The maintenance of the full revealed truth is the only true testimony; or means of restoration in failure. This is the point which I propose to dwell on for a little; and the principle which I desire to authenticate is this; that man knows nothing of God but. from His own revelation of Himself; that, according as this revelation was enunciated, so was the servant of God bound to adhere to the terms of it, and that whenever he failed to maintain those terms accurately, he so far failed to secure his own blessing, and still more, he thereby ignored his ability or title to declare the true God; for he was behind the revelation.
That the maintenance of the full revelation should be the grand and necessary means of restoration, is plain and fitting, so to speak, when we consider the nature of man’s alienation from God. Having at the serpent’s suggestion, believed a lie, and acted on it, he was deceived into an entire misapprehension of God. He did not deny God’s existence, but he accepted from Satan a false idea of Him: knowing His power, but distrusting His intentions towards man.
Hence, the natural mind is at enmity against God; there is really no knowledge of the true God. The fall while it enlarged the human mind, did so at the expense of its previous knowledge of God, and it would have to be deprived of much of its present power of comprehension if it were possible for it to return of itself to a condition in which it could simply trust in God, in a word to a state of innocence, which is impossible, for we are born in another state of nature. The more the human mind is exercised to attain a knowledge of the true God, the more is it made cognizant of its estrangement from Him, in the very state of its nature; for the very power which exercises it is Owing to the act which corrupted it with respect to Him. The greatest philosopher, after the most intense study, only produced a system, which, while it admitted man’s need, declared that the true God was not apprehended. They attributed to the Supreme Being the best attributes which they found active in man’s nature; but they did not discover, and could not, the nature of God in His love to man, because their own minds denied it.
God Then Must Reveal Himself.
But this revelation is entirely outside the human mind -it is not intuitive, and never could have been derived from it. Thus the voice of, the Lord announces to Adam His true mind and interest for man, and Adam’s restoration, peace, and blessing depended on his reception and maintenance of this revelation. True, he required a new mind (i.e. regeneration) in order to receive and retain it; but the more fully he maintained the scope and spirit of the revelation, the more he not only assured himself of restoration and blessing; but thus alone could lie worthily testify of his Creator. Let him depart from an item in the revelation, and not only did he find to his cost that he lost blessing, but he failed to be a renovated witness for God on the earth. Eve, whom Adam had so called in the light of the revelation, departs from the express terms of that revelation-the only chart by which she could steer through the uncertainties by which the natural mind obstructs the course of the new man-and designates her first-born son as the promised man; and how much sorrow and humiliation does she engender for her family! The natural mind is not only ignorant of the revelation, but it cannot be trusted with the interpretation, of it. God’s voice must pronounce the one, and God’s Spirit must ensure the other. It is all outside man; though all accomplished in the human vessel, sensibly and intelligently. Thus, any variation from the revelation must be of the natural mind, and must not only mar blessing, but deny the effect of it in the way of testimony to the true God.
If we see this so distinctly marked, with regard to the first revelation, how much more important shall we find it to be as the revelation enlarges and more fully unfolds to us the God from whom we have departed, and of whom we have presented so untrue an idea in His own world.
Let us trace this subject for a little through the scriptures.
In the close of Gen. 8 and 9, we find an additional revelation; the terms being that God will not again curse the ground for man’s sake; that man is to have dominion over everything on earth, but nothing is to have dominion over man without adequate retribution. The bow in the cloud was the witness of the covenant. Had Noah and his descendants adhered to the terms of this revelation accurately, they would have ensured blessing for themselves, and have maintained a testimony for God in the now expurgated earth. But Noah fails. He is subjugated by the fruits of the earth; and his own son declares it; -11-6-falls a prey to what-was-appointed to-be subservient to him. His position is thus forfeited, his testimony for God annulled, and a curse falls on his own child, for an infraction of a subserviency which his lust had propagated: the revelation was not adhered to, and the tower of Babel was the matured fruit of the aberration from it. In such a state of things, the previous measure of revelation, however valuable, could not meet the exigency of the moment, or supply the testimony God wished to afford of Himself; therefore, in Gen. 12, a new revelation is communicated to Abram, as soon as he had entered on the path which God had called him to; even that of separation from his country and kindred, to be a witness for Him in a world where He was unknown. The terms of it describe the circle of Abram’s blessing and testimony. God would make him a blessing, and gave him the land, although the Canaanite was still there. While he maintained these terms accurately, he continued a faithful and happy witness for God in Canaan, but when-he lost sight of them and went into Egypt, he, for the time, forfeited the one and denied the other. And mark-his restoration is dictated by his return to the terms of the revelation, "he came to the place of the altar which he had made there at the beginning." By adhering to these, he was enabled to refuse the plains of Sodom, to be a successful helper to his deceived and worldly brother in his distress; in short, to be an honored witness for God throughout his course. Melchizedek can crown with blessing. the man walking in the light of the revelation. Lot, in forsaking it, remains unblessed; but Abraham, triumphant through the truth, devotes the tithes, the spolia opima, to the king of righteousness and the king of peace. How great was the blessing and testimony which the adherence, even by one, to the terms of God’s revelation effected! The promise of Isaac was part of the revelation and the rite of circumcision connected with it. Abraham and Sarah must both avow this truth (Gen. 4-8), and then their joy and testimony are secured. And the adherence to this continues peremptory even after subsequent revelations for these do not always confirm previous ones. If Moses in Midian disregard circumcision, the moment he takes the place of testimony he must repent of his negligence, and know the danger of his act. If Israel neglected in the wilderness, the first day in the land is devoted to their submission to it. While it was possible to disregard a later revelation by confining themselves to a former one, the former could never be disregarded by strictly and distinctly maintaining the later; which is very important and naturally follows; because each revelation is only a larger unfolding to us of the true God of whom we are intuitively ignorant. Even as all revelations lead, in the aggregate, to the Lord Jesus Christ who alone declared the Father. But-to continue-
Before Moses was able assuredly to undertake the responsibility of leading the children of Israel out of Egypt, his soul was confirmed by a new revelation (Ex. 6), "And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him I am the Lord, and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them. I have also established my covenant with them," etc: God reveals Himself to Moses as the Covenant God, and we shall find that by adhering to this revelation depended Moses’ success and testimony. In his greatest extremity he could say, "The Lord shall fight for you." And his first altar he called "Jehovahnissi," "The Lord my Banner," in remembrance of the deliverance of which he was the channel. The truth which was involved in this revelation was ever a ground of confidence and stability to Moses in moments of perplexity, and difficulty, and sin. To maintain the terms of it is the only path to restoration, though it be by only, one man! Thus, when Israel sinned in the matter of the golden calf, the intercession of Moses for them is on the ground of God’s covenant. Still more significantly in their sin at Kadesh-barnea (Num. 14), he pleads with the Lord as to how the testimony would suffer if He did not realize His covenant, or in other words be true to the revelation of Himself. And what was the result of one man fully maintaining the revelation and pleading it before God? Israel found mercy, and God was vindicated on earth.
Again, I repeat, that no former revelation, however comprehensive, would have suited the exigence, and that in failing to maintain it the most valued servant would be set aside. Moses, after having endured for so many years, failed on the very borders of the land, and is thus disqualified for entering the covenanted land, the land promised by Jehovah. Moses alone, not once or twice, faithful to the revelation, saved Israel, but failing himself he alone is the loser:
To Joshua, the revelation was, that as surely as the waters of Jordan were to afford a passage to the people, so would the Lord without fail drive out from before them the seven nations of Canaan. “The ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into Jordan." If Joshua adhere to the terms of this revelation, all will be smooth and triumphant for Israel, and honoring to the Lord. All Israel’s deficiency in blessing in the land, sprung from disregard to these terms, now first communicated to them. They forgot or disbelieved that God was among them and would, without fail, drive out the nations from before them. Joshua—just before his death -called for all Israel, their elders, their heads, etc., in order to revive and fix in their souls the terms of the revelation which he had dispensed. And again, in Shechem when they presented themselves before the Lord, he renews his exhortation; he labors energetically to rally the people, to maintain the, truth as it had been revealed, showing them the blessing consequent on their doing so; and the irreparable loss they must suffer by departing from it; and then sums up, by evincing such an appreciation for the truth of God that, assuming all and each will fail in maintaining it, he sets up a stone as a witness against them, lest they should deny their God: “Behold this stone shall be a witness unto us, for it hath heard all the words of the Lord which He spake unto us; it shall therefore be a witness unto you lest ye deny your God."
This stone, the antitype of which was the Lord Jesus Christ, was more to he trusted than any man in Israel; and is the only resource as an effectual and imperishable witness amid the failure of the people. Just as we shall see in the appeal to Laodicea, the church being then in a corresponding condition of failure and ruin, Christ is presented as the faithful and true witness, that being the aspect of Him which the times and condition of things required, and He being alone worthy of the appellation. The anxiety of every faithful servant must be to maintain the truth, and nothing short of it; and here Joshua seeks to vindicate the name of God on earth, not by falling back upon any past measure of revelation, but by maintaining intact that which was committed to himself and suited for his times. To this day, the terms of the tenure of the Moral Canaan are identical; and dereliction with regard to them entails the same sorrows morally as it did afore time, physically. Now, as then, the faithful servant may singly and alone vindicate God. Christ, as the Faithful Witness can always be reckoned on, and God and His truth must not be denied, though the whole congregation be recusant and Demas-like.
The chief revelation to David was with regard to Solomon and the Temple; and he winds up his eventful life preparing and ordering everything in relation to this. The permanency of his kingdom and the glory of God depended on his unswerving adherence to the truth communicated to him, and he remained faithful to it. He terminated his labors on earth working to this end; declaring how devoted his heart was to the revelation committed to though he should pass out of the scene before his preparation would be appreciated. It is the brightest moment of David’s life, for in it he maintains the fullest revelation that had yet been made known to man, and in this light of it he departs, leaving his kingdom to the type of Him who was to come, in expectancy of that glory which to this moment is looked for. To be a revealer of God was all engrossing to him; and to this object his latest strength was devoted with a zeal never equaled until the true David-the only begotten son-appeared, who could say, “The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up." I do not believe that this revelation committed to David was surpassed by any subsequent one, until He, the fullness of it, came. Every prophet and servant who filled up the interval was distinguished for faithfulness and service in proportion to his accurate maintenance of the terms of it. Be it an Isaiah or an Ezra, or an Ezekiel or a Nehemiah, a Jeremiah or a Daniel. Each in his measure and line looked forward for the King of glory and the temple, as the enduring relief from their present trials, as well as the surest and unfailing testimony for God. During this dreary interval, long and humbling trials befell the people of God, but as with Haggai, so with all; the truth which restored and renovated their testimony was this revelation; and the more they maintained it, in all their failure, expatriation and powerlessness, the more they surmounted present obstacles, and were found once more God’s witnesses on earth. Every measure of truth is valuable in its appointed place, but it is plain that no other line would have effected this for them, either as the amelioration of their condition, or as to their testimony for God on the earth. And how much this wrought for them in the days of Haggai, where we see them rebuilding the temple, and listening with eager ears to the words of Zechariah touching the King of Glory, and the glorious—sanctuary.
At length, in the fullness of time, He came, who was the sum and substance of all previous revelations. "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father; full of grace and truth," He, the fullness of all revelations, superseded and surpassed all that had gone before. John the Baptist proclaimed His coming; but when He had come, the revelation was “Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptiseth with the Holy Ghost; and I saw and bare record that this is the Son: of God." Everything now depends on the faithfulness with which this revelation is maintained. "He that honoureth the Son honoureth the Father," He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and if there be any defect in adhering to Him as the full and perfect revealer of the mind and counsels of the Father, there must be great damage to one’s own blessing, and an end to testimony for God, inasmuch as its great feature is annulled. Christ being come, the strictest maintenance of any previous measure of truth cannot be the true testimony; for the more zealous it be, the more does it imply that there is no greater or better, and how can a servant presume to imply this with regard to any previous measure; when the fullness of all has come? Christ, the Son of God. He which baptiseth with the Holy Ghost is thee only relief to man in the lowest condition of failure, the only sure and speedy power of restoration. But to the Corinthians, overcome by worldliness, "I determined (says the Apostle) to know nothing among you but Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." To the Galatians -corrupted by false doctrine-" Of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you." When we speak of Christ, let us understand what we mean. Christ, the Son of the living God was down here a man, revealing the Father’s heart towards men, and in the end so responding to His love, that He endured on the cross the penalty of death for which man was liable; and having borne it and satisfied every claim of God, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High, maintaining the perfection of His people’s acceptance in the presence of the Father. He is the one who expressed and substantiated every desire of the Father’s heart toward man; the perfect servant of God; the perfect Savior of men. This is Christ, the revelation of God; and to present Him as such I must not mutilate Him. I must not present Him as on earth, however glorious and full His services here were. I must also present Him as He is in heaven. I must present Him now as from heaven to earth. And the lower the condition of the church, the more accurately must I (if I would restore it and renew its testimony) maintain the revelation of God, which He is, in all fullness. The fuller the revelation, the better for man; for the better God is declared, the more confidently can man draw near, and the more distinctly can he renounce the prepossessions of nature.
And here let me ask; What is the extent of the revelation now made known to us? Are we acquainted with it? Do we seek to maintain it in its fullness and extent? I do not mean, do we grasp the whole truth contained in it? for that is infinite. But can we trace the outlines of it and aim at nothing short of its full extent? What then are the outlines of the revelation of God unfolded by the incarnation, death, and resurrection of the Son; The revelation itself may be said to be embodied in those words, "No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him; "because, as every previous measure had been but a fore-shadowing of Him, so all that has been declared since His coming is an elucidation of what He is in Himself. The Son is the center and. core of all revelation; the most that any one can know; a knowledge which we find in 1 John 2:1313I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. (1 John 2:13), is the attainment of fathers or the most advanced.
But in what manner did the Son thus reveal the Father? We know that the answer is, by His life on earth, death, resurrection, and ascension. The life of the Lord Jesus on earth declared the Father in its manifestation of His interest for man, the heart of Him whose compassions fail not, was brought near to man. Every human infirmity was relieved, unbelief was rebuked. God was made known. The Lord could say, "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father." In death He responded to the love of God. Grace and truth came by Him, He bore the judgment of Sin, His words are "The cup which my Father hath given me shall I not drink it." He was once offered to bear the sin of many; still further disclosing to us the true God and His interest in man. The disciples could appreciate the revelation of God, as they walked with Him on earth; but the thief on the cross knew it, as unfolded in His death and nothing short of this could have suited his own necessity, or supplied the right testimony.
But not only did Christ walk as a man, and die for man on earth, but He rose again, testifying that He was the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness; and herein is still further the Revealer of the Father.
Delivered for our offenses, but raised again for our justification, His death is our ransom and His resurrection our ground of peace. Mary Magdalene, and the disciples going to Emmaus, both knew a measure of the revelation. They knew what He was on earth, and that He had died; but they did not know that He had “risen and become the first fruits of them that slept," and therefore they neither had the blessing of the fuller truth nor were able to express the testimony suited and necessary for the moment, until they are instructed therein by Himself in His own gracious way, and then with what blessing to themselves, and what effectual testimony!
Still further was the ascension of Christ to the right-hand of God, the occasion of a fuller revelation of Him who had revealed God, because consequent on that was the descent of the Holy Ghost, whose peculiar mission was, and is, to "testify of me."
What this testimony is, comprises the fullest revelation committed to the church; and necessarily includes what the Apostle Paul terms "the counsel of God." "I have not shunned (he says) to declare unto you the whole counsel of God." The first great truth of which the Holy Ghost testifies is the perfectness of our acceptance in the presence of God. Christ Himself is the pattern of our acceptance; the Holy Ghost is the seal of it. He testifies that though we were dead in trespasses and sins, we are raised up together with Christ and made to sit together with Him. How wretched and unhappy are souls, and how unable to testify of God’s grace, if they are not assured that God so met His own mind and the desires of His heart in Christ, that He can be just and yet the justifier of every one who believeth in Him, The Holy Ghost declares this. He does not work assurance, but He testifies of the risen Christ with the Father to the regenerated soul; and this is a sealing or confirming of the fact, that when He had purged our sins, He sat down on the right-hand of the Majesty on high. The Father’s love is satisfied the more I appreciate it.:-the more I respond to it, the more I honor Him. The self-same Spirit is to us the earnest of the inheritance which as joint-heirs with Christ we shall enjoy, and therefore the one and the selfsame Spirit seals my acceptance and pledges my future glory with Christ; so that while I am happy in my nearness to God, as a saved sinner, I am also by the self-same Spirit introduced confidently into heirship with Christ; and, therefore, necessarily waiting for His coming and glory-seeing they are indissolubly connected. It is plain, that no previous measure of revelation could by any means confer the blessing, or supply the power for testimony commensurate to or of a quality like this.
Again-the Holy Ghost, in a world which rejected the Son of God, is building an habitation for God; the body of Christ, the fullness of Himself. This truth, kept secret until now, is the one most personal and most glorious to Christ. First, that the Holy Ghost, as the fruits of Christ’s work, should build souls together as a habitation for God in a world that had rejected Him; and still further, that this building, these monuments of His grace, though composed of many members, should be baptized by the self-same Spirit into one body as the fullness of Him who filleth all in all. What could be more important or blessed than the revelation that the Body-the fullness of Christ-now in heaven, should be formed by the Holy Ghost?
It is the greatest-the most perfect of all revelations-the most honoring to Christ, the most glorious to us. It is the real full scope of the Holy Ghost’s mission down here; All His other work is only a means to an end, to this end. Thus truly does He fulfill the saying, "shall testify of me;" and thus does He testify, by molding and fashioning souls into one body, and baptizing them thereto, to be Christ’s body and the fullness of Him.
If this great and consummate work and action of the Holy Ghost be not apprehended, how can there be the blessing which He is here to confer; or how can there be a testimony at all corresponding to the nature of the counsel of God?. Can any previous measure of revealed truth supply the place of this, either as to the effect it has on the soul, or the character of the testimony for God, which it imparts? None surely.-This is the fullness of revealed truth. Let us look around, and notice the different measures of life and intelligence among the many believers in Christendom, and ask what truth could bless souls in such a distracted state of things? Could any previous or any partial revelation of Christ? I may be told it is Christ they want, in which I most heartily concur; but, Christ is testified of by the Holy Ghost, first, as to our peace; and secondly, as to our responsibility to Him. If I have not this full and perfect revelation, I cannot know either the one or the other. For, what other revelation could afford me assurance of peace but that which tells me that Christ is at God’s right-hand; and of this the Holy Ghost testifies. He alone can make it sure to my perceptions, because He tells me of God’s satisfaction, not of my own. Again-What other line of truth could unfold to me my responsibilities as does this-that I am a member of Christ’s body, baptized into one body-all members contributing to the blessing of one another-not only to be the habitation of God, but the fullness of the rejected Christ?
Marvelous grace to grant us such’ a calling! If walking according to the mind of Christ in the light of this revelation, I could not think only of the awakening of souls, but while rejoicing at their awakening as a mother would at the birth of her first-born; I should provide with all parental anxiety for their future health and nurture.-Discerning life there, I should, if in sympathy with Christ, seek that it may answer its end as a member of His body. I must see that it be up in heaven with Christ, and down on earth for Christ, as the filling up of Himself. Does the Holy Ghost desire to see all His members happy in union with Him, and as such united with One another, answering each to his own proper place in the Body? Was the body of Christ personal a matter of interest and care? Assuredly it was. And is His mystical body to be one of less care?
But how can we show our interest and care if our eyes are not enlightened by the revelation He has afforded of Himself? If we be engaged with one previous to it, we are behind His mind and cannot be His witnesses. The awakening or quickening of souls, or the healing of souls is the work of the Holy Ghost, but if we stop there, we neither apprehend nor act up to the full revelation of Christ. There is a declaration of His work, and a certain amount of blessing to souls; but the affections of Christ are not acknowledged or responded to. There is no link to Him as bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh; no testimony for Him as the rejected and ascended One. In fact the great intent of the Holy Ghost is overlooked, if not set aside. It is true that conversions are for Christ and cannot be without the power of God-yet they are but means to an end. The Holy Ghost is not more interested in quickening souls, than in making them sit together with Christ in heavenly places. He is not content with merely giving them birth; He seeks to advance them to the measure of the revelation of God, which He has unfolded as the proper testimony of the Church for Christ. I may be told, the Church has failed: most true; but the Holy Ghost is still here to testify of Christ, His work is still the same; His aim can never be lowered, or brought to the level of surrounding failure; and that aim and work is to form us into a habitation for God as the Body of Christ, as members of one another, because baptized thereto by Himself.
What is failure, but a departure from the revelation communicated? This being the center, focus and kernel of all blessing, departure from it, is failure; return to it, restoration. By losing sight of it, testimony is marred; by maintaining it, failure corrected and testimony renewed. Every witness that has gone before us has proved this; and a great cloud of witnesses has there been!
One word in conclusion. Every spiritual gift is conferred on the church only. The gifts belong to the church; and that of the Evangelist, as much as that of the teacher. All are from the church, and for the benefit of the church; so that if I am possessor of any spiritual gift, and exercise it without reference to the church, I am denying the true center of my service; and consequently the church cannot receive help from me; as we often see she does not from very gifted men. They are exclusively occupied with their gift and its effects, and not with the mind of the Lord from whom they derive it. True, they may love and serve Him, but they do not seek His mind and counsel with reference to their gift; and therefore while the gift produces effects, and even to a certain point, blessed ones, the church- the special object of the Holy Ghost’s care and interest- is not edified thereby.
May the Lord enable us, not only to apprehend, but to maintain this full and perfect revelation, which, hidden in all past ages, is now made known, as the unerring chart by which to steer in the darkness that is gathering over this earth.
Christ Himself-personal and mystical-being the center and scope of it; adherence to it, will render our path right and clear though narrow: for it will put us in company with His mind, His sympathies, His relation to things around; and in the direct line of the Holy Ghost’s action-who is here to testify of HIM.
S.