The Christian Shepherd: 1997

The activities of Christ on behalf of His people take in the past, the present and the future. They stretch like a golden line from everlasting to everlasting. Well may it be said, “Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord” (Psa. 144:15).

Things New and Old, Vol. 1

The Authority of the Word

“Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father” (1 John 2:24).

Whoever hinders the direct authority of the Word of God upon the heart is meddling with God’s rights. If I send a message to my servant and someone prevents his getting it properly, it is not merely hindering my servant, but it is meddling with me. We are told to read the [church] fathers, but they were not “from the beginning”; that would be what God said and taught, and then I know from whom I have learned it. To say the fathers were “very early” is more or less true, but that is not the “beginning.” I have God’s warning about it, and I must stick to that, or I shall not “abide in the Son and in the Father” (vs. 24 JND).

J. N. Darby

The Battle of the Weeds

Several years ago the area I now try to garden was a neglected wheat field. Care was not taken to control the weeds and they gained a foothold in the run-down soil. As I carefully till the soil each spring, the ground looks rich, moist and mellow, but appearances are deceptive. Thousands of tiny weed seeds begin to germinate while the roots of thistles and quack grass, lying deep where the tiller cannot reach, begin to grow.

As the garden patch is transformed from black soil into a carpet of green leaves, it is difficult to find the plants I had seeded among the thick mat of weeds. The battle has begun in earnest, for any weeds left to grow will soon overshadow the garden and sap all the moisture away from the plants that were seeded.

Last year, I tried a herbicide which, though partially successful in controlling the weeds, still allowed others to grow, squeezing out the other plants in the garden.

The battle has been engaged each spring for several years. As spring turned into summer, and summer into fall, victory over the weeds appeared progressively further away. This has often reminded me of my own heart.

Within I find two men: that old man with which I was born and the new man which I became through the work of my Lord Jesus Christ. That new man delights in the Saviour and seeks to do His will. Yet the Apostle Paul wrote that “the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin” (Rom. 7:19, 22-25).

Every effort I made to conquer the weeds ended in failure, even as every effort I have made in my life to conquer the old man has led me to exclaim: “O wretched man that I am!” But victory can be gained through Jesus Christ alone.

The old man will remain in this life a constant reminder of my weakness. But “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). I can reckon the old man to be in the place of death, and live in the new life by the power and faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.

In Ephesians Paul exhorts believers to put off the old man “which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts” (Eph. 4:22). This reminds me of a very filthy pair of coveralls that I have worn to clean out the barn. It is a relief to leave those coveralls behind in the barn. I am to be renewed in the spirit of my mind and to “put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:24). The Lord would have me to put off the corrupt garment and put on a clean garment which is not tainted with the smell of the old man’s corruption. While in this life the old man remains within me, but I can, in the power of a risen Christ, remove the actions of the old man from my life and allow the new man’s actions to be evident.

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not” (Rom. 7:18). In the flesh I am as powerless to overcome the old man as I have been unable to conquer the weeds in my garden. All my efforts have been in vain. Nevertheless, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:13). “Whereunto I also labor, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily” (Col. 1:29).

This is the story of the battle of the weeds. While I remain in this life, the battle will continue. The final outcome has already been determined at the cross. Nevertheless I must continue daily to pull weeds. I would encourage you to use diligence in weeding the garden of your life. And while you weed, keep in mind for whose glory and in whose strength you are weeding.

“Today pull up the little weeds,

The sinful thoughts subdue,

Or they will take the reins themselves,

And someday master you.”

K. Heslop

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (a)

The first letter of each of the following responses will form the word of that which is glorious as revealed by a shining light. [1] The number in brackets indicates the number of words in each answer.

1. Light is said to be sown for the righteous. What is sown for the upright in heart? [1]

2. What were the children of Israel commanded to bring to Moses that was both pure and beaten for light in their lamps? [2]

3. The entrance of the Word of the Lord gives light. To whom does it give understanding? [1]

4. What was the strange place for a light to shine for the benefit of a bewildered apostle? [1]

5. What must be single in order that there be fullness of light? [1]

6. In a Father’s counsel to his son, he said that the law is light. What is the end of the way of those giving heed to reproofs of instruction? [1]

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (b)

The first letter of each of the following responses will form the words which define the ultimate labor commitment which can be attained when patience is in evidence. [2] The number in brackets indicates the number of words in each answer.

1. Something farmers wait for with long patience until the time of rain. [2]

2. The middle link of patience and hope. [1]

3. That which the Christian pathway is likened to, in which we are encouraged to run with patience. [1]

4. That which an early church had not done when they had borne with patience and labored. [1]

5. That which an early church was able to do in the face of persecutions and tribulations with patience and faith. [1]

6. Another attribute of God, besides patience, which we are encouraged to display one to another. [1]

7. Something Christians can glory in, knowing that it works patience. [1]

8. What was one of the signs of an apostle that was displayed in Corinth? [1]

9. A form of address to a young man in the faith, encouraging him to follow after righteousness and patience, among other things. [4]

10. The natural consequence for those who have done the will of God, albeit with a felt need of patience. [3]

11. The beginning link of temperance and patience. [1]

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (c)

The first letter of each of the following responses will form the word, somewhat unexpected, that may be associated with darkness. [1] The number in brackets indicates the number of words in each answer.

1. The unusual duration of darkness when a hand was stretched toward heaven. [2]

2. Those with whom Christians must sometimes wrestle, who control the darkness of this world. [4]

3. A description of the eye that causes the whole body to be full of darkness. [1]

4. Those spiritual beings who were delivered into chains of darkness because they had sinned. [1]

5. That which is to be turned into darkness before a very notable day. [1]

6. Which paths are abandoned when we walk in the ways of darkness? [1]

7. What kind of priesthood do believers comprise who have been called out of darkness? [1]

8. When the hidden things of darkness are brought to light, who will have praise of God? [2]

9. One of the words used to describe the things revealed to a captive prophet by the God who knows what is in the darkness. [1]

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (d)

The first letter of each of the following responses will form the word used by a prophet to indicate the source of living waters which had been forsaken when Israel rejected the Lord. [1]

1. Descriptive words concerning those who fall into the hand of the living God. [2]

2. Something quite incompatible for Christians (who are dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world) to be in subjection to, even though living in the world. [1]

3. Something in which those who have wealth in this world might ill-advisedly trust, rather than the living God. [2]

4. The stated relationship of someone displaying kindness to the living and dead, as discerned by a mother-in-law. [2]

5. A twofold response demanded by a king, which his subjects were constrained to follow, after the living God had sent His angel on a shutdown mission. [3]

6. The unique place of refuge for one man’s family and their companions when all other living substance was destroyed. [1]

7. What are in total disagreement with those who form the temple of the living God. [1]

8. The place where the breath of life was administered, when the first living soul was formed. [1]

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (e)

The first letter of each of the following responses will form the words spoken to a young king of Judah by a college resident concerning the king’s submission before the Lord. [1] The number in brackets indicates the number of words in each answer.

1. After making a covenant before the Lord, two men separated, one remaining in the wood, the other going to his __________________. [1]

2. Something a man confessed, before the Lord, that he thought ill fitted him to speak to a king. [2]

3. Something put in a pot that was to be laid up before the Lord for the benefit of future generations. [1]

4. Where a prophecy concerning a coming kingdom was written and the testimony established before the Lord. [1]

5. Something cast before the Lord to determine a place of dwelling in a new environment. [1]

6. One of the forces of nature that a discouraged prophet witnessed before the Lord as he stood upon a mountain. [1]

7. Something strong, which a woman of sorrowful spirit, who poured out her soul before the Lord, denied having imbibed. [1]

8. Something a good king of Judah wrought before the Lord, in addition to that which was good and right. [1]

9. When Hezekiah, faced by a formidable foe, prayed before the Lord, he acknowledged that God alone was the maker of _____________. [3]

10. Those responsible for perpetuating a very great sin before the Lord, causing many to abhor the offering of the Lord. [2]

11. The name given to the animal presented alive before the Lord, destined to wander in the wilderness to make atonement. [1]

12. A vestment worn by the high priest before the Lord containing twelve names. [1]

13. A prophetic expression found in the Psalms for Israel, who will walk before the Lord in that which is opposite to death’s domain. [4]

14. Something strange offered before the Lord, resulting in a deadly consequence. [1]

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (f)

The first letter of each of the following responses will form the words used by an apostle to describe what accompanied his preaching and teaching of every man. [1] The number in brackets indicates the number of words in each answer.

1. A surprising rate of pay for every man, hired at the eleventh hour. [2]

2. What every man took on the tenth day of a certain month while the congregation of Israel was still in Egypt. [1]

3. What every man is in the sight of God, who alone is true. [1]

4. Something a man, taking a far journey, might command his porter to do, which was different than the work given to every (other) man in his employ. [1]

5. Something, made of gold, before which every man in an ancient kingdom was commanded to fall down and worship. [1]

6. Something every man, under Joshua’s special command, was told to carry on his shoulder as they entered the Jordan River. [1]

7. Something Jesus tasted for every man. [1]

8. What was the least talent allocation by a man who considered the several abilities of every man in his employ? [1]

9. Something beside grain that was found in the sacks of every man, striking fear in the ten men that beheld it. [1]

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (g)

The first letter of each of the following responses will form the words which are a counterpart to the gospel of Christ, knowing that it leads Jews and Greeks to salvation. [3] The number in brackets indicates the number of words in each answer.

1. In what way does one, whose feet are seen as beautiful, make known the good tidings of the gospel? He ______________ salvation. [1]

2. Eternal salvation is assured to all that _______________ its perfect author. [1]

3. Even those young in years can be made _______________ unto salvation by knowing that which is holy. [1]

4. A prophecy yet to be fulfilled: Israel shall not be ashamed or puzzled when the Lord will save them with an _______________ salvation. [1]

5. An invitation to make a salutary noise to the _______________ of our salvation. [1]

6. An appointment, quite the opposite of receiving wrath, but rather to _______________ salvation. [1]

7. A vast company of perplexed people, about to see the salvation of the Lord by simply remaining immobile, were encouraged with these words: “ _______________.” [3]

8. A king’s son, in recounting his friend’s victory over a mighty foe, said he wrought a _______________ salvation for the whole country. [1]

9. Sad to say, some people worship in total ignorance, but salvation is by the One who was _______________. [3]

10. The way Old Testament prophets searched, when they testified of coming salvation and grace. [1]

Answers to these questions will be found in the next issue of Christian Shepherd.

R. Erisman

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (h)

The first letter of each of the following responses will form the word that tells what is conceived by a nation (or individuals) that trust in vanity and speak lies. [1] The number in brackets indicates the number of words in each answer.

1. The stated purpose of Nehemiah’s two adversaries in inviting him to a place called One. [2]

2. Something wicked which is devised by the human heart that forms one of seven hateful things in the Lord’s sight. [1]

3. A father’s concern for the safety of his youngest son caused him to consider his own demise in terms of his gray hairs going down with ________________. [4]

4. The time frame for the endurance of God’s goodness. A reminder for all, but here the mighty man is addressed. The goodness of God endures ________________. [1]

5. Something right, which is really wrong when full of bribes. [1]

6. A sad confession by Ahab, king of Israel, to a heathen king who wanted to usurp Ahab’s family, his silver and his gold. [4]

7. The term applied to one who became a child of the devil by perverting the right ways of the Lord. [4]

8. Those who let their imaginations defame a man might well be likened to something rendered useless, when in a tottering state. [1]

Answers to these questions will be found in the next issue of Christian Shepherd.

R. Erisman

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (i)

The first letter of each of the following responses will form the word which defines something that a Christian is naturally expected to put on as those who are the elect of God.

1. That which was written and put on the center cross, thus identifying the One that was there crucified. [4]

2. That which mortality shall surely put on, signifying a final victory over death. [1]

3. Something Christians are exhorted to put on, thereby declaring the true holiness of God. [2]

4. The wily foe of all Christians who can be withstood when they put on the whole armor of God. [1]

5. Something far spent which should be a signal to cast off dark things and put on that which has quite the opposite character. [1]

6. That which must be done to sustain life, yet a true disciple takes no thought in this regard nor for the clothes he may put on, knowing his Lord will supply all his need. [1]

7. The recipient of the best robe that was put on him, in a gospel parable, also received something for his feet. [1]

8. That which a man, making a loud and bitter cry, put on, even though his cousin was queen of a vast domain. [3]

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (j)

The first letter of each of the following responses will form the word describing the very great reaction in the hearts of the participating congregation to the resumption of a long-neglected ceremony. [1] The number in brackets indicates the number of words in each answer.

1. Something very great sustained by a man, which was readily discerned by his three visitors. [1]

2. Something three early morning visitors anxiously did as they approached a very great barrier to their anticipated mission. [1]

3. The man whose grave, in a forest, was marked with a very great heap of stones. [1]

4. Something, in addition to sweet odors, that filled a funeral bed for a king while a very great burning was made for him. [4]

5. A discordant word in an evil report drawing attention to the very great fortified cities in an otherwise fruitful land. [1]

6. The land where a foreigner was born, yet who became very great in the sight of the people. [1]

7. Something precious that a visitor coming to Jerusalem in a very great train, was bearing. [1]

8. Something provided for a distressed king by a very aged man, for he was a very great man. [1]

Answers to these questions will be found in the next issue of Christian Shepherd.

R. Erisman

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (k)

The first letter of each of the following responses will form the word which identifies the failure on our part for which someone was delivered but who also was raised for our justification. [1] The number in brackets indicates the number of words in each answer.

1. A command to certain servants, in a parable, after a nobleman delivered to them a certain sum. [4]

2. The number of soldiers to whom a prisoner had been delivered at “Easter” time. [2]

3. The manner of giving that is worthy of the One who delivered His Son to death for us. [1]

4. The expected manner of contending rightly for that which was once delivered unto the saints. [1]

5. The manner of servitude expected from those who have been delivered from the law. [3]

6. That which Pilate was willing to do when he delivered Jesus to be crucified. [3]

7. The sphere of activity (besides heaven itself) where God, who once delivered Daniel, now works His signs and wonders. [1]

8. Those who shall be delivered (from punishment) just as surely as the wicked shall not be unpunished. [4]

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (l)

The first letter of each of the following responses will form the word which describes the substance of the vision that some Old Testament saints saw at a distance and even embraced, yet received them not in their lifetime.

1. The actual wages received by both the one-hour and the twelve-hour laborers as told in a parable. [1]

2. The manner in which those who searched the Scriptures daily received the Word. [3]

3. To what did the Apostle Paul liken the gift received from Philippi at the hand of a fellow soldier? [5]

4. That which all believers have received enabling us to say, “We faint not.” [1]

5. The place where a jailor thrust two men after he had received the charge to keep them safely. [2]

6. Something received at a fellowship table which precipitated an immediate departure into the darkness of night. [1]

7. The place where a slothful servant hid the talent that he had received from his lord. [1]

8. In what capacity are those who have received the gift (salvation) expected to minister to others in a goodly way? [1]

Answers to these questions will be found in the next issue of Christian Shepherd.

R. Erisman

The Character of Prayer

The more simply we act on divine precepts and exhortations, the better, for they are the fruit of absolute divine wisdom, which knows divine perfectness and human wants, met in Christ too; but I would say a few words on the real character of prayer.

The answer to prayer seems to me the going forth in divine actions in power what has flowed forth from divine wisdom, forming desire and wants in the soul. This connects itself with love, dwelling in love, and hence connects itself with confidence which faith expresses. Hence, if it be a mere lust, or to consume it on lust, it is not answered (James 4:3), or is answered in chastisement is a Kibroth-hattaavah (graves of lust); if it be in the Spirit, and the prayer of faith, it is answered according to the request. Thus also it is connected with the moral state of the soul the entering, first in the nature of the thing desired, and then spiritual acquaintance with God’s will, into the thoughts of God, and what His love would have and cause us, as moved by that love, to desire. Christ, perfect in this, could say, “I knew that Thou hearest Me always,” save in atonement, where yet, in result, He was yet more gloriously heard.

We are often mixed in our thoughts there are things that press on us as human beings down here, and we cast ourselves on love, and are sure to be met in love, though the answer may be other than we might seek; but God meets the moral intent of the prayer what His Spirit has produced though the positive request, in which wisdom failed, may not be accomplished in itself. But what moves down to us is always what has moved up to God, as wrought in us by the wisdom of God, and the confidence wrought in us by dwelling in love; hence, our prayers should flow, and do where real, from what is immediately drawn from Christ being in the heart by faith identity of interest with Him (through grace) in the secret of the Lord with us. But there may be the sense, thorough spiritual apprehension of the holy goodness of God, of need according to it, and desire of heart towards it, and yet not intelligence of the divine way of meeting the need; this is the case in Romans 8, but He who searches the heart knows the phronema [Greek: “mind-thoughts and purposes”] of the Spirit, for He intercedes for the saints according to God.

Grace comes down, and works through the circumstances, though there may be even no remedy for the circumstances, but there is a want, a desire according to God the Holy Spirit is there.

Then, too, all things work together for good to them who love Him; faith realizes God’s intention—hence, in the knowledge of His will, knows that it has the petitions and this reliance on the ear and arm of God is ever met. Grace comes down, and takes up its place in Christ, and in faith through Him, in the wants of men and saints down here, and in Christ, according to the wisdom and mind of God, producing perfect confidence in His love, and in the activity of that love; and so in Christ too, as Lord in its place, He was perfection in this down here we, according to the measure in which we enter into His mind.

But the great general principle is that what came down into our wants in wisdom goes up and is answered in power; but this coming down is in grace in Christ, so that it is immediately connected with divine love, and the confidence of faith expresses this. The great secret is to be with God. If God trusts His mind with one, and thus he is a prophet, then the action follows God does not let His words fall to the ground; and to this there is analogy or approach, when we walk wholly with God, though there be no official function, and, in the case of the prophets, what was announced authoritatively was at any rate sometimes, always in spirit habitually, prayed for, as James teaches us in Elijah for the famine, so authoritatively announced in history. And so the Lord Himself, in the case of Lazarus. But what a place this gives to prayer dependent conversing with God in grace, as admitted into His interests, though encouraged to bring every want in childlike, perfect confidence in Him, because He has taken up all our interests into His own love.

Divine wisdom, acting in the midst of this world, in love, looks for the exercise of divine power. It is not simply divine wisdom, but as Christ Himself, divine wisdom exercising itself in the midst of evil; then, as we have seen, dependence is wrought out in it, and confidence where the divine will is known with certainty of answer. Divine power at our disposal, and when not, when it is the expression of a want with submission to that will and confidence in divine love which gives peace. “If we ask anything according to His will,” and, “Let your requests be made known... and the peace of God... shall keep your hearts.”

J. N. Darby (from Notes & Comments, Vol. 1)

The Childhood of Jesus

Luke 2:39. When all was done according to the law, “they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.” Jesus would not be the Christ we need if He had taken any glory from Jerusalem. His place is among the poor of the flock, His place all through in Israel.

Luke 2:40. “And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon Him.” Luke gives us more of the reality of His childhood than the other gospels. He was not made man full-formed as Adam. If one only reads the account without comment, how the soul feels it unspeakably precious! When we see who it was, we see human nature in Him filled with God. It is not official distinction, but the heart feels God brought nigh. The blessedness of the child’s intrinsic loveliness fills the heart. Deeply instructive, too, is the incident recorded in connection with the Passover when He was 12 years old. His true character comes out, though He was not yet to act upon it. He came to be a Nazarene to be about His Father’s business. This is here stated distinctly before He enters upon His public ministry, that it might be seen to be connected with His person and not to depend merely upon His office. He was the Pastor of the flock in spirit and character. It belonged to Him. He was the Son of the Father, though abiding God’s time for showing it.

Luke 2:51. Nevertheless, “He went down with them... and was subject unto them.” What a majesty in His whole life. His being God secured His perfection as a child and man here below. He had ever the blessed consciousness of His relationship to His Father, an obedient child, but conscious also of a glory unconnected in itself with subjection to human parentage. He belonged to Mary and even Joseph; in another sense He was not theirs. His divine Sonship was as well-known to Him as His obedience to His parents was in due season absolutely right.

Luke 2:52. “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” His human intelligence being developed, He, though ever perfect, became so in a fuller way; the perfect child grows into the perfect man. The lovely plant grew up and unfolded before God and man.

J. N. Darby (Notes on the Gospel of Luke)

Children of the Highest

We are called “children of the Highest.” That title of the Lord, “the Highest,” speaks especially of what God is as made known in grace. He is so high that He is far above the unthankfulness and wickedness of man. He is good to the unthankful in spite of what we are. There can be no greater or more wondrous proposal than that we should come out as giving expression to God’s character in the presence of the evil that is here. God will bring out His children in glory very soon, and they will be all like Him then (Rom. 8:19), but He would have them to be manifested morally as acting like Him even now when things are so contrary.

Perhaps we do not really appreciate grace beyond the measure in which we express it. We all need to grow in it. Salt is the principle of faithfulness, which is applied practically in all the details of life so that no corrupting element is allowed to work. Ezra 7:22 speaks of “salt without prescribing how much.”

From a personal letter

Choose the Path

I would like to make a remark or two to young people concerning these lines of a well-known hymn, “Choose the path, the way whatever seems to Thee, O Lord, the best.”

I suppose there is not a time in all life’s history when we are more apt to take the reins in our own hands and try to plan our lives for ourselves than when we are young. In love to your souls, dear young people, I speak as one who has often chosen my own way I do not say a wicked way. But how many things there are in life where we have to make a choice! I find today that young people are apt to think that they know all the answers. The thought of really committing their path unto the Lord and seeking the Lord’s direction is seldom entertained.

A relative, now with the Lord, moved to a city years ago for personal advantage. He got ahead, but he got into the world in his job. At one time he said to another, “I am very deeply involved in the world, and I wish I could get out, but I don’t know how.” Shortly thereafter the Lord took him home to Himself. He got out, but not the way he thought. Dear young people, seek the Lord’s direction in every move of your life!

I want to turn to the book of Deuteronomy. Remember that God, in speaking to the children of Israel, chose to direct everything for them. They did not have a choice as to the type of garment they wore the garment could not be composed of woolen and linen. They could not sow their fields with just any kind of seed. Why? Deuteronomy 7:6 tells us: “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.” God chose for them because He chose them!

Then He says in verse 7: “The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: but because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” God had chosen them! Remember, dear brethren, it is not a matter of your choosing the Lord. He chose you! He set His love upon you! If He chose you, what a treasure then you must be for Him!

Now, if He has done all that, should we not be willing to let Him choose for us? I once heard a young Christian say, “I cannot bother the Lord with the little things.” The Lord is interested in all the problems of your life the little as well as the big. You can come to Him and seek His guidance in every one of them.

P. Wilson (Sierra Madre, 1964)

The Christian and Politics

The question of Christians taking part in political elections is, in view of the vast moral breakdown of our North American lands, being greatly encouraged today. Believers are pressured into using the political system, through voting, in order to change or repeal laws which sanction horrible acts of immorality rampant in these professing Christian lands.

Still, the question of whether a believer should vote can only rightly be answered by seeking light from the Word of God. Man’s thoughts about such issues, no matter how moral, upright and desirous of good he may be, are of no value unless he has submitted to the mind of God. “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5).

First then, we need to see how God views the believer in relation to the systems of this world (political and moral): systems established by man when he went out from the presence of God (Gen. 4:16-17). We see from John 14:30 that Satan at the present time is the “prince of this world,” and in 2 Corinthians 4:4 he is called “the god of this world.” That is, he is the “prince of this world” politically and the “god of this world” religiously. This is why the Word of God speaks of the world as lying “in [the lap of] the wicked one” (1 John 5:19 JND).

The Lord Jesus tells us in John 17:16 that we “are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” This is further shown in 1 John 4:17: “As He is, so are we in this world.” He, crucified and cast out of this world, does not claim at this time His rightful place as “King of kings and Lord of lords.” For this reason believers are called “strangers and pilgrims” (1 Peter 2:11). Strangers and pilgrims have no rights in the country through which they are passing; they cannot become involved in its politics or government. Those of us who have come to North America as immigrants from other lands have experienced the reality of this very thing as an immigrant to the United States from Germany, I had no political rights in this country.

We learn from Philippians 3:20 that “our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven,” and in Hebrews 3:1 we are addressed as “holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.” Christians have “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). We learn from Ephesians 1:3 that God our Father has “blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” And in 1 Corinthians 15:48-49 we learn that in resurrection we shall bear the image of the Heavenly One, the Last Adam Christ, with whom we are identified. Thus we too are heavenly ones. It is plain from these scriptures that we are passing through a world to which we do not belong and to which we have nothing to say as to its politics and government.

In Romans 13:1 we read that “there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.” This means that President Clinton has been given his power and authority from God, not from the people that voted for him. If a Christian voted against Mr. Clinton, his vote was cast against the man of God’s choice. Even such incredibly wicked men as Hitler and Stalin received their power from God. Though we do not always understand God’s ways in allowing such wicked men to rule, we must bow to His sovereign will in all things. We learn from Daniel 4:17 that God “ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will, and He setteth up over it the basest of men [the lowest kind].” We should be thankful if God allows good men in power, but this is not always the case. Perhaps the lack of the fear of God is the reason wicked men rule.

God gives no instructions in His Word about voting for the man we may think best to govern. If we do vote for the man we feel is the best, we have morally become judges of this world, leaving our proper position as strangers and pilgrims. It is sad to see how often both individually and collectively Christians follow their own thoughts, as though they were wiser than God.

We would hasten to say that the desire to have a righteous and good government is a good desire. But only the Lord Jesus will be able to introduce such a government when He comes to reign. Then it will be that the “scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom” (Heb. 1:8). The reason that even the very best of men cannot straighten out the mess that the world is in is because, presently, it is Satan’s world. The time is soon coming when the Lord Jesus will sit on the throne in Jerusalem as King of kings and Lord of lords (Hag. 2:7). When this wonderful time takes place, then all that men are trying to do today through politics will take place through the glorious reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.

For now, the believer is to “pray” rather than vote. “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour” (1 Tim. 2:13).

The Apostle Peter also gives us most remarkable instruction: “Fear God. Honor the king” (1 Peter 2:17). Nero, who was ruling during the time when Peter wrote this, was a very wicked king. Yet Peter instructs believers to honor him, not because of what he was morally, but because of the God-given position he occupied. How important that we who are citizens of heaven obey the Word of God by praying for and honoring the leaders that He has ordained, rather than using man’s political process to set aside those we are not happy with.

H. Brinkmann

Christian Truth

The object of these outlines is to bring before the reader truth that is fast being let slip.

Introduction

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

By it we are born again (1 Peter 1:23).

By it our souls are fed and we grow thereby (1 Peter 2:2).

By it we are able to discern good and evil (1 John 4:6).

It is the standard by which all teaching must be judged. “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17).

Sin? What Is It?

Sin is lawlessness. This is the correct translation of 1 John 3:4.

Man’s proper place is subjection to the will of God, so sin is the act of an independent will.

“Whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:23). That is, faith brings us into the presence of God and we walk consciously there.

“The thought of foolishness is sin” (Prov. 24:9). That is, our thoughts tell what we are in nature (Mark 7:21).

“All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). That is a summing up of all that the Apostle had been saying previously. Sin is measured by the true nature of God, and that is why it says that all have “come short of the glory of God.”

“To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17). That is the active principle of obedience in the new man. To obey it not is to give place to the old man (Eph. 4:22).

The Word of God speaks of “sin” the nature we have as children of Adam (Psa. 51:5). The fruit is the result. In Romans 6-8, we have deliverance from its power through the Spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus through faith.

Peace

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).

The last verse of Romans 4 would show us that this is faith in what God has done in delivering Christ for our offenses and raising Him for our justification.

Ephesians 2:14 tells us, “He is our peace.” Colossians 1:20 tells us that He has made peace through the blood of His cross.

It is the fruit of simply believing that God has provided in Christ a perfect atonement for sin. The work was done at the cross, and His resurrection is the witness of God’s acceptance of the work His own Son has completed.

H. E. Hayhoe (Present Truth for Christians)

The Christian's Cupbearer

“And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king” (Neh. 2:1).

Faith is to the Christian as Nehemiah was to Artaxerxes. It is the believer’s cupbearer. The Christian receives the cup of “wine” out of faith’s hand, realizing that it is in Christ alone we find our joy. Christ’s blood is the wine that gladdens the heart of God by way of satisfaction to His justice, and, therefore, only that can bring true gladness into the heart of man. No grape of our own vine may be pressed into this sweet cup.

Now the Christian’s joy is flowing in from Christ, not from anything that the poor creature does or has. Hence it comes to pass that faith brings in the Christian’s joy and comfort, because this is the grace that realizes Christ and what is Christ’s for the soul’s advantage. Faith is the good spy that makes the discovery of excellencies in Christ and then makes report to the soul of all it sees in Him and knows of Him. It is faith that reveals the promises, turns the faucet on and sets them running into the soul. Till faith comes and brings news of the soul’s welcome, oh how uncomfortably do poor creatures sit at the table of His promises! Like Hannah, they weep and do not eat. No, alas! they dare not be so bold, but when faith comes, then the soul gets to eating, and makes a satisfying meal indeed. No dish on the table but that faith will taste of it. Faith knows that God does not provide them in order that they remain untouched. Faith is humble, yet bold, because it knows God and knows it is welcome. “I live by the faith of the Son of God.”

There are three things which faith does: It purifies the heart (Acts 15:9); it works by love (Gal. 5:6); it overcomes the world (1 John 5:4). It acts on the fountainhead of all my feelings and affections. It exerts its hallowed influence upon all my relationships and associations. And, finally, it renders me victorious over the circumstances and influences which surround me.

Things New and Old, Vol. 4

Come Hither

“Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he... showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God” (Rev. 21:9-10).

How does the “New Jerusalem” descend out of heaven? Does it come down to the earth? No, we find the nations walking in the light of it. When the Lord descends from heaven with a shout, He is not coming down to this earth. When He comes with that shout it is to call His people up to meet Him in the air. So, you see that “descending” does not mean that it comes down and settles on this earth. It goes just far enough to light up this world with the glory that we will be associated with in company with our bridegroom. What a lovely expression “the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” I love the thought of the Lamb’s wife. It could have said the “King’s wife” or the “wife of the Lord of glory.” So there is a special word to bring joy to our hearts when we think of the Lamb, because that very expression tells us of how we who know the Saviour are someday going to be united to Him in His victim character the Lamb that was slain in His love for us.

A. M. Barry (from an address)

The Disappointments of Life

The disappointments of life are in reality only the decrees of love. I have a message for thee today, My child. I will whisper it softly in thine ear, in order that the storm clouds which appear may be gilt with glory and that the thorns on which thou mayest have to walk be blunted. The message is short a tiny sentence but allow it to sink into the depths of thine heart, that it may be to thee a cushion on which to rest thy weary head: “This thing is from Me” (1 Kings 12:24).

Hast thou never thought that all which concerns thee concerns Me also? He that toucheth thee toucheth the apple of Mine eye (Zech. 2:8). Thou hast been precious in Mine eyes that is why I take a special interest in thine upbringing. When temptation assails thee and the enemy comes in like a flood, I would wish thee to know that “this thing is from Me.” I am the God of circumstances. Thou hast not been placed where thou art by chance, but because it is the place I have chosen for thee. Didst thou not ask to become humble? Behold, I have placed thee in the very place where this lesson is to be learned. It is by thy surroundings and thy companions that the workings of My will are to come about.

Hast thou money difficulties? Is it hard to keep within thine income? “This thing is from Me.” I am He that possesses all things. I wish thee to draw everything from Me and depend entirely upon Me. My riches are infinite, without limit (Phil. 4:19). Put My promise to the proof, so that it may not be said of thee, “Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God” (Deut. 1:32).

Art thou passing through a night of affliction? “This thing is from Me.” I am the “Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isa. 53:3). I have left thee without human support that turning to Me thou mightest obtain eternal comfort (2 Thess. 2:16-17).

Has some friend disappointed thee? One to whom thou hadst opened thine heart? “This thing is from Me.” I have allowed this disappointment that thou mightest learn that the best friend is Jesus. He preserves us from falling and fights for us in our combats. Yea, the best friend is Jesus. I long to be thy confidant.

Has someone said false things of thee? Leave that and come closer to Me, under My wings, away from the place of wordy dispute, for I will “bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday” (Psa. 37:6).

Have thy plans been all upset? Art thou crushed and weary? “This thing is from Me.” Hast thou made plans and then, coming, asked Me to bless them? I wish to make thy plans for thee. I will take the responsibility, for it is too heavy for thee; thou couldest not perform it alone (Ex. 18:18). Thou art but an instrument and not an agent.

Hast thou desired fervently to do some great work for Me? Instead of that thou hast been laid on a bed of sickness and suffering. “This thing is from Me.” I was unable to attract thy attention whilst thou wast so active. I wish to teach thee some of My deep lessons. It is only those who have learned to wait patiently who can serve Me. My greatest workers are sometimes those who are laid aside from active service in order that they may learn to wield the weapon of prayer.

Art thou suddenly called to occupy a difficult position full of responsibilities? Go forward, counting on Me. I am giving thee the position full of difficulties for the reason that “Jehovah thy God will bless thee” in all thy works, and in all the business of thy hands (Deut. 15:18 JND). This day I place in thy hand a pot of holy oil. Draw from it freely, My child, that all the circumstances arising along the pathway, each word that gives thee pain, each interruption trying to the patience, each manifestation of thy feebleness may be anointed with this oil. Remember that interruptions are divine instructions. The sting will go in the measure in which thou seest Me in all things. Therefore set your heart unto all the works that I testify among you this day, for it is your life (Deut. 32:46-47).

Found in J. N. Darby’s Bible

Divine and Human Sympathy

“For he [Epaphroditus] longed after you all” gives us in a way the atmosphere in which we find ourselves in the Epistle to the Philippians. Hearing that he was sick caused the anxious desire and longing from the human side. It is the affections drawn out the affections of the divine nature in operation.

“For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.”

Why did not the Apostle rejoice [that he was sick nigh unto death]? Did God have mercy on Epaphroditus in keeping him out of heaven? In the previous part of the epistle, Paul said, “To depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.” God intends that these circumstances should produce certain results and certain exercises. Why did God allow that this dear servant almost lose his life in service? It may have been in order to exercise the affections of the Philippians.

Some say that no tears should be shed at a funeral. The Lord Jesus shed tears. It is out of balance. There is a lack of mingling divine and human sympathy with the people of God, but the two go together. When we were born again, we did not cease to be human and suppose that there was no old nature within. We ought to be human; nature has its proper affections and proper relationships.

Sometimes people say they are dead to nature. Have you a wife and children? Then you are not dead to nature. It is a muddling up of things. Scripture does not speak of being dead to nature. One gets stirred when hearing that this is considered the height of spirituality in the judgment of some. It is no such thing. “God had mercy... on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.”

There is a lack of entering into the actual circumstances of the saints. Some think it is spiritual to say, “All things work together for good,” but it is easy to say that when it is someone else passing through trial.

God allowed this devoted servant, devoted man, Epaphroditus, brother and companion in labor and fellow soldier, to be so exhausted with that journey that he was nigh unto death. This had divinely intended results both with the Apostle and the Philippians.

“Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labor, and fellow soldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants” (Phil. 2:25).

This verse gives us the relationships: first, “brother,” then “companion,” which is the next best thing. Companionship is what the human heart values and cannot get along without. It is not good for man that he should be alone, and the heart that does not value human companionship in its proper place has something wrong with it. My “companion in labor,” servant, fellow soldier in conflict, “and he that ministered to my wants”: We get the Lord giving His aged, imprisoned servant cups of cold water to cheer him.

W. Potter (from Gathering Up the Fragments)

Editorial: An Inheritance for Children

“Then cometh He to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there.... The woman saith unto Him,... Art Thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?” (John 4:5-6, 11-12).

We frequently connect Jacob in our thoughts with the results of failure and lack of faith in a believer’s life; all too often he is a true though humbling picture of ourselves. However, the above passage, while providing wonderful encouragement for each believer, contains special comfort for fathers who at times, disheartened by their failures and lack of faith, may be tempted to give up the great responsibility they have for the spiritual nurturing of their families. Jacob’s actions, founded on his faith, shine out here with a morally-bright luster, and they are full of instructive encouragement.

In spite of all his faithless scheming, Jacob provided for his beloved son that which had sustained him in his own path of faith. He gave Joseph a parcel of ground which he had purchased in order to preserve his family in separation from the worldly influences of his brother Esau (Gen. 33:12-20). “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children” (Prov. 13:22). But separation, in itself a vital thing, could not sustain Jacob or his family if that parcel of ground contained no well of water (“fountain,” JND). If, however, the well was to be of value to Jacob’s family as a source of refreshment, it must first serve as a refreshment to him. The Samaritan woman may have wrongly claimed title to this well “our father Jacob, which gave us the well.” But she is morally right in giving testimony that the well was provided by the heart of a father, and that father drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle. Oh that we who are fathers may desire to provide for our beloved children and our “cattle” a well of living water for their preservation and nourishment!

The moral order mentioned in our verse is beautiful: he drinks, then his children drink, and then his affairs are sustained. It must be so with fathers today who seek to give spiritual refreshment to their families. Seeking to sustain the family and ordering the natural affairs of life (the cattle) according to spiritual principles will carry little moral power if fathers are not drinking from the well first for themselves.

What is that well from which Jacob drank and from which we should draw our refreshment? It is Christ. This is beautifully shown when the blessed Lord Jesus, the true well of living water, identified Himself with Jacob’s well by sitting “thus on the well” (John 4:6). He is the wonderful “fountain” that Jacob enjoyed by faith and which, by faith, he passed on for the blessing of his children’s children. May each one who bears the blessed and solemn responsibility of being a father (in the family or the assembly) drink deeply at that Well in order to nourish themselves and those for whom they are responsible.

“If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink” (John 7:37).

Ed.

Editorial: Christianity or Candy?

“Living like a Christian feels like I’m in a candy store and all the candy is behind the glass case fully available to everyone but me.” We should not think that this painfully honest observation, submitted for discussion at a recent young people’s meeting, is a description only of the feelings which young believers have. The natural heart, which all believers have, is capable at all age levels of looking at and longing to taste what the world offers. The Word of God records for our instruction several accounts of those who were influenced in some way to taste the “candy” that was offered by the world. May we listen to the warnings these instances provide that we be preserved from such sad falls as they experienced.

Eve was influenced by her mind. Though only one thing was unavailable to her, Eve listened to a lie of Satan and was fooled into thinking that God was withholding something desirable from her. What God had forbidden to her mind seemed like “candy” something good. But faith never doubts that God wants the soul to be fully happy and that He has provided it with “all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” He has said “no good thing will He withhold”... let us believe it!

Lot was influenced by his eye. Abraham allowed him to choose first: the wilderness where he could walk with God as a pilgrim or the “well watered plains of Jordan” where his fellowship would be with the citizens of Sodom. Lot looked with nature’s eye and, seeing the “candy” that Sodom seemed to offer, was blinded to the abominations that existed there; “man looketh on the outward appearance.” Only the eye of faith discerns this world’s “candy” as abomination, though it be hidden under attractive wrapping. Nature’s “eye hath not seen... the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.”

Israel was influenced by its taste. Their hunger in the wilderness caused them to forget the bondage and sorrow that was part of Egypt’s “candy store.” They remembered the taste of Egypt’s food and forgot that God, who delivered them from an impossible situation in Egypt, was well able to sustain them in an impossible place in the desert. If believers acquire a taste for this world’s “candy,” the appetite for God’s good food will be quickly ruined, and we will miss “good things” which He has promised to the hungry.

Achan was influenced by his covetousness. He wasn’t deceived, as was Eve, when he stole the gold, silver and clothing he found in Jericho; Achan knew that taking them was sin. But what his eye saw in Jericho so captured his heart that he could not resist the temptation to take it. To faith, obedience to God is far more beautiful than the gorgeous “Babylonish” garment or the glitter of Jericho’s gold and silver. May we look away from this world’s “candy store” that our heart not be captured and we begin coveting that which God has forbidden to us. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.”

Samson was influenced by his lust. His life is a sad testimony to how far into the “candy store” the treacherous heart can lead a believer. First, Samson saw a woman he knew to be one of the enemies of God’s people. Though she was unsuitable he still wanted her (Judges 14:2). Later, he entered into a relationship with a woman he knew to be unfaithful (Judges 15), and finally he fell in love with a woman (Delilah) whose heart was unknown. This world’s “candy” can never provide lasting satisfaction and, if tasted, it will surely capture the heart and ruin the life of a believer. “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”

Demas was influenced by the present. Candy gives an immediate though temporary sense of pleasure. But as Demas served with the beloved Apostle, he had to taste trials, suffering and rejection instead of the pleasure and ease his heart craved. While faith is content to wait for that coming day of glory to taste God’s “pleasures forevermore,” Demas, loving the easy present, forsook Paul in order to enjoy the world’s “candy.” “If they had been mindful of that [country]... they might have had opportunity to have returned.”

Judas was influenced by unbelief. We shudder to think of the awful choice Judas made. For three years he walked in companionship with and observed the moral perfections of the blessed Lamb of God, and yet, because he had no living faith, he sold the eternal Son of God into the hands of wicked men for 30 pieces of silver. What vast divine treasures the unbelieving heart is willing to give up in order to obtain the worthless “candy” of this poor world! “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.”

Any of these influences might cause a believer, when out of communion with the Father, to feel as though real pleasures can only be found in this life and are unavailable to them. But in closing we want to be encouraged by the example of Abraham who was offered by the world as much of its “candy” as his heart might desire, and yet without a moment’s hesitation he refused it all.

“And the king of Sodom went out to meet him [Abram] after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s dale. And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he [was] the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him.... And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take from a thread even to a shoe-latchet, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich” (Gen. 14:17-23).

Abram, like his nephew Lot, was given a choice. Two kings met him upon his return from the battle. One had something to give to Abram while the other had something he wanted to take from Abram. Melchizedek, a beautiful type of Christ, brings bread, wine and blessing. Is not this better than what the world’s “candy store” offers? Abram evidently so valued what the King of Salem gave that when the King of Sodom made his wicked offer it was turned aside without a moment’s hesitation. Of what interest to a fully satisfied and blessed soul were the vain, wicked riches that Sodom’s king offered?

Feeding, as Abram did, on the wonderful things that we have in Christ is the key to refusing the “candy” offered by the world. Remember too that Satan, the prince of this world, offers to give “candy” in order that he might take the souls. Abram refused even a shoe-latchet or a thread if they came from Sodom. This world’s thread can never keep the garment of faith secure and bound safely about the Christian while its shoe-latchet will never keep the shoe of separation bound on the foot of a believer.

May God help each one of His dear children to feed fully on the infinite provision He has made in our blessed Lord Jesus Christ that we, like Jacob when viewing Joseph’s provisions, may say: “It is enough.”

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).

Ed.

Editorial: Do You Belong?

A brother, speaking to Sunday school children, talked about how wonderful it is to “belong”: to belong to someone or to be able to say of something, “That belongs to me.” To illustrate his point, he asked the children if they could tell him anything that belonged to them. He received three wonderful answers.

The first, a boy, answered the question by saying that his “coat” belonged to him, while the second, a girl, said that her “Bible” belonged to her. It was, however, the answer that the third, a little boy sitting in the front row by his father, gave which specially touched our heart. When asked what he had that belonged to him, he said simply and eloquently, “My daddy.”

His confidence in and love for his father were obvious in this sweet and simple two-word response. It was very touching to be thus reminded of the value of a father who has won the confidence and trust of his little boy. It is a vital thing, much to be desired, that our beloved children see in their fathers a personal and precious “belonging”! Where this condition is so, in the home or in the assembly, there will be wonderful opportunity for the nourishing and preserving of our children, who are growing up in this morally dark world.

The account of the prodigal’s brother in Luke 15 suggests important principles which may be used, we believe, with great profit for fathers who desire that the same wonderful relationship which our little friend expressed might exist in their families.

First, then, we notice in Luke 15:25 that the “elder son was in the field.” Energetic and industrious as he may have been, he could not experience the joy of communion with the father’s heart in a place outside the father’s presence. In the field he was occupied with service and work; those in the presence of the father in the house were occupied with music and dancing.

We are reminded of Saul, whose father Kish sent him to seek the lost asses. After a time, Saul and his servant turned their steps towards his father’s house, “lest,” he says, “my father leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us.” May we fathers be careful (both in our families and in the assembly) that it is our children, not their service or abilities, which are important to us. It would be a sad home or assembly where the children’s value was measured by their abilities and service. Let us cultivate in our children a desire for that joy which fellowship provides!

The prodigal’s brother not only missed the joy of the father’s fellowship; he missed the father’s counsel and instruction. Thus it was left to a servant to explain the circumstances that were then taking place in the house (ch. 15:26). At the very beginning of the book of Proverbs the father pleads with his beloved son to “hear” his “instruction” (ch. 1:8). Let us be careful not to get these two things (fellowship and instruction) out of their moral order. The joy and communion of the father’s presence must come first if the father’s instruction is to have its greatest benefit.

Upon hearing the good news of his younger brother’s repentance and return, the elder brother displays an unforgiving spirit (ch. 15:28). Earlier, his service had denied him fellowship with his father; now his anger denies it. Let us who are fathers be first in displaying before our children the spirit of Ephesians 4:32: “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” If children do not see this spirit displayed in fathers, how can they be expected to display it in their own lives?

The reaction of the father to all this sad display is humbling and beautiful! The proud, haughty, elder son would not go in to the father, so in love and grace the father goes out to him. How beautiful and humble real, divine love is, and to what lengths it takes a father who is seeking the blessing of his beloved children! We know that each circumstance is different, and only personal communion with God can give the needed wisdom for fathers. But let us remind our hearts that love covers “a multitude of sins” and that the “father spirit” as seen in the beloved Apostle Paul would always “very gladly spend and be spent for you” (2 Cor. 12:15).

Even the self-righteous son’s disdain of the father’s forgiveness of his brother does not stop the flow of the father’s love (ch. 15:29-32). His sad, legal spirit only brings a gracious confirmation of that same father’s love for him: “Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.” What tender, loving and affectionate words! Grace triumphs over legality, even as it triumphed over sin when the repentant prodigal came home!

Then we see that the father’s love is tempered by his wisdom. He utters not one word of encouragement regarding the bad temper of his eldest son. Rather, his loving answer serves as a striking rebuke to that unforgiving spirit. Love does not need to use harshness when it heaps “coals of fire on his head.” The father’s joy and happiness at the return of the once morally dead younger brother may finally have touched a cord in the elder brother’s heart and conscience. The father was not “overcome of evil,” but overcame “evil with good.”

We hope, after all this, the elder son’s legal spirit was greatly subdued and his hard heart so melted that, in time, he too was able to say, “My father, his love and his house belong to me!”

Ed.

Editorial: Firm Faithfulness or Stubborn Pride?

The naturalist had climbed a long way up the mountain in his quest to gather information about mountain goats. Looking across a narrow gorge which dropped several hundred feet to the valley floor below, he quietly watched the male mountain goat as it carefully and gracefully picked its way along a ledge on the face of the sheer rock wall a path so narrow it was almost imperceptible to the naturalist’s view.

At that moment, a sight he had never encountered before startled him. Another male goat was moving down that same narrow, rocky ledge towards the first goat! The naturalist realized with a thrill that he was about to witness something that few others had ever seen a fight to the death between two fully matured, male mountain goats.

The two animals, each aware of the other, continued their steady advance until scant inches separated the huge horns on their heads. Then a most amazing thing happened. Without hesitation, one of the mountain goats lay down on the narrow trail allowing the other to walk over him. Then they both continued on their way, unharmed! Life a far stronger instinct than pride had obviously motivated this remarkable action.

How is it with us, beloved brethren? Can we say that our relationships with one another in the assembly, our marriages and our families are motivated by such a desire for the blessing of our loved ones that we would prefer to be walked on rather than be proven right?

What passes as an outward display of “faithfulness in standing for the truth” may be nothing more than a fleshly and proud desire to be identified among brethren as “one of the faithful.” Let each search his own heart to see if there is a following after the perfect example of our blessed Lord Jesus who willingly “humbled Himself,” going to the very lowest depths of the death of the cross in order that there might be blessing for all. (See Philippians 2.)

We heartily agree that walking in truth and holding the truth are both vital. But oh! what sorrow results from refusing to humble ourselves-waging, instead, a battle to prove how faithful we are. How many marriages and families suffer needless heartache and dissension—how many assemblies suffer needless confusion and discouragement because one refuses to give in or submit to another.

We are reminded of a political commentator who, during the height of the “cold war,” drew a cartoon which depicted the earth floating in space after a war had been fought between the two superpowers. A crescent-shaped void indicated that almost half the earth was missing. From this gaping hole, smoke was rising into space and some remaining pieces of the planet dropped into the space below. Two men—one representing the Soviet Union, and the other, the United States—were facing each other on opposite sides of what was left of their devastated world. The Russian was calling across the shattered chasm to the American: “Well, we sure settled that, didn’t we!”

The same result often happens in families and the assembly through our efforts to be “faithful.” It is all too easy to do battle rather than seek for peace. In Psalm 120, the writer lamented: “I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.” The only way to discern when it is truly “a time of war” or whether it is a “time of peace” is to walk in communion-fellowship with the Father.

True faithfulness to Christ does indeed earnestly contend for the truth in these dark days of spiritual apathy and coldness. But where are we told to earnestly contend for our rights? The battle in Ephesians 6 that believers are to engage in is not to be waged against other believers!

The wisdom needed to know when to stand and when to lay down when to battle and when to be walked on comes “from above” and is “pure, then peaceable, gentle” (James 3:17).

The priest (Heb. 5:2) was able to show compassion on those who were ignorant and wayward because “he himself also is compassed with infirmity.” Consciousness of our own great failures will guard against our knocking another believer off the path of faith.

How much is lost because we do not display a “meek and quiet spirit” because we aren’t willing to be the down goat. What blessing would result in our marriages and families (and our assembly life too) if our actions were conducted in “all lowliness and meekness” rather than with the spirit of “I withstood him to the face.” (We certainly do not suggest that Paul was at fault for his stand against Peter. But let us see to it that we have an equally good reason to that of the beloved Apostle, before we refuse to give in.)

The spirit in which we “stand” (Eph. 6:13) and “hold fast” (Rev. 2:25) will determine whether we become preservers or devastators to those we deal with. May we cultivate the spirit of willingness to go down to give in, whenever possible.

“Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another... even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye” (Col. 3:13).

“With all lowliness and meekness... forbearing one another in love” (Eph. 4:2).

“Let your moderation be known unto all men” (Phil. 4:5).

“If ye love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15).

Ed.

Editorial: Forgiveness

“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:32).

Forgiveness is a sweet word to the heart of a believer. How often has the thought of what it cost the Father to forgive us our sins gladdened and humbled our hearts. Faith delights to personally appropriate the Lord’s words: “And He said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven” (Luke 7:48), and, “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee” (Mark 2:5). And when self-will has caused the believer to sin, what comfort to claim the divine promise: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

We find it difficult to understand Cain’s refusal to accept God’s offer of forgiveness (Gen. 4:7), choosing rather to go “out from the presence of the Lord,” and Joseph’s brethren who seemed unwilling to believe that their brother, whom they had so wronged, really had forgiven them and desired only their blessing (Gen. 50:17).

What joy to the soul in reading Luke 15 to see ourselves pictured in the returning prodigal who was thrilled at the thought of the Father’s forgiveness and love so freely given.

While we usually have little difficulty seeing ourselves as those who are recipients of God’s divine, matchless forgiveness, we are in danger of forgetting that the “forgiven” is to show the spirit of a “forgiver” to others. The account of the ten-thousand-talent debtor in Matthew 18 gives us a striking picture of this principle.

According to one calculation (at current rates), the first servant owed his master the equivalent of nearly three million U.S. dollars. The second servant owed the first less than twenty-five dollars! We can well understand the indignant reaction of the master to this ungrateful servant-debtor’s treatment of the second servant.

The first, having been graciously forgiven such an immense debt, ought to have found it the joy of his heart to imitate his master’s kindness to a fellow servant-debtor. Though the amount he was owed by the other was small, his unforgiving spirit ought not to have been! The greatness of the debt he had been forgiven should have been the standard by which he measured his forgiveness to others. “Take heed...: with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you” (Mark 4:24).

This has a seasonable application to our hearts today. The Spirit of God would lead each believer to look at himself as a “ten-thousand-talent” debtor. What a price our blessed Lord Jesus Christ paid to secure our forgiveness! When He cried, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me,” each one, in humbleness, must answer, “It was for me, a guilty sinner, He was forsaken.”

When this reality exists in the heart, there will be no looking upon another fellow-sinner who may have wronged me, demanding in an unforgiving spirit that he “pay me that thou owest”! A forgiven “ten-thousand-talent” debtor has no right to display a self-righteous, demanding spirit towards another.

However, we want to notice that there are two things in our verse in Ephesians 4 which precede forgiveness: kindness and a tender heart.

Kindness is the opposite of harshness. Those so richly blessed by the “kindness and love of God our Saviour” (Titus 3:4) should never be characterized by a harsh spirit. How unsuited harshness is to one who has been blessed “with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).

A tender heart suggests the thought of compassion. How often did our blessed Saviour show compassion on “them that [were] out of the way” as He walked through this world. And He has left us an “example, that [we] should follow His steps.” How unworthy of a forgiven sinner to lack compassion for others.

We would suggest that these three lovely qualities cannot exist apart from each other. Each one is needed in order that we walk as children pleasing to the Father, who has forgiven us for Christ’s sake. May God grant that we “ten-thousand-talent” debtors find it the joy of our hearts to display a forgiving spirit towards others!

Ed.

Editorial: Humble Christianity or Halfhearted Service?

“A greater than Solomon is here” (Matt. 12:42).

“Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5).

Some of our readers will remember a remark made by a dear brother, now with the Lord, that went something like this: “If a believer walks down the street with the sense in his heart that he is a son of God, that will give him dignity, not pride.” These good words are especially needed in the present day, for they have both spiritual and practical applications to our lives. It is good to be reminded of the dignity and glory that belong to us as sons of God (Gal. 4:6; Heb. 2:10). At the same time we should never forget the immeasurable depths to which our blessed Lord Jesus “humbled Himself ” for us (2 Cor. 8:9; Phil. 2:8). These thoughts ought to raise “songs in the night,” songs of praise and thanksgiving to our God.

On the practical side, we see what an important balance exists between the dignified walk which is proper to our position in Christ and that true humility which ought to characterize such a walk! The possibility exists, however, that the child of God may confuse humility (not occupied with self) with mediocrity (satisfied with what is inferior or average). While sons of God should never be characterized as proud, neither should our lives and ways be characterized by carelessness. How strange that we who are called “the excellent” by God (Psa.16:3) would ever be satisfied with serving the Lord in a halfhearted way!

We can easily understand these concepts the ill effects of mediocrity and the value of humility-in our natural lives. For example, what friend would recommend to his neighbor an auto mechanic who was known for his inferior mechanical workmanship? What husband would allow his beloved wife to have surgery performed by a doctor whose surgical abilities were only mediocre? What father would allow his dear children to travel on an airplane whose pilot had second-rate landing skills?

While the answer to these questions is obvious, it is equally obvious that if the same mechanic, surgeon or pilot spent much time making special efforts to tell us how good they were, we would quickly (and rightly) question the reality of their claims to such greatness!

How important that we seek grace to “serve God acceptably” (Heb. 12:28) as His dear children who are “blessed... with all spiritual blessings... in Christ” (Eph. 1:3), doing so with “all humility of mind” (Acts 20:19) and never being satisfied with less than wholehearted efforts (Col. 3:23). What would the Queen of Sheba have thought of Solomon had the deportment and apparel of his servants, as they served him, been sloppy (1 Kings 10:5; 2 Chron. 9:4)?

What would we think of Abraham had he chosen a scrawny calf from his herd and allowed Sarah to prepare it in a slipshod manner, while he served it in a halfhearted way to his heavenly guests in the plains of Mamre (Gen. 18)?

Would Moses have been satisfied with the work of Aholiab and Bezaleel for the tabernacle of Jehovah, had its quality been shoddy (Ex. 36)?

What testimony would Joseph have given to Pharaoh, had he been negligent in his service for Potiphar and in the prison (Gen. 40-41)?

Was it a trivial gospel message of which Paul was unashamed, and did he proclaim it before the kings of this world in a mediocre manner (Rom. 1:16; Acts 26)?

Let us seek grace that our walk as believers and our work as servants always be performed in humility, but never in a halfhearted way! Think whom it is we serve! What kind of “living sacrifice” does He deserve from each believer (Rom. 12:1)? May our lives, an “epistle... known and read of all” (2 Cor. 3:2), not tell a halfhearted tale!

Ed.

Editorial: The Christian Shepherd

This issue of the Christian Shepherd marks an end as well as a beginning. For many years the Christian Treasury has been used in blessing to souls seeking the truth of God’s precious Word. In view of the previous editor ending his involvement with this good work, we have felt exercised before the Lord to begin publishing the Christian Shepherd. Though some differences in appearance and contents may be noticed from time to time, the unchanging truth of God is ever the basis for what is contained in the Shepherd. May this publication be used for His glory and the blessing of His beloved people.

Our exercises in publishing the Shepherd are best summed up in Acts 7. Stephen, speaking to his brethren, entreats the fathers to hearken to his voice. Had they, in the spirit of true fathers desiring to preserve the nation, listened to his message, how much joy and blessing they might have had!

It is our earnest desire that the Christian Shepherd may, in the spirit of a father, be used of God to nourish and preserve both the family and the assembly. The truths of the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ will provide the blessed foundation of this nourishment and preservation.

Stephen’s message contains helpful principles, which have formed the foundation of our exercises. He points out that Abraham, “the father of us all,” was told, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred.” We desire that the Christian Shepherd provide a separating influence from all that would hinder enjoyment of the Lord Jesus. How vital that fathers, seeking to preserve their families, and spiritual fathers, seeking to preserve the assembly, do so by leading out from all that would corrupt and displace Christ in the heart of the little flock for whom they bear responsibility before God.

Next Stephen reminds his accusers of Joseph, the beloved son of Jacob for whom he made a special garment, “a coat of many colors,” a beautiful sign of his delight in his son. We trust that the Shepherd will turn our eyes away from this world’s empty glory to behold the divine glory of the eternal Son who, ever the delight of the Father, dwelt from eternity past in the bosom of the Father.

After this Stephen speaks of Moses, who was “nourished up in his father’s house.” The result of this nourishing time was that Moses was preserved to become the deliverer of God’s people. How needful that we act as Moses’ father and provide a place of safety for those who, in time, can become deliverers in the family and the assembly.

As deliverer Moses defended an Israelite against his Egyptian oppressor and sought to unite two alienated Israelites back into fellowship. (See Acts 7:24-28.) We prayerfully desire that the content of this publication will serve to do the same, liberating each from this world’s oppression while seeking that brethren might experience sweet fellowship, enjoyed in the “unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

We covet your prayers for wisdom and “understanding of the times” as we undertake this work. We want to encourage our readers to feel free to respond with any thoughts concerning what is presented in the Christian Shepherd. Please see the inside front cover for the editor’s mailing address.

Ed.

Editorial: The Service of Sisters

“The aged women... teachers of good things; that they may teach the young women” (Titus 2:3-4).

We know that every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ has a service to fulfill for Himself. Often this service is performed in obscurity, unappreciated even by those who are its objects. Brothers do not have an advantage over the sisters in service, nor is their service of a higher level of importance. Though of a different character and often performed in different ways from that of brothers, the dear sisters’ service is vital to the blessing of the body of Christ.

The Service of Building

“Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands” (Prov. 14:1). We do well to consider the solemn effect on the assembly of a house that has been plucked down— destroyed—because of the ways of a foolish woman. Consider the “houses” mentioned in Paul’s first epistle to the Corinthians. Had these been plucked down, what added heartache would they have had to experience!

Chloe’s house (1 Cor. 1:11) had such a concern for the Corinthian brethren that they reported to Paul the sad bickering and divisions that existed there. How much blessing would have been lost to the assembly but for this house, whose members valued oneness of mind.

Then we hear of Stephanas (1 Cor. 16:15), whose house is connected with service for the saints. What blessings both in the family and in the assembly come from houses who find delight in serving their beloved brethren in Christ.

Also we read in 1 Corinthians 16:19 that Aquila and Priscilla sent their greetings to Corinth “with the church that is in their house.” How wonderful that there can be those families who are of such a character that they can extend the fellowship of their house to the assembly. Oh, may our beloved sisters realize the vital role they play in building such houses!

The Service of Teaching

There is another profoundly important service which can only be performed by godly, elder sisters for the help and blessing of the younger. This is the happy service of teaching the younger those things which are necessary that they maintain for the good of their families and of the assembly (Titus 2:3-4).

The world in which we live seeks at every opportunity to corrupt and defile the female either by deception, as Eve was beguiled by the serpent, or by force, as with Dinah (Gen. 34:2) and Tamar (2 Sam. 13:14). How indispensable then is that sweet service of godly, older sisters who willingly give themselves to teaching, by their actions and by their words, the beloved younger sisters, “that the word of God be not blasphemed.”

A beautiful example of this vital role which an elder sister may take with one who is younger is seen in the story of Ruth. In Ruth 2 Naomi has returned to her city, Bethlehem, and Ruth with her. Desiring to be of help in the home, Ruth asks her mother-in-law for permission to go into a field to glean there for their food. Once she is there, Boaz, the owner of the field tells her: “Go not to glean in another field, neither go from hence, but abide here fast by my maidens” (ch. 2:8). After receiving much kindness from him, Ruth goes home and recounts her experiences to Naomi, saying in part, “He said unto me also, Thou shalt keep fast by my young men, until they have ended all my harvest.”

In spite of all the virtue Ruth displayed, her comment proved that she lacked discernment and was in need of godly instruction. Boaz had told her to keep fast by “his maidens.” That was spiritually, morally and naturally the place of safety for her as a young woman. But Ruth, not realizing the grave dangers involved, felt it was quite acceptable to be found in the company of the “young men.”

What a joy to read Naomi’s loving yet firm answer to her daughter-in-law: “It is good, my daughter, that thou go out with his maidens, that they meet thee not in any other field” (ch. 2:22)! Ruth was obedient to this instruction, and not only did she enjoy immediate blessing, but the ultimate result is that she is found mentioned in the lineage of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:5).

“This woman was full of good works” (Acts 9:36).

“A woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised” (Prov. 31:30).

Ed.

Editorial: Two Guest Chambers

Luke 22 and 2 Kings 4

“And He sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat. And they said unto Him, Where wilt Thou that we prepare? And He said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him into the house where he entereth in. And ye shall say unto the goodman of the house, The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber, where I shall eat the passover with My disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished: there make ready. And they went, and found as He had said unto them: and they made ready the passover. And when the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him” (Luke 22:8-14).

“And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman; and she constrained him to eat bread. And so it was, that as oft as he passed by, he turned in thither to eat bread. And she said unto her husband, Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man of God, which passeth by us continually. Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither. And it fell on a day, that he came thither, and he turned into the chamber, and lay there” (2 Kings 4:8-11).

The “Guest Chamber” of Luke 22

We would like to consider two very remarkable rooms mentioned in these scriptures. Though separated in time by more than 900 years, they bear striking moral similarities to each other and contain principles and instructions which are of the greatest interest to believers who would gather together to answer the Lord’s blessed request: “This do in remembrance of Me.”

The “guest chamber” mentioned in Luke 22 is the place to which our blessed Lord Jesus directed the disciples: that place where He would eat that last passover supper with them and institute His remembrance feast. The other room was also prepared as a “guest chamber” with a view of providing a place of rest for the man of God as he passed through the city of Shunem.

The principles connected with the room in Luke 22 are presented to us as a view of God’s thoughts concerning the place where He would have His children gather, giving public expression to the body of Christ and remembering the death of His beloved Son. The principles connected with the room in 2 Kings are in view of man’s failure to maintain the testimony that God desires. They serve as a special encouragement to individual faith regardless of the collective condition of the church of God. In this way we believe that Luke 22 morally answers to 1 Timothy a time when all was in order. Second Kings 4 would answer morally to 2 Timothy where the individual goes on for God’s glory in the midst of great outward religious confusion.

In Luke, then, we first have the reason for the institution of the Lord’s supper: “go and prepare... that we may eat.” How touching that the blessed Lord Jesus desires to eat with His own! In Matthew (and Mark) the disciples ask: “Where wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee to eat the passover?” But He lovingly corrects them, making plain that He will eat in fellowship with His loved ones. Let us never forget what it means to the heart of our blessed Lord Jesus to see those of His own sitting with Him to partake of the Lord’s supper.

Next are instructions as to how that place may be found: submission to the Lord’s will “where wilt Thou,” and following the Spirit by faith—“there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water: follow him.” Oh, how vital is submission to the mind of God as revealed to faith in His Word!

After this we learn that since the “goodman of the house” (the Spirit of God) already has a “guest chamber” ready, man’s efforts at providing a place are both unnecessary and unacceptable. The “guest chamber” that He provides has three beautiful features connected with it. It is “large,” that is, there is room enough in it to accommodate every child of God. It is the desire of our Lord that all His redeemed gather there to remember Him in His death.

It is also an “upper room,” morally separated from the level of the world, and it is divinely “furnished” with everything suitable to the blessed presence of the Lord Jesus.

There was only one thing for the disciples to do when they came to that room and it is, we say reverently, that which the Lord cannot do. They were to “make ready the passover.” For us “making ready” ought to be a matter of daily exercise of communion and worship. Let us not go to the “upper room” to meet Him with “unready” hearts that have nothing to offer Him!

The appointed hour came; the Lord Jesus sat down with His own in the guest room, and we hear those blessed words uttered: “with desire I have desired to eat this passover with you.” Beloved brethren, should we need any other motive than this to be found gathered in His blessed presence?

The Guest Room of 2 Kings 4

This “guest room” was prepared during a time of great confusion and ruin among the people of God. Ten tribes of Israel no longer identified themselves with God’s true gathering center in Jerusalem, having forsaken it to worship the two golden calves at Dan and Bethel. But in the midst of such sad failure there were hearts found still true to Jehovah.

Thus we are introduced to a “great” (“wealthy,” JND) woman of Shunem. Though surrounded by spiritual deadness and idolatry, her heart was burning with real love for the God of Israel. It was her heart’s affection which caused her to constrain Elisha, the man of God, to eat bread in her house. In Luke 22 it is the Lord Jesus whose heart desired the company of His own. But in a day of outward ruin, it becomes the privilege of the great woman to express such a desire. Then, with the affections of her heart right, she was able to discern who it was that passed by her home.

Next we see in this woman that most lovely moral virtue of submission to her husband. Though her heart greatly desired to have fellowship with the man of God, she did nothing until “she said to her husband... let us make.” Her submissive spirit thus brings him into fellowship with her desire.

Submission also gives her a wonderful understanding of that which would be suitable to the presence of the man of God in such a day as she lived. In Luke it was a “large” room, but here she desires to build “a little chamber.” Today, when the Christian profession strives to be great, let us remember that the presence of the Lord is morally suited to a “little room” not as being sectarian, but in view of the “day of small things.”

However, this room, like that of Luke 22, will also be found in separation from the world. It’s position was “on the wall.” The testimony to the Lord Jesus in the midst, whether in the bright days of Pentecost or later, when Paul preached in the “upper room,” is always to be found in separation from the world.

This room was furnished with four things beautifully suited in principle to the presence of the man of God. First, there was a bed: a place where the man of God could find his rest. Is it not a comfort to the heart to realize that today the Lord Jesus finds His rest even in the “twos and threes” gathered alone to His worthy name?

The room also contained a table where fellowship with the man of God might be enjoyed and his authority owned. It is good to remember that though today is a time of great failure in Christianity, the supreme authority of the Lord has not changed nor has the preciousness of fellowship with Himself.

A chair and a candlestick completed the simple furnishings of the room in Shunem. In Pergamos, (Rev. 2:12-17) where Christ’s authority should have been owned, Satan had gained entrance and the wicked doctrines of Balaam and the Nicolaitans were taught there. But what a comfort it is to realize that in all the doctrinal error that abounds today, there can still be a “little room” which contains a “candlestick” and a “chair” for the Lord Jesus, that, by His Spirit, His mind and His truth may be made known to His own.

The result in the day of the Shunammite in preparing this little room was that when the man of God passed by, he found a place morally suited in every way to his presence. He entered there and finding his rest he “lay there.”

How precious to realize that in such a day as we live in, believers, like the Shunammite of old, may still experience the joy of the presence of the “man of God” our blessed Lord Jesus Christ with us in the “little chamber.”

And finally, does not the “guest chamber” suggest to our hearts that there will not always be opportunity for His own to “make ready” and to “prepare” in order to remember Him? It is only “till He come.” We expect Him to come for His beloved bride at any moment. As a beloved brother used to say, “In glory it will be too late to add a P.S. to our lives.” Let us not allow failure, spiritual indifference or anything else to keep us from answering the request of our precious Saviour—in the “guest chamber” now while there is opportunity! “This do ye... in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:25).

Ed.

Editorial: What Am I Seeking?

“Why seek ye the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5).

The women had come to the Lord’s tomb to anoint His blessed body. Love and ignorance brought them there. Love, because the dearest object of their heart’s affections had been lost to them. The One who had blessed them, whose words they had believed, who had touched their hearts, and in whom all their hopes lay had been taken and “by wicked hands” was crucified. With His death all of their earthly hopes, joys and desires had also died.

Ignorance, too, was involved, because He had told His disciples that though He was to be delivered up to be crucified, He would rise again the third day (Mark 10:33-34). They did not understand His words, and so, as they peered into that empty tomb where they supposed He lay, seeing it empty, they were afraid and troubled.

But why did the divine messengers ask them such a question? In view of the deep affection and devotion these disciples had for the Lord, it is not strange that we find them there. Yet in that question there is a loving, gentle rebuke: “Why seek ye the living among the dead.... Remember how He spake unto you? ” Had they laid hold of His blessed words, this place of death would have held no interest for them. Victorious over death, risen in triumph and glory, the Lord Jesus would turn their sorrowing hearts from this sad world of death and heartache to a brighter sphere. Once they did understand that He was risen, the tomb where He had lain was no longer of any concern to them. The Object of their hearts’ affections was no longer there.

Let us allow the Spirit of God to search our hearts with this same question: “Why seek ye the living among the dead?” Is there something other than Himself in this world this place of death—which still claims the affections of our hearts? He is risen and is no longer connected with this world. We have gloriously higher hopes now, for “as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). How strange that believers should be found seeking for the living Christ the only One who can fill and satisfy the heart in this scene of sorrow and death!

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God” (Col. 3:1). The tomb is empty! He is not here; He is risen, “as He said”! If He is not here, then it must follow that there is nothing here for believers. Above, all is love, light and glory, because it is where He dwells! May our hearts be preserved from wasting our lives, seeking for “the living among the dead”!

Ed.

Editorial: Who Will Name Them?

“But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.... Now Elisabeth’s full time came... and she brought forth a son. And her neighbors and her cousins heard how the Lord had showed great mercy upon her; and they rejoiced with her. And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his mother answered and said, Not so; but he shall be called John. And they said unto her, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. And he asked for a writing table, and wrote, saying, His name is John. And they marveled all” (Luke 1:13, 57-63).

Zacharias and Elisabeth were presented with a choice that in its moral application constantly presents itself to believers today. The angel of the Lord told Zacharias that his son’s name was to be John. When he was born, the neighbors and cousins (“kinsfolk,” JND) called his name “Zacharias” after his father. Who was to have the final say? Would this dear couple obey God or man? Happily they stood together and remained of “one mind” in obedience to God. “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3).

But it was not an easy stand to make. Though they clearly understood the Word of God and knew exactly what God’s mind was in the case of the son He had given to them, the pressure of family and friends to pursue a course opposite His mind was very strong. Notice that these folks didn’t have premeditated plans to turn this dear couple aside from the mind of God. “They rejoiced” with dear Elisabeth at the birth of her son. They too followed God’s mind in seeing that the child was circumcised on the eighth day according to Scripture. However, in deciding the child’s name, these relatives usurped that place of authority and responsibility which God had given to Zacharias and Elisabeth. They thought to give the child a name according to what was naturally right in their eyes. But in seeking to do this they subtly undermined the parents’ God-given responsibility for its guidance and direction. If they could name the child, they could also determine what he was to do with his life.

The parents must oppose this if they were to remain obedient to God’s will. But it was difficult, for they did not face a wicked enemy such as Herod. This opposition came from loving and religious friends and relatives perhaps the most difficult pressure of all for believers to withstand!

Nor were these “friendly relatives” easily turned aside from their intentions when Elisabeth said “no” to them. Perhaps they reasoned: “But Elisabeth, it is only natural that the child should be named after his father. That’s the way things have always been done in our family.”

Further, they subtly tried to divide the unity of mind existing between the parents by questioning Zacharias, assuming that he would oppose his wife and agree with them. But if Zacharias cannot speak, he can act. And so he writes, “His name is John.” No more questions now. It was a wonderful confirmation of their united faith.

How often do we feel those pressures that would turn us aside from the path of faith. We have the precious Word of God, and we have the Spirit of God who will give guidance and understanding to the heart which is willing to submit to that divine revelation. But then, we too have the world standing ready to oppose us in this path of faith. And often we find, as this dear couple did, that the strongest opposition comes from those nearest and dearest: our family and our friends.

Let us morally apply the principle, seen here in Zacharias and Elisabeth, to all of the circumstances of our Christian life. May God grant each to be faithful to Himself in following His precious Word in simple dependence and obedience, though it may, at times, mean that we are misunderstood by those who by nature know us and love us. When God’s mind for us is questioned thus, let us in faith say with Elisabeth, “Not so; but he shall be called John,” and in faith write with Zacharias, “His name is John.”

Ed.

Editorial: Whose Image Do We Bear?

“Show Me a penny. Whose image and superscription hath it?” (Luke 20:24).

The Lord’s words should have gone right to the consciences of the Pharisees and Herodians. In their unbelief their eyes were blinded to the glory of the “Image and Superscription” that stood before them. He, the very “image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4), bore the divine superscription as the “Word” made flesh. But His Godhead glory was hidden to their eyes, for only faith could comprehend Him.

The image and superscription on the denarius (the penny) should also have been a rebuke to their hearts, for they well knew that their nation was not enjoying the blessing and favor of God. The image and superscription on that coin, a public testimony to the Roman yoke under which they lived and by which they were ruled, ought to have caused them sorrow as they considered the sad fruit which their sin and disobedience against Jehovah had born.

Now Jehovah-Jesus stands among them. What it must have meant to His heart as He looked at that coin! He, the Messiah, the rightful King of Israel, was standing in their presence, “despised and rejected of men.” He had come in lowliness and grace to His own, but they had “received Him not,” saying, “We will not have this man to reign over us.” His image and superscription ought to have been “stamped” on something of far greater value than the Roman denarius; it ought to have been impressed on their hearts. But the cold, stony condition of those hearts would not receive the impress of the divine Person and Word who stood in their presence. What sorrow that little silver coin must have been to His blessed heart! “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matt. 23:37).

Does not this have an application to our lives? God has reached out in divine, sovereign grace to us who are Gentiles. “The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” The blessed Lord Jesus bore on the cross, before the mocking world, the superscription of a despised, outcast criminal, “Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews,” in order that we might forever bear His blessed “image and superscription” before the Father. The lost coin of Luke 15 has been found. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over the sinner that has repented.

Now, may we not hear our Lord Jesus, as He looks at each one of us a found coin asking, “Whose image and superscription do you bear in the place that rejected Me?” May God grant that our lives plainly show before this world the “image and superscription” of that blessed One who has loved us and redeemed us with His own precious blood. We shall “be like Him” in a coming day when we see Him. May we, then, seek to be like Him now, bearing His image and His Word while we pass through this world.

“For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29).

Ed.

Encouragement for the Day

Throughout the book of Isaiah, we have frequent mention of, and encouragement for, the remnant of Israel. In the midst of the bleakest outlook for the nation, as Jehovah deals with them, He graciously interjects a word of encouragement so that they would be strengthened and not give up. We can draw strength from such reassurances. For example, “The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever. And My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” The final “peaceful dwelling place” for us is in glory with our Lord and Saviour. But, we are also given a sense of peace while here on earth a peace unknown to the lost.

S. Brinkmeyer

Faith's Repose

Oh let thy faith repose

In Jesus’ love divine;

The heart that all our sorrows knows

Is feeling now for thine.

Tell to His listening ear

The anxious thoughts that rise;

He’s moved by every falling tear –

He echoes all thy sighs.

Purer than aught below

The heart that bled for thee;

Not like the mingled love we show,

His perfect sympathy.

Well may’st thou then confide

Each interest to His care,

Since He has power and skill to guide

His loved ones everywhere.

If slow to understand,

When clouds thy pathway dim,

The way is still in Jesus’ hand;

The end is safe with Him.

See where He sits on high

In calm, unclouded peace;

Dwell there beneath His gracious eye,

And every fear shall cease.

Thngs New and Old, Vol. 1

The Family and the Assembly

The burden on my heart is the preservation of the assembly. Its preservation depends on the preservation of our houses. In Acts 8:3 we read: “As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house.” I doubt that Saul had the wisdom or understanding to know that the best way to raise havoc with the assembly was not by entering into the assembly, but by entering into the home. However, I do believe that Satan, who had control of Saul at that time, knew very well what he was doing. The result of Saul’s raising havoc was that “men and women” were “committed... to prison.” When we cease functioning as parents in the family, the assembly is devastated.

Let us briefly consider the various characters which are part of a Christian household. Perhaps those who have already passed through some of these various relationships do not feel that there is much in this subject for them. But I would like you to consider that if exercised before the Lord by these things, you might see that the principles we discuss do have an application to you regarding the assembly and your relationship to it. We want to begin with that which marks the beginning of every household: courtship.

Courtship

In Genesis 1:27 we read, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.” In each of the various family relationships this is a distinction that must be recognized and honored: male and female. Now as to courtships, let us read Genesis 2:18 and note that I will change one word as I read it: “The Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him helps meet for him.” No, it reads “a help meet”—singular. We see this again in Genesis 7:2 in the account of Noah, where I will once again change the wording to make my point: “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the males and the females.” No, again the word is “the male and his female.” As we consider the thought of courtship, we see that in God’s mind there is only one mate that He has in view for us.

We men are responsible to start the courtship—to take the first step in it. It is not the female’s responsibility to begin a courtship. It is not a question of asking a girl out to see if she is the one the Lord has for me the human heart was not given to be thus trifled with.

I heard a wonderful question asked at a young people’s sing one time: “How old should you be before you start dating?” What a wonderful opportunity to give guidance to young people, I thought. However, the answer given was disappointing, for it was determined that 16 was about the right age. But there is something far more important than a designated age when young people can begin dating. A courtship should begin with the idea that it’s going to end in marriage. When you are old enough to consider marriage the responsibility of being a husband you can begin a courtship. Courtship is not just for fun or to be carried on until you find that your partner no longer appeals to you. God has not given the human heart for your pleasure.

Marriage

Let’s get married. We see in the beginning how marriage was instituted: “And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet” (Gen. 2:18). This is still true, and unless God has given you a special gift to rise above the realm of nature in respect to marriage, you’ll find yourself frustrated trying to live outside this relationship. If God calls you as a eunuch for the kingdom of heaven’s sake, He’ll make provision for you to serve Him without distraction. But, in general, becoming a Christian doesn’t change it.

So how does God bring a couple together? In Genesis 2:21 we read: “The Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept.” There’s no thought in Adam’s heart of taking matters into his own hands. He’s in agreement with God and says in his heart, “I’m going to let God bring this helper into my life.” He wasn’t active, for God caused a “deep sleep” to come upon him. You know that “whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing,” but you don’t find her by shopping around. He makes a woman (Genesis 2:22), and I believe that in a marriage in the Lord, the female has been created for the male. He has in His wisdom been preparing her for her husband for a lifetime, because He knows our weaknesses, strengths and needs. So in Genesis 2:22-23 He “brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman.” God will bring into your life the one He has for you. You don’t have to shop around.

I remember when I was a young man, a sister who seemed to feel it was her ministry to bring couples together invited me to her home for supper. It was a great frustration to go there for what I thought was to be an evening meal and, when I arrived, find that she had also invited a young lady to be there. She said to me one time, “Do you think that God is going to open up heaven and put this young lady at your feet?” That is not a question which comes from faith in God. Let us beware of matchmaking, remembering that it was God, not a sister or brother, who brought the woman to the man.

H. Short

Editor’s note: A previous excerpt from this address, on the subject of “Fathers,” has been presented in the March, 1997, issue of the Christian Shepherd. Other topics to be covered in future issues will be “husbands,” “wives,” “mothers” and “children.”

The Family and the Assembly

Wives

Let’s go back to Ephesians 5 to consider the wife. “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” This verse does not mean it is your prerogative to discern and to decide whether your husband has the Lord’s mind or not. That is not what is meant by “as unto the Lord.” It means you are to submit to your husband as you would to the Lord. He has been placed, in God’s wisdom, in God’s love and in God’s care for you, in authority over you. I wouldn’t have made it that way. Few things cause me more trembling than when I look at myself and realize that God has subjected a wife, a human being, to me. But He has.

Rebekah was asked, “Wilt thou go with this man?” Dear wives, you are saying you are going to go with that man. Your safety lies in unfeigned subjection to that man. You may not think so on the wedding day, but no doubt in your marriage there will be times when you think that your dad was a better person than your husband that dad was wise, or that dad was this or that. You are going with your husband, not your father, and he is the man that you have chosen.

It says of the woman that she may “be married to whom she will; only in the Lord” (1 Cor. 7:39). God gave you, sisters, the choice to marry whomsoever you would, only in the Lord. It was your decision; you made it: “I will go” with this man. Don’t try to change him; don’t try to make him over to your ideas of what a man should be. I venture to say, dear sisters (and I think it is probably true of us brothers too), that you may have little idea what a man is to be. Sometimes we men get taken up (in formative discipline) by the Lord. The making of a man of God is a very painful matter, and a woman must not try to stop that process nor to seek to take that process on herself. Unfeigned subjection, or it’s all over for us, and it’s all over for the assembly. The assembly is in ruin today because it has not submitted to Christ, its Head. He has loved us perfectly, but we have not submitted to Him.

Mothers

I’ve already called attention to the expression, “The male and [its] female.” I believe that with but one exception, the order always is, “Male and female.” That is God’s order and if it’s reversed, it is to confusion.

In Deuteronomy 14 where we have the clean and unclean animals, the order is reversed. In Deut. 14:15 JND it says: “And the female ostrich, and the male ostrich.” Now the reason I call attention to this is that we’re going to look at motherhood in a negative way. We can learn by the negatives.

In Job 39 we get this bird mentioned again. Remember, she takes the place before the male, her husband. And here’s the kind of mother she turns out to be. “The wing of the ostrich beats joyously—but is it the stork’s pinion and plumage?” (Job 39:13 JND). What does that mean? I believe that the Lord is bringing before us here that the ostrich doesn’t have the plumage of a stork. Oh, she beats her wings joyously, but she doesn’t have a meek and quiet spirit. She makes a lot of ruckus.

You know, a little baby is born into the world and the mother may think she has gotten a wonderful little doll. God didn’t give you a wonderful little doll; He gave you a human to form for the kingdom of God. If you read about the Nazarites, you’ll see it was the mother who was addressed in the formation and raising of the Nazarite. “Of all that I said unto the woman let her beware” (Judges 13:13). Then it tells what the woman is to do in the raising of her Nazarite.

Now the ostrich in Job 39 made a lot of noise, but she didn’t have the plumage of the stork, and it says that she “leaveth her eggs to the earth, and warmeth them in the dust... as though they were not hers: her labor is in vain, without her concern” (Job 39:14-16 JND). What does this picture to us? It’s a mother who does not take seriously the life-and-death issue of raising her children for the Lord.

Hannah says, “I have asked him of the Lord” (1 Sam. 1:20). The Lord gave her a child, and you say, “Hannah’s quit coming to meeting. Her husband is going up to Shiloh and she isn’t going along; she’s forgotten the Lord.” No, she didn’t forget the Lord. She knew she had a grave and serious service to do for the Lord. If this boy was going to serve in the house of God, he was going to have to have her undivided attention. Mothers, do you look at your families in that way? Do you see that God has given you a responsibility, a service for Him, that is unsurpassed? It’s going to require your care.

There is another reference to this bird, and it’s found in the book of Lamentations. It is why I have liberty to use her as an illustration of how not to be a mother. Lamentations 4:3-4 states: “Even the sea monsters draw out the breast”—that is, they nurture and nourish their young; they care for their young “they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness. The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst: the young children ask bread, and no man breaketh it unto them.” These daughters of God’s people followed the pattern of the mother ostrich; they became like her. They did not nourish and care for their young.

You might think, “I’d never be like that, and I don’t know any moms like that.” I’m afraid that we read these passages and think, “Yes, that’s that mother we heard about the other day who left her baby wrapped in something on a cold winter day and abandoned it. That’s the ostrich.” No it’s not. The ostrich is the mother who doesn’t weigh soberly and seriously the grave responsibility of raising her children and giving herself to them. In Leviticus there’s an ordinance that a little animal was to be under its dam seven days, and then on the eighth day it could be sacrificed to the Lord, and, on another day not the same day the mother could be sacrificed also (Lev. 22:27-28).

What does that teach the mothers? It teaches that God has given you a responsibility to raise your children, to nourish them, to care for them, to gather them, as a hen does her chicks, under your wing. Don’t allow the beasts to come in; they come in subtly. The enemy doesn’t come in so you recognize him, but he gets the mother away from the child and gets her occupied with what we might call the work of the Lord. You know, you’ve got the work of the Lord in your family, and I believe, whether we be fathers, husbands, wives or mothers, by far the most of what we have of Christ will be needed to be used on our own families (Ex. 12:4). It may expose you to ridicule. They may have said about Hannah: “All she’s interested in is that little boy. She won’t even go to Shiloh to serve the Lord.” But Hannah recognized her work and that it was given to her of God. I am not suggesting your children should not be brought to the assembly meetings. It is vital that you do so. But do not get involved in “service for the Lord” that causes you to neglect your children.

In Israel, when a man’s field was harvested, he was to leave the corners and maybe some handfuls of purpose, but most of that field had to go to his house. The rest was for strangers and the poor. We can overextend ourselves in the name of service for the Lord I’m not speaking only to mothers now and sacrifice our children. That is not the Lord’s mind for parents.

H. Short

The Family and the Assembly

Children

The first mention of children in the Scriptures is in connection with “the woman” and it is stated, by the Lord God, “In sorrow [pain] thou shalt bring forth children.” We learn from the Apostle Paul that not only in nature, now connected with sin through man’s fall, but also in connection with the formation of Christ in the life of a believer, “pain” or “travail” is required with the bringing forth of children. “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 4; Gen. 3).

Are, then, “sorrow” and “travail” the inevitable end for those who desire to have children, natural or spiritual? No, it is not the “end” but simply connected with the beginning, the end being “joy.” “A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow... but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world” (John 16). Paul, after speaking of “labor and travail” in connection with “spiritual children” (the Thessalonian believers), says, “For ye are our glory and joy” (1 Thess 2). John says, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” But the principle is travail first, then joy. Toil and labor precede rest and joy.

In the raising of our children for the glory of our Lord, two principles need to be instilled in them. Both require some “travail” on our part. They are dependence and obedience, and both must be learned in an atmosphere of love. These two things mark man in his relationship with his God, if God is to have His proper place in our lives.

We see these two principles in our Lord Jesus, both in regards to His parents and in regards to His Father. With His parents it says of Him: “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger” (Luke 2:7). He was dependent upon His mother, and He was obedient to them: “And He... was subject unto them” (Luke 2:51). In regards to His God and Father it says, “I was cast upon Thee from the womb” (Psalm 22), which is dependence, and then “He... became obedient unto death” (Phil. 2), which is obedience—blessed Saviour!

The Lord Jesus tells His own in Matthew 5: “But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil [or “from the evil one” (note from JND Trans.)].” I would like to take the liberty of connecting these two simple communications with dependence and obedience. “Yea, yea” when we as parents say, “Yes we will do that,” or, “Yes you may do that,” we should keep our word. Our word should be something that our children can depend on. “Nay, nay” “no” is a word that crosses our will and is contrary to our desires. When we say “no” to our children, it should mean “no” to them. How often does the word “no” simply start an argument or raise a series of questions from the child to the parent? Then the child’s argument requires a suitable justification from the parent before it must submit. This is a great disservice to our dear children. Sometimes an explanation might be helpful to an obedient child, but it would be rare in teaching a child obedience.

All of this must be done with the child knowing you love them above yourself and that your first consideration is their good not your convenience and comfort. Being a parent is a sacrificial life: “The children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you” (2 Cor. 12:14-15).

How many times the younger parents hear us who are older say to them, “Enjoy your children while they are young, for when they are older they will be a problem” or words to that effect. In our Lord’s thoughts the opposite would be true. Remember “joy” follows “travail.” The problem often is that we as parents fail to realize childhood is to be used for training (Gal. 4:12). We often treat them as “dolls,” something to “play” with the first two or three years of their life and then wonder why we have such difficulty with them after this time. The foundation has, in a great way, been laid by then. Dependence and obedience could have been developed in a great measure by then.

But, we do fail, and it is wonderful to be able to repent and own, as parents, our failures. I say again, our failures, not our children’s failures. This will give us, in principle, the “valley of Achor for a door of hope” (Hosea 2). Then it says: “Afterward shall the children... return, and seek the Lord their God” (Hosea 3). (Here I speak of the principle of parents identifying with their children’s failures as having a contributing part in them. See Isaiah 49:20-21.) “The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children?”

While we see the world rapidly being filled with violence (Pharaoh) and corruption (Pharaoh’s daughter), both laying claims upon our children, one to have them “killed,” the other to have them “nursed for me,” may we be encouraged by the example of the parents of Moses: “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment” (Ex. 2; Heb. 11). Travail they had, but oh the joy that is theirs to see their son in association with Christ in His coming day of glory!

H. Short

The Family and the Assembly: Husbands

The courtship has ended, as it ought, in marriage. Now that we’re husbands we remember that the Lord Jesus, in answering the Pharisees’ question about divorce, shows that this relationship was established “from the beginning” (Matt. 19:8). Further, God sanctions what He did as to His order: Therefore “shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh” (Eph. 5:31). Now that we have become married, we have this great principle which is obviously seen in respect to Christ and the church. It is important for the young man to leave his father and his mother. We who are fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law need to listen to this and allow our sons to leave us.

Recently, someone asked me, “Why isn’t something said about the woman leaving her father? You know Rebekah did.” I believe the moral principle behind this is that if we read the Scriptures, observing the woman, we will see her whole life is under authority in the normal course of life. She is at first under her father and then she goes under the authority of her husband, but she never leaves the place of being under the authority of the man.

You see the same in Israel. The father could disallow the vows of his daughter, and the husband could disallow the vows of his wife. God held him responsible to protect that female vessel, and that’s how she is described in 1 Peter 3:7, “the weaker vessel.” It is more clearly rendered in the JND Translation: “As with a weaker, even the female, vessel, giving them honor.”

So we as men are responsible, once we’re married, to leave father and mother and start our own household. It must be so if our homes are going to be formed according to the mind of God. Practically, this means that I’m not going to try to make my wife be like my mother. If she has different ways to cook, different ways to keep house, different ways to shop, I cleave to her. I’m not permitted to allow my father (or my mother) to come into my house and order my house. Now that’s the relationship of the husband with his parents. Let’s go to Ephesians 5. We know these verses well; perhaps we don’t practice them as well as we know them. It says in verse 23, “The husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is head of the church: and he is saviour of the body.” In Ephesians 1:22, speaking of God putting everything under Christ, we read, “And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.”

We husbands, as heads of our wives, sometimes have a misconception of “headship.” We think of it as a master sergeant in the military who has men under him to order around. That kind of headship, and it is a form of headship, is described perhaps in Ephesians 1:22, “Hath put all things under His feet.” But the church is not put under the feet of Christ. To the church He has a different relationship. He is the Head to the church, “which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.” Husbands get a false concept of headship, thinking that it simply means that I tell my wife what to do. I don’t say that may not be involved, but if it is, it’s as giving direction to our body for the purpose of saving it, not for the purpose of subjecting it. My wife is not put under my feet. “He is the saviour of the body.”

In truth, I really doubt that a husband can make his wife be subject to him; I don’t even know that we’re called to that ministry. Husbands, are we exercised about saving our wives? Sometime, years ago, I personally coined a phrase for my own benefit: “the considerations of love.” How do you and I treat our own body? We don’t inflict hurt on ourselves for the purpose of showing that the head has authority over the body to direct it. We save our bodies.

Sometimes our wives may get into trouble; they can be willful they’re fallen the same as you and I are. I feel that one of the greatest challenges in the husband-wife relationship is not when I have done something wrong but when my wife has done something wrong and I know it. Am I willing to go through the painful exercise of seeing how I can save my wife from this path that is going to cause her hurt? It is the very failure of the first head, Adam. It is solemn to realize that Eve, when the serpent talked to her, had her husband standing beside her. I had for years thought that Satan had gotten a wedge between them and had gotten Eve off by herself, but it doesn’t speak that way. That man stood beside his wife and allowed the serpent to deceive her, and he didn’t love her enough to tell her, “Honey, you cannot do that.” You who are husbands know what I am talking about. Let us remember, “He is the saviour of the body.”

H. Short

Editor’s Note: Previous excerpts from the subject of “The Family and the Assembly” may be found in the March and April issues.

A Father's Concern

“I am currently struggling with how I am reacting with my five-year-old. In the past, he has been very compliant, but now he is showing some strong-willed character and foolishness. I don’t know if I am being too hard on him, or if I need to be more firm.”

Having never had the pleasure of meeting you, one can only suggest some general principles which come to mind, trusting they may be used of the Lord for the help and blessing of your family.

First, then, we see in the history of Isaac and Rebekah that which often is one of the primary causes of behavior problems in our children. In Genesis 25:28 we read, “And Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: but Rebekah loved Jacob.” These parents had divided affections for their two sons which set the stage for the strife that later divided their home.

These divided affections led the parents to have favorites. Isaac favored and loved Esau, not because of what he was but because of what he gave. We, as parents, may be guilty of the same thing: that is, we see some character or quality in one of our children which is especially appealing, and we tend, without realizing it, to treat that child in a special way. Do not let your child’s “behavior” become a source of pride to you so that his “compliance” causes you to favor him. Of course, obedience is absolutely necessary and a submitted will is vital. But above all, make sure your children know they are loved because they are your beloved children, more than because of what they may be able to do for you.

As to foolishness, remember that “foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him” (Prov. 22:15). However, before applying the rod, be sure that it is really foolishness in your son that you are chastising. Do not expect more from a five-year-old than a five-year-old can give. I remember reading once a very helpful little poem: Be to their faults a little blind, And to their virtues ever kind.

The Word says: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things” (1 Cor. 13:11). Don’t punish your child for being a child. Demanding that he be more than what he is can be destructive to his tender spirit.

“And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52). Though He was perfect, never needing corrective discipline, our Lord Jesus’ life gives parents a perfect pattern of the normal development of a child. He grew; there was normal development (though all was perfect) with Him in the realm of nature. He was born a babe, developed as a child, was seen as a boy and was subject as a young man in Joseph and Mary’s home. Don’t expect or force your five-year-old to develop beyond or faster than is natural for him.

Earnestly seek to learn from the Lord if his displays of self-will and foolishness reflect something he observes in you or your wife. It is incredible how much a young child is molded by the habits of life of its parents. As his father, you will more than anyone form his character, while your wife will chiefly form his affections. Ask the Lord to reveal any inconsistencies in your lives which might be thus affecting his actions. If a hidden sin is revealed, humble yourself and confess it before administering necessary discipline to your child.

One last thing: be very careful about the playmates you allow him to have. They will also do much to mold his character for good or bad. The command to Moses’ mother was “take this child away, and nurse it for me.” Moses’ mother indeed took her child away from the world... but we can be sure she did not nurse him for Pharaoh’s daughter, for when he was grown he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.

When the Lord Jesus, at twelve years of age, went from His Father’s house in Jerusalem to His parent’s home in Nazareth, He was practically separated and hidden from this world for the next eighteen years of His life. After this time, Satan’s attempts to turn aside the Lord Jesus from His path of perfect obedience were completely and gloriously defeated by this blessed separated Man in the wilderness. How important to morally separate and hide your son (children) from the influences of this world!

Ed.

"Fathers, Provoke Not Your Children"

It says in Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, provoke not your children to wrath.” Why does God say that to us who are dads? I think it’s a common fault and failure that we have. Sometimes our children are frustrated by us because of these selfish hearts of ours. My little boy comes to me and says, “Daddy, will you fix my wagon?” I respond, “No, can’t you see I’ve got to do something?” It’s usually something that I want to do. They discern the selfishness of our hearts. I’m not saying that you always stop what you’re doing to do what your child asks, but I’m saying that we’ve got selfish hearts, and we’re prone to do our will. Because we are in that place of authority, we misuse it.

Sometimes we tell our children, “No.” “Daddy, can we go fishing?” “No.” It’s Friday night and you come home tired. “Daddy, can we go fishing tomorrow?” “No. I’ve got to fix the garage,” or something. I remember, as a young father, saying to my wife, “Honey, we’ll have these things long after our children are gone.” I think it’s a very serious thing when we tell our children, “No.” We should know that it’s for their blessing, and not for our convenience that there is a real reason why we’re saying, “No.” There may be; the plumbing may have a big hole with water shooting all over everything, and your child says, “Dad, can we go fishing?” “No, Son, can’t do it.” But often our “no’s” are because we don’t want to be troubled.

I remember a brother telling us one time how he thought it was so strange that Elisha stretched himself upon the child (2 Kings 4:34). He said, “That’s a strange thing a big man stretching himself on a child. But sometimes we have to stretch ourselves as fathers to get where our children are to bring warmth and life to them.” We’ve got to consider their view of things. It’s important. We know it may not be important to us what happened at school or what they want to do, but it is important to them, and, if we’re going to gain their confidence, if we’re going to gain their trust, we’re going to have to get down to their level and think what it means to them when they ask us to do something. Oftentimes we just provoke them to wrath because we don’t stretch ourselves we don’t get down to how they’re looking at a matter. We’ll have things a long time after our children are gone, and things bring very little comfort to our hearts.

H. Short

Feeding the Lambs or Feuding With the Sheep?

“Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled” (Heb. 12:15).

Yesterday morning we lost a wee little lamb that was but a few days old. It was unable to survive the cold wind that blew up overnight, and by the time we noticed that she was in trouble, she was so cold she was unable to eat. Nothing we attempted to do was able to save her life.

This reminded me of a time, several years ago, when a young lady was brightly saved. She was rejoicing in the Lord, and we who knew her rejoiced with her. Sadly, however, within one year this “young lamb” had slipped back into the world, having apparently given up her Christian profession. Was she truly saved in the first place? I believe she was, and I’m confident that we will see her in glory. What had happened to her? This “lamb” had also fallen victim to the “cold wind”—the wind of contention and bitterness among brethren.

Evidently, having some questions, she went to a brother in the assembly for counsel, unaware that he had a bitter, contentious spirit towards his brethren. Unable to answer her questions, he referred her to one who apparently did not value the truth of God revealed in His Word. The result of this sad misdirection was that the light of Christian profession in her life grew faint, flickered and then died.

What a heart-searching lesson I found in the death of our little lamb! Have I allowed in my heart a bitter spirit towards my brethren one which has been the cause of another child of God growing cold and falling away? May the Lord grant that this lesson will cause carefulness within me as He allows me the privilege of shepherding any of His lambs that they not be driven away by the cold, wintry blast of a contentious, bitter spirit.

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you” (Eph. 4:31-32).

K. Heslop

Forever

O how the thought that I shall know

The Man that suffered here below,

To manifest God’s favor

For me, and for the saints I love,

Both here and with Himself above,

Doth my renewed nature move

At that sweet word, “Forever!”

Forever to behold Him shine!

Forevermore to call Him mine!

And see Him still before me;

Forever on His face to gaze,

And meet His full assembled rays,

While all His beauty He displays

To all the saints in glory!

Not all things else are half so dear

As is His blissful presence here;

What will it be in heaven!

’Tis heaven on earth that we can say,

As now we journey, day by day,

“Himself has borne our guilt away;

Our sins are all forgiven.”

But how will His celestial voice

Make each enraptured heart rejoice,

Of saints in glory near Him!

When we no longer absent wait,

But like Him in His glorious state,

Where naught our bliss can e’er abate,

With joy in heaven shall hear Him!

Fragment: A Family Home

A family home is God’s home down here, but how many things have come into the world to break it up.

J. N. Darby (from Letters of J.N.D., Vol. 1)

Fragment: A Mistake

It is a mistake to suppose that those most profoundly taught are necessarily the hardest to understand.

W. Kelly

Fragment: A Self-Challenge

I would ask myself more and more whether fellowship with the mind of Christ characterizes my life my ways.

G. V. Wigram

Fragment: "Abba, Father"

Angels cannot say, “Abba Father”; it marks, to the Father’s mind, our association with the Son of His love.

G. V. Wigram

Fragment: Absolute Dependence

The whole thing for us is to get to absolute dependence on infallible faithfulness, on unwearied love to carry us through.

J. N. Darby

Fragment: Consider the Woman

Consider the woman in the city who was a sinner. Christ is revealed to her, and she feels the horribleness of her sins, but she goes to Christ and touches Him. The love of Christ has got into her. If she cannot show her face to a decent person, she can show herself to One who was the manifestation of the divine.

J. N. Darby

Fragment: David and Solomon

“I have been struck by seeing how much more interesting David is than Solomon. If the latter shows us more fully the time of blessing and peace under the reign of Jesus, the former presents to us the Person, the afflictions, the sufferings and the heart of Jesus, and to us this is worth all the rest.”

J. N. Darby

Fragment: Do Not Talk to Me

Do not talk to me of what I have, but what Christ is and what Christ has. My soul must enjoy the love that has given it all. The love that has saved is more than the things given. It is of importance to the saints to feel this in the presence of God. It is not mental power, but the heart right—a single eye—that is the great thing; and unless the soul gets its intelligence directly from God, it never understands the ways and affections of God. His own affections must be known and valued. If I have not got my place in the affections of my Father, I am not in a position to have the communion of His thoughts and purposes.

J. N. Darby

Fragment: Doing God's Will

If you never thought of doing anything unless it was God’s will that you should do it, how three-fourths of your life would disappear! He is a bad shepherd who holds the hay too high for the sheep.

Words of Truth, Vol. 5

Fragment: Easier to Trust

It is easier to trust the Lord for eternity than it is for tomorrow, because we realize eternity is in His hands, but we think tomorrow is in ours.

From Fifty Years of Gleaning

Fragment: Even Perishing and Surrounded by Destruction

Your body may be perishing and all about you be broken up. Well, never mind; you can say, “Eternal life is mine.” Say it to yourself again and again, and walk in the power of it.

From Gleanings, G. V. Wigram

Fragment: Every Movement Towards the Lord

It is a great comfort to know that every movement of our hearts towards the Lord originates with Himself.

Fragment: Fellow-Possession

The world is selfish. The flesh, the passions, the desires of the mind, seek their own gratification. But, if I walk in the light, self has no place there. I can enjoy the light and all I see in it with another, and there is no jealousy. If another possess a carnal thing, I do not have it. In the light, we have fellow-possession of that which God gives, and we enjoy it the more by enjoying it together.

If our souls go on with God, sweet is the assurance that we are washed in the blood of Christ and belong to God, yet the uppermost thought, in the long run, will be Himself. We shall come back to His person. With it we shall in our praises weave what He has done, suffered and won for us, but the first of all thoughts in our souls is, and the first of all thoughts in heaven is, not what we have gained, but what He has been for us and what He is to us, yea what He is in Himself.

Bible Treasury, Vol. 78

Fragment: Few, yet He Is Present

“We are only five here (only three at the evening meetings), but He is in the midst—how encouraging.”

From a letter written by a dear brother, 97 years of age, who is still faithfully going on and encouraged in the Lord.

Fragment: For the Father, the Sinner and Himself

“Our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Gal. 1:3-5).

It has been a blessing to my soul to connect these verses with Ephesians 5:2 and Titus 2:14. In Galatians 1 His giving Himself for us is to meet the need of the sinner’s heart. In Ephesians 5— “Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor” He gives Himself to meet the need of the Father’s heart. In Titus 2 “Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” He gives Himself to meet the need of His own heart. What blessings are ours that He should want us peculiarly for Himself!

E. Tonn

Fragment: Forget All but Jesus

It is well to be done with ourselves and to be taken up with Jesus. We are entitled to forget ourselves, we are entitled to forget our sins, we are entitled to forget all but Jesus.

J. N. Darby

Fragment: Formation of Character

It is never right to separate doctrine from practice. The revelation of Christ claims to have as much to do with the formation of our character and the regulation of our affections as it has to do with the saving of our soul.

From Fifty Years of Gleaning

Fragment: Gathered

The Holy Spirit does not gather saints around mere views (true though they be). He gathers to Christ.

Fragment: How Could the Lord?

A brother who recently began to study the book of Jeremiah carefully said, “When I first read Jeremiah I wondered, How could the Lord treat His people like that? But after thinking more about it, I wondered, How could His people treat the Lord like that?”

Fragment: If Christians

If Christians ever meet to do or say what they cannot engage in doing or saying in the name of Christ, it were better for them not to meet at all, for the Scripture says, “Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Things New & Old

Fragment: In the Presence of the World

Since Christ appears in the presence of God for us, we are to appear in the presence of the world for Christ. If He dwells in you, then let us see Him in you.

J. N. Darby

Fragment: Labors of Love

There is a danger of being disheartened in these labors of love. There are many difficulties and many disappointments, and there is no man who may not sometimes need a word from God to keep up his courage and his confidence in the Lord so that the springs of his love may flow fresh and strong.

W. Kelly (from Epistles of John)

Fragment: Let God Tell Us

We, as believers, often seem more inclined to tell God what we are in ourselves than to allow Him to tell us what we are in Christ.

Fragment: No Amusement Is Innocent

No amusement is innocent which takes away the soul from Jesus, or does what it can to take it away. To breathe in the atmosphere of the world is one thing; to breathe it is a thing quite different. Breathe in that element I must, else I should not be in the world; but breathe it, oh! that I never may, else I should be of the world. Faith looks back at the cross and is at peace; it looks forward and pants for glory.

Things New & Old

Fragment: One Thing to Remember

There is one thing to remember: Even if you are saved and born again, you still have the old nature within you. And this world is organized with a view of enticing that old nature.

J. L. Erisman

Fragment: Past Failure

Past failure no matter by whom is not an excuse for present disobedience no matter what. Past failure never justifies present disobedience. God does not, will not and cannot lower His standards to accommodate our whims and reasonings.

Fragment: Perfect Grace in Christ

Peter was bold enough in the flesh to enter temptation. But it is impossible for man to stand where it is a question of good and evil. He is a sinner and cannot go through that trial. If God judges, flesh comes to nothing. There is the weakness of human nature, but, besides, Satan’s title and power over man, who had brought out his own condition in God’s presence and come under death as the judgment of God. I may have learned in grace that the flesh is thus profitless, but it must be learned by contact with the enemy if not with God. For Simon, the Lord prayed that his faith should not fail; all his self-confidence must perish. Nor did he distrust Christ like Judas who had no faith. What enabled him afterward to strengthen his brethren? He discovered that there is perfect grace in Christ even when he did worst.

J. N. Darby

Fragment: Perfectly Satisfied

Jacob said, “The God which fed me [shepherded, JND] me all my life long unto this day” (Gen. 48:15). Just recently I’ve connected that with what John says about the fathers: “Ye have known Him that is from the beginning.” Here I am nearly 85 years old, and looking back I can see it was this same One who led me into a path unknown to me even He was scarcely known to me. Yet day by day, year by year, little by little, He led me till now I say, “There is none beside Thee.” My heart, being perfectly satisfied, says as David did three times, “My heart is fixed” (Psa. 57:7; 108:1).

He alone is able to fill and satisfy our hearts in our pathway here. Then the glorious end of the journey is to be fully like Him in the Father’s house above. Paul counted “all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” May we too find our all in all in Him.

Fragment: Plucking Yourself Out of Christ's Hand

People say they can pluck themselves out of Christ’s hand; then I say, “Very well, let them,” but they can never perish if they do.

J. N. Darby

Fragment: Self-Will

When self-will is allowed in the believer’s life, self-indulgence follows.

N. B.

Fragment: Spirit and Temper

A defender of the truth needs to watch his spirit and temper. “Renew a right spirit within me” (Psa. 51:10).

Fragment: The Beauty of Christ

When one gets to see the beauty of Christ, how the heart owns it as something altogether matchless. Now on God’s throne in human form, He could not but be set forth in heaven and earth as the most divinely beautiful of all beautiful objects.

G. V. Wigram

Fragment: The Man of Sorrows

The genealogy in Luke 3:23-38 quite falls in with the thought that God is showing grace in man and to man. Jesus, the beloved Son of God, is traced up to Adam and to God. Jesus is Son of Man; He is Heir in this sense. He takes up the inheritance God gave to man. Oh what a truth! Where could one’s heart turn for rest if it had not Jesus to rest in? With Him let heaven and earth be turned upside down, and still I have a rest. What blessedness for the heart to have the object God Himself is occupied with! May our hearts also be more and more occupied with Him!

J. N. Darby

Fragment: The Obedient Servant

The word “servant” is as inseparably linked with obedience as “work” is with workman. A servant must move when called. The proper language of a servant is, “Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth.” The word of our Lord and the attentive ear of a true servant are all that is needed to carry us safely and happily onward.

Words of Truth, Vol. 1

Fragment: The Utmost Importance - Truth - Obedience

It is of the utmost importance that my inner life be kept up to the level of my outward activity. If not, I’m close to a spiritual fall.

Truth is what God thinks about everything. Religions are man’s thoughts about God and everything.

Obedience doesn’t require understanding... but it does require confidence in God.

From Fifty Years of Gleaning

Fragment: To Gain Liberty, Joy, Blessing, and Clearness of Truth

No man can ever get into liberty, joy, blessing and clearness of truth unless he is acting on what he knows.

W. Kelly

Fragment: Today's Emphasis

Today’s emphasis on self-esteem is devil-driven. He uses “the lust of the eyes” and “the lust of the flesh” as well as “the pride of life.” There is an attitude of “I am somebody” which excludes God’s will from man’s ways. It is the basis for man saying to God, “I will not bow to your curse I will get around it by technology.”

T. Kever

Fragment: True Humility

I do not believe that to think badly of ourselves is true humility. True humility is never to think of ourselves at all and that is so hard to come to. It is constantly, I, I, I. If you only begin a sentence with I, there is nothing that a person will not put after it.

Things New and Old

Fragment: True Love for the Brethren

It is only as the heart is fresh in communion with the Father and with the Lord Jesus Christ that there is real love to the brethren. The children of a family are not found together because they were born of one father and mother. If the tender mother and the beloved father be gone, the power that kept them together is gone from among them. So, with regard to fellowship with the Father and the Son, if that be not maintained with all freshness, love to the brethren fails.

G. V. Wigram

Fragment: Walk in It or Lose It

If we do not walk in the truth, we shall soon lose it. May the Lord keep our souls in the enjoyment of His love. This alone will keep the world out.

G. Hayhoe

Fragments: Come Unto Me

“If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.... Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” You drink for yourself; you thirst for yourself. Thus it is that rivers flow from us for others.

Christ must be all to us or we shall soon be discouraged.

He has purchased us too dearly to give us up.

Our hearts are too big for the world it cannot fill them; they are too little for Christ, for He fills heaven, yet will He fill you to overflowing.

J. N. Darby (from Pilgrim Portions)

Fragments: Fifty Years of Gleaning

Here are some gleanings by a brother over the past fifty years of his life.

“An assembly gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ has His presence for competency and the Spirit’s presence for power.”

“Faith looks like pride to those who don’t have it.”

“He is above for me. Am I down here for Him?”

“We are not to rejoice so much in the deliverances when they come as with the One who delivers us.”

“The poor thief bore the fruit of his sins from man, but the Lord of glory at his side was bearing the fruit of them from God.”

“To attempt to use the Word of God without the teaching of the Spirit brings me into rationalism. To presume to have the Spirit of God without the Word leads me into fanaticism.”

“If it is a question of weakness or infirmity, Jesus comforts us. But never does He pity the flesh.”

“Holiness without love produces harshness. Love without holiness produces compromise.”

“The higher the privilege, the fiercer the conflict.”

Fragments: He Has Treasures

Now we’re learning that He has treasures of grace for our needs. In the coming world we’ll learn His treasures of glory for our joy.

The law demands strength from one who has none and curses him for his failure. The gospel gives strength to one who has none and blesses him for using it.

A Bible which is coming apart is usually owned by a person who has (“come apart” from the world, that is Ed.)!

Often the soul, by seeking joy, cannot get it; this would not purify and bless it. To bless, God must purify. When emptied of self, and seeking God, we find joy.

From Fifty Years of Gleaning

The Friend That Never Changes

We are often frustrated and disappointed as we see the constant change in this world. People hardly know what to do because jobs are uncertain, friends are uncertain, banks fail, weather patterns change it just seems that we are constantly reminded of changes. But isn’t it very precious that we can be occupied with a Friend who is altogether lovely? There is nothing that we would ever want to alter about this Friend, because He is perfect in everything in love, in grace and in faithfulness.

That is what is pictured in the meal offering when it speaks about fine flour. When we think of natural friends, we usually think of one virtue that stands out that person is very generous or very thoughtful one thing in which they excel. But we have a Friend who equally excels in everything-love, grace and even in correction if it is needed. He knows exactly what we need and ministers that correction to us.

When we see this world so constantly in the process of change, how precious it is to read in Hebrews 1, “But Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.” Whether we are a child, a young person or an adult, we can have this same Friend. He understands your childhood. Even in the millennial Jerusalem we read of the streets of that city being full of boys and girls playing. We don’t always understand what goes through a child’s mind, but isn’t it lovely to know that the Lord Jesus understands even a child?

As we grow older we change we have new desires and we want certain things. Isn’t it blessed to know that this Friend is One who understands? He watched your body and mine before they ever entered into this scene (Psa. 139:16). You don’t have any other friend like the Lord Jesus who knows all your physical and emotional makeup and who understands you perfectly. But He is not One who changes like earthly friends do. “I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” We are changing all the time. But this Friend, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, loves us just the same.

G. Hayhoe (from a 1985 talk)

He Is Precious

“Unto you therefore which believe...” “What is thy beloved more than another beloved?... My beloved is... the chiefest among ten thousand.”

“His visage was so marred... more than the sons of men.”

“His head is as the most fine gold.”

“The soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on His head.” “His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters.”

“And when they had blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face.” “His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers.”

“I gave... My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” “His mouth is most sweet.”

“They filled a sponge with vinegar... and put it to His mouth.” “Yea, He is altogether lovely.”

“When we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.” “This is my beloved, and this is my friend.”

... He is precious.”

(Song of Sol. 5:9-16; Isa. 52:14; John 19:2; Luke 22:64; Isa. 50:6; John 19:29; Isa. 53:2; 1 Peter 2:7.)

E. Short

His Table

“Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies” (Psa. 23:5).

“Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?” (Psa. 78:19).

What a remarkable contrast between David’s enjoyment of God’s rich provision for faith and the Israelites’ refusal to believe in the goodness of God’s unlimited supply. To faith, no wilderness circumstance, however adverse, can hinder the flood of God’s abundance. Nature, counting the trials encountered in the wilderness as giants, cannot appreciate that God and His infinite provision are far greater than all the needs that may be met.

Did Israel lack anything in the wilderness? Their wicked complaining did not deter Jehovah from graciously providing for them. Marah proved that He was able to make the bitter sweet while Rephidim proved that He was the sole source of refreshment in the desert. When they longed for the “fleshpots” of the world, He gave them sweet and pure bread from heaven. Yet, after all that, even the bounty of Eschol’s grapes could not penetrate the blindness of their unbelief. Throughout the desert journey, no matter what testimony they were given, they would not believe that God could “furnish a table in the wilderness.”

Does not all this have its seasonable application today, especially as regards the assembly? Surely it does. Faith hears the divine desire, “This do in remembrance of Me,” and seeks for that table where sweet fellowship with the One who “loved the church, and gave Himself for it” is enjoyed. Enemies may gather as a flood to resist, but in the very presence of such opposition, it is He who prepares a table and faith leads the believer there. Unbelief breathes a kindred spirit with Israel: “Can God furnish a table?” It reasons that such a thing as the Lord’s table can be neither found nor enjoyed in view of all the confusion of the professing Christian testimony.

Let us not, in these last days of the assembly’s history on earth, give in to such unbelief! The Lord has not changed nor has His provision for us. He still has a table for His own. The expression of His heart, “With desire I have desired to eat... with you,” has not changed either. Because we are in the midst of such disorder connected with tables established by man, it would be well to consider various tables mentioned in God’s Word which present principles characterizing the Lord’s table. In doing this, we desire that our faith may be strengthened, and that we will be able to “hold fast till [He] shall come” (Rev. 2:25 JND).

A Table Furnished

“And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof: two tenth deals shall be in one cake. And thou shalt set them in two rows, six on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord” (Lev. 24:56).

The “pure table” of Ex. 25:23-30, described as covered with gold and bordered by a golden crown, teaches us that His table is marked by holiness and dignity. The twelve loaves, representing all Israel, remind us that His table is spread for the enjoyment of all His dear children. The loaves, placed fresh each sabbath “in two rows” on the table, testifies to the orderliness of His table: “God is not the author of confusion.” The frankincense on the “bread of remembrance” (Lev. 24:7 JND) pictures the delight the Lord has in His furnished table. He who delights in the table He has provided may be fully trusted by faith to lead the seeking one to that blessed place.

A Table of Forgiveness

“And David said unto him, Fear not: for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father’s sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually” (2 Sam. 9:7).

David’s table, to which Mephibosheth was brought, portrays the riches of the marvelous grace of God which dispels all fear from those who gather in His blessed presence. We are reminded that it is because of another that we enjoy this divine kindness. And in all of this, our hearts are assured by divine love that we need never search for another table at which to feed. To a believer, however, nothing should be sweeter than having a sense of the delight the Lord Jesus has in finding His own “continually” enjoying fellowship at the King’s table.

A Table of Fullness

“And those officers provided victuals for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon’s table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing” (1 Kings 4:27).

What glorious administration is seen in Solomon’s table. Those who were appointed to provide the food of his table were responsible to see that the provision was varied in each month and suitable for all who gathered there. What wisdom these officers displayed in the “victuals” they provided for Solomon’s table! It pictures to us the Spirit of God, who in perfect, divine wisdom never allows the Lord’s table to be supplied with less than a full and seasonable feast. At one time we may feed on the Lamb of God, at another on the Man of Sorrows, while yet another presents the Eternal Son sent by the Father from the divine bosom of fellowship and love. But all this provision is the special responsibility of the Spirit, who ever brings His varied store in its seasonable time for the enjoyment of those who gather at the Lord’s table. Solomon’s table, in all its glory and richness, was never clothed with such wise and wondrous supply as may be found, provided by the Spirit, at the Lord’s table!

A Table of Fatness

“And when the queen of Sheba saw... the food of his table... there was no more spirit in her” (1 Kings 10:4-5 JND).

What a sight the food of Solomon’s table must have been to the eye of the queen. She, so used to the grandeur and provision of her own royal table, looked upon such a richness as she had never known in Ethopia’s palaces. That fatness caused such a humbling of her heart that “there was no more spirit in her.” How good for believers, in danger of being satisfied with the religious works, carnal order and vainglory of humanly arranged tables, to view the divine fatness of the Lord’s table. How foolish that man should aspire to provide the richness of provision which the Spirit of God alone can give! But believers are called to do more than view His wonderful table: it is their blessed privilege to partake of its fatness, invited there by the divine Provider.

A Table of Freedom

“And that which was prepared daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days all sorts of wine in abundance. Yet for all this I demanded not the bread of the governor; for the service was heavy upon this people” (Neh. 5:18 JND).

In comparison to the provision of Solomon’s table, Nehemiah’s may seem quite modest. But it was a “day of small things,” a day of remnant recovery, and thus his table was exactly suited to the present condition of God’s dear people. The remnant were poor, oppressed and unable to provide for the governor as they ought. Nehemiah does not demand from them that which was his by right to expect. Instead, freeing them from all obligation, he provides of his own bounty for those who sat at his table. Today, in the midst of such great weakness and failure, we may surely feel how far short we come in voluntarily offering to the Lord that of which He is so worthy, but our blessed Jesus does not require it. Rather, He freely gives to those gathered at His table the infinite, boundless riches of His divine storehouse. The darkness of the day only serves to give a more glorious display of the free riches of His table.

A Table Finished

“Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: she hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table” (Prov. 9:12).

Here we find a table so perfectly complete that there is nothing which man can add. The Lord’s table has been perfectly set, we may say, in divine wisdom, and all that remains is that the simple (see vss. 4-5) accept the invitation to sit and enjoy its bounty. We may notice, too, the perfect moral order used by Wisdom in preparing the table: (1) The table is established and protected in the “house”; (2) the place and the table are perfectly supported and sustained by “seven pillars”; (3) the table contains the meat that strengthens; (4) joy is found there; and, (5) all is finished; nothing more is to be done. Wisdom sends forth her invitation from “the highest places of the city.” May the heart of each child of God respond to that sweet and earnest appeal.

A Table of Fragrance

“While the king is at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth its fragrance” (Song of Sol. 1:12 JND).

How fitting that our meditation should end with this table. In all the previous tables we have considered, the one who owns it, being the source of its provision, provides the character of that table. Here, the owner of the table is the king, but the one who is the guest adds to its character, not only by what she is or does, but also by her presence there. May our hearts be deeply touched as we consider what it means to the heart of the Lord Jesus to have His beloved, blood-bought bride sitting in His presence that He might delight in the fragrance of her presence.

Let us, in closing, remark that in each of the examples presented we find a single table. The priests who served the tabernacle were not required to make a decision as to which table was to receive the twelve loaves. Mephibosheth did not have to choose which table was David’s, for he heard him say, “At my table.” The fullness, wisdom and richness of Solomon’s provisions were not displayed at multiple tables, nor could the free provision of Nehemiah’s table be found elsewhere. In like manner, there was but one perfectly completed table to which Wisdom invited her guests, and it was only at the King’s table that the bride sent forth the fragrance of her presence. Let us, then, not waver in the face of unbelief, confusion or conflict! The Lord has provided a table, His table, where He has made full and divinely-perfect provision for all of His own. He has made known to us the desire of His heart that we meet there in order that we answer to His blessed request, “This do in remembrance of Me.” Shall we not, then, in faith and obedience, avail ourselves of this wonderful place and, enjoying His presence, find our hearts fully satisfied?

“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). “Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine” (John 21:12). “The Lord’s table” (1 Cor. 10:21). “If any man will do His will, he shall know” (John 7:17).

D. Nicolet

"I Will Carry You"

“And even to your old age I am He; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you” (Isa. 46:4).

“E’en to hoar hairs will I carry,”

Precious promise, Lord, to me!

Need I then, Lord, seek my welfare

From another source than Thee?

Nay, O Lord, I’d trust Thy promise,

Spirit, soul and body rest;

Sure that Thou dost know the future,

And for me Thy path is best.

“I have made and I will bear thee,”

All to Thee, my Lord, I owe;

Keep Thy servant then, Lord Jesus,

Lest away from Thee I go.

Should the dark hairs turn to silver,

Ere this scene I’m called to leave,

Give me faith to trust Thee, Saviour,

And to Thee in weakness cleave.

H. Short

“O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him” (Psalm 34:8).

"In Remembrance of Me"

There is something very touching in the plea which our Lord puts before us in 1 Corinthians 11:25. He makes the appeal to us to do it “in remembrance of Me.” It is a commemorative act one which shows that our hearts have personal affection to Himself.

The sweetest part is that you and I should be in the wilderness to remember Jesus to sympathize with Him in His sufferings and death! He can look on us poor sinners—yet saved ones—and say to His Father, “There are a few gathered in My name remembering Me.” And that is joy and refreshment to His heart.

It is bearing affection to Him. Personal remembrance to Him is the sweet thought and assurance not mere doctrinal knowledge. Often we find much personal love to the Lord when there is very little clear understanding of truth.

Adapted from The Girdle of Truth, 1863

Last Month's Bible Challenger Answers: 1996 - (l)

1. D evoureth 2 Sam. 11:25

2. I have sinned Num. 22:34

3. S uffer Mark 10:14

4. P rayed unto the Lord 1 Sam. 8:6

5. L abored Dan. 6:14

6. E at 1 Kings 21:4

7. A scribed unto David 1 Sam. 18:8

8. S on of David Matt. 21:15

9. E phraim’s head Gen. 48:17

10. D esired peace Acts 12:20

“O God, Thou hast cast us off, Thou hast scattered us, Thou hast been DISPLEASED; O turn Thyself to us again” (Psa. 60:1).

Last Month's Bible Challenger Answers: 1997 - (a)

1. G ladness Psa. 97:11

2. O il olive Lev. 24:2

3. S imple Psa. 119:130

4. P rison Acts 12:7

5. E ye Matt. 6:22

6. L ife Prov. 6:23

“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious GOSPEL of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Cor. 4:4).

Last Month's Bible Challenger Answers: 1997 - (b)

1. P recious fruit James 5:7

2. E xperience Rom. 5:4

3. R ace Heb. 12:1

4. F ainted Rev. 2:3

5. E ndure 2 Thess. 1:4

6. C omfort Rom. 15:4

7. T ribulations Rom. 5:3

8. W onders 2 Cor. 12:12

9. O man of God 1 Tim. 6:11

10. R eceive the promise Heb. 10:36

11. K nowledge 2 Peter 1:6

“But let patience have her PERFECT WORK, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (James 1:4).

Last Month's Bible Challenger Answers: 1997 - (c)

1. T hree days Ex. 10:22

2. R ulers of the darkness Eph. 6:12

3. E vil Matt. 6:23

4. A ngels 2 Pet. 2:4

5. S un Acts 2:20

6. U prightness Prov. 2:13

7. R oyal 1 Peter 2:9

8. E very man 1 Cor. 4:5

9. S ecret Dan. 2:22

“And I will give thee the TREASURES of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel” (Isaiah 45:3).

Last Month's Bible Challenger Answers: 1997 - (d)

1. F earful thing Heb. 10:31

2. O rdinances Col. 2:20

3. U ncertain riches 1 Tim. 6:17

4. N ext kinsmen Ruth 2:20

5. T remble and fear Dan. 6:26

6. A rk Gen. 7:23

7. I dols 2 Cor. 6:16

8. N ostrils Gen. 2:7

“For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the FOUNTAIN of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

Last Month's Bible Challenger Answers: 1997 - (e)

1. H ouse 1 Sam. 23:18

2. U ncircumcised lips Ex. 6:30

3. M anna Ex. 16:33

4. B ook 1 Sam. 10:25

5. L ots Josh. 18:6

6. E arthquake 1 Kings 19:11

7. D rink 1 Sam. 1:15

8. T ruth 2 Chron. 31:20

9. H eaven and earth 2 Kings 19:15

10. Y oung men 1 Sam. 2:17

11. S capegoat Lev. 16:10

12. E phod Ex. 28:12

13. L and of the living Psa. 116:9

14. F ire Num. 3:4

“Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast HUMBLED THYSELF before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord” (2 Kings 22:19).

Last Month's Bible Challenger Answers: 1997 - (f)

1. A penny Matt. 20:9

2. L amb Ex. 12:3

3. L iar Rom. 3:4

4. W atch Mark 13:34

5. I mage Dan. 3:10

6. S tone Josh. 4:5

7. D eath Heb. 2:9

8. O ne Matt. 25:15

9. M oney Gen. 42:35

“Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in ALL WISDOM; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:28).

Last Month's Bible Challenger Answers: 1997 - (g)

1. P ublisheth Isa. 52:7

2. O bey Heb. 5:9

3. W ise 2 Tim. 3:15

4. E verlasting Isa. 45:17

5. R ock Psa. 95:1

6. O btain 1 Thess. 5:9

7. F ear ye not Ex. 14:13

8. G reat 1 Sam. 19:5

9. O f the Jews John 4:22

10. D iligently 1 Peter 1:10

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the POWER OF GOD unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16).

Last Month's Bible Challenger Answers: 1997 - (h)

1. M eet together Neh. 6:2

2. I maginations Prov. 6:18

3. S orrow to the grave Gen. 42:38

4. C ontinually Psa. 52:1

5. H and Psa. 26:10

6. I denied him not 1 Kings 20:7

7. E nemy of all righteousness Acts 13:10

8. F ence Psa. 62:3

“None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive MISCHIEF, and bring forth iniquity” (Isa. 59:4).

Last Month's Bible Challenger Answers: 1997 - (i)

1. K ing of the Jews John 19:19

2. I mmortality 1 Cor. 15:54

3. N ew man Eph. 4:24

4. D evil Eph. 6:11

5. N ight Rom. 13:12

6. E at Matt. 6:25

7. S hoes Luke 15:22

8. S ackcloth with ashes Esther 4:1

“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, KINDNESS, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering” (Col. 3:12).

Last Month's Bible Challenger Answers: 1997 - (j)

1. G rief Job 2:13

2. L ooked Mark 16:4

3. A bsalom 2 Sam. 18:17

4. D ivers kinds of spices 2 Chron. 16:14

5. N evertheless Num. 13:28

6. E gypt Ex. 11:3

7. S tones 1 Kings 10:2

8. S ustenance 2 Sam. 19:32

“And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great GLADNESS” (Neh. 8:17).

Last Month's Bible Challenger Answers: 1997 - (k)

1. O ccupy till I come Luke 19:13

2. F our quaternions Acts 12:4

3. F reely Rom. 8:32

4. E arnestly Jude 3

5. N ewness of spirit Rom. 7:6

6. C ontent the people Mark 15:15

7. E arth Dan. 6:27

8. S eed of the righteous Prov. 11:21

“Who was delivered for our Offenses, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25).

Like Christ

“We are going to be like Christ eternally, but the effect of knowing this is that we each should purify ourselves even as He is pure. It is wonderful to think of there being something down here which is in harmony with heaven, and with our Lord as Man, who is there. We are fitted through grace to be with Him up there, but we also become by the Word of God morally suitable to Him down here.”

“How important is our position to stand for, hold, speak and practice the whole truth of God; to be Christ-like in our lives. This surely keeps us humble and dependent on the Lord.”

“May God teach us to take up our cross and follow Him who alone is worthy to be followed. Some would let go the truth, because it is difficult to reconcile it with [love]. Hold it fast: we are sanctified by the truth. Christ Himself is the truth. Grace is sufficient for us.”

Living Faith

Lord, teach me how to trust in Thee,

And how less unbelieving be;

To place on Thine unerring care

Those most I love, and leave them there.

For faith is not a mere belief

That Thou canst aid in bitter grief;

Oh!’tis far greater blessings, Lord,

Are promised in Thy gracious Word.

’Tis grasping Thee, when all are gone,

’Tis viewing Thee, when quite alone;

’Tis pillowing on Thine unseen arm,

Supported there, and free from harm.

’Tis calm assurance all is well,

Though how, or where, I cannot tell;

’Tis hearkening when no voice I hear,

’Tis smiling, though I weep and fear.

’Tis telling Thee my every thought,

’Tis finding all I’ve ever sought;

’Tis treading on through life’s lone walk

In sweet companionship and talk.

’Tis hurrying to a glorious end,

’Tis pressing towards my bosom Friend;

’Tis meeting Him: come, Jesus, come;

’Tis folding tent, and reaching home!

Jesus said: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

A Living Reality

“Lord Jesus, make Thyself to me,

A living bright reality;

More present to faith’s vision keen

Than any outward object seen;

More dear, more intimately nigh

Than e’en the sweetest earthly tie.”

Looking Unto Jesus

“Looking unto Jesus” (Heb. 12:2). Only three words, but in those three words is the whole secret of life.

T. Monod

The Love of Jesus

The love that Jesus had for me,

To suffer on the cruel tree,

That I, a ransomed soul might be,

Is more than tongue can tell!

The bitter sorrow that He bore,

And, oh, the crown of thorns He wore,

That I might live forevermore,

Is more than tongue can tell!

The peace I have in Him, my Lord,

Who pleads before the throne of God;

The merit of His precious blood,

Is more than tongue can tell!

The joy that comes when He is near,

The rest He gives, so free from fear,

The hope in Him, so bright and clear,

Is more than tongue can tell!

Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6).

Christ, a Perfect Saviour

The Lowly Path

How one does long to know more of the lowly path. “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” What a difference between the two attitudes of lowliness and pride! God must resist the proud, but when man takes his true place lowly and humbled before God He has nothing to resist; every barrier is removed, and the full tide of divine goodness can flow into the lowly heart.

God can dwell with a lowly heart. There may be great weakness, great poverty, nothing attractive, but God can dwell there, and that is enough. It is vital to discover what God can go along with. He certainly cannot go on with pride, presumption or haughty self-importance. Whenever you see these things in a man, you may be quite sure God is not dwelling with him.

We are not speaking here of salvation, but of the precious privilege of having God make His abode with the individual believer. It is this which provides the moral security of a lowly path. Oh! that we believers may know it in reality in this day of human arrogance!

Adapted from Things New & Old, 1863

Ministry in the Assembly

In 1 Corinthians 12-14 we have three most important points in connection with the subject of ministry in the assembly of God.

Chapter 12

In this chapter we have the only divine basis of ministry, namely, membership in the body, according to the will of God. “But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him” (vs. 18). This is the grand principle: “God hath set... as it hath pleased Him.” It is not a man setting himself or one man setting up another in any way. Such a thing finds no place in this divine treatise on ministry. “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all” (vss. 4-6). The holy Trinity is here presented in connection with ministry. It is the gift of the Spirit, administered under the Lordship of the Son and rendered effectual by the Father. These three things are absolutely essential to all effectual ministry.

Chapter 13

In this chapter we have the motive spring of ministry, which is “love” (agape). A man may possess the most brilliant gift, but if it be not exercised in love if love be not the spring which sets it in motion it will profit nothing. One rising in the assembly to display his power of speaking with tongues, his gift of prophecy, his understanding of mysteries, his knowledge of doctrine or power of eloquence will not do one bit of good to the assembly or its individual members because love was not the motive of his service. This ought to search the hearts of all who engage in any ministry. The minister should ever try himself with this question: “Is it love that sets me in motion?”

Chapter 14

Finally we have the object or result of ministry, namely, “edification.” This is the end of all ministry. The Apostle “would rather speak five words” with this end in view, “than ten thousand” for self-display. “That the assembly may receive edification” is the special point pressed throughout this entire chapter. It is this object which love will ever seek to gain, let the gift be what it may. Love has no object but the good of others. It is obvious that no one could receive any profit from an unknown tongue unless there were an interpreter present. The same holds good with respect to an “unheard” tongue. If I cannot hear what a man says, in prayer or teaching, I am as little edified as though I could not understand his tongue.

Let us remember these three things: the basis, motive spring and end of true ministry. May we ponder them deeply, seek to understand them thoroughly and carry them out practically, to the glory of God and the good of His assembly.

Things New and Old

The New Age Movement

“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9).

The subject of the New Age Movement is a lengthy one. I could not possibly cover all the details of this modern-day apostasy. By God’s grace, I’ll attempt to give what I believe are the main features of this awful system. It is interesting that the elite of society are the ones who often seem to fall away so quickly to this modern “tripe” of Satan. What a commentary on our day! Certainly the heart of man has not changed. One among us has coined the phrase so well, “The devil is the greatest salesman of antiques this world has ever seen.” It is called “New Age,” but beyond question it has been around since the fall of man. The New Age Movement is nothing more than Americanized Hinduism. Other things may be added to it, but basically this term best describes this “doctrines of devils” (1 Tim. 4:1).

The main features of this heresy are:

1. The theory of evolution: the universe is evolving and man with it.

2. Pantheism: the universe is God.

3. Channeling: contact with the unseen world through spirit guides, crystals and other mediums.

4. Self-realization: getting in contact with one’s “real self” or “higher self.”

5. Reincarnation: the belief that after death we live again in another life form.

6. The law of karma: the law that determines, upon your behavior in this life, where you will be placed in your next life.

Let us now examine these six points and test them by the Word of God “the holy Scriptures, which are able to make [us] wise unto salvation” (2 Tim. 3:15).

The Theory of Evolution

“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Heb. 11:3).

“For by Him [our Lord Jesus Christ] were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him” (Col. 1:16).

To “create” means to bring into existence out of nothing. Only the God of the universe possesses this power. The order of the universe must also be maintained. “And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist [subsist]” (Col. 1:17). This means all things are held together by Him.

Pantheism

“Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen” (Rom. 1:25).

“Now to the King of the ages, the incorruptible, invisible, only God, honor and glory to the ages of ages. Amen” (1 Tim. 1:17 JND).

“But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in [or, by] Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him” (1 Cor. 8:6).

These verses plainly show that the God of the Bible is superior to time, space and matter. The universe was created. The Creator always was!

Channeling

“There shall not be found among you anyone that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer [one who makes contact with the dead]. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations [despicable practices] the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God” (Deut. 18:10-13; see also Rev. 9:20-21).

The scriptures which we have just read strictly forbid these wicked and soul-destroying practices.

Self-Realization

“These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver. Whoso offereth praise glorifieth Me: and to him that ordereth his conversation [manner of life] aright will I show the salvation of God” (Psa. 50:21-23; see also Isa. 55:7,11).

“I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing” (Rom. 7:18).

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9).

As believers we are to reckon ourselves dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Blessed be His wondrous name! None of self and all of Thee, Lord Jesus!

Reincarnation

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many: and unto them that look for Him [who is our life] shall He appear the second time without sin [having nothing more to do with it] unto salvation” (Heb. 9:27-28).

“But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death [separation from God spirit, soul and body] hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years” (Rev. 20:5-6).

How solemn is God’s estimation of such wicked, foolish reasonings of the unregenerate heart of man: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind” (Rom. 1:28)!

The Law of Karma

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.... For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom. 8:12).

“For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29).

Please read the remaining verses in this precious chapter it is the divine, revealed mind of God for man!

Though much more could be written, we believe that these passages from the Word of God are sufficient to show that the whole foundation of the New Age Movement is bad. And if it is bad, the whole structure is bad. How wonderful to rest our souls on the matchless love, grace and truth of God revealed in our blessed Lord Jesus Christ.

E. Wilson

Now I See

I could see, but ne’er again

Shall I behold the verdant plain,

Jeweled with flowers of colors bright,

Bathed in a flood of golden light.

The birds, the brilliant butterflies,

These all in thought before me rise;

The shining rivulet, whose song

Comes sweetly murmuring along;

The sky, the clouds, the grass, the trees,

All waving, glancing in the breeze –

I see them pictured in my mind,

But there alone, for I am blind.

Blind, did I say? How can that be,

Since I, by faith, my Saviour see

Exalted on the throne above,

Beaming with mercy, grace and love?

A view like this is better far

Than sun, or moon, or glittering star,

Or glowing landscape, sunny skies,

Or sight so fair to mortal eyes.

I THANK my God that He has put

A veil before mine eyes, and shut

All earthly objects from my sight,

And Christ revealed in glory bright.

Henceforth my word shall ever be –

Once I was blind, but NOW I see.

This poem was written by a man whose body gradually stopped functioning over 18 years, his sight being the last thing to fall to the ravages of disease. The Lord allowed his voice to remain until he went Home.

Things New and Old, Vol. 17

The Opened Heavens: Hebrews (Conclusion)

We may remember that I have observed several distinct lines of thought running through this epistle (Hebrews). In taking leave of it we may consider it and see how these various lines all meet in harmony and give us in result a conclusion infinitely divine. The lines of thought are these:

1. The Spirit is displacing one thing after another to let in Christ.

2. Having brought in Christ, the Spirit holds Him up in the varied glories in which He is now filling the heavens.

3. The Spirit shows how Christ, being brought in, acts on everything to perfect it that whatever a glorified Christ touches He perfects, and among other things He perfects our consciences.

4. Thus, on the ground of my reconciliation as a sinner, I am introduced to a temple of praise.

These four things may be looked at independently, yet it is very blessed to see that they acquire fresh glory when seen in connection with one another. Now I do say there is magnificence in such a divine writing that needs nothing but itself to tell its glory. I am in contact with something that is infinitely the mind of God, with some of the most wondrous discoveries that God can make of Himself to me.

But ere we quit our sweet and happy task we will look a little particularly at these four things. Regarding the first thing, in chapters 1-2 the Spirit displaces angels to let in Christ. In chapters 3-4 He displaces Moses and Joshua. In chapters 5-7 He displaces the whole covenant with which Christ has nothing to do. In chapter 9 He displaces the ordinances of the old sanctuary with its altars and services to let in the altar where Jesus as the Lamb of God lay. One thing after another He takes up and sets aside to make room for Jesus. This is a delightful task to the Spirit. God knows His own delights. If the Spirit can be grieved, He can be delighted too.

Then having brought Christ in, what does He do with Him? He keeps Him in forever. Christ has no successor. When the Spirit has got Him in, He gazes at Him. And what is it to be spiritual? It is to have the mind of the Holy Spirit. Have you ever delighted to get out of the house to make room for Jesus? Indignantly the Spirit talks of the things we have been looking at as “beggarly elements.” Have you ever treated them so? The Spirit sees no successor to Christ. In the counsels of God there is none after Him. Is it so in the counsels and thoughts of our souls?

The second thing is, having kept Him in, He gazes at Him. And what does He see in Him? He sees glory upon glory. In chapter 1 He sees Him seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, as the purger of our sins, and hears a voice saying, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.” He looks in chapter 2 and sees Him as our Apostle talking to us of salvation. Then He finds Him as the owner of an abiding house, as the giver of eternal rest, and sees Him in the sanctuary above, seated there with an oath, and hears Him uttering the salutation, “Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.” In these various ways the Spirit delights in Christ. In chapter 9 He is seen in the heavens as the bestower of the eternal inheritance, having first obtained eternal redemption.

In chapter 10 we see Him seated there in another character, with this voice saluting Him: “Sit Thou on My right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool” (Matt. 22:44). Have you ever in spirit followed Christ up to heaven and heard these voices addressing Him? We want to give personality to the truth. We are terribly apt to deal with it as mere dogma. I dread having it before me as a thing I could intellectually learn. In this epistle it is the person that is kept before you; it is a living one you have to do with. These are heavenly realities. Moses pitched a temple in the wilderness. Solomon pitched a temple in the land; God has pitched a temple in heaven. And oh! how it shows what an interest God has in the sinner when for our priest He has built a sanctuary, and that because He is our priest and about to transact our interest. Then in chapter 12, when He had ascended, He was received and seated in heaven as the author and finisher of faith. We see how the second hangs on the first. The Spirit, having fixed Christ before us, displays Him to us.

The third thing we get in this epistle is perfection. If I get Christ perfect as Saviour, I get myself perfect as saved. If I am not saved, Christ is not a Saviour. I am not speaking now of a feeble mind struggling with legality but of my title, and I have no more doubt that I have a right to look on myself as a saved sinner than that Christ has a right to look on Himself as a perfect Saviour. If I take myself as a sinner to Christ and doubt that I am saved, I must have some doubt of the perfection of His Saviour character. But we have already looked at the epistle as a treatise on perfection. It became God to give me none less than a perfect Saviour. Wondrous! He has linked His glory with the perfection of my conscience before Him. He has condescended to let me know that it became Him. Does it become you to come and serve me in some capacity? You might do it through kindness, but I should not think of saying so. Yet that is the language God uses.

So then, in the third place, we find the epistle a treatise on perfection, but not the perfection of millennial days. Christ will be the repairer of every breach. But the greatest breach of all was in the conscience of the sinner. There is mischief and confusion abroad in creation still. There is mischief abroad in the house of Israel. Christ has not yet set to His hand to repair that. There is a breach in the throne of David. Christ has not yet applied Himself to heal that. But the mightiest breach of all was between you and God. By and by He will turn the groans of creation into the praises of creation, but He began His character as a repairer by applying Himself to repair the breach that separated you from God, and now we have boldness to enter into the holiest.

And then, in the fourth thing, we find in this epistle the Spirit doing nothing less now than building a temple for praise. Is He about to tack up the veil again, which the blood of the Lamb of God has torn in two? Is He going to revive the things that He has indignantly talked of as “beggarly elements”? Unspeakably glorious is this fourth and last thing. The Spirit of God has built a temple for you to praise Him the fruit of your lips giving thanks to His name.

What have we not in this epistle? Though we may look on each line of thought independently, yet they do lend to each other exquisite and increased glory. The Spirit is, as it were, making a whip of small cords and telling all to be gone to make room for Jesus. Of course I know they were willing to go. John the Baptist uttered the voices of them all when he said: “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.” Moses, Aaron, angels all were delighted to be put out of the house for Christ.

These things are combined to serve your soul by introducing you to deeper apprehensions of the Christ of God. What a servant to our souls the Holy Spirit is in this dispensation, as the Lord Jesus was a servant from the manger to Calvary.

I believe we each need individually to be fortified with truth. We do not know how far current errors may be advancing today. If we have not the truth, we may be the sport of Satan tomorrow. I will give you an instance of it. The Galatians were an earnest, excited people (and I do not quarrel with revival excitement); they would have plucked out their eyes for the Apostle, but the day came when he had to start afresh with them from the very beginning. “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.” There was excitement without a foundation of truth, and when mischief came in, the poor Galatians were next door to shipwreck. This epistle is a witness to the same thing. The Hebrew saints were unskillful in the Word. But we must be fortified by truth. A state of quickening wants the strengthening of the truth of God.

And now what shall we say? Oh the depth of the riches! Oh the height of the glory the profoundness of the grace—the wonder of the wonders—God unfolding Himself in such a way that we may well cover our faces, while we trust Him in silence and love Him with the deepest emotions of our souls! But some of us can surely say, “My leanness, my leanness!”

J. G. Bellett (from The Opened Heavens)

The Opened Heavens: Hebrews 1-4

Hebrews 1-2

Hebrews opens the heavens to you as they now are.

How blessed is the introduction of such a thing to the heart! This epistle introduces the inner heavens to you, and not in a physical but in a moral character. It introduces us to the glories surrounding and attaching to the Lord Jesus, now accepted in the heavens. We are thus enabled to see the heavens in which He has sat down, what He is about there, and what will succeed those heavens. When the Lord Jesus was here, as we learn in Matthew 3, the heavens opened to get a sight of Him. There was an object here then worthy of the attention of the heavens. He returned—and the heavens had an object they had never known before a glorified Man. In Matthew 3 we get the heavens opened to look down at Christ here, so in the Hebrews you get the heavens opened that you may look at Christ up there.

“When He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” The Lord has gone up to occupy the heavens as the Purger of our sins. The Holy Spirit comes and shows you the distant heavens He shows you that your interests are consulted there. Our Representative is seated in the highest place and seated there in that very character. Is it possible to have a more intimate link with the place? To think that because He came to die a wretched death for us, He is seated there! I defy you to have a richer interest in the heavens than God has given you.

Now in verse 4 we see that not only as the Purger of our sins, but in the verity of His manhood He is there, seated above the angelic hosts. The whole of Hebrews 1 is thus occupied in giving you two sights of Christ in heaven: the Purger of our sins, and very man, like ourselves, seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

I read the first four verses of chapter 2 as a parenthesis. He is seated there as an Apostle my Apostle. What does that mean? He is a preacher to me. God spake in times past by the prophets. He is speaking to us now in Son, and Christ in the heavens is the Apostle of Christianity. And what is His subject? Salvation.

Then Hebrews 2:5 goes on with the distinctive glories of Christ, as super-eminent, above angels. We have three conditions of the Son of Man here: “A little lower than the angels,” crowned “with glory and honor,” and “set... over the works” of God’s hands, so that the world to come is not put in subjection to angels but to the Son of Man. Now you find that you have an interest in this glorified Man. This epistle shows you that you have a personal interest in these glories.

In chapter 2:10 a new thought comes in: “To make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” It became the glory of God to give you a perfect Saviour. We have an unquestionable, infallible salvation, one that will stand the shock of every coming day.

From verse 11 we further see our interest in the glorified Man. “Both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.” Not ashamed! Tell it out that earth and heaven may hear! This glorified Man is not “ashamed” because of their dignity not merely because of His grace, but because of their personal dignity. “In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee.” Christ raises and leads the song of the redeemed ones, and He is not ashamed to be found in their company!

Then we return to see what He was in humiliation. “He took not on... angels; but he took on... the seed of Abraham.” He left the angels where He found them. They excelled in strength. Man excelled in wickedness, and He came and linked Himself with man. Then chapter 2:17 introduces us to another glory that attaches to Christ in the heavens. We see Him there as our High Priest, ever waiting with reconciliation for sins and succor for sorrows. The epistle teems with divine glories. It is massive in glory and ponderous in the divine thoughts that press into its short space.

Hebrews 3-4

The heaven of Genesis 1 had no glorified Man in it, no Apostle, no High Priest, while every page of Hebrews is fruitful in casting up the glories of the Lord Jesus now in heaven. Hebrews 3-4 look a little sharply at us and tell us to take care now that we are traveling along the road in company with Him. The first thought is that we are to consider Him in His faithfulness. The point of the passage is that I am to consider Him as faithful, for my sake, to God faithful so that I might be saved eternally. If I do not consider Him so, I have more than blunted the point of the passage and lost the sense of grace. The word should be “is faithful” or “being faithful,” not in walking down here but now in heaven. I look up and see Him discharging these offices, faithful to Him that appointed Him. I am to consider Him for my comfort.

We get the Son in the highest heavens, there seated as the Purger of our sins, the Apostle and High Priest of our profession. Could any exhortation be more divine than that which tells me to sit still and look at Him in His faithfulness up there?

In verses 3-4 and onward we get further glories unfolded as contrasted with Moses. The first dispensation is here called a house. It was a servant to serve a coming Christ Moses and the house are identical. All the activities of that dispensation were worth nothing if they did not bear testimony to a coming Christ; therefore it was a servant. When the Lord comes, on the other hand, He comes as Son, to claim that which is His own. Will the house, over which He is set, be faithful to Him?

What is your faithfulness? To continue in confidence and hold the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end, I will take nothing but this all-sufficient Christ. Cling to Him day by day till the wilderness journey be over. Then you are part and parcel of that house over which He presides as Son. He not only presides over it, He claims it as His own a dearer thought. It is quite right to be subject to Him, but He tells you to lie near His heart. If I am lying on His bosom, then I am faithful.

He turns aside to Psalm 95. Psalms 92-99 are a beautiful little millennial volume. It is exhortings and awakenings of the Spirit of faith in Israel, summoning them to look forward to the rest of God.

The wilderness journey of Israel is a beautiful, lively picture of the journey the believer is now taking from the blood to the glory. It assures us that we are out of Egypt and looking towards Canaan. The danger is, not lest the blood should not be on the lintel, but lest we should break down by the way, as thousands did in the wilderness. When he speaks of rest, it is the rest of the kingdom He talks of, not the rest of conscience.

Then he calls the whole age through which we are passing one day “today.” It was a short day to the dying thief and the martyred Stephen. It was a longer day to Paul and still longer to John, but let the wilderness journey be short or long, it is one day, and you are to hold by Christ to the very end.

The Christ of verse 14 is a glorified Christ. You are made partakers of Christ in the kingdom if you hold fast to Christ crucified. Holding to a crucified Christ is my title to the rest of a glorified Christ. Two things contest this sin and unbelief. Shall I give in to sin or unbelief? I may be overtaken, but am I to treat them other than as enemies? Then unbelief is an action of the soul towards God. These two things stand out to withstand our passage from Egypt to Canaan every day.

Chapter 4 still pursues the subject. The Christ of chapter 3:14 is the rest of chapter 4; Christ glorified rest glorious. The exhortation attaches to a people out of Egypt. We have left the blood-sprinkled lintel behind. The glorious Canaan is before us. Take heed lest you come short of it. “Unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them.” It is the gospel, not of the blood of Christ, but of the glory of Christ. It took one form in the ear of the Israelites and it takes another form to us, but to them, as to us, rest was preached.

Then He beautifully falls back on the Sabbath rest of the Creator. Adam disturbed His creation-rest and Israel disturbed His Canaan-rest. Is He, therefore, disappointed in His rest? No; He has found it in Christ. The secret of the whole book of God is God retreating into Christ when man in every way had disappointed Him. It is no longer a fallible thing depending on Adam or on Israel; therefore let us take care that we do not come short of it.

We had two enemies in the end of chapter 3; now we have two uses of Christ in the end of chapter 4. We are to use Him as the Word of God and as the High Priest of our profession. These two uses stand opposed to sin and unbelief. Let the Word of God discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. Invite the entrance of the two-edged sword that makes no allowance for a single bit of sin. And when you have dragged out the enemy—some favorite lust or unsuspected vanity—what are you to do with them? Take them to Christ and let His high-priesthood dispose of them in the mercy and grace that are in it.

J. G. Bellett (from The Opened Heavens)

The Opened Heavens: Hebrews 10:19-39

Beginning with chapter 10:19 we come to another beautiful part of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The general structure of the epistles is that the doctrinal truth comes first and then the moral application of it. Here, in verse 19, we are just entering on the practical application of what has gone before.

Constantly we have been looking up and seeing the full glories of the Lamb. Now we will see that in these “last days” God, who has set Christ on high in the midst of the glories, has set the poor believing sinner down here in the midst of glories.

We do not wait for the kingdom to see glories. Is it no glory for you to have a purged conscience? Is it no glory to be fully entitled to be in the presence of God without a blush? to call God, Father? to have Christ as your Forerunner in heavenly places? to enter into the holiest without a quiver of conscience? to be introduced into the secrets of God? If we can lift up our heart and say, “Abba, Father”; if we can lift up our heart and say, “Who shall condemn?” or “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”; if we can believe that we are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh and that we are part of Christ’s fullness, will anyone say there is no glory in all that? This epistle tells me to look up and see Christ adorning the throne, and look down and see the poor sinner shining on the footstool.

The world sees nothing of these glories. I look up and see the Lamb in acquired glories. I look down and see the saint in gifted glories. Now the moral application begins “having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.” There I look at myself, and will anyone say there is not glory in such a condition? That is my title. Now the exhortation is that you are to enjoy your title. To enjoy is to obey. The first duty you owe to God is to enjoy what He has made you and what He has given you. “Let us draw near.” Use your privilege, as we say. It is the first and grand duty of faith, and I am bold to say it is the most acceptable duty of faith.

How slow we are to enjoy these glories. If we say in the secret of our heart, with exultation of spirit, “I am a child of God,” and if we can say, “I am coheir with Christ,” that is the way to begin obedience. Here it is exactly that. “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.”

We should look at ourselves as the priesthood of God. The priests of old were washed when they were put in office and their feet were washed every day before they entered to serve in the tabernacle, so that the pavement of the presence of God was not stained by their foot. He went in, in a character worthy of the place. Are you occupying the presence of God all the day long in the consciousness that you are worthy of the place? How will you be presented before Him by and by? Jude tells you “faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.” You ought to know that you are in His presence now faultless or without spot. We cannot put ourselves in the flesh too low, and we cannot put ourselves in Christ too high.

Now He tells me, having got into the presence of the holiest, what to do there. “Let us hold fast the profession of our [hope] without wavering” (as the word should be). We are to be there with boldness and to talk of our hope and of our charity, “to provoke unto love and to good works.” What exquisite service!

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together... but exhorting one another.” This is what you are to be doing together when you get into the house. These are the activities of the house. We dwell together in one happy house, exhorting one another and so much the more as we point to the sky and say, “Look! the dawning of morning is near; the sky is breaking.” We want to exhort one another to know our dignity in Christ rather than to know our degradation in ourselves. Confession is very right, but to gird up the mind to the apprehension of our dignity is much more acceptable and priestly work than to be ever in the depths. “Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee.” Here we see ourselves accepted and holding our hope without wavering.

Having conducted us to chapter 10:25, he brings in a solemn passage about willful sin. We read the counterpart of this in Numbers 15 where presumptuous sin is looked at. Under the law there were two characters of offense a man might find a thing that was his neighbor’s and deal falsely about it and there was a trespass offering. But when a man picked up sticks on the sabbath day he was to be stoned at once. There remained nothing for him but “a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation.” This is the presumptuous sin of the New Testament. We are not to be careless about sin, but the thing contemplated here is a defection from Christianity.

In verse 32 he exhorts them to “call to remembrance the former days.” Most people know the moment of their illumination, and if there is a moment of moral energy in the history of the soul, it is the day of its quickening. Why do we not carry the strength of that moment with us? He is the same Jesus. I know that the day was when all was over between God and me concerning my flesh, and now the day has come when all is over between the world and me; that is practical Christianity. The day he called on them to remember was the day they took joyfully the spoiling of their goods. Why was this? Their eye was on a better inheritance. Let me grasp the richer thing, and the poorer thing may pass away for aught I care.

We can account for victory over the world just as easily as we can account for access to God. That, let me say, is just the knot that this epistle ties. It puts you inside the veil, outside the camp. The lie of the serpent made Adam a stranger to God and at home in this polluted world inside the camp and outside the veil. Christianity alters that, and verse 35 of this chapter is the one verse in the epistle that knits these things together.

Hold fast your confidence and it will be the secret of strength to you. Where do we see victory over the world? In those who are happiest in Christ. Why are you and I so miserably down in the traffic of the world? Because we are not as happy in Christ as we ought to be. Give me a soul that has boldness and joy in God’s presence and I will show you one that has victory over the world.

Now the Apostle tells us that a life of patience intervenes between the day of illumination and the day of glorification. I am not to count on a path of pleasure or ease or prosperity. I am to count on a path of patience. And is there not glory in that because there is companionship with Christ? There is no greater glory than to be companion of your rejected Master. That is your path, and “if any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him.” He was not ashamed to be the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They were strangers here. But if we become citizens here—strike an alliance with the world—He who could say, “I am the God of my strangers,” can say to the citizen of the world, I “have no pleasure in him.”

May you and I exhort one another to love and to good works, and, pointing to the eastern sky, say, The day is dawning. Amen.

J. G. Bellett (from The Opened Heavens)

The Opened Heavens: Hebrews 11 (continued)

We should not forget that the whole of Hebrews 11 depends on and is an illustration of Hebrews 10:35. The stronger our faith is, the more our soul is in the possession of might moral energy. This chapter shows how this principle of faith gained the day. Do not read it as if it were the praises of Noah, Abraham, Moses and others. It is the praises of faith as illustrated in them. What a simple, blessed thing Christianity is! I stand in admiration of it when I see how the devil has wrought a twofold mischief in putting us outside the veil and inside the camp, and how Christ has wrought a corresponding twofold remedy. I have gained God at the loss of the world that is Christianity.

“By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child.” What is the meaning of that? It means that when he was born there was an expression in his countenance that faith read. “Beautiful to God” is the word. There was a certain beauty in him that awakened the faith of Amram and Jochebed, and they were obedient to it. Under the finger of God they saw the purpose of God and hid the child.

Now in Moses we see a beautiful power of faith. It got a threefold victory three splendid victories, and the very victories you are called to.

First, his faith got the victory over the world. He was a foundling, picked up from the Nile and adopted as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. This was personal degradation translated in adopted magnificence. What did he do with it? He “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.” What a victory over the world that was! We like those things that put worldly honor on us. Moses would not have it.

Next we see Moses getting victory amid the trials and alarms of life. “By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king.” What a terrible thing the life of faith is to nature! You have got a victory today you must stand again tomorrow. “That we may be able to withstand... and having done all, to stand.” Here the pressure of life was coming on Moses after the attractions of life had got their answer.

Then, in the third instance, Moses had an answer for the claims of God. It is magnificent to see a soul braced in the power of a faith like this. “Through faith he kept the passover.” The destroyer was going through the land, but the blood was on the lintel. From the very beginning grace has provided the sinner with an answer to the claims of God, and it is the simple office of faith to plead the answer. God provided the blood and faith used it. Christ is God’s provision. He is God’s great ordinance for salvation, and faith travels along with Him from the cross to the realms of glory.

Then, “by faith they passed through the Red sea” “by faith the walls of Jericho fell down”—“by faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not.” And what more shall we say? It is the story that animates the whole of Scripture. The story of grace and faith grace on God’s part and faith on ours gives animation to the whole book of God. We are never called outside the camp till we are inside the veil.

The early chapters of Hebrews show the sinner his title to a home in God’s presence. Then you are to come forth from that home and let the world know that you are a stranger to it. Hebrews tells us our title to be in God’s presence before it opens the calling that attaches to us. Does He ever send a man to warfare at his own charges? Does He ever send you to fight with the world before you are at peace with Himself? Everything is for me from the moment I turn to God. I am called in God to everything that is for me. I am come “unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.”

We must linger a little on the two closing verses. They are very weighty, precious verses. These elders obtained a good report, but with the good report they did not obtain the promise. It reminds me of the prophet Malachi. “A book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up My jewels.” They are not His made-up jewels yet, but He has their names in His book, and He will make them up and display them as His jewels by and by. Why have they not obtained the promise? Because we must first come in, in the rich furniture of this evangelic dispensation, or all they had in their beggarly dispensation would never have done for them.

We find the word “better” constantly occurring in Hebrews. “A better testament” “a better thing” “some better thing for us” “that speaketh better things than that of Abel.” We find the word “perfect” in constant use also. Everything is perfected that gives God rest. God is not looking for any satisfaction beyond what Christ gives Him. He has His demand answered His glory vindicated His character displayed and all in Christ.

Now what is this “better thing” in the last verse? If we had not brought in our Christ, so to speak, nothing would have been done. God having introduced Christ in this dispensation, all the old saints that hung on it are perfected.

In one light, we look at this epistle as a treatise on perfection. In chapter 2 we read that it became the glory of God to give us a perfect Saviour. It was not merely my necessity, but God’s glory required it. He gave the sinner an author to begin salvation and a captain to close it. That is just the difference between Moses and Joshua. Moses was the author of salvation when he picked up the poor captives in Egypt; Joshua was the captain of salvation when he carried them across the Jordan right into the promised land. Christ is the One who does both for us.

In chapter 5 we read, “Being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation” not moral perfection, for He was morally stainless, but perfection as the author of salvation. He would never have been perfect thus if He had not gone on to death, but as it behooved God to give us a perfect Saviour, so it behooved Christ to make Himself a perfect Saviour. Then in chapter 6: “Let us go on unto perfection,” the Apostle says, that is, let us “read our lesson on this subject.” Some read this as if they were to go on till they have no more sin in themselves. That has nothing to say to it. It is as if the Apostle said, “I am going to read you a treatise on perfection, and you must come and learn it with me.”

Then he goes on with the subject in chapter 7. He says you cannot find this perfection in the law. “The law made nothing perfect.” You must look elsewhere. By the law, here, is not meant the ten commandments, but the Levitical ordinances. In the midst of these beggarly elements you must look elsewhere for perfection. Chapter 9 thus shows you that it is in Christ and tells you that the moment faith has touched the blood the conscience is purged, and chapter 10 tells you that the moment Christ touches you, you are perfected forever: not in moral stainlessness in the flesh—there is no such thing here.

The moment Christ touches the apostleship, He perfects it. The moment He touches the priesthood, He perfects it. The moment He touches the altar, He perfects it. The moment He touches the throne, He perfects it. And if He perfects these things, He will, as to your conscience, perfect you, a poor sinner. So this epistle is in one great light a treatise on perfection. God gave you a perfect Saviour Christ made Himself a perfect Saviour. Let me go on to perfection. If I seek it in the law, I am in a world of shadows. When I come to Christ, I am in the midst of perfection.

Therefore, these saints could not get the inheritance till we came in laden with all the glories of this dispensation. But now they can share the inheritance with us, when the full time comes.

What glories shine in this epistle! What glories fill the heavens, because Christ is there! What glories attach to us because Christ has touched us! Is it no glory to have a purged conscience to enter into the holiest with boldness to say to Satan, “Who are you, that you should finger God’s treasure?” We creep and crawl when we should be getting into the midst of these glories and encouraging our hearts.

J. G. Bellett (from The Opened Heavens)

The Opened Heavens: Hebrews 11

Hebrews 10:35 is a connecting link between the two great thoughts of the epistle: Christianity puts you inside the veil and outside the camp. That is, it undoes the work of Satan, which estranged you from God and made you at home in a corrupted world. The religion of the Lord Jesus just comes to upset Satan’s work. Nothing can be more beautiful than the antithesis which thus shows itself between the serpent and the serpent’s bruiser. The “great recompense of reward” shows itself in the life of faith that we are now going to read about. We are called, as John Bunyan says, “to play the man.”

If happy within, we are to be fighting without. Chapter 11 shows us the elect of all ages “playing the man” in the power of this principle of confidence.

“Cast not away therefore your confidence,” for it thus shows that it has “great recompense of reward.” Faith is a principle that apprehends two different things of God. In Romans 4 it views Him as a justifier of the ungodly, but here it apprehends God as “a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” The moment you apprehend God by a faith that does not work, you enter on a faith that does work. While we rightly cherish a faith that saves our souls, let us not be indifferent to a faith that serves our Saviour. How boldly we sometimes assert our title, but do we value our inheritance? Just so, if I boast of a justifying faith, it is a poor thing to be indifferent to the faith that we have here in chapter 11: “Now faith is the substance [confidence] of things hoped for, the evidence [conviction] of things not seen.”

This faith was the strength of all the worthies in old times, who through it “obtained a good report.” It is another proof that, as we have said, everything in this epistle is to set aside law. If I take up the law as the secret power of my soul to do anything for God, I am not doing it for God, but for myself. The law might chasten and scourge me and call on me to work out a title to life. But that would be serving myself. Faith sets law aside. Then, having established faith as a working principle, he begins to unfold the different phases of it from the beginning.

I believe that Hebrews 11:3 is a reference to Adam who, by faith, was a worshipper in the garden. He looked behind all the wonders that surrounded him and apprehended the great Artificer. But, when we left innocency, we left creation as a temple and we cannot go back. If I go back, I go back to Cain. And here we come to Abel and to revelation. We are sinners, and revelation which unfolds redemption must build us a temple. You must take your place as a worshipper in the temple that God in Christ has built for you.

Then we come to Enoch. We are told that he walked with God and that he pleased God. To so walk with God is to please Him. Can anything be more welcome to us than the thought that we can give complacency to God? There was nothing in Enoch’s life to make history, but whatever condition of life may be ours, our business is to walk with God in it. You may say: “A poor, unnoticed thing am I, compared with some who have been distinguished in service for the Lord.” “Well,” let me reply, “you are an Enoch.”

Now Noah’s was a very distinguished life. Faith laid hold on the warning. Faith does not wait for the day of glory or the day of judgment to see glory or judgment. Faith here for 120 years seemed to be a fool. Noah was building a ship for dry ground, and he may well have been the mockery of his neighbors, but he saw the thing that was invisible. Supposing you and I lived under the authority of coming glory: what fools we would be in the eyes of man!

“He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” The faith of a saint is an intensely working thing. Will God be a debtor to any man? No; He will pay to those who sow bountifully.

Next, Abraham’s life is a picture of the varied exercises of faith. There was a magnificence in his faith. He went out blindfolded, but the God of glory led him by the hand. So he came to the land, but not a foot of it was given. He must have the patience of faith. Whatever fell from the lips of God was welcome to Abraham. He walked his life of faith in the power of the recollection of what he had seen under the hand of the God of glory.

Sarah’s was another kind of faith. We must see God as a Quickener of the dead. Noah understood God in this way as did the Israelites under the blood-stained lintel. Death was there and attached to every house in the land, but the Israelites knew God as the Quickener of the dead. If I make God less than a Quickener of the dead, I make myself more than a dead sinner. It is as Quickener of the dead that I must meet Him.

Verse 13 is a beautiful verse. The first thing to do to a promise is to apprehend it then to exercise faith about it and then to receive it by the heart. They “embraced” them. Their hearts hugged them. How far has my heart hugged the promises? The closer we hug them, the more blessedly we shall consent to be strangers and pilgrims in this world. They spoke of strangership, not because they left Mesopotamia, but because they had not reached heaven. Supposing there were a change in your circumstances, would that cure your strangership? Not if you are among God’s people.

In chapter 2 we read that Christ is not ashamed to call us “brethren.” Now we read that God was not ashamed to call these strangers His people. If you have fallen out with the world, God is not ashamed of you. For God Himself has fallen out with it, and He is not ashamed of you, for you are of one mind with Him. When they said they were strangers, God called Himself their God.

We see Abraham in another light: Every hope of Abraham depended on Isaac. To give up Isaac seemed not only to become a bankrupt in the world, but to become a bankrupt in God. Have you ever feared God making you a bankrupt in Himself? Has He turned away never to return? Abraham got Isaac back in a figure, sealed as a fresh witness of resurrection. We never lose anything by trusting God in the dark.

Then we come to Isaac. He showed his faith by blessing Esau and Jacob concerning things to come. This is the little, single bit of his life that the Spirit looks at as the eminent work in it.

Jacob is more remarkable, as Noah had been more remarkable than Enoch. Though his was a very eventful life, the only thing we get here is, “By faith [he]... blessed both the sons of Joseph.” It shows how much of a Christian’s life may be rubbish. Jacob’s life was an exhibition of a saint who went astray and whose whole life was occupied in getting back. This act of faith comes at the close of his life. He does this beautiful service of faith in the face of the resentments of his own heart and the appeal of his son Joseph.

But Joseph’s is a lovely life a life of faith from the beginning. Joseph was a holy man throughout, but there was magnificent outshining of faith just at the close. He had control of the treasures of Egypt, yet he spoke of the departing of his brethren. That was seeing things invisible. The general course of his life was unblamable, yet we do find in his words as he was departing the finest utterance of faith. Now that is what you and I want. You must seek to get under the power of things hoped for things unseen the expectation of the Lord’s return. That is walking the life of faith by which “the elders obtained a good report.”

J. G. Bellett (from The Opened Heavens)

The Opened Heavens: Hebrews 12

We will now read chapter 12, which, though an eminently practical part of the epistle, contains the blessedness of doctrine shining out too. We have been looking at the various characters in which the Lord has entered heaven. In verse 1 we get Him in heaven in another character. Do not many crowns belong to Him? What a cluster of glories fill the eye as we look at Christ in heaven by the light of this magnificent epistle!

We see Him there as the One who perfected a life of faith on earth “the author and finisher of... faith.” The counsel of God is busy in crowning Jesus. It is the delight of the counsel of God to crown Him, it is the delight of the Spirit of God to exhibit Him as crowned, and it is the delight of faith to see Him crowned. God, the Spirit and the faith of the poor, believing sinner all gather round Him, either to crown Him or to delight in seeing Him crowned.

Now we see Him owned in heaven as the One who perfected the life of faith. He passed through it perfectly from the manger to the cross and is so accepted in the highest heavens. That put Him in collision with man: “Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself.” He was “separate from sinners.” You would not dare to take that language to yourself. It is too lofty for any but the Son of God. The Lord Jesus takes in this, as in all other things, the preeminence.

It is so natural for the Spirit to glorify Christ! Looking at Him here, it is easy for the Spirit to put this crown of peculiar beauty on His head: He “endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself.” The cross was, in one aspect, martyrdom. Jesus was as much a martyr at the hand of man as He was a victim at the hand of God. It is as a martyr we see Him here and as such we are put in company with Him. “Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.” You have no deeper enemy than your heart to strive against. He never had a bit of sin in Himself to strive against it was sin in others.

The Apostle then goes on to put you as a chastened sufferer in company with the Father. Here we drop company with Christ, for He never was under the chastening hand of the Father. The moment I get under the scourging and education of the Father, I have dropped out of company with Christ.

So from verse 5 onward you are in company with your heavenly Father. Jesus walks through life enduring the contradiction of sinners; I walk through it striving against sin. Then I am in company with the chastening of the Father all resulting in a blessed participation in His holiness, though Christ is not there with me.

In verse 12 we are exhorted not to let our hands hang down. There is no reason why it should be so. Though you are under the scourge there is not one reason why your hands should hang down or your knees be feeble, for the Spirit has shown you yourself, first in company with Christ and then with your Father who loves you. We all know how the hands will hang down, but I set my seal to every word of this and say, “Truth, Lord.” There is no reason that we should be fainthearted. Then, in connection with others, follow peace in connection with God, follow holiness. “What communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial?”

“Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you.” If you read Deuteronomy 29, you will find a root of bitterness there spoken of, but it is a different kind from this. There it arose from some man taking up false gods; here it is failing of the grace of God. The whole epistle has it as its bearing and purpose to nail your ear, in Scriptural language, to the doorpost of Him who is speaking of grace. It is not a lawgiver that is heard, but One who is publishing salvation from the highest heavens. The Purger of our sins has taken our conscience up to the highest heavens and every tongue that could lay a charge against us is silenced, as we read in Romans 8 and 1 Peter 3:21-22.

Now take care lest you fail of the grace thus published. It may end in the profaneness of Esau. It has been said by another that this reference to Esau must have been very striking to the mind of a Jew. “If you fail of the grace of God, you will be left in the position of one whom your nation repudiates.” I do not care what you take up in His stead, if you slip away from Christ you may be tomorrow in the position of Esau. How does Esau stand before you? He stands as a type of that generation who by and by will say, “Lord, Lord, open to us.” But their tears will be as ineffectual as Esau’s by the bedside of his dying father. He came too late. So when once God has risen and shut the door, they will find no place of repentance. This verse 17 is very solemn. It tells me that Esau’s action is the presentation to our thoughts of that which is still to be realized in an Esau generation and only in such: “Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish.” Esau despised his birthright, and this generation has refused the grace of God and despised the Christ who has passed through the world and died for sinners.

In verse 18 we get a magnificent sight of the two dispensations. Now, leaving Christ and the Father we come to God, and you see that all the eternal counsels of God have clustered to make you a blest one, as they have clustered to make Christ a glorious One. Do not be afraid. You are not come to the mount that might be touched and that burned with fire. Turn your back on it. The more advisedly I have turned my back on it the more advisedly I have met and answered the grace and wisdom of God and rendered the obedience of faith. Am I to be turning my head, to be looking over my shoulder, to be giving it some glances? Is that the obedience of faith? Where is my face turned? To a cluster of blessedness. “Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn... and to God the Judge of all.” The Lord even in judgment is for us, for it is one office of a judge to vindicate the oppressed. Then you come to “the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling.” Everything is for you. And that is where your face is undivertedly to direct itself. Let your face be right fully turned to the one hill and your back to be right fully turned to the other.

Here in chapter 12 you are at the very beginning of the epistle again. In chapter 2 we read, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord.” Now we read, “See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh.” From the beginning to the end the Spirit is nailing your ear to the door of the house of the Master of grace.

Then it very solemnly closes: “Our God is a consuming fire,” that is, the God of this dispensation. From the fires of Sinai there was a relief by turning and taking refuge in Christ, but there is no relief if God’s relief is despised. If you turn away from the relief this dispensation brings in, there is no more relief. “Our God is a consuming fire.”

What, I ask you, puts you in company with God like simplicity of faith? As we said before, the purpose of the eternal counsels and the joy of the Spirit is this: to put crowns on the head of Christ, and when I am simple in faith I am delighting to fill the field of my vision with these glories. Thus I am put in the most dignified company I could be in God and the Holy Spirit. The Lord grant that you and I may be there! If we know these things, happy, thrice happy are we if we rest in them!

J. G. Bellett (from The Opened Heavens)

The Opened Heavens: Hebrews 13

In Hebrews chapter 13 we are closing the epistle, and we get what is common in all epistles—some practical exhortations. It is eminently the structure of Paul’s epistles to begin with doctrine and close with exhortation. So it is here. “Let brotherly love continue.”

Too, a brother may be a stranger. “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers.” And to encourage them to that duty they are reminded that some in their own history entertained angels unawares. Then another duty— “remember them that are in bonds” —and the encouragement that follows— “as bound with them.” Take your place in the body of Christ as His prisoners, not prisoners corporeally but mystically. When he speaks of suffering for Christ’s sake, he appeals to you in your mystic place, but when he speaks of suffering adversity (vs. 3) in a common ordinary way, he appeals to natural life—“as being yourselves also in the body.”

Then we get the divine duties of purity and unworldliness. Unworldliness is expressed in the words, “Content with such things as ye have,” not seeking to be richer tomorrow than today. Then the Lord speaks in verse 5, and you answer Him in verse 6. It is the response of faith to grace—the reply of the heart of a believer to the heart of the Lord God. Then comes the duty of subjection: “Remember them which have [rather it should be, which have had] the rule over you.” This is not a blind following of them, as when they were heathen following dumb idols (1 Cor. 12:2). Are you to be led blindfolded? “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” We are living people of a living temple. So it is, “Considering the end of their conversation.” They died in faith, as they preached faith. One said shortly before he died: “I have preached Jesus, I have lived Jesus, and I long to be with Jesus.”

Now he leaves all that and starts in verse 8 from another point. This verse may be called a motto of the epistle. What I mean is that, as we have seen before, the Spirit of God in this epistle is looking at one thing after another, taking a passing glance at angels, at Moses, at Joshua, at Aaron, at the old covenant and at the altars with their victims, and setting every one of them aside to let in Christ. And you would not have it otherwise. With your whole heart and your whole soul you set your seal to that. Let all go to make room for Christ, and when Christ is brought in, do not let Him go for anything. This is what you get in verse 8. He is gazing for a moment at the object of the epistle. “I have displaced everything to let Him in, and now keep Him before you.” It is a most blessed conclusion of the whole teaching of the epistle.

Then there comes a corollary—a conclusion to that: “Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines,” doctrines foreign to Christ. Take care to hold fast by Him. Then if I get Christ, I get grace. “It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace.” The Lord is set before you and me as the sum of our religion, and that religion is a religion that breathes grace to the poor sinner.

Now do not read chapter13:9 as if you could, to some extent, establish your heart with meats. Observe the punctuation; a semicolon after “grace” cuts it off from the close of the verse. Meats do nothing for you, as he tells you in another place, “Touch not; taste not; handle not.” They bring neither profit nor honor to you. Suppose you accumulate carnal religious observances. If Colossians 2 tells me there is no honor in them, this tells me there is no profit in them. When probed and searched out, they are all to the satisfaction of the flesh. The moment I get the Lord brought in, I get the heart established in grace. Did you ever hear it remarked that not a single religion on earth takes grace as its secret but the divine religion? God’s religion is the only religion ever thought of that takes grace for its basis. This is exactly contemplated here. Do not be carried about by doctrines foreign to Christ.

“We have an altar.” What is the altar of this dispensation? It is an altar exclusively for burnt offerings—communion services. The Jews had an altar for expiatory sacrifice. We have no such altar. Christ has been on the altar of expiation, and now we as priests minister at an altar of communion services. We remember that the Son of God has bled, and we serve at an altar where we know sin as canceled, blotted out, thrown behind the back. There at your altar you are rendering a constant service of thanksgiving. But those who go back to the services of the tabernacle have no right—no competency—to stand as priest at the altar of this dispensation. Many a loved and loving soul is struggling with a legal mind, but that is a very different thing from displacing Christ for anything, as the Galatians were doing, putting a crutch under Him. The Spirit in this epistle does not quarrel with the poor, struggling soul, but if you are seeking to offer expiatory sacrifices and not holding your altar diligently for communion services, you are blaspheming the sacrifice of the Son of God.

Now, having put you at your altar and within the holiest, he shows you your place outside the camp. Jesus was accepted in the holiest by God, and He was put outside the camp by men. You are exactly to be with Christ in both of these places. That is where this dispensation puts you, and if ever moral glory attached to a creature of God, it is that which attaches to you at this moment. Called outside the camp with Him to bear His reproach! Are angels in such conditions? Did He ever say to them, “Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations”? Angels are never invited to be the companions of His sorrow. He has never put such honor on angels as on you. Therefore by and by the church will be nearer the throne than angels. “Here have we no continuing city.” Christ had none.

But further, we see in Hebrews 13:16 another beautiful thing—another character of service for your altar: “To do good and to communicate forget not.” In various scriptures we find that the more joy we have in God, the more large-hearted we shall be to one another. It is the very character of joy to enlarge the heart, as in Nehemiah 8, where the prophet tells the people, “Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.... And all the people went their way... to send portions, and to make great mirth.” A man that is happy himself can afford to look around and make others happy with him.

After this the Apostle comes to those who have present rule. Those in verse 7 are those who had died. Is this a blind subjection, I ask again? No; you are to take knowledge of them. “They watch for your souls.” Office without power—without the unction of the Holy Spirit—is a thing this dispensation does not know, and if we know of it, we have got into the corrupt element of it and out of God’s element. It is a part of your fidelity to God to keep the dispensation in purity, and mere official authority is an idol.

This vessel of the Holy Spirit, this mightiest servant that ever served God’s name, comes down to the feeblest saint, saying, “Pray for us,” and he asks it on the authority of a good conscience. Could you ask another to pray for you if you were purposing to err? I will answer: You could not. And it is on the ground of a good conscience that the Apostle asks prayer. Then he gives them a subject of prayer. Oh! the familiarity of Scripture! You are not taken out of your own world of affections and sympathies. Then he breaks out into his doxology.

Now, if we remember what we were saying to one another, we shall find here something new and strange. We get the Lord in verse 20 in resurrection, not ascension. The great theme of the epistle is, as we have seen from the beginning hitherto, Christ displayed in heaven, but here the Apostle does not go beyond resurrection. Why in closing does he bring down Christ from heaven? He has been keeping our eyes straining after Him into heaven, and just at the close he brings Him down to earth. Yes, for it is very sweet to know that we need not travel beyond death and resurrection to come in contact with the God of peace. You have reached the God of peace when you have reached the God of resurrection. Resurrection shows that death is abolished. Death is the wages of sin, and if death is abolished, sin is abolished, because death hangs on sin as the shadow on the substance.

The covenant is called “everlasting” because it is never to be displaced. The old covenant was put away. The new covenant is ever new, never abrogated. The blood is as fresh this moment to speak peace to the conscience as when the veil was rent. So when we come to daily life, we are brought down to be in all simplicity in company with the God of peace that has raised the great Shepherd from the dead by the blood that has sealed remission of sins forever. So you may forget sin. In one great sense we shall remember it forever, but as far as that which constitutes your condition before God, you may forget it forever.

Then he prays that God may adjust and mold us to do His will. What poor adjustment there is in you and me compared with that verse. We are awkward in our business, as if we were not at home in it. And then, at the last, he just closes by a few common words to the brethren. “Grace be with you all. Amen.”

J. G. Bellett (from The Opened Heavens)

The Opened Heavens: Hebrews 5-6

In the first ten verses of Hebrews 5 a most weighty matter is introduced. In chapter 5:1 we get a general thought of priesthood. It is that which serves men in their relationships with God. Then the character of service is presented “that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.” He stands to conduct our interest with God in whatever form. He is “taken from among men” that He may have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way. He is not taken from among angels; therefore we read in Timothy, “The man Christ Jesus.” God in ordaining a priest for us has chosen One who can have compassion. We find at the close of chapter 7 that the Lord Jesus was separate from infirmity. But the priest here was one who, by reason of infirmity, could sympathize. The Lord Jesus had to learn how to sympathize, as well as learn obedience by the things which He suffered.

Under the Old Testament scriptures, two persons are distinctly set in the office of the priesthood Aaron in Leviticus 8 and 10 and Phinehas in Numbers 25. The difference between them was that Aaron was simply called into the priesthood; Phinehas acquired title to it.

We see both Aaron and Phinehas in the Lord Jesus. He was “called of God, as was Aaron.” Aaron was merely a called priest. The priesthood of Numbers 25 stands in contrast with Aaron’s. Phinehas acquired title. How? He made an atonement for Israel in the day of their great breach, touching the daughters of Baal-Peor, enabling the Lord to look with satisfaction again at His erring camp. Phinehas stood forward to avenge the quarrel of righteousness and to make atonement for the sin of the people. “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas... hath turned My wrath away from the children of Israel.... Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him My covenant of peace... even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood.” You could not have a more magnificent light in which to read the Christ of God than in that act. The Lord Jesus was the true Aaron and the true Phinehas. (He was also the true Melchisedec.)

The blessed Lord Jesus was called into office, as was Aaron, but He was in office because He made atonement. This earth was like the outside place of the temple where the brazen altar was. The Lord Jesus is now seated in the sanctuary of the heavens, which God has pitched and not man, because He has passed by the brazen altar on earth. He has passed it by and has satisfied it. How did God bear witness to the satisfaction of the brazen altar? By rending the veil. If God has rent the veil, am I to let it be rent for nothing? I have as much right to go inside as the Israelites of old were bound to keep outside. By satisfying the altar He has passed by the rent veil into the sanctuary in the heavens. He glorified not Himself to be made a High Priest.

Why is it a matter of honor to be made a high priest? The Son of God has been in battle and acquired honors that would never have been His if He had not taken up the cause of sinners, and dear and precious honors they are to Him! That word “called” is very sweet in the original. God “saluted” or “greeted” Him when He seated Him in the sanctuary as He greeted Him when He seated Him on the throne: “Sit Thou at My right hand.” The epistle to the Hebrews shows in the opened heavens a throne as well as a sanctuary.

In chapter 5:7-9 we find truths connected with ourselves. “Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death.” The scene of that conflict was eminently marked in Gethsemane. He properly shrank from undergoing the judgment of God against sin. “Having been heard because of His piety.” He was heard because death, the wages of sin, had no claim on Him. Instead of the judgment of God being sent to wither His flesh, an angel was sent to strengthen Him.

Yet He suffered death. He might have claimed His own personal exemption from it, yet He went through it. He learned obedience to His commission by traveling from Gethsemane to Calvary, and He now presents Himself to the eye of every sinner on earth as the Author of eternal salvation. We see the Lord there pleading His title against death. His title is owned; yet, though death has no claim on Him personally, He says, “Thy will be done.” He might have gone from Gethsemane to heaven, but He went rather from Gethsemane to Calvary, and being made perfect there, He became the Author of eternal salvation to all who receive Him. Then, when the altar was satisfied, the sanctuary received Him, and there He is. In creation God planted a man in the garden in innocence; in redemption God has planted a Man in heaven in glory. There is a glory that excels. Now we have got down to verse 10. Observe that the language of Hebrews 5:10 is taken up again in chapter 6:20. The argument there has not advanced beyond chapter 5:10 because doctrinal evil hindered the writer from unfolding more. (From chapter 5:11 to the end of chapter 6 the Apostle turns aside to a parenthetic warning.) It was difficult for the Hebrew to detach himself from the things in which he had been educated, for he was “unskillful in the word of righteousness.” The mind is apt to take up righteousness as a thing demanded from us. God takes it up as a thing He will give us. Finding this hindrance among them, the writer of Hebrews sounds an alarm against one of the little foxes that spoil the vintage of God. It is a terrible thing, having known Christ, to go back to ordinances.

J. G. Bellett (from The Opened Heavens)

The Opened Heavens: Hebrews 5 and 7

To look carefully at the Melchisedec priesthood of Christ is important to our souls. Consider Hebrews chapters 5 and 7. The priesthood of the Lord Jesus is reflected in both Aaron and Phinehas. Aaron was called into his office; Phinehas earned his office (Num. 25:11-12). We will now look at the Melchisedec phase of the same priesthood.

Supposing I said to you that this world is a scene of forfeited life you would understand me. Because of sin, life is but suspended death. To return to life is to return to God. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Sin worked a forfeiture of life; consequently, if I can make a return to life, I make a return to God. God visits this world in two characters: a Quickener and a Judge. John 5 tells us that we are all interested in one or the other of these visits. Now it is the office of this epistle to let every believer in Jesus know that he has returned to life and that his business now is with the living God and with God the Quickener. “The living God” is an expression that occurs often in this epistle. The living God thus occupies the field of my vision both now and in glory. I am now not to depart from Him, which intimates that I have got back to Him. I have escaped from the region of death and got back to the region of life, and by and by in glory I shall find “the city of the living God.”

The question is, How have I got back to Him? The epistle beautifully unfolds that. It is a magnificent moral subject to trace the Lord Jesus in His ministry through the four gospels and see Him, from the beginning to the close of His history, displaying Himself as the living God in this world. We see the living God in a scene pregnant with death. It is the office of this Epistle to the Hebrews very specially to present Christ as the living God. It would not be the Epistle to the Hebrews if it did not take up Christ in His vicarious character.

But though we see the Lamb on the altar, we see the vacant sepulcher too. The Lord Himself always attaches to the story of His death the story of His resurrection. We have the same thing here, only in a doctrinal way. The cross is often named, but always in company with the ascension. “When He had by Himself purged our sins.” Death looks at you at the very opening of this epistle, but at once you read: “Sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” What is done historically in the gospels is taken up doctrinally in Hebrews.

The Holy Spirit is considering the living God in the Person of Jesus, as Jesus was exhibiting the living God in His own Person. I go in this epistle to find an empty grave, but not as “Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary.” I expect to find it empty. Their mistake, dear women, was that they expected to find it full. When I see the Lamb on the altar and the empty sepulcher, I have got hold of victorious, infallible life. That is the rock-life of which the Lord spoke to Peter.

In chapter 5 we find that in Gethsemane He transacted the question of His title and was heard for His piety. He had a moral title to life. Then He surrendered that moral title and took His vicarious place. Then He walked on to Calvary. Gethsemane was a wonderful moment. There the great question of life and death was settled between God and Christ, and instead of taking the journey He was entitled to up there, He went along the dreary road our sins put Him on down here. At Calvary, again, we find Him in death, but the moment He gave up the ghost, everything felt the power of the Conqueror. The earth quaked, the rocks were rent, the graves were opened, and the bodies of the saints arose.

We shall never be able to read the mystery of the Christ of God if we do not remember Him as the living God in the midst of death, getting victories worthy of Himself. We see Him in death rending the veil. In the grave we see the napkin lying wrapped together by itself to tell the story of conquest. We see Him then with His disciples, and He is exactly the living God of Genesis 1. We find God there breathing life into the nostrils of man the Head and Fountain of life. In John 20 we see Him as the Head and Fountain of infallible, unforfeitable life, breathing on the disciples and saying, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.”

In this epistle we find Him in that character, as entitled to life and as holding it for us. That is His Melchisedec priesthood. He is not merely the living God; He went to heaven from Calvary and is now there as the living God for us, and God is satisfied to be sure He is satisfied. And God has expressed His satisfaction. How? When Christ rose in the face of the world that said, “We will not have this man to reign over us,” God said, “Sit Thou on My right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.” That was His satisfaction in a rejected Christ.

When Christ ascended the heavens in another character, as having made atonement, God put Him in the highest heavens with an oath and built a sanctuary for Him “the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.”

Are the services of such a High Priest enough for me? They must be so. I am in connection with life, and every question is settled between me and God. He is King of Righteousness and King of Peace, and He dispenses all you can want in the royal authoritative virtue of His own name. The moment you get the living God expanded in this epistle, you find that He communicates life for eternity to everything He touches. His throne is forever and ever chapter 1 tells you that. His house is forever and ever chapter 3 tells you that. His salvation is eternal chapter 5 tells you that. His priesthood is unchangeable—chapter 7 tells you that. His covenant is everlasting chapter 9 tells you that. His kingdom cannot be moved chapter 11 tells you that. To title the Epistle to the Hebrews in a word, we might say it is, “The loaded altar and the empty sepulcher.”

J. G. Bellett (from The Opened Heavens)

The Opened Heavens: Hebrews 6 and 8

The thing the writer of Hebrews feared was giving up Christ as the Object of their confidence. From chapter 5:11 through the end of chapter 6 he takes up that concern and exhorts them.

How is God dealing with your heart now (Hebrews 6:7)? Do you apprehend Him in judgment or in grace? Is the communion of your soul with God in the liberty of grace or in the fear of a coming day of judgment? If the latter, it is not yielding “herbs” meet for Him by whom it is dressed. If I walk in the filial confidence of one who has trusted in the salvation of God, that is the earth yielding fruits meet for Him by whom it is dressed.

What is the ground of the Apostle’s persuasion of “better things” touching them in Hebrews 6:9? It was that the fruits of righteousness were seen among them: beautiful things that accompany but never constitute salvation. Therefore, the Apostle, seeing this beautiful fruitfulness, says, “Though I am sounding an alarm, I do not attach it to you.” He pursues this thought to the close of the chapter. He prays them to continue to minister to the saints. Does your knowledge of Christ lead you to two things: secret communion of soul with Him and practical energy of Christian walk and faithfulness? “Now,” he asks, “do you go on with the beautiful, practical work you have begun? Do not be slothful, but followers of them who by faith and patience inherit the promises.”

Then he brings out Abraham as one who did not slack his hand to the end. Abraham not only got the promise in Genesis 15, but he went on in patience till it was confirmed by an oath in Genesis 22. We are called not only to faith, but to the patience of faith. It is possible to have a consolation and yet not a strong consolation. Abraham had a consolation in Genesis 15 and a strong consolation in Genesis 22.

The Apostle would have us like Abraham in Genesis 22, that “we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.” This passage is commonly misquoted. It is not a sinner running to the blood for refuge, but a saint running to the hope of glory from the wreck of every prospect here. Are we promising ourselves hopes for tomorrow? Abraham was a man who fled from every prospect here to lay hold on the hope of glory. The Apostle says, “Lay hold upon the hope,” not on the cross. Is the expectation of your heart the hope of the return of Christ?

“Whither the forerunner is for us entered” (ch. 6:20). We see the Lord Jesus here brought out in a new character in heaven, not only for us as High Priest, but to secure a place for us with Himself. Jesus is in heaven in the glory of a Forerunner a High Priest the Purger of our sins. He will put on other glories in the millennial heavens: King of kings and Lord of lords on the millennial earth.

We pass on to chapter 8. “We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.” What exquisite words! There were glories set in the superficial heavens by the fingers of God, and there are glories set in the interior heavens by the grace of God. One of these is a tabernacle which the Lord has pitched there. Christ came down from the eternal bosom to glorify God on the earth. Was there anything too brilliant in the way of glory in which to array such a One?

What communion we get here between God and His Christ between the Father and the Son! Among those glories was a temple pitched by the Lord Himself. God in redemption has built a habitation of the High Priest, and He is seated there in the highest place of honor. Christ could not be a priest here, for He came of the tribe of Judah. He came to fulfill all righteousness: thus a priest of the tribe of Levi, if he found Him there, would have been entitled to cast Him out. He was entitled to everything, but He came as a subject, self-emptied Servant. Did He intrude on the two poor disciples at Emmaus? Much less would He, a Son of Judah, intrude in God’s house.

Here we pause. In this epistle we find one thing. From the beginning to the end the Spirit is taking up one thing after another and laying it aside to make room for Christ. When He has brought Christ in, He fixes Him before us forever. Has not God laid you aside and brought in Christ in your stead? Faith bows to what He has done in every believing soul. In chapter 1 He lays aside angels. “To which of the angels said He at any time, Sit on My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool?” Next we see Moses laid aside. “Moses verily was faithful... as a servant... but Christ as a Son over His own house.” We can part with Moses because we have got Christ, as the poor eunuch could part with Philip because he had got Jesus. Then in chapter 4 comes Joshua. But he is laid aside also. “If [Joshua] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.” Christ is set before me as the true Joshua, who really gives me rest. Then Aaron is set aside to let in the priesthood of Christ, but when I have it before me I have it forever. He is the Administrator of a better covenant. The old covenant is done away because the Lord has nothing to say to it. And at the close we read the beautiful utterance, which might be the text of the epistle, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” He being brought in is the same forever.

What a magnificent thought to think of God bringing in the blessed Jesus to the displacing of everything! God rests in Him [pictured by] the sabbath of old, when God rested in creation. Now God rests in Christ, and if you and I understand where we are, we are breathing the atmosphere of perfection an accomplished work a sabbath. Hebrews is an epistle of untold glories and of inestimable value to the conscience of the awakened sinner.

At the close of chapter 8, we see the first covenant set aside. The covenant that Christ ministers never waxes old. “Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”

The Lord touches everything and fixes it before God forever, and God rests in it. He perfects everything He touches and everything gives place to Him. He gives place to nothing. They came to John the Baptist and said, “Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to Him.” He answered, “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.” This ought to be the utterance of your heart: “He has set me aside to bring Jesus in.” There is wonderful unity between the discovery we get here and the experience of our own souls. We shall never get to an end of these glories till we are lost in an ocean of them by and by a sea without a shore!

J. G. Bellett (from The Opened Heavens)

The Opened Heavens: Hebrews 9; 10:1-18

Chapter 9 to chapter 10:18 is one argument. This is the last section of the doctrinal part of the epistle. Then to the close we get moral exhortations.

Have you ever considered the glories that belong to the Lord Jesus? There are three forms of glory that attach to Him: moral glory, personal glory and official glory. From the manger to the cross was the exhibition of His moral glories. In “these last days” the Lord is exhibiting some of His official glories, and by and by He will exhibit more of them, as in millennial times. His personal glory is the foundation of every one of the glories which should follow His sufferings.

All through life He was exhibiting His moral glories. The scene for these is past now, and He has taken His seat in heaven, but that has only given Him an opportunity to display others. The four gospels give me a view of His moral glories here. In the Epistle to the Hebrews I see Him seated in heaven now in a constellation of official glories. In other writings we get His coming glories.

In chapters 9 and 10 you get what He was doing on the cross, the foundation of every one of His present glories. In the first eight chapters we get a varied display of the conditions of the Lord Jesus now in heaven, and now, as the sustainment of all these, in chapters 9 and 10 we have an account of the perfection of the Lamb on the altar.

Why does the Spirit call the age through which we are passing the “last days”? He does so because God rests in what the Lord Jesus has accomplished as thoroughly as He rested at the close of creation in the perfection of His own work. It is not that in the unfolding of the economy of God we shall not have other ages; yet, in the face of that, the Spirit calls these the “last days.”

In all the Lord has done He has satisfied God. He perfects everything He touches and makes it eternal, and God does not look beyond it. Everything is set aside till Christ is brought in, but there is no looking beyond Him. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” The moment I get God resting in anything I get perfection, and the moment I get perfection I am in the last days. God has reached satisfaction, and so have I. Christ may be unfolded in millennial days, but it is the very same Christ that we have now. Christ being introduced to the thoughts of God, God rests in Him, and when you come to see where you are, you are in God’s second Sabbath. The rest of the Redeemer is a much more blessed thing than the rest of the Creator. In Christ you have perfection, the rest of God, and you are in the “last days.”

In chapters 9 and 10 we see Christ on the altar. The glories that surround Him now have been given to us one after another the priesthood, the Purger of our sins, the predestinated Heir of the world to come, the Apostle of salvation, the Dispenser of the covenant that never gathers age to itself and the Giver of eternal inheritance. In chapter 9:10 we see that the cross sustains them all.

How blessed to track from Matthew to John His moral beauty. Was the Lord Jesus in office here? No, He was in subjection. When I have looked at Him thus I am invited to look upwards. Now I see One who has been seated at the right hand of the Majesty in the very midst of glorious beauties One that the satisfied heart of God has seated there.

Then we come to the perfection of His work as Lamb of God, the grand foundation of all these glories. He would not have perfected His moral glories here nor would He have had His official glories in heaven if He had not gone to the cross and died there.

When the Lord Jesus was hanging as the Lamb of God on the accursed tree and over His bleeding brow was written the inscription, “This is the King of the Jews,” they sought to blot it out, but God would not have it blotted out. He would have the whole creation know that the cross was the title to the kingdom.

The cross sustains the glory, but what sustains the cross itself? The secret comes out in these chapters: as the cross sustains your hopes, it is the Person His personal glory that sustains the cross. If He were less than God manifest in the flesh, all He did was no more worth than water spilled on the ground. Of all the mighty mystery of official, millennial, eternal glories, the cross is the support and the Person is the support of the cross. He must sustain His own work and His work must sustain everything.

There was a veil hanging between the place where the priests ministered and the mystic dwelling-place of God. That veil was the expression that that age gave a sinner no access to God. Were there not sacrifices? Yes, and God’s altar was accepting them, but they were “gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience.” Then He comes beautifully to your heart and demands admiration: “For if the blood of bulls... sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

If we inspect the old tabernacle and see the beggarliness of all its elements that the blood of bulls could not bring you into the presence of God and from the beggarliness of all that look at the satisfyingness of the blood of Jesus, will you not say: “How much more shall it purge our consciences?” That is the way you are to come to the cross, laying doubtings and questionings aside and losing yourself in admiration. The thing the Spirit does is to take you gently by the hand and lead you up to the altar at Calvary and tell you who is the victim that is bleeding there. None but one who was personally free could say, “I come to do Thy will.” Have you any right to a will? Has Gabriel or Michael? To do God’s pleasure is their business, but here was One who could offer Himself without spot to God. “How much more,” then, shall such a sacrifice purge our consciences and introduce us at once to the living God? That is why I say that while we look at His glories His official glories we see that the cross is the sustainment of them all.

But if the soul does not know the personal glory of the Lord, it positively knows nothing. That is the secret you get here. He, for whom God prepared a body, through the eternal Spirit, satisfied the altar yes, satisfied the brazen altar before He went into the holy sanctuary to do the business of God’s priest. And atonement follows from satisfaction. If I find out that Christ’s sacrifice has answered the cravings of the brazen altar, I see that my reconciliation is sealed and settled for eternity.

The Epistle to the Ephesians tells you to stand upon this and to look round about you at the glories of your condition. The Epistle to the Hebrews shows you the glories of Christ’s condition in the compass of about three hundred verses. What a world of wonders is opened! You are sustained by what He has done, and what He has done is sustained by what He is.

J. G. Bellett (from The Opened Heavens)

Peacemakers or Pieces-Makers?

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matt. 5:9).

Recently we were considering with a beloved brother the vital importance of peacemakers among brethren, in view of the day in which we live. He mentioned that when ministering one time where a difficultly was threatening to divide some of God’s dear people, he had pointed out that the Word says, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” not “the pieces-makers.” We feel this is a seasonable word to our hearts, especially because of the ever-increasing efforts of the enemy to create confusion and strife in the assembly. Sometimes self-will and disobedience create circumstances in the assembly or family which must be dealt with in order that there can be peace. But let us ever remember that the “God of peace,” whom we know as our Father, tells us to be “at peace among yourselves” (1 Thess. 5:13). We are also taught in all our relationships as believers to be found “if possible, as far as depends on you, living in peace with all men” (Rom. 12:18 JND). And, as brethren, we are enjoined to be always “endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3).

We have a perfect pattern of a peacemaker in our blessed Lord Jesus. As to His blessed person, He is our peace. As to His work, He has made peace, bringing Jew and Gentile together as one, and He has, as to His Word, preached peace to both the far and the near (Eph. 2:14-15,17). We learn from the divine pattern that one wishing to be a peacemaker must be guided by the Spirit in order that what he seeks to say and do for those who are at odds with each other will be morally in keeping with what he is personally in his walk with God.

However, the believer is not long in this wilderness before realizing that there is a “time of war,” as well as “a time of peace.” As much as we might desire peace, that condition cannot exist when that which dishonors God is allowed. And so, at times, the child of God is engaged in conflict rather than being able to enjoy peace. The spirit in which he enters into conflict, however, will determine whether the outcome results in sweet peace or sorrowful pieces.

This principle is strikingly illustrated in the sad account of the sin of the tribe of Benjamin (Judg. 19-21). The men of Gibeah committed a wicked abomination which caused the death of the Levite’s concubine. Each of the twelve tribes received a piece of the body of the violated woman, identifying them with this wicked act (Judg. 19:29-30). Only the tribe of Benjamin, where the abomination had taken place, remained indifferent to the holy claims of Jehovah. Their conscience was so hardened that they went to war with their brethren in defense of those who were guilty (Judg. 20:12-14).

On the other hand, the eleven tribes seemed eager in spirit to execute righteous judgment on the guilty. They were right in their abhorrence of this wickedness, but they did not realize what God thought of their own self-righteous zeal. He must first judge their spirit before He could use them as an instrument of judgment on the sin of Benjamin. Their spirit is sadly evidenced by the question they ask Jehovah: “Which of us shall go up first to the battle?” How sad! They were eager to be the instrument of vengeance, without feeling proper sorrow that, for their brother Benjamin, there was no peace to the wicked. The eleven tribes were as guilty of being pieces-makers in their eagerness to set things right as Benjamin was in his fellowship with the awful sin of Gibeah. The result of Jehovah’s dealings with Israel’s spirit is solemn to consider. Over forty thousand warriors of Israel were slain before their spirit was broken. What a terrible price to pay for an unsubdued spirit! May we carefully guard our spirits when entering into conflict, remembering the rebuke of the blessed Lord Jesus when His beloved disciples would call down fire from heaven against those who opposed them: “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of ” (Luke 9:55).

After this, when Israel gathered, weeping, before Jehovah at Bethel (Judg. 20:26), proving the reality of “a broken and a contrite heart,” the sin that Benjamin would not judge was fully judged by Jehovah’s using these humbled and subdued brethren (Judg. 20:46). Then as they viewed the results of this righteous judgment on Benjamin, the eleven tribes felt deep sorrow at the pieces of God’s heritage that sin had caused. Because they were now a repentant and subdued nation, Israel was in a morally suited condition to become true peacemakers. The peacemaking began with an even greater humbling of their hearts. “And the people came to the house of God, and abode there till even before God, and lifted up their voices, and wept sore; and said, O Lord God of Israel, why is this come to pass in Israel, that there should be today one tribe lacking in Israel?” (Judg. 21:24). This was true moral preparation for peacemaking. Weeping in sorrow for the few pieces that were left of Benjamin, they desired his preservation in order that Jehovah’s inheritance would not be marred.

The desire of Israel’s heart then shows in their actions. Going to where the few remaining pieces of Benjamin were hiding, “the whole congregation sent some to speak to the children of Benjamin that were in the rock Rimmon, and to call peaceably unto them.” The beautiful result of their efforts at being peacemakers was that “Benjamin came again at that time” (Judg. 21:13-14). The eleven tribes, who had at one time been pieces-makers, acting now in the character of peacemakers have the joy of seeing “the children of Benjamin” return “unto their inheritance” and repair “the cities” and dwell in them (Judg. 21:23). What joy that must have been to their hearts! The whole nation of Israel was cleared from the wickedness that had so dishonored Jehovah, their guilty brother was restored and once again enjoying his possession, and fellowship again existed among all twelve tribes.

God grant that we may always have the heartfelt desire to be peacemakers in our homes and in the assembly. Pieces-makers will not keep the body of Christ fitted together and connected. Let us seek to do all within our power that the testimony of the body of Christ be maintained in peace, for we “are one body in Christ, and each one members one of the other” (Rom. 12:5 JND). How blessed it will be in that coming day of glory to hear the Lord voice His approval and appreciation to those who truly sought to be peacemakers among those who are members of that which is so infinitely precious to His heart: the church which He loved and gave Himself for!

“Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another” (Rom. 14:19). “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matt. 5:9).

D. Nicolet

Praise the Lamb

Original verses written by J. N. Darby

Oh the joy of the salvation

We possess around the throne,

Countless thoughts of admiration

Mingling leave that joy but one.

Hark! Ten thousand voices crying,

“Lamb of God!” with one accord;

Thousand thousand saints replying,

Bursts at once the echoing chord.

Long and free and glad devotion,

Universal praise prevails,

Till, blest fruit of deep emotion,

Voice by voice in silence fails.

Now, in wondrous adoration,

Dwelling on His matchless love,

Swayed with power of that salvation,

Silence fills the courts above.

Then their richest thoughts unfolding,

Each to each with joy divine,

Heavenly converse blissful holding

Tells how bright His glories shine.

Some on God’s high glories dwelling,

Brightly beaming in His face;

Some His Firstborn greatness telling,

Ordering all things in their place.

These of Godhead’s counsels deep

Him the Accomplisher proclaim;

These how Jesus’ self could weep,

Of Godhead’s love the Witness came.

All on love surpassing rest,

That clothed in flesh the great I AM –

Till from a heart divinely pressed

Burst forth at length the loud exclaim,

“Praise the Lamb!” at once awaking

The gathered hosts, their voices throng;

Loud and wide each tongue partaking,

Rolls renewed the endless song.

Grateful incense this ascending,

Rises to the Father’s throne;

Every knee to Christ is bending,

All the mind in heaven is one.

All the Father’s counsels claiming

Equal honors to the Son,

All the Son’s effulgence beaming,

Glory of His Father’s throne.

By the Spirit all pervading

Radiant hosts unnumbered round,

Breathing glory never fading,

Echo back the blissful sound.

Joyful now the wide creation

Rest in undisturbed repose;

Blest in Jesus’ full salvation,

Sorrow now nor thraldom knows.

Rich the streams of bounty flowing,

Common blessings from above,

Life and holy joy bestowing,

Tell of God’s unwearied love.

Hark, the heavenly notes again!

Loudly swells the airborne praise;

Throughout creation’s vault, “Amen.”

“Amen!” responsive joy doth raise.

Present Truth - Atonement - Justification - New Birth

Atonement

The word atonement in the Hebrew is literally “to cover” and refers to the removal of positive guilt out of God’s sight. Atonement then refers to the cross where expiation (full payment) was made for sin.

The holiness of God’s nature demanded the judgment of sin. The love of God provided a sacrifice.

All the claims of God as “light” have been met at the cross, so that God is free to come out in the fullness of His grace; therefore the riches of His grace are now made known in the present blessing of every one that has believed the gospel.

This fullness of blessing is given by the Spirit through the apostles in the New Testament epistles. It is Christ speaking from heaven (Heb. 12:25).

The knowledge of it is through faith in the Word of God. The enjoyment of it is the result of walking in the path of obedience to the Word, so that the Holy Spirit can without hindrance fill our hearts with the precious love of Christ and our minds with the fruit of His atoning work that has glorified God in the putting away of our sins.

Justification

To justify is to declare righteous. Now justification in Christianity always brings the believer into a new position before God. The believer is justified as being “in Christ” before God.

Grace is the way of it (Rom. 3:24).

Faith is the means of it (Rom. 3:28).

The blood is the ground of it (Rom. 5:9).

“Justification of life” in Romans 5:18 is our standing before God in Christ, who is our life (Col. 3:4).

Wondrous grace! What praise must break forth when we see ourselves “in Christ” before God and learn that the will and the heart of God put us there!

New Birth

Being “born again” is really being “born of God” (1 John 5:1). That is, we partake of the life and nature of Him who gave us new birth. It is not the re-enthronement of man’s spirit nature, nor is it the old nature improved or governed by a new life.

John 1:12 declares that we become the children of God when we believe on His name. This new life is manifested by having God as its object.

This new life walks in the light. That is, it has now the knowledge of God revealed in the Son (1 John 1:7).

Its fruit is obedience (1 John 2:35) and righteousness (1 John 2:29), and those divine affections that have God as their object, and love to all the children of God as their character (1 John 3:14). When the new life is manifested, the world knows us not, because such live with wholly new desires new objects new pleasures. We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 3:13; Rom. 5:11).

May this life be seen in all His children!

H. E. Hayhoe

Present Truth - Death: What Is It? - The Kingdom of Heaven

Death What Is It?

The simplest scripture defining what death is will be found in James 2:26, “The body without the spirit is dead.” Death means the separation of life from the body. Death is never the end of existence (Luke 16:19-31).

The answer of the Lord to the Sadducees in Luke 20, when speaking of the patriarchs who had died many years before, was, “All live unto Him” (Luke 20:38). The blessedness of those of faith in the interval between death and resurrection is not revealed in the Old Testament. It has now come to light through Paul’s gospel (2 Tim. 1:9-10).

Ecclesiastes 3:19 is simply all that man could know by viewing things “under the sun.” God is showing in that book the utter inability of man to find out the things that belong to revelation.

The second death is the separation of the whole man from God forever. What a solemn voice of warning. The fact of a “second death” proves that the first one was not cessation of being. “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:8).

Resurrection The common teaching of a general resurrection is not taught in Scripture. See John 5:29, Acts 24:15 and Luke 14:14.

Revelation 20:4 teaches us that these saints lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, while Revelation 20:5 teaches that the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished, adding, “This is the first resurrection,” thus clearly teaching the fact of there being two resurrections.

This resurrection from “among the dead” was first taught by our Lord in Mark 9:9. The disciples did believe in the resurrection of the dead. It was a current Jewish belief gathered correctly from the Old Testament scriptures (Job 19:25-27; Acts 23:8). Christianity gives the precious truth of a “first resurrection” that will take place at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 4:15-18).

The Kingdom of Heaven

This is the rule of the heavens in the person of the Son of Man. It was preached by John the Baptist (Matt. 3:2) and by our Lord Himself (Matt. 4:17). Later we find it preached by the apostles (Matt. 10:7).

When Christ, as the promised King and Messiah to Israel, is rejected, it becomes the kingdom in mystery (Matt. 13:11). That is, Christ is not openly reigning, though faith is assured that God is behind the scenes moving all the scenes which He is behind (Eph. 1:19-23; 1 Peter 3:22). Wherever the seed of the gospel has been sown and men have professed Christianity, there we have what Scripture speaks of as “the kingdom of heaven.” It is the sphere of Christian profession on earth.

H. E. Hayhoe

Present Truth - Govermental Forgiveness - Sinless Living

Governmental Forgiveness

Governmental forgiveness means the forgiveness that God exercises over us as His children. It has to do with this life.

When the believer sins, he loses his communion as a child with the Father, but not his relationship as a child of God.

The subject of 1 John 1 is communion; therefore the Apostle says: “If we confess our sins [note, not ask for forgiveness], He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

This is governmental forgiveness and is also referred to in Matthew 6:14-15 and chapter 18:35. The Lord’s prayer has also this thought when it says, “Forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us” (Luke 11:4).

The “sin unto death,” referred to in 1 John 5:16-17, is that of a believer who has so dishonored the Lord through sin that he is removed in the government of God, though not lost.

First Corinthians 11:30 is another passage that refers to the government of God. Some were sickly and some slept (were taken in death) because they “broke bread” and walked carelessly with unjudged evil in their lives. May we walk carefully prayerfully, with exercised hearts to please God, who has done great things for us!

Sinless Living

1 John 1:8 declares, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

James 3:2 declares, “For in many things we offend all [or, “all offend”; JND].”

Romans 6:12 exhorts, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.”

2 Corinthians 4:10-11 exhorts and declares, “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”

These verses addressed to believers show that the old nature is still there. Our constant need is to “watch unto prayer,” as we find in 1 Peter 4:7.

Colossians 3:3 states the truth that we “are dead.” It is the truth of Romans 6 that we died in the death of Christ.

Romans 6:11 exhorts us to reckon ourselves to be dead. That is how we are to begin our Christian life. Then 2 Corinthians 4:10 tells us to carry out this truth in our daily life.

2 Corinthians 3:18 gives us the principle of victory through occupation with Christ.

“Preserve me, O God: for in Thee do I put my trust” (Psalm 16:1).

H. E. Hayhoe (Present Truth for Christians)

Present Truth - Holiness - Reconciliation

Holiness

Holiness is abhorrence of evil with delight in that which is good. We have three kinds of nature in Scripture: innocent—this was man before the fall; fallen—this is man’s present condition; and, holy—this is the true nature of God.

Holiness is not just separation from evil, but it is the nature of God in the believer that abhors evil, because we are “born of God” (1 John 5:1). Peter speaks of the family of faith as being partakers of the divine nature, thus escaping the corruption in the world through lust, by the possession of a nature that has God for its object and lives as one called to God’s eternal glory by Christ Jesus (1 Peter 5:10).

Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:24 that the new man is created in righteousness and true holiness. All the exhortations in the Word are based on having our lives correspond to what we possess in Christ, not getting the thing by our own efforts.

May we so nourish this new life, that we have from God, that practical holiness may characterize our lives to His praise! “Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling” (Heb. 3:1). “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).

Reconciliation

When man is in the mind of the Spirit, it means a change of disposition towards an object. When new creation is in the mind of the Spirit it means having the thing suited to God in His own nature. Reconciliation is always connected with the death of Christ, because it is only as possessing a new nature that we are reconciled to God.

Scripture never speaks of God reconciled. It is man that needs reconciliation. Second Corinthians 5:19 tells us that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, but man refused to be reconciled. He rejected God’s Son sent in grace.

Now the glad tidings of the blessed fact that He who knew no sin was made sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him is preached that through faith those who believe should be reconciled.

Philippians 2:10 tells us that things under the earth (infernal beings) will bow. They will never be reconciled.

“Having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things [in heaven and on earth] unto Himself ” (Col. 1:20).

H. E. Hayhoe (Present Truth for Christians)

Present Truth - Progressive Sanctification - Propitiation - Redemption

Progressive Sanctification

This we have in 1 Thessalonians 5:23. “And I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Also in Hebrews 12:14 we read, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”

We do not follow after holiness to get it, but because we have the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. 4:24).

It is the character of the new life, which we are exhorted to display. The measure and character of it is Christ in glory. It is by faith, for it looks to Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the power of it.

We enjoy the position of being sanctified in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 1:2) in the measure in which we walk practically in the truth.

May the precious love of Christ constrain our hearts to walk in the path of obedience to His Word in holy separation from every form of evil!

Propitiation

Propitiation means meeting the claims of God’s holy nature. In Romans 3:25 we get Christ presented as the One who has made propitiation through His blood. We come into the blessing of it through faith.

“Whom God hath set forth” tells of the precious fact that it was the heart of God in grace that provided the sacrifice.

In 1 John 2:2 we find that the work of propitiation was for the whole world, so that any of Adam’s race can come to Christ and be saved.

God was never revealed as a “Saviour God” for the whole world until the New Testament was written. May we glorify Him for His mercy and sing unto His name (Rom. 15:9)!

Redemption

Redemption means deliverance by price out of our state of bondage into freedom. The true knowledge of redemption brings one into perfect peace, into true and constant dependence on the Redeemer.

The Israelites were redeemed out of Egypt when they crossed the Red Sea; then they sang. So we “joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:11).

We wait the redemption of our bodies (Rom. 8:23). That will be when the Lord comes for us and provides the dead and living with glorified bodies (1 Cor. 15:51-54; Phil. 3:21).

Then we look for the redemption of the purchased possession, which will bring the new creation into the blessedness of deliverance (Rom. 8:19-22; Eph. 1:14).

The unbelieving are not redeemed, but they will bow and own Christ as Lord before being cast out into outer darkness (Isa. 45:23; Rom. 14:11; Phil. 2:10).

H. E. Hayhoe (Present Truth for Christians)

Present Truth - Righteousness - Eternal Life

I am in Christ above, and Christ is in me below. Here I find the power for my life.

Righteousness

The righteousness of God is the display of the nature of God in all His acts. We, believers, are made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). He, Christ, is our righteousness before God (1 Cor. 1:30). It is not the merits of Christ put to our account, nor is it Christ keeping the law for us.

The righteous judgment of sin (the root) and sins (the fruit) were both seen at the cross. The blood of Christ put our sins away (1 John 1:7). The death of Christ ended our Adam history before God (2 Cor. 5:17). Now Christ is our life (Col. 3:4) and we are “in Christ” before God (Rom. 8:1).

It is a blessed fact that Christ is the believer’s righteousness before God, so that he rejects all other righteousness as worthless. Read carefully what Paul says in Philippians 3:7-9. The Lord give us each to enjoy it more and praise His grace together! “He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).

Eternal Life

Eternal life is not just never-dying life. Angels live forever, yet they have not what Scripture speaks of as “eternal life.” The lost live forever under the judgment of God, yet they have not eternal life (1 John 5:12). It is a blessed truth that eternal life is Christ our life (1 John 1:12). Eternal life is the gift of God to everyone that believes the gospel (Rom. 6:23).

Possessing Christ as our life, we have now the nature of God with the affections and moral character of that nature. This new life cannot sin (1 John 3:9). The Gospel of John gives “eternal life” manifested in the Son of God. In the Epistle of John it is that same life manifested in those who are “born of God.” Possessing eternal life, we are thus able to enter into the very thoughts of God Himself. The blessed result is community of thought in “oneness of life.”

The Holy Spirit dwelling in us as believers gives the power for our walk, while the Word of God enables us to judge that which would hinder communion. May we walk carefully prayerfully so to enjoy the blessedness of it. “He that hath the Son hath life” (1 John 5:12). “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:4).

H. E. Hayhoe

Present Truth - Substitution - Forgiveness

Substitution

Substitution is always spoken of in the Word in connection with the family of faith. It is never spoken of in any other way. The Word of God never says Christ bore the sins of the whole world.

Propitiation is for the whole world (1 John 2:2). That is, Christ has met the claims of God’s holy nature and borne the full judgment of sin at the cross, so that God can in righteousness forgive any poor sinner who will accept the message of His grace.

Scripture says, “He bare the sin of many” (Isa. 53:12). Hebrews 9:28 confirms the passage in Isaiah 53.

Peter says, “Who... bare our sins in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24).

Christianity brings the blessed truth that every believer stands at all times before God as forgiven (Heb. 10:17; 1 John 2:12). Let us praise Him for such grace!

Forgiveness

Previous to the first advent of Christ, the truth of eternal forgiveness of sin was not made known. Generally speaking, forgiveness, as referred to in the Old Testament, was governmental, that is, it had to do with this life not eternity.

The whole teaching of the Epistle to the Hebrews was to bring those who believed to the blessedness of chapter 10:14: “For by one offering He hath perfected forever [uninterrupted continuance] them that are sanctified.” This is the present blessedness of Christianity: no more offering for sin. See verse 18 of that same chapter.

That is now the believer’s standing before God. Peter preached it in Acts 10:43. Paul preached it in Acts 13:38-39, adding the blessed fact of justification, and Romans 8:1 sums up the work of God in grace with those who believed the glad tidings. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”

Let no teaching ever cloud the blessed, precious and glorious fruit that flows from the work of God’s Son at the cross! Let us rejoice in it and praise Him now and forever!

H. E. Hayhoe (Present Truth for Christians)

Preserved: Our Path and Feet

The beginning of blessing is the honest acknowledgment before the Lord that such a state of failure (the failure of the collective testimony of the church to Christ its head) exists. A lot of “strange gods” have captured the hearts of the beloved people of God: Let us put them away and fast before Him (denying self).

The vessel of testimony is as wrecked as the ship on which Paul sailed towards Rome. It is not a question of saving the vessel: That is a lost cause. The water spilled upon the ground through our unfaithfulness cannot be gathered up again! (See 1 Samuel 7.)

Am I saying there is no path for faith in these days? Far be the thought! The Lord has, I believe, preserved a path in which faith can walk until the shout (calling the assembly home). Hannah says God preserves the feet of His saints (1 Sam. 2:9), and Proverbs 2 tells us that God preserves the path itself for us to walk in.

How should we walk in that path which the Lord has, I believe, graciously showed us? Humbly recognizing that grace alone brings us to that path and can keep us in it for His glory until He comes.

R. K. Gorgas

Promise Keepers - Is It of God?

For several years now a men’s religious movement called “Promise Keepers” has been sweeping across North America. The movement began in Colorado in 1990, when University of Colorado football coach Bill McCartney and his friend David Wardell conceived the idea of getting Christian men together. Later that same year more men began to fast and pray about the concept of having thousands of men come together to seek to improve their Christian lives and to help one another. In 1991 several thousand men met at the University of Colorado Events Center, and from this beginning the movement has expanded into multiple conferences held across North America, with hundreds of thousands of men involved. Many major evangelical leaders are in full support of the movement. Well-known Christian leaders such as Chuck Swindoll, James Dobson, Chuck Colson, John Trent and Gary Smalley, as well as many others, are involved.

The movement focuses on Christian men, calling them to make certain promises relative to their own lives and their interaction with others. In particular, seven promises are put forward, which I will outline here. They are taken from a book titled Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper, published in 1994.

Promise One. A man and his God: A Promise Keeper is committed to honoring Jesus Christ through worship, prayer and obedience to God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Promise Two. A man and his mentors: A Promise Keeper is committed to pursuing vital relationships with a few other men, understanding that he needs brothers to help him keep his promises.

Promise Three. A man and his integrity: A Promise Keeper is committed to practicing spiritual, moral, ethical and sexual purity.

Promise Four. A man and his family: A Promise Keeper is committed to building strong marriages and families through love, protection and biblical values.

Promise Five. A man and his church: A Promise Keeper is committed to supporting the mission of the church by honoring and praying for his pastor and by actively giving of his time and resources.

Promise Six. A man and his brothers: A Promise Keeper is committed to reaching beyond any racial and denominational barriers to demonstrate the power of biblical unity.

Promise Seven. A man and his world: A Promise Keeper is committed to influencing his world, being obedient to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

It sounds good, doesn’t it? In perusing the book from which these seven promises are taken, I cannot help but be impressed by the pointed exhortations made relative to these promises and the scriptures quoted to support the exhortations. It is not hard to see why the movement has made such remarkable progress in such a short time. For too long too many Christians have not lived lives consistent with what they profess. Christian men have not assumed the role of headship that God has given them, thus neglecting their responsibilities towards God. Ultimately this has translated into abdication of spiritual responsibility in the family, among other believers and towards the world. While the truths of Christianity may have been at least partially acknowledged, often the important exhortations based on those truths have been forgotten. Worldliness and sin have been the sad result among those who name the name of Christ (2 Tim. 2:19).

It is a sad commentary on Christianity today that such a need exists. If Christ were before our souls and the instruction in God’s Word carried weight with us, there would be no need for such a movement. We should be humbled by this condition of things, for we are all part of it. May we have the attitude of Daniel, who, when he considered the solemn judgment of God on his people, could confess their sin before God, identifying himself with it and casting himself on the mercy of God. Furthermore, may we each one search our own heart before the Lord, lest we be found condemning something which has begun, perhaps wrongfully, but as a response to our own failure. We have often heard that “two wrongs do not make a right,” and it is never of God to respond to one wrong by doing another. But if we are guilty of the first wrong, let us correct our own ways before seeking to set another straight. “Every one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:12).

With these thoughts in mind, I would like to point out why Promise Keepers is not a scriptural remedy for the wrongs it seeks to address. In doing this, I acknowledge that attending a Promise Keepers meeting may result in some improvement in a man’s life, and no doubt souls have been saved through this contact. But though all of the promises have some basic good in them, they are diluted with scriptural inaccuracies. (The reference to a pastor of a local church has no scriptural support, and while the reaching out beyond denominational barriers is certainly in keeping with the truth of the one body, this remark certainly requires some qualification.) There is no doubt that some, in being recalled to their responsibilities, will lead better lives (at least for a time). However, we must remember that we are never wiser than Scripture and that everything in the moral and spiritual sphere must be tested against the Word of God. While many objections could be made, they all can be summarized under three basic headings.

The major objection to Promise Keepers that I would suggest is that it is ultimately a product of modern humanistic thinking. The promoters of the movement would probably vigorously deny this, but it is true nevertheless. Such humanistic thinking has pervaded so much of our world today that sometimes it is hard to recognize it for what it is. Promise Keepers focuses man back on himself, as do many of the “Self-Help” philosophies of today.

In the Old Testament, man voluntarily placed himself under law, under a promise to God. When the law was given to the nation of Israel, their response was, “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do” (Ex. 19:8). The record of Israel subsequent to this promise is ample evidence of man’s lack of ability to keep his promises. Not only did Israel fail in keeping the law, but they showed clearly that man in the flesh did not even have the desire to please God. Israel’s history ended not only with a broken law, but also in idolatry, so that God had to allow them to be carried away into captivity.

In the New Testament, there is no record of man’s making a promise, either to God or to his fellowman. No, the only promises recorded in the New Testament are those made by God. Our God is the only One who makes and keeps promises unfailingly. We read in 2 Corinthians 1:20 that “all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” In 2 Peter 1:4 we read of “great and precious promises,” that by these we might be “partakers of the divine nature.” To be sure, the substance of what is taught by Promise Keepers should surely be carried out by believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, but not by making promises. One could affirm his resolve to keep the promises mentioned without dealing with the root of an evil tendency, without really having his heart drawn out to Christ as an object before him and even without really knowing why he should be keeping the promise. It is good to be “ethically pure” (referring to Promise Three) even if we do not fully understand why though understanding “why” would be better but are we being propped up as “ethically pure” without dealing with the root before the Lord?

Of course we must remember that there is a tendency for many of us who do not go to Promise Keepers to live (at least to some extent) according to what others will think, not judging before the Lord and perhaps not knowing why we act as we do. If we are truly saved, God has given us a new life. Let us remember that our new life in Christ cannot sin; it is our old sinful self that sins. It is not enough to abhor my sins; the Spirit of God seeks to bring me to the point where I abhor myself. God has given us His Spirit as the power of that new life and the Lord Jesus Christ as the object for our souls. Scripture teaches dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ, and in walking in the Spirit we will let the new life, the life of Christ, be displayed in us.

We read in Philippians 3:3, “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” We “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom. 8:4), and we are told to “walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). As another has said, “The proper attitude of a man under grace is to refuse to make resolutions and vows, for that is to trust in the flesh.” To place man under promises is to go back under law and in principle to be “in flesh.” As such, it gives some glory to man in the flesh, and this is why it has such wide appeal. But “they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:8).

The second objection to the Promise Keepers movement is that unity is promoted at the expense of truth and ecumenicalism instead of faithfulness to God and His Word. Again, many remarks could be made, but one quotation will serve to show the direction the movement is taking. In the book referred to earlier, Seven Promises of a Promise Keeper, one leader writes: “Redeeming worship centers on the Lord’s Table. Whether your tradition celebrates it as Communion, Eucharist, the Mass or the Lord’s Supper, we are all called to this centerpiece of Christian worship.” Coupled with this blatantly unscriptural approach to Christian unity are charismatic teachings and other bad doctrine, as well as humanistic psychological teachings, which supplant the Word of God. It is a unity based on compromise rather than on a return to God and the truth of His Word.

Surely the unity of all true believers is clearly taught in Scripture, for we read in Ephesians 4:4, “There is one body.” It should be a matter of continual sorrow and humility for every Christian that this unity is so poorly expressed before the world. We are not told to keep the unity of the body (that is God’s prerogative) but rather to endeavor “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3). This involves separating from that which is not according to God’s Word, for the Spirit will never lead contrary to the Word. We are all in the “great house” of Christian profession referred to in 2 Timothy 2:20, but we are to “purge ourselves” from vessels to dishonor (2 Tim. 2:21). Surely God’s desire is for unity, but it must be the unity of the Spirit, not a unity made by agreeing to disagree.

Coupled with all of this is a third objection. Promise Keepers does not emphasize the heavenly calling of the church, but rather focuses on improving this world. Repeated references are made to the sad condition of things in our families, schools, cities and governments, with recommendations as to how a revival can be started and the nation (in this case the United States) saved from ruin. The Word of God is even used to support political movements as is evidenced by the following quotation from the same book mentioned previously: “In every generation revival has come as the result of prayer. For example, powerful prayer preceded America’s First Great Awakening, which gave the colonists a unified biblical view of the principles of freedom and helped pave the way for the American Revolution.”

We agree that the condition of the world today is very serious. Scripture tells us that “righteousness exalteth a nation” (Prov. 14:34), and the spread of the gospel through the Word of God has always been accompanied by a general moral elevation.

Those of us who live in countries where there is freedom to preach the gospel and to read God’s Word can be thankful for whatever measure of moral integrity remains. But God is not dealing directly with nations today; rather, He is dealing with individuals, calling them out of a world that is under judgment. The church’s hopes are heavenly, not earthly. Philippians 3:20 says, “For our conversation [citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

God may in His grace give a revival, and the indirect result of that revival may well be a tremendous improvement in the moral tone of a nation, for which we can be thankful. But to have such an improvement as our aim is to fail to understand the mystery of Christ and the church. It is to fail to have the Lord’s coming as a present hope, living as if I were going to be called home by the shout at any moment. It is to fail to understand that this world is under judgment and that we are called out of it for heaven. Believers are sent into it as living witnesses of the grace that has saved us but to be in the world, not of it. To live a morally upright life as a Christian, seeking to improve the world, will bring its praise. To live as those who are “partakers of the heavenly calling” (Heb. 3:1) and thus to refuse to be part of the world system around us will bring its reproach. I would submit that Promise Keepers’ frequent references to such things as political involvement, professional sports, concerts and Hollywood actors tend to bring Christianity down to the level of this world, instead of emphasizing our heavenly calling.

May we refuse to be part of that which, though well-intentioned, is not according to God’s Word and which undermines some of the foundation truths of Christianity. Let us be found “in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves,” realizing that only God can “give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” (2 Tim. 2:25). And may we seek grace from the Lord to judge unsparingly our own ways so that a godly walk may commend to others the truth that we seek to maintain and that the world may take knowledge of us that we have “been with Jesus.”

W. J. Prost

Proverbs

In February, 1994, a series of articles titled “Simon Patrick on Proverbs 1683” was begun in the Christian Treasury. We thought it would be well to reintroduce our readers to the author of this verse-by-verse commentary of Proverbs by printing part of the preface to this work, which he dedicated to her grace, the Duchess of Monmouth. The preface states in part: “The excellence of this book is best understood by the serious perusal of it; which will discover it to be a magazine of all sorts of wisdom: full of golden sentences and moral precepts, in all things that concern our conversation in this world, as among all the profane philosophers and poets, there is not to be found so rich a storehouse of natural wisdom, agreeing with the will and divine wisdom of God.”

Simon Patrick was Dean of Peterburgh and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty. The editor of the Christian Treasury has an original print copy (1683) of this book from which the material presented in the Christian Shepherd has been taken. It was originally printed in an “Old English” typeface using archaic English spelling. (That is, the word “Duchess” appears as “Ducheff.”) Patrick used the King James Version of the Bible in his work.

The editor of the Christian Treasury and his dear wife have rewritten the old text, word-forword, changing spelling where necessary to make the text understandable for readers today. We plan, Lord willing, to continue printing excerpts from each chapter until the complete work has been covered. Its simple explanations of the proverbs are needed as much today as when printed 314 years ago.

In an article titled “Proverbs Wisdom From Heaven,” brother C. Buchanan has written: Proverbs “is a book of heavenly wisdom for an earthly pathway.... We find here the best advice that can be given.... It directs parents in the training and education of their children, and in the management of family life.... Precepts about well-doing and direction for our whole life are found here. ‘Love her [wisdom], and she shall keep thee’ (Prov. 4:6).”

Ed.

Proverbs - Chapter 14:18-35 (Selected Verses)

21. “He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.” But let such men know that it is a greater sin than they imagine, and shall be severely punished to overlook their poor neighbor, and deny him their charitable relief: which whosoever compassionately affords him, not onely doth a good deed, but shall be amply rewarded for it.

23. “In all labor there is profit: but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury.” If a man take pains in any honest employment, though never so mean, it will bring him in some profit: but to spend one’s time in talking onely, and perhaps boasting what he can doe, tends to nothing but to make a man a beggar.

29. “He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.” He declares himself to be a great man, and to abound with prudence, who is not soon provoked to anger by reproaches or ill usage: by which if a man be hastily inflamed, he exposes his folly, and makes it apparent to every body.

30. “A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.” There is nothing conduces more to health and happiness than a quiet, gentle and contented mind: but envy, and such like fretfull passions, is as miserable a torment and consuming disease as rottenness in the bones.

31. “He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoreth Him hath mercy on the poor.” He that defrauds or oppresses the poor, forgets God, who can reduce him to the same condition; nay, affronts His Majesty, who hath promised to be the Defender of such helpless people: therefore whosoever hath any respect to God, will be so far from injuring, that he will show mercy and doe good to him that is needy.

32. “The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.” When a wicked man falls into calamity, his heart fails him, and he is driven away from all his confidences, like the chaff before the wind, by the conscience of his own wickedness: but a righteous man is not dismayed in the greatest dangers; but remains steady and confident, even in death itself.

33. “Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding: but that which is in the midst of fools is made known.” A prudent person makes no unseasonable demonstration of his wisdom; but lets it lie quiet in his own mind, till there be a fitting opportunity to doe good with it: whereas fools cannot contain themselves, but presently vent whatsoever they know, though never so small, in every company whereinto they come.

S. Patrick

Proverbs - Chapter 15:1-15 (Selected Verses)

3. “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” There is nothing either in heaven or earth that can escape the knowledge of God: who is everywhere; and observes the most secret motions and actions of men, both good and bad.

6. “In the house of the righteous is much treasure: but in the revenues of the wicked is trouble.” A truly just and mercifull man is very rich, whether he hath little or much; because he is well contented, and what he hath is likely to continue in his family: but there is much disquiet and trouble in the greatest revenues of the wicked; which can neither stay long with him, nor give him satisfaction while he enjoys them.

10. “Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.” Sharp and grievous punishments shall be inflicted on him that forsakes the virtuous path in which he began to tread: for he is not easily reclaimed; because it is unpleasing to him to hear of his faults; and in time he hates reproof, and then must certainly perish.

13. “A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.” When the mind of a man is inwardly satisfied and full of joy, it doth good to his body too; as appears in his cheerful countenance: but when grief or sorrow seizes on the heart, it dejects, enfeebles and breaks the most courageous spirit.

15. “All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.” All the days of a poor man are full of anxiety and trouble; especially if, when any affliction befalls him, he be discontented with his condition, and cannot bear with disappointments: but a good heart, and cheerfull spirit is a cure for this; especially a mind conscious to itself of designing well, whatsoever the success prove, is a perpetual comfort, and a higher satisfaction than the most delicious banquet of the rich and prosperous.

S. Patrick (1683)

Proverbs - Chapter 15:16-33 (Selected Verses)

17. “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” The meanest fare with the love of him that invites, and with agreement among the guests, is much better than the most sumptuous entertainment of him that hates us; or among those that quarrel and contend, even then when all differences should be forgotten.

18. “A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.” A man prone to wrath will easily disturb the most peaceable company, being apt to quarrel for very trifles: but a meek and patient person is so far from raising strife, that he will endeavor to compose it, when he finds it is begun by others.

24. “The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath.” The way to be perfectly happy, a truly wise man sees, is to raise his thoughts, desires and hopes above this earth, and to have respect to God in all his actions.

25. “The Lord will destroy the house of the proud: but He will establish the border of the widow.” Trust not in riches and power, but in the great Lord of the world, who possesses and disposes all things; for He will overturn the family of haughty men (who forgetting Him, trample upon their inferiors) though never so strongly supported: but will preserve the poor widow, who hath no helper in her right; when such insolent persons invade it.

26. “The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord: but the words of the pure are pleasant words.” For the Lord abhors all wicked designs, and mischievous contrivances: but the kind consultations and discourses of such as seek the welfare and comfort of others, are no less pleasing to Him than they are pure.

28. “The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.” A good man thinks it is soon enough to speak when he is asked about a business; and deliberates within himself to speak nothing that is not to the purpose: but bad men are rash and forward to utter their mind; and generally doe more hurt than good.

31. “The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.” He that lends an attentive ear to wholesome reproof, and is obedient to it, is to be numbered among the wise; and shall at last be able to give good instructions unto others.

32. “He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.” And whosoever he be that refuseth, much more that contemneth, such instructions and reproofs, he sets his own soul at naught; and despiseth the means of his safety: but he that diligently hearkens to it, knows what is good for himself; and keeps his soul from being lost for want of understanding.

S. Patrick (1683)

Proverbs - Chapter 16:1-16 (Selected Verses)

2. “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.” Such is the blindness of self-love, that men can find no fault in themselves; but imagine all that they contrive and doe to be free from blame: which, when the Lord examines, who searches into the very intentions of men’s hearts, is found to be very defective, if not vicious.

3. “Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.” When thou undertakest anything, implore the Divine blessing; and committing the success of it to God’s providence, leave it to Him to give what issue to it He pleases: which is the surest way to have thy honest designs accomplished.

7. “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” The best to have our enemies reconciled unto us is for us first to be reconciled unto God: for such is the reverence men bear to virtue, and such is the love which the Lord hath to virtuous persons, that when all their designs and actions are such as He approves: He inclines even those that were their foes to become their friends.

9. “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.” The mind of man designs an end, and contrives what means to use, and reckons perhaps what success they will have: but the Lord determines what the event shall be, and orders his motions perhaps to such an issue as never came into his thoughts.

11. “A just weight and balance are the Lord’s: all the weights of the bag are His work.” And it is worthy of His care, that there be no corruption in private, no more than in publick justice; for it also is of divine institution; the great Lord of all requiring just and equal dealings in all our commerce one with another; which He hath ordained should be managed with scrupulous integrity, in the smallest as well as in the greatest matters.

16. “How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!” But after all is done, to get so much wisedom as to know the difference between good and evil, and to understand how to behave a man’s self upon all occasions; is, beyond all expression, better and more to be chosen than the greatest treasures of gold and silver, which either the favor of princes can give, or his own industry acquire.

S. Patrick (1683)

Proverbs - Chapter 16:17-33 (Selected Verses)

17. “The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.” This is the constant aim and endeavor of upright men, the beaten path, as we may call it, in which they travel, to decline everything that is evil: and he who makes this his care, looking well to all his actions, that he doe nothing amiss, looks well to himself, and preserves his soul and body from destruction.

18. “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Insolent behavior is the forerunner of utter destruction: and when men lift up themselves in their own thoughts, and over-look all others with contempt, they are in the greatest danger to stumble; and not to see that which will give them such a grievous downfall, as will break them all to shivers.

22. “Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly.” A clear understanding and right judgment of things, like an inexhaustible spring, gives perpetual comfort and satisfaction to him in whom it is; and makes him very usefull unto others: but the learning of fools is frivolous and vain; and therefore, if they undertake to instruct others, they onely make them like themselves.

28. “A froward man soweth strife: and a whisperer separateth chief friends.” Others of them have such a perversness in their spirit, that it is their business to disturb the world, and raise dissentions among those that would live in peace; by backbiting, detracting, and whispering false stories: making a breach even between princes and people, husband and wife, nay, the dearest friends and familiars, if they hearken to their tales.

32. “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” He that can suppress the vehement motions of anger, deserves more praise than those mighty men who quell the enemies that oppose them; and he that hath power to govern all his own inclinations, affections and passions by reason, hath a nobler empire than he that subdues cities and countries by force of arms.

S. Patrick (1683)

Proverbs - Chapter 17:1-28 (Selected Verses)

3.“The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the Lord trieth the hearts.” The art of man hath found out means to prove whether gold and silver be pure or no; but none can search into the secret thoughts, designs and inclinations of men’s Souls, but the Lord: who (as those metals are tried by fire) many times proves and discovers what they are by sharp afflictions and troubles.

8. “A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.” A gift is so tempting that it can no more be refused, than a lovely Jewel by him to whom it is presented: and such is its power, it commonly prevails over all men, dispatches all business, carries all causes; and, in a word, effects whatsoever a man desires.

14. “The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with.” When men begin a quarrel or a difference they know not where it will end: For the very first breach is like cutting the banks of a river; which presently overflows the neighboring grounds, but cannot easily be reduced into its bounds again. It is best therefore to make peace immediately, before both parties be involved in such troubles, as, like a deluge of water, lay all desolate.

17. “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” Time makes proof of a Friend; who, if he be sincere, loves not merely for a fit, nor alters with the change of one’s condition: but continues steadfast in adversity, as well as in prosperity; nay, in straits and distresses, shows himself more like a Brother than a Friend.

28. “Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips, is esteemed a man of understanding.” Such a vertue it is to be silent, that he who understands nothing is deemed wise, as long as he holds his peace: and he whose mind hath such power over his mouth, as to keep it shut, that nothing may suddenly and impetuously go out, is wise indeed.

Proverbs - Chapter 18:1-24 (Selected Verses)

8. “The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.” A whisperer of false stories makes a great show of harmlesness, if not of love and kindness, when he backbites others; nay seems perhaps to doe it very unwillingly, with great grief of heart, and not without excuses for the persons, from whom he detracts: but his words give them the most deadly wound; and sink deep into the mind of those that hear them.

9. “He also that is slothfull in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.” There is so little difference between a slothfull man and a prodigal, that they may be called Brethren: for he that looks not after his business, must needs come to poverty, as well as he that is a spend-thrift.

10. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.” The Almighty power and goodness of the great Lord of the World, is the securest defense in all manner of dangers: unto which a vertuous man may have the confidence cheerfully to resort, and hope to find protection; nay, to be there as safe, as if he was in an impregnable fortress.

14. “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?” There is a vast difference between outward and inward evils; for a manly spirit will support us under bodily sickness and outward afflictions: but if the mind itself have lost its courage, and become abject, cast down and oppressed with grief and sadness; it is not in the power of man to raise and lift it up.

19. “A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.” But there are no contentions so sharp and obstinate, as those among Brethren: who grow so refractory when they have transgressed against each other, that it is easier to take a strong City, or to break the barrs of a Castle; than it is to compose their differences, and remove all the obstructions that lie in the way to their hearty reconciliation.

S. Patrick (1683)

Proverbs - Chapter 19 (Selected Verses)

11. “The discretion of a man deferreth his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.” The world thinks him stupid, who is patient; and without sense of honor, who passes by injuries: but the more understanding any man hath, the slower he is to anger; and the greater his spirit is, the greater his glory and praise, not to revenge a wrong, when he hath opportunity.

14. “House and riches are the inheritance of fathers; and a prudent wife is from the Lord.” The singular Providence of God therefore is to be acknowledged, in a vertuous wife; which is not so easie to get as an estate. For an house, and land may descend upon us, without our thought, from our progenitours: but great care and prudence is required in the choice of a Wife, that knows how to manage a Family aright; who is not found neither, without the peculiar direction and blessing of the Lord.

18. “Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.” Give due and timely correction to thy son for his faults, before he have gotten an habit of them, and there be little hope of his amendment: but neither proceed to such cruel usage of him, as to make him weary of life, and not to care what becomes of him; nor yet be moved merely by his roaring to abate of thy necessary severity towards him.

20. “Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.” Lissen unto good advice, and be not impatient of reproof; no nor of correction for thy faults: but receive all thankfully; and learn thereby that wisedom which will doe thee service, when all things else will fail thee.

S. Patrick (1683)

Proverbs - Chapter 20 (Selected Verses)

6. “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find?” It is such an honor to be kind and to doe good to others, that a great part of mankind value themselves very much upon the mere pretense of it; every one of them boasting what he hath done, or will doe upon occassion: though, alas! in a time of trial, it is very hard to find so much as one of them, that will be as good as his word.

7. “The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.” But whosoever he be, that is indued with this rare vertue of being just to his word; and so sincerely charitable, that he persevereth in his vertue to the end of his days; he shall not onely fare the better for it, while he lives; but his children after him shall reap the happy fruits, of his unfeigned love to God and man.

9. “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” There is no man so perfect, that he hath nothing left to doe; for who can say, and say truly, that he hath not the least evil affection remaining in him, no unruly passion stirring in his soul? Or that he is so free from every sin, that he needs no further purifying?

24. “Man’s goings are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way?” There is no man great or small, that can take one step towards anything he designs, without the permission and direction also of the Lord: who over rules their motions unto ends so far distant from men’s thoughts, that it is impossible for them to know what the event shall be, of anything they undertake.

S. Patrick (1683)

Proverbs - Chapter 21 (Selected Verses)

1. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will.” It is not in the power of kings (much less of other men) either to doe, or to design, what they please: but their very wills are subject to the great Lord of all; who diverts them as easily from what they intend, or inclines them to that which they resolve against; as the Gardiner draws the streams of water, through the trenches he cuts, unto what part of the ground he thinks good.

2. “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord pondereth the hearts.” There is nothing that a man doth or designs (especially if he be great and potent) but (such is the fond affection he hath for himself) he fancies it to be exactly good: when in the account of the Lord, who searches into the secrets of men’s Souls, and knows the just value of everything, they are very defective, if not grossly wicked.

14. “A gift in secret pacifieth anger: and a reward in the bosom strong wrath.” Men do not love to be thought so weak, as to doe anything for money; but such is its power, if it be secretly conveyed, that they will resign their strongest resentments to it: their anger, for instance will yield to a gift; nay, a rich present, prudently placed, will extinguish that wrath, which was thought implacable.

23. “Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.” He that is wary and cautious in his talk, thinking seriously before he open his mouth, and taking care to offend neither God nor man by what he speaks, preserves his mind from a great deal of trouble, and himself from dangerous distresses.

30. “There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord.” It is folly to design anything which is not approved by the Lord: for let it be managed with all the skill that natural sagacity, long study and experience can furnish men withall; with the most prudent foresight also of all contingencies; and with mature and deliberate advice about the most effectual means, and with due application of them to the end; they all signifie nothing, when they oppose the counsels and decrees of Heaven.

31. “The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord.” Nor is power and force, though never so great, more significant than counsel and advice: For after an army of Horses, and Chariots, and valiant Souldiers, are set in battel array, they can give no security of Victory, without the divine favor and help; from whom alone therefore both safety and prosperous success is to be expected.

S. Patrick (1683)

Proverbs - Chapter 22 (Selected Verses)

6. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Instruct a child, as soon as ever he is capable, and season his mind with the principles of vertue, before he receive other impressions: and it is most likely they will grow up with him; so that when he is older, he will not forsake them, but retain them as long as he lives.

8. “He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity: and the rod of his anger shall fail.” But let not such abuse their power, for no man can reap better than he sows; but if he doe injury to others, it shall produce his own trouble: and the Authority which he employs vexatiously and spitefully shall fail him; and not be able to bear him out in his inhumanity.

9. “He that hath a bountiful eye shall be blessed; for he giveth of his bread to the poor.” On the other side, he that beholding the miserable condition of others, takes compassion upon them, and friendly relieves them, shall be blessed by God, and commended by men: because he doth not put them off to be supplied by others, but imparts of his own goods to him, that cannot requite him again.

S. Patrick (1683)

Psalm 23

It has been pointed out to us that in Psalm 22, Psalm 23 and Psalm 24 we have what might be called, “The cross, the crook and the crown.” So, our Lord has passed through the horrible experience of Psalm 22; He has borne our sins in His own body on the tree. By and by He is going to come forth in glory clouds to take over this scene, to reign, to rule and to set everything right that is wrong in this present world. God has promised it, and in no detail can it fail!

In the meantime, here we are, a company of believers gathered from various walks of life, various backgrounds, all sharing in common the wilderness experience. We’re not in heaven. We are going to be, but we’re not there yet. So the Word of God has provided for us God has given us a chart and a compass. We have the Word of God, we have the Spirit of God and we have the shepherd-care of Christ as we go on our way. We know not whether this way may be long or short, for we know the Lord’s coming is imminent; it may happen today and the psalmist speaks of “the valley of the shadow of death.” Let’s live in the light of eternity let’s live with the realization that we are not going to stay here!

Psalm 23 starts out with “the LORD,” and it closes with the same expression: “dwell in the house of the LORD.” The word LORD is interesting. You notice it is in capital letters; it isn’t always so in the Old Testament. When you find that word spelled with all capitals, as it is here, it is the equivalent of the word “Jehovah.” That was the name that God took in relationship with the children of Israel. What does it mean? It means the One that was, the One that is and the One that ever shall be. Who is that? We know that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Jehovah of the Old Testament is Jesus of the New Testament.

We become His sheep by the fact that He found us, accepted us, wrought for us, made us of His flock and claimed us as His own. So it says: “The LORD is my shepherd.” It is very personal, very individual. He is my shepherd. He is interested in me. Have you made it personal? He has a care over you.

In Isaiah 40:11 we read: “He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.” Could you have anything more tender, more loving, more gracious than that? Some of you are young parents, just starting out on parenthood. You have little ones. He is going to lead you gently along too. Oh, the gentle heart of that blessed Good Shepherd!

In John 10:27 it is: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” In Psalm 23 it is my shepherd. When the Shepherd speaks, He says, “My sheep.” When I say, “My Shepherd,” then He says: “My sheep hear My voice.” That is a sign that we belong to Him when we hear His voice. “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them.” He never loses sight of us for a moment, regardless of where we may be. We are never out of His thoughts. He neither slumbers nor sleeps; He always bears us upon His heart’s affections.

Then in verse 28: “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand.” This is the kind of life eternal life that is in Him, in Christ. We don’t have it apart from Him, but we have it in Him. Not only do we have it, but blessed be His name, we cannot lose it. Who is talking? The Shepherd the Good Shepherd.

Then in our Psalm 23: “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters.” There is food; there is refreshing. It is a glorious, happy thing to be a Christian to be saved, to walk through this world as belonging to that blessed, glorified Man in heaven the Good Shepherd of the sheep. Dear Christian, don’t let the devil whisper in your ear that to live a life for Christ in this world is going to be hardship that you are going to miss out on some good times. That is a lie of Satan!

He was the Man of Sorrows, yet He was the happiest Man that ever trod the earth. Oh, how one enjoys that paradox! There never was a happier Man than the Man of Sorrows. He delighted to do the will of His God and Father, and that is the standard that He has left us in His Word.

This brings us to another part of Psalm 23, a very solemn but a very necessary part: “He restoreth my soul.” Oh yes, our Shepherd doesn’t cease to be our Shepherd because we stray or because we miss the path. No, He is still interested in us. “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1). With Peter, the advocacy of Christ started before the failure. He had already prayed for Peter. Peter, in order that he might learn a needful lesson, was allowed to go ahead and deny his Lord. Did he cease being one of Christ’s sheep? Did he slip out of the Father’s hand in that transaction? No! The next thing you find in that dear man: he is weeping bitterly. Thank God for the bitter tears of repentance. Peter was restored and brought back into fellowship, and he was entrusted with great responsibilities in the kingdom of God.

David the one who wrote this Psalm 23 was another who sinned grievously. Did God let him off easily? Oh no! If you want to know what real repentance is, read Psalm 51. In verse 12 David says, “Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation.” Notice he doesn’t say, “Restore unto me my salvation,” but, “The joy of Thy salvation.”

So He restores my soul and “He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Yes, He leads me in the paths of righteousness. What is that? Right paths He leads me in the right path. Do you want to be led? What are your plans? Are you planning something? Is it right? Is the Shepherd leading you in that direction? He leads “in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” His name stands for all that He is. Yes, His name is the expression of who He is—He is the holy, perfect, sinless One.

Then we have the next verse about walking through the valley of the shadow of death. This scene through which you and I are walking is the valley of the shadow of death. I often think of a remark a dear older brother used to make: He said, “If a form of bronze, a shaft of granite or a monument of marble were to mark the resting place of all the departed dead, we would find that we were literally living among the tombs.”

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.” I will make a brief remark about the rod and the staff. The Lord has a discipline in your life and mine He has to correct us. God has a government in our lives. Thank God that He has! Can you have any conception, if you stop to think it over soberly, of where you would be and where I would be right now if God had just let us have our own way and never come in with His rod to correct us? But He doesn’t let us have our own way there is that care over us that is going to see us through. We don’t always enjoy it, but thank God for it!

Do you think it is a hard life to live for Christ? Oh, beloved, it is the happiest life on the face of the earth! “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” Does that sound like an unhappy person? Does that sound as if it came from the lips of one who is galled by the yoke, wondering how he is going to get out from under it? Oh no! Those are the words of a happy person!

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” Notice, it is “goodness” not “evil.” I have had the privilege of talking to some ripened old saints, who were in the evening of life; the shadows were lengthening they were just about through. I have seen their faces just glowing with joy and with the anticipation of His presence. They were victors at the close of the journey. They could say, “Goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life.”

Now, what is the climax of it? “I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” I will dwell in the house of Jehovah Jesus forever. Oh dear soul, aren’t you glad you are a Christian? Let us seek with renewed confidence to let Him have our life altogether and not try to divide it, part with the world and part for Him. Let Him have it all.

C. H. Brown

Remember Lot's Wife

On Lord’s Day morning many of us had the privilege of answering the Lord’s request to remember Him in His death. But there is someone else who died that the Lord has asked us to remember. In Luke 17:32-33 we have the account of the woman of whom the Lord said, “Remember Lot’s wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.”

Earlier, in verses 28-29, it says, “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.” Have you done any of those things this past week— eating, drinking, buying and selling? They are not wrong in themselves—unless they keep the Lord out of your remembrance.

Lot was a righteous man (2 Peter 2:8) who lived in the midst of a world that was daily occupied with these things. But that world had forgotten God. The moment came when God snatched Lot away, and the instant he was gone, righteous judgment fell on Sodom.

What if the Lord Jesus came right now and took His own to be with Himself and you were left still here. All those left (except for some Jews and those they convert—and you won’t be one of them) including yourself, will be left for judgment. You dear children here who have Christian parents—if you’re not saved—would be left alone in the meeting room, and what would you do? Well, it wouldn’t make any difference, because you would be left for the very same solemn judgment.

In verse 31 it says: “In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away.” Recently a young father spoke to me about the responsibilities and privileges of being a father. Perhaps our greatest responsibility is that we not sacrifice our children for the “stuff in the house.” No country on earth has so much “stuff in the house.” Judgment is coming; let him not come down to take it away. “He that is in the field”—that’s our jobs. There is a real danger that our “stuff” and our jobs keep us and our families unprepared for the coming judgment. “Remember Lot’s wife.”

She died trying to save her life. Every hope and purpose she had was in this world, and when she turned around for one last look at it, God took her away in judgment. Where is your life? What is your purpose for living? Is it to save your life, your stuff, your job? Lot’s wife lost her life trying to save it. The Lord lost His life saving others.

Let’s go back to Genesis 9 and consider the family that Lot’s wife was connected with. Noah comes out of the ark after the flood, gets drunk and sin comes into the world “that now is.” It’s the same world that you and I live in today. He had three boys, one of whom was called Shem. He said something quite marvelous about Shem: “Blessed be the Lord God of Shem.” As it were, he looked at Shem and said, “He knows the Lord God. Shem has identified himself with God.” I wonder if God is identified with your family. Shem’s family is the one that Lot came from.

In chapter 11, we find that men are making a name for themselves. Down in verse 10 Shem is mentioned again. “These are the generations of Shem.” Notice, beginning in verse 11, it says, “Shem lived,” “Arphaxad lived,” “Salah lived,” “Eber lived,” “Peleg lived,” “Reu lived,” “Serug lived,” “Nahor lived” and “Terah lived... and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.” To this point the family of Shem is living while the rest of the world was dying. Are you living in a world that is dying? Is your family living in this scene of death? Babylon was being built, man was making a great name for himself, and all the while he was dying. But this family was living.

Then we read that “Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.” (“Remember Lot’s wife.”) Then “Haran died.” Why did death come into this family that was marked by life? The answer is found in Joshua 24:2. Idolatry came into this family of faith and with it death came. You cannot take relationship with God for granted.

The idol of Christianity is not a statue or figure. We read in the last days that men would be “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” I think that pleasure is the chief idol of the Christian profession. There is such an emphasis on “playing” in these well-favored nations! We are so interested in doing what we want to do according to our pleasure. Idolatry came into Shem’s family, and they began to die. When that took place, God started over again—He called Abram to separate from that family which had brought in idolatry.

Later on, we see that Lot followed Abram’s path of faith until it became a question of whether he was going to save his life or his stuff. Which was more valuable to him? Lot looked at his stuff and knew that staying with Abram in the path of faith meant losing it. He made the wrong decision, kept his stuff and ended up in Sodom.

Someone has suggested that when he came to Sodom, he met and married his wife. I don’t know if that is so—but somewhere she came into his family, into a life which was, in Sodom, a denial of the faith her husband confessed. We know the rest of this sad story. When Lot ventures to take a stand for the Lord, the citizens of Sodom try to destroy him. They will not have the holiness and purity of God in their lives, nor anyone who reminds them of their responsibility to God. The moment you take the place of a believer in this world and give testimony that God is going to judge it for its wickedness, you will be cast out. As long as you approve of its ways, you’ll be tolerated. The angels save Lot, smiting the Sodomites with blindness. It was too late for them to find the door where the righteous man dwelt. They had rejected God once too often, and now for small and great it was too late. The world is going on in moral darkness and blindness waiting for God’s judgment. We would have to be very dull to not see that this very thing is happening today. The present world is smitten with blindness, having shut their minds to the Word of God, and it is wearing itself out trying to find the door.

Next the searching question to Lot: “Hast thou here any besides?... Whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place.” God has intended from the beginning to bless families and households. Now the test comes. Will this man of faith who has not walked the path of faith—choosing to preserve his stuff rather than to be identified with the father of faith—be able to save his household from God’s judgment? He speaks to his sons-in-law. “Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city.” Lot introduced his family to this wicked city, his daughters had fallen in love with men of Sodom, and their hearts had been captured by the city. Now he is telling them, “Get out, and leave your life behind. If you stay and try to save your life, you’re going to lose it!” What did they think as they looked at their father (and father-in-law) and heard him speak these words? He seemed to them as one that mocked.

They said: “Dad, you’ve got to be kidding—you can’t be serious. You accumulated all this stuff, thinking that this is such a nice place to live. You’ve taken up with the politics of Sodom, trying to make it a better place to live. Now, all of a sudden, you’re telling us to leave because God is going to judge it all!” They said: “Dad we don’t see this in your life—you saved your life in this world—and now you’re telling us to give it all up!”

It’s serious what we do with our families and what we attach their hearts to. Will we allow our daughters to have their hearts taken by the men of this world? I feel sad for those of you who are younger. We older ones have not portrayed a clear image of a crucified Christ in our lives. Our lives are a denial that we are heavenly people who do not belong to this world.

When Lot goes to get his loved ones, they won’t come. But the morning comes. That’s where we are. The church is about to be removed. The Sun of righteousness is about to arise with healing in His wings, but somewhere up there is the Morning Star. The Lord is coming to take his church first, and then the judgment—the morning—will come for this world.

The angels say, “Take thy wife.” Lot had won her heart and had lived a lie before her, saying to her, as it were, “The God of Shem is not worth living for.” How sad for this poor woman. What a sad testimony Lot rendered to his wife. He filled his house with stuff, filled her heart with the stuff, and then he says, “Honey, we’ve got to go and leave this stuff.”

The Lord’s hand of mercy and love took Lot’s wife towards a place of safety. But Lot said, “Not so, my Lord:... I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me.” He says, “You’ve shown me mercy and grace, but I still don’t want to live for you!” The grace of God in Lot’s life was bestowed in vain. Lot, still denying his profession, is going to save his life by going to a “little” city. The “little foxes” (Song of Solomon 2:15) can also destroy our lives. They make us impotent in the things of God.

Lot’s wife looked back. Where are you looking? God has made a promise, and He does not repent. He has appointed a day in which He will judge this world because they crucified His Son. He will “judge the world in righteousness by that man.” It is a solemn thing to be identified with the world that is guilty of the crucifixion of God’s beloved Son.

Lot’s wife looks back, for her heart was attached to Sodom. She could not give it up to walk the path of faith. So she becomes a pillar of salt. Dear dads who have the little ones beside you, “Remember Lot’s wife.” What are you living for? Your children know. What you live for is what you will attach your children’s heart to. Lot attached his wife to Sodom, and she (and at least two of his daughters) lost their lives there.

I don’t know what she was thinking. Maybe she fully intended to leave, wanting only one last look at the world. Maybe you are saying, “I do need to get saved, but I want to do this one last thing before I come to Christ.” Well, this was her last look. She never again looked at anything in this world. You don’t know when God is going to give you your last breath. Where are you looking now? What is your heart attached to? Christ or the pleasures of this life?

H. Short (excerpt of a talk)

"Robinson Crusoe" Christians

“The Christian was never meant to be a kind of Robinson Crusoe living on his own desert island.”

The above sentence, which I read recently, struck me as so true and significant as to be well worth repeating and enlarging upon. For, though “never meant to be,” Christians are often found playing a “Robinson Crusoe” role as regards fellow-Christians—fellow-members of “the body of Christ.” Attending nowhere in particular, having no fellowship in the church, they describe themselves as “unattached,” “unsectarian” or in other such terms.

But whatever the term is used, there is no justification in Scripture for self-isolation. The believer in Christ is not a mere individual unit, having responsibility only towards God. The ties of common Fatherhood and spiritual sympathies do indeed exist between believers, drawing together the children of God scattered abroad in this hostile world. But there is a closer tie and stronger bond that links one believer with every other on earth. For not only are all Christians members of the one redeemed family of God, but they are members of “the one body” of which Christ Himself is the head: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13).

What excuse has a Christian for withdrawing from attachment to his fellow-members in Christ? No Christian ought say that he will walk alone, or have his “man Friday” (to follow the figure of Defoe’s story), or several, as his own select company.

It is all a mistake. If a Christian voluntarily shuts himself off from the fellowship of his fellow-disciples, he will suffer from it in his spirit, and instead of his soul being “as a watered garden” it is more likely to be as the “heath in the wilderness.” It could not be otherwise, for one member of the body cannot say of another, “I have no need of thee” (1 Cor. 12:21).

If asked why he maintains a position of aloofness from other believers, one “Robinson Crusoe” Christian will say that his brethren are so difficult to get along with that it is best for him to walk alone. Another will answer that the professing church is in such utter ruin that there is nothing left but to live apart from it. Still another will tell you that he once tried to walk in united testimony for the Lord with his brethren but was badly treated by them. Others, to their shame, will confess that they prefer quiet to conflict, peace to war, and so choose to stand alone. They like not the toil and exercises inseparable from a collective “striving together for the faith of the gospel” or standing shoulder to shoulder contending “earnestly... for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” They leave to others the burdens and cares connected with the maintenance of a collective testimony for God and His Christ in the world.

We may learn a lesson here by what happened to the inhabitants of Laish, who dwelt “careless [carefree]... quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in anything... and had no business with any man” (Judges 18:7). They had taken themselves away from their fellows, preferring the quiet seclusion of their valley to the trials connected with the body politic of the nation. They were not amenable to established authority, and no magistrate was there to shame or call them to account for their lives. Thinking to dwell secure in their insular Utopia and shirking all responsibility was their undoing. When the fierce Danites fell upon them, they were an easy prey and were completely exterminated.

It thus often happens that Christians in isolation from their brethren become easy victims of the enemy. Frequently falling into error, in one way or another they pay the penalty of disobedience to the Word of God. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb. 10:25).

A few plead that they can be more useful in God’s work if unattached, that they have access to many places where they could not otherwise preach or teach if they were identified with any particular fellowship. But putting service before obedience to the Lord and His Word is a great mistake, as the “judgment seat of Christ” will reveal. God’s servant cannot free himself from the responsibilities connected with “the house of God... the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). Since this is the office and character of the house, “the church of the living God,” how can any servant of Christ ignore its claims and remain guiltless?

There are very practical reasons, too, why the Christian should avoid isolating himself from his fellow-believers. Another has said: “Fellowship is essential to the development of the Christian life. There is an element in the collective experience of the church which cannot be attained by the individual experience in isolation.... The highest graces and virtues of the Christian life cannot be grown in solitude. Monasticism has invariably carried within itself the seeds of decay. Two always count for more than two when they are united in common work, so we read, ‘How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight?’ (Deut. 32:30).” Thus the Christian should seek to walk and labor in fellowship with his brethren.

Then, too, as to worship the highest employment in which the Christian can be engaged the detached, independent believer is largely deprived. For that which is distinctively Christian worship, peculiar to the dispensation in which we live, can only be rendered in assembly with others. (There is, of course, a worship which can always be offered to God by the individual. Abel, Noah, Abraham and others rendered such worship.) Thus, by separating from my fellow-Christians I am robbing myself of this peculiar joy and privilege, where Christ, “in the midst of the assembly,” as the Leader of our worship sings praises unto God (Hebrews 2:12 JND).

There is also a ministry as exercised in the assembly according to 1 Corinthians 14 to which the independent Christian must remain a stranger—a ministry rendered through the various gifts for the up-building of the body.

There are many and good reasons, therefore, why the Christian should not remain separate from his brethren; he needs them as they also need him. Christ followed the two to Emmaus, not to “abide” with them, but to recover them and turn them back to the company of their brethren from whom they had separated. There He appeared to them all as they were assembled together in the upper room and gave them His parting instructions. Then leading the little flock out as far as to Bethany, He lifted up His hands in blessing and parted from them, carried up to heaven. What would they have missed had they not returned to the company of the disciples! See Luke 24.

“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb. 10:25).

C. Knapp (adapted from an article)

The Secret of Godliness: Jesus Christ - A Family Scene

At Bethany we see the Lord Jesus adopting a family scene. Had Jesus disallowed the idea of a Christian family, He could not have been at Bethany, as we see He was. And yet, when we get Him there, it is only some new phase of moral beauty that we trace in Him. He is a friend of the family, finding, as we find to this day among ourselves, a home in the midst of them. “Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus” are words which show this. His love to them was not that of a Saviour, or a shepherd, though we know well that He was each of these to them. It was the love of a family friend. But though a friend, He was an intimate friend, who might, whenever He pleased, find a welcome there, yet He did not interfere with the arrangements of the house. Martha was the housekeeper, the busy one of the family, useful and important in her place, and Jesus will surely leave her where He finds her. It was not for Him to alter or settle such matters. Lazarus may sit by the side of the guest at the family table. Mary may be abstracted and withdrawn as in her own kingdom, or into the kingdom of God within her, and Martha be busy serving. Be it so. Jesus leaves all this just as He finds it. He, who would not enter the house of another unbidden, when entered into the house of these sisters and their brother will not meddle with its order and arrangements, and this is full moral comeliness. But if one of the family, instead of carrying herself in her family place, step out of it to be a teacher in His presence, He must and will then resume His higher character, and set things right divinely, though He would not interfere with them or touch them domestically.

J. G. Bellett

“God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8

The Secret of Godliness

“But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Tim. 3:15-16).

The epistle of Timothy takes up every aspect of life. If you read it carefully you will see that there is hardly an aspect of life that is not mentioned. It brings before us how we should act with our relatives, how husbands and wives should act, and it even brings before us bodily exercise and everything that has to do with the handling of our material affairs. All this is brought before us because the world is looking on, and they should see people here who are seeking to walk in the wisdom of God a people who have found a secret in life, who have found direction for their pathway, and that in the Word of God. So it says, “The house of God, which is the church of the living God” the assembly, the “called-out ones.” God has called you and me out from a world that is under judgment. He has purposed us for glory. But He has left us here in this world to show forth His praise (1 Peter 2:9).

First we read, “The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.” This is the greatest responsibility for God’s assembly here upon earth. I believe that the assembly is responsible before God to be the support of the truth. We know that the church does not teach; the church is taught. Everything that you and I know is not because a certain group teaches it, but because the Word of God teaches it. There were special revelations that were given to the Apostle Paul what Paul in the Scripture calls “my doctrine.” There is a spirit of compromise on every hand giving up a little here and a little there. But the church is the pillar and ground of the truth, responsible to hold the whole truth of God that has been given to us. Paul told Timothy: “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust.”

In verse 15, then, we have the church as the body responsible to hold the precious truth of God and minister it. The gifts that God has given (Eph. 4) are to tell out these precious truths, and the church is responsible to hold the truth that has been given to us. The apostles and prophets laid the foundation, the evangelist goes out with the good news, and then those who are brought into the assembly find there are pastors and teachers to care for them.

In verse 16 it says, “Great is the mystery of godliness,” not, “Great is the mystery of God.” That is, we are not only to hold the truth, but our lives ought to be so Christ-like that it should be manifested to those we meet from day to day. What is “the secret [mystery] of godliness”? It is that people should see in us the life of Jesus. In 2 Kings 2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee.” The answer was, “Let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.” If Elisha were to see Elijah go up, it would be so; he would be Elijah’s representative. So we need to have our eyes on the Lord Jesus up there, so that we can be His representatives down here in this world. It tells us that when Elijah went up, his mantle fell, and Elisha, rending his own clothes, set them aside and put on the mantle of the man who had gone up. I believe that this is the thought here that the life of Jesus might be seen in us.

Here we have the secret of godliness: First of all, the Lord Jesus “God was manifest in the flesh.” What an example! He went through every kind of situation that we can go through and always acted for the glory of God His Father.

Let us look briefly at the points which are brought out here in connection with the Lord Jesus.

“Justified in the Spirit.” Too often we look for the approval of man. Sometimes people may laugh at us; they may say we are foolish in the things we do. But do we want to be accepted by the world or by the Lord Jesus? In His pathway He was “justified in the Spirit” while, as to the world, He was “despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” At the beginning of His path of service and at the end, at the mount of transfiguration, we see the Spirit of God coming upon Him. He was justified in the Spirit. I do not believe we will have peace in our souls if we always seek to be well thought of by men. It is good if what we do is just to please the Lord in obedience to His Word and the results are left with Him. This is the secret of godliness.

“Seen of angels.” We read in 1 Corinthians 4:9 that “we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.” Why do sisters wear a head covering? “Because of the angels.” In Ephesians 3:10 we read, “That now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.” The angels looked down and saw One, a Man, who was living only to the glory of God. So this is the secret of godliness: Are we acting in such a way as to present a display that is to the glory of God? The precious Saviour did. The Spirit could rest on Him in peace.

“Preached unto the Gentiles.” When the Lord Jesus was rejected by His people Israel, we read that He reached out in blessing to a poor Syrophenician woman (a Gentile). When we have felt rejected, do we give up? Do we throw up our hands and say: “Well, I tried, but it is no use.” When the Lord Jesus was rejected by the nation, He was the branch that went “over the wall” and reached out to the Gentiles. Let’s not give up. The Lord Jesus didn’t He went on in that pathway of love and at the end He was “cut off” and had “nothing.” But what has been the result? The blessing has reached out to a wider area. If you dam up a stream when there is plenty of water, the water just rises higher and flows out over a wider area. With the precious Saviour, it just made His grace go out over a wider area. He had come to glorify His Father, and nothing could stop the flow of love that went out of His blessed heart.

“Believed on in the world.” You and I may not see the result. At the end of the pathway of the Lord Jesus His disciples forsook Him and the nation cried, “Away with Him.” Paul told Timothy: The only way you can labor on and continue in the path is to look beyond this life and look to resurrection (1 Tim. 6:14-16). He left the results to another day. Paul also said to Timothy, “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.” We will never have understanding for our pathway unless we have the thought before us that there is One who has gone before and that what really counts is to have His approval.

“Received up in glory” (JND). How lovely to see, in Luke 24:50-51, the precious Saviour with those disciples: “He lifted up His hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.” What a glorious ending! His very last act was the blessing of the very disciples who had forsaken and fled from Him. May there be more of this spirit of Christ with us!

These two verses have brought before us the responsibility that we have in this world. We are like a model house. As the world and the angels look on, do they see that we are holding, standing for, maintaining and speaking the truth in love? And, as they watch our lives, do they see a manifestation of the life of Jesus in us? Though we surely have to humble ourselves that it is not always so, the Lord is still the same. We so often think of that lovely verse in Psalm 23, “He restoreth my soul.”

If these two verses in 1 Timothy in some measure have their fulfillment in us individually and collectively, how it will glorify that blessed One who did everything for us who went to Calvary for us. Whenever we get discouraged looking around at the weakness and failure, just think of that verse in 2 Thessalonians 1: “He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.” That will encourage us to go on, because that day is coming! What joy will then be ours. And how it will rejoice His heart! I believe that the Lord’s joy will exceed ours in that day. And, “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.”

G. Hayhoe (La Mirada, 1985)

Service or Self?

A person cannot be used much of the Lord as long as self and self-interest have first place in the heart and life. The believer’s present pathway is one of self-denial, rejection, suffering and, for some, even death. However, in that coming day those who choose such a path shall experience the glory and joy of reigning with our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:17; 2 Tim. 2:12).

The subject of personal position one individual being above another too often is in our hearts and minds. The Lord Jesus never sought any place of prominence in this world. He told His disciples that their positions in the kingdom of God were not according to the thoughts of this world, for to be great in the kingdom of God one must take the place of a servant.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was the Servant of God. He served in perfection, tirelessly, day in and day out. What an example He has left for us! Yet how opposite are the thoughts of the natural man.

Being first in this present world does not produce joy. Service for Christ does. “For even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

C. E. Lunden

Seven Things Jesus Spoke From the Cross

1. To His Father: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

Gracious, forgiving and knowing that it was all ordered, still Judas was held responsible for His betrayal (Luke 22:22). Though He forgave, Matthew 27:25 tells us that the Jews willingly accepted the blame.

2. To the thief: “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

This was the first man to know for sure that he was going to spend eternity with God in heaven. Job (Job 19:25-27) and others spoke of resurrection, but with limited knowledge. The Lord still on the cross, before He died, confirmed to this poor sinner that paradise in fellowship with Himself was assured to him.

3. To His mother and to John: “Woman, behold thy son!... Behold thy mother!” (John 19:26-27).

The tenderness of the Lord Jesus, knowing the broken heart His mother would have (Luke 2:35) to see her firstborn Son suffering and dying at the hand of unjust man, would place in John’s hands the responsibility of her care and comfort. How perfectly this shows the importance of maintaining our human, family relationships. He was “about [His] Father’s business” (note that Joseph is not mentioned as His father), but His tender compassion saw to her care.

4. To God with a loud voice: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matt. 27:46).

Realizing the awful judgment of being punished for sin, He who knew no sin spoke these words at the end of the three hours of darkness (the ninth hour). The one and only perfect, righteous man on earth is forsaken of God. It was not the thought of death or suffering that caused Him to cry out it was the forsaking of holy God.

5. To all who could hear: “I thirst” (John 19:28).

This was spoken to fulfill the Scripture (Psa. 69:21). It also presents a little picture of the terrible suffering of His death. After all the beatings, false accusations, shame, mockery and agony of the nails driven into His hands and feet the agonizing pain of crucifixion He also had to endure such terrible thirst.

6. To all who could hear: “It is finished” (John 19:30).

After receiving the vinegar, He cries out these words of victory, bows His head and, dismissing His spirit, dies. He is stating that the work on the cross is accomplished. No more suffering (offering) for sin will ever be required (Heb. 10:18). He knew what was required on the cross, the suffering it would entail (John 18:4), and when it was fully and perfectly completed, He, knowing that, gave up His spirit. And this was no light load to bear, for He suffered at the hand of a righteous God the full wrath and total punishment, measured out justly, for all the sin of the world (John 1:29).

7. To His Father with a loud voice: “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit” (Luke 23:46).

This is possibly the same as Matthew 27:50 where He cries with a loud voice. It was the Lord Jesus’ final act as a man. He knew His body was going into the grave for three days, but His spirit would be with the Father.

D. Berry

Someone to Remember

“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them” (Eccl. 12:1).

In Ephesians 6 the evil day is mentioned. What is the evil day? It is this time when God’s Man is rejected; He is up there in the glory. The whole of this time is the evil day. These dear little ones we see around us have a sinful nature, but they have not grown old in sin like some of us have, and the evil days do come.

Do you remember the Lord in His death at His table? Will you be there on the Lord’s Day for that purpose, if the Lord doesn’t come before? You know the Lord invites you, if you are saved, and it is normal Christianity to be at the Lord’s table. If you are saved and there is no open sin in your life, it is not normal if you are not at His table. He desires that you be there.

When the Lord instituted that memorial at the time of the last Passover in Matthew’s Gospel, when He came to the cup, He said to them, “Drink ye all of it.” When we get to Mark’s Gospel on the same occasion, He said, “They all drank of it.” It is your privilege, it is my privilege as a saved soul, walking in holiness of life, to be there as a witness in a memorial that Christ died. And it is an observance that He also lives, and He lives in His saints, His body. He wants that kind of a testimony.

“In the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.” Don’t wait for a time in your life when you grow older, because Satan, the enemy of God’s people, will put other things in your mind and you may lose that desire to remember Him.

In Ecclesiastes 12:9 it says, “And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.” Have you read the book of Proverbs? It will guide you in the pathway down here in this world like no other book in the Bible or any other book.

“The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright”; that is God’s Word, which is always upright, “even words of truth.” I think this is just wonderful: words of truth. We have them in this Book. Do you search them out and make them your own? But above that, we have here that they were given from one shepherd. This is choice language found here in the Old Testament. Who is the one Shepherd? Our Shepherd is the Lord; He is over all. The Lord is just as strong in one assembly over there as He is here. He doesn’t need us running around to take care of other assemblies. He wants ministry flowing from His heart so that local saints will be directed to the one Shepherd. Isn’t it remarkable that this is the Old Testament?

“And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end.” You young people may wonder at the volumes of books that you have to get through in your studies, and we may enjoy reading books, but there is no end to it. “Much study is a weariness of the flesh” (vs. 12); yes it is. When we are in God’s school, we never get out of school; we learn all the time. I trust we learn more of Christ every day of our lives.

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God” (Eccl. 12:13; 1 Peter 2:17). Do you do that? I think “Fear God” is the shortest sentence in the Bible. What a short statement of power. Don’t fear Satan. Don’t fear your brethren—love them, but fear God. “Keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Now there is going to be a time of judgment, but we are not to go around judging others now. In 1 Corinthians 4 Paul says, “It is a very small thing that I should be judged of you.... He that judgeth me is the Lord.”

Here in the last verse of Ecclesiastes 12: “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing.” Oh yes, every secret of the heart is known to God, “whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” For the believer, some of those motives that produced a result that didn’t seem so good may be given a great reward at the judgment seat of Christ, for God knows “whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

C. Buchanan

A Son

My wife and I received a phone call at 6:30 one Lord’s Day morning, for which we had eagerly been waiting for several days. Over the phone we heard the tired, happy voice of our son say, “You’re grandparents again—a little boy.” This was their first son.

A brother, with whom I later shared this happy news, made the comment: “He is the second son that God has given to them.” What a thought! God had already given them His well-beloved Son! “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). Then that beloved Son, the only begotten Son of the Father, willingly gave Himself: “The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). What a divine, perfect pattern of giving that others might be blessed!

If Christian parents desire to teach their children the joy of laying down their lives in the sacrifice of service for others (Rom. 12:1), they will need to have the same desire of heart as Samuel’s mother displayed (1 Sam. 1:11), the same purpose of heart as Daniel displayed (Dan. 1:8), the same courage of heart as Moses’ parents displayed (Heb. 11:23) and the same wisdom of heart as Solomon displayed (1 Kings 3:7-9).

It would be well to consider carefully what purpose God has in giving to parents such a precious trust as children. We know that the children of believing parents (or a believing parent) are in a special position (1 Cor. 7:14). They are viewed by God as holy—sanctified, separated. Is it not important then that parents raise their children morally according to this position of separation?

Throughout Scripture we notice many examples of how the world sought to defile and corrupt the saints and their families through compromise. The various reactions of those recorded in God’s Word who were thus confronted provide a rich treasure house of moral principles to use in raising our children in this “present evil world.”

Consider some instances mentioned in which faith refused compromise. Joseph separated from the world’s corrupt pleasure offered him (Gen. 39:7-12) while Daniel separated from the food it offered to him (Dan. 1:8). Zerubbabel separated from the help that the adversaries of God’s people offered (Ezra 4). Jacob separated from the protection that his brother Esau offered (Gen. 33:12-15). The Apostle Paul separated the disciples from the religious corruption of the Jewish synagogue (Acts 19:8-9). Such examples might be multiplied, but these serve to show the vital importance of acting on the principle of separation in regards to ourselves and our children that we might be kept from that which would defile and destroy.

In Numbers 6 we learn what was involved when an Israelite, man or woman, was separated as a Nazarite for service to God. The perfect fulfillment of Nazariteship is seen in our blessed Lord Jesus. Only He, as He walked, perfectly fulfilled the “vow of a Nazarite” in His separation to God. On Him alone was heaven opened and the Father’s voice heard to say, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” What satisfaction and joy was the Father’s as He viewed this perfect Nazarite, His well-beloved Son!

On the other hand, for His creature man, this One came in His Nazariteship to do what a Samson could never do—fully, gloriously and forever deliver man from his hopeless condition of ruin under the power of death and Satan. What deliverance to the sinner did this Nazarite provide and what an example—beautiful in its moral perfection—for Christian parents to follow as they raise their children! In Amos 2:11 we see the heart of God for His people revealed: “I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites.” May we not say that His heart is the same today—that He still desires there to be Nazarites whose service will result in deliverance and blessing for His dear children?

How sad to notice, however, the reaction of the nation of Israel to this great kindness. They “gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.” Do we, as Christian parents, cause our children, who could morally become Nazarites in their lives, to drink the “wine” of this world, thus rendering them incapable of becoming deliverers?

God does not expect us to deny the claims of nature. Normal childhood development is seen perfectly portrayed in the life of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 2:40, 50-51). But, giving this world’s “wine” to our children is a very different thing from recognizing the claims of nature in normal childhood development.

The “sons” in Amos’ day not only were given wine, which rendered them incapable of being Nazarites, but those of them who could have been used as channels of the Word of God to His people were told not to prophesy. Israel had no desire to have their conscience affected by hearing God’s Word.

Christian parents have a solemn choice. Will their children be raised as deliverers and channels of the mind of God to His people or will they become eunuchs in the palaces of the world? How important that our children learn early in life to value the sublime, divine language of the Word of God so that some day they may communicate the mind of God to His beloved people. In Nehemiah’s day the children of the Jews could speak in the idolatrous language of Ashdod as well as the various languages of the peoples among whom they had been raised, but they had no ability to communicate in the language of the Jews (Neh. 13:24). What a grief to Nehemiah’s heart and a loss to the nation!

To prepare children to become prophets and Nazarites morally will cause parents travail. “A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world” (John 16:21). Faithful Christian parents will feel daily what it is to cry to God for the needed strength, wisdom and help in raising their beloved children for His glory.

However, after this travail there is joy, for when the “man” has been born—Christ has been formed in the life—the pain of bringing forth is replaced by joy of the fruit produced. Paul, whose heart was full of love and care for the Galatian believers, wrote: “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 4:19).

How important that Christ be formed first in our lives and then that we see that same blessed formation in the lives of our children! Though there is travail, there is also great joy and blessing for families and the assembly as a result. We will see our daughters become mothers “in Israel” (Judges 5:7)—nurturing the people of God—and our sons become “shepherds”—preserving and feeding the flock. Surely the tears and travail of bringing forth such fruit will be “forgotten” for the “joy” that “a man is born,” for the Lord’s glory and His people’s blessing.

Ed.

Speak to Me

Speak to me now of Christ! My soul is weary

Of fighters, fears and words that have no end;

Hungry and thirsty am I yea, and longing

For sweet refreshment He alone can send.

Speak to me now of Christ not your opinion;

Comparing man to man but leads to strife;

Of Jesus let me hear my soul’s Beloved,

Whose words speak comfort, peace, eternal life!

Speak to me now of Christ, who lowly suffered

Enduring spitting, scourging, grief and shame;

He who, accused and cursed still answered nothing;

He is my Saviour let me hear His name!

Speak to me now of Christ, who now is seated

Crowned with all glory on the Father’s throne;

His eye still on the desert, lone and dreary;

He watches every footstep of His own.

And when I speak, let me speak well of Jesus,

The altogether lovely One, my Friend

My every thought of Him brings peace and comfort;

He loves me and will love me to the end.

E.L.

Teach Me to Live

Teach me to live! ’Tis easier far to die –

Gently and silently to pass away –

On earth’s long night to close the heavy eye,

And waken in the realms of glorious day.

Teach me that harder lesson how to live,

To serve Thee in the darkest paths of life;

Arm me for conflict now fresh vigor give,

And make me more than conqueror in strife.

Teach me to live Thy purpose to fulfill;

Bright for Thy glory let my candle shine!

Each day renew, re-mold this stubborn will:

Closer round Thee my heart’s affections twine.

Teach me to live for self and sin no more;

But use the time remaining to me yet,

Not mine own pleasure seeking, as before –

Wasting no precious hours in vain regret.

Teach me to live my daily cross to bear;

Nor murmur though I bend beneath its load;

Only be with me; let me feel Thee near;

Thy smile sheds gladness on the darkest road.

Teach me to live with kindly words for all,

Wearing no cold, repulsive brow of gloom;

Waiting, with cheerful patience, till

Thy call Summons my spirit to its heavenly home.

Thirst for Christ

When the hours of day are closing,

And the sun has reached the west,

Sweetly in Thy love reposing,

I would lay me on Thy breast.

Jesus, Lord, I thirst for Thee,

Thou art all in all to me.

Thou hast taught me of the union

Of my newborn soul with Thee,

And in hours of deep communion

Thou hast spoken, Lord, to me.

Jesus, now I thirst for Thee,

Thou art all in all to me.

Tranquility

The hand that set the stars in space

Holds fast my hand.

My life is molded by the One

Who shaped the land.

The mind that planned the march of suns

Can understand

The petty trials of my day, and surely He

Who hollowed out the cup that holds

The mighty seas

And keeps the waves in check, can give

Tranquility.

In my small storms shall not the One

Who holds in place

The Milky Way

Keep me each day,

And by His grace

Present me soon, through Calvary’s work,

Before His face?

The Truth: Holding It Fast

God has something to say to us in the confusion and divisions in the body of Christ nay, He has much to say. They prove how utterly unable we are, apart from His grace and our dependence on Him, to hold fast what has been committed to us. We are not better than our fathers. Very early in the history of the church the great scope of the truth was lost. They did not hold it fast.

In Luther’s day it was especially the truth of justification by faith that was recovered. In Wesley’s day it was more especially the necessity of the new birth and a life corresponding to the nature and character of God. In the nineteenth century it was the restoration of the full truth of God concerning the church, the body of Christ one body, one Spirit, the presence of the Holy Spirit on earth in and with the saints, and the responsibility to keep the unity of the Spirit, as well as the truth as to prophecy and the coming again of the Lord. The full truth of Christianity has been opened up in the most wonderful way.

All this has now been done; it does not yet have to be done. The truth was already in the inspired Word, but Christendom had become blind to it, and men’s minds being formed by the various creeds that have been framed, a vast mass of truth lay buried amid the rubbish of centuries.

In the goodness of God all this has been recovered the testimony has been given. It is not that we do not now have the truth. We have it and are to hold it fast. “Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.”

But we have not held fast. The truth has been given, and men have not been content. The truth alone did not suffice. Christ alone was not enough. The Apostle Paul says, “All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.”

Men make centers of themselves, and then they speak “perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” not Christ. The testimony that God has given has been rejected by the professing church as a whole. And what is the result? God is giving Christendom over to apostasy. They would not have the truth: He will let them have a lie.

We have God’s Word and Spirit. That is everything in such a day. How blessed to have in that Word the whole counsel of God! And if we so walk that the Spirit is not grieved, He will not fail to minister to all our need and to conduct us on in the faith that leads to Christ above.

May the Lord keep us true in heart to Himself and faithful in service loins girt, lights burning-till He comes.

A. H. Rule

Until I Learned to Trust

Until I learned to trust,

I never learned to pray;

And I did not learn to fully trust

Till sorrows came my way.

Until I felt my weakness,

His strength I never knew;

Nor dreamed till I was stricken

That He could see me through.

Who deepest drinks of sorrows

Drinks deepest too of grace;

He sends the storm so

He Himself can be our hiding place.

His heart that seeks our highest good

Knows well when things annoy;

We would not long for heaven,

If earth held only joy.

B.C.R.

The Voice

Oh! that I were a voice—a voice whose cry

The troubled heart might calm:

A faithful echo of the voice of old

That cried, “Behold the Lamb!”

Oh! to be nothing, of all self bereft,

One theme alone be mine;

I would be but a sound to bear abroad

No name, dear Lord, but Thine.

I’d stand and gaze on Thee, lost in the path

That Thy dear feet have trod;

And then I’d follow with the joyous shout –

“Behold the Lamb of God!”

“And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden” (Gen. 3:8).

“And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude... saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let 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” (Rev. 19:6-7).

“The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 6:23

The Ways of God

“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33).

“The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:10-11).

All of us at various times in our lives have found things in the ways of God that we do not understand. Sometimes these are things relative to ourselves, when we do not understand, for example, why God may have allowed certain circumstances in our lives. But sometimes the difficulty involves a truth or principle given to us in God’s Word, and even in an abstract way we are not able to understand it fully. Then we feel a difficulty, not only because we are not able to explain Scripture, but also because ultimately we may find it difficult to apply this particular truth practically in our lives.

With the Lord’s help, I would like to look into the Word of God and to show how these seemingly difficult things, far from being enigmas that may cause us anxiety, are really another exhibition of the glory and majesty of God. More than this, they are given to us in this way for our blessing and enjoyment.

An honest Christian cannot read very far into the Word of God before he finds that which is beyond his understanding. While he may understand the words, he finds that he is brought face to face with truth that is ultimately beyond his ability to grasp. We realize that we are finite creatures, reading a book that reveals truth from an infinite God. The wonder is (I speak reverently) that God is able to reveal Himself to us at all. But God has given us a book, written by an infinite God to finite creatures, yet written in human language, revealing truth that has to do with God Himself. What a wonder that we have such a book in our hands!

In the Old Testament, man did not have the full knowledge of God. While man surely knew something of the glory and majesty of God and learned some of the ways of God, he did not know God fully revealed. God allowed some individuals in the Old Testament (such as Abraham and Moses) to go far beyond the general knowledge of the day in which they lived, but the full revelation of God awaited the coming of His Son into the world. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” (John 1:18). Now that God has been fully revealed, His ways have been opened up to us, and we are permitted to see things in Scripture that were not revealed in the Old Testament. It is only in the New Testament that we find the expression “the truth,” referring to all that God has revealed to us, for it could not be revealed other than in the person of Christ. He alone could say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), and, “Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice” (John 18:37).

Many times God reveals His ways to us in two parallel truths, both clearly taught in Scripture, and, by themselves, easy to understand. But when the two are brought together, the human mind cannot reconcile them. God’s Word brings them together, and it is this that causes the difficulty, for our natural hearts want to be able to understand and explain them. In attempting to do this, our tendency is to emphasize one of these truths at the expense of the other. Thus we reduce the truth of God to human terms and understanding and fall into error. It is fair to say that most if not all of the error that has crept into the house of God has been exaggerated truth, or truth that has been taken out of its place with other truth. Thus we may have truth, but in placing it in a human structure, we no longer have the truth.

One well-known example of two such parallel truths is the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. Both are clearly taught in Scripture, often in the same verse. (John 6:37 is an example of this.) Both are easy to understand by themselves, yet impossible to reconcile in the human mind. Man’s mind has attempted to do this and has always fallen into error. Calvinism emphasizes God’s sovereignty at the expense of man’s responsibility, while Arminianism emphasizes man’s responsibility and virtually denies God’s sovereignty. Both are wrong, yet even believers are sometimes perplexed by their inability to reconcile these two things.

If we approach Scripture in humility and the fear of God, we realize that we must let Scripture speak to us rather than bring our own thoughts to it. Then we begin to see the reason for these parallel truths, and it awakens our adoration and praise. Instead of causing us difficulties, they are the revelation of God Himself. We realize that it is impossible for our human minds to understand all that God reveals to us, for then we must cease to be finite creatures and become infinite ourselves. (The humanistic thinking of our day has brought man to this blasphemous point, and so-called New Age philosophy actually deifies man.) We make no apology for not being able to explain all of these things, but rather bow in humble adoration before the One who has chosen to reveal the truth, His truth, to us. We recognize that while there is nothing in Scripture that is contrary to reason, there are things that are beyond reason.

Why then has God chosen to reveal these things to us, if we cannot ultimately understand them? Are they merely to puzzle our minds and to induce us to grasp for that which is beyond our reach? Or, are we meant to have differing opinions on Scripture, with little agreement with one another? Are we compelled to fall into error on one side or the other with no way of bringing these parallel truths together? No, God does not deal with His children in that way. These blessed truths are not given to tantalize us. Rather, they are another marvelous indication of the perfection of the Word of God. They are presented in this way to draw us to Himself, for God would reach our hearts and our consciences. He does not occupy us merely with truth, but with the One who is the truth. If we read Scripture humbly and simply, we will unfailingly be driven back to the Source of it and our hearts brought into contact with God Himself. Only then can these precious truths be made our own. We may not be able to understand many things in the Word of God, and at times the vastness of it all may overwhelm us, but in communion with God Himself we cannot only enjoy them, but live these things out practically in our lives. Paul gives us something of this thought in Ephesians 3:17-19, which reads, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God.” We recognize our lack of understanding and inability to walk in the good of all God has revealed, but then in drawing closer to the Lord, we find that by His Spirit He gives the needed wisdom to walk in the good of that which we cannot fully understand.

How blessed of the Lord to write His Word in this way! He loves us too much simply to allow us to be occupied only with truth. Someone has put it succinctly: “Only the truth can keep the truth.” Finite man will always fail in seeking to understand and walk in the truth, but if we walk in communion with and dependence on the Lord, He keeps it for us, enabling us to enjoy it and walk in it. May God’s Word be ever more precious to our souls, but may we, in reading it, be more and more drawn to the One who loves us and wants our affections and our company!

I recognize that some of this must be felt and enjoyed in the soul rather than explained. In natural things we first learn the definitions and then experience the things themselves. The better we understand them, the more easily we are able to explain them to others. But in spiritual things we must first experience the things before we can define them, and often we find that the more we enter into and experience divine things, the less able we are to explain them to others. Thus some of the things we have mentioned must be first experienced and enjoyed. What is important is to see the principle involved, in order that we may approach the Word of God in the right way.

We have already mentioned the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man, a most important example of that which man cannot fully understand. There are different applications that flow from even this one example. God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility are involved not only in considerations of salvation, but also affect our understanding of the Christian walk and prayer. There are many other such truths in Scripture, affecting different areas of our lives. Such current topics as self-esteem, or looseness and legality, can be approached properly only by the recognition of two parallel truths. We hope with the Lord’s help to mention and expand upon some of the others in succeeding articles.

W. J. Prost

The Ways of God: Grace and Truth

Grace and Truth

“For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).

“Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Psa. 85:10).

In this our concluding article on the ways of God, we will consider grace and truth and some of the applications that flow from these two things. In the Old Testament, neither grace nor truth was fully known. As we have stated previously, God was only partially revealed in the Old Testament, and thus man was under law. It was the only way to govern fallen man, and he failed miserably under it. But “the law has been our tutor up to Christ” (Gal. 3:24 JND). Now that God has sent His Son into the world, grace and truth have come by Him.

Surely here we find two things that only God can bring together. Grace is the unmerited favor of God, and our blessed Saviour showed fully the heart of God in His pathway through this world. But grace could not be shown at the expense of God’s holiness. Man was a sinner, and the claims of God’s holy nature had to be met. Every believer realizes with joy how that all of this was fully met at the cross of Christ. All the claims of God’s holy nature were satisfied by the work of Christ, allowing God to come out in perfect grace to sinful man. Surely only God could have devised such a plan in His eternal counsels, whereby mercy and truth could meet together and righteousness and peace could kiss each other. Well might we exclaim with the Apostle, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33).

Yet how difficult it seems for us to grasp the full import of this! God is now dealing with man in grace, yet perfectly in keeping with truth, and we cannot understand one properly without the other. True grace will never be at the expense of truth, and truth can be known fully only in the presence of grace. Yet only God could reconcile these at the cross, and only in God’s presence can we as creatures reconcile these things in our lives.

Left to himself, man will always emphasize one at the expense of the other. If grace is not properly understood, man will turn the grace of God into lasciviousness (Jude 4) and use his Christian liberty as an occasion to the flesh (Gal. 5:13). All kinds of fleshly excesses will be allowed in the name of grace, even to the point of excusing a sinful walk on the ground that all has been covered by the blood of Christ. May our souls rightfully shrink in horror from such a thought!

If truth is emphasized without grace, man will tend to go back under law, and even the highest truth of Christianity will tend to become something that is ministering to the flesh. Pride will come in, and instead of carrying out the exhortations of Scripture in the new life by the power of the Spirit of God, we will attempt to walk as Christians in the energy of the flesh. It is impossible to learn Christ legally, and doctrines separated from Christ only wither the vitality of the soul. The higher the truth contended for, the more sorrowful will be the results when it is pressed legally.

What is the answer then? Once again, we find that Scripture drives us back to the Source of it, when we attempt to understand it and walk practically in the truth. Only in looking to Christ can grace and truth be properly appreciated and brought together. Scripture says, “Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Another translation of the Bible (J. N. Darby’s) uses the word “subsists” instead of “came,” for grace and truth not only commenced to be in this world, but also continue by Jesus Christ. Although it is difficult to render in our English translation, the verb “came” is in the singular in the original Greek, showing how grace and truth go together as one in the Person of Christ. Only by our walking in communion with Him can they come together in our own lives.

Related to this is the whole question of sectarianism and looseness, or separation and the recognition of the whole body of Christ. Separation from the world is always necessary for the believer, and many scriptures teach us the importance of the Christian’s being separate from this world. Through the cross of Christ the world has been crucified unto us and we unto the world (Gal. 6:14). But separation is not isolation, and again man has gone to extremes in walking in this truth. Scripture says that we are in the world but not of the world (John 17:11,14). In their zealous efforts not to be of the world, some would virtually go out of the world, as, for example, those who live as hermits or in a monastery. Others, while not going to this extreme, are so careful to avoid any contact with people in the world that they are practically inaccessible. On the other hand, some who seek to reach those in the world with the gospel virtually become of the world, mingling with its sin and thus losing their godly testimony to it. Only by being in communion with the Lord can I be in the world but not of it. Our blessed Saviour could eat with publicans and sinners, yet never in any way was He identified with sin.

The question becomes even more difficult when separation from iniquity in other believers is necessary. Even before the apostles passed off the scene the church began to give up those blessed truths given to them from a risen Christ in glory. The church ceased to be the “house of God” and the “pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). In 2 Timothy 2:20 the house is referred to as a “great house,” no doubt because of the empty profession that had come into it, as well as the moral and ecclesiastical evil. Separation became necessary, not only from the world, but also from vessels to dishonor (2 Tim. 2:20-21). But although neither the church nor the body of Christ is mentioned in 2 Timothy (the one has failed, and the other is known only to the Lord), both still exist in this world. Thus we must balance the truth of separation with the necessity of continuing to recognize the whole body of Christ. As J. N. Darby said, “Satan is busy, seeking to lead us one side or the other: to destroy the largeness of the unity of the body or to make it mean looseness in practice and doctrine. We must not fall into one in avoiding the other.”

According to 2 Timothy 2:21, it is necessary for a man to “purge himself from these” (vessels to dishonor) if he is to be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, meet for the Master’s use and prepared unto every good work. But if the truth of separation is carried to an extreme without the recognition of the whole body of Christ, it will make me legal, harsh, sectarian and narrow-minded. On the other hand, 2 Timothy 2:22 tells us to “follow righteousness, faith, charity [love], peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” This is the recognition of the whole body of Christ and the recognition that God will preserve a collective testimony on that ground in spite of the failure. If this aspect of things is carried to an extreme, I will tend to have fellowship with a member of the body of Christ wherever I find him, without regard to his walk or his associations. The result will be that I will dishonor the Lord by condoning much that is contrary to His Word.

It is easy to see that I can emphasize separation by itself or the recognition of the whole body of Christ by itself, in the energy of the flesh. Not much exercise before the Lord or communion with Him will be required, and thus it will be a comparatively easy path. But to keep the two in proper balance I must be in communion with and in constant dependence on the Lord. It is this that makes the path much more difficult, although a most blessed one, for it is a path in the Lord’s company and with the conscious sense of His approval. I can walk it only in the Lord’s strength, and it is this that makes many throw up their hands and say, “It is no use. The pathway is too difficult today. I cannot go on any longer.” While we surely would not minimize the difficulties in the path of faith, God gives the grace if we look to Him. He will never give us instruction in His Word without giving us the strength to carry it out.

It is noticeable that between these two exhortations are the words, “Flee also youthful lusts.” This is not necessarily addressed to young people. The phrase “youthful lusts” can apply to all of us. Another has made the remark that he feared worldliness more than he feared bad doctrine among the people of God. While bad doctrine is surely serious, it is not so subtle as worldliness, and thus worldliness is to be feared the more. Generally when we are unable to carry out these exhortations before the Lord, or when we complain that we have no strength to do so, it is because we have allowed something of self and our lusts to go unjudged before the Lord, and thus our hearts are not free to go to the Lord for His strength. May the Lord preserve us from this in a world that is becoming more wicked and more materialistic as time goes on!

Time and space fail us to consider all of the various things in Scripture that must be kept in balance in communion with the Lord. We have mentioned self-esteem in the first article, in that the dignity of man as being created in the image and likeness of God must be balanced against his utter ruin in the fall. Many others come to mind, such as the responsibility to submit to our elders or guides versus individual responsibility before the Lord.

In reading the Word of God, we will find continually that we must go back to the Lord Himself in order to lay hold of these precious truths and walk in them before Him. Through His Word, may the Lord become ever more precious to us, and may our hearts bow in adoration and praise as we learn more of Him and His ways!

W. J. Prost

Editor’s note: There are three other articles available in this series. They may be found in the March, April and May 1997 issues of the Christian Shepherd.

The Ways of God: Prayer

“In prayer there is intimacy, common interests with God, though in dependence on Him” (J. N. Darby).

The sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man are found once again involved in the subject of prayer. Prayer as we know it was not the privilege of Old Testament saints, although some, like David and Elijah, rose above the day in which they lived and prayed. It is recorded that Elijah even “prayed earnestly” (James 5:17). But as God was not fully revealed in the Old Testament, so man could not in most cases fully enter into God’s mind and thus could not pray intelligently. Now that the Lord Jesus Christ has come, God has been fully revealed, the Holy Spirit has been given, and every believer has the wonderful privilege of prayer.

Prayer as we know it today was first exemplified in the life of our blessed Lord. Although fully God, He took the place of the perfect, dependent man. He was often found in prayer, so that His disciples, seeing this, made the request, “Teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). When the Lord Jesus was about to go to the cross, He emphasized to His disciples that prayer would be their resource in His absence. In the so-called upper-room ministry, particularly in John 16, He told them, “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you” (John 16:23). Prayer to the Father in His name would be answered. Following these exhortations, we have abundant reference to prayer in the epistles, showing us the importance God attaches to it in our lives. Truly, as another has said, “A prayerless life is a powerless life.”

Here questions are sometimes asked. Thinking of God’s sovereignty, souls will ask, “Does my prayer really change what God is going to do? Does God not act in His sovereignty in every situation and know already what He is going to do? What happens in a particular situation if someone does not pray? Will prayer, or the lack of it, really change what is going to happen?” Others, thinking of their responsibility in prayer, will claim that prayer will accomplish anything they wish. They feel that prayer is a striving to believe that something shall be, and that if they pray hard enough it will certainly come to pass. They quote such verses as, “All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matt. 21:22), and, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). Some will form a so-called “prayer chain” so as to have as many people as possible pray for a certain thing, feeling that if more people are praying, there will be a much greater certainty of God’s answering.

In both of these cases, one aspect of the ways of God is being emphasized at the expense of the other, and thus both viewpoints are defective. Again we are in the realm of that which can be understood only in the Lord’s presence. It is quite true that God is sovereign, and “known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18). God does not need us to accomplish His purposes and could choose to act in every situation without us. But (we speak reverently) this would be a loss for God Himself and for us too. In the first place, God loves us and loves our company and our confidence. He delights to hear His own make their requests to Him, even if He already knows what those needs are. It brings joy to His heart to hear us address Him in prayer.

For ourselves, prayer is based on God’s love for us and our faith in Him. It is the expression of our dependence on God. It is true that there are certain limits on God’s answering our prayer in the way that we might wish, and thus we have such qualifications as “if ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will.” However, if God Himself has given us the faith to pray in a certain way, there is really no limit on what we can expect from God. The secret is to be in His presence and to pray according to His will.

Do we sometimes pray when we are not sure of His will? Yes, and it is always right to pray, subject to His will. The answer may not be exactly what we have prayed for, but in every case the answer will be more glorious than the request and will bring more blessing to our souls, even if we do not get just what we have prayed for. As one has put it, “Prayer does not change God; it changes me.”

Thus we see that God’s sovereignty and our responsibility are both involved in prayer. How many times have saints prayed and been gratified in the Lord’s answer! How many exhortations there are in Scripture as to prayer, both individual and collective! Yet all must be of God, and real prayer supposes both faith and communion with the Lord, so as to pray according to His will. We know from Romans 8:26-27 that often we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit makes intercession for us, not according to our limited understanding of what we need, but rather according to the will of God. What wondrous grace!

May God give us to see these things in His presence and to realize that while they cannot be reconciled in the human mind, all is presented in this way to glorify God and for our blessing. I can never boast that I prayed and thus something happened. No, for if God answers, it is because He gave the faith to pray according to His will. But I can never excuse myself for not heeding the exhortations to pray, for prayer brings me into God’s presence and expresses my dependence on Him, while at the same time it brings God’s power to bear upon the situation. In all things God is honored and glorified, and we are blessed in our souls.

W. J. Prost

The Ways of God: Salvation and Our Christian Walk

Salvation and Our Christian Walk

Last month, we noticed that God often teaches us His ways by bringing before us two parallel truths which are unable to be reconciled in the human mind. We showed how that this is a wonderful provision of God, in that we are continually driven back to God as the Source of these truths, in order to be able to live them out practically. We saw that two such truths were God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. In this article, we would like to expand on different applications that flow from these two truths. It is clear that both God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility are involved in the soul’s salvation.

The gospel of God’s grace is addressed to man as a responsible being, and ultimately man will be judged if he rejects God’s offer of mercy. Such verses as John 3:36 make this clear, and so many other verses could be adduced to support this that it is hardly necessary to list them here. But Scripture also teaches clearly that without a sovereign work of God in the soul, no man would ever seek God. Romans 8:7 says that “the carnal mind is enmity against God,” and the Lord Jesus Himself said, “No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44).

When we come to Christ, no doubt it is with a sense of our responsibility to obey the gospel, yet after we are saved, we realize that it was God who began the work in our hearts and who even gave us the faith to believe.

But Scripture would take God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility even further than our soul’s salvation. In Philippians 2:12, we are told to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Thus, after we are saved, the exhortations of Scripture are addressed to us in responsibility.

At the judgment seat of Christ, we will suffer loss or be rewarded, based on our lives as Christians before God in responsibility. This is clearly taught by the parable of the pounds in Luke 19 as well as other scriptures such as 1 Corinthians 3:13-15.

Then we read the next verse in Philippians 2, and it tells us that “it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Again we find that, left to ourselves even as Christians, we would not live our lives to the glory of God. It is only God’s sovereign grace working in our hearts that gives us the willingness and ability to “do of His good pleasure.”

What practical lesson do we learn from all this? We cannot reconcile the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man, either in salvation or in our Christian walk. But when we see the reason for all of this in the ways of God, it calls forth our praise. May I suggest that on our side, all our pride is taken away, while on God’s side, He gets all the glory. God will not have us in heaven boasting that we knew enough to obey the gospel, while others did not. No, we will realize for all eternity that it was all a work of God’s grace, even to giving us the faith to believe. Thus we can never look at an unbeliever and think ourselves better than he. We should speak to him about Christ. We must be faithful and warn him, and we may have to avoid his company when he is involved in sin, but we can never take any credit to ourselves, for we realize that it is only the grace of God that has saved us.

Another practical lesson is learned in the preaching of the gospel. If I overemphasize man’s responsibility, I will be most earnest in preaching the gospel, but I will tend to think that the ultimate salvation of souls depends (at least to some extent) on my own efforts. I will tend, as one prominent preacher once said, to want to “bring people to the point of decision,” much as a salesman might. If I overemphasize God’s sovereignty, I will tend to neglect that earnestness in seeking souls, resting on the truth that God will surely save all those whom He has chosen.

In God’s presence, these truths will be kept in balance. I will have the utmost earnestness for souls, yet be at peace in leaving the results with the Lord, knowing that the work must be His and His alone. We see this beautifully illustrated in the life of our blessed Lord. The One who held the power of God’s sovereignty and could say, “The Son quickeneth whom He will” (John 5:21) could lament over Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37) for its unbelief. The One who was about to raise Lazarus could weep in compassion at the sorrow sin had caused. May God give us to walk more in His presence and to be more like our blessed Master!

But again, let us carry the application a step further into the life of the believer. May I suggest that we can never look down in pride on a fellow-believer who is careless in his walk or who has fallen into sin. No matter how far he may have gone, we must realize that only the grace of God has kept us from a similar course. We may have to be faithful with such a one, and we may have to refuse to keep company with him, even refuse to eat with him, if his sin is such as to necessitate exclusion from the assembly. But all of this, while most necessary, will be tempered by the realization that I am capable of worse things, were it not for the sovereign grace of God. Again, God will get all the glory for any faithfulness in my own life, while I will be kept humble and compassionate for those who have erred, realizing how much I owe to the sovereign grace of God.

“O mind divine, so must it be

That glory all belongs to God:

O love divine, that did decree

We should be part, through Jesus’ blood.”

(Little Flock Hymn Book #331)

It is only in the Lord’s presence and by the power of the Spirit of God that we can carry this out. Left to ourselves, we will tend to emphasize either God’s sovereignty or man’s responsibility. The emphasis on man’s responsibility will tend to glorify man, and pride will come in. I will tend to be proud that I am saved and proud of anything I am doing for the Lord. The emphasis on God’s sovereignty will tend to make me lazy as to preaching the gospel, and careless as to heeding the exhortations of Scripture. In the Lord’s presence I will keep these truths in their proper balance, but only because the Lord keeps them in balance for me.

The sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man also help us to understand the wonderful privilege of prayer. However, this subject is so important and so broad in its application to the believer that we will leave it for consideration next month.

W. J. Prost

We Need Deliverance, Not Healing

Much is made in our day of the need of healing souls that have been wounded by sin. It is sad to contemplate the effects that sin have brought to this poor world and its resultant confusion. The sinless Son of God, our blessed Lord Jesus, often groaned as He contemplated it when He passed through this world (John 11:33). Surely we should be sensitive as to it all as well.

But if we desire to be instruments for the Lord’s use in helping souls, it is imperative for us to understand that what is necessary for souls is deliverance. Healing is occupied with all that has been so severely marred by sin what man is by nature. But what we find so clearly taught in the Word of God in Romans 7 is that when the person is struggling doing the evil that he does not wish, but seemingly powerless to do the good that he does desire (vss. 16, 19) what he needs is deliverance. Finally, he cries in desperation, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” In other words, he finally realizes that the answer is not in himself, so he cries for another to help him. The answer comes immediately: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The reason we struggle so long and hard is that we are not willing to be done with ourselves as in the flesh. It is a subtle form of pride that, perhaps unconsciously, wants to believe that we can handle this problem, or we cannot be as bad as what we are seeing. But we cannot know deliverance if we do not come to accept the sentence of God against our flesh that Paul states in verse 18: “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.” Paul would probably be diagnosed with low self-esteem, but how can we have any esteem for what we are as men in the flesh? At that point, when he was willing to turn from what he was in the flesh, he could find deliverance and glory in all that he was as a new man in Christ.

God does not repair or heal the old sin in the flesh is forever condemned by the death of God’s beloved Son. But when we are in Christ, there is a new creation. We find deliverance by being occupied now, not with what we are, but with what our Lord Jesus is for us. What blessedness that we are entitled to look up into the heavens at the right hand of God and contemplate our Lord Jesus in all His glory, all His beauty and all His perfection and say that He is my life (Col. 3:3-4).

True Christian position is that we are dead with Christ to sin (Rom. 6:2,8), buried with Him (Rom. 6:4; Col. 2:12), risen with Christ (Col. 2:12; 3:1), and seated together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:6).

Dead

“Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3). “He that is dead is freed from sin” (Rom. 6:7). We are dead with Christ, and so we are to reckon ourselves as dead to sin. This is not a matter of feeling, for often we do not feel that we are dead to sin with Him at all. It is rather a matter of faith accepting and thinking God’s thoughts. If we do not think His thoughts, how can we act according to His ways?

Buried

“He was buried” (1 Cor. 15:4) and “we are buried with Him” (Rom. 6:4). Notice here that it is not our sins that are buried, but rather we are buried. What we are in the flesh does not figure before God any longer. We are now “not in the flesh, but in the Spirit” (Rom. 8:9). Something dead and buried is best left right where it is. The more we return to be occupied with it, the more putrid and rotten we are going to find it to be. God grant that we may simply leave it all where God has declared it to be. It is not for us to do, but rather it was done once for all by God Himself in Christ’s death and burial. It is for us simply to accept it and think that way. “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin” (Rom. 6:11).

Risen

“He rose again the third day” (1 Cor. 15:4) and “ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead” (Col. 2:12). The life we now possess as believers in the Lord Jesus is not only eternal life, but it is life in resurrection. It is life beyond death, and so, since “Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more,” the life that we possess in Him in resurrection is a life that cannot die it is beyond the domain of death. Physical death may touch our bodies, but it can never touch the life we possess in Christ.

Seated Together in Heavenly Places in Christ

In Christ we now occupy a new place before God. Just as we were “buried” with Christ, so now are we “seated together” in Him. We are found together in the risen and ascended Christ, sitting together in Him before God. So we can say even here and now that my place is “made [to] sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). What tremendous thoughts God has for us! May God grant that our thoughts may be renewed according to His thoughts of us.

One more observation: God has given us a perfect object for our hearts Christ in glory. If we are walking properly, the Spirit of God occupies us with Him. Only when we allow sin is the Spirit grieved and occupies us with ourselves so that we might judge ourselves. Otherwise we have no business in thinking of ourselves. We live in a self-centered world and we need to be delivered from self-centeredness. Scripture definitely teaches us what we ought to be thinking about. “Set your affection [or, mind (margin)] on things above, not on things on the earth” (Col. 3:2). “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Eph. 4:23). “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2). “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things” (Phil. 4:8). Where better can we find such beauties to occupy our minds and hearts than in that glorious Man at God’s right hand—our Lord Jesus Christ.

R. Thonney

What He Has Done

No human heart can measure

The depth of all Christ’s woe,

Nor estimate the treasure

Love doth on us bestow.

With praise and adoration,

We look unto the Son;

Respond with admiration

For all that He has done!

Thy life for us was given;

For sinners Thou hast died;

From Thy blest side once riven

Atonement is supplied.

Thy death from sin doth free us,

Doth take away its stain;

Our Father now doth see us,

In Thee made wholly clean.

Till Thou shalt come, Lord Jesus,

We’ll praise Thy holy name;

There’s naught below to please us

Like singing of Thy fame;

So make us then, blest Saviour,

Content to wait for Thee,

To enjoy Thy love and favor

Till we Thy glory see.

E. Tonn (1981)

(Note: The above verses may be sung using any Little Flock Hymn Book tune with “7, 6.” meter.)

Whose Will?

“And the king shall do according to his [own] will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and... against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished” (Dan. 11:36).

“The king shall do according to his [own] will.” Believers are not sufficiently aware of what a fearful thing it is to be doers of our own will. This was the characteristic of sin in Adam resulting in the fall of the world. This king, perhaps the loftiest and most influential of Adam’s sons, does nothing worse than that which is “according to his [own] will.” May we not receive moral profit for ourselves from this history? Before one can exercise righteous rule, he must know what it is to be subject.

May we be deeply impressed to realize that “the king,” the Antichrist, is first stamped as one doing his own will. This ought to test our hearts as to how far we are seeking to do our own wills! As believers, how far under any circumstances are we doing or allowing anything that we would not wish another soul in this world to see especially those nearest to us? Alas! one knows from experience and observation the difficulty and danger in these things from one’s own heart. Yet there is nothing more contrary to that Christ whom we have learned.

We are sanctified “unto [the] obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” It is not only to the blessing in the sprinkling of the blood, but to the obedience of Jesus Christ to the same spirit and principle of obedience. (This is the meaning of the expression.) We are not like the Jews who were put under the law, and whose obedience had the character of obligation to do such and such things under penalty of death. We are already alive to God, conscious of the blessedness in which we stand, and awakened to see the beauty of the will of God, for His will it is which has saved and sanctified us. This is our calling and our practical work here below.

Christians have no other business, properly speaking, than to do the will of another. We have to do God’s will according to the character of obedience of Christ as sons delighting in the will of the Father. It does not matter what we may have to do. It may be one’s natural daily occupation. But do not make two individuals of yourself: one principle in your business and family and another for the church and worship of God. Never allow such a thought! We have Christ for everything and every day.

Christ is not a blessing for us merely when we meet together or are called to die. If we have Christ, we have Him forever, and from the first moment we are emancipated from doing our own will. This we learn is death, but it is gone now in Christ’s death. We are delivered, for we are alive and risen in Him. But what are we delivered for? To do the will of God. We are sanctified unto the obedience of Jesus Christ.

W. Kelly

The Will of God

“That ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding” (Col. 1:9).

The first principle of this practical, heavenly life was the knowledge of the will of God to be filled with it, not to run after it as a thing without us, nor in indecision, in uncertainty, as to what it was, but to be filled with it by a principle of intelligence which comes from Him and which forms the understanding and the wisdom of the Christian himself. The character of God was livingly translated in the appreciation of everything that the Christian did. And remark here that the knowledge of God’s will is based on the spiritual state of the soul wisdom and spiritual understanding. And this is of all practical importance. No particular direction by man as to conduct meets this at all rather saves us from the need of spiritual understanding. No doubt a more spiritual mind may help me in the discernment of God’s will, but God has connected the discovery of the path of His will, His way, with the inward state of the soul and causes us to pass through circumstances human life here below to test and to discover to ourselves what that state is and to exercise us therein. The Christian has by his spiritual state to know God’s ways. The Word is the means. (Compare John 17:17, 19.) God has a way of His own which the vulture’s eye has not seen, known only to the spiritual man, connected with, flowing from, and to, the knowledge of God. (Compare Exodus 33:13.) Thus the Christian walks worthy of the Lord; he knows what becomes Him, and walks accordingly, that he may please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work, and growing by the knowledge of God.

J. N. Darby (from Synopsis Colossians)

"Wit' 'on"

A little boy was in the constant habit of coming to his father’s study whenever he wanted anything. If he wanted his pencil sharpened or a sheet of paper or a picture book, his gentle tap was sure to be heard at the study door.

The father always attended to his little boy, who was always sure to find a willing ear and a ready hand. The father acted not merely from affection, but also from principle. He felt his child should always find in the parent, rather than anyone else, one ready to meet his little wants.

One day the father was busy in his study when he heard the well-known tap at the door. “Come in,” he said, and the child entered. “Well my little man, what do you want now?” “Notin’ papa; I only ’ant to be wit’ ’on.” And he made his way to a seat in the room and remained quietly alone with his father.

Do we ever go to our Father when we do not want anything? Do we go to Him simply for the pleasure of being alone with Him? He never reproves us for coming too often never says, “Go away, I cannot attend to you now.” He loves to have us near Him and He delights to hear us telling out all our need into His gracious and ever-open ear. But do we ever go and lie at His feet in the calm, satisfied condition of one who finds all the deep longings of the soul met in the simple fact of being near Him? Oh that it may be so!

Things New & Old, Vol. 14

With Them: A Word to Younger Brothers

The younger brothers in assemblies have greater privilege and responsibility than perhaps in any time past. Never before has it been such a difficult matter to stand for the truth. And it will require much spiritual energy and grace from the Lord to be able to do so. Among believers, as a general rule, there seems to be an increasing deadness a spirit of coldness and looseness. I am sure that only those who go on in communion will be kept.

No doubt Satan will continue to bring troubles, succeeding each other like the waves of the sea, among assemblies. There is not much room for him to introduce false doctrine where believers have been gathered by His Spirit and by His grace “hold the head.” But he seeks rather to weary and wear out the saints, as his instrument will do in another day (Dan. 7:25). With increasing troubles, many saints will tire out and give up in discouragement. With those who do not really have a sense of the Lord’s presence, each new trouble will have its effect. Only those with their eyes on the Lord will be kept.

Many will be so distressed and wearied by the mounting storm of troubles that they will seek to find rest in an independent and isolated path. They will throw up their hands in sheer weariness and say: “It is no use trying to go on any longer. It’s just too much. I’ll separate from the whole thing and seek to be faithful alone.”

But this is not the Lord’s way. He will have a corporate testimony on the earth to the end (Rev. 3:8). This testimony is a collective, not an individual, one, though often only individuals may be found in it. But the Lord’s Word for a day of ruin, down to the very end, is, “Follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Tim. 2:22). There will be always the “with them” while the church (assembly) is here.

A nice word in this connection is found in Psalm 119:63: “I am a companion of all them that fear Thee, and of them that keep Thy precepts.” Remember too that beautiful verse in Malachi 3:16: “Then 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.”

One longs, through grace, to be found faithful. If I should leave the Lord’s presence at His table, no matter for what cause, it would still be the Lord’s table. My leaving it would not change it.

It might be easier to nature to relieve myself of all corporate responsibility and walk alone. But it is not the Lord’s way. Surely He knows how to reward those who seek to finish their course in the path of His good pleasure!

W. Potter

The Christian Shepherd: 1997

Table of Contents

Activities of Christ

The Authority of the Word

The Battle of the Weeds

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (a)

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (b)

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (c)

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (d)

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (e)

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (f)

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (g)

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (h)

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (i)

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (j)

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (k)

Bible Challenger: 1997 - (l)

The Character of Prayer

The Childhood of Jesus

Children of the Highest

Choose the Path

The Christian and Politics

Christian Truth

The Christian's Cupbearer

Come Hither

The Disappointments of Life

Divine and Human Sympathy

Editorial: An Inheritance for Children

Editorial: Christianity or Candy?

Editorial: Do You Belong?

Editorial: Firm Faithfulness or Stubborn Pride?

Editorial: Forgiveness

Editorial: Humble Christianity or Halfhearted Service?

Editorial: The Christian Shepherd

Editorial: The Service of Sisters

Editorial: Two Guest Chambers

Editorial: What Am I Seeking?

Editorial: Who Will Name Them?

Editorial: Whose Image Do We Bear?

Encouragement for the Day

Faith's Repose

The Family and the Assembly

The Family and the Assembly

The Family and the Assembly

The Family and the Assembly: Husbands

A Father's Concern

"Fathers, Provoke Not Your Children"

Feeding the Lambs or Feuding With the Sheep?

Forever

Fragment: A Family Home

Fragment: A Mistake

Fragment: A Self-Challenge

Fragment: "Abba, Father"

Fragment: Absolute Dependence

Fragment: Consider the Woman

Fragment: David and Solomon

Fragment: Do Not Talk to Me

Fragment: Doing God's Will

Fragment: Easier to Trust

Fragment: Even Perishing and Surrounded by Destruction

Fragment: Every Movement Towards the Lord

Fragment: Fellow-Possession

Fragment: Few, yet He Is Present

Fragment: For the Father, the Sinner and Himself

Fragment: Forget All but Jesus

Fragment: Formation of Character

Fragment: Gathered

Fragment: How Could the Lord?

Fragment: If Christians

Fragment: In the Presence of the World

Fragment: Labors of Love

Fragment: Let God Tell Us

Fragment: No Amusement Is Innocent

Fragment: One Thing to Remember

Fragment: Past Failure

Fragment: Perfect Grace in Christ

Fragment: Perfectly Satisfied

Fragment: Plucking Yourself Out of Christ's Hand

Fragment: Self-Will

Fragment: Spirit and Temper