morally and in love. Now, this is in no way boastful. There is no man that is led by the Spirit and enters into the mind of the Lord as regards the church but is ready not only to live for it, but to die for it; but Christ is nearer still, not merely this particular service or that rendered; though God has been recovering the cream of the gospel, and putting it in quite another fullness. Who does not know the controversy as to the righteousness of God? The heart of each of us owes much to the recovery of that truth at the end.

Another thing it is well to bear in mind, for it is important for God's glory as for the saints. Christ leaves room for all liberty and variety; for “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” We must not set one thing up against another. Evangelizing is a special power, and the Lord calls upon us, as we are enabled, to spread the gospel, and not to teach only. We may be called to correct and be corrected, but our place, I am persuaded, is one of freedom and responsibility in individual service. So the apostle, in exhorting Timothy as to the last days, bids him do “the work of an evangelist.” Nor can any who are not evangelists duly enter into the feelings or appreciate the mode of that work.

“I have a few names even in Sardis"; and suppose any of these came; suppose they misunderstand those who do not happen to be in their own circle, and apt to be fault-finding is not captious, would it not be humbling for those who are blessed to be offended by their remarks? If the Lord has borne much from us in many ways, and yet has shown the fullness of His grace, brought out in the greatness of His love, we too are called to answer to His mind. And what is it? There are many saints that pine for a better knowledge of His truth, and desire to enjoy the presence of the Lord who is very dear to them. We know that whatever He may give to some in His abounding grace, the true way to enjoy His presence is according to His word, to be where saints gather to His name. There His Spirit works freely.

He says to the angel of Philadelphia, “Thou hast kept my word, and not denied my name.” I should feel it was making His word of none effect if we allowed that there was the same enjoyment of the presence of the Lord where His name was not the center, and His word not maintained. He has brought out His truth in such activity that those who would follow Him fully now are called into the place of Philadelphia, to know Him who is holy, Him who is true, to hold fast His word, and not deny His name. Other things have come in. The most evil departure with good and bad together leads us in it. We would never forget that is what grows until Christ comes. We may let go that which we have! May we hold it fast! May it be true of us, “that no man take thy crown"!

The trials will be fierce and fresh. There are constant dangers and constant difficulties. Only one object keeps, as well as awakens, while in this world, and that is Christ. But there must be self-judgment, weighing truth and judging self solemnly, in order to communion. So only can we have Christ's power, in our weakness, resting on us. Who or what will make more complete shipwreck than the attempt to take up such truth as this in a mental way? Persons that seemed Philadelphians when they started, where are they now?

Yet I have no such thought as that Philadelphia will end before Christ comes, though individuals may come or vanish. It is precisely this which is so serious. We are on a ground where nothing can sustain us but the Christ who led us there. The word without the Spirit of God always ends in intellectualism, Sandemanianism, or rationalism; as the Spirit without Christ goes into fanaticism for a while, and fleshly form in the end.

What avails to offer the brightest visions possible of the church? Better have Christ with self-judgment. The grace toward the end of the journey teaches us how He recovers. The Lord at the beginning, and before the beginning of the church, gave us these very words: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst"! Did He not contemplate our need at the end? Faith in them and Him thus really forms Philadelphia. I do not believe that we shall be ever driven to isolation, though desire after union will never keep us together—nothing but the power of His name. There may be a thinning of numbers instead of that increase which some complain of. All but Christ will fail, no flesh shall glory in His presence.

There is another word, and a weighty one “The Spirit and the bride.” The Holy Ghost has had His active presence and power confessed. It is a great thing to the Lord Jesus that the One sent down from heaven to glorify Him be owned, and this too in our proper nearness to Christ. It is not that He does not bless where this is not so. But there is an immense difference between those that are merely blest by preaching and prayer, and those that own the Spirit's presence and action in the assembly also. For my part I see in verse 10 an intimation that there will be the expression of it going on until the end. Saints will be together, and not breaking up into mere units— “the Spirit and the bride say, Come.” I do not say that all that ought to have it, have really the intelligence of the place. But there are those who do cleave to Christ thus by the grace of God, who prize it above all things here, and that because it is the grace of Christ.

“The Spirit and the bride say, Come.” It is the due answer to the voice of the Lord Jesus who is coming. It is His word that gives the ground to faith. Such His grace will keep; keeping together, too, those who have kept the word of His patience. Where He is, He not only produces liberty, but sense of unity. It would be a most painful thing, and disheartening to our faith, for those for whom the Lord had interposed—separating them to His name—if they must think that all that is found henceforth would be merely Laodicea. Let none think so. Sardis will go on to the end, and Thyatira. But it is solemn enough and searching truth for us, and for others, I repeat, that while Philadelphia is not gone, Laodicea has come!

If the worldly-minded slip into Laodicea, God is working to bring out of it also, and into Philadelphia, just as those who become more simply set for Christ must do. May our Lord, beloved brethren, both warn our souls, and at the same time encourage our hearts, for His name's sake. Amen.

W. K.

Published

LONDON

F. E. RACE, Publisher, 3 & 4, London House Yard,

Paternoster Row, E.0

Abraham: Genesis 19

Genesis 19

The connection of the solemn history which now opens before us is one of contrast, especially full of instruction for us who find ourselves on the eve of a judgment of incomparably larger extent. Our Lord Himself pointedly applies it no less than the catastrophe in the days of Noah to present warning. “And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.” (Luke 17:26-33.) It will be a judgment of God, not merely in providence, but directed by the Lord, and as none of the wicked shall understand, so shall none escape. It essentially differs from such scenes as the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, to which the commentators so perversely refer it. The intimation of verse 34 seems expressly added facts, as scripture records them.

“And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them, rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned into him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.” (Gen. 19:1-3.) Jehovah no longer deigns to accompany His messengers, nor visits Lot, like Abraham. He would have been ashamed to be called the God of Lot, who “sat in the gate of Sodom,” instead of running to meet them “from the tent door,” like his kinsman pilgrim. Yet was much in common: no less courtesy, perhaps, but a little hospitality. Nevertheless, we see a certain shrinking on the part of the angels, as we have already noticed the absence of Jehovah. Not even He, much less they, said Abraham Nay, or proposed to stay without. To Lot, even though it was, they decline his proffered shelter, and propose to abide in the street all night. At length they yield to his pressure, enter his house, and accept of his unleavened bread.

Their visit gives occasion to the open and unnatural depravity of the inhabitants, “both old and young, all the people from every quarter” (ver. 4). They foam out their shame shamelessly (ver 5). Lot goes forth to plead for his guests, to remonstrate with his fellow townsmen (alas! he calls them “brethren"), and offer his two daughters (ver. 6-8). For he has lost the simplicity of faith, and, instead of looking only to the Lord in this scene of difficulty and danger and surrounding wickedness, he chooses in worldly wisdom what he conceived the lesser of two evils. Could we expect better from a righteous Lot which “sat in the gate of Sodom?” “And they said, Stand back. And they said again, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and came near to break the door” (ver. 9).

How often had Lot flattered and excused himself, as he gradually drew nearer to guilty Sodom, that his was the wise and right course, not like his exclusive uncle, Abraham! What is the use, what the duty, of a good man in the world, if not to improve it? Was there not a haughty and self-righteous stiffness under the lowly guise of Abraham, who kept himself apart from all his neighbors in the land? Separate from the present world, he in his tent declared plainly that he was seeking a better (that is, a heavenly) country. But did not Lot's conscience ever smite him, lest (under his assumption of a more active and benevolent zeal) there might lurk an unjudged unbelief of God's estimate of the present and promise of the future, which left room for the rank growth of covetousness, and the love of ease, honor, wealth, and power? Abraham had not a question as to God's favor and kindness, any more than as to His purpose of blessing and glory by-and-by: as little did he doubt that the world and, above all, the races in the midst of whom he pursued his stranger path, were doomed to divine judgment, though there might be a defined delay in its execution. Lot had no such clearness of vision. He anticipated better things. He had more confidence in human nature, more assurance of the moral influence of a good man like himself. He hears too late the rebuke of his folly from the lips of the most unclean Sodom “This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge.” They felt that a righteous man had no consistent place in their midst; and they were not so blind to his motives as himself What had Lot gained, with his position, but vexation to his soul, as he saw from day to day their filthy conversation and lawless deeds? Certainly he had not pleased the Lord, whose will and lessons he had despised: how had he fared with the world to which he had held? How different it was with Abraham before the sons of Heth in chap. 23!

But the hour of destruction was at hand for the cities of the plain; and when the miscreants came near to break the door, the angels “put forth their hand, and pulled Lot into the house to them, and shut to the door. And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door. And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? Son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place. For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of Jehovah; and Jehovah hath sent us to destroy it. And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons-in-law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for Jehovah will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law. And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; Jehovah being merciful unto him; and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven; and he overthrew those cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt” (vers. 11-26).

Even in the hour of deliverance, it is humiliating to read how Lot “lingered,” though he might not, like his wife, “look back,” and become the lasting witness of the truth of the warning. No wonder there was no power in such a preacher of righteousness! Dwelling among the men of Sodom is the way neither to glorify God, nor to win their souls to the Savior. Even the last fatal night “he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons-in-law,” as we have seen what a storm he brought on himself from his townsmen. What a contrast with him of whom Jehovah said, “I know him that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of Jehovah, to do justice and judgment; that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him!” Yet, to worldly philanthropy and wit, did Abraham seem a useless person in his day and generation; to faith he is the man of whom God said, and of whom faith is sure, “Thou shalt be a blessing, and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

Just so, there are many Lots; but where are those blessed, and a blessing, with faithful Abraham? If content to be less, we certainly sink below even this sad level, like Abraham's seed, who were not. Abraham's children ( John 8). We may, in the pure and sovereign mercy of God, be “delivered” men, like Lot: but are even now, like Abraham, men separate to the Lord, and knowing these things before? (2 Peter 3). Is it enough for us to be snatched, as it were, out of the fire, when the word is, “we will destroy this place"? Or do we covet the portion (which indeed it is the Christian's shame not to covet) of being with the Lord before a sign of doom appears, morally far apart from all that cries for divine vengeance, sharing His mind who deigns to open His secrets and treats us as His friends? Are we interceding for others in love, as Abraham in chapter 18; or deprecating what we dread, as Lot in chapter 19? “Oh not so, my Lord; behold now, thy servant hath found grace in My sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy which thou hast showed unto me in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: behold now, this city is near to flee into, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.” So it is always. The saints who live like others in the world share the world's fears. Their prayers savor of its state. Its troubles oppress them, as its successes ensnare them. This did not Abraham. “The mountain,” which was the source of fear to Lot, was the scene of communion between Jehovah and Abraham. There he had prayed, with touching importunity for the righteous endangered by the approaching judgment, and not in vain; for God did better than he asked. He did destroy the guilty cities, but He delivered less than ten righteous found there, righteous Lot himself, who was here begging (and not in vain) for the least city of the five.

And, now that the blow is struck, the difference between the heavenly-minded man and the earthly minded is still kept up as strikingly as ever. “Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before Jehovah: and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt. And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters” (vers. 27-30). Was not Abraham even here, where it could be least looked for, not only blessed but a blessing? Nothing could be done to Sodom and Gomorrah till Lot came to Zoar; but was it not for Abraham's sake? It was even then and there, because “God remembered” not Lot but “Abraham.”

This then was the end of the place where Lot had lived and labored, or at least talked. He was as little in the secret of Jehovah as the men of Sodom, though no doubt he was vexed, or rather (as scripture so pregnantly tells us) the righteous man vexed his righteous soul from day to day. But God never called Lot to Sodom, as He had called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees to Canaan. Abraham's groans were gracious, and had profitable fruit; Lot's were not without his own fault and torment, groans barren even for himself. Abraham is attracted to the place where he had enjoyed the presence and converse of Jehovah, and looks down on the scene of desolation which attested in its solemn way what it is to hate Jehovah, and what to love Him. And there Lot too goes up out of Zoar: afraid to go at God's bidding when there was no ground for fear there, afraid longer to stay in Zoar, and not afraid to go where and when he had feared most of all, had he been aware into what a snare he was about to be caught by wine and women—alas! his own daughters. Such was the end of him who would needs be a judge in Sodom, but only the beginning of those who should inflict sorrowful results on the children of Abraham throughout their history, till that day come when Sodom's doom finds its antitype, and the Branch out of Jesse's roots shall reign, and Moab, with Edom, shall be the laying on of Israel's hand, and the sons of Ammon their obedience.

And have saints who now court and cleave to the world, valuing position and honor in it, no reproof to learn?

Gen. 20

Nevertheless a signal time of favor and blessing may precede a great humiliation through unwatchfulness and sin. So it was now with Abraham, as he sojourned in the land of the Philistines. Was it that he too, as well as Lot, feared to abide under the shield of the Almighty in view of the scene of the recent judgments? This were to tempt God, as Israel in the desert when they questioned His presence in their midst and His care. Certain it is that he journeyed from where he once stood before Jehovah in intercession and a little later in awe-inspiring contemplation of the judged land of the plain whence the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of the furnace. Long before it the pinch of famine induced him to journey toward the south, even to Egypt, and to sojourn there. Now he dwells between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourns in Gerar; and now as then he denies his true relationship to his wife. “She is my sister” says Abraham of Sarah among the Philistines, as at an early day he told her to say so among the Egyptians (Gen. 12:11-13; 20:1-2). What! the father of the faithful? And this again, after all the times which had passed over him?

Alas! “all flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the Spirit of Jehovah bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand forever.” No difference in this respect distinguished the first father of Israel. Abraham sinned now, like Adam at the beginning; and he who taught his wife to prevaricate before they entered Egypt falls into the like snare himself in Philistia.

Christ has never denied the church; though I would not weaken the warning that if we deny, He also will deny us; if we are unfaithful, He at least abides faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. But the church in spite of His warnings and His faithful love has denied her true relationship to Him, has denied it because of fear of the world or the world's seed that borders on the heavenly land, utterly failing in faith of His unseen presence and that power which would assuredly arm her where He did not call on her to glorify Him in suffering or death.

But where sin abounded grace super-abounded. For if Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah, God came to him in a dream by night, and said unto him, Behold, thou art a dead man for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is married to a husband. The Philistine king, however, could plead the sincerity of his heart and the innocency of his hands, identifying his people with himself. “Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?” Abraham and Sarah were both guilty of deceit. Yet it is to be noted that, while God allowed the plea, intimating indeed that He had kept the king from actual sin, He maintains the special place in which Abraham stood. “Now therefore restore the man his wife: for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid” (vers. 7, 8). This is a principle in God's ways, and as evident in the New Testament as in the Old. Thus the Lord may reprove (however graciously) the Baptist who inquires through his disciples whether He was the Christ, pointing simply to His irrefragable proofs; but He turns round and at once vindicates the place of honor given to John beyond all born of woman. So here it was unquestionable that Abraham was wrong, and that far more grievously now than nearer the commencement of his course. Yet Abimelech must restore him his wife, “for he is a prophet and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live:” otherwise he must die with all his.

“Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing? And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake. And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt show unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother. And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved. So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. For Jehovah had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife” (vers. 9-18). It is a sad picture when the believer has to own his fault as Abraham was now doing not only before Jehovah, but before the power of the world; and when his account of his motives is but the laying bare of unbelieving fears, the more guilty because the deception was planned and agreed on between man and wife. But when does one sin stand alone? and where is sin so ugly as in saints of God? It was an early fear, the root of it was not thoroughly judged in Egypt, and as lack of self-judgment exposed them to it in Gerar, so it was attended with severer abasement the second time than the first.

It is even so with the Christian. It is not that he who is bathed loses the virtue of that divinely given privilege: the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost are not at all the working of man's will, ephemeral as this is, but of God who begets sovereignly by the word of truth. But he does indeed need to wash his feet. Defilements from walking through the world must be removed: else one has no part with Christ. In His incomparable grace He thus keeps clean the cleansed, or removes whatever, grieves the Holy Spirit. This Peter had to learn, though reluctant in his haste and folly, first in word, that the Lord should stoop so low for his sake, and then in all the depth of the truth. How little did the disputing apostle anticipate that he would so soon feel his own need and bless his Master for the active constancy of His love! It is grace suited to the saint as necessary as that which the sinner wants (1 John 2:1)

Here Abimelech restores Sarah to Abraham with many a sheep and ox, manservant and maid, and gives him express leave to dwell in the land where it was good in his eyes, yet not without a severe reproof to Sarah and indeed to her husband. The Philistine had paid his reparation price; but what a covering of the eyes had the husband been for the wife to all that were with her and with all others! Is it not humbling when the Gentile can thus justly rebuke the people of God for failure in holding fast their privileges till it end in a breach of common truthfulness? Nevertheless God listened to the prayer of Abraham, and the judgment which had fallen on the house of Abimelech was removed. “When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another, he suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, he reproved kings for their sakes, saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” If He was thus watchful of the children, He cared no less for their father. He would only relieve an Abimelech at the intercession of Abraham; but Abraham must first be put to shame before the Philistine, and make confession of the sin which had exposed him to the censure and rebuke of the uncircumcised. How often has fear of the world been thus a snare, and equivocation on the part of those who should have been a faithful witness (as being elect and called) thrown the portion of faith into the hands of the world to the confusion and danger of all But God is faithful and knows how to extricate for His own name's sake those who should have walked in separation to Himself.

How holy and wholesome too is that word which God has magnified above all His name! Where spurious holy writings venture on the ground of fact, they cry up their heroes, and hide their faults with diligent care, even when they do not descend to positive fable. Far otherwise does the Spirit of God deal, in the Old Testament, with the conduct of the fathers or the people of Israel, in the New with the sins even of an apostle, with the shame of a whole assembly. So with the portrait of the father of the faithful here, drawn by Moses for the chosen nation, yea by the Holy Spirit for all saints of all times: who but He would have so simply and truthfully set before us Abraham and Sarah on the one hand, or Abimelech the Philistine king on the other?

W. K.

Notes on Deuteronomy 17:18-20 and 2 Kings 22-23

(Deuteronomy 17:18-20; 2 Kings 22; 23:1-3)

This scripture was suggested by the remark in prayer as to the comfort and value of the word of God. All scripture is God-breathed, and it is our only reliable guide. Good men may expound and rightly divide the word of truth, but when all is said and done they can only make clear to us what is there.

Deuteronomy is the book which claims obedience. I suppose every godly Jew has trembled at the things he has read there, and has seen his God to be a consuming fire. We too should tremble—not from dread of God, for He has revealed Himself as the God of love, as well as of truth and holiness, who desires truly the blessing of His own.

That the obedience of Deuteronomy is the obedience of the law is true; but it was the only obedience which God recognized at the time. Since Christ came the standard is the obedience of Christ to which the Christian is now set apart.

Now our question is, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? What wilt Thou have me to do with my time, my strength, my money, my ability?” “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct they paths” (Prov. 2:6). But the direction must come from the word of God. Sometimes we do not know what to do-. we want to do what is right and we don't know what is right. Well, you lack wisdom, don't you? and “If any man lack widsom, let him ask of God” (James 1:5). It shall be told you, “This is the way, walk ye in it” (Isa. 30:21).

Some now gone home have impressed the advice, “If you do not know what to do, stand still.” Wait on the Lord—do not act for the sake of acting. Saul wrecked his whole life through not waiting. If I were to say, “I will be with you at the seventh hour,” I should mean any time between 7 and 8 o'clock; Saul interpreted Samuel's appointed time in the very narrowest sense. He said he “forced himself” (1 Sam. 13:12); but men do not need forcing to take their own way. If we wait on the Lord in subjection of will, His guidance is sure to come. Over and over again have I known a scripture come very clearly to my mind in a case of perplexity. Not that the Bible is a dictionary, to tell me what I am to do at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning, for instance. Yet it does tell me. Do not seek to please yourself—that is a very sure guide. “Even Christ pleased not himself” (Rom. 15:3). Even in the Lord's work there is a danger of doing what it pleases me to do, and of leaving what I do not like. What is my motive? First I am to please the Lord—am I doing this in the name of the Lord Jesus? Then I am to please my neighbor, but only to edification; otherwise it becomes mere man-pleasing. “If I yet pleased men,” says the apostle, “I should not be the servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10). How can I best use any ability I may have for the comfort and upbuilding of the saints? These are questions we do well to ask ourselves.

All saints fail at one time or another through not attending to the revealed will of God. Abraham failed when he went down to Egypt. Paul failed when he went to Jerusalem—he had no word for it, but much against it. Not that Paul would fall into the pernicious reasoning of some— ‘Show me a scripture against it.' No, you must show a scripture for your actions.

There was no book of the law for the boy king Josiah: it was hidden under the rubbish; but his heart was turned towards God, and when the book was found he gave heed to it.

In the word of God we find guidance, comfort, exhortation—yes, and rebuke—but above all we find Christ. If we look for Him we find much more. Many Christians can give an excellent biography of Biblical characters; but what is their standard? Is it Christ? Paul said, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). Christ is the standard; Paul might fail. If we want a type of Christ as a man we go to Adam; if we want a type of Christ as a priest we go to Melchisidec; if we want to set Him as a king we go to David and Solomon—David in His rejection, and Solomon in His glory; if it is the servant we want to see, possibly we should go to Ezekiel. Ezekiel had much to pass through, he had to give up everything; yet he makes no lamentation. He seems to have been a strong, stern man, unlike Jeremiah, who was a man of deep feelings and emotions, and was no doubt chosen by God for that reason, that he might depict the Lord's intense human sufferings.

It is the measure of likeness to Christ that we admire in all these men. Whilst there is in David what we may not be able to admire, yet how much there is that we can! Take his love for Jonathan. He does not “talk” much about it, but he acts. When he and Jonathan parted, we read, they wept “until David exceeded” (1 Sam. 20:41). Then we have David's beautiful lamentation over Jonathan, which shows how deep his affection was; and later we find him asking for one of the house of David to whom he can show the kindness of God for Jonathan's sake; so that he sets at his own table one who was naturally repulsive to him as the son of his enemy. So Christ does with us—our deformity is hidden under His table. David's mighty men were not lame or blind; they were all of them valiant men; but David had taken them up when they were morally in debt, or distressed, or discouraged, and he had made them what they were.

David failed because of unbelief, as we all do sooner or later. “I shall one day perish at the hand of Saul” —but he did not. True, there was only a step between him and death, humanly speaking; but God was between him and death, and with God between what did it matter if there was one step or a thousand?

It is a very great truth that “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28). Times come when everything seems to go wrong, but when we remember that all things are working for good, the darkest cloud is not only given a silver lining, but it is made bright all over. God has one purpose—to have a people conformed to the image of His Son, and everything is working to that end. A sculptor hews the rough stone away until the outline of the figure corresponds to the image he has in his mind; but he is not satisfied until he has brought fine tools. to work upon the details, and perhaps he does not leave it until it has a highly polished surface. So does God with us. Sometimes He hews us, and takes big pieces away from us. At other times He takes His fine tools and gently brings out some detail of likeness to Christ. In one sense our salvation is complete; but in another sense He has much to do in us, and very much depends upon us as to His manner and time of doing it, though I doubt not He will do all before the end.

It is in the small things that we most show our unlikeness to Christ. In big things we think—Christ did that: then I must. He laid down His life—we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren; and perhaps a supreme effort is made and something noble is done. But the real test is not in one supreme thing, but in a long course of little things. We have known men whose lives were one long current of the reflected grace of Christ. I do not say they were without blemish, but in the main their lives carried the odor of Christ. In the perfume that set forth the perfections of Christ some of it was to be beaten very small—there you have the tiniest details the finest thoughts, or gestures, or actions.

What a treasure we all have in our hands! The word of God is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. But we must know it, read it, search it, assimilate what we find there. Most here have known the word from childhood, and it is a great privilege, for the Holy Spirit can apply any part of His word at any given moment.

I must say I envy—not those who have knowledge, for knowledge is a dangerous thing and puffs up, but I envy—those who make a practical use of the word of God. One is often put to shame by a simple saint who really puts in practice the truth he knows. In the schools this is called “applied science.” There are many theorists, but big fortunes are to be made by those who can take advantage of other men's brains and apply their knowledge to practical uses. I doubt not it is the same with the things of God.

We need the sincere milk of the word—the little comforting portions that we can easily take hold of. We need too the strong meat—the great things of the word which take all our powers to lay hold of.

How easily things come in to hinder our study, even with those who are set apart for the ministry of the word. Yet, in the Lord's grace, where little is gathered in the field where the manna has fallen, because of little ability, “he that gathered little had no lack” (Ex. 16:18). He can make our little much—He can also make our much little.

E. B. D.

Notes on Matthew 12

CHAP. 12.

I have no doubt there is a connection between the “rest” of the previous verses and the sabbath that now follows in this twelfth chapter. God's rest in creation was disturbed by sin. It is striking there is no mention of any sabbath after that for 2,500 years. When we consider the book of Genesis and all that we get there—the germ of almost all that we get in other parts of scripture—how remarkable that we have no mention of the sabbath till the giving of the manna in Ex. 16, a type of the lowly Lord Jesus! It was impossible for God to rest, as far as man was concerned, in a scene of sin and misery (for God is love). “My Father worketh hitherto and I work.” The “rest” of chap. 11:28 is gratuitous and free, then follows the “rest” to be found. There is a great distinction between “finding his yoke-rest, and getting the rest that He “gives.”

For a lesson of industry the Spirit takes us to the ant; for valor to the lion; for prudence to the serpent; but for meekness to the Son. And as we learn, we find what a contrast there is between Him and ourselves. We read in the O.T. of Moses as the meekest man in the earth; yet he lost his temper and spoke unadvisedly, and so was a loser thereby. We are not all alike. But I had rather be a man with a bad temper who mourned over it and tried to control it, than be a sweet tempered person satisfied with it. The great thing is for us to have confidence in God and no confidence in the flesh. And I suppose, in learning of Jesus, it is learning that the Father's way is always right, and we yield submission of soul to the Father's will, bowing to His dispensations. We are in a scene of contrariety and opposition. But look at the Lord. There was no failure in Him or His love, yet He was the rejected of men. Learn of Him. Compare 2 Tim. 2:8-13.

It is well to see the connection of Rom. 8:28. We look around and see a groaning creation. We know it will be delivered, but we do not know how to pray about it, how to propose a remedy for it. We long for the Lord to take the reins and put it right, but we can groan in sympathy, for it is those who have the Spirit who groan according to God. But though we know not what we should pray for, we do “know that all things work together for good to them that love God,” etc.

Does it not seem a paradox-the yoke easy, the burden light? But the Lord is always right. If we are walking along with Him we find the yoke is “gracious,” and the burden “light.”

There is a rest for the conscience and that is given to us; a rest for the heart which we find in learning of Him; and there is a rest that remaineth into which we have not yet entered. Of this last the sabbath is a type. Heb. 4:3 is often misunderstood “we which have believed do enter into rest.” The force is we who have believed are the enterers into the rest that remains to the people of God. We have not that rest now; when the time comes we shall enter “into His rest” (see vers. 1-11).

Taking up our chapter (12:1) the opening words “At that time” make it very sweet, and show the connection. It is called by Luke (6:1) “a second-first sabbath” —a singular, but appropriate expression. The first sabbath was the day when the wave sheaf was offered before Jehovah: this was the second, so the disciples were perfectly right in using the corn for their need (Lev. 23:14). If instead of rejecting the King, His people had received Him, those that formed His court would not have been in this strait—hungry and glad to eat the ears uncooked. Of old as now God's anointed had been rejected! In David's day, by their sin, their treatment of the rightful king, the holy bread had been profaned and made common What are all ceremonials when sin is tolerated? David was the rejected king, and so is brought in here.

The sabbath is not the first day but the seventh day of the week. There is no such thing as a “Christian” sabbath. “The sabbath” or seventh day was connected with the old creation, the “first day” with the new. The N.T. unites with the Lord's name, the first day, and also the supper; for the adjectival form of the word used in 1 Cor. 11:20 “the Lord's” supper is indentical with “the Lord's” day in Rev. 1:10, and these two places form its only occurrence. The first of the week is constantly spoken of in the N.T. People make so much of the uniform seventh day—a certain 24 hours—but this cannot apply all over the world, because while it is mid-day here it is midnight at the antipodes. But in a limited area to a people “folded” off it exactly suited. The sabbath is incorporated in the law of a carnal commandment; the Lord's day is a day of holy liberty. “He that regardeth the day,” has no reference to the Lord's day. There were Jews who regarded certain days as still of God's appointment; to such those who knew their liberty as risen with Christ were to be gracious. We ought to be on our guard to avoid legality. We are under grace and ought to be jealous of it.

If you take up for instance the subject of baptism and make it an ordinance or command, you are off the lines of scripture. It is a privilege. The command is to the evangelist to baptize. But it is a holy, blessed privilege to the believer. “Behold, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?” or, as Peter said, “Who can forbid water that these should not be baptized?” Such expressions could have no force if it were a command to be baptized. The evangelist ought either to baptize or see that his converts be baptized.

The perfect law of liberty belongs to the saint of God, liberty to serve God and His saints. The desire to do God's will is bound to go with the new nature. The way the hortatory portion of Romans (chap. 12) commences is very beautiful, and is the language of grace. If you please the Lord you do well. Although these people were so fastidious, how blind they were to the glory of the One they hated without a cause! You get three “greaters” in this chapter. As to the Person, He was greater than the temple; He was greater than Jonah type of death and resurrection, and He was greater than Solomon in the glory of the kingdom (vers. 6, 41, 43).

“At that time” is different to “immediately.” I suppose the verse shows us that if the claims of the temple required that the sabbath should be profaned, they would not have judged the Lord, who was greater than the temple, had they been aware of His true glory; “greater than the temple"; the glory of His person. What gave the temple its importance was the glory, and that which will give it its importance, in the future, is the glory coming back; but here was God present with them manifest in flesh. And they did not know the true character of God although their scriptures were full of it. They will know in future that He will have mercy and not sacrifice, a quotation from a millennial psalm.

Then there is that important verse (8), “The Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath day.” He is not only greater than the temple but He who in grace became the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath. If He is Lord you see He is the One to regulate, and to order, and to say what should and should not be. David was the anointed king, and if he was so circumstanced that he had not food, what was the value of the shewbread to God if His own “anointed” had need? If that was true of the type, what of the Lord Himself?

Then the Spirit of God calls for our attention by another “Behold.” “And when he was departed thence he went into their synagogue: and, behold, there was a man there which had his hand withered” (vers. 9,10). We can see ourselves in this man; he had no ability to hand up anything to God, or to extend a hand to others. It is very nice to see that the priest is the worshipper. He is the one who goes in before God. Consecration means filling the hand. We must receive from Him first. We come in our helplessness, empty-handed. He fills the hand, and then we hand what He gives us, back to God. On a Lord's day morning we are here as worshippers. What we gather up all the week should be handed back to God then. At the prayer meeting we come to get; on Lord's day morning, to give in worship.

They watch Him, dog His steps, seek to get an opportunity against Him. This is the first time their design is named. They ask, “Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days?” There was an abuse of mercy, hardness of heart. But He is the stone on which all who fall are broken. We shall see that all are broken here. Whether Herodians; Pharisees, all who come to break Him are broken themselves. He said, “What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep; and, if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?” Why instinctively a man would know that it would not be of God to leave a poor animal suffering; but their selfishness also comes out; it is their own sheep. On both counts they are condemned. In preaching the gospel, what a beautiful subject this is! We were in the pit, and the Lord went down into a horrible pit to rescue us. It is beautiful where we come in, in the 40th Psalm. It is in connection with the new song. It is all personal and singular up to that, but “He hath put a new song into my mouth, even praise unto our God.” A new song is always about redemption. All is done for us there except the song itself.

A sinner more readily learns that he is a sinner than that he has no strength, no ability to move a straw out of his way to God. I might learn to be disgusted with myself, but could never learn that I was lost without a revelation. Repentance is real submission of soul to God. It is very beautiful to see the three things dealt with in John 3, 4, 5. In chap. 3, man's nature won't do for God; in chap. 4, we find a bad character; and in chap. 5 no strength. It was pure mercy here, but man had no strength to avail himself of it. Nature, character, condition—neither will do for God.

No word of His is void of power. Power went with the command. We must beware of philosophy, which would say, 'If man be dead, he can't hear.' Dead, yet “Hear and your soul shall live.” Israel limited the Holy One, and we do also, alas! too often. We have not to preach to sinners that repentance and faith are God's gift; that is no part of gospel testimony. It is but seldom that the Lord speaks of the sovereignty of God in blessing in public testimony; only twice, and both times grace had been rejected. In Luke 4, first, they wondered at His words of grace, then they despised Him. Then He tells them of God's sovereignty in blessing, “Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias... but unto none of them was Elias sent save unto Sarepta of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.” And, “Many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.”

The other occasion is in John 5, when He heals the impotent man. This and the incident of our chapter were a testimony to Israel, He Who could heal the one, could do likewise to all. The miracles that He did were samples of what He will do on a grand scale when He comes to reign.

“Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against Him how they might destroy Him” (ver. 14). It does not say they were bent on destroying Him, but what they took counsel about was how to compass it. They would rather cling to their own thoughts about the sabbath than listen to His teaching.

“He healed them all.” What a plenitude of grace and power! There is no persecution so bitter as religious persecution. “He withdrew himself": they could not touch Him until His hour was come. They took up stones, but they were never allowed to touch Him until He gave His back to the smiters—until He could say, “This is your hour.” The Lord never took a doubtful step, or a step in the dark, and He never sought popularity. He went to other villages.

The scripture order no doubt is, He chose twelve first, that they might be with Him; secondly, He sent them forth; thirdly, they came back to tell Him. The Lord never gave anything to anybody to make anything of man. No flesh shall glory in His presence.

Verse 18: Here we get the word “Behold” in another sense, “Behold my servant whom I have chosen.” “Look upon my servant” is the force here, the only perfect servant; and “my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased; I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles.” Judgment here is discriminating grace. That is a remarkable expression in Hag. 2:7. “The desire of all nations shall come.” It is not that they are intelligent, but the nations have the sense that things are wrong, and they want someone to put them right. Whatever efforts are made, as in the case of the man possessed with demons, all are futile; he is a picture of the whole human race, and of the inability of man to tame it; but the Lord's personal presence will put all things right.

Verse 19: What a testimony to the Lord's gentleness and grace— “He shall not strive nor cry"; how gentle and unobtrusive!

But verse 20 is often misunderstood. A bruised reed is very weak, and smoking flax easily quenched. “Until” —He is going to do it in judgment by and by. What people mean in the way they quote it is all right, He is tender and gentle to any poor thing; but He is going to deal with man in judgment. The reed and the flax are fit for judgment. The flax was “smoking,” but He would not interfere then. Man, a poor bruised thing, was ignorant of it, and yet was not afraid to stand up against the Lord. So His grace is brought out here, but it will not be always grace; He will not always be So gentle. Smoking flax speaks of something fit for judgment; we usually put it out, He left it alone.

“On his name shall the Gentiles hope” (ver. 21). It is the same word as in Rom. 15:12. Hope is for something not yet come, but not an uncertainty. God can, and does speak of things that are not, as though they were. It does not say “shall be” in Isa. 53:3. It is language put into the mouth of the remnant by and by. Their stony heart did esteem Him “stricken and smitten of God"; but when the veil is taken away, and they have a heart of flesh, they will see it was for their sakes. But God speaks of it prophetically.

Then was brought unto him one possessed with a demon (ver. 22). Blind to the true glory of the Lord, this man was like the majority of Israel; dumb for the praise of Him, and blind to His true glory. “He was in the world and the world knew him not.”

“Is not this the Son of David?” (ver. 23). There they were and the question was raised, and this angered the Pharisees. The people had sought an open mind which the Pharisees would not allow. They said “This fellow doth not cast out demons, but by Beelzebub, the prince of the demons.” The most awful thing they could say. There is no forgiveness for this in any age. It is a question of the person of the Lord. I have no doubt there is a connection between this and the 37th verse. “By thy words thou shalt be justified, etc.” We should not know this was the sin against the Holy Ghost but for the Gospel of Mark; for to attribute to the chief of the demons what the Lord did in His grace and love, is the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost. There is an acknowledgment here that the demons have only one chief. How suitably, simply, and convincingly the Lord deals with their various objections! He knew their thoughts.

There is something very solemn in what the Lord says in verse 26. There is a kingdom organized and ruled in the spirit-world by the devil. What we know as modern “spiritism” is nothing new. We have it in the O.T., necromancy, having to do with the dead, pretending to speak of the future. It distinctly speaks of some that they have “a familiar spirit.” Then again what a question to put to them: “If I by Beelzebub cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out?” It would be strange indeed to attribute one case to the devil, and another case to another cause! What the Lord did was by the Spirit of God.

If, as we have observed, we have in chap. 11 the rejection of the Lord's Galilean ministry, and hence judgment on those cities, here it is His rejection by the religious leaders of Jerusalem. The final break was the crucifixion of the Lord, and the subsequent destruction of the city. We have noticed already, and shall see it more clearly as we proceed, that if the Jews reject Him, grace goes out to the Gentiles. The stream of grace flows from God's heart; they might shut it from themselves, but they could not hinder its flowing out wider and wider to the Gentiles.

“All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men” (ver. 31). What grace! In Heb. 6, the sin was going back to Judaism from Christianity. The Lord's glory was veiled, and there is an open door left for ignorance as to that. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” The apostle Paul tells us “I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.” Yet what had he not done, striving to get others to blaspheme? Those contemplated in Heb. 6:6 as “falling away” had been received into the assembly, had had all the privileges of Christianity, but had never been born again. They had everything but life! They knew not “salvation” (ver. 9).

Neither in this age, neither in the age to come (ver. 32) is a scripture which the Millennial Dawn people make use of. They try to make out that some will have another chance in the millennium; but this verse crushes their teaching. It says, “It shall not be forgiven him.” Think what the Lord's testimony had been in this land of Israel, and for these Pharisees to attribute that to Satan! How awful! “Either make the tree and its fruit good,” etc. So what they were doing was just showing their tree was bad, and the fruit corrupt. “Offspring of vipers” John said, when the Pharisees came to be baptized. “Offspring of vipers, who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” In their animosities and persecutions the religious are the most bitter. The learned and religious leaders of Israel were the most bitter against the Lord. That is a solemn word and shows up the condition of their heart. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” What my heart is occupied with, is what forms me.

Verse 35: The connection between the treasure and the heart is what the Lord had shown previously. “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” The apostle says, “If there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things.” I suppose you know from experience that what your heart is set on and engaged with, that is what you speak about.

“Every idle word that men shall speak.” An idle word is what has God in contempt. It is a lesson to show the solemnity of the right use of the tongue. It is an unruly member, but God can keep it in check. There is a proverb that says, “He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.” The heart and lips go together. While we are speaking of that, I should like to say that as far as words are concerned, if we say anything wrong we should judge it. But before the word is the intention, and it is better to judge intentions than words; before the intention is the thought, and it is better still to judge the thought in the light of the word of God which is living and powerful, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

“Master, we would see a sign from thee” (ver. 38). The word Master is “Teacher,” they acknowledge Him as such. “We would see a sign,” that discovered their condition most solemnly. Were they blind to all He had done? But what was the sign they asked for? If we look back to the O.T. we see frequently the sign of God's approval was fire from heaven; and, unmistakably, we know what Elijah did, and the effect was they acknowledged Jehovah was God. The scribes and Pharisees ask the Lord for a sign, and He says in John 5, “I am come in my Father's name and ye receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” So in Rev. 13:13 the one they receive gives the sign to them—a sign they wanted to have-and fire comes down from heaven; but it is deceptive and Satanic. We identify this second beast of Rev. 13 with the “man of sin” of 2 Thess. 2:3, 4. I quoted Acts 2:22 just now, “Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you, by miracles, wonders, and signs” —these very same words are used in connection with the Apocalyptic “beasts coming up out of the earth,” but then “signs and wonders” are Satanic imitations. Yet the nation will be deceived. To serve the fixing of it on our memories we may characterize by words beginning with the letter “P” five men in scripture whom God “answered by fire.” Abraham the Patriarch, Gideon the Patriot, David the Penitent, Solomon the Potentate, Elijah the Prophet.

“An evil and adulterous generation.” Idolatry is adultery. The sign of Jonah is death and resurrection and turning to the Gentiles. On His rejection, Christ turns to the Gentiles after His resurrection. It is anticipatory, but we get the same thing in chap. 16:4. There, there is something very interesting, but perhaps we ought to reserve it. There is a wonderful play upon Jonah of the O.T. and the son of Jona, in the N.T., and some peculiar parallels between them. They were both Galileans; both were sent to the Gentiles and both unwilling to go; both were found at Joppa. The hearers “repented” at the preaching of Jonah; so too when Peter returned to Jerusalem from Caesarea they said “Then hath God to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.” But we shall see more when we come to the chapter.

If we were preaching the gospel from this passage, we should seek first to have the conscience cleared. Jonah was a type of the death of the Lord Jesus “Who was delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification.” “Justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Not only greater than Jonah, He is also greater than Solomon. The queen of Sheba had a satisfied heart. God has given us the work of the Lord Jesus to clear our conscience, and the person of the Son to satisfy our hearts.

Studies in Mark 8:1-10: Another Miraculous Meal

8:1-10

FIRST THE KINGDOM, THEN PERISHING BREAD

In this incident we may observe that the Lord acted in harmony with His own previous teaching concerning the kingdom of God. He had publicly taught the supreme importance to men that they should in the formation and prosecution of their aims and plans place first the broad principles of the coming kingdom of the heavens. The dominating love of God in the heart, love for one's enemies as well as for one's neighbors, self-denial, secret prayer to the Father in heaven, and almsgiving purely done as in His sight-such qualities as these were pleasing to God rather than the all-absorbing pursuit of temporal benefits and possessions which is common to mankind. Having set in their true relative proportion eternal verities and physical necessities, the Lord declared to His hearers a new commandment, as it were, with promise: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these [temporal] things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33).

The Lord, then, as the Expounder of the polity of the new kingdom and as its anointed Administrator, was publicly pledged to redeem this promise to those who acknowledged Him to be the Teacher sent from God. This congregation of people had sought the face of the Lord that He might graciously remove the infirmities of their bodies and the ignorance of their hearts. In their zeal they continued with Him three days, beholding His marvelous works and hearing those heavenly precepts which were beautified with a grace unknown to those of Sinai. From one point of view the people might well be charged with imprudence for neglecting to provide themselves with food for the three days in the desert. But what had the Lord taught in respect to this matter? He had said, “Be not anxious for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink.” “Is not the life more than food? The birds of the air do not reap nor gather into barns: your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Be not anxious therefore. Your heavenly Father knoweth ye have need of 'these things.' Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.”

Whether the people remembered these assurances by the Lord or not we do not know. But the Lord did not forget His own word. Waiting in His presence their stocks of food were exhausted; would He, who had publicly counseled them not to be anxious for the morrow, fail or forsake them in this extremity? On the contrary, having first loaded them with spiritual and physical benefits, He gave them bread to eat in the overflowing measure of the coming kingdom.

COMPARISON OF THE TWO FOOD-MIRACLES

There are many resemblances between the accounts given of the two food-miracles wrought in Galilee, but only such as might be expected to be found in records of two successive incidents so similar in their nature. There are, however, definite points of distinction between them, which should not escape us. The beauties of creation in many cases possess striking similarities, but they are never found to be exact duplicates. For instance, the glories of two sunsets may be analogous in general character, but only the casual observer would pronounce them to be identical. Upon careful scrutiny, individual features of beauty are invariably discovered, as in all the works of God.

In like manner, while there is given in the first two Gospels a double testimony to the divine beneficence, present in the person of the Servant of Jehovah, each miracle is represented with its own special characteristics. Some points in each record are placed side by side to facilitate the study of the two miracles in this respect.

These various points of difference are perhaps of a more suitable character for personal study than for general exposition, and only a few remarks upon them of a general nature are now offered. The predominating feature of the latter incident as compared with the former seems to be the Lord's sovereign compassion and mercy towards those who sought Him and continued with Him three days. As before, He made use of His disciples in dispensing His blessing to the crowd, but it was He who remarked their fainting condition and who arranged the details of the feast.

The occasion of the miracle as it is presented in the Gospel history is striking. The Lord, at this period of His ministry, was journeying in Galilee as an outcast, for Herod the Idumean king of that province had but recently beheaded John the Forerunner, and sought His life also (cp. Luke 13:31), while Pharisees and scribes had come down from Jerusalem seeking some ground, too, for His apprehension. But His hour was not yet come, and the Lord retired from this personal hatred which had not grown to its climax. Nevertheless, in face of this opposition of evil in the high places of earthly government and power, the Lord was still willing and ready to exhibit His rich stores of grace to the poor.

It is good for us to note the royal demeanor of the lowly Nazarene in these days of His humiliation. Though an exile from the throne of Zion, He scattered in profusion His regal gifts, recalling, by contrast, an Old Testament passage.

David, in hasty flight from Absalom, “hungry and thirsty and weary in the wilderness” at Mahanaim, was, with his companions, made the honored guest of the Gileadite and the Ammonite (2 Sam. 17:27-29). Then the Gentile strangers across the Jordan prepared a sumptuous feast for the outcast king of Israel, but in Decapolis David's Son and Jehovah's Servant, though possessing no more than a handful of loaves and fishes, spread therewith an ample table in the wilderness for the hungry crowd gathered to Him in those outskirts of the favored land.

In this impressive manner, the Anointed One offered Himself to the people as their Savior King, proving Himself to be such to those who had eyes to see. For in this little picture of the personal government of the Messiah, it might be clearly seen that Jehovah was in the midst of the people as the Shepherd of Israel, seeking the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and leading His flock into the “green pastures” in the spirit recorded in that ancient prophetic song of praise: “He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat” (Psa. 147:14).

Another feature of this miracle which may be remarked is the character of the multitude. The company on this occasion was not composed mainly of pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem to keep the passover (John 6:4, 5), but of the poor populace from the Gentile borders of Northern Galilee. Nevertheless, the Lord displayed His transcendent grace to them as He had formerly done to those who were zealous and devout enough to journey up to Jerusalem to observe the feast. Thus His mercy is here seen to overleap the narrow boundaries of the law.

And this overflow towards those not wholly of Israel was anticipated in the prophetic word, though this miracle was no more than a trickle, as it were, in comparison with the floods of blessing which are to be poured out upon the “pleasant land,” and to extend even to the ends of the earth.

This kind of open-hearted ministry towards all men by Jehovah's Servant was particularly foretold by Isaiah, in language to which this incident is allusive. According to his prophecy, the Great Servant should not only raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved of Israel, but also be a light to the Gentiles. He whom man despised and the nation abhorred would cause the people to “feed in the ways and their pastures shall be in all high places.” They should no more hunger or thirst. And in that reclaimed company the prophet in vision saw, as the Lord saw in Decapolis, those that came from far (Isa. 49), for the gospel of the kingdom embraces the dispersed among the Gentiles.

Whether some such were actually among the assembly before the Lord that day in Galilee it is not stated, but He Himself noted that divers of them came from far (ver. 12). And as Peter declared in Jerusalem at Pentecost, the word of the promise was to the Jews and to their children, and also to them that are afar off (Acts 2:39).

The provision of needful sustenance by divine power is a frequently recurring figure in Scripture, and one other instance may be cited in this connection. In one of the Apocalyptic visions, John saw a great company gathered out of all nations, clad in white robes, and bearing palms in their hands. They had come up out of the great tribulation, and their robes had been made white in the blood of the Lamb. They are before the throne of God in His temple, and they worship Him day and night. Immanuel is among them, and they hunger no more: for the Lamb in the midst of the throne feeds them and leads them into living fountains of water (Rev. 7:9-17).

The following extract may help in the understanding of this passage, in its relation to the dispensational character of this Gospel:-

“Power was not exercised [by our Lord] in the midst of manifest unbelief. This clearly marks out the position of Christ with regard to the people. He pursues His service, but He retires to God because of Israel's unbelief but it is to the God of all grace. There His heart found refuge till the great hour of atonement.

“It is on this account, as it appears to me, that we have the second miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. The Lord acts again in favor of Israel, no longer as administering Messianic power in the midst of the people (which was implied, as we have seen, in the number [of baskets] twelve), but in spite of His rejection by Israel, continuing to exercise His power in a divine manner and apart from man. The number seven has always the force of superhuman perfection—that which is complete: this, however, applies to what is complete in the power of evil as well as good, when it is not human and subordinate to God. Here it is divine. It is that intervention of God which is unwearied, and which is according to His own power, which it is the principal object of the repetition of the miracle to display.”

W. J. H.

(Continued from page 525)

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Abraham: Genesis 21

Genesis 21.

The power of God was now accomplishing what His mouth had promised. The child is born of Sarah, the son given to Abraham, type of Him, the Son, whom God sent forth, when the fullness of the time was come, to effect redemption, and be the center of all His purposes for heaven on earth, and the judge of all He will cast into hell.

“And Jehovah visited Sarah as he had said, and Jehovah did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him. And Abraham was an hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him. And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age” (vers. 1-7).

Thus was Isaac's birth the occasion of joy in measure, as his very name imports, when Sarah laughed no more in unbelief, as once (Gen. 18:12-15), but in gladness of heart, as in the fellowship of all that hear of the goodness of the Lord. It is a lovely witness to the power of grace when faith thus gives the victory in what had been one's weakness, and sin, and shame. And so, if Abraham gives the name to his son, Sarah needs no prophet, but explains the mind of God in it for herself, and forever.

But another sight of the family of faith is next vouchsafed to us. “And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight because of his son. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed” (vers. 8-13). Of this incident, which our light hearts might quickly pass over, the Holy Ghost makes a great deal in the two Epistles of the New Testament, which either assert or vindicate the fundamental truth of justification by faith.

The first occurs in Gal. 4, where the apostle is convicting the bewitched Galatians of their folly in departing from grace to law. If they desired to be under the law, why not hear the law? The two sons of Abraham should have had a voice to every believer. One was by a slave, the other by a free woman; one born after the flesh, the other by promise, as the mothers answered to the two covenants, Jerusalem that was in bondage with her children, and Jerusalem which is above, the free mother of the free. But this, though much, is not all; for after citing from Isaiah a marvelous testimony to the reckoning of grace during the desolation of Jerusalem, the tale of the child of promise is again used to show (1) that as he that was born after the flesh then persecuted him that was after the Spirit, so it is now; (2) that the sentence of scripture is, Cast out the bond-maid and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. Grace refuses partnership with law or flesh. The child of promise alone inherits.

It is the more instructive and important to note that in this transaction Abraham was weak, and Sarah strong. He did not give glory to God as she did; hence God called on Abraham to hearken to Sarah's voice, whatever might be the natural subjection of wife to husband—a subjection in which the apostle Peter expressly cites this very Sarah as an admirable pattern to Christian women generally. But here the weaker vessel was by grace the stronger of the two, and Abraham must not regard Sarah's feeling as the mere affronted pride of the mistress who could not brook the airs of aspiring and mocking Ishmael. She was in the secret of Jehovah more deeply than her husband; while he was allowing unduly the claims of flesh, and was grieved at the proposal of expelling the bondmaid's son from the house. But so it mast be according to God. Sarah was right. Her child was of promise, as the word was which declared Jehovah would return at the time appointed and Sarah should have a son.

It was not so with Hagar and Ishmael, though God would make a nation of him because he was Abraham's seed. But there must be liberty in the house for all that are of God, and no entangling with the yoke of bondage. Every remnant of law, world, and flesh must be expelled, and what was of promise alone abide. But it is all ever thus judged till the day of “a great feast.” Then comes the decisive moment, and what is of the flesh persecutes what is of the Spirit, and grace gives the Sarah’s to speak out, and God will have it heard and acted on, though an Abraham may be grieved: but then, and not till then, is the bondmaid cast out with her son. The Sinai covenant that genders to bondage and her child after the flesh can be no longer tolerated in the household of faith.

The second quotation is in Rom. 9:7. The apostle is combating the pretension of the Jews to enjoyment of the promises by natural or national descent, so as to exclude Gentiles. This he establishes in the most conclusive way by an appeal to Abraham's own seed, Ishmael. If the promise necessarily falls to the seed of Abraham as such, the Ismaelites must be let in. As no Jew would allow of this, he must abandon his principle. It is a question of promise, not of fleshly descent but of His own sovereignty who had limited the call to Isaac. “In Isaac shall thy seed be called.” Sovereignty therefore is the only source of hope for Israel, which is reasoned out still more fully in the chapter, and applied to Jacob, to the exclusion of Esau, though of the same mother as well as father, and even twins. But the same sovereignty of God is shown to be the sole resource for Israel at Mount Sinai, when all else had been ruin for the people as a whole by their worship of the golden calf: so completely were they silenced on the score of their own righteousness. Driven thus from the ground of law, as well as of lineal descent, on what could they fall back? On the sovereign mercy of God. This alone did, or could, save a sinner or a sinful people in entire accordance with Ex. 33:19; but if they owned this, who were they to dispute that sovereignty calling Gentiles too, as indeed the prophets expressly declare that He would, when Israel became for a season Lo-ammi by their idolatry and their rejection of Messiah?

Here we go beyond the passage which has given occasion to the apostolic argument. Still, looked at in the narrowest point of view, how fruitful is scripture, and how marvelously does He who wrote in the Old Testament use the facts and words of the New Testament! How self-evidently divine are both! Ishmael, like Israel after the flesh, cannot take the inheritance by law, but are cast out, though preserved of God.

It does not come within my present scope to dwell on God's dealings with Hagar, the comfort He gave her then and afterward as to Ishmael, or his subsequent history (vers. 14-21); though we may notice in passing that, as the bondmaid mother was an Egyptian, so the wife she took her son was out of the land of Egypt: law, flesh, and world go together.

But in the next section we see Abraham in his true place and dignity. “And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest: now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son; but, according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. And Abraham said, I will swear. And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. And Abimelech said, I wot not who hath done this thing; neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but today. And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves? And he said For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me that I have digged this well. Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them. Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines” (vers. 22-32).

In the beginning of the chapter we saw that the servant abides not in the house forever: Ishmael and his mother are dismissed. The son abides always: Isaac is there, the heir of all.

Now we see that the Gentile king, who once inspired Abraham with guilty fear and became the occasion of a foul snare, not only seeks favor of the father of the faithful but is himself reproved. The power of the world acknowledged God to be with Abraham, and asks for a covenant between them. (Compare Zech. 8:23). Earthly righteousness is now asserted, as before we saw heavenly long-suffering, save where a corresponding pledge of the coming kingdom came before us in Gen. 14, which concluded that series, as this concludes the later series. Here therefore the well of the oath is recovered and secured, and a grove or orchard is planted there, for the wilderness shall be glad, and the desert blossom as the lily; yea, there shall break out water and brooks, and there shall walk the redeemed. And Abraham “called there on the name of Jehovah, the everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned in the Philistines' land many days” (vers. 33, 34). He is in type no longer the pilgrim, but the head of the nations and heir of the world.

Thus the second division of Abraham's history terminates with the figure of the kingdom in manifested power of glory, when beauty is given for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

Gen. 22

The last chapter closed that series of divine dealings with our patriarch which opened with Gen. 15. We can readily see that it forms a natural conclusion. The long-promised heir is come; the legal covenant and the child of flesh are cast out; the prince of the Gentiles is reproved instead of reproving, and seeks the friendship of the father of the faithful, who plants a grove and calls there on the name of the everlasting God. Thus, as in chapter 16, we are brought again to a picture of millennial peace and power and blessing.

In Gen. 22 we begin another series of yet deeper character and moment-final too, as far as Abraham and Sarah are concerned.

“And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham; and he said, Behold here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” It was the greatest trial to which God had ever put the heart of a saint. It was not tempting with evils any more than God is tempted with them. It was, on the contrary, His own good that was before God, who would make His friend the witness of it, while testing his confidence in Himself and His word to the uttermost. Isaac was loved as only a child so promised, born and reserved for a wondrous destiny, could be—to say nothing of personal qualities that must endear him to his parents. How the father's heart must have pondered on God's covenant with “thee, and thy seed after thee in their generations, for an everlasting covenant,” and the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession; especially after Hagar and Ishmael were expelled, and the word of promise came, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called!” The father was assured therefore that this son, and no other, was that of the promises. God could not lie; but He might and does try, and those most whom He loves best. So with Abraham now. God demands that the father shall offer up his only son for a burnt-offering on Mount Moriah. It was the shadow of His own incomparable and infinite gift, but only the shadow; for Christ really did suffer and die, and God the Father sent Him, in divine love, to be thus a propitiation for our sins.

Abraham was only “tried"; still he was tried most severely, and by grace endured the trial, and was blessed accordingly. There was no delay in giving up his son to God, any more than he had doubted of God's word that he should have a son of Sarah when both were as good as dead.

“And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, as took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you” (vers. 3-5).

The moment was come when Abraham must challenge his heart for the last time, counting on God to make good his promise, and give him back that very Isaac to be the heir of all assured to himself, and the channel of blessing to all families of the earth. God must raise Isaac assuredly, as his own mind was made up to sacrifice him at God's bidding “And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering” (vers. 6-8).

Unconscious prophet of a truth too well (too little) known, Abraham anticipates exactly what God has done in the gospel, of which this very scene stands out, in some respects, the most eminent type. Guilty man, in his heart of hearts, thinks all depends on some atonement he is to make, even if he also, in ever so orthodox a manner, confesses our Lord Jesus as a Savior. But this he confesses for all the world: for himself to get the benefit, he really trusts to a sort of compounding for his sins. He hopes to give up his sins, most of all, and that God will be merciful. Such is the gospel of the largest part of Christendom, where it is not even an avowed confidence in life-giving ordinances, and saving rites and works of goodness. What a contrast with “God will provide himself a lamb!” What grace on God's part! What a call for faith on man's! “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be of grace.” Nor could any other way suit either. Sins are thus borne and judged, and forgiven to the believer but yet to God's glory, while His grace reigns to eternal life. Anything else would depreciate God, as it would exalt the sinner, for which certainly Christ did not die; but suffered once, Just for unjust, that He might bring us to God; and this He has done for every believer cleansed from every sin by His blood.

“So they went both of them together; and they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of Jehovah called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jirah: as it is said to this day, In the mount of Jehovah it shall be provided” (vers. 9-14). Thus was Abraham fully tried, and God magnified and honored by his simple-hearted trust in Himself. Yet not a drop of Isaac's blood was shed. God remains God. He spared not His own Son, but gave Him up freely for us all. In all things Christ has the pre-eminence.

Still Abraham shines brightly in the scene, and God marks His appreciation of it. “And the angel of Jehovah called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son; that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice” (vers. 15-18).

Gal. 3:16 casts fresh light on the blessing here pronounced. The blessing is twofold. In verse 17 it is Jewish, and consists in a countless progeny, which possess the gate of their enemies. In verse 18 no number is attached to “thy seed.” This, accordingly, is what the Holy Spirit contrasts as “the seed” of Abraham to which the promises were made. “He saith not, And to seeds as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.” Thus the Seed with no number or multiplicity annexed to it is shown to be Christ, typified by Isaac, risen again from the dead in figure, who blesses all the Gentiles, as now in the gospel, contradistinguished from the numerous Jewish seed, who are to subject the nations and rule over them, in the age to come. The Seed risen from the dead has evidently broken the link with life or relationship on earth, and is in a wholly new condition wherein He is able to bless the Gentile as freely as the Jew. This Christ is doing now, as the epistle proves, wholly apart from law or circumcision which suppose the flesh and the Jew still under the probation of God, and so in effect deny the cross.

We see accordingly how harmonious is the teaching of Heb. 11:17-19 with Galatians Christ is the true Seed of Abraham, and this not only of promise but, as dead and risen. It is, thus the promises are secured; it is thus also that they open out to all the nations or Gentiles; even as it is written, In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. The Seed dead and risen is as free to bless the Gentile as Jew. Both were lost in rejecting Him; but He is risen from the dead, and God is pleased to bless in Him not only the Jew but all the Gentiles. The Seed of the woman is the Son of Abraham risen from the dead after being offered up. And the blessing is unconditional grace, independent of the law which came in long after the promise and for a wholly different end, as the apostle argues and proves to the bewitched Galatians. Law can only bring a curse on those who take that ground for their souls with God. Blessing is by faith in virtue of Him who died and rose again, and can thus in pure grace reach the believer, spite of flesh, law and world, which ensure only condemnation for sinful man. But Christ is dead and risen, and the blessing is confirmed in Him by God's oath to all the nations. So much the more awful will be the lot of all who despise Him, trusting in themselves, in others, or in aught else!

The rest of the chapter (vers. 20-24) calls for no particular notice now. It was meant to prepare the way for Rebekah, by showing her relationship with Abraham's lineage, in view of a still closer tie.

W. K.

Notes on Matthew 12-13

CHAP. 12. (continued)

The Lord Jesus was the very shortest part of three days in the grave. We should remember that the Jewish way of reckoning was to count a part of a day or year, as a whole one. Throughout the O.T., a part of a year is reckoned as a whole one, but there is a difference between the way the ten tribes reckoned the reigns of their kings, and the way Judah reckoned.

I do not think we should be warranted in counting the repentance of the Ninevites a repentance unto life; nor that of every individual heart before God. This brings out the awful sin of the rejection of such an One, greater than the Temple, greater than Jonah, greater than Solomon. In reference to the last named the principle comes out that to him that hath shall more be given. Solomon gave back to the queen of Sheba all she brought, and a lot more besides. If we use what He gives us, He can give us more; but He never gives us anything to make much of ourselves. One great point the Lord makes here of the queen is her wonderful earnestness. But I have no doubt there is so much to distract our hearts, that he who values Christ must be earnest.

Verse 43. The man here out of whom the demons are gone, is an illustration of that Christ-rejecting generation. Empty, swept, and garnished—ready for an occupant, the Jews will be like it when the church is gone, and they will never have been in such a condition before, ready for the antichrist. Such will be the state of the mass of the Jews. We have already had a picture of what will take place, when the demons entered into the swine, the type of the apostate part of the nation.

In verses 46-50 the Lord is showing the setting aside of His Jewish relation; then in the following chapter you get a typical action, the Lord goes out of the house and sits by the sea side, and then you get parables showing grace going out to the whole world. The stream of grace still flows on. And does not God's word show as God's cognizance of Mary and Peter! We get more of Peter's mistakes than of any other; and of His mother we get the Lord's words, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?” and “Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.” But on the cross—the hour had come—you get the Lord's perfect human affection, and a divine person superior to all circumstances, ordering all things Himself. It is in John you get this, not in Luke. There is an earthly family and a heavenly family. Here it is the heavenly family superseding the earthly one. “Whosoever shall do the will of my Father that is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother.” That is the family—all disciples. “Whosoever.” It is God's commandment that we should “believe on him,” which at that time His brethren did not. “This is the true God, and eternal life.”

We could almost say the end of this chapter corresponds to the end of the sixty-ninth week of Daniel, and that there is the great parenthesis in chapter 13.

CHAP. 13.

The prophet had said, “Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness,” here the King is rejected. Yet if they rejected Him grace still goes on, and flows out to the Gentiles. The Lord had closed Jewish relationships, and spoken at the end of chap. 12 of a new family, a new relationship formed by the word of God. So He leaves the house, goes to the sea, and instead of a king reigning, it is “Behold, a sower went forth to sow.” This action is typical. Outside God's ordered government, the sea often speaks of lawlessness. So in keeping with this you get in ver. 2 “great multitudes.” Every word is in its place.

This chapter gives us seven parables. That other parables were spoken at the same time we gather from Mark and Luke, who use them in quite different connections. Here we have the great gap between the sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks of Daniel. The first parable is introductory. It is not a similitude of the kingdom of heaven, because the King is mot there seen in heaven. It is His own work on earth. As has been said, You here get what was public and what was private. The parable was spoken in public; the exposition in private. But it may perhaps be as well for us to take both together.

The seed is the word of God, and is the same in each of the cases before us. There was nothing defective in the seed. The results have to do with the soil or ground. Luke speaks of an honest and good heart; that is never found in man naturally, but only as produced by the grace of God.

There are four classes of hearers. In the first class the devil prevails; in the second the flesh; whilst in the third it is the world. In the fourth class, however, the Holy Ghost it is that prevails. Satan comes when the seed is sown by the wayside; it does not enter, it does not take root, for the wicked one catches it away. Hence there is no result. The defect is in the soil. It had not been plowed up. It was the hard and beaten path.

Then there were corners in the field, not the path, but where they could not plow because of the rock. When the sun was up the seed was scorched. When tribulation or persecution arises the flesh gives up; it does not consider it worth while “enduring.” It is the flesh that prevails here. In John 6 we get what corresponds to this. They said, “This is a hard saying,” and they went back. When Peter is asked if he will go, he says “Lord, to whom shall we go?” He was shut up to Christ,

“Some fell among thorns.” There you get the world. The Lord says, “The cares of this age” —that is the first thing mentioned— “and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things,” or “pleasures of life.” There are the three things mentioned in Mark and Luke. Lot and Abram both get rich by going down to Egypt, by unfaithfulness; they both came up with abundance; but it would have been better for Lot if he had lost all than to have been separated from Abram; he never had an altar after.

The good ground is divided into three classes, but all are fruitful. You know the story of John Newton! He had been writing about A B C Christians, and a young clergyman wrote to him, and said he had been testing himself by it and had found he was in the “C” class, the highest. John Newton wrote back and said there was one thing he had forgotten to mention, namely, that those in the “C” class did not know it. So, no doubt, those who bear an hundred-fold do not know it. It is quite different from what people generally think. If they fail they say, We are all unprofitable servants; but it is when you have done all you are to say it! So in Matt. 25, those who pleased Him were quite unconscious of what they had done. And the principle is the same for us.

The Lord makes all intensely individual when He says, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear (ver. 9). All this should put us on our guard. There is such a thing as being fruitful “in every good work and word.”

Verse 10. “The disciples came.” We are let into secrets of His. It was the rejection of the King that brought out the mysteries of the kingdom. It is not according to what we get in the O.T. with its glorious accounts of the kingdom. They await fulfillment. We are, as John says, “in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.” He is still the waiting One, waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. The Lord has pit us in the place of friends if we think of ourselves in connection with ver. 11. Others were not so favored. Kings and prophets and righteous men had desired to see what the disciples saw, and had not seen it. So the disciples were marvelously blessed, but yet not so blessed as we are. The Lord told them “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now,” which shows conclusively that after the Holy Ghost should be given the saints would be in a far better position than even these disciples.

In the end of Luke 10 you get Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, and hearing His words. The Lord was Martha's guest, but Mary was the Lord's guest, and He approved that it should be so. In Luke 11 you get the Lord teaching His own to pray. Martha's service was all right in John 12 There was no grumbling as to Mary there. The grumbling was on the part of Judas. In both cases Mary has not a word to say, but the Lord has a word for Mary. I suppose we have principles for believers in ver. 12. As the Lord gives us any truth, and by His grace we make a right use of it, He will trust us with more. You get the thought of making the right use of it in Prov. 11, “There is that scattereth and yet increaseth.” If a person just thought of himself and ate his morsel alone that would not be making a right use of it. We must receive before we can give out. If God has given you something which has been a blessing to your own soul, and you impart it to a brother or sister, you make it more intimately your own.

That is very solemn in the end of verse 12, “Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.” In another place it is “seemeth to have.” It is possible to have that which will be taken from you. Where the Lord speaks of the talents, the one that had one talent is a servant of the Lord Jesus, yet it is taken from him and given to him that had ten. The talent that he had was light possessed; men are responsible for the light they have.

Verse 13. The Lord takes the place of the rejected One, and because of His rejection there is judicial blindness. That is why He refers to Isa. 6 And if you take this in Matt. 13 and the reference in John 12 and again in Acts 28, you will see they refer to Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and it is Trinity in Unity. “Holy, holy, holy,” that is Trinity. “Whom shall I send?” there is Unity. “Who will go for us?” there is Trinity. Here in Matthew it is spoken of God; in John, of the Son; in Acts, of the Holy Ghost.

Then verse 14 shows that Christ was rejected in face of the most positive evidence; they shut their eyes: hence judicial blindness, and now the parables. In a parable, where the key is not given, there is obscurity; but when the key is given, it is a most blessed way of conveying the truth.

As the verses that follow have been already anticipated, we will go on to verse 24. The great thing is to distinguish between the church and the kingdom. When these are confounded you fall into terrible confusion. I turned up a lot of writers out of curiosity, and could not find one, outside those known as “Brethren” who were clear about this. They confound the church and the kingdom. Take, for instance, the Church of England, which uses this parable of the tares to justify their not putting away from them the wicked, they are to remain! —overlooking the Lord's own interpretation that “the field” (wherein both wheat and tares are to be tolerated), “is the world” (vers. 38) —not the church!

The kingdom takes in Christendom. You could not say a Mohammedan or a Buddhist was in the kingdom; but Roman Catholics, Nestorians, and Greek Church, etc., are all in the kingdom. It would be terrible to suppose (and utterly opposed to the teaching of the Epistles) we are “to let both grow together” in the church! “Do not ye judge them that are within?” “Put away from among yourselves the wicked person” (1 Cor. 5.). In 2 Timothy it is a great house and utter confusion, and things so bad, that not being able to “put away” the wicked person as was done in Corinth, we are responsible to purge ourselves out. You cannot put yourself out of “the house,” but you can purge yourselves from vessels to dishonor. There will always be some who call on the Lord out of a pure heart, till He come.

The first parable which we have looked at is general, and takes in the Lord's ministry here. This second parable is a similitude of the kingdom of heaven. Here we get rather the effect of the good seed of the first parable. The good seed there was the word of the kingdom; the good seed here are those who have been affected by that word. It shows that where God is working, Satan is working too. It was so in the garden, and throughout scripture Satan is seen at hand working also. So here. Saints failed; it was a time of unfaithfulness. “Men slept.” The enemy sowed the tares among the wheat, and went his way. Satan had done the mischief, and knew it would spring up; he knew the result. The Apostle could say in one of his earliest epistles, “The mystery of iniquity doth already work.” The enemy was at work there.

“But when the blade was sprung up, etc.” when it was making progress, then what the devil had done was made manifest. This is explained by the Lord Himself when the disciples were within. The darnel began to be seen in the Acts of the Apostles. I don't suppose we could rightly say that Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 were the devil's children. Theirs was “a sin unto death” (1 John 5:16). But in chap. 8 Simon Magus gets in. There was no work of grace here; he had neither part not lot in the matter, though he had been baptized.

No one could dogmatise, but God uses angels providentially, and the tares have to be bound in bundles to burn, and it is surprising the number of unorthodox sects that have sprung up of late years. I mean those that are fundamentally wrong. It is difficult to imagine a true Christian being ensnared by them. How many “bundles"! They all deny the divinity of the Lord, and eternal punishment—these evil sects that have come over from U.S.A. Those two evils often go together.

Now we come to the explanation of this. They grow together till the time of harvest. The servants propose to root them up. The Master says, “Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye gather up the root with them.” These bundles will not be burnt till the church is gone. The bundles will be left—all the darnel; but others will be left here too, that will be gathered into the garner, not the heavenly garner, but the earthly one. We see this typified in Lev. 23:22, where the corners of the field are left after the feast of weeks and before the feast of trumpets. God will have some here beside the darnel, after the church is taken up—the poor Jew and the stranger Gentile. These are they of whom the Baptist speaks (Matt. 3:12), “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his wheat into the garner.” It is the earthly garner of the millennial blessedness. It is chaff there, not tares, that is burnt with unquenchable fire; the Lord will do that.

Verse 31. The mustard is called the least of all the seeds—I suppose, of what are cultivated. The growth here is abnormal. Mustard seed in nature never becomes a great tree. When they see this natural development as if divine and perfect, any simple soul can see the growth to be abnormal. We shall have that explained more fully by and by.

Verse 33. Leaven means evil, and it was excluded from the sacrifices. It had a place in the meat offering of Lev. 23 because it is recognized that there is an evil nature in those who form the church, and there was a sin offering to meet it. There was no leaven and no sin offering with the sheaf of first fruits. The leaven was not burnt on the altar. When we come to the N. T. and the Lord's own teaching, He tells us to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, of the Sadducees, and of the Herodians. That of the Pharisees was self-righteousness; of the Sadducees, infidelity; and of the Herodians, worldliness. Now people take the leaven here to mean the gospel, that will, as they say, leaven the whole world. Now meal is always used in a good sense in scripture, but this is not the case with leaven. So it is turning it upside down to make the meal profited by the leaven. In 1 Cor. 5. the leaven is moral; but the leaven of Galatians is doctrinal evil, and I rather think that is the thought here—false doctrines mixed up with the food of the household.

Verse 36 is very significant. Jesus goes into the house. These disciples want to know and to understand the parable of the tares. We get blessed encouragement, however small we are, to look to the Lord. “Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” I do not know if the Lord had it before Him as we read in Isa. 28:7, “They also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way.” Wine and strong drink cause excitement; as a result they err and they stumble. But we may go on to verses 9 and 10, of Isa. 28.

It is plain enough from verse 38 what the field is: it is not the church. It is the work of the Son of man to sow, so it is what has been produced by the seed of the first parable. The tares are the children of the wicked one. Verse 41 is very different to the thought of the Lord's coming for His church. For then He comes Himself with a shout, but here His angels will gather His elect from the four corners; when He comes for the church we shall be taken away and all the tares left behind. The Christian is told to pray for his enemies. James and John did not understand what manner of spirit they were of when they wanted the Lord to call down fire on the Samaritans. It was perfectly right for Elijah to do so, but the Lord had not come now to judge the world. Israel's blessing is always connected with the judgment of their enemies; not so ours. We shall leave them all behind.

In every place in the N.T. where it speaks of one being taken and another left, it is, one taken for judgment, and one left for blessing. It will be true of course, that if two people are together when the Lord comes for His own, one saved and one unsaved, He will take the saved and leave the other; but everywhere in scripture where the phrase is used, it is one taken by judgment, and the other left for millennial blessing. When we come further on and find the Son of man dealing with the nations, it is sessional; and I do not think those judged there will appear before the Great White Throne; the Judge has already pronounced their final doom. So it may be here. Only it is the angels that do the work here, there it is the Son of man Himself.

We must never for a moment think that the judgment has to do with deciding whether a soul is saved or lost. That is settled in this life. At the Great White Throne there will be a right apportionment of judgment in perfect righteousness, and every one will have his mouth shut.

“There shall be 'wailing'"; rather “the weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (verses 42, 50). The two words “weeping” and “gnashing” of teeth bring out different characters; I do not think both will be necessarily true of each individual.

Verse 43. The “Father's house” (John 14) is pure grace, yet there will be those who shall sit on His right hand, or on His left: He will give it suitably. He says it is not mine to give except to those for whom it is prepared. We must remember the church will have been removed and all the tares left behind, so the angels do two things here, bind the tares in bundles, and then take them out of the kingdom. There must be moral fitness to be subjects of His kingdom. John the Baptist was sent to preach the baptism of repentance in order to prepare them.

The angels are elect and holy. This shows that some of the angels that were created were preserved from falling; that was their election. Whereas the human race fell in its federal head, so that all are fallen. The church is an object of great interest to the angels. By it they learn the manifold wisdom of God. That is Why brothers take their hats off, and sisters keep their bonnets on, in the assembly. 1 Cor. 11.

The Lord Jesus was in the world, and the world knew Him not (John 1:10). And it says, “the world knoweth us not,” but when He is manifested we shall be also (1 John 3:1, 2). Our life is hid with Christ in God; the thought here is not our security, but that the world knows not our life. In “spite of all the confusion the Lord knoweth them that are His, and He never mistakes. The obverse side of the seal is, “Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” All the saints will “shine forth” then. These will take in others besides the church. All that have part in the First Resurrection will have their place in the heavenly department of the coming kingdom.

In the pearl (ver. 46) we see the unity and beauty of the church. “Treasure” (ver. 44) may be composed of all sorts of things, and of coins of all kinds. The treasure was in obscurity, “hid in the field"; by and by it will be in manifestation. “For joy thereof he goeth and selleth all that he hath” —gives up everything. The field is the world. Think of a sinner buying the world! Yet that is how the verse is usually viewed No, for our sakes He became poor. It is important to see that the world is bought. The Christian is both bought and redeemed. This may help to explain “denying the Lord that bought them” (2 Peter 2:1). If I am bought, I change my master, but when redeemed I change my status. It is love that makes one “a bondman” afterwards. The pearl was very attractive to Christ. It is wonderful to think He surrendered everything to get it! How the figures used of the holy city tell of magnificence! “Every several gate was of one pearl.” There is unique beauty in the pearl. It is “the church glorious” which He is going to present to Himself, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, separate from everything offensive to God and Himself. “The merchantman seeking goodly pearls” supposes one able to discern their value and to appreciate them. This shows His appreciation the price He paid to get it.

Verse 47. This next parable does not suppose a work of grace in every soul gathered into the net; yet the net only gathers a small portion of the fish in the sea. How foolish then to think of the whole world being converted in face of so plain a scripture to the contrary. The vessels then would represent companies of saints, nothing to indicate different sects. Those who think that the church must take in every respectable parishioner because tares and wheat must grow together till the harvest, cannot understand this at all.

The devil's work grows apace and becomes great. If you see ecclesiastical greatness it is Satan's work. Anything that is great now in days of apostasy cannot be of God. Thus you see a little grain of mustard seed becoming a great tree, abnormally. Then the leaven spreading everywhere. But in this treasure there is nothing great to human eyes; and I suppose the greatest pearl that ever was could be held in the tiniest infant's hand.

The net gathers of every kind. But they are the same ones that cast the net that discriminate and cast the bad away; it is not the work of angels which is judgment. It was perfectly right for Simon Magus to be told the truth by Peter. God hates mixture, all His word shows us that. Ox and ass plowing together; and all the mixtures tolerated by man, are abomination to Him, and so are mixed principles too. It is the end of “the age” of course in ver. 49.

Verse 51. The Lord corrected the disciples in John 16. So with all their boast they could not stand much. If the Lord's love to them was not greater than theirs to Him it would not stand. Of that we may be confident.

Verse 52. The scribes were the learned people; the word nearly always conveys that thought. His treasure is the word of God. Things of this life are not our own (see 1 Tim. 6:17-19). We get many scriptures that apply in that direction what the Lord said to His disciples. Peter said, “Behold, we have left our own, and followed Thee. And he said unto them, Verily, I say unto you, there is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting” (Luke 18:28-30). If we went to the O. T., what can be plainer or more simple than “He that giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord.” Will He be a debtor? Where could you get better interest, or lay it out to greater advantage? But “He that soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly,” and Prov. 11 is very helpful in that direction.

“Things new and old.” The kingdom is old, but the mysteries of the kingdom are new. The truths about the kingdom are found in all the O. T.

Verse 54 corresponds with what occurred in the synagogue of Nazareth the first time after He was anointed. They wondered at His words of grace, and said, “Is not this the carpenter's son?”

No: only legally. Melchizedec typified the Lord, being ungenealogised, and having a priesthood that was not successional, but living in the power of an endless life, a priest for ever. The Roman Catholics oppose it in every way, and no doubt numbers of Christians do too, that anyone else was born of Mary, and they say that the Jewish way of reckoning was to count cousins as brethren; but Acts 1:14 is as clear as anything, and that is the last time we get Mary spoken of. She thence disappears. What a marvelous thing this if she was to have the place the Roman Catholics give her! They say that James the son of Alphæus, and Jude the brother of James, were His brethren. But His brethren were there as well as these two, James and Jude. And it is His brethren who wrote the Epistles that bear their names, but they did not call themselves so.

Studies in Mark 8:11-21: Grieved Servant of Jehovah

CHAP. 8:11-21

44.-THE GRIEVED SERVANT OF JEHOVAH

“And the Pharisees came forth, and began to question with him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and saith, Why cloth this generation seek a sign? verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation. And he left them, and again entering into the boat departed to the other side.

And they forgot to take bread; and they had not in the boat with them more than one loaf. And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. And they reasoned one with another, saying, We have no bread. And Jesus perceiving it saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? do ye not yet perceive, neither understand? have ye your heart hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember? When I brake the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve. And when the seven among the four thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces took ye up? And they say unto him, Seven. And he said unto them, Do ye not yet understand?” (8:11-21, R.V.).

In this section the Evangelist shows how the Servant, of the Lord was tried from “within and without.” He was obstructed in His ministry (1) by the evil machinations of the leaders of the people and also (2) by the ignorant dullness of His immediate followers.

The Pharisees who had recently criticized the Lord Jesus because they saw His disciples eat bread with unwashen hands (chap. 7) now came forth to oppose Him upon other grounds. On the earlier occasion they sought to invalidate His teaching, now their attempt was to detract from the value of His miraculous works of mercy and power. Accordingly they sought by cunning questioning to discredit the Lord before the eyes of the Galileans to whom He had given such cogent evidence that the kingdom of God was among them. Tempting Him, they asked for a sign from heaven, as if the fame of His many miracles had not previously spread throughout the province. The Lord's works were not done in a corner. For instance, were there not at least five thousand witnesses to the second multiplication of the few loaves? And was not this sign, like all the Lord's works, of a heavenly order?

But these Pharisees had the will to doubt and disbelieve; otherwise the Lord might have said to them as He did to the messengers from John the Baptist, who asked Him, “Art thou He that should come?” The Lord's answer to these men was, “The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached unto them. And blessed is he whosoever shall not be stumbled in me” (Matt. 11:2-6). The “honest and good heart” of John the prisoner was sincerely in doubt, and the Lord, though He did not work a fresh and special sign, sent to him the gracious reminder of the supernatural facts which none could deny, and which his messengers themselves witnessed (Luke 7:21, 22). The Pharisees, however (who came with the Sadducees, as Matthew tells us) were hostile in intent: “They began to question him, seeking of him a sign from heaven, tempting him.”

This request was made in shameless unbelief and hypocrisy on their part too, for in their heart of hearts these men knew that the Lord was “from above,” and not “from beneath.” Nicodemus confessed, being himself a Pharisee, “Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him.” The evidences of the heavenly mission of Christ were ample and indisputable, and open to the sight of all men. So manifest were they that Peter charged the Jews on the day of Pentecost with a full knowledge of His credentials. When the apostle declared: “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, as ye yourselves also know” (Acts 2:22), not a single dissentient voice from the crowded audience was raised in protest. Indeed, during His ministry, the people said as they saw His wonderful works, “When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than this man hath done?” (John 7:31). And the Lord Himself, when surveying the whole course of His service said, “If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin; but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father” (John 15:24).

The Pharisees willfully ignored all this display of loving power, and their obduracy of heart, particularly noticeable as it was after the repeated miracle of the multiplied loaves, was characteristic of the nation as a whole from the day when Jehovah brought them out of the land of Egypt. Then “they remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered from the enemy; how he had wrought his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the land of Zoan” (Psa. 78:42, 43; 106:7, 13, 21). The hardness and insensibility of their hearts to God's marvelous mercies which all the Old Testament prophets charged upon them, were still unchanged, even when Messiah Himself was in their midst.

A SIGN FROM HEAVEN

This occasion was not the only one on which the Pharisees sought from the Lord a sign from heaven. The first occasion was a plain indication that the nation would eventually reject their Messiah (Matt. 12:38; Lu. 11:16), and the Lord thereupon began in public to teach by parables that the kingdom of heaven would assume a new form. But on both the former and the latter occasions, the request of the Jewish teachers was a tacit denial that the Lord's miracles were signs from heaven, implying at the same time that His marvelous energy was Satanic in origin, as if He cast out demons by Beelzebub, the prince of the demons. For if the miracles were not from “above,” they must have been from “beneath.”

This foul aspersion arose from a gross form of willful unbelief in the Messianic miracles, wonders and signs, but, in point of fact, the Lord Himself, apart from His works, was a sign from above to the people. He was the Second Man, “the Lord from heaven,” come to them as Immanuel, according to the prophecy of Isaiah: To the house of David, Jehovah had said, “The Lord himself shall give you a sign, Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name, Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14). Hence the Incarnate Babe was the sign of the introduction of the promised gospel. This sign-character was mentioned expressly by the angel of the Lord to the shepherds of Bethlehem: “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be the sign unto you; Ye shall find a babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:11, 12). Further, Simeon alluded to this same characteristic of the Heavenly Babe, saying, as he blessed Joseph and Mary, “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34, 35).

Looking ahead also to the future Advent there will be appointed premonitions from above. The second coming of Christ in power and glory for the redemption of Israel is to be heralded by the sign of the Son of man in heaven. This we learn from the prophetic discourse of our Lord to the disciples on the Mount of Olives. In reply to their query, “What shall be the sign of thy coming?” He said, after naming certain coming events, “Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matt. 24:30).

THE SIGH OF THE SON OF MAN

Mark preserves for our adoring contemplation a record of the profound emotion of the Master at this display of unbelief and malice on the part of the Pharisees and Sadducees. “He sighed deeply in his spirit.” There was no expression of wrath nor of a desire for vengeance, but we are permitted to know how keenly He was affected by the evil purpose of those who “lay in wait for His soul.” “His heart was wounded within Him.” As Jehovah's righteous Servant, He bore the griefs and carried the sorrows of His people in loving sympathy, but this oppressive burden of griefs was augmented by the plottings of those who had become His enemies, and whose secret thoughts stood revealed before His holy eyes; and He “groaned upward” at the sight.

The Lord was the Great Prophet sent with a message of deliverance for the enslaved people of God, and their obstinate refusal to hearken to the pleadings of His love begat sorrows within Him too deep, as it were, for utterance then. Later this inward sorrow found articulation, and His weeping lamentation over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44) expressed the spirit of the Psalmist who said, “Rivers of water run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law” (Psa. 119:136). The faithful servants of Jehovah in a former day of apostasy were distinguished by their grief over the waywardness of their people: they were marked off as those “that sigh and that cry for all the abominations in the midst of Jerusalem” (Ezek. 9:4). Here in this Gospel, by this unique phrase, the veil over the inner feelings of the Master is lifted for a brief moment that we may catch a glimpse of His loyal zeal for God and His passionate yearning over the guilty people. The heart ever sighing over Israel's perversity was always before the eyes of Jehovah, and gave cause for His unbroken complacency in that elect Servant in whom His soul delighted.

It is a profitable reflection that our Lord had a perfect knowledge of the value of His own service as well as of the depravity of those opposing Him. Without thinking of Himself more highly than He ought to think, He accurately appraised the character of His labors among them. His “judgment was just,” and He knew that His own works were such as man never did before, and also that His words perfectly presented the ineffable love of the Father to man as well as the earthly things of the kingdom. But He also saw with equal vividness that His unremitting service, His self-consuming zeal, His absolute surrender to the interests of His mission were barren in result. His enemies, tempting Him, ask to be shown a sign from heaven, while His friends and followers are blind and deaf to the true significance of His ministry. The great impulses of His loving heart towards the sons of men were thus doubly resisted and thrown back upon Himself. The joy of the Shepherd in rescuing His flock was denied Him. He could adopt the language in the prophecy: “All day long have I stretched out my hand to a disobedient and gainsaying people” (Rom. 10:21; Isa. 65:2). Accordingly, we read that at this juncture the Man of sorrows sighed deeply in His Spirit.

THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST

There are three recorded occasions on which the Spirit of Christ was perturbed. In each case human sin was the agitating cause, and in these instances He was confronted with its grievous effects: (1) upon the nation, (2) upon the family of Bethany, and (3) upon one of the apostolic band.

(1) The first instance is given in this section of Mark. Sin wrought so effectually in the midst of the chosen nation that its religious leaders refused to own the signs of His prophetic calling, and in malicious unbelief sought from Him a sign from heaven. He “sighed deeply in his spirit” at this unbelief.

(2) Sin wrought in the midst of the pious family of Bethany, where the Messiah was wont to turn aside to rest for a while, and where He was welcomed and honored. Death removed Lazarus, and plunged the sisters into sorrow. Coming with the bereaved to the sepulcher, the Lord groaned in spirit at their grief (John 11:33).

(3) Sin wrought in the midst of the chosen twelve, and one of them became a tool of Satan for the betrayal of his Master. On the night of the last Supper, the Lord expressed to His disciples His knowledge that the doer of this infamous deed was even then among them. He “was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray me” (John 13:21). One of you—one of my familiar friends—one of the holy circle (cp. Psa. 41:9; 55:12-14): this troubled His spirit.

These instances in some respects differ from each other, but their common origin may be traced back to the presence and action of sin in the world. Sin was always grievous and saddening in the eyes of the Lord, but these cases of its evil effects were the more deplorable because they occurred in a select circle, as it were, i.e., in the elect nation, in the godly household, in the apostolic band.

The pure and holy spirit must always be shocked in the presence of the horrid fruits of sin. It was so with the Lord: and it is a test of His followers, for “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Rom. 8:9).

NO SIGN TO BE GIVEN

In reply to the Pharisees, the Lord said, “Why doth this generation seek after a sign?” They were then in Magdala, and it was in this very locality that the Lord wrought His marvelous cure upon Mary the Magdalene out of whom He cast seven demons (Mark 16:9). What greater testimony could there be of the presence of the Mighty One subduing the power of the Evil One? Was not this the sign from heaven? But the blind Pharisees attributed all such signs of the Lord to the energy of Beelzebub, and not to Him as the Messianic Servant anointed by the Spirit of God.

It is noticeable how the Lord in declining to yield to the provocative request of His opponents speaks with the dignity and authority of His own right: “Verily I say unto you, There shall no sign be given unto this generation.” This language is not that of a delegate, even though commissioned from on high. The introductory formula of the Old Testament prophets was, “Thus saith the Lord"; but the Lord Jesus replied to these Pharisees who despised both His words and His works in His own name: “Verily I say unto you.”

In Truth, the Godhead was there amongst them in the Person of their Messiah in humble guise, and no more transcendent sign than this could be given them. The Lord therefore refused any further sign to that guilty generation which notoriously killed the prophets sent unto it. The Stone of Israel had been laid in Zion. If the nation stumbled upon it and rejected it, all hope must be abandoned. God anyhow would exalt that Stone, and it would eventually fall upon the wicked builders in Zion and grind them to powder. Thus the humbled Christ was the final test to Israel upon the ground of law, and no other Savior-Prince but He would be offered to them.

In seeking a sign the Pharisees were governed by an evil motive. It was altogether otherwise with John the Baptist. To him, as the Forerunner, a special sign from heaven was appointed for the identification of the Messiah. His own testimony on this head was that he saw the Holy Spirit like a dove descending from heaven, and it rested upon the baptized Jesus. And this public anointing constituted to him the promised assurance that Jesus was the Son of God (John 1:32-34). John's mission was to prepare the way of the Lord before Him, and the sign from heaven given at the Jordan indicated that the Deliverer had come to Israel, and that his own service, as the voice of the Forerunner crying in the wilderness was accomplished.

John the Baptist was a Nazarite devoted to the will of God, but the Jews were a wicked and adulterous generation, and their determined will was to disbelieve and resist the gospel. These Pharisees in Dalmanutha were imbued with the same spirit as those which afterward cried, “Come down from the cross, and we will believe” (Matt. 27:42). Had a sign been given they had no intention of believing. They were tempting the Lord to yield to them, as they did at other times (Matt. 12:38; John 2:18; 6:30). Their request was modeled upon that of Satan in the wilderness, who said to the Lord, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread” (Matt. 4:3). The Lord, therefore declined to accede to their request, and told these adversaries, that no sign would be given to them, except (as Matthew adds) the sign of the prophet Jonah. That prophet of Galilee, after being three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-monster, preached to the Ninevites their imminent doom, and they repented at his preaching. The Son of man would lie three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matt. 12:40), and if the men of Israel, even after the sin of crucifixion, would repent at the preaching of His apostles, God would send again to them His Servant Jesus, whom they had crucified, that He might restore all things (see Peter's address, Acts 3:19, 20). But as the people refused the sign of a humbled Messiah in His life: so they rejected the sign of His crucifixion and death. To them, a veil being upon their hearts, He was a stumbling block, and the apostle so described their state, when writing to the Corinthians: “Jews ask for signs and Gentiles seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumbling block, and unto Greeks foolishness” (1 Cor. 1:22, 23).

But those who reject the signs of truth are open to receive the signs of error. The studied resistance of the Jews to their Deliverer who came to them as the Virgin's Child, and who like the prophet of Galilee lay three days and nights in the heart of the earth will duly receive in the governmental dealings of God its meet and merited punishment. The generation, not yet passed away, who refused the appointed signs of the Holy and the True will be blinded to accept the signs of the Evil and the False. For when Antichrist comes he will show signs ostensibly from heaven in imitation of those the Christ did, and men will believe the lie. Paul declares that the coming of this Lawless One will be “according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” (2 Thess. 2:9). The apostle John prophesies in like terms concerning the False Lamb who is yet to appear. Speaking in the predictive present, he says, concerning the Antichrist, that “he doeth great signs that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men, and he deceiveth them that dwell upon the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast” (Rev. 13:13, 14).

W. J. H.

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Everlasting Father

Q.-Will you kindly give some explanation of the title “The Everlasting Father” given to Christ in Isai. 9:6?

A.-I cannot think that Coverdale, followed as he is by our A.V., has been happy in giving us “The everlasting Father” for the Hebrew Abbee Gad. Nor indeed does the better rendering of most by “Father of eternity” appear to fall in with the requirements of the context which clearly has Christ's earthly kingdom in view, and not eternity.

If we compare the most ancient versions, we find that the Greek Septuagint reads, according to the Alexandrian and, Sinaitic MSS., πατὴρ τοῦ μέλλοντος αὶωνος; and the Latin Vulgate “pater futuri saeculi,” i.e., “father of the age to come.” And this is what appears to me the meaning of the original words before us.

The child born, the son given is “The Mighty God.” To His people of old He was the “Wonderful” (Judg. 13:18 margin), their “Counselor” (Judg. 20:18; Job 12:13; Isai. 11:2; 28:29, etc.), and the “Mighty God.” So also in “the future age,” the millennial age of blessedness for this now sin-stricken earth, will He, the “Mighty God” be known as the “Father” of that age—to establish it, to preserve it, to care for it, to be all that a father is to His people, and “the Governor among the nations.” “In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth” (Psa. 72:7). For He is the “Prince of Peace.”

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New Series. VoL XII. No. 11. November, 1918 Sixty-third Year of Publication

Lessons From Judges

The book of Joshua has shown the power of Jehovah in the conquests of His people, and this too distinguished from the measure of their practical taking possession of what was conquered. For as these are not the same things, so the line drawn divides the book into its two portions: first, the actual blow that was struck at the enemy; and, secondly, the measure in which they took advantage of their successes in order to enter on the positive enjoyment of their own possessions.

The book of Judges stands in painful contrast—the inevitable lesson of the first man. In it we are given to see the failure of the people of God to retain even what they had actually conquered; still more to press on in the acquisition of that which Jehovah designed for them. In both we have what clearly answers on the one hand to the blessing in which God has set Christians, and on the other to the ways in which the enemy has contrived to rob them of their just portion in the enjoyment of the Lord. This no doubt is a humbling lesson; but it is unspeakably gracious that God has given it to us in His word. It would have been overwhelming, if the New Testament had consisted of nothing but the inspired testimony of divine grace to that into which the Holy Ghost introduced the Christian in Christ. Yet not less humbling undoubtedly it is as God has given it to us. But otherwise there had also been utter depression; for it would be to leave us without divine solace: it would expose us to every kind of uncertainty, and to the utmost danger from the enemy, if God had not given us in the New Testament itself our book of Judges just as much as our book of Joshua. In short the Spirit of God has set out very clearly in the New Testament the departure from their own proper privileges of those that had been brought into blessing. It has even shown us, with the greatest fullness and care, the ways in which Satan gained the advantage over those that bore the name of Christ.

Who can fail to notice divine wisdom in the fact that the worst features that were afterward to appear in Christendom should be then manifest before the eye not indeed of all saints but of the Spirit of God, that they should so far exist, at least in form, as to furnish the just and fitting occasion for the apostles to pronounce, more particularly in the general epistles or the later writings, whether of Paul or of Peter, of Jude or of John—above all, in the book of Revelation? For this simple reason it is now only unbelief or negligence of Scripture that can be surprised. Let the shadows of coming evil be ever so filled out by developing facts, still they only verify the word of our God. Thus the confirmation of the word, being thus borne out not only in the good that God has imparted but in the havoc that the enemy has wrought among those that call on the name of the Lord, really turns, when learned from God, into a very solemn warning, and the increasing vigilance of the saint, by making him feel the wisdom and the goodness of God in separating us—a thing always in its own nature repulsive, and naturally so to one who loves the saints unless there were an absolute call for it and confidence in His grace, whose will it is when unity is perverted to His own dishonor.

Granted that there are those to whom separation is no trial. They are not to be envied. It ought to be a sore trial, which nothing justifies but the stern and solemn sense that we owe it to Christ—nay, further (as is always the case, what we owe to Christ being the best thing for the saints of God), not only a necessary course for our own souls in allegiance to the Lord, but a warning due to those ensnared by the enemy. Do we truly desire the blessing of all the children of God? Who does not that loves the Lord Jesus? Must we not pursue, if it were only for their sakes, that which is most according to Christ? That which will be most salutary for them under such circumstances will surely be to show them the danger of desiring paths which they might too lightly tread—the paths of ease and yielding to the world, where Christ is unknown, forsaking what is true and holy to God's glory. “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.”

Thus it is then that the discovery of the declension of the people of God is turned to serious but real profit, yet never unless our souls are kept simple and self-judging, grave yet happy, in the grace of God. Hence you will find, taking the epistle of Jude as an instance, the care with which the Holy Ghost exhorts them to “build themselves up on their most holy faith,” to “keep themselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.” It is not only brotherly affection, but higher up the stream, if from the same source. It is divine charity which is pressed. Never does the love of God lead to forgetfulness of His holiness, never in any way or measure to yield to the influences of evil that are flowing with a constantly increasing tide. This too we shall find in the Old Testament as in the New. In fact, if there be the same material looking at man, there is the same substantial truth if you look at God. Not of course that there was equal development then as now; for unquestionably the time was not yet come for the fullness of that which was from God to be manifested; nor consequently for man to display his enmity, and hatred, and incurable evil. How could either be till Jesus was known? Still there was from the earliest day a new nature in the saints, and the testimony of the word and Spirit of God, who was always looking on to Jesus. But now that grace and truth are fully before us in Jesus, His invariableness revealed cannot but invigorate the affections and brace the conscience, associating all with Him who came to do God's will in exercised hearts towards God. He therefore keeps back nothing that is profitable, but tells us of our danger. He show us how the people of God have always slipped, and what is more, that they slipped from the first—that departure from His will and ways was by no means a result of centuries. Neither of old nor after Christ did it require ages to betray, though of course it always went on growing. Contrariwise the common law of the first man is immediate and invariable departure from God. It is not meant by this that there may not be fidelity exceptionally by grace; but it is unspeakably solemn to find the fact always in scripture, that God no sooner gives a blessing than man misuses it, that the departure is immediate, and that this is true of individuals as well as of communities. Both have their importance. It is true, as all know, from the first. We see it in Paradise; we see it after the world was renewed; we see it now in the chosen nation. The same thing reappears in the Christian profession, as the apostle warns the Roman saints from the example of Israel. And their failure too the book of Judges shows us to have been not merely among some here and there, but alas! everywhere. There might he great differences between one tribe and another morally, as for instance relaxation was unquestionably more complete in Dan than in Judah; but the failure of Judah to rise up to the just recognition of Jehovah's glory on their part is plain from the beginning of the history in the land.

All this appears to me to be of no inconsiderable importance, as meeting a difficulty that perhaps all minds have felt who have been somewhat exercised about the church of God. In the New Testament the church we see set up in fullness of blessing by redemption, as associated with Christ. Not only did the Holy Ghost act in power for the soul, but He was ever the witness of superiority over all circumstances for body and mind, and these displays of energy not confined to apostles, those chief envoys of the Lord and instruments of the work of God on earth, but diffusing the victory of Christ over the church as such. But it is not merely that in the history that man has made of the church we find departure. There indeed it is most manifest for those that have eyes to set and ears to hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. But the salutary lesson is this, that the simple child of God has got it all in the word, so that he needs no ecclesiastical history to show the solemn fact. The New Testament itself is amply sufficient; and indeed for most readers the histories that even saints of God have made of the church would but mislead. They palliate, excuse, or even justify the general departure from the word of God. Where not? Who can tell me one history that vindicates adequately the word and Spirit of God? So widespread and deep became the departure, that the very worst can hardly defend Christendom in the face of scripture. The grossest adulators of priestly power, those that sold themselves to the purposes of ecclesiastical ambition, have not been able to veil the heinous iniquity into which what was called the church of God sank before long; but it is an immense mercy that the simplest child of God has got in his Bible, not only the moral profit of all the ways of God, and the analogies of every previous dispensation of God, but what concerns himself. His own place and privileges, his own duty on the one hand, he cannot find except in the Bible; but even also the history of his failure he can find nowhere so clear, nowhere so simple, nowhere so rightly shown and proved, as in that perfect word of God. And further, the familiarity with evil everywhere out of scripture tends to blunt conscience, if not to make us content with it, and therefore to settle down as if it were hopeless to find a path according to God in the midst of abounding iniquity. Whether it be the Old Testament or the New, the word of God never forms such a path, nor ever excuses it even for the weakest; and it is important to see that it is not weakness that goes astray: it is the subtlety of unbelief that can pervert even scripture itself to justify its own will. Undoubtedly there is nothing that man's will may not find a reason for, perhaps too on the surface of scripture. There is no limit to its perverse ingenuity. But when the word of God is read with conscience, this is quite another thing. There the Shepherd's voice is heard and known. Not that He fails to tell the truth in any case, for indeed He does in every case; but He makes the truth felt wherever there is a conscience open to hear.

This no doubt is the great instruction of the book of Judges. It is not the only one, thank God. The same book shows us the slipping away, or defection, of the various tribes of Israel from the purposes of God in bringing them into the land—a purpose which, you must remember, will surely be carried out yet. No purpose of God ever fails in the end, whilst every purpose in man's hand fails for the time. These are two of the most prominent lessons of the word of God; and the reason is just this—all His purposes stand because there is a Second man: every purpose fails when entrusted to the first man.

It is of the first man we read of here; but at the same time we have the testimony of the gracious power of God, not now in conquest, but in lifting up from time to time, and in partial deliverances. Your attention is called particularly to this. According to the analogy of God, it is not to produce anything but a partial interference after the first failure until Jesus comes. Then indeed deliverance will be complete; but God will have the evil felt, and, whatever may be His gracious intervention, He does not work in such a sort or after such a measure as would tend to enfeeble the sense and the confession of sin, the humiliation, the self-judgment, which become the saint in view of the present state of things. I have no doubt therefore that, for those that really take the word of God as He has given it, so great is His grace that a time of ruin may be made a season of special blessing. It is not a day of great prosperity that brings out the truth of things most before God.

Do you forget that He gives grace to the humble now? Do you suppose that there was not ignorance in the day of Pentecost? I am persuaded that you mistake the character of that wondrous day and of this if you doubt either. In presence of their then power the reality of the condition of individuals was not felt, as at Corinth, till gross evil came in, and party spirit began to divide the saints; and those who ran well grew less vivid in their sense of Christ, and the preciousness of His grace and truth was dimmed in their souls, so that some went to law, and others to idol temples. Then the real condition of souls became manifest. How fared it with those that slave to the Lord? Did they necessarily go down on such a day? Far from it. It made the fidelity of Chloe's household, or that of Stephanas, more distinct; and more prayer, more groaning, more crying to God, would be surely the result in those that had the sense of Christ's love and glory. How sad the state of those so near and precious in His eyes as are the saints of God?

I have no doubt accordingly that it is a total mistake to suppose—if we take, for instance, the apostle Paul, or even persons far inferior to him, those laborers that were his companions, and who shared his sorrows as well as his joys —a great mistake to suppose that Peter or the others had luster feelings, or were more truly in communion with the Lord than he; yet, as we know, it was not given to him to be found in that wondrous scene where the Holy Ghost was first poured down from heaven. But assuredly the apostle drank more deeply into the sense of what man was in presence not merely of law but of grace, as well as of what God is as now putting honor on Christ. No doubt this is deep work; for there is a breaking to pieces of every thought and feeling of the human heart; and there results such a depth of experience, both of anguish on the one hand and on the other hand of confidence in the grace of God, as must thoroughly repay and fit the individuals concerned for such service as is according to God's own mind for a day of grief and ruin. In short, it matters little what the time is on which one may be cast if there be faith in God, who is above all circumstances; for faith finds Him out and glorifies Him, whatever the circumstances may be.

This, it may be observed, is rather a general way of applying the book of Judges; but these remarks have been made for the very reason that we may read the word of God as a whole, allowing for differences (one need not say), and, while we may seek to enter into and understand the just application of the Old Testament, that we may also avail ourselves of what lies everywhere before us, those great and divine and ever precious principles of divine truth which we want, and which God has given us to meet us in the circumstances where we are now.

We need not therefore dwell on the minute particulars of the first few verses. I will only make a remark on one point; namely, the blessing which confidence in grace always receives from God. We know how Caleb was blessed; but we find also that God's grace developed in his daughter the same confidence in grace. She looked for good, and failed not to get it; and we do well to cherish the same spirit. It glorifies God to expect great and good things from Him. Why should we doubt Him? Would we abridge Him to the pettiness of our own thoughts? He had brought His people into a goodly land, and His honor was pledged to bless them there. And yet not many there looked for blessing. They thought of the difficulties, and they were discouraged. Such discouragement constantly leads to the dishonor of God. For if to complain of what God gives grieves Him on the one hand, on the other hand the enemy is most sensitive, and gathers encouragement to oppose from the want of faith that is thus soon, too soon, manifested in our gracious God.

Nothing indeed so disturbs the world as to see a man thoroughly happy in the Lord. It is not finding fault with the world that rouses its feelings, but the certainty that you have got a blessing to which they do not even pretend. And this, my brethren, is not best attested by strong expressions about it. The most effective testimony on every subject may be indirect; nor is anything of greater power than the simple unaffected expression of our heart's satisfaction in a worthy object. Even the men of the world are sensible of this. There is nothing that so forcibly proves or disproves as that which does not lie on the surface, and is not said to serve a purpose. You are in trial, or difficulty, poor, persecuted, in prison, or dying; yet you are thoroughly happy. What can the world do with a man that nothing can conquer? It may oppose, insult, punish; but he only gives God thanks, and rejoices the more, and this without in the least making light of what is done. What can the world do with such a man? “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

It is refreshing therefore to see that, when God must give us many a failure, it is not all failure. Nor should it be so with us. It is an unhappy spirit that always dwells upon the dark side; but at the same time it is never a truthful spirit that. does not take full account of it. Has not grace brought us, beloved brethren, into such a place that we can fairly look at anything and any one in the face? We have no reason to fear, except that we should not confide in our God, and that we should not also dread the letting slip ourselves—the letting in self to anything that concerns the Lord. Then I grant you there are weakness and failure at hand.

Studies in Mark 8:11-21: The Danger of Leaven in the Kingdom

CHAP. 8:11-21

(continued)

THE DANGER OF LEAVEN IN THE KINGDOM

The Lord thereupon turned away from the representatives of the “wicked and adulterous generation,” and left them (solemn action!) in their obstinate unbelief, crossing again the Sea of Galilee. He then uttered one of His profound sayings to the apostles, bidding them to “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod.” If the King was rejected, what would befall the kingdom? The influence of the Pharisees and of Herod aroused violent and insidious opposition to the spread of the ministry of Christ Himself; what a powerful and inimical influence would they not subsequently exercise upon the ministry of His servants? He bade them beware of these corrupting influences.

Looking back, the disciples might have remembered that before leaving the opposite shores they witnessed an example of the power of Pharisaism to befog the heart and prevent the acceptance of the Lord whom they loved and revered as the Messiah of Israel. Looking still further back, they might have recollected that terrible exhibition of the power of Herod when John, the prophet and forerunner, was murdered in circumstances of horrible barbarity. These forces of religious hypocrisy and of civil government at work in these typical instances were proved to be alike antagonistic to the progress of the truth, and the Lord had turned away in avoidance of both. For the future guidance of His followers, the Lord now warned them against these sources of contamination and corruption. The time had come when the children of the kingdom must break away from those who professed to be teachers of the law and who sat in Moses' seat.

The Pharisees were unreal pietists, and the Herodians were political time-servers. It behooved the disciples in the exercise of such power and authority as the Lord had given them as His apostles to take heed lest empty formalism and the fear of or undue subservience to worldly power should enter and vitiate the kingdom of God. Love of self and love of the world would, if allowed, work insidiously, like leaven, to the corruption of the followers of Christ, as it had already done in the Jewish nation. The warning of the Lord was uttered with a full knowledge of the coming menace, and, we find, historically, that evil afterward crept into the churches of Galatia and Corinth, and is alluded to under this figure of leaven (Gal. 5:9; 1 Cor. 5:7, 8).

When the Lord was with His disciples it was, as it were, the days of unleavened bread, for He Himself was the Bread of God come down from heaven to give life to the world. But in the succession of Jewish feasts, the feast of wave-loaves followed that of the unleavened bread and the first fruits, and it was provided from the time of institution that the two wave-loaves should be baked with leaven (Lev. 23:17). So the results of the public and united testimony of the Lord's followers, which would immediately succeed His own pure and untainted witness, would be leavened in character; and counseling them in view of His own absence, and of the coming dangers of corrupting influences, He bade them “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod.”

Dullness Of Hearing

But the disciples did not apprehend the meaning of these cautionary words of our Lord. They did not, in the scriptural sense, “hear His word,” and therefore they did not understand His phraseology (John 8:43). “Leaven” was the key-word to help them to the true explanation of the utterance, but, forgetting that their Master's kingdom was not of this world, they assigned to the word a physical not a spiritual significance: an error similar to that made by Nicodemus in a different connection ( John 3:4).

The disciples could think only of their own negligence in stocking the food-baskets of the company. Their hearts had not yet grasped the inner purpose of His teaching, and, therefore, His figurative expression concerning leaven was of the nature of a parable to them. It was a “hard word” to them (cp. John 6:60, New Tr.). “And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have no bread.”

Why were they so dull? Truly the words of the Lord were spirit and life, while the Great Teacher was skilful and wise in utterance, and spoke to the disciples as they were “able to hear” (Mark 4:33). They however failed to use rightly those “ears to hear” which they possessed as those born anew for the kingdom. They were engrossed with earthly or secondary matters, and missed the heavenly harmonies of His words. When the Lord warned against certain sources of leaven, their thoughts at once flew to food for the body. They had had but one loaf with them in the boat, and their conscience charged them with negligence in providing an adequate supply on reaching the other side (Matt. 16:5). No doubt they were the more concerned when they recalled the previous poverty of their stock on each occasion when the Lord inquired on behalf of the hungry multitude.

But if it was a good thing for the disciples to recall their former failures, it would have been better still for them to have remembered the Lord's teaching. For He had already in one of the parables which He specially explained to them, associated leaven with the kingdom of the heavens, and showed how its surreptitious introduction resulted in the leavening of the whole mass (Matt. 13:33). The three measures of meal affected as a whole by the foreign element brought into it was set forth as a figure of the new religious organization which was about to be established in the place of Judaism.

The Lord taught thereby that the kingdom in its coming phase was not the ideal one. When the great city, the holy Jerusalem, shall have come down out of heaven from God, and become the seat of government in the earth for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, the kingdom will then assume its incorruptible form, for “there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie” (Rev. 21:27). But until the dawning of that day of glory, the kingdom of God in the earth will not be homogeneous, but leavened by the presence of evil.

Nevertheless, the introduction of the leaven was the work of the enemies not of the faithful friends of the kingdom. Indeed, the faithful in the midst of a tainted assembly were held responsible for its presence, and exhorted to purge out the old leaven, and to “keep the feast, not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5:7, 8).

Seeing, then, that our Lord had delivered this parable of the leavened meal in the course of His public ministry, and interpreted its significance to the disciples privately (Mark 4:34), they possessed a key to the meaning of His words on this occasion. But as they had forgotten the first miracle of the loaves when the necessity for a second arose, so they forgot the parable of the leaven when the Lord used the figure to warn them against the evil influences of the spirit of Pharisaism and Herodianism—of insidious corruption, religious and political.

THE SEVEN-FOLD INTERROGATORY

The Lord corrected His disciples by a series of questions which gave them the opportunity for self-conviction and self-condemnation. The gentle and forbearing manner in which He dealt with them is instructive too. We see in the Prophetic Servant a perfect exemplification of those qualities afterward enjoined by the apostle Paul upon his dear son Timothy: “the servant of the Lord must not strive: but he must be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, forbearing, patient” (2 Tim. 2:24).

Let us proceed to inquire what was the cause of the erroneous thoughts of the disciples, and why they failed to profit by the Lord's teaching. It was needful for them that the true source of their dullness should be exposed, in order that their eventual spiritual progress might be secured.

The stumblingblock to their understanding could not lie in the matter nor in the manner of the Lord's instruction; for, with regard to the subject of His teaching, He taught them such things as they were able to bear (Mark 4:33; John 16:12), and, with regard to His method of teaching, His representation of His subject to His hearers could not but be perfect: “as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things” (John 8:28).

The fault and the failure to apprehend the meaning of the Lord's words therefore lay with the apostles themselves. They failed most of all in that they were not sufficiently appreciative of the incomparable worth of the One who was their Instructor, in whom were “hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” It was then, though they did not fully realize it, the day of their visitation. The Dayspring from on high was with them, but they did not set such store by His presence as they might have done. They slighted the Lord's testimonies, they disobeyed His precepts, and they forgot His wonderful works. The nature of the Lord's questions seems to imply that they were guilty of neglect, and that this was the real cause of their want of progress in divine things.

The skilful Physician of their souls by this exposure laid before them the inward cause of their weakness and spiritual backwardness. If they confessed their errors, as they were given opportunity to do, they would be forgiven and cleansed from their secret faults. For it is written, “If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged” (1 Cor. 11:31).

To bring before the disciples the truth concerning their hearts the Lord made use of the interrogative method, and His questions imply censure. It was by a similar but more extended “cross-examination” that Job's self-conceit was broken down. Jehovah's series of questions to the patriarch from the whirlwind is recorded in four lengthy chapters (Job 38-41), and, in result, Job confessed, “I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

We may observe a sevenfold succession in the questions put by our Lord to the disciples. They all imply condemnation, and “work wedge-like to the proof.” The series may be set out in the following order, and the implied charge is suggested for consideration in each case.

(1) Why reason ye because ye have no bread? implying a lack of confidence in the Lord on the part of the apostles.

(2) Do ye not yet perceive (νοεω)? implying lack of observation during their recent experiences.

(3) Do ye not yet understand (συνίημι)? implying an absence of due reflection upon the Lord's words and acts.

(4) Have ye your heart hardened? implying a lack of sensitiveness to divine things.

(5) Having eyes, see ye not? implying the nonuse of their spiritual faculties in relation to the Lord's doings.

(6) Having ears, hear ye not? implying the non-use of their spiritual faculties upon the Lord's words.

(7) Do ye not yet remember? implying a lack of spiritual intelligence, and specifying their forgetfulness of the two recent food-miracles, especially of the bountiful supply of broken pieces over and above the amount required.

This series of seven is followed by another question, which is separately introduced, in the narrative, viz., Do ye not yet understand (συνίημι)? This is in a sense a summary of the foregoing series, and it will be considered in its due order.

While considering this display of the dullness of the disciples, it is well to recall that there were many matters which the apostles were incompetent to understand until the Lord was glorified, and the Holy Spirit was bestowed upon them at Pentecost (cp. Luke 18:34; John 12:16). But their incapacity in some respects did not exonerate them from their slackness in others. And the Lord dealt with their responsibility to make good use of their exceptional privileges as special eye-witnesses and ear-witnesses of His ministry as the Great Prophet of the kingdom of God. They were apostles; should not they, as such, display some intelligence of their Master's ways? It was written in the law concerning the whole nation: “then is none that understandeth” (Rom. 3:11). If the same indictment was true in any degree of the twelve, after their special opportunities, were they not the more blameworthy?

W. J. H.

The Powers That Be and the Obligations of Christians Towards Them

“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers; for there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God” (Rom. 13).

Human government, it has been justly said, finds its root in the authority which God conferred upon Noah. There was no such thing, properly speaking, in the antediluvian earth. Adam had a most extensive dominion, but no power over life. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man,” etc. (Gen. 1:26-28). There was no authority delegated over man, nor even to deprive the least animal of its life. Hence it was that the murder of a brother did not draw down vengeance from man, though conscience dreaded the retributive blow from every hand. “The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto ME from the ground,” said the Lord to guilty Cain; and He set a mark upon him, lest any should slay the fugitive. Then followed a long reign of gigantic and uncurbed wickedness. Finally, a preacher of righteousness was raised up who warned for the space of one hundred and twenty years, when God swept away the corruption and violence of the race in the waters of the deluge.

After that catastrophe, a new commission opens. Noah and his sons have the Adamic grant confirmed; but they have much more. Every moving thing that liveth, even as the green herb, should be meat for them, the blood thereof excepted. “And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man: at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man. And you, be ye fruitful,” etc. (Gen. 9:5-7). Evidently, the world was then placed under new conditions, which, in their substance, continue and must subsist till a new and yet future dealing of God change the face of all things, as may be gathered from 2 Peter and other scriptures.

The principle, then, of the divine charge to Noah and his sons remains true and obligatory till the clay of the Lord. Now what is its chief characteristic? Clearly it is God's committal of the sword, or the power of life and death, into the hands of man. “Whoso sheddeth man's blood, BY MAN shall his blood be shed.” Such is the true source and basis of civil government. It did not spring from social contract. It did not grow by degrees out of family relationships. It did not originate in the usurpation of man or of a class. As God's command gave it being, so it can never cease to be clothed with His authority, whether men hear or forbear. If there be any one part of the charge which stands most prominent, it is the responsibility of man to visit capitally him who sheds man's blood. Such is the requirement of God, grounded upon the fact that He made man in His image. But though the reason of the thing might apply from Adam downwards, no such power was delegated till Noah. The notion, therefore, of its being, in any sort or degree, a right inherent in man, is thus cut off. It is a right of God, which He, ever since the flood, has been pleased to entrust to human keeping, which those in authority are bound to enforce in subjection to Him, and for the exercise of which they must by-and-by give account to Himself (Psa. 82).

It is easy to say that God has withdrawn or quashed the commission given to Noah and his family. But I ask, where? when? how? and await in vain the shadow of a proof.

Undoubtedly, God revealed other thoughts and hopes to the faith of Abraham and of his seed. With the fathers he entered into a new relationship—a covenant of grace and promise, as proved by Rom. 4 and Gal. 3- which did not clash with the previous bond signed, sealed, and delivered, if I may so say, to Noah and his sons. This was a covenant between God and the earth at large; that was a special covenant between God and His own people. By the one, the world's wickedness was kept in check; by the other, the wandering patriarchs walked as strangers in a land promised to them and their seed for an everlasting possession. The former menaced human violence, if need were, with death; the latter led the men who embraced its hopes, pilgrims on earth, under the guidance of a known and almighty Friend. The government of the earth proceeded in its own sphere, wide as all the families of the earth. The calling of Abraham and his seed had its proper and peculiar domain. Between them there was no confusion, much less contradiction.

It is true that, after the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, the principle of government, first committed to Noah, and that of God's call, first manifested in Abraham, were seen united. In that chosen people, separated from the Gentiles as His witness, God developed His ways as a Ruler. But, alas! at Sinai, instead of confessing their sin, and pleading the absolute promises made to the fathers, they accepted the conditions of their own obedience. The result was ruin under all variety of circumstances: the law broken before it was brought down from the Mount, God Himself rejected, failure under priests, under prophets, under kings, “till there was no remedy,” and God at length gave them into the hands of their enemies. During their national existence in Canaan, none can pretend that God relieved Israel from the responsibility of punishing with death.

At the Babylonish captivity, God severed the principle of earthly rule from that of His call, transferring the former to the Gentiles. The four great empires appeared in succession, as Daniel and other inspired writers predicted and attested. The last, or Roman empire, bore sway, as is notorious, when our Lord was born and died; and God began to call His church, chosen from Jews and Gentiles, as one body here below. But it is clear and certain, from the Acts of the Apostles and the rest of the New Testament, that the church in no way interfered with the government of the earth, which God had placed in the hands of magistrates. The had, no doubt, to hear and to bear the reproach of turning the world upside down, and of doing contrary to the decrees of Cesar; but it was false. Christ's kingdom is not of this world. They knew it, they had it, and they did not want another. They remembered His own glowing words about them: “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world"; and they waited for Him from heaven, assured that those who suffer shall also reign with Him. As they never resisted the authorities by force, so they sought in their teachings to uphold, not to weaken, the just place which God of old had assigned them. Hence Paul thus addressed the believers in the imperial city: “Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation” (rather judgment, as also in 1 Cor. 11:29, where the context is decisively against the idea of “damnation"). “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same; for he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger [or avenger] to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake,” etc. (Rom. 13). The reigning emperor was a pagan and a persecutor; but clearly that was not the question. The language of the Spirit is so framed as to exclude cavil, founded either on the profession or the practice of the ruler. “There is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” What can be conceived more definite on the one hand, more comprehensive on the other? What more opposed to revolutionary movement? It was most, wholesome; just in the right place and time. For the Jews were then turbulent, and the Christians were obnoxious in the extreme to the ruling powers. It seems probable that some at Rome, from old Jewish associations, found it hard to own and respect, as of God, rulers whom they saw sunken in the spiritual and moral degradations of heathenism. Under such circumstances, if under any, one might have supposed a priori that God might have revoked the grant of power from its Gentile holders, if He did not transfer it to the church. But no! The door is closed against every excuse. “The powers that be are ordained of God.”

As regards Christian responsibility, it is of no essential importance what may be the form of government. It may be despotic or constitutional: it may be aristocratic or republican. Nay, more, in its profession, it may be Pagan or Mahometan, Popish or Protestant. The principle or rule, as regards mankind and the earth, remains untouched. Thus, the Christian is bound to pay allegiance and honor wherever he may be-in England to the Queen, and in France to the Emperor; in Russia to the Czar, and in Turkey to the Sultan; and the same thing is true of all subordinate authorities. The only limit is that the Christian owes absolute subjection to God; and therefore when obeying an earthly government entails—happily a rare thing—disobedience to God, it need scarcely be said that he must obey God rather than man. To resist the powers is to resist God's ordinance. The alternative for the Christian, when he may not obey a human command that involves a breach of God's will, is suffering, not resistance. But in general it remains true that to him who does good, the magistrate, under any government you please, is God's minister for good. So said St. Paul in view of an arbitrary and an idolatrous power. “But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid: FOR HE BEARETH NOT THE SWORD IN VAIN.” That is to say, we have the Apostle, long after Christ had been extensively preached among the Gentiles, urging the saints at Rome to submit themselves to the existing authorities, to render to Caesar the things of Caesar. Of course, if Caesar had sought to corrupt the faith or destroy the worship of God's church; if Nero had ordered them to give up the Lord, positively like Nebuchadnezzar, or negatively like Darius, their duty had been plain—not to protest merely, and sin all the while, but to suffer for righteousness' sake: they were not to render the things of God, but of Caesar, to Caesar. But if the State demanded any service, however hard, Christianity taught them to yield it, if not positively sinful. If it insulted and persecuted them, still they were taught to pray for kings and for all in authority, “that we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

But suppose, instead of doing good, and having praise of the ruler, a man does evil, what then? “Be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain.” Assuredly, if the ruler is not to use the sword, he does bear it in vain. He might as well, or better, not bear it at all; for an idle threat is a proof of feebleness, and a brutum fulmen brings a ruler, of all men, into contempt. Paul, however, anticipates no such dereliction of duty on the part of the magistrate, but warns the ill-disposed that he is God's servant, “a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.” The passage is clear as noonday. It demonstrates that the authority of the sword delegated to Noah and his sons, as representatives of government, is no more repealed or neutralized by the grace of the Christian revelation, than it had been by the righteousness of the Mosaic code. It proves that the Christian is bound to respect that sword by whatever hands it may be wielded. Even if the magistrate were an infidel, if he degraded his office by regarding the popular will, not God, as the source of his authority, the Christian is not the less bound to own God's authority in him, and to honor him as God's minister in worldly things, in “the things of Caesar.” It is mere delusion, therefore, to suppose that Christianity deprives a government of the authority to punish evil-doers with the sword. Paul, as we have seen, fully recognizes that power, and describes the ruler as one authorized by God to avenge evil. To speak of mercy, amendment, etc., as the sole or chief aim when law is violated and a man is convicted of murder, for instance, is to evince the utmost confusion of thought. For while grace is the central idea in God's scheme for saving sinners by the cross, justice is and must be the foundation of all earthly government, Jewish or Gentile. Doubtless, in the gospel God can and does justify—not pardon only, but justify—the chief of sinners freely, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. But thence to infer that a world's ruler ought to deal on the same principle towards criminals, is, in my opinion, to despise both revelation and reason.

Some, I am aware, find a difficulty because of Matt. 5:38, etc., and similar texts. This is due to a failure in seizing the bearing of these scriptures; for no believer would even insinuate that one part of God's word contradicts another. Now we have seen Rom. 13 to teach distinctly that the ruler is to be owned as bearing not the sword in vain; as an avenger to execute wrath on him that doeth evil; in short, as God's minister in earthly things, no less than Paul and Apollos were God's ministers in heavenly things. This chapter formally sets the Christian in the place of subjection to the powers that be, asserts the authority which God has vested in them, and finally makes it a matter not of wrath merely, but of conscience to the believer. Matt. 5 is in quite another direction, but perfectly consistent with the former teaching. Here the Lord instructs His disciples in their individual path, not their relation to governors, and puts their calling to walk in grace, active or passive, in contrast with the Jews, who were called to act in the righteousness of the law. It is absurd to apply such a passage to a government or a worldly tribunal. If it did so apply, it would prove that magistrates ought to caress and reward every culprit, instead of punishing any.

1 Peter 2 connects and enforces both truths within a narrow compass. On the one hand, we are exhorted, in verses 13 and 14, to submit ourselves to “every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evil doers, and for the praise of them that do well.” On the other hand, we are told that this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. “For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.” The latter verses savor as strongly of Matt. 5 as the former do of Rom. 13; they teach different but harmonious truths. And the present day is a time when we need to put each other in mind “to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men” (Titus 3:1,2); for there is no lack of them that “walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self-willed; they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.” The Lord keep His own in the path of obedience.

W. K.

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ABRAM

Gen. 23 (continued)

" And the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the borders round about, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city " (vers. 13-18). Faith never was meant to encourage a careless spirit, as Abraham's conduct in this business exemplifies, at a moment when any one else would have rather availed himself of another's help. Whatever the circumstances, faith makes the believer superior to them all.

"And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre; the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan. And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying-place by the sons of Heth " (vers. 19, 20). God works, doubtless; but the believer himself is exercised before Him and is delivered from his own will, or from the influence of objects such as the enemy uses to divert from God. So it was here. God gave Abraham such a place in the esteem of his neighbors that there was no difficulty whatever; but Abraham bore himself as one who sought not his own things but the will and pleasure of Him who had called him out by, and to, His promises—promises as yet unfulfilled.

Hence the importance to the patriarchs, while preserving their pilgrim character, of burial in Canaan. So, when Abraham was gathered to his people, his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the same spot, " in the cave of Machpelah in the field of Ephron, the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre, the field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife " (chap. 25:9,10). There too was Isaac laid by his sons Esau and Jacob (chap. 35:27-29). And so it was with Jacob, though he died in Egypt, for Joseph had him embalmed; " and his sons did unto him according as he commanded them, for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying-place of Ephron the Hittite before Mamre " (chap. 1:12, 13). Joseph again (chap. 1. 25, 26) " took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence." Hence he too was embalmed and put in a coffin in Egypt; but when deliverance came, Moses took the bones of Joseph with him (Ex. 13:19). which the children of Israel in due time buried, not in the cave of Machpelah but in Shechem, "in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of silver; and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph " ( Josh. 24:32).

Very different is the spiritual feeling which the hope of Christ's coming forms in the breast of the Christian. As His presence on high, in the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, calls one in worship from earth to heaven, and thus makes it no longer a question of Jerusalem any more than of " this mountain," so we look for Christ to come, gather us round him in the air, and present us in the Father's house, as well as to reign with Him after a heavenly sort over the earth. A special resting-place here below vanishes from a mind thus formed and nourished. We look, not for death though we may meanwhile fall asleep, but for Him who is the Resurrection and the Life, and will change us whether we wake or sleep into His glorious image, transforming our body of humiliation into conformity to His body of glory according to the working of the power which He has, even to subdue all things to Himself. Thus the opening of the heavens for us, consequent on redemption and our Lord's ascension, makes the earth to be of no account for the Christian in any way or for any present purpose.

Gen. 24

Not that the tale of Rebekah opens out the mystery which was reserved hidden in God for the apostle Paul to reveal to us, itself revealed not to the Old Testament writers, but to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This however does not hinder, but rather help, us, now that the secret is revealed, to understand the type of Rebekah as far as it goes; but it may be noticed that it does not set out either of the two great parts of the mystery-first, Christ, the Head of all things, heavenly and earthly; secondly, the church, in which Jewish and Gentile distinctions disappear, united to Him as His body in that universal supremacy, conscious of the relationship even while here on earth by the Holy Ghost sent down from on high. The type fits in with all, but cannot be said to reveal it.

My task now is to say a little of Abraham's part in what is here recorded. " And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and Jehovah had blessed Abraham in all things. And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh: and I will make thee swear by Jehovah, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell: but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son Isaac. And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest? And Abraham said unto him, Beware that thou bring not my son thither again. The Jehovah God of heaven, which took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred, and which spake unto me, and that sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt 'take a wife unto my son from thence. And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath: only bring not my son thither again. And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter " (vers. 1-9).

In all this the Father's purpose seems clearly foreshewn; a new thing was in progress-a bride to be fetched for His Son. None but the most careless can forbear to see the great and unusual solemnity of the transaction. Thus his trusty Eliezer is employed " that ruled over all he had," who aptly prefigures the place of service which the Holy Spirit is pleased now to take in executing the purpose of God as to the church in this world. In no other case, not of Genesis only but of all the Old Testament, do we find an oath introduced, the purport of which is so urged again and again. The subject of it too is no less to be observed. A wife must on no account be taken for Isaac from the daughters of Canaan. She must be sought from the country and kin out of which the father of the faithful had himself been called. Angels are not called, fallen or unfallen: sovereign grace chooses from the world. But there is another provision no less insisted on-the risen Son must on no account be brought again to the world for calling His bride. It is the Holy Ghost who accomplishes this work, not the Bridegroom. The Spirit is sent down from heaven to preach the gospel, and so to effect the formation of the church. The risen Bridegroom abides exclusively in heaven, while the call proceeds. Most impressively does Abraham admonish us in type of what moment it is to see that Christ has nothing but a heavenly relation to the church, and in absolute separation from the world.

How true this is in Christ for the Christian! " We all with open face beholding [or reflecting] the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Lord the Spirit." " Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more." So our Lord Himself said (John 16), the Comforter, on coming, should " convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment of sin, because they do not believe on me; of righteousness, because I go away to my Father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." The righteous One was cast out by the unjust and lawless world, but God the Father has accepted and exalted Him at His right hand. This is the righteousness of God in its heavenly aspect; and there we know Him, not as the Messiah reigning on earth, but as the rejected One exalted in heaven. He is in no sense of the world; and Christians are not, even as He is not. Nay, more, " As is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly; and as we have borne the image of the earthy, so shall we also bear the image of the heavenly " (1 Cor. 15). The practice depends on the principle: the position of Christ determines the walk, as well as the spirit, of the Christian. Rebekah was to have Isaac in Canaan before her; there only was to think of him. On on account-not even to win his bride -must the bridegroom leave his place, save only to receive her to himself at the end. Isaac stays in Canaan and there only is known, while she is being led from her father's house, across the desert, by trusty Eliezer.

We may notice next the place which prayer receives in the servant, and this, not through pressure of trial as in Jacob, but in giving (as here) character to the walk of faith. " And the servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor. And he made his camels to kneel down without the city by a well of water, at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water. And he said, 0 Jehovah God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham. Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water: and let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master " (vers. 10-14).

So it is with the Christian in the world. " We walk by faith, not by sight." "Pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." " In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God." Intercourse is established between the believer and God. He knows Whom he has believed. "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that if we seek anything according to his will, he heareth us; and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." " And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand and gave him drink. And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also, until they have done drinking. And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels. And the man wondering at her, held his peace, to wit whether Jehovah had made his journey prosperous or not " (vers. 15-21).

Thus faith is kept in constant happy exercise. It is the work of the Spirit in man, especially now that redemption is known. Conscience is at rest, and the affections are free.

But there is more than prayer which distinguishes the christian and the church. The power of the Spirit finds ground of thanksgiving as well as of prayer and supplication. It is indeed the hour when the true worshippers worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him, and the figure of this we find here. " And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ear-ring of half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold; and said, Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there room in thy father's house for us to lodge in? And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, which she bare unto Nahor. She moreover said unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in. And the man bowed down his head, and worshipped Jehovah. And he said, Blessed be Jehovah God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of his mercy and his truth: I being in the way, Jehovah led me to the house of my master's brethren " (vers. 22-27).

Along with this difficulties disappear. As the Lord directs, so He opens the door and blesses. There is the comfort of this-the comfort of knowing that it is His own hand that does all. Whatever may be the hindrances, the mission of the Spirit is accomplished. It stands not in persuasible words of man's wisdom, but in the power of God. No doubt there are gifts which accompany from the first the message of the witness, and array the bride, but the work is eminently one of faith and not of human influence. And hence it looks for, and has, the blessing of the Lord.

" And the damsel ran, and told them of her mother's house these things. And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban; and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the well. And it came to pass, when he saw the ear-rings and bracelets upon his sister's hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man: and, behold, he stood by the camels at the well. And he said, Come in, thou blessed of Jehovah, wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels. And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men's feet that were with him. And there was set meat before him to eat: but he said, I will not eat until I have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on. And he said, I am Abraham's servant. And Jehovah hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great; and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maid.. servants, and camels, and asses. And Sarah my master's wife bare a son to my master when she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he bath. And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife to my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell; but thou shalt go unto my father's house, and to my kindred, and take a wife unto my son. And I said unto my master, Peradventure the woman will not follow me. And he said unto me, Jehovah before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father's house: then shalt thou be clear from this my oath, when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give not thee one, thou shalt be clear from my oath. And I came this day unto the well, and said, 0 Jehovah God of my master Abraham, If now thou do prosper my way which I go: behold, I stand. by the well of water; and it shall come to pass, that when the virgin cometh forth to draw water, and I say to her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water of thy pitcher to drink; and she say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: let the same be the woman whom Jehovah hath appointed for my master's son. And before I had done speaking in mine heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the well, and drew water: and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee. And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made the camels drink also. And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the ear-ring upon her face, and the bracelets upon her hands. And I bowed down my head, and worshipped Jehovah, and blessed Jehovah God of my master Abraham, which had led me in the right way to take my master's brother's daughter unto his son. And now if ye will deal, kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me: that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left. Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from Jehovah we cannot speak unto thee bad or good. Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master's son's wife, as Jehovah hath spoken. And it came to pass that, when Abraham's servant heard their words, he worshipped Jehovah, bowing himself to the earth. And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels' of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things " (vers. 28-53).

Lastly it is the work of the Spirit to give, and keep up, and strengthen the desire of being with Christ and of His coming, whatever communion of saints may be enjoyed here. " And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master. And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go. And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing Jehovah hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master. And they said, We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth. And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go " (vers. 54-58).

So, in the Revelation, the Spirit and the bride say, Come, when Christ presents Himself as the bright, the morning, star. It is the cry, " Behold the Bridegroom! go ye out to meet him," which awakens the slumbering virgins at midnight. It is this which recalls the saints now to go out, as they were called at the first, to meet the Bridegroom. "And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men. And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them. And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way. And Isaac came from the way of the well Lahai-roi: for he dwelt in the south country. And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: And he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she lighted off the camel. For she had said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant had said, It is my master therefore she took a vail, and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all things that he had done. And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death " (vers, 59-67).

So will it be with the heavenly bride. " For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up, together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." The Father's purpose shall not fail of accomplishment, and all heaven shall rejoice and give honor to Him, " for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready."

Gen. 25

The first part of the chapter, comprehended in these verses, gives us the closing scenes of Abraham's eventful and instructive history. The Jewish tradition which identifies Keturah with Hagar is not only without Proof but set aside by verse 6, which speaks of " the sons of the concubines which Abraham had; " and as Hagar was one, so Keturah was the other, not (as I think) to imply that she filled this relation during any part of Sarah's life, but rather to affirm her inferiority of place. Koturah is expressly called Abraham's " concubine " in 1 Chron. 1:32; as Hagar, on the other hand, is styled his " wife " in Gen. 16:3. Nor need we revert to the Gentile difficulty, that sons were begotten of Abraham after Sarah's death, which has induced not a few of old as now to believe that Abraham took Keturah during Sarah's life-time, and that the whole paragraph, if not chapter, is placed out of its chronological sequence in order not to break the main narrative. Proof of this is wanting, as the whole paragraph flows naturally, after Rebekah's marriage with Isaac, up to the several portions of the sons, as distinguished from the heir, and the death of the patriarch which was severed from Sarah's by at least thirty-seven years.

"Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and. Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country " (vers. 1-6).

Still it is written that "Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac." The risen son is the heir of all things; and if we are of Christ, then are we Abraham's seed, heirs according to promise. But unto the sons of the concubines which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away. They receive gifts, not the inheritance of the promises; and they are sent away, instead of abiding in the house forever, as does the son.

So it will be in the age to come on earth, when, the church being completed, the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready. Blessing will flow, and the land of the morning will be no longer " the immovable east." I do not speak of Israel, the head of the nations under Christ's reign here below; still less of the glorified saints on high; nor do I mean only those that may then be born of God in every nation or people or tribe under the sun. But all the Gentiles are to rejoice with His people-a principle more deeply true, doubtless, in the present election for heaven from among Jews and Gentiles, but to be far more openly and widely seen in that bright day; and this, too, even in that quarter of the globe where dark superstitions of Christendom grow up rank, and side by side, with the Mahometan imposture and heathenism of every type.

"And these are the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, an hundred threescore and fifteen years. Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years; and was gathered to his people. And his sons, Isaac and Ishmael, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre; the field which Abraham purchased of the sons of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife " (vers. 7-10).

Thus peacefully passed away the man who, of all in Old Testament story, most strikingly combines the title of " friend of God " with " stranger and sojourner on the earth." Not that others-his son, grandson, and other descendants -did not carry on the blessed line of pilgrims who also walked with God. As a whole, however, what saint of old equaled him in these respects? Still less could any be said to surpass " the father of all them that believe."

W. K.

Lessons From the Book of Judges

“But his father and his mother knew not that it was of Jehovah, that he [Samson] sought an occasion against the Philistines” (Judg. 14:4).

Now that the occasion calls for it, one may notice by the way the transparent boldness of Scripture, as wonderfully instructive as the reserve we have already remarked. If man had the writing of the story, would he have dared to speak out thus plainly? I doubt that any believer, without inspiration, would have felt it desirable to write that verse, and many more, as God has done it. If unveiling the fact at all, he would have apologized for it, denounced its evil to clear himself, spoken. much perhaps of God's permitting and overruling. Now I am far from denying that it is right for us to feel the pain and shame of Samson's ways. But there is one thing that God's Spirit always assumes—the perfect goodness and the unswerving holiness of God. And this, beyond all doubt or fear, we are entitled always to keep before our hearts in reading the Bible.

Never then let the breath of suspicion enter your soul. Invariably, when you listen to the written word of God, range yourself on His side. You will never understand the Bible otherwise. You may be tried; but be assured that you will be helped out of the trial. The day may come when nobody appears to lend you a helping hand. What is to become of you then? Once allow your soul to be sullied by judging those living oracles, and real faith in the Bible is gone as far as you are concerned. If I do not trust it in everything, I can trust it in nothing.

So dangerous is apt to be the reaction against one ever so honest; the more you have trusted, when you begin to doubt, the worse it is apt to be, even with poor erring man, who knows not what a serious thing it is. Nor ought any one to allow a suspicion until he has the certainty of that which can be accounted for in no way save by guilt. And this, I need scarce say, is still more due on the score of brotherly relation and divine love, not merely on the ground of that which we might expect for our own souls.

But when God and His word are in question, it ought to be a simple matter for a child of God. How often it is ourselves who make the difficulties of which the enemy greedily avails himself against our own souls and His glory! For objections against scripture are always the creation of unbelief. Difficulties, where they exist for us, should only exercise faith in God. The word of God is always in itself not only right, but fraught with light. It makes wise the simple; it enlightens the eyes. “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”

Undoubtedly there are many things in scripture of which we are ignorant; but then we are not entitled to interpret the word of God by ourselves. There is such a thing as to be taught of God. The Holy Ghost is given for this as for other purposes. It may often be, doubtless, that we are obliged to wait, and a wholesome thing too for our souls it should be. It is well sometimes for all those who teach that they should be obliged to learn; well that they should be forced to feel that they do not know; an excellent moral lesson that they should confess it—not only be conscious of it, but own it; for indeed the necessary claim of scripture is that it be confided in as the word of God, though it does not thence follow that we are competent to explain all. By the Holy Spirit only can we enter in and enjoy.

It is not here meant that there is any special difficulty in that which has been the occasion of these general remarks; still less is it implied that he who speaks makes any pretension to know anything as he ought to know, more than those he sees around him. If through the unction from the Holy One we know all, it is equally true that we all are but learners.

Again, it is not of course any attainment of mine that leads me to speak as I have done now. If I have spoken strongly, it is only, I trust, what becomes every believer. I have taken no ground beyond your own, my brethren; but surely this is a ground that calls you to assert the very same inestimable privilege that I boast as by grace a man of faith. It is not the vanity of setting up oneself as possessed of exclusive powers or special means of attaining or explaining anything; for I should distrust any one who pretended to anything of the sort, no matter who or where he might be. But that which does good to every saint and to every soul, is the unqualified confidence in God and His word, which, if it does not reproduce itself in hearts purified by faith, at least deals with the consciences of all others till utterly blinded by Satan. Nor are you thus called to believe anything like an extravagance, though it surely would be so if the Bible were a human book, and so to be treated like any other, which after all even infidels do not: witness their occupation with it and zeal against it. Who troubles himself with the Koran or the Shastres, save their votaries?

But scripture claims always to be the word of God—never the word of Isaiah or Ezekiel, of Peter or Paul (1 Cor. 14:37; 2 Peter 3:15, 16); for, whatever the instrument may be, it is as truly God's word as if the Holy Ghost had written it without a single instrumental means. If this be submitted to (and you might more consistently reject the Bible altogether, if you do not submit), one sees the hollowness and falsehood of sitting in judgment upon it; for who can question that to doubt that which comes directly from God Himself would be to take the place, not merely of an unbeliever, but of a blasphemer or an atheist? And if unbelief be probed home, it comes to this: it is a virtual denial of God's veracity, of His revelation, if not of His being.

Notes on Matthew 15

We get the contrast between these highly privileged ones, the religious leaders of the nations, and the extraordinary case we have towards the end of the chapter. They made void the law by the tradition of the elders. The Lord did not discuss with them the outward washing. He went straight to the law. We are always safe if we have the authority of God's word for all we do; and what is true of the individual is true of the assembly. As far as the assembly is concerned the word of God is so written that whatever case occurs we need to wait on. God for His mind as therein revealed. He has given light for every circumstance, but we are cast on Him for His mind about it. There is no cast-iron rule, but the need of exercise of heart and conscience. Have we the single eye? Then will our body be full of light.

“Honor thy father and thy mother” (ver. 4) is the first commandment with promise. Yet it would be a gross thing indeed to think that when a person is now left here to a great age it is because he honors his father and mother. A Jew was blessed according to his dispensation—dispensation of the Law. A Christian is blessed with every kind of spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ, for now is the economy of grace. Yet is there blessing attached to this fifth commandment. The apostle said to depart would be far better, but to “remain” to help the saints was “worth his while.” The tradition of the elders diverted the honor due to the parents from the children, by the acknowledgment of the offerer's “gift.”

What would have been the parents' portion is denied them under the ostensible plea of a “gift” to God, in contravention of His law! Thus were the sons delivered from all responsibility to their parents by this tradition, making the word of God of none effect. It was the best possible case to bring their conduct home to them, for anyone can see the hollowness of such behavior. It makes the word of God utterly void.

The prophecy of Isaiah justifies the Lord in His expression “Ye hypocrites.” The Lord quotes the prophets. They say, “Thus saith Jehovah,” but He never uses these words, for He is Jehovah Himself who speaks. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord on the heart. So the very thing they were doing was exposed and condemned by the prophets, “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” The worship God values is not of, form, but worship “in spirit and truth.” it should be a small “s” in John 4:23, but in Phil. 3:3 the accepted text is “by [the] Spirit of God.” The Son is equally the object of worship with the Father. Rev. 5, makes this very plain “He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father.” “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; he that confesseth the Son hath the Father also.” There is a twofold danger referred to in Col. 2, philosophy and ritualism. The safeguard is, “In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily,” and “Ye are complete in him,” to the exclusion of everything else.

In verse 10 He calls to Him the multitude, and speaks to them in such plain words that one would think they would be the ones to be offended but we are told that it was the Pharisees or religious leaders who were offended. Then the Lord speaks still more plainly. These people would compass sea and land to make one proselyte; but what was it all worth if there was no work of grace in the soul?

We have God's grace and God's sovereignty in verse 13: “Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up.” The Father's name is always connected with grace.

Each of us ought to realize that nothing worse can happen to us than to be left alone. If God gives up a soul, it is all up with it. In Rom. 1 we read that “God gave them over to a reprobate mind,” as they did not approve to retain God in their knowledge. And if God leaves us alone for a little while like as he did Hezekiah, it is to teach us a lesson. But oh, is it not far better to learn it in communion!

You would not get expressions like these unless there had been determined and continual rejection of testimony. We must connect this with chapter 12. The Pharisees are the opponents of a living Christ; the Sadducees figure more in the Acts, as against a risen Christ.

“Blind guides,” they knew not whither they were going. John shows us that. So with all their pretension they were blind. They ask, in John 9: “Are we blind?” They were assuming to be guides. The language means that there is an awful end for those under their influence. It is plain enough, though Peter calls it a parable. We are slow to believe that which is against us. It is a mercy to have grace to welcome all the word of God, even that which exposes us and shows us our danger.

Verse 16 is a rebuke. “Are ye also yet without understanding?” There was nothing ambiguous in what the Lord had been saying. It shows here that man has a radically bad nature, and the evil is not from without, but from within—from the heart. But the heart can be purified. Peter puts it beautifully in Acts 15 “And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith... but we believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they,” because it is all grace. I don't think we could scripturally say that God has given us a new heart. It will be true for Israel by and by, as says Ezekiel (chap. 36:26). “When it (the heart) shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.” Then shall they say in the language of Isa. 53, “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.” But we have a pure and holy nature a new birth. It is not cleansing by blood that the Lord spoke of, in John 13, when He said “Ye are clean every whit,” but cleansing by water—the new birth. “Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you” (John 15:3). I have an old nature as bad as ever it was, but I have a new one which is holy. “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.”

“Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts” (ver. 19). Evil thoughts condemn everyone. Paul found that out as to himself, He had not known lust he says, save by the law. What Paul writes to Titus would come as near this as anything. A converted Jew writing to a converted Gentile says, “For we also,” —I Paul, and you Titus— “were aforetime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.” The man that had been externally right learned that he was the chief of sinners. It means this, that if he is chief—and it is as an inspired writer that he says it—the door is high enough and wide enough to admit anyone that comes up. Our only deliverance is “by death.” “In that he died, he died unto sin once; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” That is the only way. Then the heart wants something. And, thank God, we have an Object practically to deliver one from one's self.

Verse 22: The Canaanites were devoted to destruction, and if Israel had been faithful, they would have been exterminated; so the very presence of this woman proved their unfaithfulness. This extermination was not allowed to begin until the iniquity of the Amorite was full, for God never judges unripened sin. God's judgment had been poured out on Tire and Sidon; they had been exceedingly guilty. This woman had not an atom of claim on Him. It is being shown here that the time of the formal Jewish worship was to be set aside, and grace would go out to the Gentiles. She was nationally outside the pale of blessing—without Christ, an alien, a stranger, hopeless, and without God (Eph. 2:11, 12). So though the middle wall was not yet broken down she yet obtained mercy. “Son of David” is connected with promises for Israel. As Gentiles there are no promises for us. But we have Christ. The gospel is not promises. It tells of a performance. The Spirit of God clearly shows us, in Rom. 4, the distinction between the way Abraham got the blessing through its promise and his belief of the promise, and the way of our blessing which rests on an accomplished work. As believers we have promises, and they are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus.

The case of this Syrophoenician woman is no doubt an extreme case, taken up in contrast with the religious people in the beginning of the chapter, to show His judgment on them, and His grace to the most unlikely and unworthy. And then to have her daughter demon-possessed! We sing

“Jesus never turned away

When a sinner sought His aid;

Jesus never answered Nay!

When request to Him was made.”

This is the nearest approach to it. I think the disciples wanted the Lord to give her what she asked, for they were annoyed at her importunity, and could not understand the Lord's not granting her request. “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” was not said to her but to the disciples. Take the case of the woman in John 4, where we have great ignorance, and see the Lord's wonderful grace and patience in leading her on. So here, till she did Him homage, and cried, “Lord help me.” It was a real cry. The Lord always responds to need and to faith. She knew Him to be “Son of David,” but she also knew Him to be more than that; she knew Him to be “Lord.” A gracious soul feels himself to be as did Mephibosheth— “a dead dog"; or as the writer of Psa. 73, “a beast before Thee.”

The more spiritually minded one is, the more one realizes one's ignorance in His presence. Grace taught this woman to take that place. It was not the blessing of those in covenant-relationship, but there was a portion for those outside—the little dogs under the table. The Lord never confines Himself to a crumb! It were a miserable testimony to His goodness! He ever gives worthily of Himself. A little further down in the chapter there were seven loaves, a few small fishes, and four thousand men. If the loaves had been broken up among them it would literally have been a crumb for each, “but they did all eat and were filled.” “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.” That is how God gives.

What we have thus had before us, is the Lord dispensationally visiting the Gentiles in His grace flowing beyond the limits of Israel, and meeting this poor outcast, and that too beyond her expectation. This is the day when we Gentiles are being blessed by His most wondrous grace.

But the Lord is going to visit Israel, and Galilee is where the poor of the flock are, so He turns aside there (ver. 29). He is presented in two aspects—the great “Healer” and the great “Teacher."' What is seen here in a very limited sphere will be universal when He reigns, for these healings are the powers of the world to come. Read verses 1-6 of Isa. 35. That is just what is suggested here, looking forward to the time when His gracious power will be used in healing, and verses 30, 31 correspond with Isaiah. It is hardly possible to make a mistake as to its application. These promises do not apply to us; though “all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, to the glory of God by us.” But there is one promise that has a peculiar place for us. “If I go... I will come again, and receive you unto myself.” “Ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” And the promise is, “I will come again,” for it goes on, “For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry” (Heb. 11:36, 37).

It is well to notice the difference between this miracle of feeding the four thousand and that of feeding the five thousand which we have had before. The latter is the only miracle recorded in all the four Gospels. That alone should arrest our attention. There are features common to both miracles, but we should notice more particularly their peculiarities. In the former twelve baskets were taken up; in the latter seven, but these seven are of larger capacity. The former were hand baskets, the latter large ones, such as Pail at Damascus was let down in. Twelve is the administrative number. The Lord in this miracle begins with Himself and His compassion. Seven represents completeness, and is quite distinct from twelve.

I was struck this week with that word, “This man receiveth sinners” — “receives favourably,'' “welcomes.” It also means to “await,” or “expect.” It is used fourteen times, and if you will trace them you will find that they convey also this meaning of “waiting for.” How He awaits the woman at the well!

“I will not send them away fasting.” Is it not touching? It speaks of His own heart, of Him who, as testified in the Psalms, will satisfy her (Zion's) poor with bread fully.

The Lord said to the woman at the well, “If thou knewest the giving of God!” This is that which captivates the heart. What a poor thought some have of Him, that you have almost to drag a blessing out by earnest prayer! He will be enquired of, of course, but it is His delight to give. Are we as delighted to ask in fervent prayer?

Verse 33 shows us the littleness of their faith. We are very much like that. We forget. If we were constantly full of faith we should remember, as David also remembered his victory over the lion and the bear, when called to meet Goliath. If we remembered our past mercies—how our whole life has been a miracle of love, we should not forget so readily. We used to sing

“Each sweet Ebenezer

I have in review

Confirms His good pleasure

To help me quite through.”

What are difficulties to our blessed Saviour?

Is there anything too hard for Him? It was nothing new for Him to provide food for His people, Who had fed them for forty years in the wilderness.

“He gave thanks” (ver. 36). All that He did was perfect. We can eat and drink “to the glory of God.” There was not one in that company but was more than satisfied. So were the servants in the father's house of Luke 15. They had bread enough and to spare. It was hunger that brought the prodigal home. That parable was to show the Father's delight to receive. It was he that ran, not the prodigal. It is well when the Lord can employ His disciples. The Lord can do without us, but He loves to employ us. He has made us for His own glory, saved us for His own glory, and employs us for His own glory. Seven baskets full speak of a completeness that will ever exist.

Nothing is diminished by God's giving. There will always be completeness. He is no poorer by giving.

“My God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory, by Christ Jesus.” And there is a word left out there in our version, it should read “abundantly supply.” He knows what to give, and what to withhold; but “no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

They took up much more than they started with.

As the hymn says, “None could have multiplied thus sevenfold But He Who provided the manna of old.”

Scripture Query and Answer: Romans 8:1-13

Question. —Could you, through “THE BIBLE TREASURY,” please give an explanation of Rom. 8:1-13?

Some believe that we have here contrasted the sinner dead in sins, and the believer looked at positionally; while others submit that we have the working of the two natures in the believer, the latter view being that vers. 4-13 are chiefly practical.

Please explain the “death” in ver. 6, and the “die” in ver. 13.

T. H.

Answer.-The opening verses of Rom. 8 apply the reasoning of the Chapters preceding (5-7), with its result that there is then now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus. We are no longer in Adam who fell, but in Christ risen, so that condemnation is ruled out of place.

For my sins Christ died, and believing on God who raised Him from the dead, I am justified. I have been born again, have received a new life, new desires which I never had before, and these desires I seek to carry out. But I find I have still an evil nature within me and this “sin” that dwelleth in me being more powerful than my resolves to do “good” makes me cry, “O wretched man that I am: who shall deliver me from this body of death?”

Chap. 6 teaches that as many of us as were baptized unto Christ Jesus were baptized unto His death. He died to sin once, and I, having been buried with Him by baptism unto death, am called to reckon myself to be dead unto sin, that I should walk in newness of life. “Sin,” my old master, had its erst dominion over me, but faith accepts the truth of the chapter, that my death with Christ has released me from sin's jurisdiction, and the Lord Jesus is now my Master. “If we say that we have no ‘sin,' we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). The “sin” that dwelleth in me is not gone, but it has been condemned in the cross of Christ (8:3), and it shall not have dominion over me. The Christian's responsibility is “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey its lusts,” nor yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. Being freed from this tyrant, we own our allegiance to righteousness, and have become servants to God.

As I have died to “sin,” so also have I become dead to the law by the body of Christ, having died to that in which we were held (7:4, 6). The law being “holy and just and good” demanded a righteousness from man which it was unable to obtain in that it was weak through the flesh (for I am carnal, sold under sin). I own its force, and power to condemn, and my powerlessness to meet its requirements. The law is in no way abrogated. It still has its place. “We know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made for (or has its application to) a righteous man, but for lawless and disobedient,” etc. (1 Tim. 1.). I own its authority, and pass away from under it by the body of Christ (having died to it) that I should belong to another, even to Christ, risen from the dead, in order that I might bring forth fruit to God.

There is the conflict of the two natures just because they are existent in the believer, and one has to learn experimentally that the possession of divine life—my being born again—does not annihilate or cast out the old sinful nature within me. We cannot say, “We have no sin.” In the Lord Jesus only was there “no sin.” For if, as only the renewed man can say, I delight in the law of God after the inward man, I, nevertheless, see another law, or evil principle, in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity. I want then a deliverer, and this I have through Christ our Lord. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”

Chap. 8 brings in the possession of a new power, the indwelling Spirit. The carnal mind (the mind of the flesh) is always enmity and can never be subject to the law of God. “So then they that are in the flesh, cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.” The law's demands are more than fulfilled in us who walk not after flesh but after Spirit.

In contrast with the powerlessness of the man in Rom. 7, we have in Gal. 5 the competency of the Christian as led of the Spirit which now indwells. Hence the exhortation, “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh does lust against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye may not [not, “cannot"] do the thing that ye would” (vers. 16-18).

The “mind of the flesh” is death (ver. 6), whether of the believer or the unbeliever, and so is “living according to flesh” (ver. 13). We are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. Gal. 6:7, 8 warns us not to be deceived. “God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his own flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” This applies to the believer's walk as to the unbeliever's. And we must beware of seeking to dull the force of these warnings. We are to follow “holiness without which no one shall see the Lord.” This is practical holiness, which I am to pursue (Heb. 12:14).

Erratum

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r67, „ x, „ 2z, „ civilly evilly

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Asa and Jehoshaphat

2 Chronicles 16:1-10; 20:1-30

One hardly knows anything more sad than this account of Asa. No doubt he was the Lord's, but he was out of communion, and relied on his own resources. And he begins by robbing God. Then he asked a worldly man to do a distinctly dishonorable thing: “Then Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of Jehovah and of the king's house, and sent to Ben-hadad, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me” (vers. 2, 3). If we get out of communion there is no saying what we may do. It is sad to think that the flesh has more scope in a believer than in the unconverted.

Asa gets his way with Ben-hadad, but Jehovah sends a messenger who tells him he is only a sufferer by getting his own way. Then he adds: “For the eyes of Jehovah run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of those whose heart is perfect towards him” (ver. 9). Those whose hearts are perfect are not those perfect in flesh, but those who know there is nothing good in them. “Cease ye from man,” and begin with yourself.

We need mercy, we need wisdom. Let us ask of God, Who giveth liberally and upbraideth not. We have had here a word of warning, Now let us turn to chap. 20:1-3.

Oh, how blessed! There is nothing finer than this. David, and rightly, “inquired of Jehovah,” but Jehoshaphat “set himself to seek Jehovah,” and then proclaimed a fast-setting aside the flesh. Oh, how delightful to see the people of God realizing their weakness, and gathering together to seek the Lord as in ver. 5! Mark Jehoshaphat's reasoning: he makes it a question of God, to Whom all power belongs. Clearing the ground altogether, he makes it a question of God, and God's ability.

What a delicious verse is ver. 6! But he is taking the very highest ground in ver. 7. “Abraham, thy friend"! Twice do we get the father of the faithful spoken of as the “Friend” of God! Here for the first time, then in Isaiah (41.), and lastly in James (2.). Doubtless, the people had behaved very badly, and Jehoshaphat is ready to own it; but if grace gives us high ground it is the merest pride to reject it. Some think it wrong to know the forgiveness of sins; but no, God says it, and the believer ought to occupy the high ground His grace gives.

Mark how he piles it up in vers. 8, 9. It is very beautiful. There is no boasting, but telling God how they have rested in Him, and now they are doing exactly what God would have them do, answering to Solomon's prayer, and relying on His promise, and He cannot deny Himself.

“And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Sier, whom thou wouldst not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not; Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit, O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.” How blessed! He pleads with God all that His grace has given, and asks if God is going to allow the enemy to triumph. He would have us trust in all He has given us. But he makes no preparation—no war loan—no fresh taxes! No; “our eyes are upon Thee.”

Then “All Judah stood before Jehovah,” and the little ones are given first. You know what parade is. Here the little ones come first. The Lord Jesus was much displeased with those who would keep the little ones from Him. Here the little ones stand first before Jehovah, then the wives—not the warriors.

The sons of Asaph were singers, and of them, says ver. 15: “Hearken ye, all Judah and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith Jehovah unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God's,” etc. And God owns to it. They had owned God, and He answers to it. God knew exactly the place where the enemy was; they might go to their beds, for He that keepeth Israel was watching over them, and “Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord with you” —a remarkable expression. Not salvation for you as at the Red Sea, but with you—with the little ones, the wives and the children. “Go out... for Jehovah is with you.”

Ver. 18: What a lovely scene! Here are these people, with the foe to be dealt with to-morrow, worshipping the LORD. There was no nonsense about it (ver. 19). Why should they not stand up to praise the LORD with a loud voice on high?

“So shall ye be established” (ver. 20) —that was the point. “I commend you to God,” said the apostle. “We want implicit trust in our God and Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Believe His prophets” —yes, always the word of God for all. Our sorrows arise because we have acted without the sanction of the word.

Ver. 21 “Beauty of holiness,” rather “In holy splendor.” They were not going to do it in tinpot style but “in holy splendor.” They were rather previous, but they were all right. It is a very good receipt to praise beforehand! If God has promised, may we not give thanks? They began the song of triumph, and Jehovah set ambushments.

“And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.” How lovely! Israel never shot an arrow; this war never cost them a farthing; no one got a scratch. God said He would fight for them and this is how He did it. To me, this is most delightful. The enemies all slay one another. Judah had said, “Our eyes are upon Thee,” now they get another sight—all dead bodies.

“They were three days gathering the spoil” (vers. 25). Can we think of these three days without thinking of that Blessed One Who won the victory for us? And on the fourth day they blessed the LORD (ver. 26). On their side it was a perfectly bloodless battle! not one soldier missing!

I am looking at it in a practical way for ourselves, but when He comes as the rightful Conqueror, we shall come with Him. They started from the house of Jehovah, and they returned there (ver. 28).

It is a true thing to look to Him. In the early days of our short little history they had not much trouble with those who wanted to come into communion—the fear of the Lord was over them. If we fail, always at once confess it; keep short accounts, and rely on Him, and be obedient to the word of His grace.

W. N. T.

Notes on Matthew 16

“And the Pharisees and Sadducees came and tempting him asked him to show them a sign from heaven” (ver. 1). This brings out the blindness of these religious leaders. Were there not before their eyes irrefutable proofs as to who was there in their midst? There is much to lead us to believe that what they Wanted was for Him to call down fire from heaven. This was the test given in Elijah's time. The one prophet of Jehovah on Carmel calls for the answer of fire from heaven, and fire comes down, and for the moment the people are subdued. By and by there is to be a false Christ presenting himself as the Jews' Messiah. “Another shall come in his own name,” said our Lord, “and him ye will receive.” He will be a remarkable man, whose presence will be according to Satanic power and every kind of miracle and signs and lying wonders—the devil's great masterpiece. One of his signs will be to call down fire. They were quite blind to the Lord's works of mercy. The man of sin will meet man's mind I have not a doubt there will be something very attractive about him, for in the first book of Samuel, David is the type of the Lord, and Saul of the anti-christ. In the second book of Samuel Absalom typifies him also, and both Absalom and Saul were remarkable men for attracting the natural man—man according to the flesh. There was nothing in Christ to attract the natural man; “When we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him,” says the prophet. The outside covering of the tabernacle would speak of this. But when the eyes are opened He is the altogether lovely

“Only those His glory saw

To whom Thou gavest sight.”

“He came unto his own and his own received him not,” but there were a few who beheld His glory, “glory as of an only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” The Epistle in which He is introduced as the Eternal Life that was with the Father ends with “Little children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John).

The signs of the times were far more distinct than anything in the sky, and yet they were blind to them. And the sign that would remain was the sign of the prophet Jonah—death and resurrection and going to the Gentiles. It is the message of Jonah, not the man himself. In verse 4 they are spoken of as adulterers, etc., because of their idolatry of old, though not now idolaters the house was swept and garnished, the evil spirit having gone out. James, too, in his Epistle speaks of them in the same way in their guilty commerce with the world that had crucified the Lord of glory. Now the Lord leaves them. This is very solemn! Nothing worse could happen to us than to be left to ourselves. “Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth.” It is Jehovah here, in Heb. 12:8, 6. In Rev. 3:19 it is the Lord Jesus Who says, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.” But we must never forget that the Lord Jesus is as truly Jehovah as is the Father, and is so addressed by God, as we learn from Heb. 1:10— “To the Son, He saith Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever... And Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundations of the earth” (cp. Psa. 102).

Verse 5 indicates negligence, but still there was no ground for their reasoning how they should get the “bread,” after what they had seen. But still we don't find the Lord working miracles for them. We have seen them rubbing the ears of corn and so providing for themselves. There is “moral” leaven and “doctrinal” leaven, and the general run of Christians is more affected by the moral than by the doctrinal. If we are spiritual the contrary is the case. We find the leaven of evil in 1 Cor. 5:6-8. There was a lot that was carnal and worldly among the Corinthians; but among the Galatians (chap. 5: 9) there was doctrinal leaven, and the apostle writes far more solemnly to these than to the former. Then again, no one can excuse himself. We have an epistle specially addressed to a lady and her children. It is a very short one, but therein she is told, “If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God-speed, for he that biddeth him God-speed is partaker of his evil deeds” (2 John). The doctrine of Christ is what God has revealed as to His divinity and His humanity. If any one denies either, do not say “Good morning” to him. Nothing can be plainer than this is. A lady cannot excuse herself and say, ‘I leave that to the brethren.' And the one that comes, even though he may perhaps have been used of God to her conversion, or that of her family, no matter! if he has gone wrong about the person of Christ, love in the truth demands this expression of our conduct to him. We must let nothing come into competition with the Lord Jesus, our great God and Savior, Jehovah's Fellow.

The leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees was of a very solemn character. The Pharisees were guilty of adding to His words; the Sadducees of taking from them. The Pharisees were the ritualists of that day, and the Sadducees the rationalists. These people that were ready to tear to pieces others of opposing camps were united in opposing Christ. The Lord, how perfect! Is it not blessed to see how perfect, so patient and so gracious? He tells them of the failure in their faith. How slow they were to gather up His mind. We may say this (though it may seem strange to say it) that if the world understands a Christian there is something wrong with that Christian. No one was so misunderstood as the Lord Jesus.

“Do ye not yet understand?” etc. (ver. 9). The Lord uses the same descriptive words as used in Matthew's record of the narrative. He does not call them simply “baskets” in each case. We have testimony in the word that a basket may be large enough to hold a man. The twelve baskets taken up were hand baskets. The disciples figure more in that miracle.

“Beware of the leaven” etc. (ver. 11), means Be wary of them. It is a danger signal. W. K. once said in prayer, “Lord, save us from the evil that looks fair.” Evil that comes in all its ugliness is not so dangerous, but it is that which looks fair that deceives. The Corinthian saints were responsible to purge out the leaven in their midst, but things had got so awfully bad when 2 Tim. 2 was written, that where the evil could not be purged out, one is responsible to purge oneself out—not out of the “house” for that would be to give up the profession of Christianity, but into a corner, as it were, with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. God had reserved to Himself seven thousand in Elijah's day, and there will always be some that are true.

Ver. 13: Caesarea Philippi was the extreme north of Palestine. It was an important city, but it is its position that gives its significance here. It was on the confines of Israel, and the Lord was going to bring out His church, here revealed for the first time; and the church is not confined to Israel. As the rejected One of Israel, He now tells us that He will build a previously unheard of thing, “His church.” And this began at Pentecost. It is not composed of Jews only, but of Jews and Gentiles, baptized into one body by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.

Ver. 16: He is Son of God as born into the world, in Psa. 2, as the Messiah or Anointed, and if He is denied His rights as Messiah you get His higher glories as Son of man in Psa. 8. And it is just so here. He is rejected as Messiah, and He is on the borders of the Gentile world and He reveals Himself as the Rock, the church's one and sure foundation.

“Who do men say that I the Son of man am?” The disciples would have opportunities of listening to the remarks of the crowd. Some said, John the Baptist, others Elijah, or Jeremiah. Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet and the Lord was pre-eminently the “man of sorrows.” “He says to them, But who say ye that I am?” Ever ready Peter answers, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Christ, the Anointed. Messiah in the O.T. and Christ in the N.T. both mean “Anointed.” He was the true Anointed One, whether as Prophet, Priest, or King. Aaron was anointed as priest by Moses, David as king by Samuel, and Elisha as prophet by Elijah. Christ was the Anointed on earth, but in resurrection He is made both Lord and Christ. “Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” A living Christ on earth is for the Jew; a risen Christ in heaven is for the Christian, and this is far higher. He is not “our” King. He is the King of glory—that is supported by the word of God. And that which they put on the cross is perfectly true, He is “The King of the Jews;” He is “The King of Israel,” He is “The King of the nations,” yea, “King of the whole earth,” —all to be manifested in His times by Him “who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.” When that day comes, “The Word of God” is Himself revealed as “King of kings, and Lord of lords.” We may, and delight to, speak of Him as indeed the King, King of kings, and Lord of Lords, but scripture does not present Him to us as “our” King. “King of saints” in Rev. 15:3 should be, as is well known, “King of the nations,” or Gentiles. Compare Jer. 10:7, from which the quotation is taken.

Peter's confession is very important. In the corresponding portion in Luke, we do not get “Son of the living God,” nor do we get any mention of the church.

It is very striking that in the early chapters of the Acts, the prominent figure is Peter, and though he is used here to witness of Christ as the Son of God, yet he never speaks of Him as such in the Acts. In Acts 4 the word “child” should there be translated “servant.” When Paul, however, is converted, “straightway he preached Jesus in the synagogue, that he is The Son of God,” and it is he who brings out the truth of the church. The church existed from Pentecost, but the doctrine of it was not made known then, but later, for to Paul was revealed the mystery that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and a joint body and fellow-partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel, though it does say, God “added together the saved” (Acts 2:47), and this was “the church” (Acts 5:11) or “assembly.” The literal meaning of the word “ecclesia” is “called out ones.” It may be used of “the assembly in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38) or of others (Acts 19:32, 39, 41), but in every other occurrence of the word in the N.T. it is rightly “the church.” We are “called out ones,” and have been drawn to the Son, and “this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day,” —to be displayed in glory by and by. If you see Jesus as the Son, you see how everything hangs on His adorable person. When we are manifested in glory, and the same glory with Christ, then the world will know that the Father loves us as He loves the Son. “He shall come be glorified in his saints and to be wondered at in all them that believed.” They will see us in the same glory! It was in order that the world might know that He loved the Father, that the Lord went to the cross (John 14:31). The knowledge that Peter had was not acquired in a natural way. “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee” means that it was something received by the grace of God. Wherever the Father's name is mentioned it is in connection with grace; and here it is the Father acting in the sovereignty of His own grace—not at all intuitively in Peter.

There may be but little difference between Rock and Stone. It was almost like saying, I am the Rock, and you are a piece of the rock. Of this glorious Person here confessed, we read, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation.” “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid... but let every man see how he buildeth thereon.” But here the Lord is the builder, and all is absolutely divine. Although the Lord says, “my church,” the usual expression is “the church of God,” not “the church of Christ.” Of course, this expression is equal to it “my church” the Father's gift to the Son. You see your own security infinitely better if you are not occupied with yourself. “Gates of hades"! There is a life (the living God, and each stone a living stone) that death can never touch, Satan can never reach, and judgment never say anything to life in resurrection.

Ver. 19: Peter used the keys of the kingdom to admit the Jews in Acts 2, and the Gentiles in Acts 10 But the Lord never gave Peter the keys of “heaven,” nor the keys of the church. The church spoken of here is perfect, but in the kingdom there are tares as well as wheat, bad fish as well as good. The kingdom of heaven only commenced when Christ died and went to heaven. It is now existent in mystery; by and by he will purge out of it all that do iniquity. At present no one may root them out, and we have to fall back on “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, “The Lord knoweth them that are His.”

It does not say “the key,” but “keys,” as will be seen by the cases above quoted in Acts; and the sin of Ananias and Sapphira was bound on them by Peter, while the Gentiles of Caesarea under Cornelius' roof fulfilled the other side. “Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” God dealt with Ananias and Sapphira in this world. Theirs was “a sin unto death.” There is not only the grace of God which takes us up in our ruin, for eternal glory, but there is also God's government, and we must not confound the two. David's sin was put away—that was grace; but the sword never departed from his house-this was government. So also we have the same truth in 1 Cor. 11:30-32. We must go on day by day seeking to please the Lord, to be able to say with Paul, “I do exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense towards God, and toward men.” This is our blessed place, and due responsibility.

We don't get any reference to the church in Luke's account, and so we see how that comes out in relation to the Son of God. It is very seldom that the Lord gives Himself away. Nevertheless, He does to the blind man in John 9, and to the woman also at the well of Sychar. The closing verses (21-28) of our chapter divides this Gospel into two parts. They had learned He was the Christ and rejected as such; here He is the Son of man. He is the only One called “The Son of man” in Scripture. Ezekiel and others were addressed as “son of man,” but never with the article. No one calls the Lord so, but He very often speaks of Himself as such. The thing is to believe on Him as Son of God.

The Lord had said there were blind leaders of the blind, and here were the religious leaders of whom the Lord must suffer many things (ver. 21).

Is it fair to gather from what follows that Peter presumed on what the Lord had told him above? It shows indeed what poor things we are! Peter was a blessed man, but the Lord having made that communication to him, does he not seem to have presumed upon it? It does not actually say anything here about making atonement, but everything man did to Him was reversed by God. If they slew Him, God raised Him up. It is the same spirit witnessed in the garden when Peter cut off Malchus' ear; Peter would have stood between the Lord and His death. It is a lesson for us in several ways. He savored not the things that be of God, but those that be of man. How quickly we get this after that wonderful confession! The Lord does not say to him, “Get thee hence as He did to Satan in the wilderness. The moral glory of that comes out here, every word in its place. I suppose it indicates that Satan was using Peter. The meaning of Satan is “adversary.” In the wilderness he tried the Lord to the utmost extent by his subtlety, and he was defeated by the Savior's obedience and dependence. So Satan left Him, but in the end he came back, and sought to overwhelm the Lord by terrors. It is based upon the work of the cross that it is done, but Satan will be bruised under our feet shortly. He knows it because it is so written. There is a saying among leading teachers that the first in order of revelation is the last in order of fulfillment. And the first announcement made in Gen. 3 that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head takes us on to its final fulfillment when he is cast into the lake of fire. It shows that we have need to be on our guard. The Lord could detect Satan at once. On the ground of human reasoning, all Peter said was right, but we must beware of philosophy and what springs from the human mind. It was kindness on Peter's part, but—how was sin to be met, and our sins put away, if the Lord did not die? Paul desired for the Colossians when they were in danger of being led away by philosophy that they might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Here is Peter. He would like an easy path for his Master, but the Lord shows it was not an easy path for Him, and it will not be for those who follow Him. And this can only be in the power of God; we cannot do it in natural strength. We are very weak, but He is able to keep us even from stumbling. There must be the denial of self. But that is very different from advertised self-denial. It is the disciple who has to take up his cross, not the Lord's cross: He bore that alone. But each one of us has a cross, and it is a miserable unhappy thing if we do not take it up. But if we take it up we shall find that He will bear the heaviest end. We are not told to drag it along, but to take it up. If a thing looks perplexing and we don't know what to do, we may question whether our eye is single. But I think in times of difficulty, if it is made quite clear to us what we are doing is to please the Lord alone, it clears things marvelously. “Do I now seek to please men or God?” said the apostle. I have but One to please. How blessed!

We can see in various parts of the word how the saint is prepared by communion with God in private for that which is before him.

In the history of David there are three accounts that illustrate faith, hope and love. In Ittai we have “faith,” for he would be with the king wherever he was; in Mephibosheth we have “hope” —unshaven, undressed, he waited for the king's return; in Jonathan we have “love.” I was thinking of Mephibosheth here; he was the follower of a rejected king, and we have to take up the cross and follow Christ. The path of obedience is the path of blessedness. There are paradoxes in scripture which the natural man cannot understand. The Lord was the man of sorrows, yet He was the happiest man that ever trod the earth. He could say “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places.” And so we are “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” The natural man cannot understand it, but we know it experimentally. There would be naturally in each of us the tendency to look after our own welfare, just as the young man who had heaps of riches, and whom the Lord told to get rid of all and follow Him. He went away sorrowful. Yet had he obeyed, he would have been a gainer. The opposite of Mark 10 you see in Phil. 3. Here was one who could say, “Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” The righteousness Paul speaks of there is looking forward to glory, being clothed with Christ there. The sufferings and the glory are connected. So here. It was so with the Lord Himself. In Luke 24 He said, “It behooved Christ to suffer and to enter into His glory"; but, Peter 1 tells us that those who wrote the O.T., “testified of the sufferings of Christ, and the glories (plural) that should follow.” “If we suffer,” or “endure” —going along with a rejected Christ enduring whatever comes—we shall also reign with Him. Rom. 8 is plain enough too. How blessed to have grace to lay out one's whole life for Him—time, talent, all given up to Him, having Him and His love so before one as to do it unconsciously, as it were. We want to think of His love to us, not of our devotedness to Him. In connection with this, I was thinking of what Paul says to Timothy, “Thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life,” etc. Wonderful! isn't it? That is what grace had produced, not boasting.

“What shall a man be profited if he shall gain the whole world” etc. (ver. 26)? No one has done that, the greatest only had a small portion: That is a striking word in Psa. 49 “They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him, for the redemption of their soul is precious, and must be let alone forever” (for so is the right rendering). None could touch that matter. How it shows the value of the soul!

It is very seldom in the N.T. that you get the salvation of the soul spoken of. In 1 Peter 1 it is definitely stated, “receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls"; and you get it in Hebrews, “them that believed to the saving of the soul.”

The coming or manifestation of the Lord in the glory of His Father (ver. 27), is evidently the time of our reward. You don't get rewards at the coming of the Lord for His saints; that is all of grace. There is no such thing as rewarding some for their faithfulness by taking them away. It is all who have the oil, as in Matt. 25, who go in with Him to the marriage. It is all purest grace. The wicked will be rewarded as well, fox the word reward is used in that sense also. Alexander the coppersmith “the Lord will reward.” If it is a suffering path now He is not unrighteous to forget; everything done to please Him will not be forgotten when He comes to set up His kingdom.

When God told Abram about his seed being afflicted in Egypt four hundred years (Gen. 15.), He said “Afterward they shall come out with great substance.” How would they have got all the things that were used in making the tabernacle, unless they had “had great substance"? They could receive it all from the Lord, and the best thing we can do with what He gives us is to give it back to Him.

Rewards are always connected with the appearing. Paul says, “I have been running and the judge's eye has been on me in the stadium; I have been faithful and he has witnessed all. Nothing now remains but the crowning, and the Judge will give the crown to me, and not to me only, but unto all them also who “love His appearing.” Then has He His rights. It is not His coming for us. It is the same time as Rev. 22:12.

If we die we shall be raised in glory. Thus we shall have our glorified, body before we meet the Lord in the air. You cannot associate grief or regret with a glorified body. We shall acquiesce in all that He does. We must not think that it is what is not right in our path that will alone be manifested, but we shall be manifested, all our being; and it would be a real loss to us were it not so.

“He saw us ruined in the fall

Yet loved us notwithstanding all.”

Studies in Mark 8:11-21

8:11-21

Let us now briefly consider these several points raised by our Lord with His disciples in this series of questions (vers. 17-21).

(1) Lack of confidence in the Master.-The Lord's first inquiry was, “Why reason ye because ye have no loaf?” The disciples had been discussing among themselves the meaning of the Lord's remark concerning the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. Not understanding the figurative significance of the allusion, all or some of them (for it was a matter of discussion, and they may not have been unanimous) concluded that the Lord's reference was to their lack of bread for food. Uncertain of their interpretation, they sought enlightenment one from another, although the Source of all wisdom was in their midst. That they turned to one another for help was evidence that they lacked confidence in the love and sympathy of Christ for them. Otherwise, would they not have appealed direct to Him, owning their dullness, and seeking to be instructed? They, however, reasoned and questioned and debated and argued one with another.

The Divine Teacher was with them, and the promise was even then good: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not” (Jas. 1:5). But the disciples did not ask, and therefore they did not receive. On the contrary, the Lord had to inquire of them, Why do ye debate the question?

He who opened the minds of the disciples to understand the scriptures (Luke 24:45) could He not open their minds to understand the things of the kingdom?

(2) Lack of perception.—The Lord said, “Do ye not perceive (νόεω)"? This verb implies the giving of earnest attention to what is passing so that the event is impressed upon the mind. Its sense is stated to be “to weigh with intelligence, so as to understand.” Levity and unconcern would hinder and even prevent perception.

An instance of its use in the sense stated occurs in connection with the prophecy concerning the future days when the ‘abomination of desolation' will be set up in the holy place. Whoever reads Daniel's prophecy, quoted by our Lord, is exhorted to “understand, or perceive,” i.e., to ponder, to consider seriously, to heed the prophecy (Matt. 24:15; Mark 13:14). Again, the apostle Paul states that the invisible things of God are “perceived” from the world's creation (Rom. 1:20). Due perception therefore of the Lord's teaching is the result of studied attention with the heart.

Had the disciples been attentive to the Master's service? If so, why was it that after His ministry had been exercised in their view for some two years so little impression had been made upon their minds?

Their education and training to become able ministers of the new covenant by actual experience of the Lord's ways of working and teaching was being frustrated by their own lack of interest.

Spiritual progress cannot be attained by mere outward contact with the workings of divine power and mercy. The doings of the Lord must be weighed and considered seriously. “Consider (νόεω) what I say,” Paul said to Timothy, “and the Lord give thee understanding (σύνεσιν) in all things” (2 Tim. 2:7). In a like strain the Psalmist sang of what will be true in the coming kingdom, “All men shall fear, and they shall declare the work of God; for they shall wisely consider of his doing” (Ps. 114: 9).

(3) Lack of reflection.—Spiritual perception is followed by spiritual understanding. The disciples first failed to receive and retain accurate impressions of the many acts of our Lord's power, wisdom, and grace, and they further failed to meditate upon the significance of the abundance and repetition of His works, and their superhuman nature. They had seen miracles of healing, the exercise of the power of Christ over the forces of nature, over the spirit-world, over death itself.

They had heard the expositions of kingdom-truth, introducing what was altogether brighter and better than the law. But the apostles were not yet wise. “Whoso is wise shall give heed to those things, and they shall consider the mercies of the LORD” (Ps. 107:43).

Understanding is of the heart (Matt. 13:15). It was in her heart that Mary kept the deep sayings about the Christ, and in secret she kept pondering them that she might eventually understand (Luke 2:19, 51). The next question bears upon the right heart-attitude of a learner in divine truth.

(4) Lack of sensibility of heart.—“Have ye your heart hardened?” Hardness or callousness of heart was attributed to the Pharisees (Mark 3:5). But it is also used with reference to the disciples. And in this case we notice that the term is associated (a) with failure to perceive spiritual truth, and (b) with the first food-miracle. In that connection we read in an earlier passage that they perceived not concerning the loaves, and that their heart was hardened (Mark 6:52). The amazement of the apostles at the stilling of the storm was because they understood (σύνιημι) not the miracle of the loaves, their hearts being dull and insensible in both instances.

It is most important to see that want of spiritual perception is the result of deadness of feeling in the heart. And from the questions which follow we see that spiritual sight, hearing and memory are all affected by grossness of heart. In commissioning the prophet Ezekiel to be His messenger to the house of Israel, Jehovah said to him, “All my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart, and hear with thine ears” (Ezek. 3:10).

(5)Lack of visual activity.-"Having eyes, see ye not?” The disciples are clearly credited with the possession of spiritual vision. Their eyes were gifted to see what the world could not. It is ever so with men of faith. Aged Simeon saw in the Holy Babe whom he took in his arms what the priests of the temple did not see. He discerned in the Infant the Lord's Christ, the salvation of Jehovah (Luke 2:26, 29). The eyes of faith, when in exercise, behold what is unseen and eternal (2 Cor. 4:18).

These eyes are not our mental faculties, but the eyes of our hearts (Eph. 1:18, R.V.). They are associated with the emotions rather than the intellect, and are inseparable from inward affection and loyal devotion. They are the eyes which see in the Christ of the Gospels a supreme Person for our worship and service. The apostles undervalued the ministry of Christ because they undervalued Christ Himself. A follower of the Lord may fall into the same weakness still if the eye be not single for the Master. He loses the vision of his soul, and becomes guilty of the blindness of Laodicea (Rev. 3:17). Having eyes, let us therefore, turn them in the right direction, and see Jesus, crowned and glorified.

(6)Lack of aural attention.-"And having ears, hear ye not?” It was an essential qualification of the apostles' service that therein they declared what they had seen and heard. So John wrote in his First Epistle: “that which was from the beginning which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of Life... declare we unto you” (1 John 1:1-3). Paul's instructions were to the same effect (Acts 22:14,15).

The Lord's question thus revealed a serious defect in the conduct of the disciples; having ears, they did not hear. Those who turn away their ears from the truth are false and evil teachers (2 Tim. 4:4). There is a proper attitude in which to hear rightly, but they had neglected the Lord's warning, “Take heed how ye hear.” They should have listened attentively. Mary chose the good part of sitting at the feet of Jesus, and hearing His word. She had “ears to hear,” and she used them well. It is not sufficient to be in possession of ears, they must be exercised. Hence the recurring exhortation to each of the seven churches of Asia was, “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear” (Rev. 2 and 3).

But the disciples had become “dull of hearing,” like some of the Hebrew Christians, and therefore the saying of the Lord was hard of interpretation to them (cp. Heb. 5:11, R.V.).

(7)Lack of recollection.-"Do ye not remember?” and then the Lord cited the two miracles of the loaves. The things which are behind, which relate to our former measure of attainment in the Christian life, we may usefully forget (Phil. 3:13). But the memory of the great goodness of the Lord should be ever with us to incite us to continuous praise (Psa. 145:7). The recollection of the Lord's ways with us in the past gives us guidance for the present. When we remember the food-miracles of yesterday we do not fear a famine today or to-morrow.

A vivid and accurate memory is a great factor of the spiritual life. The importance of an active remembrance of divine things is emphasized by Peter, who makes four references to the subject in his Second Epistle (1:12 13,15; 3:1). In thus exhorting others, did he recall his own experience, when the remembrance of the warning words of the Lord caused him to repent of his shameful denial of his Master? (Matt. 26:75; Lu. 22:61).

The Lord's Supper is an act appointed to perpetuate the remembrance of the death of Christ by the church. Two Psalms (38 and 70) were specially written “to bring to remembrance"; and the recollection of the marvelous works of the Lord is stated many times in the Psalms to be the basis of confidence and trust in God. To the assembly at Sardis, the Lord sent the solemn warning, “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard” (Rev. 3:3).

In this instance in Mark, when the disciples were thinking that the Lord was chiding them for the shortage of their food-store, He reminded them of His double miracle so recently worked, and the number of baskets of broken pieces they were able to collect owing to His overflowing bounty. Might He not well say, O ye of little faith, do ye not remember?

THE FINAL QUESTION

When the Lord definitely inquired concerning the miracles of the loaves, their memories were refreshed. They could reply accurately when He asked the number of baskets of fragments they had taken up. Whereupon the Lord put the question which was a repetition and a summary of the preceding ones: “and he kept saying to them, Do ye not yet understand (συνίημι; ver. 21)?”

The question embodied a charge of reprehensible dullness. How could they think that the Lord feared that He might have to make use of the bread of the Pharisees? Matthew, who does not record the sevenfold series, states the final question in a fuller form, “How is it that ye do not perceive that I spake not to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matt. 16:11). Did they suppose that the Lord who had taught them not to be anxious about what they should eat and drink was Himself anxious lest He and His disciples should be compelled to eat the bread of the Pharisees and the Sadducees?

We also learn from the same Evangelist that after these words light dawned on the hearts of the disciples: “Then understood (συνίημι) they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matt. 16:12). Their rabbis had leavened the holy bread of the law as it was given originally by the introduction of the leaven of the precepts of men (Mark 7:7). Their teaching was permeated by the traditions of the elders, and thus the unleavened bread of the scripture was spoiled for the children of the kingdom by the leaven of hypocrisy and formalism, making the word of God of none effect, as it did, by their tradition.

W. J. H.

(continued from p. 173)

Studies in Mark 8:22-26: Dim Vision Made Clear

8:22-26

“And they come unto Bethsaida. And they bring to him a blind man, and beseech him to touch him. And he took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, Seest thou aught? And he looked up, and said, I see men; for I behold them as trees, walking. Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes; and he looked steadfastly, and was restored, and saw all things clearly. And he sent him away to his house, saying, Do not even enter into the village” (8:22-26, R.V.).

In the course of His tour, the Lord and His party of followers reached Bethsaida. This appears to have been the town or village known as Bethsaida Julias, situated on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, near to which the first miracle of the multiplied bread was wrought. Here the Lord opened the eyes of a blind man in private, as Mark only records.

A notable feature of this miracle is the gradual manner in which the sight was restored. He received first the faculty of sight, and secondly the ability to use the newly-given sight. The physical benefit granted to the sufferer affords an illustration of spiritual facts wrought by the power of Christ in the kingdom of God: Since man is blind by nature, and also blinded by willful works of evil, he requires inward eyesight of heart and soul, and moreover that his newly-given eyes should be able to perceive the glory of Christ's person and the truth of His teaching. This dual blessing, both in the physical and in the spiritual sense, was sometimes conferred by a single act of the Lord's power, but in this instance of miraculous healing successive stages are displayed. First, the power of vision was bestowed, and then the power of perception.

While those totally bereft of natural sight were figurative of the spiritual state of the nation at large, the man with partially restored sight illustrated the spiritual 'condition of those who so imperfectly apprehended the truths of the kingdom which the Lord was proclaiming. They represented the believing remnant of Israel as distinct from the mass. Truly they had come out to the Messiah, but they were in a transitional state until Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon them, and by Him they were guided into all truth. Then they saw the King in His beauty, and the “land that is very far off” (Isa. 33:17). Then their eyes were fully opened, and they beheld wondrous things out of Jehovah's law (Psa. 119:18). Previously, when Jesus came to them across the waves for their deliverance in the storm, they supposed He was a specter. And as they failed to recognize Jesus as their Deliverer, so they afterward failed to recognize Him as the King of kings. For when the three apostles in the holy mount saw their Master transfigured before their eyes, Peter with a confused judgment assigned Him no higher place than he did Moses and Elijah.

A unique panorama of heavenly deeds was daily moving before the gaze of these privileged men, but none of the apostles rightly discerned the wonder of Messiah and His ways. The Lord Himself said to His disciples privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see: for I say unto you that many prophets and kings desired to see the things which ye see, and saw them not; and to hear the things which ye hear, and heard them not” (Luke 10:23, 24). But to those thus blessed He also said reprovingly, “Having eyes, see ye not? Having ears, hear ye not?”

A SIGN WROUGHT IN SECRET

This miracle along with that of the healing of the deaf stammerer in the same neighborhood, form companion pictures. They are both peculiar to the Second Gospel, and the figurative reference of both of them seems specially to be to the “little flock” of Israel who welcomed Jehovah's Righteous Servant, and who followed Him in His services, while the great majority of the nation refused His gracious overtures, and, in consequence, perished in their unbelief. Some remarks upon the analogies of the two incidents have been offered in connection with that section (7:31-37), to which the reader may refer (supra, pp. 73-75; 88-91).

It cannot but be noted in these verses with what scrupulous care the Holy Spirit records in detail the gentle and loving service rendered by the Son, who had become the Servant of God. The Lord assumed personal charge of the afflicted man. He took hold of him by the hand, and led him in his blindness and darkness away from the habitations of men. What did this action suggest? To those whose hearts were filled with the ancient prophecies, would it not recall Jehovah's promise to the nation: “I will bring the blind by a way that they know not: in paths that they know not will I lead them: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight” (Isa. 42:16).

The Lord then supplied moisture from His lips for the darkened eyes before Him, and laid His hands of beneficent power upon the blind man. Healing virtue was communicated, and the sightless orbs became sensitive to the light of heaven. Thereupon the Lord questioned him concerning the efficiency of his newly-given eyesight: “What dost thou see?” His organs of vision were made sound, but were they working in harmonious cooperation with their fellow-members? Along with ability to see, did he possess the faculty of perception, of discernment, of recognition? This the Lord tested by His question, “Seest thou anything?”

The man's reply showed there was still the incompetency of the inward eye. Images of outward objects were transmitted through the eyes, but the mind lacked the power of accurate perception and cognition. The man was able to see, but not to discriminate between the objects of sight. Looking up, he said to the Lord, “I now see the folk, because I see them walking as trees." The light of his body—the eye was no longer darkness (Luke 11:34), but its vision was obscured, veiled. There was new light for him, but it was the dawn, rather than the noonday (cp. Judg. 9:36).

The Lord, however, chased away these shadows by a second exercise of His healing functions. He again “laid his hands upon his eyes; and he (1) looked steadfastly, and (2) was restored, and (3) saw all things clearly.” The threefold result of this second imposition as thus expressed was that the man (1) instantly gained clearness of vision (2) recovered normal eyesight, and (3) began and continued to see even distant objects clearly.

As in some other cases of healing, we are told that the Lord imposed His commands upon the man before His departure. Men who received temporary benefit in recognition of their faith were required to exercise their faith yet further, and obey the Lord's directions in respect to their immediate movements. Like the sick of the palsy, and the Gadarene demoniac (Mark 2:11; 5:19), the restored blind man was bidden to go to his own house, and moreover not even to enter the town of Bethsaida, from which the Lord had led him.

To be continued

The Rapture of the Saints and the Character of the Jewish Remnant: 1

The rapture of the saints to meet the Lord in the air, before His manifestation to the earth, and the existence of a Jewish remnant, in whom the Spirit of God is graciously working, before the Lord manifests Himself to them for their deliverance, is happily attracting the attention of Christians. It has made sufficient way to be the occasion of a renewed opposition, which can only do good by urging serious Christians to examine the scriptures on the subject—an examination which will, under grace, spiritually enlarge their apprehensions on many most important points, full of blessing and interest for their souls. The true character of the church of God will appear, and the nature of its connection with Christ, on the one hand, and the ways of God in the government of the world on the other—the two great topics of which the scriptures treat; besides that first of all concerns, the reconciling of the soul with God. On this last also, indeed, a right intelligence of the other two casts abundant light. The rapture of the saints before the appearing of Christ, strange as it may appear to some, has nothing to say to the church, directly or exclusively; but as we form part of these caught up, it, of course, interests us in the highest degree. The rapture is in connection with the glory of the kingdom; and the saints in general, who are to reign in the kingdom, have part in this rapture. Still, indirectly, the inquiry leads to the question, What is the church? because the doctrine of the rapture of the saints, before the appearing of Christ, connects itself with the existence of a Jewish remnant waiting for deliverance after the rapture and before the appearing; and the position of this remnant connects itself, more or less, with the spiritual condition of the saints before the manifestation of the church on the earth.

Those who believe in the rapture of the church before the appearing of Christ hold that the church has a special and peculiar character and connection with Christ, in virtue of its being formed into one body by the descent of the Holy Ghost from heaven; and that, while salvation is always necessarily the same, the relative condition of the saints previously was a distinct one. They are convinced that in the Psalms a Jewish remnant is found, and that thoughts, feelings, hopes, fears, into which the Spirit of Christ enters prophetically with and for them, are there expressed in their behalf. This remnant is believed to be continually spoken of in the prophets, as existing before the appearing of the Lord, and waiting for that appearing, and delivered by it. But, further, the Lord Himself being a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, as well as a Savior, presented Himself necessarily to Israel, according to these promises, and became associated with the remnant, and the leader of it, as far as it was awakened to know Him. Hence the interpretation of many passages of the New Testament also became involved in this question; and, indeed, the whole order of the dispensations of God. But above all, the question of the church and its privileges, as formed by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, is important and essential in this matter, and a right understanding of it a key to the interpretation of the word of God.

On the other hand, the denial of the existence of a Jewish remnant, such as is above spoken of, involves the most grave and, indeed, fatal consequences; because it connects, especially through the contents of the Psalms, the Spirit of Christ, which speaks in them, with the ungodly and unconverted Jews, and makes the declaration of integrity and uprightness, not the breathings of a righteous soul pleading with God—yea, its pleadings furnished to it by the Spirit of Christ—but the pride of self-righteousness presenting itself to God. It is hard to suppose that any could allege that the Lord should give all this self-righteousness by revelation in connection with—yea, identified with—the breathings of Christ's Spirit and the piety flowing from it; but such is the theory of those who deny the rapture of the saints before Christ's appearing, and, consequently, the existence of a Jewish remnant, in which the Spirit of Christ is at work in connection with the hopes proper to Israel.

A point connected with this has been insisted on by the adversaries of the truth, to which I advert here only to leave it aside, as not touching the main point, even if true, and used by them only to obscure the great and vital truth of the rapture of the church—I mean the secrecy of the rapture. The two points on which it is important to have the clear testimony of scripture are—first, that there will be a Jewish remnant at the end, with a place belonging to itself as such; secondly, the true character of the church of God.

That there will be a Jewish remnant at the close, delivered and blessed by the Lord at His coming, blessed on earth, is, beyond all controversy, the doctrine of scripture. This remnant has neither the church's heavenly blessings nor the church's hope. For those who have inquired into these subjects, it ought not to be necessary to quote passages of scripture to prove this. Still, as it is in its consequences a very important point, I will reproduce here some of the principal passages which prove the fact that there is a remnant, and show the state in which that remnant is.

First, as regards the Jews, Zech. 13:8, 9: “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.”

As regards the ten tribes of Israel, the case is somewhat different; the rebels will not enter into the land. Of Ezek. 20:33-38 I quote a part: “And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I plead with you face to face.... And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: and I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.” Still they will be united in the land. See Ezek. 37:11-28. In verse 19: “Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.” Verse 24: “And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes and do them. And they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt.... my tabernacle also shall be with them.”

As regards Judah, Daniel tells us (12), “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” I have no doubt verse 2 refers to those scattered in the countries; but on this point I do not dwell here. Only let the reader remark that the wise and those that instruct the many in righteousness are distinguished from the rest (ver. 3; see chap. 11:32-35). The general blessing and promise to Israel may be seen at the close of Hos. 3 and 4. I do not quote in detail here, because these passages do not touch the question of a remnant. For the great day of trouble the reader may compare Jer. 30:4-9, and for the certainty of their blessing in general, that chapter, and chapters 31, 32, and 33. I might refer to a multitude of chapters besides, but this may suffice.

What I have quoted also shows that it is the remnant of Israel which is blessed with Israel's blessings. As it is said in Isa. 10: “For though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall return"; and verse 21, “the remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.” The points thus made clear are that it is the remnant which is blessed, and blessed with Israel's blessings, according to promise, in the land, with Jehovah as their God. The next and capital point (for what precedes is generally admitted) is their previous state: is it a Christian or church state? And now I pray the reader to mark one most important consequence of any supposition that this remnant of Israel is previously in a Christian or church standing. Their blessings are, the earthly glory, under Christ, in the land, according to the promises made to them.

Now, if their hopes have been church hopes, and their spiritual condition the same as ours, their hopes are not fulfilled, they are disappointed in them; or (and it is this I pray the reader especially to remark) if they are not, our hopes are reduced to the level of Jewish earthly and temporal ones. Now this is the great object of the enemy in all this scheme, for that it is the positive work of the enemy I have no doubt at all. In denying a distinct Jewish remnant, having Jewish faith, Jewish hopes, and resting on Jewish promises, it reduces the church to the level of these; and the value and power of spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, and the place of Christ's body in union with Him, are denied and lost. It is this which makes the question vital for Christians themselves. The great object of the enemy in denying the rapture of the saints before the appearing of the Lord, and the consequent rejection of a distinct Jewish remnant with Jewish hopes and Jewish piety, is to deny and destroy the proper faith of the church of God, and to set the church itself aside. Far be it from me to say, that all who have fallen into this system have any such purpose, or are even aware of the effect; but the effect is nothing the less produced, and the loss theirs, though the intention be not. They are deceived by the enemy, though far from intending to deceive with him.

But my task now is to show, from scripture, that this honored and glorified remnant is previously under the influence of God's Spirit—a people waiting on the Lord. I repeat, that those who are blessed as Israel by the Lord are previously waiting on the Lord, and that the Lord recognizes them in this character.

There are two classes of texts referring to Israel in the latter day, to one of which I only refer here, and leave aside, though full of interest, as not bearing on our present subject. I speak of the texts which speak only of the intervention of God in power, whether to deliver or gather Israel, blessing the nation in contrast with their previous depression and misery, without touching on the question of a remnant, or the state in which that remnant is found. I refer to such passages as Amos 9, Jer. 30-33, and many like passages.

The other class refers explicitly to the despised remnant and its state previous to Jehovah's intervention in power to deliver. Texts of this character are what I would now lay before the reader, quoting as many as are needed to show the existence of a godly though oppressed remnant, which is under the influence and working of the Spirit of God. This truth rests not on a few casual texts, but on the constant teaching of the scriptures. For the Lord shall judge His people, and repent Himself concerning His servants, when He seeth that their power is gone, and that there is none shut up nor left. Not only this, but it will be found that these scriptures connect this remnant of the latter day with those who had ears to hear when the prophets spoke. The connection of “the day,” or “that day,” with the testimony delivered by the prophet at the time, and that without supposed interruption or interval, is characteristic of prophetic scriptures. But we shall find that this is applicable to the testimony of Christ viewed as the great Prophet of Israel, by whose Spirit alone the prophets prophesied; and that thus the prophetic witness is continued in connection with a waiting remnant during His life, and even after His lifetime, in connection with God's government of Israel, and as long as God dealt with that people as such; and that the doctrine of the church alone took the witness of God entirely out of this connection. The doctrine of a heavenly calling paved the way for this, though not the same thing as the church, though the church had surely a heavenly calling; while the destruction of Jerusalem, and the judgment of the nation connected with this event, and the warnings which refer to it, closed and broke all connection of God's testimony with the nation, and left the church and the Gentiles the only acknowledged place of witness, as such, until that of the Jews is resumed, according to the clear testimony of the prophets.

To be continued

Christ, the Want of the Soul: Part 1

“And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world” (Matt. 28:20). There are some plants which grow right up—erect in their own sturdy self-sufficiency, and there are some, feeble ones which take hold with their hands and clasp and climb. The soul of man is like these last. Even in his best estate he was not meant to grow insulated and stand alone. He is not strong enough for that. He has not within himself resources sufficient to fill himself. He is not fit to be his own all-in-all. The make of his mind is an out-going, exploring, petitionary make. The soul of man is a clasping, clinging soul, seeking to something over which it can spread itself, and by means of which it can support itself. And just as in a neglected garden you may see the poor creepers making shift to sustain themselves as best they can; one convolvolus twisting round another, and both draggling on the ground; a clematis leaning on the door which will by and by open and let the whole mass fall down; a vine or a passionflower wreathing round a prop which all the while chafes and cuts it; so in this fallen world it is mournful to see the effects which human souls are making to get some efficient object to lean upon and twine around. One clasps a glittering prop, and it scathes him. The love of money blasts his soul, and it hangs round its self-chosen stay a blighted, withered thing. Another spreads himself more amply over a broad surface of creature-comfort, a snug dwelling, and a well-furnished library, and a pleasant neighborhood, with the command of everything that heart can wish, or fortune buy—but death opens the door, and, with nothing but vacancy to lean upon, he falls over on the other side a helpless and dejected being. And a still greater number, groping about along the ground, cleave to one another, and intertwine their tendrils mutually, and by forming friendships and congenial intimacies, and close relations, try to satisfy their leaning, loving nature in this way. But it answers little end. The make of man's soul is upward, and one climber cannot lift another off the ground. And the growth of man's soul is luxuriant, and that growth must be stifled, checked and scanty, if he have no larger space over which to diffuse his aspirations, his affections, and his efforts, than the surface of a fellow-creature's soul. But, weedy as this world-garden is, the Tree of Life still grows in the midst of it—erect in his own omnipotent self-sufficiency, and inviting every weary straggling soul to lay hold of His everlasting strength, and expatiate upwards along the infinite ramifications of His endless excellencies and all-inviting love.

God has formed the soul of man of a leaning, dependent make; and for the healthy growth and joyful development of that soul, it is essential that he should have some object far higher and nobler than himself to dispread his desires and delights upon. That object is revealed in the gospel. That object is Immanuel. His divinity is the Almighty prop—able to sustain the adhering soul, so that it shall never perish nor come into condemnation—the omnipotent support which bears the clinging spirit loftily and securely, so that the whirling temptations which vex, it cannot rend it from the Tree of Life, and that the muddy splash, which soils and beats into the earth its sprawling neighbors, cannot tarnish the verdant serenity and limpid glories of its flowering head. And just as His divine strength is the omnipotent prop of the adhering soul, so His divine resources and His human sympathy make Him the all-sufficient object, over which each emotion and each desire of regenerate humanity may boundlessly diffuse itself. And however delicate your feelings, however multitudinous the necessities of your intricate nature, there is that in this heavenly Friend which meets them every one. There are in His unimaginable compassions, and in His benignant fellow-feelings, holds sufficient for every craving tendril and eager clasper of the human heart, to fix upon and wreathe around.

This is what the gospel does. It just offers you a Friend, who can both save and satisfy your soul. Jesus, the Son of God, God manifest in flesh, Immanuel: the gospel offers this Friend to you—not more tender than He is holy, not more divine than He is human. Instead of clutching to props which cannot elevate you, or if they do bear you up for a moment, must soon be withdrawn again—the gospel bids you grow against the Tree of Life: and just as you grow up into Christ, you will grow up into holiness and into happiness. And if you have not yet found an object to your heart's content—if you feel that there is still something wrong with you, that you are neither leading the life which you would like to lead, nor enjoying the comfort which you think might be somehow got; be advised. Take the Lord Jesus for your friend. He is one in whom you will find no flaw. He is one of whom—if you really get acquainted with Him—you will never weary; and one, who, if once you really go to Him, will never weary of you. He is a friend of whom no one had ever reason to complain: a friend who, having done so much for you already, deigns to do for His people a great deal more; a friend who is singularly kind and considerate, for “He sticketh closer than a brother"; a friend who does not vary, “for He is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever"; and, best of all, a friend who is never far away, for “Lo, I am with you alway.”

There are many reasons why men do not love the Lord Jesus. Some feel no need of Him. They understand that He is a Savior; but a Savior is what they do not desire. Others have no congeniality with Him. They understand that his character is divine—that His love of holiness is as intense as His hatred of iniquity, and as they love the world, and love their own way, and love the pleasures of sin, they feel that they cannot love the Lord Jesus.

But the hearts of some towards Christ are cold for other reasons. Their conceptions regarding Him are sufficiently vague and dim; but so far as they can be reduced to anything definite, we might say that they do not love the Lord Jesus, because they habitually think of Him as a dead Savior, or a Savior different from what He was, or a distant Savior—a Savior far away.

Some look on the Lord Jesus as dead. They read His history as of one who lived long ago, but who is not living now. They read Matthew's narrative, or John's, and they are interested—for the moment moved. They feel that these words are very beautiful—that this stroke of kindness or tenderness was very touching—that that interposition was very surprising. They feel that the whole history of Jesus of Nazareth is very affecting; and, just as they may have wept at the death of Socrates, or when they read the martyrdom of the saints at Lyons, so they may have felt for him who had not the fox's hole—they may have wept when they saw the son of Mary hanging on the tree. And, if they were visiting Palestine, they might linger over many a silent spot with a solemn impression. “Is this the grassy mount where He preached that sermon? You lake, rippling round its pebbly margin, is it the one He so often crossed? And are these the very rocks which echoed the strong crying of His midnight prayers?” But there they feel as if it ended. They look on it all as a tale that is past. They take for granted that it all closed on Calvary—that the cross was the conclusion of that life-the most wonderful life that the world ever saw—but still its conclusion.

To them Christ is dead, not living; and therefore no wonder that they do not love Him. You may revere the character of those long ago departed; but love is an affection reserved for the living. You will only love the Lord Jesus when you come to believe in Him as a living Savior—one who once was dead, but who, once dead, dieth no more. Jesus lives. He was not more alive when He sat at Jacob's well than He is alive this moment. He was not more alive when He poured the water into the basin and washed the disciples' feet—not more alive when He took the cup and made a beginning of the Remembrance-feast— not more alive when He rose from table and sang the parting hymn, and went out before them to the Mount of Olives, than He is living now. The Lord Jesus lives. He is alive for evermore.

Some, again, do not love the Lord Jesus because they look on Him as an altered Savior as different now from what He once was. Earthly friends are apt to change, and if they do not change, they die: When a visitor comes from a foreign land where you once sojourned, you ask eagerly about the different acquaintances you once had there. “And did you see such a one?” “Yes; but you would not know him, he is so greatly altered.” “Did he remember me?” “Well, I rather think he was asking for you, but I cannot be very sure. He has got other things to occupy his thoughts since you and he were wont to meet.” “And what of such another?” “Ah, times are sadly changed with him. You would be sorry to see him now. I believe he has the same kind heart as ever; but he has not in his power to show it as he used to do.” “And our old neighbor, who lived next door?” “Your old neighbor! Dear good man, he is safe in 'Abraham's bosom.' I found his house shut up, and all his family gone away.” And it is very seldom, after years of absence, that you hear of one whose outward circumstances are nowise different from what they were, and rarer still to hear of one whose dispositions are quite unchanged.

However, One there is who wears not indeed our fallen nature, yet nevertheless our nature, but is not liable to the variations of mortality. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.” The concurring testimony of those who have seen Him from time to time, along a reach of some thousand years, goes to prove that the Alpha and Omega, the Friend of sinners, cannot change. He who talked with our first parents in the cool of the day is the same holy yet condescending one that He ever was, and loveth righteousness, and hateth iniquity, as much as when the first sinners ran away from His pure and sin-repelling presence. The heavenly High Priest is still as accessible to prayer, and as ready to yield to His people's entreaty, as when He six times conceded to Abraham's intercession. The God of Bethel is still the faithful keeper of His people and their families, as when He heard Jacob in the day of his distress, and was with him in the way which he went. And anything which has been heard of Him since He went back to His glory, goes to prove that He is the same Savior now as during the continuous years He sojourned with us.

It is true, there are some circumstantial differences, but no intrinsic change. There is more of the oil of gladness on Him than when the Father first anointed Him, and crowns are on His head which have been planted there since the work given Him to do was finished. His satisfactions are fuller, as He continues to see the travail of His soul; and, doubtless, there are outbursts of His glory yet to come, more dazzling than any which have yet astonished heaven.

To be continued

J. H.

Scripture Query and Answer: Walking in the Light and Fellowship

Q. 1.-1 John 1:7-One has said that “walking in the light” is true of all believers because this epistle is positional in its application and we must seek elsewhere for what is practical; and also that “fellowship one with another” is not at all conditional.

But does not the word “if” imply a possibility of a believer not “walking in the light,” and that “fellowship” is conditional on our doing so.

Q. 2.—Is walking according to the light an indication of walking in the light?

T. H.

A. 1.-It is strange that any one should fail to see that the Epistle is strikingly practical. For even in this opening chapter, the apostle shows that it is not what one may “say,” but what is the walk of the one so saying? “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” If we are brought to God we are brought to Him who is “light.” At one time we were darkness, but now are we light in the Lord, and hence our walk is to be as of “children of light.” As a Christian I am brought into that fellowship which is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. What communion hath light with darkness? If I say that I have fellowship with Him and am walking in the darkness out of which every Christian is brought (1 Peter 2:9, 10), my speech and my walk are in contradiction; and I do not the truth. I am not a Christian at all. On the other hand if my walk is in the light, I have fellowship with every other whose walk is therein, because of the precious blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, which avails alike for every believer. This light of God into which I am brought, makes manifest, not my sins, but the value of that blood which cleanseth from every kind of sin. As the same writer says, “To Him that loveth us, washed us from our sins in His own blood... be glory, etc.” It is not a constant action going on in the believer, as many evangelicals would make it out, but what the blood of Jesus does—it “cleanses,” and this not partially, but “from every sin.” And this is done once for all when I have believed the “word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.” For the sins of the believer we have the advocacy of Christ on high with Him Who ever remains our “Father” (for our relationship as children beloved of God can never be broken, though not so our communion), and here on earth “the washing of water by the word” in the power of the Spirit to our consciences.

From this it will be seen that “walking in the light” is true of all believers, and so my responsibility is to walk according to this light in which the grace of God has brought me, and the fellowship here is not approbational (Rom. 16:17; Phil. 3:17) or ecclesiastical (1 Cor. 5; 2 Tim. 2:19), but according to 1 John 5:1. The “If” is not conditional, but consequential, e.g., Col. 3, “If ye then be risen,” as the apostle had just shown them was the fact, “seek those things, etc.” If you are a Christian, let it be seen that you are one.

A. 2.-Because I am in the light, and there is my walk necessarily (for I cannot any longer pretend I am in darkness if a believer at all), let the walk be consistent with this fact. If I am in a dark room, I may kick against things and be excusable because I am in darkness, but if the light is there and not the darkness, there can be no excuse if I do not walk according to the light which shows what is there.

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Coming of the Lord and Its Practical Effect on Us

In Gen. 3 when the Lord God, after Adam's disobedience, came down in His marvelous mercy and grace, and called to him in the garden, He speaks not a word of restoration to Adam, but in the judgment pronounced on the serpent, to the serpent He speaks of the coming Seed of the woman who should bruise his head. And this in the hearing of Adam and his wife. Here it is in vers. 15 that we have the first prophecy of the coming of Christ.

No doubt there is a reference to the rising of the Sun of righteousness with healing in His wings, to hold the reins of government for God. Here we see the Seed of the woman, with His own heel bruised, bruising the serpent's head. The head is the seat of intelligence, and he will be completely suppressed. Defeated at the cross, but permitted now for a while access to heaven, and affecting this earth for evil by his angels, the Lord will presently make manifest how entire His defeat of Satan is when He bruises him under the saints' feet. That time is yet future, and I only mention it because the putting down of the power of evil is wrapped up in the coming of Christ. Yet how the church for the most part has lost the lively expectation of Christ's coming and kingdom, when He shall judge the living and the dead, saying like the evil servant in the parable, “My Lord delayeth His coming” and in consequence has so got mixed with the world that, instead of being a light bearer, it has become, as it were, submerged. This, then, is the first mention of the coming of the Man Christ Jesus into this world—that Man Whom God hath laid power on, and Who will effect everything for God's glory, and suppress all lawlessness.

And we want this afternoon to see how we may be suitable in our lives to that coming—may live as if in it at the present moment—our “whole spirit and soul and body being preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Faithful is He that called you, Who also will do it.” The coming of the Lord is one subject, yet marked by distinct periods. There was His coming when He was cut off and had nothing. There was no room for Him here, but God's appreciation was seen in raising Him up from the dead and giving Him glory. His first advent was in humiliation; the second is divided into two halves. He breaks His journey (so to speak) in the air to take His own out of the scene on which the wrath of God, will be poured out. I want to show you the effect of this on the character of a convert's soul. The effect it had on the dear saints at Thessalonica made them the talk of all around, so that Paul had no need to say anything about them. I've no doubt they were little instructed at first, for 1 Thess. 4 was written for their and our instruction, encouragement and comfort. But read chap. 1:3: “Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father,” and connect it with vers. 9 and 10: “Ye turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, Whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, our Deliverer from the coming wrath,” as it should read, for the wrath has not descended yet, though it is revealed from heaven. You see the earnestness which marked them then. When converted they turned to God from all they had been brought up in. If that is not true of every converted soul, it is because the gospel is not properly preached, or man's mind takes the place of God's word.

“Work of faith.” If you turn to Rev. 2:2, where the Lord is seen walking among the candlesticks and addressing the Ephesians' who had reached their climacteric in the epistle we read last week, you will find “work,” but no mention of faith; “labor,” but not connected with love; “patience,” but not of hope. “Patience of hope” is the coming of the Lord. Now if all is not done with the motive principle of love, from God and to God, it is not acceptable to Him. It is not much noise and rustling hither and thither, but that which is faithfully carried out in love to Him that He values, a burning desire for Christ continually dwelling in the heart, and Christ formed there. I want these times together to be practical in our lives. It is now that we need Rom. 8, not when we are in the glory. If these things are not made our own in the power of the Spirit, we are not really “possessing” what belongs to us.

In the Old Testament the Lord's coming is looked at as one. The sufferings and the glory are connected together throughout. Take Zech. 9 for instance: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion, shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee; he is just and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.” But in Matt. 21 where it is fulfilled, “having salvation” is left out, for He was the Rejected One then.

Take Isa. 61. When the Lord says “To-day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears,” He leaves off in the middle of a sentence. There is already an interval of 1,900 years between the accomplishment of the two parts of that sentence—a great interval in the midst of that “coming.” In Dan. 9 we get his vision of the “Seventy weeks” of years. The sixty-ninth week was completed when the Lord rode into Jerusalem, and there remained the last week still to be fulfilled. But we are not in that period at all; we are in the church period, which is without times and seasons (1 Thess. 5).

His sufferings and glory are put together in the Old Testament, and when the blessed Lord came, so opaque was the darkness that they would not have Him. Darkness comes from a rootword meaning “deviation,” —they had departed from God Who is the Light. The darkness in John is moral, and so opaque that there was not a thought for God. He had looked down in Psa. 14 and 53, and found “not one that doeth good.” Then when He put man under a law, man took the responsibility before God had finished what He was going to say, so fond is man of taking responsibility. No one, if you take the best, at the best moment of their lives, will do for God. We can only stand before God in what He is to us—grace. The Lord wants us to be like Joshua, when he said: “If the Lord delight in us” all these troubles are nothing; so if we are standing consciously in grace we can glory in tribulations also, depending on His (not taking us out of them, but) lifting us over them in the power of the Spirit. He indwells us; He has come to glorify Christ. There is the work of Christ on the cross, divinely perfect; we start there, and nothing can alter it, but there is a work going on in us too. Sanctification means “set apart for God.” He must have something worthy of Himself if He is to take pleasure in it.

“For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy” (1 Thess. 2:19, 20). Paul, who was so beside himself to God, so sober-minded to those around, was in the mind of God about these saints, to see them in the glory of Christ at His coming. If we are to live to His pleasure, we must live in obedience. Separation marks the whole Bible; it is a divine principle; and from all evil. Enoch and Noah were separated from all contrary to God, or He could not have walked with them. God abominates mixture and won't have it. If we are going to live for His pleasure, and come out in those garments of righteousness of Rev. 19 those garments must be woven and made now. And Paul labored with this in view. “The love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead.” Man's probation came to an end at the cross of Christ, and all flesh proved to be worthless, and without standing before God. “Then were all dead.” If you want Him as your Substitute you must receive Him in your heart. “All dead.” Then he distinguishes “those who live,” who “should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again.”

Now turn to Deut. 24:5. I have read this to show the place the church has in Christ's heart. You know the comfort Isaac had when Rebekah was brought to him (Gen. 24). It is typical of the church's presentation to Christ (Eph. 5:27). She receives all the beauty of Christ in her adornment, and she elects to go to Isaac. The camel is not a clean animal. It chews the cud, but it does not divide the hoof. The servant is a type of the office of the Holy Spirit conducting the church through the wilderness to meet the Lord. We are like the camels, we have bodies that connect us with the earth but we have a power with us that leads us onward.

Sarah stands for Israel. Sarah's death (Gen. 23) represents Israel as nationally dead during the calling out of the church to be the heavenly bride of the risen Christ (Gen. 24). There is a bill of divorcement against Israel now, but she will be the bride again as we see in the Song of Solomon. She is there awakened by the death of Christ for her—the myrrh (speaking of suffering) on His hand when He put it in to open the door. Then Isa. 53 will come out in its reality for her, as now it is true for us. When we read it, it ought to bring out a soul-tearfulness in us.

And as Isaac was comforted by Rebekah after Sarah's death, so the church is given to Christ by way of comfort, and is formed by those taken out from Jews and Gentiles; and gets to know, through a pathway of suffering, a greater knowledge of God than any other “family” in heaven or earth.

Now here in Deuteronomy we find one not going out to war for a year. It sets before us the interval after the rapture and the delight of Christ in His church, for He does not come out as warrior in Rev. 19 till after the marriage of the Lamb. He is hidden and delighting in His church while the vials of wrath are being poured out. He is in the Father's house in ecstasy of joy. Then when He does go out to war we shall go with Him to judge even angels. In Dan. 7 you see thrones, but no occupants. In Rev. 20 the occupants of those thrones have judgment given unto them. Surely they should now have intelligence to put aside everything contrary to Him! R. E. C.

Notes on Matthew 17

Matthew was not an eye witness of the transfiguration, nor was Mark, nor Luke; while John who was present, does not say anything about it, because it did not fit in with the purpose of his Gospel. Peter, James and John also witnessed the raising of Jairus' daughter, and were nearer to the Lord in Gethsemane than the others, and they with Andrew are the ones prominent in the Lord's Olivet discourse (Mark 13). They formed the first quaternion of the twelve, who are always divided into three quartets. Moses and Elias are the two most representative men in the whole O.T. of the law and the prophets. They were not in their resurrection bodies. The Lord Jesus brought life and incorruptibility to light.

We have here the picture of the Kingdom. Moses and Elijah are in the heavenly department of the kingdom, and so represent the risen and glorified saints, but the Lord Jesus was “the first begotten of the dead.” It shows how enlarged our capabilities will be; we shall need no introductions there, we shall know even as we are known. However numerous the throng there will be an individual secret between each saint and the Lord. People are very diligent in seeking out parallel portions of scripture, but how few seek out the contrasts and the reason of them!

Ver. 7: It is more than “well pleased.” Rather is it “In whom I have found my delight.” Matthew is the only one who gives these words. They correspond with Prov. 8. “I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him, and my delights were with the sons of men.” Not in Adam, for he was not a son of man, so it was not in man as man before the fall; nor could it be in his posterity who shared in the fall, but in those in whom repentance is wrought, the excellent of the earth. And the scriptures would teach us that as to the expression “only begotten,” we must not have human thoughts about it. In Gen. 22 Isaac is called thine “only son,” though Ishmael was born before Isaac. It is a term of special endearment and position.

Evidently we get in this chapter what we are going on to, the reigning day of the Lord Jesus. We have had His rejection, and the disciples sharing in that rejection; here we have the reigning day. It is after “six days” in this Gospel and in Mark, and represents the complete circle of service. Then there is the day of rest after the service. Luke puts it “After eight days,” that is, he counts the day in which the discourse was given, and also that in which the transfiguration occurred. Compare the different accounts of it by the three Synoptists.

Matthew says “And his face did shine as the sun.” The sun is the emblem of supreme authority, and that will belong to Him who is disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God and precious. What we have here is the official glory of the Lord. If it is a question of any office of the Lord, He gets no glory from the office, but the office gets glory from Him. All before Him typifying Him got glory from their office, as Aaron did; but not so He. All the glory that is so wonderfully displayed here is not reflected glory, it radiates from Himself. When He came down here He laid aside His glory. You get a little ray shining out in Gethsemane, overpowering the armed crowd; they fell back. There was a glory which could not be hid—His moral glory—this must come out. It is impossible for any mind or any number of minds to imagine such a character as the Son of God. Take any book, any imagination, you cannot compare them with the Gospels; you can only contrast them, the difference is so vast.

When the Shechinah or the glory-cloud, filled the temple, the priests could not enter in, or work. No wonder the disciples feared as they entered into the cloud. The Spirit draws special attention in ver. 3, by the word, “Behold.” It reveals that in heavenly glory there will be heavenly intercourse with Him Who loved us and gave Himself for us, the greatest wonder of all eternity! the center of two eternities, as the hymn puts it. The thought being got from the two cherubim, one looking one way and one another, but both gazing on the blood sprinkled on the mercy-seat. So one eternity looked on to, and the other looks back on, the work now accomplished on Calvary. There is nothing like it!

The angels are learning in every dispensation. Now in the present time, they are learning by the church the various wisdom of God. When the reigning day comes, the devil will be bound for a thousand years, the whole creation that now groans will be delivered, the Lord Jesus will reign in unbroken peace. The curse removed, there will be wondrous increase, for instead of what we witness now, one species preying on another, “they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain” says the prophet. Yet when the devil is let loose again, man who will have known the contrast between the Lord's reign, and everything that has gone before, will as readily fall, as at the beginning. Shall not the angels learn that man must be born again?

God's earthly center in that day will be Jerusalem, and the nations nearest to her will be most affected by the glory which will be on it (compare Isa. 4.), so those farthest away will be the most ready to fall. Assyria on the north, and Egypt on the south, will have special blessing, as it is written, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of mine hands, and Israel mine inheritance.” These are the nations adjacent to the holy land. When the nations were divided, as we get from what God was pleased to reveal in Gen. 10, we find seventy nations there, so it almost looks as if that will be the number of the nations in the millennium.

The great point in each Gospel is, “Hear ye Him.” God has spoken to us by His Son, and we may put alongside that the end of 1 Cor. 14. “If any man is spiritual,” Hear ye Him. In ver. 4 some old manuscripts read “I will make.” Peter was willing to do it if there was consent from the Lord. There is nothing so jealously guarded in the whole of scripture as the person of the Lord Jesus. Some Christians make everything of service, others everything of the church. But let us make everything of Christ, and then everything will fall into its proper place.

It is from what Peter describes as “the excellent (or majestic) glory” that this voice is heard. He stirred up the pure minds of his hearers by way of remembrance. No doubt he had told them orally, but it is given in perm anent form as scripture for them and for us. If you do not pass on to others what you have, you suffer loss. “There is that scattereth and yet increaseth"; so it is wise to pass on what God gives us. Take one verse of scripture, and it is beyond the power of man to exhaust it, if even he should live to the age of Methuselah. There is a lesson for them and for us in it, “there was a cloud that overshadowed them.” If you show me a Christian who is very happy, it is one who makes much of Christ. When we get to the glory, not even it can “lasting joy impart.” It must be Christ Himself. I suppose “they fall on their face” would imply they paid homage. They recognized they were in the presence of the glory that required homage, and they feared greatly.

It is very blessed to think of His touch! It is always a touch of power. John in Rev. 1, is overwhelmed. “He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not” etc. —everything is at my disposal! What strength to a soul to have a communication like that. 1 John had leaned on His bosom, but the way in which he hides himself in “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” shows how he appreciated that love. It is true of every saint that he is loved, but John appreciated it in a special way. And Peter recognized that John understood the Lord. So one can quite understand the affection that existed between these two.

I believe there has been a misuse of those words “Jesus only.” We must not forget the Father and the Spirit. But when it is a question of putting others on equality with Him, honored servants as they were, the Father soon puts it right. As the man Christ Jesus, He has the preeminence, and when we are conformed to His image, as we shall be, it is that He might be the “firstborn among many brethren.” Here the meaning is They saw Jesus, not in company, but “alone,” as Moses and Elijah were no longer to be seen.

We may here remark the order that we have in these events. In chap. 16 the person of Christ is confessed by Peter, and then the Lord discloses to them for the first time His sufferings, and the suffering path of those who would follow Him, then the coming kingdom which is the time of reward. You could not think of rule over five or ten cities in the Father's house! The kingdom is on a lower level. We are children of God by new birth, sons by position; and being sons we are supposed to have the Father's character. You do not expect character in an infant, but in those who are grown up. John never uses the word “son,” in his Gospel or Epistles, of any but the Lord Jesus. Where so rendered, it should be “children.” We are “sons” by adoption, “children” by birth. Rewards are in the kingdom. I suppose the highest and greatest blessings are common to all the saints, and all of pure grace. In John 17 the Lord speaks of the glory which He has “given them,” and that it will be manifested to the world, “that the world may know that Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.” But the Father's love to Him is the measure of His love to the saints! “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory” etc., is infinitely higher; the world will not see that.

“Tell no man the vision” (ver. 9). Visions are often regarded by people as witnessed in dreams, or a trance, but it was far from that here. He had chosen three to witness it. Adequate testimony! We shall know all the saints above, but every one will be “conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29).

“Elias truly shall first come” etc. (ver. 11). The Lord shows that this scripture in Malachi, is partially fulfilled, not completely. But He puts the responsibility on them. John the Baptist came in the spirit and power of Elias, and they had done unto him whatsoever they listed, and it had been permitted. It had stumbled John to be still kept in prison, but they were permitted to do this, and even to take the Lord's life. Yet He gave His back to the smiters; they could not have touched Him had He not permitted it. But when the time came for Him to yield Himself up, He did so. They were manifested, and what God is was manifested too. The Lord is seen in John's Gospel as the Master of the situation—as One Who is divine.

The truth told out in verses 14 and following, is, that the devil cannot be cast out by anything but the personal presence of the Son of God. No amount of preaching will put the devil in the bottomless pit, and you cannot have a millennium without that. Satan's judgment is sealed by the cross of Christ, and he knows it already; “And when he shall be cast down to the earth he will know that he has but a short time.”

The word “lunatic” is used here in ver. 15. But there was an evidence of satanic power, and it was a very peculiar case. All demons are not alike. There are principalities, and powers, among the wicked spirits in Eph. 6, and there are the same differences among the elect angels in Eph. 3 We must not pit them all down as exactly the same. Then there are demons at large, and there are demons who are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness to the judgment of the great day” (Jude 6). But what numerical power Satan has! A Roman legion was from 3,000 to 6,300, and there was enough power in one man to destroy 2,000 swine! It is a solemn consideration that in that which bears the name of Christ, doctrines of demons would be tolerated. Satan has four names. He is the “old serpent,” the subtle one; the devil, the false, accuser, slanderer; Satan, the adversary; the dragon, the persecutor. These are all brought together in Rev. 20:2.

Ver. 16: Very often the apostles were called disciples, those immediately connected with the Lord. Of course, “the seventy” whom the Lord sent forth in Luke 10 had power to cast out demons. There are some very important lessons for us here. I would not limit verse 7 to the apostles. The Lord says “this kind"; there were demons more tenacious in holding on than others. According to Mark they thought the child was dead, the demon was so very reluctant to give up his hold. These disciples had cast out demons, and it would almost appear that this was an exception. It puzzled them that His name did not avail. Fasting implies denial of self. If self is denied, God can work. He requires a clear platform. In Mark 9 John confesses “we saw one casting out demons in thy name, and we forbad him because he followeth not us,” and the Lord showed him that no one could do miracles in His Name and lightly speak evil of Him.

Ver. 20: That is very solemn— “because of your unbelief.” We are unbelieving believers in many ways. What the Lord does is always worthy of Himself. This was a perfect cure. It is very blessed to put together what God puts together “With God all things are possible” and “All things are possible to him that believeth.” I do not like to hear a saint of God speaking much of “my faith,” and God answering it; leave out “my” faith. “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” I do not hear the Lord once commending the disciples about their great faith, but He often tells them of their little faith. He never says anything to make us pleased with ourselves. It is rather striking that in the introductions to both the Epistles to Timothy the apostle speaks of faith “unfeigned"; so there is a feigned faith. A grain of mustard seed is very small, but an old writer says, “You bite it, and you will find some heat there!” So this grain of faith is true faith though it be but small. I suppose a mountain is a figure of that which looks immoveable, something with a wide firm base. Whatever it is, God can remove it. “Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain.” when God is going to bring back His people.

Speaking of Heb. 12, there are only two places in the N.T. where the word translated “godly fear” is used; in chap. 5 “He was heard for his piety,” and “Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear” (chap. 12.).

What a word, “Nothing shall be impossible unto you!” but in Eph. 3:19, 20, we have something still more wonderful, “Filled into all the fullness of God,” now. There is no limit there. It is not said that He is able to do above all that we can ask or think—for we are indwelt of the Spirit, and we must not impose a limit—but, “above all that we do ask or think.” That is a wonderful word and humbling to us, showing what mighty privileges and encouragements we have, that we may lean our weakness on His might, that the power of Christ may tabernacle over or upon me.

Ver. 22 I think in chap. 16:21 the Lord speaks of His earthly people, the Jews— “Jesus began to show unto his disciples how he must go to Jerusalem,” etc. Here, however, it is evidently the Gentiles that are in view— “He shall be delivered into the hands of men.” In chap. 20:18, 19, He combines the two. So you see we have the Jews, then the Gentiles, and then the two combined. “They were exceeding sorry.” After the Lord was risen and “He opened their understanding” —that was a wonderful advance! But after the Holy Ghost was given it was more wonderful still. It may seem a wonder to us that when the Lord spoke so simply, they did not understand! He says, “In that day,” when the Holy Ghost is given, “ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” They could not know that before; while in John 20 we read, “As yet they knew not the scriptures,” which is more striking still.

Ver. 24: Peter thought “My Master is a good Jew,” and every good Jew paid the temple tax; but we must be careful how we speak for the Lord. I think the Lord has given us His word in such a way as to keep us in dependence. If we have a case of discipline, and act on His word, and then when another case similar comes we copy what went before we may go wrong. God has not given us a book of rules as men do when they form a society. The whole book is our rule, but it is not a book of rules; we are ever in a place of dependence. The word “prevented” in ver. 25, is not a wrong translation, but the word has changed its meaning, and now means “anticipated.” The Lord knew what Peter had done; twice He went to the temple, and called it His Father's house; twice He exercised His authority there—once at the beginning of His ministry, and again at the close. He was the One into whose hands all designed for the temple upkeep should have been put. It is very blessed to see that it is the same redemption for each individual (compare Ex. 30:12-15). With God nothing counts but Christ. Christ is needed for the vilest and for the best. In the sight of God all are alike, i.e., there is none good—they have all gone out of the way. Yet comparatively there are bad and good. In the presence of that which is absolute, none good.” The one title for all, is the “precious Blood"; the dying thief had the same title as the apostle Paul. We ought to learn in a practical way that however crooked a brother may be we are to remember he has the full value of the blood that has cleansed him from guilt. We have the same standing and that is unassailable, but our communion and enjoyment are affected by our walk. If our walk as children of God be careless, we become the subjects of the Father's discipline and the Son's, that we should not be condemned with the world. There needs the constant washing of water by the word, but never a re-application of the blood which cleanses the sinner once for all and starts him on the Christian walk—no longer a sinner, but now, and ever after, a child of God, and responsible to walk as such (1 Peter 1:13-23).

Studies in Mark 8:22-26: What Does This Miracle Teach?

Chap. 8:22-26 (Continued):

45.—What Does This Miracle Teach?

The miracle was performed privately, and the Lord's expressed will was that it should be kept secret; clearly, therefore, it was not wrought for the wicked and unbelieving generation who had rejected his teaching. To them the Lord shortly before had said emphatically that no sign should be given: and the healed man was accordingly bidden not to advertise his cure, but to go straight home.

But it may well be inquired whether this miracle has any significance beyond the evidence it affords of the inexhaustible love and compassion of the Lord and of His ready power and will to relieve the afflicted; and, if so, in what way it illustrates the general purpose or design in this part of the Gospel; further, if it was not for the people at large, whether it had any significant application to the followers of Christ.

Clearly, the prominent features of this case of healing are (1) that the man was taken apart by the Lord and healed in seclusion, and (2) that the process of the cure was not instantaneous but in stages. Now a close analogue to this sight-giving miracle will be found in the preparation of the disciples to receive and retain the Lord's teaching, and by this means to become His competent witnesses in the world when He Himself was not bodily present.

The apostles were specially chosen by the Lord out of His followers, and led apart from others. “He ordained twelve that they might be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach” (Mark 3:14). They at their call saw sufficient of the supreme attractiveness of Christ to forsake all and to follow Him. They believed that He was the appointed and promised Redeemer come to restore the kingdom to Israel. But their vision of the true nature of that kingdom was by no means accurate and complete, as such of their sayings as are recorded amply prove.

There are many instances which show that these disciples of the Lord could not clearly see the true spiritual value of the kingdom of God: they were, as it were, confused between men and trees. And it will be noted that this defect of the apostles is one of the connected threads woven into the texture of the Gospel.

Let us take a few items from the preceding narrative which illustrate the imperfect spirituality of the apostles. In the first storm at sea they concluded that the Son of David and His followers were all about to perish, but at the same time they thought that only He could save them. Their despairing conduct was in striking contrast with that of the serene assurance of Paul throughout the storm of many days' duration.

Then, when a crowd of listeners was famishing with hunger, the disciples, so imperfectly understanding the love and the compassion of their Master, besought Him to send the multitudes away to shift for themselves.

Again, when the Lord came to the deliverance of the apostles in the second storm, walking to them on the waves, they were affrighted at His unexpected appearance, and cried out in fear, mistaking their Beloved Master for an apparition.

Afterward, when the Lord reproved the folly of the Pharisees in their ablutionary rites and their connected formalism and hypocrisy, the disciples confessed their ignorance of His meaning, showing themselves “without understanding” like the mass of the nation.

Further, when a large audience was again present and without food, the disciples, oblivious of their former experience of the Lord's resources, were unable to suggest any means of feeding the people. Also. when the Lord passed from the physical to the spiritual things of the kingdom, and spoke of the dangerous leaven of the Pharisees, their thoughts rose no higher than loaves of bread.

All these events follow one another closely in the earlier part of the narrative, and combine to exhibit the immaturity of the Lord's immediate followers as “co-workers” with Him. To state their spiritual condition in the Lord's own figure, they had eyes to see, but they did not perceive.

At this juncture in the history, the duplex cure of the blind man is introduced. He was taken aside, and, first of all, a measure of restoration was given to his organs of sight, so that they became susceptible to impressions of external objects. But, according to his own testimony, he was unable to discern the real nature of those objects, for he confused such dissimilar objects as men and trees. A further effusion of power was needed, and this the Lord bestowed, so that the man thereupon saw all things with clearness.

The application of this object-lesson to the undeveloped spiritual condition of the apostles is plain, and harmonizes with the plan of the Gospel, which not only shows the ministry of the Servant of Jehovah Himself but His preparation of His followers to carry on a divine witness in the earth when He should be absent. They had been chosen and ordained by the Lord to preach the gospel of the kingdom, but how could they efficiently undertake this service, if they were themselves unable to discern the mysteries of the kingdom? The new features which were to characterize the people of God were put before the multitudes in parables, but the underlying truths were fully explained to the believing remnant (Mark 4:34). These doctrines were placed before the apostles in word and illustrated by miraculous deeds, but in this last year of the Lord's ministry it is clear they still needed to have the eyes of their heart strengthened to discern “things new and old” —the teaching of Messiah Himself and the scriptures that foretold Him and His doings.

No subject seemed more difficult of apprehension to the disciples than that of the humiliation and sufferings of the Messiah as a prelude to His displayed glories. And this subject of all-surpassing importance the Lord was about to introduce to them. By a tableau in the holy mount, He would afford some of them a glimpse of the kingdom in its coming glory (9:1), but teaching them of the sufferings and death of the Son of man (8:31) which must necessarily precede that manifestation. Could their eyes bear the sight and their hearts receive its meaning? The result showed that their vision in these matters was indistinct, and like this imperfectly restored blind man, and like the disciples on their way to Emmaus (Luke 22:31, 32) a further application of the power of the Lord was necessary.

OTHER GOSPEL INSTANCES OF PHYSICAL AND MORAL BLINDNESS

The cure of the blind is used in other parts of the Gospels to illustrate the Lord's power to illuminate the mind and the heart. A striking instance occurs in Luke. He records several cases of spiritual blindness, and then brings in the healing of Bartimaeus, showing by this acted parable how the Lord delivered those who sought His mercy (Luke 18).

First, there is the Pharisee in the temple blinded by pride and self-sufficiency, a strong contrast with the publican whose eyes were opened to see the sinfulness of his own heart before God (vers. 9-14).

Secondly, there is a further contrast between the little children, on the one hand, who in their simple way saw enough of the divine winsomeness of the Savior to come to Him, and were suffered to do so, and on the other, the rich young ruler who had many moral and religious qualifications, but nevertheless was so blind that, like the nation as a whole, he saw no beauty in the Lord that he should respond to His call and follow Him (vers. 15-25.)

Thirdly, the apostles whose eyes were opened sufficiently to leave all and follow the Lord were still so blind of understanding that when He spoke to them of His coming sufferings and death in accordance with prophecy, they perceived nothing of His meaning (vers. 31-34).

Fourthly, we have the introduction of the healing of the blind beggar, in immediate sequence to these passages, showing that although men were blind (1) to themselves, (2) to the Savior, and (3) to the scriptures and the Lord's own teaching, there was One present who would open the eyes of all those who sought His power. Bartimaeus implored mercy like the sinner in the temple; he was brought to Jesus like the infants; he followed the Lord like the apostles. In contrast with the Pharisee he was aware of his poverty and his blindness; and in contrast with the young ruler he saw that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Son of David.

Take another instance. In the Gospel of John the man blind from birth constitutes a typical example of the work of grace in the spiritual world, which is so fully presented by the Evangelist. In chapter 8 the Lord's revelation of Himself as the Light of the world is recorded, but the Jews did not follow Him, as is shown, and consequently they walked on in darkness. The Light was shining in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. But in chapter 9 there is given the case of a blind man living from birth in a world of darkness, whose eyes were opened upon his submission to the Lord's directions. In his case there was an effect upon the heart as well as upon the eyes. His apprehension of the worth of his benefactor developed in ascending stages in contrast with the opinions of the Jewish teachers. He spoke of Him as the man called Jesus (ver. 11) as a prophet (ver. 17), as “from God” (ver. 33), and finally he confessed Him as the Son of God (vers. 35-38).

After this record, the Evangelist immediately makes reference to the perverse type of blindness which characterized the Pharisees who were spiritually blind, but who deceived themselves by assuming they could see. This condition of blindness was demonstrated by their attitude towards the Lord Himself. Perfect goodness was before them, but they discerned Him not. The Lord said of them, “For judgment am I come into this world that they which see not may see, and that they which see may become blind.” The Pharisees were saying, “we see,” therefore their sin remained (John 9:39-41). They were of that generation who in the language of prophecy, “call evil good and good evil: that put darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isa. 5:20).

CASES OF BLINDNESS IN THE GOSPELS

Omitting the general references to the healing of the blind, of which there are several, as in Matt. 11:5, there are seven specific cases mentioned in the four Gospels, viz:-

(a) Two whose eyes Jesus touched, Matt. 9:27, 28.

(b) One blind and dumb, Matt. 12:22.

(d) One in Jerusalem, blind from birth, John 9

(e) Two near Jericho, Matt. 20:30; Mark 10:46; Luke 18:35.

(1) Of these seven cases, five are named by Matthew, two by Mark, one by Luke, and one by John. None of these cases is mentioned more than once with the exception of the two near Jericho. In this instance Matthew refers to both men, but Mark and Luke to one only. Matthew also records the greatest number of cases-five.

(2) These seven witnesses were distributed between the northern and southern provinces. Four (a, b, and c) occurred in Galilee during the earlier part of the Lord's ministry, and three in Judea (d and e) during the latter part, and these were three who sat and begged.

Three of these blind men (a and e) asked that they might be healed; three others (b and c) were brought to the Lord; and one who was blind from birth (d) was first addressed by the Lord.

In every case but one (b) the Lord laid His hands upon them, or touched their eyes. On one occasion (c) He touched twice. In two instances (c and d) the Lord made use of spittle.

Two blind men in Galilee (a), and two in Judea (e) acknowledged Jesus as the Son of David, and after the healing of another (b) the people said, “Is not this the Son of David?” Besides these four men, no one confessed Him in this character, except the Syro-phoenician woman (Matt. 15:22), and the women and the children upon the occasion of His public entry into Jerusalem (Matt. 21:9, 15). These testimonies to Jesus as the Royal Seed of David are recorded almost entirely in the First Gospel, Which from the outset (Matt. 1:1, 20) presents Him particularly as David's Son and David's Lord.

W. J. H.

The Rapture of the Saints and the Character of the Jewish Remnant: 2

Our first duty will be to produce the testimony of scripture to the existence of a godly Jewish remnant in the latter day, with Jewish hopes sanctioned of God. This once distinctly shown, the whole question as to the state of things in the latter day is really solved, and the modified or transitional state of the remnant becomes easy to discern. God would not deprive the Jews of the hopes of Israel till they deprived themselves of them; meanwhile He introduced the church, and their hopes gradually died down, giving place to exclusively heavenly ones, till judgment closed all other relationship between God and them.

I shall begin by a very plain and strong testimony, which will set the state of the Jewish remnant in the latter day in the clearest light, and then quote passages to show it was a constant theme of prophecy; some showing the fact that a remnant will exist, others its character.

Mal. 3:16 “Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.” Chapter 4. “For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts. Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers, lest I come and smite the earth [land] with a curse.”

Such are the last solemn words uttered by the prophetic Spirit to Israel before the coming of the Messiah and His precursor. The provisional application to Christ and John the Baptist will be noticed, and is most important, to show the way in which the testimony of their day took a Jewish character and application; but the last days are definitely here in view. A godly Jewish remnant is the very subject of the prophecy. They are contrasted with the wicked, they fear Jehovah's name, and unto them the Sun of righteousness arises with healing in his wings. They triumph judicially over their wicked oppressors in that day. They are identified with the godly in Israel in the prophet's time; they speak often one to another; God will spare His in that day. They are called on to remember Moses and the law given to him for all Israel. Nothing can be more distinct and plain, more specific and positive in its character; and it has all the peculiar weight of a final and closing testimony, the last words of prophecy to Israel.

Let us now see if this doctrine of a remnant is constantly recognized in the prophetic testimony, and in what way. Isaiah, a prophet who unfolds to us the ways of God with Israel as a whole, will abundantly instruct us on this point. The general principle, which connects the remnant with all God's moral dealings with Israel, is found in chapter 1:18, 19.

Before I proceed to quote the passages in detail, let me here state the great principles which this first citation suggests. I have already noticed that, after the question of personal salvation or relationship to God, two great subjects present themselves to us in scripture: the church, that sovereign grace which gives us a place along with Christ Himself in glory and blessing; and God's government of the world, of which Israel forms the center and the immediate sphere. Only we have to remember that in this government, grace must have a part, or it would not be the government of God. It would be simple judicial condemnation, and impossibility of blessing. These ways of God are revealed in Ex. 32; 33; 34, and Deut. 32. The prophets founding themselves on the law given in Horeb, are sent in grace to seek the fruit which the vine of the Lord's planting ought to have borne. They reproach Israel with not producing it; and solemnly warn the people of the consequences in judgment.

But as God, and therefore grace, was at work, there were the purposes and will of that grace to be revealed: only that it was not in Israel's case made effectual in a simple sovereign gift to the divine glory in a new creation, but in display of God's ways in divine government in connection with the responsibility of man. This grace must be in Christ, for He is the center of all God's ways. He is the Messiah, then, of the Jews, the King that is to reign in righteousness, and to display fully and in perfection God's immediate government (see Psa. 101). Hence there is a double test applicable in the ways of God in government in Israel.

Have they profited by and glorified God in the privileges, in the enjoyment of which they were originally placed? Are they in a condition to meet Jehovah in glory, coming in the person of Christ? These two questions may be seen treated in Isa. 5 and 6.

The question of the remnant is treated, let the reader remark, entirely in connection with the second of these subjects (i.e., in connection with Christ). It is the same nation of course: the residue have the law necessarily before their consciences, and this fully maintained; but it is, after all, the presenting of Christ, the dealing of God in grace, which brought the state of the nation to an issue, separated the remnant, and brought judgment on the body. After sending the prophets, speaking by the Spirit of Christ which was in them, to seek fruit, the Lord of the vineyard said, I have yet one Son: it may be they will reverence my Son when they see Him. We all know the result. Judgment came upon the nation, a remnant clung to Him through grace. But this necessarily raised another point, “the kingdom” as well as the law. The kingdom was not set up, but the King was there, and the kingdom in that sense among them; and, moreover, since John the Baptist, it was preached as at hand. It passed, on the rejection of the King, into its mysteries as unfolded in Matt. 13 It will be established on the earth; but on the return of the King from heaven, where He is gone to receive it. The reader may see that in Isa. 5 the remnant is not brought into view; in chapter 6 it is, while the people's hearts are made fat.

Now, the whole of this process of government is unfolded in Isaiah: in the early part, before the history of Hezekiah, in judgment, and connected with all God's ways, and the national condition ending in the millennial glory and blessing in connection with Emmanuel the King; in the second part, after the history of Hezekiah, in grace, showing that Israel had failed in maintaining Jehovah's glory as His servant, that Jehovah had substituted Christ come in humiliation as His servant, “the true vine,” and that He (rejected and despised of men) would inherit the Gentiles also. The restoration of Israel was a small thing; but still God would, in and with the remnant, bring in the final glory of Jerusalem and His people.

Thus the whole of the ways of God in government, in connection with Israel, are unfolded in his prophet. The question which exercises many saints connects itself with this whole in this way: Christ having been rejected, and having gone on high, has become the Head of the body, the church; but how far can we, admitting this great and blessed truth, consider the disciples, viewed as associated with Christ during His life—or even in some respects for a time, through God's patience, after His death—as entering (though, in result, then merged in the church) into the scheme and course of God's ways with Israel? Are they ever, whatever higher privileges God may have granted to them, viewed and treated as the remnant of Israel according to promise? How far did Christ act and speak in this character, or did He at all? And will not a remnant be found in the latter days, associated, according to God's will, with the hopes of, and promises to, Israel; taking up the link where it was suspended and broken off, a remnant to whom Jehovah (Jesus) will show Himself in glory, to bless them on earth, as having waited on Him and for Him, the Lord Jehovah, for their help in their trouble? Or is it the church which will continue to the appearing of Christ? And will there be no remnant of Israel waiting, with a right Jewish faith owned of God, for the accomplishment of the promises?

This is the point at issue.

Let us now examine the testimony of Isaiah as to the remnant. First, we get the fact stated. The prophet (i.e., the Spirit of Christ), representing the testimony of judgment against sin, and God's grace pointing faith to Jehovah's faithfulness and a Messiah to come, thus lays down the state of Judah: “Why should ye be stricken any more?... Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and made like unto Gomorrah.” This is the general prophetic view of the condition of Israel. At the prophet's point of view, such is Israel. Further, the nation must be restored by judgment (chap. 1:24-31). But there shall be a remnant left, and full glory and holiness With Christ for those who have escaped (chap. 4:2-6).

Judgment having been used to purify them, the glory is connected with Jerusalem on earth. We have already noticed the judgments of chapters 5 and 6; the former in respect of conferred privileges, the second of expected glory. In this second case, as the glory is necessarily connected with Messiah, the doctrine of the Jewish remnant is fully brought out. First, in general desolation and forsaking, the people's heart being made fat. This, we know, carries us on to the time of Christ, connecting Israel's state under the prophets with their state under Christ, in whose time this judgment was accomplished (Matt. 13:14, 15). And let the reader remark Acts 28:26, 27, showing that there was a dealing with Israel, as such, in patience, after the Lord's rejection and departure.

But secondly, the same passage shows us that there is a remnant (Isa. 6:13) —a holy seed, which is the substance of the old and seemingly withered tree. It shall return and be eaten. Chapters 7 and 8 unfold this fully in connection with Emmanuel.

The local enemies of Judah are set aside; and through the inroad of the Assyrian, the circumstances of the Jews connected with the latter day; for the enemy who then overran Judah is the, often-named enemy of the latter day, of whom the prophet speaks continually as the overflowing scourge. At the same time, the sign of the virgin's Son, Emmanuel, is given to them. Assyria will overflow Judah. But this is not all; there is a confederacy of nations against Judah. Now we get the resource of the faithful, connecting this history with our particular point.

In presence of Judah's dangers from the confederacy of her enemies they were not to lean on human sources of strength, and confederate as men would. The Lord of hosts was to be their sanctuary. Where found? Here it is Christ comes in. He separates the remnant, being a stone of stumbling to the nation itself: for He is the Lord of hosts (compare chap. 1.). He is a sanctuary for those who look to Him as such; for there is no question of atonement here. However needed it may be, it is not the subject. The person of Christ is before us. The testimony is bound up and the law sealed among His disciples; and He teaches them, in the spirit of prophecy, to wait on Jehovah, who hides His face from the house of Jacob, and to look for Him. In a word, He maintains by faith the connection of Jehovah with Israel in the remnant. He and the children which God has given Him are for signs and wonders to both the houses of Israel, from the Lord of hosts who dwells in Mount Zion. Trouble and judgment are then announced and the full deliverance of Israel through Messiah by victory and judgment. He shall reign upon the throne of David with judgment (chap. 9:3-7: in ver. 3, read, “to it increased,” instead of “not increased,” i.e., “thou hast increased its joy"). What is so important in this passage is, that while the church's position, undoubtedly assumed subsequently by the remnant who adhered to Christ, is passed over, their connection with Israel's hopes, and the accomplishment of Israel's hopes, are fully established through Him who teaches them to look to Him who hides His face from the house of Jacob, and to wait for Him; for church blessings and grace they had not to wait. The church still waits for the accomplishment of this also; its own proper hopes are different, as we shall show in due time. Here the remnant connected with Christ are connected with a proper and exclusively Jewish national hope.

(continued)

(To be continued)

Christ, the Want of the Soul: Part 2

But still the mind of the Lord Jesus is the same as it ever was; and when the last saint sits down beside Him on His throne, when the fullness of “It is finished” comes to be understood, and word is brought to the many mansions that death is dead, and that time is now no more—the redeemed, as they bow beneath that exceeding glory, will feel that it is still the glory of the Lamb that was slain—the glory of the “friend who sticketh closer than a brother.”

But the feelings of others towards the Lord Jesus are vague and comfortless, because they think of Him as a distant Savior—a Savior far away.

The Lord Jesus is omnipresent. He is not far from any one of us. His flame-bright eye follows the Lord's Day desecrator through the fields, and is on the drunkard as he reels into the tavern. It reads through the thought of the liar as he forges his falsehood, and looks through and through that heart which is full of its corrupt imaginings. It notices the worldly professor at the communion-table, and sees the unbeliever tumbling, night after night, into his prayerless bed. But though the Lord Jesus be everywhere present, He is present with His own people in a peculiar relation. He is with them as a Savior, a Shepherd, a Friend. His divine presence fills immensity; but His gracious, His loving and interested presence—His Savior-presence—is exclusively with His own. So constantly is the Lord Jesus present with His people that, in order to get the full good of it, they have only to remember the fact. From the moment that a man becomes a disciple of Christ, “Lo, I am with you alway” becomes a promise to that man—a promise, the performance of which is never for a moment suspended by the Savior, but the existence of which is often forgot by the disciple. But, forgotten or remembered, it is every moment true; and, to enjoy the full blessedness of this assurance you have only to remember to realize it. Sometimes, without any effort on your part, the conviction will dawn gently, or flash brightly, on the mind, and you will feel for a moment that Jesus is with you. But why not feel it alway? for it is always equally true.

“A glance from heaven, with sweet effect,

Sometimes my pensive spirit cheers;

But ere I can my thoughts collect,

As suddenly it disappears.

So lightning, in the gloom of night,

Affords a momentary day;

Disclosing objects full in sight,

Which, soon as seen, are snatch'd away.

The lightning's flash did not create

The opening prospect it reveard;

But only show'd the real state

Of what the darkness had conceal'd.”

These lightning-bursts, these momentary gleams, are just the hints of truth which the Holy Spirit darts into the mind from time to time, revealing matters as they really are. But we ought to recollect, that even during the dark the solid landscape has not vanished, but is only hid. And even so, when Christ's sensible presence is withdrawn, we should remember that He is near as ever, and it is the believer's wisdom to go on in the joyful strength of the assurance, “Lo, I am with you.”

Let me mention some benefits of Christ's perpetual presence with His people, especially when that presence is recollected and realized.

1. It is sanctifying. The company of an earthly friend is often influential on character. If he be one of a very pure and lofty mind, and, withal, one who has gained an ascendancy over your own soul, his very presence is a talisman. If an angry storm be gathering in your bosom or lowering in your countenance, the unexpected sunshine of his heavenly aspect will disperse it all again. If mean or unworthy thoughts were creeping into your mind, the interruption of his noble presence will chase them all away. If you are on the point of declining some difficult enterprise or evading some incumbent duty, the glance of his remonstrating eye will at once shame away your indolence or cowardice, and make you up and doing. So the Savior's recollected presence is a constant reproof and a ceaseless incentive to an affectionate disciple. Is he provoked? Is his temper ruffled? Is he about to come out with some sharp or cutting sarcasm, or to deal the indignant blow? One look from the Lamb of God will calm his spirit—will cool the flush of fury in his burning cheek -will make his swelling heart beat softly. Are you tempted? Do evil thoughts arise in your heart? One glance from these holy eyes can chase away a whole legion of demons, and banish back into the pit each foul suggestion. Are you seized with a lazy or selfish fit? Are you wearying of work which for some time you were doing, or refusing work which God is now giving you to do? Are you angry at an affliction, or averse to a given task? Lo! He puts to His hand and offers to help you with this cross, and you observe that it is a pierced hand; and He offers to go before and show you the way, and you notice that the foot-prints are bleeding, and it wounds you to think that you should have needed such an admonition. Or you have just come away from a scene of guilt-from a company where you have denied Him—where you have just been saying by your conduct, by your silence, or your words, “I know not the man “; and as you encounter the eye of Jesus, whom they are leading away to crucify, O Peter, do you not go forth and weep bitterly?

2. Christ's presence is sustaining. The apostles were wonderfully calm and collected men. People, considering that they were, many of them, unlearned and ignorant, were amazed at their dignified composure in most difficult circumstances. It was scarcely possible to alarm or agitate them. When brought before kings and rulers, it was usually their judges who trembled, but they themselves were tranquil. And Paul tells us the secret of it. When he himself was brought before Caesar it was an agitating occasion. Nero was a cruel prince, and the people looked on his palace much as they would have looked on a leopard's den. An order has arrived to bring the Galilean prisoner to the emperor's judgment-hall. The apostle has just time to warn a few friends, and like enough they came and condoled with him; but they thought it prudent not to go with him into court. It might compromise their own safety, and it could do him no effectual good; and he did not urge them. The soldiers arrived, and he went away cheerily with them-the old weather-beaten man-without his cloak, for he had left it at Troas; without his friends, for he had left them behind at his own hired house—as forlorn as ever prisoner stood before Caesar. And how was it that the infirm old man passed, with so serene a look, the clashing swords and scowling sentries at the palace-front? How was it that he trod the gloomy gateway with a step so full of merry innocence and martyr-zeal, and never noticed Nero's lions snuffling and howling in their hungry den? And how was it that in the dim and dangerous presence chamber, where cruelty sat upon the throne of luxury,-how was it that, with that wolf upon the judgment-seat and those bloodhounds all around him-with none but pagans present, and not one believing friend to bear him company—how was it, O Paul! that in such an hour of peril, instead of pleading not guilty, and falling down on suppliant knees, thou didst commit the very crime they charged against thee—the crime of loyalty to Jesus—and urge Christ's claims on Caesar? Why, the secret of this strange courage “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all forsook me"; was, notwithstanding, THE LORD stood with me and strengthened me, that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.”

And you, my friends, will all be brought into agitating circumstances. It is not likely that it will be said to you, “Fear not, for thou must stand before Caesar.” But you may be arraigned before terrible tribunals—the tribunal of public opinion—the tribunal of private affection—the tribunal of worldly interest—for Christ's name's sake. From time to time you may be constrained to pass through ordeals which will make you understand how Paul felt when passing in at the palace-gate. When called to give your testimony for Christ, the flesh may be weak, and the willing word may be like to expire in your choking utterance. Worldly wisdom may beckon you back, and, like Paul's fearful friends, cautious or carnal Christians may refuse to support you. It is not Nero's hall, but a quiet parlor you are entering; but before you come out again you may be a poor man, or a friendless one. The Yes or No of one faithful moment may have spurned the ladder of promotion from under your feet, and dashed your brightest hopes on this side the grave.

(Continued)

(To be continued)

J. H.

Wine

Q.1.—Is it true that where “wine” is mentioned in connection with our Lord (e.g. Luke 5:37-39; 22 John 2) in no case does He use the word “wine” as we understand it to mean “fermented juice of the grape,” but that, on the contrary, in every case a word in the original is used showing the Lord to mean unfermented pure juice of the grape?

Q. 2.-Is the word used by the apostle Paul in his advice to Timothy (1 Tim. 5:23) the same in the original Greek as that used in connection with the marriage feast, or the institution of the Lord's Supper?

A. 1.-No, it is not true. There is but one word (οἶνος) used throughout the N.T. for “wine” and this, whether here or in the classical writings of antiquity in the general sense of “the fermented juice of the grape.”

There is another word occurring once only (Acts 2:13) translated “new wine,” but in all other cases the word “wine” in our English N.T. is represented in the original by the one word (oinos).

This “wine” at the cross (Matt. 27:34; Mark 15:23), mingled with gall, seems to have been a kind of vinegar (Matt. 27:48; Mark 15:36; Luke 23:36; John 19:29, 30), of a stupefying kind.

At the supper the word “wine” does not appear but is spoken of by our Lord as “the fruit of the vine"; and in 1 Cor. 11. we find abuse of it gave rise to drunkenness, which could scarcely have been if the Corinthians were using the unfermented fruit of the vine on the occasion Compare Eph. 5:18.

A. 2.-The answer is, Yes, and the same word in every case except as already pointed out in the institution of the supper, where it is (not “barley,” “palm,” or “lotus” wine) but specifically “the fruit of the vine", which “wine” properly is (cf. Gen. 9:20. 21).

I add here where the word “wine” (oinos) occurs in the N.T.: Matt. 9:17; 27:34 Mark 2:22; 15:23; Luke 1:15; 5:37, 38; 7:33; 10:34; John 2:3, 9, 10; 4:46; Rom. 14:21; Eph. 5:18; 1 Tim. 3:8; 5:23; Titus 2:3; Rev. 6; 14:16-19.

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Jehovah Alone Shall Be Exalted in That Day

“But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of Jehovah shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow unto it.” (Mic. 4:1).

Instead of merely flowing down, which is the natural course of rivers, the peoples will flow up around the sanctuary of Jehovah, then indeed a house of prayer for all. The change will be supernatural everywhere. Heaven and earth will bear glad witness of the glory and the power of Jehovah, yet withal displayed in the man Christ Jesus, and in those that are His above and below. No room will be left for the idolizing of nature more than any other idol. That day will proclaim the Lord, making a clean sweep of what man prides himself in, and proving that, although man may have done his best, the time is come for God to show His incontestable superiority.

I am persuaded therefore, whatever may be the progress of the age, that not a single shred which gives room to boast of the first man will remain in the day of Jehovah. Take for instance the electric telegraph and the railways. I see no ground to believe that the Lord will condescend to have either used during the millennial reign. Do you suppose that divine power can or will not outdo any invention, let it be ever so prodigious in man's eyes? If they ask how these things can be, a believer need not be concerned to find an answer save that which revelation furnishes as to the fact itself. It is enough for him that he certainly knows God will put down self-exalting man and in that day exalt Himself. Not a single relic shall be left: God will make a tabula rasa of all the busy works of man on the earth for the last six thousand years, or at least since the flood; and He will show that, wherein man has most pride, God will do better. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life must pass away. Even the grandeur of nature as it is must fall, still more the imposing structures of man, petty in comparison: for what are their high towers and fenced walls in presence of lofty hills and sublime mountains? Strong and stately ships shall be broken and pleasant pictures fade to nothingness. Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day. Isa. 2 says much but by no means all of the vast changes “that day” will introduce among things small and great. In fact the Lord will set Himself then to do everything here below in a way and to an extent suitable to His own glory. To my mind, there is no ground apparent for drawing the line of exceptions. Jehovah's exaltation to the exclusion of the first Adam has the widest application-all by which man has sought to set himself up, and gain glory and delight—yes, everything.

There is to be the shaking of the heavens and the earth, with the immense accompaniments and consequences of an act so solemn and unique. The day of Jehovah strikingly combines two things: that God will deal with the immense bounds of creation, the heavens and the earth, at the same time that He will stoop to deal with the pettiest fripperies of men and women. We are apt to connect the judgment of God only with things on a great scale, if indeed men think at all of the judgment of the quick. To counteract an impression opposed to scripture I draw attention to this. Nothing will escape His eye and hand.

But then there will be moral changes of moment and of the highest interest, as here we read that “Many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares.” Such, according to the Bible, is the reign of peace then, and not before. All attempts of peace societies meanwhile are at best an amiable illusion, at worst an infidel confidence in man, always ignorance of God's word. They may possibly influence in isolated cases, though it may be doubted whether when kings or statesmen or countries have made up their minds to a policy which enlists general sympathy within their own spheres and with means adequate at their disposal, any such theories or sentiments will avail to hinder. It is certain that wars have their roots in the passions and lust of man: to escape the bad fruit you must first make the tree good. But the day of Jehovah will deal with man in righteousness and power, and peace will result according to His mind and glory.

Besides there will be outward plenty. A thought full of comfort it is that the day is coming when the earth with every creature of God shall yield its increase, not now the poor and stunted growth of hill and dale, but teeming harvests and rich fruits and flowers of sweetest odor and varied beauty in form or hue, which, if they spew the hand of God now, as they surely do, nevertheless confess the blighting fall and curse in decay and death. Disappointment and sorrow meet one everywhere: scripture is plain as to both the cause and the effects. But it is equally plain that a Deliverer is coming for “that day,” when “they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of Jehovah of hosts hath spoken it.”

W. K.

Notes on Matthew 18

The Lord's claim to exemption as a son of the temple (17:26), He was ready to surrender. These collectors of the tribute-money had no claim on Him, but He says to Peter, Lest we give an occasion of stumbling, “take and give the stater, (the double money) for me and thee.”

In Philippians the Epistle that speaks of Christian experience we get “Let your moderation (or, yieldingness) be known unto all men.” So in the chapter we are now entering upon, we find the principle of the new order of things that was to be brought in, looking at it dispensationally. The disciples were looking to Him as the One Who should redeem Israel (cf. Luke 24:21), and they were evidently thinking about themselves and the place they were to have in the kingdom. The Lord does speak of rewards in His kingdom, not indeed as motives, but as incentives. “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him.” We have seen that the first time the church is introduced is in chap. 16, where we have also the kingdom and the keys. The thought of the disciples was who should be the greatest. James and John wanted to sit, the one on the right hand and the other on the left, in the kingdom, and the Lord tells them that they with others shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. The new order of things is the great point here, and the model is the little child. It is a lesson in humility. It is an awful thing that is exposed in Colossians, false humility. The sense of grace is that which produces humility. The entrance into the kingdom at all is by being converted and becoming as a little child (ver. 3). The actual little child is saved on the ground of redemption. To get into the kingdom at all is by becoming as a little child, not by reasoning or learning. A little child can see what is presented to it. Heb. 11:3 is very beautiful; it is not Understand and believe, but “By faith we understand"; we believe and therefore do we know.

As far as conversion goes you get a beautiful sample in the Thessalonians. They were poor, wretched idolaters when the word of God came to them, and in those that brought it, it was not in word only, but in power and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; and they received it not as the word of men but as the word of God, and you get here true conversion—they turned to God from idols.

There is a word in 2 Timothy that will help us along the path of going down. Our version does not give the right thought, and it is important to see its bearing. “Remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David raised from the dead according to my gospel” (2:8). “Remember Him raised from the dead.” You see He will be the reigning One by and by, it is the suffering time, now but God will then reverse it all. So he could say “For this cause I endure all things” etc.

So verse 4 of our chapter would only refer to one conscious that he was a child of God, and if a child then an heir of God and joint-heir with Him Who is the appointed heir of all things, a marvelous thing! It is well to notice in connection with this that the Lord Jesus in His deepest humiliation is the man who is withal Jehovah's Fellow (Zech. 13:7); and in His exaltation we are spoken of as His “fellows” (Heb. 1:9; 3:14).

“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself.” This is just what we frequently find in scripture. The first man sought to exalt himself, and believed the devil's lie, who kept back the truth. But the Lord Jesus humbled Himself (Phil. 2). He went down lower than any, He goes up higher than any; in all things He must have the pre-eminence. That is the principle here, he who goes down shall be raised up. We have in verse 5 the one qualified to go down. It is very blessed for us to see each other in Christ. We must remember we are all equally precious, because the measure of God's love to each is the measure of His love to Christ. But while speaking of this humility, it is well to turn to Rom. 12:16, which should read, “Go along with the lowly” (instead of “Condescend to men of low estate"). Those whom the Lord delights in are those who have low thoughts of themselves: they are “the excellent of the earth” —the repentant ones, those whom He associated Himself with at His baptism. They have the value of Christ upon them. Endeavor to get one to walk more becomingly, but never try to shake his faith—for that would be causing him to stumble.

It is a strong statement in verse 6, and ought to have its effect upon us. The offenses come from the world (ver. 7); and we must link the two verses together. There is no place where the apostle expresses himself so strongly as in Galatians, and this is the only epistle he wrote with his own hand, and it cost him a lot to do so, as he says: “Ye see in what large characters I have written to you.” But he was so stirred up by their being leavened with evil doctrine. It is quite in keeping with other parts of the N.T., that evil doctrine is worse than immorality. You get immorality and worldliness in the epistle to the Corinthians, but these are not dealt with so severely as the evil doctrine in Galatians. Galatia was a province, so you have the expression “the churches” of Galatia. But when he speaks of a city, it is always the “church” there, not “churches.”

Ver. 8: This is something in oneself that is a snare either to oneself or to others. If so one must not spare it, no matter how dear or how useful. Often hand and foot represent work and walk. Paul always illustrates a bad thing by himself, and he says, “I keep my body under and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway” (1 Cor. 9:27). This does not mean as some have said, cast from service, but the Lord will say to some “I never knew you.” It is not a question of apostatizing, but “I never knew you.” So I may be a splendid preacher with grand results, but if I knowingly lead a sinful life, I have no right to take comforting scriptures to myself. You cannot separate saving grace from searching grace. “Whoever has been begotten of God does not practice sin, because his seed abides in him, and he cannot sin (or, “go on sinning,” W.K.) because he has been begotten of God” (1 John 3:9 New Trans.). The Holy Ghost is the power against sin. This eighth verse of our chapter is a warning to each individual to keep himself.

“Take heed that ye despise not” etc. (ver. 10). You would despise one of these little ones if you acted with a high hand, and did not care whether they were stumbled or not. We should remember that by our meat we may destroy one for whom Christ died—as far as our act is concerned. It is a case, of stumbling. We do not get a great deal about angelic ministry in the N.T., but the little that is said is of great importance, though we must be careful we do not intrude into it. We have not to do with angels, but they have to do with us. They are innumerable, and everyone of them, however great or glorious (for there are differences among them, e.g., Michael the archangel) is engaged in ministering to the saints (Heb. 1:14). Another thing we ought to see, and every observant person can see, that there is a special providence watching over little children literally. I suppose the figure here is of those servants of the king's court who see the king's face and those who have this service see the Father's face. It is not only when they are heirs, but those who shall be heirs of salvation. Take Paul—he was a chosen vessel, and he says, “God who separated me from my mother's womb.” So there is one who as an heir of salvation would be specially watched over. You see that again and again. Take Moses, in the O.T. The parents beheld by faith that he was a proper child, but he was committed to the waters of the Nile abounding with crocodiles, a place of fearful danger. And then it was so arranged that when Pharaoh's daughter came down, there were tears in his eyes. We know the beautiful history, and how he got all the benefit of the learning of the Egyptians. Very similar to Paul, who was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, not a fisherman of Galilee. He had special work to do as Moses had. But Moses' learning was not sufficient. The most important years of his life, the second forty (his life is divided into three forties) were spent at the back side of a desert feeding sheep!

Ver. 12: It is Christ's joy in showing saving grace—joy in His own grace. What God's holiness required, His own love gave. We must not separate John 3:14, 16. Our joy will be perfect, but His will be greater than ours; we have not the capacity to enter into all that divine joy is.

It is in grace and love that we are to tell our brother of his personal trespass (ver. 15). And the thought is that you must not mention it to anyone else, unless your visit has failed in gaining your brother. A public scandal that everyone knows of is not the thought here, but something private and personal. It is his good that you are after. There is perseverance in this loving course; if you are unsuccessful take two or three more; it is not at all a point of putting him in a corner. You get something of the same principle in Acts 6 Everything fails in the hands of man. You get the failure coming in in chap. 5, Ananias and Sapphira acting a lie and telling a lie; then in chap. 6 you get the Grecians murmuring against the Jews. The Grecians were Jews speaking the Greek language, not Gentiles. Then the twelve tell them to choose out seven men of honest report whom they, the twelve, may appoint over this business. All the names of those chosen were Grecian names; it was grace. Paul did not tell Peter his fault “in private” for that was a public thing, and the Lord's name was concerned (Gal. 2).

“If he neglect to hear the church let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a publican.” It does not go farther than this here, but if the man remained unbroken, he might find himself outside the assembly. In Colossians we are told to walk in wisdom towards those who are without, so in Thessalonians. In 1 Cor. 5. “them that are without God judgeth.” The man supposed here is thoroughly stubborn. Samuel says to Saul “stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” This man would justify himself and would not be won.

You get the assembly and the kingdom in chap. 16, and you get them here; but here there is very clearly a “within” and “without.” In chap. 16 it is more apostolic action, here it is the assembly acting. You get occasional instances, in which binding and loosing are apostolic. In 1 Cor. 5 the apostle associated himself with the assembly. It is ever our duty to put away from among ourselves one proved to be “wicked.” The apostle delivered Hymenaeus and Alexander to Satan. When a person is put away it is a proof that all discipline has failed, and the Lord's honor demands it, but restoration should be looked for and earnestly desired. There are some peculiar features in every case; no two experiences are quite alike. In the case of the incestuous man at Corinth the sin was “bound” on him in the First Epistle; in the Second Epistle it was “loosed.” It will not be ratified in heaven if done in self-will and not in obedience to God's word. Alas! we have been more ready to put away, than to act in restoring grace.

Ver. 19: This is a wonderful encouragement to us to value united prayers, whether the meeting consist of two, two hundred or two thousand. Here it is the smallest number— “two of you.” We go to other scriptures to learn that it must be according to His mind and the prayer of communion. There is nothing too hard, for it is “My Father.” The Lord is here and acceptable prayer goes up to the Father by Him, and the answer comes down from the Father through Him. The Lord teaches us to go directly to the Father, as here, but there are things in His service about which we go to the Lord Jesus, as Paul's thorn in the flesh which hindered him in his service, and about which he besought the Lord thrice.

Some would limit verse 20 to the prayer meeting, but it is not so confined, for it takes in other meetings as well. In the Epistles to the Corinthians the assembly is opened out to us in its responsibilities and privileges, and 1 Cor. 5 shows us when gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus, (not the prayer-meeting only); it is the assembly acting. That is the only ground we can be upon; and whatever we may assume, we are not on that ground, if we knowingly allow evil to be associated with the Lord's name

This is altogether a wonderful verse, let us look at it in detail: “Where two or three” —divine limit; “are gathered” —divine separation; “together” divine fellowship; “to my Name” —divine authority; “there am I” —divine presence; “in the midst” —divine center. A very important verse indeed.

The varied ways in which scripture deals with the presence of the Lord Jesus in the midst, is very wonderful. There are two great gatherings for us, this one and “our gathering together unto Him,” (2 Thess. 2:1). We shall be all glorified with Him when this takes place. If a saint passes away his body will be raised in glory, but the meeting place is not here but up there. Now His blessed Name is our center, and we need no other. There is never any failure on His part. The seasons we have gathered to His Name ought to be superior to anything on earth. I heard a brother say a few days ago that he had been in conversation with a lady who had asked him with whom he was associated; to which he replied, ‘With a few other feeble saints like myself who are seeking to cleave to the Lord.' Her response was, ‘How delightful! '

In Rev. 3:20 the Lord is seen outside the church in Laodicea. It had lost all sense of what is due to the Lord, though very keen on that which belongs to them as individuals. The three essentials of Christianity they did not possess. The beginning of the declension was in Ephesus: “I have against thee because thou hast left thy first love.” The full result of this we see here in Laodicea.

Ver. 21: This evidently came as a surprise to Peter. It is clear enough that you must not put a limit to forgiveness. It is a question of personal trespass here, not of the Lord's honor. The Lord showed them that, if they rightly used the faith they had, the greatest difficulties would be removed. Then the danger would be to think one's self a very gracious person, but the Lord says, “Not at all, When ye have done all, say, 'We are unprofitable servants, we have done that which is our duty to do.'“ It says in Luke 17 “Rebuke him,” so we are responsible to deal faithfully as well as graciously.

The next parable is a similitude of the kingdom, but brings out one's responsibility to another in carrying out this instruction. It shows the Jews were dealt with in marvelous grace, though no doubt the Gentiles treated them very badly. If the talent was silver and Roman, it would be about ₤2,000,000; if Jewish ₤1,000,000; if gold, between ₤7,000,000 and ₤8,000,000. “And he had nothing wherewith to pay,” no power to put himself right after having contracted that frightful dent. I was thinking of what Nehemiah (9:17) says about God. It comes to my mind as God's wonderful grace. Daniel says, “To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness though we have rebelled against him,” but “to us confusion of face.”

First of all you get righteousness. God is always righteous. He never does a needless thing nor an unrighteous thing. So in verse 25 we see righteousness. This man acknowledges the justice; he does not deny the debt, but casts himself upon mercy. “Have patience with me and I will pay thee all.” The thought is that the justness of the claim is owned by the man. “Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him and forgave him the debt.” In one aspect the Jews are loosed; in another they are in the city of refuge. It is a solemn lesson for us here. The world will often say, ‘I will forgive, but I cannot forget'; that is not forgiveness at all. The Lord says here “from your hearts.” The most severe charge against the Jews is in 1 Thess. 2:15. And yet this very people will fill the earth with fruit. The grace of God turns a man inside out. The grand lesson here individually is that no matter what unkindness, what injury is done us, it can bear no comparison to what we have done against God and been forgiven. “Even as God in Christ forgave you.” Only think of a hundred pence (₤3 2s. 6d.) but mentioning that sum makes me think of the covetous eye of Judas, that ointment might have been sold for three hundred pence, three times what we have here, and the very amount he went and sold the Lord for was nearly the same.

The Lord Jesus evidently gave Judas instructions to minister to the poor. The women from Galilee ministered unto him. That lovely vesture of the Lord woven throughout, I expect was woven for Him by one of these women in the love of her heart.

This man is unforgiving and cruel; he throttled his fellow servant. Merciless and cruel, he had no sense of forgiveness. If there is anything like a due sense of grace in our souls, it will make us patient and watchful over our spirits, for there is the expression of the same nature we all have. We ought to notice he did not call him a wicked bondman because he owed the debt, nor that He was wroth with him because of it; but when he was merciless and unforgiving he was wroth with him It is exceedingly solemn. Better to be a poor heathen than to be in a nation that has the Bible and remains unconverted.

I thought we did not dwell last week on the fact that what we were looking on then is a similitude of the kingdom of heaven, and that does not begin till the King is in heaven. Now it is in mystery; by and by it will be in manifestation and power. Moses called Israel's attention to the privileged place they occupied-no people ever so privileged as they, and Isa. 5 brings before them their immense responsibilities consequent on their great privileges. So this parable shows the debt they incurred because of their responsibility; and in Matt. 21 we find their responsibility is far increased beyond what we find in Isaiah. Instead of rendering fruit they gave Him insolence and rebellion; and then when the Son came they cast Him out and slew Him. There we get the death of Christ, but it does not bring us to the full amount. On the cross the Lord prayed “Father forgive them.” So Peter presented grace to them in the Acts, but they refused it and murdered Stephen, thus sending the message after Him, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” That showed the immense debt the nation incurred. But looking at ourselves we can see what God thinks of an unforgiving spirit, for anything done against us can only be most petty compared with the debt we owe. We are brought into a place of immense privilege, and we are far beneath it if we cherish an unforgiving spirit. The Gentiles are brought in here in reference to the Jew; it is not a question here of their indebtedness to God, but they had served the Jew very badly. The forgiveness of this tremendous debt precedes what is required by them of others. In this chapter 18 we have been looking at the kingdom and what is required of those in it, and also of the church and the man who after all the efforts made to win him back stubbornly refusing to own his wrong, and is therefore to be treated as the heathen man, and the tax-gatherer. So it shows us what is required in both. We are dead to the world, to the law, and to sin, but not to nature.

Studies in Mark 8:27-30: Jehovah's Anointed Servant, Disowned by Many, Confessed by Few

Chap. 8:27-30, 46.-Jehovah's Anointed Servant Disowned by Many, Confessed by Few

“And Jesus went forth, and his disciples, into the villages of Caesarea Philippi: and in the way he asked his disciples, saying unto them, Who do men say that I am? And they told him, saying, John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; but others, One of the prophets. And he asked them, But who say ye that I am? Peter answereth and saith unto him, Thou art the Christ. And he charged him that they should tell no man of him” (8:27-30, R.V.).

Accompanied by His disciples, the Lord Jesus went northward towards the sources of the river Jordan. The neighborhood of Caesarea Philippi, some 120 miles from Jerusalem, was the most northerly point recorded among the scenes of the Lord's ministry. Thence the Lord turned southward to Capernaum first, and then to Judea for a final presentation of Himself to the “daughter of Zion” as the Anointed of Jehovah. The period of this visit to the vicinity of Caesarea Philippi coincides therefore with the commencement of the last year of His public service.

But up to the then present moment, what was the fruit of His labors? Jehovah's Servant had spent His strength in zealous and loving ministry among the lost sheep of the house of Israel, doing among them works such as man had never seen before. Truly God had anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power. The Great Prophet had preached the good tidings of peace, and had gone about doing good and healing all that were oppressed with the devil, God being with Him. What degree of conviction had this unique service of word and deed wrought upon the hearts of men? How did the people regard this Man approved of God unto them by the mighty works and wonders and signs which God did, by Him in the midst of them?

Such was the question raised in Northern Galilee at this juncture in the history of the Servant of Jehovah. And the Lord made inquiry of His disciples, not, of course, that He needed that any should testify concerning man, for He knew what was in man. But for their own sakes He put the queries, that they might share with Him the burden of unrequited love, and learn the secret of serving God in the face of apparent failure. It is noteworthy that the Lord's own knowledge of the obduracy of man's heart in no wise diminished His energy nor His love. Nevertheless the sorrow was there that the sons of Israel were not all prepared like aged Simeon to receive Him as the Lord's Christ, and His lament might be expressed in the recorded words of Jehovah to Jeremiah: “They have turned unto me the back and not the face; though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction” (Jer. 32:33).

IN THE WAY

It has been computed that the various journeys of our Lord in the course of His public ministry in Galilee and Judea extended considerably more than two thousand miles. These journeys would have been slowly accomplished on foot, and throughout them the Lord was, for the most part, accompanied by His disciples, and particularly by the twelve apostles who were specially chosen that they “might be with Him.”

Two thousand miles of heavenly intercourse with the Son of David and the Son of God! Well might one of the apostles as he recalled with adoring reflection those marvelous travels with his Master add to his Gospel that striking conclusion: “there are many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25.)

Of that antediluvian patriarch who “was not, for God took him” it is recorded that he “walked with God.” Here were twelve men who walked more than two thousand miles with Him who was God “manifested in flesh.” It was theirs to see, to hear, to contemplate, to handle the Word of life (1 John 1:1). As the Lord said privately to His disciples on one occasion, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see; for I say unto you that many prophets and kings desired to see the things which ye see and saw them not, and to hear the things which ye hear and heard them not” (Lu. 10:23, 24).

Very, very little of these communications is recorded. The effect of them upon the apostles was however abiding, and was manifested when the Lord had departed out of this world unto the Father. Then after the baptism of the Holy Spirit they became the foundation of that new spiritual building in the earth, growing now, as it is, unto a holy temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:19-22).

It was on such occasions that the Lord and His followers took “sweet counsel” together. Like the communications in the house at Capernaum (Matt. 13:36) and those also in the upper room at Jerusalem (John 13 et seq.), these conversations in the way near Caesarea Philippi were for the most part private, intimate, choice, personal, precious. Of a correspondingly private character, as we have already noted, are such of the Lord's works as are recorded in this part of the Gospel. A further instance of this sacred privacy we gather from that touching description of the incident which occurred shortly afterward, “in the way,” when the Lord was setting Himself steadfastly to visit for the last time that city so “beautiful for situation,” but defiled with the blood of Israel's martyred servants. “And they were in the way, going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed, and they that followed were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them the things that were to happen to him, saying, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests and the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him unto the Gentiles; and they shall mock him, and shall spit upon him, and shall scourge him, and shall kill him; and after three days he shall rise again” (Mark 10:32-34; Matt. 20:17).

These intervals of seclusion were opportunities to be prized highly, and to be used to advantage, but on another occasion we find the apostles misused their privilege as companions of the Lord. While “in the way” with Him, they forgot that they were disciples of Him who was meek and lowly in heart, who was made a little lower than the angels, who had come, humbling Himself, not to be served, but to serve. The apostles had heated arguments among themselves, when traveling to Capernaum, on the question of pre-eminence. The Lord rebuked them, but not publicly. When He was in the house He asked them, “What were ye reasoning in the way? But they held their peace, for they had disputed one with another in the way, who should be greatest” (Mark 9:33, 34),

POPULAR OPINION

The ways of the Great Servant of Jehovah in instructing His co-workers beforehand concerning the true character of coming events are found full of interest as we meditate upon them. Before making the first announcement of His imminent crucifixion and death, He prepared them for the news by drawing from their own lips the general thoughts of men regarding Himself. The disciples, both in company with and apart from the Lord, had traversed the country in all directions, teaching and preaching the kingdom of God, the word being accompanied by corroborative signs. They had therefore come into personal contact with the crowds, and had special opportunities to ascertain their real feelings.

Now when the Lord was in a private place praying, as Luke tells us, bearing the burden of men's obduracy of heart upon His spirit in His Father's presence, He asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” He Himself knew the answer, as He necessarily knew all things, but for their sakes He asked this question. It would be good for them not only to think vaguely in their hearts, but to say definitely with their lips that the world was against their Master's claims, that the best of men's judgments was short of the truth, and was therefore detrimental to the Lord's person and damaging to His glory and kingdom. The priests and the Pharisees, the professedly and zealously religious parties, were undoubtedly His strong opponents, but were the taught as well as the teachers antagonistic to the Lord? “Who do men say that I am?” was His question.

In reply, the disciples did not recite the worst sayings about their Master. There were those that said He was a Samaritan, that He had a demon, that He was mad, that He was a blasphemer, a gluttonous man and a winebibber. All classes were against Him, from the officials in the gate of justice to the drunkards in their ribald songs (Psa. 69:12).

The disciples knew these things, but their love for their Master filled them with a solicitous regard for Him. They were sensitive to His honor, and sought to shield Him to the best of their ability from what would be painful to His feelings. So, on another occasion, when He spoke of going into Judea, they, out of a similar regard, sought to restrain Him, saying, Rabbi, the Jews were but now seeking to stone thee, and goest thou thither again? (John 11:8). Now, as there was a division of opinion among the people concerning Him (cp. John 7:12), they gave Him the best of the common reports regarding His person and mission. Some, they said, declared that He was John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others, One of the prophets.

And yet how very far from the truth was the best of the thoughts of men: it was, indeed, the distance between heaven and earth, between God and man. John the Baptist as a man and a prophet was indeed highly-favored of God. And the Lord's own testimony regarding him was remarkable: “Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist.” But the greatness of John, however, was relative, not absolute, official not personal. He was a light-bearer (John 5:35), but not the Light itself, though he bore witness to the Light (John 1:7, 8). Nevertheless, he was preeminent among all prophets and messengers of God since the world began, in that he alone among them witnessed the fulfillment of his own Messianic predictions, and as the great forerunner, he was able to declare of One standing before him: “Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world.” This office was the choicest service given to men; “yet,” the Lord added, “he that is but little in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he” (Matt. 11:11).

John himself, whom all the people held to be a prophet, gave no ground for the popular saying. His plain testimony was, “I am not the Christ. He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear” (Matt. 3:11; John 1:20; 3:28). And when John saw the Holy Spirit descending like a dove, and abiding upon Him, he knew that He was the Son of God. The thoughts of men in these matters were foolishness. Some said John the Baptist was the Christ, while others said Christ was John the Baptist. Some said He was Elijah, the prophet of stern judgment, but none said He was the minister of heavenly mercy and grace. The truth was as the Lord declared, “No one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him” (Matt. 11:27).

The opinions of the populace showed how they were under the leavening influence of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, of which evil effects the Lord had just previously bidden the disciples beware. They, while glad of the Lord's beneficent miracles, altogether missed the sweetness of the grace of Christ. How otherwise could they mistake the meek and lowly Savior for Elijah, the prophet of devouring fire from heaven and famine on earth, the precursor too, of the great and terrible day of the Lord (Mal. 4:5), or John the Baptist with his fierce denunciations of the sins of Israel. In their blindness the people utterly failed to discern the grace and truth that came by Jesus Christ.

PERSONAL CONFESSION OF THE CHRIST

The Lord then turned away from the unworthy thoughts of the multitude, who had ever been the special objects of His loving service, to the circle of His own immediate followers. He now appealed to the judgment of their love and intimacy, saying, “Who say ye that I the Son of man am?” The question was a direct challenge to their loyalty and affection, like that one in the Canticles: “What is thy beloved more than another beloved?” Do you regard your Master as a John, an Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the old prophets?

Their reply was undoubtedly refreshing to Him who was so depreciated and under-valued elsewhere. Peter answered and said unto Him, “Thou art the Christ.”

From Luke we learn that the Lord addressed these questions to the disciples after He rose up from private prayer. In hallowed communion with the Father, He bore upon His spirit the anguish of a baffled and spurned love. After all His service in the midst of the favored people He, their Messiah, was still unknown, and the Father whom He came to manifest was also unknown. The Lord could have said even then, as He did later, “O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me” (John 17:25).

Only that part of Peter's confession which bears directly upon the special character of the Gospel is given. In Matthew, the words, “the Son of the living God,” appear also, for there the announcement by the Lord of the building of the assembly upon that acknowledgment follows. Here the Lord was owned simply as the Christ, the Anointed One, for this is an essential feature of the Gospel which sets Him out as the Servant of Jehovah upon whom the Holy Spirit rested.

The disciples, whose affections the Lord had kindled towards Himself by His love were filled with the serene confidence that He was the Sent One of God, while in the uncertainty that unbelief, engenders the people were distracted with conflicting opinions. It is faith alone that gives assurance, and Peter and his fellows believed that Jesus was the Christ. They told the Lord so, even as Jonathan came to David in the wilderness of Ziph, while Saul sought his life, and expressed his confidence that David was anointed to be the coming king in Israel (1 Sam. 23:17). Jonathan's confession of allegiance, we read, strengthened David's hand in God, and may we not say that He who “sought for comforters and found none,” rejoiced at the confession of Peter, “Thou art the Christ"?

But the time of public testimony to His rights as Israel's Messiah was now past, and He charged Peter that he should tell no man of him.

W. J. H.

The Rapture of the Saints and the Character of the Jewish Remnant: 3

The prophecy that follows (chap. 9:8) takes up the general history of Israel, its chastisements and hardness of heart, till the inroad of the Assyrian, the final instrument of God's anger, and in whose destruction His indignation is to cease. Here Israel, in Zion at least, is encouraged not to be afraid when the Assyrian is there; for God's indignation shall soon cease in his destruction. That is, God owns and warns in that day His people, has to say to them as such, and counsels and encourages them. Be it that the mass will not have heard, will have joined, as I believe they will have done, with Antichrist, to ward off the inroad (see chapter 28.); still the remnant will hear, and will reap the fruit of this grace. All I insist on here is that there is a Jewish remnant who will have Jewish blessings, and who have Jehovah's witness and testimony for them to rely on, before He comes to deliver. In this general history the ultimate result is more in view for the nation than the previous detail as to the remnant. Still, necessarily, general principles are maintained. Hence we find, in the following chapter, where the rod out of the stem of Jesse is introduced, that while in the main the millennial blessing is introduced, yet He reproves with equity for the meek of the earth. That is, He introduces a new order of things, in which pride is put down, and the poor and meek (that is, the remnant) vindicated. The Lord, when He was here, refused to judge thus, but the connection of this passage with those whom He owned in His testimony, and owned as those that should inherit the earth, is too evident to every reader of scripture for me to insist on. There is, therefore, a remnant who are blessed with Jewish blessings, and who have previously a character suited to them, and who are owned in this character even by the Lord, and as heirs of this blessing.

That in the new establishment of the kingdom in heavenly power at the time of Christ's first coming they succeeded—and sometimes with very slow and reluctant faith—to other and higher blessings, is quite true; but this did not affect the truth suspended in its effectuation by Israel's unbelief for a time, but to be accomplished yet by Him who hides His face from the house of Jacob, and for whom, and whose time of mercy, they must now wait. When we examine the Psalms and Gospels, all this will come out with the clearest evidence. Chapters 13 and 14 I only note as showing the way in which prophecy passes over from these present or near approaching judgments to the last day. The same remark applies to chapter 17 while there we find, verses 6, 7, the remnant and its moral state in the last days. In chapter 24 the remnant are again found (vers. 13, 14, 16); the righteous are owned. Judgment then comes in to establish the glory and blessing: but we find therein (chap. 25: 4) the character of the delivered remnant very plainly recognized. Jehovah has been a strength to the poor and needy. Not only so, but this pious expectation is clearly stated (ver. 9), and it shall be said in that day, “Lo! this is our God, we have waited for Him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him; we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” This is very clear; but the whole of chapter 26 sets this position of the remnant in the strongest possible point of view.

“In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD forever, for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength: for he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust. The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy. The way of the just is uprightness. Thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just. Yea, in the way of thy judgments, 0 LORD, have we waited for thee: the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee. With my soul I have desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Let favor be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD. LORD, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them. LORD, thou wilt ordain peace for us; for thou also hast wrought all our works in us. O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name. They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish. Thou hast increased the nation, O LORD, thou hast increased the nation: thou art glorified: thou hadst removed it far unto all the ends of the earth. LORD, in trouble they have visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them. Like as a woman with child, that draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs; so have we been in thy sight, O Lord. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen. Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into my chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.”

Here the true state and character of these poor and needy are the special subject of the Spirit's teaching. God “most upright weighs the path of the just.” They have waited for God in the way of His judgments. Their prayer was to Jehovah when His chastenings were upon them: “With my soul,” says the righteous, speaking by the Spirit of Christ, “have I desired thee in the night.” Jehovah will ordain peace for them, and finally desires them to enter into their doors and hide themselves for a little moment, till the indignation be overpast, for He was coming out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth. This passage needs no comment; its whole object is to own and show the character of the remnant of Israel in connection with Israel's peace and glory, and before the judgment is executed (they waiting for and desiring the Lord). I pass rapidly over chapters 28:5; 29: 9; 30:18; 31:6; and cite them merely as confirming the same truth, which they do, however, very clearly. Chapter 33 furnishes a testimony to the point which I must not pass over. “The sinners in Zion,” says the Lord, speaking of the last days of Zion, “are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high; his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks; bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. Thine eye shall see the king in his beauty.” Here the righteous remnant in Zion, in her last day of trouble, are brought under view as definitely as can possibly be, and their security announced on this very ground that they walk righteously (chap. 35:3, 4). The feeble remnant are encouraged while waiting for the Lord, who will surely come with vengeance. The ransomed of the Lord come to Zion with songs. It is a Jewish deliverance.

That part of Isaiah which extends from chapter 40 to the end has quite another character. It is a series of reasonings with God's people, first, mainly on the point of idols in contrast with Babylon, introducing Cyrus by name; and, secondly, on the rejection of Christ. In the former part (chap. 40-48.) the general restoration of the nation, taking the Babylonish captivity for its point of departure, is prophesied; so that a remnant previously in Jerusalem could evidently have little or no place. In chapter 49 Christ, who has labored in vain in Israel, takes the place of Israel as servant; He is the true vine. Here the remnant at once comes in view (chap. 49:6); but after the rejection of Christ (chap. 1.) their character in the last days (ver. 10) is distinctly and definitely brought out: “they fear the LORD, and listen to the voice of his servant.” In chapter 51:1, they follow after righteousness; and they know righteousness—have the law in their heart. Yet the comfort of Zion is not yet come, nor has His arm put on strength. But it does; and the redeemed of the LORD return to Zion with singing. The whole chapter follows out the progressive development of the appeals of Jehovah to the righteous remnant, and their deliverance by Him, in the most remarkable manner, with the remnant's appeal also to Jehovah, bringing in that deliverance.

Remark, that in these appeals, righteousness, the circumstance of the grace shown to Abraham, and the law in the heart, are spoken of as characterizing or called for in the remnant who follow after righteousness; and their deliverance is wrought, and Jerusalem called to stand up.

Afterward (chap. 53) the exalted servant is introduced when the Lord has made bare his arm in the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth see the salvation of the God of Israel; and the spared remnant recognize that the despised and rejected One had been bruised for their iniquities. Then comes out the full blessedness of Jerusalem. Her Maker is her husband. The call of chapter 55:6, 7, confirms the great principle; but I do not insist further upon it. Chapter 57, some of the righteous ones perish—have the lot of the Righteous One: the wicked will never have peace. Chapter 58 commences anew with warnings, showing the spirit in which the godly Jew should walk; the result of which will be walking on the high places of the earth, and being fed with the heritage of God's servant Jacob. Yet he that departed from evil made himself a prey. Here was a suffering, godly remnant, in the midst of an ungodly nation; and Jehovah comes in in righteousness. Chapter 61 is remarkable in this, that the Lord quotes the early part of the statement, to apply it to Himself, but stops before the part which speaks of the day of vengeance, which is part of the same sentence in the prophecy. Yet that day of vengeance comes to comfort all that mourn, to appoint to those that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD that He might be glorified: and they shall build up the old wastes, and raise up the former desolations; and then all the blessing and glory of God's people is entered on.

Now here we get the Jewish remnant in the latter day, clearly connected with Christ's personal service on earth when He first came, and all Christian or church blessing dropped out (the link of the latter day blessings of Zion, with His ministry being immediate, and the blessing being earthly, Jewish, and millennial, just indeed as in chapters 8, 9.). It is hardly possible to have anything clearer to prove, not only the existence of a Jewish remnant in the last day, owned of God as such, and blessed with Israel's blessing on the, earth, but the connection of this with Christ's ministry as the great Prophet on the earth, to whom Israel was to hearken, the minister of the circumcision, the character withal of the remnant being in terms such as He owned in that ministry, though in order to the introduction of the church all was for a time suspended. This introduction of the Gentiles is explained in chapter 65, quoted by the apostle for this purpose, as well as to prove God's patience with Israel. In this chapter the remnant is again very distinctly and prominently introduced, declaring that, because of these, His servants, He will not destroy all Israel; they are the elect of Jehovah, who shall inherit His mountains—His servants, contrasted with those who forsake Him. They shall sing for joy of heart when misery and judgment shall come upon the rest. These (chap. 66) had hated those who trembled at Jehovah's word, and cast them out for His name's sake, and said, Let Jehovah be glorified: but He will appear to the joy of the poor, despised, but faithful remnant, and they shall be ashamed. They are righteous in heart and spirit before He comes; and, therefore, He appears, and gives them the earthly blessing.

I have gone through these prophecies that the reader may clearly see that the doctrine of a Jewish remnant (owned in this character by Jehovah, with Jewish hopes pressed on them by God's word, by Jehovah Himself— hopes to be fulfilled in the possession of earthly blessings in Zion, the holy land) —a remnant, pious, and waiting on Jehovah before His appearing to deliver them, and whose piety and confidence are owned by Him—is not a matter of speculation, or of the interpretation of some difficult or obscure text; but the clear, constant, impressive, and prominent testimony of the Spirit of God. He may have seen, too, that this remnant is directly and immediately connected, in character and in the divine testimony, with the position and character of the remnant at the time of Christ's presence on the earth, though meanwhile, for other purposes, the Lord may hide His face from the house of Jacob.

The Psalms will afford us the thoughts and feelings of this remnant in the double aspect of the righteous in connection with Jehovah, and the purposes of God as to His anointed Christ—respectively the subjects of Psa. 1 and 2. The Gospels will afford us (only that John's from its very nature treats the Jews from chapter 1 as reprobate) the transition to the previously hidden counsels of God as to the church which last forms the second subject we have to treat of.

The Psalms begin (Psa. 1) with distinguishing the righteous man from the nation; that is, marking out the remnant morally. The ungodly are not so. They shall not stand in the judgment, nor in the congregation which the righteous will form. As Isaiah had said, in what we have examined, “There is no peace, saith my God, for the wicked.” Not only this, but the godly man is promised the present temporal blessing of the righteous Jew; and, further, the law is the measure of righteousness, in which he delights.

Thus the first thing the Psalms do is to give the position of the remnant, and the results of that position in the government of God, while the blessing of God is pronounced upon the godly remnant itself.

The next thing is to present to us the heathen and Jewish rulers rising in rebellion against Jehovah and His anointed, and the sure decree which sets Him, as Son of God, upon the throne of Zion, and calls upon the kings and judges of the earth to submit to Him lest they perish. Such are the thoughts of God, the effect of His government.

But another scene is opened out before it is accomplished. The godly man (and Christ, as such) finds himself a prey to the relentless hostilities of the ungodly. In Psa. 3-7 we have the various relative feelings of the faith of the remnant in this position—faith in spite of the taunts of enemies as to apparent desertion, calling upon God in peaceful confidence, appeal to God in contrast with the wicked, the distress so strong that God's chastening in displeasure is deprecated, and appeal against the wicked in this distress, looking to God's bringing it to an end as the righteous Judge. Then, in Psa. 8, the remnant own Jehovah their Lord as having made His name excellent in all the earth, while the Son of man, rejected when He came as Messiah, is set over all the works of His hands: that is, the full universal dominion of Christ is owned.

Now we have the remnant here very distinctly, and Jehovah their Lord: but we have the godly man. In Psa. 1, the righteous is plural in verse 6. But what undoubtedly is specially presented is Christ's entering in spirit, as the true godly one, into all the sorrows of the righteous remnant, which, though stated in principle, and specially in principle from Christ's first coming (when the position of the godly remnant and the rebellion of the nation were definitely and in their full character brought out), reach on to the final destruction of his enemies, as indeed stated in the two introductory Psalms. That it is stated in principle is evident from Psa. 1; that it is true in its main principle of Christ, the application of Psa. 2 by the apostles to the circumstances of Christ's death, and by Christ Himself of Psa. 8 on the same occasion, are ample proof. That it runs on to the close, and gives the sufferings of the remnant, and the judgment of the wicked then, is shown by Psa. 1:5; 2:8-12; 3:7, 8; 7:6, and following; while Psa. 8 gives the result in blessing when the Son of man takes His place in the glory.

(continued).

(To be continued).

Christ, the Want of the Soul: Part 3

Or, by the time the letter you are now penning is closed and sealed and posted, and the sinful assent, or the compromising proposal, or the resolute refusal is written, the Lord Jesus will have said, “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead"; or, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot"; or, “I know thy works; behold I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it; for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. I also will keep thee.” In such fiery trials of love and fidelity, there is nothing so sure to overcome as the recollected presence of “Lo! I am with you.” And oh! it is sweeter, like the three holy children, to pace up and down beneath the furnace's flaming vault, arm in arm with the Son of man, than to tread the green pastures of an earthly promotion or a carnal tranquility purchased by the denial of Jesus, and so win the wrath of the Lamb.

3. Comforting. You have noticed the difference in traveling the same road solitary and in pleasant company. “What! we are not here already! It takes three hours to do it, and we have not been half that time. Well, I could not have believed it; but then I never before traveled it with you.” No doubt Cleopas and his comrade used to think the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus long enough, and were very glad when they reached the fiftieth furlong. But that evening when the stranger from Jerusalem joined them, they grudged every way—mark which they passed; and as in the progress of his expositions Moses and all the prophets beamed with light from heaven, and their own hearts glowed warmer and warmer, they would fain have counted the mile-stones back again. “How vexing! This is Emmaus; but you must not go on. 'Abide with us, for the day is far spent.'“ Any road which you travel solitary is long enough, and any stage of life's journey where no one is with you, will be dreary and desolate. But you need have no such companionless stages no such cheerless journeys. If you be a disciple, the Lord Jesus always is with you. And whether they be the silent weeks which you spend in search of health in some far away and stranger-looking place, or the long voyage in the sea-roaming ship, or the shorter journey in the rattling stage or railway car—if, in reading, or musing, or lifting up your heart, you can realize that Savior's presence, who is about your path and compasses all your ways, you will be almost sorry when such a journey is ended, and when such a solitude is exchanged for more wonted society. I can almost believe that John Bunyan left Bedford jail with a sort of trembling, fearing that he might never find again such a Bethel as he had found in that narrow cell for the last twelve years; and I can understand how Samuel Rutherford wrote from his place of banishment, “Christ hath met me in Aberdeen, and my adversaries have sent me here to be feasted with His love. I would not have believed that there was so much in Jesus as there is. But 'Come and see,' maketh Christ to be known in his excellency and glory.”

The presence of Christ can turn a dark night into a night much to be remembered. Perhaps it is time to be sleeping, but the November wind is out, and as it riots over the misty hills, alit dashes the rain-drift on the rattling casement, and howls like a spirit distracted in the fireless chimney, it has awakened the young sleeper in the upper room. And when his mother enters, she finds him sobbing out his infant fears, or with beating heart hiding from the noisy danger in the, depths of his downy pillow. But she puts the candle on the table, and sits down beside the bed; and as he hears her assuring voice, and espies the gay comfort in her smiling face, and as she puts her hand over his, the tear stands still upon his cheek, till it gets time to dry, and the smoothing down of the panic furrows on his brow, and the brightening of his eye announce that he is ready for whatever a mother has got to tell. And as she goes on to explain the mysterious sources of his terror—That hoarse loud roaring is the brook tumbling over the stones; for the long pouring rains have filled it to the very brim. It is up on the green to-night, and had the cowslips been in blossom they would all have been drowned. Yes—and that thump on the window, it is the old cedar at the corner of the house, and as the wind tosses his stiff branches they bounce and scratch on the panes of glass, and if they were not very small they would be broken to pieces.' And then she goes on to tell how this very night there are people out in the pelting blast, whilst her little boy lies warm in his crib, inside of his curtains; and how ships may he upset on the deep sea, or dashed to pieces on rocks so steep that the drowning sailors cannot climb them. And then perhaps she ends it all with breathing a mother's prayer, or he drops asleep beneath the cradle-hymn.

And why describe all this? Because there is so much practical divinity in it. In the history of a child, a night like this is an important night, for it has done three things. It has explained some things which, unexplained, would have been a source of constant alarm—perhaps the germ of superstition or insanity. It has taught some precious lessons—sympathy for sufferers, gratitude for mercies, and perhaps some pleasant thought of Him who is the hiding-place from the storm and the covert from the tempest. And then it has deepened in that tender bosom the foundations of filial piety, and helped to give that parent such hold and purchase on a filial heart as few wise mothers have ever failed to win, and no manly son has ever blushed to own.

Then for the parallel. “As one whom his mother comforteth, so the Lord comforteth his people.” It is in the dark and boisterous night of sorrow or apprehension that the Savior reveals Himself nigh. And one of the first things He does is to explain the subject matter of the grief, to show its real nature and amount. “It is but a light affliction. It lasts but for a moment. It is a false alarm. It is only the raindrift on the window-wait till the day dawns and shadows flee away. Wait till morning and you will see the whole extent of it.” And then the next thing He does is to teach some useful lesson. And during these quiet hours, when the heart is soft, the Savior's lessons sink deep. And last of all, besides consolation under the trials and peaceful fruits that follow it, by this comforter-visit, the Savior unspeakably endears Himself to that soul. Paul and Silas never knew Christ so well nor loved Him so much as after that night which He and they passed together in the Macedonian prison. And the souls on which the Lord Jesus has taken the deepest hold are those whose great tribulations have thrown them most frequently and most entirely into His own society.

But we hasten to a close. We have seen the meaning of the words so far— “Lo, I am with you alway"; I am with you to succor in temptation, to strengthen in duty, to guide in perplexity, to comfort in sorrow. From the instant you become a disciple I am with you all along. I am with you every day. All your life I am with you—and at death? —at death you are with Me. That's the difference. At present I am always with you, but you are not always with Me. At present Jesus is constantly near His own, but His own do not constantly desire to be near Him. Here it is only by faith that believers enjoy His presence. There they shall see Him as He is. Now the Lord Jesus follows His own whithersoever they go, but they do not always follow Him. Then it will be different, for they will follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. And all that is wanting to complete the promise is what death's twinkling may introduce, what the Savior's coming for His own shall fully supply. Now it is, “Lo, I am with you alway,” and then it is, “And so shall we be ever with the Lord.”

“Ever with the Lord.” At once and forever! At once—for absent from the body, we are present with Him. So near is Jesus now, that, like the infant waking from its dream, it looks up, and lo! she sits beside it—waking up from this life-dream, the first sight is Jesus as He is. At once-no flight through immensity-no pilgrimage of the spheres—for the everlasting arms are the first resting-place of the disembodied soul—it will be in the bosom of Immanuel that the emancipated spirit will inquire, “Where am I?” and read in the face of Jesus the answer, “Forever with the Lord.” Forever—To be with him for a few years, as one way with another John and Peter were—to be with Him one Lord's day as the beloved disciple subsequently was to be with Him a few moments, as Paul caught up into the third heaven was—how blessed? But to be ever with the Lord—not only to-day, but to-morrow—nay neither to-day nor to-morrow, but now, now, one everlasting now!

“Forever with the Lord!

Amen! so let it be;

Life from the dead is in that word-

'Tis immortality.”

J.H.

(Concluded)

Publishing

LONDON

F. E. RACE, 8 & 4,London Rouse Yard, Paternoster Row, London.E.C.

Notes on Matthew 19

So here in chap. 19 the Lord goes back to the beginning. He Himself could say “Consider the lilies.” Thus the lesson is, how would that which God at the beginning instituted be affected by the new order of things? There were three great sects among the Jews when the Lord was here, but only two come before is in Scripture, the third is not even mentioned though it is evidently dealt with—that of the Essenes—and it is generally thought that in the Epistle to the Colossians, the Spirit has these before Him and deals with them— “Touch not, taste not, handle not... which things have indeed a show of wisdom in neglecting of the body” etc. That was their line of things dealing severely with their bodies, but they were unsupported by the word of God in what they were doing. That is the sect, and some of the saints were being affected by them. Nothing can be wrong that is instituted by God. You ought by His grace to be a better husband and father and all else, and so able to adorn the doctrine.

Now we must take particular notice of what the Spirit says to us in the beginning of this chapter. The Lord finally bids farewell to Galilee But before He comes into Judaea several important events take place between Galilee and Judah, and perhaps it would make the subject here the more remarkable that the part mentioned was under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas, who had married his brother's wife. The sanctity of the marriage tie is here impressed on us, for when the Lord was here it was very loosely held. The disciples themselves thought it a good thing to be able to put away their wives if they displeased them. Now Christendom is going back to the filth out of which it had been rescued. What we should keep before our minds is not only that God, as Creator, made male and female, but He made one male and one female. In Genesis it says “Male and female created He them, and called their name Adam.”

In ver. 7 they say, “Why did Moses then command?” etc. He did nothing of the sort. He gave liberty; but never commanded; so the Lord takes them up and says he “suffered you.” No doubt it was allowed in order to prevent worse sin, because of the hardness of the heart. The woman may suffer by fear, and the man be characterized by anger. If a daughter made a vow it had to be ratified by her father. But Jehovah hated this putting away. So we get the instructions in 1 Cor. 7 that the believing wife or husband is not to put away an unbeliever if pleased to dwell together. “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.” It was very different in Israel, as we learn from Ezra and Nehemiah. They were not on Christian ground, and so Israel had to put away these unholy alliances. But now a believing husband or wife is not to put away the unbeliever. There is only one exception, which in God's sight dissolves the tie. So that putting away in that case only makes public what already exists under God's eye. The disciples say, “If the case of a man be so with his wife it is not good to marry,” which shows how they were affected by the evil. Living the truth before the eyes of the unbeliever is what God will honor (1 Peter 3:1).

Ver. 12. Paul was an instance of the case last mentioned in this verse. If we read 2 Corinthians 11 and see what Paul went through (because of the naughty ways of the Corinthians it was that he was obliged to allude to it) it shows how he would not have been free to pursue such a path had he had a wife and family. Peter was married before his conversion.

Ver. 13. What should they ask the Lord to pray? We could not say that was right, though evidently they wanted His blessing. How will children be affected by the new order of things? That is the point. “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise.” In Luke they were literally babes that were brought. They were not all such, as He uses the child as a model of simplicity and humbleness, so they must have been a little grown up. The disciples were annoyed, and thought that their Master had more important work than attending to children. He was misunderstood by all. I have known people who held non-eternity of punishment, and that the kingdom of heaven was alone the millennium, to have queer notions about these little ones, even that they will be the progenitors of those who will live in the kingdom! When the Lord lays His hand it is a hand of blessing and power. Those who touched the Lord gave a touch of faith, but His was a touch of power. There was that in His touch which meant blessing to those dear children. There is wonderful encouragement here to parents to bring their children to the Lord. When Israel said that they and their children would perish in the wilderness, the Lord told them that they themselves should, but that the little ones would be brought into the land.

In the early period of the Lord's ministry people marveled at the gracious words He spoke, and even the officers could say, “Never man spake like this man.” But the Lord revealed Himself to the conscience. This young man accosted the Lord on the level of human opinion. He had read of eternal life and he came to the Lord as one who could give him a right answer. If that teacher was only a human teacher he would be only a blind leader of the blind. So His words imply, 'Am I not more than good? Am I not God?' If He were not God, He was (I say it with all reverence) the basest of impostors. The Lord knew what the effect of His words would be; He tests the conscience. There is no one good but God. We come as a receiver, not as an earner. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The Pharisees by some means had found out there was such a thing as eternal life. It is only mentioned twice in the Old Testament. The life generally referred to there is temporal, not eternal. The law proposed life, “This do and thou shalt live.” So the Lord took the young man up on his own ground. He addresses him on the ground of his responsibility to his fellow creatures. If you are on the ground of doing, it is all up with you. It is not what we give up, nor yet what we bring to God but what we receive. If he had only done what was right between man and man it would have been something. Are you not richer than your neighbor? Sell that thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come and follow Me. If I am good, follow the good.

As far as what we have here is concerned, there was one afterward who could say, “Touching the righteousness which is of the law, blameless!” —that is the outward observance of the law, for he would not have known lust except the law had said, “Thou shalt not covet.” That had to do with what was inward, and proved him guilty. You have often told your child to do what you knew he could not do in order that he might learn his incapacity. So did God thus act in giving the law. And He has justified Himself too by giving it, but God's unconditional grace has proved that on no ground of law can man be justified. Those who are saved are vessels of mercy which He has afore prepared unto glory. Those who are lost are vessels of wrath fitted, not foreordained, to destruction—they fitted themselves. Every one will have to justify God in His dealings with them. “That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” It is impossible for God to do wrong. The law was our schoolmaster unto Christ; it hemmed us in, as it were, on every side to show us there was no chance at all for us except in Christ, shut us up in unbelief to show us the necessity of coming to Him. If you turn to the Acts and see the addresses given to the Jews and then to the Gentiles, you will find a vast difference. To the Jews the apostle appeals to the word of God, to others he appeals to creation. It is only when Christ came that the truth came out in its fullness that man was lost. His is a hopeless condition, but that was not revealed till the remedy was there. You cannot get too great a view of your ruin; and your need of an infinite Savior. There was an intimation of Him in Hos. 13, “O Israel thou hast destroyed thyself, but in Me is thy help.”

This young man was only waiting for the Lord's approval of all he had done; and that he did not get. Earthly parents may be mistaken in their judgment of us, but the Lord never. Paul's thorn in the flesh was given in love. If we do not understand all His ways with us are we not called, nevertheless, to trust in Him? The Lord puts the young man to the test. “If thou wilt be perfect,” up to the full measure of the law's requirements, nothing lacking, “go and sell that thou hast” etc. Thou shalt not lose by it, not only will the future be secured, but yourself also. “Follow Me.” Paul did accomplish what this young man could not. He had tasted grace so richly, and had a true knowledge, a surpassing knowledge, of the same One who here speaks to this young man. And it was this knowledge of the Lord Jesus which enabled Paul to give up what he could not otherwise so readily have done. What things were gain to him he counts them (not lost but) loss, not anything he regretted.

It was a surprise to the young man no doubt when he was just waiting to get the Teacher's approval! What a test, “Go and sell that thou hast,” etc. It is a very narrow gate that leads to life, and it will not admit any of these things.

It is the kingdom we have before us, and it shows that what is given up here for the Lord, makes one an immense gainer. Do any of us realize what it is to follow Christ? to have treasure in heaven, and treasures here too—a loss that produces incomparable gain and joy unspeakable? The disciples as Jews would regard it somewhat of advantage if a man was in a position to bring a bullock as an offering rather than able only to bring a dove. Some were so poor that they could only bring a handful of flour, a little bit of appreciation of the Lord's person, though not realizing His death. It has been said that it is surprising what a little bit of truth has been used to a soul's conversion. Here riches are regarded as a great impediment.

In ver. 24 it is not only the thought of impediment, but that there must be a divine work of grace in the soul, for that would apply as much to a poor man as to a rich. Sometimes children are told that the needle's eye was the narrow side-gate through which the camel could only squeeze when unladen! But the fact of the matter is, that it is meant to be an illustration of a natural impossibility. Man must be brought where the jailer was brought, to a cry of terror, “What must I do to be saved?” Nicodemus was brought in a quieter way, “How can these things be?” We must have our months shut. Directly the disciples say “Who then can be saved?” the Lord saves Bartimaeus as we find in Luke, and then He saves Zacchæus the rich man, who shows us an earnestness, going before and climbing the tree etc., so there were difficulties, but salvation came that day to his house. If salvation comes the devil will raise difficulties. If you go with the tide you will be popular. In the case of Zacchæus the great point is “This day.” Though chief of the publicans, it had been his habit to give to the poor and to restore fourfold if unwittingly wronging anybody, but excellent as all this was, it did not bring him salvation. “This day” it came, with the Lord's gracious words of power to him, and Zaccheus made haste and came down from the tree, and received Him joyfully. That is how salvation came. If a person has life in his soul it is characterized by obedience, and a desire to do the Lord's will. When Saul of Tarsus was struck down the first sign of divine life was “Behold, he playeth.” He turned to God, and prayer was the first action of divine life in his soul; but he had not peace till three days after. He could challenge his companions, 'Can you find fault with me?' for as touching the righteousness of the law, he was outwardly blameless, but he could not challenge God; the commandment came home, sin revived, and he died. “Who then can be saved?” “The chief of sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15); and that means that the door which was high enough and wide enough to admit the man who was inspired of God to call himself “chief,” is high enough and wide enough to admit any who come after. It is not a mere sentiment that you and I might have if we get a glimpse of ourselves, but the Spirit of God inspired the apostle Paul to write himself as “chief.” You are quite right to look at yourself in the sight of God and say, 'I am as bad as any'; but God has shown us a pattern man, both as a sinner and as a saint. Our fallen nature is the same in every individual, the Holy Ghost calls it “the same lump” (Rom. 9:21). So I shall never meet one with a worse nature than myself, but Paul was speaking of his path, and of what he had done. Out of that same lump are taken vessels of mercy and vessels of wrath. We do not measure guilt as God does. It is a terrible thing when maliciousness and injuriousness and persecution are carried out under the garb of religion. And we may think of these depraved as the worst sinners, yet the Lord says it shall be more tolerable for Tire and Sidon than for Capernaum. We do not read of any special depravity in Capernaum, but they had had the Lord Jesus amongst them and had rejected Him.

Ver. 27. Peter did not leave the fishing when it was a failure, but when he had had the best day's catch he had ever known. And the Lord was not unmindful. He healed his wife's mother. In the next verse we get a word “regeneration,” which only occurs here, and in Titus 3 It is a new condition of things, a new state; here it refers to the millennium. If here it is, “Ye which have followed Me,” in Luke 22 the Lord could say, “Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.” He is sitting on the Father's throne now; when He comes in His kingdom He will sit on His own throne, and we shall sit with Him there. No creature will ever sit on the Father's throne. What has been conferred on Him, is manifested glory, and this He gives us to share with Him! “When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall we also be manifested with him in glory.” As the One who had done a perfect work He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:3). He has not taken one tittle of my sins up there. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” What is there in Christ to condemn? If you are in Him, there is nothing to condemn. That does not mean there is nothing in our ways for the Father's appraisement, but that no guilt attaches to us before God. “By one offering He hath perfected in perpetuity” —without a break— “those that are sanctified.” Where grace brings salvation it teaches “us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” It never teaches you that you are better.

The question of reward should never be our motive. It is given to us as an encouragement, but our motive should be the glory of God. The apostle Paul with all his labors had not a greater title to the glory than the dying thief, for the greatest blessings are common to all saints; and the sweetest reward will he the white stone, the mark of the Lord's secret approval. That will be a great deal better than outward display. But it was a poor thing for Peter to bring this in here; we are not always wise. Sovereign grace is a great thing to hold fast all the way. There are the two sides given us in the word. God tells us what is becoming on our part, and then tells us what He will do. The best can only say, “We are unprofitable servants,” but the Lord will say, “Well done good and faithful servant.” If you have been true to the Lord He will not forget it. Another thing to remember is that God of necessity must be right. That is what is brought out here, “God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love.” There is something wrong about us when the Holy Spirit has to occupy us with ourselves. It is a blessed thing when He is free to occupy us with Christ.

Ver. 27. This was quite true. Peter did not turn his back on his business when it was unsuccessful, but when he had had such a very good day's fishing. The Lord shows our particular path here is preparing us for our place in the coming kingdom. Faithfulness in what is committed to us now determines our place in the kingdom. This is not actually the new heavens and the new earth that is before us; it is the millennium. “The regeneration” here answers to the new heaven and the new earth of Isaiah, not to the eternal state. We shall never sit on the Father's throne but on the Savior's throne. “To him that overcometh will I give to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with my Father on his throne.” “Judging” here is in the sense of rule, to take up the cause of, and execute, justice. “Receive a hundredfold,” that is in the present; and “shall inherit everlasting life,” there it is in all its fullness. The believer has it now; it is for him to enjoy. “But to them that by patient continuance in well doing, seek for honor and glory and incorruptibility, eternal life” (Rom. 2:7). This is at the end. He has it before him in all its blessedness.

Well, we find John, as a rule, presents eternal life as a present possession. We readily admit that eternal life is in the Son; but if, as some dare to teach, no one has it, what sense is there in the expression “We know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him?” It may help any that may have a difficulty about the O.T. saints not knowing they had it, if we say that they all had both life and righteousness, for the two go together. They were quickened. “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness.” He was justified, therefore he had eternal life, because life and righteousness go together. The law demanded righteousness, but never imparted life. But the knowledge of it is another matter. As an illustration of the difference between possessing and knowing, take a later truth. The body of Christ, the mystery, of which every believer since Pentecost is a member, was formed then, when the Holy Ghost was given. Believers were then baptized by the Holy Ghost into one body. After I believed the word of truth, the gospel of my salvation, I was sealed, and received the Holy Ghost. But there was no revelation about that “one body” until it was given to Paul. The first intimation of it after it was formed was, “Why persecutest thou me?” It was then existing.

The only other passage in which “regeneration” occurs is Titus 3:5. Almost invariably in Christian writings it is taken as new birth, whereas it really means a new order of things. The; run close together, but we must not confound them. We are already in the new order of things. “The Father himself loveth you.” The kindness and love toward man of God our Savior” in Titus 3 is “philanthropy” —a different thing from man's philanthropy indeed.

Ver. 30 differs from ver. 16 of chap. 20, the order being inverted. A person may commence very well, as did the Galatians. Some may go on for a considerable period, and then break down like Demas, for example. This is what Scripture links together—the “sufferings,” and the “glories,” of Christ. Those that wrote of Him, “testified of the sufferings, and the glories that should follow.” There must be sufferings that we share with Him (Rom. 8 and Titus 3). We all suffer with Him, but we do not all suffer for Him. This is a gift, but every saint of God suffers with Him, the result of the new nature. Paul said, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” The answer to Ananias was “I will show him what great things he must suffer.” The believer has a short night and an eternal day; the unbeliever has a short day and an eternal night!

Deliverance From Law

There are two verses in this chapter that I wish to read to you again, viz., the sixth and the last.

“But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held” (or rather, “being dead to that wherein we were held” as in the margin, for there is no doubt that this is the correct reading of the text), “that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.”

“I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”

There is a great deal in this chapter that bears upon the practical life of the believer—far more than we shall be able to consider in the short time at our disposal this evening. But there are two great subjects in the chapter of which we may speak briefly.

In the first part the apostle brings out the relationship of the Christian to the law, that is, to the law of Moses; and in the latter part he shows that in every converted man there are two opposing forces. There is what is known as the old nature, and also the new nature; a desire to sin, and a desire to serve God. A great conflict is outlined, and then, at the close of the chapter, the way of deliverance from that conflict is indicated. Jesus Christ our Lord is declared to be the One who delivers a person from this distressing conflict within his own heart.

In the first part of the chapter, the apostle, under the figure of the two husbands, refers to the law and the Christian's relationship to it. On this account you cannot help connecting the antithesis with the preceding chapter where the relationship of the believer to sin and to the power of sin within him is set forth under the figure of two masters. There it is shown that a man as an unbeliever, as he once was, was under the dominion of a great tyrant within his own breast. There was within him a power which carried him into the ways of sin irresistibly, and the question was, how could a man be delivered from this condition?

The apostle shows in Rom. 6 that the believer is delivered through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this remarkable way he finds that through the death of Christ he passes out of the state of bondage to sin in the person of Another, One who went down into death and rose again. Every believer is declared to be associated with the Lord Jesus Christ in His resurrection, and therefore, by reason of this association he is delivered from the bondage to the old nature in which he was held.

This deliverance is a question of faith so far as it is to be realized, because any person looking into his own heart would come to the reverse conclusion to that we find in this Epistle; but as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and followers of Him, we must by faith adopt this teaching as a fact in our Christian life, and be guided in this and other matters by the truth of Scripture. We must not go for guidance to other persons, whose hearts are the same as our own, for we shall only listen to a repetition of the thoughts of our own hearts, unless they are themselves taught by the Word of God.

If you examine your own attitude you will probably find that in reading the Scriptures your main wish is to see exactly how it fits other persons, but the essence of gaining real help is rather to see how the truth fits myself, and to realize that its teaching is addressed to me, and speaks about me.

And just as this principle of deliverance through Christ is applied in the sixth chapter so it is in the seventh, where the believer's relationship with the law is developed.

Let me first say a word in connection with this subject of the law. What is to be here understood by the law? Is it the ten commandments? We read certainly in Scripture of the law of Moses. Turning to the Old Testament we read of the ten commandments engraved on two tables of stone, handed to the Israelites by Moses for them to keep. But there was a great deal more beside the ten words; there were rites and ceremonies associated with the law of Moses carried on from century to century. To some extent they were being observed in the days of our Lord, and after His resurrection and ascension to heaven the ritual was still in some respects performed until the destruction of the Temple by the Romans.

But the law as it is spoken of in our chapter refers mainly to the great principle under which God acted towards His people in Old Testament times. He brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, and from Sinai He gave them His instructions. He told them what His commandments were, and He put it to the nation whether they were competent to do what He told them. They had experienced His delivering power on the paschal eve when Jehovah passed over their houses and protected them in the hour when judgment fell in Egypt. It was no question of the law of Sinai then, but the people were saved by His mercy and protected by the blood. And when they went through the Red Sea, where was the law then? Was the power of Egypt destroyed because the Israelites kept God's commandments? No, but because of His grace and mercy towards them. But when from Sinai Jehovah propounded the law and said in effect to them, Will you keep this? They said, ‘We will; all that the Lord has spoken to us we will do.' They thus put, themselves on that conditional ground; they said, 'Whatever God tells us to do, we will do; we sign the pledge; it is a bargain.'

But how long was it before the tables were cast down and broken before their eyes? They soon had another God beside Jehovah. They worshipped the golden calf. They broke the commandments, and the penalty attached to the law was that if they did not keep the law they should die. It was a similar principle of action in the garden of Eden. God said to Adam, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Thus the principle of law was, Do this and thou shalt live.

Now to whom was this law given? To one people only, and that was the people of Israel. The twelve tribes of Israel alone received that law, and therefore, the law, strictly speaking, has no bearing upon Gentiles at all, and the apostle Paul in his teaching here refers to persons who were converted from amongst the Jews. They had believed in Christ. They then said, What about the Law? Are we to give that up? Cannot we keep on with the law as before? Many wanted to keep on with the law, and the apostle had to tackle them over and over again on this very point. Paul said to them, If you take up the law and try to live by the law, you are fallen from grace. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ, while the law was given by Moses.

I want you to see clearly that the original ten commandments were never given to the Gentiles, and that a believer has no scriptural right to put himself under that law.

Why did God give men the law? He gave them the law to prove to them what hopeless sinners they really were. The law entered bye-the-bye, that the offense might abound. Sin was in the world before the law, but when the law came it showed how vile men really were and how obstinately they made up their minds to do what they liked rather than what God liked.

For instance, you may have a child playing at mud pies in the gutter who is not aware that it is wrong. You say, ‘Now, my dear child, you must not do that again; it is the wrong thing to do.' If the child does it a second time, it has infringed a commandment; it is now disobedient. And on similar grounds the Jews were more guilty before God than the Gentiles.

Now the principle of law may be taken up by the believer in another way. There are a great many Christians who, although they are not definitely striving to keep the ten commandments, are still living on the principle of law. The principle of law is that I feel I must find out what God's commandments for myself are, what He wants me to do, and what He does not want me to do. I therefore go on searching the Scriptures in order to find out what God forbids me to do, and I try to escape coming under a just condemnation because of disobedience to a definite verse. Such action arises out of the principle of law-keeping.

A child in a family acts on the contrasted principle of love; it yields a loving obedience. It obeys its parents, but not in the same manner as it would obey a policeman. Its action is on the principle of love because the child loves to do what the parents wish it to do. But no person loves the law of his country. I hardly suppose any person, when he pays his taxes, for instance, does so on the principle of love, that is, because he really rejoices in doing it, but because he has this duty. It is a commandment, so to speak. The demand is something enforced by the law of the country, and all have to pay. We do not love the Government for the demand. The obedience, though ready and cheerful, is not on the ground of love at all; but the Christian is called to serve God by love.

A believer is expected to follow Christ who was absolutely obedient in everything. As He obeyed, so we have to obey. Love draws us to do the will of God even as He did. He said, “Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God.” “I delight to do Thy will, O God.” It was His joy and pleasure to do the will of God. And this is the spirit we should seek to display.

You may say, How can we do that? Only in one way, by realizing the goodness of our God as our Father and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, only by realizing in our hearts the grace of God toward us, and the wonderful way in which He has acted in giving His own Son to die for us. If we have our hearts so charged with the love of God and the riches of Christ in His ineffable grace, we shall then be able to do what He wishes.

Many young Christians often say, Tell me the Scripture against smoking, or against wearing feathers in one's hat, and they manufacture arguments to prove whether it is right or wrong, trying to find out some Scripture that just fits the pipe or the feathers; and they cannot do it quite satisfactorily. They are working on the principle of law. They are trying to find what God tells them not to do. This is the wrong way. You have to find out what God tells you to do, and you will find out that He wishes you to be like His Son, and to follow His steps.

Well then, have we to take the exact steps that Jesus Christ did when He was here? That of course would be a foolish view. We cannot go to Palestine and put our feet into the same footprints, and go along the two thousand miles that He traveled, doing the will of God. But following His steps means that just as the Lord Jesus Christ found His joy and delight in doing His Father's will, so ought we to find our joy and delight in doing those things that we know are well-pleasing to God. But do not spend a lot of time discussing doubtful things, whether they should be done or not.

You will find that a great deal of what I have said is embraced in this sentence of the sixth verse. “Now we are delivered from the law.” The apostle is speaking directly of Christians who were converted from Judaism, though the legal principle is of general application. We are not on the ground of law at all, and for this reason-because in Christ we died to that wherein we were held. Paul, for instance, as Saul of Tarsus, was a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was held in the thraldom of the law, but as a believer in Christ he was delivered; and how? Because Saul of Tarsus died; he died with Christ, and became a new man in Christ Jesus, just as he received the new name of Paul.

But it will be observed that the ground of deliverance from the law is precisely the same as it is from the bondage of sin, that is, by the death of Jesus Christ. The law is not dead, how could it be? Whatever is given of God cannot die.

In Zion in a future day, the people of Israel will walk before God in the spirit of the law into which His Holy Spirit will guide them. Under the blessed rule of the Anointed Lord they will be obedient, for the law will be written in their hearts and minds, and all the aspirations that we find in Romans will be their aspirations, and they will take to themselves the 119th Psalm. How that composition expresses the delight of the person in God's law! The people of Israel will yet sing that Psalm to their Messiah and to Jehovah in the temple when it is built again in Jerusalem. The law, therefore, has not died.

Why should we serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter? God considers what is the desire, the will. What do you want to do? You know that if left to yourself you want to have your own way. When our will is in conflict with the will of God, then it is certain we are going wrong. We have, therefore, to watch that our will is in perfect unison with the will of God, and that the will of God so dwells in us that we want just to do what He would have us do.

For instance, if we plan a picnic, and there comes on a fearful storm so that we cannot go, we accept the situation. We do not storm and rage and worry ourselves about it, but quietly accept the circumstances. Our will was to go, but there was another Will that we should not go, and the Higher Will is best. I subject my will to His and there is but one, for the will in me coincides with the will above. When it is like this with me I am walking in the steps of Jesus Christ. This is serving in newness of spirit.

If you want to see an example of the person who serves in the oldness of the letter, and the awful warning he is to us, go into the temple where the Pharisee and the Publican are, and listen to what the Pharisee has to say to his God, “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, and give tithes of all that I possess.” He was serving in the oldness of the letter, and perfectly contented with himself. But we are to serve in newness of spirit, that spirit which is ready and anxious to do anything that God tells us to do.

It behooves us to watch that our wills are brought into line with the will of God. But you say, How can I know what is the will of God? Referring again to the picnic, you might not be able to find out from the scripture whether the proposed affair was the will of God or not. But I can find out from the inspired writings that it is the will of the Lord Jesus that I should remember Him in His death by eating bread and drinking wine, and that this is the special and accredited way of remembering Him. And learning His will in this respect, if I fail to obey, how can I be serving in the newness of the spirit? I read my Bible to find what the Lord expressly desires me to do. Having learned what is His will, it rests upon me to be obedient to His word.

And then again, when I come to His table, how do I take part in the service? How do I serve Him in this respect—in newness of spirit or in oldness of letter? When the bread comes to me I take my piece, acid when the wine comes I take my sip, and then go home. If there is nothing more, I have done it all in the oldness of the letter. If I have not realized the presence of Christ, I am not serving in newness of the spirit. He wants the best of me, the heart, the spirit, and so I am called to serve in that special way not in a legal formal fashion, but in newness of spirit.

In the latter part of this chapter we have a very important subject. There are those who speculate as to whether the person referred to is an unbeliever or not. One thing we know without doubt—that the man is in a great predicament and cannot get out of it. He wants to do something and finds he cannot. He tries and tries, and fails every time. There is sin dwelling in him. There are two conflicting principles. He feels, I do not do the wrong thing willfully, and yet I do do it. I daresay there are persons here who can remember such times in their histories.

When I was a young Christian I certainly “went through” the seventh of Rom. 1 remember that shortly after my conversion a venerable person at a meeting of young believers read the verses we have read to-night, and looking over the top of his spectacles, said, “Remember now, that is a true Christian's experience.” I could not understand it. It seemed to me there was something wrong about this statement; but still I was young, and knew very little.

Afterward, however, I found the truth of this scripture produced in my own experience, for I felt that though I knew through God's grace a great deal about the love of God to me, I also knew that I was far worse than I formerly thought I was, yet in spite of that I still felt God's love was towards me, and that God's love was something far greater than it had yet entered my heart to conceive. But my misery was that there was not a sufficient response in my heart to that love, and the more I tried to amend, the worse I seemed to get.

I turned my condition over in my mind for a time, and the difficulties grew greater, and I felt that I was not fit to go to the meetings, and I did not go. I stayed at home and read my Bible, and I wrote down my miserable experience which I believe I have to this day. If I were to produce the paper, it would be my version of the seventh of Romans, that is, I felt that I was not doing what I ought to do. I felt I was not living as a Christian ought to live, and yet I was trying to do so; and this was my puzzle.

This was exactly what this person expresses here, he does not know where to turn for deliverance until he prays. He says, I cannot deliver myself from this body of death, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?” and then he gets the answer, “I thank God through Christ Jesus our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”

I found that the same One Who died for my sins was alive to give me the very power that I had been seeking in vain to find in my own heart. I had been trying to keep myself, help myself, work myself up into a fine frame of mind, and I failed. It was trying in my own strength, and I found that I was not strong enough to combat my own heart. I wonder how many persons here to-night have proved the same thing for themselves. It is a very real experience to find that you have no strength. The person who has proved that, never fails to cry to God, and he is never disappointed. It is the person who tries to live in his own way, and by his own endeavors, that fails and becomes miserable, and it is the greatest of blessings that he does become miserable, because if he were happy in such a state as that, how could he live to the glory of God?

No, beloved friends, what we have to prove in this world is that “without Christ we can do nothing.” We need Him every step of the journey and we have to find this out in some way or the other. The truth is that in the heart of the converted person there is begotten a new nature entirely, something which is absolutely new and of God. That new will, that new desire within him is that which loves God and desires to do the will of God, cares for the name of Christ, delights in the things that appertain to obedient service to God. At the same time there is the evil will, the disobedient heart that still loves evil and hankers after the things of this world. Thus there are two desires, two wills as it were, side by side, and if you don't get something beside these then you will make no progress at all in your Christian career.

One danger is that when persons find themselves in circumstances where they have no Christian associations, the old nature prevails, because to some extent we are helpers one of another. There is a fellow-feeling between Christians, and they exercise a certain amount of helpful influence towards one another, often by their very presence. But imagine a person taken right away from such surroundings and suddenly robbed of all outside help; then is the trying moment. Will he fight his own battles? Will he haul down the colors and sail under false ones? Then is the testing time, and once the wrong step is taken, it is so difficult to get right again, because shame comes in, and shame always carries a person away from Christ. I mean false shame. But if there is confession to God of personal weakness, and also where there is bold confession before men of the name of Christ, then Christ comes in, and by His power gives needed and effectual help for the conflict.

“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” He gives the necessary power and help, and all that is required to live and walk for Him in this world. And hence the apostle concludes, “So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”

I leave these words with you. I know the subject is difficult, and we need to come to it over and over again to understand it, but it is given for our enlightenment and help in the things that appertain to our own hearts and the things that arise up within us. It is needful to watch and pray, but not necessarily always to be examining what is within us. If we look off unto Jesus the Author and Completer of faith, then we shall see the source of real, power. His hand will keep and preserve us, as His heart is ever towards us.

W. J. H.

His Praise Shall Continually Be in My Mouth

Philippians 4

In the third chapter of Philippians we find the spiritual energy which carries the saint onward in the race to Christ in glory. This chapter treats more of the power which gives him complete superiority over all the circumstances through which he has to pass, not as making him insensible to their sorrow, but able to “rejoice in the Lord always.”

Nothing is more instructive, or humbling in this way, than the life of Paul. Cut off from the ministry which he loved, shut up in prison at Rome, where he had labored “more abundantly than they all"; finding, at the end of such glorious effects as his ministry produced, the result was “all they which are in Asia be turned away from me"; and “all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's"; yet he can say, “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice.” You will find plenty of trouble, plenty of conflict, for Satan is not bound yet. The more we go on, the more we shall know the opposition—sorrow in the church saints individually going wrong; all these ought to press upon our hearts; but we ought to have the power which lifts the heart totally above it; the communion and faith which links up the heart to Christ, and walks with Him—the power, too, to serve others, come what will.

Christ—the “Man of sorrows,” was the example of this: who so ready to serve as He? “I have meat to eat that ye know not of” were His words. Even Martha, whom He loved, tried to get Mary away from listening to His words. The disciples sought to turn Him aside when He told them of His death; all showed a misapprehension of what He had come for—to “give His life a ransom for many"; yet in the midst of it all, He can ask that His disciples may have His joy fulfilled in them!

If we really have this joy of Christ, we can “endure all things for the elect's sake,” because we are in spirit with Him, and He with us in it all; and He did endure all things for the joy that was set before Him—even the cross. It is not the mere buoyancy of a heart ignorant of the power of evil, or of the opposition of Satan. There is a great deal of this superficial joy, this floating over the surface of things, with many. But it is the real power, where the depth of evil and opposition is apprehended, and the power of the Lord is known and trusted in as above it all!

What is working now is, the power of good (of God Himself), in the midst of evil; and it is paramount to the evil in the midst of which it works. True, the evil is flowing in like a mighty stream which, if not stemmed, will flow on to the ocean to judgment, unless the Lord interfere, as He does in goodness and in mercy, or in judgment, or a scourge. But the character of the world until Satan is bound is this, that he is its god and its prince; and, in the midst of a world where Satan is prince, the power of Christ has come in above it all.

If my soul is living in the immediate center of this power, it will feel the pressure of the evil, but will not be depressed— “In nothing terrified by your adversaries.” The practical daily supplies of strength depend upon the heart's being with Him who has overcome it all; who has all power in heaven and on earth. Then we know the sure and certain resting-place in Himself, which nothing can touch. True, we have to labor on; as it says, “Labor to enter into His rest"; but if the heart is with Him who is in that rest, it has a power which nothing can reach; and the first mark of this power, when the tide of evil is present, is patience. That which “endures to the end” is better than a miracle! Thus we learn the graciousness and power, that keep the heart free to think of what Christ has wrought in others; free to be occupied with the whole church; and yet which can think of every state, even of a slave with his master (Philemon). Paul's affections were fresh for each “true yoke-fellow,” as though all had not “forsaken” him; and though all sought their own, it did not hinder the going out of his heart.

Are our hearts living enough with Christ to think of a brother thus? Paul's heart was so with Christ, in the consciousness of what it is to be His, that when he thinks of a brother, it is as one whose name is “in the book of life"! In another place, he says, “I stand in doubt of you,” but in the next chapter, “I have confidence in you through the Lord.”

“Blessed is the man in whose heart are the ways.” The secret of all was, he made wells of the sorrows. Going through the valley of Baca, it was turned into a well—the blessing from on high, where Christ was, fills the pools.

The history of the apostle is very important in connection with this. In prison, chained between two soldiers, cast, of course, more than ever on the Lord—the Lord was very gracious to him—but he learned, come what will, to “rejoice,” not in the prosperity of his work, or in the prosperity of the church, or of the saints; but to “rejoice in the Lord always"!

What holier, deeper, truer, Christ-like feeling is had in these trials! As the Psalmist says (34), “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” How did it come about? “This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him.” The Lord was his shepherd, therefore he can say, “I shall not want; not, “I have gotten green pastures.” “I shall not want,” but because the Lord was his shepherd. “He restoreth my soul; He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.” He prepareth “a table before me, in the presence of mine enemies.” He anointeth “my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psa. 23).

Paul, standing before king Agrippa, says, “I would to God that not only thou, but all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.” He does not say, “I would you were all Christians,” but “such as I am"! There is a happy man! So conscious of the blessedness he had in Christ! so full of the love of Christ, that he could wish you were as he was! The heart's complete, internal happiness in Christ, so that the trials—trials even in the church, which are much more deep and real—only carried him to Christ!

Are we so conscious of this blessedness in Christ, that we can say to others, “I would you were as I am"? Do you say, “Only an apostle could say this"? Nay, it is what every Christian, old and young, is called to! The only difference is, that a young Christian rejoices more in himself and his blessings—he has a blessed comfort in himself; the fathers more simply in Christ, they have got to know Christ, they have a personal acquaintance with the Lord Jesus Christ, and rejoice in intimacy with Him. The young rejoice in the first blush of feeling. It is good and true, what God has given; but in the “pull,” going through the world, we find that there is nothing positively to rejoice in but Christ.

The power, for this consists in that, the nearness to Christ, that when the evil springs up—the power of Satan present—the heart has to do with Him in resurrection, who has destroyed him who had the power of death; with Him whose mighty, holy arm hath gotten Him the victory; He says, “Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.” He starts us with this testimony, having gone Himself into a place where evil cannot reach; and we have got Him there, the immovable source of blessing, and rejoice in Him there. He has not taken us out of a world governed by Satan's power, but He keeps us from evil, because we are not of the world, as He is not of the world.

The saints too, when running the race, are to look away unto Jesus, who has begun and ended this whole course of faith; who has met the power of Satan in the beginning, and in the end; tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. He overcame him who had the power of death (that is, the devil), and is set down at the right hand of the Majesty on high—the victory won. We are to enjoy Him now, high up above, and independent of the things we are passing through. Do not let any present circumstances engross you. Do not look away from Him to them—but rejoice! Not in yourself in any way, but in Christ always!

You must be with Him in spirit for this, because He alone is out of the evil, and is the center and fountain of good; and what should be seen in you down here is, your “moderation” your yieldingness. Suppose I am happy in Christ, am I looking for my rights in this world? Christ had none! Oh! no, my treasure is elsewhere; I am going out of this world; I can wait for my rights till Christ has His. Let our hearts be weaned from things here, let us pass through the world as weaned children. Christ passed through it, leaving all to go its own way. In the presence of unrighteousness, the spirit is apt to rise; but let us cultivate the subduedness that “yields.” The Samaritans would not receive Him, and He turns aside unto another village. Oh! what a lesson that is! Because He had steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem! The half-hearted would not receive Him, because He was doing the very thing that marked His devotedness to His Father. And so it will be with you; the religiously half-hearted will not want you, if you set your face steadfastly to go right!

“The Lord is at hand!” He has taught us to wait for Him—to be always “like men that wait for their lord.”

“Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” His peace is better than cares. We have cares and sorrows—true! and we should have more, if we were living more as servants among the sorrows of this world. Not indifferent-Christ was never that. But there is a getting away from Christ in my own heart—a tendency to make one anxious even in caring for others. But I must go and tell God, and this carries me so above the cares that I can rejoice in Him.

What does God give to the heart that has given all its care to Him? An answer? No: (though we know He does answer) but—His peace! Is God's heart taken up with circumstances? troubled by them? Is His throne shaken by the folly and the wickedness of the world; or even the failure of the saints? Never! Put your cares, then, on God, and He will put His peace into your heart-the ineffable peace of God! He who knows the end from the beginning—the peace He is in, shall keep your heart and mind through Jesus Christ. There is no indifference, carelessness, or coldness, but supplication, earnest entreaty, and all with thanksgiving.

A man whose heart is filled with thanksgiving, reckoning on God, goes to Him with prayer and supplication, and the soul, having left all to God, feels His hand under the trouble, and can say, “It is His affair; not mine.” He is a happy man. He goes through this world in this blessed fellowship with Christ; in the power of the Spirit of God for inward joy, and for outward circumstances—his affections free to go out to his brethren.

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” Hearts free to find the good in people. Jesus could find the least bit of grace in a poor soul; His heart was ever ready to enjoy it; “I have meat to eat that ye know not of"; “Mary hath chosen that good part"; “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.” There is always this perception when the heart is kept free to enjoy the fruit of the Spirit in others, as being occupied with what is good!

You cannot touch pitch without being defiled, and there is a great deal of pitch in these days. Thinking with the world, talking like the world, then the heart gets into the color of it. It is not Christ! The heart set free, lives in the thing that Christ's heart delights in. Oh! it makes such a difference—living in the atmosphere where Christ's heart dwells, instead of being dragged after ten thousand other things.

“Those things which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do; and the God of peace shall be with you.” Not only His peace (as in verse 7), but Himself.

What blessedness in that name God constantly gives Himself! He is never called the God of joy. Joy is an up and down thing that may be disturbed; there may be cause for joy, yet trouble may hinder the heart enjoying it. Peace is what nothing can disturb; it is calm as the throne of God! “Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen” (Rom. 15). “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom. 16) “The God of peace shall be with you” (Phil. 4:9). “The very God of peace sanctify you wholly” (1 Thess. 5:23). “The God of peace... make you perfect” (Heb. 13:20).

Peace is the effect of a full and perfect work. He has “made peace through the blood of His cross.” Why? Because He has gone through everything that was contrary to God has borne the wrath (the very opposite of the peace) of God; and the instant He is risen, He comes into their midst and says, “Peace"! And now to us God takes this wondrously blessed name of “the God of peace.”

Do your hearts possess that peace? If God rises up with every attribute that He has, can anything disturb it? I can say before God, I am in the light, even as God is in the light, because the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses me from all sin. I may have conflict with self, with the world, or with Satan; but He sets me in that peace which nothing can disturb. Your peace should flow as a river.

Faith is needed to be able to rejoice always in the Lord, the feet going where God would have them go, not avoiding evil merely, but walking where He would lead us in every detail of life—in our habits, dress, conversation, intercourse. Nothing tests the condition of our soul more than every-day habits.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It is a different thing to say, “Christ strengthens me,” and to say, “I can do all things.” Paul had learned it. Blessed thing to find that Christ was sufficient for him; he had learned how to be abased, and how to abound (more difficult, for abundance has the tendency to draw the heart away from the Lord—He had kept him from that twice). If he had want, He had Christ; if abundance, it was Christ. This was not joy in circumstances, but moral power arising above circumstances, but he had learned it; looking at Christ all through; finding it out all the way along. It was true when he began his course, but Paul did not know it then as he did at the end, when he could speak of it to others as that which he had learned. Just as He says, “My God” —blessed word! well known in all sorts of circumstances. “In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness,” he could say, “My God shall supply all your need!” I know Him, and, if you ask me what is the measure, it is “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus"! I guarantee to you all that. Paul found that all sought their own, but it only enabled him to say more completely, “My God.”

What reality there is in the life of faith—walking in secret with God. Poor hands we are at it; but it is that which no world can touch, no Satan can rob of, and the trials that come out in that path only prove us superior to every circumstance through the power of His grace! God grant that we may know it and Him in it! Amen.

J. N. D.

The Rapture of the Saints and the Character of the Jewish Remnant: 4

Thus the general character of the book (more correctly of the five books of Psalms, in which there is much more method than is supposed) is clearly given. It is the position of the godly remnant in Israel, and Christ entering in spirit wholly and fully into the position of this remnant, sometimes animating their feelings according to His mind in them in it, while sometimes the Spirit rises up to the expression of His own, as entered personally into it, so that what is there said becomes direct prophecy as to Christ Himself. The Lord, entering fully in grace (for in all their affliction He was afflicted) into their trial, appropriates more than once language which is also true and applicable in the mouth of the remnant, though sometimes, as we have seen, it is exclusively Himself. In all, it is His Spirit graciously furnishing the expression of sorrows and desires in the trial by His perfect sympathy, or of which He is the source—sorrows and desires into which He has so personally entered, that often the terms employed belong prophetically to Him.

To proceed (Psa. 9 and 10.), the trial and judgment of the last days are definitely gone into, and the state of the remnant plainly set forth; the needy expectations of the poor would not always be forgotten. The connection of the Lord with the remnant, and their praise for deliverance, is unfolded in Psa. 9; the extensive power of wickedness and distress of the remnant in Psa. 10; but the general subject and result is the same. In Psa. 11-15 the various thoughts, feelings, and apprehensions of the remnant in these circumstances are developed, Psa. 15 showing the Jewish character of godliness which shall find its place in God's holy hill. All this, and its unquestionable carrying on of the subject to the last days (for we have in Psa. 8 the full final exaltation of Christ and blessing of Israel under the glory of Jehovah's name; and in Psa. 10 the heathen perished out of the land, and the Lord king forever and ever) shows the existence and character of the remnant in that day, and its connection with the remnant in the time of Christ's personal presence in humiliation here on earth, in the very clearest possible way.

This is completed in Psa. 16 and 17, especially the first, by Christ's definitely taking this place of association with the godly remnant, as He did historically when He was baptized with John's baptism (the submission to which, on the part of the remnant, was the first expression of the action of the Spirit of God in their separating in view of the thoroughly purging of the Jewish floor). In the path of that action, Christ, who surely needed no repentance, at once goes with them. The principle laid down in the beginning of this

Psalm is brought forward in the Epistle to the Hebrews, to show that “both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one.” In the Psalm, Christ says, I take the place of a servant to Jehovah, not my divine place. He says to Jehovah, Thou art my Lord; my goodness extendeth not to thee. He says (for that is the connection) to the saints on earth, the excellent, In them is all my delight. Having taken this path, and owning, leaning on, and desiring none but Jehovah, He follows the path of life, does not see corruption, and finds His eternal joy as man in the presence and at the right hand of Jehovah. As Psa. 16 was His trust in God, so Psa. 17 is His appeal to His righteousness. He will behold His face in righteousness and be satisfied, awaking up in His likeness, the true eternal image of the invisible God. But here He brings in the remnant as associated with Him in His sorrow. In Psalm 16:2, it is absolutely Himself passing through death in the power of life. Mainly so in Psalm17; only He associates the rest of the godly with Himself.

Psa. 18 is, I doubt not, the application of Christ's death backwards and forwards (to the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and to their final deliverance when, under the figure of David, all is subdued under Him).

The Psalms which follow are remarkably interesting. In Psa. 19 we have the testimony of the creation, and the law. Psa. 20, Messiah; but now it is the sympathy of the remnant with Him, as suggested by the prophetic Spirit. Psa. 21 the full result of His sorrows and desires recognized in His glory. Compare Psa. 20:4, and Psa. 21:2. The result is, length of days forever and ever as man, and glory laid on Him. In result, His right hand finds out all His enemies. In Psa. 22 we have, not His sorrows from man merely, but the forsaking of God. He mentions these sorrows, and appeals to God not to forsake Him, and is forsaken as none other had been. The result is all grace, which He exercises on His full deliverance, in making known the deliverer's name to His brethren, and associating the remnant in praise with Him, then all Israel (for He has been heard as the poor man, so that they may trust in their cry); and then all the ends of the earth bow to Him in millennial fullness; and generations to be born learn what He has done as the source of their blessedness.

I will close this rapid review of the early Psalms with noticing Psa. 23 and 24. Psa. 23 as showing Jehovah's faithful shepherd care through every difficulty, now exercised in our favor by Christ, is in principle the portion of every believer; but as He knows His sheep and is known of them, so He has walked in the path in which the sheep had to walk, and when He put them forth, went before them; and though the place of sheep was properly still theirs, not His, yet He has really walked in it; and, in that sense this Psalm is the expression of His own confidence. Restoring is not exclusively from sin—though He does that for us, but from sorrow and oppression of heart; as, “Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.” In Psa. 24 we find, that He who has walked in the path of the sheep themselves in grace is the Lord of hosts Himself; and in the last day will take His place in glory in the hill and in the house of the glory of Jehovah. The character of him who shall have a place there, and blessing and righteousness from the God of his salvation, is found in verses 3-6. For the righteous remnant are all forgotten; only here, I apprehend, it goes out to Gentiles (so verses 5 and 6 seem to imply), for they shall rejoice in that day with His people. From this to Psa. 41, which closes the book (Psa. 40 giving the source of all the blessings in the counsels of God, and the willingness of Christ to undertake the accomplishment of His will), are largely and blessedly unfolded the various exercises of heart in confidence, joy, and sorrow, with exhortations and warnings suited to the godly in such circumstances, and Christ's entering into them given as a ground of confidence: “This poor man cried and the Lord heard him,” though this be in principle true of many a saint.

In this part, consequently (for it is never the case before Psa. 25), sins are referred to, and the blessedness of forgiveness; for, after all, the remnant had sins, and Christ took them. But the true godly character of the remnant, as under the influence of Christ's Spirit, is what is put forward in the first place as the true essential characteristic of the book, and of the position of those who are its immediate subjects. Even in Psa. 22, where the fact of God's forsaking is spoken of, the “Why?” shows the perfectly righteous man. Through grace we can answer the “Why?” but in the Psalm itself Christ is the Righteous Sufferer forsaken of God. Of Psa. 6 we can say, that the occasion of such fear to us would be our sins; but sins are not spoken of there—it was grief: but the wicked who pressed Him He sends away, as apart from them. In a word, sins are not spoken of before Psa. 25. This is after the whole introductory part of the connection of Christ with the remnant. Thence to the end of Psa. 41 every kind of practical exercise is gone through to which the remnant will be in fact subject, of which they need the exposition from God; but it is always of the godly these Psalms speak, even when forgiveness is sought or sins confessed. They acquaint us with the circumstances of the godly remnant in the latter day, though often on principles which all, by grace, can use. See Psa. 35 and 37.

Remark also the essential difference between the sufferings of Christ from man and from God; the first were for righteousness, the second for sin. The consequence of the first (Psa. 21) is, that He will make His enemies as a fiery oven in the day of His wrath. In the second He was bearing wrath: the consequence is all unmingled blessing, and nothing else, as its fruit. (See Psa. 22:11-23).

(To be continued)

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Notes on Matthew 20

This chapter (20.) is closely connected with what has gone before. Strange as, at first sight, it may appear, there may be a danger of making too much of what the Lord gives in His grace to encourage us. Those that are rewarded in chap. 25 wonder at what He says to them. Their minds had evidently not been set on the reward. The great point here is unmistakably the goodness and sovereignty of God. His ways and his thoughts are not as ours, He is always right. We must ever hold on to this. Every saint will get righteousness from God, but if He gives you what is above righteousness, that is another thing! Look at the Lord sitting over against the treasury. The word of God is full of undesigned coincidences; here is one. In Mark, He looks up; in another Gospel we are told He sat. He sees a poor widow, and she cast in two mites. In the Proverbs it says, “A false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.” He weighs all up in the balances of the sanctuary, and as He does so He says, “This poor widow hath cast in more than they all.”

In Luke you get three widows that may be said to correspond with the “widow indeed” in 1 Tim. 5. Anna continued in “prayer, night and day"; this widow “trusted in God,” and the widow of Nain was indeed “desolate.”

I have no doubt that Martha compared herself very favorably with Mary, but the Lord shows us that His way of thinking is different from our own. Martha was not commended, but Mary was. If the Lord puts a certain thing in your heart to do, do it, for it is ever right to do His bidding.

The householder agrees with the first lot for a penny a day (i.e., 8d.). The Roman denarius, or “penny” was a fair equivalent for a day's work throughout the empire in N.T. times. In Rev. 6:6, where the time is clearly “straitened,” the purchasing power of the “penny,” is only one “measure of wheat” instead of from eight to fifteen, showing a then time of awful scarcity. The good Samaritan took out “two pence” and gave to the host, and said, “Take care of him, and when I come again, I will repay thee,” for he was not going to be away long. To the other laborers the householder said, “Whatsoever is right,” etc. It is remarkable that he should say to the murmurer “Friend.” The man that had not on the wedding garment is also addressed, “Friend,” and so was Judas. But these instances are not the word of affection as in John 15:14, 15, etc. The Lord would not do any one any “wrong.” “The righteous Lord loveth righteousness.” Abraham held that very strongly when he said “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right"?

Ver. 15 is very sweet. The contrast is between mine and thine “Take what thine is... is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?” It is a practical lesson for us not to think we are worthy of anything. What is produced of good, is entirely of the Holy Ghost. Paul could say, “I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.” And when he speaks at the end, “I have kept the faith” — “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (he had been faithful to his stewardship) —how beautifully he brings in the grace of God! “Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day: and not to me only but unto all them also that love His appearing.” He had labored more than all, but all who look for the Lord, when He shall have His rights, though they may have done very little, the Lord will not forget. I fear many of us have different feelings from those of the apostle Paul. Those of us who are older ought to rejoice that we are nearing the end of our journey, and by the grace of God should seek to finish our course with joy. To Paul it was revealed, “Bonds and afflictions abide me"; yet he held on to his course, steadfastly, and never turned away from “this one thing I do.” “Is thine eye evil, because I am good?” “Good” goes beyond “righteousness.” “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die, yet for, the good man some would even dare to die.” It is interesting to see what the Spirit calls a good man in Psa. 112. In that way we are called, as dear children, to imitate God.

Ver. 16: There are two callings in the word, a general call, and an effectual call. “Because I have called, and ye refused,” etc., that is a general call; but “they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful” —this is an effectual call.

It was when Peter said, they had “left all and followed Him” that the Lord spoke of His death. We Must remember his following was the result of a call, not like that of the young man who said, “Master, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.” We should never call on sinners unsaved to follow Jesus. They must know forgiveness first. It is worse than putting them under law. If the Lord is denied His rights as Messiah, He gets the wider glory as Son of man. Here we see that both Jew and Gentile are guilty of His rejection and death. But the Lord also indicates that everything that man could do to Him would be disallowed and reversed by God. “The third day He shall rise again.” God is bent on honoring His Son. If Simon refuses Him the honors of the east, God brings in a woman to whom His Christ is everything. Further on in this Gospel, when the rulers consult to put Him to death, it is a woman who anoints Him for His burial.

It seems remarkable how the incident of James and John should be brought in immediately after. It would seem what He had said had had but little effect on them, that they regarded it as a kind of mystery. The great thing is to have before our souls the love that led Him to Calvary. That “the third day He should rise again,” and also as more general that “God raised Him from the dead” are each of them true. In John's Gospel where He is more particularly presented as a divine person, He raises Himself. So in Hebrews “After making purgation for sins He sits down": He is there seen as a divine person. J.G.B. once said, that the Gospels have a singular place in the revelation God has given, and he considered the Gospel of John bore the same relation to the other three, as the four together do, to the whole of Scripture. In the Gospels we get personal redemption accomplished, the work of the person who did it; in the Epistles, we get the doctrine of it.

I would not like to say anything hard about the mother of Zebedee's children. How limited we are, and how much selfishness there is in all of us! The apostle could say of Timothy, “I have no man like minded who will genuinely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's.” I quite believe that Luke and the others were away just then, and that no one then with him was like Timothy. Of course grace teaches us to prefer others to ourselves, and nothing but grace enables us to do that, and to seek, not our own, but others' wealth. The Lord Himself delights to serve, and even in glory “He will gird Himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them"; He will be a servant forever! Salome had her sons, and she paid Him homage and desired for them a certain thing of Him. Hers was a Jewish hope. Psa. 72 and Luke 1 show us the blessed anticipations of Israel's blessedness in Messiah's days, while in Luke 24 the two disciples tell the Lord, “We trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel.”

We get very little about the eternal state in the difference between Peter and Paul, that Peter was O.T., and he who sees the different character of the “a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a N.T. can recognize the reason why. The O.T. is partaker of the glory about to be revealed,” whilst full of the Lord's millennial kingdom, and that is Paul was a witness of the glory, and a partaker of really what every pious Jew was looking for. But now, we who form the church—composed of all saints from Pentecost to the Lord's coming for His own—we shall have part in the heavenly department of the kingdom. This woman was bent on a good place for her sons. The Lord had said of both these sons that they should sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, but she wanted her sons to have a special place among the twelve. Even now, I do not walk on earth to make me fit for heaven, but we enter the holies as worshippers, and thus to walk on earth; and this is the only way by which we can walk as heavenly ones

“Can ye drink of the cup” etc.? (ver. 22). The Lord does not dispute this. He says “Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give but to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.” The Lord will dominate everything, but He will administer it according to the Father’s will: He takes the subject place. There was a cup He alone could drink; when it is a question of atonement He is all alone in that. His cup was beyond the power of all created intelligences to share. One only, Himself alone, could drink it. He suffered for sins at the hands of God. He suffered for righteousness at the hands of man. The atoning sufferings of Christ must ever be kept distinct. He suffered at the hands of “God” —not of the “Father.”

There is a precision in scripture we must ever be mindful of. He was never more the delight of the Father’s heart than as the Holy Sufferer on the cross. In His non-atoning sufferings we may share. Paul says, “That I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings.” He did know Him as His Saviour, and could speak of the surpassing knowledge, yet he wanted to know Him more, and the fellowship of his sufferings! Suffering with Christ is the portion of every true child of God in this world; but suffering for Christ is a gift. There is this difference between Peter and Paul, that Peter was “a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the gory about to be revealed,” whilst Paul was a witness of the glory, and a partaker of the sufferings.

The ten were not any better than the two. Oh, that wretched self! It is a wonderful thing to be emptied of it. The Lord here is bringing out the principles of His kingdom (Vers. 25, 26). God has given us liberty to serve in contrast to law. A minister is a servant, but not necessarily a slave, as most of the servants then were. Several words are used in the N. T. for servant; of the two here he that would be greatest or chief let him be “slave.” What the Lord says about Himself is sufficient motive. All human pretensions are disowned. He came to minister. When the question is asked the disciples, “Who do man say that I the Son of Man am?” some said, “Elijah, or John the Baptist, or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets”; but there was no saving knowledge in all that.

“But who say ye?” “Thou are the Christ the Son of the living God.” It was a blessed confession, and then for the first time in the inspired word the church is spoken of. Simon Bar-jona was blessed; his confession was never learnt of human intelligence, it was revealed to him. Another scripture comes to mind, speaking of the work wrought by the Son of man on the cross. As Son of man He is spoken of in two ways—as the suffering One, or as the exalted One. But before He speaks of His sufferings, He speaks of His divine attributes. If He is speaking to Nicodemus, yet was he the Son of man in heaven. Never separate those two verses John 3:13 and 14. It is the glory of the person that gives efficacy to the work.

Nathaneel brings out His glories in John 1. Christ is there the Omniscient One. I believe “under the fig tree” was a place of absolute secrecy, and that he had to do with the Lord about his sins there, because no one can be without guile until he knows his sins forgiven. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity and in whose spirit there is no guile.”

Here is the perfect Servant. And after His service had been completed He had the opportunity of going out free. The Hebrew servant in Ex. 21 is taken to the door—inside was this service, outside was liberty. And he says, “I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out free.” The Lord has deliberately taken that place in His wondrous love. I think you get the ear digged (Psa. 40) in “a body hast Thou prepared Me.” That only could be said of One, for in becoming a man there was perfect ability to do the will of God. Then “morning by morning mine ear hast Thou opened.” The first thing He heard when he woke was the voice of Him whom he came to serve. Then at the end the ear is bored. What a Savior! There is the price paid down. His life, that life of infinite value, the price and holy life laid down—a ransom for many!

Vers. 29-34. In the three Synoptic Gospels this journey to Jerusalem begins at Jericho. It is different in John where the Lord begins His ministry as the rejected One. We have two blind men in chap. 9 of our Gospel: these connect with the Lord's Galilean ministry; here it is in Judea. “In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established,” so Matthew, writing to his countrymen, the Jews, tells us of two, while the other Gospels only give one, the son of Timaeus. The giving of sight was one of the things specially mentioned as what Messiah would do— “then the eyes of the blind shall be opened (Isa. 35:5) etc.” That is in Messiah's day, so you get it fulfilled in testimony to Israel. In the early chapters of the Acts the lame man leaps as a hart. Here its connection is with Judea and the Lord's public final testimony. He left Galilee never to return to it (in chap. 19.). The blind man of John 9, and the two here teach lessons that are quite different. Here is seen the Messiah; in John the Son of God. There is beautiful design in scripture; not only a selection of events from the Lord's ministry, but a divine arrangement of them. It is God who is acting here: He is dealing with these blind men and ordaining a testimony to His Son. If Israel refuses Him at the beginning, Gentiles come to worship Him as born King of the Jews; and here at the end there are these blind men, a testimony to the nation. Thus is the wisdom of the Spirit. Nationally they had forfeited everything. In the dispensational part of the Epistle to the Romans, Paul shows us this, and at the end he has to burst out: “O the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” God will fulfill His word. Now He is blessing the Gentiles, exercising His sovereignty. The Jews were making much of being the natural descendants of Abraham; so was Ishmael. Then when you come to Isaac and Jacob, the two sons of the same mother and father, God's sovereignty again comes out. And when Israel gets the blessings unconditionally promised to Abraham, they will get them solely on the ground of unmerited mercy; and on that same ground we also come in. The very One who at the word of a man made the sun stand still, stood still Himself at the cry of a beggar! After Israel had forfeited everything by taking deliberately the ground of law (for, ignorant of themselves they did not value the grace so blessedly brought out in the early chapters of Exodus), then God tells them, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy"; He retreats into Himself. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” And so here, “Jesus had compassion on them.” They follow Him, and so become His disciples. From disciples it was that Jesus choose the twelve that they might be with Him, and whom He sent forth to preach the kingdom of God, to heal the sick, and cast out demons.

MATT. 20:27-34; MK. 10:46-52; Luke 18:35-43.

Luke 18:35, does not say more than “He was nigh” (not “come” nigh) and so agrees with Matthew and Mark who represent the scene as after the Lord's departure from Jericho. Luke 19:1, states that Jesus passed through Jericho, and verse 2 allows the reversion of the mind to what took place in the city, giving us the incident of Zacchaeus.

Thus all three accounts of the healing of the blind men, of which Timaeus was one, agree.

God's Purpose and Counsel

I have read this in order that we may have the purpose and scheme of God before us. Nothing can set aside His purpose. Israel despised the land, but it was God's purpose to bring them in. We get their despising it in Num. 14, but there is one verse there that fits in with my subject this afternoon. Joshua there says (ver. 8): “If the Lord delight in us.”

Now that is what He does do. God delights in His saints and He delights to bless them in Christ. But Israel despised the land and they were set aside, and unable to get in; and He tells them He would treat them as they had said He would, and they should wander forty years in the desert, according to the days in which they had searched the land—a year for a day—until they all died. But in spite of all this, the very next chapter begins, “When ye be come into the land.” Notwithstanding all their sin it is looked at as if they were there.

Nothing can set aside His purpose and counsel. In regard to Israel it is presented as from the foundation of the world. But in relation to His saints now and the church, it is fixed from before the foundation of the world.

No wonder Paul's heart overflows with blessing and praise as we find in verse 3 of our chapter! We are blessed not with earthly, but with spiritual blessings. His purpose and counsel is that we should participate in all the conferred glory of Christ as He says in John 17— “And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given them.” He is indeed the Firstfruits, but we shall appear with Him in glory, and reign with Him.

I want us each to get some idea of our calling, that it may separate us from this present world. We live in tumbledown houses in these poor bodies, and in a scene of corruption too, but we are going to be conformed to His body of glory, and share in all His exaltation.

When Abraham was on the mount with the Lord, the Lord said “Shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do?” He was the friend of God, and God took Him into His confidence. And the Lord Jesus says the same thing of us in John 15, “I have called you friends, for all things that have heard of My Father I have made known unto you.” So the whole mind of God—all that He is for man—has been told out in Christ, and by the Spirit now given.

Now let us go to Psa. 2 and see how scripture is interwoven with; and bears out, scripture. The first part of the psalm deals with the time Christ was here and rejected; and the apostles quote it in Acts 4. It refers to all the nation gathered together against Him at the cross. They would not have Him at all. But in the purpose of God (ver. 6) He is set on the holy hill of Zion. Then as born into the world, He is declared to be Son (ver. 7), and the inheritance is given Him (ver. 8). But in order that we may be associated with Him in it, He takes it as Man, by redemption.

Now turn to Rev. 2:26—the promise to the overcomer-and connect this with what we have just read in Psa. 2 “To him that overcometh will I give power over the nations, and he shall rule, them with a rod of iron... as I received of My Father.” Now you, beloved, truly belonging to Christ, will come back with Christ when He appears in glory, to rule and to judge the nations with Him. So Paul says to the Corinthians, when they were not able to judge the wicked man, and went to courts of law: “Know ye not we shall judge angels; how much more things of this life?” (1 Cor. 6:3). He thinks the simplest among them ought to be able to judge these trivial things. Yes, we shall come back with Christ, and be associated with Him in all He takes up. Now I go again to Corinthians. Because they were walking as men carnally, therefore Paul was unable to give them these deeper truths, but he begins to whet their appetites (and ours too). In chap. 2:9 he quotes Isaiah, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard; neither have entered into the heart of man, the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him.” Most stop short here, but we must go on to the next verse. “But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.” God sets this knowledge before us. “The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” Isn't that plain, that God intends the most simple and elementary of Christians to enjoy what He has brought them into? If an immense estate was left me in America, and the title deeds brought to me, I should be poring over them, finding out all about it, until I was living there in heart. A man lives where his thoughts are.

Now we will turn to Psa. 8. If you are studying the Psalms, don't read yourselves into them. Such a thing as the present possession of forgiveness of sins is unknown to them. They are nearly all prophetic, and bear on Israel. The Lord is here spoken of as Son of man. You know in Matt. 21 when He rode into Jerusalem, the children rejoiced, and that fulfilled the second verse which He quoted. Now turn to Heb. 2 and we will see what says the expository book on that (for the Epistle to the Hebrews is the great expository book on the Old Testament, specially on the sacrifices). “But one in a certain place testified saying, What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels, thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst Set him over the works of thy hands. Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him But” —listen to this! — “now we see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” It is grace, not judgment, that is here brought in.

I read these scriptures to show we have actual association with Christ in all He takes up. Poor wretched creatures that we are in ourselves. What were we before we were converted? When I remember what I was—and if Paul by the Spirit had not taken the place, I would own myself to be “chief” of sinners. But it does not become us to doubt God's purpose and counsel about us. That was the failure of Moses (Ex. 4), and Jeremiah too, and they were told to believe their Creator. It is not grace or meekness to disbelieve Him.

On the holy mount Moses is seen with Elijah, and they are speaking of the most marvelous event in the whole of time. The death of Christ is the center of all God's counsels. His glory never shone out in such splendor as on Calvary. God's glory is silhouetted on the dark cloud of judgment there. Christ is God's righteousness (sealed and witnessed to by His precious blood) that He might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.

Now we are going on to see, though we were speaking of being such poor creatures, that God foreordained and predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. 1 John 3. treats of this and skews it to be a purifying hope. But let us now turn to 1 Cor. 15, and see in ver. 47 and onwards what we have been brought out of, and brought into. “As is the earthy such they also that are earthy” —all in Adam, right down from the beginning, are of that earthy nature, and must be born again or never see the kingdom of God. “And as is the heavenly, such they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” —that is, exact conformity to Christ.

In Phil. 3 all our concerns ("politics” if you like) are in heaven, “from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body.” What an outlook! There—unto His own body of glory! to “head up all things in Christ.” But “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 15:50). The design of Satan is to bring the earthly man—the man of flesh into the things of God. He has no standing before God. There is no possibility of salvation save through the death and resurrection of Christ. Man is teaching now that there is some little good in man that will lead him on to more good; and, denying the eternity of punishment, he elbows the atonement of Christ out of the way to make room for himself, and the coming man of sin.

Now go to Col. 1:12 “Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet” —a real living reality—let us rejoice in it! — “Hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” We have been reading of the inheritance in Ephesians, “After that ye believed, ye were sealed with the holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance.” He is the earnest. How many of you have tasted the grapes of Eshcol to-day? We are tasting those grapes as we realize by the Spirit the inheritance we have in Christ.

“Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness” —this is the world. Everything in it, the glories of it, are to the church as the fiery serpents and scorpions were to Israel in the wilderness, defiling and poisonous.

“In whom we have redemption.” The person of Christ. It is in Him we have all this. Wisdom is the Word unuttered. In John 1 we have the Word uttered—the same Word. “For by Him were all things created” (Col. 1:16). As the eternal Creator they belong to Him, but He became man and died in order to take them by redemption, and associate you and me with Him in administering them. How will the angels see the manifold wisdom of God in His kindness towards us! To see such sinners brought into association with Christ! Oh, when we think of grace! well, contrast gives us some idea of things. When I see what I was, and then what the wondrous grace of God has made me, I learn a little the meaning of grace.

In Heb. 1 the Lord Jesus is made Heir of all things, yet is He Creator, and addressed as “God.” Scriptures are divinely marshalled in that chapter to bring out His place as “God” and “Man.” Now here in Col. 1:18 He is Head of the body. The Lord's words in John 17:22 take in all the glory given Him as Man. Up to ver. 20 He had been speaking of the apostles, but we are brought in here, and the Lord is praying for you, beloved. His hands don't need to be upheld as were Moses' hands. “That they all may be one” —this ought to be true of us; for a certain space of time it was in evidence. But ver. 22 is what I have been dwelling on as my keystone— “the glory that thou gavest me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.” Oh, how wonderful, and to be rejoiced in! There is a fullness in that verse to occupy our hearts for long. The world will know, to their condemnation, that the poor creatures they had despised are in the same glory with Christ, and loved as He is loved!

R. E. C.

Prayer: Its Necessity and Power, Part 1

What is prayer? Is it penance? Is it a part of that various punishment which God has inflicted on our sinful family? Is it so much holy drudgery to which every soul must force himself, under pain of incurring a severer penalty, or sinking at last into a deeper woe? Is it the irksome ordeal through which you are doomed to enter each successive day, and the moping and mournful finale with which you must close it up and leave it off?

Is prayer the sackcloth which you must wear beneath the silk attire of daily joys—the pebble which you must put into the sandals of daily business—the preliminary thorn which you must break across or pluck away before you reach the downy pillow of this weary night's new slumber?

Is prayer the cold fog which you must scatter over this world's bright landscape—the “Memento mori” with which you must sober down its merry melodies—the Egyptian coffin at the banquet's close to lengthen every visage, and with quashed delight and bitter fancies to send each rueful guest away?

And yet, I am sure that it is in this sombre aspect that many look on prayer. Are you sure that this is not the aspect in which you yourself regard it? Is it not a task—an exercise—an endurance? Instead of engaging in it with that alacrity, or resorting to it with that avidity which would bespeak the privilege, do you not betake yourself to secret prayer with coldness and self-constraint, and feel, when the devotions of the family or sanctuary are ended, that it is a great comfort to have this other “duty” done?

What then is prayer?

1. It is communion with God. Brethren, prayer is not an apostrophe to woods and wilds and waters. It is not a moan let fly upon the viewless winds, nor a hopeless behest expended on a passing cloud. It is not a plaintive cry, directed to an empty echo, that can send back nothing but another cry. Prayer is a living heart that speaks in a living ear—the ear of the living God.

It matters not where the worshipper is,-on a dreary shore; in a noisome dungeon; amidst the filth and ferocity of brutal savages, or the frivolity and atheism of hollow-hearted worldlings; surrounded by the whirr and clash and roaring dissonance of the heaving factory, or toiling in the depths of the lamp-lit mine—the man of prayer need never feel the withering pangs of loneliness. Wherever you are the Lord is there, and it only needs prayer to bring Himself and you together. Recollect Him, and He is beside your path; resort to Him and He lays His hand upon you.

And who is this ever-present Help—this never-distant Friend? Words cannot tell. The incarnate “Word” did tell, but few could comprehend, and as few could credit (John 1:5, 18). If you imagine the tenderest affection of your most anxious friend; the mildest condescension and readiest sympathy of your most appreciating and considerate friend; and if you add to this a goodness and a wisdom, such as you never saw in the best and wisest of your friends; and if you do not merge but multiply all this wisdom, all this goodness, and all this kindness towards you by infinity, so as to give this tender and constant Friend infinite knowledge to watch over you, infinite forethought to provide for you, and infinite resources to relieve or enrich you; if you did not fully realize who the hearer and answerer of prayer is, you would, at least, be a step beyond that “unknown God,” whom many ignorantly and joylessly worship.

In prayer you do not address a general law or a first principle, but you address a living Person. You do not commune with eternity, or with infinite space, but you commune with the Father of eternity—with Him “who fills the highest heavens, and who also dwells in the lowliest hearts.” You do not hold converse with abstract goodness, but with the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; with God in Christ; with Him whose express image Jesus is; with Jesus Himself; with your Friend within the veil; with your Father who is in heaven.

And is there in this ought that should prove repulsive or heart chilling? Is Christ so altered from what He was, that you needs must deprecate His presence? Or are you so earthly, so sensual, so sin-saturated, that though He were talking to you by the way your bosom could not burn? The Savior and yourself! Is there so little friendship between you? Is He so little a reality that days pass without adverting to Him? Or is He so little loved that you rather deprecate than desire His coming? Have you found so little that is engaging in Him that you wonder how people who loved one another dearly, loved this Savior more? Or is the whole such a phantom—to your feelings such a nonentity—that you cannot comprehend how any one should have such a delight in God as to cry out in desire of His more conscious presence, “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee, my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land... My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night-watches?”

Yes, brethren, whatever you may fancy—or rather, whatever you may forget—the Lord liveth. There may be objects which fascinate all your soul, and bind in welcome fetters all your faculties; but hidden from your view there is an Object, if you catch a glimpse of Him, fit to deaden the deliciousness of every lesser joy, and darken the glare of every lesser glory. There may be friends deep-seated in your soul, but there is yet one Friend, whom could you but discover, He would make you another man—He would give your life a new nobility, your character a new sanctity. He would give yourself a new existence in giving Himself to you, and would give society a new manner of person in giving you to it.

And with this glorious Personage, and withal most gracious Friend, it is possible to keep up an intercourse to which the most rapid communication and the closest converse of earth supply not the equivalent. The twinkling thought—the uplifted eye—the secret groan—will bring Him in an instant will bring Him in all the brightness of His countenance through the midnight gloom—in all the promptitude of His interposition through the thickest dangers—in all the abundance of His strength into the fading flesh-and in all the sweetness of His sympathy and assurance of His death—destroying might into the failing heart. And this communion, closer and more complete than that of any creature with another—for dearest friend can only give his thoughts, and desires, and feelings—he cannot impart himself; but in regard to the praying soul and this divine communion, we read of its being “filled with all the fullness of God.”

2. Prayer is peace and joy. Two things constitute the believer's peculiarity and make him differ from the rest of men—just as two things constitute the sinner's peculiarity, and make him differ from the rest of God's creatures. The two things which form the Christless sinner's peculiar misery, are guilt and vacancy—a gloom above him and a void within him. A gloom above him—for he has no confidence in God he has no hopeful and confiding feeling heavenwards—no firm reliance on a reconciling God, and no smiling vista through a pierced and heaven—opening sepulcher. A sense of sin—in shadowy hauntings or in severe and burning incubus—is hovering over his conscience, and whether it merely mar his occasional joy, or convert his days into habitual misery, this guilt, this conscience of sin is a serious abatement on the zest of existence—a mournful deduction from the total of earthly joy. It makes the unpardoned sinner's walk very different from the seraph's limpid flight, who only knows guilt by distant report, and very different from the newly-pardoned sinner's lightened gaiety, who only knows it by remembrance—breaking his daily bread in the sprightliness of a vanished fear, and eating it with the relish of a conscious innocency.

But not only is there a gloom above the Christless soul—a brooding guilt, and an impending danger-but there is a void within him. God did not create man at first with a burden on his conscience, and neither did he create him with this aching gap in his bosom. Or rather, we should say the all-wise Creator has implanted no craving in any of His creatures, without having provided some counterpart object. When that object is attained, the creature is content. The craving subsides in quiet enjoyment and complacency. It is happy and wants no more. The ox is at home in his rich pasture, and send no wistful thought beyond it; and so is the insect which “expands and shuts its wings in silent ecstasy” on the edge of the sunny flower.

But it is far otherwise with the roaming soul of the sinner. There is no flower of earthly growth in whose nectar bathing he can finally forget his, poverty—no green pastures of time-bounded blessedness in whose amplitudes he can so lose himself that misery shall find him no more. Wide as is his range, his anxious eye sees too well its weary limits, and sweet as the honeyed petals are; he perceives them dying as he drinks.

Oh this fugacity of all that is pleasant—his scanty measure and momentary duration of earthly delights was never meant to satiate the soul of man—this never is the counterpart which the bountiful Jehovah created for the yearning avidity of an immortal spirit. Cast into the mighty gulf of man's craving soul, a house—full of friendship, a ship's freight of wealth and dainty delights, a world—load of wondrous objects and lovely scenes—the deep-sounding abyss will ever echo, “Give, give"; and though you would tumble the world itself into the heart of man, you could not prevent it from collapsing in disappointment, and dying vacant and dreary at last.

There is only one object so mighty as truly to content this capacious desire-only one ultimatum so conclusive that when the soul has reached it, it has nothing more to do than rest in it and rejoice. That object is the living God Himself: that ultimatum is the All-sufficient Jehovah and Father. The gospel meets the two desiderata of our uneasy and anxious humanity by offering a free pardon and an infinite and eternal possession. The affrighted and apprehensive soul finds peace where it finds forgiveness; and the yearning, discontented soul finds joy where it finds a never-dying, all-sufficient Friend. It finds them both where it finds Immanuel. The gloom vanishes and the void is filled—the query of existence is answered, and the problem of blessedness solved when the soul ascertains what Jesus really is, and in a Savior-God discovers its Beloved and its Friend.

Now the peace and joy of conversion it is one great use of prayer to reproduce and perpetuate. It brings the soul into the presence of that Savior, whom in the day of salvation it found, and renewing the intercourse, it renews the joy. When prayer is what it ought to be—when it is earnest and realizing—it gives the believer conscious fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. It brings him in contact with those perfections of the Godhead which may at the moment be chiefly revealed to his view: and in the pavilion of prayer—beneath the canopy of the sure atonement, and on the safe standing-point of acceptance—the soul surveys the God of majesty, or surrenders itself to the God of grace-hearkens to his voice in the thundering power of startling providences, or melts in sweet amazement beneath the full flood of his marvelous mercies—but from every aspect of awful solemnity or benignant endearment, the assuring thought comes home, “And this God is our own God forever.”

And perhaps there is no influence so abidingly tranquillizing—so permanently hallowing and heart-assuring, as this high communion with the great All in All. The pleasures of sin will look paltry, and sin itself disgusting to eyes which have just been gazing on the fountain of light. The tossings of time—mountains of prosperity rooted up, and pinnacles of fortune flung into the roaring sea—will look trivial matters to one who has eyed them in their mote-like distance from beneath the sapphire throne. And even the groans of mortality and the wailings of the sepulcher will come diluted and transformed to ears resounding with golden harmonies from the holy place of the Most High.

3. Prayer is the only means of imparting to earth blessings not native to it. There are many commodities not of English growth which ships and wealth and enterprise can fetch from foreign shores. But there are some things which no wealth can purchase, which no enterprise can compass, and with which no ship that ever rode the seas came freighted. Where is the emporium to which you can resort and order so much happiness? Where is the ship that ever brought home a cargo of heart—comfort? —a consignment of good consciences? —a freight of strength for the feeble, and joy for the wretched, and peace for the dying?

But what no vessel ever fetched from the Indies, prayer has often fetched from heaven. Our earth is insulated. It is clean cut off from all intercourse with the most adjacent worlds. But even though the nearest world were peopled by holy and happy beings, and though they could cross the gulf that severs them from us, they could accomplish little for us. They could not bind up bleeding hearts—they could not wash stains from guilty souls—they could not infuse their own felicity into gaunt and joyless hearts, and they could not transport their own sweet atmosphere so as to heal the miasma of a polluted race, or the misery of a wretched home. But what they cannot do, the Lord Himself can do.

Prayer is not a message to the moon. It is not a cry for help to the sun, or to the stars in their courses. It is a petition addressed to Him who made the sun and moon and stars. It is recourse to the ever-present and all-sufficient God. It is frailty fleeing to Omnipotence. It is misery at the door of mercy. It is “worm Jacob” at the ladder's foot, and that ladder's top in heaven. It is the dying thief beside a dying Savior, and the same Paradise already open for them both. The mercy-seat is the ark of the covenant opened, and the legend over it, “Ask, and it shall be given thee.” And prayer is just the exploring eye and the believing hand selecting from the “unsearchable riches of Christ” the sweetest mercies and the costliest gifts.

Jacob compared Joseph his son to a fruitful tree inside of a lofty fence; but though he grew in a “garden enclosed,” his growth was so luxuriant that his branches ran over the wall, and the wandering Ishmaelites, and the hungry passengers shot their arrows and flung their missiles at the laden boughs, and caught up such clusters as fell outside the fence. The tree of life grows now in such a garden. There is now an enclosure round it, but the branches run over the wall. High over our heads we may perceive the bending boughs, and such fragrant fruits as “peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, assurance of God's love,” “gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” —and prayer is the arrow which detaches these from the bough—the missile which brings these far-off fruits, these lofty clusters, down to the dusty path, and the weary traveler's feet. Happy he whose believing prayer is “like Jonathan's bow, which never came empty back.”

(To be continued)

The Rapture of the Saints and the Character of the Jewish Remnant: 5

Now, the reader has only to take up these Psalms and he will see the remnant recognized as a godly Jewish remnant, and their deliverance wrought by judgment (which is not the case of the raised or heaven-born saints in any case); their blessings, Jewish blessings; the character of their righteousness, Jewish. They wait on God, are owned; their cry is heard. They are exhorted to perseverance and dependence. The earth is their portion in many exhortations. Yet they go back to the place Christ held on the earth, and show Him buried—not seeing corruption and ascended on high. For their piety and waiting on the Lord for earthly deliverance, see Psa. 27:4, 13, 14, and indeed the whole Psalm; for their separation from the ungodly, Psa. 26; for their trial and appeal, Psa. 31; for the positive reassuring of the saints, and confidence founded on Jehovah's ways with the poor man, Psa. 37. Psa. 38 is the full heart guidance and encouragement of God, the inheritance of the earth promised to those blessed of Jehovah. The whole Psalm should be read.

In Psa. 40 we have Christ's example to encourage. He waited patiently for the Lord. Then His whole work from His first undertaking it is shown, and His taking the place Himself of the poor and needy. I only notice Psa. 41 as an example of a statement fulfilled in the case of Christ, but not properly a prophecy of Him. He was, above all, that poor man so often spoken of in the Psalms; but His brethren will tread in the same path, however feebly, and meet similar treachery, and what is done to one of the least of them is done to Him. The Lord God of Israel would accomplish His purposes in blessing.

I need not go into the same detail with the remaining four books. This gives the position of the remnant in the midst of Israel, all its great principles, and the place Christ has taken in their sorrows, Jehovah delivering, though in the end He is proved to be Jehovah.

In the second book, Psa. 42-72, they are cast out, the power of Antichrist established; but (Psa. 45) Messiah appears, and full deliverance is celebrated to the end of Psa. 48. Psa. 49 is the world's instruction by the judgment; Psa. 50 the general judgment of Israel; Psa. 51 their confession of Christ's death now He has appeared; then the various relative exercises of heart under these circumstances. In Psa. 65; 66; 67 that praise which only waits for God's deliverance to burst forth in Zion is sounded out, and thus the nations are to be made glad. Psa. 68, an ascended Christ is the real secret of all this; Psa. 69, a suffering Christ the basis of that ascended glory, and the security of the poor and needy in Zion. Psa. 70 and 71 apply it in the remnant, and against the wicked, in the person of David, I doubt not to Israel, seemingly past hope; and Psa. 72 describes the full reign of peace. But take the end even of Psa. 69, which applies to Christ's sufferings; you will find the poor and needy owned in Zion, and the earthly Jewish types recognized and opened by God. The seed of His servants shall inherit it, and they that love His name shall dwell therein.

The third book, Psa. 73-89, goes out to all Israel, not simply the Jews, and gives God's beginning, their fuller history in the latter days, the glory and blessing of Zion. The judgment of Israel under law, but election brought out, and the certainty of mercy by infallible promises to David's seed.

The fourth hook is the bringing in the First-begotten unto the world, directly connected with God's faithfulness to Israel, but reaching out to all nations. It shows how the suffering Christ could have a share in the restoration of Zion. He is the Eternal Creator (Psa. 102). In Psa. 101, we have His government as man.

In the closing book we have various consequences and effects on the bringing back of Israel—explanatory Psalms of the scheme of God, as Psa. 110; the law written on Israel's heart, Psa. 119; the Psalms of degrees commenting on God's ways; and then the praises of God, with their various grounds, and pursued in view of millennial blessedness.

I have just thus run rapidly through the whole book to give a general idea of its connection with Christ and Israel. It would evidently be impossible to enter into the detail of the hundred and fifty Psalms here. I think, if the reader looks at them, he will see the leading ideas borne out. What he cannot fail to see, if anything can impress the truth, as I would trust it may, on his mind, is, that there is a godly pious Jewish remnant—ever true in principle—tried, oppressed, all but overwhelmed, in the latter day; whose piety Jehovah owns and encourages before their deliverance; which He rewards with Jewish blessings according to promise; with which Christ identifies Himself in spirit, as He did, in fact, when on earth with those of the like spirit; into all whose sorrows He enters, His own having given Him the tongue of the learned; whose sins He has borne; and that in this state of things the case is supposed of dying (Psa. 16; 17) and heavenly joy provided in that case, but the hopes held out are of Jewish blessings, the earth, the holy hill, and deliverance wrought by judgment, that they may enjoy it (which we learn in the second and fourth books); that the ascension and sitting at God's right hand precede these blessings, Christ returning to judgment to bring them in-returning withal as Jehovah, and entering into the temple as such—assuring all things to Israel as David's seed, having all things under His feet as Son of man, and while King in Zion, subjecting all the nations as Son of God born in this world. The name of the Father and the thought of the church do not appear: room is left for one after His resurrection, when He calls the saints brethren; and some figure of the other in Psa. 139, but no direct reference to either. The Holy Ghost's work, as come down from heaven, is intimated in the form of gifts in man, but so as Israel also will have them in the latter day— “Yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God may dwell among them” —only so far, however, intimated, as to say that Christ has received gifts for men.

Such is the testimony of the Psalms. While ministering to piety at all times, though often a piety with imperfect intelligence, their subject is the remnant of Israel, and the blessings of that remnant as such, of course through Christ, the ministrations of His Spirit, preparing them to enjoy it with earthly though divinely given hopes, and in an earthly way.

Note here, too, that all this connects itself with God's government of the world, and in no way with that sovereign grace, which sets a sinner in heavenly glory as one with Christ Himself, and a member of His body. But a heavenly calling is shown in Him, and the possibility of passing to it by death; but it is only stated as to the person of Christ directly, or in the general expression, “The heavens shall declare his righteousness.”

What we have now to inquire into is the extent to which the New Testament seals these hopes and promises to Israel, while introducing higher and heavenly hopes. For it is absolutely impossible that it can set them aside. It does not undo what God had before promised and assured to His people; that is certain and evident. “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” It is said in speaking of Israel, Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers. Has his rejection and death set them aside? Far from it. It is just this the apostle insists on in Rom. 11. It has made their accomplishment to be of pure grace, and has secured that accomplishment. Our only research, then, is as to this point: Was the remnant owned in connection with the kingdom then? Is this connection carried on to the latter days, so as to link the future restoration with the remnant then owned of and owning Christ, so as to show that there will be a pious godly remnant owned of God, such as the Psalms speak of, before the manifestation of the Lord, and waiting for Him?

The beginning of the Gospel of Luke announces Christ fully as thus coming in connection with Israel, before entering on the wider moral ground connected with the Gentiles, which Luke more especially does, and I think we may say because he does. The Spirit of God, at the commencement of this Gospel, has put His seal on all the promises to, and hopes of, the godly remnant (that is, of Israel). The pious remnant were looking for redemption in Jerusalem, and knew one another thus (Luke 2:38). There were just and devout ones waiting for the consolation of Israel, and saw in Christ a light indeed to reveal the Gentiles, but the glory of God's people Israel. The angels brought good tidings to the shepherds, which were such to all the people (not all people). In the city of David a Savior was born to them, which was Christ the Lord. The angels of the heavenly chorus alone, in this part of the Gospel, celebrate the full result of Christ's coming to the earth-a result not yet produced, but, as the Lord Himself states, for the present the contrary, but which will be produced fully on the earth hereafter.

Prophetically, it was declared that many of Israel should be turned to the Lord their God, through him who came in the spirit and power of Elias: he was to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. Note the last expression, for it gives the divine intention as to any Elias service, and what the essential character of the remnant is. It is not sovereign grace visiting a sinner of the Gentiles in his sins, but a people prepared for the Lord before He comes. To Mary it is announced that the child born of her on the earth should be called the Son of the Highest, and that the throne of His father David should be given Him. He was Jesus, i.e., Jehovah the Savior. Help to His servant Israel is the final subject of praise with Mary in the touching and beautiful interview between her and Elizabeth. And the song of Zacharias (Luke 1:67-79) is wholly composed of the divinely-given celebration of God's having visited and redeemed His people, and raised up a horn of salvation for them in the house of His servant David—a temporal salvation afforded—promises to Abraham in favor of his earthly seed to be fulfilled. The whole is too clear and definite to need any comment: a remnant already waiting, a people prepared for Jehovah, full earthly deliverance from Him. These are the topics divinely given by inspiration on the occasion of the birth of Christ. That they were interrupted, for the accomplishment of brighter and more blessed purposes, by His rejection, is quite true; but to suppose that He was to invalidate them would be to subvert divine testimonies and destroy divine faithfulness. That it is only a remnant is clearly shown. He was for the fall, as well as for the rising up, of many in Israel. Further, all that passes, Mary's purification and the whole scene, places us on Jewish ground.

Matthew's whole Gospel reveals to us the presentation of Christ to the Jews, and the substitution of the new divine order for the Jewish on His rejection. Hence it becomes particularly important to see how far it assures us that, notwithstanding this new divine order, the old is still according to the mind of God to be accomplished in its time. We shall find that the yet future testimony of the servant of God in Israel is expressly linked up with the service of Christ's disciples in His lifetime, passing over, as the prophets are wont to do, the whole intervening church period unnoticed. This Evangelist, from the outset, introduces Christ as the accomplishment of prophecy and promise. The very genealogy itself, and Matt. 1:22, and 2:5, 15, suffice to point out this—the last showing that Israel's history is taken up afresh in Christ, the true Vine, according to the principle of Isa. 49:5.

In the sermon on the mount the remnant are morally distinguished; the qualities of those who should have part in the kingdom, are clearly and fully stated in contrast with the current self-righteousness of the Jews. Two great principles characterize this teaching of the Lord—the spiritual character of the law, and the revelation of the Father's name. It is to be remarked that persecution is supposed, and reward in heaven presented as the fruit of it. Thus we have the Lord's teaching in Israel clearly and fully brought before us. Obedience to His teaching was like a man building his house on the rock; while Israel was warned he was in the way with God, and if he did not come to agreement with Him, he would be cast into prison till all was paid. (Compare Isa. 40:2). It will be remarked, that all this is divine government, not divine salvation.

I pass by a multitude of indications of the same relationship of God with Israel, accompanied with warnings of the introduction of the new order of things, to draw my reader's attention to a chapter which brings the point which occupies us out into the fullest light. In chapter 10 Christ sends out the twelve. They were not to go in the way of the Gentiles, nor to enter into a city of the Samaritans; but to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and declare the kingdom of heaven at hand; to inquire who was worthy (i.e., seek the righteous remnant, not poor sinners), and repel with fullest condemnation, shaking off the dust of their feet, those who did not receive them. Though in Israel, they were “as sheep in the midst of wolves": it was an ungodly nation. They were to seek the worthy ones in it, speaking peace everywhere, but that peace resting only on the sons of peace. But in verse 18 this goes on to circumstances out of the Lord's lifetime. They were to be brought before Gentiles, and the Spirit of their Father to speak in them; not only so, but they would be hated of all men for Christ's name sake, and when persecuted in one city, go to another; for they would not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of man was come.

Now here we have a mission exclusively to Israel, carried on during the Lord's lifetime, carried on by the Spirit afterward, in which they were to endure to the end—a ministry which would not be closed nor completed, and still confined to the cities of Israel, till the Son of man came. How often do we see the prophets passing on from some notable circumstances in their day to “that day!” Here we find the Lord establishing a ministry exclusively to Israel, drawing out the remnant; carried on after Him by the Spirit, and carried on with the same objects still unfinished even when He comes as Son of man. They have only to do with Gentiles as enemies, along with the wicked and hostile nation of the Jews. Nothing can be plainer in all its parts. They were, according to Jewish hopes and prospects, to gather out a remnant and prepare a people for the kingdom which was at hand. Such is the direct teaching of the Lord.

I note, in passing, that, besides the history of the mysteries of the kingdom to its close, consequent on His rejection, the church itself (chap. 16) and the glory of the kingdom (chap. 17.) are announced in connection respectively with His titles of Son of the living God and Son of man. He and His disciples are (chap. 17:24-27) the children of the kingdom. The judgment of the nation, viewed in their own responsibility is clearly announced in divers parables under law and under the grace of Christ's mission at that time.

(To be continued)

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Notes on Matthew 21

 The importance of the Mount of Olives is that Jesus is being presented as the nation's King, and the people were very familiar with that mountain. God had given them Zech. 14:4— “His feet shall stand in that day on the Mount of Olives.” Here is the very One on the very mountain. They shall say in that day, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” We have also this prophecy in Zech. 9:9, “Rejoice greatly O daughter of Zion, shout O daughter of Jerusalem; behold thy King cometh unto thee; he is just and having salvation; lowly and riding upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.” So we have the blessed fulfillment of this. Let us dwell on it. The firstling of an ass was redeemed with a lamb, and this is connected with the firstborn of Israel in Ex. 13. Job says that man is born like a wild ass colt. “The Lord hath need of them.” How could we be redeemed if we were not lost? The Lord has need of us that He may have the glory of Redeemer. The firstling of every clean animal was the Lord's, but the ass was unclean—a picture of myself—and if it is to be saved from judgment it must be redeemed by the blood of a lamb, type of our blessed Savior, the Lamb of God. “For as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ also was once offered to bear the sins of many.” My position was death and judgment; Christ has died to deliver me from this, and that I might have His place in life and righteousness. It is a wonderful object lesson to us, thus humiliation is ours, but it brings the Lord before us. He is the righteous or just one, the Savior having salvation, the meek and lowly One. But His divine glory comes out in this scene here before us. He is the One who can control everything. “The Lord hath need of them,” and the owner obeys. And another thing it was an ass's colt that had never been broken in, but He had perfect control of it. I take it the evidence is, that the Lord rode on both the ass and the colt, perhaps part of the way on one, and part of the way on the other. I have no doubt there are moral lessons here for us. It says of Ishmael that “he should be a wild ass of a man” (Gen. 16:12 J.N.D.). That is what we are, nor could any man tame him. If Ishmael failed to give Him praise, poor Gentiles dead in trespasses and sins should be fitted by God to do it.

Heb. 2 affords us light on Psa. 8 “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor.” The Revised Version (following the Geneva Bible of 156o) renders Psa. 8:5 “a little lower than God,” although “Elohim” (or “God") is many times used for “gods,” or “mighty ones,” and evidently here and in Psa. 97:7, of angels, and is so rendered by the LXX., confirmed as this is by Heb. 2:7. Angels have no Redeemer. They have fallen, not like the human race in a federal head, but some of them and without a tempter. And God counts the tempter worse than the tempted. “He taketh not hold of angels.” We learn from this that they are on a higher scale than man, but He passed them by twice. He passed them coming down when He was made a little lower than the angels; and He passed them again going up. He is made higher than the heavens angels, authorities and powers being made subject unto Him. He has gone up above them, and taken us up too, in spirit, already.

This was about the time of the feast of the passover. Multitudes are very fickle and not to be trusted. “How can ye believe who receive honor one from another"? It hinders faith to receive flattery.

There is a recognition of Him as Savior, in “Hosanna” (ver. 15), which means “Save now.” 'Tis wonderful how often Psa. 118 is quoted. This was a little anticipation. Repentance will be wrought in the hearts of the Jewish nation by and by, as was with Joseph's brethren. But although they were saying this there was apparently little intelligence; then, He was only the prophet of Nazareth. God was arranging this presentation, not with a view to His acceptance, for He had accepted His rejection, but God is justifying Himself. Judgment must begin at the house of God, and in Ezek. 9 He says, “Begin at my sanctuary.” “And if it first begin at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel?” Peter's subject is the government of God, and “if the righteous with difficulty be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear.” The Lord Jesus is a perfect Savior. He died to save us; He lives to save us right through the wilderness, and He is coming to save us right out of it.

In John it is at the beginning of His ministry that He purges the temple. Here it is at the end and He speaks of it quoting the prophet, as “My house.” In John it is “My Father's house.”

The day is coming when Jerusalem will be the metropolis of the world, and the temple will be rebuilt, and all the nations will come up to keep the feast, but not that of Pentecost. This last has “fully come.” So we read nothing of this Feast of Weeks in millennial days. Turn to Zech. 14:16, 17. It will be righteousness and nothing will be passed over as now. Then in Malachi it says, “For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering. For my name shall be great among the heathen, says the Lord of hosts” (chap. 1:11).

The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. They were hated of David's soul. You do not get Joab appearing while David is in rejection, but when David comes to the throne he steps forward and is very prominent (see 2 Sam. 5).

Well, then, we see in the cleansing of the temple Jesus acting in perfect righteousness; here we get perfect grace, He is bringing salvation. God was ordering all as due to His beloved Son. In the tabernacle the beautiful combination of colors, and metal, all told of His glory; and you get it in a grander scale in Solomon's temple with all its carved work, but the millennial temple will not derive its glory from anything of that sort, it will have a greater glory—even the presence of the Lord Himself.

Vers. 17-46: Bethany was quite a place of retreat and rest for the Lord. That miracle has an exceptional character. Things are arranged dispensationally in Matthew, and not according to time. Had figs been produced on the tree they would still have been there, for the time of gathering had not come. Terrible things have been said about the word, and about the Lord, alas! through not understanding this. This is a curse, and has dispensational teaching in it. The fig tree is the well-known emblem of Israel.,

Luke 13:6-9 is so plain in the Lord's own teaching, “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard,” etc., showing the heart of the Lord toward Israel, and His pleading there is quite in keeping with His prayer on Calvary, “Father, forgive them.” The parable in Luke has special reference to the Lord's ministry. There was perfect patience on the part of the One to Whom they were responsible. A fig tree with nothing but leaves illustrates profession and nothing else. The Lord took the place of the nation. God brought a vine out of Egypt, and the Lord says, “I am the true Vine.” “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Plenty of things that men call faith should be called fancy, because unsupported by the word of God. Gentile believers are not called “the Israel of God,” At any time, in any dispensation, believers of Israel have been “the Israel of God.” Now, a believing Jew forms part of the church, wherein is neither Jew nor Gentile. “He is not a Jew which is one outwardly,” etc.

“This mountain” (ver. 2r) refers to their political condition as a nation. The Jews have been removed and cast into the sea of nations. God never will have His Son slighted. In the government of God, it always stands good that “to whom much is given of him shall much be required.” Better to have been a Sodomite than to be living when the Lord was here and reject Him!

Ver. 22: All scriptures of this kind bespeak the prayer of communion. You could not have anything like that stated unconditionally. We cannot take isolated portions but the whole word of God. “Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart.” Delighting in the Lord will form desires that are according to the mind of God. “He gave them their request but sent leanness into their souls,” so we need to be on our guard as to what we ask. Not every prayer of believers is prayer “in the Holy Ghost.” There can be no denial to us if it is. Even eloquence in prayer should be guarded against. A verse like this should make us think of Eph. 3:20, “Able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,” not “can” ask, because it is praying in the Holy Ghost and there is no limit to Him. In the morning “I will direct my prayer unto thee and will look up,” for the answer. You could think of a prayer like that of Epaphras for the saints at Colosse, and could ask it unconditionally. We can ask anything like that absolutely. But of many other things one can only say “If it be the Lord's will.” Then we trust His wisdom as well as power. Some seem to think power is the only thing. For instance, some say it is shameful for a Christian to suffer, seeing the Lord has the same power as when on earth! But we want to trust His love and wisdom. There is the pruning of the fruitful branches of the vine.

Ver. 23: This was inexcusable. He had given full demonstration as to who He was. One cannot bring oneself to believe they were ignorant of His being the Messiah, but they were looking for a great military leader. There was nothing in Christ to attract the natural man. The Lord, as has been rightly said, never answered a curious question curiously. He answered their heart and conscience; so here He answers their question by asking another. If men say the Bible is not true, this is a question for God, not for us to argue about.

Ver. 25: They were the slaves of the people, and yet led them in their superstition. There is no trace of faith, simply human policy and a thorough lack of uprightness. John did no miracle yet they all held him for a prophet. His ways spoke. There is a dignity about the Lord's words, “Neither tell I you.” He had given them plenty of proof and would give them no more. That should be sufficient guide for us. It was a sad condition that the Galatian saints got into when they had been ensnared. As far as we know, this Epistle to them was the only one Paul wrote with his own hand, for usually he employed others to write, and then he adds his signature (see 2 Thess. 3:17). I don't know about the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, as he refers to epistles written “as by him.” But to the Galatians he says, “See with what large characters I have written to you.” If his sight was very defective it would tax him much more to write. But then he says, “Henceforth let no man trouble me,” he would not go on any more. He had put the whole thing clearly, and in a permanent form, and he would not have his time any more taken up with these men. We ought earnestly to cry to the Lord to give us wisdom to fill up the day wisely for His glory, redeeming the time because the days are evil.

Vers. 28-32: “Two sons"; we get two sons in Luke 15 They are divided for us. The publicans farmed the taxes for the Romans and this opened the door for extortion. Even in our own, country where we may consider the taxes are better laid out than in any country in the world, the tax collector is not a greatly beloved man. So you can understand how they were disliked and thought impossible to be saved. It is wonderful how Israel was taught to be considerate and merciful even to dumb creatures, as witness the instruction about birds' nesting, and the return of a pledged garment. There are many things done in our day that are unnatural and which the Lord would not let his earthly people do.

Ver. 29: A clergyman meeting another remarked “The dissenters give me a lot of trouble.” His friend replied, “It is the assenters that trouble me.” I feel in preaching the gospel I am intensely desirous that souls should believe, but I do not want unduly to press them to say they believe. If a soul is quickened it is the work of the Holy Spirit, and often the Lord gives a successful servant to see how it is Himself and not the servant. A preacher was once trying to help a soul by pointing out passages in his Bible to her, which she diligently followed. At last, as he turned over the leaf she exclaimed, “That's it, I see it.” But he had inadvertently turned over two pages, and the passage the Lord used was not the one he had intended to point out to her.

“I go in” (ver. 30): Lip service. In this case it is the Lord's people to whom the oracles of God were committed; so the contrast could not be greater. God's grace goes out to the most undeserving and the most unlikely. Of course it is any, but “not many wise.” It is not necessary for a person to be outwardly vile, though we all have the same nature, to be met with by the Lord. What a contrast, in Acts 16, between Lydia and the jailer! From my own personal observation I think those who have had the bitterest experience of the evil of human nature have been those who have been very exemplary before conversion! It is the rejection of Christ that is its worst expression. There must be repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Both are absolutely necessary. It is a very common thing for people to say that repentance. is a change of mind, but it is more than that. It is taking God's side against myself. Godly sorrow worketh repentance not to be repented of. The sorrow of the world worketh death.

Psa. 80 speaks of a vine being brought out of Egypt, but I should think this is a direct reference to Isa. 5 Everything possible was done to the vineyard; the fault was alone in those to whom it was committed. The interpretation there is as plain as possible. It speaks of their being dealt with in special favor by God. They had the oracles of God and Jehovah's protection; the tower was built and the wine fat. But while the people were singled out for this trial, it was really the trial of man. Israel was singled out as a sample or pattern. They were tried in a variety of ways—shut up alone with God in the wilderness forty years, then brought into the land, and the book of Judges shows us their utter failure there,.

In Isa. 5 it is the vineyard of His “well-beloved,” here (vers. 33-41) of the “Son.” Instead of fruit the messengers had malice and ingratitude meted to them. What is given to us here in parable is given to us very plainly in both Old and New Testaments. Turn to 2 Kings 17:13, 14, and compare this with what Stephen says in Acts 7:51, 52. See also 2 Chron. 26:15, 16, and 1 Thess. 2., and again in this same Gospel, chap. 23:34, 35. He came to give and to bless; but He was hated without a cause. “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” Although there were all perfections in Christ, divine and human, yet there was nothing in Him to attract the natural eye. John was too severe, the Lord Jesus too gracious for them. The great point is “from that day forth they took counsel together to put him to death.” There we have historically what we have here in parable. But it is a blessed thing to be among those who favor His righteous cause.

This is similar to David, when Nathan came and told him “Thou art the man,” in that the Lord here makes people judge in their own case. God will be justified in His sayings, and will be clear when He judgeth. We know that whatever God does is in righteousness. If He saves, it is in righteousness; if He puts the sinner in hell, it is in righteousness. It is “their” worm shall not die, not the worm—it is the man's own conscience. God took care that man did not go out of Eden without a conscience. That was not in man as created, but there was the material to form it before Adam fell, and there must be the knowledge of good and evil to form conscience. Until he sinned Adam knew only good. The Lord Jesus is the One above all others to whom would apply “By the words of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer” (Psa. 17:4); and He is the only One Who ever made a perfect use of the Scriptures.

In ver. 42 the Lord is quoting Psa. 118 That stone had a wonderful place in scripture from Gen. 49 and throughout; everything man meted out to the Lord Jesus was reversed by God. If they slew Him, God raised Him from the dead; if they heaped ignominy upon Him, God highly exalted Him. Typically, after the knife had done its work, and the fire had done its work, the ashes had to be gathered and put in a clean place. You find the antitype of this in John 19:41. In the type, the fire exhausted the sacrifice; in the Anti-type the sacrifice exhausted the fire. So the ashes were laid up in a clean place. And where He is remembered must be a clean place. Disallowed indeed of men He is the Stone chosen of God and precious. He is spoken of as the “living stone” there (1 Peter 2:4). He is the head stone of the corner, He is the foundation; He is that which holds it altogether—the corner stone, and He is the glory of it too. This stone has a very prominent place in Isa. 28, which is prophetic of what is yet future. There we learn that the mass of the people will make a covenant with the head of the revived Roman empire—a covenant with death (ver. 15). Then in view of the consequent judgment coming, there is this provision, “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a Stone, etc.” The “overflowing scourge” is the king of Assyria. “Shall not make haste” is paraphrased “shall not be confounded” (1 Peter 2:6), and “shall not be ashamed” (Rom. 9:33).

Ver. 44: Further on we get examples of this. One we get in John 8. They were always seeking to crush the Lord. They thought they had Him on the horns of a dilemma what “Moses said,” but “what sayest thou?” He had not been sent to judge the world. It would have been all up with the world if He had been; so He would appear not as judge in the case before Him. But they little knew Whom they had to do with. He was the divine lawgiver, and He caused the light to shine on their conscience. They were “broken,” not He.

I remember an instance where a man was a thief and house-breaker. The case was taken to the Assizes and a skilful lawyer got the man off. On returning, another lawyer said to the one whose house had been entered, “I quite think you are in the right, this is the man, but what a triumph for our profession!” Not so with us, for our Advocate is “Jesus Christ the righteous.” If we as Christians take our affairs into our own hands He will stand aside and let us do them; but if we commit things to His hands, God will see to it for us. In Num. 12, when Aaron and Miriam spake against Moses, Moses' meekness came out, and the Lord took the matter up. Some of the sweetest examples of this we see in Mary of Bethany. She was the Savior's guest, but the Lord Jesus was Martha's guest. Martha condemned her sister (and even the Lord Himself! “Carest Thou not?"), yet Mary said nothing, but Jesus speaks for, and commends, Mary. Then again, when Mary took that costly ointment for His burial, and the disciples led by Judas condemned her, the Lord says, “Let her alone.”

The Lord's power is irresistible, He will grind them to powder. When the Stone of Dan. 2 falls it makes nothing of the image.

Another Comforter

In John 14:3 we have the Lord's coming again in bodily presence to take His own to be with Himself; but in verse 18 we have His spiritual coming to us now. Prior and preparatory to the latter announcement, He tells of the coming of the Holy Spirit (ver. 16).

The Lord was going away from His disciples and they were therefore very sorrowful, but He tells them here that His very going would be a gain to them—during His absence He would be with them more constantly than in the days of His flesh (see 16:7). The sisters of Bethany, when Lazarus was sick, mourned that Jesus was not there; but we never have to mourn that He is not with us in our time of trouble, for He is always at hand. Now His bodily presence was to be removed from them, but in compensation He promises to send the Holy Spirit: “I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter.” These are His words to them; thus He becomes the harbinger of the Holy Ghost. John the Baptist had foretold the immediate coming of the Lord Jesus; He Himself foretells the coming of the Holy Spirit.

The Greek word here used, which may be literally translated Paraclete, means even more than Comforter. We need comfort assuredly during our journey through this world, but we need other services too; all we need, the Paraclete can and will supply.

During those three years the disciples had been with the Lord, they had learned to turn to Him and depend on Him for everything, to come to Him in every distress. Now He was going away, and they felt desolate, but He promised to send them another Comforter, who should be to them all that He had been, and who would abide with them, not for three years only, but “forever” the Spirit of truth. The world would not receive Him, because “it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him,” but we know Him, for the Lord said, “He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”

After the Lord's resurrection He appeared to His own, to Mary at the sepulcher, to the disciples in the upper room, to the two going to Emmaus, to the disciples at Olivet; but the world knew nothing about these manifestations: so now with the Holy Spirit. “He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” He is here to reveal Christ to us. The Lord Himself will come to us in our need “I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you” —but it is only by the agency of the Holy Spirit that we realize His presence. We cannot tell how the Lord comes to us; we cannot explain His coming to others, but we know He does come, for we have experienced it, and it is the Holy Spirit who reveals His presence to us.

The enjoyment of these great privileges, however, is contingent upon our faithfulness and obedience. Hence we read, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.”

We know what His commandments are. “Do this in remembrance of me” is one of them. You will say this is a privilege—that it is a request which the Lord makes of us. So it is; but it is a command too, for it is the Lord who speaks—the One who has a right to command. To those who love Him and keep His commands, He promises to reveal Himself in a very special way— “I will manifest myself to him”

Judas asks how the Lord would manifest Himself to them and not to the world and then the Lord goes further, saying “If a man love me, he will keep my word"; not His commands only are in question this time, but the whole tenor of His life. He refers to one who not merely wishes to keep His actual commands, but to please Him in everything (compare Phil. 2:3, “Let this mind be in you"). The Lord says of such a one— “My Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with Him.” Thus one loving and obedient heart becomes the abode of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; the shrine of the Holy Trinity is in the heart of one that loves the Lord. But we read, “He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings.”

The Holy Spirit would also work upon the memories of the disciples and revive thoughts and words of the Master (ver. 26). He also works with ourselves. Everyone who has been for any time in Christian fellowship and Christian surroundings has usually within his heart a great store of the words of Scripture and of holy associations. The Holy Spirit will often bring to our remembrance what He has said to us, in the assembly or by the Lord's servants, so that it gives us just the help we require in our time of need. The Lord said, “He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

W. J. H.

Prayer: Its Necessity and Power, Part 2

4. Prayer confers the largest power of doing good to others. “What am I to do with other people's sorrows?” The finest and the gentlest spirits are often the most heavily burdened. Many a one feels that he could pass right easily through the world if he had no griefs to carry but his own. He feels that his sensitive system is just a contrivance for catching up other men's calamities—an apparatus on which everybody fastens his own peculiar vexation—his family theirs—his neighbors theirs—till at last he moves about, the burden-bearer of a groaning world. But after he has got himself thus charged and loaded, he knows not what to do, for he cannot alleviate the twentieth portion of the ills he knows. He cannot heal all the wounds and mitigate all the poverty of which he is the mourning witness. He cannot minister to all the minds diseased, all the aching hearts and wounded spirits whose confidant he is; and in the anguish of his own tortured sympathies, he is sometimes tempted to turn these sympathies outside in, and feel for his fellow-men no more.

“What then shall I do with other people's sorrows?” The Christian feels that he has no right to be his own little all-in-all. He feels that he dares not invert the example of his Master, who was a man of sorrows very much because a man of sympathies. He remembers of whom it is said, “Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows"; and this reminds him what to do with the perplexities and disappointments and distresses of his brethren. He takes them to the throne of grace. He deposits them in the ear of the Great High Priest. He urges them on the notice of One who can be touched with a feeling of infirmity, and Who is able to succor them that are tempted.

And in this way a believer who is tender-hearted enough to feel for his brethren, and who is so much a man of prayer as to carry to the mercy-seat those matters that are too hard and those griefs that are too heavy for himself, may be a greater benefactor to his afflicted friends than an Ahithophel who has nothing but sage counsel, or a Joab who has nothing but a stout arm to help them—than a man of fortune who can give nothing but his money, or a man of feeling who has nothing but his tears.

The Christian has his near relations and personal friends. Parents and children, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives—God has bound them very closely together, and made it impossible for the joy of one to be full if another's joy is incomplete. Besides these there are friends not of one's house-kindred spirits whom God in creating, or the Spirit of God in new-creating, has made congenial with your own-those to whom you are drawn by the affinity of identical tastes, or by the discovery of those mental gifts and spiritual graces which cannot be hid, and which cannot be seen without attracting you.

Now one way to sanctify such friendships is to make them the materials and the incentives of prayer. For example, there may be seasons of spiritual languor when you have little heart to pray. The throne of grace seems distant or uninviting. A deep sloth has seized the inner man. You are not inclined to ask any blessing for yourself— You are too carnal to confess any sin, and too sullen to acknowledge any mercy—perhaps so earthly or atheistical that you do not pant-nay, do not breathe after God, the living God..

At such a season of deadness you will sometimes find that you can pray for others when you cannot for yourself. Do even so. Make your solicitude for them a motive for prayer. Begin by laying their wants before the Lord, and you will find out your own. Come in their company, and you may soon find yourself left alone with God. This is not to desecrate prayer, but to consecrate friendship. It exalts and purifies affection, and by making it friendship in the Lord, makes it more lasting now, and more likely to be renewed hereafter.

And lastly, intercession sanctifies the believer's relation to the church. “Our Father” makes all of us who are in Christ one family. But this, too, is oft forgotten. There is little family love amongst us yet—little instinctive affection resulting from our common adoption into the circle of God's dear children—little of that affection towards one another which the Man Christ Jesus feels towards every one—little outgoing sympathy because one Comforter fills us all. If the family relation of the household of faith be ever realized, it is in social or intercessory prayer. “Abba, Father” —my Father truly, because Father of my Lord Jesus Christ; but if so, Father of many more—Father of the whole believing family— “Our Father, which art in heaven.” And so the circle widens, till, starting from the individual, or his own little band of immediate brotherhood, it includes all whom the arms of Immanuel enclose.

One who was much given to intercessory prayer writes thus to a Christian friend: “I beseech you to seek earnestly the communion of saints. This is the only progress I have made in the divine life. I have received as a most precious and unmerited gift, the power of feeling the things of the flock of Christ as if they were my own. You cannot imagine the happiness of this feeling. I dedicate an hour every evening to prayer, and principally to intercession. I generally begin with the thanks due to God for having made Himself known to us as our Father, for all that He has done for every one of His own on that day.

“It is impossible for me to tell you the great delight of thus mixing myself up with the people of Christ, and of considering their benefits as my own. The thought which transports me the most, is that of how many souls have been, perhaps this day, added to the church! How many succored under temptation I how many recovered from their backslidings! how many filled with consolation how many transported by death into the bosom of Christ! I then try to pray for that sweet ‘we,' and to think of the necessities of my Christian friends. Besides, I have a list of unconverted persons, for whom I wish to pray.”

And, if there were more of this spirit, how it would alter the tone of Christians to one another! Instead of being so censorious and uncharitable, it would make us feel, “Am I not my brother's keeper?” Instead of a fault-finding, it would make us a fault-forgiving and a fault-healing community. It would make us suffer with the suffering members, and exult with the rejoicing. It would make us like that high-souled apostle who had “continual heaviness” for his unconverted kindred, and who yet never wanted topics of consolation; remembering without ceasing in his prayers his believing brethren, with their work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope.

(Concluded)

J.H.

The Rapture of the Saints and the Character of the Jewish Remnant: 6

But in chapter 23 we come again to positive instructions on this point. The multitude and the disciples are both put on distinct Jewish ground, subjected to Moses's seat; yet they who filled it—all the teachers and the righteous of the nation—put under lawful condemnation. Further, the apostolic mission (vers. 34-36) is presented as “prophets, and wise men, and scribes,” sent to the nation (as the prophets rejected of old had been), their rejection bringing present temporal judgment on that generation. Often would Jesus-Jehovah have gathered Jerusalem's children together-that Jerusalem who thus, in all times, stoned the prophets, and killed those sent to her; but she never would listen. Now her house was left desolate to her; she would not see her Lord till she repented. When, through grace, she was in the spirit of that which God had perfected praise by, in putting it into the mouth of babes and sucklings when Christ was rejected by the nation-namely, the confession of Psa. 118—then, and not before, she would see Christ again. In a word, there must be a prepared people, a people prepared to receive Him, saying, “Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” before the Lord would appear to them. Nothing, I apprehend, can be clearer than this, as to the position in which the Lord sets the multitude and the disciples; the character He gives to the witness of these last in Israel, after His decease, and the desolation of Jerusalem and the house, till repentance and a prepared heart had made them ready to receive the Lord, ready for the home here on earth, now to be desolate no more.

The Lord then proceeds to announce the judgment of Jerusalem, and the circumstances of His disciples in connection with the end of the age. The disciples inquire when should the temple be destroyed, what the sign of Christ's coming, and of the end of the age. That the questions here relate to the Jewish people is perfectly evident: the end of the age (it is well known that “world” is a mistake) has no sense or application out of the sphere of Jewish thought. That it referred to this, in the mind of the disciples, is most clear; that the other question, when the temple should be destroyed, had this reference, it is not needed to say. Does the Lord's answer continue on this ground? His answer is divided into two parts; a general warning to the end of verse 14, and particular circumstances from verse 15.

As to the first part, to whom do persons come, saying, I am the Christ? Not to Christians as such, I suppose. It was an expectation that Christ might appear, into which the disciples, with Jewish expectations, might be seduced. The scene, sphere, and character, of deception are Jewish. Many troubles and wars would arise; but the end of which they inquired was not yet. Before that arrived, the gospel of the kingdom, which Jesus, and even John the Baptist, had announced, would be sent to all the Gentiles, and then the end would come. Why even this difference, if the previous part were not Jewish in its sphere?

The latter part, from verse 16, demonstrates, as clearly as any language can do, that the Lord was referring to what was Jewish. The abomination of desolation of which Daniel spoke in a prophecy specially referring to his (Daniel's) people, is the point of departure: it would stand in the holy place. Those who were in Judea were to flee to the mountains; they were to pray that their flight should not be on the sabbath day. What language can be plainer, to show the place, the people, the circumstances, which occupy the Savior's thoughts? the rather because we get the saints, and the nations, and their judgments, in chapter 25.

That is (to resume the evidence this Gospel affords us), it takes up the ministry in Christ's time (chap. 10.), and pursues it to the close—the coming of the Son of man—in an exclusively Jewish character. The Lord takes up the disciples and the multitude (chap. 23.) on definitely Jewish ground, subjecting them to Moses' chair, while rejecting those that sat there; and declares, at the close, that repentance must characterize the remnant before they would see Him again: and then, showing the judgment on the house, shows the nation guilty—iniquity abounding—the testimony of the remnant in the midst of this iniquity—the true witness of the kingdom—and extending before the end to all nations: and, finally, He returns to the last great tribulation and occupies Himself with the godly remnant in Judaea and Jerusalem, previous to His own appearing; warning them that new pretenses would arise of His being there, a suggestion having no application whatever to Christians, properly so called, because they are to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. A person must have renounced Christian hopes before such a pretense could be a snare to him. To an earthly remnant the presence of Christ upon earth is the sum of all their rightful hopes.

As regards the subsequent continuation of this testimony in the midst of Jerusalem, the Lord on the cross (Luke 23:34) intercedes for them, saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” To this the Holy Ghost, in witness, responds, saying by the mouth of Peter (Acts 3:17) “Now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did your rulers. Repent ye, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that [not “when"] the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus, whom heaven must receive till the times of the restitution of all things, of which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” Now, this gracious continuation of the testimony to Israel, as such (see vers. 25, 26—the remnant is distinguished by the reception of the testimony, ver. 23), shows that repentance was called for in order to Christ's return. Those would be cut off who did not receive this prophetic testimony. Stephen bears witness to their always resisting the Holy Ghost; and to Saul, the most active resister of the Spirit amongst them, the willing help of the slayers of the witness, the full doctrine of the church is revealed. The persecuted witnesses are owned to be members of Christ Himself; yet, though the church be set up (and we have it in fact, Acts 2, before Peter's testimony), and Paul be made a minister of it, he preaches first to the Jews only; when they count themselves unworthy of eternal life, he turns to the Gentiles, and pronounces, as witness of this church ministry, as the Lord in His living one, that the judgment pronounced by Isaiah must soon fall upon them; but it is only in Acts 28 that this is finally said-the last scriptural witness that we have historically.

The general doctrine of a remnant in Israel is clearly stated in the Epistle to the Romans; an elect remnant spared, who, not continuing in unbelief, will be grafted in again, and that into their own olive tree; not into the Christian assembly, which was not their own olive tree—they had never been broken out of that, nor had the believing branches continued in it. There is an elect remnant of Israel which shall be brought to believe, and be grafted into their own olive tree, and become the nation—the “all Israel.” There are many passages in the prophets, as Joel 2, Zech. 9, to which it may suffice thus to refer.

We will now proceed to take up the other capital point of which we desired to speak—that in which God shows the sovereign fullness of His grace. The historical development of the doctrine we have hinted at, and we will briefly state it here. We have the largest and fullest warrant for saying, that it was entirely unrevealed in the Old Testament. Speaking of the mystery, the admission of the Gentiles to be of the one body in the assembly of God, Paul says (Rom. 16:25, 26), “The preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest and by prophetic scriptures [not “the scriptures of the prophets"], according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith,” etc. In Eph. 4; 5, “The mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and of the same body"; and (ver. 9), “the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world was hid in God: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus.” So (Col. 1:24), “For his body's sake, the church, whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God; the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints.” This doctrine, of which Paul, as he states in the Colossians, was a minister, as well as of the gospel, in order to complete the word of God, was thus wholly unknown to the saints of the Old Testament. Much more was utterly obscure; but this was hid in God. Other things they might have were for an age to come, not for themselves, as the promise of the Spirit and the Messiah's glory and redemption; but this they knew not at all. When the Father had revealed to Simon Bar-jonas the truth of the person of Christ, that He was the Son of the living God (not merely the Christ), Christ could then speak of the church; for it was to be founded on that. But He spoke of it only prophetically, and as a future thing— “on this rock I will build my church.” It was by resurrection He was declared Son of God with power; so that Satan's power was of no avail; and His death was needed to gather together in one the children of God, wherever scattered abroad-His departure, that the Comforter might come.

Except the corn of wheat fell into the ground and died, it abode alone. When Christ had died—had gone up on high—the great foundation was laid for all blessings, and in particular for the church. And the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, came down according to promise; and the assembly, the church, was formed; and the Lord added daily to the Church such as should be saved (the residue, the σωζομένους). That was the way He now disposed of them, though His promises to Israel remained sure. The doctrine of the church, however, was not taught as far as scripture informs us. The Christians remained strictly attached to Judaism, zealous of the law; priests were obedient to the faith, nor seem to have ceased to be priests. Peter never even teaches that Jesus is the Son of God; his doctrine is, “Him whom ye have crucified, God hath exalted to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins:” God had made Him both Lord and Christ.

What will, perhaps, surprise the reader, the church is never named in the Epistles but by Paul. A particular assembly is named by John; but the assembly or church, as a whole, the body of Christ, is spoken of by Paul only; nor, consequently, I may add, the rapture of the saints before the appearing of Christ. God raises up, we learn in the Acts, a free ministry outside the college of the apostles. This brought out the fullest hatred of the Jews; and Stephen, an eminent instrument of God in this ministry, is put to death. Heaven receives its first-fruits of the power of the Holy Ghost, of the church; heaven itself is opened, and a heavenly Christ is seen—a man in glory is seen. Conformed to Christ, the spirit of Stephen joins Him on high, and the final tale of Judaism was told in blood: they always resisted the Holy Ghost. God did not dwell in a house made by hands. This changed everything; a heavenly gathering before Christ's return was actually begun.

This, however, was individual; but the enmity of the Jew was to assume a yet more active and violent character. Not content with making havoc of the church at Jerusalem, Saul must persecute them to strange cities; but while occupied with this, and close to Damascus for the purpose, he is arrested by the Lord's revealing Himself in glory to him, and telling him that those he was persecuting were Himself— “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest; why persecutest thou me?” Here, then, sovereign grace abounded over final resistance to the Holy Ghost Himself. The foundation for the gospel of the glory was laid, and the identification of all the saints on earth with their glorified Head in heaven was made the starting-point for Paul's testimony as to what His church was. Of this he became minister. For a heavenly, glorious Christ, Jew or Gentile were all one; they were all one in Him.

The reception of Cornelius was entrusted to Peter, that the new truth might not be a separate one; but unity, as manifested on the earth, continues, with a new element of truth introduced. The unity of Jew or Gentile, as one body in Christ, was entrusted as a testimony to Paul. He was minister of the church to complete the word of God. He who alone verbally speaks of the church, what does he teach? “God hath put all things under his feet [Christ's, exalted on high], and gave him to be head over all things to the church [assembly], which is his body, the fullness of him who filleth all in all.” Such, then, is the church. It is an assembly which, when Christ is exalted on high and fills all things, is His body, the fullness or completion of the Head.

So in Col. 1 “He is the Head of the body, the church, the firstborn from the dead.” So in detail (Rom. 12), “We being many are one body in Christ, and members one of another.” So 1 Corinthians 12. “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.... Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.”

Another character as to the formal existence of the church on earth is, that we, Jew and Gentile (Eph. 2), are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. The manner of its building is the breaking down the middle wall of partition, and to make of twain one new man; or, as is expressed in a passage already quoted, the mystery is, that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and of one body. The baptism of the Holy Ghost, by which it was formed, took place on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:8), which it was the distinctive title of Christ to confer (John 1:33, 34), and which for the saints He ascended up on high to receive. (Acts 2:33; compare John 16:7).

In a word, the church, or assembly, is the body of Christ, formed, when the Head was exalted, by the Holy Ghost, which He then sent down to gather together the saints into unity. Before Israel's being owned as a nation, the saints walked in individual faith; when Israel was owned, they were individual members of a nation owned as such as God's people, but of which the vast mass were unconverted, the unity of which, such as it was, was in the flesh—a unity with which the Spirit had nothing to do, and which, consequently excluded Gentiles. After the death and exaltation of Christ, who gave Himself, not for that nation only, but to gather together in one the children of God which were scattered abroad, all was changed in this respect; the distinction of Jew and Gentiles effaced; both alike (through faith) reconciled to God, and gathered into the unity of one assembly by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which assembly is the church, i.e., the assembly of God, the body of Christ, the dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost on earth. We are not inquiring here how far it could be corrupted or ruined, viewed as the house of God, or dwelling-place of the Holy Ghost on earth; but what it is in the primitive scripture view of it. Nothing is that but itself.

This assembly is, as may be seen (Eph. 5), the bride of Christ. The word is applied to the particular assemblies of Christians in different places, because they formed the assembly of God in that place; but if the word be taken as scripture uses it, it is not possible to attach any equivocal sense to it. It is God's assembly, formed by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, when the Head had been exalted as man on high. It is His body and His bride. Translate the Greek word by the natural English one, and no one would have a moment's hesitation as to what it meant—the assembly, or the assembly of God. The Lord added daily to the assembly. He set some in the assembly; first, apostles; secondly, prophets.

It is called to participate in the sufferings of Christ, and He will present it to Himself as His bride, as Eve to Adam, a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. When the Lord added to the assembly such as should be saved, it is quite clear that it was not to that to which they belonged already; and their adding to it, an act which showed they did not belong to it as members of the Jewish nation, not even if they were previously pious. It was a newly instituted body, formed in unity by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and united to the Head, Christ, who was there.

We have now to inquire what the testimony of God is as to joining Him there. The church's joining Christ has nothing to do with Christ's appearing or coming to earth. Her place is elsewhere. She sits in Him already in heavenly places. She has to be brought there as to bodily presence. Christ would not remain with His disciples here, and tells them, “I go to prepare a place for you and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am there ye may be also.” The thing she has to expect for herself, then, is not, though sure of that also, Christ's appearing, but her being taken up where He is. And so the apostle, speaking of it in detail, “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

We go up to meet Christ in the air. Nothing clearer then, than that we are to go up to meet Him, and not await His coming to earth; but that this coming to receive us to Himself is not His appearing is still clearer, if we pay attention to Col. 3, which shows that we are already with Him when He shall appear. “When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” This identification of the church's hope and glory with Christ Himself is of the essence of the church's blessing. He is our life, our righteousness; the glory given to Him He has given to us: we are members of His body, we are of His flesh and of His bones. We reign with Him, suffer with Him, are glorified together, being like Him-conformed to His image. He is hid in God: our life is hid with Him in glory; but for this we must be caught up to meet Him, and that before He appears at all—when He does, we are already with Him and appear with Him. This does not state the epoch of the rapture of the church, but, what is far more important, it does clearly show the entire difference of relationship of the heavenly saints with Christ, and of those who only see Him when He appears. The one are blessed under His reign, and are connected with the earth; the others are identified with Himself—with Him who reigns—appear and reign with Him. Wherever this is enfeebled, Satan is at work.

There are truths common to all, such as being manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ. There are those which are the prerogative of faith; and such is our association with Christ, the Firstborn among many brethren, the being His bride and His body. He who awaits Christ's appearing, as the time in which he is to go to be with Him, has denied the proper hope and proper relationship of the church with Christ. On this point there can be no compromise. Ignorance of privilege is one thing (it is our lot, all of us, in one shape or other), the denial of it another. When once we have seen that we are to appear with Christ, and that, consequently, our hope of Christ's coming for us is not properly His appearing, all our habits of thought and our spiritual affections are changed. Our proper hope is not even the glory in which we appear with Him, wonderful as that is, but this, “I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also.” “So shall we ever be with the Lord.”

(continued)

(To be continued)

The Attitude of the Man of God in the Last Days

“Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel: whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

“Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.”

This Second Epistle to Timothy is of special interest and concern to us as witnesses for the Lord Jesus Christ in a difficult crisis.

The apostle was writing to his young friend and convert to the faith, Timothy, a man probably of a retiring and somewhat timorous disposition, and his epistle is full of the mingled affection and wisdom that were peculiar to Paul in his service as an apostle. He writes to cheer and to encourage Timothy, fearing that his courage might fail because of the dangerous times that had arisen., The days were indeed difficult for Paul and also for Timothy, and in the face of these difficulties, the inquiry naturally was, What is to be done? And the apostle writes not with the object so much of communicating a fresh revelation of truth, but to give counsel to Timothy out of the full love of his heart; and more than that, out of the rich enjoyment of the grace of God in his own heart, and for the real encouragement of his young friend towards God. And so the Epistle makes a special appeal to us in that direct and practical way which such communications always will do. The naked formal truth may convince our minds, but it does not always carry our hearts with it, and in the things of God we want not only to be clear in our minds, but to be devoted in our hearts.

SUCCESS AND FAILURE

The apostle himself evidently felt deeply the trying difficulties of that time, and I think if we consider his position for a moment, we shall not wonder at his concern. A prisoner of the gospel as he then was at Rome, he looked back over about thirty years, and he could see the great spiritual transformation which had been brought on the face of the whole world in that short time. At the beginning of that period the gospel of God's grace through our Lord Jesus Christ was first declared to men in the power of the Holy Ghost, and what an immediate victory it everywhere wrought! It spread from city to city and from province to province, and across the seas, until it seemed as if the whole world would be subjugated to Christ.

Gentiles gave up their idols, Jews gave up the law of Moses; and they both met together in lowliness and meekness at the table of the Lord, and they felt within them the active power of the Holy Ghost. The selfish became beneficent towards others, and the fleshly lusts of human nature were overcome in the lives of men by the spirit of holiness.

In this great missionary enterprise Paul had played a personal part in every direction, hence all this and more was before the great heart of the imprisoned apostle of the Gentiles whose burning desire was to preach the gospel in every place. And in Rome in his confinement he looked around, and instead of seeing that the victory of the gospel was still spreading, he saw failure and defection. Men were giving up the things of Christ and turning away from His servant, and from every direction and from every place news reached him of the apostasy of the heart and spirit of men in the churches. Again, the time was when he longed above all things to preach the gospel in Rome as well as in other places, but here in the metropolis his hands were fettered. And while other tongues were telling the good news, he had to be silent.

NOT ASHAMED

With all these things pressing on his own heart, Paul had to write and encourage Timothy whose faith seemed failing him because of the general declension. Yet in view of all the disappointment and suffering that had come upon him, the beloved apostle wrote these words which still ring out so confidently, and carry such a note of encouragement to us amid trials of a similar nature— “Nevertheless I am not ashamed.” Weighing up all his sufferings as an apostle, and looking back on his career of service to Christ, he did not consider that his words and works had been spent in vain. He was not ashamed in the day of apparent failure; and why not? because he was following and serving One Whom he knew well and had fully proved. It would be good for us to take to our own hearts these words that Paul wrote to Timothy.

We find that the apostle definitely alludes in the twelfth verse to his suffering and to the shame and reproach that had come upon him and his labors as a servant of Christ. And I want you to think of his words of bold assurance in this connection. The fact that his work had to all outward appearances failed might seem to give ground for the suggestion of possible personal reproach. Was not the blame for the apparent failure resting upon his own shoulders?

Paul had given up a great many things for Christ. He had many advantages according to the flesh that people in the world boast about “circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin” and so on—but he had given them all up for Christ, and he still counted the sacrifice but loss for the knowledge of Christ, as he told the Philippian believers.

But when his work seemed a failure, when the outward expression of the church seemed to be broken and ruined in men's eyes, did not such a result cast reproach upon him as a laborer? Did it not seem that he was the one to be ashamed of what had happened? But if he ever thought that within himself, as being a man of like passions with ourselves he well might, he was fully sustained in the depressing sorrow of disappointment that would come upon a heart of broad and deep sympathy like his, a heart that was wide enough to take in the whole world.

Forlorn and forsaken Paul turned for support to the Lord whom he knew. There was One who had Himself learned what in its bitterest sense shame was here in this world. We know that the word “shame” may be understood in more than one sense. Shame began in the garden of Eden, when our forefathers forfeited their position by disobeying their God. How could they lift up their eyes and meet their Creator as He walked in the garden in the cool of the day? They were ashamed because they had sinned; they blushed because of their disobedience; they were like the man in the temple who would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”

THE SHAME CHRIST SUFFERED.

Such was the attitude of the man who had sinned, but the shame that was brought out in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ was of a different nature. Reproach took a character that it had never had before to the same degree. Take the lives of the Old Testament saints, such as Job, Elijah, Isaiah, they all had their failures and their hours of shame in the eyes of others; but why was this? It was because they all failed. They had turned into the pathway of evil, and because of their backsliding, outward judgment came upon them. But when you take the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, you see there a perfect path of devotion to God. There we have the Witness who never failed in doing the will of Him that sent Him. There is the One who would allow nothing to stand in the way of perfect devotion to His Father.

But what to all outward appearances was the result of His fidelity and devotedness? Not success, but failure, not honor but shame. It was the Spirit of Christ who said through the Psalmist, “For thy sake I have borne reproach,” “Shame hath covered my face.” It was the suffering Messiah who was brought down into the dust of death. It was He who cried, “O my God, I trust in thee; let me not be ashamed, let none of mine enemies triumph over me"; but there was no answer of deliverance.

We know how the priests on Mount Carmel cried in vain to their god, Baal. They cried and cried, but there was none to hear. On the cross the devoted Servant of God cried, as the twenty-second Psalm foresaw, “Why art thou so far from helping me? Our fathers cried unto thee and were delivered, they trusted in thee and were not ashamed.” The elders of the Jews taunted the crucified Lord, saying, “He trusted in God that he would deliver him; let him deliver him now if he will have him, for he said, I am the Son of God.” But was He delivered? No, contrary to the experience of the pious and just in Israel, Christ was left in the place of ignominy and curse, till reproach broke His heart. According to the prophecy of Isaiah, Messiah said, “The Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set my face as a flint, and I know I shall not be ashamed.” Nevertheless, He was brought down into the dust of death for the glory of God, where He was as ever true to His God.

In this pathway of suffering shame for the divine Name, Christ has left us an example that we should follow His steps. And so in this world, those who are on the side of truth and righteousness, those who are Christ's must expect to suffer shame for His name as Paul did.

BOLDNESS IN GOD

It must have seemed to many in those dark days at Rome as if they were trusting in a poor cause, as if God had forsaken His church, and they were left alone in a time of great peril with none to deliver, none to save, none to rescue. Beloved friends, I ask you whether you have not had similar feelings as you have seriously considered the difficult things about you to-day, not merely the obstacles in your personal pathway, but in those things that grievously affect the peace and concord of companies of Christians. When we look back over a period of thirty years or forty, as Paul did, what a saddening change we see. Some may say, Is it because God has hidden His face from us? Has He left us alone? Is He ashamed to call us brethren?

The apostle, however, does not give way to dejection, but goes on to say, “For this cause I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed.” What happened to Paul happened in a fuller degree to his Master; and should the servant expect to escape that which came upon his Master? If He cried and was not delivered, shall it not be perhaps that we in our extremity in church matters may cry for deliverance, and no deliverance will come? If it be our experience that no remedy is forthcoming, can each of us still say, “I am not ashamed; I am going on; I am continuing in the pathway"? Why? Not because of my own powers of endurance, of my own clearness of view, but for the same reason as the apostle Paul went forward in such assurance. Because said he, “I know whom I have believed.”

He thus threw the burden upon his Master. Paul had caught the spirit of the Servant of Jehovah as it is expressed in Isaiah, “I know that I shall not be ashamed.” In the apostle's stout confession is, I am bold to say, the secret of the whole business. His was the spirit of confidence and courage. It is not for me to explain what this short sentence fully means, but I may say that it is for us to prove it for ourselves.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

To know in whom we have believed is the prime characteristic of the children of God. We find in the writings of John that the whole divine family know the Father. It is the function of the eternal life given to the believer to know the Father and the Son. What does this knowledge imply? Think of it in connection with everyday life. To know a person how much it means. Day adds to day; knowledge adds to our knowledge; we progress, we know more, we know better. But what long and intimate intercourse there must be before we can pretend to know the nearest and dearest in earthly relationship to us. Much more do all of us need to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; for it is the great key to soundness and security and stability in the Christian life to know in whom we believe.

It is summit of the attainment of the fathers in Christ to know Him that is from the beginning. We have many of us been in the way with Christ some time; years of journeyings have passed, and do we not now know something about Him? Assuredly so. Let it, however, be still the aim of our lives to follow on to know the Lord, to be so habitually face to face with Him that in the intimacy of communion we get to know Him sufficiently and to rely upon Him for all things.

I think perhaps we pray more with regard to our own private family matters than we do about the matters of the church. That it should be so is a result of our weakness. Our private affairs come before us so freely and readily, and they come to us so that we cannot seem to escape them, but in the things of the church of Christ, we often seek somehow, either consciously or unconsciously to evade our responsibility, and yet, must not the cares of the church be ever before Christ? and if we know Him and the secret of His presence, can it be that He will never say anything to us about the vicissitudes of His church? No. He that lives for His members and who gave Himself for the church He thinks not merely of the units, but of the unity of the church. Ought not we therefore to mourn over disunion, since we are heirs with Him in all the things of His glory? It must be so if we know Him in the communion of the Spirit of God.

If we do not know Him in the sense that Paul wrote here, we shall most surely give way to unseemly doubts. The disciples on the lake were struggling to overcome the threatening waves, and their Lord was with them in the boat, but asleep. They, however, did not know Him, for they came to Him and said, “Carest thou not that we perish?” What an insult! He who was about to give up His life for them, not to care that they were perishing! He cared for every hair of their head, but they did not know Him, and they had yet to learn the wonders of His love. And so they said what afterward must have been a shame to them to have said: “Carest thou not that we perish?”

(To be continued)

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Notes on Matthew 22

But let us go on to this next chapter (22.). It is exceedingly lovely. It is not return for money here. There is no thought of profit in a marriage feast. Man was under probation from the time he was created up to the cross. But all was over then. Morally, the cross is the end of man. What we have been looking at shows that man is incorrigible. The crowning sin was, that when the Son was sent, He was murdered, But this parable shows that God is determined to put honor on His Son; and He will have His Son honored. And another thing we may notice. In Matthew's Gospel throughout, things are presented dispensationally. So here it is, “A certain king,” whilst in Luke 14 which corresponds somewhat to what we have here, it is not the king and the execution of his wrath, it is simply, “A certain man” made a great supper.

Ver. 4. “All things are ready.” This is on the ground of the finished work of Christ. So it is beautiful to see the time comes when the servants are sent with that message. The previous verse says that those who had been invited would not come, as in John 5:40. But the sending forth of “other servants” in this fourth verse assumes the death of Christ. “I have prepared my dinner.” Not only is God's glory secured in the death of Christ, but the deepest needs of the human soul are met. Righteousness for the ungodly—that is the wedding garment. His grace goes out to the most unlikely and to the most unworthy.

The Lord said about Samaria that the fields were “white already to harvest"; and we see in Acts 8 Philip reaping therein. The Lord had sown largely there. This remains true while the day of grace runs on. In Luke it says, “all things are now ready.” It is not what a man gives, or gives up, but what he receives that makes him a Christian. We are blessed by being recipients of God's grace. The Lord is showing us the danger of making so much of time and sense that the things of eternity are crowded out. The world cannot understand that the Lord Jesus, “the man of sorrows” pre-eminently, was yet the happiest man that ever lived. So Paul could write, “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” In one that is going on really with the Lord, while there will be deep joy, yet there will be a chastened spirit. But Paul was a good calculator. “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Ver. 6. The multitude did take the servants, as we see in Acts 12 when James was killed and Peter imprisoned. Absolutely there is none good (ver. 10), but comparatively there are good and bad. As to our nature, sin is the same in everyone: but as to character, there are bad and good. In the “highways” etc., we get the Gentiles, “The salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it.” We have here the contrast to what we had in the previous chapter. It is the One sent from the Father, God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, but in answer to all this

“Man meted to the Sinless One

The cross, the grave.”

And this parable shows that God is bent on putting honor on His Son. The righteousness of God in Christ is set forth in this wedding garment. It runs right through the scriptures. In the beginning we see the ineffectual efforts of our first parents to make themselves fit for God, in the fig leaves which did not satisfy even themselves; but they were clothed by God with that which brings in Christ in His death, the coats of skins. There is no mention of blood there, but how could coats of skins be provided without its shedding? Here of course it shows how essential it is to have Christ as our needed clothing before God. All is ready, and Luke 20 shows us how the poor sinner gets the best robe, not by reformation, not by being (as he thought possible when in the far country) a faithful servant—a legality which dwells in every natural heart. That foolish thought was kissed away. A servant needs character—he had none. But if he had been the best son that ever was, he could not have had a better welcome. When he was received he could not add “Make me as one of thy hired servants!” The servant is not received so. The immediate response to his confession was, “Bring forth the best robe” —the best, the very best, God had, and that is none other than Christ, “who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30). When real communion with God comes in, it is the peace offering, the fatted calf. That is fellowship. God has His table and His food. The priest also had his portion, and the offerer likewise—a lovely type of communion.

Bishop Ryle once told the story of a ball in Paris, to which a very wealthy man invited his friends. He had the ballroom fitted up with electric light, which was suddenly turned on in the midst of the festivities. But instead of the pleasure which he had intended for his guests, he caused dismay and consternation! What might have passed in gas light would not pass in the searching light of electricity, and there was a sudden rush for the dressing rooms!

But the infinitely surpassing brightness of uncreated light will only reveal the perfection of that “best robe;” and the work of the precious blood of Jesus. The Epistle to the Romans shows us that the source of our justification is the grace of God, and the ground of it the precious blood. The angels excel in strength, but if all their power had been combined it were impossible for them to save one soul from hell. Jehovah laid help upon One that is mighty, mighty to save. This man without the wedding garment represents a religious man, and one on very good terms with himself, he thought he was better than most, equal to any. He had a robe that passed muster before others, but not before the holy eyes of Him who counts nothing but Christ, and who measures all by His glory.

“Friend!” it was addressed to Judas and to the laborer in the vineyard, an ominous sound. We must not think this scene is heaven. It is a parable to show the absolute necessity of having Christ as our righteousness, not the righteousness of Christ's law-keeping, though this is a common thought. It is He “who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,” as we have already observed. In 2 Cor. 5 He who knew no sin was made “sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” All is founded on His death and resurrection. The Holy Ghost is here in the world; and because of His presence here, the world is convicted of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. “Of righteousness because I go to the Father” God's answer to all Christ did to the glory of God. If you want to see the righteousness of God, look up and see the One, Who here was crucified and crowned with thorns, there crowned with glory and honor.

The wrath of verse 7 is God's governmental wrath on earth. But “of judgment” (John 16:8) —this is eternal. The blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords must deal when His Son is insulted. God's Son and the work of the Son were alike insulted by this man who despised the wedding garment. And the true awfulness of the eternal state of the Christ-rejector is exceedingly solemn! We need to speak of it with bated breath, and not go beyond scripture.

We ought to be very careful. There is no one who presents it in such an awful aspect as the Lord Himself, as for instance, Mark 9:43-48.

“Many are called, but few are chosen” (ver. 14). This is put in to show that while only one may be here mentioned, the application is to many—and the portion of every unbeliever. The word calling is used in a twofold sense. There is a calling that can be refused, and there is another that is effectual. We cannot reason it out. It is ours to believe. It will all be clear to us by and by. If you could master every difficulty in God's word, it would prove that it was not divine-not of a mind greater than your own.

That is a sound argument—

“Thou hast died for sinners,

Therefore, Lord, for me.”

Believe then in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.

Ver. 15. They were all united: we are getting to the end now of the Savior's course, and the hatred is more pronounced; and those antagonistic to each other are linked together against God. Man is his very essence, religious or irreligious, is enmity against God. The same principle was in the woman. Why did God permit the serpent to come and tempt her? The blessed thing is to have no guile. I can tell God the very worst thing I know about myself and have nothing to cover up.

Ver. 16. Here we are come to that which demonstrates what the Lord said, “He that falleth on that stone shall be broken.” This was true of those who opposed themselves then. “On whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” This is when He shall come in glory: when He shall judge and make war. His mighty power will be seen crushing to powder. Turn to Deut. 17:14, 15. The very fact of their having a foreigner (Herod) over them reveals their sin. Had the people been faithful, it would have been impossible for any to have got the victory over them. What they wanted here was to get the Lord on the horns of a dilemma. He must either say He Himself was not the monarch and had no right to the throne, or else, refuse allegiance to Caesar. And it would look as if the Jews as a rule felt having to pay tribute to a foreigner, and that Christian Jews also had that feeling as well, for Peter impresses subjection on them. Paul also presses the same (Rom. 13) “tribute to whom tribute is due,” etc. The Romans claimed from the Jews under them a poll tax of a denarius a year (7 1/2d.). So the Lord said, “Show me” what you pay—the Roman coin. You never find the Lord Jesus with any money. To pay the temple tax he instructs Peter to catch the fish, and find the piece of money enough for them both; so here He does not put His hand in His pocket. Judas was their treasurer; and evidently he acted under the Lord's instruction, but he was a thief. “Show me the tribute money.”

It is very solemn that in the last days of the church on earth, when about to be spued out of the Lord's mouth, there may be “works,” but what are they worth? Putting saints before the Lord, He Himself outside the door of the assembly (not here the sinner's heart!) Only two words give us God's nature. “Light,” the purity of His nature; “love,” the activity of His nature. He can never give up the purity of His nature. Hence the need of the atonement. “Love” can never override “light.”

“They brought unto him a penny—a denarius (ver. 20). The image thereon might have been a very poor likeness, but it represented Caesar. It was his “image.” The Lord Jesus is the image of the invisible God, but it would be a fearful error to speak of Him as the likeness of God. This would deny His Godhead. He was made in “the likeness” (not in the reality) of sinful flesh, for He was holy, but truly became flesh. How was it that coin was there? What a testimony to their sin and rebellion! Had they been true, there would have been no coin of the foreigner in the land. Turn to Deut. 26. It was grace that gave them the land but they had to fight for it. So have we, but it is against wicked spirits in heavenly places. You cannot enjoy your heavenly inheritance except by dependence and obedience; and all the scriptures quoted by the Lord to the devil during the temptation in the wilderness was from the book of Deuteronomy, where obedience is particularly impressed on them.

In Josh. 1 Joshua is told to be courageous. In a scene like this where the world, the flesh, and the devil are against us we need courage. “Add to your faith courage.” Then it goes on to show us the importance of the word of God. “To observe to do.” Do we read the Bible to have the holy privilege of obeying it, or is it only to make us intelligent Christians?

Ver. 22. “They were broken.” I was thinking as to “Render unto God the things that are God's.” You get the very opposite in Malachi. There they brought to God what they would not have given to their Governor. The blind and the lame they offered to Him! Let us put Him in the first place, and let us take all the hindrances and trying experiences as from the Lord who allows them.

Well, the Herodians were shut up; then came other servants of the devil. They were the Rationalists of their day. They did not make anything of the tradition of the elders, and were the bitter antagonists of the Pharisees. They also rejected a great part of the Scriptures, but professed to believe in the Pentateuch; so they spoke of Moses. They believed in annihilation—that when a man died he ceased to be! What they brought forward no doubt they had used in argument a thousand times—an extreme case in order to hold it up to ridicule, for the principle would be the same if but two brothers. Man is a trinity in unity—spirit, soul and body. If the grave retain the body, man is not in his entirety. He is incomplete. The perfect state is in resurrection, when the believer's body is conformed to Christ's body of glory. So the Lord told Herod, “the third day I shall be perfected.” He was a perfect man, but while His body was in the grave, He would not be “perfected.” Departed saints of God were waiting, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, etc., for the resurrection. They were living to God, but will not be perfected until the resurrection. It is far better than being here to depart to be with Christ. Those fallen asleep are in the better waiting place. But there is all the difference between an O.T. saint and a Christian. The O.T. saint left his peculiar blessings behind, when he died. Look at Hezekiah.

If he had not lived that extra fifteen years, his son who turned out to be the worst king that ever reigned over Judah, would not have been born! We go to be with One we love, Who loved us, and gave Himself for us. “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” The secret of the Lord from the beginning is resurrection. Abraham knew it. He believed God, and his faith is spoken of (Heb. 11) as receiving Isaac from the dead, in a figure.

They wanted to crush Him, and found themselves broken. Many times when they thought they had the Lord on the horns of a dilemma they found their folly. So Herodians, Pharisees and Sadducees, found the truth of the Lord's own statement, and were broken; by and by He will crush them without remedy to powder. These antagonists to each other were quite prepared to co-operate to crush the Lord. As we get toward the end, their enmity deepens.

We have to remember that “spiritual things are spiritually discerned"; the natural man does not understand them. Having this subject as to their question of the Lord, it may be well for us to remark that the Christian is not under law. The law had its purpose. It came in by the way. God gave it as one of His tests. Man was under probation from the creation to the cross. In giving the law, God has justified Himself in blessing man in free and unconditional grace. He gave the promises to Abraham before the law. The law was the lowest standard God could give. It was not the revelation of what God is, but the lowest revelation of what man should be. Therefore God has justified Himself in unconditional grace because man could not keep the law. That is the force of the word in Rom. 5 “when we were yet without strength,” after being under law 1500 years.

There was nothing wrong with the law, but with the material it had to do with. “For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” It is the Spirit that gives power to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law, and for that which is higher, viz., to walk as Christ walked. When man fell there were two things necessary to make him right with God, life and righteousness. John's First Epistle shows us that He has provided these (chap. 4:9, 10).

A new covenant will be made with Israel in the coming day, and the Lord Jesus said on the night of His betrayal, when He instituted the supper, “This is my blood of the new covenant.” So the blood has been shed, and we get the blessings of the new covenant, but we are not under it, or any covenant. Heb. 10 shows us, “your sins and iniquities I will remember no more.” But in the millennium He will deal with them differently. There will be a fountain opened, and He will take away the stony heart that said, “Crucify Him,” and give them a heart of flesh; and then they will say, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed.”

We do not perceive the beauty of that chapter (Isa. 53) unless we see this. Our stony heart has not been taken away, and is as bad as ever. Nevertheless, our hearts have been purified by faith, and our standing is in Christ. In our case “we love because He first loved us.” The first and great commandment (and this is true for us) is love to Him. The natural man can never give that. It must be in the power of the Holy Ghost. But we have the life that has fulfilled the law. They “that are of works of law,” who take that ground, “are under curse.”

“Whose son is he?” (ver. 42). This is very plain in scripture. First of all, the seed of the woman; then, the seed of Abraham; then the seed of David; then, in Isaiah 7 born of the virgin. But they all knew Him to be David's son. They were not prepared for a suffering Messiah. They wanted a great conqueror like David. In resurrection it is “I will give you the sure mercies of David"; for all will be make good in resurrection. This shows that if we have not faith in the Lord Jesus as a divine person, we have not the right key—faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as an eternally divine person. “If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins,” their case is hopeless. I do not think we can be too plain about this. If a man dies in his sins, he will be raised in his sins, he will be judged in his sins, and will be cast into an eternal gehenna in his sins. When we say, “judged in his sins,” we do not mean that his doom awaits to be decided hereafter, for the sinner's doom is already determined. But then, it will be the apportionment of measure, not of duration. Some will be beaten with many stripes. In John 5 the Son of God gives life, and as Son of man he judges. And all will have to accept His righteous judgment.

In Heb. 10:13, we find a remarkable ellipsis. In ver. 12 we get the work of the Lord Jesus and its effect, and in ver. 14 the glories of His work in contrast with the many sacrifices of the law. But in between, we find the words, “From henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool.” These verses show us what very few Christians realize, viz., the blessedness that belongs to them—a purged conscience, no more conscience of sins, for by one offering He hath “perfected forever” them that are sanctified. When once the blood is applied to me, and I have the blessing of that perfect cleansing, sin can never again be charged against me as guilt, and there can be no second application of the blood. Sin in the case of the believer is very far worse than with the unbeliever, but it can never be charged against him as guilt. It needs to be cleansed, but the cleansing is not by blood, but by “the washing of water by the word” (Eph. 5:26). Forgiveness of sins is my standing; allowance of sin affects my communion. What is a Christian if he has not the joy of communion? “Sit thou on my right hand.” The Lord is not regarded in Scripture as now sitting on His own throne, but He will shortly. He is now on the Father's throne, but when He sits on His own throne we shall sit with Him (Rev. 3:21, and see Matt. 25:31).

It is a wonderful place that David has even in the N.T. Directly we are in it the Spirit draws our attention to the Son of David and in the last chapter of the Revelation we read of “the root and the offspring of David.” Christ sprang from David, and David sprang from Him. In Romans, where the foundations of the gospel are given, it is concerning God's Son, but historically it is “the Son of David.” Well indeed might the apostle say, “Great is the mystery of godliness!” If men look at Him as a mere man they cannot answer this no more than were the Pharisees able. And if He was not the Son of God He could not have met our need. There is nothing so jealously guarded in scripture as the person of Christ, from Genesis to Revelation. We had a reading meeting here yesterday, and our subject was 1 Cor. 12, the gifts in the body; and we were noticing what the Spirit of God is doing for them there in the ministry of His Spirit. Other spirits too there are, which we are to try (1 John 4:1), and we are told that no one can say that Jesus Christ is Lord but by the Holy Ghost. And we can be quite sure that as we listen (for God has given us a perfect standard), if the ministry glorifies the Lord Jesus that it is of the Spirit; but if it puts a spot on the Spotless One, or in any way derogates from Him, then we know that it is a demon speaking, and we must be subject to the declaration of scripture, not to our thoughts about Him. The two tests of truth are the person of Christ, and the word of God. What we have here and in the chapter which follows, connects itself with Psa. 40 There are very few passages in the O.T. which take us back to eternity. In the N.T. it is very different. The blessings of an earthly people are counted from the foundation of the world; but the Christian was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. We find that voice in Eternity (Psa. 40:7).

Notes on Matthew 22

He who said in Psa. 40 “Lo, I come,” is here found in His ministry—the True and Faithful Witness, and the only one who can be so described. As such He presents Himself in Rev. 3 to the last of the seven churches, and which has proved itself so unfaithful that it will be spued out of His mouth.

I refer to the Psalm because of “the great congregation.” The great congregation is Israel, especially when gathered together for the great feast. The Lord's testimony to them specially is in this chapter. How He spoke to them there, how He exposed them! Their animosity did not keep His mouth shut. The remnant is not separated here; it is still Jews who are addressed; they are not on Christian ground. The disciples were going to be brought into a far more blessed place than when they walked here with the Lord. All those saved from Pentecost to the rapture form “the bride” and are going to be presented to Christ in a future day. The Lord, close up to the cross, said, “I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.” “In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and ye in me, and I in you.” The disciples before Pentecost were not joined to the Lord, “Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone.” They had not asked in His Name—going to the Father in all that Christ is—though they had repeated the Lord's prayer many times, no doubt.

The scribes were a poor example: they were not to be followed, but the Lord was upholding the word of God. It could never be said of any but of Him that His words exactly expressed Himself. The Lord told them in another place, “How can ye believe that receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from the only God?” They were not upright here, not acting as before the Lord. They were all for display, and this is hateful to the Lord. The Christian is warned of this, “Pray to your Father which is in secret.”

Verse 5. This is the only place where we get phylacteries mentioned. Four portions of the word of God in a leather case they bound on their foreheads and on their left arm to indicate they were obedient in intelligence and heart. God knows best. He is the searcher of the heart. This is the exact opposite of Phil. 2 The Lord Jesus is the great example of going down, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” The contrast there is between the first and the second man. The first man snatched at equality with God, and seeking to exalt himself became abased. When I know I am a dear child I can afford to go down.

We have had already in an earlier part of the Gospel some of the things they had added to the word of God, some of the traditions of men. The apostolic “traditions” (2 Thess. 2:15; 3:6) were of divine authority, and now we have them as Scripture in the written word of God.

We must keep in mind that these whom the Lord h re addresses are not on Christian ground. It was before the middle wall of partition was broken down, before the ascension of the Lord, and before the Holy Ghost was given.

Some not seeing this make sad mistakes about what we have before us here. The Lord, the Faithful and the True Witness, does not keep anything back. They are fully exposed. They were poor samples if they did sit in Moses’ seat. They laid heavy burdens and grievous to be borne on the shoulders of men, but we have read of One in Chap. 11. Whose yoke is easy, and Whose burden is light. Those who bear His yoke find He bears their burdens for them. That is the law of Christ. He was the burden-bearer all through His life, not indeed the bearer of our sins, but of our sorrows. But on the cross and there only He bore our sins. “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” We fulfil the law of Christ when we bear one another’s burdens. It is hypocrisy all through which is exposed here, that seemed to characterize them—the seeking honor one of another. What they sought they got. They have their reward—all they will get. There is nothing more to come for them. What was given them to remind them of God’s teaching, they just used for display of their piety (vers. 1-5).

In the next verse, the word “rooms” is obsolete in our language in this sense. It means “place.” Eminence, ecclesiastical superiority, is quite contrary to what the Lord taught. In Numbers we read of the ribbon of blue, and its typical teaching for us is to remind us we are a “heavenly” people. The great thing is to be true inwardly. God will have truth in the inward parts no matter what others think of us. Paul said it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful, and it is a very small thing for me to be judged of you or of man’s day. I know nothing against myself (“by” has now altered its meaning: it is an old English way of saying, “I know nothing against myself”). I have been faithful in what has been committed to me. It is a grand thing if you are true, acting uprightly before the Lord. Then you won’t mind what men think. It is not he who commendeth himself, but whom the Lord commendeth. If we have His commendation that is everything. There was a specialtity in Paul’s gospel, the gospel of the glory. So he could say, “According to my gospel.” It is wonderful what he says at the end. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” Further, he was faithful to what was committed to him. As he looked round and saw the awful declension coming and all things going to rack and ruin, he says, “I know Whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that I have committed unto Him” —the good deposit, the truth committed unto Him: —the good deposit, the truth committed to him, the truth of Christianity, it was in safe keeping. And we have got the benefit of it this afternoon so to speak. He knew to Whom he had committed it.

Verse 7. They liked to be recognized as something great, “Rabbi,” my master. “Rab” means great one, it is of Syrian extraction as “Rabshakeh,” etc. “One is your teacher,” instructor, “and all ye are brethren.” We get two words, “teacher” and “Lord”. . . “If I then your Lord and master,” etc., “one is your teacher”; let not one think of himself above another. The scribes show us the opposite thing to that we ought to pursue. We as Christians have been called unto liberty therefore “by love serve one another.” Love looks for the opportunity, and likes to serve. “If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.” He is doing it now and we are called to be imitators. “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” It shows what a wrong thing it is to bring anyone however blest he may have been to me, into competition with Him. I suppose we all know now that it is hardly in keeping for us to use the expression, “Our Father which art in heaven,” for in the heavenlies, is where grace has put us even now. We are a heavenly people. These were people on earth. It is appropriate that we address Him as “Father,” or “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Verse 11. “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.” Here is the opposite principle. What a beautiful figure with very lovely teaching we get in the case of the Hebrew servant in Exod. 21! It is all about Christ. If we do not see Him in the O. T., we do not see anything. When I go to that chapter and see the Hebrew servant serving six years, a full term of service, and then having the opportunity to go out free—outside, liberty; inside, service; the question arises, Which will love choose? Love delights to serve; there is the path of the Lord Jesus Christ. On the mount of transfiguration, He has the glory there, and the Father says, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, Hear ye him.” Yet He comes down and goes to Calvary! There He plainly says, “I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out free.” He won't be in the glory alone. In all things He must have the pre-eminence. We have His present ministry of love. We are getting the benefit of that perfect service now. He voluntarily became a servant “forever"; and if we turn to Luke 12:37, we find Him thus serving in eternity. Oh, it is a wonderful thing! Of course if we were beginning that subject really, it would be well to begin with Psa. 40, where there is One born into the world, prepared to do perfectly the will of God. There are only three phases of humanity—innocent, fallen, holy. The opened ears (digged, or bored) of Psa. 40 is quoted in Heb. 10 as “a body hast thou prepared me.”

Verse 12. What a prominent place has this! Here is a grand principle. The first man thought to exalt himself, and so snatched at equality with God; seeking to improve on what God had done for him, and to exalt himself. God humbles those who exalt themselves, whereas, he that humbles himself shall be exalted. The one pre-eminently Who humbled Himself we find in Phil. 2. There is the perfect pattern. There is no Name so sweet as that which has been given to Him! “Jehovah, a Savior,” for this is the meaning of “Jesus.” There is a word for us that ought to be a great blessing to our souls. True humility is not the saying bad things about oneself, for this may consist indeed with the most dreadful pride. The blessed thing is to be able to forget oneself, to be so taken up with the Lord that self is shut out. When Moses thought (if we may so suppose) that his face shone, the people did not see it, but when he was long enough in the presence of God to get his face shining, all others saw it, but he did not. It is quite presumptuous to attempt to draw the portrait of the Savior. We are not to have even a mental picture, or we should have had such a description of Him in detail that we could not have made a mistake. But not a word have we. I saw a very striking picture yesterday, it would attract people, but I should not like to have it in my house. We want spiritual communion with the Lord, not that which acts on our nature and feelings.

Verse 13. I suppose they were just as energetic to hinder those going in as to make proselytes. We read more of these Scribes. The bitter opponents of a living Christ were the Pharisees; whilst of a risen Christ, the Sadducees were the bitter opponents. I don't think they ever missed an opportunity to hinder the Lord. In chap. 5 of this Gospel, we had nine beatitudes. Here in our chapter are eight woes.

Verse 15. Is it not so in the present time? Where do you find most energy but in those who are propagating error? These bitter opponents of the Lord were characterized by proselytizing. A fearful day of reckoning awaits them. Meanwhile, how they are exposed (vers. 16, 17)! They have an evil purpose in making these distinctions. And we see how the Lord openly exposes them. Avarice was at the bottom, the desire to make money.

The Quakers are clearly in the wrong in refusing to take an oath when the powers that be “require” it. For the Lord answered to the oath when adjured by the high priest. There we have proof positive to guide us, but to elect to swear is another thing. “Whatsoever is more than this cometh of evil.” I should judge the “weightier matters of the law” (vers. 23) to be a reference to Mic. 6:8. There you find the principle. It would appear from what the Lord says here that they were greatly given to swearing. Some think the gold here was the gold given to the temple; they must not evade that, even if their parents required it! as the Lord had already exposed in chap. 15. You would find in each case here there is an evil motive in all the Lord is exposing in all these distinctions. He Himself had laid down, and it could not be improved upon by man, as to what He required in the case of vows. The father or husband of the woman had power to bind or set aside her vows (Num. 30).

Verse 23. It is well to remember with a scripture like this before us that grace went out to the very vilest, and it is remarkable the cases to which His grace went out in these narratives. But where there is pretension and wrong underneath, all this is abomination in the sight of God, and so we get these “woes.” These Scribes and Pharisees were very scrupulous about little matters, but quite indifferent to the weightier matters of the law. The Lord frequently pointed out in His discourses that they did not understand mercy. If ye had known what that meaneth, “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.” We know that the Lord has said, “He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much.” And so we get “These ought ye to have done and not to leave the other undone.” We must not be careless about little things. But the Lord was speaking of reality. It did not cost them much to tithe the little herbs in their gardens, and they got a good name by it. They had their reward. Blind guides! they thought themselves guides, but knew not that they were blind. When the two sons of Aaron were struck dead the Lord said in Lev. 10, “I will be sanctified in them that come near me"; and then in chap. 11. He begins to instruct them in making a difference between clean and unclean, and there is wonderful teaching for us in that chapter. For instance, a mouse there is reckoned unclean. Everything described there as unclean represents some trait of our old nature. A mouse is a purloiner. Very unworthy of a believer! Then again the chameleon—it changes its color, it represents unreality. A man professing to be a Christian meets another and he speaks to him about spiritual matters; he meets another and talks politics; with another he discusses the latest novel. That is the chameleon. So these scribes were very particular about the gnat because it would make them unclean, but would swallow the camel: no doubt a proverb. But it shows how they ignored the important things, and God will have reality, and the heart right, not simply the exterior.

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites for ye make clean the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess” (ver. 25). Is this going to satisfy God? He is not deceived. To indulge that which is evil in the heart, and have a fair exterior is extremely offensive to God. There is no real happiness apart from holiness. Because God was dwelling in their midst He required holiness. But we need to be holy inwardly, and we have the word of God as our standard to judge everything by. “The word of God is quick and powerful,” and if we have the word of Christ dwelling in us richly, we should be quick to judge an evil thought. It is because these things are unjudged that saints know so little of spiritual joy. A person may be very intelligent in the things of God and yet know very little of spiritual joy. If it is a question of truth, God has two tests of truth the person of Christ and the word of God, as we have remarked.

All this is indeed polluting. Under the law, to touch a bone rendered a man unclean, and water of separation had to be sprinkled before communion could be restored. A person may sing aloud,

“If ever I loved Thee, my Savior, 'tis now,”

and talk about his love to the Lord; but there is a better way of showing it, “If ye love me keep my commandments.” Real subjection of soul will show out our love. That is the very opposite of what we have here (ver. 27). They looked very pious, very godly, but He looked into their hearts. A true child of God says, like David, “Search me, O God” (Psa. 139). No one can really say that unless he knows God has already searched him. “O Lord, Thou hast searched me and known me.” There is the consciousness of this. “All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” He knows us thoroughly, and knowing this we can tell God the very worst things we know about ourselves. There is reality when a soul can truly say, “Search me, O God.”

You and I (for we want to make this practical) would sooner drink out of a penny earthen mug if it was clean, than out of a golden goblet covered with diamonds, if it was filthy. So we get in 2 Timothy “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel... meet for the Master's use.” There is something very blessed in this. I, a poor weak thing, yet will He deign to use me if clean! and so purging myself, I shall be prepared unto every good work. Is not this sufficient if meet for the Master's use?

“If we had been in the days of our fathers,” etc. (ver. 30). They were on very good terms with themselves, sitting in judgment on their forefathers, yet inheriting the very same character, and persecuting the Lord of the prophets. You can see they were advertising and commending themselves and condemning their progenitors. It makes us think of Rom. 2:1. There is the philosopher, but these were doing the same. It shows their unreality.

In verse 31 we get their family character. They quite inherited the place their forefathers occupied. If we don't see that we cannot understand what follows, that the blood of Abel, etc., was chargeable to them. They inherited the place. So with Babylon in the Revelation (comp. 18:24). And all this is the language of the True and Faithful Witness, who will not lie, but deliver souls. Every word is in its place. You may remember that when they asked the Lord in John 8:25 “Who art thou?” Jesus said, “Absolutely that which I also say unto you.” There was no difference between, but exact agreement with, what He is, and what He speaks, between Himself and His words.

“Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers, Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers! how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” (vers. 32, 33). Of course, even in such an one if there was repentance wrought there would be mercy. The Baptist used the same words, “Offspring of vipers” of those that came to be baptized of him.

Verse 34. Both Stephen and Paul did Jesus send afterward, and this portion makes us think of what Stephen says to them. There are some foolish enough to say that what Stephen said is not correct, yet we are told that he was full of the Holy Ghost, and this therefore precludes the thought of any mistake. He said, “As your fathers did, so do ye.” Our verse makes us think of the peculiar day in which our lot is cast. There may be a so-called liberalism, and a comparatively easy path, but we cannot eliminate from the word of God “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” We are bound to suffer in one way or another. It may be in a very hidden way, but still it goes on, and in a far greater degree than many are prepared to admit. I have no doubt that 400 years of Egyptian oppression commenced with the mockery of Isaac by Ishmael, for they were only 215 years in Egypt. It is better to be persecuted than to be the persecutor. It is beautiful to think there is grace enough to make a man of like passions with us say, “I endure all things for the elect's sake.” Paul did not mind, if it was for the good of the saints.

Verse 35. There is a Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, who was murdered by Joash, but Zechariah the prophet, who lived long after, is called the son of Barachias. There may be difficulties and we may not be able to make it clear to others, but we know all that God has written is right, and He will be clear when He is judged. The writers were precluded from making any mistake, when giving us the scriptures. For “all scripture is given by inspiration of God.” “Pure words": as silver... purified seven times,” excludes all error. Of course, where man has touched it you see the result of human weakness e.g., in translation, etc., but it is wonderful how God has not only given but kept His word for us. We have all that God purposed to reveal from all eternity. And I believe He has given all that could be revealed to us. Paul heard what was unrevealable. And oh, how we ought to treasure His truth. Israel was held responsible at any rate for the blood of the martyrs. The meaning of martyr is “witness,” whether his blood be shed or not.

That persecuting “generation” (ver. 36) —not those only living at that time. There are many scriptures which show the word “generation” used in this way, as for instance, Prov. 30, and also ver. 34 of chap. 24 of our Gospel, which looks on to a still future day. “Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever” (Psa. 12). It may be an unbelieving generation, or a persecuting one, but it has that character. But while the Lord spoke so scathingly about these unreal men, how His heart went out towards Jerusalem! It is called “the city of the great King,” and “the holy city,” and that even after His crucifixion. “Holy” would be in the sense of being set apart, for it was as being the place where God had set His Name, that it can be so spoken of.

The Lord Jesus is presented in many different Abraham drawn out by “the Lord of glory.” characters in the O.T., as for instance, Isaiah 9.

“His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” ; and His reigning day is spoken of in very glowing terms when Israel will be the head and not the tail. Thus, looked at in that way, it appealed to the Jew. But there are other scriptures which speak of Him as the down-trodden and suffering one, and they were unprepared to think of Him as such. They would have all the glories but not the suffering, and were not prepared for what Joseph typified. “He shall be called a Nazarene.” In the O.T. we do not find these words, but all the prophets spoke in general terms of Him as such. “Thus it behoved Christ to suffer and to enter into His glory.” There was absolute necessity for His sufferings if there is glory. Jerusalem had that character of killing the prophets, and stoning them that “are sent unto thee” (ver. 37).

I suppose you get the thought of protection in the hen. It is wonderful what hens have done to protect their brood. The salutation which Boaz gave to Ruth was, “A full reward be given thee of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings thou art come to trust” —the wings of Omnipotence! The Lord Jesus never emptied Himself of His Godhead. He had all divine attributes and a constant exercise of His power was keeping all; and what a meaning there is in this gathering them under His wings! “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” The wings in the holiest spread from wall to wall and Jehovah sat above the cherubim. “You would not!” I suppose there are many things we can never reconcile, but which nevertheless we can and should believe. There are two parallel lines running right through the word of God that never converge: but we shall see they meet in eternity—God’s sovereignty and man’s failure. Those who argue are bound to fall on the rocks of Calvinism or Arminianism. “No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him.” It is not like a horse drawing a cart, but more the power of attraction, like Abraham drawn out by “the Lord of glory.” He went out not knowing whither he went. We know from the Lord’s saying this what deepest reality there is in “Ye would not”! As to all that has been exposed in the earlier verses, the Lord lets us into the secret: “Ye receive honour one from another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only” (John 5).

Verse 38. What a desolate place it has been! No longer “His Father’s,” or “His house” for He speaks of it as both (21:13; John 2:16), but He had been deliberately rejected. They had sinned away their day of grace. And I am inclined to think that though we preach the gospel to a soul at the eleventh hour, and are told “In the morning sow thy seed” this may be to the little child, and it is wonderful what a little bit of truth God can use to children: and “in the evening withhold not thine hand,” this may be to the old man, for God is the God of all grace and we do not know what he may do to a soul at the last moment. Nevertheless, it is possible, I judge for a soul to sin away its day of grace long before its day of death—one, perhaps having had the prayers and example of a godly father and mother! And have we any in the O. T. more godly than David? I cannot help thinking he had prayed for Absalom, and it was that which brought out that bitter cry at the end. It is very solemn.

Here too is Israel sinning away its day of grace by its rejection of the Messiah. I am not forgetting “Until ye shall say,” etc. That is looking forward to the time when the Lord comes, and you and I also with Him. And I am thinking too how Luke is the Gospel full of super-abounding grace; and when HE gives the Lord’s commission there to the apostles, they were to begin at the guiltiest place on earth— “beginning at Jerusalem.” There were some saved then. Looking at them, they had cast everything aside, and had not responded to the Lord at all, but where sin abounded grace did much more abound.

The Rapture of the Saints and the Character of the Jewish Remnant: 7

Three several ways of presenting the return of Christ are found in scripture.

There is, first, the general fact. We do not expect things to go on to an unknown end of dissolution; we are converted to wait for God's Son from heaven. Nothing precise and distinctive is here presented. We do not think that things go on as they were from the creation of the world. Christ will come again, and we wait for Him. This is the abiding thought in every instructed Christian, whatever degree of light he may have as to details. He expects Christ, so that, morally, the fashion of this world is closed for him: the object of his hope is elsewhere.

Next, the scene of this world is confusion and evil to his spirit; he knows that it will ripen up into rebellion, and that God will judge this world by that Man whom He hath ordained—that Christ will therefore judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom that He will set up His earthly kingdom by judgment—further, that the effect of His governmental judgment will be manifested in the saints at that time—that if it be the day of the Lord for this world, it is the time when the responsibility of the saints will be brought to its manifested issue or result. He will return and take account with His servants, and set one over ten cities, another over five. He knows that the appearing of Christ is naturally and necessarily connected with manifested judgment; hence he finds responsibility always referred to this in scripture.

Thirdly, besides the facts of Christ's coming and manifested righteousness, there is, through grace, special privilege, the proper association of the saints with Christ, which must have their accomplishment also. No doubt the saints will be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ to give an account of themselves to God; but this is not separated from privilege, for they arrive there already like Himself. Yea, He has come Himself to fetch them there. This special association with Christ is made good, not by Christ's appearing, as we have seen (though manifested then), but by His coming to receive them to Himself where He is, His introducing them into His Father's house; and in the kingdom placing them in the heavenly seat of government with Himself. This is effectuated by His coming, and causing them, raised or changed, to come up and meet Him in the air. This is the rapture of the saints, preceding their and Christ's appearing: at that they appear with Him. So that at their rapture He has not appeared yet.

Such is the general doctrine of the rapture of the church—a doctrine of the last importance; because it is immediately connected with the relationship of the church to Christ, its entire separation from the world and its portion. It is the act which crowns its perfect justification. This rapture before the appearing of Christ is a matter of express revelation, as we have seen from Col. 3:4.

As to the time of this rapture, no one, of course, knows it. But the difference, in this respect, between it and the appearing is very marked, in what is most important. At the appearing comes the judgment of this world: hence it connects itself with, and closes, its history; and before it that history must have run on to its revealed result, revealed events must have occurred, and the objects of judgment must have appeared on the scene and accomplished what is predicted of them. The church is associated with Christ already gone, is not of the world as He was not, is risen with Him, has its life hid with Him in God. There is no earthly event between it and heaven. It must have been gathered, and Christ rise up from the Father's throne to receive it: that is all. It is this conviction, that the church is properly heavenly, in its calling and relationship with Christ, forming no part of the course of events of the earth, which makes its rapture so simple and clear; and on the other hand, it shows how the denial of its rapture brings down the church to an earthly position, and destroys its whole spiritual character and position.

Our calling is on high. Events are on earth. Prophecy does not relate to heaven. The Christian's hope is not a prophetic subject at all. It is the promise that Christ will come and receive him to Himself, that where He is the Christian may be also.

Although the question be already answered in principle, it may be well to put it formally here, When is the Christian to expect the Lord? I answer, Always. It is his right spiritual character. His always doing it is that by which his right spiritual state is characterized. Be ye “as men that wait for their lord when he shall return from the wedding that they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh, shall find watching. Verily, I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them... Be ye therefore ready also, for at such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” And, after speaking of service to the saints, the Lord adds, “Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth, I say unto you, He will make him ruler over all that he hath. But and if that servant say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and begin to beat the men-servants and the maidservants he will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.” Here, as a general principle, the constant waiting for the Lord as a present thing is given as characterizing those who are blessed when the Lord comes, and who reign over all things. That which leads the wicked servant into all mischief is, not the denial of the Lord's coming, but the loss of the sense and present expectation of it.

This was the origin of the church's departure from simplicity, and its fall into clerical authority and worldliness—the cause of the loss of its spiritual authority. The saints went out, left the world and worldly religion by going out, to meet the Bridegroom. It characterized them as a present thing. It was recalled to its primitive position and liveliness by the renewal of the immediate expectation of Him. He did tarry, in fact; and the sense of His coming was lost. “Behold the Bridegroom cometh!” was what aroused and prepared them. No events, no earthly circumstances, intervene or modify the direct summons. They go out to meet Him. There is no other thought, no confusion with the government of this world, none of any previous dealing in respect of the marriage-feast (His union with the Jews). They go back with Him to it.

That the apostle lived in, and taught, this immediate expectation, as the proper primitive doctrine of the Spirit of God, is evident, whatever degree of light as to detail may have been possessed. The Thessalonians were converted to wait for God's Son from heaven; with very little clearness of light; but they had been so taught, and Paul approves of their expectation as a divine witness to the world, of which the world itself spake. It was his manner of entering in—they were waiting for Him. It was not a prophetic explanation of events they possessed: there is no event, I repeat, between us and heaven. God's Son was coming from heaven; and they were waiting for Him as the fruit of Paul's entering in among them, owned and delighted in by himself. They drew certain conclusions from it in which they erred, which Paul corrected (as he did another mistake, induced by false teachers, in the second epistle); but their constant expectation was right. The word even is used only here, and speaks of awaiting; but Paul was doing as much. He speaks to them of “we which are alive and remain to the coming of the Lord.” We are told this is a class. Be it so. But it is a class in which Paul reckons himself, showing that that class could and ought so to await the coming of the Lord. Why not we?

But there were, as we have seen, errors. The Thessalonians were distressed about those who perished for Jesus' sake; fearing, as it appears (so much did they expect Christ in their life-time), that these would not be there to enjoy His coming. Paul corrects this error, by showing that the dead would be raised, and then the living go up to meet Christ with them. But he is so far from weakening the Thessalonians' present expectation of Christ during their life-time that He confirms it by associating himself with them in this expectation. The circumstance, that it was a conclusion drawn from this expectation which misled the Thessalonians so that they were troubled about the saints' dying, gives uncommon force to the statement of the apostle. How anxiously would he have set them right, had they been wrong on this, and shown them that he never had led them, nor meant to have led them, to such an expectation—that it was an excited and erroneous way of looking at the Lord's coming! How would he have shown them (the occasion and need of correcting error being thus offered), as do many now, that there were many events to Occur, much history of the church and world to be accomplished, before the Lord could come! But, quite the contrary, he corrects the mistake they did make as to the dead, showing them that they should first rise; and they, being changed, all go up together on high; and confirms in the strongest way their own present expectation by, as I have said, associating himself with it. Was he deceived, as rationalists allege, in having and confirming in others this thought? Surely not. The moment was not revealed, as we know: the constant expectation was right. It produced a liveliness of expectation, a courage in persecution, a brightness of heart-association with the Lord's person, and personal approval, of which Paul will reap the blessed fruits when the moment does come—of which the Thessalonians did reap the fruits every day, in the liveliness of their faith, and the brightness of their hope, and the labor of their love-and of which we do: in a witness of liveliness of affection and liberty of heart, and superiority to circumstances, of which no epistle in scripture affords a like example. Would there were a little more enthusiasm in Christians, if it be founded on a hope sanctioned by the apostle himself!

But those circumstances to which the Thessalonians were exposed, were very trying; and if lively, they were young in the faith. They had heard that the day of the Lord would come—a terrible day of trouble and of judgment. False teachers came and sought to upset their minds, alleging even a letter of Paul, and declarations of the Spirit, that that day was there. If hope was somewhat enfeebled by their sufferings, as perhaps was the case (as the apostle speaks only of their faith and love here), this unsettling of their minds is not difficult to conceive, entirely inexperienced as they were, and subjected to trial. But the Lord was there to help them, as the wicked one to trouble them. It is to be remarked that the verse translated (2 Thess. 2), “as that the day of the Lord is at hand,” should be, beyond all controversy or question, “as that the day of the Lord were present,” It is the word translated elsewhere present, in contrast with things to come. They were troubled and upset by the impression that the day of the Lord, that great and terrible day was actually come. No wonder the apostle could not speak of their hope. Before the apostle touches on their mistake, and unfolds the true order of events, with heavenly skill he sets their minds at ease. This he does in the first chapter. He glories in their patience and faith in their persecutions. It was a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to those that troubled them, and to them that were troubled rest with Paul and others (he was associated in the sorrow and the rest too) when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, when He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and admired in (not “to receive to himself") all them that believe (for the Thessalonians had believed) in that day.

Here all is set in its place. It was Christ's appearing in glory which would bring in the day. If that day had been then present, it was without Christ. If His appearing brought it in, He was not going to trouble those that were His, but surely those who troubled them. That was a righteous matter with God; so that the terrible persecution the Thessalonians were undergoing was but a pledge with a righteous God that, when the kingdom came, they would have rest and glory. They would not have trouble when Christ appeared, and when the kingdom was established by judgment. In that day their portion would be ease and delight; nay, indeed, more than that—they would be the admiration of the world, or rather Christ in them, in that day.

Thus, by introducing Christ and God's righteous ways, all was as clear as possible, and the delusion dispelled. The Thessalonians' minds were re-established. It is ever so: introduce Christ and God's ways, and all is clear and peace. They can now, calmly and with a restored soul, in which known truths had their place, receive fresh and satisfying light on the point which troubled them. The moment we see that they thought the day of the Lord was there, all is perfectly simple and clear.

It has been supposed that “rest when” means the moment of relief. Nothing is more unfounded. The reasoning of the apostle is that Christ introducing the day, it was not when He had the upper hand that His people would be troubled and ill-treated. Was He going to treat them so? In the day exactly the contrary would be the case: they would enjoy rest and blessing: the persecutors would be troubled. The word ἄνεσις by no means conveys always the same meaning of a moment of relaxation arriving; it is never so used in scripture. The other passages are Acts 24:23; 2 Cor. 2:12; 7:5; 8:13. It is used in the same sense here. In 2 Cor. 8:13, it is in a similar opposition with θλίψις.

We come now to the very easy understanding of 2 Thess. 2, in which to the relieved Thessalonians the apostle unfolds, by fresh instructions, the order in which events will really take place. I only remark, before turning to it, that if “rest with us” meant relief at the moment of the revealing of Christ, it would mean that the Thessalonians and Paul were to expect Christ's appearing in their lifetime, as the term of their trials, and the moment of their rest. This reply would be complete and absolute to those who allege this; but it would not be the truth, nor scriptural. It is not the force of ἄνεσις here, nor is it the meaning of the passage, nor would such an expectation, using ἄνεσις in this way, be a scripturally enlightened one, such as an inspired apostle would give. It proves the absurdity of their reasoning as an argumentum ad hominem, but no more.

As regards 2 Thess. 2, as I have said, the apostle unfolds additional truth. He had already told the Thessalonians that they would be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Hence their being under the day of Christ on the earth was an absolute impossibility, since they would be in heaven, with the executor of the wrath of it, before it arrived. This motive he now pleads. They fancied (or at least were unsettled as to it by the false teachers) that the day was actually come consequently, without Christ's coming. Hence he says, “We beseech you, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, nor troubled.... as that the day of the Lord was come.” Both facts, and both together, proved that the day of the Lord was not there; already evident by the moral absurdity of the day of the Lord being against the Lord's people; but here he leads them on to positive ground. Christ must come for it, and their portion was to be gathered up to Him before the day arrived.

Another thing which showed the day was not then come (this supposition being the groundwork of all the apostle's reasoning and, indeed, the occasion of the whole epistle) was, that the day would not come till the apostasy came, and the man of sin was revealed. Before the day of Christ could be present on the earth, events must occur—the object of judgment must be there. Thus the mistakes of the Thessalonians only gave occasion to clearer and surer light. And here I must remark that confounding the day of the Lord and His coming to receive the church is not a mere mistake in terms, but a subversion of the whole nature of the relationship between Christ and the church, and Christ and the world, an apostate world; and a losing sight wholly of the great moral bearing of a day coming on the world, of which the Old Testament is full as well as the New. To mix this up with “I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am there ye may be also,” is to confound the whole bearing of Christ's affections towards His own, with the terror of an apparition which every eye shall see—a confounding the flaming fire of destructive judgment with the dearest confidences of perfect grace, and bringing down the hopes of the saints, founded on the all-perfect grace and truth of Christ, to the level of an event common to all, and terrible in its glory. It is the practical establishment of the error to correct which the second Epistle to the Thessalonians was written. It not only sets aside the distinctive revelation of our being caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and the distinctive existence and position which (it is here, as elsewhere, revealed) we shall have with Christ when He appears. When He appears we shall appear with Him; He will come to be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe (not to receive them up to Himself). The scripture is as plain as possible. He who confounds the day of Christ with His coming to receive the church knows neither what His day is, nor His coming, nor the church.

Do the saints not await His coming to earth, and His appearing? Undoubtedly: but not as the time of their joining Him; for, I repeat, they will appear with Him: as walking on earth, they await this event. They await it as the great eventful act of God's government, in which Christ is glorified, as that in which all responsibility will be brought to its manifest result. It is the grand act of that display of power which sets everything in its place according to the divine judgment, and by which evil power is set aside. But they do not expect it as that which is to fulfill and accomplish their own personal blessedness according to sovereign grace in their own relationship with Christ (that is, in the Father's house). Christ's appearing will be the fall establishment of divine power in government, and the result of responsibility; the rapture of the church, and its entrance into the Father's house, the accomplishment of sovereign grace towards the saints in their full individual blessedness—of the hopes which communion with the Father and the Son has given them. Another special result will follow for the church—the marriage of the Lamb. But this is distinctive and peculiar, not the completing of individual grace.

The moment of the rapture none can know. Its distinctive character is vital for him before whom the truth is set. I will now cite some passages of detail, which show our exemption from the tribulation predicted a position in which the world will find itself, and in an especial manner the Jewish people restored to their land.

In the address to the Philadelphian church, and in reference to the near coming of the Lord, and giving, as the ground of the promise, that they had kept the word of Christ's patience (for He waits also), it is declared that they shall be kept from the hour of temptation which shall come on all the world to try them which dwell upon the earth. This last description of persons is frequently so designated in the Revelation, and expresses, surely, much more than the fact that they live on earth. They are characterized by having their dwelling-place there.

(Continued)

(To be continued)

The Rapture of the Saints and the Character of the Jewish Remnant: 8

In Rev. 12:10-12, it is said, “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of God, and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that' dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea!” Now I do not take this as the rapture, because I believe it had taken place before, and is pointed out in the timeless rapture of the man-child, for the church is one with Christ, and shall rule the nations as He. But I find a positive revelation, that three years and a half before the close (that is the last half-week of Daniel), Satan is cast down, the accuser of the brethren is no longer in heaven, the triumph of those accused is come-their trial passed; they had been in trial and conflict, and had overcome, and conflict is ended for dwellers in heaven. It begins, and with great wrath of Satan, for the inhabiters of earth. There had been persecution, there had been death. For one class it had now ceased, and for another it was just going to begin. And note, this is exactly the epoch spoken of by Daniel, which the Lord refers to as the tribulation such as never was since there was a nation; nor have I the smallest doubt that the woman represents the Jews. I am aware, as to the remnant of her seed, difficulty has been raised from the expression, “the testimony of Jesus Christ.” But the answer is in the book itself: “The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.” It will be a prophetic, not a church, testimony—a very different thing. Compare with this the end of Isa. 1, where the remnant are expressly declared to hear the voice of God's servant (that is, of Christ as prophet).

I only notice these as accessory and explanatory, as my object is not controversial, but to bring out plainly the testimony of scripture on the Jewish remnant and on the church. Renewed opposition to these truths has come recently under my eye, but what is alleged was only proof to me how, when men are not taught of God on any subject, little difficulties hide and obliterate immense and fundamental truths, which a child, learning of God in simplicity, could not go astray upon. Indeed, wherever the connection between Christ and the church is not seen, reasoning on these subjects can only bring into deeper darkness.

But, as I have said, my object is not controversy here; and I pursue not my impressions on this point farther, however clear and strong they may be. If the reader has laid hold of the truth, clearly proved from scripture, that there is a distinct Jewish remnant at the end, with Jewish hopes given of God, and a Jewish character, that the church has its own and peculiar association with Christ, as the body with its Head, called into union by the Holy Ghost, sent down from heaven; if we have seen that we shall not abide down here till Christ appears, since it is positively declared—revealed—that we shall appear with Him when He appears, he will have got hold of clear land-marks which will guide him safely through details, in the discovery and order of which patience will surely be needed; but through the knowledge of these land-marks, the details will not take him out of the main road, will never enfeeble divine relationship, upon which the holiest and most precious affections are necessarily dependent, and in which indeed, they have their origin. It is, indeed, this last consideration which makes these subjects so vital and important to my mind. All right affections depend on divinely constituted relationships, and cannot exist out of them. If I know not the relationship of the church to Christ, and the position in which He has set us, along with Himself in reference to the Father, none of the affections suited to these positions can have any place in my soul; and my spiritual discernment and judgment as to everything will suffer in proportion. The recrudescence of opposition to the truth on these points shows that it is making progress. What I have seen written against it only seems to me to mark deeper darkness and more ignorance of the great outlines of scripture than earlier opposition, though the general spirit and character be the same.

As regards passing through the tribulation (a question which every one knows is that which always arises on this matter) the scripture seems to me to make it very simple. How can I tell there will be a tribulation? I shall be answered, “Passages of scripture positively declare there will be such.” I admit it: but there are no passages which reveal it, which do not also show that the church will not be in it. As far as I am aware they are these: Jer. 30:7; Dan. 12:1; Matt. 24:21; Mark 13:19; to which we may add Rev. 3:10; 7:14. I am not aware of any other which can be applied to this subject. Now who are in this tribulation in the passages which speak of it in scripture? Rev. 7:14 could alone leave open the smallest question. Of this I will speak. Of all the rest, the positive evidence is, that the Jews are in it—the church not.

Jeremiah tells us, “It is the time of Jacob's trouble,” the day which none is like. This shows to whom it belongs. Daniel shows us that that day of “trouble, such as there never was since there was a nation,” was the day of indignation upon Israel. Daniel's people, as the whole prophecy declares, are there in question, and they will be delivered (that is, those written in the book). The Savior, who applies this passage in Matt. 24, leaves not the smallest doubt that it applies to those of Israel, and, even exclusively, to Palestine, or, still narrower as to locality, Judea and Jerusalem. They are to flee to the mountains. The abomination of desolation is in the holy place. Those in the countries are not to return. They are the days of vengeance to accomplish what is written. They are to desire their flight should not be on a sabbath day. In a word, the tribulation is in Jerusalem, in Judea, and among Jews. Mark 1 need not comment on; it is evidently the same event. Thus Jeremiah, Daniel, the Lord Himself, in Matthew and Mark, citing and applying Daniel, declare that the tribulation regards the Jews. It is the time of Jacob's trouble.

But Rev. 3 speaks of a time of temptation; and here it is said that it shall come on all the world, to try them who dwell on the earth. This, therefore, is more general; it is not the great tribulation of Jeremiah, Daniel, and Matthew, which is exclusively Jewish. Here we have the church. But what is said of this time of temptation as regards the church who await Christ? They shall be kept out of it. That is, the passages which speak of the tribulation which none is like (and from which alone we know there is one) declare unanimously it is for the Jews and not for the church. The passage which, addressed to the church, refers to an hour of temptation, declares in a precious promise that, having kept the word of Christ's patience, she shall be kept out of that hour.

If I turn to Rev. 12, which in effect, speaks of the “three years and a half trial, I am told the conflict of the heavenly saints is over before it begins. The woe is for others (that is, for Jews). Christ was not born of the church; nor is it the church who has to say, “To us a Son is born.” The positive witness is as clear as clear can be. The statement, that there is a tribulation, declares the Jews will be in it, the church kept out of it. But there is a passage obscure to most (Rev. 7). It is one of the signs of error and the enemy's work, that he takes an obscure passage to trouble the minds of saints and unsettle them by this means in great and plain truths. The passage may be employed so, and hence I notice it also. That it is not the church which is spoken of here is clear from the promise to Philadelphia. All confirms this. It is a different class from the elders, who represent the heavenly kings and priests to God. One of the elders explains who they are. I would remark that the expression (ver. 15) “dwell among” them, is a wholly false translation. It is “shall tabernacle (or, dwell) over” them. The word is used for “dwelling with,” with other prepositions as ἐν, μετα, ἐν μέσῳ, but not with ἐπὶ, whereas this is the preposition used for overshadowing, as in Num. 9:18, 22, with the word σκιάζω, it is true; but σκηνόω is not so used in the LXX (unless once in some MSS, where it has nothing to do with this). There can hardly be a doubt of the allusion, I think, to the cloud which was a shelter over Israel.

Hence the only conferred blessing spoken of as the result is this protection, nourishment, refreshment, and the cessation of sorrow. They come in after the sealing of the elect of the twelve tribes of Israel, as a distinct class from all before a new and distinct class from the elders; one of whom has to give an account of who they are as such. Hence their position is as different as possible from those in chapter 5:10. They are talked about, and it is explained who they are; but, save as to owning their own salvation through God and the Lamb, they are silent. They are sheltered, refreshed, fed, blessed, but take no part with others; indeed, the elders do not praise here. They have the privilege of serving God continually in His temple; but they are no part of the scene above, who celebrate and unfold the acts of God: on the contrary, as we have seen, those who are, are presented as a separate class, capable of explaining the enigma of this additional class of persons who are found standing before the throne and before the Lamb. There is no praising for others, no intercessional language. One has only to compare the passage above cited to see the difference—to see they are another class. To use this passage, certainly obscure in its application (in which those who have been in the great tribulation are definitely distinguished from the heavenly company of crowned and enthroned elders, their whole position being different), to destroy the force of one expressly declaring that those who have kept the word of Christ's patience will be kept out of that “hour of temptation,” is certainly the opposite of a sound interpretation of scripture.

In result, what is the evidence of scripture, on this point? There are six passages which speak of tribulation, and by which we know there will be tribulation. Four are clear and positive in applying it to the Jews; one declares that the faithful church saints will be kept out of it; and the last, speaking of Gentiles, distinguishes them, in the most marked way, from those who represent the church, and saints in heaven, the crowned and enthroned elders. Thus direct scripture is as clear as clear can be. We have seen that, indirectly Rev. 2 confirms this view. What remains? General principles. Hence the attempt to bring the church into the tribulation; and this is the secret of the whole matter—the confounding the church of God with the Jews and with the world, their hopes, and the trials that come upon them.

(Concluded)

J. N. D.

Brief Notes on 1 Timothy 2:5-10; Chapter 6

“There is one Mediator.” We do not want Mary, Saints, or any one to turn the heart of the Lord Jesus to us. “The Man Christ Jesus,” Who is spoken of as “King of kings, and Lord of lords” —our great God and Savior Jesus Christ is the one and only Mediator. Oh, the dignity of His Person—what He is in Himself! And He gave Himself a ransom not for “many,” but for all!

Now mark the apostle's declaration, “Whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle.” Did it bring him in a palace and £1,000 a year? No, persecution! “God hath set forth us, the apostles, last, as it were appointed to death. For we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels and to men.” This man had been a Jew, and a persecutor, but grace works and he is now a “teacher of the Gentiles, in faith and verity.”

“I will then that the men pray everywhere.” Everywhere, anywhere. Have things on your heart—not only at the prayer meeting. It is indeed distressing to wait there a quarter of an hour in silence when we are there to pray. Have we nothing on our hearts? Holy brethren, hold up holy hands, without wrath or doubting. We want to be and ought to be a blessing. I want to stir you up! Let us “continue instant in prayer.” It is not that sisters are excluded from praying. On the contrary, may they be stirred up to pray among themselves. But there is more than this for them. “In like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety.” There is an honor put on women. “If any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the good behavior of their wives.” Thus may they win by their chaste conduct. “That they adorn themselves... with good works.” We are told later (chap. 5:10) what are good works: bringing up children, lodging strangers, washing saints, feet, relieving the afflicted. There were women who labored with the apostle in the gospel, though certainly not themselves preaching, and the apostle bade the saints “help these women.”

Chap. 6: But suppose I am a servant, and I have a believing master, may I not take an advantage because we are one in Christ? Nay, outside the assembly there are masters and servants and the latter are to count their masters worthy of all honor, “because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit.” What benefit? Rather, what is there NOT contained in it? Oh, how the apostle reckons up (vers. 3-5) those who don't submit to these things! We are warned against riches, but these are destitute of the truth. What poverty! What tends to the exaltation of self is a snare to us, but “godliness with contentment is great gain.” Contentment! Alas, ever to have murmured against that blessed God! Bring God into your circumstances. It is great gain. A child of God who has drunk deeply of the grace of Christ here, when he departs will carry that with him. What is the harm of getting rich, do you say? A well known brother once answered, “Only you may lose your soul through it.” Yes, drowned in destruction and perdition—eternal ruin! But “the love of money is a root of all evil” —not the only root, for there are others.

“Thou, O man of God.” It associates itself with the first verse— “the name of God.” Be like Joseph— “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” “Flee these things.” All I have been, was brought out in the cross; now “follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love,” etc., according to God.

The fight is a good one that we are engaged in, though we may fight very badly. “Lay hold on eternal life.” We have it: lay hold on it. “Keep this commandment.” The danger is of being drawn away to other confidences besides God. But look at the Lord Jesus Christ in Psa. 16. He is our Example. Keep it “till the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” What a day will that be—His public manifestation! Where is the power of the enemy? God the blessed and only Potentate will show His Son in its own times, King of kings and Lord of lords. Then this outburst of praise in ver. 10!

But he warns again of “uncertain riches.” A well accredited bank may go; in contrast, here is “the living God"! Fresh from Himself, He gives us all things, and richly to enjoy! The apostle enjoyed good things We have died with Christ, but we are to receive with thanksgiving what God gives.

Are you piling up your account in the heavenly Savings Bank? It is “a good foundation against the time to come,” when the Lord Jesus will have His rights. The Lord give us grace to hold fast His word. This epistle brings out many “faithful sayings.” May we be delivered from vain babblings

W. N. T.

The Attitude of the Man of God in the Last Days

“I know whom I have believed.” Let this expression of the apostle sink deep into our hearts as the great antidote to fear and despair. There is no need to fear nor to despair because of the apparent desolation we see in the assemblies. The church is Christ's. He gave Himself for it. Not one of His members shall be lost, but all shall be with Him to share the church's glory in the day of full redemption. Therefore, we need not fear what will be the ultimate result, because we, like Paul, know whom we have believed. We could not know the Lord Jesus otherwise than by faith. But faith in active exercise brings us near to Him and keeps us near to Him, and also gives us to know that He is near to us. We can say we did believe on Him, and we do believe on Him, and we will, through grace, go on believing Him until faith is no longer necessary.

“I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” Paul's confidence was in the power of Him in whom he trusted, the Lord of glory who was able to keep that which he had committed to Him. It was in his view simply a question of matching powers—the power of God and the power of evil. It was impossible to doubt what would be the ultimate issue.

WITHSTANDING THE POWER OF THE BEASTS

And this exercise is often needed in the history of faith. We find an example of this courage of faith, for instance, in the case of those three Hebrew captives in Babylon in the time of the decline almost to extinction of the great system of national religion. The nation of Israel which Jehovah had called out especially to be His witnesses in the world had miserably failed, and had forsaken the true God for idols. Where was Jehovah's beautiful house of Zion at that time? Where was it? In ruins, and its chosen worshippers were captives to the first great Gentile empire of Daniel's vision of the beasts.

And with these Hebrew youths, it was a question of comparing the power of the proud emperor with the power of their God who had allowed them to be carried into exile. With a view to political unity, Nebuchadnezzar set up the image in the plain of Dura, and instructed all the subjects of his vast empire to bow down and worship one thing and the same thing. The law of Moses, where was it? It was apparently under the heel of Nebuchadnezzar. Therefore, common sense said to Shadrach and his friends, “Come, bow down and worship; you cannot resist the power of this all conquering emperor. Submit to his decree, bow down and worship.” But they stood upright; they would not bow down and worship the golden image. Was it mere stubbornness? was it mere obstinacy? Not at all. It was a calm and solemn conviction that although the temple was gone, and Jerusalem was in captivity, Jehovah was still the God of His people, and they would be true to Him in the hour of seeming defeat, for they knew Him and were convinced that He was able to save them. Before them was the furnace of fire, and there was the inflexible will of the emperor. But they in faith looked above to Jehovah, and stood fast. They trusted in God, and they were not disappointed. Who ever trusted in God and was disappointed? “Whosoever believeth in Him shall not be ashamed.”

And so these men were cast into the fiery furnace, because they refused to bow down and worship the image. But the emperor saw the three men walking in the fire unhurt, with One whose form was like the Son of God. Shadrach and his friends acted with this calm immutable confidence because they were persuaded that God was able to keep that which they had committed unto Him.

Was this not illustrated again in the days of the second empire, as we also learn from the same book of Daniel? The imperial decree went forth from Darius that there should no longer be prayer made on the earth to God in heaven. If anything were to be asked, let it be asked of the all-powerful emperor on his throne, but under penalty of death there was to be no prayer to another. Such was the decree of this emperor on the advice of his nobles. The power of the world against a believer in the unseen God had thus arrayed itself in open conflict against Daniel. The question for him was, should he for thirty days effect a compromise with his piety, because the prohibition was but for thirty days; and after all it might be argued that prayer is a private communication between oneself and God, and means might be found of escaping the threatened punishment by praying to Jehovah in secret. But Daniel's heart was brave and true, and he scorned such subterfuge.

He knew his God, and he was able to look up from Darius to the God of heaven, and because he looked up he did not fail to bow his knees and to keep his windows open towards Jerusalem. He was not afraid of the vengeance of the Medo-Persian law, because he served God and not man. He was persuaded that his God was able to keep him, nor was he disappointed. He was brought safely out of the den of lions. “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”

And here again is the power of the fourth Gentile empire persecuting the servant of God. Paul was exposed to an outbreak of the fury of Caesar at any moment. Any moment he might be summoned to lay down his life for his Master. Paul during his imprisonment at Rome had written to Philippi of his desire that he might have fellowship in the sufferings of Christ. And his desire was granted, for he had to meet the same world-power as his Master.

Dear friends, we must count on this factor in our lives, that owing to our discipleship of Christ we have a relentless foe in the world, who uses against us the vast resources of his power. The prince of this world is against Christ and His followers. In its opposition to us the Worldly power may take many forms, but it is for you and for me to meet it unflinchingly in any and in all its forms. To be victors we need, however, to be clear about one thing. Are we persuaded that He is able to carry us through every crisis? This may seem to us very easy and sure when we are in the meetings, but when we are actually face to face with the activities and distractions of life, how is our courage then? Let us at all times carry with us the assurance that He is able to deliver us, and that, as He is for us, who can be against us? To be calm and serene in the hour of peril will be the test of our faith. Let not confidence in God be a mere notion that we cherish at a time like this and then go away to our homes and forget to maintain it. Faith and assurance must be put into constant practice.

CHURCH AFFAIRS COMMITTED TO THE LORD

I think, however, that the apostle has in view something further than his own personal security and blessing when he speaks of the ability of Christ to keep that which he has committed to Him. What was it that he had committed? The Corinthians first gave their own selves to the Lord. Well, Paul had committed everything no doubt. We too ought to give our own selves to the Lord. We ought not to give less, we cannot give more.

But Paul had also committed to the Lord the affairs of the church. This was his special business, so to speak. The Lord Himself had set the apostle first in the church. He had made him the foundation of the church and entrusted him with the unfolding of that mystery. He had given him the gospel of the grace of God to preach. He had committed great things to the apostle of the uncircumcision, but Paul was not deluded by his own heart into believing that he was sufficient for these things. Paul had the humility to feel that the apostolic ministry was the Lord's work and service after all. He could undertake this labor or that, but it was the Lord who was directing his labors.

As we find from his Epistle to the great metropolis, Paul particularly wished to preach at Rome, but he was not allowed to do so in the way he expected. Perhaps no man living had a greater desire to preach the gospel than he, but at Rome he had to remain silent, while others preached the word of life. He had to do what may be good for us all to do sometimes—to be quiet and to rejoice that other persons are actively employed. The apostle had to do this.

Here he speaks to Timothy of what he as an apostle had committed to the Lord. I think that the words as they are here recorded comprehend this fact among others—that the apostle of his Master had given back to Him the care of the church, his apostolic responsibility, the work that he had received direct from the Lord of glory, saying, as it were, to Him, “O Lord, I cannot serve any longer, Thou hast put me here. Thou hast confined me in prison, but preaching and teaching is Thy work, carry it on, O Lord. The church is Thine; the sheep are Thine; care for them; guard them; feed them; lead them carry them forward.” This was surely implied when the apostle wrote “I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” For the apostle committed to Him all things without exception.

This spirit should also be true of ourselves. We perhaps feel sometimes the heavy responsibility that the Lord has laid upon us in respect of what He has given us to do. We do our best, but we often feel that there is no sufficient response to our earnestness and effort. What is our practice then? Ought we not to take to our hearts the words of the apostle, to cast our care upon the Lord, and to assure ourselves that He is able to keep that deposit which we have committed to Him?

And if you read at your leisure the great prayer of the Lord recorded in the seventeenth of John you will find that the blessed Master did the same thing. He was about to leave this world, but He thought of His disciples whom He was leaving behind in a hostile scene, and what did He do? He committed them to His Father. “Thine they were and thou gavest them me. Of those that thou gavest me have I lost none, except the son of perdition. All mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them.” He was about to depart out of this world, but He first committed His followers to His Father. His Father had committed them to Him, and He committed them to His Father. What did this action display? What but that perfect union and communion between the Father and the Son which is the pattern of that between the servant and his Master.

(continued)

(To be continued)

An Address

In these scriptures I have read there is something very solemn for our consideration, and yet there is blessed encouragement—the Lord's encouragement, and we do well to thank God for all His grace and mercy to us, and take courage.

The scriptures show us that it is becoming in a day of gloom, when everything seems against us, when everything wears a dark aspect, to do as David did at Ziklag: he encouraged himself in the Lord his God. His followers who had left everything, and for love of him shared his rejection, were now ready to stone him, and he was shut up to the Lord.

This was one way in which David was a man after God's own heart—he ever turned to the Lord. When his guilt was so great that no provision of the law in the dispensation in which he lived would meet his case, he cast himself upon the multitude of God's tender mercies. Never distrust the love of Christ, but ever turn to Him, and you will be after God's own heart.

We were reminded to-day of the prayer of Epaphras. I think he had been greatly used of the Lord at Colosse, but had been neglected; yet he loved them, as Paul loved the Corinthians, and could say, though the more abundantly, I love you, the less I be loved. And that is just the liberty we have down here—by love to serve one another; not to be looking every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. How deeply interested we ought to be in the things of Christ! May our hearts go out in prayer for all the church, every day!

The character of Epaphras' prayer is well worth notice; he agonized for them, and desired that they might stand perfect and complete—in all the will of God. The service of prayer is open to every brother and sister. If we were subject and obedient in nine-tenths and doing our own will in the other tenth, can we say that we are doing His will at all? Some take the law as a rule of life, but what is God's standard for His beloved children? Himself. Far beyond the claims of the law. “Be ye therefore imitators of God as beloved children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.”

It is sweet to realize, however much we fail, there is never any failure in the Head of the body; the members may sadly fail, but not the Head. And the body will be complete in glory, for the Lord would not be satisfied to be in the glory and leave one member out.

This time the Lord calls a day— “In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you” —a day that extends from Pentecost to the Rapture, and is characterized by the presence of the Holy Ghost on earth. We who are indwelt by the Holy Ghost are one Spirit with the Lord: we are joined to Him, are members of Him as Head, and of each other.

These scriptures, in picture, bring before us the grace of God in beginning to form the church, and our blessed privileges and responsibilities up to the very end. These two chapters in John are brimful of precious truth. It is not often we get dispensational pictures in John, but there are some-; and here we get first the portion of the church, and afterward that of the remnant; and the Lord showing the wonderful superiority of the place we are in.

You will remember that Thomas who represents the Jewish remnant, said, “Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe.” He was not present on the first occasion when we get a picture of the church, but the Lord appeared again the next first day of the week, and Thomas was there; so the Lord said to him, “Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side and be not faithless, but believing.” Thomas was at once convinced and said, “My Lord and my God.” Then Jesus said to him, “Thomas because thou hast seen me thou hast believed; blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed.” They will look on Him, by and by, and mourn: real repentance will be wrought in them. The Lord does not say “Blessed Thomas,” but blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. That is characteristic of the present time. “Whom not having seen ye love, in Whom though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”

On this evening of the resurrection day the disciples were assembled, the doors being shut for fear of the Jews. They knew what the Jews had done to their Master, and He had told them “If they have persecuted me they will also persecute you,” so they were a trembling, fearful, company. There they were, not knowing what was going to transpire—a gloomy prospect for them. But Jesus knew all about them: all about their sorrows and fears, and knew the gladness it would bring to their hearts to have Him in their midst. So, “the same day at evening... came Jesus.” Jesus, the sweetest name in heaven and earth. There is no name or love like His, our safe, unfailing Friend.

“Earthly friends may fail or leave us;

One day soothe, the next day grieve us;

But this Friend will ne'er deceive us;

Oh, how He loves!”

His love never changes, and in Him we have an infinite ocean of blessedness that is never diminished. A little drop of which is enough to snake our cup run over! This Jesus is the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever—the blessed One Who loved His own and loved them to the end, Who had died for them, Who had gone through all the woes of Calvary for them, and had exhausted all the wrath of God for them! In the type the fire consumed the sacrifice, in the Anti-type the sacrifice exhausted the fire but the love is not changed, that remains undiminished, and when we are in the glory the Lord will not love us more than He does now.

It rejoices our hearts to think there is no place He likes so well as in the midst of His redeemed. In John 18:2—How did Judas know the place? The Spirit tells us “Jesus oft-times resorted thither with His disciples.” He loved to have them all to Himself, and it is the same Jesus, the unchanging One up in the glory, yet with us here; He cannot give up that place. It is the joy of His heart to be the center of His saints. “Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst.” How much there is contained in that verse. Where two or three, divine limit; are gathered (not “meeting"), divine separation; to My name, divine authority; there am I, divine presence; in the midst, divine center.

What a delightful thing I we might have been left in some human religious system, but God has brought us to Christ's name, and we have everything in Him. Will He be satisfied in the glory without occupying the same place? Not at all. In John 17 He expresses His will once. Unbosoming Himself to His Father, we are allowed to hear, and He says “Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I am.” He will have us all around Himself. How blessed! the same Jesus Who gathered them around Himself on the Mount of Olives, the same One Who came into their midst when gathered on the first day of the week. But if unchanging He changes everything for them. Here in verse 20 is the living, loving, triumphant Lord Jesus, the center of the company, occupying the place He loves so well. If this were better understood how we should have more at the meeting—knowing that it gives Him joy to have us there. He said, “Peace be unto you.” I don't believe it was just an ordinary salutation. He had made peace, by the blood of His cross, and brought that peace to them. “And He showed them His hands and His side” —the tokens of His passion, telling of a love that was strong as death, which many waters could not quench, though deep did call unto deep at the noise of Jehovah's water spouts, and all His waves and billows passed over His holy soul! How much we owe Him, and what a sense of indebtedness should possess our souls! How much there is to draw out our souls to Him in praise and worship!

(To be continued)

Publishing

LONDON

V. E. RACE, 8 & 4,London House Yard, Paternoster Row, London.E.C.

The Attitude of the Man of God in the Last Days

There is a great day coming for us all. The apostle confronted with danger as he was, and saddened by the declension around him, was able to look ahead to that day, and we all know how frequently that expression occurs in his writings. He had a day before him, just as our Lord in His pilgrimage had what He called His hour before Him—the hour of darkness, of suffering, of shame. He was ever going on to that hour. But He has set before us not an hour of deep suffering, but a day of glory, a day of light and joy and manifestation, when the few will be many, when the humble shall rejoice with the Lord, when those who have been abased for Christ's sake shall be exalted to the highest. And ought not we to let the light of that day shed its cheer upon our present pathway? The Lord who is “the bright, the morning star” meant that it should. He will not enter into the joys of that day without ourselves. He means that we shall be with Him and rejoice with Him in that day when the redeemed are at home. No power of evil can interfere then when the church is in glory. Let us seek by the grace of God to have before us that day which will make manifest those who have suffered shame for Him.

THE DEPOSIT MADE TO TIMOTHY

We have in this verse what I may call the personal conviction and assurance of the apostle amidst the darkness of the crisis that then was, and I believe that condition of things has its analogue in the present day. In the fourteenth verse we have what may be described as the special duties assigned to us for the present moment. We find that Timothy had a good deposit made with him, while there was also the deposit that Paul made with the Lord which has been our subject hitherto this evening. He had put all that concerned himself and the affairs of the church into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we learn from the succeeding verse that Timothy had a deposit too— “that good thing which was committed unto thee.” There was something which the Lord had committed to him and which he was responsible to keep. Just as the Lord was keeping and guarding the deposit that the apostle had placed with Him, so Timothy is called to guard that deposit which the Lord had committed to him.

We have therefore our duties and responsibilities for the closing days. We have hitherto been referring to what may be called the sheet anchor of our position—that which gives us courage and stability because it does not change. The Lord, while He will maintain us to the end, has not absolved us from responsibility. We are not to be idle. He has made us competent to be something and do something for Him. We are His servants, bond-slaves to Him, and therefore while the Lord, through Paul, first speaks to us of the privileges His grace has conferred upon us, He goes on to set before us our responsibility.

HOLDING FAST SOUND WORDS

In the thirteenth verse Paul writes, “Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” You must remember that the apostle's writings for the most part were not at that time widely circulated. His spoken words however were inspired words. They were not words springing from man's wisdom, but from God. They were spirit and life like the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. There was a power in them to be found nowhere else. The apostle in effect says to Timothy, “Be clear as to those sound words which thou hast heard of me. False doctrines are springing up, therefore be clear in your mind as to what I said.”

He is of course speaking as an inspired apostle. He is giving forth what the Lord gave to him, and we ought never to lose sight of that quality which the scriptures throughout possess. We are custodians of the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and they are written here. They are written in book form because they are convenient for circulation, but we ought to remember that it is not sufficient to possess a copy of the whole scriptures. It is necessary for us to have the sound and healthful words of our Lord Jesus Christ and His servants in our hearts. They have the power to preserve us from evil. Moreover the words of our Lord Jesus Christ never become corrupt, because they are, as they are here called, “sound words.” And it is especially noticeable that this particular phrase occurs several times in the Epistles to Timothy and Titus, with regard to the words of inspiration. When evil was creeping into the church, the apostle exhorts the man of God to cleave fast to the words of Christ and of His apostle.

If you study false doctrines, which I hope you will never have to do, you will always find that they rest upon some novel interpretation introduced by expositors. Discussions and controversies arise from these human interpretations that are put upon the words of scripture. We have the words of Christ, why should we fear for the fate of truth? Why should we formulate a creed to preserve us from error? We ought not to need a creed or a tradition of any kind for our protection from error. We have the words of scripture.

We may be helped and guided by the advice and conduct of others; that is true, but it is the “outline of sound words” laid up in our own hearts which is the great preservative from evil teaching. The evil taint is in the air, the germs of evil doctrine are everywhere about us. We want some preservative; where shall we get it? Only in the scriptures. And these scriptures are available for the weakest and feeblest. Some of the profoundest truths of revelation are expressed in words of one syllable. They are couched in the simplest terms, but they are of unfathomable depths. They are deep—so deep that none can fully comprehend, though all may enjoy them and be refreshed by them, and all will be preserved by them from those evil teachings that are about us.

THE SPEAKER OF THE WORDS

Let us then heed the apostle's advice to his son Timothy: “Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” Is there not a beautiful and tender touch in the last phrase—faith and love in Christ Jesus?

The Bible reveals Christ, and I am bold to say that, marvelous book as it is, it may appear dull and disappointing to those who read it without a sense of the living Person behind it. As a general attraction and power in the world, what are the scriptures apart from the Christ of whom they testify? Do not, therefore, let us be content with using the outward shell of spiritual things. We want to feel that living reality which gives us the knowledge that Christ is speaking to us through His word. Why do we not always find this in our reading? We think perhaps of the sentence, and not of the Speaker. Our thoughts are elsewhere, because busy things around us attract our attention. The multitude of daily cares drown the sweet and gentle voice of the Master in His word.

GUARDING THE DEPOSIT

The fourteenth verse also gives the final exhortation: “That good thing that was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.” No doubt the apostle's direct reference is to the particular responsibility that was laid upon Timothy as a custodian of the faith when he himself would be removed. There is a sacred deposit which is committed to everyone in the matter of rendering testimony to the truth of God. And by testimony I do not mean in the way of speaking and preaching. This latter service is confined to a few, for if all were teachers where would be the taught? We need to expound the scriptures to others in that most beautiful and powerful of all ways, that is, in our lives spent in close companionship with Christ. In those ways wherein we are likest Christ we shall never be proud of ourselves. To be like Him and to catch and reproduce His character we must come very low. We must bring ourselves down. He was humble, meek and lowly of heart, and to be like Him we must prostrate ourselves before Him, and then it is as we abase ourselves that we learn that joy which comes only from such communion with Him.

We are to guard with all our powers that sacred deposit by the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in us. There are many persons who naturally delight in conflict for the truth. They are like the war horse of Job. They scent the battle from afar with a fierce joy. But the apostle, I think, is not here alluding to that stern spirit. He is not speaking of contention for the truth nor of the delight of getting one's own way in an argument, but of guarding the deposit of truth by the Holy Ghost Who dwelleth in us. Against all the declension of the present time the fact remains that the Holy Spirit abides here in the world. Moreover He is the Spirit of truth, and to have that truth in the heart at all we can only receive it by the Holy Spirit, for He has charge of the whole body of truth.

THE HOLY SPIRIT, NOT EVIL DEMONS

You know how this Epistle speaks of the solemn times when the power of the evil spirits will be active to delude and lead astray. And this activity is prevalent now. I would raise a word of warning against the power of the evil one which displays itself in that particular way at the present time. Beware of the desire to traffic with the unseen powers that are not of God, nor of Christ.

You have the Holy Spirit, what else do you want? Do you want a legion of demons to maintain the faith once delivered to the saints? The Holy Spirit come down from above is guarding that sacred deposit that was first given by the selfsame Holy Spirit. We need not seek to invoke the unholy spirits that are about us. They are real and powerful enough for evil to a degree beyond our comprehension perhaps.

You have the Holy Spirit who never deceives. Beware then of the power of evil which always deceives. Satan knows that his doom is written in the scriptures, and he would turn you away from them. The Holy Spirit is with us. Listen to Him, but listen to Him with the word of God in your heart. He will not forsake you nor the church, until the Lord Himself comes and removes us all hence away into that blissful home He has gone to prepare.

May God grant that these words of Paul to Timothy may abide with us for our profit and help until the glad day of His coming!

(Concluded)

W. J. H.

An Address

In Luke's Gospel it is His hands and feet, but here hands and side. Only John's Gospel tells us of the spear. In the accounts of the Lord's death there is no mention of the blood in either Matthew, Mark, or Luke. It was from the dead body of Christ that the blood and water came forth. We owe everything to the precious blood.

“Our every joy on earth, in heaven,

We owe it to Thy blood.”

We need the water too. This is He Who came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood.” The blood tells us of expiation, that which meets perfectly the mind of God, Who was not only satisfied, but glorified in all His holy nature, and in every attribute. But the word of God shows us that the blood gives the believer a judicial cleansing. If not from all, not from any.

And then He would have them firmly established as to that peace, and He would have us also firmly established in that peace. In Rom. 4 you get a contrast between promise and the death and resurrection of God's beloved Son. The gospel is not a promise but something better. In the case of Abraham, Jehovah “brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them; and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be.” And he believed in the LORD; and He counted it to him for righteousness.” Abraham was “strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sat alone that it was imputed to him; but for us also to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification.”

Redemption is accomplished, and all that the Father was as revealed in Christ required that He should be raised from the dead. He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, and the facts of His death and resurrection present to us the gospel. “Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” There we get the two sides: the divine side and that which applies to us.

Oh, Christ is the One who changes everything for us! It was very gloomy for the disciples at first, but is not Christ enough the mind and heart to fill? Our hearts are too large for the world to satisfy. If we go to any other stream in the hope of getting our cup filled we shall be disappointed, for upon everything under the sun has been written vanity and vexation of spirit. God has given us the blood of Christ that we might have the blessing of a purged conscience, and the person of Christ as an object for our hearts. In the new creation all earthly distinctions disappear and Christ is everything as the object. We don't want anything but Christ: in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we are filled to the full in Him. How blessed! They found a satisfying portion here. It makes our cup run over whatever our capacities may be, and if we have Christ as our object our cup must run over. “Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord.”

Then again He says, “Peace unto you.” He would have their hearts established in that. “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” He had been sent from heaven, the One who was eternally in the bosom of the Father, and as such perfectly told Him out. Now He says here to them—the company He had made exceeding glad— “So send I you.” We once belonged to the world, but by grace have been called out of it, and are now heavenly ones. So you see, we were in the world, and by Christ were chosen out of it; He has called us out of it, and joined us to Himself, and sent us back into it to tell Him out. Oh, that “For me to live is Christ,” was true of all of us! We have no resources in ourselves to do it. We are His own as the gift of the Father to Him, and He has also made us His own by purchase, and we have become His bondslaves.

“And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” Forty days after, He said they should be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence; and the Holy Ghost came down ten days after. But here, I judge, most of us would see the more abundant life the Lord had previously spoken of. They had life before, but now more abundantly. I have no doubt, it is that which is spoken of in Rom. 8, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” We are upon resurrection ground, and the eternal interests of our souls are placed beyond the reach of any change. Would that we had a larger estimate of it!

While that is true, I cannot help thinking that in the picture of the assembly we are reminded how every blessing is connected with the Holy Ghost. All this remains with us by the grace of God.

I remember that five years ago, at the last Conference, the verses read in John 21 were touched upon, but it will be well to look at them now in connection with what has already been before us.

Peter and John are representative men. Peter of the early days of Christianity—days of power and miracles—even the shadow of Peter was used for the healing of the sick. But those days were to end. Peter himself was to die a martyr, as foretold by the Lord. In contrast to this when Peter desired to know John's future, saying to the Lord, “What shall this man do?” the Lord, replied, “If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee? Follow thou Me.” So that in a sense we get John up to the coming of the Lord. It would mean this too, that the Lord's triumph over death is so complete that it is simply a question of His will as to the duration of the life of His saints upon earth.

The Lord's words concerning John would evidently suggest that the features presented in John and his writings would remain to the end, John followed the Lord, we too may all follow Him; he also leaned on His breast at supper, and said “Lord, which is he that betrayeth Thee?” John valued the love of the Lord, and hides himself behind the words, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” In Luke 22 we read, “And when the hour was come He reclined, and the twelve apostles with Him,” and we learn that John occupied the nearest place. Reclining next to the Lord he could pillow his head upon His bosom—thus telling us of sweetest intimacy; and the like intimacy is ours if we value it.

I firmly believe that God gives us of Christ all that we value. Keeping close to the Lord will save us from many a snare. John is in the secret of the Lord as to the betrayer, and is used of God to tell us of the many anti-christs. He also teaches us that the two tests of truth are the person of Christ and the written word. There is nothing so jealously guarded by the Holy Ghost as the person of Christ; and we ought to be on our guard, surrounded as we are by betrayers, and never should we consent to a speck being put upon the spotless One. John not only tells of the many anti-christs, but he is the one chosen to give us the promise of the Lord as to His coming: “I will come again, and receive you unto myself.” This blessed hope will remain.

Just a closing thought as to those verses read from the Revelation. In chapters 2 and 3 we have God's church history, giving an account of the course of that which was set up in divine righteousness (the golden candlesticks) as a responsible witness for Christ in the world. But everything fails in the hands of man, and the church is no exception. The church has utterly failed, but at the end the Lord presents Himself as the true and faithful witness.

In the first church, Ephesus, there is much to commend: their labor, their patience, their attitude toward them which were evil, the Lord also commends them for testing those who assumed to be apostles. They had borne, they had patience, and for His name's sake had labored and had not fainted. Now, if there had been no more said to this church, we should be ready to say, Here is a perfect church—everything exact, orderly, correct.

In listening to brethren sometimes, I feel that such an assembly, as here described, outwardly correct, would satisfy them. But it did not satisfy the Lord. He wants our hearts, our love, our affection, so He says to the angel of the assembly, “Nevertheless I have against thee that thou has left thy first love.” This is the beginning of the long line of evil culminating in Laodicea, which has to be spued out of the Lord's mouth.

Sad as was the state of the Laodiceans, they had high thoughts of themselves. Let us be warned. Let us heed the Lord's solemn words, “Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor and blind, and naked; I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve that thou mayest see.”

Here the Lord discloses that they were minus the three great Christian essentials, minus divine righteousness, minus the true Christian character, and minus the Holy Ghost. Because of their evil state the Lord has to take an outside place, but still waiting to be gracious: knocking at the door of the assembly. Because of what the Lord is to the very end may we be encouraged. May we be kept humble and may it be our desire that God in all things be glorified. I trust this will be the result of our having been together the past few days.

J. A. T.

Fragment: Not Walking in Darkness

It is not a question of making others walk in your light, but you must not walk in their darkness. This is the great point, not occupying ourselves with others, prescribing what they must do, but feeling my own sin, as well as the common sin, yet by grace resolved at all costs to be where I can honor and obey the Lord. Is not this a true plain imperative duty, an undeniable principle of scripture, that commends itself to your conscience? It may be that you do not act accordingly; but you cannot deny that it is a right thing, and what you ought to do.

On Open Ministry

I admit that what is called open ministry has given occasion to the flesh. But I do not think the remedy for it is to deny the presence and operation of the Spirit of God; which as far as it goes, is the principle of the tract. And I will add further that, while I admit that the flesh has taken occasion from spiritual liberty to take license to itself (as God has warned us it would), and while I think that flesh acting thus ought, as in every other case, to be judged by the church if the individual does not judge it for himself, I have no hesitation in saying that I have found spiritual devotedness and spiritual intelligence and brotherly joy unequivocally inferior, and a very carnal following of particular ways of thinking taking their place, wherever teachers (with a comfortable opinion of themselves, because able by natural qualifications to be acceptable to many, without denying that they might have gift) have absorbed into their own hands the ministry of the word. It is, and has been in all ages, one of the first symptoms of spiritual decline in the church. Another consequence is, that sisters lose a most blessed place which God had given them in the church, and take one which He has not given, and which is really a dishonor to them before God.

Moreover (while I would press upon every heart, and especially upon those who would act upon the deplorable and unchristian principle of “having a right to speak,” that grace is “swift to hear and slow to speak,” and that, while faithful in the exercise of what God has given, one must ever be ready to esteem another better than oneself), I believe that the love of power is as much to be dreaded in those who can gratify the ears and minds of many (and that is not edification), as the love of doing in those who can please but few; and this especially where spiritual power is on the decline, and teaching looked to stimulate, instead of the Lord enjoyed in grace. The consequence is, you will find more or less the teacher takes the place of the Lord. Seemly flesh is not more pleasant to God than rude flesh, though it pave the way more easily for the church's contentedly leaving God and forgetting His presence.

Teaching, precious as it is, is not His presence. I dread much when I hear people say, “Dear Mr. Such-an-one.” It may be accompanied with grace in other ways, but I do not think they would have so spoken of Paul or Apollos, when the grace and holy power which puts the conscience in the presence of Christ was in its energy, though they would have esteemed them very highly in love for their work's sake.

You may perhaps think I am blaming others—I am not. I have seen the same spirit working as regards myself; and I think I may say I have struggled against it, though this (in the feebleness of the church as to laborers) is not easy; but in trusting God for this, I have found that blessing has followed, whatever the danger seemed. I believe that the Holy Ghost dwells in the church. This will never make man careless in watching over the saints for their good—quite the contrary; but the belief of it will hinder his taking the Spirit's place. God will be respected in the church, and His Spirit in the whole body and in the least of its members. And those that honor Him, He will honor.

The pamphlet you have sent me is just the setting aside of all this, and the expression of the decline, in the writer's case—I might almost say, the ceasing to believe in the presence and operation of God in the church. I do not suppose that you can force, so as to be profitable, the speaking of those who have little gift or but few words to say. The forcing a member to act may not restore the tone of the body, want of which has disabled the member from acting; but to take this state as the healthful one, because the acting of the members made the body in its sickly state ill at ease, is a sad mistake.

This is the progress of the thing: when real and fresh joy in the Lord is there, and the saints think much of the Lord, a few words spoken about Him recall Him, and they are full of joy and happy. If another can speak largely of His grace (though in fellowship this would be to me exceptional), they feed; Christ is still thought of, His glory present, and the soul perhaps carries away meditation for another moment. The speaker and the hearers together think of Christ. Where the Lord is much less thought of, the few very same words would not recall Christ scarcely at all to the heart, because He is not there in the same way, and they are wearisome, they do not stimulate; and he who once was wont so to speak thinks himself and his gift despised.

Perhaps, too, some defect of education or the like has accompanied these few words: it was quite or almost overlooked when Christ was very present, but now it is very evident and displeasing. If sometimes he went beyond what the Spirit gave him, this, though perceived and (if there was faithfulness) mentioned in grace, with the recognition of Christ in all the rest—now that Christ is not the source of the same blessing, has not the same place in the hearer—becomes remarked and offensive, because what man is, is now much more prominent.

Hence the more accomplished teacher who does not offend the ear and the taste becomes necessary -a dreadful snare to himself and to the whole assembly. But when this comes to be insisted on as the right thing and those who have educational qualifications come to insist on this state of things as the right state, it is very sad. Failure, and building on failure to sanction the position which the flesh would assume for its ease because of failure, are two very different things. The first, man has to confess; the last, is assuming his ease in it and setting aside God and his own responsibility at once. And I do avow I have a little distrust of this, coming always from those who take the whole matter to themselves on this ground. I think, if the history of the church be examined, it will be found that the decline of any revival always took this road.

One word more of general remark. I do not at all say that in any gathering where such is the state of things, those who can edify very little, or not at all, are to force themselves on the gathering, or to be encouraged in that state of things to speak. If it does not edify, it can be of no use. The point is, that all should feel what the state of things is, and, above all, not sanction as right what is the proof of failure and decay. I have no hesitation in saying that worse spiritual decline is always the consequence.

That the flesh has used liberty for license I do not doubt: the gifts did not hinder that. It may be, too, that in a given gathering there may not be a teacher at all; this is very possible, because the gifts are in the unity of the whole body, not in a single gathering. The state of the church may make our weakness very apparent in this respect; but if we are humbled, we shall accept this position and he blessed. The attempt to restore gift by, or rather to substitute for it, the quietness which decent human attainment may give, is just to avoid the holy, humble, God-owning confession of the state we have brought the church to. It is building again (and worse) the things which we have destroyed.

It is, after being awakened, refusing to acknowledge and bow our heads on account of the sorrowful state of the church; and this I see fast growing in many a mind because of the blessing which God in His sovereign goodness deigned to bestow on those who did so own and humbled themselves on account of that state. The Lord keep us lowly, and keeping the word of His patience.

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Notes on Leviticus 23

This chapter has a deeper meaning than the instruction for the various feasts; it gives an outline of God's dispensational dealings from the death of the Lord Jesus to the eternal day of rest.

First of all you get the Sabbath, which is marked off from the feasts that follow, which were yearly; this was weekly. We are quite safe in saying God's rest in creation was broken by man's sin; and you do not get the Sabbath again for 2,500 years, when we have it again in connection with the giving of the manna—a lovely type of the Lord Jesus, the One in Whom God could rest.

The Jews accused the Lord of violating the Sabbath. It was given again under the law, and if the Israelites had valued grace they would not have put themselves under law. They said, “All the things the Lord hath commanded us we will do and be obedient,” —presumptuous, ignorant man! When they accused the Lord He said, “My Father worketh hitherto and I work.” God's holiness precluded His resting in a state of sinfulness, and His mercy prevented His resting in a state of misery.

No doubt there was a Sabbath—a rest that nothing could touch quite apart from God's rest in creation. The great thing in the Sabbath is that it is a type of Christ. God finds His rest in Him, and we do too.

It has been pointed out that in the six days of creation we get an outline of all God's dealings until the day of millennial rest, and this is true also of the seven biographies of Genesis; of which that of Joseph prefigures the millennium.

The first annual feast is the Passover, and we have not to speculate about its meaning. The Holy Spirit declares it to us in 1 Cor. 5. By that Passover we have been sheltered from the stroke of judgment. “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.” There is the One Who does it, and the new heavens and new earth will witness to it, where “dwelleth [abideth uninterruptedly] righteousness.”

In the institution of the Passover we have the first mention of the blood in connection with sacrifice. The first occurrences in Exodus are very remarkable. In Abel's lamb the fat had prominence; in the ram on Moriah, the horns; in the passover, the blood. Inside the blood-sprinkled doors they fed on the roast lamb, but that did not add to their security. The blood, and that alone, sheltered them from the stroke of judgment. Another thing is very comforting. It does not say the strong in faith had more security than the weak, it was the blood that formed the security. And we are told in Eph. 1 “In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.”

For seven days after the Passover—a complete cycle—is “the feast.” It would take up the whole of a Christian's life. “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5). Our standard must be “That ye sin not.” Do not let us lower the standard. There should be the absence of evil thought and deed from the Christian's life. He is regarded as dead, and it is said of him, “Seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds,” ——that is once for all. It is done with, as God views it. What is true of Christ is viewed of God as true of us. “Put off therefore all these.” There must be no allowance of evil.

Following the Passover (ver. 9) on the first day of the week, when the Lord rose from the dead, the priest waved that sheaf in the temple. If we turn to Joshua, when Israel crossed the Jordan, the river was full, it overflowed its banks all the time of harvest; and they then kept the passover. That was the beginning of harvest, and we learn from Ruth it was barley harvest. So we get the death of Christ, and His resurrection; and we are “a kind of firstfruits” too. Among all the offerings connected with the wave sheaf, there was no sin offering. Is not the Lord the Holy One? Only sweet savor offerings were offered with it. That wave sheaf had to be offered first; and when the disciples plucked the ears of corn, it says it was “the second sabbath after the first.” The literal translation is “the second first sabbath.” It is connected with this. It was the week after, and the Lord shelters them, for this had been offered first.

After this, they had to count fifty days till Pentecost—the assembly of God, where all earthly distinctions disappear. But I think the “two loaves” would be adequate testimony to the presence of the Holy Ghost. And the baptized body was composed of those 120 gathered together when He descended. If you have not the Holy Spirit you do not belong to the assembly; but when God seals the work in a man's soul he is thereby brought into the “one body.” There was leaven in the two loaves-a recognition of the sin in us. As to our conscience, we are perfected in perpetuity, without a single break (Heb. 10:14). In the same chapter it says “having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” These loaves in Leviticus were baken with leaven, so you not only get the sweet savor offerings, but “one kid of the goats for a sin offering.” So in His grace, God has provided for it, and the evil is atoned for. These loaves too were waved, but they were not burnt on the altar.

No leaven was ever burnt there. The meal offering would be offered there and the priest would take his handful and burn it. That represented Christ, and no leaven could ever be allowed in the representation of Him, the ever holy and undefilable One.

Well, the harvest comes, and the Lord gathers into His barn, and has a harvest. If we turn to Matt. 13 we shall see what was done with the tares and wheat. “Christ the firstfruits"; now we are waiting to be gathered in before the great ingathering of Israel. There is for us no looking for events, or signs; but the personal coming of the Lord Jesus for all His own in the blessed way in which He has presented it in John 14:3.

Nature of Prophecy - Part 1

“The prophetic word” means the communication of things to come which God has been pleased to make in Scripture. The apostle Peter, in so using the expression, compares it to “a lamp that shineth in a squalid place.” It makes manifest man's evil, which God declares He will judge and supersede by His kingdom in Christ (2 Peter 1:19). Those addressed did well to heed it, though he desired for them still better light, and this for the heart— “till day dawn and the day-star arise in your hearts.” He had of course this heavenly hope bright in his own heart, and he desired it for all of them. But the saints of the circumcision were slow in apprehending what was new and heavenly: so we see over a larger area in the Epistle to the Hebrews. They were content with the elements of the doctrine of Christ, and had to be exhorted to go on to perfection, or that full age in Christ which is proper to the Christian, based on accomplished redemption and the gift of the Holy Spirit, as well as occupied with Christ's glory on high. Here they were dull, as 2 Peter shows them, about the Christian hope.

But the apostle encouraged them to heed the lamp of prophecy till they seized the brighter light that the gospel brings of the hope of which Christ Himself is the, one personal object—Christ about to receive us and to present us in the Father's house, that where He is, there we also may be. Useful as a lamp is for guiding us in darkness or guarding us from the defilements around, far better is the light of Christ fully revealed, and the accompanying hope for our hearts even now, before He gives us the Morning Star, that is, association with Himself at His coming. It is the coming again of Him whose love we know, Who suffered once for all for our sins, Who will then consummate in heaven the love He proved for us on earth. When the day of Jehovah comes for the world, according to prophecy, it will burn as a furnace for the proud and wicked; but to those that fear His name, as Israel thus will here below, shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings. Our hope is much higher, whether for our hearts now, or when it is fulfilled at His coming. It is not associated with judgment on adversaries, but founded on His own bearing our judgment on the cross, and taking us to heaven to be with Himself, apart from all thought of the earth or of man upon it.

Meanwhile, and from the earliest days, God has given prophecy in this sin-darkened world, and He took care, when human life was shortened to its present span (Psa. 90:10) to embody it in Scripture as “the prophetic word.” In it lay, when Adam transgressed, the warrant of faith. Man fell and paradise was lost through sin. All hope turned on the woman's Seed, Who would with bitten heel bruise the serpent's head. Whatever else might be intimated and learned from God's sayings and doings in those sad circumstances of ruin, a Deliverer ways revealed in the future, Himself deeply to suffer, but to crush the enemy who had so soon and completely misled man. This Deliverer somehow must be man, the woman's Seed, itself a fact absolutely unique, and a phrase of mysterious moment and ineffable grace; yet must He also be immeasurably above man, not only to resist and beat off the old serpent, the devil, but to deal him destruction beyond remedy. The word translated “prophet” in the Old Testament (nahvee) is derived from “bubbling or pouring forth,” alluding to God's action in inspiring him, “Seer” (roheh) or (chozeh) points to the vision which distinguished such. Its scriptural meaning transcends the classical usage as the living and true God rises above the demons, who acted behind the idols that were adored by the heathen and interpreted by their prophets.

In the New Testament, as well as in the Old, the term prophet or prophecy is applied when God's mind was communicated, as in Gen. 20:7; Psa. 105:15; John 4:19; 1 Cor. 14:24, 25; but its strict and appropriated sense of unveiling the future, which belongs to God only, is unquestionable. When idolatry prevailed, and God separated Abraham and the line of promise, He made known clearly and severally His design to bless the chosen family, and in a specified land assured to them. He disclosed also a still larger and more wondrous purpose, bound up with their Seed, to bless all the families in the earth (Gen. 12:3; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14). While prophecy thus embraced the laying bare of facts or persons at any time (1 Sam. 9:20; 2 Kings 5:26), so as to put conscience in God's presence, none the less did the revelation of the future characterize the prophet, as we see throughout the range of Scripture.

Nay, more, while the five books of Moses are distinctly called the Law, as in a vague way are the Psalms and the Prophets, yet every part of, the Pentateuch is brimful of prophecy. Adam is authoritatively declared to be figure of the Coming One; this in righteousness and life, as that in sin and death. Cain presages the way of woe in walk and worship, as righteous Abel's blood witnesses that which speaketh better. And if we omit not a few, Noah foreshadows Him Who will unfailingly govern the world after it is again judged as a whole for its iniquities. The Messiah underlies every promise and every office of special dignity, Godward and manward, covenant, sacrifice and offering, point to His work. Holy and suffering witnesses give glimpses of Him as the wicked manifest their awful antagonism. The past public dealings of God typify greater things to come. The first battle in Genesis is vividly impressed with signs of the last; especially when we read at its close Abram's meeting the royal priest, who blessed the conqueror on the part of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, and blessed God Most High, Who had delivered the enemies into his hand; the clear prefiguration of Jehovah's day, with its issue of blessedness, above and below, in righteousness and peace.

One might dwell ever so long on broad outlines and minute details alike, each and all telling the same tale of the bright future that gilds to the instructed eye the humbling lessons of the history, pointing to Christ's day, which made Abraham glad, when the whole earth shall be filled with His glory. But one must forbear even as to Genesis, rich as it is in furnishing the germs of what is developed now, or what is to be in another and more blessed way during days to come. A similar character pervades in some form every one of the other books of Moses, nay, of every book of the Old Testament. Thus Exodus points to a better redemption of God's people, and by power as well as blood; and to His subsequent deigning to dwell in the midst of the redeemed, as He will forever. Leviticus again, and Numbers, are no less predictive; and Deuteronomy, besides its more veiled intimations in its course and close, has more open prophecies of Christ and His coming triumphs than its predecessors. As the historical books that follow are said by the Jews to be written by the “earlier prophets,” so all are stamped inwardly to the intelligent Christian with shadows of good things to come, which center in Him Whom in their blindness they rejected. So more evidently are the Psalms full of Christ, and of the Spirit of Christ in His people. It ought to be needless to say this of the “later” avowed prophets. But we live in days of rebuke and blasphemy, when in Christendom even professing servants of His are eagerly encouraging one another to obliterate from the Old Testament Him Who, if seen therein, shakes of itself the new critical system to atoms, and convicts its adherents of shameless incredulity.

The New Testament is the manifestation of the Son of God, Jesus the Christ come in flesh; and it declares redemption accomplished in Him, rejected by men, notably by the Jews, but risen from the dead and glorified Head over all things to the church, His body. Consequently the kingdom, pledged in the Old Testament, assumes, while Christ is on high, a character of “mystery.” (Matt. 13:11; Mark 4:11), or the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens; till He, having caught up the risen saints to the Father's house, returns in displayed power to enforce the rights of God, and bring in the long expected times of refreshing for Israel, the nations, and all creation. The cross of Christ, being as it was the rejection of God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, gave occasion to Christian blessing in the gospel, and in the church united to its exalted Head; which is wholly distinct from the things to come. Yet the apostle, in Rom. 16:26, designates the divine word which reveals this new and heavenly secret, “prophetic scriptures.” From everlasting, silence had been kept about that mystery: a statement inapplicable to “the prophets,” and yet more evidently to their Scriptures in the Old Testament. But now it was manifested, and by prophetic scriptures, according to the eternal God's commandment, made known for obedience of faith unto all the nations. In thus making it known, the Epistles to the Ephesians and to the Colossians, with those to the Corinthians and others, have a primary place. And thus the saints are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner-stone. The instruments of this special teaching are hence shown to be exclusively the New Testament apostles and prophets, as a joint class for this inspired work. But the New Testament in no way lacks the richest testimony on things to come, as the Lord promised ( John 16 Witness Matt. 24; 25, Mark 13, Luke 21, to speak only of the fuller predictions in the Synoptic Gospels, and in 2 Peter and Jude, but especially 2 Thess. 2; 1 Tim. 4, 2 Tim. 3, with the Revelation, the most abundant, systematic, and profound of all prophecies.

In the Old Testament, as in the New, the greatest variety of moral appeal accompanies prediction almost everywhere, and in volume commonly exceeds it, as being of the utmost importance. But specific predictions are given throughout to be fulfilled in due time. Apply this test to Christ's first advent, incomparably the most momentous of all facts here below, so declared to be by both the Old and the New Testaments; and what can be more decisive? From Moses to Malachi the grand testimony was to the coming Messiah. Even Genesis narrowed the limits down from the first woman to Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, successively; as the Psalms did to One Who should be David's son, yet David's Lord, sitting at Jehovah's right hand before He strike through kings in His wrath (Psa. 110), Who is set on the holy hill of Zion, and sways the universal scepter as Son of man over all nations (Psa. 8; Dan. 7). The time was fixed by Daniel, the place by Micah, the birth from a virgin by Isaiah, even the strange land (where Israel was a bondman) to the Messiah a shelter from the Edomite king of Judea, as the Spirit showed by Hosea (chap. 11:1-3). So we have in Isaiah and Malachi His herald, “A voice crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah"; for indeed He was Immanuel and Jehovah. By the same prophet. His servant character, so hateful to man's pride and rebelliousness, was fully made known. It told the tale of the world's state, His utter rejection by man, though Jehovah's chosen, in Whom His soul delighted, Whom man despised, whom the nation abhorred. There, too, the ministry of His life, the atonement of His death, are with equal clearness revealed. So, long before, David wrote in Psa. 22 what was immeasurably beyond his own sufferings and any kingly power of his—indeed, what He alone of all men knew. He is on the one hand the Holy One of God, abandoned by His God, as He must be to make expiation of sins, and on the other raised and glorified in virtue of it, so as to praise “in the midst of the congregation” or church (ver. 22) now, as He will ere long “in the great congregation,” i.e., “all Israel” then saved (ver. 25); when all the ends of the earth shall remember, and all the kingdoms of the nations worship. So it is to be, when the Kingdom becomes de facto, as it is de jure, Jehovah's, and He is ruler over the nations.

When the dread scene of the cross drew near, was the prophetic word in vain? or did it utter generalities, or easy guesses, or dubious oracles? Was it only within the space of man's life or observation that one predicted the treachery of a disciple (Psa. 41:9), as another did the goodly price He was prized at by them-the thirty pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12, 13)? Was it within the compass of man's mind to say centuries before that He, over Whom Jehovah watched, with delight and loving care without parallel, should, in His obedience, be surrendered to the basest smiting and the cruelest contumely (Isa. 1), because His vindication was to be by resurrection (Psa. 16) and heavenly glory (Psa. 8; 110) that grace might reign through righteousness unto life eternal through Jesus Christ our Lord? Was it the prognostic of a mortal to say of Messiah (for of Him only Psa. 22 treats), “They pierced my hands and my feet,” and again, “They part my garments among them, and upon my vesture they do cast lots"? anticipatively to provide the very words the Lord Jesus appropriated when suffering once for all for sins, Just for unjust? Was it a mere conjecture to lay down that not a bone of Him should be broken (Ex. 12; Psa. 34:20), when the legs of the others were? or that only He should be pierced (Zech. 12), whereas they were not? Was it fortuitous that even in such circumstances He should be with the rich in His death, whilst His grave would naturally be made with the wicked? (Isa. 53).

No good man's fancy more unreliable than Dr. T. Arnold's (Sermons 1, on the Interpretation of Prophecy, 377) that history deals with particular facts, prophecy with general principles, so as to make it conditional because of evil in the creature. It was blindness to both history and prophecy, as God has given them in, the Scriptures; and outside His word we need not concern ourselves. In all the Old Testament, avowedly historical, or ostensibly prophetic, there are deep moral principles as surely as the facts which embody them or draw out the word that conveyed them. In all too one still grander Object of faith arose before such as believed.

(To be continued)

Notes on Matthew 24:1-14

CHAP. 24.

We can speak of chap. 24 as winding up the Lord's public ministry—all those terrible woes; and I have no doubt this chapter is linked with what the disciples had just heard, “Your house is left unto you desolate” —that which had been His Father's house, the one recognized place of worship on the earth. No doubt it cost the disciples some exercise when they heard this. Did not the buildings of the temple look as if they would stand all the, ravages of time, built of immense stones? And they draw the Lord's attention to them. From the mount of Olives they got a good sight of the temple. We may well conceive that it would not be without amazement that the disciples heard that not one stone should be left upon another Of course, in one way it is well to notice that in Scripture the “house” is always regarded as one house. So in Haggai we read, “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former.” A great glory attached to the temple that had been erected by Solomon; and those who remembered something of that glory wept when they saw the one now erected by the returned remnant; but the glory as it will be seen in the millennium will be greater. The temple will be erected in unbelief, yet the Lord will own it; and it is recognized here where He speaks of “the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place,” and again in Rev. 11: 1,2, it is referred to.

A good deal of Judaism is mixed up in many Christian minds. There is no “place of worship” on earth now, as was once the case. Since Christ's death and ascension, we have no temple on earth (Acts 17:24) for us Christians. Our worship is in “the holies” (Heb. 10:19) where Christ is entered, even into heaven itself (ver. 24). The Father and the Son are the objects of worship, and the Holy Spirit is given to us as the power for it, and heaven the place. We are detached entirely from the world, and we are connected with heaven. It is damaging to the soul when we get on Jewish ground. The house of Isaiah is the temple; and Jehovah's holy mountain the city, though sometimes the expression has a wider meaning than that of the land as e.g., in the verse “they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain.” Blessing will extend all over the world, but Jerusalem will be the center. It will be the metropolis. The Lord Jesus will reign over all the world, but His throne will be in Jerusalem. Instead of Israel being the tail, it will be the head. And it will be a favor for the saved of the Gentiles to serve the Jews in that day. The top of the mountain will be above all other powers.

When He gave instruction for the tabernacle we know it was all right, and a beautiful type of Christ and the church, but beautiful colors, precious stones, and metals marked it. It all has a voice to us and all utters His glory. But Solomon's temple must be exceeding magnifical. And it has been said that 5,000 tons of gold were used in it. This all has a meaning to us too, but in Ezekiel's temple the position and the measurements are the important thing, and we get the latter glory which is greater than the former.

In our chapter we do not get the particulars, as in Luke, about the destruction of the temple because it has already been brought before us in chap. 22:7. We gather from the Gospel by Mark that Peter, James, John, and Andrew, were on the mount of Olives and asked these questions. We do not get everything in one record.

Ver. 3. “End of the world,” is a very faulty translation. It should be “end of the age.” The millennium is after this, and, as the name indicates, will be a thousand years; so at least its beginning will be a thousand years before the end of the world. The word the disciples used here, is “age.” In dealing with the saints of the present dispensation the cross is regarded as the “consummation of the ages,” but here it is different, the Lord is dealing with the Jewish remnant. The disciples then present formed on the day of Pentecost the nucleus of the one body and were among the one hundred and twenty then assembled. This was when the baptism of the Spirit took place. “After ye believed ye were sealed,” and the Holy Spirit is also the anointing, the power for our understanding the word, and Christians form that “one body,” into which we are now baptized by one Spirit.

Ver. 4: Before redemption the disciples represent the Jewish remnant. For in the last week of Daniel there will be a remnant just corresponding with them; but the church comes in between as a timeless, dateless, gap. All believers since Pentecost form the church, and were chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the world"; but God's earthly people are never so described, but as “from” the foundation.

This discourse is divided into three parts: first, the Jewish remnant, then the church, and lastly the Gentiles; and in this order. But these last are not blest in the same measure as “the church.” The word to them is, “Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Very blessed it is to discern the differences and precision of the word of God.

Ver. 5. This would not deceive a Christian. We can see how it suits the Jewish remnant. We are going to meet the Lord in heaven, not on earth. He will descend and we ascend. We know where the meeting place will be, viz., in the air. After this event there will be an indefinite period, to be succeeded by a limited one of seven years—the last week of Daniel's seventy—before His feet stand upon the mount of Olives. The Lord might come to-day to call us up to meet Him, for there is no prophetic event remaining to be fulfilled before He then comes for every Christian. 2 Thess. 2:1 should make this clear to us. Our gathering together unto Him in the air must precede “the day of the Lord” which is the subject of O.T. prophecy. After the “dead in Christ” are raised and the living saints changed, at the coming of the Lord in the air (1 Thess. 4) there will follow the preliminary judgments of Rev. 6 etc. There will be the resuscitation of the Roman Empire and the covenant made with the Jews.

I judge myself that there is nothing to indicate that Rev. 6 is in the seventieth week of Daniel. It is all preparatory; because in chap. 7, the storm of judgment is delayed until an elect remnant out of the twelve tribes is sealed, which marks God's taking up the Jew in a special way. But there have been those who have argued from analogy that as the first advent was divided into two stages, etc., the second will be likewise. The first advent was divided thus—the Savior's birth when He was born King; then, in Zech. 9 “Thy King cometh.” There were thirty years between these two events. So from analogy some would make it a longer period than most of us would. He who now hinders will hinder, till He be gone. The presence of the Holy Spirit in the church restrains to a large extent the development of evil.

Ver. 6. All that is in this verse would correspond with the temporal judgment of Rev. 6 God takes peace from the earth. It is terrible now, and no doubt all the world is affected, but then it will be worse! When there is universal war, famine follows. Then come carnage and persecution. Under the sixth seal the earth quakes. I believe the earthquake of Rev. 6 represents the upheaval of the masses, terrible anarchy; and I believe out of that anarchy the Roman empire will be formed, as in chap. 13 it arises out of “the sea,” the restless nations (Rev. 18:15). Look at the French revolution! Things got so horrible, anything was better than anarchy. It is better to be under any form of government than none at all. Talk of tyranny, there is no tyranny so great as that of the mob. Out of that French anarchy, came Napoleon Bonaparte and the empire-a little picture of what will be. Ever since there have been nations, there have been wars, but nothing like this to which the Lord refers. There is coming a time of “temptation” that will be sent to try them that dwell on the earth, but we must not confound this with “the great tribulation” which we have further on in this very chapter.

Ver. 8 shows what I have been trying to point out. The millennium is called “the regeneration” (chap. 20), and this is the beginning of pangs connected with “the regeneration.” The Lord points out that the remnant will have an awful time. There are two kinds of Apocalyptic sufferers. Those the Lord speaks of here must be the first company, before the Roman empire is formed. They are seen in Rev. 6:9, where their testimony is given after the church is gone; they represent the godly remnant whom the Lord here anticipatively addresses, and quite in contrast to Stephen and his truly Christian spirit. But these in that day will be as right as was Stephen in Christian days.

The learned would have us believe that the imprecatory psalms are the relic of a barbarous age, but we know differently, for the law is not the same as Christianity, and each has its own time with appropriate duties, and they do not exist together. These saints will properly and fittingly call for vengeance. And, “a white robe” —proper saintly character—is given to them. At the end of Rev. 6 we see what will correspond with chap. 13 for out of this terrible upheaval will arise the Roman empire—the beast that arises out of the sea to which the dragon will give “his power, and his throne, and great authority.” It will not then be “the powers that be are ordained of God,” as is the case now. So those that make a compact with the beast are spoken of in Isa. 27 as making it “with death and hell.” That is the interpretation the Holy Spirit gives of it. They make the covenant with the Roman empire to protect them from the Assyrian, “the king of the north.”

Well, now, see Rev. 13:15. Those martyrs mentioned in chap. 6 had to rest till this company also had laid down their lives rather than pay homage to the beast. Further on in the book (chap. 20:4) we see both these companies. Those slain “for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God” are the first company; those “which had not worshipped the beast,” the second, i.e., the two companies of chaps. 6, 8. Their “souls” were seen, and now “they lived” —God's way of expressing their instant resurrection, so that they bodily reign with Christ a thousand years.

Ver. 9. It will be so trying a time that we little anticipate how awful the pressure which will be brought upon them. We get a little inkling in the Psalms where we read of their crying “out of the depths.” I suppose we all know that the Psalms are divided into five books, each with distinctive character. There will be those who will hate one another. “Many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many; and because iniquity shall abound the love of the many shall wax cold” (vers. 10-12). “The many” is the mass (in contrast with the godly remnant), who will make the covenant; but it is he that shall endure unto the end that will be saved (ver. 13). This passage has often been a trouble to anxious souls. Here it is in reference to the awful trial and pressure of God's earthly people in that coming day—being boycotted unless having the mark of the beast on the hand or forehead. “In their forehead” would denote a public owning; “in the right hand” a somewhat secret submission perhaps. Those who are obedient to the Lord's words will escape the worst of it. Those who fail to obey will have to bear the brunt of it.

Ver. 15. There was an idol put up by Antiochus Epiphanes which preceded the Lord's words, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation,” flee. It is to Dan. 12 it that the Lord refers. Now turn to Rev. 12:14. Those who flee, God will see are miraculously fed. There is nothing said about Daniel in chapter 3 of his book. The events recorded there are prophetic pictures. It is remarkable that Daniel is absent there. It would rather illustrate what we have here. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego passed through the trial, but were miraculously preserved. Even now “coming events cast their shadows before” them, and the state of things of that which bears the Name of the Lord has this effect upon many that their love waxes cold. You need to keep very close to the Lord to stand in such a state of things. I have no doubt that—the full force of “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord” is shown by this verse. There will be some miraculously preserved to share the joys of the millennium, but those who lay down their lives will be raised, having their part in “the first resurrection,” for at that time it will be a blessed thing to die; but now, if the Lord will that I remain, it is, as Paul said, “worth while,” though “to depart” is far better, and better still “to be clothed upon” (2 Cor. 5:2-4).

God will never leave Himself without witness, and when the church is removed, He will work, in His grace, in His earthly people, those spoken of here as the remnant. As we noticed last week, the disciples as they walked along with Christ were the then remnant. A living Christ is for Israel; a risen Christ for the church. After Pentecost the disciples form the church. The church fills up an interregnum, “chosen” in Christ before the foundation of the world. They are called out in a parenthesis of time. We frequently get these interludes. Take Dan. 9, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people” —Daniel's people; times and seasons belong to them, not to us, for our calling is heavenly, not earthly. When God first speaks of the trial of Abram's seed (Gen. 15), He speaks of 400 years and to one of the captives of Judah He disclose that “seventy weeks were determined” upon his people—seventy weeks of three divisions, viz., of seven, of sixty-two, and one, a great gap lying between the sixty-ninth and the seventieth during which the church is being formed and completed.

In Luke 4 the Lord opened on Isa. 61, and finished with the words “to preach the acceptable year of the Lord,” not completing the sentence, though but a comma intervenes. The Lord stops at the comma, for He could not go on with what follows, as the “day of vengeance of our God” awaits another day for its “fulfillment.” A great gap is here, and unless we see this breaking off of the sentence much would be mysterious. So the Lord was speaking to them as the “remnant,” and when the church is gone there will be a corresponding “remnant.” The Christian has a great many advantages now which the disciples had not. They were not then “joined to the Lord"; there is no such thing in regard to man as “union in incarnation.” The disciples had life eternal, but that did not “join” them to the Lord. They had faith for without it there could not be life; but faith does not join to Him. It is by the Holy Spirit that we are “joined” —made members of His body. All this is beyond what these dear ones knew in the day of our Lord. He tells them, “In that day,” i.e., when the Holy Spirit is given, “ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in Me,” in all His acceptability up there, “and I in you” to live Him out down here.

So you can understand why they should be hated of all the nations. There will be a testimony to all the world, to all the nations of the earth. In spite of all the efforts of Christian missionary work, how, comparatively, the results have been small. I think the Lord has shown that saints will always be “a little flock,” while the day of grace goes on. But their ministry will go on till the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. The word “fullness” here means that which makes the thing complete. In that way we must read the end of Eph. 1. The complement, fullness—the church is that which makes the thing complete. So when the complete number of the Gentiles is called in, God will begin with Israel. There has always been an election of grace amongst the Jews.

At the day of Pentecost this our land was full of idolatry; no doubt there has been an election of grace here since the gospel was brought to Great Britain, but it has been true of Israel from the beginning. This remnant will have faith in the Messiah. It is “for my Name's sake” they will be hated. They may wonder that those with such privileges did not make better use of them, but the Epistles will not refer to them. As we read the O.T. let us give the Lord Jesus His proper place, thus we shall have an interest in all that concerns His glory for we are joined to Him, and that will enable us to read the word with far greater delight. We get in Rev. 14 what “the everlasting gospel” is. “Fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him Who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” He is coming to deal with evil. It is the everlasting gospel because the first message after the entrance of sin into this world was judgment on the enemy. Here we see pressed on the Gentiles the final call before the judgment falls, “Fear God.”

I think the gospel of the kingdom partakes of this nature. Repentance is linked with the gospel of the kingdom. John the Baptist was sent to prepare the people for the Messiah, the King; so it will go on, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In the Acts they were told that on the ground of repentance the kingdom should be set up. But they did not repent, and God is still waiting for it, so all the trials of the great tribulation will come on them and they will mourn. There we see the results of that preaching.

False Christs give this a Jewish character. The Holy Spirit is here, and what we are warned of is not that Christ is somewhere in this world, but that evil spirits are here and taking the place of “ministers of righteousness.” We are to try the spirits whether they be of God. Fearful things are now being set forth, distinctly of evil spirits, and many are stumbled. Scripture shows there are those who begin well but do not continue. It is so now, and so it will be then. There will be defection among the remnant. When the Lord was here there were many who did not continue to follow Him (John 6:66). It is John's Gospel which gives us these discussions about the Lord. So there will be seen among those in the future many that shall be stumbled.

To the remnant the Lord said, “By their fruits ye shall know them,” and there are many places in the O.T. which speak of the same thing (see Jer. 23:16-21), the expression “the latter days” takes us right on to the end. No doubt such things were existing in the prophet's day, but the passage looks forward to a yet future day.

We little realize that the Holy Spirit is hindering the power of Satan, and what a terrible time it will be when He is gone! —a time of temptation indeed. There may be a temporary lull while the judgments of Rev. 6 go on. A mighty conqueror first, not so much marked by bloodshed as by great influence. Then God acts and peace is taken from the earth. That is not while the Holy Spirit is here. So whatever is done in any part of the world now, we may be sure there is an even worse time coming. Daniel says, “such as never was.” But the Lord adds to it (and the quotation from the O.T. always receives additional light in the New) “and never shall be.” Daniel studied Jeremiah, and Micah studied and quoted the prophet Isaiah. Though the worst experience of “the great tribulation” will be in Jerusalem, yet it affects all the world, as we see in Rev. 2:10; 7:9-14. It is through “much tribulation” the saints now enter the kingdom, but that is very different from “the great tribulation,” and so some grow cold and lose their enthusiasm.

Oh, the blessedness of being kept true to God! Some laying down their lives, others miraculously preserved. “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (ver. 13).

Ver. 14. How often it has been taught in connection with missionary labors that the present gospel must be preached among all nations for the conversion of all the world! And how often Psa. 2 is taken up and misread, “Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession,” and they leave off there. In John 17 the Lord said, “I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me out of the world"; but when He has got us safely home, He will ask for the world, and will take it in judgment, and rule with a rod of iron. The saints in the present dispensation who are taught to pray for their enemies now, will then be associated with Him in that judgment when He comes to make war. It is no part of our business to try to put the world right. Supposing we could, and have everything perfect—without Christ, what would be the worth of it? A Christless millennium! The greatest sin of Christendom! The one remedy God has for the world now is the gospel of His blessed Son. Our work is to preach Christ, and to live Christ. The gospel of the kingdom will be preached as a witness. Many will be converted, but the mass of people will reject it and in the next chapter we see the result of this rejection.

Ver. 15: I suppose we all know the word “abomination” means idol. The “abominations” of the various nations are spoken of as Baal, Ashtaroth, etc. It is an awful sin worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creator. Judicially, nothing worse could happen to any soul than that God should give it up. It is a fearful sentence for God to say “Let them alone,” of those going on in an evil path. This verse shows us the temple will be rebuilt. It will help us materially if we see this very clearly. “He that reads, let him understand.” “Understand” is a great word in connection with the time of the end. “He that understandeth let him count the number of the beast,” and “none of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand.”

Turn to Dan. 12:1 “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation until that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” There is only one archangel, not four. Michael means “Who is like God” and Gabriel means “the strong one of God.” Michael is specially linked with Israel. Here we are enabled to look into the invisible world. At that time “thy people shall be delivered.” Many think Matt. 24 and Luke 21 speak of the same thing, but they are contrasts. Luke 21 speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem. If Matthew and Luke spoke of the same time, were God's earthly people delivered? Quite the opposite. But the end of the tribulation is the time of Israel's deliverance. That is what the Lord is referring to here. It is the two tribes who were at Jerusalem at that time, those we know as Jews.

Turn to Isa. 11:13. Ephraim is the ten tribes. They will dwell together in unity with Judah in the millennium. Then turn to Ezek. 37:20-23. The two tribes had Messiah presented to them and were no doubt brought back from captivity for that reason, and they took all the fearful consequences of rejecting Him saying, “His blood be on us and on our children.” The ten tribes have not that guilt, and God deals differently with them. Ezek. 20:23-38 gives us that. They refer to the ten tribes, Israel—not Judah. They are going to be joined into one; but God will deal with them first. They are often spoken of as the “lost'' ten tribes, but God knows where they are, and He will bring them out. In that same chapter we referred to just now in Isaiah, we find the outcasts of Israel and the dispersed of Judah. There will be the elect number from all the twelve tribes. “So all Israel will be saved,” not all the apostates among them, but the whole twelve tribes, but not with every individual among them. Mal. 4:1 tells how He is going to deal with the apostate part of the nation. So the word of God is very clear as to the different way of dealing with the two tribes and the ten. Scripture never contradicts itself, and if we find something that appears contradictory, the thought is not in Scripture but in our views of it.

Faith, Hope, Love

“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (1 Cor. 13:13).

Now, by the grace of the Lord, and the ministry of the Spirit, these three have an abode on the earth; but they came from heaven. They flourish in the wilderness, but they are the planting of the Lord. These three! The finger of God is pointing to them as the objects on earth that He loves best to look upon—as the fragments remaining yet of a lost paradise, and the earnests of a coming heaven.

These three coalesce and constitute one whole. To break off one is to destroy the integrity of the body, and leave the other members to decay. With a view to the exposition and application of the text, let us consider first, the specific nature of each— “faith, hope, love,"; secondly, the mutual relations of all— “these three"; and third, the superior magnitude of the last— “the greatest of these is love.”

First, the specific nature of each— “faith, hope, love.”

“Faith.” As to its origin, it is the gift of God; as to its operation, it is the work of the Spirit; as to its object, it fastens on Christ; as to its exercise, it is the disciple's own act. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” “He that believeth not is condemned already, because he believeth not on the only begotten Son of God.”

“Faith” designates the act of the sinner when he accepts Christ from God on God's own terms. It is the man's own deed, and yet it is utterly destitute of merit. If lost, helpless sinners of mankind reject the salvation which is offered in the gospel, that rejection is a substantial addition to their guilt; but if they accept it, the act of accepting constitutes no righteousness. The Scriptures make much of faith— “precious faith"; “thy faith hath saved thee"; “without faith it is impossible to please God.”

Faith is the first stone of the building, but it is not the foundation. It is the act of cleaving to Christ, but all its value depends on the worth of the Christ to whom you cleave. A man may have faith—real, ardent, energetic faith—in saints and images, and priests and relics; yet his faith does not save him. A drowning man puts forth his hand and seizes with more than natural energy a bit of froth that dances on the crest of a wave; his hand cleaves it like air, and he sinks helpless in the deep. He is lost, not for want of precision in his aim, or of energy in his grasp, but for want of truth and power in the phantom to which he fled. Our help is laid on One that is mighty. Christ saves to the uttermost. On the person, and righteousness, and sacrifice, and resurrection, of Immanuel, the soul must lean, when the burden of sin would weigh us down to the second death. “Christ is God's,” and when “ye are Christ's” all is well. “Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him.”

Beware how you come to Christ. Come worthless, empty, guilty. Come to Him before you have anything, and to Him for all. If you cover yourself beforehand with preparations in order that you may be somewhat more worthy of His acceptance, and consequently somewhat less indebted to His forgiving love, you lose all. If any rag of self-righteousness come between a sinner and the Savior, it will keep them separate. Naked and bleeding must the branch be laid upon the naked and bleeding tree in the process of engrafting. If any covering were first wrapped round it, the branch would never draw life—the tree would never give it. So, in conversion, a soul stricken through with the consciousness of guilt, and naked of goodness, must cleave to Christ crucified, for pardon and righteousness. Any work of yours, by way of recommending you, will be a non-conductor through which the light of life from the Savior cannot run into the dead. To this effect is the pointed and startling protest of the apostle against the inborn and inveterate legalism of even converted Jews: “Behold, I Paul, say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing” (Gal. 5:2). In the matter of a sinner's salvation, Christ is all, or nothing. The cleaving of the destitute for all to the fullness of the Godhead bodily in the incarnate Son—this, this is faith.

“Hope.” Blessed hope! If you did not know by tasting how sweet it is, I would labor in vain to tell you. It is a light shed down from heaven to cheer a dark and troubled scene. It is like moonlight borrowed from the sun to mitigate the darkness, which it cannot dispel. Hope is adapted to a transitory, imperfect state. Its office is to diminish, in some measure, the sorrows of the present, by drawing beforehand on the stores of future joy.

Applied to the richest gifts of God and the highest interests of man, hope reaches from earth to heaven, and fastens the anchor of the soul within the veil, where it is sure and steadfast, so that the expectation of eternal rest may enable the weary to bear with patience the tossing of time's troubled sea.

But remember “he never had a hope who never had a fear.” Hope is the tenant not of a heart that was never broken, but of a heart that has been broken and healed again. A pure, bright, star fixed high in heaven, it reaches with its rays the uplifted eye of the weary pilgrim. But stars shine not in the day; the darkness brings them out So grief summons hope to the aid of the sufferer. When the ransomed rise from the sleep of the grave, and open their eyes on the dawning of an everlasting day, this gentle star, which had often soothed them in the night of their pilgrimage, will nowhere be found in all the upper firmament; for, in presence of the Sun of righteousness, hope, no longer needed, no more appears.

“Love.” Some fragments of this heavenly thing survive the fall, and flourish in our nature. It is beautiful even in ruins. As an instinct in families, when it is not entirely covered and choked by rank vices growing near, it seems one feature left of man's first likeness to his Maker. But feeble, changeable, and impure, is all the love that is born with us. At the best it expatiates only on a low level, and expatiates irregularly, intermittently, even there. The love which is strung on with kindred graces in our text, is the work of the Spirit in renewed men.

The emotion only is named, not its objects. Love is like a fire burning, or a light shining. If such a flame is kindled in your hearts, its rays will stream forth indiscriminately in every direction. They will fall impartially on great and small, on good and evil. Upward, downward, and all around, flows love—love to God in heaven, and to men on earth—love to the good, who deserve our esteem, and to the evil, who need our compassion.

But while, in the text itself, the object of love is not expressly specified, the preceding portion of the chapter is wholly occupied with love in its lower exercise—love to our fellow-creatures of humankind. The thirteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians is dear to the church of Christ, as a comment, ever fresh and sparkling like a flowing stream, on the second great commandment, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” But from the upper spring this nether channel must be fed. We must be lifted up to the first commandment, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God,” and thence the stream of love will freely flow. “Faith in the Lord Jesus,” is the first characteristic of a true Christian, and “love to all the saints,” is the second.

Incidentally we shall learn more about the nature of love, when, in the progress of our illustration, we are called to consider its magnitude. In the effort to estimate its quantity, light will be thrown upon its kind.

Secondly, the mutual relations of all— “these three.” Hitherto we have spoken of them as three rings lying beside each other; now we speak of them as three links within each other, so as to constitute a chain. A chain of three links presents two joinings. Under this head accordingly, two things claim our attention, viz., the relation between faith and hope, and the relation between hope and love.

The relation between faith and hope. Faith, as we have seen, leans upon Christ, and hope hangs by faith. Faith's hold of a Savior in your life, and the consciousness of that hold makes you hopeful. There is, indeed, a species of hope which has no connection with faith. Houses built upon the sand present a goodly appearance while the day is fair. Men first wish that God were not so just as the Bible represents him to be, and thereafter believe their own lie. The hope which they hug is not a living hope. In the hour of need it will be “as rottenness in the bones.”

Among the fallen, every good thing, whether material or spiritual, is counterfeited. The Scriptures speak specifically of a living hope; there must, therefore, be a dead one. Of “a hope that maketh not ashamed"; there must, therefore, be one that will make its possessor ashamed when the day shall reveal its falsehood. If, in a place of danger, you saw a chain whose uppermost link was surely fixed in the living rock, and whose link, a goodly iron ring, was vibrating invitingly near, you might he induced, by the prospect of an easy deliverance, to venture your body's weight upon its seeming strength. If that lowest link were not within the one above it, but only attached externally by some brittle twig, you would exchange the slippery place of danger for the plunge into inevitable death. It is like the fall of a sinner who has risked his soul for the great day on a hope not linked to faith. The same scripture that speaks of a living hope reveals incidentally how we may reach it— “begotten us again into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:4). How has that strong nether ring got into the equally strong upper ring, so that they form one chain, and safely bear their burden? In the fires. It was brought to a white heat ere it could be welded in. It is by a similar process that a soul's, hope is admitted into living faith, and so becomes living too. A cold heart in contact with the dead letter of the truth will not suffice, although the two are fitted to each other with all the exactitude of a confession. There must be a melting heat. It is when the heart flows down like water under the glow of redeeming love, that hope is fixed on faith, and faith is fixed on Jesus, never to part again.

When hope is thus held up, you may load it freely. It will bear any strain. Having such support, you count the heaviest afflictions light, because they are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed. In presence of this blessed comforter, death seems the Father's servant, sent to bring the children home. The grave becomes the place where the Lord lay, and through the opening which He made in its dark sides shine the resurrection of the just, and a glorious immortality. All these are enjoyed by anticipation, like grapes of Eshcol brought out into the wilderness to be tasted before the time, and it is hope—hope depending on faith—that flies as on eagle's wings across the separating flood, and refreshes the pilgrim in the later stages of his journey with first-fruits of the promised land.

The relation between hope and love. Self-sacrificing human love is the product of Christian faith. The fear of God is the true source of genuine regard for man. Christ's life is the example and His word gives the law of love. But while remotely and generically love leans on Christian faith, immediately and specifically it depends on the hope of a Christian. Hope leans on faith, and love on hope. Love, the beauteous top-stone, on the house of God, could not maintain its place aloft, unless faith, resting directly on the rock, were surely laid beneath; but it is not the less true, that both its elevation and its beauty are due to other graces of the Spirit, which are piled, course over course, upon faith.

The only true love is love that will bear and do in behalf of its object. The chapter which our text concludes is one grand anthem on love. The grace which is enjoined, described, and almost sung throughout, is not a name, but a substance. Its two elements are action and suffering. The two sides of living love are meekly to bear evil, and energetically to do good, in behalf of every brother, according to his need and your opportunity. Christ's example is its rule— “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Such is love; but love will languish unless blessed hope be underneath. The analogy of a plant is frequently in the Scriptures joined with that of a building, in order that both together may more fully represent the Christian life. Love's manifold efforts, as represented in the body of this chapter, stretching out in every direction, and leaving no space unoccupied, are like the branches of a fruit-tree. A single stem supports and supplies them all, while itself in turn is supported and supplied by the root. So hope, itself sustained by faith, sustains love in its turn—energetic, outspreading, fragrant, fruitful love.

May we not say that even Jesus was, in this respect, made like unto His brethren? Hope in the heart of the Man of sorrows bore Him through His labors of love. He, too, “for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame” (Heb. 12:2). Hope of the glorious issue sustained His Spirit through all. The Master, like the servant, had “respect to the recompense of the reward.”

The history of Jehoshaphat supplies an example of hope and love in their true reciprocal relation. A difficult enterprise, the reformation of a lapsed nation lay before Him. He made the attempt, and succeeded. The land was full of idols; the people steeped in ignorance. His task was to spread the word of God, and restore His worship. He formed his plan, chose this agents, and set to work. It was a scheme of national education, founded on revealed religion, and applied to an ignorant idolatrous population. The good king never ceased till the work was done ; and the secret of his success is recorded, for our use, in those few simple words of his history, his heart was lifted up in “the ways of the LORD.” A sinking heart would not have sustained a working hand through the labour of love which Jehosaphat undertook and performed.

people steeped in ignorance. His task was to spread the word of God, and restore His worship. He formed his plan, chose his agents, and set to work. It was a scheme of national education, founded on revealed religion, and applied to an ignorant idolatrous population. The good king never ceased till the work was done; and the secret of his success is recorded, for our use, in those few simple words of his history, his heart was lifted up in “the ways of the LORD.” A sinking heart would not have sustained a working hand through the labor of love which Jehosaphat undertook and performed.

Some persons, not professing to be Papists, look on hope with suspicion, as if it were almost a sin. They act as if they expected to make a future life safe by making the present life bitter. It is an error—an error that dishonors God and injures men. To crush hope neither engenders faith, nor brings forth holiness. A false hope, indeed, is dangerous, but what false thing is safe? Do not exterminate the coin because counterfeits are rife. Beware lest faithfulness degenerate into misanthropy! Beware lest you hurt Christ's little ones—lest you quench the joy of the Lord in a true disciple's breast! When a ministry, swayed by the one-sided tendencies of an age, or race, or locality, crushes every rising stem of hope, by digging constantly and unskillfully among the rocks of humility, it produces a swarm of idle professors, who complain of their sinfulness in order to prove their saintliness, but no good soldiers of Jesus Christ.

Ministry and Worship

That which characterized the ministry and testimony of those called the brethren, however feeble (and feeble they were) was, with the accompanying revival of assurance by faith in the simple testimony of redemption, the bringing out and walking in the faith of two doctrines: namely, the Holy Ghost in the church, and the coming again in person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this ministry was blessed both in gathering many into a simple position by it, and extending the happy influence of these truths among many who were not so gathered. With this connected itself the unity of the church as the body of Christ by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and that, separate from the world as bride of the Lamb. A comparison of what the church was at first when filled with the Spirit led them to the sense of our present ruined state, and to seek in earnest devotedness more conformity to its early path, and that nothing should be owned that was not of the Holy Ghost. And they waited for God's, Son from heaven. If the presence of the Spirit gave them the consciousness of being the bride, He made them also earnestly desire the coming of the Bridegroom, and the joy of that day when Christ should come and receive them to Himself, and take the kingdom and glory. They entered in spirit, in their little measure, into that word, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come"; and they were happy and blessed.

Now the presence of the Holy Ghost in the church was (with the waiting for Christ's coming), the grand doctrine on which the whole testimony of those so-called brethren was founded. There was blessing enough to cheer and help us on in spite of much weakness and infirmity; and if we have failed in maintaining or in using the blessing, are we to humble ourselves, or to deny the blessing? I shall not deny God in His truth and blessing because man knows not how to use it, if it even be so; but I do not believe it. We may be humbled; but God will help and meet us according to our faith. I own a ministry, have always owned it: but I cannot deny the blessed truth of the Holy Ghost dwelling in the church, and acting as so present in the various members of the body as He pleases. And here I will add, I do not say among the gathered brethren only. The difference as to those is, they have acted together on this truth.

The Holy Ghost in the whole church may own a brother's gift elsewhere, e.g., in a chapel where he is minister; only he denies a blessed doctrine, which God has taught, and, I fully trust, will maintain among us. And let it be here remembered, that stated ministry has never been denied, but always in exercise amongst us—always owned in principle. In half or more of the services, one who has gift has exercised his gift on his responsibility to Christ. This is known to every one. And for my own part I recognize it fully, be it one or two, if they agree together to do it. The teachers have waited on their teaching.

It is an utter untruth or sheer prejudice to deny or lose sight of this. It is only in the meetings for worship, when the saints assembled as such, that this has not been the case. The profit of a stated ministry, all that is true in a one-man ministry, has been in the fullest exercise among those called brethren.

In their worship they have not sought sermons, but the presence of God—the accomplishment of that promise, that where two or three are gathered together to His name, he will be in the midst of them. I avow I do not go there to hear a sermon; nor do I like to hear one. I go to worship, to find the Lord, and worship Him. And I judge that if brethren are become incapable of enjoying this, it is a very bad sign. I do not go with my ears there to hear man, however gifted, but to worship God; and I beg to press this on brethren. I feel thankful if any one be led of God (I trust we may be forgiven for still thinking this possible, in spite of the efforts to rob us of it) to give a word of exhortation or comfort.

I know that the flesh has abused this, forgetting the word “swift to hear, slow to speak,” — “my brethren, be not many teachers.” But I add, most decidedly that, though I have seen liberty used for license (and “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty"), I have found, where God was owned, incomparably more of His presence and blessing than where man's arrangements have taken the place of God. There might be evils to deplore and to correct; but there was God to enjoy, because God was owned.

Elsewhere I have found decent things of man, a fair show in the flesh, but a sepulcher. The God I found my delight in was not there. For even God's grace or gift in teaching is a wholly different thing from God's presence in the way of worship. But I add that where in worship this latter is slighted, I never found even the former. It is written, “Cursed is the man who putteth his trust in man.”

Correct the evils, brethren; but let us not disown God nor His goodness. If you cannot know His presence in worship, nor what the blessing of this is, humble yourselves. You have suffered great loss, you have spiritually declined. Forgive me! But if (which I cannot believe, for I at any rate have found it among you) you have forgotten this joy—pardon me here also—I, poor as I am, and I feel this unfeignedly, I have not forgotten it. I shall, with His grace, continue to trust Him. I will, if need be, begin afresh, and am not afraid of not finding His faithfulness and love, and of enjoying with a despised remnant that sweet and blessed fellowship with Him which He has granted us in times past. And, if I am to take my place among you, I shall freely exercise, when the just occasion offers, the ministry with which I believe God has entrusted me in my weakness, the gift of His grace; and, when we meet as saints, I shall be glad often to wait, not merely to compose my spirit, to gather up my strength from the Lord, before I enter on His work, or open my mouth to speak in His name, but to wait in the hope to gather up strength through the blessing conferred upon some other beloved one of God, or by our joining together, whoever may be used as our mouth-piece, in thanksgiving, and prayer, and praise. For the joy of the Lord is our strength. I do not expect to be edified if the flesh act amongst us, and we shall do well to own where it has been so. But I do expect the Lord's presence, and His acting amongst us, if we wait upon Him, to guide, to use, and to bless us. And to Him, and to that hope I cleave.

J. N. D.

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Nature of Prophecy - Part 2

(Continued)

This acted with such power that the mass of Jews were found as a whole pervaded by it everywhere, as were the Samaritans down to the woman at Sychar. Never was it more general than at the time the Lord was in their midst, though their unbelief was really at its lowest, as they proved, when to their eyes He had no beauty that they should desire Him. Indeed their soul loathed Him, because He did not then take His world-kingdom, exalt the Jew, and destroy the Roman. Even His own followers had to bear His reproof, “O foolish and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to suffer these things [their stumbling block], and enter into his glory? And beginning from Moses he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:25-27).

It may be urged that the minute circumstances, of which we have had but a selection as they occurred to one's memory, are peculiar to Christ, but that outside His person prophecy takes into account broad maxims, which can only apply in a measure, because of the mixed condition of man, and are not adequately fulfilled save in Him. But the fact is that the theory is true nowhere; and its effect is to destroy the truth, as far as men strive to carry it out. Prophecy often launches out, even at an early day, into the magnificent and solemn display of the Lord coming in judgment of the quick, the habitable world, as we read in the Epistle of Jude, who was enabled by the inspiring Spirit (whatever the means) to give us the testimony of Enoch; not as in the spurious Ethiopic book which betrayed its source by its inability even to make a correct use of scripture. Enoch “prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with myriads of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their works of ungodliness which they have ungodly wrought, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him” (vers. 14, 15). At a later epoch Moses spoke all the words of his wondrous song, as given in Deut. 32, which testify to the same consummation, when Jehovah shall judge His people, and repent Himself for His servants; and the nations shall rejoice with His people, and He will make expiation for His land, for His people.

Take another instance, which in a brief compass illustrates the nature of prophecy in symbol as well as in simple language; as elsewhere figures are employed to give vividness. In Hos. 3 (where we are spared the usual insinuations against the alleged early date), under the prophet's purchase of a woman beloved yet an adulteress, Jehovah set forth the relation of guilty Israel, no longer to be idolatrous, yet not properly wife. The words that follow are plain and terse. “For the sons of Israel shall abide many days without king and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod and teraphim Afterward shall the sons of Israel return, and seek Jehovah their God and David their king, and shall come with fear unto Jehovah and unto his goodness at the end of the days.” Here we have a description of the most surprising facts which no human mind could have devised beforehand, and conveyed in the most precise terms; verse 4 in course of fulfillment to this day: verse 5 awaiting it in that auspicious day which all the prophets hailed, and all saints of Old Testament or New ought surely to expect.

Who before Hosea distinctly conceived for Israel's history a state of things “without a king, without a prince"? One, if godly, might well have thought of national disaster and humiliation, but what of the pledges to David and his posterity? But even if he had discerned the probability and danger of royal eclipse in Psa. 89:30-32, what more opposed to his feelings and stranger to his mind than a religious anomaly without parallel among his brethren and so hard for the few to conciliate with a divine ritual from the ever-living and true God? Alas! he knew already how prone the chosen people were to lapse into idolatry and how grace had as often intervened to recall from false gods. But here is announced a condition altogether unique, a religion neither divine nor idolatrous, but a wretched negation, “without sacrifice, and without pillar, and without ephod and teraphim.” Even D. Kimchi interprets this justly enough, if not fully, saying “Without sacrifice refers to God, without pillar refers to idols, without ephod refers to God who declares the future by Urim and Thummim, without teraphim refers to idols who declare the future according to the opinions of those who believe in them.”

Sacrifice beyond controversy is and has ever been the foundation of all true worship since sin came in. It had an authoritatively spiritual place in Judaism. Christianity has it perfectly and forever in Christ. And as the ephod points to the ministry of the high priest in Israel, so we have now Christ High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek, the Son of God passed through the heavens. But the Jew has nothing! neither sacrifice to purge sins, nor high priest to intercede for them: the astonishing spectacle before all eyes and for long centuries of a people that hate the idols they once loved, yet without the divine worship and service which their law demands imperatively. Never did such a state enter the imagination of Israel before Hosea, nor did it come to pass till long after him. Yet here it is predicted beyond a doubt as a lasting state, and so it has been and is. But the last verse is equally clear and conclusive to faith that they shall as a people return, not to their land merely (though this is certain from all scripture), but to Jehovah their God and to David their king, who can be none other as the context demonstrates than the Messiah. “And so,” says the great apostle, “all Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26). None can deny the national and unparalleled religious ruin of Israel according to prophecy: why should any stop there and entirely disbelieve their restoration, not only as a nation but to be the earthly center of all the nations for the word of Jehovah in Zion? But how, we may ask, were either of these stupendous changes, in ruin or in blessing, within man's horizon when Hosea wrote with such startling plainness of speech?

Psa. 22 is just as striking as Isa. 53, for its first half sets out prophetically, as if a fact before us, the Messiah rejected, suffering, crucified, starting with that most wondrous of truths from His own lips to which atonement alone gives meaning—His God abandoning Him when in the deepest abyss of need and shame. But so it must be when God for us, as for the Jew, made sin Him Who knew no sin. For if sinners are to be forgiven righteously, or justified, it must be on the righteous basis of sin judged as it deserves, and of God then glorified about it in an adequate sacrifice: so that He can be righteous in blotting every sin of the believer from before Him. And as the sufferings were unfathomable, so is the glory in divine answer to them; as our Lord said in a still deeper way looking on to both. “If God be glorified in Him (the Son of man) God will glorify Him in Himself and will straightway glorify Him.” Righteousness set the risen Christ, the Second man, at God's right hand on high, as He declared His Father's name to His brethren. Blessing unbounded flows through His atoning death. In the midst of the congregation He praises, as in John 20:19-22, Heb. 2:12. By and by the “great congregation,” when all Israel is saved, will re-echo His praise. Nor this only, but all the ends of the earth follow. For the day will then have come, not for gospel testimony as the church is now, but the kingdom is Jehovah's and He is the ruler of the nations as an actual fact. All mortals shall bow before Him, from those most at ease to the utterly destitute hitherto, and that not of the then generation but of those to be born, to whom it shall be declared that Jehovah hath done this—His infinite work transcending all before and after.

Neither David is here, nor any that ever lived or died, but only the Messiah Who once for all suffered for sins, Just for unjust, that He might bring us to God: Who is glorified on high while the church is being gathered, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; and Who, after receiving them to Himself changed into His glory, will come to make good the kingdom according to the prophets, to the joy of heaven and earth. Who but God could have conveyed these anticipations, wondrous beyond all comparison? It is an eminently feeble effort to ascribe such a psalm to the Exile or later, in the desire of taking it from the greatest of the Psalmists; but put it where you will, you cannot silence the voice of God in His word, sounding across the ages, and still witnessing of glories to come in Christ the Lord. Fully owning the true and sound application of the principle to the gospel (as in Rom. 15:10), one is bound to look for the fulfillment at the end of the age, when Jehovah will no longer hide His face from Israel, and they are not only reduced to the utmost extremity, but turn in repentance to Messiah whom they slew, saying “Blessed be He that cometh in the name of Jehovah.”

Indeed, it is on this coming age that the prophetic word converges: so much so that 2 Peter 1:20 pronounces, as a thing we ought to know, that no prophecy of scripture is of its own interpretation. Far from being thus isolated, as it must have been if it emanated from the human mind or will, it forms part of the great scheme which, as the Father counseled it for the glory of His beloved Son, the Spirit reveals in the prophetic word which centers in His coming kingdom. So, in contrast with His action in the Christian and in the church, the Holy Spirit in

Rev. 19:10 is designated the “spirit of prophecy” and said to be the “testimony of Jesus.” In the Acts and the Epistles He acts as the power of communion on the ground of known redemption. The truth is that the earliest book of scripture completely refutes the assumption of such contemporary interests as blind to the future of God, and illustrates what the last book of scripture proves as matter of fact, that prophecy exhibits the greatest variety of form according to God's wisdom.

The first in Gen. 3:15 is worthy alike of Him who spoke and of Him who was spoken of, as it disclosed the end from the beginning, the judgment of the subtle foe, the suffering grace and overwhelming power of Him who would deign to be the woman's Seed. It was sovereign grace, Satan's irremediable overthrow and punishment; while it was conveyed in terms adapted to an earthly people, and in view of divine government with present results, like the law as a whole. On the other hand, in Gen. 6:7, 13, Noah is divinely warned of things not seen as yet, both on the ground of special relationship and on that of His nature; while Gen. 7:4 follows up the general intimation with precise details; and as it was predicted, so was it punctually fulfilled, as scripture expressly affirms. No history could be more precise or circumstantial in few words. Gen. 9:25-27 is a luminous prophetic sketch of the world, with both divine names and in its requisite place as ever: no sketch more opposed to appearances for centuries: none more verified as time rolled on; yet to be proved absolutely true in the day of Jehovah, as later prophets declared to the ear of faith. This, however, may be said to be only a vast outline. But to take only one instance more, what of Gen. 15, when “the word of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision"? Can any prediction be conceived plainer and surer? Yet it stretched over more than four centuries and defined the relative position of the chosen race and of the nation they were to serve in affliction, but at length to triumph over by a judgment unequivocally divine. Nay more, it maps out the limits of another land-the land wherein the father of the faithful was a pilgrim, which was by Jehovah's covenant to be given long after, when the usurpers of the inheritance (enumerated in full detail) should be judged, as the old oppressor of the heirs had been. Who can say that these predictions have been answered only in Christ's person? Who can deny that they are particular facts, yet accomplished to the letter in the Egyptians, in the Amorites, in the Jewish people, and in their land?

But a more advanced and unscrupulous school of unbelief have now the popular ear, who to get rid of God's inspiration plead that the prophets were shrewd politicians that observed closely the movements of history and saw in the rise and fall of nations the exhibition of a divine purpose (Canon Driver's Lit. Old Testament, 200). Is any man bold enough to think thus of Abram or of Gen. 15? Is the situation, presupposed by this prophecy, that of the patriarch's age? Is it the fraud of a human book or the revealed truth of God? The circumstances foreshown are wholly different from Abram's then, and they change from a quasi-exile in sorrowful bondage to a coming out with great substance, and a subsequent conquest; not one of which conditions were yet existent. Yet here in this brief and clear prophecy all beyond dispute is of its essence and substance instead of being alien to its spirit. How did any one of these vast changes arise out of the circumstances of the time? The system, calmly stated at home and violently abroad, is nothing but a distressing libel on scripture, and rank rebellion against God, under the show of a critical investigation of the record that leaves untouched the divine inspiration and authority of scripture. But he is a simpleton who trusts these smiling augurs, who, in their own imagined processes of literary composition, lure one another and their followers on to the deadly sin of undermining God's history and denying prophecy in any genuine sense.

Notes on Matthew 24:25-36

CHAP. 24:15 to 35

Ver. 15. We were noticing last week that what the Lord refers to here is Dan. 12, and it is important to see this. When these events occur there will be a blindness in the mass of the Jews, for they will not be in the secret at all. They will be quite surprised when the Lord returns. These signs will be only understood by the elect. People will be much as they are now in respect to the Lord's coming for His own, scoffers saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?” Every true believer is looking for the coming of the Lord in some way. Intelligence may be lacking as to it, but a true believer wants to be with the Lord. And when Paul speaks about the crown of righteousness, he says “And not to me only, but unto all them also who love His appearing.” Men are willingly ignorant that God has already interfered in the world, and swept one guilty race away. It is the word of God that tells us of the coming of the Lord, and it is the word of God that tells us about the flood. You see wonderful mercy here on the part of the Lord to warn the remnant that they may escape the terrible storm. There are some who accuse of cowardice those who rejoice that the church will not be here then; but it will be God's chastisement, and who would choose that? And if it would be such a grand thing to be there and endure it, why did the Lord warn them to escape?

There will be this covenant, and according to it the Jews will be allowed to worship according to their ritual; but in the middle of the week (i.e., of the last seven years) idolatry is set up—idolatry of a trinity; for “the dragon,” “the beast,” and “the false prophet” (the anti-christ) will all be worshipped by the idolatrous part of the nation. But those who are obedient to the word will flee away when they see this idolatry set up and it will be very urgent. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains. It is quite evident that all this is Jewish. We Christians will then all be in heaven with Christ.

Ver. 17. From the top of the house there would be a stairway outside leading to the court below. All these verses show the urgent necessity of flight, and withal the Lord's tenderness and gracious consideration for his people in this the time of Jacob's trouble! How greater would be their difficulties if having infants in that hour of urgency and distress! And the Lord, foreseeing all, bids them to pray for the absence of hindrances to their flight (ver. 20). Oh, how He cares! This prayer will be beforehand. From Dan. 12 we see there will be wise ones who shall instruct others in righteousness (ver. 3) for “the wise shall understand” (ver. 10); so when they see this coming they will pray that it be not in the winter when the ravines have rushing torrents, making escape dangerous. Here the Lord prepares them, and assuredly we also can profit thereby. No doubt the reference to the Sabbath is to the Sabbath-day's journey when thus restricted they would be likely to be overtaken. There is no reference in the O.T. to a sabbath day's journey, but there is in the N.T., and it has the Lord's sanction.

Then He shows them “then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time no nor ever shall be.” When the Lord quotes scripture further light is given. Indeed we may say that always in the N.T. when there is a quotation from the O.T. additional light is given. So here the Lord goes beyond Daniel by adding “nor ever shall be.” It will never be repeated. It will be the most trying experience any nation has ever had. There is that idolatry and they will be forced to have the mark of the beast either openly or secretly. They must be identified with it either publicly or privately, or be put to death, shut off from all the privileges of society. Whatever pressure we are subjected to, there will be far worse coming, and it ought to keep us from grumbling. The Christian is told his afflictions are accomplished in his brethren in the world. If we are pressed and tried, it is quite natural for us to think no one was ever tried like this! There is a hymn I don't go with at all

“All these sorrows past endurance,

He will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able. I have no doubt when we are tried we have lessons to learn, and I am sure we all have to own how God has been very patient with us, for we have been very poor scholars.

Then the remnant will be persecuted by their brethren, as well as persecuted by anti-christ; and those who delay and do not escape at once will have the door shut. Those in Jerusalem will have two outside enemies, the king of the north and the king of the south, and these while at enmity with each other, are both of them against the Jews. The king of the north is called “the overflowing scourge.” He will have a kingdom north of Palestine, a power then occupying the territory now occupied by the Turk north of Palestine, but he will be backed up by another power, possibly Russia. Altogether it will be a bitter, bitter time. Our hearts may well go out in sympathy as His did. We get the principle in Abraham. He was outside. No fire nor brimstone was coming on him, but his heart went out to any who might be there belonging to the Lord, though I daresay Lot had the chief place in his heart when he prayed for the fifty or thirty righteous that might be there.

Ver. 22. How these few words indicate the pressure of that time. The Assyrian is God's instrument in the punishment of Israel. If we turn to Isai. 10:24, we see that very clearly. So after the Assyrian has done his work (though he is quite unconcerned that he is God's instrument, and goes on boasting, God afterward will deal with him. Those who are used of God to punish His people invariably abuse their commission. Those God thinks of are His elect. Those saved now are His elect, as scripture shows abundantly. There are, too, the elect of God's earthly people, “Israel mine elect,” precious to the Lord—the remnant of that day. And turning to Isai. 65:17-22, the “new heavens and a new earth” there are not the eternal of Rev. 21, but millennial.

Ver. 23. It would be useless to speak of Christ in this way to the saint of God in this dispensation. We know Christ in a far more blessed way, not after the flesh, Christ on earth is for an earthly people. When He comes for the church He does not come to the earth but in the air, and we go up to meet Him. Afterward when He comes to the earth we come with Him. Scripture makes a great distinction between the coming of Christ for, and the coming of Christ with, His saints. It is not the Christian hope at all that the Lord is on earth. He is going to stand on the mount of Olives. He will suddenly appear in His temple; this is the Jewish hope. Except in the apostate part true repentance will be wrought in all the nation. They will feel the sin of belonging to the nation that said “His blood be on us and on our children.” Compare Psa. 51. Whilst this was David's experience, it will nevertheless be the experience of the future remnant who will feel their blood-guiltiness as David did. God has not in His word formulated Christian prayers and hymns for us, for we have the Holy Ghost; but the earthly people have their psalms and hymns written for them, and they will use them.

“Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation; my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Here are the people in whom repentance will be wrought, but see what it is connected with, “Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion; build thou the walls of Jerusalem. Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering, and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.”

There will again be the sacrifices, but they will be commemorative. The sons of Zadok will have their place again, as we find from Ezekiel. God knows where they are. There is one thing definitely told us that all the nations will be responsible for their treatment of the “gospel of kingdom.” The scriptures will be—perhaps even those being now printed in England—used of God in the hands of future missionaries, the Jews. All things serve His might. At Pentecost there was the reverse of God's judgment of Babel—the confusion of tongues. It is God's wondrous grace shining out there. Babel was the beginning of the nations. But in giving all the nations their places in the world it was all in connection with Israel. There are seventy nations mentioned in Gen. 10, and if we turn to Deut. 32 we find “When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel” (ver. 8).

“The Most High” is a millennial title. I have often wondered whether in the millennium there will not be seventy nations. There are more than this number now. Then Jerusalem will be the capital of the world. “It is called the city of the great King,” and He will have absolute sway from one end of the earth to the other. The devil will have tremendous power when the Holy Ghost is withdrawn. The Lord is preparing that “generation” for the bitterness of that day, as well as warning them of the false Christ, etc. During the Lord's public ministry there was a terrible display of Satanic power. The Lord was overcoming him, binding him by obedience and dependence, and then. spoiling his goods. If it is almighty power it is almighty at all times and everywhere. Satan's power is great, and can be divided. Some of his power is in heaven and some on earth now. He is to be expelled from heaven with his angels and cast down to the earth, his power will be united and concentrated here below. So “there shall arise false Christs, And false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” There is something very sweet in the Lord's gracious care of the elect. He will not allow them to be deceived.

I was thinking of what He says, in John 10, of His sheep. “A stranger will they not follow,” but “my sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me.” They are marked in the ear and foot, so here they will be graciously guarded. When the Lord was here “a man approved of God among them by miracles and wonders and signs,” they said, “Show us a sign.” There is something very solemn in this, for I think there is sufficient reason to believe that what they really wanted was an answer by fire as in Elijah's day. We are distinctly told the anti-christ will be able to call down fire from heaven which the Lord refused to do. “Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert, go not forth. Behold he is in the secret-chambers, believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (vers. 26, 27)—a sudden and terrible surprise to the mass of the Jews as well as to the Gentiles, for “every eye shall see Him.”

This discourse on Olivet is divided into three parts, first that which takes up what is connected with Israel; then what belongs to the church; and lastly, concerning the Gentiles. All we have looked at up to the present has to do with Israel. To tell of the secret chamber or the desert as applying to us Christians we can see would have no bearing, inasmuch as there will be no Christians on the earth at that time to be warned. But those who have the scriptures telling them that He will suddenly come to His temple, or that His feet shall stand on the mount of Olives maybe deceived by the testimony of these false prophets. The Lord is guarding the saints of the coming days against these rumors. The elect have a very large place in His heart. It is the elect of Israel in these verses; the elect remnant. The days will be shortened for the elect's sake, so we see how large a place in His heart they have. All this is very different from the coming Of the Lord for His church, which will have already taken place. That will be a sudden unexpected filling of His enemies with terror, making them mourn; but when He comes for us the world will only know we are gone. The fulfilling of 1 Thess. 4:16, 17 will be secret; for the “shout” here does not affect the wicked dead, but only those who are in relationship to Christ— “the dead in Christ.” His voice “all that are in the graves shall hear,” indeed, but not all “the dead” at one and the same time. Rev. 20:4-14 shows us that the wicked dead are not raised till a thousand years after the righteous and holy dead. The dead of 1 Cor. 15:51-57 are of believers only, and not of unjust.

People say death is a debt that we have all got to pay, but this verse 51 says “we shall not all sleep.” Which are we to believe? What people say, or what the scripture declares? Paul links himself with the believers living when Christ comes. No doubt the world will realize that something has happened, as the people said it thundered when the Father spoke to the Son; but they will find us gone. We must keep resolutely before our souls the coming of the Lord for His saints. Returning to our chapter, what we have here is the coming of the Lord with us as in 2 Thess. 1. I do not care to hear the expression “the Lord's return” in respect to His coming for us, for He will not return to the earth till He comes to judge, and we come with Him. When, as in vers. 4o, 41, it speaks of “one taken and another left” it means one taken away in judgment and another left for blessing on the earth. Of course when the Lord Jesus comes for us, it is the reverse of this, i.e., the saints are caught up for blessing, and the unbeliever left for earthly judgment. During the millennium every transgression will be dealt with, yet many may yield but feigned obedience (Psa. 66:3). As we proceed we shall see that before the thousand years reign, there will be the judgment of the wicked living; after the thousand years there will be the judgment of the wicked dead.

“Wheresoever the carcass is” (ver. 28). The carcass is the apostate part of the Jewish nation, that which is most offensive to God—only a carcass lifeless, fit only for judgment, and the judgment will fall on them, and there will be no escaping it.

Ver. 29. When the Lord comes there will be the overturning of earthly rule and power. Whilst “the stars” are representative of the subordinate powers, the two “great lights” of the heavens are figures of the higher ruling powers-supreme and derivative—once indeed ordained of God. but now ministers of Satan (Rev. 13:2). Immediately He will come and there will be the subversion of all man's boasted civilization. Even now people wonder at what is going to happen. Well, the worst cannot come while the church is here, for the Holy Spirit is here still in person. Afterward it will rather be as “the seven Spirits of God.” If we weigh what the Lord said in His valedictory address that He shall “abide with you forever,” and know that He formed the church on the day of Pentecost by baptizing it into one body, we see that while the church is here the Holy Spirit is here: and when the church is taken to heaven, He no longer abides here thus personally.

The fact of the Holy Spirit being here convicts the world before God, for why is God's Son not here? The world stands guilty. If the Lord Jesus as a divine person while speaking to Nicodemus could say, “the Son of man which is in heaven,” the Holy Spirit as a divine person, though gone to heaven, will nevertheless be operating here converting souls. Whenever a soul is born again it is the work of the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of God using the word of God. It may be through the lips of an unconverted man—words spoken in mockery. Balaam and Caiaphas, for instance, God in His wisdom saw good to use in prophesying. In every dispensation, if there has been a work of grace in any soul, it has been by the operation of the Spirit of God through His word.

I believe myself that within the last hundred years God has been wonderfully gracious in recovering for us truths, not revealing new truths, but recovered ones. If we read any of the great Reformers, or the old writers, we see how comparatively little they knew of truth compared with what has been recovered during the last hundred years; while at the same time there has been an enormous energy of Satan, in promulgating such evil things manifestly of him, and most of them emanating from the U.S.A. But we see how these evil doctrines are spreading, and it is deplorable how people are receiving them. The Lord Jesus does not come to us as Son of man. No one ever addressed Him as Son of man, but He often spoke of Himself as such, and He only spoke of Himself as Christ to one, and to one other as Son of God. He generally used the title of Son of man. And if He is refused His glories as Messiah, wider glories are His as Son of man (see Psa. 2, 8).

What verse 30 presents is very different from the way in which Christ comes for His saints. Here He comes with them, and they will all be with Him there. There are scriptures which speak of His coming “with His holy angels,” some also “with His saints,” some again, with both (2 Thess. 1). Again it says, “the tribulation of those days,” in another place “the great tribulation.” The Lord says, as we have already remarked, “Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” It is the last three and a half years of Daniel's seventieth week. If we go to where the gap commences, it says, “From the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks.” After these sixty-nine weeks (for the sixty-ninth week ends when the Lord Jesus rides into Jerusalem) He is crucified—not in the sixty-ninth week, and, of course, not in the seventieth). Thus, as we have these circumstances at the beginning of the gap before the church is formed, so after the church is gone, there will likewise be an interval, but we do not know how long.

Ver. 31. “And he shall send his angels” etc. In their gathering we have angelic instrumentality as well as human (see Isai. 66:19, 20). Then in the next verse we see the very opposite of our part. We are not told to look for any sign. That hymn is quite correct-

“No sign to be looked for; the star's in the sky,”

They can see things taking place, so can we. We can see things shaping for the coming judgment. There is nothing said about any sign of the Lord's coming for His saints; all that is said to us is “Ye see the day approaching.” At Pentecost a temple began to be built, out of which God will get glory for all eternity. It takes in all that are really the Lord's in this present economy. “In whom [Christ] all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord.” It never speaks of the body thus growing, for this is looked at as a complete thing. But when you speak of a temple you can speak of the last stone being added; and when this by the gospel of salvation is effected, He will come for us. He will not tarry. Yet it does say, “Ye see the day approaching,” but this is not His coming for us but the day of His manifestation. Anyone who is intelligent in the word can look around and see things forming for that day, and we know He is coming before then. It is a moment, an hour, a little while.

The fig tree in scripture is clearly a figure of Israel as a nation: Nathanael was found under the fig tree; and we have the barren fig tree. Luke presents a wider view. Behold the fig tree and “all the trees.” In Matthew the Jews figure largely, while Luke looks more at the Gentiles. I should say Egypt would be another of the trees. Look at the revival there. How extraordinary it has been! Since it has been under the wing of the British nation it has come to be a very important place. Now that is a sign if you like, for there is going to be a “king of the south” who is going to play an important part when the church is removed. When the Jews are restored, he will be their enemy: and there will be another who will play a still more important part, and who is called in Daniel the “king of the north,” and in Isaiah “the Assyrian.”

Faith, Hope, Love

Hope is a grand essential quality to be sought for in missionaries. Despondency clogs exertion more and more, as it sinks, until it reach despair, and then exertion entirely ceases. Other things being equal, a hopeful Christian will be a better witness for God in the heathen's sight than a desponding one. Hope is the mainspring of laboring love—hope in the Lord, first for yourself and then for your neighbor. There is a lion on the path of every one who would go forth upon the world to win souls to the Savior. The savage African will not give earnest heed to anything; the subtle Asiatics expend all their earnestness on idols. Unbelief is graven in the very being of the Jews by the uninterrupted habits and prejudices of sixty generations; and, mystery of iniquity, throughout the jurisdiction of Rome, a consummate knowledge is successfully wielded to propagate and perpetuate a consummate ignorance.

Among ourselves, the young are vain, and the aged covetous; the rich are proud, and the poor regardless. On a survey of the field, they who walk by sight pronounced effort vain; and desponding Christians, although they say less, will not do more. But one hopeful, loving heart will chase a thousand of these difficulties, as wind drives smoke, away. He who trusts in Christ walks by faith; and he who walks by faith will hope; and he who hopes will love; and he who loves will work; and he who works will win-will win souls to God.

Thirdly, the superior magnitude of the last” the greatest of these is love.”

In two distinct aspects love is the greatest of all—in its work on earth, and its permanence in heaven.

In its work on earth it is the only one of the three that reaches other men, and directly acts upon them for their good. “Thy faith hath saved thee,” Christian! but what can it do for thy brother? It does not reach him. It is a secret in your own breast. Its power is great, but it is the power of a root, not of a branch. It operates by sustaining and stimulating other graces. Specifically and expressly, “faith worketh by love.”

Hope, in like manner, begins and ends in the heart of a disciple. These two departments of the kingdom lie “within” its loyal subjects. They send forth other missionaries, but do not themselves go forth. Such is the nature of both faith and hope that they will not thrive if they are frequently exposed to view. Do not show me thy faith or thy hope; but show me, by love's suffering and doing, that both love's blessed constituents prosper in your soul. The less that your hope, as such, protrudes itself on the notice of mankind, the better for its own health; but the more it swells within your breast, the more of love will it send forth to bless the world.

On the contrary, it is the nature of love to come out. Unless it act, and act on others, it cannot be. Love does not begin and end with the lover. Its essence is an outgoing. These three exercises of a human spirit have objects which they grasp, each its own. Faith fastens on Christ, hope on heaven, but love on humankind. It will not, it cannot let the world alone. All the neighbors know it, feel it. Love is like Him who “went about doing good.”

Thus, in its actual contact with the world and time, love is the largest of the three. Love teaches the ignorant, clothes the naked, feeds the hungry. Love reproves sin, withdraws temptation, leads back the wanderer to the path of righteousness. Love translates the Bible into every human tongue, and strives to introduce it into every human dwelling. Love is the fulfilling of that law which came latest from the Lord's own lips, “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel unto every creature.”

A tree stands in a lawn alone, and has stood there while three generations of its owners have successively been carried past it to the grave. It grows in a sheltered spot, and in a generous soil. Having no neighbors near, it has occupied the ground with its own roots, and the air with its own branches. You observe the tree from a distance, and pronounce it a lovely object in the landscape; but you see only the branches. It appears as one great symmetrical mass of green, globular or conical, according to its kind, towering high into heaven above, and beneath, leaning on the sward all round. It has, you know, a strong straight stem bearing, and a deep, wide-spread root, nourishing all these branches; but the stem and the root are invisible. As you come nearer you may get glimpses of the stem, and by digging in the earth you may discover and expose the roots. But both of these are in position withdrawn from view, and in bulk diminutive. The roots, the stem, the branching top—these three constitute the tree-but the greater of these, for beauty or for fruitfulness—the greatest of these is the collective head of leafy, blossoming, fruit-producing branches.

Precisely such an object on the broad field of scripture is this thirteenth chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. At the bottom, living and life-giving, but small in dimensions, and almost concealed from view, you find faith and hope, the nourishing root and supporting stem; but love springs up and spreads out on every side, and fills the observer's eye. Behold the multitudinous, miscellaneous, intertwined and radiating branches; how sweet-scented and fruitful each; how great and gorgeous the united whole! “Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”

In its permanence in heaven. Faith and hope are unspeakably precious to [those who were] sinners; but in their present form at least they are in their nature partial and temporary. If there had been no sin they would not have been needed; and when sin has been completely removed, they will be needed no more. It is true that in faith and hope grow all the love which constitute the heaven of the redeemed; but it is equally true that when love is perfect, the faith and hope which bore it will disappear.

On this side, the terrestrial image of the spiritual fact is found, not in the tree which flourishes as freshly as ever after the grandson of its planter has been gathered to his fathers in a good old age; but in the feebler, yet twofold more precious and necessary grain stalks which germinate, and fructify, and die, within the compass of a year. In spring and summer the tender roots and soft green stems of his field absorb all the care of the husbandman. His life is bound up in these, and he cherishes them accordingly. If these fail, all is lost. But in autumn, when the ripened grain is stored in safety, he sees, without regret, both roots and stems rolling into dust. Such, in relation to eternity, are the faith and hope which grow from the seed of the word in broken hearts during the preparatory season of time. When the love which they bear is fully ripe it will be stored to keep forever, and they will be left behind. “Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.”

Nor is there any cause for jealousy in this sisterhood of grace. To make love great—to make love greatest—does not make faith less. The more precious the ripened fruit is discovered to be, the more value will be set upon the only root which bears it. Love is greatest; and of that greatest thing none worthy of the name is owned by men on earth or in heaven, except that which has grown on faith. Does not this doctrine magnify the office of faith?

On the other hand, does anyone comfort himself with the thought that he possesses faith, the one essential for a sinful creature, although he is, in point of fact, neglecting the labor which love both demands and supplies? What is his faith? A root that bears nothing: a stump. “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him” (James 2:14)? Faith, if it hath not the “works” on which all true love ever toils, “is dead, being alone.”

Those who draw their life from Christ may well expand their strength in his cause. “Rooted in him” (Col. 2:7), they have access to all the fullness of the Godhead bodily: they might—they should be— “fat and flourishing.” Getting much through faith from the world's Savior, they should do much by love for a sinful world. If the hidden root be living, the ripening fruit should be good and great. W. A.

One Body and One Spirit: Part 1

The will of God is that His church should be one, not in spirit merely, but also in an embodied form, so as to exhibit its unity in each place, and its unity throughout the world (John 11:52; 17:11, 21; Acts 2:11; Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 1; 10; 12; Eph. 2; 4:1 Tim. 3:15). This He will accomplish in perfection at the coming of Christ (John 17:21, 23; Eph. 5:27; Heb. 12:23; Rev. 19:7; 21:9). Meantime it is incumbent on all believers to seek this holy and manifested union, and to put away everything that hinders it. We may be weak in meeting our corporate responsibility, as we are in answering our individual calling to holiness. Still in both respects, and in spite of all difficulties, our duty remains clear, paramount, and inevitable. But this is not by the mass of Christians maintained as a sacred, irreversible, point of doctrine and practice.

Popery owns it, but after a carnal manner.

All the Protestant national bodies have asserted, and acted on, the assumed title to accommodate their modes of government, rites, ceremonies, etc., according to the will of their rulers, whether they be within or without the so-called churches. These, consequently, vary in different ages and countries. The dissenting bodies, again, have been formed, generally speaking, either according to the self-devised plan of some individual mind, sometimes without even the idea of the church of God occurring to its founders; or according to partial views of scripture truth, which scatter the faithful instead of uniting them.

The chief error of nationalism, in this or in any other country, is the latitudinarian opening of the door to receive into the most solemn acts of worship and Christian fellowship the whole population, i.e., in principle, irrespective of looking for the gift of the Spirit. That of dissent, on the contrary, is the sectarian closing of the door on real Christians who cannot utter the Shibboleth of the party; and thus many brethren are excluded. In a word the characteristic evil of the latter is, that they do not treat as Christians many who are known to be such; whereas the equally characteristic evil of the former is, that they do treat as Christians many who are known not to be such at all. The one system makes the limits broader, the other narrower than God's limits. In either way the proper scriptural idea of the church is practically destroyed: dissent virtually affirming that it is not one body, but many; while nationalism virtually denies that it is the body of Christ. God would have His children not to be separate, but to gather together to the name of Jesus. Now this is evidently set aside when you separate any who ought to be united, (viz., all believed on proper grounds to be true Christians), or when you associate as brethren in Christ with any who ought to be separate (viz., those who are plainly of this world, or who, if they profess Christ, deny Him in evil doctrines or works).

It may be replied perhaps, that though this was, beyond all legitimate question, the order of the Holy Spirit in the early days of the church, times and circumstances are altered now. Gifts of healing, working of miracles, diversities of tongues, no longer exist as they once did. All this is freely admitted. But we ask, Is there such a body as the church any longer on the earth? If there be, the Spirit of God is Himself personally on earth as truly, though not so manifestly, as at the commencement; for He it is who is the formative agent and guide of the church. It was He that baptized Jews and Gentiles into one body. It was He that was to abide forever. The church, properly so called, began then as an, accomplished fact (see Acts 1:5, and 1 Cor. 12:13); for one speaks not of the hidden purpose of God. Pentecost first saw her dowered with the promise of the Father.

Believers of course there had been before, as we know, from Abel downwards; but, though quickened of the Spirit, they were not baptized of Him, they had not Him dwelling in them, like the saints after Pentecost. This was the precious privilege, for which it was expedient that Christ should go away: “for if I go not away, the Comforter (or Advocate) will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you” (John 16:7). It could not be till Jesus was glorified (John 7:39). But when sent down from heaven, the Spirit of truth was to be in them, and to abide with them forever. “And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever; the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you” ( John 14:16, 17).

It is the owning, then, of the Holy Ghost as Christ's vicar, as the really present, sole, and sufficient Paraclete or Advocate in the church during our Lord's absence, which is our special responsibility, and ought to be a leading feature in our testimony as Christians.

This cardinal truth of the presence of the Holy Spirit in and with the church has these two immensely important consequences:-

1. It is not by baptism, infant or adult; it is not by the adoption of this or that article or creed; it is “by one Spirit,” the Holy Spirit of God, “we are all” (i.e., all of us believers) “baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13). It is, if one may be allowed so to say reverently, the highest qualification which God can impart—the baptizing by the Holy Spirit Himself of the blood-washed believer—which introduces into the one body, the body of Christ. But this is the privilege of all true Christians. Nothing therefore short of a platform such as in principle to admit all Christians, and Christians only, can satisfy faith, because nothing short of this satisfies the Spirit of God. When it is said, “Christians only,” it is meant, so far as man guided by the word and Spirit of God can discern. If they are hypocrites, they will be made manifest in His own good time.

2. After the apostle has discussed the confession of the Lordship of Jesus by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3), which is the foundation of everything here, he shows that there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; diversities of services, but the same Lord; and diversities of operations, but the same God working all in all. Then in 7-11 he enters into the detail of these manifestations of the Spirit. It is given to each for common profit; whether the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, etc.: different manifestations, “but all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.” Now, while it is confessed that some or many of the exterior gifts are no more found, it must be here affirmed that this does not in the smallest degree negative the truth that the Spirit Himself does abide. But if He abides, has His resigned His functions? If even in these days, when pride cannot cloak the spiritual declension it so vainly strives to deny, if still one Christian has “the word of wisdom,” and another has “the word of knowledge,” is it from the Spirit of God, or from some other spirit? “What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:11). Can it be mere man's wisdom now? or is there such a thing as the teaching of the Holy Spirit?

It may be assumed, I trust, that the Christians who read this paper believe that there is still real power to evangelize the world and to edify the church. If so, whence comes it? The natural man knows nothing but natural things, and can neither receive nor communicate the things of the Spirit of God. Real, spiritual, power is of Him. Who of us believers is not a witness that this power still continues? Weakened and blunted, alas! it is; for He who works is grieved with all the sin, and confusion, and desolation around Him. But He does abide, and His power abides, and the way in which He acts, according to the scripture cited, is “dividing to every man severally as he will.” Clearly then He uses whom He pleases. It is no humanly divided caste that He employs to be the narrow and exclusive channel of His blessing. No: He does not vacate His sovereignty. It is not the pleasure, therefore, of a preacher, nor of a synod of preachers, nor of a congregation, nor of a sect, nay, nor of the true church, much less of a worldly power. It is the Spirit of God. And He divides as He will. Again He divides to each, or every man (i.e., inside the church), not this or that particular gift; but He does divide something for the common good— “to every man severally as he will.”

Hence the order and action of the church, as described in scripture, depend upon the presence and the operations of the Holy Ghost. And if He be allowed free scope to work, it is, if we are in truth to follow God's word, according to the pattern of “many members, yet but one body.” He acts in the unity of the whole body. After this manner we shall find His testimony regulated, as is plain from the Acts and Epistles: and this, whether inside or outside the church.

As for the testimony to those without, compare Acts 8:1,4; 11:20; 18:24-28; and Phil. 1:14. The mass or main part of the church, scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen, went everywhere preaching the gospel. Among them Philip was conspicuous in Samaria and elsewhere. If it be said that he was officially set apart, the answer is, It was to serve tables, not to preach the word of God. The office was instituted that the twelve, relieved from care touching this business, might give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word. If Phillip preached with power, if Stephen disputed with irresistible wisdom, and if both wrought miracles, none of these things was in virtue of an appointment which related simply and specifically to the daily ministration. Compare Acts 6:6 with 4:35. Further, others of those dispersed “traveled as far as Phenicia, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they were come to Antioch, spoke unto the Grecians (or rather Greeks), preaching the Lord Jesus.” Did these brethren assume what was unjustifiable?

Were they reproved even by the church at Jerusalem, ready as many there always were to censure what seemed irregular? “Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem; and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch; who, when he came and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord” (Acts 11:22-24).

At a later period “Apollos spoke and taught diligently the things of the Lord:” and this, when he knew only the baptism of John. Instructed more perfectly, through the instrumentality of a believer and his wife, who were as unauthorized as himself, he is soon found more active and honored than ever: “he helped them much which had believed through grace; for he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ” (Acts 18). At Rome, the most in the Lord, waxing confident by the bonds of Paul, were much more bold to speak the word without fear. It is true the motives of all were not good; but this is a danger which no human restriction could ward off. Alas! motives baser even than these were necessarily introduced, when the so-called ministry of Christ became synonymous with a regular, respectable, and in some cases lucrative profession. It was not so in apostolic days; yet even then, there were those who preached Christ of envy and strife, as well as others who preached of good will. What then, says the large-hearted apostle? Does he propose to fetter that blessed liberty, because it was now abused by these unholy feelings? Nothing of the sort. “Notwithstanding every way,” says he, “whether in pretext or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and I will rejoice,"

I need not quote other scriptures less direct, but equally showing that doctrine, not ordination, is the divine test for rejecting or receiving those who profess to be ministers of Christ. It is clear that several passages have been adduced which prove that such Christians as can are at liberty, not to say are bound, to preach the gospel. Not one text can be brought forward which contradicts, limits, or qualifies the principle. Scripture never prescribes a human commission as a necessary preliminary to that work. On the contrary, the parable of the talents in Matt. 25 teaches, by its solemn judgment, the danger of waiting for other warrant than the fact that the Lord delivers to the servants His goods, wherewith they are responsible to trade. To doubt the grace of the Master, to fear because one has not the authentication of those who presumptuously claim and trifle with His right, to bury the talent in the earth, is to act the part of the wicked and slothful servant. For the Lord of the harvest, to use another parable, has alone the title to send forth laborers (compare Matt. 10 and Rom. 10). In a word, the question is not whether all Christians are qualified of God to preach the gospel, but whether those who are so qualified may not preach without waiting for any human authoritative call. Scripture, we have seen, decides that they may.

As for the testimony to those within, 1 Cor. 14. shows plainly, that the only restriction upon the exercise of gifts by brethren was this: “Let all things be done unto edifying.” Women were positively forbidden to speak in the churches. Elsewhere they were responsible to use whatever gift the Lord imparted to them, subject to His word. Thus Priscilla, no less than Aquila, takes Apollos and expounds to him the word of God more perfectly (Acts 18:26). And the four daughters of Philip did prophesy (Acts 21:9) but not in the assemblies: the Spirit forbad that (1 Cor. 14:34, 35). A woman was not suffered to teach nor to exercise authority over the man (1 Tim. 2:12). But all the brethren, as a whole, were exhorted thus— “follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy.” And of course they were to exercise their gifts as God empowered them, so that all things were done decently and in order.

Hence it is that James says (3:1), “My brethren be not many masters” (i.e., “teachers"), an exhortation as entirely out of place in modern arrangements, as it was suitable, wholesome, and needed in their case whom he addressed: an exhortation which manifestly implied that there was an open ministry, which might very possibly be abused by the flesh, but which the Spirit, instead of closing or restricting, turned to the good of their souls by pressing upon them their direct responsibility to God. On the other hand, the entire family of God are exhorted not to believe every spirit, but to try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets were gone out into the world (1 John 4:1). Even the elect lady (2 John 10) is told that if any come and bring nor the doctrine of Christ, he is not to be received. Those who hear, as well as those who teach, have need to take heed. Responsibility is maintained on all sides: from this none can escape.

In Rom. 12 we have the same thing, though from another point of view. “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every one that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office; so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, [let us prophesy] according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, [let us wait] on our ministry; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; he that giveth, [let him do it] with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness.” God's dealing to each was looked to, and not a mere human commission to one, or to a few. Hence faith came in, and each is exhorted to think soberly of himself, and to use what God has given him instead of pretending to more. We see not one member absorbing all the gifts, or hindering others, but many members, and yet but one body, having gifts differing, and exhorted to employ them, not merely through love, because we are every one members one of another, but because of the grace given on God's part.

So in Eph. 4:4-16: “[There is] one body and one Spirit ... But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, ... from whom the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” Col. 2:19 is to the same effect:.... “the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.”

Again, 1 Peter 4:9, 10 makes it a matter of positive obligation that “as each one hath received the gift,” even so they should minister the same one to another. Thus, and thus only, should they be “good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” “If any one speak, let him speak as oracles of God: if any one minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to Whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Can anything more clearly show that mere human acquirement is of no value, while the idea of human restriction is perfectly shut out? Whatever came from God and nothing else, was to be used and received without further sanction, that God might be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ.

From these scriptures we learn also that the gifts from above were for the blessing of the whole body of Christ: not one for one particular section of the church, and another for another; but all open to the whole church, and the whole church open to all.

Thus, according to the divine plan, if I am a member of the church at all, I am a member of the church everywhere. If I go to any quarter of the world where saints call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, I am a member, not by permission nor by courtesy, but by the universal recognition, on the part of believers, of the title which grace has given me. Baptized by the Spirit, I am a member of Christ's body, wheresoever I may be. In apostolic days that membership, and none other, was known throughout. There might be differences of view. There might be need of the word, “Whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing.” Some might eat herbs, and some might eat meat; but the Spirit said, and says, “Receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.” Now the glory of God is identified, not with some, but with all the members of the body of Christ. If the weakest member therefore were excluded, save in case of necessary scriptural discipline, so far would that glory be forgotten or despised; and those guilty of such exclusion ought to be avoided, as causers of divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which we learned.

(To be continued)

Brief Notes on 1 Peter 5:1-14

The word “subjection” or “subject” occurs seven times in this epistle, and “suffer” or “sufferings” nineteen times. “Likewise ye wives be in subjection” (chap. 3:1)—likewise to what? To Him who took the subject place at the end of chap. 2. And how blessed to know that He who took the place of subjection here, has now His place on high with all there subject to Him, at the close of chap. 3.

The holy women who trusted in God adorned themselves with the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit; and we all need it, brothers as well as sisters. We should not have quoted Sarah as in chap. 3:6! She only once called Abram “lord,” and then she laughed in unbelief; but God is gracious.

To go back to our chapter. Was not the apostle a sufferer? Was he not in prison, and was not prayer made on his behalf? We need to “watch unto prayer,” and to abound in it. If you watch to prayer, you will have good reason to rejoice!

“Feed the flock of God.” It is very sweet to hear the Lord's sheep spoken of thus! How you find both Paul and Peter warned the saints against the love of money! With regard to the flock, we are not to treat it as our own possession. He valued the flock because of the price paid for it. It is God's. How blessed to think of the Lord Jesus Christ as my Shepherd, and my Overseer! Do I want to serve the Lord? He will give me grace to do it if I but look to Him for it. Humility does not consist in not taking the place grace assigns us. One reason why we have had all our sorrows is the lack of humility. “God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble.”

Those of us who seek to serve the Lord in preaching, are we not apt to forget this seventh verse, and to allow the service to come between the Lord and ourselves? I am privileged to cast all my care on Him.

It becomes us to be grave, and to be on our guard. There are some that go about who are arch-deceivers. But we are not alone. “The God of all grace” He knows how to make grace abound toward us. He “has called us to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus” You and I are bound to get there where His glory is. As sinners we came short of it: now we exult in hope of it. Here (ver. 10) we ought to have the word “shall,” — “shall Himself make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” No wonder the apostle breaks out in a note of praise for it! There are similar words in chap. 4.

God in His grace encourages us in Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ is quite able to bring us through. We shall never be able to say He did not nourish and cherish His church. But we are called to be children of obedience. He cares for His own glory, and that of the Lord Jesus Christ. May it ever be dear to our hearts! Amen. W. N. T.

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Nature of Prophecy - Part 3

How strong the contrast of His word by Isaiah in his great continuous discourse! All flesh is grass. The word of our God stands forever. And He it is who is coming, who is a tender Shepherd to His people, though the Maker and the Master of all the universe. Who will teach Him? What are the nations or the idols they have made? To Israel He speaks, who knows the end from the beginning, and He it is who acts above the powers He employs to chasten or deliver. “Produce your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forth your strong reasons, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forth and declare unto us what shall happen; let them show the former things what they be, that we may consider them and know the latter end of them; or declare unto us things to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter that we may know that ye are gods; yea, do good or do evil that we may be dismayed and behold it together. Behold, ye are of nothing and your work of naught: an abomination is he that chooseth you” (Isa. 41:21-24). “Behold, the former things are come to pass and new things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them” (chap. 42:9). True prophecy is His claim and it is an abiding one.

“Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb, I am Jehovah that maketh all things; that alone stretcheth forth the heavens; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself (or who is with me?); that frustrateth the tokens of the liars (or boasters), and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backwards and maketh their knowledge foolish; that comfirmeth the word of his servant and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built and I will raise up the decayed places thereof; that saith to the deep, Be dry and I will dry up thy rivers; that saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid” (chap. 44: 24-28).

“Declare ye and bring it forth; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath showed this from ancient time? Who hath declared it of old? Have not I, Jehovah? And there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me” (45:21). “Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is none else; I am God and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure; calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. Yea, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it” (chap. 46:9-11). “I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my-mouth and I showed them; I did them suddenly and they came to pass. Because I knew that thou art obstinate and thy neck as an iron sinew and thy brow brass, I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; before it came to pass, I showed it thee; lest thou shouldst say, Mine idol hath done them and my graven image and my molten image hath commanded them. Thou hast heard, see all this and will ye not declare it? I have showed thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. They are created now and not from the beginning, and before this day thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldst say, Behold, I knew them” (chap. 48:3-7).

These citations from a single prophet suffice to prove what stress God lays on that communication of the future which modern criticism seeks to belittle or deny; and Christians beguiled by its assurance are willing, yea, anxious to throw it into the background so as to render prophecy indistinct and powerless. No believer need shrink from the demand of a notable skeptic in his Creed of Christendom: to mark (r) What the event was to which the alleged prediction was intended to refer; (2) That the prediction was uttered in specific, not vague, language before the event; (3) That the event took place specifically, not loosely, as predicted; (4) That it could not have been foreseen by human sagacity. Take the following predictions of Christ as they are given in the Revised Version: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (chap. 7:14). “Bind thou up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. And I will wait for the LORD that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath throughout given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts which dwelleth in Mount Zion” (chap. 8:16-18). “In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time hath he made it glorious by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (chap. 9:1, 2). “And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit; and the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; and his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD,” etc. (11:1-3). “Behold I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone of sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste” (chap. 28:16).

Let us turn now to the later testimonies briefly.

“Behold my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment in truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law” (chap. 42:1-4). “And he said unto me, Thou art my servant, Israel; in whom I will be glorified. But I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught and vanity: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD and my recompense with my God. And now, saith the LORD, that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob to him, and that Israel be gathered with him (for I am honorable in the eyes of the LORD and my God is become my strength). Yea, He saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the ends of the earth. Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, [and] his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, whom the nation abhorreth,” etc. (49:3-7).

“The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I should know how to sustain with words him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught. The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord GOD will help me therefore have I not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? Let us stand up together; who is mine adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord GOD will help me: who is he that shall condemn me?” (chap. 1:4-9).

“Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. Like as many were astonied at thee (his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men), so shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him; for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider” (chap. 52:13-15).

“Who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their face he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, yet he humbled himself and opened not his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before her shearers is dumb; yea, he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who among them considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living? for the transgression of my people was he stricken. And they made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief; when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul unto death: and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (chap. 53:1-12).

“Incline your ear, and come unto me; hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and a nation that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the LORD thy God, and for the Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee” (chap. 55:3-5).

“The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,” etc. (chap. 61: 1, 2). “I am inquired of by them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name. I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people,” etc. (chap. 65:1,2).

Comment is almost needless. The passages speak for themselves, and can apply to none but the Lord Jesus: His birth as unique as His ministry, in the least likely sphere; His followers associated with Him during Israel's non-recognition by Jehovah; the lineage of which He was born no less than the power of the Holy Spirit that rested on Him beyond any of the sons of men; His person, peculiarly put to the proof, and a foundation for the believer as none other was or could be; the delight of Jehovah, the meekest in Israel, yet righteously blessing the Gentiles in the face of all opposition; nor this only, but when owning His apparent failure through Jewish unbelief and rejection, having the promise from Jehovah to be a light of the nations. And what can incredulity do, but gnash its teeth at Isa. 50; 52:13- chap. 53? The suffering Messiah alone answers to the prophetic picture. Here there can be no possible pretense for imagining, as in the case of Cyrus, a sign on the horizon. For, as the prophet wrote indisputably many centuries before His advent, so the events intended are unmistakably, specially and exclusively verified in the Lord Jesus; and this from His birth to the grave, yea, beyond it, to His resurrection, and the work that occupies Him now in heaven, His intercession, as well as that which He carries on by His servants on earth, even to the call of the Gentiles and the rebellion of the Jews. Hence the notion of human sagacity foreseeing all, or most, or any from first to last, is unreasonable in the highest degree. Even the blindness of Israel that withstood the light in Him who has blessed, who is blessing, once besotted heathen, is a distinct trait of the prophecy; as it has its counterpart now in Christendom where men receive not the love of the truth that they may be saved. Nay, more, part remains to be fulfilled in His earthly exaltation, which is incompatible with His present work, both in executing judgment, and in establishing His glory in power over all the earth.

It is allowed that there is One who is the true object of prophecy, being man in His sufferings and temptations, God in His holiness no less than His strength and power. We see, says one, how His resurrection and ascension into heaven are its entire fulfillment. All the promises of God in Him are yea, and through Him, Amen. But as to all others the language could not be literally accomplished: firstly, because it was not properly applicable, to any earthly nation from the imperfection of all human things; and secondly, because even that character of imperfect good or evil which made certain nations the representatives of the principles of good and evil themselves, was not and could not be perpetual. As every people changes for better or worse in time, the prophecy could not be fulfilled at all, as in the case of Jonah's prophecy of Nineveh's destruction. In all cases the fulfillment will fall short of the full strength of the language, because in its proper scope and force it was aimed at a more unmixed good and evil than have ever been exhibited in the character of any earthly people. Hence is deduced, as the general principle of interpretation, a uniform historical or lower sense, and also a spiritual or higher, almost involved necessarily in the very idea of prophecy.

(To be continued)

Notes on Matthew 24:34-44

CHAP. 24:34 to 44

The expression “this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled,” has given occasion for a false interpretation of these verses; and many have sought to prove that it was all fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem. But this won't hold water for a moment, and there are many scriptures both in the O.T. and N.T. which prove that “generation” as here, is used in a moral sense. Look at Matt. 11:16, for instance; and again, at chap. 12:45. The unclean spirit is that of idolatry. We hear nothing of idolatry among the Jews after the Babylonish captivity, but they will be, alas, worse idolaters than ever before “The unclean spirit” will find the nation in the day that is rapidly nearing, quite prepared to receive him. The Lord shows it is figurative language He is using—an unbelieving, Christ-rejecting, “generation.” So the word is used in a moral sense in Deut. 32, Psa. 12, Prov. 30, etc. Other stubborn nations there are, which have been absorbed by their neighbors, but the Jews, in spite of all to which they have been subjected, “a nation scattered and peeled,” have been and will be kept distinct, and brought back to their land in unbelief, to receive the man of sin, the devil's great masterpiece, whom they will receive as their Messiah!

The dispensations are the way God lays out time. First, there was the dispensation of innocence; then of conscience, but without government; then of government, after the flood; then law; and now, if we may speak of this present time as a dispensation, it is that of grace. If we look at the church, we cannot properly so term it, but if as the kingdom of heaven we may. After this comes the reign of righteousness; and finally, the eternal state. Unless we see these several varieties of God's dealings, we do not rightly divide the word of truth. For instance, there has recently been some talk of eliminating the imprecatory Psalms. People feel that it is not Christian language, but they do not see that after the church is gone it will be as right for the saints then on the earth to use them as it was for Stephen to pray for his enemies. It would mean confusion if we held that both could be pleasing to God in every measure of time. The word “dispensation” means the ordering of the household.

“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (ver. 35). Is not this exceedingly sweet for us to meditate on! The child of God knows he has a foundation for his faith more stable than heaven or earth. The Lord speaks of His own words; the word of the Lord endureth forever. How ever men may seek to detract from the word of God, by His grace may we hold fast all God has given to us. The quotation in 1 Peter 1 about the word of the Lord is in reference to being born again, and this is ever by the word of God Himself. It is surprising how small a portion of His word God may use to impart divine life. Here it is the Lord's own words, but the whole word of God has a divine character. We can say, I am sure, that the one who knows most and studies most, and has been taught by the Spirit, feels how he has only just touched the surface of an inestimable treasure. Whatever truth we have is what we have received; no one can boast of originality about truth, Some did at Corinth, and the apostle says “What have ye that ye have not received?”

Ver. 37. Now the very fact of bringing before the disciples the days of Noah would serve to show it bears a Jewish character, for it is Enoch who is the type of the Christian. In Heb. 11, we have first God making a home for man, then an accepted worshipper, and then one walking with God and who was translated before the waters of judgment came upon the earth. You could not have the rule of grace, and of judgment, in the same dispensation. Now it is grace reigning through righteousness. Righteousness is suffering now, but in the millennium it will be righteousness reigning; and then in the eternal state “righteousness will dwell.” But Enoch was in the secret of the deluge. You often find there is a partial fulfillment before the final one. So when Enoch had a son he called him Methuselah, which means “after his death it is sent,” and his age exactly reaches to the deluge. Does not all this prove that Enoch was in the secret of the judgment at, hand, as well as that which is still future as recorded by Jude? That was his prophetic word, but he was taken away before the deluge. Just what God will do for us, who are to be kept “out of the hour of temptation” which is to try the dwellers upon earth.

The Lord speaks of Himself as the “Son of man.” No one ever addressed the Lord Jesus as such, and when that title is given Him in scripture it is either as suffering, or exalted. He suffered here and God has exalted Him and put everything under His feet, and given Him higher and wider glories because He was denied His rights here. When He comes as Son of man it is in judgment, and coincides with His revelation or manifestation, that is His coming with all His saints. When He comes for His church it is in purest grace, and it is most important to see this; not a hint is there of judgment when He comes for His own. So those who talk of His only coming for a certain portion of His church really know nothing about it. Only think of a mutilated body! Only think of part of a bride taken! As we said last week, we cannot properly speak of the last “member” being added to “the body” (Acts 2:47 is “The Lord added together"). But there is a “building,” a temple being built of “living stones,” not yet completed but “growing” unto a holy temple—a divine building together, not man's, about which the Lord says, “I will build my church and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it. When the last stone is added to this growing temple it will be complete, and then “He that shall come will come and will not tarry.” He will not tarry, but He tarries till then. “While the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.” But God will never have His gospel preached to mock souls; and so when preaching it one has the thought that this temple is not yet complete, there is another stone to be added. When it says, “whether we wake, or sleep,” the sleep here is that of death; but in the words “they that sleep, sleep in the night,” it is moral.

In our very next chapter it speaks of the true saints of God getting into a sleepy state, they began to nod, and got into sleeping places (churches and chapels) that is, we have indifference to Christ, which is saddest of all. Although the church will be taken away it will be only a nine days' wonder, and so the Lord says here, They “knew not till the flood came” etc. (ver. 39). Those in Noah's day were willingly ignorant, and that is what the apostle Peter deals with in his Second Epistle. I do not think that Peter distinguishes the parts of the coming, but speaks generally. They are willingly ignorant but God interfered by the deluge. God has recorded it, so they can know it; and they are willingly ignorant also of the Lord's coming, for the same word reveals both.

I suppose perhaps the oldest book in the Bible is the Book of Job. At any rate, it bears the same relation to the poetical books as Genesis to the historical; so it is very early—after the flood, but before the law. And let us think how over 3,000 years ago it was written there, “Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull gendereth and faileth not, their cow calveth and casteth not her calf. They send forth their little ones like a flock and their children dance. They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ. They spend their days in wealth and in a moment go down to the grave, therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways” (chap. 21:8-14)!

They are “willingly ignorant” and “the mind of the flesh,” man in his whole being “is enmity against God.” Nothing shows the necessity of a new nature clearer than that. There was feasting etc., going on when “the flood came and took them all away.” “So shall also the coming of the Son of man be,” and I suppose there must have been a tremendous population on the earth then. And no flesh was visible. It was either shut in the ark or under the water. “The end of all flesh.” God will be justified in His sayings, and it is a wonderful mercy for God to give us faith in the plenary inspiration of His word. There is many a thing that forms a wrong impression on our mind because we have only a partial knowledge about it, so let God be true, if ever there is a difficulty, and every man a liar, including myself.

What all the great minds of the world are trying to find out, namely, the mysteries of nature, the Spirit of God calls them shallow things, the things of this creation; and even to these, man has no line long enough to reach. But we have the deep things of God in this divine revelation, and man's mind can never fathom them. We do not know what changes took place on this earth at the time of the flood, but there is abundant evidence that there have been tremendous catastrophes on the earth's surface. And the way in which the Bible opens, is quite enough for a simple believer to see that God did not create it in a state of chaos.

When but “waters,” it was by His fiat the dry land appeared. I believe there is very beautiful typical teaching in this. But there is room enough between the first and second verses of Gen. 1 for all the geologic ages. If we consider the typical teaching, we see, first, man in his fallen ruined condition and the spirit of God active there; then there is a voice that speaks-the word of God, “Let there be light"; then on the third day there is a standing for man which never could be but for the work on Calvary.

“Then shall two,” etc., “one taken, the other left” (ver. 40). Although it is a fact that when the Lord comes there will be what would correspond with this, yet where judgment is before us, as in these verses, it is one taken in judgment and the other left for millennial blessing on the earth.

The whole discourse is divided into three parts, the first is Jewish, ending with verse 44. Then in the second part the saints of this dispensation are in view, as servants to care for the household (vers. 43 to 51); as virgins to watch for the Bridegroom (25:1-13); and as servants to occupy till He come (vers. 14-30). Lastly (25:31-46), the Son of man comes in His glory, when all the Gentile nations will be dealt with. We need to weigh all this well. May we all be found watching, for the Lord says in Mark, “What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch.” We are to wait for, to watch, and also to be found doing or serving. The young Thessalonians turned to God from idols to wait for His Son from heaven; we should ever be “waiting” and “serving” as there is also the contrast between sleeping and watching.

Ver. 43. I judge the “goodman (or, master) of the house” etc., is a word for the remnant really to be ready when the Lord comes to them. As a matter of fact Satan is the God of this world. There will be some that will be wise and understand, though they won't understand what we know, but they will understand what we do not, the things that refer to them, as for instance the number of the beast, it will be clear to them as daylight.

A Reading on Romans 6

It is part of the evidence of the inspiration of the word of God that all possible objections are anticipated, and met; and no objections are so hard to combat as the allegation that the gospel of grace, pure, unmerited grace on the part of God, will tend to license and liberty to sin. And it is a very effectual weapon of the enemy to keep us under law—from recognizing that we stand purely under grace. However small the mixture of law with grace it alters its character.

Divine grace is the unmerited favor of God, the love of God over-riding and overflowing the sinfulness of man, and coming to man when he is evidently ruined. Man is not on his trial, but under condemnation; he is ruined. So then God comes out in unlimited grace; and the objection is raised that if He is so gracious, we may go on sinning with impunity. But this is the reasoning of an unregenerate mind. So the apostle deals with it, and meets it by saying, “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein” (ver. 2)? He cuts the ground right away underneath it.

There are two aspects of the cross. We are apt to take the one, and say, “Christ died for me”; and leave the other. Christ did die for me. Blessedly true! “Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures; and He was buried; and He rose again the third day according to the scriptures.” Its application to the believer is,” Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification,” and this practically brings me to the end of the question of my sins. This terminates at chap. 5:11.

But what the apostle is dealing with here from the twelfth verse is not “sins,” but “sin;” not the fruit or branch, but the root. So he shows us that not only did Christ die for our sins, but we died with Christ. Scripture uses death in a twofold way. Spiritually, we are all “dead in trespasses and sins"; “and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins.” Thus are all viewed as dead in God's sight. When grace meets us, and the cross is presented, where Christ died, and we died with Him, we are entitled to look at things as God looks at them. “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.”

The Lord said to one who came to cross-examine Him, “How readest thou?” “We have died out of an earthly condition.” In chapter 7 it is brought out even more forcibly. The husband must be dead before a woman can be married again, or she is an adulteress. The law does not die (that is the husband), but the woman dies: she is free from that law. We used to sing

“Free from the law! O happy condition!

Jesus hath bled, and there is remission,”

but it is not only that Jesus has died and here is remission, but I have died in the death of Jesus. It has been frequently pointed out by others before us that in the Red Sea is Christ's death for us; but in the Jordan, with its twelve stones set up in the river, and its twelve taken from the bed of the river, and set up on the bank, we have our death with Christ. The two truths must go together, not only that Christ died, but that we died, and so the law has nothing to say to us, for we have passed out of its jurisdiction; and thus sin has lost its dominion. There is no necessity to continue in sin. In chap. 7 the man says, “I cannot do what I would.” Why? Because he has put himself under law, but the moment he looks away to Christ, he gets deliverance. It is not his trying, but Christ's delivering power. Well, we have died to sin, and consequently, “how shall we live any longer therein?”

Then the apostle brings forward the subject of baptism. Has it ever occurred to you how wisely God introduces things, always at the proper time, and place? If baptism had been introduced before, people would have attributed forgiveness of sins, etc., to it. But baptism is always connected with death. “As many of us as were baptized unto Jesus Christ, were baptized unto His death.” There was something else they could have been baptized unto. In 1 Cor. 10 we read, “They were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” What a difference between “unto Moses” and “unto Jesus Christ!” One is to place themselves under law; that is what Moses stood for. On the mount of Transfiguration you get Moses and Elijah (i.e., “the law,” and “the prophets") talking with Christ of His decease to be accomplished; and this decease releases us entirely from that condition of things. We are not baptized unto Moses, but unto Jesus Christ. Look at 1 Peter 1:2. The Holy Spirit there takes action—sanctifies or sets apart “to obedience, and sprinkling of the blood, of Jesus Christ” —an object to obey—as He obeyed; not under an obligation, as Moses and the people; but the Holy Ghost sets me apart to Christ's obedience—this the standard, and this the power. The obedience of Jesus Christ is a willing obedience, delighting in doing a thing because it pleased the Father; not against my desires or because of a penalty if neglected, but something according to my new nature which delights to please God. The old nature never alters its character, even in a saint, but the new nature is born of God. Because we have a new nature that does not sin we must not think we cannot sin. We have an old nature that can sin, and we must look at Rom. 6, and the baptism that shows our deliverance from its power—not its presence. Many think they cannot sin, but the old nature is there, and it is no wisdom but a snare to ignore the fact that you have it; to reckon it dead, and look to the cross where God condemned it is right. We must learn “In me, that is in my flesh, good does not dwell.”

The gospel is “that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the scriptures,” —a complete formula of the gospel Paul preached. The gospel rests on solid facts, and carries us back to the death of Christ and what it signifies. I take it, it refers to the Old Testament scriptures there.

Then you cannot separate death and burial from resurrection. You get a lame and halt gospel—an imperfect gospel—if you do not get the resurrection. So Paul says, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.” So in Col. 2 you will notice, “Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him,” etc. The burial necessarily implies what follows; but the baptism itself is putting the person under the water—a burying; and a burying signifies you have finished with the old thing. So in Acts 9, when the apostle is converted, and Ananias comes in he says, “Arise and be baptized.” Being converted, the apostle was baptized. There is a time for everything, and the right time for baptism is after a person is converted. When they had been baptized we get instruction about it (ver. 3). The great thing is that “henceforth we should not serve sin.”

Ver. 6 speaks about our old man; Ephesians and Colossians also refer to the old man, and speak of a new man; and the new man is after the image of Him that created him. So in ver. 4 here—we should walk “in newness of life” —the new life is incapable of sinning. “Crucified with Him” implies judgment—sin condemned in the flesh; and on this ground God can effect deliverance for us. “That the body of sin might be destroyed,” or annulled. Judgment has been executed. To annul a thing is take away its power, and the body of sin has been annulled. God has broken the dominion of sin for us who believe in Him.

It is not the normal condition of a believer that you have in chap. 7. It does say, “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other; that ye may (not can) not do the things that ye “would” (Gal. 5:17). In Rom. 7, the man is wrestling in his own strength, and the Spirit is not mentioned throughout the chapter. So God cannot be for him, and has to leave him to learn his own weakness; but as soon as he learns “O wretched man that I am?” deliverance comes in. As long as a man is under law, he gives sin power over him; but when he realizes he has died with Christ, he is delivered from it. The power is Another's. The law was not given with the expectation that man would live up to it. You cannot be a trespasser if no warning notice has been put up; but as soon as law came in, man was proved a “transgressor.” The law was holy, just and good, but became death to me. Why? Because I had a nature opposed to it. So we must believe what God says, and He says, “Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under law, but under grace” (ver. 14). People say that is for ceremonies; but that is not the whole of the law. The law is not a standard for me—not at all. It says “Thou shalt not.” But Christ is the standard; we should “walk even as He walked” —a higher standard indeed; and we fulfill the law, without being under it— “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” What was the righteous requirement of the law? Love to God and your neighbor. The law required it, but man never gave it. But when grace came in, God's love was manifested, and God's love being shed abroad in the heart the apostle could say “we know we love God because we love the brethren.” If we really love God, we shall love our brother also. The law is not a standard for the Christian: Christ is that. And to have the Spirit, we must not place ourselves under law, but under grace. Is it not a lesson for us that Israel put themselves under law?

There are three pairs in these three chapters. Two heads in chap. 5—two actions—one an offense against God which made many sinners; and one act of righteousness by which many were constituted righteous. In this chapter we get the two services—the service of sin, which we have all been under, and we know, by grace, we have been delivered from it: and there is the service of righteousness. There is a wonderful contrast in Eph. 4, “Let him that stole steal no more; but rather let him labor... that he may have to give,” etc. There you get the change from the service of sin to that of righteousness. Then in chap. 7 you get two husbands. We are invited to either the law or to Christ, and must die unto one condition. So you get three pairs of things, but what underlies it all is the allowance of flesh and law. When once that is settled deliverance comes in. God has condemned sin in the flesh. When and where? Not in us; it would have been utter destruction. No; in His Son. I have no righteousness of my own. Christ is my righteousness, and I have everything in Him.

E. B. D.

Two Addresses on Ephesians 1:3-14

Perhaps there is hardly any portion of the word more familiar to us than what we have here, and therefore it may not be that we have what we do not know already; but I want to press upon us what the grace of God has done for us, and our consequent responsibility. We are here, not to please ourselves, but Him Who is worthy. It is the deep sense of grace that enables us to please Him. I don't say alone, for we have the Spirit of God to enable us to carry it out; so we cannot excuse ourselves, and say we cannot carry out God's purpose for us. It is He “Who works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure"; so it shuts the mouth at once of all excuses.

Here we find the apostle breaking out in the blessings of ver. 3. Now I think you cannot have a wider charter than this. Is your idea of a spiritual blessing on a level with your temporal mercies? You would think it a great thing if God had said, “blessed us with” every earthly comfort! That was true of Israel. I do not make out that we are better, but I do make out that I am immensely more favored than the people of old—so are you—not that we are better than was Israel. Has not God a right to do what He will with His own people and His own resources? What of the parable of the laborers. “Friend, I do thee no wrong!” “Is thine eye evil, because I am good?” Because you hear of some others not working so long you begin to grumble! What are men's rights? Is has been said, Nothing but men's wrongs. We are here to maintain God's rights.

Our blessing is very varied: “every spiritual blessing.” I am sure we none of us believe it as we should. Excuse my saying so, but do we not feel it is too vast? Yet let God be true. This is what He reveals to us— “EVERY spiritual blessing.” If that lays hold of you, you will say, “Well, I am Thine forever!” We are free, not to please ourselves, but free to serve like His slaves, His bondmen, but a bondage of freedom, of love. Do I want to do anything that is not pleasing to Him? Would you grieve your best earthly friend? How much less this Friend who sticketh closer than a brother. No, we are here to please Him. Is it too much? Can we not say that whether present or absent we are “ambitious” to be well pleasing to him? He has come out according to the wealth of His own grace. I do not say you are in the enjoyment of every blessing, but they are yours. There are the diamonds on the table, flowers, books, pictures, etc., and I say, “It is all yours.” You do not take all up together; you pick them up one at a time. How much of this presentation of God's grace has your heart laid hold of? We are weak things; yes, I know it; but this is “in heavenly places” —Canaan. “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, I have given you"; but you must put you foot on it if you are to enjoy it, your must appropriate it. Caleb acted on it. “I would like Hebron—a strong city.” He goes forward and takes it. He had to go through the wilderness forty years through the fault of his brethren. We do suffer for the faults of our brethren, and are members one of another. It was no fault of Caleb—no. Well, he too must have felt the pressure of things, but he says, “I am as strong this day as when I started”. The Lord knows how to sustain His people, and the heart that is true to Him. We have the hand of Omnipotence to fall back on. We are not able to bear the force of it, but He knows how to deal gently. He delights to bless.

You never asked Him to bless you with every spiritual blessing. Had I a will in my being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world? No, I wasn't born. But does He not see the end from the beginning? And before the worlds were founded we were chosen in the purpose of God—those in the mind of God predestinated to be companions of the Lord Jesus, redeemed by His precious blood. What difficulties presented themselves! The children of Israel were brought through the wilderness, but those who came out of Egypt perished. Have you ever found God to fail? Can't you trust Him? “I can trust Him for my soul,” you say. Nay, trust Him for everything! Do you realize that your hands are full—that you cannot be richer than you are? He does not give everything now, for we could not stand it. In the day that is coming He will give us all things. But this is now. Would you have it apart from Christ? This is in Him (ver. 4). We must be according to God. He is holy; He is light. We must be suited to God's presence. “Before Him in” fear? No, “in love.” We can hardly say we are “blameless” or “holy” in the full sense of this verse, for this is the consummation of God's purpose; but we are “holy brethren,” and we are to pursue holiness—to lay hold of it. “Everyone that hath this hope on Him, purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” There is the constant work of the Spirit of God in our souls, conforming us in spirit now to Him.

Ver 5. “Sonship” is a grand word. “Adoption” might give a false thought. While it is a good word in itself, we do not always take in its breadth. If we adopt a child, we may cast off that child. We may go out of the family, and lay hold of some waif, and adopt it; but it is not born into the family: there is no link of nature. But if I am born into the family I am a child, and you cannot deny the relationship. You may cut out of a will, but you cannot annul the relationship. John always speaks of “children.” But this is “sonship.” Not only am I brought into sonship, but born into the family. But sonship gives character and position. “He is my son.” So we have been brought into sonship, and we are waiting for the manifestation of it. It is not now displayed; we are called to suffer and groan, waiting for that day when every blade of grass will display the glory of Him that made it. Jerusalem will be the joy of the whole earth, the holy city. It was so called at the crucifixion. But what a day when that comes, and it is the joy of all the earth! That is because of “Jehovah shammah"; Jehovah is there. It is sad to see how the name of God is being deleted from the world. In all their thoughts He is not! Oh, the fools! Now it says, “according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved” (ver. 6). He is going to show that—not the praise of the glory of my belief, my trust, but of His grace. All “in Him,” or “in whom,” —all Christ—the object in this chapter.

Ver. 7. It is a peculiar verse. “We have obtained an inheritance.” Jacob was the lot of Jehovah's inheritance, but we are not His inheritance—we are the sharers with Him in it. What wonderful grace! When He takes His inheritance we are with Him, His heavenly bride. Who form this bride? The Jews of old? No. We are to reign with Christ: they are to be reigned over. And we are sealed for it. It is made true and sure by the Spirit. I pass over the central truth of this chapter, redemption (ver 7). The grand thing now is to know not only that one is saved, though that is a grand thing, but the knowledge of His will— “having made known to us the mystery of His will” (ver. 9). It is not enough that He has redeemed me, but He opens His heart to me, and says, 'I want you to see what I purpose.' The will is opened before me-hidden as it has been from before the world's foundation. That will has to do with everything connected with my position down here. Take worship. How would He have me worship? We get it in chap. 3 and there I get the real want of my soul. Here it is the “good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself” —to do His will. Am I doing it? Is it bondage if it is the response of love? “The perfect law of liberty.” He has given the Spirit, and says “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed until the day of redemption.” It is a stimulus to know His eye is on us in our little corner. He looks down into your heart and mine, and says, “Are you true to me? Are you seeking to walk after the purpose of that will now you know it?” We are going to be manifested in the likeness of Christ: oh, don't let the world have a place in your heart—the world that crucified the Lord of Glory. We are called to wait for the Son from heaven Who delivered us from the wrath to come.

One Body and One Spirit: Part 2

As is the ground of membership, so it is of ministry. It is of God's Spirit. If not, it is nothing or worse, and ought to be so treated by all those who honor God rather than man. If a Christian be an evangelist, he is so everywhere, and not restricted to this or that district, congregation, or chapel. If he be a teacher or a pastor, or both, he of course exercises his gift where he usually resides. But then he is not the teacher, but a teacher: and he is a teacher in the church, and not in a church. “We,” says the apostle, writing to far distant saints whom as yet he had not seen— “we, being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.” He is not speaking of what was to be in heaven, but of what actually was on earth, the unity of Christ's body here below. “Having then gifts differing,” etc.

So (1 Cor. 3) in meeting the carnal, because exclusive, preference of one servant of Christ above another, the apostle presses the broad and blessed truth, “All things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas,” etc. It was a sectarian spirit in respect of those who ministered that Paul rebuked.

It is the same principle in 1 Cor. 12:18-28: “But now God set the members each one of them in the body, as it pleased [him]. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of you. Nor, again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: and those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor: and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness; but our comely parts have no need. But God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. And God hath set some in the church; first, apostles; secondarily, prophets; thirdly, teachers; after that, miracles; then gifts of healing, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” “God set some in the church,” not in a church. Viewed as churches, apostles could be in but few. There were none in the church at Corinth when Paul wrote. Teachers stand clearly on the same base: apostles in the church, teachers in the church.

Again, in Eph. 4:11-16, whether apostles, or prophets, whether evangelists, or pastors and teachers, they are given of Christ, not to be the solitary officials of a denomination, but “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come,” etc. Verse 16 tells us that it is “the whole body fitly joined together,” not broken into sects; the whole body “compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part": a practical thing, and not a mere theory, a thing meant to be in the church while on earth, and not at all referring to heaven. We shall not need such ministration there. In this passage there is also, I would notice, a warrant to faith for expecting the continuance of the gifts of Christ till His body be completed. And of a truth He has never failed during all the long years of ruin in which His gifts were well-nigh smothered, as they were too really and painfully misused.

For I fully recognize that there have been even in popery, in her clergy and laity, those who had gifts of God's grace to build up His own people, and to spread Christ's name among sinners. But, at the same time, I as utterly deny that they were Christ's gifts in virtue of the commission which popery conferred, any more than that others were not His gifts for the want of such a commission. The same remark, I need hardly add, extends still more widely to modern Protestantism. Would to God that the tender love of Christ, in thus cherishing the church as His own flesh, might touch a chord in all His members, that together we might weep over our common sin, and that together we might rejoice, extolling the grace that has abounded but the more!

There is, however, a distinction to be observed, which cannot be forgotten without injury. When the body came together as such, the assembly was under the guidance of the Holy Ghost. It would have trenched upon the right of Christ for any individual, however gifted he might be, to absorb the regulation of it into his own hands. The Giver is there, and He is looked to, not the gifts merely. The order of such an assembly is definitely laid down in scripture (1 Cor. 14.). “Ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.” “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things I write unto you are the commandment of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order.”

It is quite a different principle which governs a servant of the Lord in the exercise of whatever talent has been entrusted to him He owes an immediate and individual responsibility to Christ to trade with it. He may preach to the unconverted, or he may instruct more perfectly the children of God, or both if he possess both gifts. He owes it to his Master to exercise all he has received for the good of souls, hindering and hindered by no one else. Every servant, be his gift great or small, has the same liberty and the same responsibility. Two or more may see it good to associate in the ministry; but let us remember that if Paul chose Silas, recommended to the grace of God, Barnabas took Mark; and we do not read that he was thus honored of God in confirming the churches (Acts 15:36-41). Liberty is not license. The servant is free of man, but bound to obey the Lord; and his brethren are no less bound to judge his disobedience.

These gifts, let it be borne in mind, must be kept distinct from local charges, such as the elders or presbyters of scripture, which are ever regarded there as the same with the bishops, or overseers, as indeed Cranmer and others allow, whose practice was totally different. The charges had to do with some one church, and were appointed by an apostle, or by a delegate possessed of a direct and special commission from an apostle to that end. Such a delegate was Titus. But scripture nowhere intimates that authority for appointing elders was meant to continue. We have seen that the gifts of Christ were to be “till we all come,” etc. But scripture never confounds them with local charges, although both clearly might co-exist in the same individual. We know this to have been Philip's case, who was one of “the seven,” and an evangelist besides.

Pastorship, to come still closer, is a gift (Eph. 4:11), eldership is a charge; but the gift of feeding the flock of God, so far from being incompatible with the office of an elder or bishop, was evidently one of the most important qualifications sought in those who desired that good work. Thus Paul (Acts 20:28) exhorts the Ephesian elders to take heed to themselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost had made them overseers (bishops, ἐπισκόπους), to feed the church of God which He had purchased with His own blood. “Feed the flock of God,” said another apostle, “which is among you, taking the oversight thereof (ἐπισκοποῦντες) not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over their allotments, but being ensamples to the flock” (1 Peter 5:2, 3).

In the First Epistle to Timothy (3) we find aptness to teach and ability to take care of the church of God among other requisites. Titus too (1:5-9) was told to ordain such as held fast the faithful word, as he had been taught, that he might be able by sound doctrine to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. But it would be too much to draw thence that all the elders necessarily labored in the public ministration of the word. They were appointed to exercise a godly fatherly care over the church; but laboring in the word and doctrine was not an indispensable adjunct. Hence the apostle says, in 1 Tim. 5:17, “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine.” In one way or another, all elders were assumed to feed the flock; but there might be elders who did not serve, at least publicly, in the word: a principle recognized in the Presbyterian system.

Another remark is to be made on the question of rulers. Paul, in writing to the saints at Rome, exhorts “him that ruleth” to do it with simplicity. Now all the evidence we have goes to show that there was no official nomination as yet, if ever at Rome. Peter's primacy there is a dream, scripture affirming in a positive way that he was distinctively the apostle of the circumcision, as Paul was of the uncircumcision. Now the latter had not yet visited the faithful in the Gentile metropolis. Accordingly there is not a word which supposes elders to have been appointed there. Nevertheless it is evident that those at Rome, like the rest of the church, had gifts of grace in their midst—prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhorting, ruling, etc. These they might possess, and they are exhorted to use diligently; but not a word is said about elders. It has already been observed that at Corinth no elders are even implied, and yet the brethren were besought to submit themselves to such as addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints, and to every one co-working and laboring.

Again, in 1 Thess. 5:12, 13 “We beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.” Do not the exhortations “to know” them which labor and rule and preside (the same word as in Rom. 12:8), suggest the thought that it was not a class officially appointed? Office must have been self-evident, and therefore would render needless an exhortation to recognize such laborers. The esteem and love was for their work's sake. An official place was not alluded to. In Heb. 13:7, 17, 24, certain chief men are named (οἱ ἡγούμενοι, leaders or guides); but there is nothing indicative of exterior appointment. It is probable that they were persons whose age, character, and gifts, gave them a certain place. See Acts 15:22.

Now if any one in our day could give satisfactory (i.e. scriptural) proof that he was an apostolic delegate, his appointment of elders ought to be respected; and respected I have no doubt it would be by all (at any rate) whose eye was single to the Lord in the matter. If such proof be wanting, they ought to be as decidedly disowned. If then in scripture we see not elders appointed by any save apostles or their delegates, can nationalism or dissent justify their respective appointments by the word of God? Apostolic succession seems to be the only consistent plea in its pretensions as to this: in its pretensions, I say, for reality it has none—it is Christianity Judaised, or rather it is Judaism Christianized (see Bingham's Ecclesiastes Antiq. b. i. ch. 5.).

(To be continued)

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Notes on Matthew 24:44-51

CHAP. 24:44-51

The first division of this discourse on the mount of Olives finishes with verse 44, and is followed by what pertains to the Christian profession. We should not mix up the two things. From verse 45 to 25:30 the title of “Son of man” disappears, and instead of His coming to judge the world as Son of man, it is as Master and Bridegroom for blessing. Surely the thought of His coming as Bridegroom and Judge would be a manifest incongruity! You cannot mix up a marriage, and a judgment scene, together. One is a season of joy, the other of terror. Scripture does not present the Lord Jesus coming as a thief to His bride! In the Book of the Revelation (we all know chaps. 2 and 3 give us God's, “Church History” —the history of what was set up from Pentecost as God's responsible witness on earth “the pillar and stay of the truth"), we get in chap. 3 Sardis, and Sardis represents Protestantism; and in ver. 3 we read, “I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know in what hour I will come upon thee.” That is, the Lord will treat cold, dead Protestantism as He will the world. The Reformation was of God; but Protestantism is what it has become in the hands of man. A thief is unwelcome and unexpected.

One would not like to think, nor does Scripture give ground for such a thought, that He will come as a thief to a true saint of God, one who really loves the Lord. “All them that love His appearing” —this is not a special condition of soul in some Christians only, for everyone who really loves Him, loves His appearing. Then again, “To them that look for Him shall He appear"; the looking for Him may perhaps be wanting in intelligence of His coming, but their hearts are, surely, wanting to see Him “Whom not having seen we love.” The pious Jews in the time of the nation's trouble will indeed cry out of the depths, and say, “Oh, that thou wouldest rend the heavens, and come down.” This expression “the second time,” in Heb. 9:28 is not without significance, as being equally applicable to the remnant then, and to the saint now. No doubt the Epistles of Peter and the Gospel of Matthew will be very interesting to the remnant.

Do not let us forget that the Son of man, when He comes, comes to judge. And to one subject to the word this clears it. John 5 shows that as Son of God He quickens souls, and as Son of man He judges (see verses 21 and 27). Just see the difference further on in John's Gospel. Lazarus is dead, and the Lord Jesus says, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God that the Son of God (not the Son of man) may be glorified thereby. He is about to quicken Lazarus, as Son of God; and in Rom. 1 it says, “declared to be Son of God with power by resurrection of [the] dead,” not “from.” So in the resurrection of the Lord Himself, or any dead person raised by Him, He was declared Son of God with power. It is not there “from” —that well-known phrase—but “of” the dead. Now in John 13 after Judas is gone out, the Lord says, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself and shall straightway glorify Him.” There He is, up there; given the highest place in glory; all things put under His feet as Son of man.

That is where the connection comes in between Heb. 2 and Psa. 8 So if we look at the Lord Jesus as Son of man, He is either in the suffering part, or in exaltation. “The Father judgeth no man"; but there is a way in which He deals with His children in government, as in 1 Peter 1; but that is very different from judgment as spoken of in John 5. The very name of Father is connected with grace, and when the Father and Son are united it is in the activities of grace. So when the Son of man comes we shall come with Him in our glorified bodies. He is ready to judge the living and the dead. He knows everything perfectly. When He comes as Son of man He will judge the living, and after the thousand years, the dead.

Now if we go back to ver. 30 of our chapter (Matt. 24), and connect it with ver. 31 of chap. 25 we see how they are linked up. Read them together. The “throne of His glory” is to convey to us this thought, He does deal with some in a very summary way like the armies in Rev. 19 who are slain, and who will be raised again at the “great white throne,” to have meted to them their right portion of judgment; not to decide whether they are saved, or lost, for this is decided now, not then (John 3:18). While all will be manifested at the “judgment seat of Christ,” it is not that all are manifested at the same time. When we who have believed are there, we shall be in glorified bodies, like unto the Lord Jesus, and no sin can ever be charged against us as guilt, but our whole moral being will be shown to us, as God sees it. No terror is connected with this our manifestation, but great blessing. There will be perfect acquiescence on our part, as we see the full depths of our moral degradation in the light of God's super-abounding grace. And our praise and worship will be all the greater. It is after that summary judgment of Rev. 20 that these nations of Matt. 25 are dealt with in a sessional way, not suddenly as by lightning, etc. They will be dealt with according as they have treated the witnesses sent out with “the everlasting gospel” —the gospel of the kingdom. Those that fear God and show that fear by the way they treat the messengers will have it said to them, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” People talk of it as the final, general, judgment. There is no such thought as this in the whole word of God. It is the judgment of the living nations, and I do not think there is anything to indicate that these will stand before the great white throne. These nations go either into everlasting punishment or into millennial blessing. There are three classes, “My brethren,” “the sheep,” “the goats,” He that rejecteth you, rejecteth Me; that is the point of it.

Well then, during the Lord's absence you get the household, We have had abundance of scripture to show that when the Lord is rejected as Messiah there is blessing for those who are outside the Jewish circle, This is instruction about what takes place during His absence from this earth. Here it would have to do with the responsibility of those who are His servants in the household, the ministry of His word to the saints, rather than of the gospel to the world. And those that have His approval are called by Him “faithful and wise,” or, prudent, Further on where it is a question of gospel testimony, it is good and faithful—not good and successful. The Lord will make no mistake. As far as we read this, it would be unbecoming of us to say, That is I.

Turn to Luke 17:3-5. They thought evidently it would want a tremendous lot of faith to go on those lines. Then the Lord said (ver. 6), “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamore tree"; this tremendous difficulty, faith can remove it. Well, suppose it does, and you carry this out, you must not have high thoughts of yourself and think you are a very gracious or excellent brother. “When ye have done all, say, We are unprofitable servants, we have done what is our duty to do.” If you have gone on that course, forgiving seven times a day, if that is your character, say of yourself “Unprofitable,” not “Good and faithful.” It is blessed for Him to say it, but it is only becoming for us to say, “We are unprofitable servants.” It is well to remind ourselves of this.

“Meat in due season” (ver. 45). How blessed to be used of God to minister in any way that which is suitable to His precious saints! Look at the apostle Paul. He could not give the Corinthians what he could give to others; he gave them milk. They were babes, worldly-wise no doubt, and comparing themselves with themselves, and with him too, but they were only babes spiritually, and he told them so. “Perfect” means there “full grown,” that is, not babes. Others had been babes, but were now grown and become perfect, or, matured, Christians. There is a sense in which we are said to be “perfect"; and another in which we have not already attained, or are already perfect (Phil. 3). We shall be when in our resurrection bodies. A “perfect” Christian now is one who has learned of the Lord what true Christianity is, though there remains still room for growth. The scriptures show we have been crucified with Christ, have died with Christ, been raised up together with Christ, and seated in heavenly places in Christ. One who has learned Ephesian and Colossian truth is full grown. As we have already said, there is always room for growth, but that is the thought. A large number mix Christianity and Judaism, and a person who prays “Incline our heart to keep this law,” you cannot conclude to be a full grown Christian.

In 2 Peter 1:17 we are told that the prophetic word is a lamp shining in an obscure place. The church is not the subject of prophecy. True Christian experience is the “day dawn” “arising in the heart” —Christ but in the dawn, and Himself the “morning star” is the proper hope of the church. When I know Him as such I am far in advance of all prophecy can teach me. It is only “a lamp,” and I have “the morning star.”

Verses 46, 47. The servant used in this way must be kept in communion with God to give the saints food, and in due season. Everything will be rewarded; nothing forgotten. But there is not only “the faithful and prudent servant” who has sought grace to carry out this, but there is the evil servant, and he becomes a tyrant. It does not say he gets drunk, but there are evil associations (vers. 50, 51). Luke 21:34 throws light on the word “drunken,” and so does 2 Peter 3:17, after showing the fearful character of the last days; and just at the moment this scripture is exceedingly important. There is the danger of being led away by the error of the wicked, and falling away from our own steadfastness, for the wicked do lead away and damage souls. But “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” That is the remedy, that will save us, and that only will save us from being led away by the error of the wicked. The wicked servants began very early. The early Christians went out from Judaism, from the world, to meet a coming Christ; but the very germ of the evil servant we get in the Apocalyptic address to the church in Ephesus, “Thou hast left thy first love.” It is not of the Holy Spirit when people put a lot of things before the Lord's coming. Paul could say, showing it as the proper hope of the Christian, “We which are alive and remain,” not “they” only, but “we,” a present operative soul-comforting hope that the Lord may come at any moment to take us home. And it is another spirit when things are put in between, and leads to bad results—going on with the world, and doing as the world does—and the Lord shows us His judgment of this in ver. 51. Heb. 11:37 shows that cutting asunder was a punishment not unknown.

Fragment: The Closing Verses of Scripture

The closing verses of Holy Scripture bring before us the verity of Christ's speedy coming, “Behold, I come quickly.” Our blessedness meanwhile is to keep the words of the prophecy of this book (Rev. 22:7). “My reward is with me,” says this Coming One, “to give to each as his work shall be” (ver. 12). And again (ver. 20), “Surely I come quickly,” consummating His own joy indeed, and He counts upon our hearts' response and welcome, “Even so, come Lord Jesus,”

Nature of Prophecy - Part 4

It is striking to find how a false start exposes souls to perilous delusion. In this case the effect was to discard openly the latter part of Daniel. And no wonder. Prophecy, as was assumed, has to do with general principle, history with particular facts. Now it is plain that Dan. 11, on the face of it, is as minute as a history, so far as it speaks. There are evident gaps, not by error but by design, in its course: one brief after verse 3, the other very great after the Maccabaean era till “the time of the end,” as verse 33 itself points out. This scripture should have arrested Dr. A.'s steps. Instead of judging himself and his fallacious principle, he fell into the sin of rejecting God's word, the root of infidelity. Inspired history is as suggestive of general principle as prophecy; and prophecy is occupied alike in the Hebrew and the Greek scriptures with distinct places, fixed times, definite persons, and particular facts. Even in the symbolic forms of Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah and the Revelation this holds good: how much more from Genesis throughout the entire range of discursive prophecy! The general difference is one of degree only. Prophecy is anticipated history, though it is much more; and its language is occasionally no less explicit, though we can understand that in divine wisdom it is often veiled so as to exclude human intention from its fulfillment. Thus it becomes all the more impressive when surprisingly accomplished. Scripture, whether historical or prophetic, is full of Christ, in contrast with the first man led of Satan. It abounds in particular facts and precise dates, which no wit of man could have anticipated. God divulged the future to act on souls there and then, according to spiritual zeal and intelligence, whilst not a little might remain only to be cleared up later. No maxim, however, is more erroneous than the assumption that it is only the event which explains. This is to deny the proper value of prophecy till, becoming history in effect, it ceases to be prophecy. Not so did Noah, Abraham, Daniel, Simeon, Anna, or those that looked for the redemption of Jerusalem. Doubtless it yields evidence when accomplished to convince unbelievers, but its proper function is to cheer, guide and edify believers beforehand. “Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do?”

The exceptional cases of Jonah with Nineveh, and of Isaiah with Hezekiah's sickness, were indeed admonitory; but they are perverted to overthrow the rule. When prophecy is made conditional, its true character is annulled. In an exceptional instance, conditions may be either expressed or understood, but to take advantage of this fact, which no one disputes, in order to deny the general current of absolute prediction, is deplorably evil. Is God to be shut out of prophecy? Can He not, does He not, know the end from the beginning? Man changes, no doubt; but God in prophecy reveals the future with absolute certainty and precision, and this is a mark of favor to His own. Nor is it merely as to their own circumstances, for God disclosed to Abraham the destruction which, concerning Lot far more than himself, fell with unmitigated severity on the guilty cities of the plain. Earlier still God had revealed the long affliction of the chosen race, in a land not theirs, but their coming out with great substance, and the divine judgment of their oppressors, and their entrance into Canaan in the fourth generation. There was ample evil in Israel, but it did not hinder the punctual fulfillment of the prophecy. Ishmael too had his lot, foreknown both to Hagar generally and to Abraham with yet more particularity, and independently of moral conduct. And what shall we say of the flood predicted with its defined space of warning for 120 years, to say nothing of the seven days that preceded the actual deluge (Gen. 7:4, 10)? And Noah's curse on Canaan, as distinguished from the blessing of Shem and the enlargement of Japheth, what has conditionality to do with it? The word of the Lord endureth forever. One might dwell on Joseph's dreams and interpretations, as well as on Jacob's blessings on his sons, but enough is said to demonstrate the error, its grave character and its consequences.

The fact is that scripture everywhere rises up to break the theory that prophecy is uniformly conditional. The assumption would really annul the largest part, if not the whole, of proper prophecy. Its author felt surer of its harmlessness than of its truth; but he lived to point the moral for others, if not for himself, that an error in principle about God's word is an unmitigated evil which may injure ordinary men yet more, because in his own case the poison found an antidote in the ardent homage his soul paid to Christ and in unfeigned faith in His atoning work. But in itself falsehood defiles and severs from God's mind, as the truth gives communion and sanctification. Evil communications corrupt good manners. W. K.

One Body and One Spirit: Part 3

The case of Paul in Acts 13, which is sometimes referred to in proof of the necessity of a human commission, proves in fact the contrary. It would be strange indeed if it did, seeing that in Gal. 1:1 he takes such pains to insist that he was an apostle, “not of men” (i.e., as the source), “nor by man” (as the channel). He had been preaching for years, before this separation by the Spirit to the special work recorded in Acts 13; 14 Further, those who fasted and prayed and laid their hands on him and Barnabas had been cherished and taught by them, as by those who were over them in the Lord. To such an imposition of hands I know of no objection. It pretends to confer neither gift nor authority, but is a simple commendation to the grace of God, which it would seem might be repeated (Acts 15:40). Is there one feature in common with the ordination of our day and for ages? Is it possible that Christians, in order more thoroughly to justify a modern ordination by Acts 13, have pretended that Paul was only an inferior apostle, a messenger of the church—like Epaphroditus (Phil. 2:25)? But see Acts 14:4; Rom. 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:1; 9:1-6; Eph. 1:1; Col. 1:1; Gal. 1:2; 1 and 2 Tim. 1:1; Titus 1:1; where, if we may so say, the highest form of the apostolate is claimed, and its entire independence of man.

It is too often forgotten that Matthias was chosen Jewishly, by lot, before the Holy Ghost was sent down from heaven to baptize the believers. The church, properly speaking, was not yet manifested. His election therefore can furnish no precedent for a state of things which was changed and governed by the presence of the Spirit. Nor do we read of the use of lots ever afterward. The Moravian system, with its usual and blind servility, has tried to copy this and other forms which were peculiar to Jerusalem.

In the instance of Timothy, there were prophecies going before (1 Tim. 1:18), and an actual gift imparted by prophecy, with the imposition of the hands of the presbyters (4:14), and by the imposition of Paul's hands (2 Tim. 1:6) a case which it is not only impracticable to imitate without an apostle and duly chosen presbytery, not to speak of prophecy, but which is a mischievous pretension, unless there is the power to bestow the gift which was bestowed then. May God deliver His people from saying, “I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing!”

Lastly, in 2 Tim. 2:2 it is evident that the question is one, not of authority to appoint successors, but of communicating the things which Timothy had heard of the apostle by many witnesses. It was not to consecrate a clergy, but to commit sound doctrine to faithful men who should be able to teach others also.

On the other hand the dissenting principle of electing a pastor is purely human, derived not even from Judaism, much less from Christianity. Hear the testimony of one who was himself thus chosen, the author of “Spiritual Despotism” (p. 153). “It is not without some amazement that we find a congregational church, on the modern scheme, proceeding in the momentous act of creating or electing to itself a pastor and teacher, without being able to allege from the New Testament any law or license to that effect, or any one example, satisfactory or unsatisfactory . . . . On secular principles nothing can be more simple or reasonable than that those who pay should command; and in the present temper of mankind, especially in certain circles, it may be nearly impracticable to secure submission to any other law. Nevertheless this serious question returns upon us, Is this the law or this the principle recognized as the basis of church polity in the New Testament? We are compelled to answer, It is not.”

Yet some have professed to see it in Acts 14:23; “When they had ordained (or chosen, as seems better) them elders in every church.” But this proves not that the church, but that they (i.e., Paul and Barnabas) chose the elders. Some argue from the etymology; but usage, not etymology, is the only safe guide. The word (χειροτονἑω) meant originally to stretch out the hand. Hence, it was applied to voting in this manner, and by an easy transition to choosing without reference to the manner. Thus in Acts 10:41 the same word, compounded with a preposition, is applied to God's choice, where the notion of the church's voting is of course excluded. When it was a question of a gracious and prudent use of tables, or the like, as in Acts 6 and 2 Cor. 8:19, the assembly, or assemblies, did choose; though even in Acts, if the multitude of the disciples looked out seven faithful men, it was the apostles who appointed them over their business. In short, when God imparts a gift, He chooses; when the church gives what she can, she may employ what instrument seems to her fitting. As she cannot bestow a ministerial gift, neither ought she to choose, but to receive all those whom God has given for her good.

As to elders, then, an apostle chooses (Acts 14:23) or leaves a delegate for a season during his own life to appoint them (Titus 1:5-9), or describes to another the requisite qualities (1 Tim. 3:2-7). In no case is the church invited to select them. The saints had no such authority, even in their brightest days. No epistle addressed to a church touches the question, and fitly so. It was not their mission. Titus was left in Crete expressly to set in order what the apostle had left undone, and to appoint elders in every city, as the apostle had appointed him and none else. Afterward he was to come to the apostle in Nicopolis (Titus 3:12). You cannot have the one without the other. This is the sum of what scripture states, unless we add the “angels” of the seven churches in the Book of Revelation. But “angel” is neither a gift nor a charge, but a moral representative of each church, and only introduced for special purpose in this great prophecy. Hence all systems with almost equal unreality try to fit in the “angel” to suit their aim. It applies in fact to no such thing, but to the introduction of a judicial book. The apostle looked, and taught the church to look, for the coming of the Lord as their immediate hope. This of course stimulated and in no way hindered present care for the sheep; but it was inconsistent with perpetuating official organs for ages to come. Accordingly we find no such arrangements in the Epistles.

But as for gifts they rest on quite another ground; not upon apostles who might be removed, but upon Christ, who never ceases to be the head and source of nourishment, and cannot but love and cherish His body the church. These gifts never needed man's sanction, even when apostles lived. Christ dealt them without the intervention of any; so that what Paul said of his own apostolate might be said in principle of them all, “Not of men, nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.” I speak of course of the manner and source of the gifts, not of their measure.

As regards discipline, it is of the utmost importance to bear in mind that it does not depend on gifts, offices, or any other thing than the blessed fact that the body, the church, is Christ's body, is gathered in His name, and has the Holy Ghost present to guide and energize its movements. He is, we may say, the soul of this holy and heavenly body. Hence the fullest directions respecting discipline, either in putting away or in restoring, were given to the Corinthian church, where it would seem there were at the time no elders. That there might be and were churches without elders is manifest from Acts 14:23 and Titus 1:5. The churches existed before any such charges were appointed. Elders were desirable no doubt for the administration of a church, but by no means indispensable to its being. Certain it is that at Corinth elders are not alluded to, and the disorders which broke out there are pressed home on the entire body. Nor does the Spirit, in correcting the abuses, suspend their functions as a church until elders were duly appointed. On the contrary, whether it be the extreme and solemn act of excision, or the worthy celebration of the Lord's Supper, it is the body which is addressed, rebuked, and charged with ceasing to do evil, and learning to do well, in all these grave particulars. And this is the more striking, as it is clear that there were among them those who came behind in no gift (1 Cor. 1:7); that, at any rate, the household of Stephanas addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints, and that the believers in general are besought to submit themselves to such. It is not the laborers, I repeat, but the body which is appealed to in matters which the common consent of a fallen church has made the peculiar and distinguishing province of the clerical or ministerial order.

Doubtless where overseers were, as at Philippi or Ephesus, they in their exercise of a godly care would naturally and justly have a large share of the practical details; and the more so as an appeal to the church is the last and most painful resort (Matt. 18:15-17), the urgent object being to restore the soul, if so it may be in the Lord. But the known sin of a Christian affects the conscience of the body, for it is one body; and if not judged, a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. If the offender mourn and depart from the evil after a godly sort, he is restored, and all rejoice; if he continue in that which dishonors Christ, the body must be cleared at all cost. “Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth,... For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Put away from among yourselves the wicked person.” Further, scripture even more sternly deals with false doctrine; because it is subtle, more poisonous in its effects, and touches the Lord Himself more directly than a bad walk. It is ever a work of the flesh, and may be emphatically of Satan far more than a mere carnal spirit of action. (See Gal. 5: 9-21; Rom. 16:17, 18; I Tim. 1:18, 20; 6:3-5; 2 Tim. 2:23-26; 3:6; 4:3, 4; Titus 3:9-11; 1 John 4:1-6; 2 John 10, 11; Rev. 2:14, 15, 23, 24).

As it is the body which puts away, so it is equally for the body, under His direction Who dwells therein, to restore. God may use the instruments He sees fit to rouse the body to a remembrance of Christ's holiness in excluding a wicked person (1 Cor. 5), and of Christ's grace in forgiving and restoring a repentant brother (2 Cor. 2). In either case it is the conscientious action of the body which the Lord expects. If everything fail to awaken—if, in spite of patient testimony, the assembly persist in doing or cloaking evil, and so in tarnishing the Lord's name, the claim to be His body becomes null and void. It is an entirely corrupt lump, from which the Spirit, who loves Christ, would have us to separate, instead of wasting our energies in the effort to amend that which is irremediable, and only waiting for the judgment of the Lord.

There remains but one more difficulty for us to state and seek to remove. It has been supposed that the assertion of the failure of the church forces us to say that we in these last days cannot have recourse to the Epistles to the Corinthians, etc.; and so to fall back upon the promise— “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst.” The present pamphlet of itself is a sufficient answer to as hardy a charge as could well be made. It has been proved that nationalism and dissent cannot defend the principles of their membership or of their ministry by such scriptures as 1 Cor. 10; 11; 12; 14; 16.; Eph. 4, etc. The great truth of the church as being God's habitation through the Spirit, Who is the sole energy and distributor of the gifts of Christ in the unity of the whole body, is recognized by neither; it could not be practically owned for one moment without condemning both in all their varieties. Are all our brethren responsible to own this truth whatever may be the results of their confession? If they are not, let it be openly said.

But if the church once lived, rejoiced, suffered, in realizing the blessedness of such a place, where and what are we? Are we not to feel, are we not to confess, are we not to have done with, all the evil known to us, which has overspread the professing body and made it a witness against Christ, not for Him? If I find myself honoring as the church of God a society or system whose laws are inconsistent with the leading scriptural principles of that church, am I not to confess my sin, and come out from the unclean thing? or am I to abide and sin on, that grace may abound? This is the true question.

It is now admitted by almost every Christian of moderate spirituality and intelligence, that the existing ecclesiastical condition, national or dissenting, is not to be defended, if we compare it with the word of God. Not merely in the detail is it wrong, but in its fundamental principles. Hence it is that some eminent names in the religious world boldly avow that the word of God, though perfect as regards individual justification, leaves men to their own discretion in the formation and government of churches: virtually they say we ought not to have recourse to such Epistles as 1 Corinthians etc. for the present direction. One party is satisfied with things as they are; another yearns for a church of the future, wherein man may have things on a grander scale.

But if the saint of God shrinks from so fearful a principle as casting away the word of God which displays and demonstrates the infidelity of the church to its calling, what is he to do? Can a Christian hesitate? Is he not at once to cease from the evil he feels, and to humble himself before God for the failure of himself and the church? And if he knows two or three disciples meeting in Christ's name and opening the door wide that the Holy Ghost may act holily and fully, according to the blessed word He has written and by whom He will, will he not gladly find himself there? Instead of using Matt. 18:20 as a license to do what is right in their own eyes, will they not thus gathered, learn to their joy that Jesus is ever faithful? Will they not bless God for the authority and sufficiency of His blessed word? And, if there be any difference, for the proved comfort and living applicability of the very scriptures, which their adversaries say they cannot have recourse to? Will they not afresh thank Him for the Holy Ghost, Who loves to act in the body as well as in the members, to the glory of the Lord Jesus?

It is God we need, it is the living God we have to do with, and not principles merely. His presence only can give power and blessing, even when the principles are right in themselves. This is what we seek, knowing that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

W. K.

Two Addresses on John 17:22-24

No doubt every one of us has got comfort from this passage of God's word. It is well to see its connection. It is evident from chap. 13 that Judas was a hindrance to the Lord, and it was a relief when he went out, and Jesus could say, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.” That was the reverse of all man did to Him. It is not the Son of God glorified; you get that in chap. 11. In Him was wondrous grace; but here it is God as the One Who has been sinned against, and judges sin. It is only a few hours before His passion; and how wonderful we should be in His thoughts then! Even then He thought of us, and made provision in His blessed supper. He tells them about His coming (chap. 14:3).

It is sweet to speak of, and to know He is present and takes an interest in our prayers and praises. There is no listener so attentive as Himself. He brings out one thing after another, in chaps. 13-16, and tells them His going away would make no difference to His love. He will take good care of them, and will send them another Paraclete. Then He turns to His Father, and unbosoms Himself to Him. That is quite unique. We are in the Holiest, and permitted to hear the breathings of His heart, and we learn what a place we have in that heart. We may be considered dirt by the world, but in O.T. language we are God's jewels.

Is not His love enough to stagger us? Even in the glory we shall not be loved more than we are now, because that love is a boundless, shoreless ocean, and one drop is enough to make our cup run over. We shall know even as we are known. Only think of Him telling the Father He had from Him a glory worthy of the Giver and the Recipient; and He will share that with those the Father had given Him! How He values us according to the way He acquired us—the gift of the Father! What a meaning that gives to the word “own"! And all here will soon pass away, and all be changed: then that vast eternity to come! But I suppose this glory is connected with the kingdom.

There was a unity “that the world might believe"; but it soon failed to be seen; there is a unity that will abide.

When people here lose a friend they often say “they are forever with the Lord,” but taking those words from their connection, one loses a great deal. When the Lord has come for His church, He will never be seen apart from her. “When He who is our life shall appear,” (no longer be hidden), “then shall we also appear with Him in glory.” That is the great beauty of that particular scripture.

The first unity was that the world might believe. The unity in glory is that the world may know that we are loved as the Son is. The heavens then will not be apart from the earth as now, through sin. We shall be visible, sharing the glory of Christ. That is a blessed thing to look forward to, but I was thinking of Rev. 19:1-10.

The day has then come to deal with the corruptress—a day of great sorrow on earth, but great joy in heaven. It is wonderful the amount of joy contained in these verses I have read. Ver. 7 makes us think of a readiness we have nothing to do with—a readiness He has given us by the Lord Jesus atoning for us, and the Holy Spirit indwelling us. “They that were ready went in” (Matt. 25). It is all of grace. We have that readiness for that bright scene of light and song. What the bride is clothed with is the righteous acts of the saints. Here is something that shows us the importance of our daily walk and ways. No doubt each one of us will contribute something to that garment; and what is wrought in us by the Holy Spirit will form that in which the bride is arrayed. It is “given” her. Well, in a good many cases that would bring souls up, and make them see how their lives are connected with the future display of glory.

But between the rapture, which will be all of grace, and the display, we shall be at the judgment seat of Christ. Everything connected with our whole moral being will come out. We shall not be there to be judged. He who sits there is our life and righteousness, and He would be judging Himself. Besides, we have His own word in John 5:24. That is a thing settled once and forever.

I wish every one could see the blessedness of it. It will be a wonderful gain to us to have everything out. But some quote Heb. 10:17 as contradicting this. The word of God shows that by one offering the Lord has perfected forever (in perpetuity) them that are sanctified, and a purged conscience can never be touched. I said recently in this room that in each of us naturally there is an absence of good, a propensity to all evil, and in our natural state, a capacity for all evil; and if preserved from it, it is through the mercy of God. Everything will be shown up at the judgment seat, and whatever the judgment of the Lord Jesus, there will be perfect acquiescence on our part, and we shall see and wonder at the full depth of the meaning of our salvation. It will produce praise as we see ourselves as God sees us, and won't the secret springs be touched!

That must take place before the bride gets her garment—not only the display of the evil of the heart, but what the Holy Spirit has wrought in us.

In Rev. 21 (for from chap. 19 to 21:8 the events follow one after another) the Holy Spirit goes back to give us particulars of the Lamb's wife in that wonderful display. But we have something better than that—we are loved with the same love God has for Christ.

Verse 24. The only time the word “will” is used in the chapter. He tells the Father He desires His own to behold that glory that cannot be communicated to us—something the world can never see—on a higher platform altogether—in heaven itself, where Jesus is.

Oh, may this speak to us as we listen, and learn the marvelous place we have in the heart of the Lord Jesus. Oh, may it strengthen us! There is a word in Colossians that shows the glory is strengthening to us. To bring the future in helps us along, and His grace can make us superior to the most trying scenes here. May the comfort of this scripture produce its own proper fruit to His worthy praise! J. A. T.

I feel reluctant to add to what our brother has said, but I would just press a little what we have been considering in that wonderful chapter in John, only by way of enforcement. I do not think we can too deeply consider the force of the opening words of ver. 24— “Father, I will, that those also whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am.” These are very simple words, and this Gospel which gives us the deepest truth uses the simplest language. That of itself would give you to think it must be divine, and it is,” Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” —the revelation that is here before our souls.

We have had before us the interest of the blessed Lord in us, of which we have but the feeblest conception. It is a grand thing to go to heaven—a blessed place; and I fear to many of God's children that is the acme of blessing. And heaven is paradise. If any extraordinarily beautiful view in this earth presents itself to us, we say, What a paradise! So these are foreshadowings of glory. If we look at the work of the Lord Jesus we see how absolute it is when we think of the first one to be there with Him (Luke 23). Can you conceive the course of thought that would be followed in that poor dying man's mind as far as possible? The world was no paradise to him, nor had he made it so to others—a brigand, a murderous highway robber. And for that word “paradise” to fall on his ears! What would he think? From the gallows to paradise! A paradise on earth was to be greatly desired-but the paradise of heaven!! And what is paradise? The brightest spot in heaven. And do you tell me a brigand, turning to the Savior in his dying moments and asking for forgiveness could get a title to the brightest spot in heaven? Oh, how blessed to find a Savior's blessing far beyond our needs! The God Who gave the Savior is “the blessed God". But paradise is not enough for the Savior. What would it be without Him? “Today with me” —on the cross? No, in that bright place above. Is He your Savior? Do you find it your joy to bow at His feet and own He is worthy? He has done everything to the glory of God.

Oh, the wondrous harmony of heaven! The Father and the Son, and the Spirit, all in harmony, and mutual interest; and as God could say, “Let US make man,” so in these counsels there is the church-those for whom the Savior gave Himself to make them members of His body. The Father gave; the Son suffered; and the Spirit bears His testimony to the Father and to the Son.

I speak for myself, we think too little of these things, and the words come to our lips without effort because we have read them often; but they have never come in all their depth and fullness. How do they come? By eating. And I think of poor Jeremiah (poor, I mean, because of his trials), how some spake against him, and he pours out his heart to God and finds comfort— “Thy words were found and I did eat them.” I can scarcely go with those who think because they were found he went about seeking them. We want to appreciate them. Man may say that God cannot reveal His will, etc. Why a child, if right in any measure, would not speak in any such way of his father! How does God communicate His will? Not writing it on a slate, saying “Here are my instructions,” Nor is it by Urim and Thummim, as of old. I remember as a boy reading an article “How to know the will of the Father," for the title arrested me. The teaching of the tract was that this knowledge was not independent of our state of soul. The reason why we do not discern His mind is that there is something in us—our eye is not single. The fault is in us. We are not, shall I say, machines, we are moral beings. “If any man do His will, He shall know of the doctrine.” Well, you want to know. Are you prepared to say “I shall not be disappointed whatever His will is? If it is only pleasing to Him that is enough?” I want to do His will—not my own.

Here is what the Lord says. Think of the Lord's deep interest in His own. Think of this, at this moment when we enter the holiest we find something for which He cares, something on His heart. Who are they? A feeble company indeed, and, alas, it may be quarreling among themselves! Are you prepared to give your life for the brethren? How can one love God if he loves not his brother? I remember the utterance of one now with the Lord, “There may be occasions when you have to speak sharp words of rebuke, but how would you feel if you were both going to heaven together in an hour?” Faithfulness is consistent with love, and love with faithfulness, but let us guard against bitterness of spirit.

+ We find in just listening to what the blessed Savior says that He prays for those that shall believe on Him through the apostles' word, and that takes in you and me. We have believed their words. It is not of angels He takes hold. He speaks to them, and they delight to do His will; but it is not angels who are called to be his companions or fellows (Heb. 1:9; 3:14), but man—man once steeped in sin, but now redeemed! It is His work which confers all the value, and if the Father gives them to Him does not He value them? Then the blessed reciprocity! “All mine are Thine, and Thine are mine.” The Lord is with us here below, but we are not yet with Him. So in John 14:3. Does He say, I will take you to heaven? No, but “I will receive you to myself.” Does not the affectionate wife know and appreciate after a long absence the husband's welcome for her? The Savior does not say “to heaven,” but “to myself.” Oh, has it not been good to be here? Has not the Lord been in our meeting? What will it be to be with Him? It is His desire, His purpose, and the very expression is enough. He has not to plead. the king could say to Esther, “What is thy petition? It is yours.” But oh, the future! “I have something to show—that they may behold—my glory. I know these will be interested in what is mine; I have thought of them in the hour of my betrayal, and have said, Do this in remembrance of me.” Oh, is this given as a mere command? Will you not remember Me? We have the divine order, and He has told us how He would have us remember Him, and He has left it on record and given it to us from heaven (1 Cor. 11). To the Jewish disciples only then before Him? No, from heaven, to the apostle, that we Gentiles might also have the joy and the privilege.

There are families in heaven, many mansions, principalities and powers; not indeed angels rescued, but mankind saved—saints that will be displayed in the righteousnesses which they have wrought on earth—they “shall behold my glory.” Is not that of interest? And the blessed Savior would have His own redeemed interested. “That they may behold my glory"! Oh, I know nothing more blessed except the Savior Himself. I feel the intense interest of the Savior here made known. Why were those words spoken? poured out into the ears of the Father that we, catching His voice, may hear them too.

The beholding of His glory will never pall upon them, no, never, because it is “the glory Thou hast given me.” Can anything more bespeak the love of Christ Who loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it. We have been separated from the world “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” But are we truly separate? Mere separation won't do, but it must be separation to Him. He loves the church today; He loved it at the beginning, and He nourishes and cherishes and. washes it. That is not by blood. This was at the beginning; that constituted me a saint; but how about the difficulties of the way? We have His word, and the Holy Spirit to make it good to us. We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, the Paraclete up there, and the other Paraclete, the Holy Ghost given to us down here—what a Savior! May we at all cost seek, my beloved brethren, to be true to His word and name until the day of Christ, for His name's sake! Amen.

Single Eye

If a child habitually neglected its father, and did not take the trouble of knowing his mind and will, it is easy to foresee that, when a difficulty presented itself, this child would not be in circumstances to understand what would please its parent. There are certain things which God leaves in generalities, in order that the state of the individual's soul may be proved. If, instead, of the case I have supposed of a child, it were a question of a wife towards her husband; it is probable that, if she had the feelings and mind of a wife, she would not hesitate a moment as to knowing what would be agreeable to him; and this where he had expressed no positive will about the matter. Now you cannot escape this trial; God will not allow His children to escape it. “If thine eye be single, the whole body shall be full of light.” Whence it is certain that, if the whole body is not full of light, the eye is not single.

You will say, that is poor consolation! I answer, it is a rich consolation for those whose sole desire is to have the eye single and to walk with God—not, so to speak, for those who would avoid trouble in learning His will objectively, but whose desire is to walk with God. “If any may walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world. But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.” It is always the same principle. “He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” You cannot withdraw yourself from this moral law of Christianity.

“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God.” The mutual connection of these things is of immense importance for the soul. The Lord must be known intimately if one would walk in a way worthy of Him; and it is then that we grow in the knowledge of God's will. “And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.” Finally, it is written that the spiritual man judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

One Christian is in doubt, in perplexity; another more spiritual, sees as clear as the day, and he is surprised, sees no difficulty, and ends by understanding that it lies only in the other's state of soul. “He that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off.”

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Bible Treasury: Volume N12

Table of Contents

Abraham: 11. Genesis 23

Abraham:12. Genesis 23

The Fullness of Christ: Part 2

Studies in Mark: 66. The Deaf Stammerer Healed

Notes on Matthew 14

One Thing

Published

Published

Features Peculiar to Matthew

Fragment: Grace in Ephesians

Abraham: Genesis 12-13

Notes on Matthew 7:1-12

Studies in Mark 7:24-30: The Mother's Prayer

A Thought on Miracles: Part 1

Miracle

A Thought on Miracles: Part 2

The Coming of the Lord: Part 1

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Abraham: Genesis 12-13

Notes on Matthew 7:13-29

Philippians 4

The Coming of the Lord: Part 2

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Abraham: Genesis 14

Notes on Matthew 8:1-17

Christ the Way, the Truth and the Life (Duplicate): Part 1

The Coming of the Lord: Part 3

The Day of the Lord: Part 1

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Abraham: Genesis 14, Continued

Notes on Matthew 8:18-34

Christ the Way, the Truth and the Life (Duplicate): Part 2

The Day of the Lord: Part 2

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Abraham: Genesis 15

Notes on Matthew 9:1-17

The Fullness of Christ (Duplicate)

The Day of the Lord: Part 3

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Abraham: Genesis 16-17

Notes on Matthew 9:18-38

Studies in Mark 7:31-37: The Deaf Stammerer Healed

A Different Gospel Which Is Not Another

Wings

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Abraham: Genesis 18

Notes on Matthew 10

Studies in Mark 7:31-37: Ears and Tongue in Divine Service

Many Mansions

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Abraham: Genesis 18, Continued

Notes on Matthew 11

Hold Fast That Which Thou Hast

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Abraham: Genesis 19

Notes on Deuteronomy 17:18-20 and 2 Kings 22-23

Notes on Matthew 12

Studies in Mark 8:1-10: Another Miraculous Meal

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Abraham: Genesis 21

Notes on Matthew 12-13

Studies in Mark 8:11-21: Grieved Servant of Jehovah

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Everlasting Father

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Lessons From Judges

Studies in Mark 8:11-21: The Danger of Leaven in the Kingdom

The Powers That Be and the Obligations of Christians Towards Them

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Lessons From the Book of Judges

Notes on Matthew 15

Scripture Query and Answer: Romans 8:1-13