The Editors
There are two things that ought to have a governing place in the hearts of all God’s people on earth, two things that should have this place because they are the direct outcome of the sufferings and death of Jesus, and not merely the outcome, but the very cause of those sufferings, for they form the great purpose of God that lay behind that mystery of sorrow and woe. These two things are, on the one hand the gospel of the glory of Christ going out to every creature under heaven (2 Cor. 4:44In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. (2 Corinthians 4:4) and Col. 1:2323If 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; (Colossians 1:23)), and on the other hand the gathering together in one of the children of God that were scattered abroad (John 11:5252And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. (John 11:52)).
The gospel in its magnificent universality, and the binding together in an indivisible unity of all who believe it: this is the intent of eternal love; for this the Son of God suffered and died; and to make this an accomplished fact the Holy Spirit has come down to earth. No Spirit-energized man could be satisfied, or rest from his labors, as long as any of Adam’s race are ignorant of the glad proclamation; and no man who is intelligent as to the mind and purpose of God will be contented that sinners should know their sins forgiven merely; he will earnestly desire that the truth of God’s unity may become a practical thing in the hearts and faith of all who believe.
The supreme efforts of Satan are directed against these two things. He will hinder the gospel from reaching men if he can; or if he fails in this, he will mar the testimony and power of the second; hence we are called upon to do battle with him. For this we need to “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might;” and to put on the whole armor of God, that we may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil; for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies (Eph. 6:10-1210Finally, 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. (Ephesians 6:10‑12)).
Now the chief part of this conflict is waged by prayer. “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication” (Eph. 6:1818Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; (Ephesians 6:18)), and the object of the conflict in prayer is twofold: first “for all saints,” and second that God’s ambassadors might boldly declare the mystery of the gospel (verse 19).
The disciples did not readily grasp the meaning of the Lord’s coming to earth: they “trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed Israel.” “ISRAEL” stood out in large capitals before their eyes, so that even the glory of Christ took a secondary place; therefore He had to open their understanding,’ so that they might grasp the drift of all prophecy, and live henceforward in the glory of the truth that “thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46,4746And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:46‑47)).
There are many in the direct succession of this early blindness: the vision’ of the soul is limited or warped by some point or line of truth that has been exaggerated out of its true relation, or by some narrow circle of interest, and the gospel among all nations has become of little importance. Many excuses are made for this lukewarm condition, and it is even boldly declared by some that the time for the gospel to every creature is either past, or has still to come.
We need to be carried to where those disciples stood, that our understanding may be fully opened to God’s great and gracious purpose. There in the midst of them was the Lord, with the fresh wounds in hand and side and foot; He was there to tell them that He had suffered, not because men hated Him, but because God loved them, and would have all to know this blessed fact. Thus was the prophetic word confirmed by the Son of God in resurrection, after all the suffering was accomplished.
What enlargement of soul this gives how it lifts out of all petty and narrow notions, and fills the soul with the glory of God’s character! and what surpassing glory it gives to that cross of shame! for by it the door of repentance has been thrown open to all mankind; and thus the moment a sinner turns to God, from no matter what clime or nation, he discovers that God is a pardoning God.
To be God’s ambassadors carrying forth the glad tidings of repentance and remission, beseeching men to be reconciled, is an unspeakable privilege; to be associated in any way with this mission is a favor that the chief of the angels might covet; but it is reserved for those of the sons of men whose souls have been brought under the sway of that love which is without limit or end.
But the crown of the gospel is the gathering “together in one” of the “children of God that were scattered abroad” (John 11:5252And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. (John 11:52)). The gospel turns our eye outward to a mighty circle, including all nations, a circle of which a shameful cross stands as the center; and we see the love of a Savior-God streaming out from that wonderful center to the utmost limits of that great circle. But this gathering “together in one” which is effected in “the mystery of the gospel” shows us every individual unto whose heart that light has shone, whether he be Greek or Jew, “Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free” (Col. 3:1212Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; (Colossians 3:12)), linked up in an indissoluble bond to the risen and exalted Christ: He has become not merely the gathering center but the Head, and they are the members of His body on earth. It is by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that this is accomplished, and in spite of all the efforts of the devil to scatter and divide, this unbreakable unity remains under the eye of God, and the truth of it will ever be a precious treasure, guarded by a purposeful faith in the hearts of all who walk in the Spirit, and answered to practically by the endeavor in all lowliness, meekness, long-suffering and love, “to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:33Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:3)).
To be indifferent to this, in which is made known “the manifold wisdom of God,” is to skew ourselves to be but babes in Christ, and not merely babes but dwarfs, stunted, having settled down to something short of God’s purpose for us, and as a consequence growth has been arrested; and to concentrate our thoughts upon any narrower circle, and so become sectarian in spirit, is to give evidence of carnality. The contrast to this stunted, dwarfish, and carnal condition that can only feed upon milk and not meat (Heb. 5:12,1312For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. (Hebrews 5:12‑13)), is set before us in Ephesians 4, where we read of the divine intent for which gifts are given from Christ on high: “for the edifying of the body of Christ: till 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 fullness of Christ.”
These two great things formed the ministry of Paul the apostle (Col. 1:23-2723If 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 1:23‑27)); for the furtherance of them he was prepared to die a thousand deaths ‘ and they will govern every heart that loves the Lord, and is set for His glory undaunted by all the scattering and dividing that “the wolf” has effected, until the day of glorious consummation when Christ shall present the Church “to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.”
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We have no sounding-line where with to measure the depth of Divine love.
Many preachers have built a tower of theological speculations, upon which they sit, like Nero, fiddling the tune of their own philosophy while the world is burning with sin and misery. They are playing with the toys of speculation while men’s souls are being lost.
No service in itself is small,
None great, though earth it fill;
But that is small that seeks its own,
And great that seeks God’s will.
I knew a man who wasted his life trying to reconcile two of God’s attributes while all about him men and women were dying un-reconciled to God.