But, beloved reader, while I would challenge my soul and yours by the questions (to be answered as individuals in God's presence), of how far we are, indeed, as those standing fast in, and practically consistent with-1st, the mercies brought out at Pentecost, together with its blessings and company; and 2ndly, with that mystery first revealed to and exhibited by Paul, as a model man, and his company at Ephesus; and 3rdly, with the hope of 1 Thess. 4:13-17; and 4thly, with the light which now shines down from heavens opened upon us, as in the heavenly calling and in the mystery-stop here I cannot.
Besides these things revealing God to man, permanent and abiding and eternal blessing to any individual souls that receive them and walk in them,-harbingers too of better things to come,-they have been let slip by man and rejected even by the company to whom they were entrusted.
The doctrine of Christ as preached at Pentecost, and that of the mystery-that is, the company of believers, the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, and Christ the Head of His body the church, have been forgotten-sinned against.
This new light was entrusted to men, and men have again (as alas! ever) failed; and failed past all restoration, as to the blessing lost; though God will keep his own chosen ones and let none perish who, receiving the word of His grace as individuals and trusting Him, act upon it in the obedience of faith, in spite of all failure.
" While men slept an enemy came and sowed tares " (Matthew 13:25-30). The wheat field was spoiled as such, though both were allowed to grow together until the harvest. They that have failed are not the ones who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean, or make that which is crooked straight. Paul foresaw and forewarned the Ephesians of their own coming failure in Acts 20:28-32.
But, far more than this. Compare Paul's testimony as to Israel and the Gentiles in his day, when looked at as the olive tree-that is, channel of testimony of grace and truth; depositary of the scriptures.
Rom. 3 as to the Jew, then about to be set aside, as a people, (and fall, 11:12) and become cast away (v. 15); and those (in that day) broken off (v. 17) because of unbelief (v. 20), not spared (v. 21), on them which feel severity [or severing, i.e., cutting off].
1. “What advantage (superiority), then has the Jew? Or what profit is there of the circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.”
Read carefully Rom. 11:11-36 and note how Paul gives the Gentiles a very secondary place throughout as v. 11-22, and then goes on, " Be not high, minded but fear; (v. 21), for if God spared not, the natural branches, lest he also spare not thee. (v. 22), Behold, therefore, the goodness and severity (Cutting off) of God: on them which fell, cutting off (severing); but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in goodness otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. [Protestants can hardly say that, from Pentecost to the Reformation, the Church continued in its goodness,-or why did they leave it? but if it did not—the only alternative is "to be cut off."]
And v. 25: For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own deceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in. (v. 26) And so all Israel shall be saved; as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
Study also 2 Timothy; and Rev. 17 and 18. But Rev. 2 and 3 give the proof of failure in the local churches parts of the whole-and the prophecy of how things will go from bad to worse, until the Lord comes in to set up His kingdom and to put all His foes beneath His feet; also 2 Thessalonians 2 and 2 Peter 2 and 3 and Jude and 1 John 2:18, 19 and 4:1-6. The epistles of Peter, John and Jude were not addressed to any in particular, but to all believers.
One consequence of this is very striking (2 Tim. 2:21) it is the man only who purges himself from "the vessels" which are "to dishonor," who shall be "a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master's use, prepared unto every good work." And (v. 22) Timothy was to follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart." Such words could not have been said at Pentecost, any more than Peter could have then said (3:5) of any in the church, "having a form of godliness, but denying the, power thereof"-“from such turn away," nor could they have been said by Paul, when he wrote to the Ephesians.
Now we, beloved, not only have lost the good, so far as it was committed merely to man's keeping,-but also are in the midst of the evils of “the last perilous [lit. difficult] times" (ver. 1). What was to come, has come, and we are in it. (See 2 Timothy in; 2 Peter 2 and 3; and Jude.) If any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant; but he that has the will to make out that things are bettering orgy day and will become better, is in imbecile dotage, or deluded in his own heart as to what he says.-" For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall ''not escape" (1 Thess. 5:3.). The delusion which is spread abroad over men now is not, in some respects, worse perhaps than what was spread over the minds of men from A.D. 250 to 1520. ONLY then it was darkness (that might be felt, truly); but the Word of God was a closed book, wrapped up in a napkin and kept by the priests from the people whom they trod under foot..Now, on the contrary, the bible is multiplied and to be found every where;-knowledge too is increased. But; amid all this, men are full of-what? The development of man and his powers and his coming glory, and deny the truths written in God's word, as though they had learned from the bible at least how to sin and walk in the very ways of evil of the last days, as predicted in scriptures. Among the mass of nominal Christians, Satan works as an angel of light. May the Lord awaken His own people to the evil all around them and to their own selves being mixed up with it. (Rev. 22:11, 12.)
And may the time soon come when " I am the bright and morning star " will be heard, and then " the Spirit and the Bride, [Where is she now?] saying, Come," (Rev. 22:16, 17.) and assuming the position in which she should be found.