WHEN, in His Word, God states a plain fact, it is our wisdom to bow to it, and believe it, even though our understanding may not at the time be able to grasp it, nor our experience exactly coincide with it. “God is His own interpreter,” and to the soul that patiently waits upon Him, He will, in His own time, most surely “make it plain.” But should He never in this world be pleased to do so, it is for us to believe it all the same, because of its unerring Author.
If you take your Bible, and turn to the third chapter of John’s Gospel, you will find, in the last two verses, that God has there recorded four present, solid facts. Let us place them in order thus: ―
1. “The Father loveth the Son.”
2. “And hath given all things into his hand.”
3. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.”
4. “He that believeth not the Son... the wrath of God abideth on him.”
Now, I repeat, these are four facts; i.e., they are no mere human opinions, nor are they based upon any experience in us. They are unalterable facts. How any fact, when believed, may affect you, is another thing: that is a matter of your feeling or experience. For instance, the news of the victorious entrance of the German forces into Paris, a few years since, produced, no doubt, a vast variety of experiences, as it reached the ears of different persons in different lands; but the fact remained unalterably the same. The experience was produced by the fact believed: the fact was not dependent upon the experience.
Take another illustration. A certain young man is to enter upon large possessions and high privileges when he comes of age. One morning his father addresses him thus: “Let me congratulate you, my son! You are of age today.” “Pardon me, father,” he replies, “but I think you are mistaken.” “How so?” inquires the astonished father.
“Why, for three reasons. In the first place, I don’t feel that I am twenty-one. Secondly, I was only this very morning looking at myself in the glass, and I’m sure I didn’t look like twenty-one. Lastly, I know it to be the firm opinion of many of my very intimate companions that I can’t possibly be more than about eighteen, or nineteen at most. How can I, therefore, be of age? My friends do not think I am, and as for myself, I neither feel, like it, nor look like it.”
Now what, think you, would a wise father do in such a case? He would simply turn to the family register; and if the plain record there did not assure his foolish son, nothing could.
“But,” you exclaim, “who would be so absurd as to talk like that?” I reply, Beware, lest you are found manifesting like folly, or worse. For no one can deny that there are multitudes of professed believers in Christ today, who pursue precisely the same line of argument, and that in regard of the plainest facts of God’s Word. Now, if the father’s written testimony in the family register is enough to assure the son of his real age, and that altogether apart froth his feelings, surely the written Word of God, “that proceedeth out of the mouth of God,” ought to be sufficient to give us full assurance of our eternal blessing. Notice in this verse (Matt. 4:44But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:4)) how Christ connects “It is written” with the “mouth of God”; for this is how faith ever reckons.
And now, for the sake of any troubled reader, let us look at the four facts, before referred to, in John 3.
1. “The Father loveth the Son.”
Now, do you believe that fact?
“Oh, yes!” you say, “I do.”
But do you feel, then, that the Father loves the Son? “It isn’t what I feel,” you reply, “I feel sure He does, for the simple reason that God’s Word says He does. It is not a question of what I think or feel. It is a fact; and, as such, I believe it.”
2. “And hath given all things into his hand.” “Well,” you say, “and I firmly believe that fact also.”
But is it because you feel it, or because you SEE everything put into His hand?
“Neither,” you reply, “but I am fully assured of it. God has declared it.”
Now, then, pass on to the last fact.
3. “He that believeth not the Son... the wrath of God abideth on him.”
Again I inquire, Do you believe that fact also, viz., that the wrath of God abides upon the unbeliever? And again, perhaps, you answer in the affirmative. But supposing the unbeliever does not feel it! Ah, you respond, but the wrath abides upon him all the same for that. His feeling it would not make it true, neither would his not feeling it make it untrue. There stands the fact recorded, and “the word of our God stands forever” (Isa. 40:88The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. (Isaiah 40:8)). But, you say, “I am not an unbeliever—I really do believe on the Son of God.” Well, then, just notice the fact which, before, I purposely omitted, viz:—
4. “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.”
Now, in a preceding verse in this chapter, we read: “He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true” (vs. 33). And remember that God has not only given a distinct testimony concerning His beloved Son; but has, again and again, stated the plainest facts concerning those who really believe on Him. “If I could only believe I was saved, I should be saved,” said an anxious soul one day, “but I have not faith enough for that yet.” Now, plausible as this may look at first sight, it is not the gospel. God does not say, “If you can only have faith enough to believe that you have eternal life, you shall have it.” That would be to make a saviour of your faith, and to shut Christ out. But, believing on His Son, He states a simple fact about you, viz., that you HAVE everlasting life, and leaves you simply to set to your seal that “God is true.” If the unbeliever has the wrath of God abiding on him, whether he feels it or not, so, in the thoughts of God, has the true believer everlasting life, whether he thinks he has the feeling that rightly belongs to it or not. At the same time, it should be added, Scripture does not recognize such a thing as a man believing on the Son of God without being affected by it. “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself” (John 5:1010The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day: it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. (John 5:10)). The hath of this verse is as important on the one side as the hath, of John 3:3636He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36) is important on the other; for the Holy Ghost has linked both with believing on the Son of God. A divine fact believed by the soul will be accompanied by a divine effect in the soul.
GEO. C.