Change: July 2017
Table of Contents
Change
Would you like to be as you are today forever, without change? One of the awful realities for the sinner who dies in his sins is the fact that he will spend eternity without change in the dreadful condition of having the desires and unbelief of his unchanged, sinful nature and have no means to satisfing them even temporarily. Even his desire to change his state of torment with a sip of water will not satisfied.
In contrast, we who are believers have the wonderful opportunity gaze upon Christ as he now is in glory and be changed each day by the Spirit to be more like Him. The transformation will be complete when we are raptured and see Him as he is. Then being like Him, we shall never need to change again, nor will we ever want to.
I Am the Lord; I Change Not
We live in a changing world. We have to cope with the political, economic, technological and social changes in this world, and what is more difficult, we sometimes have to deal with changes in people. Those whom we loved and appreciated may be taken from us, while those whom we trusted may even turn against us. In view of all this, how refreshing and comforting it is to consider that we have been taken into favor by One who does not change!
First of all, we must remind ourselves that God Himself does not change. We are reminded of this in the title of this article, taken from Malachi 3:6: “I am the Lord, I change not.” In spite of all Israel’s sin and departure from Him, He had not changed, either in His love or His judgments. This gives us comfort in temporal things too, for it is by our Lord Jesus Christ that “all things subsist” (Col. 1:17 JND). God has promised that “while the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22). All the factors that influence global warming cannot affect this promise!
Also, God’s moral principles and standards do not change, even from one dispensation to another. His absolutes of right and wrong remain the same, and thus His view of sin does not change with public opinion or changing times.
Promises
Likewise, God’s promises do not change, for “all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Cor. 1:20). Man makes promises and does not, or perhaps cannot, carry them out. But God will never be frustrated in any of His promises, and we may count on this. Another has aptly put it, “God’s promises are precepts to Himself, binding on Him, and as they are His promises to us, they show us what He is in Himself.”
God’s love and grace do not change. How many times in this world do we find natural love waning with time, and a love that once seemed to burn with fervor becoming not only cold, but even turning to hatred! How different the love of God! At the end of Israel’s history, when they were about to be carried away into captivity because of their sin, we read of the Lord saying, “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love” (Jer. 31:3). Likewise with the church, when it has so seriously failed in its testimony, we read, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (Rev. 3:19). His present word to us is, “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love” (John 15:9). God’s ways with us may change, for we are often in need of correction and discipline, but His love never changes. Even if we have failed, if we approach God, we have always to do with love.
The Word
Finally, we must remember that God’s Word does not change. The psalmist reminds us, “Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psa. 119:89), while Peter tells us that “the word of the Lord endureth forever” (1 Peter 1:25). Man has attacked God’s Word for thousands of years; he has often changed it and tried to corrupt it. Yet it remains the same and is unfailingly true. We as believers can rest on it, as that which is stable in a changing world. It is the only book in the world that gives us light amid all the moral darkness here, comfort in every kind of sorrow, and, above all, the revelation of God Himself in Christ.
But while we enjoy those things that do not change, we must remember that change is sometimes of God and necessary for us. There are perhaps three areas where the Word of God depicts change as a good thing.
Dispensational Ways
First of all, the Lord Himself, in carrying out His purposes, reserves to Himself the right to deal with man in different ways in different dispensations. Thus, for example, He put Israel under law as a test, to see if there was any good in the natural man. But then, when man failed every test God could give him, He sent His Son to die for them, to bring them out of the bondage of the law and into the liberty of grace. While man loved the liberty of grace in one sense, yet the Jews resisted this change and clung to that which they had known for 1500 years. It was upsetting to have to relinquish that which they had practiced for so long, and especially as Christianity took away that which appealed to the senses of the natural man.
To this day man resists this change and has introduced much of Judaism into Christianity. Impressive buildings, beautiful music, a ritualistic form of service, and a priestly class of people who come between man and God are all remnants of that which God has taken away, in order to introduce worship “in spirit and in truth.” But the change from Judaism to Christianity is of God, and not only is according to His Word, but is for God’s glory and our blessing.
Conformity to Christ
Second, the Lord expects change in us. We read in 2 Corinthians 3:18 (JND), “We all, looking on the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit.” To be transformed is to be changed, for while we will be perfectly like Christ when He comes for us, God is beginning that work down here. As we go on in our Christian pathway, God expects that in “looking on the glory of the Lord” we will become more like Him. Sometimes this change is difficult for us, as we often like ourselves too much. We may want to be more like Christ, but the process is often painful, and our natural heart rebels against it. Yet it can be accomplished by the simple process of looking on the glory of the Lord. His glory eclipses all else, and often unconsciously, we become more like the One on whom we look.
Change in the World
Finally, there is the need to recognize change in ourselves and in this world and to adjust to it. We read in Acts 13:36 that “David ... served his own generation by the will of God.” To a large extent, we are all products of the era in which we grew up, and as we get older, it becomes harder to cope with a different world. Added to the changes in this world are the weaknesses and infirmities of old age, when not only our bodies but also our minds are not as malleable as they once were. As an illustration of this, we remember that as a young man David slew Goliath, setting an example of faith in the Lord. He went on to win many other victories, and his courage was an inspiration to others to follow him. Yet later in his life, we read that in a certain battle, “David was exhausted. And Ishbibenob ... girded with new armor, thought to smite David. And Abishai the son of Zeruiah succored him, and smote the Philistine and killed him” (2 Sam. 21:15-17 JND). The one who had killed Goliath was now an older man, and the strenuous activity of battle exhausted him. He was unable to cope with a younger generation of giants, and a younger man, Abishai, had to come to his rescue.
So it may be with us today. As we get older, we find that Satan has “new armor,” perhaps a picture of new devices and new technology — entities with which we may not be able to cope. Does this mean that our service for the Lord is ended? By no means. But it may mean that we must leave some of the battles to younger ones who are more equipped to handle the new attacks of Satan.
The Change of Generations
Also, this incident should serve as an encouragement and an exercise to younger ones to be ready to come forward and to take the place of older ones who find it difficult to keep up with all the changes in this world. While it may have been humbling for David, no doubt he was thankful that Abishai was there to help him. Also, it is important to notice that David was not “sidelined” from active part in the Lord’s service, nor did Abishai demean David or slight him in any way. Those who suggested that he not go out to battle anymore still called him, “The light of Israel,” and gave him the respect due to him as God’s rightful king. But they recognized, and he too had to recognize, the changes that had taken place.
In our day of rapid change, we who are older need wisdom from the Lord to know when to relinquish some responsibility to younger ones, and especially when we feel that our mental and physical strength is not what it used to be. Likewise, younger ones need to be exercised about taking that place and having the spiritual energy and strength (as did Abishai) to come to the aid of those who are older.
W. J. Prost
God?s Unchanging Love
There is a growing tendency to looseness and laxity among believers today, which must be apparent to any who are taking account of things. The cross in which we once gloried we view simply as the transaction in which our sins were put away, and there we pause, disinclined to accept it as the end of ourselves for the world and the end of the world for us (Gal. 6:14). “God forbid that I should glory” has ceased to be our prayer. We do not want the world rendered an object of contempt and shame to us, nor do we want to be rendered this to the world, and yet this is where the cross leaves us.
Our Object of Affection
We have lost Christ, perhaps not as the object of faith, but as the object of affection. All declension begins here. With many of us it would seem to be enough to know Him as a Savior. We are quite willing to use His sorrows and sufferings to separate us from our sins, but we do not want these to separate us from ourselves and from our surroundings. With the individual as with the church, we are under the charge of “thou hast left thy first love” and are solemnly called to “remember therefore from whence thou art fallen” (Rev. 2:4-5). There may be much in us that He can commend, but if He has lost His place in our hearts, if affections are alienated, we are “fallen.” Searching and solemn indictment! And what is His word to us? “Repent”!
It is not enough to be “on the ground” and to “have the truth.” We but repeat the sin of the Pharisees when we become content and complacent with externals. The truth must give us a state that comports and agrees with the place we are in. If this is effected, we will not walk in the manners of that world from which His cross has separated us.
Has the blessed Spirit been so grieved that He can no longer make good to us what is true of us in Christ? Have we lost the sense of His preciousness in our souls (1 Peter 2:7)? What disposition or desire can be satisfied apart from Christ in whom every beauty, every charm, and every glory meet? All must be disappointing, ephemeral and empty. The joy we are looking for we are in danger of leaving behind, in turning away from Him. We once counted its passions and pleasures, its gold and its glory but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. “Where is then the blessedness ye spake of?” Iniquity abounds, and the love of many waxes cold.
He Is the Same
But He is the same, and our failure has not diminished His fullness; it is for us still. However chilled in heart or wayward in walk, I hear Him saying, “I love thee still.” Is there not a message from the cross, where love’s sweetest story was so fully told, where we became His at such awful cost, where He bought us so dearly?
“I gave it all for thee;
What hast thou given for Me?”
How much we are missing by leaving Him out of our lives! And how much He is missing! The next thing to being with Him there is to have Him with us here, to have His conscious presence, and so have a part with Him. When everything was slipping, Paul wrote to Timothy, “The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit.” Do we catch this? It is the first movement toward being already in heaven. He was given for us, glory to His name! But have we lost Him as the One who gave Himself for us? Oh, what a loss, since “Christ is all.” He, the exalted One, “far above all heavens,” and we, not only the object of His consideration, but of His love!
Do we begin to grasp that height to which He has been carried, “far above all heavens?” He has the pre-eminence in all things, and “I am my beloved’s, and His desire is toward me.” What a secret to be in, a secret angels cannot know! Let us wait before Him until He fills us with His own fullness. For one look at Him there, Paul counted “all things but loss.” No wonder he passed into an ecstasy and was “beside himself.” Stephen, occupied with Him and His glory, had the face of an angel. Let us look long and lingeringly in the face that streams with the light of His glory, and it will cast a shade on all below.
And are we passing it all by? It is our loss now, and eternally. Once in the secret of what Christ is, earth’s joys will become stale, and as His coming casts the light of the nearing glory across this “little while,” it will take the burden from our cross and the sharpness from the thorns as we wait for the return of our Bridegroom.
F. C. Blount (adapted)
Change From Law to Grace
Though there was a time when Elisha accompanied the elder prophet Elijah as his servant, the ministry of Elisha was very different from that of Elijah. Elijah’s ministry bore witness to the law and called Israel to return to the Lord. His miracles were demonstrations of power and judgment causing Israel to fear and obey God. Elisha’s ministry only began after Elijah had been removed. Elisha ministered grace to Israel when they were in difficult circumstances. These two men in their ministries demonstrate the contrast between law and grace. They are an example of the change of ministry that came through Christ, as it says in John 1:17, “The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” The transition of Elijah’s ministry to Elisha’s ministry is pictured in Elijah’s final journey before he was taken up to heaven in the whirlwind. Elijah tested his young servant Elisha, as he made his journey, leaving behind his people and land. Would Elisha remain with him until his ministry ended? Many of the other prophets knew that the Lord was about to take away Elijah, but only Elisha stayed with him and saw Elijah as he was taken up into heaven. Mere knowledge of heavenly things is not enough; we must be willing to walk in them. We cannot properly appreciate grace if we do not see that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth” (Rom. 10:4). “The law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ” (Gal. 3:24). “To him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt” (Rom. 4:4).
Elijah Rejected
The hope of reform through the ministry of Elijah ended when he was rejected by King Ahab, Jezebel and all Israel. But God would give Israel one more opportunity before he judged them. It was the ministry of grace through Elisha. For Elisha to have power he must follow Elijah in the last three places he visited: Bethel, Jericho and Jordan. Crossing the Jordan River, they went into the wilderness where Elijah was taken up alive into heaven. This journey from Bethel to Jericho and the Jordan was a reversal of Joshua’s entrance into the land of promise with the nation of Israel. The trial of man under law failed when the nation of Israel rejected Christ, even as Elijah was rejected. But the death, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus opened the avenue for another ministry, which is typified in Elisha’s ministry. God’s grace flows out more fully than ever after the redemption accomplished at Calvary. “After that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us” (Titus 3:4-5).
Bethel
When Elijah left Gilgal, the first stop was Bethel, which means “the house of God.” How could such a place be “the house of God” if His prophet Elijah was rejected? In name only. How can God meet with them there? A change is necessary. The sons of the prophets profess to know that Elijah is leaving, but are unwilling to leave their city and follow the Lord’s prophet. Only Elisha follows with him: “As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee” (2 Kings 2:4).
Later, when Elisha returned to Bethel after receiving the mantel that fell from Elijah, he was mocked by the little children. Elisha pronounced a curse on them. The she bears tore up 42 of the children. The lesson is that if we reject grace, the curse of nature will tear us to pieces.
Jericho
Jericho was the next stop as the two prophets continued the journey. It is called “the city of palm trees,” but in the beginning of the conquest of the land, Joshua had pronounced a curse on the city. All the gold, silver, brass and iron were to be consecrated to the Lord. Much of the beauty of this world has been ruined by the curse. Rahab was saved out of Jericho because of her faith, but Achan was judged because he coveted and stole some of its wealth. Elijah is constrained to leave Jericho; he was heaven-bound. Elisha follows him to Jordan.
Later, when Elisha returns to Jericho, the citizens complain that although it was a pleasant place, the water was bad. Elisha tells them to bring a new cruse, put salt in it and cast it into the water. It healed the waters for them. This demonstrates how the believer with the new nature has the power to distinguish the clean things of the world from the unclean and is able to use the natural refreshments of world for good according to God’s right use of them. Thus we read in the New Testament, “They that use the world, as not disposing of it as their own; for the fashion of this world passes”(1 Cor. 7:31 JND).
Jordan
The third place on the prophets’ journey was the Jordan River. Elisha looks on as Elijah wraps his mantle together and smites the river as Moses smote the Red Sea with his rod. The waters divide and they go across on dry ground. It was a testimony that God’s ministry through Elijah was over. Israel could not be blessed under Elijah’s ministry. A change was necessary. It was important that Elisha see this, for law and grace cannot be mixed. It must be one or the other.
When Elisha returns to the Jordan after seeing Elijah go up in the whirlwind, he smote the waters of the river and said, “Where is the Lord God of Elijah?” The Lord answered from heaven by parting the waters so he could pass over (see note in JND translation). It was a demonstration that the Lord was with Elisha as He had been with Elijah. The sons of the prophets noticed this too. The result was that Elisha had grace and power to meet every need in Israel. Likewise, as the Lord Jesus has been taken up into heaven — the true Elijah — unlimited favor flows out from God to the world.
Elijah Taken up Into Heaven
Once the two were out in the wilderness, Elijah asked Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee” (2 Kings 2:9). He requested a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. The promise was made on one condition — that Elisha see Elijah when he was taken up. Elisha did see him taken up and cries, “My father, my father.” Elisha received the double portion and is able to go back to Israel with a message of power and grace to Israel. The ascension of the Lord Jesus has opened the avenues of heavenly blessing. The source of grace comes from the One we now know as Father. Because of the perfect work of redemption of the Lord Jesus and God’s delight in Him, God’s grace may be proclaimed far and wide. The gospel does not compromise His justice nor limit what the sinner may receive. It glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. Only God could design such a wonderful plan. If anyone thinks he has contributed anything towards his salvation, he has failed to see how Christ is the end of the law.
Grace Teaches Us
This story of Elijah and Elisha demonstrates God’s unchanging principles of justice, love and mercy which remain the same at all times. On the other hand, the dispensational ways of God with man have changed in the New Testament. In Christ we are not under law, and we cannot attribute any of our blessings to our own righteousness. We owe all to Him. As we lay hold of this favor, may our consecration to Christ be like that of Elisha who served Elijah. The favor shown us should teach us obedience to Him. The obedience of Christ goes beyond obedience to the law given to Israel. The Lord Jesus raised the bar far above what the ten commandments required, and we are privileged to do it in the liberty of new life outside any yoke of bondage. “The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world” (Titus 2:12). There is no just reason to turn grace into an excuse to practice lawlessness. “It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein” (Heb. 13:9).
D. C. Buchanan
The Paradox of Change
Probably no one alive today would disagree with the observation that we live in a changing world. Indeed, change has been part of our world throughout man’s history. Wars and other forces have resulted in the rise and fall of empires, new forms of government have replaced previous ones, and groups of people have moved from one place to another. Coupled with these large-scale changes, other entities like language, customs, culture, styles of dress, and the designs of buildings have all altered as changing times brought with them a desire for something different. New discoveries and new technology have played their part too, and sometimes a new invention has brought with it tremendous change, altering the course of history.
However, there is a paradox in all this change. On the one hand, man wants a change. Since Adam’s fall, the natural man has sought to find his happiness in the things of this world, and since he has a heart that nothing in this world can satisfy, he has constantly looked for something new or different. God has “set the world in their heart” (Eccl. 3:11), and the word “world” can also be translated “eternity” or “the infinite.” This aspect of man’s being has largely fueled his relentless quest for something novel that he hopes will, at last, provide a permanent object for his heart. Since he leaves God out of the picture, inevitably he confirms Solomon’s verdict: “All is vanity and vexation of spirit” (Eccl. 1:14).
Resistance to Change
On the other hand, there is a stubborn resistance to change in man’s natural heart — a resistance that resents anything that invades his “comfort zone” or alters his accustomed way of doing things. Thus it is not unusual to hear people complaining about change, since it may compel them to revise their patterns of thinking, perform tasks a different way, and perhaps adjust to a totally different way of life. Changes can be so significant that individuals and sometimes entire populations must reeducate themselves, find new employment, and perhaps even relocate to a new area. Even if the change is not quite this momentous, yet some find themselves simply uncomfortable with a world that is “not the same as it used to be.” The Word of God recognizes this difficulty, for in the same Book of Ecclesiastes we read the injunction, “Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? For thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this” (Eccl. 7:10). It is usually older people who tend to look back to former days, thinking that things were better in the past, while perhaps forgetting the difficulties and problems of “the good old days.” Yet even younger ones may have this outlook, and thus we see Donald Trump elected on the slogan, “Make America great again.”
The Pace of Change
Nowhere is this paradox more apparent than in our modern world. Although change has always affected this world, for much of man’s history change came relatively slowly, especially in the realm of technology and inventions. Governments did change, bringing with them new laws and occasionally major adjustments, but for the most part life went on much as it had before. Generations lived and died, living in much the same way as their forefathers. However, this pace of change began to accelerate in the eighteenth century with the Industrial Revolution, and it quickened even more in the nineteenth century. The widespread use of the steam engine radically changed travel on both land and sea, for until the use of the steam locomotive, nothing on land had ever traveled faster than a horse. Inventions like the telephone, the internal combustion engine, and photography all made a tremendous impact on the world, as did the production and harnessing of electricity. With the twentieth century came the airplane and the extensive use of the automobile, as well as radio, television, submarines and nuclear power. The discovery of antibiotics and other potent drugs revolutionized the practice of medicine, while the use of computers and eventually the Internet has drastically altered our lives. The twenty-first century has brought with it the I-phone, Facebook and You Tube, to name a few further refinements in technology. In the political realm, many countries have attained sovereignty status, so that between the years 1900 and 2000 about 140 independent countries were added to the world’s total.
Moral and Spiritual
More important have been the moral and spiritual changes that have come about. On the one hand, the nineteenth century saw a tremendous revival, not only in the preaching of the gospel, but also in the recovery of the truth of the church. But Satan was at work too, and as the Source of this recovery has gradually been abandoned during the last fifty years, moral standards have also changed drastically. This downward trend has accelerated in geometric proportions during the past ten years. Many wonder where it will all end and feel as if they are being carried along by a current over which they have no control.
Technological and Political
Technological changes have brought benefits and thus are eagerly embraced, yet there is an uneasy feeling that somehow things are “out of control.” Life has become so complicated and fast-paced that many are unable to cope with it. Political changes and the breakup of empires have released some from the evils of colonialism, yet the proliferation of sovereign nations in the world has fostered other dilemmas and sometimes explosive crises. There is a strong desire in almost every ethnic group to have its own government and status in this world, yet in some cases there is a lack of wisdom, resources and ability to use that liberty. Man wants the change, but then finds that the change does not solve his problems; rather, it brings new conundrums of a different kind.
There are a number of reasons for these changes. Perhaps the first one is technological. As we have noted, for centuries man lived in much the same way as his ancestors, but in the last two hundred years, a virtual explosion of discoveries has changed the world. Whether in the military realm, in the commercial realm, or in the area of social media, the technology God has allowed man to invent has made an impact that could not be imagined until it happened. The Lord told Daniel that at “the time of the end,” “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased” (Dan. 12:4). Surely this is happening today.
Restlessness
Second, the restlessness of nations is a major factor in the changes in this world. The Lord Jesus foretold that there would come a time when there would be “upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roar of the sea and the rolling waves” (Luke 21:25 JND). The sea is often a picture of the nations in agitation, and while we know that the actual fulfilment of this prophecy is future, yet we see the beginnings of it today. As an example during the twentieth century, it is well-known that Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs were able to live together in India for centuries, often in the same states, cities and villages. Yet within two years after World War II, the violence and bloodshed that erupted there from religious fanaticism could not be controlled. Britain was compelled not only to grant India its independence but, against the wishes of many even in India, also to partition it and create Pakistan as a primarily Muslim state. So serious was the crisis that this momentous task had to be carried out in a few months.
Other factors have contributed to change, such as moral decay, which we have already mentioned. Population growth has also affected this world in a real way. Since 1900, the world’s population has more than quadrupled, straining resources that are finite.
God’s Purposes
But perhaps the greatest reason for change in this world is that God is accomplishing His purposes, for He has before Him the honor and glory of His beloved Son. That blessed One came into the world in love and grace, and man rejected Him. But He will be vindicated in the very world that cast Him out, and Paul reminds us that “He must reign, until he hath put all enemies under his feet” (1 Cor. 15:25). We are approaching the time of the end; God is setting everything in place so that His Son can judge this world and reign in millennial glory. Man may have His purposes, but as another has aptly said, “God’s ways are behind the scenes, but He moves all the scenes which He is behind. We have to learn this and let Him work and not think much of man’s busy movements: They will accomplish God’s — the rest of them all perish and disappear. We have only in peace to do His will.”
We, as believers, can be thankful that the Lord Jesus says to us, “I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you” (John 15:15). As those who know where it will all end, we can go on in peace, seeking Christ’s interests down here and confident that “all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Cor. 1:20).
W. J. Prost
Reformation Is Not Cure
You will find that man changes his way, but never cures himself. This truth has had abundant illustration in the progress of the world’s history and may be a seasonable warning to us just at this moment.
Israel in the wilderness showed this. They made a calf first; afterward they made a captain. The unclean idol was abandoned for the presumptuous thought of setting up one from among themselves (Aaron), but this was only change and not cure.
Israel in the land did the same again. For many years they had the idols of the nations as their gods, till Babylon became the place of their captivity and judgment. But when they returned to the land, though they did not return to their idols, they became infidel and presumptuous. Read their ways in Ezra and Nehemiah, and very specially in Malachi. Again it was change and not cure.
The Unclean House
The Lord in His teaching contemplates this. (See Matthew 12:43-45.) It was first the unclean house, and then the swept and garnished house. But this was no cure. Some said the Lord did His works by Beelzebub, and others challenged Him for a sign. They may vary in the form of their enmity, but it is enmity still. And instead of all this change working a cure, the last state is worse than the first. What transpires in the swept house is still worse than what had been witnessed and practiced in the unclean house.
This, beloved, is serious truth, but it is seasonable. The nations are now restless and ripe for a change. Men’s hearts are beating high and promising them great things. But it is well to remember that man may change his way, but he never can cure himself. The change ends only in something worse. In the "latter times" of Christendom we get certain forms of evil (1 Tim. 4), but when we read "the last days," we see only a change of the former (2 Tim. 3). It is evil still and no cure.
In the awful disclosures of Revelation, again we find this. It is change and not cure. The woman that corrupted the earth is removed, but the beast and his army take the lead and pit their strength against the Lord (Rev. 19). The kings of the earth may hate the whore and put her down, but then it is only to give their power to the beast and raise him up (Rev. 17).
Judgment – Not Change
Thus changes are witnessed. One form of evil gives place to another form of evil. There is no cure. Judgment must be executed, and that is not cure, but the making way for something new. The judgment will displace man and corruption and make room for Christ and His power and righteousness.
The evil is incurable and must be displaced by judgment. And just as man’s change of his ways did not work a cure, so the Lord’s different dealings with him has not worked correction. "Let favor be showed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness" (Isa. 26:10). All tells us that nothing remains but judgment. As says the same prophet, "When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness" (Isa. 26:9). And again, "All nations shall come to worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest" (Rev. 15:4). Judgment therefore closes the scene and makes way for a new thing — not a mended thing. But glory succeeds judgment.
Words of Truth (adapted)
The Power to Change
Elsewhere in this issue we have referred to the fact that God expects change in the believer, as he goes on in his Christian life. But sometimes we find that this change does not come about, at least not in the way that it should. Perhaps in our own lives and perhaps in the lives of others, we continue to see some of the same old patterns of thinking and behavior that characterized us before we were saved. This may, and should, bring us to the point of asking why we are not changing and becoming more like Christ.
First of all, we must remind ourselves that man in the flesh does not change for the better. Changes in the world around him may modify his outward behavior, but the bad root remains the same. For thousands of years man has vainly tried to deny his fall and to persuade himself that he is innately good. If only the right environment and influences could be arranged, then all would be well! But man’s history only confirms the words of Scripture: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9). Even the believer must often go through some hard experiences before he can say with the Apostle Paul, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18).
The Natural Heart
I would suggest that there are at least two main reasons for the lack of change in us as believers. The first reason takes us back to the time before we were saved. At that time we had no thought of God, except that our natural hearts were “enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7). But then the Spirit of God began to work in our hearts to convict us of our sinful state and our need of a Savior. Perhaps at that time we even tried to improve our condition in our own strength, but eventually we had to be brought to realize that we could do nothing to help ourselves. We were totally dependent on the grace of God, and because we understood our helplessness, we gladly accepted God’s provision for us in Christ.
But how subtle is the human heart! Paul could ask those in the Galatian assemblies: “Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3). How easily our hearts fall from grace, thinking that our flesh can somehow help us to grow in Christ and to become more like Him. This wrong and un-Christian way of thinking has pervaded much of Christendom today, and all of us, if we are honest with ourselves, must probably admit that sometimes our thoughts run along this line. We have been saved by grace — there is no question as to this truth — but then we feel that we can add something of our own to the grace and power of God.
The Grace and Power of the Lord
Once again, we must be brought back to the way we were saved and realize that as it was the grace and power of God through which we were given eternal life, so it is the grace and power of God by which we are changed “from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). The change comes about by “beholding the glory of the Lord,” and not by any of our own efforts. Then we find that the power of the Spirit of God — a power outside of ourselves — accomplishes the change for us, perhaps almost unknown to us. When Moses had been up on the mount with God, his face shone because he had been in God’s presence. Others saw it, but Moses himself was not conscious of it; he “wist not that the skin of his face shone” (Ex. 34:29). So it is today; the believer who has been beholding the glory of the Lord will radiate the glory of Christ, and others will see it, although he himself may not realize it. Unconsciously perhaps, old habits and patterns of thinking and behavior drop off, and more of Christ is seen in us. But so it should be, for the Spirit of God never occupies us with ourselves, except to judge sinful self. In occupation with Christ, His radiance will be seen.
Pride
However, there is another reason why a change does not occur more often in us. We may admire what we see of Christ in others, and we sincerely want to become more like Him. Yet over time we may be frustrated as we see the same patterns continuing — patterns of self and not of Christ. Another has given the reason in one sentence: “We may want to become more like Christ, but often we like ourselves too much to become like another Man.” Pride in our hearts clings to what we are by nature — a nature that resists change. National and racial characteristics, family traits, personal habits, cultural behavior — all these may be products of the flesh, and we may be reluctant to change them. We may excuse them, feeling that there is at least some good in them. Or we may palliate them and perhaps try to control them with human energy. But they stand in the way of our Christian growth. There is only one remedy for the old sinful self — death. The root of the problem must be recognized; we must realize that some of things which we have held dear must be owned as sin and judged unsparingly in God’s presence. This can be hard work, as we seek to change that which may well have characterized us for many years. Yet God’s power is sufficient, and when we look to Christ and win a victory, we will find as the hymn says, “Each victory will help you some other to win.”
One day, when the Lord comes, every believer will be perfectly like Christ. But how blessed is the pathway of those who seek to be more like Him now, whatever the cost!
W. J. Prost
Transformed ? Transfigured ? Changed
The word translated "transformed" is found only four times in the New Testament. It is used both in Matthew and Mark to describe the change in the appearance of our blessed Lord on the mount of transfiguration when "His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light." In these places it is rendered "transfigured." It is met with finally in 2 Corinthians 3:18, where it is given as "changed." Who can doubt that there is an intended connection between these scriptures? When the Lord was "transfigured" on the mount, God showed out, in anticipation, the glorified state into which His beloved Son would enter after His death and resurrection. (See John 17:5.) But we as believers shall by His grace be glorified together with Him (John 17:22; Rom. 8:17), and we learn from the above scriptures how this will be accomplished. Romans 12:2 is the fourth place where the word translated “transformed” is found, and it teaches that it is, first of all, a moral work within — a spiritual change effected by the renewing of our mind. From 2 Corinthians 3:18 we gather that while Christ in glory is the model to which we are to be conformed, it is by beholding His glory that we are gradually "transfigured" — from glory to glory — into the same image. God thus uses, by the Holy Spirit, the glory of the Lord to change us morally into the likeness of His beloved Son. But, as 1 John 3:2 tells us, we shall not be like Him until we see Him as He is. We wait, therefore, until His coming, for the full accomplishment of the counsels of God, when our bodies as well as our souls will be conformed to the image of His Son. (See Philippians 3:21.) In the meantime, our moral growth in His likeness will be in proportion to our present occupation with Him in the place where He is.
E. Dennett (adapted)
Divine Providence
In Daniel 7, the prophet said, "I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea." He was given to see the effects of the winds upon the sea. These winds represent God’s providential dealings with the earth — they are "the four winds of heaven." They are currents that are allowed by God to affect the courses of the nations. Policies and public opinions, circumstances, great and apparently trivial, all work out His will. The sea represents the restless moving masses of people who are acted upon by these things. When John, looking ahead, sees these four winds in Revelation 7, they are being held back until a remnant of Israel are sealed before the time of Jacob’s trouble. John speaks of the winds as "the four winds of the earth." The difference between Daniel and John is that the former spoke of the source from which they come, and the latter, the object on which they act.
The Winds Upon the Seas
In Daniel 7 the activity of these winds upon the seas produces the agitation that brings forth great empires, and this commotion has always preceded great changes among the nations. Sometimes seemingly unrelated happenings prove to be but the workings of a divine providence to produce certain complex situations out of which arise great leaders and great nations. Look back through history and see the background from which sprang those great beasts of Daniel 7 — the Babylonian, Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires. All came up from the tossing around of the peoples, which were brought about by the providential winds of heaven.
The Winds of Heaven
Then when we come to Revelation 13 we find that the future beast — the great and terrible Roman Empire of the future — will arise out of the sea, no doubt troubled by the winds of heaven acting upon the earth. Surely the last few years have witnessed the blowing of the winds of heaven upon earth, and the changes have been momentous and drastic. Stormy winds have been fulfilling His will, and soon the final actors in this scene of man’s day will come forth ready to fulfill their appointed parts. But let us not forget how the picture of prophecy everywhere closes with the coming and kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Daniel says, when contemplating the four Gentile kingdoms, especially the revived Roman Empire, that "in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever" (Dan. 2:44).
Paul Wilson
Bodies Shall Be Changed
“The Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." Phil. 3:20, 21.
It is important to see the correct translation of part of this verse; it is "shall transform our body of humiliation," not "vile body." The body is not looked at in Scripture as vile. Our bodies are fitted through grace to be presented to God as living sacrifices. They are bodies of humiliation because they are marked with weakness and infirmity, with the possibility of dissolution and death. But the body in Scripture is not regarded as vile.
This is the reason the monkish idea of punishing the body as something vile is all wrong. When Paul speaks about buffeting his body and keeping it under, he is not speaking of the physical frame, but the lusts that are in the flesh. The human body is not regarded as vile and may be the temple of the Holy Spirit.
With the Christian, that body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. We are to glorify God in it. This body may finally break up and go to pieces, but by-and-by it is going to be changed for one that will never break up or go to pieces — a body that is fitted for glory. When God gave us a body and put us in this world, He gave us a body that was fitted for this world. When He takes us to glory, He will give us a body that is fitted for glory.
C. H. Brown
Rationalism
It is a deadly principle running through all rationalists, that they make men’s present way of thinking the measure of the fitness of God’s Word; this gradually leads to the belief that it was the product of the age and country in which it was written. If I change Scripture for what suits the 21st century, I shall soon change it for what suits myself, and we might as well not have it at all.
Bible Treasury
My Mind
One may present the truth, but if God does not change the will, it produces anger. Man’s mind is always atheist when it is sifted out, so when the mind works for itself, it is necessarily atheistical. My mind cannot go beyond itself, else it is not my mind, but if God cannot go beyond my mind, He is not God.
Food for the Flock
This I Know
I do not know what next may come
Across my pilgrim way;
I do not know tomorrow’s road,
Nor see beyond today;
But this I know: My Savior knows
The path I cannot see,
And I can trust His wounded hand
To guide and care for me.
I do not know what may befall
Of sunshine or of rain;
I do not know what may be mine
Of pleasure or pain;
But this I know: My Savior knows
And whatsoe’er it be,
Still I can trust His love to give
What will be best for me.
I do not know what still awaits
Or what the future brings;
But with the glad salute of faith
I hail its opening wings!
For this I know: that in my Lord
Shall all my needs be met,
And I can trust the heart of Him
Who has not failed me yet.
E. M. Clarkson