The knowledge of the mind of God is the Christian's only security both for determining his true position in the world, and his being preserved in it, steadfast and immovable. Where this is not ascertained, all must be doubt and perplexity, and his path must be uncertain, nay, inevitably wrong. Where it is known, he is, in a certain sense, omnipotent. This consideration has an especial application to the present state and prospects of the people of God. Many may say indeed, as to any inquiry beyond present things, What is truth? But the scripture sets before us the clear and definite counsels of Him Who changeth not; marks out the distinct character of every principle, whether good or evil, in His view; traces their respective advances, and exhibits the great general results to which they are severally progressing. And these things the church is directed to observe. “We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn,” &c. And the same apostle, after portraying the characters of evil in the last days, specifies this as the safeguard of the saints, “That they know these things before” (2 Peter 1:19; 3:1719We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: (2 Peter 1:19)
17Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. (2 Peter 3:17)).
All our light then is darkness, unless our apprehension of the circumstances in which we are standing accord with the revealed truth of God concerning them. To take a practical example. One visible anxiety of the believer, I mean of one who is accepted in the Beloved, with regard to himself, is that his service be given wisely to the Lord. But it seems evident that, unless the purposes of God for this dispensation be gathered by him from the written word, his labors must often be misdirected, and possibly, as to their results, given more to the house of the stranger (Prov. 5:1010Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labors be in the house of a stranger; (Proverbs 5:10)) than to God's. For instead of ministering according to his ability in God's husbandry, his powers may be diverted into channels, whence no enduring fruit is returned to the Lord's glory, and where His Spirit would never have led him; and to all that is not done in the Spirit the word of Jesus applies, “He that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad.” Unless the unchanging distinction between the church and the world up to the “time of the end” be seen, the expectation of a gradual diffusion of Christianity must constantly operate to the consuming of our services upon that which will absorb into itself all the energy and power of the laborer, and still remain the world.
The subject assumes an import even still more weighty when considered with regard to the consummation declared in that portion of the revelation of God's will which embraces the present age. For it must inevitably make a wide practical difference in the Christian's position in the world, whether he considers it as going on to blessedness, or, on the contrary, to judgment. For on this must, to a great extent, depend the actual character in which it appears to his eyes, and consequently his own conduct and views with regard to it. The views of surrounding things, taken by two believers, one of whom considers them to be thus far in their progress to perfection, while the other sees that sentence upon them is delayed, only because “the long suffering of the Lord is salvation” (2 Peter 3), must be as different as light from darkness. Nor is it too much to say that the character of their testimony will equally vary. For testimony is given in power, only in proportion as the truth of the circumstances in which he stands is recognized by him who has to give it; and if his mind is resting upon the hope of a progressive enlightening of the world, while it may be that fearful darkness is fast closing in, all his wisdom will be folly. Most of the Lord's people indeed, in common with others, feel that the aspect of the times is sufficiently awful; yet perhaps the greater number are inclined to consider it as temporary, with the hope that it will subside.
Let us briefly try present things by the test of scripture, for to this will be our safest appeal. If we judge by sight in anything, we shall assuredly err. And therefore it is only by taking the word as our criterion, though appearances may seem ever so contradictory, that our judgment can be true.
First, then, how does scripture uniformly describe the character of the church throughout the dispensation? And here we at once meet with the incontrovertible fact that the whole tenor of the commands and exhortations throughout the Gospels and Epistles to the people of God are, from their very nature, applicable only to a comparatively small number, in the midst of a world lying in wickedness. The irreversible principle of the dispensation is that “many are called but few chosen;” and with this correspond all the practical addresses of our Lord and His apostles. It is therefore in absolute contrast to a dispensation, in which it is said, “The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.”
The two can never become identical; for, on the supposition that this dispensation should grow into one of universal truth, the whole character of the apostolic Epistles would gradually become inappropriate to the circumstances of the church. The characters to whom they are addressed are thus described, “The sons of God in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:1515That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; (Philippians 2:15)). “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God; therefore the world knoweth us not” (1 John 3). “We know that we are of. God, and the whole world lieth in the wicked one, ἐν τῷ πονηρῷ” (1 John 5:1919And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. (1 John 5:19)). “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people” (1 Peter 2:99But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (1 Peter 2:9)).
More especially is the nature of the dispensation, as regards His followers, described by the Lord: they are said to be “the poor in spirit,” “the mourners,” “the meek,” “the persecuted for righteousness' sake “; they are the salt of the earth, the light of the world, as sheep among wolves, as the wheat among tares, which, grow, increase, and ripen together, until, in the end of this age, τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου, the Son of man shall send to gather out of His kingdom all things that offend. The present is a dispensation of witness, and of witness only (Matt. 24:1414And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14)); and as such essentially incongruous with one of universality: the insignia of God's people throughout are the cross and the reproach of Christ. In truth, the position of the church in the world, if it were faithful, never could be any other, and, in the present earthly glory of the professing church, the light of scripture exhibits only the deceit of Satan and apostasy.