Jesus Christ our Lord (The Fear of the Lord): January 2013
Table of Contents
Jesus Christ Our Lord
A right relationship with the Lord begins with “the fear of the Lord.” A reverential respect of Him and complete submission to Him puts Him in His right place and us in our right place.
We are brought into connection with the Lord Jesus not only in his character of grace, but also of lordship. What is the first mark He has stamped on your heart? This — that Jesus must be known and honored as Lord; I belong to Him; I must yield myself to Him in everything. Are you doing your own will or His? If you have large thoughts of grace, magnificent thoughts of glory to come, but have not said, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” you are not on right ground. You have to come to this: “My own plans go for nothing; I now belong to another.” If you have large thoughts of grace, has it taught you to yield your own will to God’s? If you have large thoughts of your privileges, do you see your responsibility? If you are talking of glory, is it connected with obedience? You may have right thoughts, nicely packed together, as for a long voyage, but they are of no good to you if there is not in you the spirit of obedience.
From The Bible Treasury
Jesus Christ Our Lord
As soon as we know Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Redeemer, we are also taught that He is our Lord. His lordship is universal and has reference to all men, though He primarily sustains this relationship towards believers. The Apostle Peter declared this truth on the day of Pentecost. “Therefore,” he said, “let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). The Lord Jesus Himself, after His resurrection, says, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and earth” (Matt. 28:18). Then again, Peter, dealing with another aspect of this truth, tells us of false teachers “who ... shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them” (2 Peter 2:1).
We have, then, two things: first, that God has made Christ Lord on the ground of redemption, giving Him this place of universal supremacy in answer to His appreciation of the work which Christ wrought by His death, and, second, that Christ has acquired lordship over all by purchase. This thought we find in one of the parables: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field” (Matt. 13:44). The consequence is that He is Lord of all, having “power [authority] over all flesh” by the appointment of God (John 17:2; Acts 10:36; Rom. 14:9).
However, when we as believers speak of Christ as “our” Lord, we express another thought, because then we bring in the idea of relationship — the relationship of servants. It is the same lordship, but we, by the grace of God, have been brought to own it, to bow before Him in this character, to accept His authority and rule, and to take the place of subjection. This was one of the objects of His death, as Paul tells us: “He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:15). See also Romans 14:7-9. We therefore recognize, through the grace of our God, not only that Christ is Lord of all, but also that He is in a more intimate way our Lord. He is our Lord, not only in virtue of His appointment as such, as the rejected Christ and now glorified Man, but also because He has acquired this place over us through redemption. It is therefore our joy to confess Him as Lord, and how solemn to remember that all, even those who reject Him in this day of grace, will one day be constrained by power — power capable of their destruction — to own Him also as Lord (Phil. 2:10-11). It is the more incumbent upon us who are believers to recognize, declare and be subject to His authority, that we may in some measure be witnesses for Him in this day of His rejection.
Seeing that Christ holds this place, what are our privileges and responsibilities with reference to Him in this character?
Worship
The first thing to be named is worship, for it is before Him as Lord that we often fall down in adoration. This is taught, in principle, in one of the psalms. “He is thy Lord, and worship thou Him” (Psa. 45:11). So also in the passage already cited from the Philippians — every knee is to bow and every tongue confess that He is “Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Theologians take pains to argue that Christ is to be worshipped equally with the Father, inasmuch as He is God as well as man. This is true, but at the same time, it misses the scriptural teaching concerning His present position and the worship due to Him in it. He is God, but the wonder and the characteristic of His present place is that He occupies it as man. It was the same Jesus whom the Jews crucified who is now made both Lord and Christ; He as man has taken up the glory which He had with the Father before the world was. It is a great mistake to suppose that He was man down here and God in heaven, as if the two natures could thus be divided. The truth is, if we may draw the distinction, He was truly man while down here, and He was the presentation of God to us, whereas now, while He never loses His essential divinity, He sits at the right hand of God as man. Thus, though it is perfectly true that we worship Him as God, for all the adoration which ascends up to God of necessity is offered to Him — inasmuch as the term God includes all the persons of the Godhead — it is rather as the man who is in the glory of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, that we bow before Him in praise and worship.
Prayer
Just as we worship Him, so also we pray to Him as Lord. There are two striking examples of this principle recorded in the Scriptures. When Stephen was martyred by the infuriated Jews, it is said, “They stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). Paul too, speaking of the thorn in the flesh, says, “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). Now it is evident that it was Christ he addressed as Lord, for he adds, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of CHRIST may rest upon me.” These instances afford most important instruction as to the character in which Christ is to be addressed in prayer. It is as Lord — not as “Jesus” or “Christ,” as is sometimes unhappily heard. A moment’s consideration will show us the fitness of this. For us to address His name in our prayers as simply “Jesus” or with the term “Christ,” when bowing before Him, is surely to forget our place as suppliants, as well as His place as Lord. It savors of undue familiarity and irreverence, though it is freely admitted that it may be done without the slightest feeling of the kind. Be this as it may, we should never forget His exaltation and dignity, when approaching Him in prayer or supplication. The spiritual instincts of a child of God will suffice to teach each one that He always should be addressed with the title of Lord. It becomes Him to receive this title and for us to render it. The angel used it, when calming the fear of the women at the sepulchre on the resurrection morn, and in a most significant manner. He said, “Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, the crucified one. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the LORD lay” (Matt. 28:5-6). He thus reminded them that Jesus, whom they sought, was the Lord. Let us, then, be always careful to remember what is due to the One before whom we bow and from whom we seek grace and blessing.
We Are His Servants
The correlative of “Lord” is “servant.” We are therefore specially reminded by the term “our Lord” that we are His servants. We are His servants because He has bought us with His own blood, and we are therefore absolutely His property. Thus Paul delights to call himself a servant [a slave] of Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:1; Phil. 1:1).
This being the case, it will at once be observed that the Lord’s will is our only law. It is indeed the characteristic of the Christian that he has no will; the moment his will is active, the flesh appears. Thus he has (that is, he should have) absolutely no will. He can say with the Apostle, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). The Lord has shown us also this path. “I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (John 6:38). Hence it is actually said that “He took upon Him the form of a servant [a slave]” (Phil. 2:7). Just as He had no will, but every thought, word and deed was governed by the will of the Father, so we in all things should have respect to His will.
Our responsibility, then, as servants is obedience. As the Lord said to certain professors, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46), or, as He said to His disciples, “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:13-14). As soon, therefore, as Christ is revealed to us as our Saviour and we acknowledge Him as our Lord, we should take the attitude of Saul when he said, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6; 22:10). From that moment we must accept the place of obedience to His will, and not only accept it, but find our joy in it, even as He Himself said that it was His meat to do His Father’s will and to finish His work (John 4:34).
His Universal Lordship
We have a further responsibility connected with the lordship of Christ. As we have already pointed out, He is Lord of all (Acts 10:36). Not only have we, therefore, as believers, to take the position of obedience, but we have also to acknowledge His authority over all connected with us — over our families and our households. It is a question of increasing importance, whether the doctrine of the universal lordship of Christ has not been too much overlooked. The state of the families of many believers demands that it should be imperatively considered. It is a fatal mistake, into which many fall, to suppose that the unconverted members of our families have no relationship to Christ. He is Lord of all, and they are under the responsibility of owning, as believers are under the obligation of upholding, that lordship. The rule of Christ has to be maintained throughout the whole circle of the responsibility of the saints. It is in this that the families of saints should present an entire contrast with those of the world and thus be a living testimony to the authority of a rejected and an absent Christ — Christ our Lord.
His Claims Over the Lost
Again, if we remembered that He who is our Lord is also universal Lord, it would give us far greater power to deal with souls. When charging upon them the sin of rejecting Christ, how often do they evade the issue by saying that they had nothing to do with the act of the Jews and Romans nearly 2000 years ago. In such cases, the fact of the present lordship of Christ must be pressed upon them. Do they acknowledge the place which has been given to Him by God? Do they confess and submit to His authority? Then they stand convicted of refusing and rejecting now the One who has been made both Lord and Christ. This weapon, if skillfully used in the power of the Spirit, may reach many a conscience and bring souls to repentance before God. Along with this truth, they should be told that if they persist in refusing to own Christ now, in the day of grace, they must own Him before the great white throne, to their everlasting destruction. Man’s responsibility must never be overlooked, for his conscience needs to be reached. Nor must we forget to present the grace, the mercy and the love of God, for surely every presentation of the gospel should be the expression of His own heart. While recognizing and insisting on these things, it may yet be asked whether we sufficiently press the claims of Christ as Lord. Man is everywhere owned, and Christ disowned. But if man remains indifferent to and rejects His claims, he must finally bow the knee before Him, when Christ shall be seated as the Judge on the great white throne. How much better to be reconciled to Him now and to confess and to worship Him as Lord.
E. Dennett, adapted
Dost Not Thou Fear God?
The case of the thief on the cross who believed is a remarkably beautiful illustration of God’s mighty work in a soul — the total change in the man. And besides this, we have in this scene the mighty work of Christ for him, which enabled him to take his place with Christ that very day.
The case of the other thief, too, is truly and deeply solemn — a soul passing away from this world into another, approaching the portals of an eternity from which there is no return with a scoff on his lip and the taunt for the blessed One in his mouth, “If Thou be the Christ, save Thyself and us.” Deeply solemn is such a closing hour of a man’s brief life here, Christless, faithless, sinning against his own soul. Well is it said of the wicked, “There are no bands in their death; but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men” (Psa. 73:4-5).
Let us look at the same hour in the life of the other thief — the brightest hour it had ever known. “The other answering, rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God?” — grand illustration of the work of God in a soul. It began with only a little word, but a word by which one reads a heart which had been taught in wisdom’s ways, for “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10). We have in this little word a precious work of God in his soul. It is said of the wicked, “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:18). God is not in all their thoughts. “Dost not thou fear God?” Here was the root of this mighty change in this man: the holy fear of God. God had His proper place in his thoughts, although he did not know Him yet as a Saviour. It was like Abraham’s comment on the men of Gerar: “Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake.” It was the fear of God which guarded Joseph’s heart, when in the land of his exile: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” It is that which guards the heart in a world of sin. It is the beginning of wisdom. Its absence leaves room for the actions of man’s corrupt and wicked will.
May we ask how it is with us? Can we say that this holy fear of God has been the guide and fashioner of all the thoughts and intents of our heart, the actions of our life, and the motives which have governed our ways? Have all these been governed by the fear of the Lord? Has His fear restrained our will? Job was a man who “feared God, and eschewed evil”; Cornelius, one who “feared God, with all his house.” “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” (Mal. 3:16). It was the proof of Abraham’s faith: “Now I know that thou fearest God” (Gen. 22:12). Now this “fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death” (Prov. 14:27). It “tendeth to life” (Prov. 19:23), and we see this so remarkably in the thief on the cross. It led him to take his true place before God. Blessed peace — to own, in full, our true and proper condition before God and thus take the sentence of death home to our own soul, as he did. How the work of God grew brighter and brighter, till he was with Christ in paradise! God had His true place in his soul, and he was in his true place before God!
Words of Truth, 1:66, adapted
Faith’s Experience
The Fear of the Lord
In Psalm 34 King David gives us the most beautiful instruction as to the secret of a happy, progressive and blessed life. He says, “Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord” (vs. 11). David also wrote, “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever” (Psa. 19:9). I think that gives you the keynote of the scripture, as regards the fear of the Lord. Without this, you cannot progress in practical holiness or sanctification. I believe David teaches us the true secret of it. Such a condition does not keep us back from the Lord; rather, it is the path of progress. Another writer — Solomon — says, “Happy is the man that feareth alway” (Prov. 28:14). It is not the fear of judgment and wrath, but it is that holy and blessed fear in the soul, which the Spirit of God always begets, a fear lest we fail so to walk in everything as to please Him.
The Poetical Books
The Book of Proverbs speaks frequently of “the fear of the Lord.” In the Proverbs God gives us the furnishing of good understanding. Reading a chapter of Proverbs every day of your life will help preserve you from much sorrow and trouble in your pathway. I want to point out the way, in the structure of the Bible, in which it is connected. The following two books, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon, have something to say to the heart. You have the conscience in the Psalms, the understanding in Proverbs, and, in the next two books, the heart. They complement each other. In Ecclesiastes Solomon talks of the heart, only to confess that it is empty, and in the Song of Solomon it is more than full. In the one the heart is too big for the object — the world, all under the sun — and in the other, the object — Christ — is too big for the heart. One book is heartache, and the other is heart’s ease. The secret of divine peace and joy is found in the Song of Solomon. It is occupation with the love and the Person of Christ.
The Book of Proverbs
But now for the Proverbs. You find seven times in this book what the fear of the Lord is stated to be. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Prov. 1:7). The fear of the Lord is the first step to knowledge and progress. Now pass on to the eighth chapter. “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate” (Prov. 8:13). Things which He hates, we should also hate, or His fear is not in us. Next we get, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Prov. 9:10). There is a great difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge may puff me up, but wisdom will never puff me up. Knowledge is the apprehension of the truth, but wisdom is the capacity of using the truth. It is the way in which the soul, led of God, can rightly and divinely use what it has been given. Then, “The fear of the Lord prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened” (Prov. 10:27). It is very similar in its tone to what we find in Psalm 19. Next we read, “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death” (Prov. 14:27). A sure way of escaping Satan’s snares is of priceless value. Sixth, we read, “The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom; and before honor is humility” (Prov. 15:33). Those who have wisdom are always willing to learn; it is only fools who need no instruction. And now last, “The fear of the Lord tendeth to life; and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil” (Prov. 19:23). Abiding satisfaction is a sweet fruit of this holy fear. You will find now that this verse chimes in with our psalm most beautifully.
W. T. P. Wolston
Holiness, Assurance and Fear
Holiness in life is the consequence of salvation. He “hath saved us and called us with an holy calling” (2 Tim. 1:9). Being born of God and having received Christ as life, the principle of holiness is in every believer, although its conscious development and practical exercise is when the question of justification is settled. The affections of the heart are fixed on Christ as having so loved us and given Himself for us. He is received into the heart, and we are thus sanctified and grow up to Him, the Head, in all things, His walk being the only true measure of ours.
And here it is that diligence of soul comes in, not in connection with redemption and justification, but rather with the working out of our own salvation in fear and trembling. It is perfectly evident that we cannot work out our redemption; Christ has finished the work and God has accepted it as complete. There is no more offering for sin. Where then is the working out of salvation? The Christian is viewed in two ways in Scripture; first, as in Christ, and therefore as Christ before God; he has boldness for the day of judgment, because as Christ is, so are we in this world.
Second, almost all Christians pass through a longer or shorter period of exercise and testing. They are men on the earth, even if ever so truly men in Christ. There is no doubt that if they are really in Christ, Christ will keep them, and they shall never perish; still they are tested and proved in their life down here, and they have much to hear, much to correct and much to learn of themselves. At the same time, they also learn of God’s tender and faithful love and what it is to be dead with Christ to sin and to the world; they learn more of the fullness of Christ and how to grow up unto Him in all things.
In our course here below, the proof of reality is just the seriousness which works out the final salvation with fear and trembling, for the snares and dangers are real on the way, though there is the promise of being kept through them. But it is a solemn thing to be the scene of conflict between God’s working in us and the power of darkness, though victory through Christ is certain. Hence it is a moral process in the human soul; it is a testing, proving, sifting, teaching, helping: We learn ourselves and God, and it bears most precious fruit. We learn not only to glory in salvation and in the hope of glory, but in tribulations and, finally, in God Himself, whom we thus come to know.
The Christian, every true believer, then, is redeemed and in Christ, where there is no “if.” But he is also, in fact, on the road to glory and must reach the goal to have it. He has the promise of being kept, but he is morally exercised along the road in dependence, in grace, in watchfulness and diligence, the true proof that it is a reality with him. It is a place that belongs to one who is redeemed, where he learns the ways of God and works out his salvation in fear and trembling, for he is ever in danger as to his daily path to glory, though he is dependent and counts on the faithfulness of Him who keeps him. Christ’s grace is sufficient for him, and His strength is made perfect in weakness.
Bible Treasury, adapted
Those Who Despise Lordship
In writing of the conditions that had overtaken and would overtake Christendom in the future, both Peter and Jude mention those who would “despise lordship.” Peter says that there will be those “who walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise lordship” (2 Peter 2:10 JND). Jude speaks of those who had already infiltrated the profession of Christianity, saying that “these dreamers also defile the flesh, and despise lordship” (Jude 8 JND). Along with the penchant for despising lordship, both Peter and Jude describe many other violent and corrupt practices which characterize those who despise lordship. While many would decry the violent and immoral practices that are described, it is a fact that virtually all of them can be traced back to the despising and resisting of authority.
Authority and Government
Ultimately, all authority must be traced back to and is derived from God Himself. Prior to the flood in Noah’s time, man was not under government. At the time of the fall of man, he obtained a conscience, because he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Subsequently, God allowed him to see how well he would do with this knowledge, and for a period of more than 1500 years, the world operated without government. Man’s guide was his conscience. The result was that “the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Gen. 6:11), and God destroyed it by a flood. After this, God instituted government in the earth, and this God-given authority continues to this day. During the time of the judges in Israel, Scripture tells us that “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6), and of this time it is recorded in 2 Chronicles that “in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries” (2 Chron. 15:5). Paul reminds us to “be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God” (Rom. 13:1). The Lord Jesus Himself reminded Pilate, “Thou couldest have no power at all against Me, except it were given thee from above” (John 19:11). Fallen man cannot operate without government, for his sinful tendencies must be kept under control by the threat of punishment.
Disobedience to Parents
In the last days in which we are living, all of this has reached a crescendo that is perhaps worse than ever before. The tendencies that were already beginning to show themselves in the days of Jude have now matured to the point where we read in 2 Timothy that the despising of lordship begins with children who are “disobedient to parents” (2 Tim. 3:2). This disobedience to parents carries on into the public school system in much of the Western world, where a lack of discipline is the norm. Denied the power to carry out corporal punishment, schools are virtually unable to enforce order in the classroom. The result has been a wholesale rejection of authority right from childhood, and this is borne out by the number of juveniles who are now being charged with serious crimes, including assault, armed robbery and even murder.
An Affront to God
What does all this mean for the believer today? First of all, we must recognize that in despising and rejecting lordship, man is ultimately challenging God Himself. Since all authority is ultimately ordained by and derived from God Himself, the despising of lordship is an affront to God Himself. We should not be surprised at this, for God has told us in His Word that it is a characteristic of the natural man that “there is no fear of God before their eyes” (Rom. 3:18). When God’s claims are given up and the Word of God is disregarded, the result is a reverting to what characterizes man in the flesh, namely, no fear of God. After the church is called home, the attitude will be, “With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?” (Psa. 12:4). We know from prophecy that this will become worse and worse, culminating in the Antichrist, “who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thess. 2:4). Although the true Antichrist will not be manifested until long after we are called home at the Lord’s coming, we will surely see the condition of this world becoming worse, for “even now are there many antichrists” (1 John 2:18).
The Giving up of God
Second, and even more important, we must recognize that the condition of the world has always been that which impacted and infiltrated the church of God. Jude recognized this in his day, for it was already happening. It has accelerated today, and it is solemn to realize that the description of the last days in 2 Timothy 3:1-8 is not a description of the pagan world, but rather of Christendom as it tends more and more toward a giving up of God and His claims. Those who have had the brightest gospel testimony are now giving it up. While we who are true believers are truly horrified when we see this happening, we must realize that we are in danger of imbibing an attitude that despises lordship. As the condition of Christendom deteriorates, the democratic spirit that has animated the Western world for several centuries tends to foster the attitude, “No one is going to tell me what to do.” Surely man has abused and continues to abuse the authority God has instituted, whether in the home, in the assembly, or in government. Nevertheless, God’s Word tells us to respect and obey authority, unless it conflicts with God’s claims. The church of God is not a democracy, for while we are all responsible, God has instituted authority there as well as in the home and in government, and we are exhorted to submit to it.
Submission to Authority
The believer has a new life in Christ and thus wants to see righteousness displayed. While those who belong to Christ may tolerate unrighteousness in the world, they expect better things from their fellow-believers. When there seems to be a failure to show the spirit of Christ and to act in a righteous way in the assembly of God, we may react by either rejecting the authority or by thinking that we have the right to separate from God’s assembly. To draw the unrighteousness to the attention of those responsible for it, in a respectful way, is quite in order, but to reject the authority is not of God, for it is ultimately an affront to God Himself. Surely the Lord is over all, and since He is in the midst, we can depend on Him to right that which is seen to be wrong.
Pride
In speaking of submission to authority, perhaps it is in order to mention what often stands in the way of both proper authority and submission to it, namely, pride. We are living in a day when there is literally an epidemic of pride, and it affects every sphere of authority in this world. Man is so filled with himself that it seems that almost any curb on his own will is met with a frightful backlash of anger. In North America, this attitude has resulted in an increase in violent crime, with such things as road rage, shootings and assaults of all kinds. If we are not on guard, this attitude can spill over into the church of God and can affect both those in leadership and authority as well as those in a position to submit. We can be thankful that pride among believers does not usually manifest itself in violent behavior, but it can engender a sinful outlook in our hearts. There may be a stubborn and ungracious attitude on the part of those in authority, and this in turn may cause a hostile and unyielding reaction on the part of those in a position to submit. We must be ready to judge this attitude before the Lord.
Apologies
If we have done wrong in refusing to obey authority or perhaps have displayed a lack of grace in the exercise of authority, we must remember that “every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12). On the human side, a sense of our wrong in the Lord’s presence will give us the grace to apologize to the one wronged. It is hard to admit when we have been wrong, and, sad to say, apologies are rare in today’s world. But it is the path of blessing and allows a happy relationship to be restored. No doubt Peter had this in mind when he said, “Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility” (1 Peter 5:5). This is especially needful for those in a position of authority, for they may feel that it is “beneath their dignity” to apologize to those under them. However, admitting our wrong enhances our respect and authority among those under us, rather than diminishing it. As another has said, “The surest sign of repentance before God is humility before men.”
W. J. Prost
The Fear of the Lord
“Tendeth to life” (Prov. 19:23).
“Is a fountain of life” (Prov. 24:27).
“Is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7).
“Is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10).
“[By it] men depart from evil” (Prov. 16:6).
“Prolongeth days” (Prov. 10:27).
The Last Days
Practical Holiness
The Holy Spirit speaks of Christ — of the common salvation. His office is to take the things of Christ and show them unto us. But He is in the place of service in the church; therefore in Jude, when there is mischief at the doors, He turns aside and exhorts to “contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” It is not for orthodoxy that saints are here exhorted to contend, but for the holiness of the faith. We are exhorted to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints,” against the “ungodly men” who are described as “turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness.” These “ungodly men” are those who deny — not the Father and the Son — but the “Lord” Jesus Christ. Mark! who deny Jesus Christ, not as a Saviour, but as Lord; that is, who practically gainsay His authority — who “despise dominion,” or lordship — who reject restraints. Jude is not speaking of Jesus as a Saviour, but of Jesus as a Lord; government is the thought in the mind of the Holy Spirit here. We should welcome this as a sound and salutary word. Is it not evil when a saint does not exercise this continual check on his thoughts, his tongue and his doings? We are not to say our thoughts or our lips or our hands or our feet are our own. They should be understood to be under lordship. We are not to despise dominion.
Self-Indulgence
The Epistle of Jude puts every one of us on a holy watchtower, to watch, not against a spirit that would gainsay the precious mysteries of God (Peter and John’s word does that), but against the tendencies of the natural heart to gratify itself. The Spirit of God is active, and the saint should be all living, holy activity. If Peter puts you looking in one direction — watching against the forms and actions of the infidel mind — Jude erects another watchtower from which we are to look out and guard against the self-indulgent and defiling ways that would corrupt the whole moral man — to watch against the spirit that rejects the lordship of Jesus over the thoughts and movements of His people. And notice how He describes these ungodly despisers of dominion. “These are spots in your feasts of charity ... feeding themselves without fear.” The absence of this “fear” indicates this state of moral laxity of which I speak. Do we imagine that we have a right to take our own way in anything? We have no such right. As someone has said, “The moment you do a thing because it is your own will, you have sinned.” To do our own will is the very essence of rebellion against God.
Despise Dominion
He then goes back to the prophecy of Enoch. What is it? Is it a prophecy of the Lord coming to visit those who are under the power of the infidel spirit? No, but to execute judgment upon the ungodly, for all “their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed.” It is on ungodliness that the judgment is anticipated to fall. If I take my own will as the rule of my actions and thus “despise dominion,” I am (in the principle of my mind) on the road to the judgment of which Enoch prophesied. If Christ is a Saviour, He is also a Lord.
But again, let us remind ourselves, it is Jesus that is to be our Lord — He who loved us and gave Himself for us — He who has saved His people. And He is to be served, not in the spirit of bondage or the mere observance of religious rites and injunctions, but in the spirit of liberty and love — a spirit that can trust Him at all times and that can take all conscious shortcoming and failure to a throne of grace through Him, with happy boldness. Let us never watch in any wise as against Him, but rather entirely for Him, for He has “not given us the spirit of fear, but ... of love” (2 Tim. 1:7). May we watch, therefore, that He may be glorified in us by free and happy service now while He is absent, that we may be glorified in Him, when He shall appear to take us to Himself (John 14:3).
Christian Truth, 1:241, adapted
False Prophets
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).
The recognition of the lordship of our Saviour with due allegiance and obedience is that which would cause us to “try the spirits whether they are of God.” Happy are those who look wholly to His good pleasure for their guidance. This is a time when allegiance to Him is put to the test, because Satan will deceive with increasing unrighteousness. The deception begins with unbelief in the lordship of Jesus Christ. Insubjection to the Lord and compromise with the world leads to commending what is earthly religion.
We are instructed to prove “the spirits” — to prove them by the work of the prophets who speak by these spirits. First, they must be proved by their work, which is not confessing Jesus come in flesh and therefore Lord of all men. Second, they speak as of the world. These are two very plain things, that there is no need that men should be deceived. Obeying Jesus as Lord will make us disown what He disowns and hold the good confession of the hope He has given.
We must not suppose that being false prophets “of the antichrist” makes those who are animated by this spirit speak like men possessed, acting violently and madly; they would in this case be quickly suspected or disregarded. In order to persuade men, they must propose some advantage, something that honors mankind. They say that man in his own honor and dignity has true nobility, that death is no judgment of God.
Man is so formed of God that some acknowledgment of Him is natural and necessary as a right condition of his existence. Wholly to reject Him is to denaturalize himself. But they do not acknowledge the lordship of Jesus. In politics man considers himself to be self-sufficient, as the Egyptian said of the Nile, “My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself.” This simple characteristic is sufficient to try the spirits, and it brings about a sweeping judgment. But God judges all things in truth and gives a simple rule by which to judge, and all those not in Christ will be found out of Him. Their word will be as of the world, independent of God. These are they that speak by the spirit of antichrist. And the Apostle says, “Many false prophets are gone out into the world.”
But if the spirit of antichrist is at work, the same will produce a false prophet far above the rest. How wise is the arch-enemy! But you have here, in the description of the false prophets and their works, the sure marks of their beginning, and they lead to a solemn end.
The False Prophet
The development of the present state is leading to the time when there will be a great false prophet — antichrist (Dan. 11:36; 2 Thess. 2; Rev. 13:11). The power he will receive of Satan will be very great. His business will be to commend the beast to whom Satan gives his power, throne and great authority. He, the false prophet, will deceive mankind by signs, wonders and miracles, even fire from heaven in men’s sight, to cause them to obey the beast out of the sea whom Satan has set up imperially as man’s glory and boast.
There will be a great cause of many falling into his deception because of the miracles and wonders which are done. They will be ascribed to God, but in this way men will give credit to Satan and be deceived. Scripture is plain on the subject, that as miracles were wrought at the beginning of Christianity, so miracles at the close of the age will be from the evil one, not from God. Men then will not discover the deceit, but will wonder and worship. The false prophet will, without doubt, find his representatives, who by the same deceit will commend the same lie to those subject to them, not to God — indeed all those whose names are not written in the slain Lamb’s book of life. Christianity will not fall into ignorance like heathenism, but into apostasy — into the full confidence of human intelligence and hatred of Christ. The false prophet will receive his doom with the head of the Roman Empire, as we learn from Revelation 17.
Who Is Lord Over Us?
It is not said that the prophets mentioned in 1 John 4 do any miracles. Their task is more ordinary; their primary character is that they do not confess Christ come in flesh. They say, as it were, “Who is Lord over us?” They speak as of the world and of its religion. But the time will come when, through hearing the deception of unrighteousness, they will be snared in the hands of the enemy through false miracles. At length the great false prophet, and those connected with him, will bring men into the last measure of deception and rebellion against the Lord. The time is not far off. It is written that in the last time false prophets shall come on the earth and speak by the power of antichrist. And this is written to warn and quicken those who confess the Lord, that they also be not deceived. “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them” (1 John 4:4-5).
P. T., adapted, The Bible Treasury
Dealing With Evil
We need to seek as great a sense of God’s holiness as we already have of His mercy. We know the power of sin from experience, but only in God’s presence can we learn its guilt, and there the trifling errors which have caused us little sorrow are seen in all their depravity as brought into the light.
One has said that we do not get a right thought of sin until we realize what it cost God to put it away, and this we may only learn by prayerful meditation upon the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. “In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord: it is most holy. The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it: in the holy place shall it be eaten” (Lev. 6:25-26).
All that the Lord Jesus must have felt from contact with evil, we can little understand, because we are so accustomed to its presence, but His spotless soul must have recoiled with unutterable loathing from the foul stain of our guilt, since the anguish of Gethsemane discloses the agony of His anticipation of being made sin for us and its consequences.
We may not dare to discuss that period which God veiled in darkness from the eyes of men. The contrite heart looks back to the cross to get there an adequate sense of what sin is in the sight of God. It is less a subject for pen and ink than for a penitent heart searching in God’s presence.
The fear of the Lord is wisdom’s first lesson (Prov. 15:33; 1:7), and the fear of the Lord is to hate evil (Prov. 8:13). If this lesson is not learned, we are out of God’s estimate of sin and lack an adequate sense of His holiness.
Christian Truth, 13:30
How Is Christ David's Son and David's Lord?
How was Christ David’s Son and David’s Lord? As man he was David’s son, but He was much more. In order to be David’s Lord, He must be a divine person, but more than that, He is exalted into that place. The lordship of Christ rests not alone on His being a divine person, but because He was rejected as Son of David. God has exalted Him to be both Lord and Christ. This opens the whole question of Israel’s treatment of Christ, as well as of Jehovah’s attitude toward Him. In Psalm 110 we read, “Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.” Here it is not God sending His well-beloved Son down to the vineyard of Israel, but, when He was cast out, raising Him to His own right hand in heaven. Thus it involves their owning that Israel must have rejected their Messiah and that, when rejected, God sets Him at His own right hand in heaven. This, evidently, is the key to the present position of Israel and leaves room for the calling of the church; in a word, it is the mystery of the person of Christ and the counsels of God that follow His rejection.
From The Bible Treasury
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 Saviour 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 and of pain;
But this I know — my Saviour 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 may await,
Or what the morrow 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