[Taken from the French, and presented for examination].
The Lord Jesus was born to be a King; for this end came He into the world, that He might render testimony to the truth. But when His own received Him not, He for a time gave up His reigning here below, and, withdrawn to the heavens, He there gathers a church down here, which is to be His bride, and share His inheritance with Him. This period of the absence of the Lord Jesus is, for us, this present evil world [or age]. The church being completed and gathered into His presence, He will come with her to make good His just claims, and, Himself the true Melchizedek, will subject to His scepter of righteousness and peace the kingdoms under the wide heavens. Then will be the kingdom of God, or the world [or age] to come.
" The present age," and " the aye to come," give us concisely the subjects which it is proposed to consider in these pages; while we more especially seek to trace, throughout these two periods adverted to, the characteristics and destinies of the Church.
How can we, as members of the said Church, walk worthily of our calling, if we have not, as a preliminary, a clear and distinct conception of it? Let us then not despise the lamp of prophecy, which, in casting its light directly upon the glorious end of our pilgrimage, can enlighten all our path, guiding and making sure our passage across the dark places of the world which we traverse.
May the Lord, in His grace, deign to make these pages, in some measure, subservient to that end!
1.-the Nature of the Church.
The church is not the succession, or even the assemblage, of all the saints who have lived from the beginning of the world to its end. It is " the body of Christ," formed by His Spirit at Pentecost, and gathering from that time onwards, which personally will be with its Head, before He comes to judge the world, and to establish therein His reign. It is, moreover, a mystery which was not revealed in other ages.
The one in which "the Church" is meant, i.e., the body of believers, which has Christ in heaven at its head: here it is looked at as—according to what it essentially is, and as one whole, -a body.
The other, which is a popular use of the word, is when it is spoken of more as in contrast with other things down here: in which case, very often, professing Christians, or heavenly saints—believers in the Messiah whom Israel has rejected, etc., would more accurately present what is meant.
In the Epistles to the Ephesians, Colossians, etc., we have the doctrine of the Church. In Corinthians, Hebrews, Galatians, etc., we have doctrine, of all importance to individual believers, to Christians, who are members of the Church but not the doctrine of the Church, so much as the doctrine of the churches.
The noticing this is very helpful in the study of the Word, and will be so in the perusal of this article.
The Church did not exist, as such, until Pentecost; but the doctrine of the Church as the body of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the Heavenly Head, was not known until Paul. Christendom is not that body; the Churches so-called are not that body, but are the fruit—not yet judged (from which, therefore, no believer can get separate)—of man's separation of the testimony raised by God at Pentecost, upon earth, from the vital blessing. We are in the place where God has set His testimony, and cannot get out of it: to pretend to get out of it is to rebel against God, and to deny the responsibility which clings to us. What we have to do is to separate ourselves, in the power of the real blessing we have in Christ, from all the evil which surrounds: and so walk with God, and those that judge themselves in His presence. As man has separated the form of the Church from the power—so will God finally separate the essence of the evil man has introduced from the form, and judge it in Babylon. Babylon and Christendom are not the same thing.-ED.)
So does the word of God teach us, and so also more particularly teaches Paul,—the minister of the doctrine of the Church, the medium chosen for the making known of the mystery.
" For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, (if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel: whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him" (Eph. 3:1-121For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, 2If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: 3How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, 4Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) 5Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 6That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: 7Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. 8Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; 9And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, 11According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: 12In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. (Ephesians 3:1‑12)).
"For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church: and He is the savior of the body. Therefore as the Church is subject into Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church: for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church" (lb. v. 32).
"And He is the head of the body, the Church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight: if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the Church: whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:18-2718And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 21And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: 23If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; 24Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: 25Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; 26Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (Colossians 1:18‑27)).
We remark then, that-
1st. The Church is entirely distinct from Israel in times which are past, and from Israel and the nations in the age, or world to come.
1. Israel was a people according to the flesh, separated in external things from all others, in a particular country which had been assigned to it as its abode.
The Church is a people drawn out of the midst of all others, although dwelling in the midst of them, dispersed over the whole earth, and in which all national characteristics are completely set aside.
"Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, Who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2.11-22).
"Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all" (Col. 3:1111Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:11)).
2. Israel's nationality was according to the flesh. Every one who was born of Israelitish parents, circumcision on the eighth day being duly observed, was an Israelite.
The Church's unity is according to the Spirit. It is neither pedigree according to the flesh, nor any ceremonial which makes a man to be a Christian, but only faith, and the being born of the Spirit.
" But at many as received him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1.12, 13).
3. And not only so—but "the Church is the habitation of God through the Spirit,"—" the temple of God,"—as is also each member of it (1 Cor. Ili. 16; vi. 17; 2 Cor. 6.16; Eph. 20-22; 1 Peter 2:55Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)). It is the "body of Christ" in which, Consequently, Ins Spirit dwells; as the spirit of a man dwells in his body (Eph. 1:22, 23; 4:422And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:22‑23)
4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; (Ephesians 4:4), etc.). And, therefore, it is that our worship is characterized by these words: "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:2424God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:24)), in contrast with the worship of Israel, which consisted " in shadows and Carnal ordinances" (Col. 2.17; Heb. 9.1-10).
Israel had, indeed, a habitation of God connected with it—in the tabernacle and in the temple; but the temple being itself " of this creation," was but a shadow of good things in the heavens, and the sacrifices therein offered were in connection with the blessings promised to Israel, that is, still " of this creation";-of lambs, of fruits, of wine, of oil, etc., and not spiritual sacrifices, as with us.
4. The royalty and the priesthood in Israel, pertained of right to one family, and were thus privileges according to the flesh. Every son of Aaron was priest on attaining a certain age, whatsoever his private character might be (Ex. 28:11And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons. (Exodus 28:1); Lev. 8; Num. 18:1, 7-191And the Lord said unto Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood. (Numbers 18:1)
7Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest's office for every thing of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest's office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. 8And the Lord spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever. 9This shall be thine of the most holy things, reserved from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every meat offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me, shall be most holy for thee and for thy sons. 10In the most holy place shalt thou eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto thee. 11And this is thine; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it. 12All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the Lord, them have I given thee. 13And whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the Lord, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat of it. 14Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine. 15Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the Lord, whether it be of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem. 16And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. 17But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat for an offering made by fire, for a sweet savor unto the Lord. 18And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine. 19All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the Lord, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it is a covenant of salt for ever before the Lord unto thee and to thy seed with thee. (Numbers 18:7‑19)). The Levites alone could serve in the temple and instruct the people (Deut. 33:1010They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thine altar. (Deuteronomy 33:10); 2 Chron. 30:22; 35:322And Hezekiah spake comfortably unto all the Levites that taught the good knowledge of the Lord: and they did eat throughout the feast seven days, offering peace offerings, and making confession to the Lord God of their fathers. (2 Chronicles 30:22)
3And said unto the Levites that taught all Israel, which were holy unto the Lord, Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David king of Israel did build; it shall not be a burden upon your shoulders: serve now the Lord your God, and his people Israel, (2 Chronicles 35:3)).
We, on the contrary, have but one only High Priest in the heavenly places, even Jesus, as the epistle to the Hebrews spews us. All the members of the church are kings and priests, through the Spirit who is in them (1 Peter 2:5,95Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)
9But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (1 Peter 2:9)). As to ministry, it is the privilege of no family; is connected with, no position according to the flesh; but depends entirely upon the gifts which the Spirit distributes to every man severally as He will (Rom. 12:3-83For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. 4For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. 6Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; 7Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; 8Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:3‑8); 1 Cor. 12:6-116And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. 7But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. (1 Corinthians 12:6‑11); 1 Peter 4:10-1110As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 4:10‑11).
5thly. In Israel, God would only be served in one place, there where He had placed His name (Deut. 12:11; 16:6, 611Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord: (Deuteronomy 12:11)
6But at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 16:6)
6But at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 16:6)).
In the church, no places are holy upon earth. There where two or three are gathered together in the name of the Lord, there is He in the midst of them (Matt. 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)). There is another consequence of the dwelling of the Spirit in believers. The Spirit being in them, they are themselves the temple of God.
6thly. The covenant which was formerly made with Israel, at least, so far as they are considered as a people, was a covenant according to law and upon the condition of obedience ( Lev. 18:55Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 18:5); Ex. 19:5,65Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 6And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. (Exodus 19:5‑6); Deut. 27:12-26; 2812These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin: 13And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali. 14And the Levites shall speak, and say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice, 15Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. 16Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. 17Cursed be he that removeth his neighbor's landmark. And all the people shall say, Amen. 18Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way. And all the people shall say, Amen. 19Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen. 20Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife; because he uncovereth his father's skirt. And all the people shall say, Amen. 21Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen. 22Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen. 23Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law. And all the people shall say, Amen. 24Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbor secretly. And all the people shall say, Amen. 25Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent person. And all the people shall say, Amen. 26Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen. (Deuteronomy 27:12‑26).)
The covenant, in connection with which, in some sense, the church stands, or we, who are of the church, stand, is a covenant of unconditional and free grace (John 3:16,17,3616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:16‑17)
36He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36); Eph. 2.4-6, etc.)
7thly. The blessings of the covenant formed with Israel were all earthly blessings in the land (Lev. 26:3-123If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; 4Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. 6And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. 7And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you. 10And ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new. 11And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you. 12And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people. (Leviticus 26:3‑12); Deut. 7:12-15; 8:7-18; 11:8-15, 21; 28:1-1412Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: 13And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 14Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. 15And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. (Deuteronomy 7:12‑15)
7For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; 8A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; 9A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. 10When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. 11Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: 12Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; 13And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; 14Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 15Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; 16Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; 17And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. 18But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. (Deuteronomy 8:7‑18)
8Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it; 9And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey. 10For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: 11But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: 12A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year. 13And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil. 15And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. (Deuteronomy 11:8‑15)
21That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:21)
1And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. 3Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 4Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 5Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. 6Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 7The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. 8The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. 9The Lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. 10And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 12The Lord shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. 13And the Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: 14And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them. (Deuteronomy 28:1‑14)).
The church is blessed, according to divine counsel and purpose, with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. (Eph. 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3); Col. 3:1-41If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1‑4); Phil. 3:18-2118(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) 20For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:18‑21)). Upon earth she must needs expect afflictions and the cross (Matt. 16:24-2624Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Matthew 16:24‑26); Luke 14:26, 2726If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 27And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26‑27); John 12:25,26; 15:18-21; 16:1-425He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 26If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honor. (John 12:25‑26)
18If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 21But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. (John 15:18‑21)
1These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. 2They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. 3And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. (John 16:1‑4); 2 Tim. 3:11-1311Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 13But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:11‑13)).
8thly. Israel was called of God to make war with its the principle, too, of our blessing. The author, perhaps, felt a difficulty, in common with many minds, on which a remark or two may well be made here; viz., on the exact place assigned by Paul to the second covenant, in connection with the ministry committed to him. The covenants with Israel display God in government. The church is a heavenly counsel-not for the earth—the rich counsel of God.
The blood of the covenant once shed upon the cross, and the Lord risen—all was ready, on God's part, for the administration and establishment of the second covenant in pure, full grace. The Jew, with whom it was to be formed, would have nothing to say to God in grace. The spiritual grace which had prepared a way for the forgiveness of sins, and thus for the writing of the law upon their hearts (so that they might have all earthly blessings in the land) was there. The blood had been shed, the Lord was risen: when they still turned away, these blessings of grace and forgiveness stood fast for all that believed; yet an ascended heavenly Christ communicated rather spiritual blessings, in heavenly places, and this to whosoever should call upon the name of the Lord, than earthly blessings in the land. This regards us as individually saved by grace, and gives a most simple explanation to Paul's statements in 2 Cor. 3 and 4; and Heb. 8 and 10, about the second covenant- without at all putting us, as individuals, or the church (which stands on counsel and purpose from the foundation of the world), under it.
Perhaps confusion has arisen, also, in some minds from a careless use of the term " church," and from want of attention as to the difference in the epistles, some of which present the church in its corporate character, and us, of course, in it, as Eph., and others speak of believers in their individual character, as Gal., Heb., Peter. It is of all importance, on the one hand, not to put the church under the second covenant, which Paul never does, and on the other, to give the full place, which he does, to the second covenant, in connection with the ministry committed to him.- ED. enemies, and to exterminate them (Num. 10:99And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies. (Numbers 10:9); Deut. 7:12,16-2612Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: (Deuteronomy 7:12)
16And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee. 17If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? 18Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; 19The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out: so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid. 20Moreover the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed. 21Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible. 22And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. 23But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed. 24And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. 25The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. 26Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing. (Deuteronomy 7:16‑26)).
But the weapons of our warfare are not carnal; no other sword should we know how to wield save that of the Spirit. And even if enemies of God are in question, the Christian must endure, as did once his Savior (2 Cor. 10:4,54(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting 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 Corinthians 10:4‑5); Eph. 6:10-1710Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (Ephesians 6:10‑17); Matt. 13:3030Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. (Matthew 13:30); Luke 9:54,5554And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? 55But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. (Luke 9:54‑55)).
Two periods, the characteristic traits of which are so different, can they be but one and the same period? In other words, can the church possibly be but the continuation of Israel?
It will be said, perhaps, " The church, as it now exists, is an improved development of the church in the times of Israel, and the church of the last days (in which Israel, as a whole, shall be saved, and the earth shall be covered with the knowledge of the Lord) will still be an improved development of the church as it now is." But is it possible to use the term improved development as applicable to the substitution of one set of principles in the place of others which are often diametrically their opposite? And again, what becomes of the notion of one sole church, in progressive development throughout all periods of time, from the beginning, if the principal characteristics of the past economy re-appear in the economy which is to come? Now, this is precisely what the word of God teaches, with the exception of one or two points, in which there is a difference, even a contrast, between Israel of old and Israel in the last days. Thus:-
To begin with the differences: the covenant formed of old with Israel, at Sinai, was according to law, as we have already seen—the blessings being dependent upon obedience. The covenant which God will make with Israel in the last days will, on the contrary, be a covenant of grace—of unconditional and free grace. In this respect, it is new, by reference to the covenant of Sinai. And herein is found the reason of the continuance of the blessings of this covenant, so long as the heavens and the earth shall endure. Whereas, the blessings of the covenant of the law soon came to an end (Jer. 31:31-37; 33:11-2631Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: 33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. 35Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name: 36If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. 37Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:31‑37)
11The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts: for the Lord is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the Lord. 12Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Again in this place, which is desolate without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. 13In the cities of the mountains, in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him that telleth them, saith the Lord. 14Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. 15In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. 16In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness. 17For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; 18Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. 19And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, saying, 20Thus saith the Lord; If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season; 21Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. 22As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. 23Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, 24Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. 25Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; 26Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them. (Jeremiah 33:11‑26); Ezek. 37:25-2825And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David shall be their prince for ever. 26Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 27My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore. (Ezekiel 37:25‑28)).
Moreover, the covenant, according to unconditional grace, is based upon the covenant already made with Abraham, four hundred and thirty years before the law; and this is the covenant to which the holy men of Israel, when speaking of the final blessing, always make reference, in the presence of God, and not to the covenant of Sinai (Psa. 105:88He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations. (Psalm 105:8), etc.; Mic. 7:18-2018Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. 19He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. (Micah 7:18‑20), see the whole chapter; Luke 1:72,7372To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, (Luke 1:72‑73)). This may explain why the Lord Jesus is called " Mediator of the new covenant" (Heb. 9.15), that is to Israel hereafter; and His blood " the blood of
the new covenant" (Matt. 26:2828For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (Matthew 26:28)); and the cup of the supper, " the new covenant in the blood of the Lord" (Luke 22.20). This may also serve to explain the use of Jer. 31:31-3731Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: 33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. 35Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name: 36If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever. 37Thus saith the Lord; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:31‑37), in Heb. 8:8-12; 10:16, 178For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: 9Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 8:8‑12)
16This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 10:16‑17)).
Israel was the only people upon earth, with whom God entered into covenant. " Whose are the covenants" (Rom. 9:44Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises; (Romans 9:4)), [to them alone pertain the two covenants], and whose God He proclaimed Himself to be. So will it NOT be in the age to come; on the contrary, " Many nations.... people" (Zech. 2:1111And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. (Zechariah 2:11)). " Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar: for mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people" (see Isa. 56:3,6,73Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the Lord, speak, saying, The Lord hath utterly separated me from his people: neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. (Isaiah 56:3)
6Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; 7Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. (Isaiah 56:6‑7)). Rut then and this brings us back to the connection between Israel of old and Israel in the last days -
1. To the daughter of Zion only, the Lord has said-
"Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again" (Zech. 2:10-1210Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. 11And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. 12And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. (Zechariah 2:10‑12)).
That is, among the nations, then all blessed, Israel will take its place of pre-eminence. Who can entertain a doubt of this, after reading, for instance, Isa. 14:1, 2; 49:21-23; 54:3; 60:3-161For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob. 2And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors. (Isaiah 14:1‑2)
21Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? 22Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. 23And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. (Isaiah 49:21‑23)
3For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. (Isaiah 54:3)
3And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. 4Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. 5Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. 6The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord. 7All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory. 8Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? 9Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee. 10And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favor have I had mercy on thee. 11Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought. 12For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. 13The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. 14The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. 15Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. 16Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob. (Isaiah 60:3‑16), etc.
2. As formerly the saints in Israel were called to exterminate their enemies, so will it be yet again. Even at the time spoken of in the Psalms -
"Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand" (Psa. 149:5,65Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds. 6Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand; (Psalm 149:5‑6); see also Mic. 4:13;5:8, 9; 7:1013Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. (Micah 4:13)
8And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. 9Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. (Micah 5:8‑9)
10Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets. (Micah 7:10)).
The wicked shall "be trodden down as the mire of the streets."
3. As in the last dispensation, God chose but one place upon earth where to reveal His name and receive the worship of His saints; so will He do yet again, and the place will be the same Jerusalem, " the city of the great king," concerning which He has said -
" Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there forever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually" (2 Chron. 7:15,1615Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place. 16For now have I chosen and sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. (2 Chronicles 7:15‑16); see also Isa. 2:2,32And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:2‑3); Jer. 3:1717At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. (Jeremiah 3:17); Mic. 4:1, 21But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. 2And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1‑2); Ezek. 20:40,41;43. 7; Zech. 8:1-3, 20-23; 14:16-211Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, 2Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. 3Thus saith the Lord; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain. (Zechariah 8:1‑3)
20Thus saith the Lord of hosts; It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: 21And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. 22Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. 23Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you. (Zechariah 8:20‑23)
16And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. 17And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 18And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 20In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. 21Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 14:16‑21)).
4. The worship of God will again assume, at least in several respects, the same characteristics of being earthly and for man as a creature upon earth, which it formerly had in Israel. Sacrifices and burnt offerings, and cakes and perfumes will again be offered, and again will the feast of tabernacles be kept (see the last citations and Jer. 33:17,1817For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; 18Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. (Jeremiah 33:17‑18)).
5. As before the calling of the Church, the blessings wherewith God rewarded His saints were earthly blessings, so will it be again in the last times. (Isa. 60; 61:4, 5, 6; 65:11-25: Jer. 31:12-14, 23-2812Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all. 13Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. 14And I will satiate the soul of the priests with fatness, and my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:12‑14)
23Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The Lord bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness. 24And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all the cities thereof together, husbandmen, and they that go forth with flocks. 25For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul. 26Upon this I awaked, and beheld; and my sleep was sweet unto me. 27Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. 28And it shall come to pass, that like as I have watched over them, to pluck up, and to break down, and to throw down, and to destroy, and to afflict; so will I watch over them, to build, and to plant, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 31:23‑28); Ezek. 36:24-3024For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. 26A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. 27And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. 28And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you. 30And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen. (Ezekiel 36:24‑30); Hos. 2:18-2218And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. 19And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. 20I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness: and thou shalt know the Lord. 21And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; 22And the earth shall hear the corn, and the wine, and the oil; and they shall hear Jezreel. (Hosea 2:18‑22); Amos 9:13-1513Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. 14And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God. (Amos 9:13‑15)).
I would now, again, ask, Is it possible to turn these characteristics of the saints of the last times into those of the saints of the Church, without turning upside down instruction, the most positive, which the word gives concerning the Church, and the calling of those who are members of it?
Can Christians ever lay hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, to go and seek God at Jerusalem, and there keep the feast of tabernacles, Christians who have learned of their Master that in the Church, of Father is worshipped neither upon the mountain of Samaria, nor in Jerusalem, as such; but that God seeks those that can worship Him in spirit and in truth (see John 4:21-2421Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. 22Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. 23But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. 24God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. (John 4:21‑24).)
Can Christians ever take the sword to avenge themselves on their enemies,-Christians to whom it is said-
Christians—can they ever, without inconsistency, expect to have their blessings upon the earth,-they to whom it is said-
" If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory" (Col. 3:1-41If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1‑4)).
And are they, who, in the Church, have been taught that there is "neither Jew nor Greek" (Col. 3.11), once again to become men servants and maid servants to Israel—the laborers, vine-dressers, and rebuilders of the walls in ruins, etc.
Nor is this all. The Lord has said -
And we see the fulfillment of this promise (Rev. 20) in that the members of the Church, after having formed the retinue of the Lord when He comes to destroy the wicked one, live 'and reign with Him a thousand years, over those nations which Satan has not seduced. These nations, sheltered from the seductions of Satan, comprise, evidently, the saints of those blessed times when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. But if these saints are only a continuation of the Church -if they are, moreover, the Church itself, as some indeed say-what would be the result? Why, that a part of the Church would reign in heaven over another part of the Church upon earth. Can we admit this? Is this the unity of the body, as taught us by the apostle, when he says-
A single truth, once admitted, removes all these impossible incongruities, and scatters all these contradictions. The Church is the body of Christ, gathered by His Spirit, since the day of Pentecost, and which, when once completed, will be united to its Head in heaven, before that He will come to judge the world, and therein establish His kingdom. His Church once removed from the world, God resumes His long interrupted relationships with Israel, and, after having judged it, He, in grace, makes good all the promises He had given to Abraham and to the fathers. And that is the reason why, in the last days, we again find Israel in a position and with traits, in many respects, similar to those which it formerly bad. Only formerly, when under a covenant of law, it could not but soon lose the blessings which had been set before it; in the last days, under the covenant of grace made with Abraham, it cannot any more lose the blessings of which it will have become the subject.
But we will return to this again. For the present, let us continue our study of the nature of the Church.
2nd. The Church, a mystery—hidden from all ages -is not found in the Old Testament, save in, shadows and figures.
The church is " the mystery of Christ." " Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel."... "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ" (Eph. 3:4,5,6,94Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) 5Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; 6That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: (Ephesians 3:4‑6)
9And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: (Ephesians 3:9)). " Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations; but now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:26,2726Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (Colossians 1:26‑27)).
It may be asked—Is not the object of this mystery simply the call of the Gentiles? No; the simple fact of the Gentiles being called to the knowledge of God upon earth, is not a mystery concealed in the Old Testament; for at every turn one finds declarations similar to this. " And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth" (Isa. 49:66And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. (Isaiah 49:6)). " All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations" (Psa. 22:27,2827All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. 28For the kingdom is the Lord's: and he is the governor among the nations. (Psalm 22:27‑28)).
A fact thus clearly revealed is not a hidden mystery. But the call of certain elect ones from among the Gentiles, to be, together with some from among the Jews, " fellow-heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ in heaven, by the gospel" (Eph. 3:66That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: (Ephesians 3:6)):—Of this it may well be said—" Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:26,2726Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (Colossians 1:26‑27), see also Col. 3.10, 11). Such, of a truth, is the mystery, never known to saint or seer in the Old Testament. And, indeed, if we study attentively that which they have said of the call of the. Gentiles, we shall see, among other things, that they always speak of whole nations, of nations as nations, with their princes and their kings; we shall see, too, that while fully recognizing God, and participating in the blessings He gives, these nations, nevertheless, have a place distinct from Israel; it is, too, as the result of terrible judgments poured out upon them by the Lord, that these nations are converted; none of which things could be said of us. We have also already remarked that the worship of these nations, when converted, differs from the worship of believers now. It was not then properly and specially of the call of the Gentiles in the church that the prophets spake, for that was to them a hidden mystery.
Why, then, do the apostles, in their teaching, use passages from the Old Testament prophets which speak of the call of the Gentiles? It may be because the special call of certain Gentiles to form, together with certain Jews, one and the same body, the body of Christ animated by His Spirit, is a particular fact included in the general fact of the call of the nations; just as the
First-fruits were included in the harvest (Deut. 26). For if there are earthly first-fruits (Rev. 14:1- 41And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads. 2And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps: 3And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. 4These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. (Revelation 14:1‑4)), we are the heavenly first-fruits, " even we who first trusted in Christ (Eph. 1:1212That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. (Ephesians 1:12); James 1:1818Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. (James 1:18)).
We are, in some sort, like that handful of corn, that basket of fruit, which the pious Israelite went to gather in his field to offer to God in the temple. Israel and the nations, converted in the latter days, are the harvest. That which was said of the harvest might be said, also, in many respects, of the first-fruits. Both the one and the other grew in the same soil, shared the same rain and the same sun; but in other respects there was a great difference; thus the first-fruits were gathered before the harvest, and belonged to God; the harvest, on the contrary, belonged to the people. Just so that which is said of Israel and of the Gentiles, converted in the latter days, can also be said, in some respects, of the saints now. They are the same sort of sinners, saved by the same name, for " there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved (Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)). They are cleansed by the same blood, sanctified by the same word (Zech. 12:10-1410And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 14All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. (Zechariah 12:10‑14), and 13:1; 1 John 1:77But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. (1 John 1:7); Eph. 5:2626That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (Ephesians 5:26)).
Lastly, we are saved now, as Israel and the nations will be saved hereafter, by virtue of the purest, freest grace, and a work wrought by God, according to which—God will not remember sin but pardon iniquity; and this not by virtue of our works, nor as having ourselves found strength to fulfill our responsibilities according to the covenant of Sinai, which never any one did -but all of divine free grace. There are these correspondences, but there are, also, as we have already seen, points of difference; for instance, the church will be taken away before the conversion of Israel and of the nations; the church is blessed with spiritual and heavenly blessings—Israel and the nations with earthly blessings.
In each of these respects, one could not say of us that which is said of Israel and the nations. Moreover, let any one read, in the very writings of the prophets, the passages cited by the apostles, in connection with what precedes and what follows, and he will ordinarily find details which absolutely cannot be applied to us; the passages have only one side on which they are applicable; by this side it is that the apostles look at them, it is on account of it that they cite them.
For instance, in Rom. 15, Paul applies to us passages relative to the call of the nations, because the work, in his day, was, in a sense, a pledge and a commencement of that calling. The calling might be seen in it, just as in the first-fruits brought to the temple, the inhabitant of Jerusalem saw the pledge of the year's ingathering (See Lev. 23)
When the apostle, in writing to the Hebrews (chap. 8), cites Jer. 31:31-3431Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: 33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:31‑34), his object is to show that the covenant of works of Sinai, being insufficient to make anything perfect, was certainly to be replaced by
another covenant, that of unconditional grace. Now, the covenant in the age to come with Israel being such, the apostle, in writing to the Hebrews, could avail himself, under his then circumstances, of the words of the prophet.
When the apostle repeats his quotation (Heb. 10) it is in order to show that, an absolute pardon having been announced and promised, it was necessary that a great and perfect sacrifice, -such as that of Jesus,- should once for all have cleared the way for pardon. Now, as we have already seen, that is equally true of the Church's relationship with God, and also of the covenant with Israel in the last days. Yet it needs but to peruse the very words of Jeremiah, with the contexts, in order to see that they do not relate properly and directly to the Church. Thus, God said, " I will make a new covenant with the louse of Israel, and with the house of Judah" (ver. 31). Now, we are neither of Israel nor of Judah.
" Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand, to bring them out of the land of Egypt" (ver. 32). God never brought our fathers out of Egypt, nor made a covenant with them,-for we are sinners from among the Gentiles, concerning whom, on the contrary, it is said-" Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands; that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2.11, 12). Again, in that covenant, God promises that Jerusalem shall be rebuilt (Jer. 31:3838Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner. (Jeremiah 31:38)) " from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner. And the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gareb, and shall compass about to Goath. And the whole valley of the dead bodies, and of the ashes, and all the fields unto the brook of Kidron, unto the corner of the horse gate towards the east, shall be holy unto the Lord; it shall not be plucked up, nor thrown down any more forever" (vers. 39, 40). What is the application of all this to the Church or to ourselves?
Let us now, in following up our subject, take as specimens some of those passages in the prophets where there would be most reason to expect to find the Church spoken of, -and let us see if she is really to be found there, or if the passages themselves confirm what Paul says, that the Church is a mystery not revealed in other ages to the children of men.
The promise of God to Abraham, that all the families of the earth should be blessed in his seed (Gen. 12:3; 22:18, 28:143And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:3)), is, in a certain sense, quoted in connection with Christians in Gal. 3:88And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. (Galatians 3:8), etc. But there is a restriction in the application. The application is not, in a sense, positive and absolute—as if the blessing of believers in Christ was exactly that which was promised—but the quotation applies in the extent in which believers in Christ form the first fruits of the conversion of the world. In the Church, it is one family out of a hundred, or out of a thousand, which has been blessed in the seed of Abraham, and not all the families of the earth: nor will they be so any more than they are now, seeing that, on the contrary, man goes on in his wickedness, growing worse and worse, seducing and being seduced, until the apostasy comes, and the man of sin also, whom the Lord will destroy at His coming (2 Tim. 3:1313But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. (2 Timothy 3:13), 2 Thess. 2:3-83Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 5Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: (2 Thessalonians 2:3‑8)). But, when God says all the families of the earth, He means ALL the families, and not a small number from among them. This promise, then, has not its perfect accomplishment in the Church, but it will have it after the rapture of the Church, when the wicked one having been destroyed, " the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea " (Isa. 11:4-94But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. 6The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. 9They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:4‑9)).
And when the Lord said that Abraham saw his day and was glad (John 8:5656Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. (John 8:56)) it was not of the Lord's first coming in humiliation that he spake. For how could the Father of the Faithful have been glad to see his Lord rejected and crucified by his own posterity in their unbelief; and to see that posterity, just chastisement of their unbelief, rejected of God and dispersed over the whole earth; their land under a curse and desolate? Yet such is the destiny of Israel during the Church's sojourn here below. But the day of Christ, which Abraham and all the patriarchs and the prophets saw from afar and hailed with joy, is that which the Word of God invariably calls by that name (2 Cor. 1:1414As also ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus. (2 Corinthians 1:14), 2 Thess. 2:11Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, (2 Thessalonians 2:1)), and that is the time of His glorious reign. In that day, not only shall all the nations of the earth be blessed in the seed of Abraham (Zech. 8.13, 20-23, Psa. 72:1717His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed. (Psalm 72:17)), but that seed itself shall be multiplied as the stars of heaven and as the sand of the sea shore (Isa. 27:66He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. (Isaiah 27:6); Jer. 31:27; 33:2227Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast. (Jeremiah 31:27)
22As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. (Jeremiah 33:22); Ezek. 36: 9-11, 37, 38). It shall possess the gate of its enemies (Gen. 22:1717That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; (Genesis 22:17)). The last chapter of Micah from ver. 8 gives a splendid picture of that which the Holy Spirit Himself declares to be the realization of the truthfulness of God to Jacob, and of His free gifts promised to Abraham and to the fathers of olden time.
When Jacob spake prophetically upon his death-bed, " The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be" (Gen. 49:1010The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. (Genesis 49:10)). " the gathering" of which he speaks is not of the Church, but of the nations against Jerusalem in the last days of the age, in the thought and with the intention of destroying it, but, in truth, themselves there to be judged of the Lord ere they are blessed;-'tis one of the grand scenes constantly in view in prophecy (see Isa. 66:18, 1918For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory. 19And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. (Isaiah 66:18‑19); Joel 3:2,112I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land. (Joel 3:2)
11Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. (Joel 3:11); Zeph. 3:8, 98Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. 9For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent. (Zephaniah 3:8‑9); Zech. 14:22For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. (Zechariah 14:2); Mic. 4:11-1311Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. 12But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. 13Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth. (Micah 4:11‑13); Matt. 25:31,3231When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: (Matthew 25:31‑32), etc.; Rev. 19:17-2117And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; 18That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. 19And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. 20And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. (Revelation 19:17‑21)).
It is, indeed, to this gathering and to this judgment of the nations that Matt. 25:3131When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: (Matthew 25:31) refers;—where it is a mistake to introduce the Church, as if the Church already justified, risen and seated in heavenly places, had to appear in judgment with the wicked, to hear the sentence pronounced of its condemnation or of its acquittal, whereas it is said, that it shall never come into judgment. " Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life " (John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)). Neither is this gathering that of the last judgment as described in Rev. 20:11,1211And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. (Revelation 20:11‑12). (Compare especially Matt. 25:31,3231When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: (Matthew 25:31‑32), with Joel 3:1212Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. (Joel 3:12) and Jer. 3:1717At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. (Jeremiah 3:17)).
Then, when the nations shall have been gathered against Jerusalem, Judah shall devour as a lion on the right hand and on the left (Mic. 5:88And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. (Micah 5:8), Zech. 12:1-81The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, saith the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him. 2Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. 4In that day, saith the Lord, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness. 5And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the Lord of hosts their God. 6In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem. 7The Lord also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah. 8In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the Lord before them. (Zechariah 12:1‑8)). Then, also, a little later, will be realized the pictures of temporal prosperity found in Gen. 49:11,1211Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: 12His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. (Genesis 49:11‑12); Joel 3:16-1816The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. 17So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. 18And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim. (Joel 3:16‑18); Amos 9:1313Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt. (Amos 9:13). And these were the hopes of the patriarchs, even the glorious day of the coming of their Lord to redeem his people, the children of Jacob and the posterity of Israel.
Analogous remarks might be made upon the prophecies of Balaam, Num. 23:7-10,17-24; 24:5-9, 17-197And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. 8How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied? 9For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. 10Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his! (Numbers 23:7‑10)
17And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said unto him, What hath the Lord spoken? 18And he took up his parable, and said, Rise up, Balak, and hear; hearken unto me, thou son of Zippor: 19God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? 20Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it. 21He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. 22God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn. 23Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought! 24Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain. (Numbers 23:17‑24)
5How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! 6As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters. 7He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted. 8God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows. 9He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee. (Numbers 24:5‑9)
17I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Sheth. 18And Edom shall be a possession, Seir also shall be a possession for his enemies; and Israel shall do valiantly. 19Out of Jacob shall come he that shall have dominion, and shall destroy him that remaineth of the city. (Numbers 24:17‑19): on the songs of Moses, Deut. 32, of Hannah, 1 Sam. 2:1-111And Hannah prayed, and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine horn is exalted in the Lord: my mouth is enlarged over mine enemies; because I rejoice in thy salvation. 2There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God. 3Talk no more so exceeding proudly; let not arrogancy come out of your mouth: for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. 4The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they that stumbled are girded with strength. 5They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry ceased: so that the barren hath born seven; and she that hath many children is waxed feeble. 6The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. 7The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up. 8He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them. 9He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail. 10The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed. 11And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the Lord before Eli the priest. (1 Samuel 2:1‑11): of David, 2 Sam. 22 and 23: and in short upon the greater part of the songs of the Old Testament, to which we may add those of Mary and Zacharias in the New Testament (Luke 1:46-55, 68-7946And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, 47And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. 48For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. 49For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name. 50And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. 51He hath showed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. 53He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away. 54He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy; 55As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever. (Luke 1:46‑55)
68Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; 70As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: 71That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, 74That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, 75In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. 76And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; 77To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, 78Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, 79To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. (Luke 1:68‑79)). These songs, which were given as suited to the particular circumstances of those who pronounced them, and which apply in measure to those circumstances, ordinarily stretch onward to the second corning of the Lord and to the establishment of His glorious reign upon earth, without stopping at the Lord Jesus as heavenly Head of His body the Church.
The second Psalm gives us a striking instance of this absence of the Church in the revelations of the Old Testament. " Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?" (ver. 1).
Of a truth, as said Peter, "Who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against His Christ. For of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together. For to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined before to be done" (Acts 4:25-2825Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? 26The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. 27For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 28For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. (Acts 4:25‑28)). These words have then already had, at least, a first accomplishment in the rejection of the Lord. According to this, we might have expected to find that this Psalm spoke to us of the Church and its destinies; such would have been according to the natural order of events: but is it so?
Assuredly not. In the administration of the Church, Jesus is not King in Sion: so far from it, this is the time in which Sion is without a king, widowed and desolate. In the Church, God does not speak to the nations in wrath, and His Son does not break them in pieces with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter. On the contrary, Israel, having rejected its king, and being itself, on this account, set aside, God postpones His wrath, which, if it took its course according to this prophecy, would bring in the immediate judgment of the earth. He introduces a time of patience and of grace, during which He invites all men, without any distinction, to repentance, and faith unto salvation. The Son, so far as he is concerned, casts out none that come unto Him. 'Tis the time of the forming of the Church, passed over in the most perfect silence in the Psalm; and it is when these Christianized nations,-themselves trampling under foot the long-suffering of God,-will again be in league, under the direction of the Antichrist against the Lord; -'tis then, I say, that the prophecy of this second Psalm will again resume its testimony, and will have its perfect fulfillment. God will then speak in His wrath; will set His King upon Sion, and will give him all the kingdoms of the world as an inheritance (Rev. 11.15; 19:11, etc.; 2:26, 27).
The Psa. 110 is open to similar remarks. Eighteen hundred years have rolled on since the first word of this Psalm found its accomplishment in the ascension of the Lord Jesus, and His sitting down at the right hand of God. The rest waits still for its accomplishment. Without question Jesus is, from the moment named, the Great High Priest; but the blood of the victim was offered behind the veil, within the holy place; there He is invisible, and He is not come forth to bless the people. Recognized by God as the true Melchizedek, Priest and King, originator of righteousness and peace for the earth, He has been, and is; openly manifested as such He is not. Ere that he must first fulfill these words: " He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries" (ver. 6); as it is said, " I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy" (Deut. 32.42). He must, in short, destroy those who destroy the earth, which is by no means that which He does under the administration of the Church, in which He invites of sinners the very chiefest to come to Him that they may have life. Thus the prophet passes from the ascension of the Savior, directly to His return in glory to establish His kingdom upon earth, and says nothing about the Church which fills up the interval between these two events.
The eighth Psalm has also had the beginning of a fulfillment, when the multitudes who followed Jesus and the children of Jerusalem, cried: " Hosanna to the Son of David" (Matt. 21.8-16). Events were then in progress toward the fulfillment, but the rulers having suppressed this homage, having even stirred up the people to demand the death of Him who was among them as King, meek and lowly; the kingdom was postponed for a time yet to come.
" We see not yet all things put under Him," says the apostle to the Hebrews (2:8). That will not be fulfilled until the Lord Jesus, made manifest from heaven, will have renewed the world at His coming in glory; it is " the world to come," or the inhabitable earth to come (Heb. 2.5), described by the Psalmist, in which also all creation, delivered from the bondage of corruption, will praise the Lord (Rom. 8:2020For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, (Romans 8:20); Psa. 148). But as to the Church which came in between the ascension of the Savior and the establishment of the world to come, the Psalmist says not a word.
Isa. 11. The first two verses evidently describe the Savior in His first coming. Then, onward to the fifth verse, He is represented as the just and faithful Judge, which is His character at the time of His second coming (Rev. 19:1111And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. (Revelation 19:11)). " He shall reprove with equity for the meek of the earth" (Isa. 11:33And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: (Isaiah 11:3)). Such is not His conduct in the Church, to which He promises persecutions and afflictions, with no other defense than that of faith, and the patient hope of His coming: but, once returned, " And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming" (2 Thess. 2:88And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: (2 Thessalonians 2:8)). Then, because He will have avenged His "elect which cry unto Him day and night" (Luke 18:77And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? (Luke 18:7)), it may be said, " I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found" (Psa. 37:35, 3635I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. 36Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. (Psalm 37:35‑36)). Then, in short, the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, and the material creation will be renewed. Here then, again, it is the first coming of the Lord, knit up with the second coming to judge and establish His reign; the Church which fills up the interval between these two comings not being noticed.
Let us examine Dan. 9:24-2724Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. 25Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 27And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:24‑27), without stopping at the beginning of the prophecy, on which we all are happily agreed:-
" Seventy weeks are determined upon Thy people and upon Thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the over-spreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."
After sixty and nine weeks of years, Messiah (or the Prince) shall be cut off, but not for Himself [or, and He shall have nothing]. Compare this with, " Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God. And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him, though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength" (Isa. 49.4, 5).—That He has been cut off, we know. Well, then we read Dan. 9.26: " And the people of the prince that shall come [the people of the fourth monarchy, out of which the prince or leader (that is Antichrist) is to come] shall destroy the city and the sanctuary." That also has had its accomplishment in the destruction of 'Jerusalem by Titus. Now, is it possible to place the seventieth week immediately after the sixtieth? The destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, mentioned after the 'sixty-ninth week, although it came about forty years 'after the death of the Savior, has already put an interval between these two weeks. Then, if one could, in any sense, say that during the three years and a half which followed the death of Christ, the covenant of grace was confirmed with many, what is the sacrifice and what the oblation which then ceased? If it be said, 'the Jewish sacrifices'; in the thoughts of God they ceased at the death of the Savior, which rendered them useless, as was signified by the rending the veil of the temple in twain; in point of fact, they ceased with the destruction of the temple, which rendered them impossible; but in neither case was it three and a half years after the death of the Savior. " By the overspreading of abominations He shall make it desolate" [rendered in the margin, "Upon the battlements shall be the idols of the desolator"], is generally understood an idol set in the temple. But that could not be said of the army of Titus, for then the temple was burnt contrary to his will, and before it could be defiled by any idol; and then, again, that did not take place in the seventieth week. In short, what is said of this seventieth week remains inexplicable if it is made to follow immediately after the sixty-ninth. But if between the two is placed the whole time of the Church, as we have seen must be done in several other passages, then many of the difficulties disappear. After the sixty-ninth week the Christ was rejected, and that time which should have been blessing to Israel was, on the contrary, the time of its rejection. Thence onward, also, Israel not being any more recognized as the people of God upon earth, time CEASES TO BE COUNTED as to it,-" And the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined" (ver. 26): this is the destruction of Jerusalem, the desolations which followed, and will not end but with the war, the controversy which the Lord will have with His people. These are the " many days" during which they are " without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim" (Hos. 3.4). This is precisely the time of the Church here below. But when once the Church is gathered into the heavens, God enters again into relationship with the people of the earth, first to judge, and then to bless them. Time, then, AGAIN BEGINS TO BE RECKONED for the earthly people. It is the seventieth week, or the time of Antichrist; for, inasmuch as they did not receive Jesus, who came in the name of His Father, there shall come another in his own name, and him they will receive. During the first half of that week (i.e. during three and a half years), he enters into covenant with many in Israel, whom he will gain by flattery. But in the second half, laying aside the mask, and wishing to be adored as God, he will make the daily sacrifice (the re-establishment of which he had sanctioned) to cease; and in the very temple where God ought to be served, he places the image of the beast, abomination which is the cause of desolation, since all those that refuse to worship it are put to death, until " that determined shall be poured upon the desolate" [or, rather "upon the desolator," as in margin]. That is, Antichrist shall fall smitten of the Lord Himself. Then are to be accomplished on "the people" and " the holy city" of Daniel, all the blessings spoken of in ver. 24. If we accept the translation proposed by some, " in order that criminality may be consummated, and the measure of iniquity filled up" (for to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sin), it changes not the course of thought, because the measure of iniquity filled up brings in the judgment upon the wicked oppressor, and consequently the deliverance of the oppressed. This is the end of the indignation of the Lord upon Israel. The two halves of that last week are, then, the epochs which have so prominent a place in the prophecy, the time, times, and the dividing of time, the 1260 days and the 42 months (Dan. 7.25; 12:7; Rev. 11:3; 12:6, 14; 13:53And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. (Revelation 11:3)
6And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. (Revelation 12:6)
14And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. (Revelation 12:14)
5And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. (Revelation 13:5)).
As to Joel 2:28,3228And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: (Joel 2:28)
32And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call. (Joel 2:32), quoted in Acts 2:16 -2116But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; 17And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: 20The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: 21And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Acts 2:16‑21), the perusal of the words suffices to show that they had not at Pentecost their entire accomplishment. If there was, then, an outpouring of the spirit, prophecy, and so a partial accomplishment, so that Peter could say, " This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel," there were neither wonders in the heaven above nor signs in the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke, the sun turned into darkness, and the moon into blood; and certainly there was not that great and terrible day of the Lord. What conclusion must we draw then? but that this prophecy, in strictness, referring to the setting up of the kingdom of Messiah, had, in the times of Peter, but a beginning of fulfillment, because the kingdom, then offered to Israel and soon rejected by it, made way for the church; and not until the return of the Lord will this prophecy resume its course of accomplishment, and have, as the kingdom itself, its perfect fulfillment. Then, in very deed, will there be signs in the heaven and upon the earth—the great and terrible day of the Lord, and an outpouring of the Spirit, which will be for Israel as the rain of the latter-day, as Pentecost was the former rain (Isa. 13:6-13; 28:66Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. 7Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: 8And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. 9Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. 10For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 11And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. 12I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. 13Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. (Isaiah 13:6‑13)
6And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. (Isaiah 28:6); Hos. 6:33Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. (Hosea 6:3); Zech. 12:1010And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10), etc.) And then will be found the fulfillment of Matt. 24 and Rev. 6-20.
In proof that, Israel restored in the latter days, and the church, are but one and the same, we often hear Amos. 9:11, 12, cited in connection with Acts 15:15-1715And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, 16After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: 17That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. (Acts 15:15‑17). But in reading the end of that passage in the prophet, we see that, in such case, the church should be the conqueror of the nations, and of Edom in particular. We may remark, too, the words of James, "How God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name." But, then, when referring to the prophet, instead of quoting (ver. 11) "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen," etc., he says (Acts 15:1616After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: (Acts 15:16)) " After this will I return and will build again the tabernacle of David," for " in that day" he substitutes, " after this will I return." Evidently James, speaking by the Spirit, does not apply the words of Amos to the church, but to the re-establishment of Israel. Indeed, he says, " God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name." Here we have the church plainly announced and defined; but it is James, and not the prophet, who thus announces it. Then, "after this" (after this economy of the church) " God will build again the tabernacle of David." This is Israel's restoration. "That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the Lord that doeth this," says Amos (9:12). "That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things," says James (Acts 15:1717That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. (Acts 15:17)); the latter, doubtless, not wishing to arrest the thoughts upon the warlike exploits of Israel in the last days, clearly revealed fact as it was; but rather upon the conversion of the nations by the instrumentality of Israel. The conquest and the conversion of the nations come last.
No; the church, the body of Christ, is not in the Old Testament; at least, she is not there, save as in Christ, in whom she is shut in and hidden, as Eve was hidden in. Adam, before that God drew her forth thence. The church is to be seen there but in shadows and figures; now is the time for the taking of Eve out of the pierced side of Him to whom she is espoused, while He rests upon His Father's throne; that Bride that He shall present unto Himself a glorious church not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing—that she may reign with Him over the creation then already blessed of God. She is again shadowed forth in Enoch, who, by faith, walked here below with God, whom God took before that the deluge of His wrath fell upon a world overwhelmed in sin. She may be seen in Rebecca, whom a heavenly steward, sent by the Father, is come to affiance to the well-beloved Son, whom he cheers with rich presents, and guides across the desert towards the abode of her Lord, who comes forth to meet her. But the heavenly mystery contained in these touching pictures, remained concealed, even from those who formed the chief actors in the history. That which the prophets of Israel announce clearly and without mystery, is the sufferings of Christ and the glories which should follow afterward (1 Peter 1:1111Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. (1 Peter 1:11)). It is the kingdom which the Son of Man will establish at His coming in glory (Dan. 2:44; 7:13, 14, 2744And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. (Daniel 2:44)
13I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13‑14)
27And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. (Daniel 7:27)), in which, also, all the kingdoms of the earth shall be subjected to Him, and shall serve Him: kingdom of God, because then the Lord will be king in all the earth (Zech. 14:99And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one. (Zechariah 14:9)); kingdom of heaven, because it is from heaven He comes who establishes it (Dan. 7:1313I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. (Daniel 7:13); Matt. 26:6464Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. (Matthew 26:64)). Then, too, will He manifest His glory in the highest of the heavens, in heavenly saints, as well as in those who are upon the earth. Kingdom of Israel (Acts 1:66When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? (Acts 1:6)), because, then, Israel will hold the first place upon the earth, its sons being princes over the whole earth (Mic. 4:8,98And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. 9Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. (Micah 4:8‑9)), and pre-eminently because He who will then reign, is He who has, in grace, manifested Himself to the world as Son of David, and who then still bears the name of King of Israel (Isa. 33:20-2220Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities: thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. 21But there the glorious Lord will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. 22For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; he will save us. (Isaiah 33:20‑22); Zeph. 3:14,1514Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. 15The Lord hath taken away thy judgments, he hath cast out thine enemy: the king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee: thou shalt not see evil any more. (Zephaniah 3:14‑15)).
3rd. The first Mention of the Church in the New Testament, and its Formation by the Holy Spirit.
If we now turn to the New Testament, we find therein that the first mention of the church is in the teaching of the Lord in connection with His rejection by Israel. Afterward we find it formed by the Holy Spirit upon the foundation of Jesus, slain but risen from the dead -taking the place of Israel and of its kingdom, postponed from that moment to a later period.
It is, indeed, the King of this kingdom, and not the Head of the church, that the angel announces to Mary, when he says—" And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:31-3331And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. (Luke 1:31‑33)).
Never was the Lord, in the church, found sitting upon the throne of David; neither has He reigned over the house of Jacob, which, on the contrary, has been rejected and without a king. But such was the promise to Israel (2 Sam. 7:12-1612And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. 14I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: 15But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee. 16And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. (2 Samuel 7:12‑16); Isa. 9:6,76For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:6‑7), etc.; Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15-175Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jeremiah 23:5‑6)
15In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. 16In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness. 17For thus saith the Lord; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; (Jeremiah 33:15‑17), etc.)
That which John the Baptist preached was the kingdom (Matt. 3:22And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 3:2)); and all that followed in his preaching was in harmony with this beginning. He presents himself as the voice spoken of by Isa. 40:33The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:3), etc. " The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His path straight," and according to the prophet himself, " And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it," etc. Is that the church period? To answer " "Yes" would be to set John in direct opposition with Paul, who calls the church period the time of travail and groaning of the whole creation, and not only of the creation, but of us also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, and he gives no other end to these groanings than that of the redemption of our bodies; that is to say; our change to glory at the coming of the Lord (Rom. 8:19-2319For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:19‑23)). Ah! the time when every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; when the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain; when the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, is in strong contrast with what we now see -in contrast with the time of creation's groaning—for it is the time of refreshing that is to come from the presence of the Lord the times of restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began (Acts 3:19-2119Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:19‑21)). Then will the day of the Lord of hosts be " upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up" (Isa. 2:1414And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, (Isaiah 2:14), etc.) Then will He fill the earth with the knowledge of Himself and of His glory (Isa. 11:99They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9); Hab. 2:1414For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. (Habakkuk 2:14)), just according to John Baptist's announcement. So, again, when He says, " Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable" (Luke 3:1717Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable. (Luke 3:17)). These words carry us forwards to the time of harvesting; for in the east the winnowing of the wheat and the purging of the floor come immediately after the harvest, and form part of it; in no case could they possibly precede it. Now, " the harvest is the end of the age" (Matt. 13:3939The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. (Matthew 13:39); read from 37-43). It is then the judgment exercised by the Lord at the end of the present age, when He will destroy those that corrupt the earth, and will establish therein His kingdom; John announced not the church in this place. At the time he spake of, it will have finished its course here below, and will be with the Lord.
When, also, He cried, saying, " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:2929The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. (John 1:29)); this, in a certain sense, includes the church, because the church is included in the world; but it will not have its full accomplishment save in the world to come; when the world, as a whole, will partake of the benefits of the sacrifice of Jesus. Now, He is the propitiation for our sins—for the sins of us who are members of the church. Then He will be the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:22And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:2)). This was doubtlessly given to John to see in prospect.
Thus John, like all the ancient prophets, looking upon the earthly people of the Lord, saw, through the Holy Ghost, the great and splendid things which the Lord would accomplish on the earth, when He should establish His kingdom; but the Church, in that which is distinctively peculiar to her, her calling, walk here below, her rapture, etc., was still for John a mystery hidden, Jesus alone, who came down from heaven, could reveal these things. Such, I doubt not, is the force of that word of John himself. " He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all" (John 3:3131He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. (John 3:31)). And here, also, it may be remarked, that not only did John not present himself as the Bridegroom or the Messiah; but that he also did not claim to be the bride or part of it; he calls himself the Friend of the Bridegroom (read John 3:28-3228Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. 29He 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. 30He must increase, but I must decrease. 31He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all. 32And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony. (John 3:28‑32)).
John summoned Israel to repentance, in order to prepare the way for the glorious kingdom of the Lord which he proclaimed; but the rulers, in rejecting the baptism of John, "rejected the counsel of God" against themselves (Luke 8:3030And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him. (Luke 8:30)). And, doubtless, it was a sore trial to John not to be able to understand that the kingdom which he had announced was interrupted by the rejection of Jesus, even as Elijah could not bear that his testimony should remain without effect as to the conversion of Ahab and Israel (1 Kings 19:3-153And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there. 4But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. 5And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him, and said unto him, Arise and eat. 6And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again. 7And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. 8And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God. 9And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? 10And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. 11And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: 12And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 13And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? 14And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. 15And the Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria: (1 Kings 19:3‑15); Luke 7:19-2819And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them to Jesus, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? 20When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? 21And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. 22Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. 23And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. 24And when the messengers of John were departed, he began to speak unto the people concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness for to see? A reed shaken with the wind? 25But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts. 26But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet. 27This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. 28For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. (Luke 7:19‑28)).
Jesus himself began His preaching, saying, " Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 4:1717From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17)). " The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand" (Mark 1:1515And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. (Mark 1:15)). And in truth the seventieth week of Daniel was there. The time of the kingdom and of all the blessings was come. In order that Israel might enter upon possession, it was only needful to obey the call of the Lord; "to repent and believe the gospel," "the gospel of the kingdom of God" (ver. 14).
Let us follow the Lord in the synagogue of Nazareth on the sabbath day. He opens the book of the prophet Isaiah and reads, " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord " (Luke 4:18,1918The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. (Luke 4:18‑19)).
Well, if we now read Isa. 61, we shall see that it clearly proclaims the return of the favor of the Lord upon Israel, and all the blessings which pertain to the sabbatical year and the jubilee; the forgiveness of debts, the liberty of the captive, the rest and blessing of the earth (Ex. 23:10,1110And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: 11But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard. (Exodus 23:10‑11); Lev. 25; Deut. 15). It was then the true jubilee, that is to say, the kingdom with all its blessings which Jesus proposed to Israel in applying the words of Isa. 61:1, 21The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; (Isaiah 61:1‑2). John Baptist and Jesus Himself had, in a sense, preached the day of atonement, in saying, Repent ye, etc. (Lev. 25:9,10; 23; 279Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. 10And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. (Leviticus 25:9‑10)) It is, then, after the atonement of the jubilee, that is to say, -after the humiliation of repentance, the kingdom with all the blessings which Jesus brings to it in announcing, " This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears."
But why does the Lord stop, closing the book, before these words, " And the day of vengeance of our God." Just because He brought not vengeance but the blessing. If Israel had received Him then, the promises made through the prophets might have been fulfilled; but we know what reception he met with under. those very circum- stances. Wrath quickly supplanting, in the inhabitants of Nazareth, the passing feeling of admiration, they sought to cast him down from the height on which their
city was built. Thus, as Israel, not knowing the day of its visitation, has rejected its king, who came to it meek, not breaking the bruised reed, nor quenching the smoking flax; it must see Him coming to it preceded by great and terrible signs -" men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth" (Luke 21:2626Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. (Luke 21:26), read the chapter). " For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled" (Luke 21:2222For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. (Luke 21:22); Isa. 34:8; 63:48For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. (Isaiah 34:8)
4For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. (Isaiah 63:4)). That will be "the great and the terrible day of the Lord" (Joel 2:3131The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come. (Joel 2:31); Mal. 4:55Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: (Malachi 4:5)); and then only will it be that the children of Israel having kept the day of atonement (Zech. 12:10-13:110And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. 11In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. 12And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; 13The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart; 14All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart. 1In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. (Zechariah 12:10‑13:1)), the true jubilee will come. " And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in " (Isa. 58:1212And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. (Isaiah 58:12)). " But ye shall be named the priests of the Lord: men shall call you the ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves" (Isa. 61:66But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord: men shall call you the Ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves. (Isaiah 61:6)).
In the meanwhile, it is the Church which, having taken the place of the kingdom rejected by Israel, enjoys spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
That which Jesus preached at Nazareth, He preached also from place to place. " And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people " (Matt. 9:3535And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. (Matthew 9:35)). When He chose the twelve, He gave them power over the unclean spirits to drive them out, and to heal all sorts of sickness and infirmities, power even to raise the dead,-then He bade them not to go unto the Gentiles, nor to enter into any city of the Samaritans, but to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and to say to them," The kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt. 10.7). A similar commission is given to the seventy, and when they were not received in any city, going out into the streets they were to say, " Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you " (Luke 10:1111Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. (Luke 10:11)).
But as Israel had rejected the forerunner of its King, so it rejected its King Himself and His apostles. " But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me" (Psa. 81:1111But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. (Psalm 81:11)). And Jesus had to say-
"But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of Publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children " (Matt. 11:16-1916But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto children sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, 17And saying, We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced; we have mourned unto you, and ye have not lamented. 18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. 19The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children. (Matthew 11:16‑19)).
And it is only after this, be it remarked, that Jesus begins to speak of the Church.
" When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it " (Matt. 16:13-1813When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:13‑18)).
Peter had found grace before God to recognize Jesus, not only as the Son of David 'or the Messiah of Israel, but also as the Son of the living God, and having confessed Him as such, Jesus answers that confession by a new revelation, almost as if He had said: It is so true that I am the Son of the living God, that not only the gates of Hades (the unseen world, where are the spirits of men after death, Isa. 38.11), shall not withstand me; not only after having descended thither, I shall come forth conqueror, but I shall cause my Church also to come forth thence; " For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself" (John 5.26); " For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will" (John 5:2121For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. (John 5:21)); " because I live, ye shall live also " (John 14:1919Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. (John 14:19)).
Thus we have here, the first notice of the Church and of its participation in the life of its Head, slain, but raised again from the dead. It is very nearly the same truth as the Lord a little later recalls to mind for the consolation and encouragement of His beloved disciple. " Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death" (Rev. 1:17,1817And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. (Revelation 1:17‑18)). And notice, the Lord does not say, " I have built," but " I will build my Church." Would the Lord have spoken thus if the Church had existed already from the commencement of the world? No: and more than that, at that hour, even the foundation of the Church was not laid, for;hat foundation is Jesus rejected, crucified, raised from the dead, and received up into glory. Also, " From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day" (Matt. 16:2121From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. (Matthew 16:21)). Thus knitting up the truth of his rejection, death and resurrection inseparably with the Church.
And a little further on:-
" Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."
Here, in declaring that " Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (ver. 20), the Lord lays down a fundamental principle of the church, which may help us to comprehend its nature; and on which we are happy to be able to lean, in the midst of the wreck of the present day.
True is it, that a little later, Israel seemed for a moment ready to receive its king. The multitude, learning that Jesus was come to the feast, went forth before Him, crying " Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!" (Matt. 21:99And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. (Matthew 21:9)). And the children cry in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David" (ver. 15). And when certain Greeks, among them that came up to worship at the feast, desire to see Him, a voice from heaven comes from on high and bears witness to Him (John 12:20,21,2820And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: 21The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. (John 12:20‑21)
28Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. (John 12:28)). All seems in progress towards His manifestation. But the leaders of the people again succeed in stifling the convictions and suppressing the movement, and thus they hinder the deliverance of Israel and the world. They even call the Lord in question, as to His authority. Then, too, the Lord openly proclaims their rejection. In the parable of the vineyard and husband-men in Matt. 21:33-4633Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country: 34And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. 35And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. 36Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. 37But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. 38But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. 39And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him. 40When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 41They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons. 42Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? 43Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 44And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. 45And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. 46But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet. (Matthew 21:33‑46), He makes them pronounce judgment on themselves. " They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons" (ver. 41). Then " Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? 'Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them" (Matt. 21:42-4542Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? 43Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. 44And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. 45And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. (Matthew 21:42‑45)).
Thus the stone is first upon the earth. Whosoever shall fall on it shall be broken. This evidently is the Lord Himself, according to the doctrine of His first coming, which was a scandal and a stumbling-block to Israel, and is so still to the world. As Peter speaks, "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:10-1210Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 11This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:10‑12)). But afterward the stone falls; it has then been lifted up on high, and on whomsoever it falls it grinds him to powder. This is the Lord, according to the doctrine of His coming back in glory to set up His kingdom by the destruction of His enemies; it is the stone "cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron. and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth" (Dan. 2:34,3534Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. 35Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 2:34‑35)).
For " in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure" (Dan. 2:44,4544And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. 45Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. (Daniel 2:44‑45)). The church is that which is built upon the stone during the time of its rejection; the church, a spiritual house" built upon the living stone, " disallowed, indeed, of men, but chosen of God and precious" (1 Peter 2:5,45Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)
4To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, (1 Peter 2:4)).
"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.... From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day" (Matt. 16.18, 21). "To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the -word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy" (1 Peter 2:4-104To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 5Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. 6Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. 7Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, 8And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed. 9But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 10Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. (1 Peter 2:4‑10)).
The kingdom is that which will be built upon the stone, when come down from heaven and having destroyed its enemies. " Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste" (Isa. 28:1616Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. (Isaiah 28:16)). Psa. 118 is a song for that kingdom; how fitting too.
"I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord: O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity.
Similar truth may be seen in Luke 19:11-2711And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. 12He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. 13And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. 14But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. 15And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. 16Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. 17And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities. 18And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. 19And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. 20And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin: 21For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. 22And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow: 23Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? 24And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. 25(And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.) 26For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. 27But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. (Luke 19:11‑27), in the parable of the nobleman who went into a far country, to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return—instruction which the Lord gave, " because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear" (ver. 11).
After having pronounced the woe of the blind leaders of the blind, Jesus takes sorrowful leave of Jerusalem. " 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! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matt. 23:37-3937O 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! 38Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. 39For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. (Matthew 23:37‑39)).
But it is clear it was not a final farewell forever, for "Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (ver. 39). As the Lord had said by the prophet, " I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early" (Hos. 5:1515I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. (Hosea 5:15)). The time, then, will come wherein Israel will return again to its king and its God, and seeing Him again coming to it, will hail Him again with the cry, " Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Psa. 118:2626Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord. (Psalm 118:26)).
" For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days" (Hos. 3:4,54For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: 5Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days. (Hosea 3:4‑5)). The kingdom is postponed until then, and the church now holds its place, being, in one aspect of it, the kingdom in mystery.
We know what Israel did to its king; it delivered Him into the hands of the Gentiles to put Him to death, crying, " Crucify him, crucify him." When Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your king?" The chief priests answered, "we have no king but Caesar." Instead of a diadem they gave Him a crown of thorns; instead of a scepter, a reed; and instead of a throne, a cross; but on that cross the shame of his enemies was plainly set forth in Greek, in Latin, and in Hebrew, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews"; as if to proclaim to the wide world that if thence onward Israel was without a king, it was not the King who had failed His people, but the people who had rejected and crucified its King.
Israel had come, like its forefathers, in Num. 13; 14, though in another sense, to the borders of the land of promise. The kingdom of heaven was at hand, had been offered to it; but by its unbelief, it hindered, as its forefathers had, the fulfillment of the promise, and now, before it can be fulfilled, "the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim" (Hos. 3; 4). " And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face" (Ezek. 20:3535And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. (Ezekiel 20:35)).
Nevertheless, Jesus, upon the cross, prayed for His murderers: " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And, as if in answer to this prayer, the kingdom is again offered to them. For if the words of Peter mean anything they imply this.
"And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had spewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, so many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first, God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities" (Acts hi. 17-26).
But if some believed, the mass, alas! hardened themselves against the voice of the apostle, as they had done against the voice of his Master.
Yet once more Stephen makes an appeal to Israel as to the people of God, and charges them not to follow the example—of the patriarchs, who, moved with envy, sold Joseph, whom God had raised up to be a savior of his own family, and of the world—or of the Israelite in Egypt, who said to Moses, " Who made thee a prince or a judge over us? Wilt thou kill me, as thou didst the Egyptian yesterday" (Acts 7:27, 2827But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? 28Wilt thou kill me, as thou diddest the Egyptian yesterday? (Acts 7:27‑28)). " This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush" (ver. 35). But more hardened even than their fathers, the Jews stoned Stephen and sent him, in a sense, after the Lord, as the servant in the parable, " We will not have this man to reign over us" (Luke 19:1414But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. (Luke 19:14)). From that time onward, the body which the Holy Spirit had formed of the children of Abraham, gathers into itself numbers from among the Samaritans and the Gentiles, as may be seen in the eighth and tenth chapters of the Acts of the Apostles. And, then, that which takes the place here below, which the kingdom held, assumed the characteristics of the new man: where there was neither Jew nor Greek. At the same time, from the midst of the murderers of Stephen, God picks out him who was to be the minister of the church, the minister of the mystery hid from ages and from generations. "Whereof I Paul am made a minister (Col. 1:24,2924Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: (Colossians 1:24)
29Whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. (Colossians 1:29)). And it seems as if, in his very call, he had to learn to know the church as the body here below of Jesus slain but raised again from the dead. "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" says the Lord to him; and when Saul replies, "Who art thou, Lord?" the Lord's answer is, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest" (Acts 9:4,54And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 5And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. (Acts 9:4‑5)). The church had, in reality, commenced before Paul, yet without intelligence as to it in those who formed part of it. Peter, for instance, when bade to carry the word to the Gentiles, complied—yet, in some respects, unwillingly, without intelligence; he gave not himself heartily, so to speak, to the work, until he saw the Holy Ghost given to the Gentiles, after that they believed; this fact convinced him that he had no right to refuse the water of baptism. "Who was I that I should withstand God?" Peter clearly understood the fact that Gentiles were saved by faith; but he did not thence deduce the idea of the unity of believers in but one body with Christ. It was reserved to Paul to be the minister of this mystery—which, without a doubt, he means when he speaks of "my gospel" (Rom. 16:2525Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, (Romans 16:25); 2 Tim. 2:88Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel: (2 Timothy 2:8)).
And thus we find ourselves again at the point from which we set out—the teaching of Paul as to the nature of the church, which we can now better understand.
4th. Summary of the Doctrine of Paul as to the Special Nature of the Church.
1. The most important of all his instructions, that which in a sense contains all the rest, and to which Paul also most constantly reverts, is that the church is " the body of Christ." "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" (Eph. 1.22, 23; see, also, Eph. 2:15, 16; 3:6; 4:1-16; 5:23-3215Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: (Ephesians 2:15‑16)
6That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: (Ephesians 3:6)
1I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, 2With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; 3Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; 5One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 7But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. 8Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. 9(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? 10He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: 14That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: 16From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:1‑16)
23For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:23‑32); Col. 1:18, 2418And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:18)
24Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: (Colossians 1:24); 1 Cor. 12:12-2712For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 14For the body is not one member, but many. 15If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 16And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 17If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? 18But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 19And if they were all one member, where were the body? 20But now are they many members, yet but one body. 21And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 22Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 23And those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 24For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked: 25That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 26And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1 Corinthians 12:12‑27)).
Now, could this body exist before that Jesus had been rejected? No; for we have seen, in various parts of Scripture, that when Jesus came, Ile came to sit upon the throne of His Father David, to reign over the house of Jacob. Such was the ostensible object of His coming; and not that of forming a body of sinners redeemed from among all nations. Therefore, as we have also seen, he associates the idea of the church with that of His rejection by Israel; the church is the house built in spirit upon the rejected stone, during a parenthesis in which time is not counted. Paul also teaches us that it is by the blood of Christ that they who were afar off were brought nigh, to form together with those that believed of them that were nigh, "one new man"; " for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby" (Eph. 2:15, 1615Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: (Ephesians 2:15‑16)). Caiaphas, prophesying by the Spirit, taught that Jesus was to " die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad" (John 11:51,5251And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; 52And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. (John 11:51‑52)). This gathering together in one of the children of God, in other words, the body of Christ is then a fruit of His death.
But the Church is not the body of a Christ that is dead and gone, or even of a Christ upon earth that may yet die,-it is the body of Him who was dead, but is alive again, being raised from the dead; who consequently cannot die any more, but liveth forever and ever (Rom. 6:99Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. (Romans 6:9); Rev. 1:1717And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: (Revelation 1:17)); and let it be distinctly noticed that the Christ who is given as head of His body is a Christ raised from the dead, seated at the right hand of God, " Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 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" (Eph. 1:20-2320Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:20‑23)). This body of Christ then could not exist before that Christ Himself was raised from the dead, and glorified.
Lastly, the Church being the body of Christ, the Spirit of Christ must needs dwell in it, and animate it as the spirit of a man dwells in a man. And so we are taught in these words: "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1 Cor. 3.16). "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (1 Cor. 6.19). " Ye are the temple of the living God" (2 Cor. 6:1616And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:16)); see also Eph. 2:21,2221In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:21‑22), and 4:4; 1 Peter 2.4, 5, etc. Now, it was meet that a man-just and glorified, human nature-in the person of the Lord, should be in heaven, in order for the Spirit to be able to come down, and dwell in such poor sinners as in a temple. " In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified)" (John 7:37-3937In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. 38He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37‑39)). "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you" (lb. 16:7).
This body of Christ, animated by the Holy Spirit, could not have existed before the Spirit was sent down from on high. This in no wise interferes with the unquestionable truth, that saints of all times were taught, formed and sanctified by the Spirit of God; by Him also men of God have ever been moved to speak: but never of any of them, or of any union of any of them, was it previously said, they are the body of Christ, members of His body, the temple where His Spirit dwells.
2. Again, Paul tells us that the Church is " built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone: in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye are also builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2:20-22). Now are the prophets of whom mention is here found those of the Old, or those of what is called the New Testament? (Acts 13:11Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. (Acts 13:1) and 1 Cor. 12 and 14) We shall soon be convinced, that it is the latter, and not the former, who are referred to, if we remark that they are always named after the apostles-" built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets; Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone" (Eph. 2.20).
" Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit" (Eph. 3:55Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; (Ephesians 3:5)). " He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Ib. 4:10, 11, 12). "And God hath set some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? are all prophets are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?" (1 Cor. 12:28,2928And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. 29Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? (1 Corinthians 12:28‑29)).
In this last passage, the apostles and prophets are expressly said to be in the Church. And in Eph. 4:1111And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; (Ephesians 4:11), it is said they are a result of the ascension of the Lord. And Paul says, speaking of gifts to the Church of Corinth, "Are all apostles? Are all prophets?" Thus we see clearly, that in these passages the allusion is not to prophets of olden times, but to those of the Church. The Church, then, that is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets of a risen and ascended Christ, cannot be the unity of all those who have believed since the foundation of the world, the greater part of these having lived before the said apostles and prophets, and it having been impossible for them to be built upon this foundation. This in some respects tends to confirm and develop what we adverted to in the Word of the Lord to Peter: " Upon this rock will I build my Church." He says, not have built, but will build.
3. According to Paul, the Church is raised as a new man upon the ruins of a middle wall of partition, namely, the law of ordinances, which had previously separated Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 2.11-22). But while that middle wall still existed, could the Church exist? In other words, could the Church, in which there is neither Jew nor Greek, exist, when, so far from there being no wall of partition, there was a deep and impassable line of demarcation drawn between the Jews and Gentiles? Will it be able to continue hereafter, when that line of demarcation, though less exclusive and less rigid, will still exist, as we have seen will be the case here below in the age to come?
4. Lastly, Paul teaches us: " And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:11, 1211And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (Ephesians 4:11‑12)). Now if the Church includes all the saints from the beginning of the world, how comes it to pass that the apostle, when speaking of the gifts which the Lord has made to the Church for its edification, makes no allusion to patriarchs, kings, and prophets of the old covenant? Did not these serve for the profiting of the saints in their times? Most surely: but for Paul the Church is the body of Christ, animated by the Spirit at Pentecost, and which was in existence only from that time. Therefore it is that he speaks only of gifts and ministries communicated by the Spirit since Pentecost, as the context clearly shows.
Yes, there is a Church which is neither the continuation of Israel, nor Israel restored, and the nations blessed in the age to come; but is the complement of those who, during the time Of Israel's rejection, are drawn by the Holy Spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ, seated in heaven- to be His bride, His body, a new man, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, scythian, bond nor free; but Christ all and in all (Gal. 3:27,2827For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:27‑28); Col. 3:10,1110And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. (Colossians 3:10‑11)). In that Christ " made Himself of no reputation,". etc. (Phil. 2:7,87But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Philippians 2:7‑8)), THEREFORE it is, that-
"God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father " (Phil. 2:9-119Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9‑11)).
God has raised Christ-
" from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 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" (Eph. 1:20-2320Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:20‑23)).
Thus, that place of glory, which Jesus has, through humiliation and suffering, won for Himself, as Son of Man, at the right hand of God, His, as Son of God, it ever was (John 17:55And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. (John 17:5)), is our blessing. His being set at God's own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world but in that which is to come, is the security of His body the Church: thus it can be said, " 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. 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3)). " Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved); and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:5,65Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:5‑6)).
As being of His body, members of Him who is now seated at the right hand of God in the heavens-His Spirit uniting us to Him, we are looked at as already in some sort, that is according to the Spirit, in the heavenly places. For such was the place which the Father's love assigned to us when He chose us before the foundation of the world, us, who were but dead as members of the family of the first Adam, that He might unite us in an indissoluble union to Christ, the Prince of life.
'Tis here we find what is our righteousness, peace, and the anchor of our hope, " Our life is hid with Christ in God " (Col. 3:33For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:3)). Who shall deprive us of it?
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 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. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:27-3927And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29For 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. 30Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:27‑39)).
"But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above): Or, who shall descend into the deep (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead). But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that is, the word of faith, which we preach" (Rom. 10:6-86But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) 7Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) 8But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; (Romans 10:6‑8)).
May we feed on these precious truths! In proportion as we do so, we shall be able to live the life of those that are raised from the dead, dead in ourselves, to sin and the world, and alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Being the body of Christ, His bride, " bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh": we are " His fullness or complement"—"the fullness of Him that Hall all in all." For the aggregate of the members, the very least of them not excepted, is necessary to the Head to complete the body. A head is not a body without the members; and a body is not complete, though it have a head, if but one single member be wanting. The bride renders the Bridegroom complete; He is not complete without His bride; She is His glory- "The woman is the glory of the man" (1 Cor. 11:77For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. (1 Corinthians 11:7)). Thus is it with the Lord Jesus; in a certain sense, He will not be " the perfect man, will not have come to the measure of the fullness of His stature" (Eph. 4:1313Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:13)), until His body shall be completed by the entrance of the last member of the redeemed. Then will the Second Adam " present it unto Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and without blemish " (ver. 27) and He will find His glory in her, as it is said: " He shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe" (2 Thess. 1:1010When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. (2 Thessalonians 1:10)), and with her He will reign over Israel and the nations, and share with her His inheritance.
Is it asked, Why has the Lord called the Church to so high a position far above every other category of the blessed? The primary cause of this vocation, as also of the individual calling of each of us, is found in the good pleasure of God. Why, indeed, have we received the love of the truth that we might be saved, we, who now believe, but because He "predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will" (Eph. 1:55Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, (Ephesians 1:5)).
Well, in vain shall we seek for other reason for the calling of the Church. We must, after all, in the one case as much as in the other, come back to this: "Even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight " (Matt. 11:2626Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. (Matthew 11:26)). Yet the Word does reveal to us the end, which God has proposed to Himself herein. This was to be-
And how greatly does this yet magnify the thoughts which we may have of the Church and her calling! To be a monument to the praise of the glory of His grace, to the setting forth to those in the heavenly places His manifold wisdom, to the exceeding riches of His grace, in ages to come.
If the belief in this high calling seem to any to be pride, be it remembered that the ways of God are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts. "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts " (Isa. 55:8,98For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8‑9)). And be it specially remembered, that true humility does not consist in rejecting, upon the plea of our own utter unworthiness, the free grace of God, though Peter seemed to think so when he said, " Thou shalt never wash my feet" (John 13:88Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. (John 13:8)). Of what are we worthy? Humility consists rather in adoringly receiving that which
God says, and in setting it altogether above all our most familiar thoughts, above the oldest and most established traditions, and above the most revered instruction; as, said Mary, " Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word" (Luke 1:3838And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:38)). In this spirit, let us receive the instruction which the Word gives us concerning the Church. Let us humble ourselves, and what more suited to humble us than the contemplation of the immense grace of God, set in contrast with all our wretched misery? How, while so occupied, can we avoid saying, "For who maketh thee to differ from another? And what East thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?" (1 Cor. 4:77For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? (1 Corinthians 4:7)). Let us humble ourselves then, but let us do so in full faith; let us adore and worship; and by the contemplation of the unsearchable riches of the love of God, may we be strengthened to walk worthy of the calling wherewith we are called.
Appendix.
1.-The present evil age is, say we, the time of the absence of the Lord, and that is, at all events, true as to us. But when, precisely, did this age begin? Perhaps at the deluge. It is, then, on this account that the times of our Lord, and of His apostles, are called "the last times, or the last days" (Heb. 1:11God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, (Hebrews 1:1)).
They would have been, indeed, the last times, or days, of the evil age, if Jesus had been received, since his glorious reign would then have introduced the age to come. [Are the ages, and all time, COUNTED as to earth? The Church is heavenly.-Ed.]
But, enough; if the precise moment of the beginning of this age is not clearly seen, its characteristic traits to us are most definite. It is an " evil age " from which the Christian is delivered (Gal. 1:44Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:4)); an age of darkness, the prince and god of which is the devil (Eph. 6.12; 2 Cor. 4.4); the children of which are opposed to the children of light (Luke 16.8). Those who love this age abandon God and His children (2 Tim. 4.10); also, we must not be conformed to it (Rom. 12:22And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:2)).
The age to come evidently begins at the coming of the Lord, and corresponds to the time of His reigning. It is a desirable and a glorious age, since those who will be counted worthy to have part in it, and in the resurrection from among the dead, cannot die any more (Luke 20.35, 36). It is the age of recompence (Mark 10.30); Luke 14.14). It is the age of resurrection, of life, and of glory.
The world and the age have oft been confounded together, which is a great error. The world, or earth, κοσμος, or οικουμενη is the earth on which we dwell. The age, αιων, is a time appointed for the duration of the world, or a dispensation of God as to the world and its inhabitants; one of those dispensations which he made by the Son (Heb. 1.2). They are as two parallel lines, often even cut at equal distances, by the same events, but always distinct.
If the present age began at the deluge, it corresponds, as to its duration, with that which may be called the present world, in contrast with the old world, or world before the deluge.
The age to come, which is introduced by the coming of the Lord, corresponds also to the world to come, or the habitable earth to come (Psa. 8; Heb. 2:55For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. (Hebrews 2:5)). That is to say, to the world restored by the Lord, and in which all creatures will be subject to Him.
There is also correspondence between the traits of this world and those of the present age. if this age is evil, the world also lies in the wicked one, and all that is in the world: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And, therefore, as we may not love the present age, nor conform ourselves to it, neither may we love the world, nor the things that are in the world (1 John 2:15-17; 5:1915Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (1 John 2:15‑17)
19And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness. (1 John 5:19); James 4:44Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. (James 4:4)). If the devil is called the ruler of the darkness of this age (Eph. 2.2; 6:11, 12), he is also called the prince of this world (John 12.31; 14:30; 16:11). To walk according to the age of this world (lit.) is to walk according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience (Eph. 2:22Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: (Ephesians 2:2)); also, now the kingdom of Jesus is neither of this world, nor of this age (John 18.36). That it is not of this age, the word now proves; that it is not of this world, is proved by the words -from hence; but it will be displayed in the age to come, upon an earth renewed.
Notwithstanding these connections, the world and the age are not the same thing, and must not be confounded together. Matt. 13:39, 40, 4939The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 40As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. (Matthew 13:39‑40)
49So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, (Matthew 13:49), and 24:3, should be translated " end of the age," and not " end of the world"; end of the world leads the mind to the question of the destruction of the heavens and the earth, and to the judgment which will then take place (Rev. 20); whereas, in these passages, and Matt. 25 (which is but a development of it), the question is not about the end of the world, but about the end of the present evil age, and of the judgment then executed by the Lord, as introductory to the age to come.
2.- This interruption in the ways of God, with regard to His earthly people, agrees with the mystery of the Church, and is as a key to the understanding of prophecy. It quite accounts for the silence of prophecy as to the destiny of the nations of Christendom since the rejection of Israel. Israel being the center of the places of God for the earth, God gives prophecies concerning nations, only according to their connection, or not, with Israel. Now Israel existing not as His people for eighteen hundred years, prophecy is silent also about the nations during all that time. It does not again speak of them until the moment when the nations again gather themselves together around Jerusalem; that is, at the moment when God again turns toward Israel, to purge it by judgment, and then to re-establish it in its glorious privileges.
If this had been apprehended, men would not have searched in Daniel, and the prophets generally, for the Pope, Mahomet, the Goths, the Saracens, Attila, Charlemagne, Napoleon, all the kings, and all the revolutions of modern history. Search for the year of the return of the Lord would not have been made. Nor, lastly, should we have seen all these systems, which, falsified so many times, by passing events, afford the infidel an occasion for mockery, and disincline even pious persons from the study of prophecy.
2.-the Failure of the Church.
Israel ought, by its obedience, and the blessings which would thereupon have manifestly resulted, to have shown to all the peoples of the earth, how " Happy is that people, that is in such a case; yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord" (Psa. 144.15).
That which God will look for from Israel and the nations of the age to come, is that, in contemplating the glory, then manifested, of the son of David, they shall gladly yield themselves to the true Melchizedek, who will guide them in the path of holiness and peace-and that they abide therein.
The Church, in its walk here below, during the time of the absence of the Lord Jesus, is called to witness to the world, by its spiritual and heavenly walk, that the Jesus of Nazareth whom the world has rejected, yet lives as Son of God on High in heaven, since 'tis He—the Son of man upon the Father's throne—who, by His Spirit, produces and sustains in her spiritual and heavenly affections; and that consequently the world should turn to Him during the time of His long-suffering patience.
If, faithful to its call, the Church had presented the astonishing sight of one united body, gathered from the midst of all nations, by a power till then unknown, kept thus in the unity, love and expectation of its Mead from heaven, doubtless a far greater number would have believed. But it must, to have done that, have waited upon God in spirit, for so only would He have acted. Instead of this, what do we see in Christendom? Romanism refusing to the believer the privilege of being guided by the Spirit, and making a monopoly of it for the clergy. Among Protestants, the Holy Spirit is, for the greater part, little more than a notion and sterile doctrine. Even those who have proved His effectual power in regeneration, and who seek the Spirit for their walk as individuals, oft seem to forget that there is but one Holy Spirit, when the walk of the body collectively, or of the Church, is in question. They ignore the principle, in itself so simple, that as the Church as a whole is the body of Christ, animated by His Spirit, so the Church, in each place, is but the gathering, under the Holy Spirit, of the members of Christ who are in that place; and that, consequently, all that they have to do, is to unite as such in the name of the Lord, to worship in Spirit and in truth; and that such is the Church and her worship.
Instead of this, the liberty to make churches, there where we, according to our own wisdom, may think well that there should be such, is contended for. Schools, indeed, are set up where, with a little learning, a little toil, and, perhaps, what is called the orthodox faith, pastors and doctors, and, in short, ministers for these churches are made; but all this in the entire forgetfulness, that it is the Spirit who, in the church, distributes His gifts to each as He will (1 Cor. 12:4-124Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all. 7But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 11But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 12For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:4‑12)).
In Rubrics and Confessions, etc., there is drawn up an order of walk which the Spirit Himself ought rather to produce by His own free and mighty action; for it is not real, and has little value before God, save as it is the fruit of the Spirit. How could the world be won over to the faith, when it sees those who make profession of faith as to the Spirit, to be in reality dependent as much as itself, not upon that Spirit, but upon the wisdom of its rules, on the talent and eloquence of its teachers? And how can it be but that the Spirit should be grieved and quenched by such a proceeding? 'Tis like Israel despising its privilege of having God as king, and saying: Nay, but make us a king like the other nations.
The Church should have been a witness to the life of its Head, risen from the dead,—by a constant waiting for Him from heaven; and this was the case at the beginning. It is utterly impossible, if we read with simplicity of heart, the letters of the apostles, not to see that the early Christians looked for the Lord in quite another way from what the greater part of Christians do, in our days. They really, and without any figure of speech, waited for Him as if He might come at any moment. This coming was, for them, one of the ends of their conversion, a motive for the fulfillment of every duty, and a consolation under every affliction.
"For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even, Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come" (1 Thess. 1:9,109For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; 10And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:9‑10)). "For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy" (Ib. 2:19, 20). See also 4:18; Titus 2.13; Heb. 10:36, 3736For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. 37For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. (Hebrews 10:36‑37); James 5:7, 87Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. (James 5:7‑8), etc.
But sentiments now reign which are so far removed from those of the first disciples, that, no longer understanding their language, many of our day have given to the simplest expressions of that day a strange and forced meaning. The coming of the Lord is for many only the destruction of Jerusalem, or death, or perhaps that which is called a spiritual coming, to set up a pretended spiritual reign of which the word knows nothing.
By far the greater part know nothing of the future coming of the Lord, more than that He is coming to judge the world; thus confounding the day of the wrath of the Lamb with the day, peaceful and happy, of His meeting His beloved Bride. And if you call their attention to the instructions of the Word upon this truth, they will tell you, as Festus did Paul, that too much learning has made you mad.
Together with the daily waiting for the Lord has disappeared the union of disciples as such, their separation from the world, and the spiritual and heavenly life which distinguished them at first. When the servant says in his heart, "My Lord delayeth His coming," we know the result. "But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayeth His coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken" (Matt. 24:48, 4948But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; 49And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; (Matthew 24:48‑49)). When the Church ceased to look up and wait for the Lord from heaven, she began to look down, and to seek around her for rest, ease, wealth and honor; she has become earthly, and inimical to the cross; joining herself to the world, even so far as to give to it the rights of her citizenship, and to corrupt for it her worship and the supper. She has put her glory in that which is her shame, and has a recognized position, peaceful and honored, in the midst of that world which crucified her Lord.
And not only have Christians united themselves to the world, but they have also sanctioned divisions among themselves. Instead of being a witness of the unity of the Spirit which animated it as one body, the Church is divided into sections innumerable, distinguished by the names of men, of nations, and of various doctrines. Ah, this is not what the Lord asked for, when He said: " That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou has sent me" (John 17.21). Neither is it the sight which the early disciples presented when-
" All that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:44-4744And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47Praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. (Acts 2:44‑47)). "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold. And laid them down at the apostle's feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need" (Ib. 4:32—35).
Great grace was upon them all, and many believed: it is true, that this blessed union had already received some violent shocks at Corinth, when one said: " For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ. divided? Was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul" (1 Cor. 11-13). It was the mystery of iniquity which did already work (2 Thess. 2:3-83Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 5Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: (2 Thessalonians 2:3‑8)). Yet the evil was far from having the extent which it now has. With the exception, perhaps, of the Church of Diotrephes (3rd John), I know not that in any one place in the days of the apostles, more than one flock was to be seen. They, doubtless, little thought that the time would come, in which, even in the same city, or the same village, would be seen three, four, five, or six differing congregations, each having its own peculiar faith, organization, supper, and ministry. It is said, notwithstanding these separations, there is at the bottom unity between all these assemblies, if they all rest upon the true foundation; and that it is of that fundamental invisible unity that the Lord meant to speak, when He asked that His disciples might be one. But this invisible unity cannot suffice to lead the world to believe—it needs something which is manifest and visible. And, moreover, if this union really exists, why then all this disunion, and why these separations, which are the occasion of so much sin, and the abiding cause of weakness in the Church? For the gifts bestowed upon the Christians of the various congregations, and which, increased if there were union, would provide them abundance of edification and consolation, subdivided as they are, suffice but to sustain a feeble and languid state of life, even if they are not employed (as is, alas! too oft the case) one against the other. It is like Israel and Judah, whom sin had separated; and who, instead of uniting their forces against common enemies, used them to make war one against the other, who even leant upon Egypt and Assyria.
Thus, to perceive the failure of the Church, it only needs to recall what it is in the intention of God, and then to cast a glance upon that which it is become in Christendom; but, besides this, we have upon this subject declarations of the very clearest and most precise character. Paul, in addressing the Church of Rome, says: " Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off" (Rom. 11.22). He here then establishes the possibility of the fall; and in such case it is not a restoration, but a cutting off of which he speaks; not, indeed, an immediate cutting off, because, according to the faithfulness of God, it cannot be that one of His sheep should perish, though they may have to suffer the consequences of that fall. And this fall, of which Paul warned the Christians when he was addressing the Church of Rome, he announces in a manner most positive, in his address to the elders of Ephesus: " For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:29, 3029For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. 30Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. (Acts 20:29‑30)). See also 2 Peter 1:12-1512Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. 13Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; 14Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. 15Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. (2 Peter 1:12‑15), compared with the whole of the second chapter, and more especially with the first verse: " But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction." And what, after this, is the apostolic succession and the antiquity of doctrine, upon which so many assemblies lean? Ah! there is no doctrine of necessity true, but that of the Word—and of ministry none worth, according to God, but that of the Spirit.
Moreover, false teachers and damnable heresies did not wait even for the departure of the apostles, ere they insinuated themselves into the churches. There are few of the apostolic churches in which one cannot recognize, in some respects, their presence, from that Church of Ephesus just named, to that of Diotrephes, whence they drove out the apostle John, and those who wish to receive him. See, for instance, 1 Cor. 3:1-4; 5:6; 11:17-22; 15:12, 331And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. 2I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 3For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 4For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? (1 Corinthians 3:1‑4)
6Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? (1 Corinthians 5:6)
17Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. 18For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. 19For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. 20When ye come together therefore into one place, this is not to eat the Lord's supper. 21For in eating every one taketh before other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. (1 Corinthians 11:17‑22)
12Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? (1 Corinthians 15:12)
33Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. (1 Corinthians 15:33); Gal. 1:6, 7; 2:4, 5; 3:1; 5:7-15; 6:12, 136I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. (Galatians 1:6‑7)
4And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: 5To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. (Galatians 2:4‑5)
1O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? (Galatians 3:1)
7Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 8This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. 9A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 10I have confidence in you through the Lord, that ye will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubleth you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he be. 11And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased. 12I would they were even cut off which trouble you. 13For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. 14For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 15But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. (Galatians 5:7‑15)
12As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. 13For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. (Galatians 6:12‑13); Col. 2:8,16-238Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (Colossians 2:8)
16Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: 17Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. 18Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, 19And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. 20Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, 21(Touch not; taste not; handle not; 22Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? 23Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. (Colossians 2:16‑23), etc. And far from its being the case, that these disorders were to disappear afterward, the apostles teach us that the corruption will rather go on increasing even to the end.
"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth" (1 Tim. 4:1-31Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. (1 Timothy 4:1‑3)).
" This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away" (2 Tim. 3.1-5). "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (ver. 12, 13).
"But there were false prophets among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them; and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not" (2 Peter 2.1-3). " Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (lb. 3:3, 4).
What a sad picture of the last days of the age! and yet some think that, in spite of this, they can therein trace the progress of the gospel, and the advancement of the kingdom of God! Ah! that which characterized the latter days in the eyes of the apostles, was not the triumph of the gospel, but the presence of antichrist: " Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time" (1 John 2.18). Paul also declares to the Thessalonians, that the day of Christ will not come until.... What? that truth shall have triumphed over error, and the earth be filled with the knowledge of the Lord—as so many Christians think? No: but " except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." " And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming" (2 Thess. 2.3, 8). Jude also teaches us that the corruption which he saw had already glided into the churches, so far from disappearing, would go on increasing until the coming of the Lord; for after having drawn an awful picture of the corruption of his time, he adds:
" For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ" (ver. 4). He sees, then, the wicked of whom he speaks on the increase, and an uninterrupted chain down to the moment when, the evil being come to the full, the Lord will come to destroy it by His personal presence.
So also the Lord had previously taught, in the parables of Matt. 13, which contain the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
In the first, the Lord shows us the sowing of the kingdom, and even there we see three parts of the seed lost, as to fruit-bearing, for every one that springs up and brings fruit to perfection.
The second shows us the good grain gathered into the garner; but previously to this, it shows us tares sown by the enemy, where the householder had sown good seed; that is to say, in Christendom. The servants express a wish, indeed, as do certain Christians, to pull up the tares and to clear the field; "But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn" (Matt. 13:29,3029But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. (Matthew 13:29‑30)). Now, " the harvest is the end of the world" (ver. 39); that is, the end of the present age, of the existing period, and by no means the end of the world in the sense of the globe which we inhabit, which is the field where the seed is cast. "The field is the world" (ver. 39). " The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear let him hear" (ver. 41-43). Thus we see, that in this world the evil will remain mixed up with the good until the harvest; that is to say, until the end of the age, and till the judgment executed by the Lord, personally present (Joel 3:1313Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. (Joel 3:13); Rev. 14:15,1615And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 16And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. (Revelation 14:15‑16)).
Further be it remarked, that the question here is not about the Church and the discipline by which it puts away the wicked. To use this parable as an argument against discipline, is to set Paul in opposition to the Lord. For the Lord says," Let both grow together until the harvest " (ver. 30); " children of the kingdom and children of the wicked one" (ver. 39); but Paul, or rather the Holy Spirit by Paul, on the contrary, says, " Put away from among yourselves that wicked person " (1 Cor. 5:1313But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. (1 Corinthians 5:13), read the chapter). If the question in the two cases is about the same persons in similar circumstances, there is a manifest contradiction; but one simple remark explains this, and disperses every appearance of contradiction. The Lord, speaking of the kingdom, says, the wicked are not to be put out of the world or earth, for " the field is the world" (ver. 39). Paul, speaking to members of the Church, says, "put away from among yourselves," that is, put outside the Church the wicked. The two things are both equally true, and perfectly accord one with the other. Paul, indeed, confirms the doctrine of the parable, when he says, "For what have I to do to judge them also that are without?" (ver. 12). "But them that are without God judgeth" (ver. 13). But he also says, " Do not ye judge them that are within... therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person." Of the last two verses of the chapter, the two first clauses confirm what the Lord had said, and the two last contain the additional doctrine for the new circum stances.
To the Lord alone does it pertain to take out of the world the evil and the wicked, and He will do it when He appears at the end of the age; but till then the Church must exercise discipline in its own precinct and put away the evil.
Matt. 13:31,3231Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. (Matthew 13:31‑32). The Church, which should have been a little flock, pilgrims and strangers here below, in the midst of reproach and poverty, like its Master, is become an establishment of this world, a great tree, just like Nebuchadnezzar -" The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth " (Dan. 4:1111The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: (Daniel 4:11)). In the Church, enriched with wealth and goods, and the glory of this world, one could, as in any other system of the world, satisfy the heart's desire for titles, revenues, etc. There is food and shelter for all who desire to avail
themselves of it. " The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it" (Dan. 4:1212The leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. (Daniel 4:12)). But then it is also said, " Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit: let the beasts get away from under it, and the fowls from his branches" (ver. 14). " Otherwise (if thou continue not in God's goodness) thou shalt be cut off" (Rom. 11:2222Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. (Romans 11:22)).
Such is the judgment passed upon the glory and the worldly greatness to which the Church has allied itself in its blindness; and it is only when the Lord shall have brought down the high tree and have dried up the green tree, that He will make the dry tree to flourish, and make it to become a goodly cedar on the mountains of Israel.
"Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon a high mountain and eminent: In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell. And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken and have done it" (Ezek. 17:22-2422Thus saith the Lord God; I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain and eminent: 23In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell. 24And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the Lord have spoken and have done it. (Ezekiel 17:22‑24)),
" Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened" (Matt. 13:3333Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. (Matthew 13:33)). Many think they see here, as in the parable that precedes it, a picture of the progress of the Gospel in the world, that is, to them the meal represents the world, or the children of this world, and the leaven the Gospel. But the Word gives to these figures quite an opposite rendering. The good seed, or the wheat, is the children of the kingdom, and leaven in Scripture always stands for an evil influence. Jesus said to His disciples, " Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees " (Matt. 16:6,11, 126Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. (Matthew 16:6)
11How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? 12Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. (Matthew 16:11‑12)); "the leaven of Herod" (Mark 8:1515And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod. (Mark 8:15)). Paul said to the Corinthians, in connection with the incestuous person among them,-
And in writing to the Galatians, on the subject of those who trouble them by another Gospel, which was not another, the apostle says -
Thus, it is always, under one form or another, evil which is represented by leaven,. How, then, should the Lord have used it in this parable to represent, on the contrary, that which of all things is the most excellent. Moreover, the very act of HIDING the leaven might alone suffice to show that by leaven something evil is intended. He who preaches the Gospel does not seek to hide it. Oh, it is but too clearly of the leaven of modern Pharisees and Sadducees, of the formality, incredulity, the old leaven of malice and wickedness, of the unconverted heart, that the Lord speaks in this parable. It is this leaven which has leavened the Church, which at first was a new and unleavened lump, and has turned it into Christendom with all its corruptions. 'Tis the mystery of iniquity, which, even in Paul's days, did already work (2 Thess. 2:77For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. (2 Thessalonians 2:7)), and which we eventually find in full development in the harlot who has written on her forehead—" MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" (Rev. 17:55And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. (Revelation 17:5)).
Thus the mysteries of the kingdom, presented in these parables, seem to us the mysteries of the corruption of the kingdom by man; or, if you please, the destinies of that kingdom, such as man has made it, by confounding it, contrary to the intention of God, with the Church. These parables are, in some sort, to the kingdom, that which the seven addresses to the seven churches of Asia are to the Church. In these parables we have, as we have just seen, the destinies of the kingdom corrupted by the sin of man, and which will remain so until the King come in person to set all to rights. In the seven addresses, we have the destinies of the Church, not such as it was in the thought and intention of God, but such as the sin of man has made it; till the Lord come to gather together His own out of the midst of disorder and then to judge the people.
Doubtless, the addresses to the seven churches of Asia (Rev. 2:33And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted. (Revelation 2:3)) were written to as many churches really existing at that time, and had in them a first accomplishment; but one cannot question but that, like the whole of the book, they have a prophetic character, and thus present us with a picture of the various phases of the history of the Church here below. Now, looked at in this point of view, what do they show us, if not a gradually increasing declension, accompanied by partial and passing renewals, from Ephesus, which had lost its first love, to Pergamos, the church of this world's splendor, dwelling where Satan's seat was; and from Thyatira, where a lie was openly taught, and which has only a little remnant left, down to Laodicea, the Church of the people's judgment which is spued out of the Lord's mouth. If thou continue not in His goodness " thou shalt be cut off," says Paul (Rom. 11) " I will spue thee out of my mouth," says the Lord to that which bears still at the end the name of Church upon earth.
And the rest of the Revelation down to chap. 19, what is it but a sad picture of the terrible judgment which falls in the end upon apostate Christendom? There is no longer anything seen upon earth which wears the character of the Bride of Christ. We see, indeed, in the book, saints who render witness to the coming kingdom, and themselves smite the earth with various plagues (Rev. 11:5,65And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. 6These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. (Revelation 11:5‑6)). But that is scarcely the characteristic of the members of Christ -
"And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.
And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village" (Luke 9:52-5652And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. 53And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. 54And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? 55But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 56For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village. (Luke 9:52‑56)).
'Tis in heaven that the Church's song is heard (Rev. 5) 'Tis from heaven we see her come forth to form the procession of the Lord, when He comes to take possession of His kingdom. The Church, then, has been previously gathered in. In very deed, the faithfulness of God cannot fail. He has said of His elect -" Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1.5). And, before He left the earth, the Lord said to His disciples-" In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:2,32In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:2‑3)). In spite of the fall and ruin of the Church here below, through the sin of man, the word of the Lord must needs stand good; just as, spite of the loss of the vessel in which he sailed, Paul must needs stand before Caesar.
But when will this reunion of the Church and its Head take place? Is it not traced in Philadelphia, that -Church which has only a little strength, yet does not deny the name of its Lord, but keeps the word of His patience? " Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth " (Rev. 3:1010Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)). And what is that hour of temptation, if not the great tribulation described Isa. 2:10-1910Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty. 11The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. 12For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: 13And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, 14And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, 15And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, 16And upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. 17And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. 18And the idols he shall utterly abolish. 19And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth. (Isaiah 2:10‑19); Jer. 30: 6-9, 23, 24; Dan. 12:11And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1); Matt. 24:14-2214And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. 15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: 17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. (Matthew 24:14‑22); Mark 13:19-2419For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. 20And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. 21And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: 22For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. 23But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things. 24But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, (Mark 13:19‑24); Rev. 6-19? Doubtless Philadelphia could be kept in the midst of the temptation, as Noah was kept in the midst of the waters of the flood. So will it be with the saints who will then be on the earth, but in that case, Philadelphia would not be kept "from the hour of temptation," but rather brought through it. To make good the promise, it must not only be in a place inaccessible to the temptation, but also in a place where time is not reckoned. It must be in the heaven, as was Enoch, who, taken away to heaven, was thus kept from the deluge. And is not such the open door which is set before her? If it be so-what is that Church-to-come, dreamed of by so many, as about to realize here below the pattern of a Church? Alas! it is all an illusion-the tendency and effect of which is to attach thoughts and hopes to the earth which ought to be on high. Yes, if you please, there is a Church yet to be; there are, indeed, two; Philadelphia which is now gathering, and to-morrow may be caught up to meet the Lord, and Laodicea, which will then be spued out of his mouth and judged together with those with whom she has committed fornication; but other Church-to-come is there none in this present age.
The ruins which sin had wrought in Israel were not to be completely removed but by the Lord at His coming. An attentive student of the prophets would see this on every page; so those whom the Holy Spirit taught would never have sought themselves to re-establish the kingdom of Israel, or to make an ark to replace that which was lost; but in the feeling of what the real want of their people was, they would humbly wait for " the consolation of Israel" (Luke 2:25-2825And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. 26And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, 28Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, (Luke 2:25‑28)), the times spoken of by the prophets in which " the Lord" Himself shall act. " Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness" (Jer. 23:5,65Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jeremiah 23:5‑6)). And Jerusalem itself shall be called the throne of the Lord (Jer. 3:16, 1716And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. 17At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. (Jeremiah 3:16‑17)).
Well, it is, in some respects, the same as to the church. Every hope of restoring it to what it was at first is chimerical and baseless, for there is no foundation for hope save a promise of the Lord, and promise to this effect there is none; on the contrary -
"Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, skewing himself that he is God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming" (2 Thess. 2:1-81Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. 5Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: (2 Thessalonians 2:1‑8)).
stands before us. How could any such hope exist in the presence of so positive and distinct a declaration? This need not discourage in the work of edifying the saints; for who shall set limits to the blessing which the Lord is ready to give to the scattered ones, who, amid the general ruin, wait on him in sincerity. We have the word and the Spirit of God to guide and direct us safely to the end of our calling. That, it appears, was what Paul desired to recall to the Elders of Ephesus, when, after having announced to them the terrible fall of their church, he adds, " And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified" (Acts 20:3232And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. (Acts 20:32)).
We have the blessed promise that " Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:2020For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)). Well, let us beware of attempting to do, in our own strength, that to which the Lord does not call us, and for which he has not given us any promise; let us not seek to restore, by organization and rules, which are but barriers raised up between the sheep of Christ, that which cannot be restored. Let us be united together as disciples, as brethren, in the name of the Lord, and in dependence upon His Spirit; let our church-to-come be that of heaven, and I again repeat, Who shall set limits to the blessings which the Lord may yet give to those that wait upon Him? But the first means of obtaining these blessings, is humility, for God abases that which exalts itself, and lifts up that which humbles itself. We have found this in our individual salvation; we found lifting up, peace and assurance, only as being worthless, condemned, and nothing in ourselves. Why should God depart from this principle, when His church is the question. If any one, satisfied with his own church, his own life, and his own progress, were to say, " Why humble myself for unfaithfulnesses which are not mine?" it would be greatly to be feared that he had somewhat of the Pharisee of the Parable, or at least, of those Jews who said, " The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these" (Jer. 7:44Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these. (Jeremiah 7:4)); glorying in a temple in which God had ceased to take pleasure, and in a temple which He was about to abandon. In all such cases, there is defectiveness of sight and great narrowness of heart; great short-sightedness if one cannot see, save in a church of his own, in one's own sect, the members of Christ; and great narrowness of heart if any one does not feel the need of humbling himself for the wretchedness in which the scattered members of the body of Christ groan.
I need not say that Christendom is not the body of Christ; but if, as we cannot question, there are in all the various portions of Christendom, believers, that is to say, fellow members, of our own flesh and blood; we have need to humble ourselves for the scattered, dispersed state of self in which we are; it is contrary to the intentions and the glory of the Lord; we have to humble ourselves for unfaithfulnesses of various kinds, in which our brethren are entangled, and from which they suffer; for when one member suffers, all the rest suffer with it (1 Cor. 12:26,2726And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. 27Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1 Corinthians 12:26‑27)). When Daniel made intercession for his people in Babylon, he did not hesitate to say, " We have sinned, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly, we have rebelled" (Dan. 9:55We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments: (Daniel 9:5).)
And the communion and integral unity of the members of the church—is it to be less strict than that which was found in the people of Israel? Moreover, we carry, each in his own bosom, that which has led to the failure of the church. In this view, we all of us have connection with it; and above all, we all suffer from it; we all suffer from the feebleness of the spiritual gifts, from the little energy of heavenly affections, the result of the Spirit, who produces these fruits, having been grieved in so many ways; we suffer from the divisions; from the weakness, the prejudices, and the waxing cold of the love of many which have followed. The Lord's name has been dishonored in the place in which we are set; His testimony turned to His dishonor. Let those that see the evil, bear it in confession before the Lord. Let us, then, all join in a common act of humiliation, and then let us take comfort and encouragement from the hope of the Lord's speedy return, to deliver us from every evil work, and to introduce us into his heavenly kingdom.
3. the Rapture of the Church to Meet Her Lord.
"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thess. 4:14 -1814For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:14‑18)).
Here is the clearest and most complete revelation of the removal of the church; a revelation which presents us with three things to be accomplished by the Lord at His coming.
1. The resurrection of those members of the church who may ere then have died.
2. The transmutation, or translation, of those which shall then be alive in the body.
3. The catching up of the one and the other to meet the Lord.
The truth thereof is confirmed by several distinct declarations; for instance, Luke 14:13,1413But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: 14And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just. (Luke 14:13‑14), where we have a resurrection of the just clearly distinct from that of the wicked—"But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." " But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection" (Luke 20:35,3635But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: 36Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection. (Luke 20:35‑36)). Clearly it is not a resurrection of all the dead, since some only are judged worthy of it, even as of that age, the age to come, and consequently of that resurrection, they are like to the angels, and are sons of God, being children of the resurrection; even as Jesus Christ himself was declared to be Son of God with power, by His resurrection from among the dead (Rom. 1:44And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: (Romans 1:4)). If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead" (Phil. 3:1111If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. (Philippians 3:11)). Paul would not have spoken in this manner, if there were but one resurrection: for in that case, just and unjust would equally, without any question, come there.
The instruction which God gives to the Corinthians, concerning the order which will be observed in the resurrection, agrees perfectly with the idea of a distinct act of resurrection, first, for the church at the coming of the Lord, then of another act at the end for the rest of the dead, as we have just seen. " For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every
[But we will pause a moment on John 5:28,2928Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:28‑29), "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation"- as a passage often cited in proof of there being but one only resurrection; and let us endeavor to lay hold of the thought in the mind of the Lord. Accused by the Jews of blasphemy, for having said that he was Son of God, Jesus justified Himself by spewing that whatsoever the Father did, to the Son, also, gave He power to do likewise. Thus, quickening pertains to the Father, as also resurrection and judgment. And the Son does precisely the same things; and, indeed, we find them. " Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). Here is the quickening of those who were spiritually dead, by faith in the word of Jesus. Everything is said upon this subject; nothing is wanting. " Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live" (John 5.25). Here the Lord repeats the thought expressed in the preceding verse; but does he not go further, and does he not include, also, the resurrection of the bodies of those who have been spiritually quickened by faith in the word? But for this, this verse would add nothing to that which the former presents; but, this granted, the word " shall live" is all the more fitly chosen, in that it points as well to the change of the living saints, in whom mortality shall be swallowed up of life (2 Cor. 5:44For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. (2 Corinthians 5:4)), as to the saints that have died, who shall then come forth out of the tomb. It is true, Jesus defines this moment by the words, " the hour cometh, and even now is"; an expression which he used with the Samaritan woman to designate the time of the church (John 4:2323But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. (John 4:23)). The quickening unto glory of the church is but the full manifestation of the life of Christ, which she already possesses in herself (Col. 3.4); moreover, there is no event, no interval whatsoever, laid down as between her and the moment, or hour, of her passage hence. There is only the last " moment," the last " twinkling of an eye" (1 Cor. 15:5252In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:52)). Why should she, then, be separate in the word of the Lord. " The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (1 Cor. 15:2626The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. (1 Corinthians 15:26)). This recalls to mind the word of the Lord to Peter (Matt. 16:1818And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)); that is upon " Christ, the Son of the living God." Son of the living God, I have life in myself even as the Father has life in Himself, and as I have life, those that are mine shall have it also. As I come forth victorious out of the unseen world, they shall come forth also. "Because I live, they shall live." " Our life is hid with Christ in God." "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory" (Col. 3:3,43For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:3‑4)). " And hath k This would seem to prove that the writer held that we all must die. He does not, however, though he appears to do so. given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man" (John 5.27). After the quickening to glory of the church by " the Son of God," comes the judgment executed by "the Son of man"; judgment which extends, in some sort, from the judgment of the nations, at His return, to the judgment of the dead, little and great, before the great white throne. " Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation" (John 5:28,2928Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. (John 5:28‑29)). " Be not surprised that the Son of man should judge, for to him also pertains the raising of the dead." "The hour comes." The hour of the church, of the hidden mystery, has already lasted 1,800 years, and we cannot say how long or how short a time it may still last. There is nothing opposed to the hour here spoken of lasting a thousand years; and it is an hour of resurrection, as it is of judgment. There is resurrection at the beginning, on the arrival of the Son of man; immediately after the great tribulation. It is of that resurrection, or at least, of a part of those that are then raised, of those raised unto life, that the Lord speaks. " But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage" (Luke 20:3535But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: (Luke 20:35)); for all here shows a Jewish order of thought. It is this resurrection, and not that of the church, in Dan. 12:22And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2), " And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Since it is placed after the great tribulation.* Moreover, he says "many," and not all of them that sleep in the dust of the earth—shall awake. This is not exactly what the Lord says, "all that are in the grave." Indeed, it is after the thousand years, that there is still resurrection for those who till then remain in the tomb, that they may appear before the great white throne. It is the mass of those that are raised, outside of the church, which that expression of the Lord seems to designate: "All that are in the grave shall hear his voice"- all; no one excepted.]
Many, erroneously as the writer remarks, insist that there is but one resurrection, because John 5:2828Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, (John 5:28), says, "the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."
The common answer to this is, "That the term hour does not mean a definite period of sixty minutes, in this verse, any more than in verse 35, where quickening is spoken of. And that as the quickening power of Christ has been displayed through 1800 years, so may the resurrection-power." This answer leaves the question of how many acts of resurrection there are to be answered by other Scriptures. The author has another thought, and would force "the hour cometh and now is," into a formula for what he calls " the time of the church." He is driven to this by a violence himself offers to the 25th verse; and even then his explanation is lame. The result is, that he holds that " because I live ye shall live also," and such passages, present, not what is true of us in Christ now, but what will be true when we see Him; not what is true in him, but what will be true in vs. This error sadly weakens the foundation.—TRANSLATOR.)
(*** Here, again, the author is a little too quick in his conclusion. The verse is ably discussed elsewhere; most minds have come to a different conclusion to his.-Ed.)
"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them; and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 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 hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."
that we have two resurrections clearly distinguished: " the first resurrection" which sets free forever from the power of the second death, and " the resurrection of the rest of the dead." We learn, moreover, here, what is not taught elsewhere, that the interval between these two resurrections (the first resurrection and the general resurrection) is of 1000 years.
Will it be said, the first resurrection is a spiritual resurrection? Then so is the second, which consists of the rest of the dead; for the rest is of the same nature as that which went before (which in this case was the first resurrection); and then, clearly, it results that there will be no resurrection at all. Moreover, we find here, the Church in the first part of ver. 4, " And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them": " Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?" ( 1 Cor. 6:22Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? (1 Corinthians 6:2)); then, also, there are saints forming part of this first resurrection, who do not form part of the Church, for they have passed through the great tribulation, from which the Church will be kept; " they had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had they received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands." Are not these the same as those spoken of-
" And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled" (Rev. 6:9-119And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 10And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. (Revelation 6:9‑11)).
As well those who then have been put to death, as those who yet must be.
So that the ordinary notion of one general resurrection for the just and the unjust, taking place at a given moment, before the general judgment; this notion cannot stand before a calm and tranquil examination of the passages which treat of the subject.
If there were but one resurrection at the moment at which the heavens and the earth flee away before the great white throne-
"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, • stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works" (Rev. 20:11-1311And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. (Revelation 20:11‑13)).
How could we account for-
"For I reckon, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8:18-2318For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:18‑23)).
Where the deliverance of this creation from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God, is evidently bound up with the redemption of the bodies of the saints, that is to say, of their resurrection? Or how explain such a passage as -
"And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life " (Matt. 19:28,2928And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. (Matthew 19:28‑29)). "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?" (1 Cor. 6:22Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? (1 Corinthians 6:2))., "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers; even as I received of my Father" (Rev. 2:26,2726And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 27And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. (Revelation 2:26‑27)).
Or, Isa. 25:8-10 compared with 1 Cor. 15:5454So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Corinthians 15:54). And, remark here, that in Isa. 25, after swallowing up death in victory, the Lord will cause Moab to be trodden down under Him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill. Now, these words are applied (1 Cor. 15:5454So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Corinthians 15:54)) to the resurrection of the saints, that is, that, after that resurrection will have taken place, Moab will be destroyed. How is this to be explained according to the system of but one general resurrection?
Not only does the Church rise before the wicked, who are left in the bands of death until the final judgment; but, when the Son of Man comes in his glory to judge the world and to deliver Israel, saints from among that people and from among others who have been in relationship with him, rise in order to have part in the kingdom, as, also, it would seem some of the wicked to be judged. Then a Daniel, an Isaiah shall rise and shall " stand in their lot in the end of the days."
But " some to shame and everlasting contempt." For " the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth " (Rev. 11:1818And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. (Revelation 11:18)).
Isa. 25:8;26. 19, 21; Dan. 12:2,132And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. (Daniel 12:2)
13But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days. (Daniel 12:13); Matt. 12:41, 4241The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. 42The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. (Matthew 12:41‑42); Luke 10:12,14;11. 30-33; 2 Tim. 4.1; 1 Peter 4:55Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. (1 Peter 4:5). Then, at length, shall be the redemption of Israel by the Son of Man in His glory, and the resurrection of
the saints who shall be dead (a Daniel, etc.), is but the first act, as the resurrection of the dead of the Church is the first act as to the Church.
These various acts of resurrection, it is true, are sometimes summed up under two heads, as the resurrection of the just and of the unjust (Acts 24:1515And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. (Acts 24:15)); or, as the first resurrection and that of the rest of the dead (Rev. 20). And, clearly, when the character of those raised is the point of view in which the question is considered, there are but two classes, the just and the unjust; those who rise unto life and those who are raised for judgment. If we consider the epoch of the resurrections, we can sum them up under two heads; those who rise at the coming of the Lord (this expression, in its most extended sense, includes the coming for the Church and the coming for Israel) form all together the first resurrection; all others are the rest of the dead.
However it may be, as to other difficulties which this subject may present, when we seek to study it a little in detail, it remains clear, and that is the special point which is now sought to be shown, that the resurrection of the Church is altogether distinct from the resurrection of the wicked, both as to time and in principle.
As to time, the wicked, with the exception of those who, having been in relationship with Israel, are judged at the time of the redemption of that people; the wicked remain in the bands of death, until the Lord calls them, in judgment, to stand before the great white throne. The Church, as the first-fruits of the new creation, rises before the end of the age, at the coming of the Lord, to meet Him. " Every one in his own order, Christ the first-fruits," the germ of the new creation, or the first of the first-fruits, " then those that are Christ's at His coming " (1 Cor. 15:2323But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. (1 Corinthians 15:23)).
In principle. 1. The wicked are raised by the irresistible power of the Lord, who calls them up to judgment. The Church, already justified and partaking the spiritual life of her Head, rises by the power of the coming of that glorious Head, whose life communicates itself then to the bodies of His members sleeping in the dust of the earth.
2. " Then we which are alive and remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thess. 4:1717Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17)). If the glorifying of the bodies of those living is not here distinctly mentioned, it is, at least, fully implied; for it is not with these heavy and infirm bodies that we can be received up into the clouds, before the Lord in the air, to inhabit heaven and taste its joys. As Paul says elsewhere -" Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption" (1 Cor. 15:5050Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. (1 Corinthians 15:50)). And he immediately adds " Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on im- mortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (ver.51—54). "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is " (1 John 3:22Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)). " For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself" (Phil. 3:20, 2120For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. (Philippians 3:20‑21)).
It was for this, transmutation and not death, that Paul waited; as he says, "For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life" (2 Cor. 5:44For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. (2 Corinthians 5:4)).
Yet his will was in subjection, and he was willing to die if God called him. " For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you " (Phil. 1:21-2421For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. (Philippians 1:21‑24)).
But, instead of retaining that expectation of Paul, and saying with him, " We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed;" men have not feared to contradict him and to say, " One thing is quite sure, viz., that we must all die," and thus, they have separated both mind and heart from waiting for the Lord, which, according to grace, is the most mighty principle of all true devotedness, of all joyful obedience; in order to turn them upon death, which is the wages of sin, which, by itself, can produce only constrained and servile obedience. Yet, it is oft said, with the thought, too, of merely citing a scripture—it is appointed unto all men once to die. No. The Word says not so: if it did, it would contradict itself.
It says, " 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 shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb. 9:27, 2827And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 28So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. (Hebrews 9:27‑28)). Thus, while telling us it is appointed UNTO MEN, to the mass, once to die, it recalls to our minds that Christ will be seen, a second time, without sin; by some who, therefore, will not die at all, by those who wait for Him, unto salvation, and shall be alive at His coming.
3. In that self-same moment, in that twinkling of the eye, the raised and the changed " shall be caught up together with the Lord in the clouds." Enoch and Elias had already had this privilege of quitting the earth for heaven, without passing by death. Enoch had no witness, it would seem, of his translation, about which we have no details. Elias, prophet of the covenant, given from the midst of tempest and lightning, was carried up, in the midst of a whirlwind, in a chariot of fire and by horses of fire. Jesus, the mediator of a better covenant, of a covenant of grace, went up, and a cloud received Him out of sight. The Church, His Body, is taken up in like manner as Himself.
It will not be, then, a transformation slow and painful as that of the chrysalis, the produce of which needs long to feel its way into the use of listless and unexercised wings, before it can joyously rise into the air.
It will not be even as the resurrection of Lazarus, who came forth out of the grave bound hand and foot, and who needed to be set free from the clothes ere he could walk. It will be in a moment, in the twinkling of the eye, that the resurrection of the dead saints will take place, and without a doubt, also, the catching up of the one and of the other to meet the Lord.
Such is the accomplishment of the good promise which the Lord made to His disciples before He left them, " In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:2,32In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:2‑3)).
Such is the completing of the work of God in His elect, the fullness, and, as it were, the last word of our heavenly calling, without which, indeed, we shall never have a full and complete knowledge of it.
It is the heavenly Eve, who, after having been taken out of the side of her husband, while he rests upon the throne of the Father, is presented to Him at His coming forth in action again, a glorious Church. "That he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish" (Eph. 5.27).
God having chosen us in Christ, from before the foundation of the world, has also accordingly " quickened us together with his Son," "raised us up together with Him," and "made us sit together with Him in heavenly places" (Eph. 1:3;2. 5, 6). "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren " (Rom. 8:2929For 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. (Romans 8:29)).
And the purpose of the free and gratuitous love of the Father to usward is now in progress. The Son has drawn us to Himself, and united us to Himself through faith. Set thus in communion with Him, we have, in some measure, had His sentiments and likeness communicated to us. But the work begun He will perfect, quickening our bodies and transforming them to the likeness of His glorious body. The Lord bas separated us in principle and spirit entirely from the world, and makes us feel the nothingness and the corruption of it, and draws to Himself our affections and thoughts. This, also, He will perfect in us, drawing us to Himself upon the clouds outside of this world.
And the means employed by the Lord, for this admirable work, is always the same—His Word. It is His Word, in the mouth, perhaps, of some feeble and despised sinner, which quickened us, and separated us from the world by uniting us to Him. His word also it will be, but a word of command, sounding through the heavens with the voice of the archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, which will quicken the last particle of our perishable bodies, and will re-unite us to Him forever. Those who shall have heard His voice calling them to faith and conversion, and who have obeyed Him, shall hear His glorious voice to the bottom of their tombs, and shall come forth thence; or, if still alive, shall hear it in the body of infirmity and mortality, and shall be changed. Those who shall have refused to hear it, and to obey Him, when they were called by that word to conversion, shall abide in the bands of death, until they shall be raised for judgment.
Thus Thy word, Lord Jesus! Thy blessed voice is that which works everything in Thy people; as Thou hast said, " My sheep hear my voice, and follow me!"
Oh! how yet far more attractive and more precious would the attractive voice of the Lord seem to us, if we were in the constant habit of thinking, that it is about soon to sound from the cloud to quicken our mortal bodies, and to draw us to Him in the heavens, that there where He is we may be also!
Yes! if the unbeliever could but believe that the voice which now speaks to him in the gospel, and which seems to him but weakness and folly, is the only one which can, not only give him peace in his own soul, but also quicken his body! If he could believe that that voice which now speaks of grace and pardon is about to become as a double-edged sword, to smite the nations with a flame of fire, to execute vengeance upon those that know not God, and obey not the gospel I If he could but think that it is the almighty voice of Him to whom man must yield obedience, when it cites the dead, small and great, to appear before Him to be judged according to their works! But these are things which the Spirit alone can reveal to the heart.
Ours then be it, brethren, beloved of the Lord, and partakers of the heavenly calling—ours be it to render thanks without ceasing to God, that He has chosen us: " But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: whereunto He called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess. 2.13, 14).
May that blessed hope, more and more laid hold of by faith, become more and more our comfort, and the power of practical holiness, according as it is written, " Comfort one another with these words" (1 Thess. 4.18); "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure" (1 John 3.3).
Do we weep over friends, beloved in the Lord? Soon He shall appear Himself in the heavens, and at His word the beloved ones shall rise first; then we who are alive shall he caught up together with them in the air, and so shall we be ever with the Lord. Then there will be an end to all the separations produced by the circumstances and the dire necessities of life; to the separations too often yet more afflictive' which sin has brought in between those, who being but one body, should also have but one and the same heart. In the house of the Father all the children. will be united around him, the firstborn from among many brethren, who has not been ashamed to call them brethren; not one shall be wanting—not a fear even remain of any further separation. If then we weep, let us not weep as those who are without hope, but let us comfort one another with the thought, " so shall we be forever with the Lord."
The infirmities of this body of sin, do they render it like to a heavy burden which we have to drag with difficulty about with us? Do they hinder us from glorifying the Lord with all the diligence which we should desire? The Lord, when He comes, will change our vile bodies, and will render them like unto His own glorious body. As we bear now the image of the earthly Adam—full of pains and groans—we shall then bear the image of the Heavenly Man—full of glory and happiness. When shall we see the Lord face to face—then shall we serve Him without fatigue and without infirmity. Patience, then, and courage for a little time, that we may be able to glorify Him, if He call us thereunto in the midst of suffering and infirmity. He will come quickly, and will not tarry.
Are we suffering from poverty, under the injustice of men, or from persecution at their hands? 'Tis to the coming of the Lord that the Word sends us for our consolation. " Be patient, therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain!' (James 5:77Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. (James 5:7)). Thus are we taught that acts of violence, injustice, and oppression, shall reign on the earth. until the Lord come to destroy those that corrupt it, and to renew all things by His presence in glory; but before that day we shall be gathered up to Him, away from the world and the wicked.
Oh! how should we be comforted in all our suffering, if we had ever before our eyes that blessed moment in which the Lord will unite us to Himself forever! For which of our sorrows will not then disappear, as a dream in the morning! And how would that consolation ever contribute to our practical sanctification? For whence come murmurings, irritation, envy, avarice, and so many lusts, which war against our souls, if not from this, that the hope of our speedy meeting with the Lord is not lively in us? Then our poor hearts, which like the ivy have need of something to which to cling, no longer able to cling to heaven, cling to earth. But when that hope animates us, then irritation and murmuring 'will give place to a peaceful and patient waiting, even to Joy and thanksgiving; earthly affections will yield to heavenly; then, even while our feet tread this nether earth, our hearts will already be in heaven.
'Tis thus that the Lord sanctifies His people; first by His grace, and then by the hope of His glory, which is the perfecting of it. When He has said to us, " Go in peace, thy sins are forgiven thee," He has taken from our hearts the burden which oppressed them; He has brought us to Himself, confounded both at the thought of our own wickedness and of His love. We then feel the need of no longer living to ourselves, but to Him that loved us, and gave Himself for us. In saying to us, " I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also," he transfers our hope, our treasure, our life into heaven; He makes of us heavenly citizens,- strangers and pilgrims for a little while here below. "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation path appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2.11-14). May the Lord deign to direct our hearts to the love of God, and to the patient waiting for Christ! (2 Thess. 3.5).