Correspondence

 •  4 min. read  •  grade level: 7
 
45. “D.,” Llandudno. We deeply sympathize with you. You have no Savior to trust in but the Lord Jesus Christ, and you have no ground given you for assurance of salvation but the word of God. We are not justified by feeling, nor by experience, but “by faith” The sole ground of peace and justification is the blood of the cross; and His word declares that “whosoever believeth in him [the Son of God] shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” Taking God simply at His word, you will have the certainty of your eternal salvation.
46. “H. J.,” Denmark. We must not confound the miraculous gifts of healing by the Spirit with the use of ordinary remedial measures resulting from experience and natural ability. Both have their place in scripture. As to “gifts of healing,” there is reason to conclude that they, with other sign-gifts, passed away at an early stage of the church’s history. But remedial measures were recognized in the apostles’ days, while the “gifts of healing,” and prayers, and anointing by elders, were in existence. Hence Paul enjoins Timothy to drink no longer water, but to use a little wine for his stomach’s sake and often infirmities. (1 Tim. 5:2424Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. (1 Timothy 5:24).) In a former dispensation also the prophet Isaiah prescribed the application of a lump of figs to king Hezekiah as a curative measure. (Isa. 38:2121For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover. (Isaiah 38:21).) Prayer does not clash with these other ways of dealing with the sick. We find Paul, who wrought miracles in healing some, also prescribed means of restoration, and tells us that he left Trophimus at Miletum sick.
The mistake with Christians, has, for a long time, seemed to us to be not at first seeking the Lord about their sickness, but rather, like unbelievers, running at once to physicians, though afterward, perhaps, asking the Lord to bless the means used. We are told that good king Asa erred in this way, for “in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians.” (2 Chron. 16:1212And Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. (2 Chronicles 16:12).) It is, no doubt, a common error in the present day with such as have man, and not the Lord, before them. We are persuaded that if saints habitually walked before the Lord, were exercised before Him in their sickness, and then used such reasonable curative means as came within their reach, calling for elders to pray over them, the Lord would be honored, and there would be more healing and soul-restoration than is commonly seen.
If the Lord be not honored by us in sickness, let us not be surprised if the ordinary remedial means, which prove successful with others, fail in benefiting us; because, being children of God, we are objects of the Father’s discipline, and He has wise and special reasons for sickness, and till the needed exercises are passed through the healing may be retarded.
No doubt the Old Testament saints will be raised from among the dead at the coming of the Lord—“they that are Christ’s at His coming.” A multitude of the servants of God are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb; and they are blessed, but still distinct from the bride. They rejoice because she hath made herself ready. (Rev. 19:5-95And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. 6And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 7Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 9And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. (Revelation 19:5‑9).) The promises to the one are connected with the land, the earth. (Gen. 12:3; 13:14-173And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:3)
14And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever. 16And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. 17Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. (Genesis 13:14‑17), &c.) The predestined glory of the church is-heavenly in Christ. (Eph. 1; Col. 1)
When the Lord has taken away His church, those who have refused the truth will be given up to strong delusion, and there is no hope held out of their conversion. (2 Thess. 2:10-1210And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2 Thessalonians 2:10‑12)). The Holy Spirit is not then dwelling in the church on earth, as it is no longer here. But the Holy Spirit will act on earth, as He did before He came to glorify Christ, and to form the church. An elect number of Israel will be sealed and a vast multitude of the Gentiles saved. (Rev. 7) The Holy Ghost will no longer act in thus hindering lawlessness. It is terrible to think what will be the state of this world when all restraint on man’s lawless nature is removed for a short time, and Satan, the dragon, takes the place of God, and leads his dupe, the man of sin, to do the same visibly. Strange to say, the word by which Satan is leading men on towards this awful slavery is called liberty. But we wait for the Son of God from heaven.