Bible Treasury: Volume N10

Intercourse with others, and some passages of scripture, have aroused the desire to dwell a little on some points which present difficulty, even where in theory all is plain, and especially the want of deliverance from the law of sin where liberty with God is known. It is very evident that deliverance from the law of sin and death ought not to, indeed cannot, remain in theory. Yet we find those who avow they are sealed, and have the consciousness of the effect of the Spirit's dwelling in them, are not delivered from that law of evil which works in the flesh. That conflict will remain to the end, though perhaps in a more subtle form, is certain. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” We deceive ourselves; the truth, in the inward effect of its presence on our conscious state, has not produced its effect. Where the truth of Christ is in the heart, there is the consciousness that there is that which is not Christ. Where this is not so, the conscience has not been so wrought on as to give in the new man begotten by the word the sense of that which is contrary to Christ, who is the life of the new man, the spring of its sensibilities and moral feelings. Where that has been wrought in us it gives its own consciousness of anything and everything that is contrary to it. There is no need of yielding to it, for Christ's grace is sufficient for us, and His strength is made perfect in weakness; but the being out of its power supposes the power of Christ, and diligence in looking to Him, that we may have that power to use. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our bodies.

But let us weigh the effect of the sealing with the Spirit. Scripture is plain that it is consequent on faith in redemption, as His coming is the consequence of the accomplishment of redemption. Acts 2:38 gives us the plain declaration that it is in, having part in the forgiveness of sins that the Holy Ghost is given. (So Eph. 1:13.) Hence liberty is there at once for the forgiven soul. It has remission of its sins, is conscious of it, and is before God, with a purged conscience, in peace. Rom. 5 is the expression of this-the general normal state of a redeemed soul. It enjoys that favour which is better than life.

But there are two things consequent on this, connected more immediately with deliverance—our new relationships, and power over sin in the flesh. The presence of the Holy Ghost is the power of the new relationship and liberty with God, but there was a work done by Christ to bring us into it—His dying unto sin once, and our having died with Him, that we may be freer and wholly, for faith, in this new relationship. Now there may be faith in the efficacy of that work of Christ; that He has set us in the place where redemption brings us, and in favour and under grace, and delivered us from the responsibility of making out righteousness to meet God, without that experimental acquaintance with what we are delivered from, which results, through grace, in deliverance, in practical reality, in the conscious state of the soul. This is not mere forgiveness and justification from guilt. That applies to the old standing in the flesh, and to its works. That is needed for the possession of the Spirit and deliverance; but is not its fruit and consequence; it is the clearing away the guilt of the old man, not the position of the new. But there is a more general aspect of redemption, in which it exists in the minds of many, in which it mixes itself up with the new.

We read, “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” Now this, where there is no definite apprehension of truth as to the sealing of the Spirit, leads the mind into the feelings and peace which the sealing of the Spirit gives the definite consciousness of, in our relationship with the Father and the Son. I do not doubt that many sealed ones remain in this true but indefinite sense of grace, and count on divine love; for you have more than forgiveness, you have the riches of His grace, and you have redemption through His blood—not merely forgiveness—a rescue from a state you were in, and introduction into eternal blessings. But it is not, after all, conscious sonship, and being consciously in Christ, and Christ in us.

Having noticed and guarded these collateral questions, I turn to the direct point which is connected with the failure in practical deliverance from the law of sin which is in our members—namely, the state of a soul which enjoys the liberty of its new position in grace, but does not find power against evil as it would wish. Now, we have already noticed that there are the two things: the presence of the Holy Ghost, by which we know we are under grace, and enjoy the relationships into which we are brought—the Spirit of adoption, and that work by which the deliverance has been wrought; not forgiveness, or the blessed Lord's dying for our sins, but His dying to sin, and tiring again. This last was closing all association with the first Adam place, and law, its rule from God, which could bind no longer than a man lived, and the entering into a new place and standing with God, based on redemption and divine righteousness. The place is now according to the riches of God's grace, and past all that separated us from God, accomplished for us on the cross, and according to this place in sonship through redemption, “My Father, and your Father; my God, and your God"; the Holy Ghost gives us the consciousness, shedding withal abroad in our hearts the love of God. Blessed be His name, we are in Christ before God, and we know it.

But then Christ is in us. But it is not difficult to understand that the soul who, through grace, has believed in redemption and the grace that gave it, should knew and have the consciousness of this acceptance. This depends on our being in Christ, and this known by the Spirit; it is objective, our standing in faith, and the new man acquainted with redemption cannot but know its place in Christ, though it may be little realized. But when I speak of Christ in me, it applies to my actual state, is subjective. “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin.”

New I fully [admit that we are brought into this place by Christ's work. Still, the state of the soul is connected with it, not simply relationship. With whom does death put us in relationship? It puts us out of relationship with all a living man is connected with—sin, the world, and all in it; and that is a very great thing indeed, but it is what has happened to us if Christ is in us. Of this more in a moment: But if knowing that I am in Christ, and Christ in me, I look up, is there any flaw or something wanting to my position? Why, Christ (and I am in Him) is the very object and perfection of God's delight t I lack nothing; acceptable according to God Himself, I have nothing unacceptable to what He is I may realize it more or less, but what I realize is perfection itself. But Christ is in me—I look down. Is all perfect, nothing wanting here? Not in Him abstractedly; but if I am true, earnest, loving holiness, loving Christ, find what displeases me, how much more God! No excuse, for Christ is power as well as life; but all is not what I would have it to be, even according to the light I have.

The Christian's responsibility is here to walk as Christ walked, to manifest the life of Jests in his mortal flesh. Without Christ he can do nothing, and diligence, a heart exercised in dependence, prayer, the word, watchfulness—all have their place; exercising oneself day and night to have a. conscience void of offense towards God and towards man, not grieving the Holy Spirit of promise by which we are sealed, so that He be not a rebuker, but the spring of joy in that which is heavenly. It is not now a question of righteousness or imputation. As to that, Christ has borne our sins, and we are in Him, according to His acceptance before God. The question is now brought into one of holiness, of acceptableness, not acceptance; and with a true heart this is of the utmost moment. For though God's sovereign grace has found a way in the unspeakable gift of Jesus on the cross, of meeting our sins according to His glory, so that grace should reign through righteousness, and guilt be, no longer in question, yet what is really acceptable to Him is the basis of this very judicial estimate, and as partakers of the divine nature, His judgment is ours.

But this leads us to the very point in question. We hate the evil, yet the flesh is in fact there, and the practical question of deliverance is, how far we are free from it, or how far it has still power in us. I may writhe under cords which bind me, and yet not be able to break them and be free; and we have to learn our own weakness and want of power as well as our guilt. But, being renewed, born of God, I hate the evil, I groan under its power. I earnestly seek and strive to live free from it. I do not succeed, I learn that there is no good in me; I learn that it is not I, for I hate it, but I learn it is too strong for me when I do.

Into the detail of this I do not enter, it has been treated of elsewhere, it is in principle always law, the thought of God's judgment of us depending on our state. This not in its grosser form-guilt; for that is through sins committed; but being lost through what we are, perhaps a terrible question of self-deception, if we have made profession. We may writhe under the cords that bind us, and rub ourselves sore, but the cords are not broken, but a most useful lesson has been learned-what we are, and that we have no strength. And now comes deliverance, through the working and power of the Holy Ghost, but in the faith of what the blessed Lord has wrought. He has not only borne our sins, redeemed us, and cleared us from guilt, but He died unto sin. The full result will be the new heavens and the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness, but the work itself is done. He appeared once in the end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. See Heb. 9:26, and what follows as to our sins: and John 1:29.

Now thus as a sacrifice t6 put away sin, we find its practical application in Rom. 8:3. When Christ was for sin, that is, a sacrifice for sin, God condemned sin in the flesh, not that Christ surely had any, but that he was made sin for us, who knew no sin, and died to it on the cross. I have part in the efficacy of His cross, and this hateful sin in the flesh, condemnable in me and everywhere, has been condemned there, condemned in Christ's death; He died unto sin once, and while the condemnation is accomplished, and most solemnly and fully for me, in that blessed One, who was made sin for me in grace, it was so in death, so that, as done effectually for me, there is no condemnation, but I reckon myself dead. I have been crucified with Christ, my old man is crucified with Him; we are not actually dead, of course, but faith, according to the word, appropriates this truth.

Up to this point I had been as a quickened soul in the position of a child of Adam, and practically under the law, laboring to have done with the old man, with sin in the flesh, but without success. Now I have died with Christ, and so do not belong to the old position of a child of Adam. Death clearly closes all relationship and bond with it. I cannot speak of a man who is lying dead as having evil lusts and a perverse will. The law might show me the evil, but could not remedy it. But I have died with Christ, and am delivered from the law; the condemnation is passed, being accomplished on the cross; but that was in death, so that I reckon myself dead, and no condemnation there. Up to that it was effort to overcome what remained untouched there in its vital strength. But God has dealt for us with this in Christ, Himself sinless. And we have not overcome, but been delivered, having died in that wherein we were held, for Christ has for us.

(To be continued)

Scripture Query and Answer

Q.—1 Tim. 2:1. What is the difference between supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks”? E.P.

A.—One cannot do better than answer in the words of the late Editor of this Magazine:

“’Supplication' implies earnestness in pressing the suit of need; ‘prayer ' is more general, and puts forward wants and wishes; 'intercession' means the exercise of free and confiding intercourse, whether for ourselves or for others; and ‘thanksgiving' ['giving of thanks'] tells out the heart's sense of favor bestowed or counted on.”

For the sake of some who may not have at hand the usual works of reference, we may add that the first (δέησις) occurs nineteen times in the New Testament, and is rendered once by “request” (Phil. 1:4); six times by “supplication” (Acts 1:14; Eph. 6:18 bis; Phil. 4:6; 1 Tim. 2:1, 5); and twelve times by “prayer” (Luke 1:13; 2:37; 5:33; Rom. 10:1; 2 Cor. 1:11, 9:14; Phil. 1:4, 19; 2 Tim. 1:3; Heb. 5:7; James 5:16; 1 Peter 3:12).

The second (προσευχή), being the more general word, occurs thirty-seven times, and is, throughout, translated “prayer,” see margin of James 5:17.

The third (ὲντευξις) occurs but twice, 1 Tim. 2:1 ("intercession"); and 1 Tim. 4:1 ("prayer").

Whilst the last (εὐχαριστία), occurring fifteen times, is rendered by “thankfulness,” Acts 24:3; “giving of thanks,” 1 Cor. 14:16; Eph. 5:4; 1 Tim. 2:1; “thanks,” 1 Thess. 3:9; Rev. 4:9; and by “thanksgiving” nine times, 2 Cor. 4:15; 9:11, 12; Phil. 4:6; Col. 2:7; 4:2; 1 Tim. 4:3, 4; Rev. 7:12.

Scripture Queries and Answers

Q.-Will some of your learned contributors kindly say—

1. Whether the word “wicked” in the end of verse 4, Isa. 11, is, in the original, singular or plural?

2. Whether the word “consummation” in Dan. 9:27, is the same as “consumption” in Isa. 10:22?

3. Is “consumption” the same word in verses 22 and 23 of Isa. 10? It is variously translated in the Revised Version.—LEARNER

A. 1..-The word is in the singular, though the preceding words “poor” and “meek” are plural. It occurs many times throughout the Old Testament and in both forms. As is well known the singular may be used in a collective sense as well as individually. And here Robert Lowth (1778) would appear to be right in his rendering— “the wicked one.” This is confirmed by the fuller light of the New Testament; for “no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation.” See 2 Thess. 2:3-8. The Targum of Jonathan singularly paraphrases it “he will slay the wicked Armillus” —the name given by Jewish writers to a future personage to appear in Rome, and who is to kill Messiah, Joseph's son, but himself to be slain by Messiah, David's son!—thus understanding it of a particular individual.

2. Our English rendering “consummation” in Dan. 9:27, appears here only; but the Hebrew word “kahlah” occurs 22 Times and is variously rendered. Isaiah uses it twice only (10:23; 28:22, “consumption”), and so also Daniel (9:27, “consummation"; 11:16, “which... shall be consumed” lit. “and destruction” in his hand). In Isa. 10:22 The word is not “kahlah” but “killahyohn” (“the consumption”); and Deut. 28:65 (“and failing of”) is the only other instance of its use. Thus the original words are not exactly the same, though both these nouns are from the same verbal root and are closely allied.

3. The answer to this question has been anticipated in the answer just given— “Idllahyohn” being the word in Isa. 10:22, and the more general word “kahlah” in verse 23.

Lectures on 1 Chronicles 1-9

1 Chronicles 1-9

The Books of Chronicles are much more fragmentary than those of Kings. At the same time they are more bound up with what follows, for this very reason that they look at the line of promise and purpose, and hence, therefore, are occupied with David and those that inherited the kingdom of David's race. The Books of Kings, on the other hand, look at the kingdom of Israel as a whole, and therefore show us the continuation of Samuel much more closely—show us the history of the kingdom viewed as a matter of responsibility. Hence, we have the failure of the ten tribes detailed at great length in the Kings and not in the Chronicles, because there it is not purpose, but responsibility; and we have, therefore, the contemporary kingdoms from the time of Jeroboam and Rehoboam till the extinction of the kingdom of Samaria, and then the history of the kingdom of Judah until the captivity. But the Books of Chronicles look only at the history of God's kingdom in the hands of David and of his race. For that reason we here at once are connected with the whole of God's purposes from the beginning. We have the genealogy. Indeed all the early chapters are filled with genealogy for a reason which I shall afterward explain; but we begin with the beginning— “Adam, Sheth, Enosh” and so on, down to Noah, a line of ten from the beginning, followed by the various sons of Noah and their posterity—seventy nations springing from the sons of Noah. Then again we have Abraham as a new stock and commencement. Just as Adam in verse 1, so Abraham and his sons, in verse 27, are brought before us, with also a list of seventy tribes or races that spring from Abraham and his posterity.

It is clear, therefore, that the Spirit of God purposely presents these things. They are not done in any way loosely or arbitrarily. There is a purpose. We can readily see this in the ten names that come before us first of all—the ten forefathers of the human race and the seventy nations branching out from the sons of Noah. Then again, we can see the seventy tribes branching out from Abraham and his family. But there is another thing, too, in this, as showing not only the general way of God here but the principle of God throughout scripture “first that which is natural, afterward that which is spiritual.” We find it just the same here. Japheth and Ham with their sons are brought before us previously to the introduction of Shem, and the line of God's promise in Shem. He is the Lord God of Shem. So in the same way even with Abraham. Although we come to the man that was called out, still, even there, “first that which is natural.” Hence, therefore, we have Ishmael and his posterity, and even the sons of the concubine, and, last of all, “Abraham begat Isaac.” But even in looking at the sons of Isaac, as the rule the sons of Esau are put first, as in the 35th verse. These are pursued, and even the allusion to the kings before there were any over the children of Israel: God's purposes ripen latest. God lets the world take its own way, and he exalts men in the earth. God means to exalt the Man that humbled Himself.

We see, therefore, a common principle everywhere throughout scripture. Thus, this genealogy, even if we only look cursorily at the first chapter, is not without spiritual fruit. There is nothing in the Bible without profit for the soul—not even a list of names. Then we have the rapid rise of Esau's posterity, as I have already remarked. We have duke this and duke that; and, finally, in the 2nd chapter, we enter upon the called and chosen—Israel. “These are the sons,” not merely of Jacob, but “of Israel.” It is the purpose of God that appears. Here, too, they are mentioned merely in their natural order first of all — “Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah, Issachar and Zebulun, Dan, Joseph and Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher” (2:1) But the sons of Judah are very particularly brought before us in this chapter, not of Reuben nor of Simeon. The object of the book is purpose. Judah being a tribe first of all chosen for the kingdom, and that too with a view to the Messiah, we can understand why his sons should be first traced out at great length. This is brought before us, down to even the captivity, and after it; and most interesting notices there are every here and there, some alas who transgressed in the thing accursed, but others who were strengthened of God. Such is the history of man. However, at the end of the chapter the Spirit of God singles out Caleb's family, for he was the man who, of all Judah in these early days, answered to God's purpose. On that I need not now dwell. We see it in Numbers, in Joshua—the peculiar place that Caleb and his daughter had, the father confident in the purpose of God to give Israel the land. Let the strength of their cities be what they might, let their men be ever so valiant, let Israel be ever so feeble, the point of difference was this—that God was with Israel and against the Canaanites. So here we find the result, for faithfulness is fruitful even in this world—much more to life everlasting. Then comes the 3rd chapter—the grand object, the genealogy of David. “Now these were the sons of David” (ver. 1)—himself singled out from among all the line Judah; and as with Caleb from the earliest days of the planting in the land, so David from the time that the kingdom became evident as the purpose of God. Saul is entirely passed by. David though later in fact, was before Saul really in purpose, and even during the days of Saul was actually anointed by Samuel the prophet. So we find here the sons of David. Here again, too, “that which is natural” —these born in Hebron. They never came to the throne. “And these were born unto him in Jerusalem, Shimea and Shobal and Nathan and Solomon” —Solomon the last of these “four of Bath-shua (or Bath-Sheba) the daughter of Ammiel,” as the Spirit of God takes care to say. No flesh shall glory in His presence. The last becomes the first. The purpose of God alone triumphs. Solomon the last of the four, of her that was the wife of Uriah-Solomon is the man chosen to the throne. Others are mentioned too. “These were all the sons of David, beside the sons of the concubines, and Tamar their sister” (ver. 9).

And then the line of Solomon. “Solomon's son was Rehoboam.” All this is traced down to the end of the chapter.

This is the first great division of these genealogies. The purpose of God is traced down first from nature in Adam, down to the kingly purpose in David and his line. Such was God's intention for the earth. It had come under a curse but God always meant to reconcile, as we know, all things, so the Jew is given here to understand. Here is the certainty that God would recover the kingdom; he would restore the kingdom to Israel. Yet the time they misunderstood. The disciples did the same. They thought they were sure of it when the Lord died and rose. Not so. Times and seasons the Father keeps in His own power. Still He will restore the kingdom to Israel. And we have now this line continued as far as it was given them then to trace.

And this is another thing we have to bear in mind: the Books of Chronicles are fragmentary. They bear the impress of the ruin that had come in to Israel. In a time of ruin it would falsify if everything were in due order. The attempt to produce order now as a complete thing is a fallacy, and would be a lie if it were made apparently true. Hence we see the utter folly of the religious world in this respect, because this is their effort. We know very well it is utter disorder when judged by the word of God, because in point of fact even the very foundations are forgotten and supplanted. But supposing the theory were true, it would be a falsehood in its moral purpose, because God will make us feel in a time of ruin that we are in ruins. It is not but what His grace can interfere and abound. “Where sin abounded grace did much more abound.” But it is a wholly different thing to assume that things are right, and to wear an appearance that only deceives.

Hence, therefore for the truth is a very practical one — when men complain of weakness, and when they talk about power, in the present state of things, there is danger—very great danger. We ought to feel our weakness. We, ought to feel that things are ruined. We ought to mourn over the state of the church. We ought to feel for every member of the body of Christ. When persons make themselves comfortable in a little coterie of their own, and imagine that they are the church of God, they are only deceiving themselves. The whole state is contrary to the mind of God. The truth is that God and His grace perfectly suffice; but it is as to a remnant. Whenever we lose the sense that we are a remnant we are false. Whenever we take any other ground than that of being those whom grace has, by the intervention of God himself, recalled—but recalled in weakness, recalled out of ruin, we are off the ground of faith. This gives no license to disorder—not the least. We are thoroughly responsible—always responsible, but at the same time we must not assume that we have everything, because God gives us that which grace alone has secured.

This is all important, we shall find, both in our work and also in the church of God. Here we find it in these collections of testimonies of God that are brought together in the Book of Chronicles. They are fragmentary: they are meant to be fragmentary. God could have given a completeness to them if He pleased, but it would have been out of His order. God Himself has deigned and been pleased to mark His sense of the ruin of Israel by giving only fragmentary pieces of information here and there. There is nothing really complete. The two books of Chronicles savor of this very principle. This is often a great perplexity to men of learning, because they, looking upon it merely with the natural eye, cannot understand it. They fancy it is altogether corrupted. Not so: It was written, advisedly and deliberately so, by the Spirit of God. So, I am persuaded, the provision by the grace of God for His people at this present time looks very feeble, looks very disorderly, to a man with a mere natural eye; but when you look into it you will find that it is according to the mind of God, and that the pretension of having all complete would put us out of communion with His mind—would make us content with ourselves instead of feeling with Him for the broken state of His church. The Book of Chronicles, therefore, really is a mass of fragments—these two books. We shall have more reason, perhaps, to see this as we go along, but I merely make a remark just now. They are only the fragments that remain. God Himself never gave more. In the Books of Kings we have a more complete whole; but Chronicles has a character and beauty of its own, and a moral propriety, beyond anything, because it takes up and shows that in the ruin of all else the purpose of God stands fast. That is what we have to comfort ourselves with at this present time There is a ruined state in Christendom, but God's purposes never fail, and those who have faith settle themselves and find their comfort in the sure standing of the purpose of God.

The 4th chapter begins a somewhat new section, not that we have not had Judah before. And this is another peculiar feature of Chronicles, we have occasional repetition even where nothing is complete; but never a mere repetition. In the former section Judah is introduced in order to bring in David and the royal line. Her Judah is brought forward because he is leader among the tribes of Israel. And this section is not a question of David. We have had that. That closes with the 3rd chapter. Here we have Judah again merely in his place among the different tribes. Hence we have his line in a general way carried on as before, only with a view to the people, and not the kingdom. This is the 4th chapter, with some strikingly encouraging words of the Spirit of God interspersed, on which I need not now dwell, After Judah there is Simeon (verse 24).

Then in chapter 5 comes Reuben, for, having had before us the purpose. of God, we are not taken back merely to the line of nature. Reuben falls into the second place. “Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph's” (v. 2). This is given as a kind of parenthetical explanation of why Judah is first among the tribes, and Reuben sinks into a secondary place. Reuben, however, is now pursued; and in chapter 6, come the sons of Levi, after the half tribe of Manasseh, too, had been introduced in the verses before. We can understand why the sons of Levi are brought thus forward. Further, we have Issachar and Benjamin all brought before us in this, section—Benjamin not merely in the 7th chapter, but, also in the eighth, answering a little to Judah. Thus we have a repetition. The reason is plain. Benjamin and Judah are repeated because they were each connected with royalty—Benjamin with Saul—Judah with David; and as Judah is mentioned first in relation to David, and next to the people, so Benjamin is first brought in in relation to the people, and then in relation to Saul. This is why we have Benjamin again in the 8th chapter. We have the connection with the king, but the king after the flesh. Then there is another reason why Benjamin is brought in, and that is that he had a particular connection with Jerusalem; and we shall find that this is also a grand point in the Chronicles. It is not merely the land, but Jerusalem and Zion, as I hope to show later, all being connected immediately with the purpose of God.

“So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies”

(9). Now, it is well to make a remark or two of a general kind as to the importance of these genealogies. First of all they were even more important after the kingdom than before, at least after David came to the throne; and for this simple reason. David altered, as we shall find later on in the book, the whole system of religious worship and its appurtenances. It was he that brought the ark to Zion; and it was in the city of David that the temple was subsequently built by king Solomon. But David ordered everything with a view to the great center of the land. This was not the case before. Nothing of the kind was found during the judges, nor even during king Saul's reign. The priests and Levites were all scattered up and down the land. After David came to the throne, and was inspired of God to bring in a great change, we find this the occasion of it. The king became the central thought. The king was the one on whom, according to purpose, all hung. The reason was that the king was the type of “the great King” that is coming. Impossible that the Son of God, the Messiah; should be the King, without being the One on whom all depends for blessing. God knew from the very first that there was no way to secure blessing but by that One.

(To be continued)

The Waters of Bethlehem

(2 Samuel 23:15)

How mighty and effective a principle is love! How sustaining in difficulty, how cheering in enterprise! It is true that all natural love takes its circuit round the creature and never rises above that level to God; and therefore the more it is seen in natural life, the more does it mark the creature's. shame that not one throb should be given to Him that made the heart and gave it its sweetest feelings. But love is love still, when all that God' is, and all that God has, become the unbounded circuit in which it finds its home. Love is the same but the object different, nor does it cease to include the narrower circle of human affections, but takes them into one full object—God. But what can produce our love, what can give boldness to our hearts to love Him whom we have offended but His grace in Jesus? Here we learn His love, as it is written, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.” And in that service to the Father's love for us, do we learn all the love of Jesus, fulfilling the word of truth— “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.”

This was the power that carried Jesus through all that tried Him in the days of His flesh—love, first to the Father, and then to us, nay, uniting both in one service, and always in suffering. He could ever say with joy, “I do always those things which please him,” and, when going to death, “That the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, so I do.” Again, in the agony of His soul, “Not my will, but thine be done.” This was in no way a work of mere righteousness, it was no question of His personal answer to the righteousness of God, but one of willing service unto others, in self-sacrifice to please the Father—and it was love which the floods that poured into His soul could not drown. So also to us, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Having loved His own, He loved them unto the end—even to shame and death. “Hereby perceive we love because he laid down his life for us.”

Now it is the knowledge of this that subjects the soul in love to God and puts the believer into the position not of righteousness only, which is true, but something beyond it—the desire of doing all things which will please Him in the circumstances in which we may be placed. It is not a question of duty merely, but of love; we ought to walk even as He walked, not only fulfilling righteousness, but going forth in the Spirit in happy service to do the will of Him who is love, in the sorrowful circumstances of this sin darkened world, giving ourselves up in obedient service to what love would direct in a world of sorrow. The bearing of this upon our conduct towards one another is clearly shown, “He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” He who is Lord and Master, having washed His disciples' feet, said, “I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” This is far beyond righteousness which if alone would hurry us away from a sinning world and erring brethren.

Oh! if there is a dreary thought in these difficult days it is this, that there is so little perception in us of our standing in love. What would Christ's personal righteousness have availed us had He not loved us and suffered for us? It would have entitled Him to all glory, having humbled Himself, but it would have given us no claim. He became a servant to our wretchedness and the Father's love. This satisfied the desire of His own heart and pleased the Father, so that He could say, “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again"; while the sorrowful word, “Now is my soul troubled,” told the depth of the sacrifice that heart could make.

Let us see how this truth is illustrated in the narrative of the mutual love of David and his warriors (2 Sam. 23). The whole history of David, the beloved, chosen and anointed of God, is a beautiful drama of typical events; and his conduct in them, imperfect indeed, yet in every scene gives some glimpse of that perfect grace teat we have learned in Christ. His election to the throne, his anointing, his victory over Goliath, his outcast state, his devotedness in it to Israel who were hating him, his submission to Saul, his lowliness and trust, his tender heartedness to his enemies when in his power, his true sorrow over even Saul and Abner, and, at last, his triumph, and the putting of all his enemies under his feet, are surely the Spirit's living prediction of the history and character of Jesus from His baptism in Jordan and the opening of the love and glory of heaven on His blessed head, till He comes forth as the crowned King with His vesture dipped in blood to obey that word, “Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.”

During the continuance of Saul in power many were separated in faith to David. Day by day some were added “until it became a great host, like the host of God.” They gave up present power and rest with Saul in the faith of David's anointing taking part with him whom, hunted like a partridge on the mountains, they nevertheless knew to be the chosen of God and that his kingdom would come, while God's judgment was pronounced on the kingdom of Saul, of which the anointing and choice of David were full proof.

Here then, surely, we have the part of those who are now called to be saints. They are separated to the true David, His interests and hopes, separated from present things to future, all of which are dependent on the Person of God's choice. They are bound up, therefore, with Him who is now rejected in hope. Need I say there is but one thing that gives to those whose true character is that they are “in distress, and discontent, and debt,” boldness to go to Christ, even simple trust in that love that brought Him to seek and save those that are lost. And surely, nothing less than trust in that blood, which He shed to give them His own holy title to the kingdom and glory, can identify them with Him in hope.

But when thus separated from the world to Christ and to Christ's glory, to partake of the fellowship of His sufferings, to be wanderers with Him in hope, to go in and out with. Him, following Him whithersoever He goeth, in learning all His grace and all HIS beauty—oh! how will the heart learn to! Are Him in the depths of His exquisite grace.

Trial brought out David's attachment to Israel amidst such provocation; his refusal to resist evil against himself, his patient endurance, his trust in God. Surely it was no wonder that his followers loved and wondered, and that all their prowess was brought out as it were by this principle. They constantly erred, but their love seldom failed; they said indeed, in ignorance, when in the cave with helpless Saul, “Behold the day of which the Lord said unto thee, Behold I will deliver thine enemy into thine hand.” And so also Peter, “This be far from thee, Lord,” said he, when Jesus spoke of suffering and death: and when they came to take Him, Peter, in the same misjudging but true love, in the spirit of Abishai, smote off the ear of the High Priest's servant. Personal attachment to their Lord was there, however they failed in judgment. But oh! where is this attachment to-day?

I do not say that it is not far better if love abounds that it should be in knowledge and in all judgment; but—where is the love? How straight would many a crooked path be made! How clear much that is now involved in the obscurity of doublemindedness if all things were tried by love in the Spirit. It would not then be said or thought, 'How little may I sacrifice for Jesus, and yet be saved? How much of Saul's kingdom may I retain, and yet have part in David's? '

Nor should we so often hear, ‘Surely there is no harm in this! It is not right to be so ascetic.' Let us hearken to the word of Jesus, “He that is not with me is against me, he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad,” and there is nothing too little to be gathered with Him, and to give us an opportunity of proving our love, 'Is this becoming for a follower of Jesus? Is this suited to the glory and character of His kingdom? Will this please or displease our Lord and Savior?' These, these are the questions of love; and; surely, all clever advocacy of evil or the toleration of it, all the skilful alchemy of the unloving heart to divide the World into what is allowed and not allowed, all the power of heresy which detracts from the glory of Christ's Person, all the wiles of the enemy in substituting a prospering church in the world for the personal presence of its Lord and the glory of His kingdom—all are put to flight by the simple power of that love, which is of God. Nay, yet further, it is “love” that writes in full and clear characters. “Ichabod,” on all that is so boasted in. If there is brotherly love brought to pass; and sustained by self sacrifice—if Christians are the servants of one another, each seeking to be the lowliest, heavenly-minded, and acting on principles that get no recompense here save the Spirit's assurance that they are pleasing Christ—if faith which will sacrifice all present things and be stranger and pilgrim because of the brightness of its future crown—if these are the things that characterize the church now, then indeed the solemn warnings of Scripture, when applied to it, are nothing but the querulous murmurings of discontented spirits! But if not, and the commandments of Jesus are not kept, and the dishonor of His sacred Name unwept and unregarded, then will love to that Name weep, and in sorrow of soul go on to utter its mournful cry amid the merriment of idolatry, “Ichabod, Ichabod.”

“If we are beside ourselves it is to God; if we are sober, it is for your cause, for the love of Christ constraineth us,” says the Apostle. “Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ; no man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” “To him that overcometh will I give a white stone, and on it a new name written that no man knoweth but he that receiveth it.” Love to Jesus made the Apostle beside himself, love to man made him sober; but it was all love—a love so like his Master's that he could say to them, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you the less I be loved!” seeking always to please Him as He had pleased the Father, that no perils could check or quench it. And in the midst of all endurance from the world without, and the misjudging hearts of brethren within, where did he look for recompense but to that day and to that hour when the voice he loved would say, “Well done good and faithful servant"? and the hand he loved would give him the white stone and the crown of glory which would not fade away, because he had pleased Him who had so called him to be a soldier, and then he would reign with Christ as he had suffered with Him.

It was in warring against Israel's unfailing enemy the Philistine, that David was in the hold and thirsted for the waters of Bethlehem. The war of the true David and His men is not indeed as yet with flesh and blood, but with the mightier Philistine, the ruler of the darkness of this world; and surely as they are expecting, so is He, and as they are warring, so is He, in them. David longed and said, “Oh that one would give me water of the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate.” No command was uttered, duty was not called upon. Need so expressed never could have found its way to the cold heart of duty, and if it had, there were many suggestions at once to keep it still. The Philistines garrisoned Bethlehem and the well was within the guarded gate, and there was much hazard in the way. The thirst of David could not be quenched without much risk and why quench it? It would please him indeed but it would not advance his people or kingdom, and indeed could further no object but that of pleasing him. It is enough, too, if a soldier strictly performs his duty, and diligently attends to all directions given to him, more cannot be required of him. David has not told us to attack Bethlehem, it is his personal need only, and why should we hazard our lives to meet that'? Is not this the language of duty? But—is it the language of love? Has our Lord no need now, is He not thirsting now for that which is only to be obtained by the self-sacrifice of His people? This is the place of the loving believer, seeking to please at an costs the Lord of his heart and life, and learning by communion with Him to know not only His general commands, but what will give an answer to the present desire of His soul. “Filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the, knowledge of God.” This it is for which He looks.

Let us judge by His word to the churches, “I know thy works.” What are they? Surely not keeping “the sabbath,” and refraining from the pleasures of the world; not mere uprightness and integrity of conduct, or attention to what are called ordinances and acts of occasional benevolence! These are not the works that gladden His heart as the fruit of that faith that worketh by love; nay, “I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil, and hast borne and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.” Surely it is for this and more that He thirsts, and if His desire is unsatisfied does He not add, “Nevertheless I have this against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.” Again, how this is seen in the message to Pergamos, “Thou holdest fast my name and hast not denied my faith even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth,” (as though within the hosts of the Philistines)! How does His love appear to tell its gladness in those words, “My faithful martyr"! He had died for Antipas, and Antipas was, through His grace, faithful; he had held fast the name of Jesus, and in death had given the waters of Bethlehem to meet the desire of his Master's soul. And again, how sweet to hear Him say to Philadelphia, when love was fast receding from the church, “I know thy works... thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word and hast not denied my name."! and, as though He would give the fullest recompense to this, He adds “my” to every promise, “temple of my God,” “name of my God,” “city of my God and my new name.”

These then are the waters of Bethlehem, labor, patience, service, love, faith, holding fast the name and word of Jesus. Faithfulness in suffering and death; works, the fruit of faith in all the past love and coming glory of Jesus. Works, not of obedience to the law of Moses but accordant with the grace of Christ. Works, that were in Him to the glory of the Father, love, service, faith, patience, in life and death. Love which seeks to please and satisfy, love which looks onward to approval, the spring and life of it all. Love which, when David said, “Oh, that one would give me to drink of the waters of the well of Bethlehem,” answered thus,” Then the three mighty men broke through the host of the Philistines and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem that was in the city, and brought it to David.” How keen the hearing of love, how strong and skilful the arm of love, how undaunted how resolute the heart! David longed for the waters, and the waters were won; and as the hazard and peril were great, so the joy of the warriors' hearts that their love could be so proved. The greater the jeopardy the stronger the love; and these were the waters to meet David's thirst, as the willing offering of tried love. They had given up their lives for his sake, to satisfy his thirst and win his smile; and the waters so won were too precious for their gracious and loving master to drink. “Isaiah not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? Therefore he would not drink it, but poured it out unto the Lord.” He calls it their blood or their life, for they had not counted this dear unto themselves, and the waters were as their life to him. And as in the days of His flesh it was ever the delight of Jesus to satisfy the Father's desires by His own faithful and loving obedience, even now what is His joy but that those that are His should glorify the Father too; and how, but by owning the glory of Jesus, being constrained by the love of Jesus to give themselves through Him to the Father? “He poured it out unto the Lord.” All that is given to Him by self-sacrifice is by Him accounted so precious, that He gives it to the Father, as it is written, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples “; And, “being filled with the fruit of righteousness which is by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” All coming from the Father, through Jesus by the Spirit, and ascending up again through Jesus to the Father. Jesus is the winner of the fruit, for love to Him, personal attachment to Him is the intelligent principle that must work every deed of holy chivalry. The Spirit is the life of every deed as teaching the heart the love of Jesus, and working thus the will of God in us; and the Father receives the fruit through the blessed Son, for, “He poured it out unto the Lord.” And shall we be careless about these things? Surely our gracious Master thirsts; the hosts of the uncircumcised garrison are this evil world, but yet the waters of Bethlehem are in it. The greater the danger, the more sweet the water to Him who thirsts; and the day is at hand when a loud voice will be heard saying in heaven, “Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death.” (Rev. 12).

Return Unto Me

One particular root of evil against which we need ever to be on our guard shows itself by “an evil heart of. unbelief in departing from the living God” (Heb. 3:12). The pathway of restoration is that of a return, not to observances of an outward sort, but to Himself, and nothing short of that. “If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith Jehovah, return unto ME” (Jer. 4). As regards His people, blessed be His Name, our God is satisfied with nothing less than their heart, and this, not in the sense of what they can be to Him, but in what, rather, He can be for them. “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, in that he understandeth, and knoweth me, that I am Jehovah which exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth: for in these things I delight saith Jehovah” (Jer. 9), and we too, as believers, should earnestly seek “that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

May we never forget that our blessing as believers is linked up with the glory of our God and Father, and of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, with the honoring of the Holy Spirit, and subjection to the word of His grace and cannot be divorced! The Scripture is enough to prove this, “the church ... was edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost was multiplied” (Acts 9:31). Though our lot be cast in the perilous times of the last days (so fast closing), it is good for us to know that what is essential abides—the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, in all their varied relationships to us, together with the living and abiding word of His grace, forever settled in heaven. Departure, however, is so easy, as we know to our cost. The apostle Paul could say, “not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.” Bearing this in mind will make us distrustful of, and give us to judge, ourselves, and this is always well. It will also serve to make us practically meek and lowly—and how healthy for us is this we can see from Isa. 29, “the meek also shall increase their joy in Jehovah".

Further, Jehovah says, “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against ME"; and as concerning Himself, “Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” Do we wonder then, such being the case, that He adds, even about the very things He had ordained for them, “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith Jehovah: I am full of burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats, I delight not"; and “Bring no more vain oblations incense—it is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting"? Coming down to church times, how deeply solemn is the word to Ephesus (notwithstanding all that the grace of the Lord Jesus led Him to commend), “Nevertheless, I have against thee that thou hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, from whence thou art fallen; and repent, and do the first works” (Rev. 2)! It was, in His eyes, a tremendous fall. Persisted in, the consequences would be most serious.

Let us ask ourselves the question, beloved, Are we declining in the enjoyment of His love, the love of Him who “loveth us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood,” Who “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 wholly and without blemish.” “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it even as Christ the church” (Eph. 5:25, 29). In view of such faithful and undying love, beloved, if we have wandered in any way, let us, with deep repentance, his back to Himself; and may we with increasing watchfulness be wary of “the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines” —of everything that would mar for a moment our communion with Him! Jehovah could say to His people of old, “Therefore will Jehovah wait that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you: for Jehovah is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him” (Isa. 30). Such are some of the ways of Him who is our Father.

Oh! the blessedness of seeking Him! In that wonderful sixty-fifth chapter of Isaiah, Jehovah says, “I am sought of them that ask not for me; I am found of them that sought me not,” and adds, “And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor (i.e. the place where Achan the son of Carmi, was buried, who took of the accursed thing, Josh. 7) a place for the herds to lie down in for my people that have sought ME.” And again, as showing His willingness to bless such, “It shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (verses 1, 10, 24).

May then both reader and writer be of those who fear the Lord, and speak often one to another, for in Malachi's days there was such a company, in regard to whom it is said that “Jehovah hearkened, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared Jehovah and that thought upon HIS NAME"! Resulting blessing shall be the portion of all such, to His glory and praise.

W.N.T.

Studies in Mark 6:14-20: John's Rebuke of Herod's Sin

6:14-20

32.-JOHN'S REBUKE OF HEROD'S SIN

“And king Herod heard thereof; for his name had become known: and he said, John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore do these powers work in him. But others said, It is Elijah. And others said, It is a prophet, even as one of the prophets. But Herod, when he heard thereof, said, John, whom I beheaded, he is risen. For Herod himself had sent forth and laid hold upon John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife; for he had married her. For John said unto Herod, It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife. And Herodias set herself against him, and desired to kill him; and she could not; for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous man and a holy, and kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was much perplexed; and he heard him gladly“ (6:14-20, R.V.).

The activities of the Lord Himself and the separate testimonies of His apostles at this period reached the ears of king Herod. The name of Jehovah's Servant was becoming famous through His own mighty works, and now through the labors of His servants. Herod did not know Jesus of Nazareth, but his memory was full of John the Baptist, for he had but recently pronounced the cruel sentence of his execution. And when tidings came of one who was working the works of God in Galilee, he could only think of the righteous and holy prophet who had been as the mouth of God to him.

But how were these miracles of Jesus Christ, so numerous and striking as they were, to be explained? The testimony of the Baptist was not accompanied by signs; as the people said of him on one occasion, “John did no miracle,” his service differing in this respect from that of the Messiah. But the superstitious king had an explanation satisfactory to himself, an explanation which his own terrified conscience supplied. John in the flesh wrought no miracles, but John returned from the grave must be, and was, full of supernatural energy. Herod said, “John the Baptist is risen from the dead, and therefore do these powers work in him.” And yet though this wicked ruler professed to believe there was a messenger from the dead in the land he did not repent, and he is therefore a solemn example of the truth of “father Abraham's” words in our Lord's parable— “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:30, 31).

Popular opinion said of the Lord that he was Elijah, the promised prophet (Mal. 4:5), or one of God's prophetic messengers. There was no unanimity in the estimates of the public, as the apostles also stated in their reply to the Lord's question concerning current opinions (Matt. 16:14; Mark 8:28; Luke 9:10). Herod however had personal reasons for his own theory. It was he who beheaded John. And he now believed that John lived again in the prophet of Galilee.

There was some substratum of truth in Herod's opinion, though he was 'unconscious of it. He was wrong as to the identity of the Person who was preaching the kingdom of God, but he was right in that John's testimony of truth and holiness was still being declared. He had removed the head of the Baptist, but the voice that spoke of righteousness and purity was not silenced. The witnesser for the truth may be slain, and his gory head displayed in the orgies of the wicked, but truth itself is not put to death by the sword. And Herod was not mistaken in thinking that the Voice then preaching in Capernaum and Chorazin was saying to him, “It is not lawful for thee to have her.”

It is well to note that the Gospel history here becomes retrospective. Mark, in the early part of the book, mentions the imprisonment of John in connection with the commencement of the ministry of Jesus (1:14), but makes no further mention of the Baptist until now, when he turns back to narrate his violent end. John was truly the forerunner of the Messiah the righteous Servant of Jehovah, to the very last act of public testimony. He witnessed to the Anointed Sufferer not less in the prison than in the wilderness; for both he and his Master were cut off in the midst of their days. Peter and others followed the Lord to a martyr's end, but John had the unique privilege of immediately preceding Him.

THE JEWS UNDER THE POWER OF DANIEL'S FOURTH EMPIRE

The historical references here to the death of John the Baptist by Herod, bring in the subject of the civil government of the Holy Land at the time of our Lord. The people and country were tributary to Rome, that Western power which had then but recently assumed absolute supremacy in the political world. This subjection was not a surprise to those in Israel who had drunk of the spirit of prophecy. The Roman Empire was prefigured in the Image-vision of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2), the “iron government being the fourth in order of succession of the Gentile empires there portrayed. Daniel also saw it in prophetic vision under the figure of the fourth beast, terrible and powerful “with great iron teeth” (Dan. 7:7).

In the New Testament history we find this “iron” rule in exercise at the time of the birth of Christ. Caesar Augustus issued a decree that “all the world should be taxed,” or enrolled (Luke 2:1). In obedience to this edict Joseph and Mary, lineal descendants of the royal line of David, went up submissively from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea. The position of servitude in which the chosen people stood to the great Empire is further shown by the circulation in their midst of the Roman currency in which they paid taxes to their over-lords (Luke 20:19-26).

Again, the supremacy of the Roman government in the land of Israel was demonstrated by their exclusive exercise of the function of condemning prisoners to the extreme penalty After the flood the authority of man in government to punish the murderer by death, previously reserved by God,. was conferred by Him upon Noah and his descendants. God decreed that “Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made he man” (Gen. 9:6). This power was recognized and in use throughout the successive forms of government in Israel, and after Israel's subjugation it was exercised by the Gentile empires. For instance, Daniel testified of Nebuchadnezzar, the “head of gold,” that “all peoples, nations, and languages, trembled and feared before him; whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive” (Dan. 5:19).

And the Roman emperors, though not so absolute in their rule as their Babylonian predecessors, reserved to themselves and to their local representatives the right of judicial execution. The Jews admitted to Pilate their lack of this authority: “It is not lawful,” they said, “for us to put any man to death” (John 18:31). This authority was in the hands of the Roman governor who arrogantly and insolently said to his Just and Holy prisoner, “Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power, [authority] to crucify thee, and have power (authority] to release thee?” (John 19:10). This authority of Pilate Jesus. did not deny, but rather traced that authority to its true source—not to his imperial master at Rome but to the Sovereign Ruler of all: “Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above” (John 19:10; cp. Rom. 13:1-4). Never was this judicial authority more flagrantly abused than it was by Pilate, the representative of the Roman empire. Weakly submitting to the will of the Jews, he freed Barabbas the malefactor whom he should have executed for murder, and condemned Jesus the Benefactor to be crucified.

THE HERODIAN RULE

The rule of the Herods was subservient to Rome. Several members of the Herod family are mentioned in the New Testament history, but most were enemies to Christ and to those who bore His name.

1. Herod the Great, one of the worst tyrants of all time, massacred the children of Bethlehem (Matt. 2:16).

2. Archelaus was the son of Herod the Great whom Joseph feared (Matt. 2:22).

3. Herod Antipas executed John the Baptist (Matt. 14:1-12), and mocked Jesus (Luke 23

4. Herod Agrippa I. executed James, the brother of John (Acts 12:1, 2).

5. Herod Agrippa II. had Paul brought before him as prisoner (Acts 25:13-27).

The Herods were Idumean in origin, and were placed in the position of titular rulers in Judea and Galilee by the Roman government. The name Idumea is the Greek equivalent of Edom, the land of the descendants of Esau. So that the position of the Jews in the days of the Gospels was humiliating in the extreme. They were not only under the dominion of the Gentile power at Rome, but a son of Esau ruled over them in the land. This order was not according to the purpose of God announced from the beginning—that, of Jacob and his brother, the “elder should serve the younger” (Gen. 25:23). But through the unfaithfulness of the chosen people, this divine order was for the time reversed, and Esau was in the ascendant, though an enemy of God and His truth. Indeed hatred and jealousy and bitter animosity against God and the people of God characterize the Edomites throughout the Old Testament records. The last of the prophetic “burdens” declares them to be the people against whom Jehovah has indignation forever (Mal. 1:4). And the New Testament opens with the effort of the Edomite, who was ruler of Edom as well as of Judea and Galilee, to destroy Him who was born King of the Jews (Matt. 2). The bloodthirsty Herod was a true descendant of Doeg the Edomite, the murderer of the priests at Nob (1 Sam. 22:9-19).

HEROD ANTIPAS AND JOHN

Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, was tetrarch of Galilee, the northern part of his father's dominions, when John the Baptist came into the country round about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins and the immediate coming of the Messiah (Luke 3:5-3). This voice crying in the wilderness resounded in the palace of the king. John spoke of an Anointed One whose coming was imminent, and Herod, may have feared in Him, who was announced to appear, a possible rival to his throne, the tenure of which was so notoriously frail. He could hardly have entirely forgotten the incident which happened less than thirty years before when there came Eastern magi to his father's court in Jerusalem, seeking Him who was born King of the Jews. He may also have remembered, amongst other of his father's deeds of blood and cruelty, the horrible slaughter of the babes of Bethlehem perpetrated to ensure the death of the Royal Child. We think it must have been so, for conscience stimulates the most sluggish memory, and Antipas was not altogether dead to conscience.

Moreover, that conscience was appealed to by the dauntless testimony of the Baptist. For John came “in the way of righteousness.” Like Noah, he was a “preacher of righteousness” in a day of unnatural corruption. Like also, his prototype Elijah, he delivered his words of truth in a profligate court. John reproved the king for the many notorious evils he had committed; but perhaps his blackest crime was to marry his brother Philip's wife, and the intrepid prophet did not shrink to denounce the incestuous adulterer to his face, although he sat upon a throne, condemning him by the laws of God and man (Lev. 18:16; 20:21). “It is not lawful for thee to have thy brother's wife” summed up his charge. The king's guilt was trebly great; for the wife of Herod was alive, the husband of Herodias was alive, and Herod and Herodias stood in the relationship of uncle and niece. But there was no repentance. The words of John did not turn this disobedient one “to the wisdom of the Just” (Luke 1:17). Herod hardened his heart, and as the Spirit of God says, in view no doubt of the ancient precept, “Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm,” that he “added yet this above all, that he shut up John in prison,” and would have done worse to him, but “when he would have put him to death he feared the multitude because they counted him as a prophet” (Matt. 14:5). This popular opinion in favor of John was so strong that the chief priests and elders also feared to oppose it (Matt. 21:26).

HEROD'S FEAR OF JOHN

The king was of a weak and vacillating nature, but not without a susceptibility to influences for good. We read that “Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous man and a holy, and kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was much perplexed: and he heard him gladly.” The invincible nature of truth and, righteousness is exemplified in the king's attitude toward the Baptist. It was Herod, not John, who feared. The empurpled voluptuary was a moral coward in the presence of the prophet, as such must be before the righteous and the holy. The licentious monarch had abandoned himself to the luxurious gratification of his every evil passion, for which the manners of his court gave him every facility. In contrast with this royal self-indulgence, John had learned the difficult lesson, of self-denial and self-conquest in the solitudes of the wilderness. His hairy garment and his frugal diet were outward indications of the moral attitude of the man who by severe self-discipline, qualified himself (so far as man may do so) for his dignified mission. John, who called the people to sackcloth and ashes, was not a man “clothed in soft raiment” himself. He came neither eating nor drinking, for it was a day of fasting, and a day for men to afflict their souls.

His practice corresponded with his preaching. The divine object, announced in the song of his father Zacharias, was that the people of Israel might serve God “in holiness and righteousness” all their days. And accordingly the forerunner of the Messiah was a righteous and a holy man himself, and this character of John was so well-known and well-established that even the evil and suspicious king knew it, and feared him in consequence.

Nevertheless, in spite of this admission, the unrighteous and unholy ruler did not release his righteous and holy prisoner, but held him in custody. Yet this attitude was no strange event in the world's history, for evil's enmity of the good it sees in another has repeated itself from the beginning. Why did Cain slay Abel? Because his own works were evil; and like Herod he knew that his brother's were righteous (1 John 3:12). It was so also in the history of Israel when their Messiah came, He whom they denied, and delivered over to Pilate for crucifixion, was pre-eminently the Holy and the Righteous One (Acts 3 it), concerning whom even the crucified robber testified, “He has done nothing amiss.” And is it not the constant experience, of those who are the possessors of the kingdom that they are persecuted for righteousness' sake? (Matt. 5:10; 1 Peter 3:10-14). It is true that the followers of Christ are called to a higher standard of suffering-testimony, viz., that which arises out of a confession of the name of Christ; but this highest standard cannot be truly attained unless it is based upon righteousness and holiness of truth, the twin principles of the new creation, (Eph. 4:24).

Herod then feared John, if not as a prophet of God as a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe from the malice of his paramour Herodias who sought to kill him. And during the Baptist's imprisonment Herod appears to have summoned his prisoner before him on several occasions, and the faithful words and fearless bearing of the prophet were not without their effect upon the profligate king. “When he heard him, he was perplexed,” or as many read it, “he did many things.” He sought to compromise with the truth by carrying out some minor reforms. But of the foul sin of which he was guilty before the eyes of his kingdom and before the eyes of his God, he was impenitent. He did many things, but not the one thing. He heard John gladly too; and it is also said elsewhere, that the common people heard Jesus gladly (Mark 12:37). But such gladness is not associated with the hearing by which faith comes.

W.J.H.

Cleaving to the Lord

A Word to the Young

It is worthy of remark that in this chapter we have the first account of Gentile converts; of the receiving in sovereign goodness and grace, poor sinners who had net even the promises to boast of which God had given to the Jews. To such it is, too, that Barnabas comes with the earnest exhortation contained in verse 23: “That with purpose of heart they should cleave unto the Lord.”

What Peter was taught here as to the Gentiles we all have to learn as to ourselves. When the blessed news of grace and pardon first reaches a sinner's ears and heart, he rejoices in the thought of pardon and forgiveness. He does right. Jesus, the blessed Son of God, has met him in mercy with His precious blood. But with this the light enters into his soul. When there have been deep discoveries of sin before the soul has become happy, the peace of the soul is more settled. The sin to which grace is applied is in a measure already known. But when, through the proclamation of divine pardon, without previous convictions, the soul has suddenly received joy (though there is always the discovery that we are sinners), the knowledge of the depth of sin in the heart, and what has to be forgiven and cleansed, is very small.

The consequence is, that, after God has called, us and the divine light has broken into our souls, we feel disturbed and uncertain, and even begin sometimes to doubt the fact of our being cleansed. This is wrong. The deeper discovery of sin and the knowledge of our own heart are useful. If we walk humbly and near to God this knowledge will be made, comparatively speaking, peacefully; if not, in humiliation and failure. But you may not call unclean what God has cleansed. God has brought cleansing and pardon to us down here. We have not to wait for it until we go up there. God has cleansed you. You are clean now. But I desire to lead you to some further exercise of heart upon it, and clearer apprehension of God's ways: to a fuller exercise of conscience, that your peace may be as solid as your joy was genuine when you first heard of grace and forgiveness.

In Luke 15 the great principle set forth is, that it is God's happiness when we are brought back to Him. Of course, the joy of the restored one comes in, but it is not the primary thing. The object of all three parables is not to show our joy, but the joy of God in our restoration. The three parables all teach the same grace, but we get, I believe, the joy of the Son, of the Spirit, and of the Father. But remark, that in the first two we find a grace which finds and brings back what was lost, without any further question of the state of the soul. In the third, we have man's departure even into the lowest degradation of sin, and what passes in his soul on his return, till he is clothed, in divine righteousness, with Christ, in his Father's house.

God has foreseen and provided for the whole case of the sinner. The younger son was as really a sinner when he left his father's house as when he was eating husks with the swine. He had abandoned God to do his own will. But the Lord pursues the case to the full degradation of sin-for sin degrades man. The young man comes to himself, turns back towards God, is converted; but he has not yet met God, nor has he the best robe on him. He did not know, in his conscience, divine righteousness. When he really meets his father, not only is he in tender love-only the more shown because he has been lost—received when in his rags into his Father's arms, but he is made righteously fit for the house, clothed with Christ. His father was on his neck when he was in his rags, but he was not, received into the house in that state: he could not have been.

But God has provided for the sinner what Adam in his innocence had not. He has provided Christ. Grace reigns through righteousness. The best robe, no part of the son's portion before he left, is now put on him, and he is fit for the house to which that robe belonged. All the extent of the soul's departure from God has been weighed. The soul may be exercised about it, and will be, till self is wholly given up as a ground on which we can stand before God: no going in legally, as a hired servant. Before God it is rags and exclusion, or the best robe and joyful admission. All true experiences lead to that emptying of self, and Christ all, and we in Him before God. Then, as I have said, our peace is as solid as the joy of the thought of forgiveness was blessed, and the joy itself deeper, if not more genuine.

Another truth is connected with this. God having perfectly cleansed us by the blood of Christ, the Spirit dwells in the cleansed heart. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God.” The Spirit gives us the consciousness of our relationship as dear children. “Because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” What manner of persons ought we to be, who are the temples of the Holy Ghost, we may well continually ask ourselves. But do not let failures make us doubt that we have it. Low and wretched as was the state the Galatians had fallen into, they never doubted they had the Spirit of God; but they were getting wrong as to the ground of their standing, as to how they received it; so that the apostle had to ask them, “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith” (Gal. 3:2)?

We are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance. We have life as truly as Christ is alive; but we are not yet in heaven. The thief, indeed, was privileged to be taken directly home, believing only to-day, but to-day the first companion Christ had in paradise! We do not look for such immediate departure, but our ground is the same; we are as truly saved, but not so soon to be in heaven. Rather have we to go through this evil world: to go through it as crucified with Christ, dead indeed, but risen—to go through it with His Spirit dwelling in us. Be careful lest you grieve that Spirit. You have to go through the world bearing the name of Christ upon you. See that you bring no reproach upon that blessed name by being, inconsistent. The world will be sharp to exclaim, There are your Christians! You will have to go through the world, but with God dwelling in you; to carry this treasure in an earthen vessel: entrusted with this treasure, an habitation of God through the Spirit. Of course, it is only through His grace that you can carry such a treasure through an evil world; but there is power in Christ, there is sufficiency in Christ for all he would have you do or be.

He exhorted them that they should cleave to the Lord. Depend on Him. Some are allowed to have a long season of joy on first believing, but God knows our hearts, and how soon we should be depending on our joy, and not on Christ. He is our object: joy is not our object. Do not let your joy lead you to forget the source of it; and then it need never wane. This joy is right and beautiful in its place; I am not saying a word against it—God forbid. But I warn you against resting in it. Do not lean on it for strength. There is danger of joy, however genuine, making you forget how dependent you are every moment. Depend upon Him: cleave to Him with purpose of heart. Do not be content with being happy (may you continue so), but, with Paul, forgetting the things that are behind, press on, etc. (Phil. 3).

I have seen many Christians so full of joy that they thought there was no such thing as sin left. It is true that sin no longer remains on you; but the flesh is in you to the end. The old stock is there, and you will find that if you are not watchful, if divine life is not cherished and cultivated in your hearts by looking at Christ and feeding on Him, it will be sprouting forth into buds; if it does, they must be nipped off as they appear. No good fruit comes off the old stock. It is the new that bears fruit unto God. But though the flesh is in you, do not be thinking of this, but think of Christ—cleave to Him; and may your soul be maintained in this truth, that Christ is your life—aye, that Christ is so your life that Christ must die (the thought-;of which is blasphemy) before you can perish! And as He is your life, so is He the object of that life. “The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

As you grow in this knowledge of Him, a joy grows—deeper than that of first conversion. I have known Christ, more or less, between thirty and forty years, and I can say that I have ten thousand times more joy now than I had at first. It is a deeper, calmer, joy. The water rushing down from a hill is beautiful to look at, and makes most noise; but you will find the water that runs in the plain is deeper, calmer, more fructifying.

Observe, they are exhorted with purpose of heart to cleave to the Lord. A distracted heart is the bane of a Christian When my heart is filled with Christ, I have no heart or eye for the trash of the world. If Christ is dwelling in your heart by faith, it will not be the question, What harm is there in this, or that? Rather, Am I doing this for Christ? Can Christ go along with me in this? If you are in communion with Him, you will readily detect what is not of Him. Do not let the world come in and distract your thoughts. I speak especially to you young ones; we who are older have had more experience of what the world is, we know more what it is worth; but it all lies shining before you, endeavoring to attract you. What else does it fill its shop windows for? Its smiles are all deceitful; still it is smiling upon you. It makes many promises it cannot fulfill: still it promises. The fact is, your hearts are too big for the world, it cannot fill them; they are too little for Christ, for He fills heaven; yet will He fill you to overflowing.

Observe again, it is to the Lord they were to cleave: not to duty, or law, or ordinances (though these are good in their places), but to the Lord. He knew how treacherous the heart was, and how soon it would put anything in His place. You will have to learn what is in your heart. Abide with God, and you will learn your heart with Him and under His grace; else you will have to learn it with the devil through his successful temptations. But God is faithful, and if you have been getting away from Him, and other things have been coming in and forming a crust round your heart, and you want to get back again, God says, What is this crust? I must have you deal with it and get rid of it. Remember, Christ bought you with His own blood, that you should be His, and not the world's. The denial of this fact is an artifice of the devil. Do not let the devil come in between you and God's grace. However careless you may have been, however far you may have got away from Him, return to Him: doubt not His joy in having you back; count upon His love; look at the sin which led you away with horror, but do not wrong Him by distrusting His love, any more than you would an affectionate husband or wife, by throwing a doubt on their love if you had been for a moment ungracious. Hate yourself, but remember how He has loved you and will love you to the end. Mistrust not His work: mistrust not His love. “God hath also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life” (ver. 18). All is of God.

I would have you carry away in your minds three things which by grace are given you. First, cleaving to the Lord; second, perfect forgiveness; third, a purged conscience. To illustrate this last, take the case of Peter. He denied his Lord—denied Him to a servant-maid; but the Lord had turned and looked on him, and he had gone out and wept bitterly. A few weeks after this (Acts 3.), he could say that Israel was a lost and ruined people because “ye denied the Holy One and the Just"; the very thing he had done himself, in a worse way, too, for he had been with Him as His friend for three years. But his conscience was purged; he knew he was forgiven; and now he could turn round and fearlessly charge others with the very thing he had done himself.

One word more. Talk with Him. Never be content without being able to walk and talk with Christ as with a dear friend. Be not satisfied with anything short of near intercourse with Him who has loved you with such manner of love! J.N.D.

Lectures on 1 Chronicles 9

1 Chronicles 9-11.

If we reign in life it is by Him and by Him only; and if Israel are ever yet to reap blessing and to be the means of blessing throughout the earth, all depends upon the Messiah. Little did they know that when they rejected Him They never entered into the mind of God; and when Jesus came they were less prepared than ever. Never did God see them in a lower condition. They had been grosser; they had been more offensive in their abominations; but their heart was far from Him. In vain did they worship Him. Hence, therefore, they deliberately preferred man—and man false and guilty and rebellious—to the Lord of glory. “Not this man, but Barabbas.” How utterly, then, all was ruined, ruined morally before the destruction came upon Judah and Jerusalem at the hands of the Romans. It is always so. Outward judgment follows, and is in no way the cause of our misery. The misery is from within, from self, from Satan's power through self.

So it was with Israel, so it is with each; and so, further, are we delivered by one Man outside ourselves, and that one Man the Son of God. All depends upon Him, therefore, for us now, for every day's blessing—not merely for our salvation but for every day's light and guidance. All our mistakes arise because, alas! not Christ governs, but self. All our happiness is found where Christ takes the first place. So it will be with Israel by and by. But this was not understood then. God shows that He understood it all along, and that He revealed it in His word; for this it is that accounts for the Book of Chronicles—the purpose of God. It is all hinging upon His purpose, upon, O His Messiah—His purpose to send His Son to take up that purpose and give it solidity, to make it unfailing.

David, therefore, acting as a type of the Messiah, orders everything anew. The old state of things according to Moses did not abide in its arrangements. The grand principles, of course, are everlasting, but there was a most important difference in the form, and that difference of form was due to the superior glory of the one who was there even as a type. How much more when we remember the antitype, the Lord Jesus. David, therefore, orders an entirely new arrangement in this respect. The priests were divided into courses, and one course was to be always on the spot in Jerusalem. That state of things is not in the least referred to in the Pentateuch. But David not only arranged for a house of God, but houses for the priests. There were many mansions round that central house of God for the priests, and there the priests, each according to their course, lived. The consequence was that they required to have the offerings brought there —to Jerusalem. We can see the reason why. God had been preparing the way even from the beginning, for the offering at that one place that is named—where His name should be placed—that one place that He should choose. Then when the place was chosen and the temple built we can understand all, because these priests could not have subsisted a day unless Israel had, according to the command of God, brought their offerings and their sacrifices and the like. On this they subsisted. Had there been neglect in this respect the priests must have, of necessity, gone back to their own places of residence, and left the altar and the incense, and all the order of the temple, completely neglected.

Accordingly, then, we see the great importance of the change that now took place, and why the genealogies became of such importance, because the Book of Chronicles was written after the captivity, when everything was thrown into disorder. The Jew, disheartened by the destruction that they never would believe till it came, might have thought, 'What is the use of a genealogy? What is the use of caring now about our lands or houses? Everything is ruined. All is gone.' But the man who believed God knew that seventy years would see them returning from their captivity; and therefore care for God and confidence in His word would make them jealously preserve their genealogies in order that, when they did return they might enter upon the allotment of God. For this was what made every homestead in Israel so precious—that it was God that gave it. It was not merely something that man earned by his own labor or skill. It was the gift of God to them.

Therefore if an Israelite was bound up very particularly with his family, it was no mere matter of vanity or pride, as amongst us very often; but in Israel it was bound up with the purpose of God. It was no question of what some rogue had done, so, perhaps, getting his family into favor, as is very often among the Gentiles; but in Israel all was ordered of God. It was God's appointment, and the worthies there were men who were worthy according to God—men who had, by their achievements in faith, won, according to the will of God, a place for Israel; for all their blessings were more or less connected, although all was poor and feeble compared with that which shall be, but still it was a type of what is to be. Hence, therefore, patriotism, a genealogical line, families that held on to the remotest antiquity—these had a divine character in Israel, which they have not in any other country under the sun. Elsewhere it becomes often offensive; indeed, if people only knew the truth, a thing rather to be ashamed of than to be proud of.

But in Israel it was not so. There, although there were sad blots, and blots upon the fairest, still, for all that, there was that which was truly divine, working in the midst of that poor people from the beginning downwards. We can see, therefore, that these genealogies had a character altogether higher than might at first sight appear; and I have no doubt that most of us have read these genealogies thinking it was high time to skip over them. I have no doubt we have often wondered why they were ever written at all, and why they should be in the Bible, though, perhaps, without in the least wishing to disparage what was inspired—for I am supposing now pious people. But I am quite persuaded that very few persons, comparatively, have a clear distinct judgment why God has attached so much importance to these genealogies. One reason why I have dwelt upon it now is this—to give, as I trust, a truer view, a simpler understanding, why the Lord in this wondrous book should give us so much that appears to be little more than a list of names.

Well, when they returned, these genealogies would be of capital importance, and of capital importance for the Israelites in order that they should not usurp—in order that they should not be unjust—in order that they should be content with what God had given to them—in order that they should link themselves with all that was great and glorious in God's sight in the past. These genealogies were of the greatest moment for this. In their weakness they would require every cheer and encouragement.

But, further, they were under responsibility according to their substance, to give to the temple of God—to remember the priests and Levites who had none inheritance among their brethren; and more particularly as the order set up by the king would be restored again—the courses of priests. We find it in the New Testament. We see the birth of John the Baptist under these very circumstances. His father, according to his course—the course of Abia—was at that time doing service at the temple. He had left his house in the country. He was in Jerusalem. Thus the genealogies were of the greatest moment in order to settle justly, and according to the will of God, that which could not be haphazard and of the will of man, but that there should be faith in it, piety in it, an owning of God in it.

These, therefore, seem to be among the grounds—I do not say all the grounds, but among the grounds—why God led some of the Jews to pay such attention to their genealogies. And it is remarkable that at least one tribe, if not two, is left out here. I presume they did not think of it, many individuals in all the tribes may have been careless, but it is a solemn thing to find that, from one cause or another, almost in every case in the Bible where tribes are mentioned one or two are left out. It is the failure of man. No matter what it is, it is the failure of man. If Moses speaks prophetically, Moses also leaves out. This was a sad and solemn sign—the omission of a tribe. The fact is, there will always be these irregularities till Jesus come. There never will be maintained order in this world according to God till the Lord Jesus reigns. But at this time there was peculiar disorder, —the utter break up of the people, of the kingdom, the carrying away into captivity, could well account for this. The genealogies, therefore, are very partial; but they were all reckoned by genealogies. And if a priest could not prove his genealogy he was not allowed, as we know from the Book of Ezra, which is the successor of the Chronicles—the natural sequel of these books. The priests were not allowed to minister at all unless they could prove their genealogy, though they might be ever so truly sons of Aaron.

The fact itself was not enough. There must be the proper register and proof of their genealogy—a thing of very great importance for us, now, I would just observe, to draw spiritual profit from; for now in these days when there is a universal profession of Christianity, we are called upon to prove our genealogies. You see there is no difficulty in bearing the name. The time was when a man confessed Christ to the danger of his life. Now it is a cheap and common thing. Everybody does. All the world (so to speak) is baptized in these lands. Therefore, plainly, in answering to the type of a priest as of a spiritual man, that draws near to God, one must look for more than the mere fact of being baptized. It is not enough, we all, feel that, and without knowing that we are acting upon this very principle: that is, we require the priests to prove their genealogies. By and by when the Lord comes He may discover many a one that we may not have thought of. That does not prove we were wrong. It does show how full of grace He is, and what perfect wisdom. But we must go by what appears. He acts by what is. He is the truth. We are not the truth. We can only judge according to evidence that comes before us.

So in the 9th chapter we have the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is the peculiar feature of what begins here—the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And Benjamin is particularly mentioned with a view to that. But, further, the Levites and the priests are brought before us for the very same reason, and their various offices and work. And last of all, because they had been connected in so special a place—and, indeed, were of Benjamin—the family of Saul once more. These repetitions are very striking in the book. They are not casual: they are all connected with God's purpose, for now the great object is to show the passing away of man's will in order that God's purpose should reign. Man chose Saul for reasons of His own. The children of Israel wished a king like the nations, and they had a king like the nations. This never could satisfy God. God must choose a man after his own heart. Hence, therefore, the first part of the regular history of Chronicles, after the genealogies, is a brief notice of the passing away of the house of Saul in the next chapter.

(To be continued)

Lecture on Esther 1-2

Lecture by the Late W. Kelly

Woolwich, Tuesday Evening, March 18th, 1873

The Book of Esther is one of those few portions here and there of the word of God which are remarkable for the absence of His name. This has often surprised many: the Jews themselves were not able to understand it, and there are many Christians who are not much better; so much so, that it has been the habit, especially in these latter times, for some to treat the book with a certain measure of distrust, as if the absence of the name of the Lord were a just suspicion—as if it could not be of God because God's name was not there. Now, I hope to show that it is a part of the excellence of the book that the name of God is not there; for there are occasions where God veils His glory. There is no occasion where He does not work, but He does not always permit His name to be heard, or His ways to be seen. I shall show that it is precisely what the character of the book requires—that the name of God should not be there; and this, therefore, instead of weakening the claim of Esther to its place in the holy volume, will rather show the perfectness of the ways of God, even in so exceptional a fact as the absence of His name in an entire book.

We must understand, then, what God has in view. And the answer is this: He is here speaking of His ancient people under circumstances where He could not name His name in connection with them as their position was wholly irregular. Properly speaking, in the Book of Esther they have no position at all. We could not say that exactly about those Jews who had gone up from Babylon according to the leave that Cyrus the Persian gave them in fulfilment of the prophets. It is true that, even as to the remnant, God does not call them “my people.” In allowing Nebuchadnezzar to sweep the land of the house of David, and the tribes that still continued faithful to their allegiance, God took away from them their title for a short time, and that title is not yet given back to them. Nevertheless, it is in safe keeping. He means to restore them to the land of their inheritance; but the title-deed, for the time, has disappeared. It is not that it is lost, but reserved. It is kept secretly for them by God. When the day comes for Israel to be brought back God will gradually bring them into their proper place, and into their due relationship, and then will come the days of heaven upon earth. But it was far from being so yet, even with the remnant that went up from Jerusalem. There, as we know, the Book of Ezra shows them centering round the altar of God, and building His house; and the Book of Nehemiah presents' them marking their distinction. Even though they had lost their title, still they had not lost their God. If God would not call them His people, they, at least, would call Him their God. Faith clung to what God was to them when God could not call them His own. Therefore, did they build the walls of Jerusalem that His people might have, even in their feebleness, the sense of their separation' to Himself. This has characterised all their life. It was not merely their religious life, but their whole life. Ezra looks at the religious life: Nehemiah looks at all their life consecrated to Jehovah. But the Book of Esther brings out quite a different view. What became of the Jews that did not go up to Jerusalem? What became of those who were deaf to the leave, or valued not the liberty to go up to the land where God's eyes rested, and where yet He means to exalt His name—His Son the Messiah-as well as the people of His choice, then indeed to be manifestly owned by Him?

The Book of Esther is the answer to that question, and shews us that when God could not own them in any way whatever—and where, too, they were not owning Him publicly—when there was no sign on God's part, nor on the people's part—where the name of God, therefore, is now entirely in the secret—is not named once throughout the book—yet where there is all this, there is seen the hand and working of God secretly in favour of His people, even in the most irregular condition in which they can be found. This is the nature of the book, and this, I believe, is the solution of the difficulty as to the name of God not being once named in it. We shall see abundant confirmation of what I have referred to when we look into the book. I just give, so far, a little intimation of its character in order that we may take heed to it the more, as the various incidents come before us.

We at once plunge into a remarkable feast made by the king Ahasuerus, who, I presume, is the one who is known in profane history as Xerxes. That is a matter of no great consequence—whether it was Xerxes or Artaxerxes. or even another who has been put forward as the true answer to it. We must remember that the title of Ahasuerus was a general one, just as Pharaoh was the general one in Egypt, and Abimelech among the Philistines; that is, there were many Pharaohs and many Abimelechs. So also among the Persians there were several that bore the name of Ahasuerus. Which Ahasuerus is meant is a question, but it is a matter of no importance; if it were, God would have told us—I presume, however, that it was really Xerxes, partly because of the character of the man—a man of prodigious resources, unbounded wealth, immense luxury and vanity—a man, too, of the most arbitrary and capricious character. We shall see this in his conduct towards his wife, we shall see it, too, in his conduct towards the Jew. We shall see, accordingly, the history of a remarkable part of this capricious monarch's reign; for if there was a single Persian king with whom it might have been supposed to go hard with the Jew it was this one. Darius was a great admirer of Cyrus and, consequently a great friend of the Jews. Xerxes was a friend of nobody but himself. He was just simply a man who lived to please himself—to gratify his tastes and passions according to the ample means which the providence of God had placed in his hands, but which he wasted on his own luxury, as, alas! most men do.

Well, he is here shown to us in that epoch of the Persian empire when it consisted, not of 120 provinces only, which was the case when Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian reigned. We find that, in the Book of Daniel there were seven provinces added afterwards through conquest. Xerxes reigned at a time, therefore, when the Persian empire was in the height of its glory and its resources, and he has all the pomp and circumstance of the empire around him—all the grandees and satraps of his vast empire. Under these circumstances it is that he calls for Vashti, who refuses to come. This provoked the capricious and arbitrary monarch. Vashti disobeyed the king. She refused according to the peculiar love of retirement which characterized Persian women. She refused to meet his wishes. He would display her beauty to all the world, and she declined. The consequence was that the king seeks counsel with his nobles, and one of them ventures upon very bold advice, namely the dismission of Vashti. This, accordingly, is the first great step in the providence of God brought before us in the book, and all the remarkable issues follow.

Now, this of itself even, is of the greatest interest; but then there is more than this. The book not only is a book of providence—God's secret providence—when He could not name His name in behalf of His people-in behalf of the Jews in their poor and dispersed condition among the Gentiles; but, further, it is typical of the great dealings of God that are yet to be, because what, mainly does the book open with? This-the great Gentile wife of the great king is discarded, and the singular fact comes that a Jewess takes her place. I can not doubt, myself, that it is what will follow when the Gentile has proved himself disobedient, and has failed in displaying the beauty that should be in the testimony of God before the world. In short, it is what is going on now; that is, at this present time, the Gentile is the one that holds a certain position before God in the earth. The Jew, as you are aware, is not the present witness of God, but the Gentile. The Gentile has utterly failed. According to the language of the 11Th of Romans, the branches of the wild olive—the Gentile—will be broken off, and the Jew will be grafted in again. Well, Vashti is the Gentile wife that is discarded for her disobedience and failure in displaying her beauty before the world. That is what Christendom ought to do. The Gentile, I say will be broken off and dismissed, and the Jew will be brought in. This is what is represented by the call of Esther. She becomes the object of the great king's affections, and displaces Vashti, who is never restored. But I merely give this remark by the way to show the typical connection of the book with the great course of God's counsels in scripture.

Now I return to expound a little the facts that are traced in it as the grand development of secret providence when God's name can not be named. God can work when He can not proclaim Himself, and this is remarkably illustrated in the fact that when the command went forth for the young maidens to be sought for the king for him to take his choice, amongst others “in Shushan the palace there was a certain Jew, whose name was Mordecai, the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjamite; who had been carried away from Jerusalem with the captivity which had been carried away with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried away. And he brought up Hadassah; that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter: for she had neither father nor mother, and the maid was fair and beautiful, whom Mordecai, when her father and mother were dead, took for his own daughter. So it came to pass when the King's commandment and his decree was heard, and when many maidens were gathered together unto Shushan the palace, to the custody of Hegai, that Esther was brought also unto the king's house to the custody of Hegai, keeper of the women. And the maiden pleased him, and she obtained kindness of him” (chap. 2:5-9).

And, in short, when the turn of the different maidens came and, amongst others, Esther's turn, she not only found favor in the eyes of the chamberlain but, still more, in the eyes of the king. “Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign” (ver. 16). I may observe, by the way, that it is a remarkable confirmation these transactions of Ahasuerus belong to the time of Xerxes that it was in the third year of Xerxes's reign, as we know, as history tells us that, he held a grand council of all the grandees of his empire. The political object was his attempt to conquer Greece, and he returned again in the seventh year of his reign—the very same dates that are mentioned in this book of Esther. During that time he was away from his country and was occupied with that vain effort which ended in the most complete destruction of the Persian fleet, and the overthrow of their armies by the comparatively little power of the Greeks. But, however that may be, I merely make the remark by the way as showing the wonderful manner in which God's providence preserves even the dates, and the way in which the facts fit in. That, however, is a small point, but the great matter is this—that the Jewess was preferred to all others. The Jewess is the one who alone will be the bride on earth of the great King. We know who the great King means. I suppose you are all aware that ‘the great King' was the special title of the Persian monarch. Now Scripture uses 'the great King' in reference to the Lord. I cannot doubt, therefore, that there is an intention in this typical manner, even, of speaking of him.

Esther then becomes the bride—the queen of the great king, after the Gentile has been dismissed because of her disobedience, and the king makes a great feast thereon. He sends a release to the provinces, as we know will be the case. When the Jew is taken into favor it will be as life from the dead, whatever may be the mercy of God now, and it is most rich; but, as far as the earth is concerned, it is altogether spoiled by worldliness, by selfishness, by vanity. All these things have destroyed the character of God's Kingdom as far as its witness upon the earth. No doubt God accomplishes His heavenly purpose, but that has nothing to do with this book. The type of heavenly things is not found here. It is only the earth and the earthly aspect of Christendom set aside by the calling in of the Jew by and by. She becomes the permanent bride of the King.

We are here told in the end of the second chapter that not only does Mordecai sit in the King's gate, but he becomes the means of making known to the great king an attempt to take his life. Two of the king's chamberlains, which kept the door, sought to lay their hands upon the great king, but the thing became known. Inquisition was made, and they were both hanged upon a tree. We well know that every offender in that day that is coming will be found out and dealt with immediately. It will no longer be the uncertainty of law. In that day “a King shall reign in righteousness.” There will be a great discovery and punishment of those that lift up their hands against the Lord.

In the third chapter we have a very different scene. “After these things did king Ahasuerus promote Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes that were with him.”

(To be continued)

Studies in Mark 6:21-29: The Death of the Forerunner

6:21-29

“And when a convenient day was come, that Herod on his birthday made a supper to his lords, and the high captains, and the chief men of Galilee; and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and them that sat at meat with him; and the king said unto the damsel, Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee. And he sware unto her, Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me, I will give it thee, unto the half of my kingdom. And she went out and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. And she came in straight Way with haste unto the king and asked, saying, I will that thou forthwith give me in a charger the head of John the Baptist. And the king was exceeding sorry; but for the sake of his oaths, and of them that sat at meat, he would not reject her. And straightway the king sent forth a soldier of his guard, and commanded to bring his head: and he went and beheaded him in the prison, and brought his head in a charger, and gave it to the damsel; and the damsel gave it to her mother. And when his disciples heard thereof, they came and took up his corpse, and laid it in a tomb.” (vi. 21-29, R.V.).

The ways of God with men are altogether removed in their nature and character from human ideas. Though we so frequently forget the truth, it is impossible for us to foretell what the end of a man's career upon the earth will be, even though that man is an honored serve it of God. The common opinion is that the last days of the pious and upright will be days of honorable peace and prosperity.

Such a thought may have given rise to the vain wish of Balaam, that consummate hypocrite, who loved the wages of unrighteousness, when he said, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his” (Num. 23:10). But the prayer of the wicked is declared to be an abomination to the Lord, and certainly the end of Balaam the soothsayer was not peaceful, but violent, for he perished by the sword of the people whom he sought to curse (Num. 31:8).

John, the prophet of righteousness, the harbinger of the Messiah, was an utter contrast to Balaam, yet his end was one to call for serious contemplation. The Lord said of him that he was the burning and shining lamp (John 5:35), He Himself being the true Light come into the world to light every man. Hence it might well have been expected that the Old Testament principle would have been applicable in John's case, and that his earthly testimony would have closed in a climax of brilliance. Was it not said of old that “the path of the righteous is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Prov. 4:18)? And yet the greatest of the prophets appears to end his life in dark disaster, and is put to a violent death. And of this gloomy close he himself seemed to have had some premonition, when he said of his Master, “He must increase, and I must decrease.”

John saw the salvation of God like aged Simeon, and he was, as Simeon was not, the chosen herald of the Lamb of God; yet it was not John's like the venerable father of Israel, to depart in peace—the portion of the perfect and upright man (Psa. 37:37). The crown of martyrdom was for John, not the hoary head, the earthly crown of glory, for he did not live out half his days. He was slain ignominiously by a woman, like Sisera the cursed Canaanite, and like Abimelech, the Murderer of seventy of his brethren. Like Elijah, in whose spirit and power he came, John too was hated by a Jezebel. Elisha saw Elijah disappear in a blaze of transcendent glory, but the disciples of John had to save the bleeding and headless corpse of their master from the vultures and the dogs. The truth explaining the seemingly contradictory facts is that God was not then vindicating the righteous in the earth, as He will yet do (Psa. 58:10, 11).

Thus John the Baptist, the last of the line of the prophets to Israel, was slain by Israel's Edomite king in Galilee. But Jesus, who was pre-eminently the Prophet of Jehovah was crucified at Jerusalem, the city so favored of God. yet notorious for killing the prophets and stoning those who were sent to her (Luke 13:33). Not but what Herod would fain have killed Jesus as well as John; so the Pharisees said (Luke 13:31), and we may well believe it. Only it was to Zion that Messiah offered Himself, and upon her would rest the guilt of His rejection and delivery to the Gentiles for crucifixion.

THE DEED OF DARKNESS

The scriptural narrative touches lightly and without emphatic force of language the tragic particulars of the Baptist's death. The circumstances are eloquent in themselves of the terrible power of sin and Satan over the human heart.

Herod, as seen in the Gospels, was a weak-minded, impressionable man. Thus, the straight talk of the prophet impressed him. The presence of his lords and captains at his feast excited him. The dancing of the daughter of Herodias before him and his guests carried him away in a whirl of exuberant pleasure. Devoid of all self-control, he gave utterance to the most extravagant promises: “Ask of me whatsoever thou wilt, and I will give it thee,” he said, adding no qualifications. And to show that this was not mere Eastern hyperbole, he confirmed his promise with oaths. The man who inherited a fourth of his father's kingdom swore to the damsel, “Whatsoever thou shalt ask of me I will give it thee unto the half of my kingdom.” In such a wild impetuous way do infatuated and inebriated men sometimes speak. So Ahasuerus more than once promised Esther to grant her petition up to the half of his kingdom (Esther 5:3, 6; 7:2), and Herod may have foolishly. thought to emulate the great world-emperor in this boastful pledge.

Receiving such an unlimited promise, the damsel sought advice from her mother, who according to Eastern custom was not present at the banquet. Such consultation was in itself a proper step to take. Alas, that her mother could only counsel her for evil and not for good. It would seem that Herodias had plotted for this issue. She had set a trap for Herod and baited it with her own daughter. Knowing his disposition, she counted upon some such promise from the monarch when well in his cups. And now the “convenient” moment had come. The sweets of revenge being more to her than half Galilee, she instructed her daughter to ask for the head of John the Baptist.

The depraved instincts of Herodias appear also in the daughter, for returning with haste to the king, she delivered the message of her mother, with additions of her own. On comparison of the words of the mother with those of the damsel, it would seem that it was the daughter who desired that the gruesome reward should be handed to her upon a dish in the presence of all the guests. She demanded also that the hideous gift might be made to her immediately, being fearful lest the weak-minded king might repent of his rash vow, and recall his promise. Give it me here, she said with incredible savagery (Matt. 14:8); let me have it at once on a platter. A guardsman was accordingly sent there and then on the errand of execution, and in the presence of the assembly of rank and nobility, the shameless damsel received her chosen reward, and carried the trophy of blood on the dish to her mother as her share of the feast.

David took the head of Goliath, the uncircumcised enemy of Jehovah and His people, to Jerusalem, but that was an act of retributive justice, and a witness to the deliverance of the nation. The repulsive action of Herodias and her daughter was the gratification of their private revenge on John the Baptist because he had condemned Herodias' uncle, Herod, whose wife was still living for having his niece, Herodias, whose husband was also alive.

HEROD SORRY BUT NOT REPENTANT

Herod was a man of extreme but superficial feeling. He heard John gladly, though the prophet denounced the sin of which he was guilty. We also read that he was sorry, “exceeding sorry,” when he discovered to what a cruel outrage he had committed himself. So was the rich young ruler sorry to refuse the call of Jesus, but in neither the king nor the ruler did the sorrow work repentance (Luke 18:23 Cor. 7:8, 10). When Pilate sent Jesus to Herod he was glad, 'exceeding glad,' to see Him (Luke 23:8). But the result of that interview was only to demonstrate the callous ferocity of his nature. Herod “with his soldiers set him at naught and mocked him, arraying him in a gorgeous robe and sending him back to Pilate.” With all his sorrow, Herod slew the servant in Galilee, and with all his gladness he derided the Master at Jerusalem.

“We have in Herod the history of a soul that had his conscience reached by the word of God, but nothing more. We know well that there is such a thing as resisting the Holy Ghost on the part of unconverted men; it is the commonest thing possible where God's word is known, though it is not only resisting the word, but the Spirit of God. Therefore it was that Stephen said, when addressing the Jews, “Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.” The Holy Ghost so far uses the word as to touch the conscience, and whosoever refuses this resists both the word and Spirit of God.

“In Herod's case it was only John's testimony, but it was a mighty one, so far as the conviction of sin was concerned. John the Baptist did not pretend to bring in redemption; his main object was to point to One who was coming. But there was a mighty work produced through him in leading men to the sense that they could not do without the Lord.

“Thus he brought before men that all was ruined in the sight of God, and that, so far from things being prosperous or happy, the ax was lying at the root of the tree, judgment was at the door And so it was, only that, first of all, the judgment that man deserved fell, by grace, upon Christ. That was the unlooked-for form in which Divine judgment took place then—in the cross. It was a most real dealing of God, but it was a judgment for the time stayed from falling upon the guilty, which fell upon the guiltless Son of God, and thereby redemption is accomplished. The whole work of Christ for the church of God has come in during the time of man's—Israel's—being left by the Lord to Himself. It is the time of God's long-suffering, the world being permitted, to follow its own way in the rejection of the Gospel as much as in the crucifixion of Christ. This is what the world is doing now, and is soon to consummate, when judgment will come.

“Thus [in the case of Herod], conscience is shown in a man that felt what was right, and heard the word gladly for a time. But there was no repentance, no submission of his soul to the conviction that for a moment passed before his mind of what was true, just, and of God. The consequence was that circumstances were so managed by the enemy and permitted of God that Herod should evince the worthlessness of natural conscience, even as regards the very person whom he had owned as a prophet. But at any rate all was lost now, and a guilty hour at a banquet, where the desire to gratify one as bad or worse than himself ensnared his weakness and involved his word. There is the end of natural conscience. Herod orders what he would not have conceived it possible for him to do."

THE DISCIPLES OF JOHN

The followers of the Baptist appear to have kept in touch with him during his imprisonment. Thus John sent from the prison two of his disciples to Jesus to ask Him, “Art thou he that should come, or look we for another?” And the messengers carried back to their master the answer of Jesus (Matt. 11).

At the time of John's execution they were near enough to the place of imprisonment to learn quickly the sad fate of their master, and were able to perform for him their last loving office. They took up the poor mutilated remains, and laid them in a tomb. The Lord who buried His servant Moses and took away Elijah provided honorable interment by reverent bands for John the Baptist.

The disappearance of the body being noted by the servants of the king may have given rise to Herod's surmise of John's resurrection when, he heard of the miracles of Jesus.

Moreover, the fact that the disciples of John carried away the body of their master may have given support to the false story circulated by the Jews to explain away the reported resurrection of Jesus (Matt. 28:13). There was no real analogy between the two cases, but the suggestion was plausible enough for those who wished to evade the truth.

From the Gospel of Matthew we learn that these disciples, having buried their master, went and told Jesus (Matt. 14:12). May we not conclude that thenceforth they followed Him of whom John said, “Behold the Lamb of God"?

[W.J.H.]

The Church of God: Part 1

(A Lecture On Acts 2:41, 42)

As I shall have occasion to refer to not a few Scriptures, I merely take these verses as a prefatory notice of the general character and nature of the church of God. But even before these words could be used, another fact still more fundamental has to be observed, on which a few words seem desirable. “There is one body and one Spirit.” These two truths are inseparably bound together. The one body (and the church is the body of Christ) depends on the presence of the Holy Ghost. Hence the great force of that expression, “One Spirit.” It is the one Spirit who forms the one body.

It is by no means true that the Holy Ghost always acts thus; for in the Revelation (chap. 1.) we read of the seven Spirits of God. It is, of course, no question of founding the church then and there. On the contrary, the church was about to disappear from the world. Its decay had set in, and Christ appears as man, walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, not forming now but judging the seven churches. The first assembly is threatened with having its candlestick removed, the last with being spued out of His mouth, when a new state of things follows, where we have no more notice of the church on earth. It is apparent from Scripture that the church is not intended to go on to the end of the world (though it be a common idea that it will; and that through it the whole world is to be converted). Nor is this an unnatural idea, for those who love the church, desire, of course, to see it spread and flourish. But it is well and safe, and due to God, to be guided in our thoughts by Scripture, giving up our own theories, and letting God's word alone govern us. The apostasy and the “man of sin” (2 Thess. 2:3-12) are what the apostle speaks of before the day of the Lord; and the church, so far from converting all the world even to profess Christ, is not then to be on the earth at all. In that day is the great harvest of blessing.

Scripture shows us then, that first the church is caught up to heaven; then the Jews are taken up again in divine mercy, though the apostates are cut off, and the nations get blessing through Israel; when, after a series of judgments, follows the millennium, and after the millennium the eternal state—the great white throne coming in between. During the period when judgments precede Christ's appearing (Rev. 6-19), the church is not seen on the earth, but in heaven, already glorified. Saints, there are to be, here below, both Jews and Gentiles, but distinct from each other and no longer united in one body. This will not be the church of God. For therein is neither Jew nor Gentile, but Christ is all and in all. All such distinctions disappear in Christ's body.

Indeed the object of God in the church may briefly be said to be that there should be a body on earth to reflect the glory of Christ in heaven. And who is sufficient to effect this save the Holy Ghost? Therefore is He sent down from heaven before and in order to what is described, in the verses I have read in Acts 2. And the Lord Jesus is express that the sending of the Spirit could not be till He departed after dying on the cross for our sins as well as to the glory of God. The action of the Spirit of God is not human force, but compelling by the word: suasion, power in conscience and heart, but also new creation, as one must add. Yet it is never power coming in that peremptory way which obliges a man to utter this or that. It may be the case with an evil spirit, never with the Holy Spirit, who does not take him, in whom He acts, out of his responsibility to God. We ought to know how true and important this is; for now we are members of His church, and dependent on grace to carry out according to His word. Not only at the start, but all the way through, is this obligatory on the Christian, with constant self-judgment lest we grieve the Holy Spirit of God.

Man's 'High Church,' of which we hear so much, is low indeed, compared with the church according to the scripture. It is to God's church, as the most vulgar gilt compared with gold tried by fire.

The church, then, is founded on the accomplishment of redemption; on the Savior's taking His place as Head in heaven; and on the descent of the Holy Ghost, to act in this special relation as the One Spirit to the one body; which action will terminate with the church's disappearance from the earth to meet the Lord in the air. Not that there will be no action of the Spirit of God after that; for as the Holy Spirit had always wrought with regard to man on the earth, so this will never cease so long as man is here below. But now it is the Holy Ghost giving one uniform character to the most diversified ingredients ever called into unity. “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” (1 Cor. 12:13). Nothing like this could have been true of old; nor will it be so in the millennium. In Israel there were the displays of the varied perfections of God; but with that particular nation there was no blending of Gentiles, no forming of one body, but the strictest separation in obedience to God's law.

Doubtless there were no nations as such before the flood; if we go farther back, there was a fallen race, and certain individuals who loved the Lord looked for the Seed of the woman to bruise the serpent, and waited for His coming, as Enoch even prophesied of it. After the flood, God chose a particular man to be the depository and root of promise. To Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed. Look at the seed either in a natural or in a spiritual sense, and there is nothing in this which reveals or even involves the truth of the one body. I know some who cite for this, Psa. 139, “In thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them"; and Isa. 26, “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise,” as bringing it in; but to my mind there is not a notion of it in either passage. God takes pleasure in man's body even now, as He also means it to be very different from what it is. But the church was never a dead body at all, and never will be. The application of the phrase “dead body,” to the church, is merely a proof of man's perverse ignorance. It is really ruined Israel that is meant, as the context proves. Of all bodies the church is most of all the one living body as baptised by the one Spirit.

But the solemn fact which the New Testament opens before it, is, without disguise—the total failure of all—be he Jew or Gentile; of which the simple and full proof is the rejection of the Son of God. Everything was buried in His grave; all the hopes of man were laid there for the time; and, therefore, the gospel that went out after the cross takes the ground that man is wholly lost. Doubtless, people do not like this, and those who do not, need it most; for though they may be always striving, they can never find rest or peace; and, therefore, it is given up in popular theology that every believer is entitled to enjoy certainty of salvation or abiding peace. No doubt there is a testimony which God in His grace keeps up; but this is independent of Christendom, and opposed by most. The testimony may be kept up here or there, even irregularly by a woman; and there could not be a greater condemnation of Christendom's vaunted order than that God's power and blessing should accompany such irregular preaching. Still more that there should be a greater amount of truth in this eccentric work than is found in the accredited teachers and guides. And whence was that truth got? From what it most of all feared, as well as disliked. I do not speak of conversion only, but of Christ better known; for if there be not a deeper knowledge of Christ, it is vain to speak about the church.

Now, the truth shows us Christ totally rejected by man, and further, forsaken of God on the cross; but on that very cross, where man, and Israel, and Satan did their worst, there even God Himself, in judging sin, seemed to do worst of all to Christi: if it were not a ground for atonement. But a work was done which laid the basis for God to dwell with men, making us His house and temple, as the Scriptures affirm. For this purpose Christ had come, to prove to the uttermost what man was in his sin, and what God is in His grace, delivering the believer according to His own perfection. For there is this ground-work for the gospel: the Son of God coming down in love to suffer for sin under God's judgment; and the Son of man glorified at the right hand of God, as having obtained the victory in righteousness. How blessed is the resulting message which God is now sending out!

There is indeed, much more in the gospel than forgiveness proclaimed. The nature is judged, the old man annulled; the believer has the comfort of counting himself dead to sin, but also the responsibility of walking accordingly. But how grievous to see that the evangelical mind has never recognized death to sin, and therefore has never known how to use the apostle's answer when branded by his antagonists with a tolerance of sin! Doubtless, this is false; but evangelical testimony is imperfect, falling immensely short of the gospel. They do not understand the privilege of the Christian that he has died with Christ to sin. Of course, those that hold it are called Antinomian! But if you affirm that Christ died for your sins, and do not hold yourself dead to sin, you must be at a loss to stand firm and clear; because, taking the ground of law as the rule of life, too often you are sinning, then making excuses for it, and thereon recurring to Christ for forgiveness. Is not this too much like practical Antinomianism? Is it not the teaching of Paul?

The truth is, that besides being washed from his sins at the start, the believer is dead with Christ to sin that he should not allow evil in any of his ways. Nor is there real power against sin practically, until we take our stand on the ground that we are thus dead, and alive in Christ to God. It is all-important, not to Christians only, but to Christ's glory and His work. And not merely is the Christian brought into this place of being dead to sin and alive in Christ Jesus, but the Holy Ghost can and does dwell in those who are washed from their sins in Christ's blood; and, further, He imprints unity on all who are thus resting on Christ and His work.

Do any, to weaken all this, point to Abraham and the Old Testament saints as being in the same position? Such men do not know what it is to be Christians; I do not say they are not: but they do not know their own place and privileges. It is like a member of the royal family through some strange incongruity ignorant of his own lineage, and therefore in no way taking the relationship or acting accordingly. Such is the state of believers who deny the privileges of the Christian and of the church of God.

The Holy Ghost came down in a marked manner at Pentecost. “A rushing mighty wind shows the permeating force of the Spirit of God. There was not one tongue merely, but cloven tongues. The message is going out to Jew and Gentile, though there be but one Spirit. As long as our Lord was here below, no such thing was possible. There was no unity, any more than action toward the Gentiles. There were those that followed Him, but no binding in one. The Lord prepared them for what was to follow. “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things,” etc. Union is by the Spirit given or sent, not merely by the faith He works in the soul.

[W.K.]

(To be continued)

The Way of a Christian's Power: Part 1

2 Corinthians 12

This chapter presents to us, in a remarkable manner, the way in which the power comes whereby a Christian can walk through this world. It is not merely now a path in which he can walk, but the way by which he may have strength to walk in it, and what the perfect work of God is, in order to his walking in this path. Here we see the two extremes of what a Christian can rise to and into what he can fall.

In the beginning of the chapter a man was caught up to the third heaven; he was in the highest extreme of spiritual blessedness. Such blessedness indeed he had been conscious of, that it was not suited to speak of when he got back into his natural state. No doubt his faith was strengthened by it for his work, but he could not speak of such things. Now there is the highest state of spirituality which you can suppose, and yet it is that which is true for us all. No doubt it was brought home to the apostle in a special manner, but the thing he so realized is true of us. Then, at the close of the chapter, is seen the other extreme, namely, the terrible state into which a saint can get. We read of envyings, wraths, strifes, uncleanness, fornication, etc. So bad indeed was their state that the apostle could not even go to Corinth. It was such a corrupt place that it had even passed into a proverb among the ancients; and it was found true even of the saints there, that “evil communications corrupt good manners.” Hence the apostle says, “I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would, and that I shall be found unto you such as ye would not.” At first he would not go back to them, but now his first letter had wrought upon the minds of the Corinthians, and they had put out the man who had committed the dreadful evil. Titus too had been to them, and had come back and had told him of their repentance and mourning and their fervent desire towards him, so that his heart was comforted.

Still they were in a very difficult position, and great snares were around them, for he says here, “I fear lest there be debates, envyings, wraths, strifes,” etc. There had even been such fornication among them as was not so much as named among the Gentiles. True they had received the apostle's reproof, and the man was put out; but they were so used to it, to see evil everywhere around them, that they did not feel it. It is different with us; for we have been brought up to feel and judge everything by a sort of moral light that has been in the world since Christianity has been professed. But they had been always accustomed to uncleanness; they had corrected things in the main; but still the apostle was trembling about them. “I fear lest when I come... I shall be found unto you such as ye would not.” I shall be found very severe with you: I may come with a rod. He trembled lest he should be forced to exercise this kind of severity towards those who had not repented.

We get, then, the extreme in the beginning of the chapter, to which a Christian can go in spirituality, and in the end of it the extreme to which he can go in the flesh. Such is the awfulness of the evil that remains in us even as Christians, and, on the other hand, the blessedness to which, a man can be carried in spiritual enjoyment. Of course, it is not every one goes up into the third heaven, but, on the one band, all have the blessedness of a man in Christ, and, on the other, the incorrigible wickedness of the flesh—I do not say of a man in the flesh, for this is not a Christian state at all. We see what the place of a Christian is, looked at in his privileges, and then what he is, looked at in his path down here; and how it is that a person, with the possibility of all this infirmity if he is not walking watchfully—how it is that he can walk according to his privileges. Because here we are in a world of temptation and evil, and we have got the flesh, which the devil is always seeking to draw us aside by. And how is a person, walking in the midst of temptation, with the flesh there and the devil too, to walk according to this heavenly condition in which he has been put?

The first thing is to know what the privilege is. The apostle was made to enjoy it in an extraordinary manner; but the place which he gives to himself is one which, in principle, belongs to every Christian. The title that took Paul to the third heaven takes all there. We do not realize it now to the extent that he did; but still that title gives us our place there. We are come to God in glory now; that is the place that is given to us. And therefore he says, I do not talk about Paul— “I know a man in Christ.” I do not get a man in the flesh, but a man in Christ. That is where the Spirit of God sets a Christian. It is the place of every believer. They may have great exercises of heart before getting there; but where He sets them is not in the flesh but in Christ. This is not the flesh, it is the glory at the right hand, of God. A man in the flesh cannot be there.

Where the apostle says, “When we were in the flesh,” he means that we are so no longer; it is a past thing. If I say, When I was in Bristol I did so and so, it means that I am not there now. In that way it is he says, “When we were in the flesh.” He had had the commandment, and might assent to it that it was good, but he could not get power through it. It was not with him then, rejoicing in the Lord always and saying, “Of such an one will I glory.” But there was his very being, his nature, his walk, all opposed to God; and the consciousness he had of himself and his flesh was this, “I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.” That is what he got the consciousness of before God.

Supposing the man was desiring to do the right thing, but did not do it—rather did what was the contrary—he had the consciousness that this was what he was before God. In Rom. 7 he was walking in sin and death in the first Adam, and he had to answer for it. In chapter 8 he says another thing, “Ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit.” There we have the man in Christ, and, “There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” There is the not walking after the flesh, but after the Spirit, that will be seen. But where is now the power for it? “What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” Mark, that where he is under the law, and has got these holy desires, that which the new nature always must desire, he sees that the law is right, he consents to the law that it is good, but he also finds another law in his members, bringing him into captivity to the law of sin. He sees that it is of no use. How can I stand before God? I wish the right thing and do the wrong thing. Am I not answerable to God? And how can I answer to Him if I am always doing the thing that is wrong?

All through this part of Rom. 7, mark, he does not speak of Christ but of a man in the flesh. It was not that there were not new desires, but he did not do them; and there he was, a responsible man, having to answer for his own condition before God; and he says, My condition is all wrong, “O wretched man that I am” etc. This was true, but what was he speaking of, all the time? The law. “We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.” It was not merely that the law judged any gross misconduct, but it required from him what he ought to be, quickening his desire and wish to be it, and yet he was not it. “I consent to the law that it is good.” He has got to do with law.

Again, what does he delight in? “I delight in the law of God after the inward man.” I have got a desire after what is right, but I have not got a Savior. I have got a law, and what does the law say? You must love God with all your heart. But I do not do that. Then you are lost—it requires from me what I ought to be, but what I am not. It requires from a man that he should not covet; that he should love God with all his heart, and soul, and might, and his neighbor as himself.

But who is the man from whom that is required? Why, it is a man, in the flesh, with all the lusts of the flesh constantly dragging him into evil. The law requires from a man that is a sinner that he should not be a sinner. It is just that. If I then, as a responsible being am under law, what can it do? Why, condemn me—righteously condemn me. It could not do anything else but condemn me. It comes and requires from me when I am a sinner to be what, as a sinner, I cannot be; and therefore a man in the flesh, if the law of God comes, is condemned. It must condemn him because the heart is so thoroughly corrupt and bad, that the very fact of a command being given only brings out the evil that is there. We know it by experience in our own hearts. If there were anything upon this table, and I were to say, Nobody is to know what is there, at once everybody would be longing to know what it was. This is just human nature; it is not the fault of the law at all.

Supposing you have children: they may have no particular desire to go out of the house, but if you tell them not to go and put a barrier to hinder them, then comes a child that wants to go out, and if it finds the barrier there, it will push all the harder against it to get out. The law says I must have obedience; but I have a disobedient will. The law says, I must not have a lust; but the lust is there, and therefore the law says, “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” and the law of God is righteous of course in saying that. But in all this I do not got a word about Christ. I get the claims of God over man, looked at as responsible, as a child of Adam, when he is in his sins, and calling upon him for no sins.

The effect of this is altogether condemning—I cannot get rid of it. It is not merely that I give way to certain evil things again and again; but the tree is bad—the will is wrong. Now, this is just the contrast of what we find in Christ, When Christ comes, He says, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.” And so it is with the saint in his measure. But the law being there, and the lust being there, the effect of a claim upon him is morally to bring the consciousness that, looked at in the flesh, he is a sinner in the sight of God. It shows him his real condition, but does not take him out of it, and therefore he cries out, “O wretched man that I am!” etc. He had been striving to be better, and the only result was, that he gets this experience of himself by God giving him the law, which is the standard of what he ought to be.

Then he says another thing, “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” He is looking now, not at how he, as in the flesh should be better, but that another should come and take the matter up for him and go through it all. This is where the soul is brought when it is converted—when it discovers itself to be not merely a sinner but without strength. I now get the consciousness of the weakness that sin has produced in my flesh, and I say somebody must take up the work for me; I cannot do it myself. I have the consciousness of what sin has made me in the presence of God, and I cannot get rid of that condition. “Who shall deliver me?”

Mark the answer. He says, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” It is all settled.

He is thanking God already. Why so? Because “what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh” (the law was all right; but “what the law could not do") “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” There I get God doing the whole thing. What the law could not do, because of this principle of sin that is in me God sending His Son has done. Supposing I were to say to my child, You love me, and if you do not, I will whip you. Do you think it would make my child love me? Certainly not. I should not get a bit of love from him. So with the law. The law says, Love God, but this never produces love. Commandment never produces love, or changes the nature that does not love. What then can do it? “We love Him because He first loved us.”

The law tells me that God is a righteous Judge. It tells me what I ought to be; but what does it tell me that God is, except that He will not have unrighteousness? It tells me that I am to love God, but does it tell me what the God Is that I am to love? It says nothing about it. It says you are to love Him, and if you do not you will be punished. But it tells me nothing of what He is, that I must love Him,

But what does the gospel tell me? It tells me, You have not loved God, but God has been loving you all the time. Now, that is the starting-point for the soul. God has loved me when I did not love Him. It is true that we get new thoughts and desires; but when I am simple, the effect is, that my conscience, getting into the light, sees and judges all my sins in the light; but I find that this love of God, having sent Christ, and Christ coming in the same love, God does not say, I will help you to love Me, but He says I will love you; you cannot get rid of that sin in the flesh, but I will love you. “What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son... for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” Where did He condemn it? In the cross. Now, then, I am pardoned. Now I am free. I see the love of God, that when I had got into this terrible condition of death in sin, in the flesh, Christ has been there and has condemned it.

The sentence of God has been put upon it, and it is done. And that is why, looking at Christ, he can say, “I thank God, through Jesus Christ.” When he has seen what a man is, looked at as responsible to God under the law, he says, “O wretched man that I am” But then he sees that Christ has been here, and done it all for him, and he can say, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The man now is not standing as himself, a sinner responsible to God, because he has owned himself entirely lost in that state: and now what he has learned is this, that God has sent His Son, and has condemned sin in the flesh. Therefore there is no condemnation. God has condemned it already, and thus he comes to be—not a man in the flesh, but—a man in Christ. That is what we get in chapter 8. He is looked at as in Christ; he has got Christ as his life in the presence of God; no longer as in the flesh but in the Spirit. Now he can say, I am in Christ.

The second man, the last Adam, after having put away my sins on the cross, and having risen again, communicates this life to me. It is the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us. I have seen this life; I have looked at Christ walking through this world, and there I see what love, what blessing was in all His ways; what tenderness, what patience with His disciples. There I say, that is eternal life, the life of God, and it has been manifested to me. In chapter 2 of his Epistle, John says, “Which thing is true in Him and in you.” And now my standing in the presence of God is not in the old wretched flesh, but I am a man in Christ, because Christ is my life. This is the place in which we are set. Christ is my new life, and I am in Christ in the presence of God. [J.N.D.]

(To be continued)

Lectures on 1 Chronicles 10-12

“Now the Philistines fought against Israel; and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. And the Philistines followed hard after Saul, and after his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him, and he was wounded of the archers” (chap. 10.). And then we find his death and his armor-bearer's death “So Saul died, and his three sons, and all his house died together.” This is the introduction to the book of Chronicles.

The consequence was that all the men of Israel fled. Their hope was gone. But God was able to bring in the dawn of a better day; and although the Philistines triumphed, and Saul was stripped, and his head was taken, and his armor, and sent to the land of the Philistines, carrying tidings to their idols and to the people; and although they put his armor in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the temple of Dagon, and it seemed as if they had entirely their own way, yet the triumph of the wicked is for a very brief season. There were those who had sufficient respect for Saul to arise—certain valiant men of Jabesh-Gilead. “They arose, all the valiant men, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.” It was a noble act, and acceptable to God, and yet it was not but what Saul was an offense to God.

This is beautiful, this is grace, that God should specially single out the deed of these men, even for a king with whom he was so deeply offended. How little we enter into the mind of God! Very likely we should have thought the men of Jabesh Gilead were very foolish. Why should they meddle? No doubt there was many a follower of David that would have blamed the men of Jabesh-Gilead. David did not. David understood the mind of God; and David is nowhere more noble than when he pours out his lament over not only Jonathan but Saul. Indeed, it was what he had lived in, for if Saul envied and hated David, never did David so feel towards king Saul. “So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against Jehovah, even against the word of Jehovah, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it.”

There was both the disobedience of God's word and the seeking of the word that was not of God but of the devil. “And inquired not of Jehovah: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.” But all the intervening circumstances are left out. It is the purpose of God that is the point here—not history, not responsibility, but purpose, divine purpose. This is the key to the difference between Kings and Chronicles.

“Then all Israel gathered themselves to David unto Hebron, saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. And moreover in time past, even when Saul was king, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel: and Jehovah thy God said unto thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be ruler over my people Israel. Therefore came all the elders of Israel to the king to Hebron; and David made a covenant with them in Hebron before Jehovah; and they anointed David king over, Israel, according to the word of Jehovah by Samuel” (chap. 10.). But further, David and all Israel went to Jerusalem—another grand point of the book. “And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus; where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. And the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, Thou shalt not come hither.” That is, they defied him. “Nevertheless David took the castle of Zion, which is the city of David.”

He had offered it as a great prize that whosoever took that stronghold should be captain of the host.

It is remarkable that Joab steps forward—not Abishai, not anyone of those most honorable three, not Eleazar or Jashobeam, or any of the others—the thirty, those worthies that were with him in the cave. None of them, but Joab. Joab was not among them. The truth is Joab was an ambitious man. He did not care to expose his person more than was necessary, but when there was anything to be got, Joab was the man. Joab was ready for action then, not to suffer but to gain. Joab therefore goes forward and takes the stronghold, and becomes chief. So it will always be till the true David comes. There will be no Joabs then. His people shall be all righteous; but till then every type has its failure, and it is a very important thing in scripture to see first that which is natural—afterward that which is spiritual. It is the purpose of God, but it is the purpose of God in David, and not in Christ. It is the purpose of God in one that looked for Christ, loved Christ, waited for Christ, but nevertheless was not Christ. When Christ comes all will be according to the mind of God. “So Joab the son of Zeruiah went first up, and was chief. And David dwelt in the castle; therefore they called it the city of David. And he built the city round about, even from Millo round about: and Joab repaired the rest of the city. So David waxed greater and greater: for Jehovah of hosts was with him.”

Then follow the true worthies of David, the true warriors, not for what was to be got, but for David.

And these are most minutely brought before us to the end of the chapter, not only their great deeds in cutting down the enemy, but their intense love for David. Hence the Spirit of God tells the tale of how “David was in the hold, and the Philistines' garrison was then at Bethlehem. And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, that is at the gate!” He knew his native place, and longed after the water that he had, no doubt, often drunk. He uttered this without a thought of anything further; but these three men “brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David.”

This was beautiful. It was no purpose of war. It was entirely outside the expedition. It was love. But David's act was more beautiful. “But David would not drink of it, but poured it out to Jehovah, and said, My God forbid it me, that I should do this thing; shall I drink the blood of these men that have put their lives in jeopardy? for with the jeopardy of their lives they brought it. Therefore he would not drink it. These things did these three mightiest.” There are others however—not, it is true, among the three mightiest, but who were most honorable. God loves to mention what is an honor to His people, and hence, therefore, after each of their names we find a record of their deeds. The Lord will do this and more for those who now and ever have lived and suffered for the name of the Lord. This then introduces to us David with his citadel Zion, and his warrior band.

In the 12Th chapter we have another account, deeply interesting—not those that had been the companions so signal for their mighty deeds, but those that gathered round him. First of all, “These are they that came to David to Ziklag,” that is, just before the close of all, when the kingdom was upon the point of turning. And a very beautiful thing it is to see that when God is about to work anything special on the earth, —He knows how to give the secret of it to His people., There was a providential working on God's part, but there was a spiritual working in the hearts of His people.

It is the very same thing now in the consciousness that the kingdom of the Lord is at hand, in the deeper feeling of it, in the way in which it affects souls, far beyond anything that was ever known; not excitement, not people merely in a panic because the end is at hand, or persons fixing a date, to be disappointed and perhaps give up their faith; but persons who calmly rest upon His word. Perhaps they could not particularly say why, but this they know, that, whereas they did not attach any importance to the Scriptures that speak of His coming, now they do. This is not without the Spirit of God. So with the men of Israel. There was a movement of heart even while Saul was still alive. There was a rush to David after Saul was dead; but I do not speak of that. That is a very different and a lower thing altogether. But the movement of heart to gather the men of Israel to David in sympathy, before it could be a matter of external allegiance, is a matter much to be noted. These then are described.

“Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish; and they were among the mighty men, helpers of the war. They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow, even of Saul's brethren of Benjamin” (chap. 12). The first men that are named were the very last that man would have expected—the men of Benjamin. It is not that there were so many. They were slow afterward. Even when David came to the throne the men of Benjamin still hung on to the house of Saul. They were slow as a whole, as a tribe, but God showed His sovereignty and His gracious purpose by calling “of Saul's brethren,” from out of that very tribe, and who are the very first that He names as “of Benjamin.” Thus we must never be disheartened, we must never suppose that any circumstances can hinder the way of God. God will bring out to the name of the Lord Jesus in the very last spot that you expect. We must leave room for the power of the word of God, and also, above all, for His own grace, His own magnifying of Himself and His call. The men of Benjamin are the first, then, that are named as having joined themselves to David. “The chief was Ahiezer, then Joash, the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite.”

Then further we find Gadites. “And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David into the hold to the wilderness men of might, and, men of war fit for the battle, that could handle shield and buckler, whose faces were like, the faces of lions, and were as swift as the roes upon the mountains..... These are they that went over Jordan in the first month, when it had overflown all his banks.” It was even more difficult then than at any other time. “And they put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward the east, and toward the west. And there came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the hold unto David. And David went out to meet them, and answered and said unto them, If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you; but if ye be come to betray me to mine enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine bands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it. Then the spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse; peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee. Then David, received them, and made them captains of the band.” Then we find of Manasseh also they helped David, “for at that time,” we are told, “day by day there came to David to help him.”

But from the 23rd verse we have another. The crisis was come; Saul was gone. “And these are the numbers of the bands that were ready armed to the war, and came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of Jehovah.” Now it was not so much the anticipation of faith; it was the manifest following of the word of the Lord. Saul was gone. There was no question that ought to have exercised a heart. And we find, singular to say, “The children of Judah that bare shield and spear were six thousand and eight hundred.” One of the greatest of the tribes, taken all and all, the greatest tribe of the twelve, the very one, too, that David belonged to; yet there were only “six thousand and eight hundred ready armed to the war.” “Not by might nor by power.” How different where man is in question. Take the false prophet of Mecca. Who were those that were his first band? His own family. Take any that are false; it is their own friends, their own companions, some tie of flesh and blood. But with David the first band, we are taught, were those who were most opposed; and, further, the least comparatively in numbers were those that were of his own kith and kin—only six thousand eight hundred; and when you come to look at the others, you will find it is more remarkable. Why even of Simeon, a tribe not to be named with Judah, there were “mighty men of valor for the war seven thousand and one hundred.” “Of the children of Levi,” although they were properly outside such work, and were more connected with the service of the temple, “four thousand and six hundred. And Jehoiada was the leader of the Aaronites.” Even they, you see, felt the all-importance of this that was at hand. “And with him were three thousand and seven hundred,” so that between the two there were more evidently. “And Zadok, a young man mighty of valor, and of his father's house twenty and two captains. And of the children of Benjamin, the kindred of Saul, three thousand; for hitherto the greatest part of them had kept the ward of the house of Saul"; that accounts for the smallness of number there.

But there is no account given of Judah; it is simply left out. The fact is that God would not have his king trust to links of flesh and blood. “And of the children of Ephraim twenty thousand and eight hundred, mighty men of valor, famous throughout the house of their fathers. And of the half tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand, which were expressed by name, to come and make David king. And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do” a great change in Issachar. In the prophecy of Jacob he was merely “an ass couching down between two burdens,” but now the men of Issachar had profited. They were men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. “The heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.” Of Zebulun, comparatively unimportant tribe in Israel, there were no less than fifty thousand “such as went forth to battle, expert in war, with all instruments of war.... which could keep rank. They were not of double heart.” And of Naphtali a thousand captains, and with them with shield and spear thirty and seven thousand. And of the Danites expert in war twenty and eight thousand and six hundred. And of Asher, such as went forth to battle, expert in war, forty thousand. And on the other side of Jordan, of the Reubenites and the Gadites, and of the half tribe of Manasseh, with all manner of instruments of war for the battle, an hundred and twenty thousand.”

It is very evident that, excepting Benjamin, which, for the reason that is stated, was altogether exceptional and who held fast in the greater part to the house. of Saul. Judah stands extremely short in all this list. So it was that God would not permit that the king of his purpose should be beholden to the strength of man or the ties of nature. But whatever might be the shortcoming here and there, and the differences among them, “All these men of war, that could keep rank, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel; and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king.” That is, it was not a divided heart. It was set upon God's purpose; and not only those who were there, but those who through circumstances were absent. “And there they were with David three days, eating and drinking; for their brethren had prepared for them.” And so the scene of festivity and joy is brought before us. There was joy in Israel.

[W.K.]

(To be continued)

Lecture on Esther 3-6

It is only a type—it is only a shadow, and not the very image. In the millennial day there will be no Haman. Till that day come, whatever may be the vivid picture of coming blessing, there is always a dark shadow. There is an enemy; there is one that tries to frustrate all the plans of God: and, of all the races of the earth, there was one that was particularly hostile to God's people of old—the Amalekites—so much so that. Jehovah swore and called upon His people to carry on perpetual war against that race. He would blot them out from under heaven. The Amalekites were the peculiar object of God's most righteous judgment, because of their hatred of His people. Now this Haman belonged not only to Amalek, but even to the royal family of Amalek. He was a descendant of Hammedatha the Agagite, as it is said, and Ahasuerus advances this noble to the very highest place. But in the midst of all his thick honors there was one thorn! Mordecai bowed not. The consequence was that Mordecai became an object of reproach. The king's servants asked him, “Why transgressest thou the king's commandment” And after this went on for a time Haman hears of it. “He told them that he was a Jew.”

There was the secret. God does not appear. There is no intimation in this history that God had spoken about him. Yet here was the secret reason; but the only public reason that appears is that Mordecai was a Jew. “And when Haman saw that Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence, then was Haman full of wrath. And he thought scorn to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had showed him the people of Mordecai; wherefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai” (3:5, 6); and Haman accomplishes it in this manner. He reports to the king, as being the principal noble in favor, that there was “a certain people scattered abroad among the peoples in all the provinces... their laws are diverse from all people, neither keep they the king's laws; therefore, it is not for the king's profit to suffer them. If it please the king, let it be written that they may be destroyed; and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver to the hands of those that have the charge of the business, to bring it into the king's treasures.” (vers. 8, g).

The king, according to the character I have already described, made very small difficulty of this tremendous request of Haman. He took his ring from his hand, he gave it to Haman, and told him to keep his silver. He sent out the scribes to carry out this request, to that the posts went throughout all the king's provinces. The Persians, you know, were the first originators of the postal system that we have continued to this day. “Letters were sent by posts into all the king's provinces, to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, in one day, even upon the thirteenth day of the twelfth month.” The king and his minister sat down to drink, but the city of Shushan was perplexed.

Well might there be a great cry going forth from the Jew. Their doom was sealed. So it appeared. The more so as it was always one of the maxims of the Persian empire that a law once passed was never revoked— “according to the law of the Medes and Persians that altereth not.” Nothing then, it might appear, could possibly have saved the people. The master of 127 provinces had given his royal word, signed with his seal, and sent it out by posts throughout the whole length and breadth of the empire. The day was fixed; the people named. Destruction seemed to be certain; but Mordecai rends his clothes and puts on sackcloth, and goes into the midst of the city, and cries with a loud and bitter cry (4:1), and if God's name is not written and does not appear, God's ears, none the less, heard. Mordecai came unto the king's gate, for none might enter into the gate clothed with sackcloth. He came before it, not within it, and Esther heard. They told her, and the queen was exceeding grieved, little knowing the cause of the grief. And Esther sends, through one of the chamberlains, and Mordecai tells him of all that had happened unto him, and of what Haman had promised to pay, and the destruction that was impending over the Jew.

Esther upon this, we are told, gives Hatach commandment to Mordecai telling him the hopelessness of the case. The object was that she might go and make supplication to the king. But how? It was one of the laws of the Persian empire that nobody could go into the king's presence. The king must send, and the king had not sent for the queen for thirty days. It was against the law to venture there. Accordingly Mordecai sends her a most distinct but severe message. “Think not with thyself,” said he, “that thou shalt escape in the kings house more than all the Jews. For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place.” Not a word about God. He is hidden. He means God, but so perfectly is there a preserving of the secrecy of God that he only vaguely alludes to it in this remarkable manner— “Then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place;” —for God would look down from heaven; but Mordecai only speaks of the place and not of the person— “but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

Esther, accordingly, is brought to a due sense of the situation. She enters perfectly into Mordecai's feeling for the people and his confidence of the enlargement that would come from another place. So she bids Mordecai “Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast, ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day.” She also, as she says, will do this. “I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king.” Not a word about the perfumes now. Not a word about the sweet odours to prepare herself for the presence of the king. To that she had submitted; it was the king's order; but now, although she does not mention God, it is evident where her heart is. She goes with this most singular preparation, but an admirable one at such a time—fasting—a great sign of humiliation before God; yet, even, here, God is not named. You cannot doubt that God is above, and that God is behind, the scenes; but all that appears is merely the fasting of man and not the God before whom the fasting was. “And if I perish, I perish.” Her mind was made up.

Accordingly, on the third day (chap. 5.), Esther put on her royal apparel, “and stood in the inner court of the king's house, over against the king's house, and the king sat upon his royal throne in the royal house, over against the gate of the house. And it was so, when the king saw Esther the, queen standing in the court, that she obtained favor in his sight; and the king held out to. Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand,” for faith was great in the goodness of God. All that appears is merely man, yet the unseen hand was there. This she looked for, and this she found. “So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the scepter. Then said the king unto her, what wilt thou, queen Esther? and what is thy request? it shall be even given thee to the half of the kingdom.”

So Esther answers, “If it seem good unto the king, let the king and Haman come this day unto the banquet that I have prepared for him.” God gave her wisdom. She does not at once bring out what was so heavy a burden on her heart. “He that believeth shall not make haste.” The unseen God who was the object of her trust enabled her soul to wait. She asks not only for the king to the banquet, but the king and Haman. How constantly this is the case. So with the Lord when He gives Judas the sop even before that terrible betrayal which leads to the cross. Little did Haman know what the God who did not appear was preparing for him. And at the banquet the king again returns to the question, for he right well knew that there was something more than the banquet in the mind of queen Esther. “What is thy petition and it shall be granted thee. What is thy request? Even to the half of the kingdom it shall be performed.”

Again the queen asks that she may have their company at another banquet. “And I will do tomorrow as the king hath said.” So Haman goes forth that day “joyful and with a glad heart,” but when he sees Mordecai the Jew and that he did not stand up or move for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman refrained himself. When he goes home to his wife and his friends, and tells them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king, he names as the crown of all the special honor paid, in queen Esther's inviting him to a banquet where none came but the king himself. “And to-morrow” says he, “Am I invited unto her, with the king also. Yet all this availeth me nothing” —such was the bitterness of his heart and hatred— “so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.” So the wife with the weakness that belongs to her nature suggested that a gallows should be made for this wicked Mordecai. “Let a gallows be made of fifty cubits high, and to-morrow speak thou unto the king that Mordecai may be hanged thereon; then go thou in merrily with the king unto the banquet.” The thing pleased Haman well, and it was done.

But the unseen God was at work that night. The king could not sleep (chap. 6.), else there had been a bitter feast for Esther before the feast with the king. “On that night the king could not sleep.” He asked for the record of the kingdom. The providence of God was at work. It was found written that Mordecai had told of the treacherous chamberlains, and the king asks, “What honor and dignity hath been done to Mordecai?” “Nothing,” said the servants. At that very moment Haman comes to the court. He wanted to see the king, to ask for Mordecai's life. Little did he know what was in the king's heart. He is ushered into the presence of the king, at his request, and the king, full of what was in his own heart, was providentially led to ask, what he was to do for one that he wished to honor. “What shall be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor?”

Haman had no thought of any one but himself. Thus he was caught in his own snare. He asked with no stint. He suggested to the king the highest honors—honors higher than ever had been given to a subject before. “For the man whom the king delighteth to honor, let the royal apparel be brought which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head; and let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that they may array the man, withal whom the king delighteth to honor, and bring him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor” (vers. 7-9). So the king at once says to Haman, “Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sitteth at the king's gate; let nothing fail of all that thou hast spoken.”

Oh, what a downfall! What horror of horrors must have filled the heart of this wicked man, that he whom he most hated of all men living, was the very one whom he himself as the chief noble of the empire was compelled to pay this honor to, according to his own suggesting! However it was impossible to alter the king's word. “Then took Haman the apparel, and the horse and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the city, and proclaimed before him, Thus shall it be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honor.” Very differently did Haman return to his wife and friends that day. “Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered. And Haman told Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had befallen him. Then said his wise men and Zeresh his wife unto him, If Mordecai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou shalt not prevail against him, but shalt surely fall before him.” Such is the secret feeling of the Gentile as to the Jew. It may be all very well for the Gentile, as long as the Jew is driven out of the presence of God, but when the day comes for exalting the Jew, Gentile greatness must then disappear from the face of the earth. The Jew is the intended lord here below. The Jew will be the head—the Gentile, the tail.

(To be continued) [W.K.]

Studies in Mark 6:30-34: Seeking a Short Seclusion

6:30-34

“And the apostles gather themselves together unto Jesus; and they told him all things whatsoever they had done and whatsoever they had taught. And he saith unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while. For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desert place apart. And the people saw them going, and many knew them, and they ran there together on foot from all the cities. And he came forth and saw a great multitude, and he had compassion on them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things” (6:30-34, R.V.).

The execution of John the forerunner constituted an epoch in the ministry of the Blessed Lord. It showed that Israel would not receive divine testimony. From this point onwards He instructed His disciples plainly concerning His own sufferings and death which would follow at Jerusalem.

In the appointed order of God John was constituted the pioneer of the Faithful and True Witness, bearing testimony to Him in a remarkable manner from his earliest history. Was it not through the son whom she had not seen that Elizabeth was first able to hail Mary as the mother of her Lord?

(Luke 1:41-45). That light of witness which shone so feebly at the outset rose to the zenith of its full brilliance when John's clarion call rang out for all who had ears to hear, “Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world.” From that moment the lamp of prophecy waned, for John was soon delivered up to prison, and Jesus Himself came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God (Mark 1:14). And the preaching of Jesus continued up to the period to which we have arrived—some two years later.

During this lengthy period—for him—John had languished in confinement, waiting for the day to break and the shadows to flee away.

The voice of the Messiah was heard in the land, throughout Judea and Galilee. When he himself had cried in the wilderness, multitudes had flocked to his preaching and to his baptism. Now One was speaking whose shoe-latchet he was not worthy to stoop down and unloose. Yet week after week, sabbath after sabbath, new moon and passover went by, and the kingdom was not restored to Israel.

As we consider John's long and dreary imprisonment, can we chide him as an impatient man because he sent disciples to Jesus, asking, Art thou he that should come, or look we for another? The Master did not upbraid him nor may we. The truth was that the lofty ideals of Messiah's glorious kingdom were not to be realized in a human fashion, and since signs of immediate deliverance from the oppressor were wanting, many of the sons of Israel would on that account stumble at the Stone Jehovah was setting in Zion.

The humble guise of the Messiah caused the thoughts of many hearts to be revealed, and the Baptist's among others. Nevertheless the Lord said to the disciples of John, “Blessed is he whosoever shall find none occasion of stumbling in me” (Matt. 11:6).

It would seem that God in His inscrutable wisdom delayed the final removal of John from the earth until Messiah had delivered an adequate testimony to the people of Israel, and that testimony was seen to be unheeded and rejected.

The martyrdom of John was in effect a public act, signifying that Israel was not ready to receive the One of whom John spake (Mark 9:12, 13), just as the martyrdom of Stephen was the public act which proclaimed that the nation would not accept the crucified Messiah whom God had glorified and whom Stephen was preaching.

The coincidence of the testimonies of John and Jesus, and the personal love Jesus had for the Baptist are special features of Matthew's Gospel more than Mark. It is there noted how the news of his death affected Him. “Accomplishing in lowly service (however personally exalted above him) together with John, the testimony of God in the congregation, He felt Himself united in heart and in His work to him; for faithfulness in the midst of all evil binds hearts very closely together; and Jesus had condescended to take a place in which faithfulness was concerned (See Psa. 40:9-10). On hearing therefore of John's death He retired into a desert place.”

The kingdom which John proclaimed was not then to be set up in power, and he was therefore taken away, for the time of his public reward as a righteous prophet was deferred until the Son of man should come in His glory, and the people should say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Thus the powers in authority wrought their evil will upon the Baptist, as they would shortly do upon Jesus. This the Lord knew, though His apostles did not. Hence we find that about this period the Lord began to withdraw Himself more from the populace, and to devote Himself to the instruction of the apostolic band in regard to the sufferings and death that awaited Him at Jerusalem. It was needful for them to know the mysteries of His person and work, and thus in measure to be equipped to become able ministers of the new covenant in the particular form in which it was soon to be introduced.

A summary showing the connection referred to may be helpful. Comparing the first three Gospels, it will be observed that following immediately upon the account of the death of John the Baptist we have a record of the events named below—

(1) Jesus taking His disciples apart (Matt. 12; Mark 6; Luke 9).

(2) Jesus feeding the crowds who sought Him out, but leaving the apostles to cross the lake alone, though He eventually came to their deliverance in the storm (Matt. 14; 15; Mark 6; 7; Luke 9).

(3) Jesus inquiring what men said of Him, and eliciting personal confession from the apostles (Matt. 16; Mark 8; Luke 9).

(4) Jesus speaking precisely of His sufferings and death at Jerusalem, and of the cross of discipleship.

While the general order of this sequence is found in the three Synoptists, the several events enumerated are brought into closest juxtaposition in the Gospel by Luke.

GATHERING TO JESUS

The apostles at the bidding of their Master had gone in various directions in the service of the kingdom. That particular service being now completed they “gather themselves together unto Jesus.” It is not stated that they were directed to do so. In a sense it was the natural thing to do. To assemble to Him was the instinctive act of their spirits. To whom else should they go? For them there was now but one Master upon the earth, and accordingly they spontaneously gathered themselves together to the Lord and told Him all their doings and all their sayings.

The act was a simple, natural, obvious one historically; but it is often forgotten that the principle of it abides true, so long as there is service to Christ in exercise upon the earth. Are there deeds to be done, and words to be said in His Name in an unfriendly world? When the mission is ended let the report of the proceedings be made at headquarters: whether the necessity arises daily, weekly, or yearly, the principle underlying it is the same. The Master tells His servants what to do; the servants tell their Master what they have done. In a well-known promise, He Himself has shown that this practice was to be continued during the time of His absence. Laying down the general principle, He said, “Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst” (Matt. 18:20). [W.J.H.]

(To be continued)

The Church of God: Part 2

(Concluded from Page 28)

As the effect of the Comforter's coming, He makes the church to be the dwelling place of God. He not merely does a divine work in and by chosen witnesses, but makes a divine institution of the assembly-they become the habitation of God through the Spirit. This looks at the church in its earthly position; the body of Christ is its heavenly relation. Hence there is the difference that the habitation of God may be entered by those not born of God, still less members of Christ's body. We know such did enter, in early days. But, viewed in its full privileges, the church of God is not only a question of life, but of the Holy Ghost uniting to Christ, and this as a body. “He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit.” By one Spirit we are baptized into one body. Therefore the idea that the unity of the church hinges only on Christ's becoming a Man is a total fallacy. Incarnation may be and is a step toward it, but is not our union with Christ; it is the union of humanity with Deity, which is not our union at all. When redemption was accomplished, there was a righteous basis for union. Had there been union before redemption, it would have been a slighting of sin. The scriptural place of the church of God maintains the moral claims and character of God with greater fullness than any other. Where the truth is not seen, the law may be talked of, but real holiness in separation from the world is sacrificed or unknown.

After redemption, then, we could be, and are, united to Christ. God could not unite lost man in his sins with His own Son. You will say, Is it not lost man who is united to Christ? Yes: but in the cross of Christ the old man is annulled for the believer; nor is man ever united to Christ till he believes.

Union is not by election, more than by faith, but by the Holy Ghost, “In whom, after ye believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” All sin is judged to the believer, and then the Holy Ghost takes up His abode in him. It is faith founded, not on promise, but on the mighty work of the Lord effected on the 'cross, and it is only after he believes, that union takes place; for the Holy Ghost is given to him because he is a son, on the ground of his being a believer, and not to make him one, which is a previous work. It is, therefore, when by redemption he is out of his sins, when sin in the flesh is judged according to the efficacy of the work of Christ—then comes the Spirit bringing into the one body, and the Christian is a member of it.

The church is not yet spoken of as in heaven. It is here where the Spirit is, who makes it one. Scripture avoids speaking of the body as on high. God foresaw that people would make excuses by saying 'We shall be one body by and by when we get to heaven; but, so many men, so many opinions—we cannot expect to be one body down here!' Thus does unbelief palliate existing divisions. Do they believe in the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven? It is gravely to be doubted.

They believe in His person, Deity, and quickening. But do they believe in His special mission to form and maintain the church of Christ? If you are a Christian, if you are sealed of the Spirit, you are a member of that one body; but are you acting on this? Are you displaying it in your daily life ecclesiastically? Or, like the mass of Christendom, have you given it up as bygone, and slipped into one of the many denominations? The truth is not changed, and we are bound to walk in it as much now as ever.

What adversaries do, is to essay the wretched and unloving task of showing up the faults of those who are seeking to act on the principle of the one body. Instead of so degrading an occupation, should Christians come and help if they can. Let them prove their superior wisdom and strength by carrying out the truth better, not by staying in evil and error, while criticizing those who leave it. There is nothing easier than to misrepresent and abuse those who stand for the truth of God.

“There is one body!” Now-a-days, alas! if you are a member of one church, so called, you cannot be a member of another, still less of all. The position of such is essentially sectarian. Ought I then to abide in what I know to be unscriptural? There is one flock. 'Yes,' says a modern commentator, ‘one flock, but consisting of many folds' Did one ever hear of such ingenuity of error? There is a flock, and no longer a single fold now, still less many folds, as he says. There is no such thing as the penning in of the sheep now; there is liberty to “go in and out and find pasture,” but no liberty to do what is wrong. We are not under the restrictions of Judaism. If you have the Spirit of Christ, you are not merely Christians individually, but compose God's church; and if you are members of God's church, my advice to you is, Seek no other, and own it really. If there are on earth believers who want no other condition but membership of Christ's body in godliness and truth, with them is your place to worship and serve the Lord.

While souls, even if awakened, are hesitating about salvation, it is evident what they want is the gospel, not the church; but when you know Christ and His redemption, it is not then only as an individual, but as a member of one body that you have to act: churchmen, not Christians only, we should value only the church of God. Men may be met by all kinds of ignorance and differences; but this does not shake the principle. We learn best “within,” not “without” the church.

On the other hand, remember baptism is properly and entirely outside the church (being a question of the individual), and, therefore, should be settled there. The church of God is on the ground that its members have all received the baptism of the Holy Spirit; yet I own, if people refuse to submit to water-baptism, they would be setting themselves in opposition to the institution of the Lord, and, therefore, should not be received as Christians.

It is plain, however, that the church always did assemble as such in early apostolic times. Disciples might go into the school of one Tyrannus to listen to a lecture; but this, important in its place, is not the church as such gathered in the Lord's name. In that assembly there are two main facts which call them together: first, the Lord's supper; and, secondly, the edifying one another when met together. (See 1 Cor. 11; 14.) The Lord is remembered in the one, the Holy Ghost displays His gracious power in the other; though both may coalesce.

I have but drawn your attention to this great truth; but where is the use of being brought into such a relationship if you are unfaithful to Christ: it is a disgrace and a dishonor to it and to you, if, being member of that one body, you never act as such, but go on in a denomination. Do you ever, not to say always, come together as members of God's assembly simply? Look well to it, that you do no despite to the Spirit in this matter. In order to be a valid assembly of God, it must be open to every member of the body of Christ walking after a godly sort, Refuse none but those who are disorderly in ways, or unorthodox. It is our duty to refuse all, no matter what their name, who are unsound or indifferent as to the humanity of, Christ, no less than as to His Deity. So also indulgence in moral evil is intolerable-drunkenness or the like. The church of God is bound to steer clear of all alliance with iniquity.

Of course there are details in discipline; but discipline is only on the ground I have named. It goes on the same basis as receiving, at least, if we confine it to putting away.

There is room for all kinds of ministry in the church of God; and I should not feel it to be such, if there were any exclusion or enfeebling of a single divine gift. “There are diversities of gifts"; but whatever does not leave room for every gift that God has given is not the church of God acting as such.

Far from taking a high or haughty place, I acknowledge that we are very weak indeed; yet, is there not honesty of purpose in cleaving to what we know to be the will of the Lord for us? But we do not pretend to improve on Scripture, nor to assume an authority which neither we nor others really possess. We are bound to obey, but are not authorized to do all that apostles might, either personally or through chosen associates. The church is the place where the Holy Spirit abides and works for the glory of the Lord. God is dwelling there. Does this claim infallibility for it?

What folly in those who so speak? Are you a Christian? Then God dwells in you. Does this then make you infallible? It is just the same thing with the church, There is infallibility in none but God.

But if God dwell in the church, He is there to make known His mind, and to set right what is wrong. He is interested in it, faithful, too, and cares for all who trust Him. Discipline, in putting away at least, ought never to be enforced till every means short of this, acknowledged in Scripture and incumbent on the church of God, has been tried and failed; public rebuke, as well as private remonstrance, etc., from suited individuals, might justly precede. Putting away should be the last sorrowful necessity-an act not of any individual, but of the assembly: the reason is wise and good. The best and holiest individuals might, if opposed, have their own minds prejudiced or even their will at work. We ought all to know ourselves better than to desire it to be in the hands of any private individual. It is therefore a great safeguard that the extreme act should be in the hands of the assembly, after individuals, leaders, or other Christians, have failed to bring about repentance.

May the Lord then give you to look to Himself and His word, and to obey it. Do not allow trial of any kind to hinder you; else it is the destruction of faith. Do not allow the faults of those who are on the ground of the one body to hinder you. Love as well as faith should rather prompt you to help them. Bring whatever of strength or wisdom you can to aid their weakness and exposure. It may be that is just the very thing the Lord wants from you. However this may be, if it be God's assembly, it is the call of God to you. May you hearken to Him and obey! For such a truth, as indeed all revealed truth, is obligatory and practical, becomes a dead weight or a snare if you do not carry it out obediently, and will be a register to your reproof and loss another day. If a divine truth at all, it is a truth for all to act on. It repudiates anything of party, however few may be those who have faith to hold it fast and walk accordingly in this present day of expediency and unbelief. But if it claims all in the name of the Lord, it claims your adhesion most of all, if you know it to be of God. No difficulties about elders, etc., will excuse you from not acting as a member of the one body according to the word, or from going on with what you know to be a mere sect or denomination contrary to Scripture and grieving to the Holy Ghost, who blesses those who are faithful to what they know, and will clear up, if for Christ's glory, what they do not yet know.

W.K.

The Way of a Christian's Power: Part 2

(Concluded from Page 32)

In the case of the Apostle Paul, when this truth was carried to the highest possible realization, he was in the third heaven. The body could have no part in such a place as that. There he was, not knowing whether he was in the body or out of it, and that is what he calls, “a man in Christ.” He is a man that is living, and really having his life from Christ, and united to Him in the power of the Holy Ghost, joined to Him in one Spirit, and that not in his condition as a child of Adam, but as born of God. So that when I look at Christ as walking in this world, I can say that this is my life. I see this life in Him in all its perfectness, and I say, That is very precious. I see that very eternal life, which was with the Father, and I say, That is my life. I had a life in the first Adam that brought in the bitter fruits of sin and corruption, but now I have got the life of Christ. But Paul could not stay in the third heaven; he had to walk in this world. But even as walking through the world it must still be taking this blessed One as our life. When I see Christ walking in this world, was there anything inconsistent with this heavenly place? Never. He was the manifestation of the divine nature down here.

Now that is what you ought to be. “He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked.” I get, that is, not merely what man under the law, but what the divine nature is, expressed in a man upon earth, and that is what a Christian ought to be. He is a man who has become a heavenly man; who has got his place in the presence of God, sins forever put away, and the Holy Ghost uniting Him to Christ, and in spirit and faith in the presence of God. And now he has to act so in the world, not as the flesh, but the flesh being there; and in trials and duties of all kinds that he has to go through he is to abide with God. If he cannot abide with God in what he has got to do, he must give it up.

But Paul gets back to the world and now comes trial. The flesh comes in. He has been in the third heaven; he had got this wonderful abundance of revelations, and the flesh says to him, There has not been a person in the third heaven but you. Now he is puffed up, and certainly this is not heavenly; it is the very contrary of it. And that is the way the flesh will use even being in the third heaven. He is not puffed up when he is there, because it is the presence of God, and nobody can be proud in the presence of God. Persons fancy that it makes people proud to be in the third heaven. Never. The danger is, when you get out of the third heaven, of the flesh being proud of having been there. We feel our nothingness in the presence of God. But now Paul finds that the flesh is just as bad and mischievous as ever. Wherever the flesh works, if it gets into the thought of the third heaven, it makes mischief, and if you could give a man the thought of a fourth heaven, it would only be worse. There is no mending it. And what does God send? A thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet him.

There is grace, however, in this, that Satan himself must be God's servant in the world, just as it was in Job's case. Who begins the business with Job? Was it Satan? No it was God. God says to Satan, “Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth?” etc. And then God allows Satan to bring Job to the very point where He wanted him, the discovery of what he was. Job said, “When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me. Because I delivered the poor that cried,” etc. And he had done it: this was his third heaven, and therefore the Lord allows Satan to break him down entirely. And what does he say then? “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” This is exactly what he wanted. Satan had been used as an instrument of God to bring Job into the condition of being made nothing of in his own eyes; and then God can bless him.

It is very disagreeable work to get to know ourselves, but very useful work. Peter is sifted, and has to learn that this confidence that he has in himself is the very occasion of his failure. In the end the Lord not only restores his soul, but makes him the channel of blessing to others. When you know your utter nothingness, then you can go and help others. Go and feed My sheep, the Lord says to Peter. It is very humbling and trying to be made nothing of, but very useful, because we are all disposed to think too well of ourselves.

Lest then Paul should be exalted above measure, a thorn in the flesh is given to him. We learn from the Epistle to the Galatians that it was something that made him contemptible in his preaching. It was something to keep him from being puffed up, but this is not strength. We have got the blessedness of Paul in the third heaven. We have got the man in Christ who can thank and bless God for what we are made in Christ—who can say of all of us, “Giving thanks. unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” But after this we have another thing, the flesh and its inclination to be puffed up. And then we find a third thing, the flesh made exceedingly disagreeable.

But this is not strength—on the contrary, it is—the emptying of strength. You cannot get God to help the flesh and to help self-will. He will break it down. He will humble you by it, but He will never help it. He breaks the vessel, that we may know that the power is not of man but of God. So, as is said here, “When I am weak then am strong.” When I am weak, I feel that I am weak. I know the truth about myself. Here the apostle was preaching, and his manner of preaching was. contemptible, and yet hundreds of people were converted through it. Well, this does not come from what is contemptible: it does not come from Paul but from God. The Lord then, when He had made him feel his weakness, says, “My grace is sufficient for thee; My strength is made perfect in weakness.” If Paul had got strength, Christ need not have had so much for him; but if Paul had none, the strength that came from Christ was in him. The man had been brought into conscious weakness that the power of Christ might rest upon him.

Now there I have got, not the man in Christ, but Christ in the man, and this is what I want down here. If I think of the man in Christ, it is perfection. But when it is a question of walking down here, we want strength as well as sincerity—we want power. If the power be in myself, there is the old man set up, and this will not do. The old man must be set down, and then another power comes in. I have got Christ with me. I am a dependent man. Christ said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” We see Him constantly dependent and always right. There is what is so difficult for us. We get into mischief just when we get into independence of God. And therefore it is that we so often see a Christian have a fall, after a season of great joy. Why? Because his joy has taken him away from dependence upon God. When I am emptied of self, and am in distresses and infirmities and necessities for Christ's sake, then I can say, I will glory in them. Why? “That the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Now, there is where there is to be blessing: made nothing of in one's own consciousness, but then to have the consciousness of the power of Christ resting on me. This is not the man in Christ, but the power of Christ resting on him as he walks down here—it is Christ in the man. Supposing I am emptied of self, and Christ is living in me, what shall I get? I shall not be always in the third heaven, but Christ is always there. I have got my security there, my life there, my righteousness there, everything there that I need. Christ is my title: I am in Christ, and not in the first Adam.

The robe that was put upon the prodigal son when he came home, he had never had before. It was not a patching up of his old rags, but a new robe. The best robe was brought out and given. So what we had in Adam is lost and never can be recovered, but we get a new and far higher thing. An innocent man is one who does not know good and evil. A holy man knows good and loves it. It is not now mere innocence, but what Christ is worth in the presence of God that I have got. The robe that the father put upon the prodigal was a new robe out of the treasures of his own house, that he had never had before. God has given us Christ in heaven. I am not always in the third heaven, but Christ is there, and my place and title is to be there by faith, according to the working of the Spirit of God. If Christ is my life, there is nothing in that life inconsistent with the third heaven. The Christ that is in heaven, even when He was walking upon earth, could say, “The Son of man which is in heaven"; and all His life down here was the expression of that. Our union with Him is a real living union. I am in Christ above, and this Christ is in me below; and there I find the principle of all my walk, and the power of it too.

I may be about my work and business, but in that work and business I have to live Christ to walk in the Spirit of Christ whatever circumstances I am in. Supposing I am doing that, the Spirit is not grieved, and I enjoy the third heaven; I have not been inconsistent with it. I have not been there, but I have walked consistently with it, because I have walked in the Christ that is there. He is both my life and the power of my life. If I have been in the third heaven, and come out of it to be engaged in service, I may go on with my affections the same, spiritually and morally: and when I go back to it, I enjoy it all the more.

Take a man working for his family all day long. He may have to labor hard and away from them, but when the work is done, he comes back and enjoys them all the more. So the Christian, besides being in the third heaven, has to walk through the world. But Christ is his righteousness, his title for being there, and therefore his place is in heaven; and, walking in the power of that life, he is back into the third heaven as happy and fresh as ever.

We may fail in it, but this is what the power of Christ resting on us down here works in us. Mark how he speaks as regards our title to take such a place. “I know a man in Christ.... Of such an one will I glory.” In that we ought to glory. If I say I am in Christ, I glory in it. I say, What an astonishing place God has put me in! He has taken me out of the ditch, and placed me with His Son. He takes a thief up on the cross, and puts him in the same glory as the Son of God. He takes a Mary Magdalene, from whom He casts out seven demons, and puts her in the same glory as the Son of God. I am to glory in that. And what is the effect down here? That I shall be made a fool of. If you talk of a man in Christ, of such an one, he says, I will glory; but if you talk of me, Paul, why I was going to be puffed up about having been in the third heaven! There can be no good at all for me unless I am emptied of self. When there, so little thought was there of self, that he did not know. whether he was in the body or out of it.

People may say all this is presumption. Allow me to say a word about that. Are you in Christ? If you are not in Christ, you are lost; it is no good saying it is presumption. If you are not in Christ you are lost; if you are in Christ you are safe.

What is the effect? Is not Christ your righteousness? Are you not going to glory in that, not in yourselves? We do not think badly enough of ourselves as sinners in the flesh. If I know what it is to be lost without Christ, I shall not think it presumption to glory in being in Him. I have no need to think of myself, because I am perfectly happy in the presence of God. He has made me happy by the grace that has brought me there, and by the present communion that I have with Himself in the place in which He has put me.

We have to be taught practically, and therefore Paul had this thorn in the flesh. After he knew his own wretchedness, and Christ His righteousness, there was the perfect learning of his own nothingness. This is the grand work which remains for us. We are in Christ as our righteousness; but if I have only a light thought, this is not communion with God, though grace comes in and there is intercession. The man in Christ has got his standing with God; and when he has that, his business is to manifest Christ before the world. There he wants power, and the power comes, not merely from having been in the third heaven, not merely from being made the righteousness of God in Christ. He wants present power. To be sincere is not enough.

You will meet with temptation; you will have your business, your trials of one kind and another, and you want the power that gives Christ a preciousness to you, that makes everything you meet with to be as nothing to you. It is Christ Himself that becomes your power—the power of Christ resting upon you. Now, I ask you, whether you can say, “When we were in the flesh"? It is an important thing, and the apostle speaking of it, says, “When we were in the flesh.” Have you learned that the ground upon which you stand before God is not the ground upon which the first Adam stood, but that God has put you upon a new ground in the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ? If so, I say, you are a man in Christ, and therefore you must walk as Christ walked. But if not, you have got a lesson to learn, to have your souls realizing that we are lost without Christ, and, therefore, if we are to have hope of anything, it must be in Christ. And God puts us in Christ: and then I say, that I am in Christ before God. He bore my sins, and put them away—blotted them out forever. But though there is the power of the new life and the presence of the Holy Ghost, of myself I will not glory, save in what pulls this wretched flesh to pieces; but in Christ I will glory.

Do you desire to manifest Christ to the world? You will say you want power; but if so, you must be emptied of self, and find Him your righteousness before God; and His power you get in your weakness, as your power to walk through this world. Then our hearts can say, Come, Lord Jesus.

The Lord give you to know what it is to value Him now, first as poor sinners, knowing Him as meeting all your need, and then in the communion of His love, as One that is dear to our hearts, whom we long to know face to face in all His fullness.

J.N.D.

Over You in the Lord

In 1 Thess. 5:12, 13 the apostle writes, “We beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake.” The presence of elders is not requisite in order to have and to own those who are over us in the Lord. There is much of importance for us now in that Scripture, for we, have elders no more than they. I think we ought to lay its exhortations to heart. There are within and without, not a few ill-instructed souls who hold the notion that, unless there be official appointment, they cannot have anybody over them in the Lord. This is all a mistake. No doubt, when a man was officially appointed, there was a definite guarantee in the face of the church given by an apostle or an apostolic man; and there was thereby no little weight given to those who were thus appointed. Such a sanction had great and just value in the church, and would be of consequence among the unruly. But none the less did God know how to provide instruction for assemblies where there was not yet official oversight. How merciful for times when, for want of apostles, there could be no elders! But it will be noticed that the Corinthian assembly abounded in gift, though elders are seen nowhere among them. The Thessalonians do not appear to have possessed the same variety of outward power, while elders or bishops again are never hinted at. Yet at Corinth the household of Stephanas devoted themselves regularly (ἕταξαν) to the service of the saints; and the apostle beseeches the brethren to submit themselves to such, and to every one that helped and labored. The Thessalonians he prays to know those who labored among them, and presided in the Lord, and admonished them. Evidently this did not depend upon their being apostolically appointed, which could hardly have been in their circumstances as lately gathered. It is founded upon that which after all is intrinsically better, if we must be content with one blessing out of two. Surely, if it comes to be a question between real spiritual power and outward office, no Christian ought to hesitate between them. To have the power and the office combined is no doubt the best of all, when the Lord is pleased to give both; but in those early days we see that individuals were often and rightly engaged in the work of the Lord before there could be the seal of an apostle, as it were, affixed; and such the apostle encourages and commends earnestly to the love and esteem of the saints before and independently of that seal. How precious that we can fall back on this principle now!

Even at Corinth and Thessalonica then those were raised up in the midst of the saints who showed spiritual ability in guiding and directing others. That was the work of those to whom one epistle exhorted subjection, and whom the other epistle commended as “over them in the Lord.” Such men as these did not labor only; because some might be actively engaged in the Lord's work who might not be over others in the Lord. But these manifested power to meet difficulties in the church, and to battle with that which was ensnaring souls, and so to guide and encourage the weak and baffle the efforts of the enemy. They were not afraid to trust the Lord in times of trial and danger, and therefore the Lord used them, giving them power to discern and courage to act upon what they did discern.

Scripture Queries and Answers: Sister's Part in Bible Reading Meetings

Q. 1-Is it permissible for sisters to ask questions at a Bible Reading, seeing it is not an assembly meeting?

Q. 2-May not sisters be asked to remain at an inquiry meeting, as though not allowed to speak or take part, they might help by prayer?

R.M.H.

A. 1-If the Bible Reading be of a private character there might be no breach of propriety in a sister asking a question (provided it be not done in the way of “teaching"), but where strangers are present or even many brothers, nature as well as scripture would seem to indicate the becomingness of silence on her part (1 Tim. 2:11, 12).

A. 2-It is a great evil where everything is brought into the assembly. Nor indeed is every brother even qualified to take up matters of investigation. Not all are spiritual or wise, or called to oversight or leadership (Rom. 12:8; Gal. 6; 1 Thess. 5:12; 1 Tim. 5:17; Heb. 12:17; 1 Peter 5:2). We must remember that although it may be a necessary duty, occupation with evil is defiling. And it should be only when all other means have failed to restore, and the person is clearly proved to be a “wicked person” according to scripture, that the assembly is bound to act, and in this every brother and sister is concerned. Matt. 18:15-17 enjoins precedent action to the assembly being made privy, as we see also in the Epistles the various activities of conduct in dealing with what is wrong apart entirely from assembly action.

A Still Small Voice

In chapter 17 we have abundant proofs of the Lord's tender care and consideration for Elijah. Many, doubtless, were the trials which put His servant's faith to the test, but it is a divine principle that “if need be, ye are now for a season in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, may be found unto praise and honor, and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” Whether Elijah understood or not, he is sure to have the benefit of it “at that day.” “He was surrounded with violence and impiety—violence from the king, impiety on all hands, and this he must denounce unsparingly. Consequently, he felt that his message would be unwelcome and his life in jeopardy; but he is at once assured that the Lord will shield him against all opposition. According to his word, “There shall not be dew nor rain these three years.” Terrible famine would necessarily result, but all through it the prophet would be cared for. He would find water by the brook Cherith, and there be supplied with meat by the ravens. And when that supply was exhausted another would be provided. He would be sent to Zarephath to live and bring life out of a widow's penury “until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.”

Our Lord draws the gospel out of this last incident or event. In the synagogue of Nazareth, He reads the passage of Isa. 61:1, 2, short of the last clause. “The acceptable year of the Lord” was then running; “the day of vengeance of our God” was postponed. Thus read, the passage was pure gospel, and according to the divine order it was “to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” So the Lord warns His hearers of what would befall them if they refused it. “Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout the land; but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.” It was as good as saying, 'I offer grace unto you with all its blessings, but if you refuse it, it will run to others.' And on their obstinate refusal it has run to others. Nationally the Jews have been rejected, and the Gentiles at large have inherited the benefits of the gospel. “It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” Thus turned Elijah from the same stubborn people to the widow of Zarephath, a Gentile.

In the third year of the famine the prophet is again sent to Ahab to let him know that rain would fall from heaven whence Ahab never looked for it, since he sought for water only unto all the fountains and unto all the brooks (chap. 18:5). But ere the rain fell the source of iniquity must be dried up, the prophets of Baal must be exterminated. They were the misleaders who had contributed mostly to corrupt king and people. They were the servants of Jezebel. To this end Elijah receives power both to confound and to slay them. This was strictly a ministry of righteousness, in the accomplishment of which he proves himself faithful, cost what may, as he had been faithful three years before in announcing the drought and famine. Surely he had cause to trust the Lord after having thus experienced His protective grace and power. Yet it is just at this point that we are brought to see a most painful crisis in his faith. Let us not be too severe with him on this account. Grieved we may and should be, but we have no right to be hard. If placed in similar circumstances who can say that any of us would be more firm? It is far from meritorious to detect flaws in others under trial when things go easy with one's self. Scripture gives us more than one instance where the faith of the greatest men of God sank under the trial.

Take John the Baptist. He was another Elijah, declared to be such by the Lord Himself. He was a bold and indomitable messenger. He warned the Pharisees and Sadducees in particular, and the people in general, in vehement language (Matt. 3:7-10). He testified of the coming, yea, of the presence of the Deliverer. He discerned in Him, so bright was his faith, the Son of God, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Taking away the sin of the world involved the cross, the sufferings before the glories. When he thus testified of Christ, he was much in advance of His own immediate disciples, who looked for the glories without the sufferings. Yet, when his message had been fully delivered and he was put into prison, where he had time to review his testimony, and to think of all that he had admired in the person of Him who had been the subject of it, what do we hear him say? “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” Oh, how painful the question; how great the depression of spirit it tells of! The dark walls of the prison cell had told disastrously upon his soul. At this time, far from being the burning and shining lamp of former days, he was but a smoking flax. However, such smoking flax the Lord does not quench. He sends word through his envoys by which, so to say, John might identify Him, and before the multitude He vindicates and honors His servant and the ministry of earlier days. He would not that the present should obliterate the past, but rather the reverse. He knew well how the state of things was calculated to perplex the most faithful man—a prison for the herald and reproach for the Master! This did not look like what a godly Jew had been expecting, and that was a sufficient reason for the Lord not to upbraid.

In Elijah's case, too, the circumstances were such as to put faith to a very severe test, and the prophet ill stood it. Evil of the worst character had full sway in Israel, and God did not interpose to sweep it away. It was as though Elijah's burning words and mighty deeds had been all in vain, and he resented this rather too keenly. True he did not, like Jonah, refuse to deliver his message and fulfill his service, but nevertheless there was something of the spirit of Jonah in him at this time. The juniper tree and the gourd witness the same discontent in both prophets, and the discontent is expressed almost in the same words, and therefore to both the probing question is relevant, “Doest thou well to be angry?” But the Lord forbears with Elijah. He knows there is much around him to discourage, and He sends an angel to strengthen him. How gracious! And yet he is not satisfied with this token of God's care and tender regard. He can go forty days in the strength of God's beneficent goodness; and, without fainting, reach Horeb, the mount of God. But when there, what does he do? God meant him to stand on the mount, as intimated in ver. 11, but he hides himself in a cave, apparently little disposed to carry out the divine intention.

Well, God will meet him where he is, and put the scrutinizing question, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” His answer shows that he was not at all in touch with the mind of God; and when God repeats the question, he repeats the same answer, “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, I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.” Downcast he is, to be sure. To say that he, and he only, had been left, was more than he knew, and in fact was a grievous mistake. How is it that he did not know a single one out of the seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which had not bowed before

Baal, and every mouth that had not kissed him? When he says, “I, I only, am left,” he seems to think that only prophets were worthy to be taken into account. God thinks differently. “God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are, that no flesh should glory in his presence.” Evidently at this hour the prophet was disheartened.

By way of contrast, let us approach the apostle Paul. He too has known, even to a greater extent, persecution and violence on the part of both Jews and Gentiles, as summed up in 2 Cor. 4:8-10, and 2 Cor. 11:23-28; but he never gave way under the pressure. “None of these things move me,” he says. His life!—did not count it dear unto himself, so that he might finish his course and the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus. And when his course was finished and he looked back upon the field where he had achieved his most brilliant victories, his heart might have completely failed him as he had to say, “All they which are in Asia have turned away from me.” For he loved these saints intensely, and suffered intensely too by their defection and desertion. But there was One above them all that he could fully confide in under any and every emergency. So he says, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” His own soul, his work, the saints who had been converted through his instrumentality, he could leave peacefully in the Lord's keeping. He knew Him, had drunk deeply into His love which passeth knowledge, and he could not question for a single moment His sufficiency. Steadfast and unmoveable, with a work abundantly fruitful behind him, he knew that his labor was not in vain in the Lord.

Our prophet was not so strong in the Lord and in the power of His might as was the apostle; nevertheless, the Lord is mindful of his integrity and of his devotedness, and He does not wait until His servant has ascended the mount to come near him: He passes by, but not without leaving impressive signs of His presence. We, in our hard-heartedness, would have said, I can have nothing to do with you as long as you lodge in that cave. The Lord, on the contrary, does something, the effect of which is to draw Elijah out. The first three signs—the great and strong wind, the earthquake, and the fire—were such as Elijah would have expected to find the Lord in, but He was in none of them. Not that He will never deal in judgment, but He has fixed a day for that, and alas, we are prone to take that work out of His hands and do it prematurely, whereby we spoil it all. Besides, before the ay of judgment there was to be a day of Pace; and grace it is that speaks in the fourth and last sign.

“And after the fire a still small voice.” In it was the Lord. Elijah was conscious of it. This was the voice that drew him out of the cave, and made him stand at the entrance, his face wrapped in his mantle. He was both subdued and attracted, but not yet in the secret of the Lord, for he repeats his complaint, “I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts,” etc. It takes a long time to bring us to understand the forbearance of God, and yet are we not all the time ourselves the subjects of it?

Happily, God will not be turned from His purpose by reason of our not understanding Him. He would speak with the still small voice, and with it He has spoken most distinctly for now nearly two thousand years. It came from heaven with Him who could say, “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to the weary one; he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth my ear to hear as the learned.” And thus He spoke to the weary and heavy laden in Matt. 11:28-30. Thus He speaks to His sheep from the moment they follow Him, the Good Shepherd; and though, alas, they may be dull of hearing, yet will He say in His untiring grace, “They follow him: for they know his voice.” It is not usual that a shepherd speaks to his flock. This tells of intimacy, “and he calleth them by name.” How sweet the still small voice that says to one who stood, bereaved and broken-hearted, by His empty grave, “Mary!” and how quickly she heard and how well she knew the voice that thus called her by her name. Such is the manner of His love. His voice gladdens the heart that knows that love. And it is now as it was then. The sorrowing soul that seeks His companionship He will minister to in the words of the “still small voice.”

“O patient, spotless One,

Our hearts in meekness train,

To bear Thy yoke and learn of Thee,

That we may rest obtain.

O Lord, Thou art enough

The mind and heart to fill;

Thy life to calm the troubled soul;

Thy love—its fear dispel.

- P.C.

Lectures on 1 Chronicles 13-15

1 Chronicles 13-15

But the next thing shows us what was most in David's heart. Not the throne: that was most in their hearts—that David should reign. But David's heart thought of Jehovah's throne; and therefore he consults and says, “If it seem good unto you, and that it be of Jehovah our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren everywhere, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, that they may gather themselves unto us. And let us bring again the ark of our God to us; for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul” (chap. 13). And all the congregation agreed. “So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hemath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjath-jearim.”

Shihor is, I presume, not the Nile, although it may be called sometimes so, but rather that brook of El-heresh that divides the land of Israel from the borders of the desert on the Egyptian side. “And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kirjath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God Jehovah, that dwelleth between the cherubims whose name is called on it. And they carried the ark of. God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab; and Uzza and Ahio drave the cart."There was the great mistake. It is all very well for Philistines to send the ark of God in a cart—not for Israel. Israel should have known better. When the Philistines did it there was a propriety. They had an object too. It was not to be driven; it was to be committed to the kine that were yoked to it. It was particularly meant as a test, because the cows would naturally care for the young they had left behind; and the very point of God's power and manifestation of His glory was this—that although there was very natural feeling on the part of the cows to go after their young, on the contrary they took an opposite direction, and carried the new cart with the ark upon it to the land of Israel, thus giving a most illustrious proof of the power of God above nature. It was not chance; it was not nature; it was God that governed. But with Israel it was a very different thing. Yet I presume they adopted the cart because it was the last thing. So it is that we often do. Even a Philistine tradition will carry away the people of God, so that although the only people as far as we know that ever employed a cart for the ark of God were these Philistines, here we find that wonderful man David and the priests and the Levites, and indeed all Israel, all joining in this Philistinian way of bringing in the ark of God to the site that was destined for it.

Well, one bad step leads to another, and although there was apparent joy, and no doubt there was plenty of outward honor to the ark, when they came to the threshing-floor of Chidon God allowed, that there should be something that tested their state. “Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put his hand to the ark.” He at least ought to have known better. He who belonged to the tribe of Levi—he who ought to have felt that God was able to take care of His own ark let oxen stumble or not—he put forth his hand unhallowedly to sustain the sign of the presence of the God of Israel as if He were not there to care for His own glory. He was smitten on the spot, “and there he died before God.” David was displeased, instead of humbling himself, “because Jehovah had made a breach upon Uzza; wherefore that place is called Perez-uzza to this day. And David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?” That was the next effect; first displeasure, next dread. “So David brought not the ark home to himself to the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months. And the Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had.” There was such manifest blessing in that house that as we find afterward it could not abide, but there it abode at any rate for three months.

The next chapter, however, gives us not so much this religious picture of the state of things, which you will find to be extremely important afterward, but what I may call more practical—the manner in which the throne of David was regarded by the Gentiles; not the humiliation of the king before the ark of God—David's relation to Jehovah, but the Gentiles' relation to David. “Now Hiram king of Tire sent messengers to David, and timber of cedars, with masons and carpenters, to build him an house. And David perceived that Jehovah had confirmed him king over Israel, for his kingdom was lifted up on high, because of his people Israel.” (chap. 14). The effect upon the Gentiles showed how truly it was Jehovah who had exalted David. Nobody ever thought of that when Saul was there.

We find, then, David in Jerusalem, and the Philistines now thinking that as he was anointed king it was time to bestir themselves. “So all the Philistines went up to seek David. And David heard of it, and went out against them. And the Philistines came and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.” But David abides in the simplicity which brought him to the throne. He inquired of God. He did not say, Now I have got an army. If I was conqueror over the Philistines in the days of my weakness, how much more when now in power! Not so. He inquired of Jehovah. It requires more faith to be dependent in the day of prosperity than in the day of adversity; and there is where we are often put to the test, and souls that stand well when they are tried; often fall deeply when they have been blest greatly of the Lord. This does not prove that the blessing was not of God; it does prove that we may fail to walk in dependence upon God. But as yet David stood, and stood because dependent. “And David inquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? and wilt thou deliver them into mine hand?” —for that was the great point. “And Jehovah said unto him, Go up; for I will deliver them into thine hand.” There was his answer. “So they came up to Baal-perazim; and David smote them there. Then David said, God hath broken in upon mine enemies by mine hand like the breaking forth of waters; therefore they called the name of that place Haal-perazim” (the place of breaches). “And when they had left their gods there, David gave a commandment, and they were burned with fire.”

Thus you see vengeance was taken, according to Israel's God, on the insult done to the ark of God. If they had carried off the ark they never burnt it. It burnt them, rather, and obliged them to consult how it should be restored to the God of Israel—to His people; but in this case they left their gods, and David burnt them. Such was the requisition of the law of God as we find in Deuteronomy. David, therefore, walks not only in dependence and in obedience, but, further, “the Philistines yet again spread themselves abroad in the valley.” That might have been an accident: “therefore David inquired again of God, and God said to him, Go not up after them.” How beautiful! We learn that God would have us ever to wait on Him; for the answer of God at one time may not at all be the answer at another. “Go not up after them; turn away from them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. And it shall be, when thou shalt hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt go out to battle; for God is gone forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines. David therefore did as God commanded him: and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gazer. And the fame of David went out into all lands; and Jehovah brought the fear of him upon all nations.”

Now the heart of David turns back, for meanwhile God had been blessing the house of Obededom. “And David made him houses in the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched for it a tent” (chap. 15). His heart could not rest without that. “Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites.” Now he has learned. He had been waiting upon God. He had got his answer from God in the outward affairs of the kingdom, now he gathers the mind of God as to what concerns His worship, and why his former plan had failed. “Then David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites; for them hath Jehovah chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him forever. And David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem to bring up the ark of Jehovah unto his place, which he had prepared for it. And David assembled the children of Aaron, and the Levites.”

Here we find the greatest care not merely to have Israel, but to have the priests and the Levites. But it is David that does it. Remarkable the difference —that now it is no longer a Moses or an Aaron. It is no longer the high priest. He is not the highest. There is a higher than the high priest. The king is above all—the shadow of Messiah. So we have them, then, ranged in due order. And David calls for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and tells them that they were the chief of the fathers of the Levites, that they must sanctify themselves, not merely the Levites who did the work, but those that were at their head. “Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of Jehovah God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it. For because ye did it not at the first, Jehovah our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.”

We are often surprised why the Lord should deal with those who are walking according to the word of God so as to expose them when anything goes wrong—why God should not allow things to be hidden, but should bring out what is painful and humiliating, This is the reason. It is the very fact of having His word—the very fact of seeking to walk by the Spirit of God, by His word. God instead of allowing to pass what would be concealed elsewhere, discovers it. Thus we have all the profit, but we have the shame—all the profit of God's word, but the shame of our own want of proper feeling. So it was with David and Israel now, “So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of Jehovah God of Israel. And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of Jehovah.” And we find another remarkable feature now, and that is that David appoints, according to his word, music and psalmody. “And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy.”

This is no warrant for Christians using such instruments in the worship of God, because the distinctive feature of the Christian is, as the apostle says, to “sing with the spirit and with the understanding also.” Clearly that can not be where it is a question of mere instruments of music. But all this was perfectly in season for Israel, because Israel was a nation that represented the earth and the things of the earth; but we, if we are anything ought to represent heaven and the things of heaven. Of course we can only do it by faith. There can be no such things there. There are harps, no doubt, spoken of, but no one that has any understanding of scripture would suppose literal harps. There will be finely tuned joy in heaven—joy founded upon divine righteousness, but no such thing as mere material instruments there; and we can see, therefore, how the church's praise ought to be by the Holy Ghost, and not merely, of the earth, earthly. But an earthly people would have an earthly form of expressing their praise. Therefore all is in season. “So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel.” And then we find the singers and others—the doorkeepers, even—everything appointed in the most orderly manner.

“So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the house of Obed-edom with joy. And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams. And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers; David also had upon him an ephod of linen.” He takes a priestly place. He was the king, but although he takes the lead and was the manifest chief of all this great procession which brought the ark of God to Zion, nevertheless it is no show—of royal apparel or of earthly grandeur. David was most exalted when he took the place of nearness to the ark of God. The linen and the ephod were for the very purpose that he might fitly be near to the ark of God. That was his point—not the throne but the ark. He had the throne—valued the throne as God's gift, and himself chosen and called to it, but the ark of God was to him incomparably nearer and deeper.

“Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps. And it came to pass, as the ark of the covenant of Jehovah came to the city of David, that Michal the daughter of Saul looking out at a window saw king David dancing and playing; and she despised him in her heart.” But there are no details here. We must look to the Book of Kings for completeness. The Chronicles give us simply a glance, a fragment, and nothing more. The great point is God's part, and not man's. Michal merely represented the unbelief of Saul's house, the unbelief of the natural heart. She had no sympathy. She felt herself degraded with David's humbling himself before the ark of Jehovah. She had no appreciation of the moral grandeur of the scene.

I shall not dwell upon the next chapter now, except just to look at the simple fact that they brought in the ark, and that David, filled with joy himself, sheds joy around about him, and dealt accordingly to every one of Israel, as we are told; and then come the thanksgiving and the psalm, on the details of which I do not now enter.

[W, K.]

Lecture on Esther 7-10

CHAPS. 7-10.

So the banquet proceeds (chap. 7), and the king and Haman are found, for there was no time to lose. The chamberlain had come and summoned Haman to the banquet, and now the king, for the third time, demands from the queen her petition. “What is thy petition, queen Esther? and it shall be granted thee; and what is thy request? and it shall be performed even to the half of the kingdom. Then Esther the queen answered and said, If I have found favor in thy sight O king, and if it please the king, let my life be given me at my petition.” What! was it come to this? the queen to be a beggar for her life! “Let my life be given me at my petition and my people at my request; for we are sold, I and my people to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish: but if we had been sold for bond-men and bond-women, I had held my tongue, although the enemy could not countervail, the king's damage.” She had struck the right chord. Not only all the affections of the king burst out at this insult that was done to the one that he loved above all the kingdom; but more: there was the audacious presumption that should attempt the destruction of the queen and all the queen's people—of all her people without even the king's knowledge. Who could be the traitor?

“Then the king Ahasuerus answered and said unto Esther the queen, Who he, and where is he that durst presume in his heart to do so? And Esther said, The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman.” “Then Haman was afraid” —as well he might be— “before the king and the queen. And the king arising from his banquet of wine in his wrath went into the palace garden.” Well did Haman know that it was sentence of death that was pronounced upon him. “And Haman stood up to make request for his life to Esther the queen, for he saw that there was evil determined against him by the king.” And when the king returns he finds Hainan in his agony fallen upon the bed where Esther was, and the king willingly puts the worst construction upon it. The word goes forth from his mouth and they cover Haman's face for immediate execution. And Harbonah one of the chamberlains suggested to the king the gallows that was already made in Haman's own premises, and this also meets the king's wishes. “Then the king said, Hang him thereon. So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king's wrath pacified.”

But this was not all. It is not only that God thus completely caught in his own toils the cruel adversary of his people, but God would care for the Jews throughout the whole dominions of the king, where they were still under sentence of death. The deliverance was not yet complete. The prime enemy was destroyed, but they were still in danger; and so Mordecai, it is said, came before the king (chap. 8) “For Esther had told what he was unto her.” The king takes off his ring and gives it to Mordecai. The Jew accordingly comes now into the place of government in the earth. Their enemies are destroyed, but still they have to be vindicated and to be delivered completely throughout the empire. And Esther falls down at the feet of the king and beseeches him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman, and the king again holds out the golden scepter, and Esther explains that the posts that had gone forth with the king's letters were carrying destruction to the Jew throughout his provinces. The king answers, “Behold I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows, because he laid his hand upon the Jews. Write ye also for the Jews, as it liketh you, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's ring; for the writing which is written in the king's name and sealed with the king's ring, may no man reverse” (vers. 7, 8).

How then was the thing to be met? In this way—that throughout the whole empire by a fresh post are sent out letters “wherein the king granted the Jews which were in every city to gather themselves together and to stand for their life, to destroy, to slay, and to cause to perish, all the power of the people and province that would assault them, both little ones and women, and to take the spoil of them for a prey.” So it was done. “And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king,” now with every sign of real honor. And “the Jews had light and gladness, and joy and honor. And in every province, and in every city whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day.”

So accordingly it was done (chap. 9). The Jews did gather themselves together and laid their hand upon all that sought their life. No man could withstand them. It is the evident type of the day when the Jew will be again restored to his due and proper place throughout the earth. And “Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame went out throughout all the provinces; for this man. Mordecai waxed greater and greater. Thus the Jews smote all their enemies with the stroke of the sword, and slaughter, and destruction, and did what they would unto those that hated them.” And so we have the account given. But there is more. “The king said unto Esther the queen, The Jews have slain and destroyed five hundred men in Shushan the palace, and the ten sons of Haman; what have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? Now, what is thy petition? and it shall be granted thee; or what is thy request further? and it shall be done. Then said Esther, If it please the king, let it be granted to the Jews which, are in Shushan to do to-morrow also according unto this day's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hanged upon the gallows.”

There are many that cannot understand this. And no wonder! They take Esther as the type of the Lord's dealings with the church. One sees at once what profound confusion is made by that. Not so. It is the Gentile discarded, and it is the Jew called in; but righteousness will be the character of the reign of the kingdom by and by. Grace is what suits the church now. It would be perfectly unintelligible therefore to have Esther representing the church now. The execution of righteous vengeance would be altogether incompatible with the calling of the Christian—with the church's place. But with the Jew called in to share the kingdom by and by—called into the honors of the kingdom—it is exactly in season. Then—when Messiah shall reign, and Jerusalem shall be His queen—will be found that word verified, “The nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish.”

So it was in this day. Thus you see, whenever we get the truth, the word of God falls into its due place. We understand it, and we distinguish between things that differ; we rightly divide the word of truth. When, on the contrary, we in our anxiety apply things to that which concerns ourselves, we fall into great mistake, and destroy the proper place of the church of God, and our share of God's heavenly affections. Our proper place now is to act suitably to Him who is at the right hand of God. But when the Lord Jesus leaves heaven for the earth—when he comes to reign, then righteousness will be the character of His kingdom, and terrible things will be done in righteousness, according to the 45th Psalm. Thus the execution of the ten sons of Haman is not the smallest difficulty when this is understood, for the Lord will not only smite at the beginning, but there will be a repetition of the blow: there will be a thorough clearance of the adversary, and of all that render but feigned obedience. The Lord will deal with them in that day that is coming.

And so the king commanded, and the Jews gathered themselves for another day. Not only those in Shushan “but the other Jews that were in the king's provinces gathered themselves together, and stood for their lives, and slew of their foes seventy and five thousand, but they laid not their hands on the prey.” So that joy and gladness then fill the heart of the Jew. And Mordecai writes and sends letters to all the provinces, and thus the joy is spread throughout the whole earth. Not only so, but the Jews, as we are told, founded a feast upon this remarkable intervention of the providence of God.

The book closes, in the next chapter (10.) with an account of the greatness of the realm of the king, and also of Mordecai his minister. “For Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed.” Thus worthily closes this most remarkable book. The Jew delivered from all his distresses is brought into the nearest place to the great king, and instead of being himself the victim of the hatred of the Gentile he has authority over all to execute vengeance upon all that would slay the seed of Abraham.

May the Lord give us to delight in the ways of God! May we read His word and profit by His word in all wisdom and spiritual understanding! We shall not find the less profit from the book because we understand it. To apply it to ourselves is only to deceive ourselves. We see the place of the ancient people of God when the proud Gentile will be put down because of his disobedience, and when the Jew will be brought in all the loveliness that God can put upon him, into his own proper place before the earth. These are the prospects that this book gives us. Yet not this only, but the beautiful feature, I think, you will see completely preserved from first to last—that all this was given during the day of the cloud—of the darkness—of the dispersion—of the non-recognition of the Jew. The name of God is entirely absent from it. It is the secret power of God working through circumstances that, might seem awkward. But what a comfort to us! We, too, have to do with the same providence of God—not indeed working to the same end; for God's object is not to give us vengeance upon the foe, is not to exalt us into earthly greatness, but we have got to do with the same God; only—thank God! He does not disown us. He has brought us into a relationship which never can be lost—a relationship which depends upon Christ and which is sealed by the Holy Ghost. Consequently, He never refuses that we should call upon Him, “Our God and Father"; nor does He ever refuse to own us as the children of His love.

Thus you see the book does not in the smallest degree apply to us in what is meant by Esther; but we are, surely, justified in taking all the comfort of God's mighty hand. Where men see but circumstances passing around us, we know that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to hid purpose.” We may not see the way, but we know the God, we see the God, we can draw near to the God that controls all things in our favor. In short, therefore, the providence of God is a universal truth, till the day come when the dealings of God will be public and manifest, and His name will be named upon His people. Meanwhile we can count upon this for Israel. We know that now they are dispersed—that now they are in a wholly anomalous condition, but the day will come when God will set aside the Gentile, and bring in Israel once more, and our hearts can rejoice. It will be no loss to us even if that were the motive. But, in point of fact, it will be no loss to us. We shall be with the Lord Jesus on high, and it will be only after that that God will judge the Gentile and call back the Jew.

[W.K.]

Studies in Mark 6:30-34: Seeking a Short Seclusion

6:30-34

Taken Aside

On the one hand, we find that the apostles returned of their own accord to Jesus at Capernaum after their tour of service; on the other hand we find that the Lord upon their return took them aside for a season of privacy. This was the Lord's own arrangement for their well-being as His servants. An Eastern house is open to any one who will enter, and meal-times form no exception to the freedom of general access which every one expects to be allowed. Jesus said therefore to the apostles, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile. For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.” They had no ‘leisure,’ or rather they had no convenient opportunity to eat, on account of the incessant intrusions of the people. 'Leisure' may be thought to imply absence of occupation, but the turn here seems to be that there was no suitable occasion even for meals, on account of persistent interruption.

It is well to note that the Great Master, who sent out these men into active enterprise, also led them apart to rest awhile. Not that their work was all finished. The harvest was as plenteous as ever: the laborers were still few. A world of need was around them. But the same voice that said on one occasion, “I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day, for the night cometh when no man can work” (John 9:4), also said to the same persons, “Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile.” Need it be said that He is the Lord, and that He will say to us 'Work' or ‘Rest,' as He in His perfect wisdom sees best. It is ours to respond cheerfully and readily to either of these calls or to any.

“Strike, Thou the Master, we Thy keys,

The anthem of the destinies.”

In point of fact the apostles had been passing through a perilous experience: They had been preaching their first sermons, and performing their first miracles. They were therefore exposed to the deadly snare of the novice (1 Tim. 3:6). Is it extravagant to suppose that they, like the seventy shortly afterward, were highly elated at the outward signs of what appeared to be their brilliant success? “The seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject to us in thy name” (Luke 10:17). But the Lord showed them how, by reason of their immature, judgment, they had failed to grasp the true proportion of things. The endowments of grace far exceeded in value the equipment for service. Their names were written in heaven and not in the dust of the earth; and this enrollment for heavenly blessing was the fit subject for their rejoicing rather than their delegated power over unclean spirits. For a like reason, mayhap, the Lord said to the twelve, Come ye yourselves apart, and rest awhile. The rest would sober their spirits.

The Lord had many things to say to His servants, but He could not say them there where so many were coming and going. Communications that could not be made to the twelve on the seashore were made on a former occasion indoors (Matt. 13:36), but when the house became overcrowded privacy must be sought elsewhere. An individual might secure this privacy by entering into his closet, and barring his door (Matt. 6:6), but the circumstances were different in this case. There were a number of them, and the Lord turned wide to the solitudes of the wilderness with His little company.

Instances are not wanting in Scripture history which establish the necessity for seasons of retirement in the public life of men of God. In the presence of fellow-men, the manifold activities and responsibilities of mutual relationship tend to exclude the sense of the invisible and the eternal; but in privacy, faith, hope and love are quickened into exercise and strengthened for the day of conflict. It was by the river Chebar that the heavens were opened to Ezekiel the priest, and he saw visions of God. And it was while exiled in Patmos that John beheld the glorious Son of man among the seven golden candlesticks, and saw vistas of the future depicted in the gorgeous imagery of the Apocalypse. Moses found the “burning bush,” not in Egypt but in Horeb, and forty years of sheep-tending on the untenanted slopes of the mountain was a needful part of his training to become the leader and lawgiver of Israel.

And so the Lord's call, Come apart and rest awhile, was no new element in the method of divine training; but the call is the more impressive, coming as it does, from the lips of the assiduous Servant of God whom Mark portrays. Let it be the more carefully to be remembered that it is in seclusion that the deep-lying principles of divine life are deepened, strengthened and developed for days of activity. Apart from these seasons of silent and secret growth such fruit as may appear is likely to be unripe and untimely.

SHEPHERDLESS SHEEP

The Lord accordingly went away with His apostles in the boat, which, apparently, was one allotted to their use (cp. 3:9; 6:45, 51). Their destination was an uninhabited district on the shores of the Sea of Galilee where the required privacy might very well be found. It was, as Luke tells us, near the town of Bethsaida (Luke 9:10). This was not the Bethsaida near Chorazin upon which the Lord's woes were pronounced (Matt. 11:25), but is generally believed to be a town some miles to the eastward known as Bethsaida Julias.

They did not depart unnoticed. The people were too much alert. They had received many benefits through the mercy of the Master, and some seem to have kept watch upon His movements. The embarkation of the little band was observed, and many “knew Him.” They recognized the Benefactor, and with characteristic impetuosity, and with some labor and fatigue, they followed on land for some ten or twelve miles the progress of the boat, being joined by many others from the neighboring villages. Mark, with his customary graphic detail, records that the people “ran” such was their earnestness; and, moreover, that they ran “afoot.”

And Jesus coming forth either from the boat on landing, or from the place of retirement having arrived first, saw this great multitude, and was filled with compassion. He knew their case, marked their eager and laborious pursuit of Him, appreciated their mute but eloquent prayer that He would do them some good, and as a consequence He was filled with compassion. What an heart of infinite capacity His was to be filled! How great the volume of pity when He was filled!

The multitude was a great one, but the Lord knew the burden and the need of each person present. God's love was there below, and there is

“No creature, great or small,

Beyond His pity which embraceth all,

Nor any ocean rolls so vast that He.

Forgets one wave of all that restless sea.”

But this occasion however was more than an illustration of His universal love. It exemplified His particular concern. In His general providence the heavenly Father feeds the birds of the air (Matt. 6:26). But this company was of more value in His eyes than they? They were not like the busily curious idlers in Capernaum from whose incessant coming and going' the Lord had turned away. These persons had been seeking Him with some pains and inconvenience to themselves. They had traveled some miles to reach Him. They were now before Him, faint in body and weary in spirit. Had they not been as sheep going astray?

Were they not now returning to the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls? And He was filled with compassion for them.

Who was there in all the earth to care for these poor ones of the flock of Israel? A Gentile emperor at Rome ruled them with a rod of iron. An Edomite sat on the throne of David. Were Annas and Caiaphas high priests such as the people needed—men who would bear gently with the ignorant and with them that were out of the way (Heb. 5:2)? There was no compassion in the hearts of the scribes and Pharisees who devoured widows' houses and loaded men's shoulders with heavy, burdens grievous to be borne. The grave had but just closed upon the mutilated corpse of the last of the line of the prophets of God. Truly Israel was without prophet, priest, or king. The people were as sheep not having a shepherd (Num. 27:17;1 Kings 22:17; Ezek. 34:5, 6). All this the Lord saw very fully, and He was filled with compassion for them. Their own shepherds did not pity them (Zech. 11:5), for they were but hirelings, and did not own the sheep, who were therefore afflicted because there was in point of fact no shepherd (Zech. 10:2).

We may ask ourselves who was it there by the Galilean sea with these compassionate thoughts for Israel? Was not this Jehovah echoing what He spake of old through the prophet Isaiah? He was saying, Surely, these are my people; I will be their Savior. He had come down to be afflicted in their affliction, to redeem them in His love and pity, to bear them and carry them as in the days of old (Isa. 63:8, 9). His arm was not shortened that it could not save; His ear was not heavy that it could not hear.

The Lord's heart of pent-up goodness needed but to find a channel, and it found a suitable channel in this indigent friendless people; so He “began to teach them many things.” They were to Him the poor of the flock, and He began accordingly to feed them. He was Himself their living food, come down from heaven. As He said, “He that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

“Blessed Master, how lovely to have Thy character to rest on, to study, to feed on! Oh, may we feed so richly on it, that when we meet Thee, Thou mayest be to us a known Jesus, and the sympathies of Thy Spirit may be with what Thy Spirit has already matured in our hearts, and seeing Thee in glory as Thou art, all the inward springs and depths of Thy character may then be revealed to us.”

[W.J.H.]

Our Joy in Heaven (Duplicate)

Let us look a little at this Scripture, as showing what our joy in the glory will consist of. We have the warrant of 2 Peter 1:16 for saying that the scene represents to us the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what we wait for. Our souls are not in a healthy state unless we are waiting for God's Son from heaven. The church is not regulated in its hopes by the word and Spirit of God, unless it is looking for Him as Savior from heaven (Phil. 3:20, 21). And this passage (Luke 9) as disclosing to us specially what will be our portion when He comes, is important to us in this respect. There are many other things in the passage, such as the mutual relations of the earthly and the heavenly people in the kingdom. These it may be very instructive to consider; but this is not our present purpose, which is to consider what light is here afforded on the nature of that joy which we shall inherit at and from the coming of the Lord. Other Scriptures, such as the promises to those who overcome in Rev. 2; 3, and the description of the heavenly city in Rev. 21; 22, give us instructions on the same subject; but let us now particularly look at the scene on the holy mount.

“And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and James and John, and went up into a mountain to pray. Add as he prayed the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.” It was when Jesus was in the acknowledgment of dependence— “as he prayed” —that this change took place. This, then, is the first thing we have here—a change such as will pass upon the living saints when Jesus comes.

“And behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias.” They were with Him. And this will be our joy; we shall be with Jesus. In 1 Thess. 4., after stating the order in which the resurrection of the sleeping, and the change of the living, saints will take place, and that we shall both be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air, all that the apostle says as to what shall ensue is, “And so shall we ever be with the Lord.”

But in this passage there is not only the being with Christ, but there is also familiar intercourse with Him. “There talked with him two men.” It is not that He talked with them, though this was no doubt true; but this might have been, and they be at a distance. But when we read that they talked with Him, we get the idea of the most free and familiar intercourse. Peter and the others knew what it was to have such intercourse with Jesus in humiliation; and what joy must it have been to have the proof that such intercourse with Him would be enjoyed in glory!

And then it is said by Luke that “they appeared in glory.” But this is secondary to what we have been considering. We are told that they were with Him, and then that they appeared in glory. They share in the same glory as that in which He was manifested. And so as to us. “When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory.” “The glory which thou gavest Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me.”

But there is another thing still. We are not only told that they were with Him, that they talked with Him, and appeared in glory with Him, but we are also privileged to know the subject of their conversation. They “spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.” It was the cross which was the theme of their conversation in the glory—the sufferings of Christ which He had to accomplish at Jerusalem. And surely this will be our joy throughout eternity, when in glory with Christ—to dwell upon this theme, His decease accomplished at Jerusalem.

We next read that Peter and they that were with Him were heavy with sleep. It shows us what the flesh is in the presence of the glory of God. Peter made a great mistake; but I pass on.

“While he thus spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them; and they feared as, they entered into the cloud. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son; hear him.” Peter tells us that this voice came from the excellent glory. “For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Now Peter and the others had entered into the cloud; and thus we get the wonderful fact that in the glory, from which the voice comes, saints are privileged to stand, and there, in that glory, share the delight of the Father in His beloved Son. Not only are we called to the fellowship of God's Son, Jesus Christ, we are called to have fellowship with the Father. We are admitted of God the Father to partake of His satisfaction in His beloved Son.

“And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone.” The vision all gone—the cloud, the voice, the glory, Moses and Elias, but Jesus was left, and they were left to go on their way with Jesus, knowing Him now in the light of those scenes of glory which they had beheld. And this is the use to us of those vivid apprehensions of spiritual things which we may sometimes realize. It is not that we can be always enjoying them and nothing else. But when for the season they have passed away, like this vision on the holy mount, they leave us alone with Jesus, to pursue the path of our pilgrimage with Him in spirit now, and with Him in the light and power of that deepened acquaintance with Him, and fellowship of the Father's joy in Him, that we have got on the mount; and then to wait for the moment of His return, when all this, and more than our hearts can think of, shall be fulfilled to its forever.

[J.N.D.]

Jonathan

1 Sam. 13-23; 2 Sam. 1.

Jonathan is not a luminary of the first magnitude as is David, but there are in him some very attractive features. If his end is lamentable it is not dishonorable, while his beginning is uncommonly praiseworthy. Nor does his end blot out his beginning. When God has to deal in discipline with His children He is not forgetful of what may have been commendable in their lives previously.

Jonathan first appears in 1 Sam. 13 smiting the garrison of the Philistines, which was in Geba. In this he was lawfully aggressive, for the Philistines were not only the enemies of Israel, but of God. From the earliest days, even the days of Isaac, they show their hostility to God's elect. Through the times of Judges and Samuel we see them constantly harassing and worrying God's people, tempting them above all by their idols. Peace with them would have sunk Israel to their level, not raised them to the knowledge of the true and living God. Believers make a sorry mistake when they fancy that by mixing up with the world they will improve it. It will never do to disobey the word which declares, that the friendship of the world is enmity with God, and that whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. No disobedience to such a plain statement can go without impunity and loss to one's soul.

Jonathan's attack and the defeat of the garrison at Geba is the signal of a great battle. The Philistines gather together their formidable hosts—thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the sea shore for multitude. What is Israel going to do in the face of this huge army? Hide themselves in caves and in thickets, and in rocks, and in high places, and in pits? They were God's people, but scarcely yet prepared to bring God into their matters, by casting themselves wholly upon Him. Their leader was a selfish and rash man, ready enough to offer a burnt offering with his own hands, which were not by any means those of a priest, or to have the ark brought him as if he pretended to make God his servant instead of crying to Him for help. But such daring presumption only made matters worse. God lends a very ready ear to a petition, but not to an order or demand, and Saul's manners betray something of that. Another cause for dismay, but after all a very secondary one, was the discovery that on the side of Israel there were no weapons, either for the attack or for the defense. We say this was a very secondary cause for the reason that no weapons can avail where God refuses His help.

But it is true that man's extremity is God's opportunity to show His grace and power. He will not give an answer to Saul, but He will hear the words of one who was very near to Saul, but very different from him who was a stranger to all in his life of faith. Nobody, not even his own father, and, perhaps his father least of all, would have understood him if he had let his secret out before the people. What he meant to do was perfect folly in the eyes of unbelieving men; but “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” And, before the cross, we have a demonstration of this great truth in Jonathan. His words to his armor-bearer God hears, “It may be that the Lord will work for us: for there is no restraint to the cord to save by many or by few.” To his faith he adds, as Peter recommends, virtue or manly courage. His courage came not of presumption, but, of dependence on and confidence in Gild. The term “it may be” do not mean that there was a doubt in his mind, but that he was unreservedly subject to the will of God and confident that God, as He was able to, would grant deliverance to His people to the glory of His own great Name. When he says, “that the Lord will work for us... and save by many or by few,” he is quite in the current of the mind of God, who purposed to do a much greater work by One alone, and that One His own Son, to work “a soul-salvation” to be soon crowned by “the redemption of our body.” Oh, the wonders of that cross, the glory of that shame, the power of that weakness (2 Cor. 13:4)! “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name!”

Here Jonathan's faith fully rises to the height of David's in chapter 17, and this explains how they got knit together immediately after they knew each other. Like faith, like confidence, in the living God caused free love, mutual love, to flow out of their hearts. This is very fine. So treacherous are our hearts that faith alone might have gendered pride and, perhaps jealousy, but faith and love mixed together formed a strong and blessed link. How great the love and how strong and blessed the link we see in chaps. 18 to 23. “And it came to pass that when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” It was not a mere matter of sentiment or an impulsive movement of the natural heart: it was a bond in the Lord. At once a covenant intervenes to strengthen the bond, and thereupon Jonathan strips himself of his robe “and gave it to David and his garments, even to his sword, and to, his bow, and to his girdle.” Armed with Saul's armor, David says, “I cannot go with these” but clad with Jonathan's he could go, for they were those of a kindred soul. Vesture and weapons, Jonathan gives all to David, and this is no common manner of love, for it was putting a humble shepherd on a footing of equality with a king's son.

The love will soon be put to the test and will prove true. “And Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David.” Will the son obey the father's command? He knew David “in the Lord,” that is on the ground of a “most holy faith,” and “strong in the Lord and in the power of his might,” nothing could induce him to stretch out his hand against one who was his bosom friend and the Lord's anointed. He would serve him, cost what may; but murder him! The very thought were abhorrent. “But Jonathan, Saul's son, delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now, therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning,” etc. But advice was not enough: he would confront his father's wrath and plead for his friend. This was “great boldness in the faith,” so great that it subdued the wicked king. He spake not in “the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind,” and he was heard—this time at least.

In chap. 20 some ominous change seems to have taken place. Had Jonathan's watchfulness and solicitude relaxed How was it that he knew nothing of his father's wicked plots against David? “My father will do nothing, either great or small, but that he will show it me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? It is, not so.” Yet it was indeed, and Jonathan was sadly mistaken in thinking that his father would initiate him into his purpose. He who had said before, “Saul my father seeketh to kill thee,” ought not to have been deceived by false appearances. The love in him was still ready to serve and to help. “Whatsoever thy soul desireth, will even do it for thee"; but it needed to be aroused by such words as these, “Truly as the Lord liveth and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.” And aroused Jonathan's love now was. He would even risk his life for David, and a new covenant comes in here not only between them personally, as it was at the first, but on behalf of their houses respectively. This held good with David after Jonathan's death. It was written in his book of remembrance, and in due time he said, “Is there yet any that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?” There was one left, even a son of his bosom friend, a poor cripple, Mephibosheth. And David had him brought to him, and spoke these reassuring words, “Fear, not, for I will surely show thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and I will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father; and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually.” This was not only kindness, but the very kindness of God.

A last interview takes place between the two friends in the wilderness of Ziph. Jonathan meets David to “strengthen his hand in God.” This is very fine indeed. The words by which Jonathan strengthens David are truly admirable, “Fear not, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee, and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth.” He puts David first according to God's choice, and is content to be second. And a third covenant intervenes between them. “At the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.” Yet it was just at this juncture, that the two friends parted from each other never to meet again in this life. “David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.” This leaves a painful impression, and when afterward one reads of Jonathan's mournful death, the sorrowful thought comes to one's mind that on the side of Jonathan the first love must have grown cold.

There was no change in the heart of David. His love flows out as fresh and as full as ever in his touching lamentation, “O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. I am distressed, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me; thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.” Later on, the Lord so speaks with regard to the early days of Israel, “I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.” In the worst days He most graciously remembers the best. A striking thing is, that what the Lord calls here “the love of thine espousals” —the first love, is that shown by Israel during their sojourn in the wilderness, the “land that was not sown.” Did He not hear the murmurs, did He not see His people's rebellion during those forty years? Surely He did. But He saw this also, and it is what had great value in His eyes, viz., that they, spite of all, went after Him. How? By following the cloud which was the symbol of His presence. When it moved they moved, never going before it or stooping behind. Many and grievous were the sins that we read of on that page of their history, but not so many and so grievous as those they became guilty of after their entrance into the promised land. Read God's indictment against them in that second chapter of Jeremiah. Yet in infinite mercy and goodness He would remember the early days and would have them to remember the same in order that He might bless them accordingly.

And as it has been with Israel, so it is with the church in the present dispensation. She too has left her first love and, by leaving it, has been step by step dragged from the Ephesian state into the Laodicean. What a downfall, and how truly the Apocalyptic prophecy has been verified! What is the difference between the love of the early days and that of the last, one can see by comparing Ephesians with Galatians. In Ephesians the Christian is carried right up into the heavenly places, there to enjoy all the spiritual blessings with which he is blest in Christ. The heavenly places are the sphere in which he moves in spirit, and the spiritual blessings those in which he delights. The world has no allurements for him; he is far above it, not through pride, but because he loves Christ, and Christ is above.

Now look at the Galatians. In writing to them the apostle does not even mention heaven. Their heart was not there. They had put upon their neck a heavy yoke which bent them to the earth., They had become legalists, and were thereby in bondage under the elements of the world, and so worldly minded. They would not have the cross of Christ to separate them from the world and put them wholly on the side of heaven. The first love which they had known when they received the apostle “as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus,” was now a thing of the past. Alas, for them alas, for Christians like-minded!

Jonathan's love seems to have grown cold when he lost contact with David, and so it is with the Christian when he neglects personal intercourse with Christ. It cannot be otherwise. Oh, the blessedness of a life of communion with such a loving Savior. Keep your heart in contact with Him and it will be warmed up and revived, for He changeth not. Kindle, kindle that heart of yours. Let not the fire of virgin love go out. Hearken to the cry, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh,” and hold yourself ready.

P.C.

Lectures on 1 Chronicles 16-19

1 Chronicles 16-19

I said but little of the Psalm that was sung on that day, delivered by David to Asaph and his brethren. In point of fact, it consists of portions of several Psalms put together in what might seem a singular manner, but surely with divine wisdom. They are taken from the fourth and fifth Books of Psalms—for I suppose most here are aware that The Psalms consist of five books with definite characters. The fourth of them consists of those Psalms that anticipate the establishment of the kingdom of Jehovah, and the fifth book the results of that kingdom. However, there is this particularly to be noted—that the ark of God was now pitched in a tent provisionally in Jerusalem. It was no longer with the tabernacle. This was a most striking change, and it belongs to the peculiarity of David's position. The authority of the king was the center of Israel now—the type of the Lord—Jesus; for God has reserved the place of chief honor for His Son, and David represents this. Hence we see that the priests retired into a secondary place: the king comes forward prominently. So it is said “He left there, before the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, Asaph and his brethren to minister before the ark continually.” The ark, which was the throne of Jehovah in Israel was now in this close connection with the king, more than with the priests. By and by all was ranged round this center, but it was only a provisional state of things.

David's heart is occupied with the glory of the future for Israel (chap. 17,), and he tells the prophet Nathan of the exercise of his spirit. He felt it an egregious thing that he should dwell in a house of cedars while the ark of the covenant of Jehovah was only under curtains. Nathan bids him do all that was in his heart, for God was with him. But Nathan here had not the mind of God. The purpose of David's heart was right, but not the time or way. God had another plan, and this only is good and wise. So Nathan the same night is told by God to go and tell His servant, David, “Thus saith Jehovah, thou shalt not build me a house to dwell in.” It was reserved for Solomon. Nothing, however, can be more touching than Jehovah's message to His servant. He had gone with Israel from tent to tent after He brought them up out of Egypt: He had walked with them, but never had told any of the judges to build Him a house. He had taken David from the lowest position to be ruler over His people Israel. He had been with him everywhere—cut off his enemies, made him a name, ordained a place for His people that there they should dwell and be moved no more; “neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more as at the beginning, and since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel.” He would subdue all his enemies, but instead of David building the Lord a house, Jehovah was going to build David a house, and till that was done he could not have a house built for Himself. How blessed are the ways of God! He must do all things for us before we can act for Him. David must have a house built for him. That is, the kingdom of Israel must be established firmly and immovably in the house of David, and not till then would Jehovah accept a house to be built by David's son. In fact, Jehovah was looking onward to Christ, and the whole meaning and value of the choice of David's house, and especially Of David's son, was in view of the Messiah.

There is a remarkable omission in this chapter as compared with what we have already seen in Kings, strikingly illustrating the difference between Kings and Chronicles. In Kings Jehovah tells David through the prophet that if his sons should be disobedient He would chastise them, but He would not remove His mercy from them forever. It was not to be exterminating judgment, but chastening mercy. This disappears here. He simply says, “He shall build me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee: but I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom forever: and his throne shall be established for evermore.”

Kings is the book of responsibility, Chronicles of God's providence. This explains, therefore, the omission here of that which is so important in the book of Kings. That book everywhere presents the responsibility of the kings—not so much of the people, but of the kings, and hence, therefore, of David's sons or successors among the race. But inasmuch as the great point of Chronicles is no longer to show the moral government of God, and how truly kings as well as people reap according to their sowing, but rather to show this—that God's plan, God's intention, God's mind alone stands, so all the contingent circumstances of the house of David are left out of Chronicles: only the ultimate thought of God is given.

Now, nothing more certainly will be fulfilled, for God will never give up Israel until He shall have established the throne in the person of the true Son of David, the Lord Jesus. David bows to God, and, as it is said, comes and sits before Jehovah, saying, “Who am I, O Jehovah God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; for thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come.” Indeed He has—as long as the earth shall endure. “And hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree? No wonder, seeing he was the forerunner of Him who will rule the whole earth in a way that has never yet been true of mortal man! “What can David speak more to thee for the honor of thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant.” Those who apply all this to the gospel greatly miss the profit of the passage. It is not but that we are entitled as Christians to take the comfort of the grace of God, or that we are not to rejoice in the glory of our Lord Jesus; but then there is a double mischief done by applying this to the kingdom as we know it under the gospel. First, it hinders us from seeing the deeper glory of the Lord, and our own higher relationship—because we are not mere subjects in a kingdom as the Jews will be even in this time of blessing that is predicted. No doubt we are in the kingdom of God's dear Son, but how? We are kings: we are kings with Christ even now. We are not yet reigning, but we are kings—kings before the reigning takes place. We shall reign with Christ, but meanwhile we are made not more surely priests than kings. “To Him that loveth us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and made us kings and priests.”

There is the great mistake which is made by those who apply the prediction to the present time, and to the present exaltation of Christ who is sitting as the rejected king in a new glory of which He is the head; and He is the head in order to bring in the grand counsel of God that we shall be His body—not merely subjects over whom He rules. But then there is another mischief that is wrought by the misapplication I have spoken of, and that is that people blot out the future for Israel. They do not see that God maintains that people in His secret providence, although He cannot any longer own them publicly as His people. But He will by and by convert them, restore them, exalt them, as no people ever have been—not even Israel in the times of David and Solomon. Hence we see how what might appear to be a trivial error may be fraught with the worst consequences both as to the present and as to the future.

David then enters into the grandeur of the plans of God, and delights to think not only of His grace towards himself, but also “what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people, whom thou hast redeemed out of Israel?” Now, it is one quality of what is divine that it does not wear out. What is human does. All the works of men's hands grow old, but not so with what is of God according to new creation—according to Christ. Hence, therefore, the end will be brighter than the beginning; and man's notion of a mere wistful retrospect at a lost paradise is poor comparatively, for what God shows us is a paradise of God that will be the end, and not merely the restoration, of the paradise of man. So with Israel. They will have the kingdom incomparably more blessedly under Christ than under David or Solomon. “Therefore now, Jehovah, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established forever, and do as thou hast, said. Let it even be established, that thy name may be magnified forever, saying, Jehovah of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the house of David thy servant be established before thee.”

In the next chapter (18) the Spirit of God shows us the power that was conferred upon David. He smote the Philistines who were the tyrannous enemies of Israel in Saul's day, by whom Saul himself was slain and his family. David smote them and subdued them. He smote Moab, the old enemy, the envious and spiteful against the people. “And the Moabites became David's servants and brought gifts. And David smote Hadarezer king of Zobah unto Hamath.” This power extended beyond those who immediately surrounded. “And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadarezer king of Zobah, David slew of the Syrians two and twenty thousand men. Then David put garrisons in Syria-damascus; and the Syrians became. David's servants, and brought gifts. Thus Jehovah preserved David whithersoever he went.” Accordingly we find that David dedicates the spoils, the silver and the gold, “from Edom and from Moab, and from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines, and from Amalek.” Nor was it only David, but his servants, on whom God put honor. “So David reigned over all Israel, and executed judgment and justice among all his people,” and had his kingdom duly set out with servants adequate to the work.

In chapter 19, however, we see that there were those who distrusted David's generosity. The children of Ammon could not understand that David should show kindness unto Hanun, the son of Nahash because his father showed kindness to him; and therefore the princes of Ammon, thinking that it was merely a political device, in order to overthrow the land by spying it out, suggest an act of the greatest contempt for David's servants; but this only brought the most grievous retribution upon themselves. No doubt they hired chariots, but it was in vain I and, further, the Syrians were called in, but they were no help. They were put to the worse. Then they tried the Syrians beyond the river. Perhaps they would do better. The Syrians fled before Israel, so much so as to complete the slaughter. “And when the servants of Hadarezer saw that they were put to the worse before Israel, they made peace with David, and became his servants: neither would the Syrians help the children of Ammon any more.”

Song of Solomon Introduction 1

General Remarks

We are about to look at a book of scripture which, I suppose), has often exercised the minds of many of us. But it is remarkable that although modern thought might presume to speak lowly of such a book, there is no part of the Hebrew scriptures which has more distinct, positive authority. That is to say there is not a single ground-work of divine authority which it does not possess save one, perhaps, that might be brought up against it, and that is, that it is one of the very few books of the Bible which are not quoted in the New Testament. But there is not the very slightest ground for question on that score, and for this simple reason—that, although it be not cited, the very ground-work of it is constantly before the mind of the Spirit of God. The first book of the New Testament most plainly alludes to the great thought of Song of Solomon that is, the bridal relation as the sign or symbol of Christ's special love to His people. For although, undoubtedly, we have in the New Testament the place of children and the Father's love; and although we have also the figure of the shepherd in his care for the sheep, still we see this very relationship taken up and used by the Holy Ghost as the peculiar figure of the nearness of love in which the Lord stands to ourselves. This, however, has exposed the book, I think, to be misunderstood.

In that haste which is at all times apt to characterize want of faith as well as want of spiritual intelligence, it has been taken for granted, that the bride of the Song of Solomon must be the same as the bride of which the apostle Paul speaks—the bride of which John speaks in the Revelation. But this in nowise follows; and I will endeavor to make this plain before I enter upon the book itself.

If we turn, then, to the Gospel of Matthew, we find that the first occasion in the New Testament where the bridal relation comes before us is in the 9th chapter wherein the Lord is vindicating His disciples on the occasion of questions being raised by Pharisaic prejudices. Jesus said to the disciples of John: who identified themselves with the feeling of the Pharisees, “Can the children of the bridechamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?” Now, there we have a distinct allusion. But where do we hear of the bridegroom? It is supposed to be something thoroughly well known. He does not explain it. Where was the title of the “bridegroom” got from? Unquestionably from Canticles—the Song of Solomon. That is, we have here—not, it is true, a quotation, but we have what appears to me to be even stronger than a quotation. We have it as a distinctly recognized fact. We have it as a grand truth that was thoroughly familiar to the mind, of the Jews, and mark, beloved friends, with the stamp of the Son of God upon it. For it is not, you observe, a title which the disciples of John use in speaking to Jesus, but it is the Lord. Jesus who uses it to them. “Can the children of the bridechamber mourn,” says He, “as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then, shall they fast.”

Now, you will notice what singular beauty—and I need not say divine perfection—there is in these words. He does not speak of the bride. He simply speaks of the children of the bridechamber. He knew right well that He was about to, bring out another to fill the place as His bride. But here there is no reference at all; for at this time our Lord was being simply proposed to Israel. It was a question of whether the ancient people of God would receive Him. Had they received Him He would have been the bridegroom and they would have composed the bride. And it is plain, as I have said, that the Lord does not set this forth as something which He was making known for the first time, but as something which they ought to have been perfectly familiar with, and, of course, grounded upon the word of God. Where was it taken from? From the book of which I have read a few words this evening.

Well, if we turn again to a later part of this same Gospel of Matthew—to the parable of The Ten Virgins which is so justly familiar to the Christian—what do we find there? We have the kingdom of heaven compared to ten virgins. It is not the bride, you observe, but virgins who went forth with their lamps to, meet the bridegroom. Now, there can be no question whatever that the bridegroom is the Lord Jesus. It is plain that the bride is not the point in the Parable of the Ten Virgins. It is virgins who were going forth to meet the bridegroom. And where then do we find the bride? Solemn silence. In the first allusion where the Lord spoke of the bridegroom, there is no reference to the bride. It is the children of the bridechamber, and not a word about the bride. Remarkable silence The natural thing would have been to speak of the bride as well; and so natural is it that in some ancient copies—one of the most ancient copies—made of this very parable, the writer slipped into this mistake, for he represented the kingdom of heaven as likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom and the bride. They have added the words “and the bride.” I need not tell you that there is not the slightest authority for it.

Nay, what I want to show is the striking wisdom of the Lord in that He does not say a word about the bride. There is the bridegroom, and he is coming—because that is the point: he is coming. It is not a scene in heaven; this is not the point. But here we find the bridegroom coming, and these virgins are going out to meet him. They are not the bride of Christ which He is going to take to Himself; and the ten virgins could not be the figure of the bride.

It is quite plain, then, that the bride is unmentioned—unseen; and the reason to my mind is most solemn. The Lord perfectly well knew that the bride, whom their hearts were familiar with from the Old Testament imagery, was to be no bride yet—that the bride would be faithless—that the bride would refuse the bridegroom for the time. The bride, therefore, does not appear in either of His allusions. For He was not like one who had to learn. He was not one who did not know the truth: He was a divine person. It was all before Him. He might wait; but even when He did wait, and when it was too plain that He was thoroughly rejected by the Jews, and was now about to lay down His life as a sacrifice—not to come as a bridegroom for the bride, but to lay down His life as a sacrifice for sinners—even then, in this striking parable at the very close there is not a word about the bride. From first to last the bride appears not.

Now that, to me, is most instructive because one of the objects of the Gospel of Matthew is to show not more that He was the true and divine Messiah,

Emmanuel, than that the true Emmanuel—the Messiah—would be rejected by Israel. Hence, therefore, there is a veil over Israel. How singular! He does not even name her. She would refuse Him. He does not say a word about her. He turns to that which was near to His own heart; not to guiltiness—the guilty unbelief of her that ought to have welcomed the returning Bridegroom, now present. He was the present Bridegroom even then, but He speaks of ourselves really, for it is the Christian body, and, indeed, the professing Christian body, that He means by the ten virgins. He does not refer to the Jewish remnant, as some people have fancied. There is nothing at all about the Jewish remnant in the ten virgins. The ten virgins are clearly Christian professors who go forth to meet the Bridegroom. That is our position, and they characterize Christianity.

The Jew will remain where he is, and be blest of God where he is, when the day comes to bless the Jew. They never go forth to meet the Bridegroom. The Bridegroom will come to them when their heart is turned. There will be that turn of heart, and the veil will be taken away when it turns to the Lord—the heart of Israel, as we are told in the 3rd chapter of the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians. The Lord was clearly speaking here of those that go forth, and He is speaking of some foolish and some wise. When the Jewish remnant comes there will be none foolish. The wise shall understand, and they are the understanding ones—that Jewish remnant of the last day.

And what shows still more plainly that it is not the Jewish remnant is this. They have got oil in their vessels, whereas the Jews will have the Holy Ghost poured out upon them after their relationship with Christ is established. We have the Holy Ghost poured out when Christ went away. They will not have the Holy Ghost poured out upon them till Christ comes back again; so that the distinction, therefore, is perfectly plain. And see how all corroborates this, because they go to sleep. The Jewish remnant will never go to sleep. From the time that they are called they will pass through unequaled fires and tribulation. People do not go to sleep in times of tribulation, but in times of ease. That is what has come to pass in Christendom. There were times of ease and people went to sleep; and that is what we find here—the Lord waking them up at the end. But, I repeat, the ten virgins portray Christendom, good and bad, wise and foolish, and not the Jewish body. The bride is nowhere seen. She is not even named. I have no doubt that the returning Bridegroom will take the bride after this; but the ten virgins are a totally different figure, and they are viewed here not as the bride, but as the cortege, as it were—the bridal procession—those that go forth to meet Him and go in with Him to the marriage. But then it is another who is the bride; and if you ask who that bride would be, if the bride were named at all, I answer, without hesitation, the bride of the Canticles—Jerusalem.

Now, we must not suppose, beloved friends, that it is anything strange that Jerusalem should have such a title attached to her. The Prophets take it up and the Psalms, too. The 45th Psalm refers most clearly to that Jewish bride. She is the queen. There are the virgins, her companions, but she is the queen. There are others to be blest in that bright day; but she is the one that is all glorious within. And we must not suppose that this is any derogation from the heavenly bride, the church, for I quite admit that the same persons who are the virgins in the 25th of Matthew do compose that heavenly bride. In short, we must remember that the bride is only a figure; and that as there is the church which has a nearer place than any of the others that are in heaven, and Jerusalem—or Zion if you will—will have a special place near to Messiah on the earth. The Lord's heart, surely, is large enough for both heaven and earth. He who is God as well as man—He who is the Head of the church as well as the Head of the Jew, loves, and will love, them both with the fullest and most fervent love. Consequently as in the Old Testament we have a bride who is clearly defined and most unquestionably not the church, so in the New Testament we have a bride that is fully brought out; and that bride is as clearly the church and not Jerusalem, as in the Old Testament it is Jerusalem and not the church.

This, I think, will help very considerably in understanding the Song of Solomon No person must suppose that this will make the Song of Solomon less interesting. The first point, beloved friends, is always. to consider not what we count interesting but to ask what is the truth—what is the mind of God. Now, I think that whenever we have God's mind as a settled certainty, there is nothing that is of deeper interest; and I need hardly say that if such will be the love of Christ—so great and so tender—towards His earthly bride, weld it be a fair inference that Christ's love is less towards His heavenly bride? I should have thought the contrary, and therefore, that we were most entirely entitled to infer that the Lord's love is larger than we thought it was—that the Lord will have an object most dear to Him upon the earth in a special nearness to Him, as the Lord will surely have an object which is peculiarly near to Him in heaven. And if we belong to Christ at all now, such will be our relationship, and such we are entitled to know is our relationship at this time. This, I repeat, is not to take away scripture from our hearts, but it is to give us a true intelligence of scripture.

I might refer to the Gospel of John in order to carry forward the same proof with regard to the figure of the bridegroom and, consequently, of the earthly bride—for the church was not yet revealed—when the Lord spoke there or when John the Baptist gave his testimony to Christ there; but I prefer to put it upon the words of Christ. John the Baptist, no doubt, bears the same stamp as the Lord Jesus does—I would not say of inspiration. No: I speak of Him as a divine person. He spoke the words of God, and John the Baptist gave here his testimony from God just as truly as if it had been God Himself speaking; but, still, we must always distinguish between one who is merely an instrument and one who is God's express image. Such was Jesus.

I do not wish to merely bring a number of texts as if it were making the truth stronger. I hope that I am addressing those who would be quite satisfied with one scripture if there were one scripture only. The man who requires twenty scriptures evidently does not believe one. The man who thinks that scripture is more certain because he multiplies the proofs has evidently no proper sense of its divine certitude. I take. my stand, then upon this, that the books of the Old Testament—Psalms and Prophets—are alluding, from time to time (I might say frequently), to the figure of the bride as that which Jerusalem is to fill in a day that is coming; and that the New Testament takes its stand on the lips of our Lord Himself sealing this great truth, the more important because Jerusalem was going to refuse Him, alas! How blessed His testimony! The Lord, however, although he does not speak of Jerusalem here as the bride, speaks of himself as the bridegroom. He did not fail in His love although she failed in hers.

That is the great truth which I draw from it; but, that truth is founded, I repeat, upon the Song of Solomon. The Song of Solomon, therefore, is evidently stamped with the fullest divine authority, and not merely because it is in the very heart, if I may say so, of the Bible—not merely because it was always undisputed—not merely because it was in the very earliest translation that was ever made of the scriptures. It is not like the Apocryphal Books or anything that could be questioned. That book was translated into the leading language of the Gentiles long before the coming of Christ; so that there can be no doubt whatever as to its full divine authority. And, further, it was familiarly understood at that time—so that our Lord could appeal to the prominent figure of that book which, I may say, envelopes the whole of it; for the whole book is devoted to the love between the bridegroom and the bride. I know, of course, that Solomon was the author of it; and it has been thought by many that Solomon was the subject of it. Whatever may be the historical circumstances which gave occasion to the book, that is a matter which has no particular claim to occupy our mind. What we find is, not the occasion which gave rise to it, but the truth of God in it—what the Holy Ghost meant for the edification of saints at all times, and, very especially, when this book will apply. For it bears another great stamp of divine truth about it, and it is this of which, I am persuaded, that the true bearing of the book is future—that it is not yet accomplished.

The Jews have regarded it as an historical allegory—and there they missed the mind of God—of the dealings of God with the Jewish people—that it was the love of Jehovah for Israel from the day when He brought her out of Egypt. They naturally applied the coming of the bride and the bridegroom out of the wilderness to God bringing His people out of the house of bondage, and taking them for His own people before the face of all the world. [W.K.]

(To be continued)

Studies in Mark 6:35-44: Servant of Jehovah as the Shepherd of Israel

6:35-44

“And when the day was now far spent, his disciples came unto him and said, The place is desert, and the day is now far spent send them away that they may go into the country and villages round about, and buy themselves somewhat to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? And he saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? Go and see. And when they knew, they say, Five, and two fishes. And he commanded that all should sit down by companies upon the green grass. And they sat down in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties. And he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake the loaves; and he gave to the disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up broken pieces, twelve basketfuls, and also of the fishes. And they that ate the loaves were five thousand men” (6:35-44, R.V.).

The Lord, having been, so far as the spirit of the people was concerned, rejected in Galilee, revealed Himself to the company that sought Him out in the character of the promised Shepherd of Israel. He was there to feed both the hearts and the bodies of His hungry flock if they would but come to Him. They had come to Him, and, accordingly He led them into green pastures.

This title of Jehovah's Sent One—the Shepherd—first appeared in the prophetic pronouncement of Jacob upon his sons. Israel upon his dying bed was inspired to declare what should befall the twelve tribes in the latter days. But, according to these predictions, it was in the offspring of Joseph that blessings for the seed of Jacob would culminate—blessings of the heaven above, and of the deep beneath, blessings unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. Moreover, it was out of the loins of Joseph, who was “separate from his brethren,” that the Shepherd should come, the Stone of Israel, to establish the tribes in these blessings (Gen. 49:24). Now that Shepherd, whom the departing patriarch dimly saw in vision, had appeared in the midst of His people to stand and feed His flock in the strength of the LORD and in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God (Mic. 5:4). It is part of the good tidings promised to Zion that the LORD God shall come to her and “shall feed his flock like a shepherd; he shall gather the lambs in his arm and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that give suck” (Isa. 40:11).

There seems to be some distinction between the Lord viewed as Shepherd and as King. The nature of the offices of the Shepherd, regarded as a whole, are more peaceful than those of the King of Israel. It is true they each have a double character, so that the titles blend into one another in that harmony of perfection and glory which is inseparable from our Blessed Master. Thus, the Messianic King is both a man of war and a man of peace—a David and a Solomon. On the One hand, He will subdue the oppressor of His people, striking through kings in the day of His wrath, dashing them in pieces like a potter's vessel. On the other hand, He will come down like rain upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth, introducing world-wide peace and prosperity. And as the King's energies are exercised in a twofold direction, so the Shepherd exercises a twofold care. In the first place, He protects His own from the predatory foes of the flock. The wolf cannot snatch the feeblest lamb out of the Shepherd's hand, and according to the prophecy of the days to come He will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land.” But He not only protects, He also preserves and provides food. The Shepherd brings His flock into the green pastures and beside the still waters. He comforts them with His rod and His staff, and is with them in the valley of the shadow of death.

This beautiful figure of our Lord is used throughout both Old and New Testaments, and it will well repay the devout heart to pursue the study of it in the law, the prophets and the psalms; in the evangelists and the apostles. And, what is best of all, the Shepherd's compassions still abound. towards His hungry, weary flock, and, as on the Galilean shore of old, His voice still teaches His flock “many things.”

“There, is no voice like Thine,

O Shepherd, kind and true,

Whose accents, human and divine,

Still call Thy sheep anew.

The stranger's voice is loud,

And confident his tone;

But, Lord, to Thee our hearts have bowed

To Thee whose love is known.

So when with siren song

That alien voice would lure,

Thy steadfast word shall keep us strong

And peaceful and secure.”

THE SUGGESTION OF THE TWELVE

As the Lord proceeded with His discourse to the assembled crowd the day began to wear away, and the apostles thereupon grew anxious in regard to the situation. They themselves had apparently planned to return in the boat to Capernaum. But what would the multitude there in the wilderness do for food and lodging? They therefore interposed with their difficulty. Going to the Lord, they pointed out that the place was a desert one, the day was far spent, and the people had nothing to eat. They suggested that the Lord should dismiss the audience at once, so that they might go to the neighboring homesteads and villages and purchase food for themselves.

The suggestion of the apostles was wise enough perhaps as a measure of purely human policy. Commonsense, that much vaunted factor in the affairs of life, could invent nothing better than self-help as a means of supplying the needed. food under the exceptional circumstances. The proposed scheme relieved the disciples of any responsibility as to the welfare of the people, but it fell woefully short of the compassionate spirit inculcated in the law. “If there be with thee a poor man, one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: but thou shalt surely open thine hand unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need in that which he wanteth.... Thou shalt surely give him, and thy heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy work, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt surely open thine hand unto thy brother, to thy needy, and to thy poor, in thy land” (Deut. 15:7-11).

If the disciples were lacking in this spirit of compassion for their poor and needy brothers in Israel, it was not so with their Master. He had come into the midst of the nation to exemplify the tenets of the law in their fullest perfection. Only we cannot fail to note that the band of privileged followers of the Lord showed in this instance how utterly unable they were to apprehend the motives animating their Master. Indeed, how frequently they are shown in the Gospel running counter to Him. When little children were brought to Him for a blessing which He was ready to bestow, the disciples rebuked those who brought them. When they saw one casting out demons in the name of Jesus, they, contrary to the will of their Master, forbade him because he followed not with them.

When a certain village of the Samaritans refused to receive the Lord, James and John desired the Savior of men to destroy the villagers by fire from heaven. When the Lord spoke to His disciples of His journey to Jerusalem to suffer, Peter took it upon him to rebuke his Master. Well might the Lord say to them, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. They continued in His company, but did not adequately learn of Him. Even at the last, on the night of His betrayal, He had to say to one, Have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?

The Lord did not receive the suggestion of the twelve that the multitude should be dismissed, but said to them, Give ye them to eat. And He addressed Himself especially to this same Philip, saying, Whence are we to buy bread that these may eat? He said this to prove him (John 6:6), knowing Himself what He would do.

The twelve had been recently constituted apostles, preachers, miracle-workers. Here then was an occasion for them to test their resourcefulness. The Lord bade them feed the hungry people, but neither Philip nor any of the apostles were capable of grasping the true bearings of the situation, and counting upon help from the only possible source. The statistician of the company estimated that two hundred denarii spent in bread would only provide a little for each person. This would be equal to a pennyworth of bread for each twenty-five men in the company, and nothing for the women and children. Besides, where was such a great quantity of bread to be obtained in a country place but sparsely inhabited, as that was? Shall we go and buy? they ask, scornfully. Yet did they not know the Scriptures? Had they forgotten what Jehovah had done in the days of Elisha? Then the loaves of a man from Baalshalisha were multiplied so that a hundred men were satisfied (2 Kings 4:42-44). And a greater than Elisha a as there, even Jehovah Himself, who put to shame the unbelieving objections of His servant Moses in somewhat analogous circumstances (Num. 11). Jesus also shamed the twelve; for out of His own love He cared for and fed these people.

This miracle is remarkable as being one of the Lord's few spontaneous ones. In contrast with the majority of recorded instances, He did not wait to be solicited to put forth His power, but acted straightway out of the fullness of His compassion.

The sum of money named, two hundred pence, was a considerable one, and may have been in the common purse of the Lord's company. It is estimated to have been equivalent to some seven pounds of our currency, but at the same time it must be remembered that the purchasing power of money was then greater. The ' penny' was the Roman denarius, and the pay of a soldier was a denarius a day. This was also the liberal wages of a liberal master to the laborers in the vineyard, as we read in the parable (Matt. 20). A hundred denarii was a common currency multiple, as we may speak in round numbers of so many hundred pounds. We read in the New Testament of—

a. 100 denarii in the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matt. 18:28).

b. 200 denarii in the answer of Philip (John 6:7).

c. 300 denarii in the valuation of the ointment used upon the Lord (Mark 14:5; John 12:5).

d. 500 denarii in the parable of the two debtors (Luke 7:41).

WHAT A MAN HATH

On the failure of the apostles to provide any scheme for the relief of the people, the Lord Himself took up the case. He would not allow them to go empty away. And as was His custom, He made use of what they possessed, though this in itself was totally inadequate. He inquired of them how many loaves there were. And having ascertained, they reported that a lad who was present had two barley loaves and two fishes. Bar y bread on account of its coarseness was the god of the poorest peasants only, the dried fish being eaten with it as a relish. In Solomon's day barley was the food of horses (1 Kings 4:28). And the Midianite's dream of a cake of barley bread rolling into the camp was a vivid metaphor of the dire straits to which the famished poverty-stricken Israelites were reduced; nevertheless, by Jehovah's aid the despised cake overturned the tent of the oppressor (Judg. 7:13). Here also the Lord took up what were poor, weak and contemptible as things of the world, and used them in the plenitude of His power and of His grace to satisfy the hunger of the assembled multitude.

It is instructive to observe that the Lord did not feed the people with bread from heaven, as manna came down day by day to Israel in the desert, but He multiplied the few loaves which they found in store until the wants of all were supplied. In like manner He changed the contents of the waterpots into wine for the marriage-feast at Cana. By such events the Lord showed how the power of God can magnify human inefficiency and insufficiency to the praise of the glory of His grace and to the liberal satisfaction of human need. He could, of course, in His own inherent power make all things new in His kingdom, but the time of the new creation had not then come, nor would it come until He Himself, its Head, rose from the dead. The Lord therefore made use of the five barley loaves, sad testimony as they were of the poverty of Jehovah's ancient people, and by means of them gave a demonstration of the future plenty of the promised land wherein they should eat bread without scarceness, and should not lack any good thing (Deut. 8:9).

However, a great lesson lies here of perennial importance. In the matter of usefulness, God looks at what a man has, and not at what a man has not. And it is His way to use what a man has, if there be a willing mind. “What is that in thine hand?” Jehovah said to Moses, who was so full of excuses of his own unfitness to go to Egypt. Under Jehovah's power and direction the rod became a serpent, to the confusion of Pharaoh and his magicians. Shamgar had but an ox-goad, but in the might of the Lord he smote six hundred Philistines with it, and saved Israel. David had but a sling in his hand, but a smooth stone from it slew Goliath the giant, and the enemies of Israel were discomfited. The Philadelphian church is said to have but little strength but like the widow's handful of meal and the drop of oil, it shall suffer no diminution. The Lord sets before this assembly with its modicum of power an open door which is impregnable, for no one can shut it (Rev. 3:8).

(To be continued) [W.J.H.]

Deliverance From the Law of Sin (duplicate Revised)

(Concluded from page 64)

Hence, in Col. 3, God pronounces on our position. “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” With God the question is settled. I am not in the flesh, not in the standing of a child of Adam. I have died in that when Christ died. This judgment of God, declared in. Col. 3, is deliverance; for that which I was hopelessly struggling under is dead and gone—the old “I” of my corrupt and sinful nature; not only that I have received divine life in power in Christ (Rom. 8:2), but that the sin of the old man has been condemned in the cross, and I, as such, died there. My standing is in Christ, not in Adam, or flesh at all. It is not that the flesh is not in me, but it is not my standing and place before God. I am in Christ, or in the Spirit—in Christ, consequent on His having died and risen, and. gone up beyond sin and death and judgment; or in the Spirit, which is the power of it down here.

Faith, in Rom. 6, takes up the judgment of God in Col. 3, and I reckon myself dead to sin, and alive to God; not in Adam, but in Jesus Christ our Lord. Hence, while “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” this liberty has a double aspect—conscious liberty in the light before God as in Christ, and a son; and liberty from the law of sin in the flesh. I have got into the new place in Christ, in that I have died to the old thing—Adam—and am alive in Christ. Had I to die, or to get free, by my own victory, I should not succeed, but I have found the need of a deliverer, as unable myself to set aside flesh, and have by grace found one—in, by faith, having died and risen with Christ. I have not to die, I reckon myself dead, because, by the Holy Ghost, Christ who died is in me as my life. The Holy Ghost gives me adoption, and the consciousness of being in Christ a son. It does give me faith as to having died in. Christ; but it cannot give me the consciousness that the flesh is not there, but that I am not a debtor to it, nor that I am living after the Spirit when I am not.

I know the conflict exists, that the flesh lusts against the Spirit, but that the Spirit being there, I am not under the law. There I was captive to the law of sin. In the Spirit I am not; on. the contrary, Christ's grace is sufficient for me, His strength made perfect in weakness. I am at liberty, because the sin I have discovered in my flesh has been condemned in the cross of Christ, and that was in death, so that for faith I am crucified with Him, and got into the new place of man before God, after the cross, and in resurrection, past sin, Satan's power, death and judgment. That place is liberty—liberty before God and from the law of sin. I am dead to it, having died with Christ. Romans does not go further than death in this doctrine, and Christ being our life. In Colossians, resurrection with Him is introduced, and we are dead also to the world.

As to our life, the old things are passed, and Christ is our life, we having with Him died to sin, and now alive to God with Him (my whole spiritual condition in connection with sin in the flesh, having closed by death); and this is so perfect, that we could, if God's time were come, go, and be as the thief, Christ's companion in Paradise. But generally we are left here, and have to do with the old man—the flesh—free, redeemed out of the state and standing I was in, but having to do with the existence of flesh in me, with Satan and the world around. It is with the first I have to do now. Now in this state of things, that is, in a. believer sealed with the Spirit, the conscious relationship is with God as sons, and true liberty is there. But there is more: when we have learned what it is to have died with Christ, the soul is set “free from the law of sin and death.” He that is dead is justified from sin—not sins. You cannot accuse a dead man of a perverse will or evil lusts. But the flesh is in me. Now, captivity to the law of sin in my members, is not the place of conflict nor of victory, any more than Israel had to fight in Egypt. There may be carelessness as regards our communion with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, but this is only deadness of soul, and the power of present things, the want of spiritual feeling. But if we do not mortify the deeds of the body, there is a positive evil power at work, positive evil rises up; if there be conscience, the sense of a bad state is there, and a worse one if there be not—the spiritual judgment is deteriorated. The flesh has a power which does not answer to deliverance, and we see persons who have not lost the sense of their standing with God, and are in that sense at liberty, in whom the flesh works as if spiritual power in Christ were not there. Now, in such cases, the remedy is not to deny the deliverance, “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” “the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.” Entangling the soul again in the yoke of bondage is not what gives power. Slaves are not combatants, the yoke has to be broken. Where there is liberty and spiritual power, there is conflict. “The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.” Hence it is so beautifully put in the end of Rom. 6—now you are free, dead to sin, and alive in Christ to God, to whom are you going to give yourselves? to sin, or to righteousness and God, with fruit to holiness, and the end everlasting life? Such is God's way, by freeing us from the law of sin, and putting us in the liberty of adoption with Himself, to set us in the conflict, to realize fruit unto holiness here. Our standing is perfect, our state in no way; meet in Christ to be with Him, but exercised in daily spiritual life if left here, how far we live up to the life which is ours in Christ, through Christ in us. God's view of our position, as noticed, is in Col. 2; 3. Faith takes this up (Rom. 6), and the believer reckons himself dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ. In 2 Cor. 4 so we have the practical carrying it out, and God's dealing with us in view of it “Always bearing about in the body the dying [not the death] of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus might be manifested in our body.”

Theoretically, there ought to be no movement of the flesh in us, being suppressed by this application of the dying of Jesus. This supposes the activity of the new man to keep our thoughts and ways up to the level of the blessing into which we have been introduced, practically the life of Jesus manifested in us. It supposes a lusting flesh, but always absolutely kept down. If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; if it lives of its own life and will, it will produce only that, and the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But, alas! this normal condition is not always maintained, as we know, if we know ourselves; and God disciplines us. We are delivered to death; well for us if it be for Jesus' sake. If we fail, we have an Advocate with the Father, or we may hate a thorn in the flesh, that we may not fail. Our normal condition is to be beholding with open face the glory of the Lord, and being changed into the same image, and feeding by faith on Him, in His humiliation as the bread come down from heaven, and so living by Him, abiding in Him, and growing up unto Him, who is the Head, in all things. When Walking thus, the flesh has no power; it is there, but the heart is elsewhere. Still, down here we are passing through temptations and snares, and watching and praying constantly is needed not to enter into them, because the disposition of nature, if not will, is there. Power is there in Christ for us We are not under the law of sin, but spiritually free, and there is no excuse for failure, but we do all fail. Where there is not diligence in watching and praying, we do not lose the sense of our position, but we act inconsistently with it. A son may never for a moment have such a question rise in his mind, but he may be a naughty, rebellious son.

So sin has power over the unwatchful, unpraying believer, who yet never doubts of his place in Christ when he has been set free. He is not a slave, but a son, but more faulty than if he were a slave. He is not under the law of sin, but he is practically governed by it in his ways, because he is not profiting by the grace and power of Christ, his conscience and heart keeping far away from Him. The standard of his Christianity becomes frightfully lowered, and he sees “no harm” in things from which, in times past, he would have shrunk—not because they were prohibited, but because the life and Spirit of Christ in him found no food or attraction in them, but the contrary. Yet he may not have lost the sense of his place before God; in that sense he has deliverance, as a child goes on in the sense that he is a child, though heedless of his father's will, and of his father's pleasure. But this is a sad state. The remedy is not making him doubt of his adoption, but pressing with the claim of Christ's love his walking worthy of the calling wherewith he is called.

Yet it is of all moment to see that deliverance, in the sense of known relationship with God, our place in Christ, not in Adam or in flesh, is a distinct thing from deliverance in the sense of the realization of death and resurrection with Christ. This is the basis of that, known by the presence and power of the Holy Ghost. But one is the place we are in, the other the experimental power of walking according to that place, and, as the flesh is in us, requiring diligence of heart in seeking grace and strength (for without Christ we can do nothing), seeking Him, and the things which are above, where He is seated, and bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.

But it is of all moment that we recognize deliverance from the law of sin as the Christian state. Here only is power, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the power of the Spirit of God working in the life of Christ. There is true liberty, and that based on Christ's dying to sin once, and for sin (Rom. 6; 8). There is, for such, a grace sufficient for us, and strength made perfect in weakness; so that there is no excuse for the commission of sin, though the flesh be in us. And here spiritual exercises have their place, to the acquisition of heavenly things in spirit, and a heavenly character down here. It is evident that the grace and strength of Christ only can enable us to walk in the path in which He walked, but that grace is sufficient for us. But His strength—it is its nature and character—is made perfect in weakness, and there must be known weakness in us to find this strength.

Hence, those exercises of heart before deliverance, in which we learn our weakness, that we cannot get the victory (even when we desire it), which lead to the felt need of deliverance. This we find in the death of Christ, and are thus free— “free from the law of sin and death.” Consequent on this there is victory, and, if kept in the sense that we have no strength in ourselves, the peaceful, though watchful, consciousness that He is with us, as well as that without Him we can do nothing. Deliverance is His dying to sin once, and we in Him, and, while thus free, having the strength in Him which is made perfect in weakness in us. Till we have learned that we cannot free ourselves, we do not get freedom. Freedom is the portion of every Christian so taught of God; strength, of him who abides in the sense that he has none, and looks to Christ; only there are the Lord's gracious dealings with us to keep us in this position.

An House of Cedar

“And Hiram, king of Tire, sent messengers to David, and cedar trees, and carpenters, and masons: and they built David an house” (2 Sam. 5:11). “And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and Jehovah had given him rest round about from all his enemies, that the king said to Nathan, the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar” (chap. 7:1-2).

The life of David may be divided into two periods, the first of which closes with the scriptures just quoted while the second consists chiefly in domestic sorrows and discipline.

The first only we intend to consider here. It might be summed up in this way, “Suffering with Christ,” which necessarily precedes “reigning with Him.” And “suffering with Christ” in the world that rejected Him is the greatest honor a saint can aspire to. So judged Moses. “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect to the recompense of the reward.” He was not one of the very many in our day who esteem it the wisest policy to make the best of both worlds, for he deliberately chose the world above, and did not hesitate to reach it by the way of suffering. This was faith then, and is faith now. In vain will it be said that the times are changed and that reproach no longer attaches to the name of Christ. In all dispensations saints have suffered in spirit with Christ when faithful; it is their honor also. “If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.” Only follow close enough in His footsteps, and you will find the truth of this.

The first time that David is fully brought into evidence is mentioned in 1 Sam. 17. Before that it seems that he was known of few as “cunning in playing and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and Jehovah is with him” (16:18). This is a striking testimony on the part of one of Saul's servants, when Saul and pretty nearly all the rest ignored the youth; for a youth he was at that time. This, however, is only a ray cast upon a life otherwise hidden, a life spent in the solitude of the wilderness and in the keeping of his father's flock, but spent with God, as we may infer from his words to Saul, “Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: and I went out after him and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.” This was not achieved by human strength or skill, nor does David attribute to himself the fame of the feat, for he takes care to add, “Jehovah that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.” This speaks of deep acquaintance with God and His power, as well as of thorough confidence in Him, acquired far away from the eyes of man and in the secret of Jehovah's pavilion. Oh, that saints might know more of a like intimacy with God!

What did his family know about it all? Apparently nothing. What was the place he occupied in the home circle? The last. Joseph-like, he was disregarded by his brethren, as was our Lord Himself later on. Here, however, we would notice that both type and Anti-type had subsequent joy in the conversion respectively of their brethren: as with Joseph when in Egypt, and with David in the cave of Adullam, so also with our Lord, not indeed when He was accomplishing His miracles (for in these His brethren did not believe) but rather, if one may be permitted reverently to conjecture, when He went to the cross and rose again. Such is God's way of glorifying Himself.

Thus this early part of David's life seems to correspond to the years that our Lord spent in His domestic circle previous to His manifestation to Israel. It was a life of secret communion with God, where God alone witnessed the exercises of faith, dependence, confidence, all so precious in His sight. It was the wisest and only proper preparation for public action and testimony.

David's encounter with Goliath may be looked at as corresponding to our Lord's entrance on His ministry, as He says, “How can one enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will Spoil his house.” No victory, no spoil for Israel so long as Goliath could defy them; they were no match for him. Presumption would bah led them to utter defeat, whereas their sense of powerlessness opened the way for God's interposition, for He was Jehovah of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel. The cause was God's and therefore the power must be of God. But this power which was to subdue the enemy had been acquired in the hidden intercourse with the living God, the God of David and the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But the victory of David over the Philistine giant was not a final triumph. Rather was it the stepping into the way of much suffering, and of suffering far more acute than that which might have been inflicted by the world outside, for it was to come from his own under the leadership of Saul. So was it with our Lord after He had bound the strong man. At once hatred, relentless hatred pursued both the servant and the Son. David found in Saul a worse enemy than Goliath had been; and the Lord, by His mighty deeds and convicting word heaped upon Himself all the wrath of the Jews and their leaders. True, He had a little band to follow Him when He had not where to lay His head, as had David in the cave of Adullam. But this was, for both, the occasion for a fresh start, as it were, in the wilderness life. From this point both become wanderers. The favor into which David was taken by Saul after his victory over the Philistine (1 Sam. 18:2) lasted but a short moment, as did the admiration of the multitude when they said of the Lord, “He hath done all things well: He maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak” (Mark 7:32-37). Not long after they sought to kill Him, as they did eventually effect this when His hour was come. How did David meet Saul's criminal attempts to take his life? By prayer. How did the Lord meet the deadly hostility of the Jews? By prayer. Many are the sweet psalms of the sweet singer of Israel; but none more heart-winning than those composed in the wilderness when he was hunted by his enemy like a partridge on the mountains. One only need we mark out—Psa. 63. Millions of tried souls have found their delight and refreshment in it. There we see David under a heavy trial. The land is dry and thirsty, and without water; the men met with here and there are enemies, either openly or traitors. Where is the refuge? “Thy loving kindness is better than life; my lips shall praise Thee.” And in the enjoyment of God's goodness the wilderness is lost sight of. It is no longer dearth and privations; it is marrow and fatness; and thus strength is renewed. So, again, was it with our blessed Lord during the day of His ministry. The land of Israel was for Him more barren than the wilderness of Judah; His enemies more implacable than Saul. On several occasions the latter owned his wrong; they, never. There was in Saul, we may say, the exercise of a conscience which we look for in vain, in them. Subtlety, violence, stubborn unbelief is all they show, Cain-like, against the true Abel. In their war against the Lord no truce, no relent. And yet, when He comes to the end of His path of suffering, He speaks of His peace and of His joy, which He so graciously leaves as His legacy to us who are, through God's calling, to follow Him. He knew well that without His peace and His joy, the tribulation that we were to pass through, if faithful, would be more than we could stand. If it be asked, Why did it not please Him to remove the tribulation out of the way of His people? the answer is, Because, if it were removed, there would be no suffering with Christ, therefore no reigning with Him, and, moreover, because tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us.

Whence did the Lord get the sustaining power which filled His soul with this peace and joy? Surely not from the world around Him, but from His intercourse with His Father and God, and by prayer was the intercourse carried on. To what end did He so frequently retire to the neighboring mountains? “And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and He continued all night in prayer to God.” Who can tell how refreshing to His soul such moments were? Prayer, thanksgiving and praise were all blended together in His requests.

Up to this point David trod the way of “the fellowship of Christ's sufferings” —an honor immeasurable indeed; but here he takes another road which will lead him to pre-eminence, to Zion, “the city of David,” destined to be some day the city of God and the joy of all the earth. It was God's way for him that he should conquer the stronghold of the Jebusites and lay there the foundation of the future metropolis of the world. Nor was it out of place and season that he should have there a palace, “an house of cedar,” and a throne, thus preparing the way for Solomon to become, later on, the type and representative of Christ in the glory of the kingdom.

But with the Lord it was not to be so. He was to go farther in the path of suffering, yea, to the very end of it, When He goes to Jerusalem for the last time, it was not to have a palace, “an house of cedar” built for Him, nor a throne set up; it was to receive a cross to be nailed thereon. Hence His heart-rending lamentation, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 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.” And desolate it has been since that day. How could it be otherwise as long as she rejects her rightful King? This, however, is not to last forever. Christ cannot be denied the yearnings of His heart towards the rebellious people. In deep pain He said, “I would.... ye would not.” Again will He say, “I will,” and then will come the reply, “We are willing.” “Thy people shall be willing in the day of, Thy power,” and in this divinely wrought willingness they shall say, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.” It is due to Him that He should have His deepest joy where He had His deepest sorrow—glory and honor where He had shame, a throne where He had a gibbet. And nothing can be lost of what is due to Him, and nothing lost of what He intends to bestow upon, others in the way of blessing. All is secured, perfectly secured by virtue of His redemption work. It was for the joy that was set before Him that He endured the cross, despising the shame; and no mean part of this joy will it be when all Israel say adoringly with Thomas, their prototype, “My Lord and my God!”

The pathway of suffering, for the Lord, ended in death, the death of the cross. The prophet Daniel had written, “Messiah shall be cut off,” or “have nothing,” and He had nothing indeed, save reproach. But out of death a new path opened up—what is called, in Psa. 16, “the path of life,” endless life, life in resurrection, which led Him straight to the right hand of the throne, of God, where He sits until His enemies are made His footstool. In the meantime all that which concerns Israel, and the world in connection with Israel, is in abeyance, and another work is being carried on, even the calling of a heavenly people to heavenly blessing and glory.

P.C.

Lectures on 1 Chronicles 20-22

1 Chronicles 20-22

In chapter 20 we see David tarrying at Jerusalem, and Joab leading forth the army against Rabbah. This was a sad epoch for David, but, strikingly enough, the Book of Chronicles says nothing about it. Its object is not at all to refer to a single sin, except what was connected with the purpose of God. I do not mean by this that God ever prompts a man to sin, but there are those sorrowful passages in our history which God connects with His great mercy and His purpose respecting us. Others are merely the willfulness of our nature without any such connection. Hence, therefore, we find that there is not a word here said about the matter of Bath-sheba.

But the next chapter (21) shows us the effort of Satan, too successful, to entice David into what was a grievous sin, particularly in him—reckoning up the strength of Israel! Was he a Gentile, then? Could David allow the thought that it was his own prowess, or his people's, that had wrought these great victories? Was it not God? No doubt He had employed David and his servants. He had put honor upon them all. But it was God. Hence, therefore, David's wishing to number Israel was a very grievous evil in the eyes of a worldly politician like Joab. It was not that Joab would trouble much about a sin provided he could see any good result of it; but he could not understand how a man like David should compromise himself so deeply without the smallest change, for, after all, the numbering of the people would not bring them one more man. Why, therefore, take so much trouble and run the risk of a sin without any practical fruit? This was Joab's reasoning.

But the king's word prevailed against Joab, and Joab goes on his mission, and gives the sum of the number of the people. It was not completed, but he brought the sum.

“And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword. But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them.” The plans of men do not succeed, more particularly among God's people. “The king's word was abominable to Joab. And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel.” This seems extraordinary at first sight—why God should smite Israel; but God was wise. It was Israel that became a snare and a boast to the king. Did he not number them? They must be decimated now. God would reduce the numbers, and would make David feel that, instead of being a blessing to His people, he was a curse through his folly and his pride. David, therefore, is obliged to own to God, “I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.”

But no Confession does not always hinder the chastening of God. The mind of Jehovah was made up. “I offer thee three things,” says He: “choose one of them, either three years' famine, or three months to be destroyed before the foe, or three days of the sword, of Jehovah,” — not of the enemy, — “even the pestilence in the land.” David owns the great strait and perplexity of his soul, but he chooses the last; and he was right. “Let me fall into the hand of Jehovah, for very great are his mercies. Let me not fall into the hand of man.” David preferred—and, justly, in my opinion—the direct hand of Jehovah. What was secondary he felt repulsive—the famine. He could not bear that God should appear to be starving His people and condemning them to this slow death; or, on the other hand, that the foe should exalt themselves over Israel. This was abominable to his soul. But that there should be an evident chastening inflicted' by God's hand, by the destroying angel—this he chose. “So Jehovah sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.” In the course of it “God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, Jehovah beheld, and he repented him of the evil and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough; stay now thine hand.”

This occurred by the threshingfloor of Oman the Jebusite, for the Jebusite was in the land. The Canaanites still dwelt in the land. It will be so till Jesus come and reign: then the Canaanite will be no longer in the land. And, what is more, God marks His grace, for all is in grace here. It was there He stopped—the last place where one would have expected it—at the threshingfloor of Oman the Jebusite. Why there? Because there God meant to mark sovereign grace. “And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Jehovah stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem.” God gave him to see this. “Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O Jehovah my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.”

Thus he takes the consequence of the sin upon himself. This was beautiful in David: we may say that it was natural; it was right. It was far, immeasurably, inferior to the Lord Jesus. There there was no sin, and yet He took all the sin upon Himself— suffered for sins “just for unjust, that he might bring us to God.” But here it was the king that had been unjust, that had brought this scourge upon the people. Nevertheless, now at least he is used by the grace of God. Now he presents himself for the blow, but sovereign grace must, reign. “Then the angel of Jehovah commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto Jehovah in the threshing floor of Oman the Jebusite.” The place where mercy rejoiced against judgment, becomes the locality of the altar. This shows where the temple was afterward to be built—where the plague was stayed by divine mercy. “David went up at the saying of Gad.”

We find an interesting scene between David and Oman who was willing that all should be given; but no; it must be David's gift, not a Jubusite's. “And king David said to Oman, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for Jehovah, nor offer burnt offerings without cost. So David gave to Oman for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight. And David built there an altar unto Jehovah, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.” How striking! The man that had brought all the trouble—the guilty king, but the type of the Holy One of Israel—the type of Him that gave up His life a ransom for many.

Then in the 22nd chapter he opens his lips in the Spirit of God, and says, “This is the house of Jehovah God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel.” Here he had found the place. Such was the way of God. The numbering of the people was a sin, no doubt, on David's part, but it was a sin that was now completely lost in the grace of God who had thus shown Himself for the people, and also made Jerusalem to be the evident spot where God would hearken to man upon the earth. And God would bring in that which would stay the judgment even for the guilty. The temple was to be built there.

David, therefore, orders everything from this to the end of the book, in view of the temple that was to be built and the son that was to build it. All from this, however, is the preparation for his departure and for this work that was to be done by the son—that could not be left to David; but it is not Solomon that prepares for the house, but David. David and Solomon give us the two grand truths as to Christ—Christ both. In man it must be separate: in man we see the difference. But still it is beautiful to see that it is not Solomon that arranges all: it is the wisdom of David. And so it will be with Christ. It is not merely that Christ will be the wisdom of God by and by, or the power of God by and by; but Christ is the power of God—is the wisdom of God—Christ viewed as the Crucified One, which is precisely the way in which the apostle Paul speaks of the Lord in contrast with the wisdom of man. David, therefore, arranges everything beforehand for the temple, the house of God.

And it is a remarkable thing—as I may just observe—that the house is always supposed to be one and the same house. Even that striking passage in Haggai (2:9), which is given so confusedly in, our common Bibles, preserves the same thought. It is not “the glory of this latter house,” but “the latter glory of this house.” It is viewed as the same house from the beginning to the end. No doubt Assyrians or Babylonians may ravage and destroy; no doubt the Romans may even plow up the very foundations; but it is the same house in God's mind. So complete do we see the line of God's purpose. God ignores these dreadful clouds that have gathered over the house from time to time; but when the day comes by and by for glory to dwell in the land it will be the house of God—so regarded all through. Antichrist even may have been there before, but it is the house of God, and the latter glory of the house shall be greater than the former. The “latter glory” is clearly when the Lord Jesus returns by and by. There was a preliminary accomplishment when He came to the house on His first advent; but the full meaning will be when He shakes the heavens and earth which are connected with this glory of the latter house, and this will only be when He comes again.

Well, then, David prepares all with a view to what was to be built by his son. “And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel; and he set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God. And David prepared iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings; and brass in abundance without weight; also cedar trees in abundance: for the Zidonians and they of Tire brought much cedar wood to David. And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for Jehovah must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death. Then he called for Solomon his son, and charged him to build an house for Jehovah God of Israel. And David said to Solomon, My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build an house unto the name of Jehovah, my God: But the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars: thou shalt not build an house unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth in my sight. Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man— of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about: for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. He shall build an house for my name; and he shall be my son, and I will be his father; and I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.” You see the purpose of God. So he explains that this was the reason why, as he was not to build, he nevertheless was permitted to prepare. David would sow Solomon was to reap. The details of this arrangement are given us in the next chapter to the end.

[W.K.]

(To be continued)

Song of Solomon Introduction 2

General Remarks (continued)

But no, beloved brethren: it is evident that this is not at all the way of God's Spirit—to be writing a book, and a book at such a time, devoted to what was past, and what was even then passing into darkness and sin and ruin. Not so. The word of God has, in all its parts, a prophetic character stamped upon it as a whole. The Book of Genesis, even, has; and I particularly refer to that, because if anything might be supposed to look back at the past, surely it was Genesis. But Genesis could not close, and Genesis could not even make advance, without proving its divine scope, and withal the Spirit of God launching into the future. It might be in the form of type, of course: it might assume the character of prophecy; it does both. But I refer to it now to show that such, we may say, in a general way, is the character of all scripture. It looks onward to a bright day. It has its root in the past, no doubt. It firmly deals with the present; but its aspect is always to the future. And no wonder, because if it is grounded upon the ruin of the first man, it looks onward to the glory of the Second. That is what all scripture has for its great object and character.

Well, now, so has the Song of Solomon of Solomon; and it is with reference to this that I will endeavor now to give a few suggestions, for I am only going to take it up in a general way. I do not profess to be acquainted with all the details of it; for lam really afraid to speak presumptuously, or in any way to take up the nice points which many persons raise whose inclination disposes them to what is commonly called allegorical interpretation. I repeat that I that not wish at all to expose myself to anything that is not of God. I wish to speak of what I know—what I most firmly believe—to be of God, and to speak, therefore, of the broad and deep characteristics of this wonderful book. But I think that the Lord may give sufficient to help the children of God to a larger view—a more correct understanding, and to have more than mere points of detail, which is never the most profitable way of looking at scripture. What we want is to have it as a whole. When we have got the general idea—the outline of the map—then we can begin to look at the details: but as details 1 must leave to those who think that it is their place to open them up. For my own part, I am content to give a few suggestions at this present time of a more general kind.

Now there is one thing that I would draw your attention to. I have been proving that the Song of Solomon refers to the earthly bride and not to the heavenly one. I will now give you the spiritual reasons of that. I have give you dogmatic proof drawn from the word of God; but I will now give you what I may call spiritual or moral reasons why the Song of Songs, although most instructive and helpful for our souls, nevertheless does not present as its object the proper relationship of the heavenly bride, but rather of the earthly one.

And the first great difference between them is this, which we must always hold fast in looking at the Song; we come in as the bride between the two comings of Christ. The Jews will not. They had the revelation that they were to be the bride before His first coming; but they refused Him; they rejected Him; they despised Him; and they never, therefore, took the place of being His bride when He did come. The Lord left them veiled in their own silence and hardness of unbelief. But not so when He comes again. Consequently, you observe, it follows from this that their taking up that relationship is purely and solely a matter of hope—purely and solely a prospective relationship. The bride here is not united to the bridegroom. I will give the reasons and the proof of this when we come to look at it; and it is of great moment, because many, from not seeing this, have interpreted the figures in what I must consider a very low and, I think, uncomely manner. The purity of the poem is perfect; but the purity of the poem is so much the more perfect because the bride is not yet in the relationship. You never find the language of this song applied to the heavenly bride.

When we come to look at the heavenly bride we find that there is this very important difference—that we come into relationship with Christ after His first coming and before His second. The consequence is that we are in the most peculiar position that it is possible for souls upon earth to stand in: because we are now, by the Holy Ghost, united to Him. It is not exactly that the marriage has taken place in heaven, for that awaits the last member of the body of Christ; but, still, we are His body. We are in the very nearest possible relationship to Christ. We are viewed as really being members of His body—not that we shall be, but that we are.

That is not the case of the bride here at all. The bride in the Canticles—in the Song of Solomon of Solomon—is awaiting His coming. There is nothing at all about His having come. There is no such thing as redemption, i.e., we never find redemption referred to here. We find no such thing as the power of the Holy Ghost baptizing into one body, or anything that forms the great substratum of truth for the church of God. Nothing of that kind. You see we are in a present, known, settled relationship to Christ; and we know that His love is so completely ours that even when we go to heaven it is not that He will love us better, but that we shall enjoy it perfectly. But, I repeat, we are already His body; and he treats us as such. Christ loved the church and gave Himself for us; and this is the very thing which is used—this very figure—in addressing husbands and wives about their mutual relationship. It is plain, therefore, that the church stands in a very peculiar relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, and peculiar in this way—that there is a present establishment of relationship, and, consequently, a present sense of His love such as the Jewish bride could not have, till He actually comes. Then the relationship will be established between the bridegroom and the bride—the earthly bride; but not before.

Now, unless this is seen, I think that we are apt to get harm from the Song of Solomon Let me refer to a proof which comes out—the exercises of heart through which the bride passes. She gets a vision of the bridegroom and He vanishes. She does not rise to open the door, and He is gone. Is that the case with the Lord? Does the Lord Jesus ever withdraw? Does the Lord ever hide His face from us? No, never. We may withdraw from Him; but that is not the point of the Song of Solomon. The point there is that He withdraws. Now, I deny that that is the case in the dealings of Christ with the church or with the saint—with the individual. I deny that the Lord ever withdraws from the saint now: so that you see it becomes very important; because persons may take up Song of Solomon without seeing that there is a difference—that while there is a great deal which is common to us and to the Jewish bride, there is an essential difference, and this essential difference shows itself particularly in what I have now referred to. It is evident that we should be falsified in our relationship. We should be imputing to God's sovereignty (as people do in that case) what really is a matter of our own unbelief, thus throwing the blame upon Him instead of taking shame to ourselves—the sole cause and, indeed, the sole fact. For the bride's carelessness is, no doubt, the cause here.

But the truth is, there is no such establishment of relationship viewed in the Song of Solomon. It is entirely anticipative; therefore one sees that the idea of a kind of bringing before us the secrecy of the love of a relationship which was not yet established is all a mistake. It is not a question of publishing to other people what belongs to a relationship that is formed. No; there is a most mighty and worthy object in it. It is the Lord preparing her for the relationship. It is the Lord making known to her who might have thought that He could not love her and did not love her. It is the Lord who is acting in His own perfect grace to guilty Jerusalem, and letting Jerusalem know that He who wept for her will love her—that He who shed not merely His tears but His blood for her—(for He died for that nation)—that that blessed Savior will work by His own Spirit in their hearts to form and fit them for His love, but to form and fit them for loving Him by the perfectness of His love to them. This is the great object of the Song of Solomon.

Accordingly, the whole beauty of it is the love which Christ expresses (not to her), and the love that Christ forms in her heart to Him before the relationship is established. With us it is a different thing. We are taken up as the poorest of sinners; we are converted; we are brought to God as children of God; and we wake up to find the wondrous fact that we are the body of Christ—that we are the bride of Christ—that we are now in the closest possible relationship to the Lord Jesus. Sovereign grace Sovereign grace, and nothing else; whereas in the case of the bride of the Song of Solomon it is another thing. They well knew that they ought to have been the bride. They well knew, from the Prophets—from the Psalms—that that was a place which they ought to have filled. 'Ah, but then we have sinned; we have refused Him; we have despised Him ... Have not we sent Him away? Will He ever look upon us again?' That is the question, you see; and that question is answered by the Song of Solomon. There is the answer of the Lord—for it is the Lord; it is their own Jehovah, but it is their own Messiah.

And here I must explain a remarkable feature of it which has not always been noticed. Solomon, wrote the Proverbs; Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes; Solomon wrote the Canticles—the song of Solomon. In his proverbs he uses “Jehovah” as a general rule. I am not aware that the term “God,” as God, occurs more than once (15:2) in the whole book of Proverbs; though we may compare also chaps. 2:5, 17; 3:4; 30:5, 9. Thus, at any rate, we see it is not characteristic of that book. The characteristic term throughout Proverbs is “the LORD” –printed in our Bibles in small capitals—meaning “Jehovah"; and the reason is plain. It is the wisdom that Jehovah provides for a people in a settled relationship with Himself. Hence the term Jehovah is always used there.

The same writer wrote Ecclesiastes; and it is remarkable that “Jehovah” never occurs in Ecclesiastes. I do not know that it does. It is not the characteristic word. It is “God” that you find as a rule. I do not mean to say that you will never find “Jehovah” in it. I have not been looking for the purpose of refreshing my memory as to that. Possibly one might find the word in it. I cannot positively say; but I can say that it is not the characteristic word. But you must remember that the exception, as men say, proves the rule; and there is always a great force in an exception which proves the rule, because it is the very thing that brings out a striking truth so much the more plainly seeing that it is not the rule.

Well, now, you have another book of Solomon, and in that there is neither “Jehovah” nor “God.” Surely there must be something very pointed that the same writer should do this, and the same writer not merely giving us something inspired and something that was not inspired. We read of Solomon having written—was it a thousand and five songs? He wrote a great many songs at any rate. Well, we have not got these songs that he wrote. We have the Canticles—this book. Even where writers were inspired, you see, God. did not preserve all that they wrote, but only that which was essential to the plan and purpose of the Bible. The rest might be perfectly true and perfectly good; but whatever was a part of God's purpose in the Bible, and that only, did He preserve. For it was as much a part of God's mind that the Bible should be complete as that there should be nothing superfluous. The Bible is perfect. To have had one chapter more than was necessary for the purpose of God would have spoiled the Bible. There is not a word too much. But, on the other hand, there is not a word too little. There is nothing lost: God has preserved exactly what was needed.

But I daresay you have all heard of the foolishness of German infidelity. am speaking now, I am sorry to say, of the infidelity of theologians. You have all heard, I suppose, of the ravages of that fearful thing; and that they apply their thought to the Bible in this way. They see “God” sometimes, and “Jehovah” at other times; and they judge from this that two different persons must have written the books—two different authors—different objects—in different ages—different countries—different men. Look at the answer here. The same man wrote these books I have referred to. In one it is “Jehovah,” in another it is “God"; in the third it is neither the one nor the other. Why this? Why is it not here? The object is evident for the very same reason—that after giving the title “The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's,” the opening words are, “Let him kiss me.” I need not tell you that it is infinitely better as it is, than anything which could have been suggested. Would it have been the same thing to say, “Let Jehovah kiss me"? Every renewed heart would repudiate such a thing. No; certainly not. It would be unbecoming. Would it be right to say, “Let God kiss me"? Clearly not. “Let HIM kiss me.” How blessed!

[W.K.]

(To be continued)

Studies in Mark 6:35-44: Servant of Jehovah as the Shepherd of Israel

6:35-44

Continued Marshalling Into Order

No spectacle, perhaps, exhibits greater disorder and confusion than a crowd of excited persons. Such a concourse is described most graphically in the reference to the mob assembled in the theater at Ephesus, which cried for the space of two hours, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” We read of them that, “Some cried one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together” (Acts 19:32).

A multitude has no conscience to condemn the wrong, and no humane consideration for the weak Many an outrage has been wrought by a hungry mob in a struggle for food. When the famished people of Samaria thronged out of the gates in quest of the food left in the deserted tents of the Syrians, they trod to death the supercilious captain who was set there to regulate the traffic.

The Lord would not permit any such confusion. He was preparing a table in the wilderness for these Galilean folk, and He arranged the guests according to a definite plan. He would have no haste, no disorder. He Himself knew what He would do. He commanded the assembled thousands to be seated as at table, not where they would, but where and how He would. He was the Lord of the feast, and He would say to one, Sit here and to another, Sit there, as it pleased Him.

The mass of persons was divided systematically by Him according to a simple plan which all could understand and follow. The men were to sit in one place, and the women and children in another by themselves. They were disposed in companies and ranks; in fifties, counting in one direction, and in rows of hundreds, counting in another; fifty hundreds, making five thousand, so far as the men were concerned.

Such an arrangement obviated confusion, and enabled the distribution of the bread and the fish to be made with equal fairness to all, while the task of distribution was made less laborious for the disciples. Even under these circumstances, considerable physical exertion was involved in handling the amount of food required to satisfy the hunger of all the company. Assuming for the purpose of making a rough estimate, that each person present ate one pound of bread, more than two and a quarter tons would be necessary for the men, omitting all provision for the women and children, and making no allowance for the fish, nor for the fragments that remained at the close of the meal. These items would increase the total weight beyond three tons. There was therefore a considerable bulk of food for the twelve apostles to handle.

The pre-arranged system materially lightened the labor incurred, and moreover enabled the people to take their meal without distraction. Looking back to the occasion of the Lord leaving Capernaum to come to this spot, we see that the unjealous Lord protected His guests from such interruptions and disturbances. as those which prevented Him and His apostles from eating their food in peace, and which led Him to seek seclusion in the wilderness.

THE LORD'S FELLOW-HELPERS

When they were all seated in orderly array upon the green grass (for it was the springtime, and the, herbage of the hillside was shooting up in young and beautiful life), the Lord took up the five loaves and the two fishes, their size being such that He could probably hold them all at once. In the presence of the assembled multitude He raised His eyes to heaven, as He did when He healed the deaf and dumb man (Mark 7:34), and when He came to the grave of Lazarus (John 11:41). This was an attitude of prayer and heavenly communion (John 17:1), and He had taught His disciples to pray, saying, “Our Father, which art in heaven ... Give us this day our daily bread,” assuring them at the same time that the heavenly Father who feeds the birds of the air would not forget His more valuable creatures. By this act the Perfect Servant sets an example before all, acknowledging His dependence upon the One who sent Him, and in general effect taking up the language of the Psalmist: “Unto thee do I lift up mine eyes, O thou that sittest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their master, as the eyes of the maiden unto the band of her mistress, so our eyes look unto the LORD our God until he have mercy upon us” (Psa. 123:1, 2).

The Lord also “blessed.” In John 6:11 we read that He gave thanks. Luke says that He blessed the loaves and fishes (Luke 9:16), while Matthew and Mark speak only of blessing without naming the object. In Scriptural usage, blessing and the, giving of thanks are closely joined. Both terms are used in connection with the Lord's Supper, e.g., blessing (Mark 14:22 Cor. 10:16); and giving thanks (Mark 14:23; Luke 22:19 Cor. 11:24). To bless (ἐυγομέω) seems to combine (1 Cor. 14:16) the ascription of praise and thanks to God with tire sanctification of food for healthful use (1 Tim. 4:4, 5).

The Host then broke the victuals, and the distribution began with Him. The multiplication and the extent of it were altogether in His hands. Under His superintendence the little did not become less. He opened His hand and supplied the need of every living person before Him.

“'Twas springtide when He blessed the bread;

'Twas harvest when He brake."

But the disciples were made sharers in this benefaction, which they had not been able to anticipate. He gave of the loaves and the fishes to them to set before the people. It was the Lord's part to bless the provision abundantly, and to satisfy these poor folks with bread (Psa. 132:15). But while the apostles could not multiply the five loaves into a bounty for five thousand men, they could transport the bounty as it accumulated to the hungry mouths of their brothers in Israel. This service they were called to perform under their Master's eye, and it was analogous to their subsequent spiritual service as the “fellow-laborers of God” (1 Cor. 3:9). The apostles, though forming the foundation of the church, were never originators. They acted in the name of the Lord. As with the physical, so with the spiritual food; what they received of the Lord, they delivered to others, either for their physical or their spiritual nutrition, just as the case was, the Spirit, in the latter case, dividing to each one severally according to His will (1 Cor. 12:11).

THE OVERFLOWING BOUNTY

James, writing of the Giver of wisdom, says “He giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not.” Another contemplating His great riches of goodness, says, “Of his fullness, have all we received, and grace for grace.” A transcendent generousness is the divine habit. Hence we read that at this feast in the wilderness, “they did all eat and were filled.” Not one was overlooked. The weak women and children were not crowded off by selfish men, but all were supplied with an ample sufficiency, of which they were able to partake with ease and comfort as they sat upon the green grass. Philip's way would have been to provide enough bread for the meal, so that each might take “a little"; the Lord's way was to provide a superabundance, so that every one might have “as much as he would.” We may not regard the superfluity as the result of a too liberal estimate on the part of the Lord. He who increased the scanty store by His omnipotence, knew, in His omniscience, the exact measure of the appetites of the multitude. But He did not stay the exercise of His multiplying power at that point. He gave them “good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.” Was He not showing forth the Father, and the plenty of His house, where there is surely “bread enough and to spare"? He was, as it were, opening the windows of heaven and pouring out a blessing, and there was not room enough to receive it.

“There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth,” says the proverb, and there was an exemplification of it that day. The abundance was such, that they were able at the close of the meal to gather together for future consumption twelve basketfuls of the portions which the Lord had broken off and divided. When Jehovah multiplied the widow's oil in the days of Elisha there was sufficient, when sold, to pay her debts, and also something for her to go on with. The same Lord was here, and was spreading before these weary and hungry Galileans the largess of Heaven. The very profusion of the gifts marked that they came from above. And the same feature of amplitude is true of spiritual things as of temporal, for where sin abounded, grace did superabound. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!”

THE LESSON OF FRUGALITY

The Lord who exhibited such plentitude in the provisions He spread before the multitude gave special directions for the care of such overplus as would be found when all needs were met. It is from John only of the four Evangelists that we learn of Jesus saying to His disciples, “Gather up the broken pieces which remain over, that nothing be lost” (John 6:12). That nothing be lost! The Lord would not have us lose His gifts by waste or neglect because we have more than sufficient for the moment. When God gave seven years of plenty in Egypt, it was the spirit of divine wisdom in Joseph that devised efficient measures to gather up the superabundance, and store it for the days of famine. Nothing was to be lost! When the people of Israel reached the land of Canaan, the Lord promised, in view of the rest of the sabbatic year, that He would command. His blessing during the sixth year, so that the land might bring forth fruit sufficient for three years (Lev. 25:21). But of what value would this abundance be to the nation, if the bounteous harvest was not carefully garnered? Again, we observe that in spite of profusion nothing was to be lost. In short, the lesson is one of general application. It is not pleasing to God that we should neglect or squander His bounties. To waste is to despise, to lose, His gifts. Economy is not contrary to, but consistent with true liberality, and thrift with benevolence and benefaction. That person who lays by in store as God has prospered him, is the person who is thereby prepared to bestow his gifts bountifully when occasion arises (1 Cor. 16:2).

The superabundant broken pieces were those which the Lord had broken off for distribution, and of these each apostle had a basketful over and above what was required by the people. The whole scene is eloquent of the rich goodness of God, provided by the Servant of Jehovah, and administered by the twelve apostles. It recalls the words of Paul written to the Corinthian believers: “God is able to make all grace abound unto you; that ye, having all sufficiency in everything may abound unto every good work... being enriched in everything unto all liberality which worketh out through us thanksgiving to God” (2 Cor. 9:8-11). W.J.H.

The Deity of Christ and Christianity

A LETTER

In the first place, there are the direct passages-John 1:1: “The Word was with God and was God.” This is in every way a striking passage: when everything began, He was—that is, had no beginning, was God, as indeed it must be, yet was a distinct personality; He was with God, and always such, was so in the beginning, and He created everything. Subsequently we find the Word made flesh. The effort to weaken the force of the word of God here by the absence of the article is perfectly futile; except in reciprocal propositions the predicate never has the article.

We find in Heb. 1 The same truths. He, the Messiah (for of Him the apostle speaks), the Son, is God, is worshipped by angels, in the beginning laid the foundations of the earth, and is “the same” —in Hebrew (Psa. 102) atka. Hu, Thou art the existing One, the Being, where the testimony is so much the stronger by comparison with verse 12, where Christ in humiliation addresses Jehovah. In John 8 we find, “before Abraham was I AM,” in contrast with His age as man; which the Jews perfectly understood, and would have killed Him for blasphemy.

Col. 1:16: “All things were created by him and for him,” where it is unquestionable Christ is spoken of, the true force of verse 19 being “all the fullness (πλήρωμα) was pleased to dwell in him,” and spoken of Him as man living upon earth, and accomplished in fact in chapter 2:9, “in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”

John 10: “I and my Father are one.”

His name is called Jesus—Jehoshua, that is, Jehovah the Savior, for He shall save His people-who, and whose people, in connection with the explanation of such a name Christ is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. Thus John 12:41—Isaiah “saw His glory, and spake of Him,” quoting Isa. 6. Whose glory was seen there? Jehovah of hosts.

Heb. 12:25, 26: whose voice spoke from heaven (compare chapter 1:1,2)? whose at Sinai on earth? Hence His name was also Emmanuel, “God with us.”

So John the Baptist's ministry wan preparing the way of Jehovah, Matt. 3:3, quoting Isa. 40 Mal. 3:1, “I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall come” (compare Mark 1:1-3). If the judgment to come on the earth is referred to, difference of interpretation as to this, or the passing on from Christ's first coming to His second, does not affect the question of the Person who comes; He who first came will come again.

The more we compare passages as to this, the more we shall see this identification, and that it is not forcing one or two texts, but the doctrine of scripture woven into its whole texture. Jehovah is Israel's righteousness, but Christ is made our righteousness. “The LORD (Jehovah) my God shall come, and all the saints with thee” (Zech. 14:5); “And Jehovah said unto me... a goodly price that I was prized at of them, and I took the thirty pieces of silver,” &c. (chap. 11:13). “And Jehovah shall go forth.... and his feet shall stand in that day on the mount of Olives” (chap. 14:3, 4) So, as to Redeemer, Jehovah alone is their Redeemer. In Isa. 63 this Redeemer is clearly Christ. So in Isa. 1, “Thus saith Jehovah.... Wherefore when I came was there no man?” And then He goes on, and asserts His unenfeebled divine power, yet He continues, “Jehovah-Elohim hath given me the tongue of the learned,” and the sufferings of Christ are then spoken of.

In Psa. 2 The kings of the earth are called to trust in the Son—the Christ—yet a curse is pronounced on trusting in man, or in any one but Jehovah.

See Rev. 22:12, 13, He who comes quickly is “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.” (I do not quote chap. 1 as it is probably not genuine, nor verse 8, because its application to Christ may be questioned, although I have no doubt of it).

In many of the passages in which God and the Lord Jesus are mentioned, with one article in Greek, it may possibly unite them, only in the subject matter of the sentence. Hence, although I think they prove a great deal as to the identification of God and the Lord Jesus, I do not quote them as simply proving in an absolute way, the divinity of Christ. But the force of the passage in Titus (2. 13) is apparent, “Waiting for the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” It is unquestionably Christ who appears; as it is now in the face of Jesus Christ that we see the glory of the Lord.

This unity of God and Christ is manifest throughout John's writings, “I and my Father are one.” “We are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” Take, again, such an example—for it is only an example— “And now, little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God; therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 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.” Now, who will say to whom this applies—Christ or God? It is impossible to distinguish them. What characterizes all the writings of John, in the language of Christ, is One who has the place and title of perfect equality, yet now being a Man, takes nothing, never glorifies Himself, but receives all from His Father, as in John 17 In them we have “God over all, blessed forever” (Rom. 9:5), which I doubt not, for my part, is the only true sense; and other passages I do not quote, as they are matters of criticism. Indeed, I have only cited such as suggest themselves to my memory. So Thomas— “My Lord and my God.”

But there is another class of texts, which to the mind, sensible of what is due to God, evidently show who He is. Grace coming from Him, as is found everywhere— “Out of his fullness have we all received, and grace for grace.” Christ is all. His love passeth knowledge. Christ is to dwell in my heart by faith. If Christ be to me what the scripture says He is to be to me, and be not God, H must exclude God altogether. The very fact that Christ made Himself of no reputation when in the form of God, is again a moral proof of His divine nature. Every creature was bound to keep its first estate; He who was high and sovereign could, in grace, come down and take another nature.

Everything confirms this. He does not merely work miracles and cast out demons, but sends others out, and gives them authority over all demons. When He says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,” who was dwelling in the temple? This kind of proof shines forth in every page of the Gospels, and to the mind whose eye, is open to see, affords a proof more powerful even than individual texts stating it in the letter. As I speak of the letter, let me add the remark, that when it is said “the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily, it is not a vague word, as when we speak of what is divine. The Greek has a distinct word for these two things; for the vague thought it is θειότης [divinity], as in Rom. 1:20; but here it is θεότης [Godhead], Col. 2:9.

Where the leper says, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst,” and He says, “I will, be thou clean” —who can so speak? The proofs that He is a man must not be cited against it. We hold to this as anxiously as any one. His being God is only of special value to us because He is man—a very true man, though a sinless one—God with us, and then we in Him before God—One who took flesh and blood, that He might die, and partook of flesh and blood because the children were partakers of it—a dependent, obedient man, who, though He had life in Himself, lived by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

When I am called to believe in Jesus Christ come in flesh—which Christians are—they hold He is a man; but why insist on this? If He was simply a man, how else could man come? Not as an angel, for an angel must not leave his estate; and He did not take up angels-words which have no sense if He had been one, and was taking up the cause of others as such. When it says “the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father,” and that He is in the Father, and the Father in Him, the last might be said of a man, perhaps; the former impossible as a mere man, or of any but a divine Person. So, when He says, “None hath ascended up to heaven,” it is to state what is there— “save he that came down from heaven, the Son of man, who is in heaven.” And it all men are to honor the Son even as they honor the Father, it cannot be that He is a mere man, or not have the nature which is to be honored.

Jehovah has sworn that every knee shall bow to Him, and every tongue give an account of himself to God, but it is at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow. Hence though the Son quickens whom He will, as the Father, yet the Father judges no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son as they honor Him. There is no God but Jehovah—I know not any, as says the prophet (Isa. 44:6-8); but we have seen, by multiplied examples, that Christ is Jehovah.

That as Son He has taken a place subject to the Father as man, every Christian believes-receives the glory He once had with the Father before the world was—everyone who bows to scripture joyfully accepts; for He is a man forever, in that sense a servant, but He who is the servant can say, I and my Father are one, and I am in the Father, and he who has seen Him has seen the Father also.

Compare the description of the Ancient of Days in Dan. 7 and Rev. 1, and see if the Ancient of Days who receives the Son of man in Dan. 7 be not the Son of man in Rev. 1; and in Dan. 7 too, from verse 22 of the chapter the Ancient of Days comes. Hence we have, “the blessed and only Potentate, King of kings, and Lord of lords” Who in its own times shall show the appearing of Christ (1 Tim. 6:14-16); but in Rev. 19:6 He who comes on the white horse has on His vesture and on His thigh, “King of kings, and Lord of lords.” You see, the more scripture is gone through, the more comes to light that He “is the true God and Eternal Life.”

I know not that I need multiply passages, after these I have quoted. What you will remark is, that it is not a question of expressions as to which criticism may be exercised, but the doctrine and system of scripture. It is Christianity as it is given to us in scripture. I take up Christianity as the truth, and that is Christianity. A religion is what it professes itself to be, and that is what Christianity 'professes itself to be-the revelation of God, and eternal life in the Person of Christ.

It professes another truth, that is, atonement, or expiation of sin. It does not teach a goodness of God which can bear with any sin, but maintains the perfect holiness of God, and the putting away of sin, but it does it in a way which equally maintains infinite and perfect love. Man instinctively felt the need of expiation. This is publicly known in heathenism, but there it was very much the dread of a god who had passions like ourselves, and men might justly say, tantaene animis coeles tibus iroe? Judaism, as revealed of God, maintained this thought, but it began by, a deliverance of the people, and witnessed a God not revealed, but who gave commandments, ordained sacrifices, which kept up the thought that sin. would in nowise be allowed; but it was the “forbearance of God” in view of a work to be accomplished, the way into the holiest not yet having been made manifest, nor peace given to man's conscience, though. it was relieved through sacrifice when occasion called for it. Christ appeared in the end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself; was once offered to bear the sins of many and give a perfect conscience, without diminishing—nay in maintaining in the highest way—holiness, in the judgment of sin in the conscience, according to the majesty of God; and withal giving the perfect sense of unbounded love, in that God did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us—the love that gave Christ. Christ gave Himself in a love that is divine and passes knowledge.

The foolish question has been asked, What righteousness is there in an innocent being suffering for the guilty? It is a foolish question. There is no righteousness in my paying my friend's debts. It is kindness, love; but it meets the righteous claim of his creditor. The claims of a holy God are maintained—intolerance of evil; and that is of the last importance for the conscience and heart of man; it gives him the knowledge of what God is in holiness. There is no true love without it. Indifference to good and evil so that the evil-doer is let pass with his evil, is not love; and the dissociation of right and wrong, by God's authority is the highest possible evil. Now, good and evil are elevated to the standard of it in God's nature. We walk in. the light, as God is in the light, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses from all sin. The glory of God is maintained, and the heart of man placed in association with the perfectness of that nature, and in peace, with the perfect knowledge of His love, and that is the highest blessing, the highest good. Diminish the holiness, diminish the love—I have not God, I have not, my soul formed into communion with Him. Take away the character of judgment or righteousness exercised, as regards evil, and you obliterate the authority of God—the creation, place, and responsibility of man.

This part of the truth, again, enters into the whole texture of scripture, from Abel to the allusions to it in Rev. 1 shall merely quote a sufficient number of passages to show that Christianity as taught by Christ and His apostles must be given up if expiation be. I do not quote the Old Testament; expiatory sacrifices are. beyond all question, its doctrine; and prophetic testimony is clear that He was wounded for our transgressions, the chastisement of our peace laid upon Him, and that with His stripes we are healed; that He made His soul a sacrifice for sin, and that He bare our iniquities.

When I turn to the New Testament, I find Christ stating that He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28). The Lord's Supper—the standing institution of Christianity—is the sign of His blood shed for many, for the remission of sins. John the Baptist points Him out as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Paul tells us that God hath set Him forth as a propitiation, through faith in His blood (Rom. 3:25); Peter, that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot (1 Peter 1:18, 19); John, that He is the propitiation for our sins and the whole world (1 John 2:2); Peter, again, that He bare our sins in His own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24). The Hebrews enlarges on it fully as a doctrine. He must offer for sins (chap. 9). He offers one sacrifice for sins and then sits down (chap. 10). We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:7). We are justified by His blood (Rom. 5:9). Without shedding of blood is no remission (Heb. 9:22). He gave Himself for our sins (Gal. 1:4). It is when He had made the purification of our sins that He sat down on the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens (Heb. 1:3). Cleansing, justification, forgiveness, peace, redemption, are all attributed to His blood. He bare our sins, gave Himself for our sins, makes propitiation for the world, is delivered for our offenses. As I have said, it is a doctrine interwoven with all scripture, forms one of the bases of Christianity, is the sole ground of remission—and there is none without shedding of blood—and that by which Christ has made peace (Col. 1:20). The thought that He, was sealing merely His doctrines by His death, is utterly groundless, it is never stated as its force in scripture, expiation is constantly; and if it was a mere testimony—perfect as He was in it—it does not serve for one, for the testimony would be, that the most faithful of men was forsaken of God. What testimony would that be? Take out expiation, and scripture becomes impossible to understand: introduce it, and all is plain.

I have not written a treatise, but simply recalled what must present itself to every unprejudiced reader of scripture, as memory furnished it, and what the soul convinced of sin cannot do without. If Christ be not God, I do not know Him, have not met Him, nor know what He is. No man can by searching find it out. If Christ has not offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin, then I had neither peace of conscience according to the holiness of God, but pass lightly over the guilt of sin, remaining at a distance from God—nor do I know God's love, who so loved as not to spare His own Son. There is no true knowledge of sin without it, no true knowledge of God.

Lectures on 1 Chronicles 23-29

1 Chronicles 23-29

“So when David was old and full of days, he made Solomon his son king over Israel. And he gathered together all the princes of Israel, with the priests and the Levites” (chap. 23.). And a remarkable act of David appears here, quite in consistency with what we have seen before. He first numbers the Levites, and he numbers them according to Moses, from thirty years old and upwards. But even Moses himself gives us a modification of this, namely from twenty-five years. David goes farther. He is the king, and all now depends upon the king. Hence (verse 24), “These were the sons of Levi after the house of their fathers; even the chief of the fathers, as they were counted by number of names by their polls, that did the work for the service of the house of Jehovah, from the age of twenty years and upward.”

Thus David showed sovereign right to act for Jehovah. He only did so because he is the type of Christ. There was One greater than Moses that was in the view of the Spirit of God, and David typifies Him. It is said, “For, by the last words of David, the Levites were numbered from twenty years old and above: because their office was to wait on the sons of Aaron for the service of the house of Jehovah.” No doubt their duties were greatly enlarged, and, great as their numbers might be now, the magnificence of the temple would call for every man from twenty years. And, besides, David would give them all a place in it. It was an honor as well as a duty, and so one can conceive grace acting in calling in the younger men.

In the 24th chapter we have the divisions of the sons of Aaron, and they are now divided into. twenty-four courses. Zadok takes his place as the high priest, and this we know will be the line when the Lord Jesus comes to reign by and by. It is not only that the house of David will enjoy its right and glory according to the word of Jehovah, but the family of Zadok will be actually in the administration of the priesthood in that future day of blessedness on the earth. This we know from the book of Ezekiel, who expressly lets us see that so it will be (chap. 44:15)— “But the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord Jehovah.” We can see the reason of this. They were faithful. But there is another reason, too, that does not appear in the prophecy. They were the proper descendants. They were the lineal descendants of Phinehas; and God had sworn in the wilderness—(so far did it go back beyond David)—that there should be an everlasting covenant with the priesthood and the family of Phinehas. If God remembers His promises, so does He not forget His, covenant with man. It is not, therefore, the promise to the fathers only; but even what may come in because of the fidelity of His people in any great time of trouble is never forgotten of the Lord.

In the 25th chapter we have the service of song. “Moreover, David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries and with cymbals.” It is called 'prophesying,' because it so directly brought in God, which is the emphatic meaning of prophesying. “And the number of the workmen according to their service was” —so and so. There were twenty-four courses of the singers. Now, this was another remarkable change. In the tabernacle, song was not the characteristic feature, but sacrifice; but in the temple in the day of glory the song of triumph is the new and suitable feature. It is not but what the sacrifices abide, as we find; and so they will be on the earth—no longer, as they were, mere legal offerings, but commemorations—commemorations of the great sacrifice, no doubt. God will condescend to use for an earthly people an earthly sign. The heavenly people want none. That is the reason why we have no sacrifices now—because we see what the sacrifice of Christ is in the mind of heaven. We enjoy heaven's estimate of Christ. Hence, as there is no sacrifice in heaven, we have none; but, when the earth comes in, the earthly people will have earthly sacrifices.

In the 26th chapter we have the porters, for it is a part of majesty to think of what is least. The Spirit of God condescends to arrange by David for the porters, just as truly as He did for the high priest, or for the different courses of priesthood. All has its place, and whatever has to do with the service of God is great in God's eyes. Indeed, it is only we who make so much of the differences between great and small. To God, the smallest thing has a value.

In the 27th chapter we have more the kingdom in its outward regulations. “Now the children of Israel, after their number, to wit, the chief fathers and captains of thousands and hundreds, and their officers that served the king in any matter of the courses, which came in and wept out month by month throughout all the months of the year, of every course were twenty and four thousand.” We find the number twenty-four whether it be actual, or in its thousands, very prominent here. Twelve is the number devoted to perfection in human government—in government by man. In the church, seven, because it is spiritual administration. In Israel twelve—twelve tribes, not seven. So here in the kingdom by and by; only there is a double witness of it. It is twenty-four. Nothing was established when it was only twelve. “In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.” The millennium will be the great establishment of the kingdom. And so we have not perfection. Perfection will be in eternity, but still there will be establishment.

The end of the chapter shows us the various ministers of the king—the rulers of his substance —those that were over the king's treasures—those that were over the work of the field, his agriculture, his vineyards, his domains as we would call them, the sycamore trees, and so on, the olive yards, the herds, the camels, flocks, asses, and the other' chief ministers of the king.

In the 28th chapter we have the assembly of the princes, where David stands and addresses them, although he was now drawing near the close. “As for me,” he says, “I had in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and for the footstool of our God.” This was a great word which it is well to dwell upon for a moment. “A house of rest for the ark.” It was not so in the wilderness. It was either “Rise up, O Jehovah,” or “Return.” It was always motion—motion actually, or motion in prospect. But the blessed feature of the day that is coming will be rest—rest after toil—rest after sorrow. And this will be the fruit of the suffering of the true Son of David. We see it beautifully in the 132nd Psalm, where David, who had been afflicted, prays for Solomon. And Solomon will bring in the rest, but only as a sign. True rest is yet to come. “There remaineth a rest for the people of God.” This is not yet accomplished: it will be in due time.

David, then, here looks forward to the ark of the covenant of Jehovah having a house of rest. “But,” says he, “God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for my name, because thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood. Howbeit Jehovah, God of Israel, chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel forever: for he hath chosen Judah to be the ruler; and of the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he liked me to make me king over all Israel.” He had given him a good work. He was not to build the house, but be, above all, had the preparation of the material and the ordering of it, even when it was built—not Solomon, but David. Solomon carried out the regulations of David. Therefore, Whatever may be the future glory of the kingdom we must remember that the sufferings of Christ morally take an incomparably higher place. David was more important than Solomon. Solomon was only the fruit, so to speak of David. The glory of the kingdom was only the result of the one who had glorified God as the outcast and rejected, but real establisher of the kingdom. Then he says, “And He said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him.” David therefore gives. to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch and of the houses.

We see how completely David is the source of everything here. “The pattern of all that he had by the Spirit” It was not any question of his own will. “And the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of Jehovah, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things. Also for the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of Jehovah, and for all the vessels of service in the house of Jehovah.” Nay, more than that, he gave by weight of the gold for the various vessels, and the silver for those that were to be made of silver—the tables, for instance; “also pure gold for the fleshhooks and for the bowls, and the cups.” Everything was to a nicety arranged by David. “All this, said David” —and this is a very important word— “All this (said David) Jehovah made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.” It was really God arranging all by His servant. On this ground David charges Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for Jehovah God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work, for the service of the house of Jehovah.” It was the great prospect of David's declining years. It was not his own house, but Jehovah's house. He had no doubt about his own: he was not troubled about it: he did not think about it. He prays God for it: he could rest upon God's word. God, would surely establish the house of David, but David looked for the building of the house of Jehovah. David could not rest without God being glorified, and he desired at any rate to have his own part. And God gave him a good part—not the building, but all things gathered in view of it, and ordered too.

The last chapter (29) gives us the final charge of David. In this he fully states how he had prepared with all his might for the house of his God. “Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God, the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things. of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colors, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. Moreover, because I have set my affection to the house of my God, I have of mine own proper good, of gold and silver, which I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house” —that is, it was not only what he drew from the kingdom, but what he gave of his own personal property and estate— “even, three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses withal.”

And now, in face of this, he asks, “Who is willing to consecrate his service this day unto Jehovah?” The noble generosity of the king acts powerfully upon the people. “Then the chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers, of the king's work, offered willingly, and gave for the service of the house of God, of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand drams, and of silver ten thousand talents, end of brass eighteen thousand talents, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. And they with whom precious stones were found, gave them to the treasure of the house of Jehovah, by the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite.” All this is enumerated with the greatest care. “Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to Jehovah: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.”

Thus we see how grace draws out grace, and how much deeper the joy of David was over God's glory than over anything of his own. We never hear of anything like such an expression of joy for what befell himself. “Wherefore David blessed Jehovah before all the congregation.” It is the king, not the priest, now, but the king. “And David said, Blessed be thou, Jehovah God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Thine, O Jehovah, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Jehovah, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank thee and praise thy glorious name.” “But who am I?” says he, for there is nothing that produces so much humility, such true sense of nothingness, as the rich blessing of Jehovah. “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.” So he prays for Solomon. “O Jehovah God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, our fathers, keep this forever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people, and prepare their heart unto thee: and give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes.”

Then he calls the congregation to bless Jehovah; and so they all do, bowing down their heads in worshipping Jehovah and the king. The king you see is now the proper representative of Jehovah. And they sacrifice according to the greatness of the day. “Even a thousand bullocks, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, with their drink offerings, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel: and did eat and drink before Jehovah on that day with great gladness. And they made Solomon the son of David king, the second time.”

“The second time.” Not a word is here introduced about Adonijah's attempt to get the kingdom. It was all left out. The troubles and sins of the house of David are left out, unless they are bound up with some purpose of God. That is the key to it; but here is given simply the result, namely, that Solomon is anointed the second time. The first time was after the house was determined upon. Solomon was bound up with the glory of the house. “Then Solomon sat on the throne of Jehovah” —a remarkable expression: “sat upon the throne of Jehovah as king, instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him. And all the princes, and the mighty men, and all the sons likewise of king David, submitted themselves unto Solomon the king. And Jehovah magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed upon him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.”

“Thus David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. And the time that he reigned over Israel was forty years; seven years reigned he in Hebron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And he died in a good old age, full of days, riches, and honor: and Solomon his son reigned in his stead.” W. K:

Song of Solomon 1

Chapter 1

“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for thy love is better than wine” (verse 2). Was He not Jehovah and God? To be sure He was; but He is man: He is their own Messiah. And thus we see the beauty of these words. It is the more striking, because, instead of saying, “Let Messiah kiss me,” she says what is more proper, more becoming. There was only one object. As she was His object, so He was her Object, for this is the point; and she does not require to say who. And indeed is not this its beauty? “Let him.” It could not be mistaken. There might be ever so many in the world, but there was only One, and that was the One Whom she had so offended—Whom she had refused and rejected and despised. “Let HIM kiss me.” That is her feeling; and was it not needless to say whom? There was no one in heaven or earth that she desired but Him. “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.” No doubt it is the expression of the most tender affection, but, still, that is the very thing. Could she not desire it? She did most ardently desire it; but there was the thought that she had lost it. She thought that it could not be. “Oh, if He were only to answer"! And here again, how beautiful! You see, the heart of Israel must turn, and the Lord stands to that. He means to bless Jerusalem; and He will bless. His own secret grace will work. But she must speak the word first, as He said (when rejected and bowing to the rejection here below) in the same Gospel that I have referred to, the Gospel of Matthew— “till ye shall say.” He left the house desolate and called it “Your house.” It is no longer His “Father's house” (John 2:16), nor Jehovah's house (Matt. 22:13); but, speaking of the temple, He says “Your house is left unto you desolate; and,” He adds, “ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” There is the “He"; He is the One: He is coming in the name of Jehovah. But observe—it is still “Ye shall say.” What, they—the Jews, who were then going to crucify Him? The very same. “Father, forgive them: they know not what they do"; and here it is answered. Here is the work of grace at length. How long they had waited for Him! But now the time—the set time—to favor Zion is come—God's set time; and as His servants take pleasure in her stones, and as the dust, even, is precious in their eyes, so now her heart desires that what seemed to be the lost relationship should be the formed relationship. Oh, that she might have Him! But she had refused Him. This, then, is the opening word. It is the desire of her heart that the Messiah would show His love to her—He to Whom she had shown such contempt and hatred.

“For thy love is better than wine. Because of the savor of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth.” Here we see how evidently it is no question of Solomon, or of anything that may have historically given rise to it. There is none but one named—none but one who could fill up. A greater than Solomon is here. “Thy name,” as she says, “is as ointment poured forth; therefore do the virgins love thee.” Nothing can be more holy—nothing can be more pure—than the affection of her who thus breathes out her heart's desire—that He would only show His love to her. “Therefore do the virgins love thee.” Whom does she refer to as “the virgins"? Those who were uncontaminated by the corruptions of that day. This “Song of Solomon of the Canticles” supposes the heart of the godly in Israel—for they will be the true Israel: they will be the true bride when the day comes for this to be made good, at a time of excessive corruption and apostasy.

And this is the very thing which now she shows she values. There will be others having this very title. We see it in the Revelation. We find certain persons, for instance, in the 14th chapter of that closing book (where we have a scene of the last days after the church has gone—after the heavenly bride has been taken up to heaven—for God has not done with blessing), one hundred and forty-four thousand who are seen on Mount Zion; and how are they described? They are described as those who had not been defiled. They are described, therefore, just in the very way in which she describes— “Therefore do the virgins love thee.” It is those that were not polluted by the idolatry and wickedness of that; day; and her delight is that it was not merely herself—there will be others, too, Jerusalem—the godly among the Jews—will not be the only persons in that day. They will, have no doubt, be very conspicuous, and the Lord will watch over them and bless them. Some of them will die even. Some of them will shed their blood for the truth's sake in that day. But it is quite evident that there are companions. It is clear that there are the upright—that there are Those whom she calls “the virgins.” She does not, therefore, describe to us what we know now. We do not talk in that way. It seems that the earthly bride could talk about the virgins, and talk about the upright outside herself. Why? Because the heavenly bride now comprises all the godly on the earth. The difference, therefore you see, is very manifest. When that day comes there will be a special object, but not the only one; whereas now the heavenly bride consists of all that are Christ's. They all form one body. That is not the case then at all. I mention this for the express purpose of keeping our hearts clear as to the proper bearing of this wonderful book.

“Draw Me: we will run after thee.” Now, mark here again. “Draw me: we will run after thee.” She in no way begrudged that others should be the objects of His love. She, no doubt, will have a special place; but she delights that others, who were uncontaminated by the wickedness of the world, should be precious in His eyes. And, so they will he; but it was impossible for the church to say that. The church could not look on Jews or Mahommetans, of other people on the earth, and speak of them as the upright, or speak of them as the virgins who love the Lord Jesus; for, in point of fact, they are not upright and they do not love Him, and the whole state of things, you see, is different: It could not be.

But, I repeat, it will be a different thing when this is true. Accordingly, I think, this helps to give the true bearing of the Song of Solomon. In its proper application it looks at the heart of the Jewish bride turning to the Messiah-bridegroom before He comes—the heart prepared for it; so that it is a great mistake to suppose that the conversion of the Jew will be when Christ returns in glory. Not so. That will be the day when she will be received. It will be the day when the bridal relationship will be established. But that is not at all as yet. It is not yet that day. The day is yet to break. As we shall see, that day is not yet come. The shadows are to flee away; but all through the Song of Solomon the day-break is not yet; the shadows are still there. But the time is coming. She was perfectly conscious of this, and the Lord makes 'her' conscious. It is Himself who lets her know that. As we shall find presently, the day is not come. She is preparing for Him and preparing for it. That is what we find here.

“Draw me,” then, she says; “we will run after thee. The king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee. We will remember thy love more than wine. The upright love thee.” She is anticipating what she hopes, but she is not yet there. She is looking for it in the language of faith; but we must carefully remember that the bridal has not yet taken place. She is a designated bride. She is to become more and more distinct in saying that she is to be the bride and take the place of the bride, more and more laying hold of the word that she really is so. Still, the relationship is not yet consummated. That is what we find as the object of the book. It is the preparing of the bride for the consummation of the marriage.

Now she turns to another thing—herself. Here she has another tale to tell. “I am black,” she says—the first word which she speaks about herself. “I am black, but comely.” She is conscious bf what the law has wrought. She does not deny the curse of the law; but her first word is her own shame. She owns, therefore, how little she is according to the One that she desires. He is all fair; but as for her, she is black, though, she can add; “comely.” That is, she owns thoroughly her need of grace. She owns herself as entirely dependent upon the mercy of the Lord; And this at once connects itself with the language of the Psalms. There are two things that mark the godly in Israel that you will find in the Psalms. The first is, sense of the need of mercy; the next, clinging to righteousness—real integrity of heart. They take the place of integrity; but their grand confidence is in His mercy. You will find it continually. Mercy and righteousness are constantly brought together; but Israel's first word is mercy. God's first word in looking at them is their integrity, if I may say so; but their first word is His mercy. So here you have it. She describes herself as “black.” She owns it. It is really integrity of heart; but still it is because of her confidence in His mercy that she is able to say, “I am black, but comely.”

Take the 25th and 26th Psalms, and you will find exactly this very thing. In Psa. 25, the godly in that day own their sins; and what is the great word that they use about themselves? “Pardon mine iniquity” —why? “for it is great.” What a wonderful thing to say to Gods They could not say it to man. If a criminal were to ask the judge who was trying him to pardon his iniquity because it was great, I need not say that the whole court would stare with amazement at the man's presumption. But what would be presumption to the world and before men, is exactly the confidence of faith. And that is precisely what God works in a soul that is converted—integrity of heart in owning, and in confessing, its sins; and so there is not merely a cleansing of the sins, but a cleansing from all unrighteousness. That is a different thing. There is clearly a work which is wrought in the soul. Guile is taken away from the soul. There is not the hiding of sin. There is integrity, but it is integrity produced by confidence in God's mercy. And what is it in the 25th Psalm which had given confidence in this mercy? Ah! think of it! What had preceded? The 22nd Psalm. There is an order in these things. We must not suppose that the Psalms are just tumbled into their places. They are put in their places by God just as much as they were written by God's inspiration. They might be written at ever so distant a time, and I do not at all suppose that they were written in the order in which they appear; but they are arranged—they are disposed—in an order which is as divine as the words that compose them. You could net change the order of a single Psalm without spoiling the truth. It would be like tearing a leaf out of a most beautiful plant which would leave a gap most sensible to any one who knew what the plant ought to be, or what it really was according to God's constitution of it.

Well, here, then, we see this very thing. The grace of God in giving Christ to suffer on the cross opens their heart to tell out their sins; and they can say, “For thy name's sake, O Jehovah, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.” That is indeed the reason. The greatness of it, no doubt, requires such a sacrifice; but in the presence of such a sacrifice there is no asking for consideration because the sin was little, but, on the contrary, to pardon it because it was so great. Then in the 26th Psalm the very same Spirit of Christ which leads to confess the sin takes the ground of thorough integrity—takes the ground of hating to be in the congregation of the wicked or have anything to say to those who did not fear Jehovah—takes the ground of washing their hands in innocency, and so surrounding His altar. These things all go together.

So, then, she was “black, but comely"; but I do not doubt that the blackness refers to another thing, and that is not merely the blackness of failure—of shortcoming—of sin, but the blackness of suffering. And the Lord will feel it too. The Lord will say in that day, 'Jerusalem hath suffered double at the hand of the Lord for her sins. She has suffered too much. I will not allow her to suffer any more. She has suffered twice as much as she ought to have suffered.' The Lord will espouse the cause of poor guilty Jerusalem in that day, and will not permit that she shall suffer further. So, then, she owns that whether it was her own fault, or whether it was the cruel persecution that she had endured in the just chastening of her faults, such was her condition—black, but, by grace, she was comely. “I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar” —which, I suppose, are the figure of the one, and the curtains of Solomon, with all their beauty, of the other. “Look not upon me, because I am black—because the sun hath looked upon me.” There is what evidently confirms the idea that there was the scorching of affliction, as it seems to me, in this trial. “My mother's children were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard have I not kept.” Jerusalem had high thoughts. The Jews did take the place of being a guide to the blind, and a teacher of the ignorant. They ought to have been the witnesses: they were not. They ought to have looked after all the world for God. They ought to have been His great witness to every nation, tribe, and tongue; but, alas I the truth was that so far from accomplishing their relation to all the world, and being a blessing, to every nation under the sun according to the word to Abraham that all the families of the earth should be blest, they did not keep their own vineyard. They did not preserve their own blessings. They did not fill up what the Lord required even as to their own ways before Him; still less were they a light to all the world.

[W.K.]

(To be continued)

The Power of Prayer

They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.” Such is God's disposition towards His children. We can and ought to feel perfectly sure of it. Prayer is the expression of dependence it is also the expression of confidence. There must be faith in it, and faith is confidence. When we have God's word that He will hear and answer, who among His people would dare to doubt it? Therefore, are we exhorted to “pray without ceasing.”

This means, Pray at all times, under all circumstances. Pray when you are afflicted. Pray when you are sick. Pray when you are in need. Pray when in distress. Pray when persecuted. Pray for those of your family. Pray for your friends, yea, and for your enemies also. Pray for kings and rulers, “that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.” Pray for all men. Pray for the saints and for the conversion of sinners. Pray for the church of God. Pray for the work and testimony of the Lord. Pray ever and anon.

Beware of slothfulness on the one hand, and, on the other hand, of an activity which would leave you no time, or too little time, for prayer. Remember that a testimony without prayer is like a flower without fragrance, or a fruit without savor. The flower may be rich in color or the fruit large in size, but this is of very little consequence with God. “Look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature... for [the LORD seeth] not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

In more instances than one you can see the stupendous power of prayer—stupendous because God-given. It can even turn the mighty God from His purpose when He means to deal in judgment. Think of that Consider Moses' pleading with Jehovah after the golden calf had been set up and worshipped by Israel. The Lord, righteously indignant, says to His servant, “Thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.... I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people: now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume. them: and I will make of thee a great nation.” But Moses would not, let the Lord alone, would not let God make of him a great nation at so great a cost to stiff-necked Israel. So he answers, “Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against Thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac and Israel, Thy servants, to whom Thou swarest by Thine own self, and saidst, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. And the LORD repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people.” In Jer. 26:1, 13, we see how readily the Lord turns from wrath to mercy and pardon, and there is nothing like pleading and intercession to cause this wonderful change in Him. And if He is so ready to pardon, how much more to bless when besought to do so!

At the close of the period of the judges, the last of these was pre-eminently a man of prayer. Himself the child of many prayers, Samuel bore the stamp of his origin all his life through. This is beautiful, and reminds us of 2 Tim. 1:5. He was one of the few who lived in the spirit of the words, “Pray without ceasing.” He was in the midst of a people who had become a stranger to prayer. Alas for such a people! He would be alone to bear the whole burden, as Moses and Aaron were in their day. Hence it is that he is named along with them in Psa. 99:6, “Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among them that call upon His name.” They were all three the great intercessors in favor of gainsaying Israel. Hear Samuel's words to the people after they had rejected him their judge and God their King, and put themselves under the leadership of Saul, “Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside, for then you should go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain. The LORD will not forsake His people for His great name's sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you His people. Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you: but I will teach you the good and right way” (1 Sam. 12:20-23). It follows from these words that Samuel's ministry was composed of two parts, viz., prayer and teaching—prayer first, teaching next; prayer the foundation, then the building up.

But there are two ways in which prayer may be put into service—prayer for and prayer with. Samuel could only pray for, because the spirit of prayer was not in the people. They said, “Pray for thy servant,” whereas they ought to have said, “Pray with thy servants.” This was greatly to be deplored, but could not, however, hinder praying for them. Let us seek and yearn for united prayer, remembering the special promise, “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything they shall ask, it shall be done unto them of My Father which is in heaven.” But if united prayer is denied to us on account df the state of God's people, let us, even single-handed, pray for them all the more earnestly. Let us act upon Samuel's word, “The LORD will not forsake His people for His great name's sake, because it hath pleased the LORD to make you His people.” Himself acted on the assurance that sovereign goodness would be faithful to itself. His prying faith was the lever with which he lifted up that which was ready to crumble to pieces. “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” In the face of growing evil and of the persistency of God's people to walk in their own way, you may say, ‘I have prayed much; it is useless; there is no change for the better.' I answer, 'Go on praying, pray without ceasing, and may your last breath carry your last prayer to God. You will see then that our God has not been dull of hearing.' You may see it before; but if not, it will be to you an immense comfort to have had on your heart the good of God's people in fellowship with God Himself. For, remember, He loves His people, not for their qualities or for their faithfulness, but for His great name's sake.

Ezra was a man of prayer. How noble and heart-pricking is his attitude in chapter 9:5 of his Book! and what a supplication! Confession, thorough and unreserved, there was in it, for in a day of ruin, when the state of God's people is considered, there cannot be true prayer without true confession. And true confession is not saying, 'They have sinned,' but, ‘We have sinned.' “Behold, we are before Thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.”

Nehemiah, another man of prayer, following up Ezra's confession, brings it still closer to our own conscience, when he says, “Let Thine ear. now be attentive, and Thine eyes open, that Thou mayest hear the prayer of Thy servant, which I pray before Thee now, night and day, for the children of Israel Thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against Thee; both I and my father's house have sinned.” But he not only prayed when he had sin to confess—the sin of his people, which he made his own. He prayed as well for the work of the Lord, the work of rebuilding the walls of the beloved city, when he had to confront the conspirators who had determined to bring their labor to naught, “Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.”

Daniel the righteous is another man of the same character and mind—the first two at the head of the returned captives; he, in Babylon, where he was to end his days. “Now, when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.” He too prayed without ceasing, prayed with thanksgiving in the face of death itself, intercourse with his God being to him dearer than life. His companions in captivity, dejected as they were, might sit down and weep, and hang their harps upon the willows bordering the rivers of Babylon, he would go on praying and giving thanks.

If we pass on to the New Testament, we meet at once our blessed Lord Jesus, the great Pattern and Exemplar of all that is good. He who could say, “Before Abraham was I AM,” He who “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” in due time was born of a woman, a seal man, but a holy, stainless, sinless man, God and man in one Person. And because absolutely perfect as man, He could measure as none other could, the extent of ruin that the first man, through sin, had brought into this world, which, created by Him, knew Him not; and the sight of this ruin led Him not only to suffer, but to pray, yea, to live in prayer, as Luke 6:12, and 21:37, show.

There were divine sensibilities in His human perfections. Could He be indifferent to the blind unbelief of men, to the revolt of His earthly people, of which He had to say, “I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children?” or indifferent to the sufferings of all that in which there is life here below, to death's power, to the groans and the travail of the whole creation? He saw all, felt all, prayed concerning all. Secret prayers, it is true, but prayers into which we may have a little insight when we hear His groans and see His tears. For He groaned in His spirit and was troubled when He saw Mary weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which were with her. And He wept by Lazarus' grave, wept over Jerusalem, wept in Gethsemane, where three of His disciples heard the words of His unfathomable prayer, that prayer which the Holy Spirit alludes to in Heb. 5:7, “Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and He was heard in that He feared.” He was saved from death in that He came forth out of it by resurrection, with all the trophies of His redemption work at the cross.

Let us now consider, in the Epistles of Paul, the efficacy which the great apostle attached to prayer. He prays and begs to be prayed for.

In Rom. 1:9 he says, “God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel a His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers.” In chapter 12 he writes, “Continuing instant in prayer.” In chap. 15, “Now I beseech, you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.”

In 2 Cor. 1:11, he says, “Ye also helping together by prayer for us.” In Eph. 1:16, “I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers"; and in 6:18, “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel.”

To his dear Philippians he writes, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy.” And we know the marvelous prescription he gave them against the cares and worry of the daily life, “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God; and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

With the Colossians he is no less instant on prayer, “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.” Again, “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you.” And again, “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving, withal praying also for us.” Speaking Epaphras, one like-minded with him, he says, “Always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”

In 1 Thessalonians he writes, “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers,” and “night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith.”

To Timothy he writes, “I exhort therefore that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty; for this is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

Finally, in Philemon we read, “I thank my God, making mention of thee in my prayers,” and again, “I trust that through your prayers I shall be given to you.”

Remembering Moses' words to Joshua, “Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets,” we say with earnest desire, Would God that all the Lord's people were men of prayer!

P.C.

Neglect of the Reading Meeting

The reading meeting is a great test of the state of an assembly; for it is there, if things be right, that the knowledge, gathered in whatever way, is tested and made sure by that personal conference and comparison which help so largely in making it the realized possession of the soul. Here we may learn too, if there be the freedom and candor of brotherly love, the needs to which the truth ministers, and the ability to use it for real edification. It is of immense value to test in this way how far we have got the tenth, while by this means what has been learned by each is thrown into the common fund, to enrich the whole. Those Who know least would be surprised to realize how much the questions suggested by their own need may help in various ways the very people who answer them. And this is only one of the many modes in which the waterer is watered—the minister is ministered to.

The reading meeting is never, therefore, made needless or of little value by whatever multiplicity there may be of more detailed and connected teaching. Nay, all this creates. a special need for the reading meeting, in order that the food laid before the whole may be individually digested and assimilated. Here, however, any lack of nearness to, add confidence in, one another will be surely felt as a hindrance, and need of another sort manifested to those who have eyes to see.

“The children of this world are” indeed “wiser in their generation than the children of light.” Persons, brought into the inheritance together of large worldly possessions would soon realize the necessity of becoming acquainted with what they had so much personal interest in. How few are there who, in the case of spiritual wealth which God has made their own, have boldness and earnestness to lay hold of what is theirs by any means available to them. When, over eighty years ago, the Spirit of God began to move freshly in the hearts of His people to recover them to one another, and to revive the almost lost idea of the assembly of God, the reading meetings were a marked and prominent sign of the awakened interest in His word, and that the people of God as such were awaking to claim for themselves their portion in it. No class of men could be allowed, however gifted, however educated and sanctioned by the mass, to stand between their souls and the possession of what was needed alike by all and designed by God for all. Now, alas, the decay of the reading meeting means nothing else but the subsiding of that eager enthusiasm for the truth that then was, and the lessened consciousness of the Spirit of God being in each and all His own to give each for himself the power to acquire possession. The flood-tide is gone, and the diminished stream begins to confine itself to the old channels.

We need to proclaim again that God never designed “theology” to be for a class of theologians, but all the treasures of His word to be for all His people, not a thing in it to be hidden, save from the eyes of the careless and indifferent, those who are willing to exchange their heavenly birthright for a mess of the world's pottage. We need once more to assert that teachers are only a pledge on God's part of his eagerness to have all to know—not that He has restricted to these the possession of any kind of spiritual knowledge. Teachers are only to show that there, in the living fount from which they draw, is the living water for all, as free for others as for themselves. They are only the truth of God's word made to stand out in blazon before the eyes of those who have not yet found it there where He has put it for them, and with this for a motto of encouragement to those who have faith in a God that cannot lie, “Every one that seeketh, findeth.”

The success of teachers is shown by their ability to make others independent of them when men say to them, as the Samaritans to the woman of Sychar, “Now we believe, not because of thy saying"; and in proportion as the church of God by their means is made to realize its ability for self-edification. So the apostle says that Christ has given gifts unto men— “some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints unto the work of ministry, unto the edification of the body of Christ, until we all come into 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” (Eph. 4:11-13). That is, the “work of the ministry” —and this is left open to the largest construction—is what the saints as a whole are to be perfected unto [?]. Every saint is free to “covet earnestly the best gifts” (1 Cor. 12:31), and responsible to use all the ability he has, of whatever kind, to enrich others with it. “The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal"; and if there are special evangelists, all are free and called upon, each in his measure, to evangelize; if there are special teachers, all are free and responsible to communicate to others what God has given them of His truth. Love to each other, love to souls, is to have liberty and to be encouraged everywhere.

How blessed would be an assembly of saints in this condition, every one realizing that the fullness of all spiritual knowledge was open to him to enjoy, the best gifts were his to covet, that he was, by the simple wondrous fact of his endowment with the Spirit, the ordained minister of Christ to the world, the ordained servant and helper of his brethren. How intolerable is the thought of class restrictions to limit and hinder the grace of God in His people, yet, alas, into which, sensibly or insensibly, they so readily sink down! The development of all gift is necessarily hindered by it; and this is largely the reason why so few among us are going forth to labor in the ample fields on every side, and why the gatherings develop so little strength and stability. We need not talk about a “laity” to have one. Let God's people sink down into indolent acquiescence in their inability for their spiritual privileges, and little gift of any kind is likely to develop among them. Those that can be fed only with the spoon, are infants or invalids. On the other hand, where spiritual life is strongest we shall be most fully conscious of our need of one another. For spiritual feebleness means always a strong world element, and occupations, aims, pleasures, in which as children of God, we can have, no fellowship—can be no help to one another. Our spiritual links become proportionately theoretical, formal, sentimental. But where life is practical and earnest, its needs will be felt and the grace realized which has united us together. Every one has a place to fill that no other can fill; every one is necessary. Good it is to remember this, as to ourselves and as to every other. If we forget it, we cannot by this escape from the consequences.

F.W.G.

Our Living Lord: Part 1

An Address on Revelation 1:17, 18 (June 1St, 1914)

“And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying, Fear not: I am the first and the last, and the living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades” (R.V.).

We have had before us the great hope of the New Testament—the blessed anticipation of our Lord's return; and it is unnecessary for me now to remark how essential it is that we should keep this hope before our hearts. There is, however, another truth connected with it, which will have its due weight and help for us if we keep it before our souls. I refer to that aspect of the truth which assures us of the present concern of our adorable Lord and Master with our own particular welfare individually, as well as with the welfare of the whole of His church collectively.

We are sometimes so borne down with our own crosses and difficulties, and by the distractions that we find coming upon others personally and ecclesiastically, that to a certain extent the spirit of despair takes hold of us; and, looking at things within, and our own inefficiency, our own lack of competency, our own inability to clear away the things that oppose our onward march, and then again, counting the foes that encounter us, and the strength of the difficulties which surround us, we feel that all these things which are against us are too many for us. We bow our heads and think that we must give up. And so we might well give up if we had to fight the battle in our own strength, if we had to hold fast by our own energy, if there was none to stand by us, if there was none to impart to us the needed grace for the moment.

But the scripture shows that the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior, Whom we know was at the cross for us, and Who we believe and know also left this earth and ascended up in glory, and Who is coming again to receive us into that place which He has gone to prepare for us—this blessed person never relaxes in His present interest in us, and in His continual and sufficient supplies of what we require.

The Lord Jesus Christ never, forsakes His saints; and He never forsakes His church. We cannot count up the members of that body, but He knows them every one. We do not know all that are His, but he knows every one, and they are all in His hands, and His love is upon each of them. Is this not, something to lift up our hearts, and to enable us to go forward with increased confidence, assured that we shall reach that goal to which we are hastening, and having gained that goal, we shall then look back and praise the grace that has brought us safely through.

The apostle John received this revelation of the. Lord Jesus Christ in the Isle of Patmos. I am not about to say anything as to the prophecies recorded in this book, but I wish to draw your attention mainly to the fact that in this island of Patmos, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared unto the apostle John, and He appeared to him as to a follower of His—one in tribulation—one who had been, and was, a faithful witness to His name. And I think that if we could transport ourselves to that island, and if we could in any degree enter into the feelings of that holy man, we should find that he had abundant reason to be depressed and cast down because of the circumstances of his time.

Consider the great changes John had witnessed since the departure of the Lord. You know that when the church commenced at Pentecost there was a glorious work here on the earth. There was a power that gathered men and women together to a new center, united them as, one, bound them up closer together, and, as such, they were all moving along the path of discipleship to their Lord and Master, and the world looked upon them with distrust.

And, at first, it seemed as if that new power in the earth, a power which spread itself by preaching, would revolutionize the whole world, and that men everywhere would quickly be brought to call on the name of the Lord.

Men in high places received the gospel as little children; they abandoned their former pursuits and occupations, and confessed the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It looked as if the world as a system without God, was to be overthrown by the gospel, and that the millennium, to use the word in the common sense, would be seen very soon upon the earth.

But Scripture history shows us that a change came over this aspect of things very rapidly. It shows us that the power of the world which seemed paralyzed at first, awoke to a spirit of energy of persecution against the gospel and those that followed Christ. The world arose in its might; determined to stand out against the name the Lord Jesus Christ. Persecution began, and that was evil enough to bear.

But there was more than this. There was within the, church itself that which corrupted. There was the shameful fall of some men from the truth of the earliest days. Do you realize what this meant to the apostles? Oh, how they loved to see men receiving the gospel, to see them walking in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then—to see the same men divided, turned aside, abandoning the very name of the Lord Jesus Christ! It was a trial to these men, to see the leaven of evil doctrine, working for the corruption of the saints, while at the same time the power of the world was such that the mouths of the apostles were stopped, and they could not testify when we might think the truth most needed such testimony. It was possible for wicked men to take holy servants of the Lord Jesus Christ and put them to a shameful and ignominious death!

These apostolic men were surely following Christ: where, then, was their Christ? He had gone away and left them, and they were fighting in a losing battle, and dropping out of the ranks one by one; and here is John, the last of them, a prisoner in Patmos, his mouth closed to all intents and purposes. How much he would long to see His Master as of old; but there he was, alone. Had the ascended Christ forgotten? Was He there, and had He forgotten His struggling saints here upon the earth? Was He leaving them alone to battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil?

Perhaps John's thoughts went back to that night long before on the sea of Galilee. He would remember how the Lord Jesus Christ, in a strange way, hurried them from the shore, after He had fed the multitudes, and constrained them to get in the boat. He bade them push off, and He was left alone on the shore. They rowed out on the waters, and the storm gathered, and they were tossed and buffeted with the waves. They wanted to go in one direction, but the winds and the waves drove them in the other direction. All this while their Master was absent. Once before they had experience of a storm on the lake, but He was there. He was in the boat; He was asleep, but still He was there. Now the question arose, why did He command them to go away from Him? The long hours crept by; the watches passed; the first watch, the second watch, and the third watch, found them bending to the oars. Everything seemed to be against them; that night went by, and Jesus was not there. How refreshed their hearts were when, in the fourth watch of the night, they beheld Him walking on the waves, making His pathway over those circumstances which were so adverse to them, and against which they were fighting and struggling in vain!

Oh, how they reproached themselves tor then mistrust; but no, their hearts at first were filled, with fear. They thought they saw a phantom, but they were brought to recognize His power and His love which they had never seen before just in that way. And perhaps it was at this point in His recollection that a voice fell upon John's ear. It was a familiar trumpet sound, but it came from an unexpected quarter. He had to turn to see the vision that was behind him. His eyes, were directed away from his beloved Master. Oh, beloved friends, is this not a lesson to us? Do we not so often look at the storms, the billows, the trials, perplexities; and we say, where can He be? Where is the One that has told us, “In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world?” The world seems so strong against us, and we are so weak.

Why do we feel like this? Why cannot we be certain of the One that loves us? We are then, surely, looking in the wrong direction. Yet He never fails to come to us. The disciples were downcast and in despair, but the Lord came to them on the waves—the very thing that was so distressing to them—to their relief. Amid those tangles in which we find ourselves, and those foes that are with us day by day, we too shall not fail to see the Beloved coming to us across the waves of trouble.

It is also true that He comes in the way that we do. not always expect, and often it is to our shame that we have to turn and seek the voice of that One Who speaks for our comfort. He will never. fail; He is faithful, draw ye nigh; let it be written on our hearts—the glory of our Master that He provides a faithful and true witness—a faithful and true one to those, whom He loves, and we passing through this world to the home above.

But the vision before our eyes of the apostle John was a vision of the Lord in His glory, and I wish to draw your attention especially to this feature. We have brought before us very vividly, the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ in His exit, as it were, from, his world, left it in the attitude of benediction. He was dispensing a parting blessing to those left here, and a cloud received Him out of their sight (Luke 24:50, 51).

Let it not be thought that there is ever a cloud between us and Him. He comes to us, He who is the pre-eminently glorified One comes to us. He who is the brightest and supremest in the heaven, of heavens comes even now.

He comes to us here. You find in the 14th chapter of John, that the Lord first speaks of coming, personally, to receive unto Himself those whom He is loving in the world. He said, I go away, I am coming again. “If I go away, I will come again and receive you unto myself.” But if you continue the reading of that chapter, you will find that He speaks again of His coming. He then says, “I will not leave you orphans in this world; I will come to you” (verse 18). Does this refer to His coming in the day for which we are all waiting when He will receive us unto Himself? No. There He had been speaking about the advent of the Holy Spirit, and it was in connection with His advent that the Lord said, “I will come to you,” “I will be with you.” And the Spirit who was sent, is the one given for the very purpose of making the presence of the Son known and felt here in this world. Just as no man knew the Father but the Son, who was here upon the earth and who spoke those illuminating words that set forth the Father Himself, so the Holy Ghost is here at the present time to give every believer to know the close companionship of the One in the glory.

Do we not remember that other promise of the Lord before His departure, Lo, I am with you alway, every day, all the days, all the bright days and all the dark days, the days of happiness and the days of sadness?” “Always” means that in an uninterrupted way He is, with us. Beloved friends, ye often speak about the Lord Jesus as if He was an absent friend. It is good to talk of one whom we love but who is far away. It is good to hold intercourse concerning such a one. It is good to receive communications from him, but much better when he is present with us. And the Lord Jesus is equally dear, whether He is with us or not, but if we can see Him and hear Him by faith— if we are conscious of His presence all the day, it is blessed indeed. Is it too much to expect that when the Lord Jesus said, “Lo, I am with, you alway” that you and I in the experience of our souls day, by day may be enabled to realize that He is with us? Did He not mean this when He said “Lo, I am with you alway?” Did He not mean also that we should delight to have, the experience of it? and that we should see to it that we are standing in the light and power of His promise?

But how often the Lord's voice has to come to us like the voice of a trumpet. Now, a trumpet is to awaken the dead. The trumpet is used in Scripture as an indication of authority and summons; and the Lord had to speak to the beloved apostle, the one whom He loved, with a voice like thunder. And John turned and saw Him. Boanerges saw His love, His matchless pity, but He also saw that wondrous Person transfigured now. Once he beheld a glorious vision on the holy mount; but that was for a moment only. John was not prepared for it, he was afraid of it then; but now it was the Lord's day in Patmos, and He was in the Spirit. The Spirit gave him to witness the glory of his absent Master, and as he looked on Him, he saw His power. He also saw the dignity with which He was invested, His purity, His holiness. He saw that everything bespoke power, and administrative strength, and that the living Lord was in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.

The whole church of God was represented by this symbol of the candlesticks, and Jesus was seen in the midst, the place that He must always have. If there are but two or three gathered to His name, He will come to be in the midst. So there He was seen in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. Had He forsaken them? Was He up there in the glory, and was He in unconcern suffering His church to be buffeted by the winds and waves of persecution? No, He was in the midst. And look in His right hand-there are seven stars. There is a star for every church, and a star for Laodicea. He will not be content with six, He will have seven. He holds in His hand of power the seven stars.

Beloved friends, do not let us lose heart, do not let us lack courage, do not let us be overborne with despair by the distracting things. Look at that glorious Man of power and what He has in His right hand. He will maintain the seven stars to the very end. And in this manner the apostle saw Him. The effect upon the exile was remarkable. It was what might not have been expected from John, who was so attached in heart to his Master. When he beheld Him he fell at His feet as one dead. Why was this prostration? We may rather ask how could he keep himself in an erect position in the presence of such glory? He must go down.

Beloved friends, it is always when in the power of the Spirit of God we by faith have a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we assume a right attitude of worship. There is many a person, both old and young, who strives in vain to work himself up to a frame of worship. Worship is not forced, but spontaneous. It springs up like a well. What causes it to spring up? The power behind it, of course. You gather together, two or three of you, and there is an unseen Person present there. It is for you to see His glory. Do not let any distractions annoy you. Do not let the noise disturb your heart. No, see to it that all these things are lost upon you, and that when you are together you have vividly before you the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. All will be well then, because you are in line with the operations of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is here to display the perfections of the Person of Christ, and I cannot see Him unless the Holy Spirit so works in my heart that I do see Him by faith: then I must worship Him. Hence there arises worship in spirit and in truth, and there is a needful preparedness of heart for this, which is expressed in this way. [W.J.H.]

(To be continued).

Lectures on 2 Chronicles 1, 2:1-3

We have seen that the First Book of Chronicles has for its great object the setting aside of the fleshly choice of man in the kingdom for the man of God's choice—David. Nevertheless there was a purpose of God brought out by David's request to build the house of Jehovah. God meant it for another very near to David, but who, was not David —not for him who had served Him so faithfully in suffering, but for the son about to reign in glory. The Second Book of Chronicles accordingly shows us the son come to the throne and the temple accordingly built. But although there was this difference between David and his son—the combined types of our Lord Jesus Christ in His sufferings and His glory—nevertheless, we should greatly err if we supposed that David had not before God a better portion than his son. Faith is better than its own results and if we could have heaven —without the pathway of faith upon earth we should never be so blest as we hope to be. It is here that we know God as none in heaven ever can know Him. When we go to heaven we shall not lose this, but have it in its perfection. Thus God gives us the best place everywhere—the best place on earth, the best place in heaven, and this not because we deserve anything, but because Christ does.

But it is Christ suffering first, and this has the priority. First must He suffer, and then must He be raised from the dead. His glory is the consequence of His sufferings. I do not speak, of course, of His personal external glory. That is another thing. I speak of the glory that He takes as man, for this is what brings us in, although it could not have been, had He not been God. But still, what belongs to God in itself is incapable of being a matter of gift to man. It is impossible for anyone to become God. Jesus was God. He was God as the Word before He was the man Christ Jesus—God from eternity to eternity. But here we are speaking of the type of the Lord as man and as king—in this, too, son—the son of the true beloved. But then it was David (which means “beloved"), not Solomon. Solomon was the man of peace that flowed from the special object of Jehovah's love. Hence, therefore, as David enjoyed the love of God and His complacency in a way that Solomon did not—yea, in a deeper and fuller way, in his sorrows and sufferings upon the earth in the path of faith, so also did David own God and cleave to God in a deeper way than Solomon ever did. This was remarkably shown by what we see in the earlier verses of this Second Book of Chronicles.

The ark characterizes David; the brazen altar Solomon. The difference is manifest. The ark was what no human eye saw, but it was nearest to God. The brazen altar was a great sight. It was there that the thousand bullocks were sacrificed. It was there that the people could witness a great and holy sight. But still, the one was before the people; the other was before God. This makes a mighty difference; and you will find just the same difference now between two Christians, one of whom is spiritual and the other unspiritual. It is not that they do not both love the Lord Jesus, for he is no Christian who loves Him not. “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.” But although there be no difference, at bottom, in the fact of love, still there is a very great difference in the measure of it, and the grand difference shows itself in this—that the unspiritual man loves the Lord because of what He is to him; the spiritual man appreciates what He is to God. This is no loss to himself, but very great gain; because what we are before God, is very much more than what we are before men.

Hence, therefore, the ark was very dear to David—much dearer than his throne. Solomon, I have no doubt, greatly valued his throne, but he valued also the altar of God. I say not that he did not value the ark, but after all it is “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks,” and when we find men occupied with any one thing more than another we may be sure that that object has the heart, because we are always characterized by what we seek. And hence the importance of our words. So the Lord teaches in the 12Th of Matthew. Our words, if we are honest, are the expression of the mind. I do not speak of dishonest people; but when people are sincere—and it is to be hoped that Christians, at any rate, seek with all their heart thus to be—the mouth discloses the state of the heart, and therefore when we speak of ourselves it is evident what is before us. When we are filled with the Lord Jesus the mouth will not fail in its testimony; but it is the appreciation of Christ in His nearness to God, rather than in His immediate bearing upon ourselves that marks the difference between spirituality and the want of it.

“And so Solomon went up thither to the brazen altar before Jehovah which was at the tabernacle of the congregation” (1:6) — just as the ark was brought up to the place which David had prepared for it; “and he offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it.” There all the congregation met God. It was the place of approach to God—not the place where God revealed Himself, but the place where man approached as near as he could to God. Nevertheless, God owns this, for it was good, though it was not the best—not the more excellent way.

“In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee-And Solomon said unto God, Thou hast showed great mercy unto David my father.” Just as Moses and Joshua make up a compound type of Christ in the beginning of the history, so David and Solomon now when the kingdom is set up. He therefore lays all the stress upon David.

“And hast made me to reign in his stead. Now O Jehovah God, let thy promise unto David my father be established: for thou hast made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great?” This was excellent: he did value the people, and he valued the people not because they were his people, but because they were God's people. It makes all the difference now.

Suppose in our relationship to the church of God we regard any people as our people, we shall always be jealous about them—always be afraid of their listening to anybody but ourselves—always be anxious to mold and fashion their opinions according to our own, perhaps very narrow, minds. At any rate, no man—I care not how great—no man contains all the gifts, and this is not the order of God for His church. The principle of God is directly the contrary. All things are ours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, and therefore anything that hinders the action of all the gifts that God gives for God's people is false in principle; and God's people ought to hold themselves not only free, but bound to seek profit from all that God gives for their good, because they are God's people. They do not belong to any man. It matters not how owned and honored of God he might be, still the more honored the more he would feel they are God's people.

And this is the very point that Peter so earnestly presses. It is rather badly given in our version. I will just draw attention to it for a moment. In the last chapter of his First Epistle, Peter says to the elders “Feed the flock of God.” That is the point that keeps us right. They are God's flock, and we must take care what we do with God's flock. We must take care that we have a right mind and a right object as to God's flock. “Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind; neither as being lords” —not “over God's heritage.” You observe the word “God's” is put in by the translators. It does not mean God's heritage at all. The flock is God's flock, but the point in the third verse is not at all that question, but what they were not to do. They were to feed the flock of God. That is the positive side. Bur here we have the negative side. “Neither as lording it over their own heritage” would be really the idea: that is, not treating it as a thing belonging to them: “neither as being lords over their own belongings,” —if I May paraphrase the verse— “but as being ensamples to the flock.” That is, they were not to treat them as their own. This gives the force of the exhortation to, the elders. They were to feed them as God's flock: they were not to lord over them as their own belongings—their own heritage.

Now, Solomon entered into this in his measure. He did not regard the people as his people, his to govern, his to serve God in, but God's people entrusted to him. This gives seriousness; and, further, it exercises conscience. So he asked for wisdom, for surely he needed it. Had it been his own people he might have had wisdom enough, but being God's people he required wisdom from God; and therefore this is what he asked: not wealth or length of years. So God, accepting this request of Solomon's heart, says, “Because this was in thine heart, and thou hast not asked riches, wealth, or honor, nor the life of thine enemies, neither yet hast asked long life; but hast asked wisdom and knowledge for thyself, that thou mayest judge my people, over whom I have made thee king” —

How wonderful the grace of God! “My people.” He was not ashamed of it. We shall see how poor and failing they were, but they were God's people. Then it was a question of an earthly people—now of a heavenly, and our responsibility is as much greater than Israel's as the heavens are above the earth. I mean that, as to our place now, we are put on a different rule—under a different regime altogether!— “wisdom and knowledge are granted unto thee; and I will give thee riches, and wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings have had that have been before thee, neither shall there any after thee have the like.”

And hence, therefore, we find that the apostle feels the need of a new kind of wisdom, and God grants it and gives it, not merely to him; but we all need it, each in his place and for our mission. And where is that wisdom, and what? “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” Hence, therefore, we have got a wholly different kind of wisdom. Solomon's wisdom was exercised froth the Cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grew on the wall. It was of the earth: it had to do with the human heart as well as all objects that were here below; and so we find, it most divinely exercised in the Book of Proverbs, which is a matchless collection of divine wisdom in earthly things. But it is another kind of wisdom that we find, now that Christ has been revealed and has taken His place in heaven, because the question is not what suits the earth, but what suits heaven—what suits the Lord Jesus glorified at the right hand of God. The church is the body of Christ at the tight hand of God.

“Then Solomon came from his journey to the high place that was at Gibeon to Jerusalem from before the tabernacle of the congregation,. and reigned over Israel. And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, which he placed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. And the king made silver and gold at Jerusalem as plenteous as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycamore, trees that are in the vale for Abundance.” There was the grandest witness of magnificence that ever was found in any city upon earth. Not even Augustus's finding Rome brick and making it marble, was to be compared with Solomon. And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn: the king's merchants received the linen yarn at a price. And they fetched up and brought forth out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred shekels of skiver, and an horse for an hundred and fifty: and so brought they out horses for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, by their means.”

That is, we find everything here related, but not so as to manifest his faults. We know very well that these horses, and, above all, the multiplying of his wives, became a great snare to Solomon, but the object of Chronicles is not to mention the king's responsibility and the ways in which he broke down, so much as to bear witness to his being the witness of God's purpose. In Kings, as I have already shown, we have the question of responsibility; in Chronicles, of divine counsel. That is the difference between the two Books. They are not a mere repetition of each other. There is a sensible difference in the way in which even the same events are recorded, but this was not the will of man, but really the power of God, and God's wisdom. And as David was hindered from the thought of his heart in building a temple, which was reserved for Solomon, so the Spirit of God soon lets us know that the grand point for which Solomon indeed reigns was the building of Jehovah's house. “And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of Jehovah, and an house for his kingdom. And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them. And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tire, saying, As thou didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein, even so deal with him” (2:1-3).

So it will be in the kingdom of the Lord Jesus by and bye. He, the head of Israel, will make use of the Gentiles; and the Gentiles, represented here by the king of Tire, will bring of all their means, their wealth, their glory, in allegiance to the King of kings and Lord of lords. But it would be a great mistake to confound the character of that day with the principle of this. I know there are many dear children of God who think that it is for the glory of God to have architecture of a grand and imposing description, and music of the finest character to please the ear, and all things accordingly, but this is really the Jewish method of honoring God, and not the Christian one. On the contrary, that which is proper to us is prayer and singing in the spirit and in the understanding; and whatever is not characterized by the Holy Ghost, and is not taken up directly by the Spirit to witness for the Lord Jesus Christ—whatever is not of faith now—is a total failure.

Hence, mere imagery to represent truth, although an admirable thing in Jewish days, is altogether out of season in the present. It is going back to the nursery after we have attained our majority. It is playing at children again in divine things, which was exactly what the children of Israel were. They were in their minority, and they had the picture-books that was suitable for the nursery. It was God's nursery then, but it is a great mistake to go back to the nursery now, and this is exactly the mistake of ritualism in every form and in every measure. It is the greatest blunder to suppose that, because a thing is in the Bible, therefore it is always of the same authority. If that were the case we ought to offer our he-goats and our bullocks much more, for there was, after all, a much more important witness to the sacrifice of Christ in these than in any other portion of the Jewish economy, as, indeed, they were before it. They were not merely the temporary institution of Israel: they were practiced by the faithful since ever sin came into the world. There would be very much more plausible ground, therefore, for an argument in favor of material sacrifices than for the mere splendor of the temple, or even the more modified show of the tabernacle. But the truth is, for us the true holy place is in the heavens, and it is, therefore, through the rent veil, rent by the blood of Christ, that we draw nigh, if we draw nigh to God at all; and any thought of an earthly holy place or sanctuary is a retrogression from Christianity to Judaism. I mention this because it is of all practical importance, and no Christian ought, therefore, to shrink from fairly looking at these things in the face. Is it not true? Is it not the very object of the Holy Ghost to bring even the Jews out of this—not to lead the Gentiles back into it? Ritualism is the reversal of the instruction of the Epistle to the Hebrews. It is apostasy in fact—apostasy from the truth of God that is revealed there; and therefore I hold that ritualism is not a mere harmless power, nor do I at all agree with those that say “Well, I can worship God as well in a cathedral as in a hut.” I answer that I cannot worship Him at all where show suited to the world is the object, and that wherever I can be in unison with the crucified and rejected Savior is the true place for a man of faith.

[W. K.]

Song of Solomon 1-2

This, then, I think, is what she now acknowledges. “Tell me, O thou” —now her heart turns after speaking to the daughters of Jerusalem, to the object of her affection— “Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth,” —for this is the great thing which comes out— “thou whom my soul loveth.” She does love the Messiah, and the Spirit of God puts this language into her lips, and she will take it up in that day. She will make it her own. These affections will indeed be wrought in her. How gracious of the Lord! It is not her doing. It is her believing. It is not her assumption; it is His grace which gives her these most comfortable words—if I may refer to Hosea (chap. n, 14), words which refer, I suppose, to somewhere about the same time. So she addresses herself to Him. “Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest” —she wants to find Him— “where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon; for why should I be as one that turneth aside by the flocks of thy companions.” Now we see that as she desired this relationship with Him and that He would Show His love to here so she desired to be have suitably to such a relationship. She had wandered long among the nations. She had gone after idols—gone a whoring after others, as the prophets so solemnly and sternly describe it, but so truly. Now her heart was for Him alone—Him whom her soul loved.

And the answer comes. “If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock.” That, was the right thing. The point was now to be found following the ways of the word of God, “and go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock” —those who had trodden the path before—who were the sheep of Jehovah. “And feed thy kiln; beside the shepherds' tents.” Hold fast the testimony of the word of God—what God had given in His own word—those whom God had raised up to guide His flock here below. That is, she is told, in short, to cleave to His word before she knows that His heart is turned towards her—before she proves His love to her. But the answer comes from Himself. She acts upon it, no doubt. This is supposed. She is subject to the word now; and this wonderfully encouraging word comes from the Bridegroom.

“I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariots. Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels—thy neck with chains of gold. We will make thee borders of gold with studs of silver.” This appears to me to be the first word from the Bridegroom; but it does not yet reach to all that He will tell her. Yet she understands, and at once there is the answer of her own heart. “While the king sitteth at his table” you see, she calls Him by the right name. She speaks of Him as the King. She is quite aware that that is the relationship. Is that the relationship of Christ to us? Do we Speak of the King now? I have heard of such a title being given to Him. I believe that the practice is not yet extinct even among Christians, to speak of the Lord Jesus as our King. We used to sing—and I suppose we did not see much harm in it then—

“Our prophet, priest, and king.”

The Scriptures do not thus speak of Him to us. Scripture never calls him our King—not even the scripture in the Revelation which might appear to do so. There “King of saints” ought to be “King of the nations.” There is no doubt of this, whatever. But here she does not speak of Him as king of the nations, but “the king.” In what relation does she look at Him? “The king of God's people—the king of Israel. It is this which is evidently before her. O While the king sitteth at his table” —He is not yet come— “my spikenard sendeth forth the smell thereof.” She was quite aware that the Lord had been working in her own soul, and she does not in any way repudiate it. She can speak with a good conscience, and with her heart quite confident that there is what' was the fruit of divine grace in her.

Now she speaks of what He was to her. “A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.” It is purely a question of her affection. It is not at all anything which one would feel to be unsuitable if it were a mere question of the actual, established relationship. The relationship is not yet established. It is not yet come. But there is the expression of her perfect delight in such a one that loves her. “My beloved is unto me as a cluster of camphire” —or of cyprus berries, more probably— “in the vineyards of Engedi.”

Observe now, how this expression of love to Him draws out an answer from the Lord! “Behold, thou art fair, my love.” It is not that He is come, for: He is not yet come: but there is the word which God provides that she shall know—that as truly as her heart takes up these words, and expresses its affection to the Messiah, so truly God gives her to know that such is His affection towards her. What does He say about her? What grace! It is not “I love thee,” but, “Behold, thou art fair, my love.” It is what the eye of love sees in her, though, perhaps, no other eye. in the world see it. I believe that at this time there will be what is. most godly wrought in the remnant. I believe that they are really suffering, too— suffering for their faith: but this is His language, and how blessed it is! What a different thing it would be from any other mouth than His! “Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair: thou hast doves' eyes” –the expression, of course, of the modesty of her that was to be His bride; and her answer is, “Behold, thou art fair, my beloved, yea, pleasant; also our bed is green. The beams of our house are cedar, and our rafters of fir.” That is, it is not some mere tent which might be taken down. She looks for a settled habitation when the king comes and owns her as His own. She looks for all to be in that established relationship which shall be for the glory of God here below. And so it will be.

And in the next chapter—on which I may say a few words before I close this evening—we have, “I am the rose” —or narcissus, most probably—not exactly the rose. It occurs only in two passages of Scripture; and, although it would be rather a shock to some feelings to hear it, I suppose that in both places—in the present instance and also where it is said, “The desert shall blossom as the rose,” —it seems to be rather the narcissus than the rose. However that may be, it is of no great consequence; but I think it is more appropriate, because it is what she says herself. Now, the rose being pre-eminently the flower of beauty and fragrance, I do not think that that is exactly the language which she would adopt. If He had called her so I could understand it; but the narcissus not being in any measure comparable to the rose, one can understand that she does not pretend to be more than she was: so she speaks of herself as a rose, or narcissus, of Sharon ‘a lily of the valley.' She takes a humble place. It is not in some conspicuous place as yet. She is going to be in the place of glory by and bye: but she was only, as far as that went, a lily of the valleys. I think that this confirms the thought that it is not the ‘rose of Sharon'—a very conspicuous object, but one of a more recluse or retired character.

Then comes His answer, “as the lily among thorns” —for he takes, up her word about the lily “the lily among thorns” —that is what He compares others to. And so she is surrounded by that which is utterly opposed and hateful to Him and that which is to be given to the burning when He comes. “As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.” That is the answer of the Bridegroom; and this is her word as she continues. As the ‘apple tree'—or citron tree, rather, the finest of all these trees, which the apple tree might not be, but— “As the citron tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons; comfort me with apples; for I am sick of love. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.” Yet this does not mean that He was come. It is simply the love which He had shown her—the grace which He had shown her—her sense of His love to her even now, though she desired all that should be according to His word.

And now comes in an important keynote for understanding Solomon's song. “I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.” This occurs several times in the song, and I think it is the perfect answer to those who suppose that the song is merely a number of little songs put together without any particular order. Not so. There is perfect order, and not only continuity but progress. It will be found that this charge is given three times. (There is one a little like it which we might consider a fourth, but not strictly so). It occurs in this second chapter; also in the third chapter; and again in the last chapter—the eighth chapter; so that it is clear from this, that there is a very designed order. And this also helps to confirm another thing which I referred to, and that is that the Lord is viewed here as not yet married to her. It is, I think, the Bridegroom and the bride elect. The term ‘bride' is, of course, used: but we must not suppose that the marriage had yet been consummated. Not so. She is waiting for the establishment of the relationship. She has the sense of it, the grace of the Lord in deigning to look upon her, and, of course, her heart desires it. “I charge you,” then, she says, “O ye daughters Of Jerusalem, by the roes and by the hinds of the field” —referring to them, I suppose, as being the most sensitive of all animals as to noise—the most easily disturbed. She draws attention to her desire, therefore, that nothing should disturb Him—that He should rest in that love which He designed for her. For it is a sweet and wondrous thought that the Lord means to rest in His love for Jerusalem. I am now referring to the last chapter in Zephaniah, and my object referring to it is to show the hidden links which connect this Song of Solomon with the rest of the word of God. I have referred to the Psalms: I now refer to this in the Prophets. The mind of the Holy Ghost is one. He is to rest in His lave; and, as to whom does He use that expression? To us? No, to Jerusalem. You will find this clearly enough in Zephaniah

What follows? “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he cometh” —but He is not yet come: He is coming. That is what she knows. “Behold! he cometh. There might be mountains and hills between; but what is that to Him? He cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like a roe or a young hart.” Therefore, difficulties are nothing. “Behold, he standeth behind our wall: he looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through the lattice.” It is her heart, I presume, which here thus anticipates His coming, so, much so as even to hear His voice. Not only dyos she say “The voice of my beloved,” but she gives His words. “My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love,” —for this is meant to fill her heart with confidence in His love— “Rise up, my love, my fair one and come away. For, lo, the winter is past” —the long winter of Israel— “the rain is over and gone: the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. The fig tree putteth forth her green figs” —you see the parable of the fig tree here which the Lord refers to in the 24th Matthew: so here— “and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” And so He calls upon her then to let Him hear her voice. Such was His thought of her and desire—that she might know His love to her. “Let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.” He desires also the removal of that which would hinder. He wished to see the fruits in His garden; because if He comes to His own, it is not only that He has got His own people, but His own scene—His own place; and He is looking to all being suitable to His coming by and bye. So He warns— “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines; for our vines have tender grapes.”

And now comes out another key-word of the Solomon's Song. “My beloved is mine.” This is her answer. “My beloved is mine.” That is the first thought. She applies it to her soul. It is not yet the marriage; but it is His voice, and He has comforted her—given her confidence in His love. “My beloved is mine,” she says, “and I am his,” She enters into it. It is the preparation of her heart for the bridal. “My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.” It is not yet, I repeat, that He has taken His place upon the throne. He feeds among the lilies. “Until the day break.” It is not yet the day shining; therefore, the day is not yet come. It is not “the Sun a Righteousness with healing in his wings"; that is yet to come. “Until the day break,” she says, “and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe, or a young hart, upon the mountains of Bether.”

But here I stop for the present, If the Lord will, I hope to resume, and take, at any rate, a general view of this wonderful little book of God.

[W. K.]

Christ the Living Bread

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). In these precious words did the Son of the living God announce one of the most important truths that ever fell from His blessed lips. Only just before, as the five barley loaves and the two small fishes had passed through His almighty hands, had He, in divine compassion, wrought that wondrous miracle whereby five thousand hungry men had not only been fed, but filled, only with “the meat that perisheth.”

In contrast with the manna that fell in the wilderness, and in answer to the inquiring crowd who asked for a sign that they might see: and believe, Jesus presents Himself, in the scripture quoted, as “the living bread which came down from heaven.” He had already declared Himself to be “the true bread,” “the bread of God.” The grace and truth expressed in the words that the “bread” He was about to give was “His flesh” or body, had reference not only to Israel, as the favored nation, but to the whole world, for which He would lay down His life.

Yet, alas! “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” The “carnal mind” is “enmity against God,” and is here seen amongst these unbelieving Jews, who strove among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat"? The world to-day, as then, loves to reason on divine things; and the Person of the Christ of God has, from the beginning, been the object of Satan's attack. Faith, on the contrary, accepts God's Holy One as the sinner's Savior, and rests on His death at Calvary, as the one, and only, way of blessing fox man. Neither angels' food, nor loaves and fishes, however suited to meet man's natural hunger, can satisfy or save the soul; it cannot give eternal life to the eater. But, says Jesus, in answer to their carnal reasonings, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread that cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.”

The absolute necessity for the shedding of Christ's blood in death, was an enigma to those striving Jews; but faith's appropriation of Christ's death for the remission of sins is the one divine foundation on which all blessing rests for the believer. And atonement, cleansing, peace with God, redemption, justification, sanctification, and other infinite blessings, as well as eternal life, are secured for the believer in this way only. Hence “the Son of man must be lifted up” on the cross; and the eating His flesh, and drinking His blood refers not to the ordinance of the Lord's supper (as some mistakenly think); but is faith's appropriation of all that is connected with the Savior's finished work, and atoning death. As man's fall involved him in sin, death, and judgment, so Christ's being “made sin,” dying for sins and to sin, involved God's righteous judgment of it, root and branch, in the person and work of His own dear Son. This new life, made good in Christ's resurrection, is not only “eternal,” but is a life to which neither sin, death, nor judgment can ever attach, for Christ Himself is that life.

All this is implied in the Lord's words, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.” Yet these glorious words proved “a hard saying” to the Jews, and to many even of the Lord's disciples, who “from that time went back, and walked no more with Him.” Alas! how easy it is to go back, and to cease to walk with Christ, when the path becomes a narrow one, and something or other comes in to hinder either our fellowship with Him, or our understanding of His ways! But Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples murmured at His words, said unto them, “Doth this offend you? What, and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where He was before"? This intimation, not only of His death, but of His resurrection, intensifies the truth that this new life in a risen Christ, possessed now by every believer, must be sustained, fed, and strengthened, by constant communion with Himself, where He now is, in brighter scenes above! It is only by daily feeding on this heavenly Christ that our souls can truly grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Himself.

All our links are now with heaven; and a glorified Christ is not only the answer to every accusation of sin and Satan, but the true measure of the believer's acceptance by God, and his rejection by the world. Where God finds His joy and rest, there too we find ours; and it is just in proportion as our souls feed on the many glories, and deep perfections, of that exalted, crowned and glorified Man, that the world loses its hold upon us; and our thoughts, minds, and ways become formed and fashioned by His holy will, and, so as taught of the Spirit, we enter into God's thoughts about His well-beloved Son. This is true rest to the believer's heart amidst the growing corruptions around; but the secret of this rest lies in constant feeding on the “living bread;” and thus only is the “Christ-life,” in any little measure, reproduced in us. The fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic of Egypt may appeal to the flesh, but they cannot satisfy the needs of the new man; and, when God's ancient people longed for them, they soon lost taste for, yea they loathed, the heavenly manna; and in answer to their question, “Who shall give us flesh to eat?” God gave them their request, but sent leanness into their souls.

What a striking contrast to their desert murmurings is presented at Gilgal, where the circumcised host of Jehovah's redeemed ones, with the reproach of Egypt “rolled away,” are feeding on their God-provided food; for so the holy record runs, “And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho.” With the walls of that doomed city before them, yet in perfect rest and peace, “they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn, in the self-same day. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.”

If now, in spirit, we have reached our Canaan, how will our hearts delight themselves in that heavenly Christ, of Whom all these precious types and shadows so sweetly speak! Yes, He is still the “living bread” to our ransomed souls, the secret spring of all our joy. May it, then, be our constant delight to feed upon Himself, “the living bread;” and in a deeper, fuller, and closer communion, learn the meaning of His own precious words, “As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live on account of the Father, so he that eateth Me, even he shall live on account of Me!”

“Blest are we beyond all measure,

Richly blest in God's dear Son,

'Tis His home now lies before us,

When life's journey here is done;

Feeding on God's Hidden Manna,"

For the faithful kept in store,

Whoso eats shall never hunger,

Satisfied for evermore.”

S.T.

Word of God - How Do You Read It?

“All scripture is given by inspiration, of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” In vain would men pretend to the knowledge of God apart from the Scriptures. They have tried long and hard to attain to it by their own means, science, philosophy, etc., but only to end with this confession of their ignorance, “To the unknown God.” Such was the boasted wisdom of the Greeks—nothing indeed to be proud of. God can only be known by the revelation of Himself, and a revelation of Himself He has given nowhere but in the Scriptures. He has given, in creation, visible proofs of His eternal power and divinity; but these proofs, if sufficient to condemn the fool who hath said in his heart, “There is no God,” do not reveal Him in His nature and character. The Scriptures only, because God-breathed, can do that. Therein alone is God manifested in His holiness, righteousness and love. “God is light” and “God is love” is what we learn and see both in His written Word and in the incarnate Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, “the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person,” or, as it may be translated, “the resplendence of His glory and the imprint of His substance.”

“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” The Son's personal testimony is added to the Scriptures of the Old Testament and in those of the New to make God known. If man chooses to dishonor the Son by questioning His veracity, or to dishonor God by questioning the truth of His written word, he may do so at his own cost. One thing is certain, viz., that by cleaving to his own conception of God, and of His Christ and of His word, he will never get out of darkness—inner darkness now, outer darkness later, if he persists in his present unbelief. “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.”

Faith does not question what is God-breathed. It receives it in an honest heart, without reservation or suspicion. It sets to its seal that God is true. This is doing no more than what men usually do as regards the word of their fellows. Is God less worthy of confidence than they? Is it not in the interest of man that He has spoken? “For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then He openeth the ears of men and sealeth their instruction, that He may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain: so that his, life abhorreth bread and his soul dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out, Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man his uprightness: then He is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child's: he shall return to the days of his youth: he shall pray unto God, and He will be favorable unto him: and he shall see His face with joy: for He will render unto man his righteousness. He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profiteth me not; He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.” Truly the God who brings man, through trials, to feel his own sin and ruin; in order that He may tell him that He has found a ransom, and that on his honest confession He is ready to deliver his soul from going into the pit and even establish him in His favor, such a God deserves to be believed, especially when He shows us in the cross of His Son, what our redemption has cost Him. Now, by the very acceptance of His word a man is born again—born of water and of the Spirit—and the new life thus gotten has to be fed with the substance that produced it. From its very nature it can take no other food, and its development will be in proportion to the food it takes.

After nourishment, or jointly with it, will come education. Spiritual knowledge will or should go on a par with spiritual growth. “Doctrine” will come in here for profit. Doctrine consists in “rightly dividing the word of truth.” Failing this, a terrible mess may be made with Scripture. The amalgamation of law and grace—for instance, will lead to what is called Adventism—one of the modern counterfeits of Christianity. To “rightly divide the word of truth” requires spiritual discernment, and this is given to the believer by the Holy Ghost. “He will guide you into all truth,” as the Lord promised. Thus guided, and all preconception or tradition being swept aside, we discern between the several dispensations, between the earthly calling of Israel and the heavenly calling of the church.

The Old Testament is specifically for Israel, the New Testament specifically for the Christian. But it would, be a fatal mistake to fancy that for Christians there is nothing to profit by in the Old Testament. If diligent, they will find on every page of it food, stay, comfort, warnings, exhortations, etc., and, when the light of the New Testament is brought to bear upon it, truth of the highest importance, especially in the way of types. When the apostle says, “Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that through patience and comfort of the scriptures we might have hope,” he evidently refers to the scriptures of the Old Testament.

Food is as varied as possible in God's word, and this is an essential condition for a healthy state of soul. Indeed, the same principle applies to the body. No one could live long upon even the best meat prepared in one uniform way. There must be milk for the babes, and solid food for full grown men, even milk for men when, spiritually speaking, they are out of health, as were the Corinthians and the Hebrews. Nay more: of all the varieties of food contained in the scriptures there is not one sort of which the Christian can say, I do not require it. How delighted, when, in reading the Old Testament, he finds out that the mind of God is continually occupied with Christ, as the types show and the prophets declare! How greatly helped by the warnings resulting from the history of the ancient people! How comforted, when under trial, by the pious breathings of the Psalms! All the instructions, the warnings, the consolations, the promises, he is entitled to profit by.

And if we come to the New Testament, is there one single page that we could or would dispense with? There is great variety of food therein also. Take the Gospels: would you do with the first three of them, called The Synoptic, and set aside the Fourth? Or would you say that the Fourth is enough for you? If you leave out one of them, you suppress a part of Christ, as far as manifestation goes. If I love my Savior and Lord, I shall want, to find His Messiahship—Immanuel, God with us—as displayed in Matthew; His service as seen in Mark; His grace as unfolded in Luke; His deity united to His perfect humanity—the Word made flesh—as witnessed to in John. I shall want to be near Him and learn of Him throughout each of them. And thus near and thus taught, I shall exclaim, “He is altogether lovely.” Away with the slanderers who dare to find fault with either His words or deeds, or with the inspired testimony of those who companied with Him when He was down here and who could say, “That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.”

Again, take the Epistles. Are they not largely varied also, and all the more profitable by reason of their variety? Thus it is that they meet the various states of soul, and conditions of walk, of those to whom they are addressed, and they are addressed now to all Christians. We could not set aside a single one of them without serious damage to our own souls. We cannot do without Galatians any more than without Ephesians. Galatians will preserve us from falling into the legalism of the present day, and Ephesians will teach us the full measure of the heavenly calling. God's truth is constituted after the same pattern as the mystic body of Christ. There is not one single part of it of which we can say, “I have no need of thee.”

During their sojourn in the wilderness the children of Israel had only manna to feed upon. We Christians are far more privileged. We have manna in the Gospels—Christ the bread come down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die—and the old corn of the land—Christ risen and glorified—in the Epistles. And the soul is in a healthy state only as it feeds on both, or rather on Him come down to die and on Him gone up in the power of an endless life. We enjoy Him inexpressibly in His path of obedience unto death here below, and on the principle of faith we enjoy by anticipation the heavenly blessings He has opened up for us.

But besides this we need instruction and direction for our daily walk, and this we have in the Scriptures as well as doctrine. Jehovah, through Moses, said to the children of Israel, “And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up; and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.” It was not only that they might be read by such as happened to pass by, but that in the light of them these might see a life concordant therewith. It is what the world expects from the Christian, and rightly so. Where the eye is single, the body is full of light. Let it not be said, in truth, of any of those who profess to know Christ and to keep His word, “They say, and do not.”

We shall find ample “instruction in righteousness” in our Lord's sublime discourse on the Mount. Who will pretend that the Christian is above and beyond it? It is good for us to enjoy our heavenly portion, but even this may become a snare if it lead us to forget that we are called, as long as we are left down here, to be practically, and in all reality, righteous. All our ways should be in accordance with the word of God. We need, not only instructions and directions, but even commandments. It is in John's Gospel, where on the very first page we are brought into the relationship of sons, or rather of children, that the Lord speaks most of commandments. Granted that they are in keeping with the relationship; but the higher the relationship, the more strictly is obedience enjoined. Our blessed Lord Himself is the pattern of perfect obedience. Has He not said, “I have not spoken of (or, from) myself, but the Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak, and I know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak,” The very words that He was commanded by His Father to speak to His disciples became commandments from the Father to them. “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” saith He, and again, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Again, “If a man love me he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” Again, “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love.”

If one asks, 'Where am I to find them?' we reply, ‘Not on a list, but in whatever the Lord spoke and taught.' This will oblige us to follow closely in His steps, but it is precisely what God expects from His children. “Hereby do we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whosoever keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked. Beloved, no new commandment write I unto you, but an old commandment, which ye had from the beginning the old commandment is the word which ye heard. Again, a new commandment write I unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you: because the darkness is passing away, and the true light already shineth.”

Oh, for more relish for that word of God, for a fuller appreciation of its inestimable value Shall we not say with Jeremiah, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by Thy name, O Jehovah God of hosts"?

[P.C.]

Courtesy of BibleTruthPublishers.com. Most likely this text has not been proofread. Any suggestions for spelling or punctuation corrections would be warmly received. Please email them to: BTPmail@bibletruthpublishers.com.

Our Living Lord: Part 2

John tells us he fell at His feet “as one dead.” I do not know whether it was so, but perhaps he had been too self-confident. Perhaps he had been thinking, like Elijah, that everyone else had gone wrong, and he was the only one right. It was I, I, I, with him. He says, “Here am I in the Isle of Patmos, and what is the church going to do without me? It will go to rack and ruin because I, the last of the apostles, am not there to care for it.” And the Lord says, “You have forgotten Me; you have left Me out.” John felt what a blunder he had made, and felt himself to be no more than a helpless corpse, so far as life and power were concerned.

It is in the posture of dependence that we know what it is to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus. Christ, and it is then that the love of the Lord Jesus Christ is manifestly in us. John took his right place before the Lord. Had he wronged Him? Who has not done so in his heart? Who has not thought unholily and improperly of Him? How often we approach His person, and even discuss what He is, and what He became; and how little we know of these things and of the wondrous mystery of His death! Who shall understand them? Let us walk softly in the presence of His glory. The Spirit has spoken of Him in His word, and we must regard that word, but let us beware of inquisitive thoughts which would seek to penetrate beyond the revealed word. One day we shall be in the Father's house, and better able then to comprehend the glory of that One whom we now believe.

But we here see that the Lord laid His right hand upon that recumbent one before Him, and He spoke definite words to him. It was not now with a voice of a trumpet, nor as the sound of many waters, but it was the same voice that he had heard so long ago, the voice of Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.

But we may also recall again that night on the Sea of Galilee, when the disciples were so weary and worn, just before the morning broke, and the bright and morning star appeared. The first thing that the apostles heard was the voice of the Lord speaking to them, but fear took possession of their hearts, and the Master knew this. Fear often misleads us, as it misled them, so that they mistook the Lord for a phantom. But love casts out fear.

We ought to have the spirit of trust continually, but, if we have not, He still comes. He does not forsake us, but He comes, and, with His right hand upon us, dispels the gloom of our hearts. This loving action was characteristic of Him when He was down here. It was not a matter of the mere exercise of power with our Lord. He took hold of the weak and suffering ones. He lifted them up, putting Himself in touch, as it were, with them in their circumstances. And so it was with the shrinking fear-stricken apostle. The Lord came to him, laying His right hand upon him, and I think there must have been a power which then thrilled through John at the touch of his Master. I think the helpless man felt at that moment transformed with power. The touch of the loving One was upon him, and the word in his ear was, “Fear not.”

I think it is not an exaggeration to suppose that we ourselves may be sometimes afraid of Him, particularly if we have done Him some slight wrong, if we have abused His grace to us, and if we have failed in our responsibilities to Him. There is then just a little feeling of fear, a distrust, an anxiety lest His heart may be turned away from us, and that when He opens His mouth that sharp sword will smite us. We feel we shall be judged and doomed. He does not, however, come to us in this way. He comes truly as the all-powerful One, but His words are, “Fear not.” “You need not tear Me. I am still the One who cares for you. I am still the One who stands by you. I am still the One that will never leave nor forsake you!”

Here is comfort for us, beloved friends. We may be fearing the world. We may be fearing the powers that are against us. This word, “fear not,” comes to us with soothing power again. If He is for us, who can be against us? And the Lord went on to amplify this to John, setting Himself before him in the power of His Person and of His resurrect on. “Fear not,” He said to the apostle, “I am the first and the last. I am He that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore. And I have the keys of death and of Hades.”

Now the Lord here speaks of Himself as “the First and the Last,” expressions which we shall find several times in Isaiah, and there the phrase is connected with the being of God Himself. He only is the First and the Last. Who else is there that could be the Beginning and the End? While this term applies to the Son, may we not look at it here in connection with the church of God?

With whom did the church begin? The church began with a risen and glorified Savior; so the apostle Peter explained the wonderful things that happened in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. He explained very clearly that God had made Jesus, whom the Jews had crucified, both Lord and Christ. He was invested on high with dignity and glory beyond all heavenly principalities and powers, and so mighty things were done. Men and women were convicted of their sins, and when they looked away in faith to Him they found peace for their consciences and hearts.

Moreover, the Holy Ghost possessed their souls, and they were thus united to Him on high. He is the first so far as the church is concerned, and He is the last. It is He that binds that church into one invisible and indivisible unity. He it is that makes the center and the circumference of the church of God.

In view of the security afforded by the Lord Himself, we need not be over-anxious to prevent the apparent downfall of the church of God. There is One in the midst of the church who will care for it. The power of Christ shall never be lost, never be lessened nor destroyed. The unity of the church especially shall be made plain, and its beauties shall shine through the endless ages of eternity to the praise of Him that loved the church and who loved us, and who gave Himself for it and for us. Its final perfection and glory do not depend upon us, but upon Him who is the “First and the Last.”

Of course, we have our responsibilities; but my subject is this, that the Lord has pledged Himself to present us before God without spot and blemish. He can and will do this, for He has said, “I am the First and the Last.”

Then He speaks of Himself as the living One. “I am He that liveth,” and again, “I am alive for evermore.”

Put this truth in an abstract way. We believe in the living Christ. Of course we believe that Christ died also. We know that He came forth from the tomb in the power of the Spirit of God, and by the glory of the Father, and rose up as the One who had vanquished death. We know that He arose. Death has no more dominion over Him who is alive for evermore.

Put it now practically. He is continually and constantly watching over us, and is interested in our welfare. He is with us always. The living Christ can never die. My eye may be set upon earthly things, but my Christ can never die. “I am He that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive for evermore.” Here we are to walk in the power of this truth day by day. The living Christ, where is He? He is here to keep us continually, and to carry us safely through. Do not let us doubt or distrust Him. He will not fail us. He lives; and when He speaks of living, this means activity. It does not imply that He has not died, but it means that He is living on our behalf, that He lives for us in glory, that He claims us for Himself, and that He carries us through, supplying everything that we require.

You will say that I am speaking of things that you know perfectly well, and I am aware of this. But we may know the power of them still more, if we can only in our hearts see and know and realize something of the value of the living Lord to us. You may say, “I have proved that for many a year,” and it may seem a long time as you look back. But think of the long-lived apostle John. The Lord appeared in Patmos to him. It was necessary that His right hand should be laid upon him, and that the familiar word should come again to that aged disciple of Christ, “Fear not,” and that he should receive the reminder, “I am He that liveth and was dead, and am alive again, and have the keys of death and of Hades.”

What was it that the Lord promised when He spoke of building His church? Was it not that the gates of Hades should never prevail against this church. Here was the strong assurance, “I have the keys of Hades.” The continuance of the church of God is therefore the proof of the power and love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us then remember that while the Lord is living for us there, He is also with us here. Did not the apostle Paul confess, that when he was in grave peril and had to stand before his enemies at Jerusalem, the Lord stood by him? He felt that glorious Person was by his side, and he felt strong in His strength, and confident in His word.

The Lord stood by Paul. Let us see that we do not miss the unseen presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. This marvelous revelation of His word is needed, that we may think of that One who has passed hp through the heavens and into whose hands all the power in heaven and earth has been committed, of that One before whom the celestial hosts do homage. Yet from that resplendent glory, where He orders the government of innumerable worlds, He comes to bear the sorrows of His saints. He singles out an individual from some sixteen hundred million inhabitants of the earth, and lays His right hand upon one lonely exile in Patmos! Beloved friend, you may know and feel something of this fine Christian experience. It is within the reach of each one of us. We may have in our apprehension day by day, and hour by hour, the immediate presence of the Lord and Master for whom we wait. It will be good for us if this is so. It will be good for us if the mists can be removed, as it were, and our dim eyes of faith be strengthened to see Who is with us continually. Let us therefore ponder this revelation of Himself that the Lord made. See how the Lord is endeavoring to impress upon those who are still in the world that He will not leave them alone. He is going to be with us just as really as when He was walking here, that is, in the world. When He went away He said, “You believe in God, believe also in Me.” And, beloved friends, I ask “Do we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as we believe in God"? He is the One who is ever present with us; and if we have Him whom need we fear?

W.J.H.

(Concluded from page 112)

Association With Christ: Part 1

A suggested rendering of this well-known verse runs somewhat as follows— “And if children then heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if so be that we co-suffer with Him that we may be also co-glorified.”

It is a suggestive rendering also, whatever the apparent uncouthness of the phraseology. For the addition of the short prefix co- to the three words, “heirs,” “suffer,” and “glorified” —quite legitimate apparently as an attempt at a literal translation of the original—does most forcibly bring out the truth that in all these things association with Christ is the ruling idea. This at all events is the prominent thought remaining, the impression left, as the verse closes, that in all the three things spoken of, heirship, suffering, and glorification, the spirit-led child of God stands not alone, but connected, associated with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

And again, how wide a range of Christian truth this thought suggests. Association with Christ! how important and far-reaching a truth! As a specific doctrine in the New Testament scripture its appearance is frequent; and still more often where not openly expressed does the general truth of the believer's association with Christ underlie and give the clue to what is taught. Instances of this latter this same Epistle to the Romans abundantly furnishes. But first of all it may be remarked how clear a part of the New Testament revelation this truth forms. How clearly we learn there that God's salvation stops not short of, but involves, this—the Christian's association, vital association with the Lord Jesus Christ risen and glorified. The grace of God, we must remember, is no mere matter of meeting the bare necessities of our individual case, desperate as it was.

“Trembling, we had hoped for mercy—Some low place within the door.”

But, once within, we learn that God has destined us to enter into the enjoyment, not of what we thought needful, but. of what He has thought fit to bestow. And is not this wherein the exceeding riches of His grace is shown? To be saved, to be blessed even because of Christ, were something wonderful.

But to be blessed with Christ, to enter into spiritual blessedness connected with, in partnership with, associated with, His well-beloved Son, Who on the cross for us so perfectly accomplished the work of atonement to God's glory, and has since been raised from the dead by the glory of the Father what can be said of this? Co-partakers with Christ in all that by His death He has won and achieved, that is what we are by grace. A place of blessing ours far exceeding all we could have asked or thought. But it was God's thought for us, as His word makes plain. The scripture makes it clear that this indeed is embraced in His eternal purpose regarding us. Regarding Christ, may we not say, for it is Christ whom His purposes and counsels have as their center. All is linked with Him. The wonderful truth indeed is that God, in His own wisdom, of His own holy will, and for the glory of His well-beloved Son, predestinated us, not merely to be blessed through Him; but to share with Him all the grace, and blessedness and glory of the place and position His death has won!

(To be continued)

Lectures on 2 Chronicles 2:4-18; Chapter 3

Now, Solomon represents a wholly different state of things, and persons may ask, ‘Then is there no type here?' To be sure there is, but it is not the type of Christianity. It is the type of the millennial kingdom; it is the type of what God is going to do. And if persons were to say to me, Do you mean to say that there will never be anything grand for this world? is all the world to be only for the devil—only for unbelief and flesh? I say, No, I maintain what God means; and there I differ entirely from my good friends the dissenters in this particular—that they do not look for this future dealing of God for the earth. They regard the present as being the closing term of God with the world. Now I believe the contrary. I believe that the present time is God's calling a people for heaven—calling a people on heavenly principles for Christ, founded on the, cross, who are waiting for the glory. These are the two terms of Christian existence. Our starting point is the cross, and our terminus is the glory of the Lord Jesus. We are bound by, and we are now between, those two points. We are strangers and pilgrims. The cross has separated us from the world, and we are waiting for the Lord to bring us into His own heavenly abode—the mansions in the Father's house.

But when the Lord comes and takes the church, has He done with everything? Is that all? Does not God mean to bless the world? Does not He mean to bless Israel? Does not He mean to bless the nations I am sure of it. It is not to me a question at all. Persons may say, 'Well, we must not be too bold: we must not be too confident of what we do not know.' But I think we ought to be confident of what we know, and I do not expect persons to be confident of what they do not know. On the contrary, I advise them not to be. Yet I suppose that every. Christian is confident about something. Is not he confident of his own sins, to begin with? Is not he confident of the Savior? Very well, then he cannot speak too boldly of both, for I do not sympathize with those that are very sure of salvation and do not feel their sinfulness. I think it is a dangerous kind of confidence. If I am true before God in the feeling of my sins I am privileged to be equally sure of the blessedness of my salvation, because He is, a Savior for the lost, and I cannot exaggerate either. But if you admit that principle as to so all-important a thing as the sins that expose you to hell, and the salvation that will bring you to heaven—if we are confident about that, we might be well confident about anything. There is nothing so hard as that—nothing. There is nothing that required such an immense conquering of difficulties as the delivering us from hell and the bringing us to heaven, and Jesus has undertaken both, and will as surely as He has accomplished the one, so the other.

But there must be an immense gap in the thoughts of any Christian—I care not who he is, or what—if he thinks that the Lord is merely going to bring people out of the world to heaven. Has He made the world for nothing? Was the world made merely to be the football of Satan? Is it merely the sport of the enemy of God? No, he means to wrest this world from the enemy's grasp, and he means to make this world a happy world; for the poor political quacks of the world have proved their total futility, and their inability to remedy the present state of disorder. He is the true physician in every sense, and the great wonder-worker, and He will heal the world of all its plagues and evils that are now showing themselves, as we know, to be incurable distempers, but not so to Him. The mischief is not that man cannot heal them, but that man pretends to heal them, for I quite admit that it is no disrespect to any man to say that he cannot heal this poor sin-stricken world. No doubt about it, but the pretension to do it is bad, and that is just where man shows his folly—pretending to do what only God can, and what God does through the suffering of His own Messiah.

Here is the joy to me—that this glorious state of the world by and by is not to be apart from the cross any more than Solomon is from David. Solomon reigns in David's stead, and the reign of Solomon is the necessary complement of the sufferings of David. The two are bound up together in the most remarkable manner, and give us this complete type which I have been endeavoring to show. But then it is the type not of a people taken up to heaven after suffering upon earth, but the type of the power and glory of God that will shine from the heavens upon the earth. And therefore you see the true answer to people who reason. And it has always been a great question among theologians whether the future state of blessedness is to be on the earth which is to be metamorphosed or sublimated into a heavenly state, or whether the people of God in their risen condition are to be in heaven.

Now, I say both are true: not exactly that the earth will ever become heaven, but that all the saints that have suffered from the beginning of the world till the Lord returns, from Abel downwards, will be a heavenly people; and therefore it is quite a mistake to suppose that because now the church is heavenly in its calling therefore the saints that are departed will not be heavenly too. It was true the heavenly calling was not revealed to them, and they were not blest, as we are, with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. But they are the saints of the high places; they are the saints of the heavenlies too. They shall judge the world, they shall judge angels, just as truly as we. They will be caught up to meet the Lord, and we shall be with them, and they with us, in the presence of God. I do not mean to say that there will be no distinctions. That, again, is another mistake; but I maintain that this is the truth of scripture most plainly.

But then God means to convert Israel, and this is the reason for which Israel is now kept—kept in spite of their unbelief, kept in spite of their hostility. They are the great fomenters of all infidelity. There is hardly a wicked thought of modern infidels, no matter who they may be, but what is but the evolution of the old infidelity of Spinoza and other infamous Jews of past days. The Jews have always been the keenest and the subtlest weavers of the web of infidelity. Well now, spite of all that, God watches over them. They are in the house—the city of refuge. They are not permitted to be destroyed, although they deserve it. The avenger of blood must have destroyed them otherwise. They are kept there till “the death of the high priest which is anointed with... oil.” When the Lord leaves His present place of priest in heaven—when He terminates that character of priesthood which He now occupies—then the blood-stained one will return to the land of his possession. That is the future that is for Israel by and by. There will be no doubt a sifting out of the guilty. There will be not only the man-slayer that is innocent of murder by the grace of God, but there will be the murderer that will be put to death, because there will be a judgment. He will stand before the congregation for judgment. The Lord will destroy some of those murderers—kill them before His face, as it is said in the Gospel. They are to be slain before Him. But others grace will count, because they are converted and because they confess their sin. Grace will justify them. This is the double type of the one guilty, and the other not, who might be in the city of refuge.

I refer to this, here, because it is so intimately connected with the subject of this book—the type of the kingdom, the grand kingdom that the Son of David will bring in in that day for the earth. And there is the grand mistake of Popery, for instance, in using all these scriptures for the church now. These scriptures suppose power—suppose the exercise of earthly righteousness, as I shall show presently. That is not the character of the church. The character of the church is to be persecuted, not to exercise power. The character of the church is to have heavenly and not earthly glory; so that Popery has been guilty of the greatest possible departure from it. But not Popery only. It is a natural snare to the heart, because natural people like to be comfortable in this world: people like to be something. No wonder. It is exactly what the heart would covet; and this is what requires a great deal of faith to judge and to refuse.

Well then, Solomon is seen here not only at the head of Israel, but also controlling the Gentiles and making use of them as the servants of these great purposes; and so he demands timber in abundance. “Even to prepare me timber in abundance: for the house which I am about to build [shall be] wonderful great. And, behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.”

Then in the 3rd chapter. “Solomon began to build the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where [Jehovah] appeared unto David his father in the place that David had prepared in the threshing-floor of Oman the Jebusite” (ver. 1).

There again you observe the link. The glory is built upon the suffering. It was there that the sacrifice was offered: it was there that the destroying angel's hand was stayed. It was on mount Moriah. It was there, too, on the threshing-floor of the Gentile, because there must be that link. You see, it was by the hands of lawless men that the Jews crucified their own Messiah. And accordingly it was in the threshing-floor of Oman the Jebusite, the enemy that had been in possession of Jerusalem. We find the wonderful wisdom of God which marks this type. So the house, then, is prepared with all magnificence; but into all its details I do not pretend to go.

It is always a great thing, in looking at scripture, never to go beyond what you know. That gives you firmness, because a person who pretends to know more than he does, must, after all, if he is an honest man, admit it to some extent. He can hardly pretend to honesty if he disguises it. But it is a great thing not to go beyond our measure because then we can speak distinctly, whereas, otherwise, at the very best we must be somewhat ambiguous, or—what is a very great fault in dealing with the word of God—rash. Oh, it is a serious thing to impute to God what God does not say, and to run the risk of making the God of truth to appear a liar. And so it must be where men guess instead of waiting to learn; but then we must always wait to learn, and I believe that where we have the faith to wait, God will give us to learn.

I abstain, therefore, purposely in this case from saying some things that I have a judgment about, but that are not necessary. There is only one point of deep interest that I will speak of, and that is the distinction between the cherubim here and the cherubim of the ark in the tabernacle. When the ark was brought into the temple here, the wings of the cherubim looked out towards the house; that is instead of looking “inward” —which is a mistake in our version—they really looked outward. In the tabernacle, on the contrary, the cherubs looked upon the blood that was upon the mercy-seat. All their attention was occupied with that. The cherubim were the emblems of God's judicial authority. Now this is just exactly the difference. Righteousness now is so perfectly satisfied that it has no other task than to proclaim the greatness of the victory that Christ has won for us—no other work, as far as we are concerned, but to clothe us with the best robe. How precious for us! The righteousness of God is that which preserves, for no sword is in the hand there. In the Garden of Eden the cherubs had a flaming sword. It was to guard and keep off man. But in the tabernacle the cherubs are simply the witnesses of what grace has done. They have nothing to do. They are guarded, not guarding man from it; but maintaining guard, as it were, even over the perfectness of what grace has done for sinful man. But in the temple it is another thing. There the cherubs or witnesses of the judicial power of God look outward. It is now a question of righteous governing.

That is not the case now in the gospel. Righteousness does not govern. Grace reigns through righteousness. In the millennium, righteousness will reign through grace. That is a totally different state of things. I do not mean as to the work of Christ, because that is the same work no matter when or where. The work of Christ is always grace reigning through righteousness. But I am speaking now of the character of the millennial reign, and I say that the great distinctive feature then will be, not grace reigning, but righteousness. “A king shall reign in righteousness,” and “princes are to rule in judgment.” That is the point of it; and hence, therefore, as we see in this very case of Solomon, so he acted. It was on that principle that he slew Joab—on that principle that he also dealt with Shimei, who had been spared during the time of David, the man of grace, the witness of grace. But under Solomon it could not be. It was perfectly right that they should die. It was not a mistake: it was a right thing: it was according to the principle that was then established; just as when the Lord Jesus was here upon earth He said, “I am not come to destroy men's lives, but to save.” But when He comes in glory He will destroy, and it will be as right then to destroy, as now it is His glory to save.

Hence, then, we must distinguish. If we do not do so the word of God will be a muss of confusion to us or we shall make fearful confusion with it, which is exactly what people do. That is, they do not rightly divide the word of truth. Now, if we only understand the scriptures, everything will be in its place—everything in its due season and order. This is what I am endeavoring to help Christians to by the suggestions that I am making upon these books; that is, to help them to apply rightly the precious word of God, whether it be typical or anything else.

I say, then, that the cherubs look outwards: they look to the house, and that is the great point. It is the old house, because it was the sign of the judicial power of God that was going everywhere throughout the earth with its center in Jerusalem. But God's power was now dealing from that center outside, and although there was an inner circle of Israel, the circumference of blessing was the earth itself: I might say the universe, only we are here looking simply at the earth.

And further, let us note that there were two pillars, the sign of divine stability. This kingdom when it shall be in the hands of the Lord Jesus will not be a mere type, but a reality. It will never dissolve through the weakness of man. It shall not be left to others. Hence, therefore, as the witness of it, there were two pillars—Jachin and Boaz. These show as a figure, but only as a witness. “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”

[W.K.]

Song of Solomon 3:1-7

We now find ourselves in the great body of the Song of Solomon and the object of the Spirit of God, as I understand, in this portion is to show us the necessary exercises of heart through which the bride must pass in order to be spiritually fitted for the Lord Jesus—the King in His coming glory.

You will see at once that there is a very sensible difference from our position. The proper exercises of the Christian's heart begin when we are already in settled relationship with the Lord Jesus, It is not so with the Jew. In our case it is sovereign grace both of the deepest and of the highest character, because it is Christ on high in the presence of God—not merely the King, not merely on earth, however exalted, but in a new and heavenly glory, altogether above the expectations and hopes formed by Old Testament revelation. It is also of the deepest character, because it is no question of a people that had been previously chosen, and that had been the object of the dealings of God through ages, and blest because of God's love to their father Abraham.

Nothing of this appears in the dealing with the church of God. For there it is purely and solely grace acting in view of Christ in God's presence, and expressly also gathering persons entirely irrespective of any previous connection with God whatsoever. Now it is not so with the Jew. He is loved, as we are told, even now—loved for the fathers' sake. They are enemies, as we know, because of the gospel, but loved for the fathers' sake. Now there we see the ground. Although they will be obliged to own that they have lost everything, and that blessing must be on the score of mercy alone, yet there was that ground. We can plead, nothing of the kind. We really have nothing save what grace confers upon us, and confers all, fresh, and pure, and simple, from Christ, and for Christ. There may be exercises of heart in a person who is not yet brought into the proper Christian standing, and there may be a putting one's self under law. There may be a pointing out of our utter weakness. There may be discoveries of this kind, but they are not what I may call the normal exercises of a Christian's heart. They are very wholesome exercises of a heart that is not yet at rest; but a Christian, in the proper sense of the term, means one who is not merely born of God, and who is just clinging to God's mercy and goodness, but a Christian is a person who is at rest. A Christian is a person who is in peace with God. There may be Christians in a very abnormal state, but we have nothing to do with that in thinking of a Christian. We may have very much to do with it in looking at a particular soul—in getting that soul into a true and healthy condition; but if we talk about a Christian we must think about him according to the mind of God. If he is not according to that mind, one must seek to remove the hindrances; one should seek to foster what is of God, to strengthen his faith; and by the word to clear away and deal with whatever hinders, That is all quite right, but properly speaking no man is yet in a healthy Christian condition until he is settled—settled, without a question, in Christ, and knows that he is anew creature—knows that all the old is judged and gone before God, and the man is walking in peaceful communion on the ground of it. I say that no person is in the proper Christian condition until that is his state.

Now it is plain that this is a very different thing from the bride here. If we look at the church in the New Testament, she is always assumed to be in that state. There may be, of course, as we know in matter of fact, things which are quite contrary to what we may call the theory of the church, or of a Christian. That is not God's idea. But I am speaking now, I repeat, of things according to God. But God does not look upon the bride in Song of Solomon according to that idea. Here therefore we come to the exercises—the individual, blessed, exercises through which the bride who is here contemplated must pass in order to be spiritually suited to the King in His glory. And we see her here in darkness. “By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth.” That is a remarkable condition. It is just what we find in the 50th of Isaiah—walking in darkness and seeing no light. But confiding, trusting; nay more than that, with affections drawn out towards Christ.

In fact, the great point of this book is the forming the affections and the giving her who has such affections (though what are these to His?)—giving her who has real and true affections for the returning King, confidence in His affection as incomparably beyond her own. Thus she needs this: she needs it more particularly because she is obliged to look back and see and know that she was “black” —not merely comely, but—black. She is obliged to see what she had passed through, and why it was. It would not be wholesome, it would not be true without this. For there cannot be stable blessing according to God, whether to the Christian now, or to the Jew by and by, or to any other soul apart from truth. There never can be the real power of grace without the power of truth. There always must be truth in the inward parts: that is, there always must be the confessing of what we really are in God's sight, or what we have done in God's sight. It must be out between God and our own soul. She consequently has to feel this very soon indeed. Spite of all that she has been or is, she, to her wonder, learns His love. It may not have that fullness of heavenly character that we know to be our portion, but it is nevertheless most rich and wondrous and truly divine.

Well then, “By night on my bed.” There may be this darkness. He has not come. It is not a question of the Lord being yet there. And these figures are used to bring vividly before us what she is passing through. “I sought Him whom my soul loveth” —for now she is not at all afraid to avow it. “I sought, but I found Him not. I will rise now and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways.” Just as if that were the place to find Christ. Not so. He is not regarded as coming through the broad ways or being in the streets; He comes out of the wilderness. That is where she knows, and where she will know, the Lord as taking and identifying Himself with the condition out of which Israel must come; whereas that is not at all the place where we know the Lord.

We know the Lord in another way altogether: we know Him in heaven. That is our proper way of knowing Him, but she has these anticipative views of Him and at the same time is trained in a deepening acquaintance with His love before He comes. “I sought, and I found Him not.” And no wonder: she sought Him not rightly. It was not the true place. “The watchmen that go about the city found me” —the guardians of order, but what could they say? What could they do? “To whom I said, Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth"; for she does confess now. It is not only that she has got the affection, but she owns it even to them although it might seem hardly the place. But so she does. “It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found Him whom my soul loveth: I held Him, and would not let Him go until I had brought Him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.” That is, it is her soul laying hold of His coming into a renewed connection with Israel.

There is great force in all these figures. The mother is always Israel according to Scripture. Not so the church. The church is never regarded as the “mother.” Whom would she be the mother of? Not of herself—not of Christians. You could not have that. The church is not the mother of Christians, still less is the church the mother of the Lord. And there you see we at once find the importance of seeing relationship as God unfolds it in His word. The mother, as I have said, is always Israel. The bride, the wife, is the church. We do find a bride here, but we shall find that there is a difference. We must not confound the two. We must not suppose that the “mother” and the “bride” are the same; and it just shows the utter and dreadful blindness of system in the minds of men that the greater part of Christendom does regard the mother in the Song of Solomon and the bride to be the same identical person. Nay further, the grossness of darkness leads them to think that the Virgin Mary is both. They are so utterly dark, for I know nothing in paganism that is more degradingly dark than the superstition of Romanism. You would think it strange on the part of human beings who have got the Bible—who have got the New Testament—men, you must remember, of learning and ability, possibly some of them even converted to God, for I would not deny this. And yet I am telling you a plain and positive fact which it has been my experience to find out and know, when I say that these are the delusions which carry away and captivate souls at this present moment. Nay, into which souls out of a certain yearning and aspiration after something better, which they cannot find in ordinary Protestantism, are breaking away. What a mercy, beloved brethren, to have the truth and the word of His truth.

Now, if you look at the 12Th of Revelation, how beautiful it is, and comforting to our souls, to find that a book which at first sight might not seem to be the key to other parts of Scripture yet indeed is so. I suppose that most people think that you want a key to the Revelation, but the truth of it is, so wonderfully is the word of God woven together, and so surprising the mutual uses of all parts of the Scriptures, that, as we find Genesis a key to Revelation, so also we find very often that the Revelation is a key to Genesis. And this is very encouraging to see, because it is God that has trained His people not to have their favorites—always a dangerous thing. Whether it is in living people or in the word of God, it is a great thing to be able to use without abusing—a great thing to be open to the help of all that God uses for His own glory and for the blessing of His people.

Well, the 12Th of Revelation makes it perfectly plain, for there we have the woman, and the woman in remarkable glory. She has got the sun and the moon under her feet, a crown of twelve stars, etc. Now, what woman is that? I need not tell you what haste always says— “Oh, it is the church.” Not so; it is not, the church. For you see that the woman there brings forth the male of might; and that male of might—who is he? Surely there is no mistake. The male of might who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron—can anyone doubt who he is? It is Christ and none but Christ. Christ is the male of might. Consequently we see at once who the woman is, because it is Christ that always determines the truth of every person and everything.

Let me bring Him into contact with my own soul's state. Let me bring Him into contact with any soul anywhere. The moment you bring Christ in, you have the truth. I learn my own state, whether it is good or bad, by bringing the Lord in. And so also you learn who or what is before you by bringing Christ in. Well then, you bring Christ into that chapter, and you see Christ in the male of might and the woman is His mother? Who is that? Not the church. The church is not the mother of Christ. Israel, “of whom Christ came” is the mother, as the apostle Paul teaches in the 9th of Romans; so that you see what Paul puts so finely in the 9th of Romans is what John teaches symbolically in the 12Th of Revelation; whereas when you come to see the church then you have another thing—the bride, the Lamb's wife. Ah, that is the church. Again, you find another woman (I may just say by the way), but she is neither one nor other. She is the woman that pretends to be the church, but is the antichurch. Just as there will be a man that will be the antichrist, so there is a woman that is the antichurch. That is Babylon, Rome is the great center of Babylon.

Well then, the meaning clearly is that she connects in her spiritual embrace, if I may say so, she associates, the one that she loved, who was clearly the returning King, with the mother's house— “the chamber of her that conceived me.”

“I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please.” I have already shown the importance of this intimation: that comes in now and again in the book. It always introduces a fresh view of the matter and of the Lord as anticipated by the heart of Jerusalem; for here you must remember that Jerusalem is to be the chosen bride—and I mean, by that, Jerusalem that is to be. Not the Jerusalem that is on high—not the Jerusalem that now is, but the Jerusalem that is to be—the Jerusalem that is to be born of God, just as much as the Jerusalem on high is the great new creation in Christ. But this is the Jerusalem that is to be the chosen bride of the King when He comes again into this world.

“Who is this?” then is the word, “Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, will all powders of the merchant? Behold his bed which is Solomon's.” Nothing can be plainer. Solomon is not the figure of Christ in relation to the church. David may be. I do not mean that David always is, but David may be so preeminently, because he at any rate knew more of the sufferings of Christ and was identified with the rejection in a way that Solomon never was. Solomon never knew anything but glory: he was the man of peace. All, so to speak, was bright and glorious as far as Solomon was concerned and it is clear that this one that she looks for is not a suffering one.

[W.K.]

The Pursuit of the Christian Ideal

“Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if so be that I may apprehend that for which also I was apprehended by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself yet to have apprehended; but one thing [I do], forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, even this shall God reveal unto you: only, whereunto we have already attained, by that same [rule] let us walk” (Phil. 3:12-16 R.V.).

In this chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians, and particularly in the verses read, we are exhorted to the continuous and sustained pursuit of what we may term the Christian ideal. We are nowhere in the instructions of Scripture permitted to stand still in the career of faith, but, on the contrary, we are ever encouraged to strive to be making progress. Now in order to do so, it is essential that our efforts should be made in the right direction. Hence the scripture before us is one of great value in the development of legitimate aspirations within us.

The apostle in these communications regards his own position as one in common with the followers of Christ. He alludes to himself as a saint of God, and in that sense, on a level with those whom he is addressing. Truly Paul was an apostle, and indeed the chief of the apostles, but besides discharging the exalted duties of his apostleship, he had to learn experimentally the necessity and the practice of Christian discipline, and the application to himself of the truth he so fully taught to others. And the experience he gained in this manner, and to which he alludes in this chapter was such as must necessarily help us immensely.

There is no epistle so full as this one of Christian experience, that is, the experience of the human heart in its acquaintance and communion with God. For this is the true experience of the Christian. People sometimes speak as if it were the knowledge and insight gained from looking at our own hearts; but what we find there can never make us anything but wretched. The inevitable result of self-examination is the bitter cry, “wretched man that I am I who shall deliver me?” (Rom. 7:24). Contrastedly, true Christian experience fills us with joy, for it is our personal experience of Christ, of what He is for us, and what He does to sustain the human heart under the most trying circumstances of life.

Let us now look more closely at the case of Paul at this juncture of his history. The apostle's large heart, his wide mental capacity and his educational attainments had specially fitted him to become the prime minister of Jesus Christ. He had an extensive scope for his apostleship. He was a chosen ambassador to the whole world. He could use with the best of rights the motto which we have heard in recent times, “the world for Christ.” Indeed this honored preacher of the gospel had seen, in many parts of the world, crowds moved by his preaching to come out of the darkness of heathenism into the light of the gospel.

But now Paul was in prison. He was laid on one side to learn the salutary lesson that God could carry on His work without the help of even the chief of the apostles. Distinguished as he was, the work could go on just as well without him as with him.

In our long retrospect to-day we may think that this was an easy lesson for him to learn, and we come to this conclusion because we are not in his circumstances. If we were set aside as he was at a time when everything seemed especially to call for his personal presence and activity, we should probably modify this view. It is more than likely we should have chafed under the enforced restraint. Yet it was not so with the apostle, for there is none of his epistles so full of the joy of the Lord as this one, written by him when a “prisoner of the Lord.” Paul had been proving within himself how fully the Lord Jesus Christ could sustain and satisfy and quiet the heart when outward things seemed all wrong and contrary. It may be easy enough when things are right to keep going forward in a spirit of energy, but it is not so easy when there is apparent defeat all along the line.

Now from our chapter we find the indomitable spirit of the apostle in active exercise. We have abundant proof that he was pressing on, reaching forward, pursuing an object. Being confined as a prisoner he had much time for contemplative thought. He looks at himself, and he looks at his Master. How far be feels himself to come short of the glory of Him whom he loves! He realizes that he has not yet attained the end for which the Lord apprehended him. Though he will eventually be conformed to the image of God's Son, how far he feels himself now from that happy issue! And the consideration of this goal ahead fills him with fresh energy and renewed earnestness.

Sometimes we think that the accomplishment of our ideal conformity to Christ is entirely a work of God, and that we ourselves have no part in it. We remember that it is He who has saved us and given us all our blessings, and we are therefore inclined to rest satisfied and content with what we already possess from that source. But is there nothing to strive after, no reaching out after greater blessings still? We find at any rate that such was the apostle's attitude: and surely we need such an aim even more than he did.

What did Paul set before himself? He says, “Brethren, I count not myself yet to have apprehended: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on towards the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” He was undoubtedly a great apostle, but there was a greater attainment than the apostolate, and that was the “prize of the high calling of God.” There was something before his soul which he valued above his service; he desired that he, the chief of sinners, might arrive at the knowledge of Christ. “That I might know Him,” he cried, “and the power of His resurrection.” He could not rest satisfied short of this attainment. It was poor wretched stuff within him that he had to work with, but he was nevertheless pressing forward. His words are, “Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, if so be that I may apprehend that for which also I was apprehended by Christ Jesus.”

We may now ask, What are the special directions in which Christian endeavor should be in exercise? The third verse of this chapter may help us in this inquiry. We find there stated a threefold character of the followers of the Lord Jesus. They (1) worship God in the spirit, (2) rejoice in Christ Jesus, and (3) have no confidence in the flesh. Now the development of these qualities requires watchfulness and effort on our part.

(1) Taking the first, do we habitually worship God in the spirit? The Lord's words (John 4:24) instruct us that this kind of worship is imperative. It is true that the Holy Spirit is the power for worship, and the Revisers give us God's Spirit in Phil. 3:3. But I am now speaking of the spirit—the new nature within us with which, the Holy Spirit bears witness and upon which His energy is directed. True and acceptable worship towards God the Father springs only from the spirit. Let us recollect that this calls for our vigilance. I am to desire that my spirit may meet my Lord and my God. Indeed it should be the habitual experience of the Christian to have God continually before his spirit.

Take the worship-meeting: there the spirits of those assembled must be in action; audible words are not essential [1], though usual. We should all know that there may be true worship without any words at all. Times of silence are not necessarily wasted moments. We should not forget this, and chafe because there is no outward activity.

But it is not only on such occasions and in a collective capacity that we may worship God. Why should we not do so always? Worship-service embraces the whole Christian life. If in all things I have Him before me, then in all things I shall worship God, and in this respect I shall be well-pleasing to Him. Therefore let us strive that our spirits may be always before Him, and thus we shall be pressing forward. In a coming day of glory we shall worship perfectly and continuously; let us then begin the practice here and now.

(2) Then it is said that believers “rejoice in Christ Jesus.” This means that we rejoice or boast in Him now. We glory in Him, esteeming Him the “chiefest among ten thousand". Once He was here in humiliation: now He is above in supremest majesty; but there is a link between the soul and the Christ of glory and power. To rejoice in Christ Jesus now is an education for our vocation in eternity. Then we shall praise Him most fully. Why not begin this service now, and thus be in this sense pressing on towards the goal?

In the next place, the believer is to have “no confidence in the flesh.” Now it is important that we should inquire what the apostle means in these verses by the “flesh.” And we see at once that self, rather than our sins, is here in question. Self includes the natural advantages which a man may have or which he may acquire. They may not be necessarily wrong and sinful, but they are of this world, and are of no account in the realm of faith.

Such was the view of the apostle in verses 5 and 6, where he enumerates the circumstantial recommendations which were his as a religious man, and in some cases they were his by birth. He was “circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” None of these qualities were evil in themselves, except the persecution of the church, and that perhaps not so for him [? ] in his unconverted clays, for he did not then know it to be so. Yet so it was. [See Lev. 4; Acts 9:4 Tim. 1:13].

The qualities that Paul mentions are those which would be matters for boast among the Jews. But really they were very insignificant. How small they; seem as we consider his enumeration of them! What were they after all? And to what did his advantages lead him? They led to his being a man proud of his natural abilities. But now Paul learned from the Lord Jesus to have no confidence in the flesh. It was necessary that he should learn this lesson more thoroughly, to advance to see, if possible more clearly than ever, the foolishness and utter worthlessness of them all when viewed in the light of the glory of Christ. And the test applied by the apostle to himself is suitable to us all. We have only to look at the wondrous image of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ to learn how little, in real worth, are the things usually held in high esteem among men.

But there is another feature of this race: Paul was forgetting those things which are behind. And the forgotten things included not only his natural advantages but his conquests by faith also. Though, for instance, he had striven earnestly a year ago, he was still to strive; though his spirit had conquered a year ago, it was still to conquer. His habitual attitude was to be “forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before.”

Sometimes we hear persons speaking of leaving their first love, as if this were a form of declension which could not be avoided in Christian life. But why should we leave our first love? Surely it is a misapprehension to think that we should love the Lord more when we were first converted than we shall ten, twenty, or thirty years later. It is more in accordance with the law, of spiritual progress which Scripture enjoins that we should now be loving Him more, rather than less, than we did at first.

The Lord regarded it as a matter for rebuke in the church at Ephesus that there had been such declension. They had backslidden, for they had left their first love. They had in fact turned away from the Lord Himself who is the Alpha and the Omega of our love as of all besides. It is not wise for us to attempt to take out our love, as it were, and look at it to discover whether it has grown greater or less. The Lord alone can rightly determine such a matter. And He will test and estimate our love, and tell us the truth about it, as He did Simon Peter in that memorable interview of old (John 21.).

The things behind therefore are better forgotten, while we ought to form the habit of reaching out to the things which are before. Is this our constant attitude? If we consider the things beyond, we shall be thereby better fitted to endure the things around.

The apostle's eye was upon the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. What is this prize? Surely it is our likeness to the Lord Jesus Christ, and this likeness is the consummation of the Christian race. There is a reward for works certainly, concerning which we are instructed elsewhere, but here we have what is the common aim of all believers. We are not any of us apostles; we are not all teachers; and some of us are nothing at all. But eventually all the children of God will be like Him. And we all should be striving to attain this end. In this competition we all get prizes, if we do not take our eyes off the goal. “Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, even this shall God reveal unto you; only, whereunto we have already attained, by that same rule let us walk.”

W. J. H.

Step by Step on the Way of Faith

“Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Whatever that word may be, faith receives it and acts upon it. It does not reason, does not ask the how and the why; it judges that God deserves to be trusted, and that is enough for it. Such was, in a large and blessed way, the faith of the patriarch Abraham. God spoke to him, and he broke at once with idol worship, for there was nothing else around him in Ur. God said, 'Go away from this place,' and away he goes. Goes where, he knows not. He simply acts upon the word, “Unto a land that I will show thee.” Human wisdom would have said, 'Why not continue to dwell in my native land? I can build there an altar to the Lord; it will be a new thing, a striking testimony; people will be attracted by it, converted to the true and living God by means of it, and thus much good will result.' So speaks a worldly Christian, pretending that by mixing with the world he will help to convert it, and, if not all the world indeed, at least his immediate surroundings to God. It is as good as saying, 'I know better than God.' Abraham was not of that class of believers, He rightly esteemed that God knew better than he, and so off he starts, on God's word, for the unknown country.

Thereupon God makes to him wonderful promises, “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Here a tottering faith would have said, 'I don't understand; a family, however small, I have not, and how could all the families of the earth be blessed in me?' A strong faith answers by, “So Abram departed, as Jehovah had spoken unto him.” He had no other reason, but judged that “as Jehovah had spoken unto him,” this was the best and weightiest reason of all.

When he reaches the land of Canaan, the LORD appears unto him and makes a new promise, still more astonishing than the first, inasmuch as it lets out a great secret of the divine mind, “Unto thy seed will I give this land.” The first promise was personal; now a seed is spoken of. What would that seed be? Abram does not raise such a question. He feels so sure of God, that upon this word he instantly builds an altar unto Jehovah. He takes the attitude of a worshipper; that is, of one who has much to thank God for. How admirable such a faith is, growing, as it does, step by step—a great example, but at the same time a great rebuke to us who, with so much to thank God for, have so little of the worshipping spirit.

After the patriarch has separated from Lot, his brother's son and a very poor companion on the way of faith, the promise is renewed, “Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward; for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.” Such a promise, so persistently reiterated, Abram could only treasure up in his heart, without asking for an explanation. There was in him something of the spirit of our Lord's mother: “Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” God is greatly honored by such an attitude.

But the explanation will come. In chapter 15 Abram elicits it by his question, “Lord, GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?... Behold, to me Thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is my heir.” To this God replies, no longer as in a riddle, but explicitly, “This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir” —in which an addition is made to the previous promises. The Lord had said before, “All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever.” This concerns Israel. Then He said besides, “I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.” This applies to the nations at large. Now He says, “Look toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be.” Here we have a heavenly family and by this the promise is completed. As Abram receives it with full consent, it is written of him, “He believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” Thus does he become “father of them that believe” —father of all the families of faith, father of those of the earthly, calling, both Jews and Gentiles, and father of those called for heaven, “the father of us all,” as Paul writes in Rom. 4.

In Gen. 17 we draw near the time when the Lord will make good His pledges to Abram. As a sort of prelude He begins by changing his name Abram (high father) into Abraham (father of a multitude), and that of Semi (dame) into Sarah (princess). This change is significant, followed as it is by the divine declaration, “I will bless her, and give thee also a son of her, and she shall be a mother of nations: kings of peoples shall be of her.” In the next chapter the time of the child's birth is formally appointed, “I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.” In chap. 21 The son is born.

But in chap. 22 we come to a trial sore enough to shake the faith of any man. Yet the patriarch staggers not, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering on one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” What a cut was this to his loving heart—who can say? And the three days' journey, and Isaac's question, “Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?” All this was heart-rending to the father. Again, “On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.” Isaac knew not what was forthcoming. Yet at the supreme moment, when he saw that he was to be the victim, “he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” Abraham knew all, and nevertheless nothing could deter him. Was it through hardness or insensibility? Far be the thought. Does he love the less that only son? Rather the more. “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down My life.” Again we ask, What was it then that made him equal to the sacrifice? It was that, step by step and in proportion as God revealed His purpose and pledged His promises, he had got to know and understand God, and therefore to fully rely on Him. On his part, it was not blind, but intelligent, obedience. This we learn from Heb. 11:19, “Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.” He believed in Him who was the God of resurrection and, as such, able to give him back in, his hands the loved object he surrendered. He accounted that having received him by a miracle, by a miracle he could receive him back. And so it was, in a figure or parable. Admirable faith!

Resurrection separates Isaac from his mother (chap. 23.). He lives (in figure) in the power of an endless life; she dies. Her tent remains empty for a time, which is the present time as regards Israel. Isaac appears now a solitary man; but solitary he cannot be long. His father had a purpose concerning him. He will now send Eliezer, his faithful steward, to fetch a wife for his loved son (chap. 24.). Forthwith the servant-ruler starts on his errand, strictly following the instructions of his master as he had sworn to him. He has but this one business before him. No tarrying anywhere. A fervent prayer when he reaches the spot, a prayer at once answered. As soon as he has come to the house of Laban, even before accepting to take any food, he must tell out his mission and put the decisive test, “If you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left. He was not to come back alone. Consulted, Rebekah, the chief party concerned, answers without hesitation, “I will go.” The solemn transaction being thus settled, the journey back is straightway undertaken. The faithful servant feels that he has nothing more to do in that place. On his way to it, his one absorbing thought was to find a wife for his master's son; as he leaves it, his one absorbing thought is to present to Isaac the one he had betrothed to him by a golden earring and two bracelets. The meeting takes place at the well Lahai-roi—a significant name. Rebekah is at once received into favor and brought into Sarah's tent, and thus Isaac, no longer solitary, is comforted after his mother's death.

All this part of Abraham's life, from the call of God to the sending for a wife for his son is deeply instructive, so great are the lessons of faith he gives to each one of us. But if profoundly interesting from a simply historical point of view, it is still more so from a typical one. It is an allegory by which God's secret purpose is gradually unfolded. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” This was in view of man. Man was put at the head of the present World, lord over it all. He lost his dominion through sin, became the slave of Satan, who snatched it from him and boldly offered it to our Lord when he tempted Him in the wilderness, as though he had been the legitimate owner of it, on condition that the Lord would fall down and worship him, the liar, and the usurper. Did he expect our blessed Lora would be content to receive it on such terms? If so, he received a richly deserved rebuke. Let him in the face of the first man's powerlessness, detain for some time longer this world ruined all over by his subtlety and be prince as well as god of it—the day is coming when, as the apostle writes, “the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.”

For a long time did a riddle attach to the promises made to Abraham. They could only be realized in a son and he had no son. So with God: He had a Son, an only Son, and for ages kept Him hid in His bosom. “Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.... Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him; rejoicing in the habitable part of His earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.” This was the language of the Son when He was hid in the bosom of the Father. But the time came when Abraham was not only promised but given a son, who was to be his heir. So with God again. In due course, or “when the fullness of the time came, He sent forth His Son, born of a woman.” He sent Him forth, not to take possession of the earth, though it was His by right of creation, but to purchase it anew by redemption so as to be qualified to deliver it from the thralldom of sin and set it, thus delivered, “into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.” Hence the sacrifice of Isaac in figure and the sacrifice of the Cross in reality.

First of all the Son humbles Himself. He says in the language of the 8th Psalm, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that Thou visitest him? Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet.” What a contrast between the first and the last Adam! “Whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Self-exaltation dragged the first man into the mire; lowliness, obedience unto death and the death of the cross, led the Son of man to the throne. Seated there, all things have been put under His feet. Faith sees Him crowned with glory and honor, and waits patiently for the day when He will take His great power and reign.

But between His exaltation and His appearing in glory a long time was to elapse. During that time, His connection with Israel being broken, would He remain without any of the spoils of His victory on the cross? Not so. He wrought for God's glory in that mighty conflict, and, in return, God would forthwith give Him an object on which His thoughts and affections could be centered. Following Moriah came the sending of Eliezer after a wife for Isaac, and we may be sure that all the time that lasted the journey of the faithful servant, Isaac followed him in thought. What did he go to meditate about in the field at eventide? Was he not on the look out for the return of the messenger? Had he not, so to speak, counted the days that the absence was to last? And does he not come forth just at the right moment to meet the bride so ardently longed for?

This is precisely what is going on now. Ten days after Christ's ascension the Holy Ghost came down and commenced His journey in the interest of the Son and Heir. He has been at it ever since, patiently, yet without respite, gathering those who have heard and received His message, and who are to form the bride of the true Isaac. He does not work for Himself. a As the Father sent His Son to be glorified by Him, so did He send His Holy Spirit to glorify His Son. The title of Heir and Bridegroom does not belong to the Father, whatever His personal glories may be and are, but to Him who endured the suffering of death; and it is the Spirit's delight to own and proclaim the rights of the Son, as Eliezer found his delight in the rehearsal of the riches and dignities of Abraham's son. To God's Son He attracts souls, telling them of His redemption-work, of His infinite love, of what they will be enriched with in receiving Him—a blessed sample of which we have in Ephesians and Colossians. He draws them to the happy meeting-spot, acquainting them more and more fully with the loved and loving One who is about to descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God to call His redeemed to join. Him in the clouds and follow Him to the Father's house.

Sarah's tent, in type, for the earthly bride—Israel re-gathered; the Father's house for the heavenly bride—the church—and for the friends of the Bridegroom.

P.C.

Association With Christ: Part 2

How emphatically Ephesians puts this. In chap. 1 it is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ whose mighty power is seen working in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places. And then our association with Him thus, is brought out in chap. 2. “And you, who were dead in trespasses and sins...among whom also we...were by nature the children of wrath even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Such is the purpose of God.

-"the wondrous thought,

............

That we, the church, to glory brought

Should with the Son be blest.”

And such is our association with Him now, quickened, raised with Him, and in Him seated in heavenly places.

Colossians, too, in appropriate measure and expression, sets forth the same truth “You, being dead in your sins hath He quickened together with Him.” If Christ by “the operation of God” has been raised from the dead, then also “we are risen with Him.” And if, as to the things that are on the earth, Christ is “hid in God” now, one day to appear in glory, so, too, we have died, and our life is hid with Him in God, with Him in that day of His appearing also to be manifested in glory. “With Christ,” how frequent the expression! How varied also the occasions of its occurrence! So manifestly is it the case that the believer's association with Christ is, all through, a truth remembered and reiterated.

Nor does Romans omit it. It does not take us so far, nor set forth in the same full measure the truth of our association with Him; but clearly it is there. Rather is it that it is upon another plane that the truth here reaches us. From chap. 5:1, 2, of that interesting Epistle we are constantly in the presence of it. The new section which begins with the verse mentioned deals with matters which (as has often been remarked) the teaching of the earlier chapters of the Epistle is no answer to. Our state or condition is what is now being considered. The question of our sins, their forgiveness, and our justification, had already been gone into ere this point was reached. The truth of federal headship, and the result of our connection with, on the one hand, Adam, and, on the other, Christ—quite inapplicable to the first section of the Epistle—is apposite and forcible in its application to the question nr raised for solution. Briefly put, our connection or association with “the one man, Jesus Christ,” in contrast to the other federal head Adam, results in not only justification of life for us in the end of chap. 5; but also in deliverance for us in chap. 6 from sin as a master: and in chap. 7 from the law as a husband. Chap. 8 again, after summarizing in its opening verses the teaching of these three chapters, opens out the blessedness of the Christian position, free of all these things, and characterized now by the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. And this our positive Christian position, is bound up with our association with Christ no less truly than the negative relations to sin, and law, in chapters 6 and 7. For we are not only spoken of as “in Christ Jesus” (verse 1); but having the Spirit of Christ we are “His” (verse 9); and Christ is “in us” (verse 10). So that, with the fact that the general truth of our association with Christ is a very important one, we also perceive that it holds no inconsiderable place in the teaching of the Epistle.

In the verse more immediately under notice (8:17), this truth of association with Christ is given particular application— “If children then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs,” or ‘coheirs,' “with Christ; if so be that we suffer with,” or ‘co-suffer with,’ “Him, that we may be also glorified together,” or ‘co-glorified.' As to three things, may it not be said, the value of the link is brought out—our possession, “co-heirs"; our privilege, “co-sufferers"; and our prospect, “co-glorified ones.”

That an inheritance is ours, inalienable and secure we know, “an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.” That suffering of one kind or another, as our present portion in this world, is what we may look for—this we accept, or soon learn by experience. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” That, beyond all, glorification is in prospect for us according to the purpose of God— “whom He justified them He also glorified” —we are also assured of. And in all these things we have the super-added blessedness of being associated with Christ Himself, as this verse makes plain.

In the first place it may be noticed, all flows from relationship— “if children then heirs.” The birth-right and the birth-tie here go together. Children of God we are, here and now. The significance of that truth, relationship with God, and the importance of realizing the true nature of the spiritual birth-tie, it would seem impossible to overemphasize. This is a new relationship with God into which believers are admitted, upon another plane, and of entirely different nature from any previously enjoyed by man. The link is formed on our side through our being born again spiritually, born of God. In its full Christian content it is a relationship founded upon the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, entered upon in association with the Son of God in resurrection, its basis essentially the possession of eternal life in Him and God's sending forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying “Abba, Father.” As also herein Rom. 8, where we have the owning (verse 14), adoption (verse 23), and manifestation (verse 19), spoken of, of those blessed with the position of “sons of God,” the birth-tie itself comes immediately into evidence— “Ye have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our that we are children of God.” Heirship, then, we find here connected with our relation to God as His children. Galatians connects it with sonship (Gal. 4:7). They do not differ essentially, although to be distinguished materially, “children” and “sons.” He is a child of God, who, receiving Christ and believing on His name, is “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12, 13). Sons of God they all are who have “faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26). If the one speaks of the tie or bond of relationship which constitutionally pervades the family of God, the other sets forth the place and position, albeit responsibility also, characterizing those who under the Christian economy are so related. What our passage then shows is that not merely to sonship, with all the wealth of privilege and place implied in the term and to be made good when the “adoption” and “revelation” of the sons of God installs us in our position as such—that not merely to that does heirship attach; but that such is involved in the birth-tie itself, “if children then heirs.” Are we not therefore doubly secured in our heritage, by right and by title through the grace of God?

“Heirs of God!” What a portion is ours! No mere legacy from one whom death relieves or deprives of its possession—from one who, fading in a fading scene, passes on what he has done with, and which itself is only a little less perishable, at the best, than he himself is! We inherit from One who never passes away. And if to describe wherein it consists materially be beyond us, we still may know by the Spirit's enlightening what are “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” Nor is it merely as the “inheritance of the saints in light” that it may be characterized. We are joint-heirs, co-heirs with Christ. It is no legacy bequeathed, as has been said, but rather a partnership of blessing we are brought into.

We are to be joint-partakers with Christ as Eph. 1. shows us, in that which is to result from the fulfillment of the purpose of God. No sooner does that passage speak of the purpose to head up all things in Christ—the things in heaven and the things on earth—than it tells that this is even in Him in whom we have obtained an inheritance. That is to say, that in what we may call the re-formed, re-organized, administration of all things heavenly and earthly, which the dispensation of the fullness of times is to witness, the Lord Jesus Christ has unique and supreme place as Head, source, and security of blessing to all.

[U. T.]

(Continued from page 128)

(To be continued).

Lectures on 2 Chronicles 4-6

So in the next chapter (4) we find all the appurtenances-the altar and the sea of brass, and the pots and shovels and basins—for everything has its place. And, further, all the golden vessels were made by Solomon. Huram, a Gentile, might be entrusted with the outside vessels; but “Solomon made all the vessels that were for the house of God” (ver. 19). They were under his own superintendence directly as it became him.

“Thus,” it is said in chapter 5, “all the work that Solomon made for the house of Jehovah was finished: and Solomon brought in [all] the things that David his father had dedicated; and the silver, and the gold, and all the instruments, put he among the treasures of the house of God” (ver. 1).

And then comes the assembling of the elders of Israel and the bringing up of the ark, for that remains unchanged— “Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, to-day, and forever” —the grand central witness of the Lord Jesus. The ark of the tabernacle is the ark of the temple. The cherubs may differ but not the ark itself. “And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah unto his place, to the oracle of the house, into the most holy [place, even] under the wings of the cherubim: for the cherubim spread forth [their] wings over the place of the ark and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves thereof above. And they drew out the staves [of the ark], that the ends of the staves were seen from the ark before the oracle: but they were not seen without. And there it is unto this day. [There was] nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put [therein] at Horeb, when Jehovah made [a covenant] with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt” (vers. 7-20).

This is very striking. Aaron's rod was not there now; neither do we find the pot of manna, but only the tables of stone. Why this difference? Why do we find the former in the tabernacle, and not in the temple? The reason is the change from the present dealings of God in grace, and the future dealings of God in judgment. The authority of God must govern now as always. The man that shrinks from the authority of God's word is not born of God, for what are we born for but to obey? And if to obey, to obey whom but God? We may have our duty with our parents, with our sovereign, and the like—with all lawful authority; but whomsoever we obey, the great One that we have to obey is God Himself. And this gives us a limit, therefore, and shows us where we are not to obey. It is never right to disobey, save where we are to obey God rather than men—for there may be such a collision—and we must then take the consequence. The great point of the Christian is in everything to find the point of obedience. That is his place, and what is to govern. Hence, therefore, always, whether it is the heavenly people, or the earthly with the tables of stone, there must be the expression of God's authority over His people. They are found now, and they will be found in the kingdom, and the kingdom of God will be indeed a most grand expression of the authority of God over the earth; because the nation and kingdom that will not serve—that goes not up to Jerusalem then the people and city of His choice—will be visited by His judgments. God will maintain righteousness all over the world. There will be only one Sovereign then, and although there may be different kings they will be all the servants of God, or they will be destroyed at once if they are not.

But it is a different state of things now. We have now to do with the authority of God. We must always have that in whatever shape it comes; and we have now the authority of God expressed in God's word. But, further, there was the pot of manna, and there was the rod—the witness of the rejected Christ glorified, for that is the meaning of the hidden manna—Christ that came down in humiliation, that, is now gone up glorified on high. That is what we know. You will understand why it could not be then. At that time He would have left the heavenly glory and taken the earth, and, therefore, there would be no sense in it then. This, then, is of importance. As the One who came down is the manna from heaven and went back to heaven, so the pot of manna is in the ark in the most holy place, in the sanctuary of God. Secondly, while Christ is there on high, He is acting as the priest. And the rod of Aaron that budded was the witness of the unfailing priesthood of Christ which alone can bear fruit. The other rods were powerless and lifeless. The human priest is good for nothing; but this divine priest—this Son of God that became man, and entered upon His priesthood on high—is good for everything; and so, accordingly, the stick or rod that was dead bore fruit at once. All fruitfulness then is inseparable from the priesthood of Christ, and there is nothing which destroys fruit to God more than the substitution of an earthly dead priest for the true living one in the presence of God.

Well, you observe that is not the point now, because the Lord will then be taking His place as King: That will be a permanent one, and although I do not deny that He will be priest—for He is to sit as a priest upon His throne when He takes His place by and by—still He will be no longer a hidden one. It is no longer a rod hidden in the most holy place out of the sight of man. He will be then displayed. Every eye will see Him. We must leave room, therefore, for the different dispensations of God.

Then we find the glory of the house. The glory of Jehovah filled it, just as He filled it at the time when the priests were consecrated; for there is a remarkable analogy between these two events. When the high priest was consecrated and the priests, then the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle; and now, when the king consecrates the house, the Jehovah-glory comes down again. I am referring of course to the 9th of Leviticus, and comparing it with this. How has that been accomplished. Why, it is true now, and the glory of the Lord fills the church in connection with the priesthood of Christ as truly as it will fill the house of God by and by—the great center of Israel's worship under the King. In short, the glory of God is given in answer to priesthood as well as the kingdom or kingship.

What is the meaning of Pentecost? There we find God coming down to dwell in connection with priesthood, just as by and by, God will dwell in connection with the kingdom, The one is visible, it is true; the other is not so. There was a visible sign of Jehovah's presence in the Holy Ghost being given to us; but of nothing more. But during the kingdom there will be a visible glory on mount Zion and the world will know it. The most distant nations will hear of it. There will be a testimony everywhere of the glory of Jehovah in connection with the people that He blesses.

So in the 6th chapter we have Solomon's grand outpouring of his heart to the Lord, in which he spreads before Jehovah this new state of things that he so well understood. “The king turned his face and blessed the whole congregation of Israel” —for it is not the priest now: it is the king. A remarkable change. In the previous days it was the priest. We, too, have the priest in these days: we have Christ. He is never called our King. It is a great mistake to speak of the Lord as our King. He is the King; but He is the King of Israel; He is the King of the nations. He is never called the King of the church. King is not the relationship of the Lord to the church or to the saint. The one verse in the 15th of Revelation that seems to give it I have already explained. It means “king of nations,” not of “saints"; and a very important error it is to be expunged. There is no doubt of it. There is not a scholar who knows anything at all about these matters who would not agree with me. But anyone—I do not care who he is—whether he is Roman Catholic, or Tractarian, or anything else—would agree with me in this, and he would not require to be told it because every scholar knows it. The notion of “king of saints” is very unscriptural; and it is a very important mistake because the proper notion of the relation of a king to his people is one of distance and of graduated ranks in the kingdom. The word “king” implies graduated ranks, all having their place and their measure of nearness or of distance, and, consequently; there are all kinds of relative distance among themselves.

That is not the case in the church of God, because the least Christian is as much a member of Christ's body as the greatest. You see the fact of the membership of the body puts aside all these questions of relative or different distances. In the kingdom there will be these differences. And this is the reason why so many people misunderstand the church of God. Take Scotland. That is a very Bible-reading people, and yet there is not a people in Europe that goes more wrong about “the King of the church.” It was the great cry at the time that the Free Church came into existence: They thought that the matter which was in dispute at the time between them interfered with Christ's rights as King of the church. That was the grand thing, and as loyal men they naturally stood up for the King. That was the idea. I do not say this because I do not sympathize with their fidelity. It is not that. I have the greatest sympathy with their fidelity; but they do not understand the vitality of our relationship to Christ.

Our relationship is not that of a people to a king, but of members of a body to the Head of the body. Christ and the church make one body, and that makes all the difference to the Christian, because it shows that we are brought into a new place altogether, and that this place is one, not of relative, but of absolute nearness. That is the reason why Peter, where he is not speaking about the body at all, says that “Christ suffered, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.” That is what puts aside earthly priesthood, because if I have an earthly priest between me and God, I am not absolutely near, and if I am absolutely near I have no earthly priest. And so the assertion of an earthly priesthood is absolutely contradicted by the assertion of the plain simple truth of the gospel. It is not that the Lord Jesus Christ is not entitled to command us, because the head governs the body. There is not a member of my body but what is governed by my head, much more than people are governed by a king or queen, because, I am sorry to say, they do not obey very heartily, and they are rather refractory at the present day. But that is not the case with the members of the body: they must obey. And so it is with Christ and the church. The obedience is one of the most intimate kind. The Spirit of God is given to maintain that union between the Head and the body.

However, I do not mean to illustrate it more. It is enough at the present time to refer to it. It is a very important practical matter, for you will find that if you give up as your grand thought in your relationship that you are a member of Christ's body, and sink into the place of a people governed by the King, you will get into distance; you will get into earthly thoughts of it. You will, practically, become a Jew instead of a Christian, because that is the relationship of the Jew. But the relationship of a Christian is a totally different one; and the substitution of the Jewish relationship for the Christian one, unconsciously Judaizes the church instead of preserving us in our own proper relationship to God. And I suppose that all here are aware that the accomplishment of our duty always depends upon our relationship—always depends upon the sense and attention that we give to our relationship. For instance, a wife has a totally different relationship from a daughter or from a mother, and each person does his own duty only as he is true to his own relationship. There is the great moment of it, and I do most earnestly entreat every Christian to search and see in the word of God whether these things be not so.

Well, then, Solomon blesses the whole of the congregation of Israel, and all of them stood. “And he said, Blessed [be] Jehovah God of Israel, who hath with his hands fulfilled [that] which he spake with his mouth to my father David, saying, Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be a ruler over my people Israel: but I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might be there; and have chosen David to be over my people Israel” (6:4-6). He recounts how God had chosen from the beginning, and how as He chose Jerusalem, and not another city, to be the metropolis, so also He chose David's house and no other family, and of David's family He chose Solomon himself. Everything depends upon the election of God, there is nothing good that is not founded upon God's election—nothing. The whole blessedness and strength of the believer depends upon it; and that is what delivers a person from self. I do not mean by that, that one ought to put election before an unconverted soul. Far from it. That would be, indeed, to add to his misery if he feels his misery, But the moment a soul receives Christ then I can tell him that he is chosen of God, and an immense strength and encouragement it is to his heart that he knows that it is not his own will, else it would be weak, and it is not his own choice, else he might flatter himself that it was good, but that it was God's grace and God's election that accounts for his being brought who never deserved it.

Solomon, therefore, struck the right note when he touched this great point of election. And, on the other hand, he shows how God, having taken this house to dwell in could be always prayed to—always looked to in every trouble. No matter what might be the sin or the affliction—whether it was personal or national—God was there to be prayed to. And so we find Israel did. Even if they were out of the land they looked to it as a witness of this great truth. But just think of the folly of Christians taking up such things. Just think of the folly of a Christian turning to the east because a Jew did it, or doing anything else of the sort, just as if the God who is revealed to us is in the east more than any other spot of the earth. Never was there such insensate folly as that which has been prevalent in Christendom. No, we belong to heaven, and we look there if we look anywhere; but that alas! is just where people do not look. [W.K.]

(To be continued)

Song of Solomon 3:7-11; Song of Solomon 4-5

It is not here, then, the Lamb rejected on earth and glorified in another scene. That is what we who are Christians are looking for, and, consequently, now we are willing to follow Him—glad to follow Him in His path of rejection. But in the case before us it is another thing, and so we find a beautiful picture of what is to be, what belongs to Him. Threescore valiant men surround—of the valiant men of Israel. “They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night"; for you see it is not yet the day. You must remember that. She is expecting, and looking for the day. You find her here, but it is a vision of the night. She is on her bed, so when she does go forth it is from her bed, and so on. It is not yet the day. The day is expected, looked for, counted on; but not yet come.

“King Solomon” —for there again it is the king— “King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon. He made the pillars thereof of silver.” There was grace there. “The bottom thereof of gold” —divine righteousness—just as much indeed for Israel as for us. It is no question of man's righteousness at any time. “The covering of it of purple” —as suits a royal personage. “The midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.” I need not say that the groundwork of it all is love. “Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.” It is anticipative: He is not yet come; but that is what He is to be when He comes for her. Thus you see it is not at all the scene of one taken away into heaven: that is not the point at all. It is one coming—coming to the earth.

It is one that is crowned here; and again you observe the mother reappears, for her heart is different now. When He was here what had she for Him. No heart at all, none whatever, not even Jerusalem—not even that which ought to have been an answer to His love as His earthly bride. On the contrary, if there was any difference between Israel as, a whole and Jerusalem in particular, Jerusalem was the hottest of all against the King—against the Lord Jesus. But when this day comes His mother reappears. Always remember that it is not the bride: it is His, mother that comes out here. That is, it is not the bride only.

Now when we look at the New Testament, where we have the heavenly bride, we have the Father, but no mother. Why the Father there, and the mother here? Because for us, all is divine in its source. The Father—the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—He is the One that is our God and our Father. But the mother is connected more with nature. The Father of Christ, who is the source of everything, is the One that gives us our place and being and relationship; but not the mother. We find here Israel's connection as the mother, so that I think there need not be a doubt on the part of any person who is open to conviction. Of course I am entirely hopeless of convincing those that will not be convinced. But I think that those that are willing to face the word of God need have no question whatever left in their souls as to the true intended bearing of this beautiful book.

Let no one suppose that I mean from this that we are not entitled to take all the love of it, for indeed we are. If Christ has, or will have, such love for them, how much more for us—for ours is much more, what I may call, a settled love: I mean a love that flows out of an already established—and divinely established—relationship. In their case it is a relationship that is going to be established. I grant that there is a certain beauty in the affections that proceed, but they are not of the same kind. They are greatly associated with the hope, whereas in our case it is not merely that. Ours is the present conscious lore of the Lord Jesus, and not exercises through which we pass in order to know that that love rests upon us. We may need them. If there be anything that hinders there must be exercises to deal with it and get rid of it; but that is not the proper state of a Christian person.

In the next chapter (4) we see how the Lord works to draw out the love of His people. And here we have a beautiful address which faith will lay hold of in the day that is coming. They will know that it is the Messiah that says this of them, and it will be full of comfort. “Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks: thy heir is as a flock of goats that appear from mount Gilead.” And so he dwells upon her personal grace and beauty. Well, I am not going to enter, of course; into the details of this, but everything; is taken up that belonged to herself expressly. Not what she did: it was not her doings, because that is not the thing that sets the heart perfectly at rest. We cannot be always doings, and we may be very often too self-reproached because of the poverty of our doings, and if the love be to ourselves personally—if the love be told out, and told out not as a mere matter of feeling, not as a passing vision of anything of that kind; but if it be the unmovable, the immutable word of God, how blessed are the souls that are awakened to say, That is His language to me, that is what He feels about us. Well, this is what will be brought home to their heart in that day. You will notice the difference.

She speaks also. There is the interchange of affection on the part of the bride towards the Bridegroom. But I will point out one very marked and, I think, striking difference, and that is—that when He speaks He always speaks to her; when she speaks she speaks of Him, but not to Him. Now that is exactly what it should be. One can feel the propriety of this, and how perfectly suited it is in the relationship in which they stand, because what she wants is to know that such an one as He—that One so holy—that One so Perfect could love one who had been brought (in the very first chapter) to own that she had been the very reverse. Still grace had wrought, and she knew that grace had wrought, and she did not deny it. But still she wanted to know what He felt. And He speaks out; He lets her know.

The first half of the chapter then is occupied with the Bridegroom telling the bride how beautiful she was in His eyes. The latter part of it is something else, and that is it is fully knowing, fully appreciating the danger in which she found herself—the snares and the enemies that surrounded her. That is the meaning of the word “Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon” (ver. 8), and this is explained still more where he goes on to say, “Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens.”

There is nothing in scripture without a blessed meaning, and in perfect grace towards the reader of the Bible who counts upon God's opening His word. “From the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards.” These are images clearly of the greatest possible danger. They signify that she had been, so to speak, in the lions' den. And so she had. The images show that she was surrounded by these most cruel enemies that are so eager to seize upon their prey. “From the mountains of the leopards.” And so she had been in the mountains of the leopards! But, “Come with me.” He calls her away—gives her the certainty of deliverance; for who is He? Is not He entitled to do so? Can He fail? Impossible. It is not, therefore, merely a cry from her heart. That is not the character of it. It is not herself bemoaning her danger. It is not herself praying therefore to be delivered “from the lions' dens, and from the mountains of the leopards,” but it is He who feels for her—He who knows it all infinitely better than she. It is He who says, “Come with me from Lebanon.” There is no reproach.

How did she get there? Departed from Him! How was she found in the mountains of the leopards? Was He there? Not at all. Did she go there to find Him? It was her self-will. It was her evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. It was that which had done the mischief for Jerusalem; it was that which had scattered the Jew to every part of the world. There they had been, no doubt, and even then they will be suffering, although they will be back in Jerusalem, as I suppose, when this Song of Solomon applies. They will be again in the mere place—the scene, but not yet in the conscious favor and under the glorious protection of Jehovah. Far from that. The lions and the leopards will still have to do with them, although they may not be any longer scattered among the Gentiles, but the lion and the leopard will have their hand over them. They will have their paw, so to speak, over them still. For, as we know, it is exactly in that way—as the beast—that the Gentile powers are described in the prophets. And I refer to this as an evident link of connection between this book and, I might say, the Psalms also; but the Psalms relate more to individual dealings. There is one Psalm, the 45th, and there may be other allusions, which form a kind of transition-link between the Book of Psalms and this wonderful Song of Songs. In that Psalm we have the bride, and the very same bride that is spoken of here. I only throw out this hint, by the way, as possibly helping souls who may not have considered it adequately.

Well then, the Lord pursues this second address, this invitation to come away from all these evil and dangerous surroundings and again speaks of what she is to Him. A very sweet word is added here—that after He had spoken of her as in the den of the lions and the mountains of the leopards, He should still say, “Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon” (ver. 11.) It is just in keeping with the same spirit, only a little stronger than what we find in the prophets; that is, that whereas Jerusalem will have really been discarded as the unfaithful wife, the Lord will look upon her more as in the sorrows of a widow. That is, He will not reproach her with her being a repudiate because a guilty woman, but He will speak of her with tenderness and mercy as in the sorrows and weeds of widowhood.

Then in the next chapter (5.) we have a further experience through which she passes, particularly in the second verse. The first verse rather belongs to the chapter before.

“I sleep.” It is still the same thought: it is night. “I sleep, but my heart waketh; it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled.” It is not His actual coming. This is what passed through her soul. This is what she sees, as it were, in the vision of the night. It is not, as yet, His coming in the morning. It is not that. He will come in the morning without clouds, but I repeat, you must always bear in mind that the morning has not yet come. This is, therefore, what passes through her heart which is filled with longing desire for His coming in the bright day. So here she, as it were, hears His voice, and she shows that her heart is by no means fitted, as yet, for His return for this is the excuse— “I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” That is, though God's love was brought before her soul, instead of there being an answer at once by going forth to meet Him, she makes excuses why she cannot go, and why she cannot take the trouble to open the door, for that was all that was needed. So “My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door.” There is still an appeal to her, but there is that which is intended to produce self-judgment in her. She, as it were, says that He lingers, that He does not at once turn His back upon one that so ill-requited His love. “My beloved put in His hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him.”

There was real affection, although there was not any right answer to His. “I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spite: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave no answer.” It was the needed rebuke for Israel—for Jerusalem. It was making her feel that this occupation with herself or her circumstances, this lack of freshness of heart in going forth to meet Him was what she had to rebuke herself for; and so, now that she has come to her senses, to feel the wrong that she had done to His love, she goes, and she calls; and she searches for Him once more. “The watchmen that went about the city found me; they smote me.” Now, you see, it is worse. On the former occasion they could give her no direction to find Him whom her soul loved, but now they smote her, for what business had she to be out at that time of night? And so they smote her. “The keepers of the walls took away my vail from me.”

It was no doubt because of the, reality of her affection, and her desire to find the One that she loved, but still it was out of season: it was out of place and they, at any rate, dealt with that. Thus the very desire she had to find the Bridegroom brought her into a false position. So she says, “I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him that I am sick of love.” And here then we find fresh persons—not the watchman, but her companions; Jerusalem will not be alone. There will be others: there will be others awakening at that time to whom she can speak, so to say. And, accordingly, say they, “What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved that thou dost so charge us?” Now comes what I referred to—her confession of the beauty of the Bridegroom. You see it is not said to Him. Now you see all her heart goes out in speaking of the Bridegroom. She speaks well of the Lord. She is not ashamed to tell about Him. It is not now merely that she loved Him, but who He was, and what He was, whom she loved, are what come out in the rest of the chapter.

[W.K.]

Studies in Mark 6:45-52: The Pathway Over the Stormy Sea

6:45-52

“And straightway he constrained his disciples to enter into the boat and to go before [him] unto the other side to Bethsaida, while he himself sendeth the multitude away. And after he had taken leave of them, he departed into the mountain to pray. And when even was come, the boat was in the midst of the sea, and he alone on the land. And seeing them distressed in rowing, for the wind was contrary unto them, about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking on the sea; and he would have passed by them; but they, when they saw him walking on the sea, supposed that it was an apparition, and cried out: for they all saw him, and were troubled. But he straightway spake with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I; be not afraid. And he went up unto them into the boat; and the wind ceased: and they were sore amazed in themselves; for they understood not concerning the loaves, but their heart was hardened” (6:45-52, R.V.).

The service of love to the famishing multitudes having been rendered, the Lord did what the disciples suggested He should do earlier in the day (ver. 36). He sent the people away. But, first of all, He constrained His disciples to embark in the boat and to precede Him in crossing to the other side of the lake near to Bethsaida.

An unwillingness on the part of the disciples to obey seems implied in the terms of the narrative, such as “demanded a certain loving violence on His part to overcome.” And from John (6.) we learn what in all probability was the reason why the apostles needed to be “constrained,” or forced to put to sea. The miracle of the loaves had awakened great popular excitement in the desert place, and the multitude were desirous to take Him by force and proclaim Him the Prophet and King of the Jews. The disciples had not sufficiently imbibed the spirit of their Master to judge rightly of this momentary impulse, and they would probably have taken sides with the mob to place Him on the throne of David. Jesus therefore sent them away, while He Himself calmed the turbulence of the people and dismissed them to their homes before night came on. The Lord valued this ebullition of popular feeling aright. He would not receive honor from men, nor would He commit Himself to man, for He knew what was in man. A year later, a crowd, not then of Galilee but of Jerusalem, would, He knew, follow Him and cry “Hosanna, blessed is the kingdom of our father David that cometh,” while a few days later the same crowd would cry, “Crucify Him, crucify Him.”

Messiah's hour was not yet come. The Servant of Jehovah would not, therefore, consent to be hurried to the throne by popular clamor. God in due time would give His judgments to the King, and then the anointed of the Lord would judge the people in righteousness and the poor with judgment (Psa. 72). For the moment, the marvelous multiplication of the loaves and fishes seemed most attractive to the indigent peasantry of Galilee who were accustomed to earn their small morsel of bread by much sweat of the face. Jesus therefore seemed to them to be most desirable—a king after their own heart. But when they sought Him the next day that they might exalt Him, the Lord unveiled to them the secrets of their inner selves, saying, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the signs, but because ye ate of the loaves and were filled” (John 6:26).

Because Jesus had so liberally fed the multitude they were prepared to come in their zeal, and by force to make Him a king. “But the Lord would not take the kingdom from zeal like this. This could not be the source of the kingdom of the Son of man. The beasts (Dan. 7:2, 3) may take their kingdoms from the winds striving upon the great sea, but Jesus cannot (Dan. 7:13). This was not His mother crowning Him in the day of His espousals (Song of Sol. 3). This was not, in His ear, the shouting of the people bringing in the head-stone of the corner; nor the symptom of His people made willing in the day of His power. This would have been an appointment to the throne of Israel on scarcely better principles than those on which Saul had been appointed of old. His kingdom would have been the fruit of a heated desire of the people, as Saul's had been the fruit of their revolted heart. But this could not be.”

PRAYER IN THE MOUNTAIN SOLITUDE

The disciples having embarked and the crowds having been dismissed, Jesus departed into the mountain alone to pray. This reference is the second one made in this Gospel to the prayers of the Lord. On the first occasion we are told that “in the morning a great while before day he rose up and went out and departed into a desert place, and there prayed” (Mark 1:35). This was in Capernaum at the beginning of His public ministry, and was the sequel to a day of strenuous toil. The present occasion was after some two years of His public service had passed, during which the multitudes of Galilee had everywhere welcomed Him and His preaching of the kingdom. But a change was now imminent. The Evangelists unite to show us that at this juncture the spirit of envy and malice began to display itself more openly against Jesus. The opposition that had hitherto slumbered now awoke to a vigorous action which grew in intensity until it finally reached, a year later, the climax of the cross.

In view of this definitive rejection by His beloved people, Jesus took up the burden of it upon His spirit before His Father. And may we not believe that as He most surely felt in the silent midnight the poignancy of a despised love, so the lonely mountain-altar smoked with the fragrant frankincense of a submissive will: “Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight?”

It seems the way of the Spirit of God in the Gospels to give us momentary glimpses of Jesus such as these in order that we may see the historical fulfillment of prophecies which were given long before concerning the Servant of Jehovah. These holy men of old were not silent concerning the apparent failure of the Sent One of God when He should come to introduce Israel to the blessings of the new covenant. It was said that the Servant would labor for the name of Jehovah, but that His assiduity would be in vain so far as outward result would manifest. He would spend His strength without stint, but for naught in seeming effectiveness. The Messiah would come to gather Israel under His wings, but Israel would refuse to be gathered. Surely we see these things outlined in the praying Christ, and we see Him there upon the mountain-side learning obedience to the written will of Jehovah by the things He was suffering in His spirit.

But after the long dark night comes the glad day. In those sacred solitudes the blessed Savior was wrapped in secret communion until the morn approached. The night watches were passing, the day would break, the shadows would flee away. The same prophecy that foretold failure also foretold triumph. “But I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught and vanity, 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. 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 ends of the earth” (Isa. 49:4-6). There was thus a joyful issue set before the face of the Lord; and in the morning watch He came to His disciples, walking on the sea.

THE DISTRESS OF THE DISCIPLES

A storm was no unusual phenomenon on the Sea of Galilee. Indeed, this inland lake was noted for the prevalence of violent tempests which arose with great suddenness. The apostles were natives of the surrounding districts and were therefore familiar with this feature. And those of them who had been fishermen must often have experienced similar storms in the course of their regular occupation. On this occasion we are told that the sea arose because of the great wind that blew against them. The boatmen had intended to skirt the northern coast, but they appear to have been driven in the opposite direction towards the southern shore. Consequently, though they spent a great part of the night laboring at the oars they made but very little real progress towards their “desired haven,” because they were pitting themselves against the forces of Nature. And though they struggled zealously to gain their destination, they were no match for the opposing elements.

There was undoubtedly a great tempest, but it is not to be gathered directly from the narrative that the apostles were in imminent personal danger. In the case of the storm recorded earlier in the Gospel the waves washed into the boat, and the apostles felt themselves perishing when they aroused their Master. Here it is not stated that the storm threatened to overwhelm the barque, though there must always be danger in an open boat with winds and waves running high. But we do read that the Lord saw the disciples distressed with rowing. Such was the particular difficulty of the moment. They had been pulling at the oars with all their might without making any headway. This was weary work, and dispiriting too. And yet had not the Lord constrained them to embark that evening? And they might have reflected that, in effect, it was He who had set them at this work of rowing in the teeth of a strong gale, and such a reflection would give rise to disparaging thoughts of Him.

But was there not some ulterior purpose in the trying experiences of that night? Had not these fishers of men to learn thereby that there are times in Christian history when no fishing can be done, when no sail can be set to run easily before the breeze, when, in fact, every muscle must strain at the oar to keep the boat's head in the right direction and to prevent drifting, while no real progress seems possible? What the Lord was facing in spirit on the mountain top, the apostles were learning upon the stormy waters in a manner more suited to the measure of their understanding. The servants, like their Master, were laboring in vain and spending their strength for naught.

There was an essential difference, however, in the two cases. On the one hand, the Lord submitted to apparent failure in His service; on the other hand, the apostles lacked the needful strength to secure for themselves a victorious combat. The Lord forebore to exercise His power; His servants did not possess that degree of power which the occasion demanded. But before the morning broke, while they had proved their own insufficiency, they had also proved the almighty power of their Lord and Master to make them easy conquerors in spite of themselves.

(To be continued)

[W.J.H.]

Divine Comfort

God delights to reveal Himself in many ways to the hearts of His own; and each revelation has its own distinctive glory. Being “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” His divine nature, and infinite perfections were, at Christ's first advent, fully displayed in the glorious Person of His own well-beloved Son— “the Word made flesh” —in Whom “dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Not only is God “the God of all ‘grace'"; the “God of 'peace,'“ the “God of 'patience' and consolation,’” the “God of ‘Hope'"; but He is also the “Father of mercies, and the God of all 'comfort.'“ If, in the days of old, He could send, through the prophet Isaiah, to His ancient people (spite of their many backslidings), such as a message as, “'Comfort’ ye, 'comfort' ye, my people, saith your God"; how sweet is it to trace, in the ways of Jesus when here, this rich comfort flowing out abundantly to Jew and Gentile alike!

The life of our Lord is the everlasting witness to this. The nobleman's son, whose life was spared, though at the point of death; Jairus' daughter, raised to life just after death; the widow of Nain's only boy, given back to his mother alive, while the dead body was on its way to the cemetery; and the raising of Lazarus, after his corrupting body had lain four days in the grave—all these several stages are but so many proofs, if such were needed, that “the God of all ‘comfort'“ in the person of Christ, was here to “bind up the broken-hearted.” Yet, amidst the agonies of Calvary, this same Jesus would say, “Reproach hath broken My heart; and I am full of heaviness; and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none: and for 'comforters,' but I found none.” Paul, in a later day, is a wonderful instance of the sustaining power of God amidst every kind of trial, persecution, and bodily affliction; the like of which, few, if any, servants of Christ have ever passed through; but this is his testimony; “the God of all 'comfort'“ is He “Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God": for, (he adds), “As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our ‘consolation' also aboundeth by Christ.” Thus, whatever vicissitudes may befall the believer, throughout life's fitful journey; whatever in the family, the business, the world, the church, or his own condition of soul or body; as well as in his service for the Lord, what is there to compare with the divine comfort ever to be found in God Himself? There, and there only, do we reach the living spring, the abiding source, the never-failing, and exhaustless, fountain of all comfort; yea the mighty heart of the eternal God; “with Whom is no variableness, nor shadow of turning"! Now that Christ has come, and gone, that other, and indwelling, Comforter, the Holy Spirit of God, delights to feed the believer's soul; and to lead each member of God's royal family into the green pastures, and beside the still waters, of His word; and thus are we assured that “whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we, through patience and ‘comfort' of the Scriptures, might have hope.” Oh what an inexhaustible mine of wealth is here laid up for faith! Yes, the inspired volume, from Genesis to Revelation, is given by God for the very purpose of ministering suited truth, and 'comfort' to all His children; and its previous pages simply teem with innumerable proofs of this in every age and dispensation. Thus God Himself is the living source, and His precious word, is the abiding, channel, through which divine comfort flows into our ransomed souls; the object being that we should “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

A striking proof of the “comfort of the Scriptures” was afforded in the early days of the church, when a special word from the Lord was sent, through Paul, to the young Thessalonian saints at a time when their hearts were much exercised, and cast down. Not only had they been “turned to God” from idols, to serve a living and true, God; but also “to wait for His Son from heaven.” This being the constant hope, and immediate expectation, of their souls, they were cast down, though wrongly, at the thought that their fellow-believers, who had recently passed away, would not share with them the glory of the kingdom. Hence their sorrow and disappointment, through ignorance, was just the fitting occasion for the “God of all comfort” to send them an inspired, and special, revelation concerning those who had “fallen asleep.” “As for God, His way is perfect"; and, through the pen of the very servant who had been the means of their conversion, He sends these troubled saints the glorious news, “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 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.” Thus we have a further revelation concerning those who had died; for these would God bring with Jesus, so that they should not in any way lose their place in the coming kingdom. “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” Nor was this comfort intended merely for those young Thessalonian converts; but also to be the church's bright and glorious hope from that day till its blessed fulfillment; now so much nearer its sweet consummation than ever before.

One point more, however, remains, which the next chapter further announces: and we do well, beloved, to ponder its all-surpassing interest, in the heavenly light of the near future. With the express object of practically separating “the children of light, and the children of day,” from the scenes of confusion and utter godlessness, by which they are surrounded, the Holy Spirit of God reminds them, in these words, of their glorious future. “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation (i.e., of the body as they already had that of the soul), by our Lord Jesus Christ; Who died for us that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.” If this bright and glorious hope has its own absorbing, and formative, power in the believer's heart and mind, we shall surely find no difficulty in seeing the needs-be for the exhortation following, “Wherefore ‘comfort' yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.”

Briefly, then, we have four ways brought before us, from the Scriptures referred to, in which divine comfort may be fully enjoyed by the believer; and they may thus be summarized:-(1) God Himself is the abiding source of all our comfort; (2) the Scriptures are the divine channel through which that comfort flows; (3) the Lord's coming again is the sustaining power of that comfort, and will be its blessed consummation; and (4) “our living together with Him,” throughout the “day of eternity,” is the bright hope set before us, to encourage us, in this dark and evil day, to walk in true conformity to His holy will; and thus it becomes the solid foundation on which that comfort rests. Hence it is, that as ransomed pilgrims we can sing:-

“Comfort through all this vale of tears,

In blest profusion flows;

And glory of unnumbered years

Eternity bestows.”

S. T.

Association With Christ: Part 3

But the wonderful truth is that, associated with Him, we inherit likewise a place in the dispensing of that vast economy of blessing. Is it not even thus that we are to be the praise of His glory? Vast the scheme of blessing planned! Immense the sphere to be subjected to the hand, and rule, and sway of Christ Jesus according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things, after the counsel of His own will! Yet is it also by the predestination or fore-ordaining of that same One, so characterized, that we have obtained our inheritance, a share in that glory of Christ.

He is the “appointed,” “established” “heir of all things” we read in Heb. 1:2, and He the Son of God. He, the first-born Son is the Heir, Heir par excellence, Heir in a sense we never can be; for by Him the worlds were made. All things created not only by Him, but also for Him, His inheritance of all things is a fixed established fact. And what delays the making good His title, and the taking in hand of power His great inheritance? We who are, in this His day of grace, being called out as His co-heirs know, understand, have reason to appreciate. That He might share it all with us, with us, the poor of this world, enriched spiritually through faith, and heirs of the kingdom which God hath promised to them that love Him—He thus waits, waits in patience to invest us at the right moment with the glory of the inheritance. The delay for us is blessing. And not only so, but we, waiting also, in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, stand here, as He sits there, in attitude of expectancy. The Holy Spirit we are sealed with is that Holy Spirit of promise, and we realize Him to be the earnest of our inheritance until, for, and with a view to, the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory. Wondrous the wealth, and honor, and glory, wrapped up in the words “co-heirs with Christ.”

But of more than being co-heirs with Christ does the passage speak. “If so be that we suffer with Him.” That is our privilege, to co-suffer with Christ. Think of what it means. We know what it is to co-suffer with men. That in a world so full of sorrow and suffering we should not escape so common a portion, what would be remarkable about that? We share with our fellows what none are entirely exempt from. As we read further on in the chapter “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together in pain until now.” All that can be comprehended under that title of personification “the creature” not only is made subject to vanity, and not only is in the bondage of corruption, but “co-groans” and “co-travails” in pain. And we have our link with that. Children of God and heirs of God as we are, we wind ourselves too high if we imagine that connection with earth and a fallen creation is severed for us thereby. The earthen vessel, the body of humiliation, is itself witness of our belonging to, of our being in a very real sense part and parcel of, this scene of sorrow and suffering which, through the sin and fall of man, its head, is co-extensive with this creation. Included in that we are of necessity, and, in a sense, inexorably involved in its heritage of sorrow.

In all this we may say we co-suffer with man, with creation. But what we read of here is co-suffering with Christ. Ah! there we touch something unique, something sacred, something holy—Christ's sufferings. We here come upon what we may call a type of suffering utterly unknown to man or creature hitherto. In suffering, He who is known as the “Man of Sorrows” stood alone, ah! how unapproachably alone: And but for such scripture as this, well might we shrink from the thought of our sufferings being such as can be in any sense put alongside with His. Instinctively we feel that His were sufferings of a type peculiarly sacred. Yet are we said to co-suffer with Him. Privilege it is to suffer so, to have sufferings that belong to the same category as His! If there are depths here, of sorrow, and there are, what are they, in reality, but depths of privilege which it is an honor in being permitted to share, for such an association gives a new valuation to suffering and altogether transfigures sorrow. We are His co-sufferers.

True, distinction is called for, and that as to the nature of His sufferings still more than as to their extent. He suffered for sin. There He stood alone. In that descent into the deepest depths none could accompany Him then, or ever, and, blessed be God, have no need to now. But He suffered in other ways, and in many of them ours it is in our feeble measure, to share. If by a link of death we stand connected with a groaning and suffering creation, by a link of life no less truly are we associated with Christ, and that even as to His sufferings. It could not be otherwise, this latter. Necessarily we feel, Christ, being what He was, must have suffered in such a world of sin and misery. And so He did, as we know. Of necessity also we, if we have the Spirit of Christ in us, will in some measure suffer similarly in this scene. What community of life and moral nature can there be if it result not in feelings of the same sort, as we encounter the same things day by day that were sources of such sorrow to Him. The occasions of suffering are numerous indeed in a world where everything morally is out of course, disorganized, disordered, totally opposed to good, and holiness, and God; where justice is set at naught, righteousness is rejected, and love outraged at every turn. A scene where sin distorts and defiles, where evil is to all appearance triumphant, and where death in all reality reigns. Where men are wallowing in iniquity, vileness, corruption, are stalking in godless pride, are making themselves in hypocrisy, are playing the fool, alike making a mock of sin and a ridicule of godliness, until death, grim death, neither to be mocked nor beguiled, levels their pride and closes their career of ungodliness. Can a child of God, a partaker of the divine nature, pass through a. scene like that and not suffer? The weight of it was on His spirit. Is not its pressure felt on ours? Having life in Christ Jesus, and being led by the Spirit we do suffer with Him thus.

Nor is it a question only of unanimity of sentiment and feelings, and effect on the heart and spirit. “A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” He was all through. But active testimony there was also, and the meeting with outward suffering. “He was despised and rejected of men.” Righteousness He preached, truth He proclaimed, holiness He exemplified, love He manifested. And He suffered in the rejection of all. “He came unto His own and His own received Him not.” Grief and sorrow were fully measured out to Him in that respect too. He wept at the grave of Lazarus, as the sense of what that scene of sorrow signified of the world's misery, and evil, and suffering, was borne in upon His spirit. But He shed tears also over Jerusalem, the most guilty rejecter of His love and grace. All was present to, and pressed upon, the perfectly attuned sensitiveness of His heart. The world He came not to condemn, but to extend love and grace and salvation too, would have none of it. And soon all culminated in the suffering and death of the cross. Man and the great adversary are still the same. The path of testimony is still one of suffering in this world. The Faithful Witness Himself suffered, and that unto death., Are we, His witnesses in turn, prepared for share of these His afflictions. To suffer for righteousness sake (1 Peter 3:14); for well-doing (1 Peter 2:19-23), as a Christian for the name of Christ (1 Peter 4:12-16), all these we may be called on to pass through. Association with a rejected Christ, itself implies suffering in this the scene of His rejection. The offense of the cross is not ceased (Gal. 5:11; 6:12). And he who in the gospel suffered trouble even unto bonds (2 Tim. 2:9) could exhort his beloved son Timothy, and through him surely us also, to suffer with the suffering gospel (2 Tim. 1:8). John also, our “companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,” records the very words of the Lord Jesus Himself for us, “In the world ye shall have tribulation.” Blessedly true is it also that the Lord added, “But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” That consideration itself—of how much is it the assurance. The victory is sure, and sure for us. The time of tribulation, the short-lived triumph of the enemy shall pass, and in this confidence we may, even while passing through this interval of suffering, have peace in that One Who has overcome the world.

Such a universal element in the lot of the child of God— “for all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” —it is well to have in true perspective and careful estimation. One who, perhaps beyond others, himself experienced to the full what that was, has by the spirit been led to give us such an estimate. And this is his carefully-pondered and deliberately-expressed judgment. “I reckon” he says (Rom. 8:18) “that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” It is in the light of the future glory that the present suffering can assume true proportions. No suffering, any more than chastening, can for the present seem joyous but grievous. But things are not what they seem, and when the present, freed from the exaggerated bulk it assumes in our distorted vision now, falls back into its true place and perspective by and by, not only will the profit of our exercises under it be apparent, but its intrinsic importance, the “momentary lightness of our affliction,” will be seen in true comparison with its sequel, the “eternal weight of glory.” This as to the suffering in itself. But when further it is remembered that suffering with Christ is the true character of all that is hardest in our path through this world, that association with Him in that respect is our privilege now, the estimate of the apostle has its significance intensified when he looks on to the future and reckons as he does. It will yet be seen by each one of us how great the privilege was of co-suffering with Christ in this the scene of His sorrow and rejection, and ere yet His kingdom in power was set up, or He had taken to Him His great power and reigned.

To the future, however, as the apostle so immediately directs our gaze, we turn. We learn that to be glorified together with Christ is the portion yet reserved for us. “If so be that we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” Peter, in his epistle, writes in similar strain to what we have here. In a beautiful summary at the close of his First Epistle (chap. 5:10), we have “But the God of all grace, who has called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered awhile, make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you.” Called unto His everlasting glory—there is purpose there, the eternal purpose of God. We are “the called according to His purpose,” and glory is the end of that path on which His calling sets our feet. “Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate.... Whom He did predestinate them He also called, and whom He called them He also justified, and whom He justified them He also glorified.”

Is it not well to remember that it is His eternal glory? His, not only in the sense that He and He alone is the Author of it; but also as being the One whom it primarily concerns, the One who Himself reaps its harvest. In Scripture, glory is in itself an economy, a scheme of things, a system of universal extension, almost, one might say, a dispensation like law or grace, were it not that in itself it is the crown and culmination of all ages and dispensations. God has reaped glory all along, as He has also sown seeds of grace all along. But as in this dispensation of grace He is, so to speak, filling the field with nothing else than grace, so in that future system, may we call it, He is to have not merely gleanings, but an eternal and abundant harvest of glory. “His everlasting glory” that takes us past all dispensations and times, millennial and otherwise. And it is to that, His eternal glory, that the God of all grace has called us, by Christ Jesus. No doubt it is “after that ye have suffered awhile.” That is our present portion. To none would this seem more strange perhaps than to one who had formerly been a Jew, and accustomed, according to his Jewish faith, to look for the calling of God to result in blessing, temporal and material, here and now. To Jewish believers Peter writes, and according to the wisdom given unto him, is careful to remind them of what they might expect, and doubtless had experienced, regarding the nature of their pa way through this world. Suffering meantime, and for awhile, they were to know that glory in the future, and glory forever, was what awaited them.

Not only so but, to refer again to Rom. 8:17, it is in association with Christ that all is to be enjoyed, “that we may be also co-glorified.” Co-suffering with Him here, we are to be co-glorified with Him then. The link that made the path of suffering a privilege holds good when its blessed counterpart, glory, is introduced. Blessed prospect! It is with Him, with Him in the eternal glory, that we are to be forever associated. Not that he has not a place and a glory peculiar to Himself, that which none can share. As He in grace undertook suffering, and stood in a place where none could follow, no less true is if that by virtue of what He is in Himself, He must have reserved for him a position unique and exclusive. “And now, O Father,” He prayed, “glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” A glory of His, too, there is, a glory of His own, which He wills and is desirous that we shall behold. “Father, I, will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me; for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” He has a conferred glory to assume, as well as essential glory to resume, and it is in that glory which He has won and earned and received that we are to have our part. “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one even as we are one: I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me.”

All is the gift of love—this participation in His glory spoken of here. When the world sees us in the same glory as Christ, and thus made perfect in one, it will rightly conclude that we are loved with the same love. The truth of our association with Christ, fruitful in so many respects, will be evident then. For this being co-glorified with Christ the world will see in due time. “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory.” “If we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him” the apostle tells us, referring no doubt to this same time of manifestation to the world in the day of His appearing and kingdom. But for the full thought of this our association with Him in glory our hearts turn to that eternal glory to which the God of all grace has called us by Christ Jesus, where back of all, beyond all, “in the ages to come” He shall “show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.”

Heirs of God, we are associated with Christ in the inheritance, being His co-heirs. That does not relieve us from suffering meanwhile in this world; but bestows upon us the privilege of being His co-sufferers here. And, finally, when the day of glory dawns it will find us co-glorified with Him, according to the purpose of

“That love which gives not as the world, but shares

All it possesses with its loved co-heirs.”

(Concluded from page 144)

J. T.

Fragment

“And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all perception; that ye may judge of and approve the things that are more excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense unto [the) day of Christ.” “Inasmuch as ye did it unto Me!” All will come out in that day, and the secrets of our hearts be manifested.

Lectures on 2 Chronicles 7-12

But in the next chapter (7.) after he makes an end of praying, the fire comes down. For we read, “Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of Jehovah filled the house. And the priests could not enter into the house of Jehovah, because the glory of Jehovah had filled Jehovah's house.” And so there is nothing but worship according to their measure. “And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of Jehovah upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and worshipped, and praised Jehovah, [saying], For [he is] good; for his mercy [endureth] forever. Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before Jehovah. And king Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen” —the nation was so very great that a thousand would not do now— “And an hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.”

And this was most admirable in its season. The admirable thing, then for an earthly people was to pour out all the wealth of the earth at the feet of God. The admirable thing now for a heavenly people is to count whatever we have as nothing for the sake of Christ. That is, it is suffering now. As the apostle Paul said, “What things were gain to me” [as a Jew], “I counted loss for Christ.” He counted them dung; and not only did he so begin, but, as he adds, “and I do count them.” He counted them so when he began, and he counted them so still. There is many a man that counts them so at first; but he begins to like them afterward. But it was not so with Paul— “I counted,” and “I do count.” It is a great thing to make a good start and to continue accordingly. So did Paul; but so has not done the church of God. The church of God began well, but where are we now?

So “Solomon finished the house of Jehovah, and the king's house: and all that came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of Jehovah, and in his own house, he prosperously effected.” And then Jehovah appears to him again and confirms what he had done. “I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for a house of sacrifice.” And so he not only says this, but “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.” Now I take that as it plainly means. You will tell me, 'Well, the Gentiles are there now. Some of the most wicked of the Gentiles are there now.' But faith can wait. It need not be in a hurry. “He that believeth shall not make haste,” and, therefore, as sure as God has spoken it, Jerusalem will be recovered—not by foolish crusaders, not by the power of man, but by the power of God. He means to have the glory to Himself. The whole idea of the crusades was a fundamental mistake from beginning to end, and arose from Christians fancying that they were Jews, taking the place of God's people and consequently denying Israel's place. The greatest enemies the Jews had were those same crusaders who fought against the Turks. The place of the true Christian is the very contrary. We ought to be the shelter of the Jew; we ought to be a sort of city of refuge to the Jew, till the day comes for the Jew to enter upon his heritage. We ought always to plead the rights of Israel as we know the wrongs of Israel. We ought to mourn deeply the unbelief of Israel; but, at the same time we ought to protect them and show them all kindness “for the fathers' sake.” The church of God can afford to do so. If we were an earthly people we might be a little jealous of those who are going to be put in the highest earthly places; but the heavenly people have no need for it. And that is what delivers Christians from foolish vanity in competing with the Gentile, and from jealousy as we think about the Jew.

So, the next chapter shows us Solomon after he had built all. Here we have the grand object of Solomon's coming to the throne. It was this great type of the kingdom. “And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of Jehovah, and his own house, that the cities which Huram had restored to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there. And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and prevailed against it. And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities, which he built in Hamath. Also he built Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fenced cities, with walls, gates and bars; and Baalath, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion. [As for] all the people [that were] left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which [were] not of Israel, [but] of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day” (8:1-8).

Thus we have every kind of right exercised and the restoration of what had been wrong. “But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work.” A very remarkable statement. He made the Gentiles servants. The Jews will, then, be lords upon the earth, not slaves. The Gentiles will be obliged to take the place of the tail when Israel are at the head, according to the prophet. And all this beautiful order we find carried out socially and in a family order, and religiously, throughout the chapter.

But further (chap. 9.), it was impossible that the fame of Solomon, the type of Christ, could be within such narrow bounds. The queen of Sheba herself comes, not merely to share in royal pomp —not merely to enter into what, alas! we know to be frivolous and most transient; but to hear the wisdom of Solomon. The Lord Jesus Himself singles her out. It was a queenly errand on which she came—most worthy! and, indeed, her rank gave the greater luster to it. But the object put additional luster on herself. She came to hear king Solomon, and she was in no way disappointed.

“When the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon” (that is the attractive object), “and the house that he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and their apparel” (for even the least and lowest things bore the stamp of his royal grandeur)— “and his ascent by which he went up into the house of Jehovah” —(for this was the grandest of all)— “there was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king, [It was] a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen; and behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: thou exceedest the fame that I heard. Happy [are] thy men, and happy [are] these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and bear thy wisdom” (vers. 1-7).

That made a great impression upon her. “Blessed be Jehovah thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne [to be] king for Jehovah thy God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them forever, therefore made lie thee king over them, to do judgment and justice.”

This may seem somewhat strong; but we can, I think, appreciate the delight of God in tracing such a remarkable witness to the future glory of His own Son. No doubt it was true—most true, and what is divine will bear inspection. What is human fades the more we look into it. But the glory which God puts forth is the more seen to be perfect the more it is approached and understood. But still, for all that, whatever might be true of Solomon was only a shadow of Christ—of what Christ will be on the earth. Remember, I am not speaking of what is still higher. I admit that there is a deeper glory in the heavens; and we must carefully remember that the same millennial day will see the church glorified in heaven, and the Jew blest upon the earth, and the nations too. All will be under Christ. Consequently, it is not a question of their asserting heavenly glory exclusively, or earthly glory exclusively, but both, each in their own and for their object. That is the truth. And you will always find if you look at mistakes or at heresy (which is the same thing), that there is always a part of the truth, and that part is set against another part; but the full truth of God is never possessed about anything until it puts everything in its place.

I am persuaded that what I have now said on the kingdom is the only right thought of it—that the kingdom, in short, according to our Lord's own intimation to Nicodemus, consists of heavenly things as well as earthly things. Nicodemus thought only of the earthly things, and the Lord assured him that there must be new birth to possess even the earthly things “If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?” It was useless. But there are heavenly things as well as earthly, and they are not confounded or changed into one another. The earthly does not become heavenly, nor does the heavenly become earthly. They are both separate parts; and that is the meaning of a very important scripture in the 1St of Ephesians— “That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth; even in him: in whom also we have obtained an inheritance” (vers. 10, 11). There is the double order of the future inheritance. There are the heavenly things which we shall have, as risen from the dead and glorified with Christ, and there will be the earthly things, the head of which will be the Jews as the people of the Lord Jesus Christ; but the church, which is His body, will share the heavenly things.

Then the rest of the chapter follows it up, for while the queen of Sheba gives the king a royal present suitable to her station and her means, the king, I need not say, was not to be behind her in nobleness of generosity; and the greatness of his throne is described, and the vastness of his shipping as well, and the abundance that was the result for all the people, even as it is said, he “made silver and gold in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycamore trees that are in the vale for abundance. And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt” and “he reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt.” You know that when Joshua has the word given at the beginning, the Euphrates is the extreme boundary. The Jordan was the proper one. Some of the tribes coveted what was on the other side, and so much the worse for them. They did not gain by it, but lost. But the Euphrates is the extreme limit, and that awaits the Lord Jesus.

In the next chapter (10.) we find what, alas! is in all human types—failure. Rehoboam the king, the son of Solomon, inherits, not his father's wisdom, but whatever was foolish and wrong in Solomon. For Rehoboam took counsel, not with the men of experience who might have helped his youth, but with the young men who only urged on his impetuosity. “He forsook the counsel which the old men gave him, and took counsel with the young men that were brought up with him that stood before him. And he said unto them, What advice give ye that we may return answer to this people, which have spoken to me, saying, Ease somewhat the yoke that thy father did put upon us? And the young men that were brought up with him spake unto him, saying, Thus shalt thou answer the people that spake unto thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou [it] somewhat lighter for us; thus shalt thou say unto them, My little [finger] shall be thicker than my father's loins. For whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I [will chastise you] with scorpions. So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king bade, saying, Come again to me on the third day. And the king answered them roughly; and king Rehoboam forsook the counsel of the old men, and answered them after the advice of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I [will chastise you] with scorpions” (vers. 8-14), according to his own foolish word, and the consequence was that God chastised him, for he rent away ten out of the twelve tribes and gave them over to his enemy Jeroboam, the son of Nebat.

Rehoboam would fight (chap. 11.), but God hinders him. It was his fault, and it did not become him to fight. God never hindered the other kings, that I recollect, from fighting with Israel similarly; but Rehoboam must not fight. He that is guilty of a fault is not the man that can well or righteously reprove another. At any rate, he must be thoroughly brought down about his own fault before he is in a moral condition to do it. Rehoboam was, therefore, disciplined of the Lord in that his hands were tied and he was not permitted even to punish his rebellious subjects; but he has the sorrow of seeing his people leaving him, although there were the priests and Levites for a while, and faithful Israelites, who still resorted to Jerusalem to sacrifice there.

He was not left without some consolation from hearts in whom allegiance to the king shall not die away. “He loved Maachah,” it is said, “the daughter of Absalom, above all his wives and his concubines: (for he took eighteen wives, and threescore concubines; and begat twenty and eight sons and three-score daughters). And Rehoboam made Abijah, the son of Maachah, the chief, [to be ruler among his brethren: for [he thought] to make him king. And he dealt wisely, and dispersed of all his children throughout all the countries of Judah and Benjamin, unto every fenced city: and he gave them victual in abundance. And he desired many wives (vers. 21-23).

“And it came to pass when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of Jehovah, and all Israel with him” (chap. 12)—for such is the manner of men, not so quick to follow in good, but so ready in evil. And so God sent an unexpected enemy upon him in the person of the king of Egypt, who took away the treasures that Solomon had amassed. Such was the righteous government of God, so that poor king Rehoboam was driven to make shields of brass instead of shields of gold, which were now being carried down into Egypt. “And when he humbled himself, the wrath of Jehovah turned from him that he would not destroy him altogether: and also in Judah things went well.” How gracious of the Lord! Every little act of repentance brought its blessing.

[W.K.]

Song of Solomon 6-7

And in the chapter (6.) that follows, we come to another point to which I have not yet called your particular notice, but I must do so briefly. The word had come, “My beloved has gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine; he feedeth among the lilies.” You will observe that just as there are charges followed by the announcement of His coming, which are a very important help to the understanding of the different parts of this book—so also there is the expression of the bride's affection to the Bridegroom. In the latter part of the second chapter she did not say this. There it was another word— “My beloved is mine.” That is in the 16th verse. “My beloved is mine, and I am his; he feedeth among the lilies.” Here in this chapter we have what is better, “I am my beloved's” —it is the converse.

And this marks a very decided progress in her soul—in the affections of Jerusalem, when we come to apply it, not personally, but to the object of the book. And the difference is this. The first thing—and this is equally true of a renewed soul—the first thing that the soul wants, is to know what we find in the second chapter—that Christ is mine. And Jerusalem will go through similar experience, and very justly. It would be a poor thing to know that I am His, if I did not know that He is mine. Necessarily, where the Spirit of God works in power, the heart does not begin with my being Christ's. I know very well that you will find the contrary of this among many godly persons, and they put it into verse too, that is to say,

“Am I His, or am I not?”

But that is not at all the first thing that the Spirit of God according to the word produces in a heart that is subject to it. When one is occupied with one's self this is the first thing. The first thing then, is, I want to know whether “I am His,” because I begin with “I,” but this is just what is bad for me—just the very thing that we want to be delivered from. And what delivers us from this? Is He mine—that treasure, that object of God's delight—is He mine? Is Christ mine? And this is exactly what Christ does give, for that is the point. It is not, as people constantly say, that the first thing is for me to know that I am saved. The first thing is to know whether I believe in Him. That is, it is what Christ is to my soul, and not what my soul has got through Christ. You see, false theology always puts self forward—always makes that the first thing.

Now do not mistake me. I do not at all mean that there is not the fullest comfort for our own heart. It would be a poor theology indeed—it would be, above all, poor faith—for that is what it really comes to—it would be poverty indeed in divine things—if there were not the fullest satisfaction for the renewed heart. But then the first thought that God has, and the first thought, therefore, that, as a believer, I ought to have—is this, not whether “I am His,” but whether “He is mine.” That is what the bride is here brought to confess –what she does confess. We must remember, beloved brethren, that in this book we have not the bungle, if I may so say—the bungle of men—in making out a science of theology from scripture. What we have in the word of God is the guidance of the Holy Ghost—the perfect, sure way of God in dealing with souls according to Christ. The first thing, therefore, is “My beloved is mine,” but then she adds, “And I am His” —this follows. That I have got eternal life is very true, but the first thing is that I believe in Him.

Let me repeat—the first thing is not what I am to get, but whom I am to believe in—whom does God propose to my soul. Have I bowed to Him? Have I submitted thoroughly, simply, implicitly to Him? This then is the first thing—to believe in Christ, and not merely to believe that I am forgiven. My forgiveness is a consequence of knowing that I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the first thing of all, I say, is, not the salvation of my soul, but, bowing to the Son of God, and it makes a great difference in which way we put it. I could not give a more important lesson to a young evangelist than that, always to hold that before him—that the first thing is not the soul in relation to Christ, but Christ in relation to the soul, and if he settles that and keeps that forward I am persuaded that God will use it not merely for the soul, but above all for the glory of Christ; and after all, Christ ought to be more to me than all the souls in the world. It is not that one will love the souls of the world less, but, I say, Christ has the foremost place. The bride does not suffer for this. Far from it. She is more blest because she gets the blessing in God's way.

Well then, the next point of progress in this 6th chapter which has given occasion to these remarks is this—just the converse. “I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine.” Now would it have the same force to us— “My beloved is mine and I am my beloved's.” No, not so. Now, you see, she knows Him. She is perfectly satisfied that He is hers. The consequence is that there is a new thing that is permanent. Wonderful to say “I am my beloved's.” My beloved has been speaking to me; I have been speaking to Him. There have been those passages of affection by the spirit between us; and now, “I am my beloved's.” It is not, therefore, merely the expression of spiritual desire, but here there is a growing apprehension of this relationship, although it be not yet a formally established one, but still there is the spiritual preparedness for it. That is what God is working in her soul. “I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine.” The one is just as much in season as the other; only the one takes necessary precedence of the other.

And this is followed by another, and very beautiful, unfolding of the love and delight which the bridegroom has in the beauty of the bride. “Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners. Turn away thine eyes from me for they have overcome me” (vers. 4, 5). A wonderful thought that is, of the Lord finding such attraction in Jerusalem—that Jerusalem that cost Him so many tears—that Jerusalem that has so slandered Him from that day to this; for Jerusalem is still the same Jerusalem that was, the same guilty Christ-rejecting Jerusalem, but not always to be so. The Lord will make true these words, and give Jerusalem to believe in the day that is coming. Of course, when I speak about Jerusalem I mean the people, but still it is that very object and that people connected with that very city in the day that is coming.

So the Lord pursues this and He adds at the close, “I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley” (ver. because he desired to see what were the fruits of the humiliation that Israel had passed through. Jerusalem had gone into the greatest humiliation, and He wanted to see what were the effects of it, whether there were spiritual fruits of that humiliation. And what did He find? “Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.” That is “of my willing people.” That is the meaning of the word, and I presume that it ought to have been so rendered rather than put as a proper name. “The chariots of my willing people.” That is His people are to be made willing in the day of His power. Now we know that when the Lord was here in the days of His flesh it was the day of His weakness. He was crucified through weakness, but He liveth by the power of God, and we know Him accordingly in resurrection. They will know Him when He comes forth; and this shows what the Lord's feeling about His people is. And immediately this is followed by “Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite?” That is the object of His love. It is Jerusalem that is to be “As it were the company of two armies.” That is, just as when in the days of Jacob's dealings there was the same—the company of two armies when the angels that protected him in the hour of his distress and fear—so it will be with Jerusalem in the day that is coming. They will be like the angels of God in their might and power.

In the next chapter (7.) the Lord gives a fresh expression of His love to Jerusalem. On this I need not say much. It is, I repeat, what He saw in herself. It is not glory; that would be a small thing. It is in her possession. It is not power. It is not what she has to do in the world or anything of that kind. I have not the slightest doubt that Jerusalem in the day that is coming is to be made the metropolis of the earth. I have not a doubt that the Lord is going to accomplish a most wonderful work by the converted Jew after that day, but that is not the point. It is herself viewed as a person—the object of His love. This again comes out in a most striking way, and it is followed by what we have for the third time in the bride's answer, “I am my beloved's” (ver. 10). There is now the arriving at a settled sense of love—the possession of His love. “I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me.” It is not necessary to say “He is mine.” “I am my beloved's and his desire is toward me.” She began with “My beloved is Mine,” but now she rests in this. It is no longer necessary to say that he is mine. It is so perfectly plain. He has made it so manifest by all these expressions of his affection and all the beauty that he finds in me. I am my beloved's and his desire is toward me. Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.” And this ends the proper course of the Song of Solomon.

[W.K.]

Studies in Mark 6:45-52: The Pathway Over the Stormy Sea

6:45-52

The Appearance of Jesus

Jesus on the mountainside was not in ignorance of the precarious position of His followers. From the place of prayer He saw them toiling hard in rowing. May we not believe, indeed, that they in the extremity of their trial were the subject of His intercession? At a later day we know He said to Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not” (Luke 22:31, 32). So that we have reason for boldly thinking that the Lord was the Unseen Helper of these distressed ones throughout that night.

We believe, in short, that He who prayed that the faith of Simon might not fail prayed in like manner for the faith of the twelve. Their trial was permitted to extend through the long hours of darkness that the tribulation might work out patience, and patience experience, and experience hope—the hope that maketh not ashamed.

Such being the divine purpose, there was the occasion for much soul-discipline throughout the night-watches. The apostles must have often thought, and possibly often spoken of their absent Master. How they then desired the presence of Him who had formerly stood up in the boat during a similar storm, and rebuked the wind and the sea. Surely they must have had some expectation that He would come to their relief. Blessed servants would they be if when their Lord did come He found them watching, counting upon Him in faith that He would not utterly' forsake them. But He came to them not in the second watch, nor in the third watch. Nor was it until the dark hour before the dawn that the bright and morning Star appeared. “But they when they saw him walking on the sea supposed that it was an apparition and cried out; for they all saw him, and were all troubled.”

The Lord's method of approaching the disciples was altogether superhuman. The manner, it is needless to say, was unexpected on their part. Among all the wonders related in the Old Testament there was no parallel to this one. At the national crisis which arose at the passage of the Red Sea, Jehovah, in the morning watch, looked forth upon the hosts of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and delivered the people of Israel from their foes. But the wonder on the Galilean Sea was of another order.

The sight of the Master of the elements making His way to them across the heaving billows must have been overwhelming to these men. There was, in this instance, no forerunner to prepare the way of the Lord, to make His paths straight. Unannounced, He approached the little band, treading His way through the surge of the mighty waters. They were troubled on seeing Him thus, for as yet they. had not understood Jesus who He was. They did not realize that the sea was His; He had made it. Truly, His way was in the sanctuary, but equally His way was in the sea and His paths in the great waters (Psa. 77:13, 19). They had yet to hear His promise, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you,” though He anticipated the enunciation of it by His appearance to the storm-tossed mariners, as He had done in a former day to the three bound men in the furnace of fire (Dan. 3) coming, as we may say, alike through fire and water to the relief of His own.

But when the Lord came across the sea He sought a response from His disciples. He came within their ken, and He would have passed them by. He looked that His appearance should awaken some impulse of appeal to Him (cp. Luke 24:28), for they all saw Him, as Mark tells us. There was, however, no intelligent recognition of their Master on the part of the apostles. We read that they cried out in fear, for they supposed they saw a phantom. The vision on the waves, they thought, was not real—an apparition—the creation of their own imagination.

Such was the delusion of the little company, notwithstanding the power they had lately received and which they had exercised over evil spirits. The appearance of their Master filled them with more alarm than the fury of the storm seems to have done. That fear—the fear of the unknown—possessed them of which Eliphaz spoke when he said, “Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: it stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before my eyes” (Job 4:14.-16).

THE LORD'S WORD OF GOOD CHEER

But the Lord never failed in the supply of His gracious help in the needful measure and at the needful moment. The disciples uttered no direct prayer to Him for aid, but their cry of fear and distress arrested Him, and instantly He wrought for their relief, allaying their fears with His word. “He straightway spake with them, and saith unto them, Be of good cheer: it is I: be not afraid.”

The Lord's first word, on this occasion, was addressed to the apostles, while in the previous storm it was first addressed to the waves and the sea. The actual necessity, therefore, for the Lord's interposition was distinct in the two cases. In the first instance, there was imminent peril to be averted. In the second, a tempest of fear was sweeping over the men's hearts; their courage, nerve and assurance were apparently exhausted. Then, the Lord remarked upon their lack of faith. Now His words show there was a lack of peace in their hearts. It would seem that in the one case the chief trouble was without and around, while in the other the more pressing need was within the troubled hearts of the disciples. At any rate, we have the historical fact that the Lord's words, with their threefold message from the waves, were addressed to His distracted followers. He said to them—

(1) Be of good cheer (courage);

(2) It is I;

(3) Be not afraid.

(1) The Servant of Jehovah was commissioned to bring “consolation” to Israel (Luke 2:25). This He did individually as well as nationally. There were many hearts stricken with fear among those with whom the Lord came in contact during his ministry. And we find the exhortation “Be of good cheer” was one. He loved to speak. “Cheer” is that comfort of heart which springs from implicit confidence in the love and power of God. And who could impart this sustaining virtue like our Lord? Besides the present occasion, Jesus used these words in the following four cases, two being cases of physical weakness and two of mental distress; two being in the midst of trouble, and two full of apprehension of what was imminent—

(a) To the sick of the palsy whom the four men of faith laid at his feet (Matt. 9:2).

(b) To the feeble and trembling woman who touched the hem of His garment (Matt. 9:22).

(c) At the close of His valedictory address to His disciples on the night in which He was betrayed: “In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

(d) In the hour of great persecution at Jerusalem, the risen and ascended Lord stood by Paul and said, “Be of good cheer, Paul; for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome” (Acts 23:11).

(2) In the next place, the Lord, by His words “It is I,” corrects the error of the apostles regarding Himself. Most probably they failed to recognize Him, because they were not expecting Him to come to them at that particular time or in that particular manner. Hence they imagined they saw a phantom until the Master said, “It is I.” Similar cases of non-recognition occurred after the Lord's resurrection. When Jesus appeared to Mary and spoke to her, she supposed Him to be the gardener until He called her by name (John 20:15). And again, when He subsequently presented Himself in the midst of His disciples and said, “Peace be unto you,” they were terrified and affrighted and supposed they had seen a spirit (Luke 24:37). Speaking generally, we may say that it is the latent incredulity of man's heart which prevents him from accepting the operation of divine power and love in superhuman ways, and such sluggish comprehension was often displayed by the apostles.

The Lord dispersed the unbelief of those in the boat by a word which awakened their dull memories to a recognition of Himself. He is One whom they knew. Hence His words were, “It is I.” It was as if He said to them, “Your Master and Lord is before you.” And it will be remembered that He used similar words to them after His resurrection, “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself” (Luke 24:39).

(3) The third exhortation to the agitated disciples was “Be not afraid.” It is one of the many offices of perfect love to cast out fear (1 John 4:18). And the Lord during His ministry often used His assuring words of love and power to deliver trembling ones from the bondage of fear. The sense of His presence was and is all-sufficient to banish the dread of coming calamity. The Lord knew this when He gave the verbal promise of His abiding presence to those He was leaving in the world: “Lo, I am with you always.” And the pious heart knows this from experience when he sings—

“O Lord, Thou art enough

The mind and heart to fill;

Thy life—to calm the troubled soul,

Thy love—its fear dispel.”

The apostles realized the same blessed truth on that stormy night. For after He had spoken to them these words, He went up unto them into the boat and the wind ceased. The Lord's word of comfort was succeeded by His act of deliverance.

CALLOUS HEARTS

At this miraculous display the apostles “were beyond all measure amazed, for they bethought not on the loaves, for their heart was hardened” (T. S. Green's rendering). Thus they failed to exercise that degree of faith and confidence in their Master which might be expected from men who were privileged followers of Jesus and eye-witnesses from the beginning of His ministry of many phases of His divine power. The Lord exhibited before them His personal control of the unruly elements, and they were filled with wonderment such as the multitude often displayed in their unreflecting ignorance (Mark 2:12). Like Israel of old whose tendency was to forget Jehovah and their deliverance from Egypt (Psa. 78:7, 11), the anxieties of the moment obliterated the marvelous mercies of the past from the minds of the disciples. Even the miracle of the previous afternoon, in which they had the honor of being distributors of the Lord's bounty was forgotten by them. Such is the natural disposition of our hearts, for they were but men of like passions with ourselves.

This failure of the apostles is said to be because (1) they understood not the loaves, and (2) their heart was hardened. The verb used in the text for “understanding” has been variously rendered, but it appears on the whole to imply the putting together of matters in the mind and heart in order to ascertain by spiritual reflection their true significance. Like other scriptural words it seems to be employed with great breadth and with various shades of meaning. It occurs, for example, in the address of Stephen. Speaking of Moses slaying the Egyptian, he says, “He supposed his brethren understood how that God by his hand was giving them deliverance; but they understood not” (Acts 7:25). So also Joseph and Mary understood not a certain saying of Jesus (Luke 2:50). The Lord opened not the minds of the disciples that they might understand the scriptures (Luke 24:45). It became true of Israel nationally in the day of their visitation that “they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matt. 13:13), and on account of their wilfulness judgment came upon them, and the heart of the people waxed gross lest they should understand with their heart (Acts 28:26, 27).

In this passage of Mark we are instructed that the apostles failed to glorify the Lord in a great crisis because they had not sufficiently considered the miracle of the loaves. They saw in the miracle the work of His omnipotent hand, but they neglected to perceive in it the intense love of His heart for needy men. They had been witnesses of and participants in the labor of feeding the five thousand, and that deed of mercy was done not only to satisfy hungry mouths but also to awaken slothful hearts. It was another proof that Jehovah Himself was present in Israel giving His people bread. But the hearts of the disciples were so dull that they missed the significance of His presence, and consequently they lacked that source of comfort in the hour of their trial.

If their hearts were not hardened, if they had but considered the loaves, would they have set limitations to the love and power of the Servant of Jehovah? Would they have thought that He who had displayed omnipotence on the land, lacked omniscience on the sea? Would they have thought that He who had showed such solicitude could so change in a few hours as to forget in their peril the band of servants whom He had chosen to be His companions?

The Lord came over the waves seeking a spirit of fidelity and confidence in the hearts of the disciples, but He found instead deadly dullness and spiritual insensibility. There was hardness or blindness of heart in them as well as in the Pharisees (Mark 3:5), in Israel (Rom. 11:7, 25; 2 Cor. 3:14.), and in the Gentiles (Eph. 4:18). Thus Jesus discovered no response in the apostles to the labors of His love, and when He delivered them from the fury of the storm, against which they were vainly battling, they were excessively astonished. If they expected deliverance at all, they did not expect it in that manner. However, their hard hearts were melted, and “they that were in the boat worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God” (Matt. 14:33).

THE LESSON FOR TO-DAY

The lesson of unwavering faith and confidence in the Lord is one needing to be learned again and again and afresh by us. We readily enough recognize the greatness of our foes and the weakness of our might, but not so quickly the power and grace of our Friend and Deliverer. The apostle Paul “considered” the miracle of the loaves and of the waves, as it were, and has expressed the teaching of them in terms of the spiritual world for the comfort of us all. He wrote to the saints at Corinth, “we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning our affliction which befell [us] in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly beyond our power, insomuch that we despaired even of life: yea, we ourselves have had the answer of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raiseth the dead: who delivered us out of so great a death, and will deliver: on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us” (2 Cor. 1:8-10, R.V.).

Let us then exercise faith in face of the adverse forces of this world which we must needs encounter. He who has power to deliver has also sympathy for us in our infirmities, and can give us peace within before He gives peace around. And though we may not be immediately delivered, He will bear our infirmities and carry our sorrows. So that from our sea of tossing billows we may look upward to our Intercessor on high, and say—

“Thou who hast trod the thorny road

Wilt share each small distress:

The love, which bore the greater load,

Will not refuse the less.”

[W.J.H.]

The God of Hope

The very title here attached to the name of God proclaims Him as the source of all hope, and hope is one of the chief sustainers of life. It is that at least for the children of God. They know God in His love, they enjoy His care, His peace, yet they cannot do without hope as given by Him. When brought, through pure grace, to receive salvation in and by grace, they began to see this world in a new light. They perceive and experience that this world is a mass of ruins, the fruit and result of man's sin and disobedience. They do not charge God with the ruin. How could they? A true God, living, perfect, holy, even apart from goodness, cannot be the author of the misery and suffering we are so well acquainted with. The depravity of man's imagination can alone conceive such a thought. A believer acknowledges that, as a member of the human race, he is for his part responsible for the present state of things; and far, very far from complaining of God's ways, sees God's merciful intervention in the wondrous gift of His Son, sent to be the propitiation for our sins. “Herein is love,” says the apostle, and how rightly!

But by His propitiation at the cost of Himself, of His life and blood, the Son did not restore things as they were in the short day of man's innocency. He saves for the better paradise of heaven, the paradise of God, where nothing can be spoiled or deteriorated; and He left the ruin and the suffering in our present world in order that man might be reminded of his hopeless fall, he brought to feel it, generation after generation, and, by the very feeling of it, be led to turn to the Savior.

The believer feels in his body, no less than the unbeliever; the sufferings of the present time, and far more in his spirit. Yet he rejoices; yea, exalts. How can this be? “And not only so, but we rejoice [or, boast] in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” The Christian hope has received from the love of God a pledge that cannot fail, even the Holy Spirit; “and if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies because of His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” Thus the Christian hope is divinely warranted.

But there is a dangerous hope—dangerous because it has not the least foundation in Scripture—against which it is charity to guard many a soul. Such would own that they are not saved, even say that nobody can know in this life whether or not he will be saved, but that they hoped to be saved somehow. In these modem times Satan has invented a cheat by which not a few are caught. It is what they call conditional salvation. This rests upon the fallacy that Christ, between His death and resurrection, descended into hell to preach unto the spirits in prison, which were disobedient when once the long-suffering of God waited in the days of Noah.

The supporters of this fatal dream will have it that the gospel preached by Christ in hades to the antediluvians has continued to lie preached there ever since, and that thus God, in mercy, gives those who have not believed in this present life, a chance of believing in the next, and so of being saved. That is their hope, and they do their best to swamp others into the same. Now their interpretation of 1 Peter 3:19, 20, and the consequences they draw from it, are equally false. First, the apostle never says that Christ went into the prison where those who were disobedient in the days of Noah are now consigned. He says that, by the Spirit He preached to them, not in person, but by the instrumentality of Noah, while the ark was a preparing. They are now in prison because they would not heed the message of Christ to them through Noah—a preacher of righteousness. Even supposing for a moment that they were preached to by Christ in their prison, how would that prove that the millions and millions of post-diluvians who died in unbelief have the gospel preached to them in hades? A hope founded on such a delusion should more rightly be called despair, as Luke 16 shows.

In Scripture, hope is bound up with faith and love (1 Cor. 13:13), thereby showing, inasmuch as faith precedes hope, that there can be no hope without faith, and faith in the gospel as now preached on earth. Earth has been the scene of man's fall; earth has witnessed the entrance of sin into the world and of death by sin. The earth has also witnessed that mighty work of the cross in virtue of which God has exalted His Christ to be a Prince and a Savior. And by these two things, of which earth has been the witness—sin on the one hand and redemption on the other—all the questions concerning eternity have been settled in the life that is present—settled for blessing or for woe; for blessing to those who have received God's testimony concerning His Son; for woe to those who have rejected it.

By receiving this testimony a man becomes a Christian, and by being a Christian he is entitled to blessing in this life and in the next. Among his blessings down here is hope “good hope,” because God-given, and given jointly with everlasting comfort. It is also a “blessed hope,” directing the eye of faith to the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. In that glorious appearing every believer has an immediate interest. We shall be with Him then, His companions. How does this prospect move our hearts and tell upon our daily life and conversation? “With the Lord!” —it is not glory and bliss without Him. If it could be, it would never satisfy us. Nor would it satisfy Him, who redeemed us to Himself at the cost of His own life. Nothing short of seeing of the travail of His soul could satisfy Him, and He will see of that travail when He has us with Him in His glory. “The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them.”

It is a “living hope,” as Peter writes, founded upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ, therefore stable and immovable as is all that rests upon that foundation, and it is “unto an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” It was given to Moses to have a full survey of Canaan from the top of Pisgah. He contemplated from thence the goodly land, the land flowing with milk and honey. It must have been to him a delightful sight by reason of His deep love to God's people. He was sure God would make it good to Israel, and He could anticipate their joy and share it. Yet that inheritance was corruptible and soon became corrupted, defiled, and it has faded away—how sadly! We have a better sight than Moses. The door of our hope opens heavenward, as did the window in the ark. From thence we can survey our inheritance, “reserved in heaven for us,” and we “kept for it by the power of God.” No failure can come in here, no power can be anything like a match for the power of God, who has both it and us in His keeping.

It was in view of His resurrection that our blessed Lord said by the prophetic Spirit, “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage,” and it is that heritage that He intends to share with us, His redeemed. But before He entered on it a mighty conflict was to take place with all the powers of earth and hell, and there could be no one with Him there. Had we been witnesses of it, what could we, poor helpless things, have done more than did His disciples? We could not so much as have crossed the brook Besor! But it was in the face of our helplessness that our great David came forth, after having vanquished all the enemies, with the wondrous decree, “As his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike. And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day” (1 Sam. 30.).

“His be the Victor's name

Who fought the fight alone;

Triumphant saints no honor claim:

His conquest was their own.”

There is yet one feature attached to our God-given hope, and, one can say—the brightest. It will be unspeakably blessed to be with Christ, His companions and His joint-heirs in the day of His power; but is there anything equal to being like Him who is the very effulgence of God's glory? Yet God has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son, and of course His purpose stands good forever. Faith may and, does reckon upon it with full assurance. How will this part of our hope be fulfilled? By the adoption, the redemption of our body, as we read in this eighth chapter of Romans. The adoption, the redemption of our souls we have already. We cry, “Abba, Father.” We are now children of God as much as we shall ever be. But there is yet in us what we have inherited from the first Adam—a mortal body, a body of humiliation, of corruption, and we know, that flesh and blood, as our body is at present constituted, cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. How then shall we be delivered from this mortal, corruptible body? By an act of power of the Redeemer of our souls, “For... we also 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.”

But it is not by power only that we shall he conformed to Christ. The apostle John declares, “Beloved, now are we children of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when [or, if] He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” So that being like Him is consequent upon seeing Him as He is. Wondrous sight! The disciples saw Him after His resurrection, saw Him when He ascended up, but they did not see Hint glorified on high, and were not like Him. They and we await the resurrection of those that are Christ's at His coming. Then shall we all be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Rapturous sight! Now, even where faith is most in activity, (as surely it was in Paul), “we only see in a mirror, darkly"; but then face to face, “as He is.” The consequence will be, that we shall reflect His beauty and His glory, so that He will be glorified in His saints and marveled at or admired in all them that believed. Observe, it is said “in them.” Were it said “by them” it would not necessarily be that they were “like Him.”

May the comfort of that purifying, sanctifying hope fill the souls of all those who love His appearing and long to see Him in His radiancy! “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope in the power of the Holy Ghost.”

P.C.

Philadelphia and the Prospect Today: Part 1

Among the seven churches, Philadelphia is almost singular, for no fault is laid against it: of only one other can this be said, namely, Smyrna. Smyrna was suffering persecution and martyrdom, and if there were faults, the Lord does not mention them. Philadelphia had not the honor of martyrdom; there is nothing heroic in her record, yet she ranks in the same class; there were works, and the Lord says He knows them, but if He had not said this, we might not have been aware that she had any, so private, so modest, so undemonstrative her demeanor. The works are not set out and cataloged like those of Ephesus, but the Lord gives His assurance that to Him they are known, and that suffices her. This shows that God has His own principles of estimating. The faithfulness that would face the stake at another time may be called for and found in a quieter, humbler path between Sardis and Laodicea; morally between them, as well as chronologically. In Philadelphia there was not power for much, ‘Thou hast a little power;' but there was that which was precious to Him who had given them His word: they valued that word assiduously: “Thou hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.” And what is Philadelphia's reward—her present-time reward? An opened door: a door suited to her measure of power and character of work. There is a subtle linking between these five things—I know thy works: Behold I have set before thee an opened door which no one can shut: Because thou hast a little power: And hast kept my word: And hast not denied my name. Now it is Philadelphia's wisdom to know her place and her calling. To make a name and a display in the world is not her mission. If she attempt it, it will be a failure. The Lord is not going to set up the Church again. Outwardly the testimony is a failure, a failure full of disgrace, and never more so than to-day. Hers is the place to own with meekness the failure, but to keep His word with fidelity; and in doing so, her power is found; it is only a little power, but it is enough for her task. Her works may be small and despised; let it satisfy her heart that He says; ‘I know them:’ for His eye they are done, not for the applause of the world, and certainly not of the Church-world.

“Feeblest works, yet dear to Jesus,

Weary hearts that wait for Him,

Eyes that look upon the glory,

Till all else is dark and dim;

Midst the wreck, the desolation,

Where the glorious city stood,

Called to raise the lonely altar,

One last witness for their God.”

Works, then, are not the characteristic of Philadelphia, but—oh! blessed encouragement to diligence—her works are known, and known in the highest quarter.

“As He pronounces lastly on each deed

Of so touch fame, in Heaven expect thy meed.”

Another point about Philadelphia is her outside position. She is not of Thyatira, not of Sardis, not of Laodicea. In these circumstances she may he completely ignored—not recognized as having any place in the Christian economy. There is a formula her& which we find also in Smyrna— “Them of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews, and are not, but lie.” Smyrna was comforted against their persecution; Philadelphia has more: there comes a time when the great professing body will be forced to acknowledge the Philadelphians she had despised. “Behold I will cause that they shall come and shall do homage before thy feet, and shall know that I have loved thee.”

This might seem a triumph for Philadelphia, and so in truth it is, but it may also prove a more hazardous trial than any before, for flattery may succeed where persecution fails. Can Philadelphia stand in this new experience? It is very sweet—that even the Church-world is forced to acknowledge those that shad despised.

But the construction of this epistle seems to intimate that when this phase is reached, it may not be long before Philadelphia's path upon earth is concluded. THE NEXT THING THAT FOLLOWS IS THE COMING OF THE LORD: “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee out of the hour of temptation that is about to come upon the whole world to try them that dwell upon the earth. I come quickly: hold fast what thou hast that no one take thy crown.”

Note here that an hour of temptation or trial is appointed to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. The Lord declares that He will keep Philadelphia out of that hour; not from the trial, or through it, but out of the time of it: when this comes, Philadelphia will not be there. How will this be? Obviously the coming of the Lord will have translated the saints to heaven. Surely it is not irrelevant that immediately following upon this comes the declaration (the first time in Scripture) “I COME QUICKLY: hold fast what thou hast, that no one take thy crown.'' Is not this a word for us to-day? Some will be alive on earth when the Lord's coming occurs: suppose that it is we ourselves!

Three things spoken of in the Revelation, are, in people's minds, often confused, viz: The hour of temptation in Rev. 3:10; Great tribulation for Thyatira. Rev. 2:22; THE Great Tribulation, Rev. 7:14; 13:13, 17. Each of these is distinct. The third is last in point of time, and quite peculiar; that which will never have been in the world before, and never will be again (Matt. 24:21; Jer. 30:7; Dan. 12:1). It is, emphatically, “THE GREAT TRIBULATION.” Pre-eminently it falls upon the Jews, and is “the time of Jacob's trouble” (Jer. 30.) The center of it will probably be in Jerusalem where the abomination of desolation will be (Matt. 24:14; Rev. 13:14-17), but that the Great Tribulation will be confined to that land or that people, is, if we go by Scripture, a mistake. The Lord Himself states that a certain tribulation is so great that there never will have been such before, and never can be such again. If after this, Scripture tells us (Rev. 7:9-14) that a certain company out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues came out of The Great Tribulation, or, as it is more emphatically expressed in the original— “THE TRIBULATION, THE GREAT” surely we must bow to Scripture, and own that they did come out of the Great Tribulation, and let fall the theory for which no Scripture has been shown, that the Great Tribulation is confined to the land of the Jews. As, however, these Gentiles dune out of it, they must have been in it. Moreover, the whole tenor of prophecy coincides with these saved ones having part in the Great Tribulation; for that awful persecution is consequent upon men being required to acknowledge the Beast and worship his image. Now the sphere of the Beast's authority is not merely Israel and Palestine, but every tribe and people and tongue and nation (Rev. 13:7) and all who will not worship the image will be killed; and no one will be allowed either to buy or sell save he that has the mark of the Beast or the number of his name (Rev. 13:17). The gospel of the kingdom, too, is to be preached in the whole world (Matt. 14:14), and the fruit of that preaching is, we may suppose, this blessed, this countless multitude of saved souls. We see then this awful persecution marked off and standing by itself alone: it is the work of Satan, through his agent the Beast.

Now we come—tracing our way backwards—to Thyatira and the judgment threatened towards her. This is 'great tribulation:' but it is without the emphatic, distinguishing, double article—indeed without an article at all: still, minus the article, the words are the same, and we must remember that in the Revelation, there is not the change of a word without significance. The phrase bears with it an association of its awful employment which we have just been viewing. The explanation is that the judgment of Thyatira for her sins comes from the same Satanic source as the persecution of the faithful under the Beast. Thyatira of the Seven churches, becomes Babylon of the latter part of the Revelation. The ten horns and the Beast hate the whore; make her desolate and naked, and eat her flesh and burn her with fire. God uses them as His instruments of judgment. “God hath put in their hearts to fulfill His will” &c. (Rev. 17:16-18). Her tribulation is indeed great—it is ruthless, relentless destruction, and from the same hand as, but is not identical with THE Great Tribulation. The woman who rides upon the Beast must be destroyed, before the Beast's supremacy can be asserted. The Great Tribulation will then follow, for all who will not own and worship the Beast.

The third topic, ‘the Hour of Temptation,' is the most interesting to us, as being the nearest to us in point of time—for as already explained, we shall be removed from this scene before ‘the hour of temptation; ' but immediately that the Church is gone, this Satanic breath will spread its blasting influence over the world. There is an hour approaching most baneful to the world. But let us be clear as to what it is. It is temptation (πειρασμός) not suffering (θλιψις). In the Great Tribulation there will be keen and appalling suffering; extensive killing; a father will see a son haled to the guillotine (Rev. 20:4), or a wife her husband, a mother her children, or children their mother—taken away to die for their faith. Worse still, there will be a shaking of all human confidence; many will betray one another and hate one another; human affection will wither under the awful dominating sentiment of Satan-worship (Matt. 24:10; Rev. 13:4); whoever will not worship the image of the Beast will be killed: this may apply more especially to the land where the image is. But ALL, wherever they may be, will be required to receive a mark, the name of the Beast, or the number of his name; and no one will be allowed to buy or sell who has not this mark. But this is more than temptation: it is tribulation—well may it be named “THE TRIBULATION, THE GREAT.” What a privilege for the Church to be caught away into glory, prior to this! And blessed to know that there will be a multitude too numerous to number, who will pass as conquerors through that trial, awful as it is, and stand before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white, and with palms in their hands, ascribing salvation to God and to the Lamb (Rev. 7:9-12).

(To be continued)

[E. J.T.]

A Letter on the Present War

Judging from Scripture, my own feeling is that this war is certainly not one of those spoken of in Matt. 22 Those wars are after the church is gone—when the Jewish remnant has been developed, and False Christs are presenting themselves to the Jews: see Matt. 24:3-8; but especially verse 6: “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars.... these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet": so that if this were one of the wars and rumors of wars of Matt. 24, that would be rather a proof that the end is not yet. The present war, to my apprehension, is only just inch another as that at the time of Waterloo.

It is strange how readily people will give attention to any earthly events, but will pay no heed, to one far more vast, and which may take place at any moment—the Lord's coming for the church, when the dead in Christ will be raised, and the living caught up to meet Him in the air; but this is a heavenly event, and as such, has no interest for men of the world, or for Christians who are worldly (1 Cor. 2:14—3:1). If you ask me, What will be a sign of the End? Scripture replies clearly: when the gospel of the kingdom (not the present gospel—see “The Time of the End, but the End not Yet” pp. 19, 83), is preached in the whole world for a witness unto all the nations, “Then shall the End come” (Matt. 24:14).

But prior to that, the church will have been removed from this scene, and its place in testimony in the world will have been taken by converted Jews, who will be hated by the Gentiles for the name's sake of Christ (Matt. 24:9). From this it appears clear that the name of Christ will have been given up by the nations who now profess it: in other and Scriptural words, the Apostasy will have come (2 Thess. 2:3), that is, the full abandonment of Christianity. It is approaching at a galloping pace already.

The first prophetic event then, to be looked for, is the taking of the church to heaven. When that has been accomplished, there will be the Temptation of Rev. 3 to the Apostasy; and the preliminary troubles called the “Beginning of sorrows” (Matt. 24:5-13), and a converted remnant of Jews will preach the gospel of the kingdom in the whole world, for a witness to all nations. “Then,” and not till then, “will the End come” (verse 54).

“The End,” however, is not a moment of time, but an extended era, within which great events happen (e.g. Dan. 11:40; 12:1, etc). The ancient Roman Empire will be re-constituted in augmented splendor. It is during the Time of the End that the Great Tribulation takes place, surpassing the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution; excelling indeed any time of trouble that ever has been, or ever will be again (Matt. 24:21).

Sweet is it to know that we shall be far from this scene, when these terrors sweep over the earth; and we do not know how near—perhaps at the very door—our translation may be.

Melbourne,

[E. J. T.]

Sept., 1914

Extract: Christianity Characteristically Heavenly

Christianity is characteristically heavenly. He who is essentially its life and exemplar is Christ, as we know Him, risen and enthroned at the right hand of God; and the Holy Ghost is come down, since Christ was glorified, to be the power and guide of the Christian and the church here below. It was the business of the Christian individually and corporately to maintain this for their testimony both as truth and in practice. Not only have they not maintained it, but they have allowed themselves to become Judaized. What the apostle Paul fought against so energetically during his ministry has taken place, and there has been a most painful compound of heavenly truth with earthly rule, practice, and hope. The consequence is that conglomerate, which we commonly now call “Christendom,” consisting of Greek church and Roman, Oriental and Protestant bodies of every description, national or dissenting.

Where is the witness to the one body animated by the one Spirit? These various and opposed communities may have different measures of light, but in none do they exhibit an approach to an adequate testimony, either of the Spirit's presence and power, or of the word of God, in subjection to the Lord Jesus. They really testify to the actual state of ruin which pervades the house of God, though doubtless to His infinite patience and grace.

W.K.

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Lectures on 2 Chronicles 13-20

Abijah follows (chap. 13.), and he sets the battle in array against Jeroboam, and calls upon the men of Israel to follow. “But Jeroboam caused an ambushment,” and, in consequence, we find Judah looking back; but they cried unto Jehovah, and He was with them, and “God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. And the children of Israel fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hand,” spite of all their prudent arrangements and their numerous host. “So there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men.” The slaughter was prodigious, and not only so, but Abijah pursues his advantage and takes cities from them, so that Jeroboam never recovered strength again. Jehovah was against him.

Thus we see that God, after reproving the fault of Rehoboam by tying up his hands, was pleased to judge the fault of Jeroboam with a complete destruction of his men of war—the very thing in which he prided himself. God's government is always righteous. I am speaking now of His providential ways, and, I say, they are always wise and good.

Then in chapter 14 we have Asa. “And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of Jehovah his God: for he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves: and commanded Judah to seek Jehovah God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the kingdom was quiet before him. And he built fenced cities in Judah.” And, further, we find that he was blest of God in his day of trial when the Ethiopians came against him. “And Asa cried unto Jehovah his God, and said, Jehovah, [it is] nothing with thee to help, whether with many or with them that hath no power: help us, O Jehovah our God, for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Jehovah, thou [art] Our God; let not man prevail against thee. So Jehovah smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people that [were] with him pursued them unto Gerar: and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover themselves; for they were destroyed before Jehovah, and before his host; and they carried away very much spoil. And they smote all the cities round about Gerar; for the fear of Jehovah came upon them; and they spoiled all the cities; for there was exceeding much spoil in them.”

Nevertheless, Asa has a warning, from Azariah who says, “Jehovah is with you while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law. But when they in their trouble did turn unto Jehovah, God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. And in those times [there was] no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations [were] upon all the inhabitants of the countries. And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity. Be ye strong, therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded” (chap. 15). Asa takes courage from this for the time, and puts away still more the abominations out of Judah and Benjamin. And, further, he even put down his mother from being queen—no doubt a most serious trial to the son; but she was an idolatress. “And Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burned it at the brook Kidron. But the high places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless, the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.” He was sincere, upright. “And he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and vessels.”

But Asa's day of failure comes (chap. 16.). When Baasha, king of Israel, came up against Judah, and built Ramah in order to hinder the Israelites from going up to the temple, Asa makes a league with Syria. He has recourse to Benhadad and says, “There is a league between me and thee, as there was between my father and thy father; behold, I have sent thee silver and gold; go, break thy league with Baasha, king of Israel, that he may depart from me.” Ben-hadad accordingly stopped the building of Ramah by the king of Israel. “And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa, king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on Jehovah thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand.”

How remarkable is the government of God. Whatever wrong step we do to accomplish an end, not only does it not accomplish it, but it brings its own chastening with it. The very thing we least desire comes upon us. God would not only have hindered Israel, but Syria. Instead of this, the host of the king of Syria escaped out of his hands. The consequence was that, convicted of his folly as well as of his sin, Asa was wrath with the seer and put him in a prison-house: and as one evil leads on to another, Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time. But God oppressed him, or, at any rate, chastised him, for he was diseased in his feet; and the same unbelief that sent him to Ben-hadad sent him now to men when he ought to have looked to Jehovah. We must remember that the grand point in Israel was that they had God to care for them. It was not like the case of men now who look to God to bless the means that are at hand; but in Israel there was a special testimony of God being looked to in every trouble; and in this, Asa, although he had been a faithful man, failed seriously, and very solemnly too, at the close. I do not say that he was not a man of God, but I do say that there was great and grievous failure.

Jehoshaphat his son reigns (chap. 17). And here we find very beautiful grace and piety. I should say that piety more particularly is what characterizes this good son. He was a man; too, whose heart was towards the Lord. Jehoshaphat is established by Jehovah in the kingdom, and all Judah brought him presents, and he had riches and honor in abundance. But although all this is true, “His heart was lifted up in the ways of Jehovah: moreover, he took away the high places and groves out of Judah.” Nevertheless, there was no removing of all the evil. There was a greater fidelity than had been found before. “And they taught in Judah, and had the book, of the law of Jehovah with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people.” It was a very important thing. “And the fear of Jehovah fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah.” So there was a very great moral effect produced.

Still there was, as we see in the next chapter (18), a feebleness in Jehoshaphat that showed itself in this way, that he made affinity, not with Syria, but with Israel. This was a grievous sin in the sight of God, for although it was an enormous thing to form a league with the Gentiles offensive and defensive, it was a most serious thing to take ground with an idolater. I do not speak of making use of the Gentiles. That was right. But Israel stood in a peculiar position (with its golden calves set up in Bethel and Dan!) so that Jehoshaphat's affinity with Ahab its king was in a certain sense more guilty than a league with Syria. Why? Because they were the people of God in an idolatrous state. It is just the same thing now in tampering with Romanism, because the gravamen of the guilt of Romanism is not merely because Romanists are idolaters, but because they are idolaters professing Christ, and baptized in His name. That is what makes them much more guilty in the sight of God than any heathens who have not heard his name and glory.

So it is in this case then Jehoshaphat having formed this league comes into nothing but trouble through it, though, apparently, there might be an outward prosperity. A messenger is sent to him (chap. 19) who warns him solemnly, but in vain. He suffers the consequence of it. The king of Israel was smitten. The king of Judah returns and dwells at Jerusalem.

God, however, graciously met his faith when greatly tried, as we find in the 20th chapter, where the Moabites and Ammonites and others came and a beautiful instance of the piety of faith is shown us here in this way—for I shall only mention one single feature in this mere sketch of these chapters. It is that in going forth they went singing the song of victory. It was not like the Greek who raised his paean to frighten the enemy; but here it was the piety that Ventured and counted upon the Lord. How blessed is faith in the people of God! The consequence need scarcely be told. “The children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy [them]; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.” So that when the men of Judah came there was nothing to do but to reap the fruits. And well might they call it the valley of Berachah—the valley of praise. “For there they blessed Jehovah: therefore the name of the same place was called the valley of Berachah unto this day.”

So then ends the course of Jehoshaphat with one solitary tale more, namely, the attempt to join with “Ahaziah, king of Israel, who did very wickedly. And he joined himself with him to make ships to go to Tarshish: and they made the ships in Ezion-gaber. Then Eliezer the son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying,

Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, Jehovah hath broken thy works. And the ships were broken, and they were not able to go to Tarshish (20:35-37).

What a contrast with Jehoshaphat going forth and the victory made ready to his hand by the Lord God. And this is all-instructive to us. May the Lord keep us true to His name and glory! [W.K.]

(To be continued)

Song of Solomon 8

The 8th chapter is a kind of conclusion to the. book as the 1St chapter is a kind of preface; but. still there are some important words in it, and I will endeavor just to say, briefly, a little upon them before I close.

“Oh, that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.” There the bride expresses the love that she had expressed from the first. Here again is a proof that, as yet, the marriage had not taken place, because there would be nothing to be ashamed of when it did. But you see here it is different. You see how the marriage not having yet taken place and she having no right, if I may so say, from a settled relationship, this is her feeling. We have, therefore, a kind of going briefly over the ground that we have traversed before, as a conclusion of the whole matter.

“I would lead thee and bring thee into my mother's house, who would instruct me” (chap. 8.). I need not, of course, repeat what I have already said. “I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine of the juice of my pomegranate. His left hand should be under my head and his right hand should embrace me.” And then, for the last time comes her charge. “I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love until he please. Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness?” But is He now simply “like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?” (3:6). No. There is another object. It is now “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved?” Here we see that it is not now the Bridegroom, but she has a vision of herself—of herself united to the Bridegroom. Before, it was rather His coming to her, or for her, but now, “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved?” She sees the bride, as it were, in spirit, and the Bridegroom.

“I raised thee up” —here is His answer. “I raised thee up under the apple-tree; there thy mother brought the forth; there she brought thee forth that bare thee” (ver. 5). We saw the apple-tree or the citron-tree in the 2nd chapter. Here we have it again, and the meaning appears to be that, instead of Israel being viewed, or rather instead of the bride being viewed, according to her former associations, it is not the bride connected with being brought out of Egypt. We find that, historically, was the case. Israel was brought as a vine out of Egypt. Is that the case here? Oh, no. Again, it is not mount Sinai. It is not that there she was brought forth. Not so. It is no longer deliverance from Egypt. It is no longer being put under the covenant of law. It is under Christ. It is Messiah in the new covenant now. It is there that she is found, and there only. It is under the citron-tree. That is the great spring of all fruit—of all real fruit for God—the one source of all true fruit-bearing. And so he answers, “Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm.”

Then comes another word which might not be easily apprehended, but on which I must say a little. “We have a little sister” (ver. 8). Now who is this sister—this little sister that was not yet grown like the bride? It is the ten tribes, not the two. It is not Jerusalem, it is Ephraim. It is the house of Joseph. And why is it the house of Joseph? I refer to it now particularly to guard you from those nauseous publications that are floating about, talking about the lost ten tribes, as if that was anything for a Christian, as regards our connection with it. I hope there is not a single heart here that meddles with such trash—such delusive trash. Why, beloved friends, I think I can say that I never saw a more lowering, debasing, worldly thing in its character than a pamphlet that was, I suppose, sent for my edification only last night. Just turning over the leaves of it I found the one object to be the glory of man as he is now—the dragging down people from the heavenly place which they have got—the heavenly place in Christ—to glorify themselves because they have got a big city like this, and an active commercial country like this; to think that these are the glories of the ten tribes of Israel. I can hardly conceive anything more debasing to Christian persons than that kind of thing: and you will excuse me, therefore, if I speak in these strong and peremptory terms of it, because it is not everybody that is able to discern the character of a thing. But if the Lord gives me any light at all on spiritual or scriptural subjects, I am bound to say that that is my judgment of what I have seen and read of this foolish, absurd and groundless attempt to trace the ten tribes of Israel in the Anglo-Saxon race.

Well, here we have Ephraim according to God, and not according to these terms of men. This is the way in which the Lord speaks of her—as a little sister. Why? Because she was undeveloped. Oh, the wonderful grace of God! Why were the Jews—the two tribes—developed, and why not Ephraim or the ten? Ah, the Jews had dealings with the Messiah. It is always the Messiah that develops either good or ill. If the Messiah be approached in unbelief, oh how terrible! And so it was with the Jew. But so it will not be in the day that is coming.

They will, therefore, have had that double experience—the bitter experience of incredulity, with all its horrors, and the destruction that it brought upon them, and the blessed experience of those whose heart has now been drawn to Him before He comes. For the Lord will give them that; and this book of Song of Solomon is the drawing of the heart to the Messiah before He appears in glory—the fitting of them to receive Him, for it is quite a mistake that the Jew will be converted when the Lord appears in glory—quite a mistake.

The Jew will be established when the Lord appears in glory; the Jew will be blest and accepted when the Lord thus appears, but conversion and dealing with the affection and with the conscience in the remnant, the Jerusalem that we are speaking of here, the bride—all this will have preceded. His coming. But with Ephraim it will not be so. That is the reason why she is spoken of as this little sister that was not yet marriageable. She had gone through none of this experience. She remained just a little one. There was nothing to draw her out, so to speak, either in good or ill. There she was in her littleness—in her want of understanding—in her want of experience in every way. It is she that is referred to, but then the Lord will bring Ephraim out of the hiding-place and will allure her, as it is said, into the wilderness—will deal with Ephraim there. That is fully entered into in the prophets, and so it is alluded to here. The book would not be complete, as we can see, without showing this.

Just one word more. If we apply the Song of Solomon to the church, pray who is the little sister? You see the thing does not hold for one moment; but when you have Jerusalem as the bride, then Ephraim is indeed the little sister. If it is a question of Ephraim dealing with the Gentiles, Ephraim will be the warrior, so to speak; but if it is in relation to Christ, then Jerusalem is viewed as the grown sister—the spouse, “my sister my spouse.” Ephraim is the little sister. It is in relation, of course, to Christ's love. So here then it is entered into briefly.

But finally, “Solomon,” we are told, had a vineyard at Baalhamon—a remarkable expression. The meaning of the word Baalhamon is “lord of the peoples.” And I think it is a very important expression at this point. The children of Israel—the Jew—ought to have been, I will not say, “lord of the peoples,” but truly to have been a blessing to every nation under heaven. Were they so? “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.” “In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Was that true of Israel—the Jew? The very reverse. They lost the blessing themselves because they refused Christ, and they have been the great spreaders of incredulity against Christ wherever they have gone, to this day. There are no such decided enemies of the gospel, for they bear the same character as in the early days of Christianity and they do the same work, because the same unbelief prevails to this moment. But when He comes—when Solomon, the true Solomon comes—He will have a vineyard and His vineyard will be fruitful indeed. And here we find it with its connection. The vineyard is at Baalhamon. It is in relation to all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, that the blessing of Christ will surely come.

The blessing may have tarried, as the vision has; but as surely as the vision will come, and not tarry, so the blessing will flow like rivers to every nation and tribe and tongue, but not till that day. It is at Baalhamon, and it is in connection with Solomon—for this is the point. It is the Lord Jesus and not the church that is to be the true means of blessing to all nations. I admit that it will be when the church is with Him assuredly. I admit that it will be when the Jew is converted to Him, loves Him, knows Him, most surely. But the one that causes all the difference is not the Jew, and it is not the church. It is Christ. And it is Christ then come—Christ as King. That is what is spoken of here, and why he is spoken of as Solomon. “Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon: he let out the vineyard unto keepers: everyone for the fruit thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver,” because there will be blessed fruit in that day. Everything will flourish.

It will be the day when, if it is the figure of a net cast into the sea, there will be all sorts of fishes (not small ones, too, but great), and the net will not be broken. Now the net is broken. There may be, no doubt, a plentiful catch, but everything fails. The net is broken, and the ship would sink entirely if it were not for Him; but here in the passage before us, nothing fails. That will be its character. “My vineyard, which is mine is before me.” This is the language of the bride—of Jerusalem—because she, too, has got a vineyard. “My vineyard, which is mine, is before me: thou, O Solomon, must have a thousand, and those who keep the fruit thereof two hundred.” She wishes to have no vineyard apart from Him. She is identified with Him. The Jew will have no pleasure, no joy, no fruit, except in connection with Christ.

What a change! How blessed to think that that long-settled love, that disappointed love of the Savior will then be found, and will have awakened a love that flows from His own, and will be according to His own, in its measure, in the heart of her who was loved so long, and was so long unbelieving! But the unbelief will pass, the failure will pass, and the good will abide. Good is destined to triumph. Even now we know that God overcomes evil with good, but in that bright day there will be no evil even to overcome. Good will have its own bright and unalloyed way, and that will be forever.

And so this beautiful book closes with the call of the bride, “Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe, or to a young hart, upon the mountains of spices.” She desires, earnestly desires that He shall come.

W.K.

Notes on Hosea 7:8-16

Many figures are employed in this chapter to describe the sad moral state of Israel at that time; not the least striking and suggestive is that in verse 9— “Gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth it not.” Is this applicable to Israel only, or does it apply in principle to any of us?

The tendency of all things here, whether physical, moral or spiritual, is to decline, to decay, and to death. The histories of man, of Israel, of the church, and of ourselves, collectively and individually, alike testify to this universal fact. But in verse 9 there is something more solemn than the signs of decline and decay which Jehovah discovered in His people—it is that they were utterly insensible to them. “Gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth it not.” The natural consequence of this decline and departure from God is that the soul becomes unconscious of its state.

Mal. 1 illustrates this solemn truth. We see all through this chapter how utterly indifferent Israel is to every claim of Jehovah—they question His love, His authority, His service, His name, Himself—they are totally unconscious of every claim.

What was the cause of Ephraim's state in Hosea? There were three causes, pride, worldliness, and self-will or rebellion—the first two secondary, the third primary. The first then is pride— “and the pride of Israel testifieth to his face” (verse 10). Pride goes before a fall. Is there any sin so common, or to which we yield ourselves so much, as pride of heart?

The second cause is worldliness— “they call to Egypt, they go to Assyria” (verse 11). Egypt is a type of the world in its natural state. Other nations also typify the world, but in different ways, e.g., Moab, pride of the world; Babylon, religious corruption. Worldliness of any sort inevitably brings with it declension or deadness.

In verses 13 to 16 we find the primary cause—departure from, and rebellion against, Jehovah. The Lord charges this home to them seven times—They have fled from Me; they have transgressed against Me; they have spoken lies against Me; they have not cried unto Me with their heart; they rebel against Me; they imagine mischief against Me; they return not to the Most High. How complete was the fall! The cause—departure of heart from the Lord.

Is there then no remedy? At one point in the history of God's people He bore with them until there was “no remedy” (2 Chron. 36:16), but thank God it is not so with us, and it was not so here. We find the remedy in Hosea 14. This chapter is one of the most touching and gracious in the whole of the Old Testament. First, we have a gracious and loving call to repentance and return of heart to the Lord; that is the first step towards restoration. Verses 2 and 3 are an exhortation to full confession and abandonment of all trust in human sources of strength, and of, the sin of idolatry; while in verse. 4 we have the gracious response of the Lord.

Then, in the two following verses we have, under the most beautiful figures, the results of the restoration of the soul. “I will be as the dew unto Israel” —refreshing and fertilizing grace and blessing from the Lord Himself. “He shall grow (or, blossom) as the lily” —in grace, purity and humility. “And cast forth his roots as Lebanon” —firmly rooted and established in the grace of God, “His branches shall spread” —a means of blessing to others. “And his beauty shall be as the olive tree” —beautiful in the eyes of the Lord. What a loving interest He takes in His own, how He delights in them and loves to see the beauties and graces of Christ in them! “And His smell as Lebanon” —how acceptable and delightful to the Lord is the fragrance of Christ in His people!” They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon (ver. 7). What a picture of a happy moral state of soul before the Lord! What a Wonderful thing that His people should be so acceptable to Him!

Verse 8. This verse is a kind of dialog between Ephraim and Jehovah. There is Ephraim's happy resolve— “What have I to do any more with idols?” Then Jehovah speaks— “I have heard him and observed him.” Who first saw the gray hairs and the turning away of heart? Jehovah. Who saw the first symptoms of returning? Jehovah. “I have... observed him.” Who was the first to observe the departure of the, prodigal and to miss him from the paternal table (Luke 15)? Who was on the look-out for his return?— “and when he was yet a great way off his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran”. Who was the first to discern the decline of first love in Ephesus (Rev. 2)?

But we may be occupied with our blessings and become proud of them. Is there any pride like spiritual pride? Ephraim says, “I am like a green fir tree.” There is not a single grace or mercy that does not come directly from the heart of God (James 1:17); we have nothing apart from Him. So Jehovah answers Ephraim— “From Me is thy fruit found.”

In John 15:4.8 it is not a question of life but of communion. There may be life but very little, fruit—fruit results from communion with the Lord. “Apart from Me ye can do nothing.” So here, “From Me is thy fruit found.”

Ephraim was unconscious of his gray hairs; so we, if we get away from the Lord, may become unconscious of it ourselves; but grace works in our hearts and brings us back to God.

“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,

Prone to leave the God I love.”

Are we not dependent on Him for restoration of soul every day of our lives? What so prone to wander as a sheep and what so silly when it finds itself alone on the desolate moors and barren mountains of this world? But the shepherd it is who goes after it and brings it back.

May we be found cleaving to the Lord with full purpose of heart.

C.J.D.

Studies in Mark 6:53-56: The Morning Without Clouds

6:53-56

“And when they had crossed over, they tame to the land unto Gennesaret, and moored to the shore. And when they were come out of the boat, straightway the people knew him, and ran round about that whole region, and began to carry about on their beds those that were sick, where they heard he was. And wheresoever he entered, into villages, or into cities, or into the country, they laid the sick in the market-places, and besought him that they might touch if it were but the border of his garment; and as many as touched him were made whole" (6:53-56, R.V.).

The sequel to the narrative of the miracle on the lake, as recorded both in Matthew and Mark, is remarkable, though our interest and attention are apt to be so powerfully attracted by the display upon the waters of our Lord's power in the physical world that we overlook those beneficent effects that followed in profusion when He came to the shore and that equally proved Him to be the Lord from heaven. During the ministry of Jesus, the activities of His mercy were incessant, and were spread alike over land and sea, by night and by day. The Servant of Jehovah never wearied in His task of spreading out the lovingkindnesses of Heaven before the dull eyes of Israel, taking up in spirit the Psalmist's words, “Oh, that men would praise the LORD for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men” (Psa. 107:31).

There was still among the people of Galilee an outward interest in the Lord and a widespread belief in Him as a wonder-worker. Before He set out from Capernaum on the boat-journey the people came flocking to Him (ver. 31), and during that journey on the previous day a multitude followed on the land (ver. 33) that they might hear Him again. Now when the boat was moored to the western shore after the night of tempest the Lord was recognized, and a crowd quickly gathered again that His healing power might be exercised upon them; and they did not seek Him in vain.

These two or three verses form a comprehensive summary of the Lord's service at this period. Judging from the narratives of Matthew and Mark, the miracles began directly after the crossing of the sea, and thus constitute the immediate sequel to the stilling of the storm. But it is not implied by either of the Evangelists that all the cases of healing contemplated in the summary took place on a single day. On the contrary, the interest is said to have been aroused throughout the whole region of Gennesaret, and wherever the Lord went, whether into a village, or town, or district, the sick ones were brought into the market-places that they might touch the border of His garment; and as many as touched Him were made whole.

THE SHADOWS FLEEING AWAY

The dark watches of the tempestuous night were ended, the roaring of the mighty billows had ceased, the storm-tossed boat was at its desired haven, the rising sun chased every gloomy cloud away and beamed in peace and joy upon a smiling land.

The Lord with His disciples came to the land of Gennesaret, as Matthew and Mark tell us. This was the name given to the strip of country lying along the north-western shore of the Sea of Galilee. The district is described by Josephus, the historian of the Jews, as one of singular beauty and fertility. Its name, Gennesaret, is said to signify the “king's garden,” and, if so, it is singularly appropriate in this Connection, forming a pictorial allusion to the glad time when the Lord shall come, and the whole land shall be as the garden of the Lord (Isa. 51:3).

However that may be, we may see here, without an undue exercise of imagination, some partial fulfillment of that long-promised day breaking and the shadows fleeing away. Certainly across this fertile Galilean country the shadows of death were lying, shadows sinless Eden never knew. Indeed, this district in the neighborhood of Capernaum by the sea was described by Isaiah in one of his prophecies as the land of the shadow of death (Isa. 9:2), and the fulfillment of that particular prophecy so far as it related to the ministry of the Lord, is stated by Matthew. Speaking of the preaching of Jesus, he says, “the people which sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is spiting up” (Matt. 4:12-16).

It is true that the sad phrase, “the shadow of death,” is of frequent occurrence in Holy Writ, and is found no less than ten times in the Book of Job, where the terrible devastation wrought in a single household by the “king of terrors” is the main topic. But it is a matter of special interest to note that the phrase is definitely applied by the prophet and by the evangelist to this land on whose shores Jesus landed after the storm.

Here the stroke of death menaced men in every direction, whether in an exceptional degree we are not informed. But there were sick persons in every town and village and along the countryside. Dark shadows were in the streets, in the homes, and in the hearts of these Galileans everywhere; But when the people recognized Jesus, they carried the sick ones on their beds to the place where He was. They laid them in the market-places that they might touch if only the border of His garment, and as many as touched Him were made whole.

It was thus that the shadows were dispersed. The pain and infirmity of the sufferers, the fears and anxieties of the watchers were alike dispelled by the presence of the Lord of abounding mercy. Many a one that day proved that while weeping may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning. The good Shepherd who had fed the flock of Israel, literally and figuratively, the previous evening, now appeared again to His people, and walked with them, as it were, comforting them with His rod and staff, more potent in mercy than those of Moses and Elisha.

THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD

There is a striking outstanding feature in this short section of the Gospel. This feature is the beneficent effect produced directly by the presence of Jesus upon the dwellers upon that favored shore. They brought the sick to the place where they heard He was. It was sufficient that the suffering ones should touch Him or the hem of His garment, and they were healed. We are not told that the Lord touched them or even spoke to them. But power went out from Him, drawn forth to relieve the circumstances of needy faith.

This outgoing of His personality was also the manner of His service in the storm. There was then no recorded word or act, but on going into the boat where the disciples were, the wind ceased. Thus His presence was recognized. The unruly elements on the sea, pain and sickness on the land, alike confess Him in effect as Jehovah-Shammah, the true seat on earth of Jehovah's power.

We have elsewhere in the Gospels another instance of the spontaneous effluence of remedial mercy from the Lord. This was on an earlier occasion when great crowds had gathered to Him. Then “all the multitude sought to touch him: for power came forth from him and healed them all” (Luke 6:19, R.V.). But with regard to the present instance we ask whether we may not learn something from the fact that the incident appears to be arranged, apart from its chronology, as an appendix to the stilling of the storm. For it cannot be denied that the work of the Servant of Jehovah on this occasion was in essence that which the prophecies declare He will yet do for the nation as a whole, and indeed for all the world.

In the evening the Lord satisfied the hungry mouths of the people with good things; and in the morning He healed all their diseases. He thus fulfilled to some extent to Israel (those in Galilee being for the time representative of the nation) that ancient promise of Jehovah: “Ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee” (Ex. 23:25).

But it is to be noted that the two clauses of this promise were separated, as regards their fulfillment, by the events of the intervening night. Before the morning of blessing dawned upon the people, the little band of Messiah's followers had to pass through the terrors of the storm, and on each occasion the presence or absence of Christ gave its character to the event. The Lord was present in Bethsaida, and their bread was multiplied. He was present in Gennesaret, and their infirmities were banished. He was absent from the ship, and the adverse forces of winds and waves baffled their progress. He entered the boat, and immediately the storm ceased, and they were at the “king's garden.”

THE ALLEGORICAL ASPECT

From the point of view taken in these suggestions, we see that these happenings upon the lake and shore of Gennesaret, while they may not be considered to be exactly types, have their allegorical aspect as to future events in the history of the kingdom. And this aspect we may now briefly consider under two heads, viz.—

(1) The violent storm which effectually opposed the progress of the followers of the Lord;

(2) The effect of the coming and presence of Jesus on sea and on land.

(1) In the first place, then, the disciples, in crossing the lake in obedience to the Lord towards the place to which He had directed them, were so fiercely opposed by winds and waves that they were usable to go forward. It has already been observed that in general principle these conditions are applicable, as an illustration, to the history of the church of Christ in the midst of its difficulties and in, face of the antagonism of the world. But the general principle has, without doubt, a more direct application to the fortunes of the faithful and pious Jewish remnant in the troublous times which immediately precede the establishment of millennial glory upon the earth.

There will be in that period zealous and courageous witnesses for Christ who will proclaim the gospel of the imminent kingdom in the face of persecution which will be unparalleled in its severity. This struggle in the teeth of the storm is plainly set forth by our Lord in His prophecy delivered on the mount of Olives. He at that time declared that His coming for the deliverance of Israel would be preceded by tribulation such as the world had never known. The various political organizations of that day would be thrown into a state! of indescribable uproar and confusion and conflict, a condition of things of which the storm on the Sea of Galilee is a striking figure.

This widespread conflict of national forces must necessarily bring about general hardship and suffering. But the special feature for our present consideration is the effect of this upheaval upon the followers of the Lamb. And the Lord showed in His discourse on the mount of Olives what this effect would be. He warned the faithful that they would be persecuted and betrayed and killed, being hated of all the nations, and the trial would be so severe and exacting that many would not endure to the end.

The Lord's words, as we have them in Matthew, who presents the prophecy in its amplest and furthest scope, were as follows: “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places. But all these things are the beginning of travail. Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many stumble, and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray. And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many shall wax cold. But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come” (Matt. 24:7-14, R.V.).

The “end” will bring judgment upon the habitable world, and all the tribes of the land shall wail at the coming of the Son of man. But the faithful followers of Christ will be preserved throughout this great tribulation, and will be delivered at His coming from all their sorrows.

Speaking generally, tribulation has been the lot of every Christian since the days of Pentecost, even as the Master forewarned His disciples: “In the world ye shall have tribulation” (John 16:33). But in this prophecy of the Lord's we have what is exceptional and unequaled, and what will only be terminated by the appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. And the words quoted above from Matthew describe the sort of opposition that those who go out to preach the gospel of the kingdom in all the nations will inevitably encounter.

[W.J.H.]

(To be continued)

Peace on Earth - Peace in Heaven

“Hear, O heavens; and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken.” These words of Isaiah may be applied to the magnificent song of Luke 2:14. Let us hear the song, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” This is a song of gladness, uttered, under the direction of the angel, by a multitude of the heavenly host. It sounds sweet in the ear of God and in the whole realm of heaven, whether the earth responds to it or not. It is the divine announcement of the birth of the “Man-child” —a Savior for men. Alas, that there were so few voices down here to join the heavenly chorus, and those few voices tuned only eight days after the birth of the child; but when tuned, speaking the language of heaven in the grand words of Luke 2:29-32!

The words of the angelic song, “On earth pace, good will toward men,” express the mind of God, and attest the dispositions of His heart. The living proof of it was in the new-born Child, His own Son (Luke 1:32). A greater, fuller proof could not be given. There was the Word made flesh, made of a woman to be a Savior, not a Savior for angels, but for lost and sinful man “Good will toward men.” And “peace” —Micah had said, “This Man shall be the peace"; and “Prince of peace” is one (and not the least) of the wonderful titles given Him in Isa. 9:6. “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”

But man was not of one mind with God. Is there in his history a single instance where he is so minded? He would have none of the peace brought by the Son, and showed no good will toward God. Peace he wants, peace he longs for, but only such a peace as may be brought about by his own means, his progress, his civilization, etc. We know what his most honest and strenuous efforts end in. He therein labors for the wind, because he will have peace apart from and independent of Him of whom it is written, “This man shall be the peace” —He and none other.

Social peace and enjoyment He would have given abundantly to men, both Jews and Gentiles. The former would have known the blessing of Zechariah's word, “In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree": and the latter would have heeded the word addressed to them, “Rejoice, O ye nations, with His people.” But they would not have it. Rather did they unite to plot against Him who would have been their Benefactor. It was all out of jealousy, as we see in Psa. 2, and of hatred too. Perfect goodness was there, and they looked upon it with an evil eye. Spite of the ill feeling so common between them, in this they were all of one accord. Against Him did Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, gather together, determined to do away with Him. There was unanimity; rulers and people were of the same mind. From that moment peace on earth was gone; and it will not come back until they recognize the rights of the Prince of peace so wantonly rejected by them.

That the most sincere and hearty endeavors will never avail to establish peace among men, we have the lamentable proof before our eyes. What a cruel mockery is the saying, If you will have peace, prepare for war. A far truer one would be, 'If you would have peace, beat your swords into plowshares, and your spears into pruning-hooks.' Preparation for war must sooner or later end in war. And the war will be all the more terrible as the preparation shall have been more complete. Much as this is to be deplored, it is unavoidable. How long will this state of things last? As long as God permits fallen and rebellious man to govern this world, for he is branded with this awful character, “their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways.” There will be even worse days than the present, bad enough as they are, and ominous enough too as a prelude.

Yet there is, through God's infinite compassion, a way and means to obtain peace, spite of the restlessness of man and his dark counsels. It has pleased God to put such means in the hands of Christians, however unconscious in many a case they may be of it? And what is that? Intercession! Not that they can dictate either to man or to God, but with God they can and should plead, as He Himself exhorts us to do in 1 Tim. 2:1-4. The ministry of intercession is a wondrous one, too little availed of. Just think of God calling upon His children to uphold the peace of the world—a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty being good and acceptable in his sight. When it is a question of the defense and protection of Israel, His earthly people, He takes the lead in their armies, destroying their enemies either by his own hand and without them, or by giving them irresistible power. With Christians, His heavenly people, He is the “God of peace,” not taking sides, as it were, with one or the other lighting party, although controlling all and making all to serve His purpose. “The God of peace.” He enjoins His people that they should lift up holy hands, without wrath and doubting, in prayer to Him. And not only in prayer for social and temporal welfare, legitimate and proper as this may be in its sphere, but in behalf of human souls, Christians knowing that soul-salvation, as Peter terms it (1 Pet. 1:9), is far above all the concerns of the present life in importance. They heed the words, “God will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

But what is the best time for the exercise of this ministry of intercession? Verse 1 of 1 Tim. shows that it ought to be habitual, constant, “first of all” —so prone are men to disturb the peace. Now we can say with deep humiliation that this is not ordinarily the case. When things down here go on smoothly, we but too easily lose the consciousness of their frailty and changeableness, and we relax in prayer until calamity breaks upon us. Then we wake up and enter on our service of intercession. This is right, to be sure, but it leaves an uneasy sense of being somewhat late. Intercession is to be blended with supplication and prayer and thanksgiving. Thanksgiving expresses the value that Christians are to attach to a quiet and peaceable life, which is not a matter of course in a world so readily disturbed by storms. But if we enter on prayer only after the storm has broken out, the intercession, supplication and prayer may go up to God (fervently offered and not unheard), but what of thanksgiving?

PEACE IN HEAVEN

But independent, and even in spite of man, our blessed Lord would not return to heaven without making a peace of a far higher order then the peace on earth among men—a peace made not, between man and Mall, but between God and man. This He made by the blood of His cross. On that cross “He was set forth a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare God's righteousness for the remission of sins.... that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.” Sin has not been winked at. God would have it to be blotted out. Sin winked at might have suited man, but it could never suit a holy God. Blotted out it must be absolutely, completely, and what could do that? What could wash a poor, sinful creature—whether man or woman—and make white as snow in the sight of God? Only the blood of Christ. Sprinkled seven times on the mercy-seat, it met the eye of God and spoke peace, perfect peace, as the number “seven” implies. Hence He could say, “Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” What He ever remembers is, that His blessed Son has once suffered for them, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. Salvation is by grace, or else who could obtain it?

But it is by grace founded on righteousness. In the gospel of the present day this is much forgotten: God's love, God's goodness, God's pity are freely proclaimed, as surely they are great realities, but they could not possibly have free course at the expense of His righteousness. Take this out of the gospel, and the gospel will be all falsified. God must be satisfied in all His claims before He can satisfy us, but satisfied He has fully been in the propitiation made by the blood of His Son, and He has distinctly declared it in that He has raised His Son from the dead and given Him glory. From His Son He claims no more, and all He claims from the convicted and repentant sinner is, that he should believe that His Son has been “delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification.” Thus, and thus only, are we, or could we be, justified on the ground of faith; and the immediate consequence of being justified after this manner and principle is that we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Such peace, to the making of which we have in nowise contributed, cannot be shaken either by men or demons. It was made in the face of, and in Spite of, all their rage, at the cross. But it leaves this world condemned, unjustified and unjustifiable. Unbelief necessarily excludes one from all the benefits of redemption. Without faith a man remains, as he is in nature through sin, alienated from the life of God. What sort of peace can he be entitled to, since peace with God is the consequence of justification, and justification is on the ground of faith? No soul can be made happy and at rest for time and eternity, apart froth the saving knowledge of Christ as set forth by God to be a mercy-seat. His work alone, not my works either good or bad, enables me to stand before God without fear. In my self-righteousness and pride I keep away from God; in my faith I draw near and say, ‘All my boast is in Christ and His propitiation.' And in saving and justifying me on that ground God puts honor on the work of His Son and declares peace to be made forever.

Now this heavenly peace is what the disciples proclaim in Luke 19:38. Not that they apprehended the beating of their words. We know distinctly from John 12:16 that at the first “they did not understand these things; but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they these things, and that they had done these things unto Him.” They understood not, yet they spoke out the mind of God, led by the Spirit. With the scripture in Zech. 9:9 they were familiar; but what they did not foresee nor expect was that in His first coming the King would be rejected, and, on His rejection as King, would go to the cross and there make a peace wholly connected with heaven. Yet was not this the truth? The kingdom was to be postponed, not lost, and when established in a day that is fast coming, then will the song be loudly raised, Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord.” Until then it is not “peace on earth,” but “peace in heaven,” whence the blessed Lord now fills with it believing souls, but excludes them from the unbelieving world.

P.C.

Philadelphia and the Prospect Today: Part 2

But before this time of force and terror, there comes one milder in character, but yet Satanic—'the Hour of Temptation'—which is our subject. It is temptation or trial; but if called trial, it is so in the sense of temptation or testing, not affliction. It must not, however, be under-estimated on this account: for it is a vast prophetic event; the whole world will be subject to it, and that must be a serious thing which affects the whole world. It is most interesting to us; from its being closely connected with the Lord's coming. One naturally asks, Does Scripture give any clue 'to the nature of this world-wide temptation? Obviously the temptation must be in the line of the great prophetic events which are to follow, indeed leading towards them; probably the first definite and overt movement after the rapture of the Church. Now Scripture is clear as to what the end and goal of those events is: it is the direct and definite worship of Satan. “They worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the Beast” (Rev. 13:2). “And power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations, and all that dwell upon the Earth shall worship him” (vers. 7, 8),

This was Satan's object in the temptation of the Lord Jesus, “If thou wilt do homage before me, all shall be thine” (Luke 4:6-8). He had succeeded with the first man; and now tempted the Second Man, but was foiled. He has not yet, however, given up his purpose, which for a brief moment is to be accomplished in a day that is approaching. There are two indications to guide us as to the nature of the coming temptation; one, the ultimate result as just shown; and the other, the character of the testimony given by God during that awful period, viz: “And I saw another angel fly in the, midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation and kindred and tongue and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come; and WORSHIP HIM THAT MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH AND THE SEA AND THE FOUNTAINS OF WATERS” (Rev. 14:7, 8).

May we not gather from these two data that the temptation is to apostatize from God; not merely from the revelation of Himself which He has given in Christianity, but to abandon the very notion of a Creator-God, as hitherto held—at least within the area of Christendom. Hence the gospel of that time is a loud call from heaven to the whole world to worship God in His Creator-character.

To this it may perhaps be answered: 'You have just said that Satan will be worshipped, how then can the notion of God be given up?' This may at first seem contradictory, but the two ideas are not necessarily incompatible. The whole Earth wonders after the Beast, and they worship the dragon because he gives power to the Beast, and they worship the Beast. Satan is recognized as the power behind the throne, and is worshipped as such. Further, Satan's imitation Trinity is completed by the man of sin, sitting down. in the temple of God and showing himself that he is God (2 Thess. 2:4); but the true idea of God, the Almighty Creator, has been abandoned, and is lost, before this could be possible; and the Temptation to come, is to do this, to relinquish both Christianity and the idea of a Creator-god. This last is indeed already the case with many leaders of thought and of science to-day. Matter is regarded as eternal; there is no creation, and therefore no Creator; and worse still, no God to whom men owe a moral responsibility; God in that sense is abolished from men's minds. The Hour of Temptation is preliminary to the Great Tribulation. It is an education, a preparation of men's Minds, and when this has proceeded far enough, Satan will burst upon the scene, with his great master-piece, the Roman Beast, after which the whole earth wonders; the man of sin, the antichrist, and, completing Satan's trinity, himself the dragon behind all, each and all of which the world worships.

It has been said, and often truly, that “Coming events cast their shadows before.” An hour is coming upon the whole world to try them that dwell upon the earth. This cannot be until the Church has been caught away (Rev. 3:10); but are not its shadows already upon us? Is not what is called “Evolution” a denial of creation? Man, according to that theory, is evolved from an ape; an ape from something lower, and so on until we come to atoms. A leading Review speaks of “the discoveries of modern science, which, in demolishing the legends of the creation of the world and man, have also uprooted in the educated mind the faith in the Divine inspiration of the books and traditions which taught these legends, and which were the basis of all the accepted religious beliefs.” So like is this to what is coming, that one might almost inquire whether we are not now entered upon that time; we might indeed suppose that we were, but that Rev. 3:10 tells us that the Church is to be kept out of that hour. If, however, we are in the shadow of that “Hour of temptation;” the thing itself cannot be far off. But there is something which is to precede even that; to intervene between the shadow which we are now in, and the substance which seems to be so near: IT IS THE COMING OF THE LORD; the sudden descent of the Lord into the air, and our blissful rising to meet Him, passing into heaven without death, “changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Cor. 15:51, 52). Reader, it may be your privilege and mine to be a partaker in that scene, to pass into glory without dying. However this may be, the Lord follows verse 10 with the striking words, “I come quickly; hold fast what thou hast that no one take thy crown” (Rev. 3:2)

The titles which the Lord takes in addressing. Philadelphia must be noticed. “These things saith the holy, the true; he that has the key of David, he who opens and no one shall shut, and shuts and no one shall open” (chap. 3:7). On this nothing better, nothing so good, can be offered to the reader as the following by Mr. Darby: “Christ is known as the Holy One. Then outward ecclesiastical associations or pretensions will not do. There must be what suits His nature, and faithful consistency with that word which He will certainly make good. With this He has the administration; and opens and no man shuts, and shuts and no man opens. See what His path was on earth; only then graciously dependent, as we should be. He was holy and true, to man's view had a little strength, kept the word, lived by every word that proceeded out of God's lips, waited patiently for the Lord, and to Him the porter opened. He lived in the last days of a dispensation, the holy and true One, rejected, and, to human eye, failing in success with those who said they were Jews, but were the synagogue of Satan. So the saints here; they walk in a place like His; they keep His word, have a little strength, are not marked by a Pauline energy of the Spirit, but do not deny His name. This is the character and motive of all their conduct. It is openly confessed, the word kept, the Name not denied. It seems little; but in universal decline, much pretension and ecclesiastical claim, and many falling away to man's reasonings, keeping the word of Him that is holy and true, and not denying His name is everything."

And what is to be the end of the path of the Philadelphian? He has been nobody here; he will be a pillar up there. “I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.” Of course this is figurative; but a pillar of a temple gives the idea of permanence, strength and perfect beauty. He was not such on earth; among Thyatira, Sardis, Laodicea—scarcely recognized. Their architecture, their numbers, their affluence attest their position, and might offer a career of wealth and distinction. Of these things he had none, nor desired them; to keep Christ's word was his sole ambition and his holy aim; now he has an eminent position in the glory, one of honor and permanence, “He shall go no more out at all.”

The special character of this epistle is shown even in the Promises to the Overcomer. There is a tenderness in the expressions; almost a familiarity in the repetitions of the word “my “; the temple in which the overcomer is to be a pillar is not merely the temple of God, but “of my God.” The Lord here takes His place with us as man; “He that overcometh, him will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and be shall go out no more at all; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God and my new name” (chap. 3:12). It is like a prospective bridegroom impressing on the loved one that she is to share everything that is his.

“Yet it must be; thy love had not its rest

Were Thy redeemed not with Thee fully blest;

The love that gives not as the world but shares

All it possesses with its loved co-heirs.”

A survey of the epistle would not be complete without some notice of the name. “Philadelphia” is a Greek word, meaning brotherly love—the words “brotherly kindness” or “brotherly love” in Scripture are represented in the original by the one word “philadelphia.” It can scarcely be without special significance that the name occurs in the title of this epistle. To force a typical meaning from every name in Scripture would be a serious mistake—but Scripture itself recognizes the spiritual significance of some names, and here it would seem to indicate that there was, along with the general keeping of Christ's word, a recognition of the brotherhood of true believers. In Apostolic times, “brethren” was the name by which Christians were generally known amongst themselves, thus—

“the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil-affected against the brethren”...... Acts 14:2.

“certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said”....... Acts 15:1.

“we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren and abode with them one day”...... Acts 21:7.

“Erastus, the chamberlain of the city, saluteth you and Quartus, the brother”....... Rom. 16:23.

“All the brethren greet you”....... 1 Cor. 16:20.

“Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea”....... Col. 4:16.

“put the brethren in remembrance of these things”....... I Tim. 4:6.

“know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty”....... Heb. 13:23.

This brotherhood is not like the conventional agreement of a human society to regard and call one another brethren, as is the case with—say—Freemasons. All true believers are brethren as being born of the Spirit (and “except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God"). Being born of God, they have become partakers of a new nature, and the brotherhood of such is a reality, not mere, name. “The brethren” now, alas, instead of being together, are to be found in every sect of Christendom. Everyone united to Christ is a brother in Christ, however little he may acknowledge, it. With all true believers there is some recognition of this, however faint, for everyone “that loveth Him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of Him” (1 John 5:1). Indeed this love in the heart is an evidence of the new birth in the soul, for “we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren” (1 John 3:14). This is evidence to ourselves; but it is also a testimony to the world: “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35). However, in the closing period of the dispensation, amid all the confusion of Christendom, here is brotherly love! Precious to the heart of Christ, beautiful in the eye of heaven Let us cherish it wherever we find it, and cultivate it all we can.

“Blessed are their eyes that see Him,

Him the holy and the true;

Gathered round Him, He amongst them,

His despised rejected few;

He who hath the key of David,

God of resurrection power;

He hath opened heaven before them,

Shut them in for evermore.

“Feeblest works, yet dear to Jesus,

Weary hearts that wait for Him,

Eyes that look upon the glory,

Till all else is dark and dim;

Midst the wreck, the desolation,

Where the glorious city stood,

Called to raise the lonely altar,

One last witness for their God.

“He the golden door has opened

Of His temple's holiest place,

Midst these latter days of darkness

Called them in to see His face;

None can shut where He has opened,

None that ‘little strength' withstand,

Which He gave amidst their weakness,

By the touch of His right hand.

“Precious to the heart of Jesus,

Love that keeps the word He spake,

Knowing somewhat of the sweetness

Of rejection for His sake;

Yet so little of the glory,

Of His scorn, and cross, and shame,

That His love can witness only

Thou hast not denied my name.'

“He their Lord is coming quickly—

Brethren, yet awhile hold fast;

In His God's eternal temple

They as pillars stand at last.

Here to be cast out, rejected—

Here to bear the brand of shame;

There go out no more forever,

Bear in light His God's own name.

“He will write that name upon them,

His God evermore their own,

And the name of His bright city,

Of the bride who shares His throne;

And His own new name of triumph

Then shall shine upon their brow—

Shall they not rejoice in bearing

His reproach, rejection now?”

(Extract)

(Concluded from page 175)

E. J.T.

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Lectures on 2 Chronicles 21-25

We have seen, then, the sad fruits of a pious man joining himself with one who is untrue to God-a union which always turns to God's dishonor and the injury of him who loves God, as we find in Jehoshaphat himself. And this too, not merely in that he united with Ahaziah, but where he united even for commercial purposes—one of the most important points for a saint, not only for a Christian, but for a saint before Christianity, where his testimony was separation to God. But the separation of a Christian is of another order—higher and deeper and closer, yet not so external as the Jews. We might even feel at liberty—as we know the apostle puts the case—to dine with an infidel. “If thou be disposed to go” —we must take care how we go, and why. Now, this might, to the outward eye, seem the very contrary of separateness, and many mistakes are often made in the thoughts of men who judge by outward appearance. But the separation of a Christian is really deeper, although it may not strike the eye as a Jew's. We shall see further proofs of the same evil, for it was a growing one, as the state of Judah became worse and worse before its judgment.

Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram, reigns in his father's stead. “Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom, he strengthened himself, and slew all his brethren with the sword” (21:4). Such did not Jehoshaphat. Howbeit, although he went even farther than his father in alliance with evil— “for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife and he wrought [that which was] evil in the eyes of Jehovah— “yet, “Jehovah would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David.” Hence, therefore, we find that when the Edomites revolted, and Jehoram went forth, he smote them. Nevertheless God chastised him, for “the same time did Libnah revolt from under his hand, because he had forsaken Jehovah God of his fathers.”

We see in all this history how much turns upon the king. It was no question of the people now, for they had completely failed long ago. There is a new trial. Suppose the blessing turns upon—not the people, for, it might be said, there are enormous probabilities against their fidelity, but take the family of a faithful man: take the family of the most faithful man in the deep distresses of evil, David, the progenitor of the Messiah—perhaps, if it turns upon that family one might be found faithful! Not so: there is faithlessness everywhere. There was only one faithful witness, and He was not yet come; but those who preceded Him and who ought to have been the witnesses of the coming Messiah in truth, only precipitated the downfall, first, of Israel as a whole, then of Judah that remained. Hence, Jehoram, we find, “made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah [thereto].” For this was part of the wickedness of heathenism—that it made men more immoral than they would have been on principle and as a matter of honor to their gods.

God sent him now a writing from Elijah the prophet saying, “Thus saith Jehovah God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, but hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father's house; which were better than thyself: behold, with a great plague will Jehovah smite thy people and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods: and thou [shalt have], great sickness.” And so he was to die, and outward troubles came upon him. “Jehovah stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and of the Arabians.” In fine, “Jehovah smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease,” and thus he died. “And his people made no burning for him like the burning of his fathers.” He had gone on in sin, and he died in sorrow and shame. Such was the end of a son of David, really and literally the son of Jehoshaphat ("Jehovah is judge").

“And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his stead” (chap. 22.). And “he reigned,... he also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab.” His mother was that infamous Athaliah, the daughter of Omri. “His mother was his counselor to do wickedly.” “He walked also after their counsel, and went with Jehoram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel to war.” That is, the first evil begun by a pious king continues. The practice of his son is far from pious, for the bad example of a good man has immense influence, especially with those who are not good. It hardens them, and works therefore deep and ineradicable mischief. “The destruction of Ahaziah was of God,” as we are told, “by coming to Joram: for when he was come, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu.” And thus he came under the same judgment.

Athaliah, in resentment, now enters upon a most cruel project—the destruction of the seed royal, for she was an idolatress, and she hated the word and the purpose of God. Who but she could have done it so well, for she had all power, apparently, and she had no conscience. Nay, further, hatred and bitterness filled her heart against the true God and the house of David, although she was herself a mother of that house; but, still, what will not hatred of God do in reversing all the affections of nature.

So Athaliah, when she saw that her son was dead, “arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah.” But God watched her and led Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, to take Joash, a child, from among the king's sons that were slain, and secretly bring him up. “And he was with them hid in the house of God six years,” just as the Lord Jesus is now taken away from the midst of the wicked people who slew Him. For it was not merely a murderous intent as against Joash, but the Lord, as we know, was crucified by the hands of lawless men, and now He is hid in the house of God; but He will as surely come forth from that hiding place as Joash did.

When the seventh year came—the complete time according to the ways of God— “in the seventh year Jehoiada strengthened himself” (chap. 23). He was the priest. The priest is prominent while the king is hidden. How truly it is so now in our Lord's case, in His own person combining both the high priest that is in action, and the king that will be by and by. And then in this chapter we have further, the most animated picture of this stirring scene—the young king now seated on his throne when the due moment was come. The trusty servants that were prepared by the high priest, and—finally, the last of her, the murderous queen-mother, king-destroyer, Athaliah, and the jubilant cries of Israel. When she comes forth, she comes forth crying “Treason,” but in truth it was she who had been guilty of both treason and murder to the full: but we see the purpose of God. There cannot be a more lively proof of how thoroughly we may trust Him, for never seemed a more helpless object than this young king Joash before Athaliah. Never were the fortunes of a king of Judah at a lower ebb; but men have said not untruly that “man's extremity is God's opportunity.” “This only furnishes the occasion to show the supremacy of God. Nothing can hinder His purpose. How truly, therefore, we should trust Him as well as His purpose. He has a purpose about us and He Himself has a love to our souls. Why should we not always trust Him?

If Joash was brought thus prosperously to the throne through a sea of royal blood, and if judgment inaugurate the judgment of enemies, and if idolatry was put down, and if all now was apparently so bright and hopeful for the king of Judah, it was but for a passing season. “And Joash did what was right in the sight of Jehovah all the days of Jehoiada the priest” (chap. 24.). Yes, but it was more the influence of Jehoiada than faith in the living God. An influence, sooner or later, must fail. The influence of man is not the faith of God's elect.

Jehoiada then passes away, after that the king had called him to task; for such was his zeal for a little while. Flesh may be even more zealous than faith, but then there is this difference—faith continues, the effort of flesh is transient. It may begin well; but the question is whether it continues. Its continuance is always the grand proof of what is divine. Joash did not continue according to his beginnings; for we are told that after his fair effort in behalf of the neglected repairs of the house of Jehovah, he relaxed, though this is given more elsewhere than here. But here, even, we find the influences, the malignant influences of the princes of Judah. “The king hearkened unto them,” it is said, after the death of Jehoiada. “And they left the house of Jehovah, God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.” Nevertheless, God still testified by His prophets, and more particularly by Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest. “And they conspired against him, and stoned him with stones, at the commandment of the king.”

What ingratitude What perfidy towards the son of his own near relative and the guardian of his own life “Thus Joash the king,” says the Spirit of God most touchingly, “remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son. And when he died he said, Jehovah look upon it and require it.” And so He did, for “it came to pass at the end of the year that the host of Syria came up against him, and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people, and, sent all the spoil of them unto the king of Damascus. For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men.” It was not, therefore, might or power: it was God. “And Jehovah delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the Jehovah God of their fathers.” What was a host against Jehovah guiding His people; but, now, even a small company overwhelms the great host. of Judah. “So they executed judgment against. Joash.” Nor was this all, for he was left in great disease, and his own servants conspired against him who had shed the blood of Zechariah the son of Jehoiada, and they “slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the city of David but they buried him not in the sepulchers of the kings.”

Thus, we see a downward progress. In, the former case they, made no burning for Jehoram, as they did for his fathers. Now, they do not even bury Joash in the sepulchers of the kings. And if God gives the names of the conspirators it was not that he had any complacency in them, though their act might not be without righteous judgment. He lets us know that they were those who had not the feeling of, Israel, but the heart of an enemy under an Israelitish name; for Zabad was the son of Shimeath an Ammonitess, and Jehozabad the son of Shimrith a Moabitess. On the mother's side the stock was evil; and a mother has enormous influence for good or evil.

Amaziah follows. “And he did that which was right in the sight of Jehovah, but not with a perfect heart” (chap. 25.). “Now it came to pass when the kingdom was established to him, that he slew his servants that had killed the king, his father. But he slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, where Jehovah commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin. Moreover, Amaziah gathered Judah together, and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds.” Thus he strengthened himself after a human sort. He also had a hired army. Mercenaries served him—a strange thing for a king of Judah. “But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee.” For these mercenaries were Israel. How fallen were both—Judah to hire, and Israel to be hired. The only thing they agreed in was indifference to God. What a state for God's people, and do you suppose that it is a strange thing?

Do you suppose that it is different now? Do you think that Christendom is in a better state as Christendom, than Israel was then as Israel? I do not believe so. We, all of us, feel that the ancient bodies are fallen into idolatry—not more truly Israel into the worship of the calves and of Baal, and all the other abominations, than Greek church or Roman into the worship, the one of pictures, and the other of images. What difference? Both are idols; equally idols. But it is not merely so; but if the word of God be possessed (as thanks be to God it is,) in Protestantism, if not in the same way in the older bodies, nevertheless denominationalism has eaten out the heart of the children of God, and their energies go forth in mere efforts, benevolent, excellent; but meanwhile the glory of God is unthought of. It is work now, not Christ; or if there be a thought it hardly ever goes beyond the salvation of souls. The glory of God and those that are saved are forgotten. It is not only that we need, therefore, a call to the unconverted; we need a call to the converted now It is they more especially that fail to answer to the glory of God, just as Judah did here.

And here we find them joining, and this is one of the greatest snares of the present day. People fancy such wonders are to be done because there is a desire after union. Yes, but a union with abominations, a union with infidelity, a union with sacerdotalism, a union with anything under the sun, provided people only unite in good faith. Where is God? Where is the truth? Where is the grace of God? Where is the place of the Holy Ghost in all this? Not thought of. I say this only because I believe that many persons read these books of scripture without practical profit; or if they do take any, they fasten upon merely the good points, forgetting that God has a question about the evil; and in a day of evil it is a bad sign to flatter ourselves that we are cleaving to the good, for invariably where there is evil there must be repentance, and there cannot be a worse sign than putting off, therefore, the solemn lesson that God is reading us about sin. I do not say that to throw it at others, but to take my full share myself, because I am fully persuaded that where there is the strongest desire, even, to be separated from evil there will be the deepest feeling of the evil. There was nobody who felt the evil of Israel so much its Daniel, though there was no one who was more personally separate from it. And yet he always says “we.” He does not say “you.” He does not say “It is your sin,” but “our sin.” It is “we have sinned.” He held to the unity of the people of God. We ought to hold to the unity of the church.

To give you an idea of what the testimony of God now is in the world, I will only mention one circumstance of a pious man in the East—the celebrated Henry Martin, a devoted laborer for the Lord, though with not very much light, but a man who loved the Lord and loved His word, and devoted himself heartily to it, to the shame of many a one who has more light. When Henry Martin was in Persia the teachers would not believe that he was a Christian. They said he could not be because he neither drank nor swore. Their idea of a Christian was a man who drank and swore, and Henry Martin, being a thoroughly pious and godly person, could not be, in their judgment, a Christian. Well, I only mention this to show what a character Christianity and Christians and Christ have got in the Eastern world. Do you think that nothing? God thinks a great deal of it. We may distinguish and say, “These drunkards and swearers are not true Christians.” But still they are baptized, still they go to church or chapel, still they bear the name of Christ—perhaps, even, are called in sometimes to support the missionaries, and therefore what can the Persians think but that these are Christians? Now, I say, we ought to feel the shame of that: we ought to feel the bitter ness of it.

And so, in the same; way, it is no use for people to say, “I have nothing to do with Popery: I have nothing to do with the Greek church: I have nothing to do with Ritualism or the like. That is an improper way to speak. We have a great deal to do with them, because all this is done under the name of Christ. It is like a vast company that has got a common share, and we are partners in the firm unless, indeed, we cut the connection; that is, unless we renounce utterly all the shame and sin of the thing before God, but, at the same time bear the burden of it. Suppose we have renounced the company in matters of action, we ought to feel the shame and the grief of it, if we have any love in our souls for them, or any care for the glory of the Lord. I conceive, therefore, that those who read these sad tales of Israel's, and, above all, of Judah's sin, without making a personal application to Christendom—to the state of God's people now—are putting aside a most solemn admonition that God gives for the conscience, and a sign and token, too, of the analogy between what is now and what was then. The only difference is that we have incomparably greater privileges and, therefore, a deeper responsibility.

Further, the word of God is explicit that the Lord Jesus is about to return in judgment, and when He does judge where will His sternest judgment be? On the heathen? On the Jew? No, on Christendom! I grant you that Jerusalem will be the scene of the tremendous judgment of God; but then Jerusalem was the birthplace of Christianity as well as the capital of Judaism; and I have not the slightest doubt that at that moment when the Lord returns in judgment the same men will have acquired headship over Christendom as well as over the Jews. Things are coming to that now. Ritualism will soon land Christendom into acknowledgment of Judaism. What an amalgam A hateful amalgam, not merely an amalgam of unfaithful Christians, but even of Judaism along with Christianity, because the false prophet who is destroyed at the end will be setting himself up in the temple of God, and will be acknowledged in Christendom as well as by the Jews. This is a tremendous catastrophe to look onward to, and I have no doubt of it; and this shows, therefore, how truly the wickedness of Israel portends also, not only their future wickedness, but that which is found in Christendom. All will be united in this dreadful union at the close.

Well, then, this 25th chapter shows us the end, of Amaziah after this unholy union with Israel—bought to their own shame, but to his greater shame who could employ them; and the end is strife between the two who had unlawfully joined. And further, Judah, who ought to have been the more faithful, as they had the truth in a way that Israel had not, are put to flight before the men of Israel.

What confusion when God was obliged to be against His people—when God was morally compelled to smite even those who had most of His sympathies, but now the more guilty, just because they had more light!

[W.K.]

Heavenly Springs - or Ever New

“Streams in the desert,” “Fountains and depths” —this is God's provision for the believer day by day. What does it mean? Ah! who can tell the fullness of it! But it does mean that in each step of the way during the coming year, we may be energized by fresh vigor, and live in an atmosphere of new unfoldings of love and light and joy. It does mean that, having started on the heavenly road, we are not left to our own resources for one single moment. We are not told to start in newness of life, but to “walk in newness of life.”

This is God's way, even with His gifts in nature. The air we breathe, the light, the sunshine; everything we receive directly from God is moment by moment. We never think of walking in the light we had ten minutes ago, or breathing the air we breathed then, nor do we expect to make use of the strength we had yesterday, for He would have us momentarily dependent on Him.

How different is man's way! In all that is connected with this earth and human manufactures, the law of supply is just the opposite. We get new things, such as clothes and furniture, and have to make them last. With much care and labor, and brushing awl cleaning, we may, for a time, keep things looking pretty new; and much of the strain in many lives consists in doing this, in “keeping up appearances.” But fade and wear out and get shabby they will, spite of all efforts to the contrary; it is only a matter of time.

But to bring this strain into heavenly things—to try to eke out what we have got, instead of continually going to the Lord for a fresh supply, is a mistake indeed, and the result must be failure and disappointment. Daily renewing is what God delights to bestow— “the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). Grace and strength every morning. Fresh oil to make the face to shine, and bread to strengthen man's heart; fresh loving words for the longing affections; fresh energy for the flagging life; fresh strength and courage for the hands which hang down and the feeble knees; fresh sunshine in the gloom; fresh grace and mercy and goodness—and this for every step of the way in the wilderness journey.

“Heavenly springs shall there restore thee,

Fresh from God's exhaustless tides.”

Instead of believing this, what efforts we make to keep up the first love, the first sense of joy in sins forgiven, the early zeal. Some have urged a definite act of consecration, and then to keep it up by constantly reminding ourselves of it. But what a poor thing it would be if a wife needed constantly to remind herself of her marriage vow, solemn as the act was. Love grows by communion and fellowship and confidence, and yielding then becomes easy and natural and pleasant. Loyalty is good, as far as it goes; but better far is the love which could not be disloyal—this is the love which the Holy Spirit desires continually to shed abroad in our hearts; a love which responds to the mighty and tender love of Christ, and which will deepen and strengthen, as we increasingly know Him.

God's provision for us is a living Christ in whom “dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead” (Col. 3:9), and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit o enable us to draw down that fullness to meet every possible need. The Holy Spirit is the channel of communication, and if He is ungrieved He will do His work and pour into our souls—not the first love, but—fresh love, and joy and peace and vigor and patience and long-suffering, or whatever else we need. But it is moment by moment, and the deeper the need the fuller the supply.

As the yearnings deepen, the supply flows more freely. As the Holy Spirit shows us more of the beauties of Christ, we long after more communion with Him and more likeness to Him, and, in answer to these desires, His risen life flows in to satisfy the longings of our hungering and thirsting souls. As the Holy Spirit shows us His loveliness, we cannot fail to love Him more; as He reveals to us His tenderness and truth and wisdom, we must increasingly trust Him; and as we ponder over His word, light will shine in, and we shall learn how to walk and not stumble.

There is no strain in this, no keeping up of appearances. “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect,” but “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,” let us press towards the mark. Let us not try to look new, or even to feel new, but let us be renewed in the spirit of our minds” (Eph. 4:23).

Oh, that young believers would learn to use God's renewings. There are, alas! so many old ones whose love and devotedness have grown cold and whose life is stunted, that young ones begin to think it is a necessity to get thus impoverished and spiritually decrepit. Oh! it is not so. Only start with God, and go on with God. “As ye have, therefore, received CHRIST JESUS THE LORD, so walk ye in Him” (Col. 2:6). Spread out your roots by the ever-flowing river, and your leaf shall be green, and each fruit will grow in its season. Get anointed with fresh oil, and your lives will be burning and shining for Him. Get your souls satisfied with His good things, and your youth will be renewed as the eagle's. Wait on the Lord and He will renew your strength, and you will go from strength to strength, from victory unto victory. You shall receive abundance of grace, and your path will be as the shining light, shining more and more unto the perfect day.

What a bright prospect for the coming year!

“Though thy way be long and dreary,

Eagle strength He'll still renew;

Garments fresh and foot unweary,

Tell how God hath brought thee through.”

And, oh! that any who, through carelessness or indulged sin, have lost their first love would cease to groan after past experience, saying, “Oh, that I were as in months past,” or “Where is the blessedness I knew,” &c. It is just where you left it, for it is IN CHRIST, and in Him alone, and you have wandered from Him. Return, return, with weeping and honest confession; let there be a putting away of all that hinders. “Take with you words, and turn to the Lord, and say unto Him, Take away all iniquity,” etc., and He will say to you, “I will heal your backslidings, I will love you freely"; and then look at the blessed after results (Hos. 14), growth, beauty and fruitfulness. “From Me is thy fruit found.” “Our sufficiency is of God.”

But stop, dear reader, this blessed pathway is only for the child of God, and we become children of God only “by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26). If you are not born again, you are yet in your sins. “He that believeth not, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him” (John 3:26). Jesus is God's provision to meet your need.

He bore the penalty of sin that you might have the free offer of life and pardon and peace. Ah, turn to Him. Bring Him your sins and receive Him as your Savior. Then it will be indeed a start on the heavenly road, and a new year of joy and gladness such as you have never known.

E.T.P.

Studies in Mark 6:53-56: The Morning Without Clouds

6:53-56

Mark represents, in similar terms, the hard case of those faithful Jewish preachers struggling against the stormy billows of worldly hate and cruelty. We there read, “For those days shall be tribulation, such as there hath not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never shall be” (Mark 13:10). On the occasion of the tempest the apostles had but just returned from their first tour of gospel preaching in Galilee. It was needful for them to learn that before the kingdom which they were proclaiming would be set up in power, and during the absence of their Master, they would find themselves beset by the most powerful adversaries. May we not, therefore, regard, this storm on the lake as illustrative of the Satanic fury with which the authorities of this world will by-and-by make their onslaught upon the Jewish witnesses of the coming kingdom? But at the same time it is shown that the onslaught will be in vain, for the little flock will find that there is an Intercessor on high and a Deliverer at hand.

(2) In the second place, we cannot but mark the special effect that was exercised by the appearance of Jesus. As soon as the apostles knew their Master, as soon as they, in effect, said, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” the tempest ceased, the danger was passed, the goal of their hopes and aims was realized. Such was the effect upon the turbulent sea; what was the effect of His appearance on shore? As soon as the inhabitants knew that Jesus was there, they proved Him to be their Deliverer from their sicknesses and from the sorrows that followed in their train. The tree of life was in the garden, and they found no flaming sword to terrify the weak and timid. All who would might eat of its fruit and live, and not die. Thus in Gennesaret a sample was given of the powers of the age to come, only in that future age the tree of life shall not be for Israel only, but its leaves shall be for the healing of the nations also (Rev. 22:1, 2).

The passage forms a striking illustration in miniature of the prophetic words of the sweet psalmist of Israel when he spoke of the, coming of the Blessed One to usher in the great day of peace, and joy: “He shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth; a morning without clouds; when the tender grass springeth out of the earth through clear shining after rain” (2 Sam. 23:4, R.V.).

It is beautiful to observe how in this favored land the mercy of the Lord was available for any and for all. They brought their sick for healing wherever they heard He was. It was truly a gospel to the needy people when one said, Lo, here is the Christ; or, Lo, He is there. They found they were free to touch Him and be blessed. And this liberty of access recalls, by force of contrast, Eve's false report of God's word concerning the tree in the garden, when she said, “neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die” (Gen. 3:3). Here the dying touched and lived.

TOUCHING AND SEEING

“Touching” seems more applicable, as a figure, to the faith of a Jew than to the faith of a Christian. It is concerning those who believe on Christ hidden in the heavens that Peter wrote: “whom not having seen, ye love: on whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (I Peter 1:8).

The faith of the future day of the Lord's presence will be associated with an Object of sight and of touch, as it were. It will be of the sort signified by the action of the Jewish women who, when they saw the Lord after His resurrection, “took hold of his feet and worshipped him” (Matt. 28:9). But Mary Magdalene on the same day was instructed by the risen Christ in the exercise of faith of a higher order—faith which requires nothing visible or tangible in its object, but penetrates even unto the Unseen Presence on high. To her the Lord said, “Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father” (John 20:17). She was surely to learn from this utterance that earthly relationships with the Messiah were suspended, and heavenly ones about to be established between the ascended Savior and His own.

This faith which introduces us to present heavenly realities is declared to be more blessed than that of Thomas Didymus, who insisted on seeing and touching before he would believe. Thomas would not accept the testimony of the apostolic body that they had seen the Lord. “Except,” he “I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” This disciple was therefore a representative of the unbelieving class who will not believe on the testimony of others, but who require to see for themselves. Jesus said to him, distinguishing for all time the two orders or degrees of faith, “Because thou hast seen me thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:24.29).

The latter order or character is that of to-day, for we “walk by faith, and not by sight.” The former order is that of the future—the day of the coming of the Lord, when every eye shall see Him, and the Jews particularly shall look on Him whom they pierced (Zech. 12:10; Rev. 1:7). Both classes are happy and privileged, but the Lord, by His words to Thomas, has placed a special mark of approbation and favor upon those who believe on Him in the period of His absence.

PETER WALKING UPON THE WATERS

The incident of Peter leaving the boat and walking in that strange pathway upon the waters along with his Master is not recorded in any of the Gospels except that of Matthew, although the account of the Lord's doing so is to be found in all the four. Strictly, it does not fall within the scope of our present consideration, which is confined to the Second Gospel, but in view of its close historical connection with this section, it may not be unprofitable to seek some enlightenment upon the moral significance of this miracle.

The account of the episode as given in Matthew is as follows— “Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee upon the waters. And he said, Come. And Peter went down from the boat and walked upon the waters to come to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and took hold of him, and saith unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? And when they were gone up into the boat, the wind ceased” (Matt. 14:27-32, R.V.).

It must now suffice to draw attention to the main features of this record, and these are twofold. (1) Peter walking on the waters is a triumph of faith over insuperable obstacles of nature; and (2) Peter sinking in the waters is the collapse of nature so soon as faith was replaced by doubt. So far as Peter was concerned, faith was the essential quality which enabled him to occupy this position in humble imitation of his Master.

It will at once be seen that the bold and impulsive apostle by his enterprise stands out in remarkable contrast with his fellows. In the boat they remained in the place of usual security under such circumstances. On the waters Peter had abandoned all earthly means of safety, and was relying exclusively upon the superhuman power of the Lord to sustain him.

The apostle, however, did not take up this position of his own accord, but sought and obtained permission to do so. Jesus had said to them all, “It is I.” Peter answered, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee upon the waters.” That passionate love was burning within him which caused him on a later occasion to leap from the boat at the sight of his beloved Master upon the shore, and make his way, strong swimmer as he was, to be the first to greet Him (John 21:7).

And now Peter, having recognized the voice of the Good Shepherd, desired to demonstrate before the eyes of all that it was no phantom form which they saw upon the waves, but the One who was all-powerful to sustain and to deliver. At an early day he left his nets at the call of Jesus to follow Him upon the land (Mark 1:18); now he was prepared to leave the boat at his Masters call, and follow Him upon the sea also. The Lord gave the single and sufficient word, “Come"; and the apostle obeyed. In thus abandoning the boat and walking upon the waters to come to Jesus, the apostle did but carry into effect the principles of faithful service laid down by the Lord Himself in another place: “If 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 12:26).

It is, therefore, true of Peter that he went forth to the Lord in response to His call, “Come"; and He is thus an apt illustration, to that extent, of the believer to-day. This character is also figuratively expressed by the Lord in the parable of the ten virgins,, to whom the cry was, “Behold the bridegroom! Come ye forth to meet him” (Matt. 25:6, R.V.).

In distinction from the other disciples, Peter left the boat while the storm was still raging, and walked upon the waters to Jesus, and returned with Him to the boat; and then the storm ceased—a vivid figure of the return of Christ with His church to bring peace to the troubled earth. Matthew only of the four Evangelists makes specific reference to the church. This we find in his record of Peter's confession of Jesus as the Son of the living God. “Upon this rock,” Christ says, “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18), It is therefore in keeping with this character, of the First Gospel that it is only in it we have the figure of the church supplied by the same apostle walking on the waters.

It was a great wonder to see Jesus walking in this manner, but it was even a: greater wonder to see Peter “follow His steps.” In the Master there was inherent power to do so; but in Peter there was only imparted power; and that power was imparted to him because he trusted in. the Lord, who afterward said to His disciples, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father” (John 14:12).

Apart from faith, Peter was as another man. upon the waters. And when he considered the fury of the winds and the waves he began to sink, as any man would do. But even when he had lowered himself to the level of those who lack faith, he was not abandoned when he cried out in his extremity, “Lord, save me.” On the contrary, Jesus immediately stretched forth His hand, saying, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” The Lord remained faithful to the one who had followed him in obedience to His word, and who had honored Him in this manner by his confidence. This deliverance by the Lord is in. accordance with the words of the apostle Paul, who wrote, “If we are faithless, he abideth faithful; for he cannot deny himself” (2 Tim. 2:13). The Lord was the same both in Peter's triumph and in Peter's failure; the only change was in the disciple into whose heart doubt had crept.

The following extract gives an admirable summary of the wider significance of this incident.

Jesus “sent away the Jewish people, who had surrounded Him during the period of His presence here below. The departure of the disciples, besides its general character, sets before us peculiarly the Jewish remnant. Peter, individually, in coming out of the ship, goes in figure beyond the position of this remnant. He represents that faith which, forsaking the earthly accommodation of the ship, goes out to meet Jesus, who has revealed Himself to it, and walks upon the sea—a bold undertaking, but based on the word of Jesus, ‘Come.'

“Yet remark here that this walk has no other foundation than 'If it be Thou'; that is to say, Jesus Himself. There is no support, no possibility of walking, if Christ be lost sight of. All depends upon Him. There is a known means in the ship; there is nothing but faith, which looks to Jesus, for walking on the water. Man, as mere man, sinks by the very fact of being there. Nothing can sustain itself except that faith which draws from Jesus the strength that is in Him, and which therefore imitates Him. But it is sweet to imitate Him; and one is then nearer to Him, more like Him. This is the true position of the church, in contrast with the remnant in their ordinary character.

“Jesus walks on the water as on the solid ground. He who created the elements as they are could well dispose of their qualities at His pleasure. He permits storms to arise for the trial of our faith. He walks on the stormy wave as well as on the calm. Moreover, the storm makes no difference. He who sinks in the waters does so in the calm as well as in the storm, and he who can walk upon them will do so in the storm as well as in the calm—that is to say, unless circumstances are looked to and so faith fail and the Lord is forgotten.

“For often circumstances make us forget Him where faith ought to enable us to overcome circumstances through our walking by faith in Him who is above them all. Nevertheless, blessed be God! He who walks in His own power upon the water is there to sustain the faith and the wavering steps of the poor disciple: and at any rate that faith had brought Peter so near to Jesus that His outstretched hand could sustain him.

“Peter's fault was that he looked at the waves, at the storm (which, after all, had nothing to do with it) instead of looking at Jesus, who was unchanged, and who was walking on those very waves, as his faith should have observed. Still, the cry of his distress brought the power of Jesus into action, as his faith ought to have done: only it was now to His shame, instead of being in the enjoyment of communion, and walking like the Lord.

“Jesus having entered the ship, the wind ceases. Even so it will be when Jesus returns to the remnant of His people in this world. Then also will He be worshipped as the Son of God by all that are in the ship with the remnant of Israel. In Gennesaret Jesus again exercises the power which shall hereafter drive out from the earth all the evil that Satan has brought in. For when He returns, the world will recognize Him. It is a fine picture of the result of Christ's rejection, which this Gospel has already made known to us as taking place in the midst of the Jewish nation."

(Continued from page 186)

[W.J.H.]

Notes on 1 Thessalonians 5:23

My purpose tonight is to speak a little about the word “sanctify” —it is a large subject, spread over the whole book of God. I fear it is not adequately understood by the large majority of Christians, though it is certainly of very great and special importance; indeed, so important is it that we find each person of the Godhead occupied with our sanctification. In Heb. 10:10 we read: “By the which will (God's) we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once.” Here we have the working of the Father (compare also John 17:17). Then in Heb. 12:12 we have the Son— “Jesus also that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate.” And in 1 Pet. 1:2 it is the Spirit— “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” Thus we see that our sanctification is of such vital importance that each Person of the Godhead has His blessed part in it. The God we have to do with is a holy God. If we are to dwell in the Father's house through eternal ages it is necessary that we should be “holy and without blame before Him,” and that is what God is working for. It is not enough that we should have a title to be there, there must be fitness for His presence. He will have us to be at home there according to all that God is. The work for us is finished, through the Saviour's death for our sins, and nothing can be added to it. It is ever before God in all its beauty and perfection—our sanctification and meetness in this respect is a accomplished thing—but there is a work necessary to be wrought in us, and this is by His word and Spirit. Suppose we were forgiven and this were all—that would be a wonderfully incomplete thing that would not fit us for a place in the Father's house. Our nature is at enmity with God— “it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). There can be no holiness in us apart from the communication of the new nature. “Ye must be born again.” “In me (that is, in my flesh),", says the apostle, “dwelleth no good thing.” That is as true of us as of Saul of Tarsus, and that old nature, the flesh, must be got rid of, and the new nature which alone can work what is pleasing to God be implanted in us.

The word sanctification is used in various ways in five or six different senses. In Tim. 4:4, 5, the sanctification of our daily food is spoken of. We know that the food cannot be changed in its nature or made actually holy; the meaning is that it is set apart for our use. The word is used in 1 Cor. 7 in connection with the unbelieving husband and the believing wife, with the unbelieving wife and the believing husband—the unconverted one is said to sanctified by the converted. I have known cases where the unconverted husband became all the worse, persecuted his wife, shut her out of doors, and altogether behaved in a far worse manner than he did before his wife was converted. This passage does not mean that the unbeliever is made morally pure, but that the husband and wife might live together, in contrast to the condition of things under the law.

If we go back into the Old Testament we find that the Tabernacle was to be anointed and sanctified, and likewise the altar, the laver, and Aaron and his sons (Ex. 41), just meaning that all was to be set apart to God. A man might also sanctify is house or his field. The thing or person was to be reckoned holy, although it could not be altered in its nature—it was a kind of positional holiness. “All His saints are in Thy hand.” In this sense the whole nation was sanctified, though we know how wicked they were actually. In John 10 the Lord Jesus applies this same word to Himself “Whom the Father hath sanctified.” Did that make Him more holy than before? He was always holy: there could be no degrees in His sanctification— “The holy one of God.” It means that the Father set Him apart for the great work He had trusted Him with. Later, in John 17, the Lord says, “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” He as the spotless One, the One whose purity under the eye of God was unsullied. What He meant was that He set Himself apart on behalf of, these apostles, even as He now appears in the presence God for us.

Thus far sanctification means setting apart, and that thought enters into its meaning wherever you meet with it, only in the cases we shall look at, now the meaning gets deeper. In 1 Thess. 5:23 we get what is practical, not merely what is positional.

Still we must remember that in the great majority of cases it is positional—that part is complete, not partial or progressive. In the passage already quoted in 1 Peter 1, the Spirit is beginning His work in the soul—what is that? Setting that soul apart. He did that at the very beginning, though the soul might not have had intelligence of it. It is a remarkable thing that the order set forth in human theology is not that given in the word of God. In the Westminster Catechism which I learned when a boy, and which is perhaps the embodiment of human theology, the order is Justification, Adoption, Sanctification. In the word of God we have these three things, but we do not get them in that order. You will find that wherever sanctification and justification come side by side, sanctification comes first. We should have put it last. If we had our choice about that matter we should have been getting under the shelter of the blood before anything else, but that is not God's way. The Holy Spirit begins His work by appropriating the individual for God. We are set apart to obedience, to obey as the Lord obeyed. The soul is required to bow to the truth of God and accept it.

In 1 Cor. 6, after reminding the Corinthians of what some of them had been, the apostle says “but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified.” Why does he not put justified before sanctified? We see the significance of washing. If a rich man adopts a gutter child, the first thing he must do for it is to see that it is washed, the next that it is properly clothed, and then that it is properly instructed in proper manners and behavior. These people had been rolling in the gutters of sin; first of all they needed to be washed, and that is where God began with them.

We read in 2 Thess. 2 of those who shall fall under the strong delusion of the man of sin. “But... 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:” There we have this beautiful order again. God would have us to know how He begins His work. We want to have our thoughts running in a line with His truth. Nowadays there is a great deal of striving after holiness, or sanctification if you will. It is a good thing to see hearts exercised, but we want to listen to God's word and be guided by it, or we may be led into all kinds of fanaticism; on the other hand, if we take up the word apart from the Spirit we shall run into rationalism. The Spirit enables us to understand the word of God, and to walk in its light. We must remember that there can be no holiness and no good works, as God requires them until the soul is born again. The best works of the flesh are dead works. “How much more shall the blood of Christ... purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” The good must be purged away as well as the bad; it is a fine thing to get rid of such deceiving and disappointing things, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). “Be ye holy, for I am holy” (1 Pet. 1:15). This is practical sanctification, brought about by the Holy Spirit, who sets us apart from the evil within and around. We must bear in mind that the new nature is sinless and cannot sin, but side by side with that is the old nature, which, if it acts at all, can do nothing but sin. The old nature cannot be improved, nor can it be got rid of until we get to the end of the journey, but its members are to be mortified. God has executed judgment on it in our Substitute on the cross, Who was there made sin for us. “For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). We must first believe this fully, and then go on to reckon ourselves “dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The mighty power of the Holy Spirit lusting against the flesh within us enables us to do the things that we would (Gal. 5:17). “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof” (Rom. 13:14), words that remind us of what Paul said of himself, “For to me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). If we are living Christ we are living a holy life. “He that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.” We know how He walked, doing the will of God perfectly—delighting in it. May the same mind be in us!

The process of practical sanctification is going on. At the same time we must remember, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification” (1 Thess. 4:3). Listen again to the words of the apostle, “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” (Eph. 5:25-27). The means of this cleansing and sanctification is through the word. How we should give heed to that cleansing and purifying power. When the Lord washed the disciples' feet they not understand it. It is with us as with them; our whole person is cleansed, but we have to walk through this world, and we contract defilement by the way, and we need to be cleansed from that defilement. We do not go back to the blood; what we need is the washing of water by the word. How we should seek every opportunity of hearing the word, of reading and studying it Even in the Psalms we find the question “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?” and its answer, “By taking heed thereto according to Thy word” (Ps. 119:9). “By the word of Thy lips have I kept me from the paths of the destroyer” (Ps. 17:4). If we have the word dwelling in us in all wisdom, our hearts and minds are kept and led on into all holiness, and the flesh is kept in place. In 2 Cor. 6 great promises have been spoken of. “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God.” The next chapter opens, “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” We see how we are to go on growing more and more in the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ. This will be holiness indeed.

The verse we have specially before us takes the form of a prayer for the sanctification of the whole tripartite person. This was the desire begotten in the apostle's heart by the Holy Ghost; it is His desire for us still. When the Holy Ghost is allowed to work in us, there is His gracious preservation. “Unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” — how constantly the Spirit of God carries us on to that wonderful event. “The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, even as we do toward you: to the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Chrigt with all His saints” (1 Thess. 3:13). “What manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God?” We want to keep these great events before our minds—they have a sanctifying power. “Beloved, now are we children 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.” What then? “Every man that hath this hope on Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.” Nothing short of this should satisfy us; that is what our aim and endeavour should be. There is no way in which we can more impressively and effectively glorify Him here than by having the same mind that was in Him. We are left here to follow His steps. When the Lord was here He was the light of the world— “As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world.” In view of His going out of the world He said to His disciples “Ye are the light of the world.” The more we grow like Him the brighter will be our light.

Verse 24 is very encouraging; it gives the answer to the prayer, “Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it.” It is by the power of the indwelling Spirit alone that we can “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit,” and present our bodies “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.” The whole person must be given up to Him. “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ.” In 1 Thess. 5:24 we get the added assurance “Who also will do it.” Surely it is the Father's desire that all His people should be holy as He is holy. Israel was set apart, and failed, but there is little excuse for us if we are not a holy people practically and really. We have the position and standing of a holy people, but we must walk as such. God grant us a deeper aspiration after true holiness of walk and life, truer likeness of mind and will to our Lord and Master, yea, a practical giving-up of our entire being to Him! He is going to present as faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. ."That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.” The spots are moral defects, sins—in plainer language; wrinkles are brought on through the cares and sorrows of this life. But all the spots and wrinkles will disappear. We shall hardly know ourselves when we come to that.

“To find each hope of glory gained,

Fulfilled each precious word,

And fully all to have attained

The image of our Lord.”

There will then no longer be the need for watchfulness, as is so continuously called for here. But all His desires in regard to us will have been consummated in glory.

“The God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you” (1 Pet. 5:10).

R.K.

The Prospects of the World According to the Scriptures: Part 1

I have already shown the hope and calling of the Christian in the parable of the Virgins. We shall now see what the word of God reveals as to those not born of God, who may bear the Christian name for the present, but will abandon it, as we learn from the very portion of Scripture just read. No doubt the world comprehends more than those who outwardly profess the name of the Lord. Besides Christendom, it embraces the Gentiles or heathen, and the Jews. Scripture is silent about none of these; and the light of God is as bright on the future as on the past.

This is an immense principle to hold fast in reading the written word. Men are apt to judge of God by themselves. To speak with certainty, of the future being to us impossible, man forthwith imagines that, if God speaks about it, even then it must be somewhat uncertain. If we only reflect a moment, we cannot but see that this is the principle of infidelity. What difference does it make to God whether He is speaking about the past, the present, or the future? He assuredly does not think in the sense of having to reflect, nor does He merely give an opinion. On the contrary, He knows all things. The only question is whether God communicates what He knows, or how far He has been pleased to do so. Does not the prophetic word profess this? Is it a true profession? If God has communicated His mind about the future, as evidently the Scriptures assume and even assert, it is simply faith to accept it; and the moment our faith rests upon His word, the light shines. What seemed confusion, when we did not believe, turns to order before our minds when we do. The light was really there always. It was our unbelief that made confusion.

The word of God is the perfect revelation of His mind, no matter what He speaks, or when; and God has been pleased to speak about the future. It is the special mark of His confidence. He tells Abraham what He was going to do, what concerned not merely himself, but others, even the cities of the plain. Abraham had nothing directly to do with them, though Lot had; yet it was not Lot but Abraham who was told of the imminent destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot only learned it just in time to be saved, as he was, by fire. But Abraham knew in peace beforehand, and interceded with God. Our portion ought to be that of Abraham rather than of Lot. There are those who will be save, just in time to escape destruction. There are those yet to be in the sphere of judgment, who will pass through in a measure, who will only be preserved. Some will be destroyed. Remember Lot's wife. Others will be rescued, as the angels rescued Lot 'and his daughters. But theirs was not the happier portion.

God has provided some better thing for us in every respect. He has given us the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Accordingly, says Paula writing, not to the Ephesians or the Philippians, but even to the Corinthians, “We have the mind of Christ,” the intelligence of Christ, the capacity of spiritual understanding. Not, of course, that we have the same measure as the Lord, who had and was Himself the wisdom of God, and this absolutely. We have nothing save in and by Him, and hence only in dependence on Him. However, we have not the mere mind of man only but of Christ, as Christians having the Holy Ghost. The intelligence of Christ is ours; and this shows why what was true in principle of Abraham is increasingly—so to speak—true of the Christian, for it could not be said, in the full force of the terms, that Abraham had the mind of Christ. The Holy Ghost had not yet come, for Jesus was not yet glorified. Now that the Lord Jesus has accomplished the redemption, and has gone up on high, He has sent down the Holy Spirit to dwell in His saints, to make them the temple of God, and even the body of each believer the temple of the Holy Ghost, just as His own body was, He on earth having His body perfectly holy, and ever fit for the Spirit without redemption, we only in virtue of His blood. Hence, never till the blood of Christ was shed could any other here below be the temple of the Holy Ghost. Jesus was the temple of the Spirit; we, I repeat, are only so because our sin is judged in His cross, our guilt blotted out by His blood. Therefore the Spirit of God comes down to dwell in us, putting honor on the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; but because of this we have a divine power opening into all that God communicates.

This, though a digression, is of immense importance on the subject which we are examining to-night, for there is nothing that more proves divine intelligence than the communication of the future. The Old Testament makes, in the main, this challenge to the false gods, a challenge which—and we need not wonder at it—could only strike them with dumbness, even if they had pretended ever so loudly before to give out oracles. As long as it was merely a question of baffling inquirers, they might deceive by equivocal answers; but Isaiah, in the most trenchant and severe style, shows their utter impotence to disclose the future. Now a very large part of the Old Testament consists of revelations of the future, and not only of what was future then, but of what is future still. The Old Testament prophets expand largely, and in the most blessed terms, on the bright future that yet awaits this world. Isaiah depicts the day of Jehovah, when all that now obstructs the light of glory shall be removed; when all that rises up against the honor of the only true God shall fall; when Satan will lose his delusive power; when the nations of the earth, long groaning under oppression, shall be set free; and when the Jews themselves, who truly ought to have been the leaders of all that is good and true, but alas! abound with teachers of the infidelity that now poisons the world, shall be delivered from every bitter thralldom, and will come forth to the place that God's promise assigns them as the head and priest of the world. They are destined to fill the foremost place when the earth itself is raised out of its actual and long degradation. The Lord has spoken it, and His hand will accomplish all in due time. These are parts of the prospects of the world on which the Old Testament prophets descant at great length, and with graphic minuteness. When the Lord Jesus came, on whom the accomplishment of prophecy depends for the realization of the kingdom of God—for in truth He was the king who brought in the kingdom personally, and presented it with final responsibility to Israel—He was rejected. Then came a mighty change of all consequence to the world, when every bright hope seemed blasted, when all expectation of glory for Israel set in clouds and a deeper darkness than before. God made use of that moment of fallen hopes for the earth and the earthly people, and the nations of the world, for “some better thing.” He used the cross of Christ to bring in a wholly new state, when Israel vanished for a season—a state distinct from that which prophets prepared the minds of men of old to expect. The reason is simple, and the ground plain. The rejected Christ is raised from the dead, and, having ascended to heaven, takes His seat there to bring in a new and heavenly order of blessing. He is seated there until a moment unknown and undisclosed, during which God brings in altogether new things. This is Christianity, which is therefore essentially of heaven. The prophets did not speak of heaven, save incidentally. Prophecy refers to the earth. No doubt there are here and there allusions to heaven; but by no prophet and in no prophecy is there an opening out of what the Lord Jesus is doing now at the right hand of God.

It was not the object of prophecy to do so. Prophecy, the prophetic word, is a lamp, and very useful, to which those who heed the Lord will do well to pay attention, for that lamp shines in a dark of squalid place. Such is the revealed use of prophecy for Christianity. But then there is a brighter light, even, the light of day, as the apostle says, “Till the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts.” What does he mean by this? The accomplishment of prophecy? Not at all. Till the day of Jehovah comes for the world? In no wise. He speaks of day dawning, and the star arising in the heart, not of that day arising upon the world. This would be the accomplishment of prophecy; but he is intimating what the Spirit of God can bring into the heart of the Christian now. The Jewish believer was encouraged still to value his prophetic lamp. The word of prophecy derived confirmation from what was seen on the Holy Mount. Yet there was to be a far clearer light—the light of day, the brightness of heaven, not of the lamp. Further, the person of our Lord Jesus is our hope, the day-star, not merely the general light of heaven, but the daystar arising in the heart. This is, as I understand it, the dawning of heavenly hope in the heart.

The actual arrival of the day of the Lord is another matter, and this will be in its own time. It is, however, a good thing to hold fast the prophetic lamp until we get a better light. There are far brighter associations into which the Christian is introduced now through Christ Jesus; but of these things prophecy does not treat. The prophetic word does not contemplate the arising of the day-star in the heart. There it is the very reverse of Christ. The day-star of prophecy is the name of the Lord's enemy, as you may see in Isaiah 14. The day-star that the Christian knows is Christ, while He is outside of the world in heaven, before He comes to earth. Day dawns, and the day-star arises in the Christian's heart while he is here. In consequence of this present privilege we stand in a wondrous position. Believing in the Lord Jesus, we have a Savior who is already come, and has accomplished the redemption of our souls, and given us remission of sins. We have life eternal, and the knowledge of our absolute cleansing in the sight of God through the Holy Ghost. Yet the condition of the world is no better, but rather worse. The world has been led on by its prince to reject its only true King—I mean the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Supreme. We are in the secret of it; we know that the King of kings has been refused; and our hearts are with Him. We can afford to wait for the great day; but meanwhile we have the light of day before the day comes. The light cannot yet shine on the world, but in our hearts; so that it is evident we have more than the lamp of prophecy, even the light of day. We are children of the light and of the day ourselves. Hence therefore it is the part of the Christian to be able to read all that is passing around, as well as the communications of God as to the future. According to God it is a part of our proper heritage. We ought to be able to understand the signs of the times. We ought to be able to read not only what is before us according to God, but also to speak of the future because we believe the word of God. With all that God has communicated we may interest ourselves. We have the family interests; for, if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; and it would be a poor thing that the heirs should not make themselves acquainted with the inheritance; and how strange if Christians should not understand by the Spirit of God! For this reason then, if we only knew our own privileges, we are led into an immense field of blessedness entirely outside the natural ken of man. This is what I shall endeavor a little to expound and apply, in looking at a few of the principal passages that bear upon the prospects of the world according to the Scriptures.

[W.K.]

(To be continued)

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Lectures on 2 Chronicles 26-31

Then follows Uzziah (chap. 26.). “And he did that which was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father Amaziah did. And he sought God in the days of Zechariah who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought Jehovah, God made him to prosper. And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines. And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gur-Baal, and the Mehunims. And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly. Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them. Also he built towers in the desert, and digged many wells: for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains husbandman and vine dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry. Moreover, Uzziah had a host of fighting men” —a standing army.

All this, no doubt, looked fair. “But when he was strong his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against Jehovah his God, and went into the temple of Jehovah to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of Jehovah, that were valiant men: and they withstood Uzziah the king, and Said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah to burn incense unto Jehovah, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honor from Jehovah, God. Then Uzziah was wrath,” and although he stood with a censer in his hand, even at the moment, “the leprosy rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of Jehovah from beside the incense altar. And Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because Jehovah had smitten him.” It was a signal judgment even in this day of weakness and unfaithfulness. So he lived a leper to the day of his death.

His son Jotham (chap. 27.) follows in the right way in a measure as his father did. He entered not into the temple of Jehovah as his father had done; but the people did yet corruptly. However, he builds, and wars and becomes mighty, because he prepared his ways before Jehovah his God.

Jotham dies, and Ahaz succeeds him, an impious son, who “walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim” (chap. 28.). Not satisfied with that, he, even as we know, brought down the pattern of a new altar from Damascus into the very house of God; but God smote him: “Pekah, the son of Remaliah, slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they had forsaken Jehovah God of their fathers.” And so we find further sorrows without end upon Ahaz, so that in the extremity of his distress he sends for a little help to the king of Assyria, only to add to his sorrows.

I need not dwell upon this, though it is one of the most important points in the history of Judah, for it was the great crisis when the magnificent burst of prophecy came from God. Isaiah had begun, no doubt, before, in the days of Uzziah and Jotham; but it was in Ahaz's time that the prophecy of Emmanuel was given: yea, it was to Ahaz himself. What grace, that a wicked man should bring forth from God the distinctest pledge of the glory of the Messiah I Yet, so it was. How completely God moves above the evil of man! And if God be so to the evil, what is He not to the righteous? How should we not, then, ever confide in His love?

Ahaz, after a most distressful, as well as guilty reign, comes to his end, and Hezekiah reigns in his stead (chap. 29.). Here we have a man of faith—a man of singular confidence in the Lord, and Hezekiah “in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of Jehovah and repaired them.” There was no time lost. In the first year and the first month “And he brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together into the east street, and said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of Jehovah God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of Jehovah our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of Jehovah, and turned their backs. Also they have shut up the doors of the porch, and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense nor offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel. Wherefore the wrath of Jehovah was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes. For, lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. Now it is in mine heart to make a covenant with Jehovah God of Israel, that his fierce wrath may turn away from us. My sons, be not now negligent: for Jehovah hath chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and that ye should minister unto him, and burn incense.”

What a state! Yet there was the law; but such was the practice. The people of today wonder at the departure is Christendom since the time of the apostles. The departure was not so easy under Israel, because Israel's worship consisted so very much of external observances, and they might be done even by unconverted men. But in the church, everything depends upon the Spirit of God, and therefore the departure is incomparably more easy in the church than it was under Israel. Yet people wonder that the church has gone astray. To what purpose have they read their Bibles, and why has God given us this most solemn departure in Israel but to warn us of ours? Has he not in the New Testament put forward prophecy after prophecy of the departure that he saw at hand? “Otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.” What did it depend upon? On what condition? Except the Gentile continued in the goodness of God he should be cut off like the Jew. Has the Gentile continued in the goodness of God? Is Protestant devotion and the splitting up of the church of God without a care? Is Popish or Greek idolatry continuing in the goodness of God? The Gentile has not continued in the goodness of God, and must be cut off no less than Israel and Judah.

Well, here was a pious man; and what a mercy to think that God raises up in Christendom as he did in Israel. But you will observe this: no piety of Jehoshaphat, no faith of Hezekiah, turned the current of evil. There is a stay: they find a footing in the midst of the current and they resist it. They are sustained of God, but the current of evil still passes on till it ends in the gulf of judgment. And so we find now. Hezekiah gave no doubt a fair and beautiful promise of a better day. But it was only the morning cloud and passing dew; so he calls upon them not to be negligent, and the Levites answer to his call to cleanse the house of Jehovah.

This was the great thing. It was not merely personal cleansing, but cleansing the house of Jehovah. The house of Jehovah answers to our being gathered together. It is not enough to be personally pure: we ought to be pure in our associations: we ought to be pure in our worship. If there is anything in which we ought to be pure it is the worship of God. I cannot understand the piety of persons that are content with what they know is wrong in the worship of God. It seems to me sadly inconsistent to say the least. I know there are difficulties. Faith always has difficulties; but faith always surmounts them. So it was with Hezekiah. No doubt it seemed a very strange thing to be blaming everybody for so long a time; but he did not think of that, and I am persuaded that Hezekiah was not a high-minded, but a most lowly, man. It is a mere stigma and calumny to call faith proud. The world always does. Christians ought not to do so: they ought to know better.

So they began on the first day of the first month. What alacrity! “Now they began on the first day of the first month to sanctify, and on the eighth day of the Month came they to the porch of Jehovah: so they sanctified the house of Jehovah in eight days; and in the sixteenth day of the first month they made an end” (verse 17). Then they went unto Hezekiah the king and told him. Hezekiah prepares accordingly. “Then Hezekiah the king rose early, and gathered the rulers of the city and went up to the house of Jehovah.” It is all the same stamp. It was a man filled with the sense of the glory of God, and there was not a moment to be lost. If I want to obey why should I not begin at once? What am I waiting for? “And they brought seven bullocks, and seven rams, and seven lambs, and seven he-goats, for a sin offering for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of Jehovah. So they killed the bullocks, and the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar: likewise, when they had killed the rams they sprinkled the blood upon the altar: they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar. And they brought forth the he-goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation; and they laid their hands upon them. And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar, to make an atonement for all Israel: for the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.”

Let me call your attention to what is here said “for all Israel,” as we have it also in the 21St verse— “for the kingdom, and for the sanctuary, and for Judah.” Not for Judah only, but for the whole nation, Israel and Judah. This is a fine action of Hezekiah's faith. Personally pure and devoted in his own sphere, his heart went out towards all that belonged to God. They might be idolaters, but he makes an atonement. The more, therefore, they needed the atonement, the more they needed that others should feel for them if they felt not for themselves and for God.

And so we should feel now. We ought not to care merely for the Christians that we know. Surely we ought to love them; but our hearts ought always, in private and in public, to take in the whole church of God. We are never right if we do not. There is sectarian leaven in our hearts if we do not go out towards all that are of God. So with Hezekiah. It was for all Israel—for the king commanded. It was the king, you see. The priests, no doubt, did not think about it. They were so accustomed merely to offer up sacrifices for Judah that they, no doubt, never thought about “all Israel"; but the king did. “The king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.” And everything was done in its proper order. There was no neglect of what was seemly or decent. “And he set the Levites in the house of Jehovah with cymbals, with psalteries, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet; for so was the commandment of Jehovah by his prophets. And the Levites stood with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of Jehovah began also with the trumpets, and with the instruments ordained by David king of Israel. And all the congregation worshipped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded, and all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. And when they had made an end of offering, the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves, and worshipped. Moreover, Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto Jehovah with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.”

And thus all was done in beautiful order and, as we are told in the last verses, “the service of the house of Jehovah was set in order. And Hezekiah rejoiced, and all the people, that God had prepared the people: for the thing was done suddenly.” But it was none the worse for that. There had been nothing like this since the days of king Solomon; so long had care for the house of God fallen into disuse.

But Hezekiah was not content with this (chap. 30.). “He sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh that they should come to the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem to keep the passover unto Jehovah God of Israel.” This seemed, no doubt, a very bold thing, and I have not a doubt that they considered that the king was behaving in a very presumptuous manner. “What business had he to send to all Israel? He was only king of Judah! Why should he not be content with his own people? He was proselyting. They did not like it. They thought it was exceedingly improper to be taking away the Israelites to Jerusalem. But Hezekiah was thinking of God. Hezekiah was filled with the sense of what was due to the claims of Jehovah. Jehovah had set his house in one place for all Israel.

Now there is nothing that gives a person such boldness as this, and nothing, also, that sets hive to work so earnestly as this. If we are merely contending for doctrines of our own it does seem rather strong to expect other people to receive them. If it is merely my own doctrine I had better make myself happy with my own affairs. But if it is God's grace, if it is God's worship, if it is God's way, has it not a claim upon all that are God's? The moment you see that, you can go forward, and you can appeal to the conscience of all that belong to God, that they should be faithful to God's own will and word. And what I want the children of God to see now clearly, and all the children of God as far as He is pleased to give it efficacy, is that they are set not merely upon something better than what other people have, but upon what is God's will, because that must be the best of all; and inasmuch as they have got the book of God they can see, and are responsible, to find this out for themselves. Anything that is herein has a claim upon a child of God—and more particularly as regards the worship, of God. I grant you that in human things what is of man has a claim; but not so in divine things. “Render, therefore, to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”

I think it was in this spirit, therefore, not trying to be a Cesar over Israel, or even recalling Israelites to their allegiance to himself, which perhaps he might have done, that Hezekiah so acted. He was a man of faith, and he knew well that it was of God the rending off the ten tribes from the house of David, and therefore he did not ask the tribes for himself, but he did ask them for God. He sent out “to all Israel and Judah” (chap. 30.). And so should we do now. We ought not to desire the world. Let men, if they will, seek the world, and the pretended worship of the world. Let them seek “the masses” as they say. Let them have the masses if they will, and if the masses are weak enough to follow them. But the business of faith is to call upon all who have faith in the same of the Lord, and to get them to follow His word. So did Hezekiah now, according to what God gave him. “And the thing pleased the king and all the congregation.” What I call your attention particularly to is this. Nobody thought of all this for all these years. Nobody thought of it but Hezekiah. The more you draw near to God, the more you love the people of God. It was because God was so great in Hezekiah's eyes that the people of God were so dear to Hezekiah, and so he claimed them for God and called them to come out from their abominations. “They established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto Jehovah God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done it of a long time in such sort as it was written"! How quickly people departed from what was written!

“So the posts went with the letters from the king and his princes throughout all Israel and Judah, and according to the commandment of the king, saying, Ye children of Israel” —not merely “Ye children of Judah,” but “Ye children of Israel, turn again unto Jehovah God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you—that are escaped out of the hand of the kings of Assyria. And be not ye like your fathers and like your brethren which trespassed against Jehovah God of their fathers, who therefore gave them up to desolation as ye see. Now, be ye not stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto Jehovah, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified forever.” God's principles do not change. It is all a mistake that because the apostles are gone so the apostles' truth is gone. Not so; it abides, and forever. It is always binding on the people of God. So here with the sanctuary in Jerusalem. “So the posts passed from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh even unto Zebulun but they laughed them to scorn and mocked them.”

As it was then, so is it now. The more true, the more it be according to God, so the more is the contempt of men who have chosen to blend the world with Christ. “Nevertheless, divers of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.” In the most unlikely and distant quarters, and where no one could possibly look for them, there are those that have humbled themselves and have come. “Also in Judah the hand of God was to give them one heart to do the commandment of the king, and of the princes, by the word of Jehovah.” And there they assembled. “And they arose and took away the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for incense took they away and cast them into the brook Kidron. Then they killed the passover on the fourteenth day of the second month, and the priests and the Levites were ashamed, and sanctified themselves, and brought in the burnt offerings into the house of Jehovah, and they stood in their place” —because this was in consequence of some not being ready. The priests had not sanctified themselves sufficiently. The second month was the gracious provision that God made in the case of uncleanness in the wilderness as we may see in Num. 9:11.

How good is the word of the Lord! They must keep the passover; but, on the other hand, they could not keep it if they were unclean. This provision came in, therefore, when they were consciously unclean, that they might purify themselves and keep it so now. But there is no lowering the standard. There ought to be consideration for the weakness, and there is given them time to learn; but the standard must not be lowered, and so we find, further, that “the children of Israel that were present at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness: and the Levites and the priests praised Jehovah day by day, singing with loud instruments unto Jehovah. And Hezekiah spake comfortably unto all the Levites"; and, in fact, there was a happy and a holy time come, “for Hezekiah king of Judah did give to the congregation a thousand bullocks and seven thousand sheep; and the princes gave to the congregation a thousand bullocks and ten thousand sheep: and a great number of priests sanctified themselves. And all the congregation of Judah, with the priests and the Levites, and all the congregation that came out of Israel, and the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in Judah, rejoiced. So there was great joy in Jerusalem.”

In the next chapter (31.) we find that this faithfulness on the part of the Jews of Judah gave a great impulse to their fidelity. True faithfulness always flows from faith, and if we are right in the worship of God we shall seek to be right in our walk. A low worship always goes with a low walk. It would be an awful thing and most condemnatory if there was carelessness of God's worship and a want of care of our personal ways and walk. We have to see to that. “Then all the children of Israel returned, every man to his own possession, into their own cities. And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the priests,” for he was not content with what he had done. He carries out the work still more fully. And we are told in the end of the 31St chapter, “Thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah, and wrought that which was good and right and truth before Jehovah his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart, and prospered.”

(To be continued)

A Voice Out of Seir

It is not our purpose to dwell upon the literal accomplishment of this prophecy, but rather to take out of its what may be applied to our own times. We also urgently need to set ourselves upon the tower, and watch to see what He will say unto us, and what we shall answer when we are reproved (Hab. 2:1).

“Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?” The enquirer repeats his question so as to impress us with its solemnity. Man's day, already so long, has been but a dark night since he fell into sin. Scripture gives us his true history; and, as read there, where is there a shining of light as out of him? It pleased God to give glimpses of it now and then, and Very refreshing are they when we find them; but to faith alone are they visible and manifest.

Toward the middle of man's night God raised up. a great light for the people which sat in darkness, and for them which sat in the region of the shadow of death, light sprang up. He sent His Son into this world, and in His Son was life, and the life was the light of men. This true light so bright and resplendent, was that which, coming into the world, lighted every man; but the darkness, by which the mind of man is blinded through sin, comprehended it not. Alas, it was willful blindness on his part. The Lord tells out the secret of it, “Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

The full light went back with him to heaven. Essentially and absolutely, He is the light, remains that in heaven as he was that on earth; but how misty this poor world has become again since He is, as we learn from Col. 3, hid in God! Blessed be His name, out of tender pity and goodness He would not give up this poor world to total darkness, as will be the case in the second night the watchman announces. He has set up luminaries in whom, by the power of His Spirit, light shines. However, these are but frail vessels, often wanting in transparency. Time was when they were mightily resplendent, as in the days of the apostles or of the church in its primeval state. Since its early days, however, the church has gradually declined, and lost its brightness in proportion as it merged into the world. And now where is it?

We speak of “the church” (as set forth in. scripture), not of the countless independent churches, for these, in principle, are a denial of that, inasmuch as they are distinct bodies in contrast with the one body. They represent a divided Christ and as such can only be an imperfect reflection of the light which Christ is. We do not deny for a moment that there are saints in whom the heavenly light shines brightly, but they are mere individuals, burning and shining lamps, if you please, faithful in their day and measure, but isolated. Rather were they and are they those who own the ruin of the church and mourn over it. Still, we may be thankful for the light they give, and may assure ourselves in our God that there will be such to shine forth till we are removed from this world.

It is night indeed, but the darkness is not total. It will be, for a time at least, when we are gone. But we do confess that the present time is night already. Hence the anxious inquiry, “What of the night,... what of the night?” This is the cry of souls who stiffer in the dark but want to be out of it, and the watchman lets them know that the night is far spent, that the day is at hand, that their deliverance is near. Blessed message! May we give a more attentive ear to it!

“The morning cometh” —the morning without clouds. This may lead us to Hab. 2. There too, the prophet is on the look out, and not in vain, “I will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.” And he is given to see a vision, and told to write plain upon tables, that he that readeth it may run. The vision was “yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie.” “Though it tarry,” says the Lord, “wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” And for us the vision is written plain upon tables in Heb. 10:37. It points most distinctly to the coming of our Lord. It is not, as with the prophet, “it will surely come,” but “He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.” So “the morning cometh,” says the watchman. He does not describe it, but it is described for us in 1 Thess. 4, “The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God” —a threefold call which all his saints will hear, the sleeping ones and the waking ones alike.

He will descend not yet to the earth that cast Him out, but, as it were, half-way between heaven and earth. His saints will be caught up to meet Him there, and He will forthwith take them to His Father and God. He will see then of the travail of His soul and be satisfied. During the present time his poor wavering saints often grieve His loving heart by their inconsistencies. It will be otherwise when He has called them up and fashioned them like unto Himself. Then He will have all His joy in them as they in Him. It will be all His own doing: salvation of soul by His suffering and death on the cross, salvation of the body by power at His second coming (Phil. 3:21).

We shall be caught up “in the clouds.” That is exactly how the Lord Himself ascended up to heaven, as it is written, “A cloud received Him out of their sight.” This cloud He had been in once before, with three of His disciples, on the holy mount. Then His disciples feared as they entered into it. They could not stand the sight of the glory of their Lord. It will be very different with His saints when they meet Him on the resurrection morn. No fear then, but rather a shout of gladness, “This is our God; we have waited for Him.” Would that we lived more in the power and reality of this blessed hope, of that glorious morning! What is this poor world without Christ? And what more shall we want when we are “ever with the Lord"?

But the watchman, after having heralded the coming morning, adds another solemn word. It is this, “And also the night.” A dreadful and dark night, darker than has ever been seen on earth for those who will be left behind when the Lord calls away His saints. The New Testament as to this is in full accord with the watchman's acacia. The morning, as we have seen, is described in 1 Thess. 4; the night that is to follow is described in 2 Thess. 1, 2.

In 2 Thess. 1 we are told that “the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and on them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” This implies that the gospel of God's grace, as now preached, will have been thoroughly given up by those who now hear it heedlessly, and alas, they are the mass. The apostle could say that even in his day “the mystery of iniquity (or, lawlessness) doth already work.” It has made terrible inroads since, and it will culminate in what is called “the falling away” or open apostasy. Of this we have already many features under our own eyes. A distorted gospel, a different gospel which is not another, is proclaimed from many a pulpit and in many a book. But for a certain restraint, which is not of man but of God, it would soon have sway over all the minds of men in Christendom.

There is one that letteth, and will let, until he be taken out of the way; but for that, the rationalists and infidels of to-day would be the apostates of tomorrow. Alas, are they not that already? The hindrance, which is none other than the Spirit of God, may be removed at any moment; and then, how dark the night!

We read that God will send them a strong delusion, or rather (as in the New Version), a working of error, that they should believe the lie: that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. They are punished for not having believed the gospel, which they must have known, and for not having loved the truth, by which they might have been saved. They are not heathen, judged on the ground of ignorance, but apostates, judged for having given up what in earlier days they professed to accept as the truth. God's gospel leads to God's Christ; their gospel leads to antichrist. It is the setting aside of God in Christ and the setting up of man to be God. Satan has been working at this ever since the days of Gen. 3:4, 5. And this awful crisis is fast approaching. “Even now there are many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last hour.” These precursors—who are they? “They went out from us.” They are men who have known and preached the gospel without faith in it. By degrees they perverted it, and at last denied it, substituted for it one of their own invention. Christians by name and profession; they become anti-christians. The truth that is not loved is sure to become unpalatable and opposed.

Thus it is that book after book, page after but page, of the Bible, has been assailed. What is there that remains to pull down? The very personality of God has been denied by so-called Christian teachers. The Christ of God has been lowered to man's level, or at least to such a level as man can reach to. The fall of mart through sin a myth! As a consequence, no redemption by the cross, no atoning death, no resurrection! On the other hand, no judgment either in this life or after! Eternal punishment a fable! Total extinction in death is far more convenient! Or, if they admit an after life, they make it to be a time of probation, of gospel preaching in hades, giving you an ample chance to come out all right! When Christ and redemption work is thus done away with, men are ready for antichrist. Popery has already decreed the infallibility of at least one man, has made , and Protestantism, so largely permeated with “damnable heresies,” will be swamped by the flood of infidelity.

Doubtless God has His own people in the midst his appalling declension; but He will remove them ere the night announced by the watchman comes. They are children of the day, not of the night. As long as they are here they will bear witness to the truth, however feebly, and by their testimony prevent the lying spirit from having free course. How solemn the thought that we have already under our eyes most of the elements which go to make up a full apostasy! Can Christians be so insensible as to put up with what they see of it in the present day? May God rouse them both in heart and conscience, and may they remember that the morning—their morning—comes between two nights!

The last word of the oracle should be pondered over, “If ye will enquire, enquire ye.” People say, ‘This is a subject on which opinions differ,' and that is their excuse for neglecting it. Yet there are sure and safe means of enquiry. Sit before God's word. Let it rule all your thoughts. Have it to control minutely whatever you may have heard and received outside it. Use it in dependence upon the Spirit of God, your safe guide. We say not that you are to reject systematically all you hear, but to submit all to the criterion of the Scriptures of truth. Thus in proving all things will you hold fast that which is good. “If you will enquire, enquire ye.” You must be willing to be instructed by God's word. “If they speak not according to His word, it is because there is no light in them.”

Then, finally, “Return, come.” This is a gracious call to repentance just in accordance with God's wonted way. “Say unto them, As I live, saith the LORD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel” Life and death are set by God before men—life, on condition of believing and keeping His word; death, if, to the last, men resist the truth.

P.C.

Christ's Secret Approval

In the message to the church in Pergamos (Revelation 2:12-17) the Lord is seen exercising a special form of judicial power, as “He which hath the sharp sword with two edges.” We read (Heb. 4) “The word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” And the Lord is here presented as having this thoroughly piercing power, which judges and discerns the secret workings of the heart and conscience.

“I know thy works, and where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is.” That is where the church now found itself, “where Satan's throne is” —in the world, for he is the prince of it. And the faithful may find themselves there too, if the church be there. (Caleb and Joshua had to go the whole round of the wilderness with the rest, though not sharers in their unbelief); we have to separate ourselves from the evil around, though we may not be separate from its results. We may find ourselves to be in feebleness and weakness, as the faithful in this church did; but our comfort, like theirs, is that the Lord says, “I know thy works, and where thou dwellest.”

God in His grace takes full knowledge of all that concerns us; not only of our conduct, our ways and conditions, but also of the circumstances in which we are, saying as it were, I know that you are where Satan's seat is, and this, even when He may have “somewhat against us.” There is great comfort in knowing this. We might be placed, by means over which we had no control, in a very trying position, but in one which it might not be at all the mind of the Lord that we should quit, where Christian conduct would be very difficult, as, for instance, a converted child in an ungodly, worldly family, where there is nothing of the Spirit of Christ. The Lord would not merely in such a case judge His child's conduct as to those things in which she might have failed. He would do that indeed, but He would also take the most thorough knowledge and notice of the circumstance in which she was; yes, of every little circumstance that rendered it trying. He just as well knew the power of Pharaoh, and the detail of his tyranny, as He did the crying and groans of the Israelites. “I know,” He says, “that he will not let you go.” There is, indeed, great comfort in thus seeing the Lord's perfect knowledge as to where we dwell, because it may not be always His will to take us out of the place, nor yet to change the circumstances in which we are. He may choose to have us glorify Him there, and learn through them what perhaps we could not learn elsewhere.

We are too apt to think we must do great works in the Lord's name in order to glorify Him; there may not always be opportunity for this (there does not appear to have been opportunity for great works in service without to this church). He takes notice if we do but hold fast His name amidst circumstances which make even that measure of faithfulness difficult— “Thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith,” etc.

The Lord gives His people all this encouragement, and yet says, “I have a few things against thee.” In the first place they were slipping back into the world, some of them having already fallen into the habits of it, eating and drinking with the drunken; and secondarily, they were beginning to allow of evil in the church, through pretense of liberty. He therefore warns— “Repent: or else, I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” Worldliness characterized the danger of this church, and it required the sword with two edges to cut between their evil and the circumstances in which they were; if this were not effected, it is, “I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.”

But at the same time that He thus warns, there is plenty of encouragement given—promises suited to counteract their temptations. Were they tempted “to eat of things sacrificed unto idols” with the world? The promise to “him that overcometh” is “I will give him to eat of the hidden manna.” If they had grace to separate themselves from the open evil He would reward them with the unseen blessing of the heavenly places, there should be this feeding on “the hidden manna.” Again, were they tempted to deny the name and faith of Christ, the promise given is “a white stone, and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it": to keep them from slipping back into the world, to strengthen them in incurring, as must needs be in separation, the disapprobation of so many. He promises them inward blessings to cheer their hearts.

The “white stone” seems to mark the individual approbation of Christ; the “new name,” peculiar intercourse between Christ and the individual, different from that which all shall share alike, different from the public joy. There is a public joy. All saints will together enjoy the comforts of Christ's love, will enter into the “joy of their Lord,” and with one heart and one voice will sound His praise. There will also be joy in seeing the fruit of our labors, as it is said, “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?” And again, there will be another joy in, seeing the company of the redeemed, all according to Christ's heart in holiness and glory. But besides this public joy, there will be Christ's peculiar private individual recognition and approval—the “white stone,” and the “new name which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it.”

Christ speaks elsewhere of His own new name as Head of the new creation. There are old names belonging to the Lord Jesus, but His new name is connected with that into which His Father brings Him, when all things which have failed in the hands of man will be established and developed in Him; and having thus Himself a new name, He gives us also a promise of a new name. We are not only to know Jesus and be known of Him according to present circumstances, but to have a special knowledge of Him in glory according to the glory.

Our souls should value this personal approval of Christ, as well as think of the public approval. The latter will be great blessedness; but there is no peculiar affection in it, nothing that stamps peculiar love on the individual. Glory will be common to all, but glory is not affection. This “new name” is a different thing; it is the proof of Christ's value for a person who had been faithful in difficult and trying circumstances, for one who has acted on the knowledge of His mind and overcome through communion with Him. This will be met by special individual approbation. There is the public joy and approval in various ways, and the manifestation of our being loved by the Father as Jesus is loved. But this is not all that is given for our encouragement in individual conduct through trial, failure and difficulty; there is also this special private joy of love.

When the common course of the church is not straight, not in the full energy of the Holy Ghost, though there may be a great deal of faithfulness, yet there is danger of disorder. We find that the Lord then applies Himself more to the walk of individual saints, and suits His promises to the peculiar state in which they are. There is a peculiar value in this. It takes out of all fancied walking (the especial danger which belongs to such a state of things)—each according to his own will chalking out a path for himself because of the unfaithfulness and disobedient walk of the professing body. What faith has to do in such circumstances is to lay hold intelligently, soberly, and solemnly on the Lord's mind, and to walk according to it, strengthened by the promises which He has attached to such a path as He can own.

This at once refers the heart and conscience to Jesus, whilst full of encouragement to the feeblest saint. And it is very precious to have thus the guidance of the Lord, and the promise of His own peculiar approbation—so peculiar that it is known only to him who receives it, when the course of the church is such that one is thrown greatly on individual responsibility of conduct. But then, whilst it gives us strength for walk, it puts the soul in direct responsibility to the Lord, and breaks down human will. When the professing church has become mingled with the world, “eating and drinking with the drunken,” those who seek to be faithful must often have to walk alone, incurring the charge of folly and self-will (and that, too, even from their brethren), because they refuse to follow the beaten path. And indeed it is quite a real danger, a natural consequence that, when the common course is broken up, individual will should work. The natural tendency would even be towards self-will. Our only safety is in having the soul brought under the sense of direct responsibility to the Lord by such warnings and promises as these, which both guide and supply strength to stand free from all around, whilst the consciousness that Christ marks down our ways will sanctify as well as encourage our hearts. For it must be joy to any one who loves the Lord Jesus to think of having His individual peculiar approbation and love, to find that He has approved of our conduct in such and such circumstances, though none know this but ourselves who receive the approval.

But, beloved, are we really content to have an approval which Christ only knows? Let us try ourselves a little. Are we not too desirous of man's commendation of our conduct? or, at least, that he should know and give us credit for the motives which actuate it? Are we content so long as good is done that nobody should know anything about us?—even in the church to be thought nothing of that Christ alone should give us the “white stone” of his approval, and the “new name which no man knoweth, save only he that receiveth it?” Are we content, I say, to seek nothing else? Oh, think what the terrible evil and treachery of that heart must be that is not satisfied with Christ's special favor, but seeks honor (as we do) one of another instead! I ask you, beloved, which would be most precious to you, which would you prefer—the Lord's public owning of you as a good faithful servant, or the private individual love of Christ resting upon you, the secret knowledge of His love and approval? He whose heart is specially attached to Christ will reply—the latter. Both will be ours if faithful, but we shall value this most, and there is nothing that will carry us so straight on our course as the anticipation of it.

The Prospects of the World According to the Scriptures: Part 2

Now the Lord, when He was here below, showed clearly what was to befall the world. He says, “The field is the world;” and He has told us what will become of the world, where men would be Christianized—that is, He has shown us clearly what would be the result. Good seed was sown; but there was an enemy who sowed bad seed. Now He does not give us the smallest idea that the bad seed would be ameliorated. He shows us that the servants were zealous enough to remove the bad seed, but He reproves them. He shows that the effort to correct the evil that is in the world, the attempt to use the name of the Lord for reforming the world, always ends in rooting up the good as well as the bad.

We see this habitually in Popery. It is the principle of the reproved servants; but, instead of making the world better, in effect it ends on the contrary in destroying the wheat, not the tares. Babylon, above all there ever were, has killed the saints, and made herself drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus This is a matter of divine revelation to every one, and history verifies it as a fact of Rome, not pagan only but papal yet more. Scripture had said so long ago: he would be bold man who would dare to deny it. Yet, as of old so now, there are men who talk of making the world better! This goes along with another fundamental error which is found in Popery (and far beyond it too), and that is the notion of men getting better themselves. The two delusions go together. The fact is, that Christianity denies both; one's very baptism, indeed denies it, particularly as to man. To be saved one must take the ground of death with Christ, not of improving the first man; and he who sees and knows what man is ought never to be drawn into the delusion of the world's improvement. Further, the Lord Jesus sets aside the latter error when He tells us the nature of the harvest that is coming; and the harvest is the end of the age, this present evil age, not of the world.

When the consummation of the age then comes, there will be a process of discrimination and judgment. The wheat will be removed on high, the tares dealt with here below. Consequently then will be the harvest; but evil will abound up to the end of the age. Never will there be a time in this age when the preaching of the gospel or the zeal of the children of God will root out the evil that has been sown by Satan from the beginning under the Christian name. The new age will be characterized by righteous rule over the earth in power.

In short therefore those who expect the gradual extirpation of evil are in antagonism with the distinct teaching of the Lord Jesus. I am as far as possible from saying this to repress efforts towards winning and edifying souls; and I fear those who yield to such thoughts, or at least to such words, are guilty of slander. It is one thing to work in faith, and another to expect the general blessing of the world as the result. I grant you this will surely come, but it is reserved for the Son of man. Should the bride of the Lamb be jealous? Such a work and result is not for the church, which has been very guilty from early days, dragged down into the snares of the world, into its activity, its honors, its gold and silver, and what not. If Christendom is now suffering the buffets of the world, the world, once eagerly sought by Christians for its own things, is now turning against those who gave the poorest testimony to what a Christian should be. So it will be more and more with the world; ungrateful for whatever of God has been shed around by Christianity, it will turn again and rend her who abused the name of the Lord for her own selfish and earthly interests. Evil was planted under the pretext of Christ's name, and that evil can never be rooted out until the judgment to be executed at the end of the age. It is presumptuous unbelief to expect or attempt it. The angels dealing judicially are quite distinct from and contrasted with the servants who sow and watch (alas! how poorly) the good seed. It is astonishing how men continue to confound the two.

I repeat also that the end of the age is not the end of the world. The phrase “end of the world” is in Matt. 13 an unequivocal error. There is no scholar who ought not to be ashamed of such a blunder. Far from being the end of the world, the very next chapter proves to the contrary. The Lord sends His angels and purges from the field or world what is offensive to Him. The evil is judged, the scandals removed; the bad crops or bad fish destroyed. In short the living wicked are punished, and the righteous shine in the kingdom of their Father. The kingdom of the Son of man is the earthly part of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of the Father is its heavenly part, as will appear to any attentive reader. The heavenly things and the earthly things of the kingdom of God (compare John 3) will be found then in unsullied brightness and harmony. In the Father's kingdom, according to His own counsels, the glorified saints shine to His own praise. The field or world which had been spoiled by Satan's wiles will be cleared of all its corruptions and lawlessness. Thus, far from being the end of the world, the harvest which closes this age will be the beginning of the world's going on ward in blessedness under the displayed kingdom of the Son of man and Son of God, the Head of the church which will then be exalted and reigning with Him.

It is the end of the age, the present age, while Christ does not appear in glory and reign over the earth. There will follow another age, when Christ, instead of being hidden, will be manifested, and will expel Satan, removing all that contaminates men and dishonors God. This connects itself with the Old Testament prophets. They all refer to the times of restitution of all things, the kingdom of Messiah over the earth. The mistake is applying them to the church now. The principle often does apply in the New Testament, as we all see. I do not mean to contest this, but there are limits. The fulfillment is another thing.

In the future kingdom there will be not only Jews blessed but Gentiles too. Of this the apostle avails himself, pointing to the fact of both enjoying the blessings of grace; and this amply suffices to stop the mouth of the Jew. Thus we find the Old Testament applied in Rom. 15 to “Rejoice ye Gentiles with his people.” How then could the Jew consistently object? Was it just to fly in the face of their own prophets? Did they not affirm God's blessing on both to be contrary to the Bible? For the Gentiles are certainly blessed no less than the Jew by the gospel; and this the proud Jew could not endure. But the apostle never says that the prophecy was therefore accomplished to the letter now. The principle is true under the gospel; the fulfillment of the prophecy awaits another day and a different state of things when Christ appears.

In the prophecies we find intimations not merely of the coming blessedness, but of the Jews treated as a rebellious gainsaying people; and of God calling in those who were not a people. Take the beginning of Isa. 65. The Gentiles are there called as those who knew not the Lord, while His own are treated as disobedient. Compare again Hos. 1 with Rom. 9. Thus the Spirit of God gives here and there hints, dim enough once but now clearly interpreted by Himself, which were to have a special bearing on the present time. But none of these Old Testament Scriptures discloses to us the heavenly glory of Christ at the right hand of God, or of the Christian united with his Head. These things compose “the mystery;” none of them is ever developed by the prophets.

We have the fact of the Lord sitting at the right hand of God in Psa. 110; but the only use the psalm makes of it is to show that He sits there till His enemies are made His footstool. There is not a word about what is done with His friends. The revelation of the counsels and ways of God with the latter now is Christianity. The psalm only speaks of His sitting there till judgment is executed on His enemies. We see what the apostle calls the revelation of the mystery is now verified. It is a secret which the Old Testament never brought out, though giving certain intimations that are accomplished—for instance, in calling the Gentiles. For as Moses told Israel, “The secret things belong unto Jehovah our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the works of this law.” But the great central truth of the Apostle Paul is, that the mystery or secret of God concerning Christ and the church is now revealed by His holy apostles, and prophets through the Spirit.

It would be easy to furnish proofs, were this the fitting time. The character of the church supposes that God abolishes at present the difference between the Jew and the Gentile. The grand fact of the future is that the Jew is exalted to the first place, and the Gentile blessed but subordinately.

In the kingdom they will each be recognized and blessed, but in a different position, not as now both are. It is quite evident that the future millennial kingdom supposes the reinstatement of Israel in more than former favor, and the nations will rejoice, but in a place secondary to that of Israel.

In the church of God all this disappears, the church being heavenly, as Christ is, and according to the nature of things in heaven. People are not known by their nationality on high: on earth they are, according to God's providence. But the Christian being essentially called on high, all these earthly distinctions entirely disappear. Hence there was a new state of things, and a fresh testimony, for God has now revealed that which comes in between the first and second advent of Christ.

When the Lord comes again, the Old Testament prophecies resume their course, with the additional confirmation of a small portion of the New Testament which refers to that time, in order to give a harmonious testimony.

One may now see clearly what has been shown already, that the Lord Jesus prepared His disciples from the very first not to expect that the' Christian economy would, as far as the world was concerned, end in joy and light and blessing. On the contrary, evil must take root from early days by: the crafty power of Satan, and never be corrected till the end of this age. This then is the first great lesson that we are taught in the Gospels.

Again, in Luke 21 is a statement to which we may refer as giving a further view of the prospects of the world according to the Scriptures. It is said, “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.” This distinctly points to the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, when it was invested with armies more completely than at any point of its most eventful history. But there is not a word here about seeing “the abomination of desolation.” Nor does this chapter say “then shall be great tribulation,” such as never had been, nor shall be: “these,” it only tells us, “be the days of vengeance” —two very different things. Here again we read, “But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days, for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.” This was fulfilled to the veriest tittle in what befell the Jews when Titus took the city, and the Jews passed into captivity for the second time. “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” So it was, in fact. Jerusalem was trodden down of the Gentiles. One national power after another was to have possession of the holy city. So it is now; that treading down still goes on, for the times of the Gentiles are not yet fulfilled.

But much more follows: “There shall be signs in. the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring,” &c. Some people have made the mistake that these scenes took place when Titus took Jerusalem. There is no authority for such a supposition: We have had the capture of Jerusalem long ago.; after that Jerusalem is trodden down after the siege, while the times of the Gentiles flow downward; thence we are transported into the final scenes. “Then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory; and when these things begin to come to pass, then look up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.” It is clear that destruction is not intended, but the blessedness that is coming in at the end, when God terminates the time of misery and sorrow and trouble and suffering. The coming of the Son of man is never made to be the annihilation of the world, or the end of it in that sense, but the end of Satan’s misrule, and the shining forth of the kingdom of God. For the world there can be no real permanent general blessing till the Son of man comes in power and glory.

There we find the parable in an enlarged form compared with Matthew: “Behold the fig tree, and all the trees.” As being of Luke, it speaks about the Gentiles explicitly. Therefore “all the trees” are in the scene. When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that “summer is nigh.” “The kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” Is it not evident, therefore, that the kingdom: of God is coming in a sense different from what men look for and say? It is true now to faith; but we do not see it. Then it will be manifest, and it will put down all that opposes itself against God. The yoke of evil will be broken then, which it is not now. Satan is the prince of this world. We have to fight against the world-rulers of this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in HEAVENLY PLACES. The term “high places” is an error of the translators, which falsifies the sense. It has led persons to oppose the higher authorities, for instance it led the Roundheads to oppose the government of their day. Such an interpretation is as false as the translation. The rendering and the doctrine are both wrong. The doctrine of the New Testament is that we have to do with the most serious fight that ever can be carried on by man here below; we have to combat Satan, not only to hold our own, but to hold the Lord's own against all the power of the enemy. But in no case is the Christian to wage carnal warfare, only against Satan.

This is what is going on now, but it will not be the case when the kingdom of God comes. Satan, animating the empire in its last uprising, and the nations in general, against the Lamb, will be put down: then the stream will steadily flow on for God's glory. Now we have to swim against the current. Now it is a question of life and faith, where Satan reigns, and only the power of the Spirit sustains. There will be no power of death then against which the saints of God will have, as now, to make good His will in the name of Jesus. There are, no doubt, those who will tell you that the kingdom is gradually winning its way among men; but this is a grievous mistake, a short-sightedness not without danger as to the word of God. It ignores the utter ruin of man and the world, the incurable evil of flesh, the power of Satan, the honor reserved and due to Christ. It overlooks the heavenly calling and the future reward and the present rejection of the Christian. It is manifest that, if this were the fact, a very great part of the New Testament would cease to be applicable directly the power of Satan was broken. The doctrine and exhortations which suppose we have to fight Satan, would be no longer true. There is a plain contrast between the character and circumstances of the millennium and the present.

Rom. 11 will tell us a little more of the world's prospects as God teaches us in the word. We read there that the Gentile, who is now the object of God's calling and of His dealings under the gospel, is warned to take heed from the fate of the Jew: “Because of unbelief they were broken off; and thou standest, by faith. Be not high-minded, but fear; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee.” It is impossible to apply this to the believer as such. The apostle is speaking of the general professing body. It is the danger of what is commonly called. Christendom, of those baptized to the name of the Trinity, who are warned of excision if they continue not in the goodness of God which He is now displaying. If the Gentiles do not stand by faith, they will be cut off, just as the Jew was before. This has nothing to do with the believer's security. But God deprived the nation of their place of privilege and testimony. He always guarded His own people in Israel as He cares for His own people now. God is always faithful to His saints; how could He do otherwise to those who, renouncing themselves, confide in Him, that is, in His Son? As the Lord Himself told the disciples, they were in His hand and in His Father's hand. He is here speaking, not of individual saints, but of the professing body. As the people which had the law were cut off because of their infidelity, so those who are now unfaithful to the gospel will be cut off because of their infidelity. He is speaking of the olive tree, that is, the line of those who profess the name and testimony of God in the world.

The Jews were the beginning of the olive bee. As being founded on the promises given to Abraham, it does not take account of persons before God's dealings with him. The olive tree begins with the first soul called out as a public witness for God in the world; the Jews followed as a nation; and Christendom is now the public witness for God. But, as the Jew had been false to his calling, so Christendom has been faithless to theirs. The fact is certain, not so much from our own thoughts or from history, but from the unerring word of God.

They are told, if they do not abide in the faith, they must be cut off; also, if they (the Jews) do not abide in unbelief, God will graft them in again. The tree was Jewish; then some branches not all, but some, are brought in under the name of the Lord. Meanwhile the Gentile was Christianized; but when they become unfaithful, the Jews will be grafted in again. This will be when the kingdom of God comes upon the earth.

In Rom. 11:25 we read, “I would not that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits.”

It is exactly what the Christian is become. They dream that things are always to get better and better. Is not this one way of becoming “wise in their own conceits?” He says again, “So blindness in part has happened unto Israel, till the fullness of the Gentiles shall be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved, as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob,” &c. You err if you suppose that Christ will be always at the right hand of God. When He returns to the earth, when He espouses Zion, there will be a place given to Israel, the old promised place, on the ground of divine mercy. “For this is my covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins.”

What is going on now? The Jews are the enemies of the gospel. This is one great cause of their enmity. They first rejected Jesus Himself; then they became furious when redemption through the blood of Jesus was preached to the Gentiles; they could not bear such grace to the world; they were the adversaries who dogged the steps of the apostles wherever they went to preach to the nations; they tried to get hold of the chief women and men, and stir them up against the apostles. So they have been ever since. Men wonder what is going on in the infidelity of the day. The Jews are mainly at the bottom of this wickedness. Satan has set up their famous men as objectors to the truth; Spinoza was one of them. But latterly this opposition has taken a new and more apostate shape. It is the old error with a fresh burnish, but aggravated guilt, given to it. The unbelieving Jews, I am grieved to say, are the mainspring of the world's opposition to the truth of God. They have lost the earth, and they gnash their teeth at heaven. They cannot bear that the Christian should get a blessing which they do not want themselves. The same thing was found wherever the heralds of the divine mercy of God went forth with the message; and so it is now, with the sorrowful addition that the Gentiles were to be as unfaithful. What an awful thing it is that those who bear the Christian name, shepherds in chief perhaps, are pioneers of the most abominable infidelity! This is the case not merely in Protestant countries, but equally so in Catholic countries. The Protestants are more open and plain-spoken; the others pay their priests if they do not go to mass, or are priests themselves, believing as little as they like. A little hush-money suffices to keep up the delusion.

There is infidelity everywhere in Christendom, and not less but more, I believe, in the lands of Popery, than even in Germany and Holland. Nor do the priests care much about it; so long as men or even women only keep up outward forms, it is all right, and they are “the faithful.”

In Protestant countries, as we know, the Bible is too much read and known for such a vain show. People too are more honest about God and His word; if they do not believe, they say so. Some, it is true have been learning a novel lesson at Oxford lately: it is to profess the truth, but to insinuate, preach, and print the contrary. This is almost the lowest form of infidelity that has been seen yet. In former days infidelity went outside; it had at least an appearance of low and rude integrity about it. If a clergyman became an infidel, he gave up his profession; but the characteristic of modern free-thinking is that you find men of amiable habits and character who adhere to forms of Christianity which they do not accept as divine and ultimate truths, but only as a step in human progress; and thus they try to destroy the faith of the truth. The influence of this immoral, easy-going skepticism extends, as does the equally unbelieving system of Ritualism; and what will be the result? There will be an uprising of public indignation against Babylon; there will be a revolution in religious things as well as political. This I shall show by the word of God.

The general truth; however, we have seen before coming to details, is that the Gentiles are warned that they must be cut off, as Israel will be brought in again. The prophets, and yet more, the apostles, are clear enough about it. We go farther, however; and in the Scripture which we have read to-night the statement of the Spirit of God is most explicit. He encourages the saints by their hope of the return of the Lord Jesus, who will instantly gather them up to heaven, not to be troubled with the false rumor that the day of the earth's judgment was already come. I must particularly call your attention to this, though it has been often done of late. It should be, “The day of the Lord is present.” There is an error in the common English version, as also in the vulgarly received text. This is conceded by almost all competent scholars and intelligent Christians.

[W.K.}

(Continued from page 208)

(To be continued)

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Lectures on 2 Chronicles 32-36

But now we find the Assyrian (chap. 32). “And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him. So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water. Also he strengthened himself, and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David; and made darts and shields in abundance. And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying, Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: with him is an arm of flesh; but with us is Jehovah our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah” (vers. 2-8).

So Sennacherib sends his servants with a most insulting message, and these letters and oral insults were meant to alarm and stir up the people even against the king. “For this cause Hezekiah the king, and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz prayed and cried to heaven. And Jehovah sent an angel which cut off all the mighty men of valor, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword. Thus Jehovah saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib.”

We are told very briefly, also, of the sickness of Hezekiah and of the Lord's marvelous recovery of him. “But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up"; and even this good king thus brings wrath upon Israel. Again, it is the king that decides all. How blessed when there is a king reigning in righteousness, when all will be decided in favor of the people without a flaw. That is the purpose of God, and these kings on whom the burden rested then were the witnesses of the King that is coming; for I trust that all here believe that the Lord Jesus will not only be exalted in heaven but in the earth. It is a great failure in the faith of any man, and a sad gap in the creed of those who do not believe that the Lord Jesus is going to reign over the earth. What has God made the earth for? For the devil? It would look like it if the Lord is not going to reign, for Satan has had it his own way ever since sin came into the world. Is the earth for Satan even in the midst of God's people? Oh, no! All things were made for Christ. All things are by Him. In all things He will have the preeminence.

In the dispensation of the fullness of times all will be gathered under the headship of Christ—not merely things in heaven, but things on earth; and then will be the blessed time which people vainly hope for now—the time when nation will not war against nation, and when men will learn war no more.

There will be such a day; but it is reserved for Christ, not for the church. It is reserved for Christ when the church is out of the world. In fact, so far from the church correcting the world she has not been able to keep her own purity. The church has sold herself to the world, and is now merely like all unfaithful spouses that have betrayed their true husbands. Now the world is tired of her, and is beating her away with shame and scorn. This is going on in all lands. The days are fast coming when there will not be a land in the world where the church —for which Christ gave Himself—is not cast off. I do not say that to excuse the world, but I do say it to take the shame of it to ourselves. For, undoubtedly, had the church walked in purity, she would never have sought the world's glory, nor have been in the world's embraces, and would never have been exposed to the world's casting her off as a wretched and corrupt woman.

Well (chap. 33.), Manasseh follows this pious king, who now has been called to sleep. The ways of Manasseh were first, a most painful outburst of all abomination; yet of the mercy of God at the last; for this very Manasseh after his sin—after he had made Judah and Jerusalem to sin, and do worse than the heathen, is taken by the king of Assyria and carried to Babylon, and there taught with thorns; but in affliction he humbles himself before the God of his fathers and prays to Him; and God heard and brought him back again. “Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah he was God” (ver. 12). This is a history most peculiar. Others, alas had begun well and ended ill. He began as ill as any had ever done, and worse than any before; but he had a blessed end. He took away the strange gods and idols which he had himself set up, and the altars that he had made, and he repairs the altar and offers peace-offerings and thank-offerings, and commanded Judah to serve Jehovah. And “so Manasseh slept with his fathers, and they buried him in his own house; and Amon his son reigned in his stead.” But Amon did that which was evil, according to his father's beginning, not according to his end; “and his servants conspired against him and slew him in his own house, and made his son Josiah king in his stead.”

Josiah was a king as remarkable for conscientious service of God as any man that ever reigned in Judah. How remarkable—not, alas! that a pious king should have an impious son, but that an impious father should have a pious son. This indeed was grace.

Josiah, then, and his reformation is brought before us (chap 34). He was young when he began to reign—only eight years old—and “in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images. And they brake down the altars of Baalim in his presence, and the images that were on high above them, he cut down: and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images, he brake in pieces, and made dust of them, and strowed it upon the graves of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars” —nothing could be more thorough—going than this action against the false gods— “and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round about. And when he had broken down the altars and the groves, and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.”

For, you observe, he goes beyond his own sphere. He goes out into “the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim, and Simeon, even unto Naphtali.”

There is amazing vigor in this young king. “And in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of Jehovah his God.” And God shows him signal mercy, for there it was that the priest Hilkiah found the book of the law of Jehovah given to Moses. “And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah. And Hilkiah delivered the book to Shaphan.” The king hears of it, and just as I have said, his conscience is the remarkable part of this good king, for when he hears the words of Jehovah he rends his clothes. Had he not been pious? Had he not been faithful? Yes, but he forgot the things that were behind, and he pressed towards those that were before. He did not think of the good that he had done, but of the evil that, alas! was still around him and of the good that he had not done and that remained before him.

So he sends, saying, “Go, inquire of Jehovah for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found, for great is the wrath of Jehovah that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of Jehovah, to do after all that is written in this book.” And God answers his desires. “And Hilkiah, and they that the king had appointed, went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvath,” and she gives the answer from Jehovah, and the king acts upon it, and humbles himself before the Lord. “And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.”

He, too, keeps a passover (chap. 35.). He kept it, as we are told, on the fourteenth day of the first month, for now things were more in order as far as this was concerned. The preparations were made more orderly than in the hurried preparations of king Hezekiah, which they were obliged to keep in the second month. This chapter gives us a full account of this striking passover. There was no passover, we are told, like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet. Of Hezekiah's it was said there had been none such since the days of Solomon; but of Josiah's it is said, “since the days of Samuel.” We have to go up to earlier times to find with what to compare it. The reformation, therefore, was remarkably complete in appearance. Alas! what was beneath the surface was corrupt and vile—not in Josiah, nor in certain godly ones that gathered in sympathy round the king, but in the mass of the people: and Josiah himself shows, after this, the usual failure of man, for he goes out unbidden against the king of Egypt when he had come against Charchemish; and, though he is warned by Pharaoh that he does not wish to fight with him, Josiah would not turn back. “He disguised himself that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Necho from the mouth of God, and cattle to fight in the valley of Megiddo. And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away, for I am sore wounded. His servants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the sepulchers of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.” Yet not they only; there was one heart more true than any—Jeremiah. Jeremiah knew from the Lord that there was buried the last worthy representative of the house of David. All that followed was only a shame and a scandal. It was but the filling up of the measure of their sins that they might be carried away into Babylon. Josiah was taken from the evil to come. “Jeremiah lamented for Josiah; and all the singing men and the singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel; and behold they are written in the Lamentations.”

“Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz” for, indeed, it could not be said to be God now in any sense: “The people of the land took Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's stead in Jerusalem. Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem” (chap. 36.). And his brother, or near relative at any rate, Eliakim, was made king, with his name changed to Jehoiakim. But as the king of Egypt made him king, so the king of Babylon unmade him, for he comes up and carries him to Babylon, and sets up Jehoiachin his son in his stead. And he too did what was evil and was brought to Babylon; and Zedekiah his brother, as we are told, was made king over Judah and Jerusalem. He brings the disasters of Jerusalem to their last crisis, for he it was who was sworn by the oath of Jehovah, and broke it, and gave the awful spectacle before the world, that a heathen had more respect for the name of Jehovah than the king of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar trusted that that name, at least, would have moral weight. Zedekiah feared it less than Nebuchadnezzar. Impossible, therefore, that God should allow such a stain to remain upon the throne and the house of David; so destruction came to the uttermost, and the last portion of Judah was swept away by the Chaldees, and the land must enjoy her sabbaths, “for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath to fulfill threescore and ten years.” And thus we see them in captivity till God raises up Cyrus to make the way back for a remnant of Judah.

W.K.

After Man's Day

In a previous paper, in which we tried to show how “the Burden of Dumah” (Isa. 21:11, 12) could apply to the present time as well as to the immediate future, we saw the terrible end of man's day, as described in 2 Thess. 1; 2 This scripture gives us rather the moral side of it, viz., the setting up of man as God, chiefly as a result of false doctrine, of the substitution of man's gospel of lies for God's gospel of truth, of man's gospel of perdition for God's gospel of salvation. But there is another aspect of the close of man's day, which is violence, marked by wars more appalling yet than what we are now passing through; wars between nations such as are predicted in Matt. 24 and Rev. 6; and lastly—an alliance of the whole world, brought about by the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet defying the Lord God Almighty Himself (Rev. 16:12-16). In the next chapter we see how this battle, the like of which has never been seen, ends (17:13, 14). This end coincides with 2 Thess. 1:7, 8, and 2: 8. It is the end of man's day and the beginning of the day of the Lord, or day of the Son of man. Between the two there is no interval.

Thus we see that the day of the Lord, as it is designated in the Epistles, or the day of the Son of man, as the Lord Himself speaks of it in the Gospels, begins with stern judgments. It ends in like manner (Rev. 20:7-10). Beginning and ending are marked by the same character, viz., the putting down of man's rebellion, first when the Lord takes the kingdom, and finally when He delivers it to God, even the Father, that God may be all in all (1 Cor. 15:24-28).

The Lord's reign is the great theme of the prophets, and it was the great expectation of the disciples at the Lord's first coming. They looked for it before and after His death, saw nothing apart or beyond. If the kingdom was not established there and then, and the throne set up for the Son of David (for this the Lord was to them), their hope was a blank. Such at least was their way of reckoning. Well, the kingdom was not established then, and a more immediate hope was set before them and us, not earthly but heavenly.

This hope, however, does not abolish that of Israel. It is apart from it, above it, and, in accomplishment, preceding it. Israel's hope is in abeyance, because, as a nation, “they sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.” In consequence of their refusal of Him, they have fallen under Hosea's fearful sentence, “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” (3:4). This has been their condition for nearly two thousand years— “many days” indeed. But it will not last forever. “The gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” He has made promises to Abraham in behalf of his posterity, and He keeps to them spite of all Israel's present unwillingness and stiff-neckedness. Hence, Hosea adds “Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek Jehovah their God, and David their king, and shall fear Jehovah and his goodness in the latter days.” They were unwilling in the day of the Lord Jesus' grace, when He said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” They were too proud to understand such divine condescension. But they shall be willing in the day of His power, after they have passed through the burning fiery furnace. And when He takes His seat on David's throne, and Israel is gathered under His scepter, then will all the nations of the earth cluster around the restored people and share in its blessing.

After the Lord has subdued and swept away His enemies, He will establish a reign of peace, the duration of which is stated to be a thousand years (Rev. 20:6). It will be earth's sabbath, after six thousand years of groans and travail. Real, lasting peace must be by the Prince of peace. Jerusalem, so long trodden under foot, will be then the metropolis of the world, the city of the great King, the joy of the whole earth. The land of Palestine, now a wilderness, will be then like the garden of Eden, as it is written, “The desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced and are inhabited. And the heathen, that are left round about you, shall know that I Jehovah build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate. I Jehovah have spoken it, and will do it” (Ezek. 36:34-36).

So again, the magnificent pictures in Isa. 11; 35; 65, etc. Nor is the blessing for Israel only, for we read in Zech. 2:10-12, “Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah. And many nations shall be joined to Jehovah in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto thee: And Jehovah shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.” What a contrast with the present day, so full of sorrow and turmoil! Oh, that fallen men would own their unfitness to bring about happiness where their sin has brought disaster and ruin! Our blessed Lord alone can and will do that, not for a transient moment only, but according to the abiding efficacy of His redemption work. For upon this work all rests—the divine counsels and the reconciliation of all things unto Himself, whether they be things in earth; or things in heaven.

The day of the Lord will end as it began, viz., in judgment. It seems strange to speak of judgment after a blissful reign of a thousand years, during which the presence of the Lord in glory ought to have captivated every human heart. Yet so it is. It would be a great mistake to take for granted that the whole race of men will be converted during the millennium. Some out of all nations will be, no doubt, and the whole of the Jewish people, according as it is written, “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, or every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah: for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith Jehovah: for I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more.” Or again, “As the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain” (Jer. 31; Isa. 66). Yet the mass of the Gentiles will remain unregenerate, subdued in presence of the King's power and glory, but not born of God. Satan, who shall have been bound and cast into the bottomless pit, and all that time powerless to tempt them, will regain his hold upon them as soon as he is loosed from his prison. His power of seduction will be then greater than ever, if possible, and he will lead them to open rebellion just as he had done at the beginning of the day of the Lord. There will be this difference, however, that at the beginning he leads men against the Lord in person, and the Lord destroys them with the sharp sword that goeth out of His mouth, as we see in Rev. 19; whereas, at the end, He leads them against the camp of the saints round about, and the beloved city (Jerusalem), and then and there they are destroyed, not by the Lord in person, but by fire coming down from God out of heaven (Rev. 20). Thereby will all the ungodly be devoured, and their final destiny will be settled by the great white throne before which all the dead of all times are to appear, for the hearing of their condemnation.

Here “the dead” are those who have departed this world without saving faith, “the dead in Christ” having all been previously raised, raised before the reign of a thousand years, to be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4; Rev. 20). The very heavens and earth, as we know them, will pass away and be melted by fire, by reason of their having been polluted by the presence of Satan and his angelic hosts above, and of Satan and his human hosts on earth.

This is the end of the first creation. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death,” and the Lord Jesus then, as Son of man and in this quality ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead, will deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, “that God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) may be all in all.”

Now begins, what is called in 2 Peter, “the day of God"—a remarkable expression. A remarkable state of things too, as compared with God's previous ways. All is new here—new creation, new condition of man in it. For there are men in it, men created anew, saints preserved out of the cataclysm in which the old earth will disappear, and translated in a changed state into the new. There are no longer Jews and Gentiles here, as we know them in the present dispensation. They are one family, one people, the people of God, and God dwelling with them, their God. He did not dwell with Adam in the earthly paradise, but only visited him now and then. Nor did He make His abode with men when the Word was made flesh, for it is written that He tabernacled among us, which implies that He was only a sojourner. In the new creation, the permanent presence of God will be the abiding proof of His delight in men, and for men an abiding source of delight in God. How dear a creature man is to the heart of God. He made man to be happy. Man fell, lost himself through sin; but God, if obliged to punish him for righteousness' sake, would not give him up. It was to seek and save that which was lost that He sent His Son, become man for the purpose. In virtue of the wondrous work of redemption, the work of His Son, not only will heaven be peopled with men everlastingly blessed, but new heavens and a new earth will come out of the old, and in the new earth men in whom God will take His pleasure as they in Him. No tears will be shed there, no death to crush the heart, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any pain, for the former things are passed away! Well may the apostle exclaim, and all believers with him, “O the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counselor? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things: to Him be the glory forever. Amen.”

P.C.

The Prospects of the World According to the Scriptures: Part 3

The meaning of the last verb in 2 Thessalonians 2:2 is not “at hand,” but “is present.” I am not aware of a single case where this form of word could have any other meaning. Nor does it occur seldom in the New Testament: see Rom. 8:38; 1 Corinthians 3:22; 7:26; Gal. 1:4; Heb. 9:9, in all which it unequivocally means present, repeatedly in express contrast with what is at hand or future. In 2 Timothy, is a different form of the word; but there too it means that difficult times shall be there, not merely imminent. These are all the occurrences in the New Testament. Without exception, they are every one clear and explicit in their sense as to this. “The day of the Lord is at hand” would be a different phrase. When the apostle means “at hand” he says so, using quite another word. Further, this erroneous version, as in the English Bible, makes the apostle contradict himself, for the Epistle to the Romans tells the Romans that “the day is at hand.” How then could the misleaders at Thessalonica be consistently charged with error if they only taught that the day of the Lord is at hand—the same thing he afterward teaches himself? But no; these false teachers had given out that the day was (not coming ever so soon, but) actually arrived; and this was filling the saints with panic, especially as they pretended to a revelation for it, and even more, as we shall see.

There is an indubitable sign of false teachers that I must here commend to the notice of all Christians, for we need it in these days, and may need it yet more if the Lord tarry. Observe then that the false teacher ordinarily does one or two things, sometimes both: either he lulls asleep those who ought to be roused, keeping them entranced in the deadly slumber of fallen nature, or he tries to alarm true believers by endeavoring to shake their confidence in the grace and truth of God, filling their minds with groundless alarm. Not possessing peace himself, he is often deceived as well as a deceiver; for he knows not in his own experience peace and joy in believing. The false teacher then either injures the children of God by weakening their confidence in God, or, at the same time with this, he lulls with opiates those whom God would have to be awakened from their dangerous insensibility. In short false teachers either flatter the world or try to alarm the true children of God.

The truth does exactly the contrary; it always has for its effect to rouse men from their state of guilty indifference or their self-confidence, setting before them their fearful danger for eternity. But it tells them of a divine Savior and of a present salvation. Along with this there is the comforting, establishing, and leading on of the believers into all their privileges and responsibilities, their proper joys in communion with the Lord and one another, and their growth in the knowledge of His mind and ways for worship and service. For all these things are the portion of the believer.

What were those about who misled the Thessalonians? They pretended to the word and Spirit for their cry that the day of the Lord was come; false teachers often do as much. But they did more; they grew bolder in their iniquity; they pretended to have a letter of the Apostle Paul affirming that “the day of the Lord was present.” I am aware that some learned men have thought they alluded to the former epistle. Thus Paley says that the apostle writes in the second epistle, among other purposes, to quiet this alarm and to rectify the misconstruction that had been put on his words; in that the passage in the second epistle relates to the passage in the first. But this is an oversight. It is certain and evident that the epistle alluded to here was not his; for he says “that ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us.” He does not say the letter that we wrote, but a letter as from us, or purporting to be from us. It was a supposititious letter, not his first epistle.

The pretended letter of the apostle was to the effect that the day of the Lord was already come; but the day of the Lord, according to the Bible, in general will be one of trouble and anguish, a day of clouds and darkness for the world. You may read this abundantly in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, and many of the prophets. On what pretext then was the cry raised at Thessalonica? The Thessalonians were suffering great trouble and persecution for the truth's sake. The false teachers seem to have converted this into that day, alleging that the day of the Lord had come. All indeed knew it to be a day of fearful trial, and that all meanwhile goes on worse and worse till the evil is then put down and the power of God victorious. Hence the saints that did look for that day, according to the first epistle, became troubled by this cry and were shaken in mind. For, as we have seen, false teachers naturally shake the righteous, instead of seeking to comfort and stablish them. On this occasion they contrived to excite no little panic and anxiety as if the day of the Lord had actually come.

Not at all, says the apostle: do you not know that the Lord is coming to gather you to Himself?

“We beseech you, brethren, by the coming (or presence) of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind nor troubled.” He first appeals to a known motive of joy and confidence in their hope and then goes into a prophetic reason, thus giving the idea a complete refutation. But you may notice that it is never supposed the saints wait for the day of the Lord to be taken up and meet Him in the air. It is the coming of the Lord they await for this.

“The coming of the Lord” and “His day” are two quite different thoughts often confounded by men.

The coming or presence (παρουσία) of the Lord is a much wider term, embracing the day as well as what is just before the day. But the part of His coming that is called “the day of the Lord” consists of the execution of His judgment on the earth and then of His reign. The first object is to gather those He loves home. Love would always secure the object of affection first.

The coming of the Lord then is bound up closely with the gathering of the saints; the day of the Lord with the execution of judgment on His enemies here below. Hence we find here, “let no man deceive you by any means.” It is evident there might be a great deal of mistake on this subject; “for that day shall not come except there, come the falling away (or apostasy) first.” “That day shall not come” is an insertion of our translators, marked therefore by italics, though, I believe, substantially correct. It should not be till the apostasy, the public abandonment of Christianity throughout Christendom. Oh, how men deceive themselves, when they think that all is going on to progress and triumph! There will be victory when Christ comes, not before. What is revealed is a very different and more humbling prospect. The distinct intimation is that ["that day shall not come"] except there come the falling away first, the apostasy. And what is the character of modern infidelity, but preparing the way for the apostasy; men bearing the Christian name, yet giving up all the Christian substance; men who still carry on the dead forms while the spirit has fled? This will grow and extend, and men are getting ready for it too. They are destroying everywhere on earth the outward and public recognition of the truth. There will soon be no outward homage paid to Christianity in Europe. I mean that the governments of the world are gradually stripping off all connection with the Christian name. There are those who think this is a great boon. Though I have not the smallest interest or affinity for established religion, I cannot but think the act criminal and that this will turn out more serious than the reformers expect. I believe it was a most serious evil when the Christians accepted an alliance with the world; but it is a totally different and most solemn issue for the world when it casts off all its connection with Christianity.

It was a deep loss for the Christians when they sought the world's recognition; it will be an awful day for the world when it, is so tired of the union as to throw off Christianity.

The consequence will be that that most slender tie which binds and attaches men to the reading of the Bible or going to church will be broken when it has no longer connection with the government. You may live to see the vast change which will take place. I grant that there is no reality, no divine life, there is no true honor paid to the Lord, in carrying on a mere outward profession; but people who go to church, as it is called, hear the word of God and the name of Christ. When this is no longer publicly recognized, they will give it up as an antiquated prejudice, and go to shoot, fish, ride, or drink. They will amuse themselves in reading anything but the Bible. There will be the most rapid decay. Not so with the saints of God. The result will be, no doubt, that the real will be the more evident. They will rest only on the word of God; but as regards men of the world, it will bring about the apostasy.

This is what is before the world!

The First Epistle to the Thessalonians was also the first written by the apostle; the Second, from the nature of the case, was written shortly after. Thus, from the very beginning of Christianity—from the first communications of the Spirit of God to the churches—such is the solemn result of which they were warned. Those who profess the gospel will abandon it ere the end of this age come. But that day is not to be “except there come the falling away first.” It is not merely a falling away here, and a falling away there, but the falling away, or the apostasy.

Further, “That man of sin will be revealed, the son of perdition.” There was once a man of righteousness—the Savior; but He was rejected. There will be a man of sin—the son of perdition “who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped.” I am aware that many people apply this to the Pope of Rome.

I do not for a moment agree with them, though regarding the system as a frightful delusion, even Babylon. But I dare not say that the apostasy has arrived yet, and it is a sorrowful thing to use Scripture with a party aim, or for controversial objects; it is a sorrowful thing in the presence of growing evil, which pervades both Protestant and Catholic countries alike—a sorrowful thing to cast such a stone from one to the other. No, beloved friends, the apostasy is the result of despising the gospel, of trifling with the truth, of keeping up forms that are unreal, and then casting them off with shame.

The apostasy will be the result wherever Christendom extends. Wherever the gospel has been preached, or at any rate the Lord professed, the apostasy will be the issue, whether of Catholics or Protestants, whether of Greeks or Copts or any others; such will be the result, not outside but within Christendom. It does not mean the end of the Jews, or of the heathen. The apostle is here speaking of that broad scene wherever the name of the Lord has been professed. “The day of the Lord cannot be, except there come the falling away first and the man of sin be revealed.” The climax is that lawless one who “exalteth himself.” Jesus humbled Himself, and only exalted God. Here is a man, the man of sin pre-eminently, the personal adversary of the Lord Jesus. And, as the Lord said to the Jews, they would not have Him who came in His Father's name; they will receive him who comes in his own name. At the end of this age he will come, and accordingly he is found as Satan's winding-up, not merely of apostate Christianity, but of apostate Judaism also.

I have already shown the connection with Christendom, but now I will briefly touch on Judaism, for this personage “opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

As the true church began in Jerusalem, the great result of the apostasy will find itself conspicuously in Jerusalem. It was this city that saw Pentecost; so far as the world could behold, it beheld that which belongs to heaven on the earth.

Jerusalem will see the judgment. of that which, long a counterfeit, will end in a manifestation of hell — the fruit of the amalgam of Christianity with Judaism. So the apostle reminds them, “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.”

There is a withholding power. What is that power? I cannot doubt it is the Holy Ghost. It is not evil which so opposes evil, but good. That which effectually hinders the outbreak of the power of Satan is not the energy of mortal man. I am aware the ancients used to think it was the Roman empire. This being long gone led some to conceive that the papacy is meant by the beast, as well as the apostasy, the man of sin, &c. But I am not prepared to allow that the beast is come yet. The “mystery of iniquity” is working still. It was working then, and is working now; but even now it does not show itself in its most horrible colours. The apostle says, “The mystery of iniquity doth already work: only there is one now who letteth (or resttaineth), until he be taken out of the way.” Thus you see the hindering power is to disappear. Further, it is both a principle and a person (being spoken of as neuter as well as masculine); it can therefore apply to none so well as the Spirit of God, who still, for the sake of the children of God, and to sustain His testimony, continues to hinder the first manifestation of Satan's power. But then that is only for a time, it will not be for ever. “Only there is one who now letteth until he be taken out of the way.” The Spirit of God will by and by cease to stand in the way of the working of the Evil One. “And then shall that lawless one be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the shining forth (or appearing) of His coming.” The Lord Jesus is the appointed destroyer of this lawless being, the one who is elsewhere called the antichrist. Even now there are many antichrists, says John; when the antichrist comes, he will be destroyed by the Lord Jesus coming from heaven and publicly. Then shall that lawless one be revealed whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the spirit of His mouth. he critical addition of “Jesus” I put in, because it is certainly genuine and gives more definiteness to the thought.

Now mark the first verse. The apostle does not say the appearing of His coming when Christ gathers the saints. “We beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto Him.” Here, when the destruction of the man of sin is in question, he speaks not merely of His coming but of the appearing—the epiphany or brightness—of His coming. If when the Lord comes to gather His saints He appears, why should not His appearing be brought in there? Is it not manifest that the coming of the Lord does not of necessity mean His appearing? How else the phrase of verse 8? It was necessary, when His appearing was meant, to say so; and this is when He judges. When it is the dealing of is grace in translating us to heaven, His coming or presence is named, but not a word about His appearing. When the lawless one shall be destroyed, it is not merely His presence or coming, but the shining forth of it. For He might come without being seen beyond what He pleased; but here we have the manifestation of His advent. When He comes to take up His saints, what will he world have to do with it? It was His own love which saved them; they belonged to Him, not to the world. He comes to claim His own. He does not make the world a spectator before He appears in glory for the destruction of the antichrist.

The world will have bowed down to the antichrist. Gentiles as well as Jews will have accepted him. Just as the blessed Lord Jesus is both the true Messiah and the God of Israel, so this false personage, the man of sin, will set up to be both the Messiah and Jehovah of Israel, and the mass will be led away by the fatal delusion. The same unbelief which rejects the true will bow down to the false.

These are the dismal prospects of the world according to the Scriptures. A very different future fills the imagination of men generally. Why wonder at this? How can they truly prognosticate what is to be? No man can discern the future unless he believes the prophecies of God.

I am aware they will tell you how dangerous it is to predict. But the study of prophecy is calculated and meant to keep us from predicting. Those who study prophecy should be humble enough to be content with prophecy. If you despise the prophecies of God, you may set up to be a prophet; but, if so, you must always be a false one. It is only God who knows and can tell the future. But God has revealed it: we have the responsibility of believing. A man cannot believe these things without their leaving their impress upon his heart. If you have truth in your heart, show it in your hand and on your forehead, seeking to prove true to what you believe. The Lord Jesus is coming; but He is going to appear also, not merely coming to receive His own, for His coming will be in the twinkling of an eye. That the world should see the change and translation of the saints is not at all necessary, for the Lord has many ways of taking His own to Himself without death. Suppose the Lord were to cause a tremendous earthquake to happen, would not the wise men of the world say that the Christians had been swallowed up in the earthquake? It is easy enough to conceive a way in which the Lord could conceal the matter; but He does not conceal from us, nor will He from men, what He will do to the misleader of the world. This, at least, will be manifest to every eye. Hence we find that, whenever judgment is in question, manifestation characterizes it. When the Lord Jesus called Saul of Tarsus, his companions felt the tokens of some extraordinary action going on, though they knew nothing about itself. There were not a few men in the throng going to Damascus, yet only one man saw the Lord Jesus; all the rest only heard an inarticulate sound. They did not hear the words of His mouth; Saul of Tarsus did. Then, again, we find Philip caught up and carried to another place; but what did the world know of all that? There was a subsequent occasion when the apostle Paul was caught up into the third heaven. But was this divulged for the good of the world?

Nothing, then, is easier than for the Lord to show things in a partial way on these occasions; but He will do them on a grand comprehensive scale when the judgment of the world comes, after taking on high His people previously.

Manifestation is always connected with the world's portion. The Lord, when He comes for the saints, will manifest Himself to them of course; but that He will manifest Himself to the world is nowhere said in the Bible. There is a positive intimation that it will not be so at the end. “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we [be not caught up but] appear with Him in glory.” Consequently, the world cannot have seen Christ when He came to take His people. The very same moment that the world sees Christ appearing in glory they will see the saints appearing in glory along with Him. If Christ could appear before the saints were caught up the Scriptures would be contradicted.

I will refer to one Scripture more before I close; and it is a very solemn one. It is from Rev. 17. There are two great objects of judgment brought before us there. One is called the great harlot, the other is the beast. The first object is seen sitting upon many waters, “with whom the kings of the earth,” &c. (1St to 6th verse.) That is a corrupt woman, seated upon a most remarkably characterized beast, a beast with seven heads and ten horns. What is the meaning of these two symbols? You may easily gather it by comparing the 1St verse with the 9th and 10th verses of chap. 21, “And there came one of the seven angels,” &c.

Now it is plain from this, that the one is the counterpart of the other; that Babylon, the harlot, is Satan's sad contrast to the bride, the Lamb's wife. As the one is the holy city, the bride of the Lamb, the other corrupts herself with the kings of the earth, and corrupts them. This explains why she is styled “harlot.” She is the great ruling city of the world, which has her kingdom over the kings. The church glorified, the body of Christ, the Lamb's wife, is said to be “the holy city, Jerusalem,” that comes down out of heaven from God. This, then, is the holy (not the great) city. “He showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem.” The word “great” ought to be expunged, and the word “holy” transposed to take its place— “the holy city, Jerusalem.”

But still, the very fact that the holy city, Jerusalem, is the church glorified, gives the greatest possible help towards understanding what Babylon means. What is the religious body which, under the shelter of Christ's name, pretends to be the mother of all the churches? Can one hesitate?

I grant you that much evil has been done by what is called established churches, the national body of this country, and the national body of that; but what is this in comparison with the pretensions of her that claims all countries and tongues, kings aw well as subjects? Can there be any question who and what she is? Has there ever been any but one?

There can be no reasonable doubt about the meaning of Babylon; but as if to preclude the possibility, we have several marks. First, she is a persecuting power, the greatest of all persecutors, drunk with the blood of the saints. Have you not heard of an ecclesiastical body which thinks it her duty, for the love of God and the good of men's souls, to exterminate heretics? She is herself as innocent as Pilate. She kills none; she only hands them over to the civil power to be punished! Alas! there never was a Pagan power, there never was a Jewish frenzy, which so tortured the saints of God as Babylon has done. So clear is her identification that I do not require to point her out. Surely the truth must be indeed evident when it is unnecessary to name who she is.

Nor is this nearly all we are told here. The last verse says, “The woman is the great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” There is a distinction of importance. This chapter does not confound the harlot and the woman. For the woman is here declared to be the symbol of the ruling city. This is unquestionable. Now there never was one that ruled as this city did. The better you know history the more you will feel that Rome only it can be. There was but one city which ruled more and longer than any empire since the world began; and everybody in John's day would know where that city lay and what was its name.

It was not Athens—for Athens could never for any considerable time rule even Greece. It was not Jerusalem before nor Constantinople since. Some think that this chapter refers to the literal Babylon of Chaldea; but this was a city built on the plain of Shinar. How could such a city be truly said to be built on seven hills? The Chaldean capital had been a great city; it passed away, and only remained to occupy the curiosity of the learned men. Here was one then ruling over the kings of the earth. There was but one city that could he said so to reign in the days of John, and no one ever has so reigned since.

This city was to become the harlot, and so to exercise power over the Roman beast or empire, the beast of seven heads and of ten horns. But at first sight there is a difficulty here; for the Roman empire has disappeared. It existed and has fallen. How then are we to understand the chapter? The historian tells us that the Roman empire long ago declined and fell. There he stops; he cannot lift the veil. Not history explains prophecy, but prophecy explains history. Prophecy is the true and divine key to the prospects of the world. Accordingly here is the explanation—the beast that then was, the Roman beast, would cease to exist. “The beast that thou sawest was, and is not.” Its vast power was to perish; and the infidel historian chronicles the fact. But you have another thing which history could not divine. If God's word is true and sure, the Roman beast is to revive. It is well known that its revival has been essayed. Charlemagne tried; Napoleon the First tried; Napoleon the Third would have liked well to have tried. Not that I have sympathy with those who pretend to point out the person. There were many that fixed on the last-named fallen potentate; and a few cling to their notion still [1873]. They are premature: better leave guess-work to such as do not search into prophecy.

Here is the word of God. Why should you predict? You had better not pretend to it; the word of God has spoken already; be you content with its predictions. Now the word of God has said nothing of the sort; it speaks of the beast that should ascend out of the bottomless pit, or abyss, and go into perdition. Why add to this? Why speculate? Let us only believe. Diabolical power will revive the Roman empire. “And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not; and yet is.” The common reading “and yet is” (καἰπερ ἐστἰν) is incorrect. “And shall be present” (καὶ πάρεσται) is the true sense. Here, then, we have the clearest intimation that the Roman empire is to be reconstructed under the worse influence before the age ends and the Lord returns in judgment.

Let us look back for a moment at the history of the world, and compare it with the present and the future.

In the time of John the Roman empire ruled the known world. That empire had then but one governor or chief. Gradually the power began to weaken and wane. First came the division into east and west. Then some time afterward the Germanic barbarians broke up the Western empire and founded those separate kingdoms, of Europe, which, after feudalism, passed on to the constitutional monarchies of modern times. Such has been the result of the breaking up of the Roman empire. Here we find the two conditions: the beast that was, the beast that is not. But it “shall ascend out of the bottomless pit.” This will be a new trait in the world's history. The worst of powers is better than anarchy; the most grinding tyrannies are safer than no authority at all. So, it is evident that, whatever changes may have occurred in the world's affairs, there has never been a power without the sanction of God, had as its exercise of authority may have been. The letting loose of the power of Satan is not yet, because there is One who withholds (2 Thess. 2); but when He withdraws the hindrance, the beast ascends out of the bottomless pit. John of course speaks symbolically of the Roman empire in its last Satanic uprising and state. In the end of this age Satan will be allowed by God to re-establish that great object of human ambition. Men are even now yearning after an energetic central authority in the West. It is the plain fact that the ten horns, or kingdoms (supposing for the moment that the kingdoms of Western Europe comprised just ten) have no political coherence. One of their marked features has been that they are constantly in danger of war with each other. They have sought by what they term “the balance of power,” to maintain a measure of mutual understanding, peace, and order. But in consequence of this very arrangement no one power has been allowed to get the upper hand.

Many have desired it; but the result of their desires, when action has followed before the time, is that such perish. But by and by it will be accomplished. Then the beast will be reconstituted. There will be unity, one central authority, without extinguishing the separate kingdoms, save that the little horn acquires three. Thus there will be the revived Roman empire, with distinct kingdoms. The future state will consist of the imperial headship, along with the subordinate kingdoms of the once united western empire. The balance of power will then be required no longer. The day is coming when Satan will deceive the world. God has accomplished His own purpose of gathering out His saints to Himself. And then the world is allowed to have its little moment when Satan has consummated his power on earth. (See verses 12 and 13).

The state here described is perfectly unexampled before or since the fall of the Roman empire. One knows the independence of even the least of the kingdoms. They do not like people to interfere, if they be ever so little. Several too join—some for and some against. Such is the way things have long gone on in the political world of the west.

Here the principle of national independence has disappeared. Separate or party action is all gone. The time is come for a vast change in the world. This will be the character of it: a great imperial power, called the beast, not absorbing but wielding the separate powers of the west. The beast is a type of strength, no doubt, but without reference to God. So it will be then at the close. The Western imperial system will have thrown off all care for God or thought of Him. Apostasy will have prepared the way. This imperial power will have the direction of the western nationalities of Europe. The separate kings will be flattered with the idea that they have each a separate existence and will. But they are only the sinews of the strong man who wields them all. What do they then? “These shall make war with the Lamb.”

What a difference from the blessed reign of peace and righteousness, no less than from what men dream as the gradually coming future! On the other hand, the saints come from heaven, being with the Lamb when the conflict arrives. (Compare Rev. 19:14). Being changed, they are forever with the Lord, and follow Him. So, when the final contest arises between the Lord Jesus and Satan represented by the leader of the west, the Lord is accompanied by His saints. They are here (17:14) styled “called, and chosen and faithful.” Some have thought they must be angels. But they are not, For angels are never called “faithful.” And, again, they are said to be not merely chosen, but “called.” How could an angel be “called” Calling is an appeal of grace, which comes to one who has gone astray in order to bring him back again. But this is never true of an angel. The gospel is God's calling fallen and guilty man to give him, through faith and by means of redemption, a place with Christ in heaven. Those who believe on Him are here shown to be with Him; and they are “called, and chosen and faithful.”

But there is more. What becomes of the woman?

We hear about her too in the 15th verse, and here discern vast religious influence. It is not a national church, but an idolatrous, persecuting, religious system, claiming to be the spouse of Christ, but really an unclean harlot that extends its influence over all the world. It is easily seen what, and what only, such a system can be. There is but one such in Christendom, though she has daughters. Further (as in verse 16), what a change takes place! Instead of these horns, or kings of the west, being any longer subjected to Babylon, they turn furiously with the beast against her. Would it not be a very strange thing if the Pope turned against his own church or city? The Pope is not the beast, and has nothing directly to do with Babylon's destruction. It is the symbol of the empire in its last phase, it is the beast from the abyss which joins with the various leaders of the different kingdoms of the west against that ecclesiastical system.

Babylon had long intoxicated man, persecuted saints, and dallied with the kings of the earth. Now the turn of the tide comes: Babylon was not of God, but a corrupt idolatrous imposture. But there is nothing of Christ in her destroyers. It is Satan against Satan. The end of the proud world-church is come, and, soon after, of her destroyers. The beast and the ten horns, throughout the Roman empire, have risen up. The ten kingdoms of western Europe turn against the Roman harlot, and strip, eat, and burn her.

There are solemn premonitory signs even now. Let me mention only one fact noticed by both Romanists and Protestants. You are aware of the Ecumenical Council lately held in Rome. Its distinctive character is remarkable, and emphatically indicative of the change that has taken place even among the Western powers. For the first time the Pope could not ask one Catholic sovereign to sit in this council. It was composed simply and exclusively of priests. Not a single ambassador or representative of the crowned heads was there. There never was such a state of things before in mediaeval or modern Europe.

I grant you that infidelity lies under the change. It is overflowing even now everywhere, as by and by the beast will be steeped up to the eyes in blasphemy. He and the horns will be given over to the hatred of God, while, at the same time, they hate the harlot which had deceived them so long. It is a violent reaction against the lies of Babylon, but no less a rejection of the truth. You see its spirit in our own country and day. Men take pleasure in spoiling the religious dignitaries and their earthly goods. This is going on in all lands; but the end of it will have a deeper dye.

Let me repeat that I do not mean that we are yet come to the beast or the ten horns of Rev. 17. I am only showing the tendency of the present times—the way in which the wind is blowing in the west. Men prepare to turn violently against what they had been so long enslaved to.

As the end approaches, the word of God asserts its majesty and power, as fresh as at the beginning; for we are verging towards the close of the profession of Christianity on the earth, when the Lord is leading His own to expect their removal to heaven to meet the Bridegroom. We have these admonitory symptoms that the world gets weary of false religion, and becomes ashamed of forms which are themselves superstitions. And no wonder, for there is scarcely an outward ordinance remaining, scarcely even a form, which has not been utterly perverted, as well as the truth itself ignored or denied.

(Concluded from page 224)

W.K.

Notes on Romans 1-7: Part 1

Joshua goes farther than Romans. In Romans you get death with Christ and life with Him, but not resurrection. That would be the door of union. When you get resurrection with Christ fully carried out, you get union. But when you get union you get nothing of justification, for, as in Ephesians, there is a new creation, and God has not to justify His own work at all. You have all the privileges of those who belong to the new creation with all its duties too. But in Rom. 1 get sinners, and they want justifying. We learn the double character of justification—the clearing of man from the sins of the old Adam, and the putting him in a new place before God.

In this Epistle we find these two things are treated quite distinctly. In chapter 1 you have the ground that calls for this justification in the fact that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven. It is not here a question of governmental wrath with the people as of old, but now God being revealed, man must be fit for His presence, and so all that is contrary to that is judged. We have already sinned, and come short of the glory of God—a peculiar way of putting it, because, even if we were loving like saints, it would still be true that we come short of the glory of God. But why say “come short of glory,” to a sinner? If you do not come up to what God is as revealed, you won't do.

Now the whole dealing of Christianity with us is just based on that. If you cannot walk in the light as God is in the light, you must be cast out. This was always true, but now it is revealed. God is no longer hidden behind a veil, but He is revealed as He is, and if you are unable to stand there, you cannot stand at all. Therefore it is, that justification now is equal to this. We are made meet to be “partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” A man's being born again does not make his conscience meet for that. His being quickened makes him feel the need of it. If I could abstract my new nature from my old, and so stand only in that, all well. But man has been brought in guilty before God, so that another thing is required, and that is justification.

The first subject of the gospel is the person of the Lord Himself, before you have anything done for us— “concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (chap. 1:3); not—concerning “us.” Too often the claim of Christ's person is lost in the thought of the individual being forgiven. I get two things in the person of Christ which clear up the gospel to me. First, I get cleared of the notion of promises which, indeed, are precious things to Help along afterward—for Christ in the accomplishment of promise, “made of the seed of David” to fulfill the promise— “We declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the father, God hath fulfilled the same” (Acts 13:32, 33). The second point is that He is the Son of God, and I see here the power that has overcome death (ver. 4). I have a life according to this holiness of God which we must meet, and this same life in resurrection. And Paul calls this the gospel. This is the primary subject of the gospel. I get here, too, the righteousness of God revealed in it (ver. 17). In the opening of the Epistle you get what we have been saying; and now Paul says he is not ashamed of this gospel (ver. 16), and the following verse closes the introduction.

Now the apostle goes on to lay the ground why it must be a “righteousness of God,” because there was not any of man whatever. He starts with this, that the righteousness of God is revealed to faith. I am so bold in this for God's righteousness is now revealed in the gospel, and God's wrath is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Here is a holy God perfectly revealed, and He cannot have sin in His presence. Well, alas! I have no righteousness. What then am I to do? (Observe, there is a difference between holiness and righteousness. Holiness is connected more with God's nature, whilst righteousness has its connection rather with judgment of man). There is no answer but “righteousness of God revealed to faith.”

(To be continued)

Supper Ended

Q.-I have heard it stated that the opening words of John 13, “And supper being ended,” should more properly be, “And being supper time"; also that verse 4 should read, “He riseth and laid aside his garments,” for that it was contrary to all Jewish custom to wash after meals, but that they were very scrupulous about washing before meals. May I ask what is the correct rendering of these two clauses? —R.C.

A.-In the main, the alleged statement is correct. For neither the γενομένου of the Text. Rec., nor the “cena facta” of the ancient Latin version, is a sufficient warrant for the meaning “supper being ended.” What was finished was—not the supper, but—the preparation of it.

Two (now printed) texts of our earliest English version of Wiclif, made in the fourteenth century from the Latin Vulgate give “the souper maad,” (or, “the soper made") as the later Wicliffite also says, “Whanne the souper was maad.” Tyndale was the first (translating from the Greek) to render the aorist participle “When supper was ended,” followed by Cranmer, and the Genevan Version of 1557. Similarly, Coverdale (1535) also, “after supper.”

Probably Beza's change from the “coena facta” of his early editions of the Gr. Test. to “coena peracta” of his last folio (1598), may have inclined the translators of 1611 to Tyndale's view, which was also that of Diodati, who in his excellent Italian Version of 1607 had given “finita la cena,” but this was going too far.

Modern Editors of the Greek Text now adopt γινομένου the reading of the Sinaitic (firsthand) and Vatican Uncials with two others (LX), and this our Revisers render “during supper.” It was at the commencement of, or during, supper that, as verse 4 states, “Jesus riseth from supper and laid aside his garments,” &c. The feet washing was notoriously before the meal not at the end.

Lecture on Ezra 1-2

God had given a sample of His kingdom upon the earth, in partial measure, either in David or in Solomon. Still, it was only the type of that which is yet to be, when the kingdom of God shall be established in its power, with its great central seat in Jerusalem, but also a most powerful system of blessing for the earth. We know there will be more than this, but this is not given us in the early books. In the prophets we find the Holy Ghost shows us a universal kingdom-a kingdom of all under the whole heaven.

And this touches the glory of God in a very special way, for in point of fact, it is to this that all Scripture turns. Whatever has been, points onward to the future, for God has never yet had, except in the person of our Lord Jests Christ—never yet had His full glory in the earth. And even in the Lord Jesus Christ, although there is nothing that ever will be so deep, nothing in which God's eye sees such perfection, nothing in which we who know Him and love Him may also have such communion with God in the delight of His own Son, still it was not His kingdom: it was the King, but not the kingdom. It was a kingdom given in His person, but not the kingdom given in power.

It was not yet the establishment of it; there was a display of the power in His person, that will cast out the devil, and that is the reason why so much scope and importance is attached in the Gospels to the expulsion of demons from men, and why it is the very first sample of power put forth in that Gospel which, the most deeply of all, shows us what the power of Satan is now, and what the kingdom of God will be by and by, namely, the Gospel of Luke. It does not begin there with other works, but with that particularly. So also, in another way, Mark shows us similarly the power of Satan met and overcome by the superior power of God in the person of the Lord Jesus. It was a demoniac that is first healed in both cases. But we find, further, the painful history of the decline and fall of what God once established in Israel.

We now come to a fresh point in God's history—the intervention of grace towards a remnant whom He brings back from captivity into the land; and we have here in two books—Ezra and Nehemiah—both sides of the mighty work of God in His goodness; not power, but grace—not the establishment of anything according to the mind of God, but the grace of God intervening to sustain a remnant where there was. not the authority of, God establishing things according to His own mind—where the things were very far from it, but, nevertheless, where God's grace led those who enjoyed His secret—those that had faith—to confide, in God under any circumstances, and, therefore, full of instruction to us who find ourselves now in a state of things remarkably analogous to that of the remnant that returned from Babylon. We shall find abundant proofs of this in the slight sketch that I may be enabled to give at this time.

I take up, of course, the first of them—Ezra—where the great point is the house of God. In Nehemiah we shall find the great point is the city: not the house, but the city. But still it is the relation of the remnant to God, and the ways of God's goodness in dealing with the remnant—whether it be the building of the temple or the building of the wall—which is the main subject of these two books respectively.

And, first of all, we see the mighty change that had taken place in the fact that Cyrus the Persian is so prominent a Gentile. How strange that a Gentile should be in power! He sends a proclamation calling upon Israel, and in the name of Jehovah as a most open acknowledgment of His power. The truth is that Cyrus, so far, is a type of a greater than Cyrus, and for this reason it is that he appears as the judgment of Babylon. Now, Babylon, as it was the first great power of the world that was raised up in God's providence to chastise and carry away the ancient people of God because of their sins, so the judgment of Babylon sets forth the judgment of the world-power in its last shape. In this way, therefore, Cyrus in the prophecy of Isaiah is clearly viewed as a precursor on a small scale of a great deliverer who will come, the last act of the power of God at the end of the present dispensation being the fall of Babylon, followed by the coming of the Lord Jesus to take the kingdom. It is under the seventh vial that Babylon is finally judged, and then comes the Lord Jesus in the clouds of heaven to establish the people of God upon the earth, as well as to display the church and all the other heavenly saints above.

Now it is evident that the measure in which Cyrus prefigures this mighty deliverer is but small. Still, I have no doubt that God had all this in view when He was pleased in His own wonderful way to send out such a call by him, Cyrus king of Persia, who pronounces that the Jehovah God of heaven had given him all the kingdoms of the earth. We know how truly this will be the case with Christ—that He is really the righteous man whom Cy, us set forth in a very small measure—that He is the one who will trample down the kings of the earth like mortar—that He is the one who will judge—that they shall be as stubble before His bow. But now Cyrus proclaims that the road was open to Jerusalem, and so far from hindering the return of the people of God, he encourages them in every possible way. He exhorts them to go up and build the house of God, and, further, that all people were to lend them their help along the road. Cyrus himself sets the example of that which he proclaims to others. For instead of contenting himself as a king naturally would with having let go a large band—a considerable band—of a race which had been so opposed to all other kingdoms (for so the Gentiles regarded Israel), he, furthermore, brings out the vessels of the house of God, and brings out the gold and the silver which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away from Jerusalem. All this is now given back to Israel in order that they might go with this confidence, not only that God providentially had made the road back, but that God had inclined the heart of the Gentile himself to the honor of the Jehovah God of heaven.

These, then, are the circumstances which come before us in the first chapter. But then, the state of things at that time in no wise answers to the reality that will be by and by. For instead of the Gentile being supreme, the plan and intention of God, we know well all through Scripture, is that Israel shall be the head and the Gentiles the tail. And, in fact, it is this alone which enables us to understand the history of the world, and the extraordinary state of the world ever since the Gentile times began. Men are and have long been very boastful of this very time that God calls the times of the Gentiles. What is it in God's mind? A state of confusion only controlled in God's providence by His setting up the basest of men to rule over it. So it is that God speaks of it. How humiliating! Whilst Gentile pride vaunts itself in its great men that govern the world, I repeat, God characterizes it as a season—a mere interval of time—that has merely come in because of the rebellious, apostate sin of Israel, and, accordingly, He allows in His providence that the worst shall gain the upper hand. We cannot form a right judgment of the state of the world and of its history on a large scale without bearing that in mind.

This does not in the smallest degree hinder the Christian—the believer—from paying honor to the powers that be, for that is clearly our duty. As honor is not at all based upon their personal character, we have nothing at all to do with their origin, how they got their power, or how they use their power. All that we have got to do, as believers, is to own God and the magistrate. Perhaps the magistrate, or the king, does not own God himself. That is a serious thing for him, but it does not change our relation. Our duty, even if the kings or the magistrates were all infidels, is to acknowledge them to be God's ministers, no doubt blindly serving, but still as accomplishing in their position God's purpose, though they little think it themselves. In short, we are bound to pay this honor to the powers that be, and it is no question what their particular shape may be. It may be a monarchy or an empire, or a republic, or whatever men may own for the moment. Our business is to render honor and subjection to the higher powers. This makes the Christian's path extremely simple, and I press it, beloved brethren, because we are in a time when altogether different views prevail. The spirit of the age is totally against what I am now saying. I give you, therefore, full warning as to it.

You must not expect to find what I am now saying in the thoughts of men—in the mouths of men, in the writings of men; but the contrary. Men regard themselves as the source of power, not God. They think it is purely a question of man's will. I grant you it may be man's will as the mere outer source of it. But what people forget is this, that it is God that evermore governs, even though wicked men may be the instruments that come forward publicly. Our part is not with the instruments at all, but to own God in whatever He allows for the time being to have power upon the earth. And this the Lord Jesus Himself has shown us in the most clear and decided manner, for there were very different thoughts in Israel when the Lord Himself was here. But He has touched upon this question and shown it in that memorable answer of His to the Pharisees and the Herodians when He demanded of them to produce the coin, and pointed to the image and superscription of Caesar, and gave them this decisive word, “Render to Caeser the things that are Caeser's, and to God the things that are God's.”

This is what belongs to the time meanwhile; but how great the change when all things in heaven and on earth shall be put under the King— “the Great King” —when the Lord Jesus will be not only the acknowledged Jehovah, but King over all the earth—when what was only in a partial and boastful manner said of the king of Persia, who was called “the great king,” will be emphatically and intrinsically true of Him and of Him alone! Then how infinite the blessing! when the heavens and earth shall be united all to His praise, and all the fruit of His grace, and all joined in His glory. This is what we wait for, and we know that by the grace of God we shall be with Himself on high. We shall be with Him and appear with Him in glory when He appears in glory. But this was only a partial type and so much the more partial because the state of things is real, and the confusion where God only holds the reins providentially though it might be by men who were heathen, for such is the state of the times of the Gentiles. And the times of the Gentiles you will remember began with Nebuchadnezzar, and will go on till the Lord Jesus appears in glory. We are in the times of the Gentiles now, only we are called out of the world by the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. On this, however, I do not touch.

The second chapter brings before us, then, the remnant. We see clearly that it is a remnant, that it is no question of establishing Israel yet—a very important principle, because the true understanding of the prophecies depends upon this. If I look at the prophecies as a whole, their regular testimony is of the time when the kingdom will be established—when Israel as a whole shall be gathered—when not only the Jews but the whole of the ten tribes will be put under the Lord Jesus Christ. Consequently, nothing that has come in during the times of the Gentiles is a fulfillment of the prophecies.

It may accomplish some particular principle of them. For instance, now under the gospel we see, “Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Well, that will be accomplished, nay fulfilled, when Jerusalem shall be the earthly center of God. But is anything we know now the fulfillment of that prophecy of Joel? Not so. It is an accomplishment of it; but the fulfillment of it will be when Jerusalem shall come directly under the power and glory of God; and then in that mount of Zion it will be universal. Whoever shall call upon the name of Jehovah shall be saved, and the Lord shall extend the blessing to all flesh. The principle is true now, but the actual fulfillment of it will be then.

This, then, is very important—that the prophets look not merely to a remnant but to the nation. Prophets look not merely to an accomplishment, but to the fulfillment. In Christianity we get a remnant and we get an accomplishment and nothing more. We have the principle; but the full accomplishment awaits the future.

Well, now, in the second chapter we have most clearly this essential to understanding the prophecies of the Old Testament—that it was only a remnant, and an inconsiderable remnant—some 43,000 or rather less—between 42,000 and 43,000 of the people, chiefly Judah and Benjamin, that were brought back out of the captivity of Babylon; only stragglers out of the ten tribes. The great mass of the ten tribes had been carried into Assyria a long time before. These were chiefly Jews who had been carried to Babylon, not to Assyria, so that we have thus, both in the numbers and in the persons—the tribes out of whom the remnant come—proof that it was not the fulfillment of the prophecies, but only a partial accomplishment, and we know the reason why. It was to leave room for the Lord's coming in humiliation. The prophets looked for the Lord's coming in glory. It was necessary that a remnant should go up to Jerusalem, and that the Lord should meet them in as much humiliation on His part, and a great deal more than that humiliation of which they ought to have taken the place on their part. That is, it was but a little remnant, and the Lord came Himself in the deepest humiliation, as fully entering into their circumstances, meeting them where they were in order that He might show that, let things come to the worst, He was going down below the deepest of all shame and the most complete ruin in point of all circumstance. Nay, further, He was going down under sin and judgment itself, in order that He might deliver after a truly divine sort, in all the fulfillment of the grace of God. As this alone could be in humiliation, so do we see that their feeble return was directly suitable to the coming of the Lord in humiliation.

I do not dwell on the details. Indeed, this is not at all my object in the present course of lectures. It is to give a general sketch to help souls in reading profitably this portion of the word of God for themselves. But I may mention one or two interesting facts, before I pass on. One is the care that was taken, as we see in the case of the priests. Their genealogy was insisted upon. It is said, “And of the children of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai; which took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name: these sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found: therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood. And the Tirshatha (or governor) said unto them, that they should not eat of the most holy things” —that is, they should not have the full enjoyment of priestly privilege “till there stood up a priest with Urim and with Thummim.” That is, till the Lord Jesus comes by and by who will, no doubt, be the King, and will also act in the full power of priesthood, the power of Urim and Thummim in the lights and perfections of God, and will then disentangle all the confusion, and supply all that is lacking.

But what I call your attention to is the principle that although it was a day of weakness and humiliation it was not to be a day of negligence but of the greatest care. It was to be a day when God's people were to be as watchful and vigilant for His name as when things were in the full power and beauty of divine order. This I hold to be very precious for ourselves now. In the present confusion of Christendom we are called to exercise the greatest care with regard to those who bear the name of the Lord—those that take the place of being near to God, which, of course, ought to be in all that are accepted as members of Christ's body—as true worshippers that come together in His name. And therefore we are entitled to demand that they shall prove their genealogy. The reason is plain, because now people generally take the place of Christians without reality. We are bound to require that there shall be the proof that they really are what they profess to be. That is, we are not to yield to the mere general profession. While owning it as a fact, we are to demand that there shall be the adequate proof to carry conviction.

This was not so necessary in the earliest days. Then the Spirit of God came down in power. There was novelty in it, and a seriousness for man to break off all his old associations and to come together in the name of the Lord Jesus. And the danger was such that, as a rule, men would not come unless they were truly led of God. When there was some person with penetration but without conscience who saw the power that might be turned to his own selfish purposes he might come on false ground. I refer now to Simon Magus; yet, as a rule, I repeat, people did not come unless they were real. But in these days it is not so, and we know well that people deceive themselves—that people may not know what it is really to be converted to God—what it is to be members of Christ's body. They have been wrongly taught: they have been brought up in an unhealthy and corrupting atmosphere; and, therefore, it is necessary, I repeat, that we should require that the genealogy should be proved; that is that there should be full evidence that they really are Christ's in the true and proper sense of the word—that they are brought to God.

Now, there may be persons at the present time who, though they will be in heaven, yet are such whom we should not accept on earth. There may be persons to be declined because they cannot prove their genealogy. The Lord may see, in the midst of a great deal that is very painful, what is real; but we must look to God simply according to the measure of discernment that He gives.

[W. K.]

Principles of God's Intervention: Part 1

A most interesting thing it is to observe that all God's people, the simplest and least intelligent even, when confronted in some terrible way with the wickedness and violence of the world around them, at once turn to, and instinctively, one may say, count on, the intervention of God to set things right. They know that these things are not happening in a sphere beyond His love and care; but that somewhere, somehow, He will step in, and sin and conflict cease. History has for them this one great lesson that God will interpose. Prophecy, they are ready to believe, speaks clearly of it. Their own common sense of the fitness of things confirms them in this that in the affairs of men, plan them carefully as they may, carry out their projects ruthlessly as they do, God will, at least ultimately, actively intervene.

We see this instinctive sense, if one may so call it, of God's interest in human concerns clouded over for the time being in a very remarkable scripture, Psa. 73. The great problem of history, the apparent dominance of evil, its seeming success in the world, and its counterpart—the subservience, and to all appearance the adversity attaching to a righteous course—is there come up for solution. “I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked,” proceeds the Psalmist, recounting his experience. It is a common experience. We all know it well. Hard thoughts and perplexing doubts chase one another through the despondent mind. Sin, pride, and violence are so apparently successful, His own people so poor, oppressed, despised, tried. These on the one hand “are not in trouble as other men, neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart could wish.”

Of those, on the other hand, it is said, “Therefore his people return hither, and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.” God seems to have forgotten, to have withdrawn His interest, to have relinquished all government of the earth, when things are so out of course. All this, says the Psalmist, when he sought to know it, was too painful for him. “Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their end.” The right perspective is restored in the presence of God. Intelligence as to God, as to the nature and principles of His actions, brings enlightenment and relief. So at all times. Carefulness in observing the revealed principles of God's intervention in human history will preserve us from either perplexity as to the delay, or any wavering as to the fact, of His so intervening.

This intervention, one's moral sense suggests, is imperative. In presence of the evil, the disorder, the violence, and corruption in the world, we feel that God must intervene. If righteousness is to have any place in the world at all He must. And He intends it to have supreme place. The day is coming when “judgment shall return unto righteousness, when a king shall reign in righteousness. 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.” “Of 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 forever” (Isa. 9:7). He has destined, too, the creation of “new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.” A reclaimed, restored, reconciled universe is not only to witness the supremacy of righteousness, but is also to be filled with, and be forever characterized by it. The present world, needless to say, must experience vast changes before either can come about. And only by a direct active intervention on God's part can such change be effected. Those who look to the gradual development of existing agencies for righteousness being brought in and established, the gradual spread of the gospel, the permeating of society and the whole social order by civilizing and righteous influences, are wholly wrong. Not by human effort; but by divine intervention shall, or can, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

Mere philosophy of course, the philosophy which to-day underlies all world-politics and statecraft, looks not for, nor reckons on, any such divine interposition. The whole thought is alien to its reasoning. Man is no fallen creature here, nor his world a moral wreck in this view. At most he is but immature, and steadily, slowly, as the years pass, is evolving his own destiny. No thought is more foreign to democratic ideas and ideals alike than that man is a sinful creature in a morally-ruined creation. The whole system of human government and politics, as it is conceived generally to-day, is based on man's competency to look after himself in that field. Representative government, democracy, assumes both his power and ability to govern himself, as also to so adjust his environment as to conduce to progress. Utterly oblivious to any thought or consciousness of the presence and dominance of this defiling element, sin, in the world they seek to deal with, it escapes the observation of philosophers and politicians that the progress they make is largely superficial, and only material. They make the great initial mistake of leaving out the fall of man, and reasoning on the present as a normal moral state. Even where they do bring God in, it is not in any thought of Himself having plans ultimately to deal directly with the situation; but simply in the idea of His general over-ruling providence. God is in His heaven, all's well with the world. What we do have, on the contrary, is, by reason of the presence of sin's lingering disease throughout the body politic, a very mixed and disordered state, where justice and righteousness are only, in a very general way, by the present over-ruling providence of God secured and maintained in the face of the hostile elements predominating. That which the scriptures reveal also is that, in addition to this, God Himself shall, in His own wise and suitable time, actively, directly, immediately, take the case in hand, deal with the malady of sin, and give this weary, war-worn, sin-scarred earth its glorious rest and reign of righteousness and peace.

It is then the nature of this intervention, the principles on which it is based, that is here the subject of inquiry. Two Psalms there are which in conjunction seem to give light on this subject. Psa. 75 and 76 stand as close in spiritual relation to each other as they do in numerical order. If, in the first mentioned, the confidence in God displayed in presence of imminent danger bases itself on the fact that His intervention is near, in the second that same intervention is thankfully commemorated as an event just newly experienced A wicked and proud adversary was on the scene in Psa. 75. He is solemnly adjured— “Lift not up your horn on high; speak not with a stiff neck.” He is reminded that “promotion (or lifting up) cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge. He putteth down one, and setteth up another.” He is warned that “in the hand of the Lord there is a cup—but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.” Such is the atmosphere of Psa. 75 Psa. 76 is the sequel. Arrogant opposition had been persisted in, God had been defied, the threatened attack on His people had been delivered, and God had interposed in power for their deliverance, and to the enemy's destruction. God had “arisen to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth.” “At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.” Arrows, shield, sword, yea, battle itself had been broken and ended, and now, “in Judah is God known, His name is great in Israel. In Salem also (city of peace) is His tabernacle, and His dwelling place in Zion.” The intervention of God clearly is the theme in both.

Many expositors take these two Psalms as speaking directly of an incident in Israel's history, Hezekiah's wonderful deliverance from Sennacherib of Assyria (2 Kings 18; 19). The one Psa. 75, they say, anticipating; the other (76) celebrating God's deliverance on that occasion. This cannot be conceded. The marks of their application to the future, to the anticipation and celebration of a still greater deliverance, are too certain and evident: As an illustration, however, that former intervention of God on behalf of His people is of great value and force in this connection. Dark indeed was the day for the people of God when the king of Assyria with his armies came up against them. Few and feeble they were themselves, as even their adversaries reproached them with. It was a handful against a host. Their adherence to their king, and their faithful, if feeble, stand for God was likely to cost them dear. Proud and cruel Sennacherib, and his arrogant, blaspheming captain were of that generation spoken of in Psa. 76 “Pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.” “They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression, they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walketh through the earth.” Surrounded by such powerful and unscrupulous enemies, they well might fear the result of so unequal combat. But, in answer to Hezekiah's prayer, as also in reply to the enemy's taunts, God Himself intervened in power. By a stroke of His judgment, deliverance was effected, and vengeance executed. The stout-hearted were spoiled, they slept their sleep, and none of the men of might found their hands. For God caused judgment to be heard from heaven, and His people were delivered. Illustration as it is, however, the future crisis will in magnitude and importance far surpass this remarkable incident. And to that in its full extent these Psalms apply.

J.T.]

(To be continued)

The Transfiguration

The transfiguration may be viewed both as a fact and as a type. As a fact, it was a means of comfort for our Lord's holy soul in prospect of death, for death was already before Him at this juncture, if so be that it was not ever present to His mind. In the ninth chapter of Luke, before going up with three of His disciples into the mountain to pray, He speaks of it in the most explicit language, “The Son of man,” says He, “must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.” So in the other Synoptic Gospels (Matt. 16:21; Mark 8:31). The language is plain enough, yet the disciples understood not. It may seem very strange to us, but it was not so. Not a creature on earth could apprehend the necessity of Christ's death before it took place. The prophets, chiefly David and Isaiah, largely speak of it by the Spirit; yet were they themselves, as it were, staggered in the face of what they wrote. “They inquired and searched diligently.” Nor is it said that by their inquiry and diligent search they found out the bearing of their declarations. “Unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us, they ministered the things which are now reported unto you by them that preached unto you the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.” Both in type and in plain language, the sufferings of Christ were announced from the earliest day of man's history, but the meaning of the types and of the language remained impenetrable.

There was at least one reason for it, which is this, that on man's side the notion of sin was very incomplete, and the character of sin, as God saw it, not fully unfolded. Hence it was that there was scarcely any room in the minds of the Jews for the thought of how the fundamental question of sin was to be settled. They had a law, both moral and ceremonial; and they imagined this was enough, if more or less faithfully observed to keep them on good terms with God. Then they had prophecies announcing the coming of Messiah, and being but little burdened by a conscience of sins, they retained only the bright side of that coming. In the days when He came they were in subjection to the Romans, and they persuaded themselves that He would at once deliver them from that humiliating yoke, set up again David's throne, and as Messiah sit on it for their glory as well as His own. Such was the current teaching of their scribes and lawyers. And the disciples themselves could not but have been much imbued with these notions, although God in His sovereign goodness gave them grace and faith to follow Christ in His path of humiliation. True, indeed, before the Spirit was sent down from heaven, the risen Lord graciously opened theirs understanding that they might understand the Scriptures, and the needs-be for His sufferings and resurrection; but it seems that at that moment they hardly entered into the full bearing of His words (Luke 24).

The apostle Peter tells us how the necessity and meaning of Christ's sufferings unto death came to be understood, viz., by the preaching of the gospel unto you “with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.” Before going away the Lord had said to His disciples, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all the truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever fie shalt hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for He shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.” It was from this Spirit of truth that the disciples learned fully the meaning of Christ's death, and by the same Spirit it was that they made this death—followed of course by His resurrection—the great subject matter of the gospel they preached.

But before they received the Spirit, the death of Christ was an enigma to them. “We trusted that it had been He which would have redeemed Israel.” All they looked for was a temporal deliverance by power. Even after His resurrection they saw nothing beyond (Acts 1:6). On the contrary, in the 9th chapter of Luke, death with its unutterable sorrows, was foremost in the thoughts of the Lord, and, as said before, there was not a creature on earth that could share in His grief. Had He not said in the words of the prophetic Spirit, “I looked for some to take pity, but there was none! and for comforters, but I found none?” So He went to seek them in heaven. First of all when on the mountain-top, He prays, that is, He pours out His holy soul into the bosom of His Father and God. Here all is secret, unknowable, unfathomable for mere creatures. Next, He meets with two glorified saints, and these, contrasted with those on earth, will understand Him. They know why they were admitted into the bliss and glory of heaven. They know it was not through their own works, faithful and mighty as their testimony had been. They know that their sins have been forgiven them in virtue of Christ's propitiation—a propitiation then yet future, but in anticipation of which God, in His righteousness, could forbear (Rom. 3:24-26). And so these two glorified men spake of His decease, which He should accomplish in Jerusalem. They spake of His decease—an all-important particular given only by Luke.

This is precise, not vague. It was not a matter of eventuality or probability but of certainty. The subject was one that Moses and Elias were qualified to enter into. Wondrous favor! They went deeper into it than even angels, of whom it is written that, in the face of the accomplished fact, they “desire to look into” it. And one can understand how this is. Angels did look, with amazement and with adoration, on the holy Sufferer, upon the work of the cross, but they could not say it was done in their benefit. A believer can say, “He loved me and gave Himself for me.” Moses and Elias could say the same. They were, like ourselves, sinners once, now saved by grace, through faith; and for that reason initiated into the mysteries of a work done for sinful man to the glory of God. Oh, that we might value more, far more then we have done hitherto, such a marvelous prerogative!

To understand the “must,” so often repeated by the Lord when speaking of His forthcoming sufferings unto death, is to go deep into the deepest counsels of God.

Typically, the transfiguration is a perfect and lovely picture of the future kingdom. This cannot be disputed, for we have the Lord's word for it (Matt. 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27). It starts with the coming of the Lord in power and glory. So we read in 2 Peter 1:16-18, “For we have not followed cunningly devised fables,” says the apostle, “when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount.” Here we have an over-abounding testimony—that of three men, each of them, I need not say, fully worthy of credit. They saw and heard: it was no dream, no fanciful picture. And the apostle shows how it bears upon, and agrees with, the prophetic word, of which it is a confirmation, making it, as it were, more sure, by adding the testimony of three trustworthy disciples to that of holy men of God moved by the Holy Ghost.

In this scene, therefore, we have all the elements. of the coming kingdom, with truth additional to the word of the prophets. Being here on New Testament ground, it was to be expected that a fuller radiance would lighten the scene. The prophets spoke of the earthly side of the kingdom, of Messiah sitting on David's throne in Jerusalem, and extending His dominion over the whole world with the Jews as His favored people. This, of course, is truth, but it is not the whole truth. The Lord before His death, lets us know that He will be attended by angels, His servants, but this is not yet the heavenly side of the kingdom, although angels are certainly a heavenly family. By the full revelation of God's purpose we learn that there are men in the kingdom nearer to the Son than even angels, blood-bought men, for whom He suffered infinitely. Most wonderful is it that God puts their title to reign with His Son on the ground of their having suffered with Him, not in atonement (I need not say) but in testimony. Thus have they become His associates and companions in the heavenly glory of the kingdom.

But here it is that Peter, however well-meaning, is signally at fault when he says, “Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias,” not knowing what he said. In what he said he certainly thought to honor the Lord. Was he not putting Him first? First He assuredly must be and is, but this is not all. Scripture says, “Therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” These may be seen sitting on thrones around Him, but. He is the central object for all and the throne on which He sits is the highest. If they are kings, He is “the King of kings, and Lord of lords.” They may wear a crown of gold, but on His head are many crowns. This was beyond Peter's apprehension. In fact, he was putting Moses and Elias on a level with the Lord, and that God will not have. The three disciples must learn that, in the estimate of the Father, Christ has not His equal in creation, on earth or in heaven. Hence the voice to Him from the excellent glory, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” —which means, Do not confound Him with others, however much these may be blessed in And by Him. “And He is the head of the body, the church: Who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence.”

Thus we have in the future kingdom of God an earthly side described in the prophets and where Israel is principal, as represented in the scene of the transfiguration by Peter, John and James; and a heavenly side where the saints of the heavenly calling are seen reigning with the Lord, as represented by Moses, the prototype of those who, having died in Christ, are raised at His coming ("for we shall not all sleep” [or die]), and by Elias, the prototype of those who shall be changed without passing through death (1 Cor. 15:51; 1 Thess. 4:15-18).

P.C.

Notes on Romans 1-7: Part 2

Then we have proofs brought in of the condition of man. First, the Gentiles are taken up, and then from chap. 2:17, the Jew, with his privileges, to whom had been given the law, circumcision, yea, the oracles of God. So we see “There is none righteous, no, not one.” The very law, which was the boast of the Jew, is that which condemned him. All being now proved guilty, the apostle returns to “God's righteousness.” What is wanting now, therefore, is for man to be able to stand in the presence of God without a veil. Righteousness of God has been witnessed by the law and the prophets, but it is manifested now. It is a righteousness without law—apart from law altogether—and moreover, being God's righteousness, it is made good alike to anybody who has faith, whether Jew or Gentile.

But you notice that in this part, the apostle does not go beyond “propitiation through faith in His blood.” We meet God as a righteous Judge, and for this there needs propitiation. Then he takes up Abraham, and David (chap. 4.), and shows that these both concurred in this testimony. Yet here, too, we have nothing more than forgiveness. Of course we have much more afterward.

But does not justification go much farther than forgiveness?

Yes, but it is not used for more in this part of the epistle. Here the sinner is taken, and the judge says, “You are forgiven.” He has not a fault left. But that is not the whole of righteousness in what follows in the epistle. The accounting righteous in this part is the same as forgiveness. If I count a man to have no fault, he is righteous. There is, doubtless, more in chap. 3:25, 26, but this is the point here. A great deal more follows, but each is given by itself. It is of the utmost importance to see the way in which God deals with the sins of the “old man"; and then, quite distinctly, another question altogether comes in—the making of the “new man,” The division of these two subjects, is at the 11Th verse of chapter 5. Up to that he treats of forgiveness, and then afterward of the other side of the subject—the positively new thing.

Here I stand as a child of Adam before God in the light! And what am I to do, for I am guilty? Righteousness of God is the only deliverance, and you have two phases of it in the two distinct characters of blessedness given us in chapters 5, and 8.

In connection with which of these would you regard the teaching of Job's story?

Oh, the latter surely. In Rom. 5 you have what God is in sovereign grace to a sinner. And in chap. 8 you have a new man altogether before God. Man is in the higher place in chap. 8 but God is in the more absolute place in chap. 5.

For when I get to chap. 8. I am not talking about sinners, but about saints. God is for me, in chap. 8., but for Himself in chap. 5. and this is a higher thing. It is what God is in sovereign grace to sinners, what He is in Himself, and so I am joying in Him.

Another thing is, that in this first part I have nothing to do with experience except to own myself a sinner. Suppose I tell a man his debts are paid, there is an end of it as far as the debts are concerned. It does not touch his personal condition, say, as to whether or no, he was a fool in making them. But in the second part from chap. 5:12 I have much more.

Quickening is not introduced in the early part, for there it is the question of guilt, and not of nature—of sins only. In the second part, it is sin and its remedy. The first part is, Christ dying for my sins. The second, our dying with Christ.

Where was propitiation made?

On the cross. Christ goes in with His own blood.

What is “by the which will we are sanctified?”

It is the will of God. And you will observe that whenever sanctification and justification come together in scripture, sanctification comes first.

Now we see as to Abraham that he believed that what God had promised, He was able also to perform. But for us, God has done that which to Abraham was future, and I am therefore called to believe what God has performed, not what He is able to do, but what He has done. The work of justification was not accomplished on the cross, though the ground or basis of it was there. Resurrection it is that is the seal—Jesus “was raised again for our justification” (chap. 4: 21-25). Here it is the abstract thing, but in chap. 5 it is the application of it by faith to the particular individual. There needs a man to be justified before there can be his justification. Justification is the quittance of the person. Then besides this I have tribulation here, and very blessed this is. For God then is caring for me. His eyes are upon the righteous, not sinners but the righteous. Justified by faith, we have peace. Peace is a deeper thing than joy. We have, too, by the Holy Ghost, the love of God known, shed abroad in our hearts. All our sins, yes all, have been met on the cross. I do not say our future sins—because we ought not to commit any in future. Verse 11 of chap. 5 is really the end of the epistle as to results, for after this we have no more thought of individual sins, but of Adam who has ruined us all.

From chap. 5 we get our experience, which is contrary to God's Word that we “are dead to sin.” Now the “old man” is dealt with by death, that the body of sin might be destroyed, ‘Oh, but,' says one, 'I find it in me.' Then “reckon yourself dead,” “always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus.” I believe an honest mind looking to Christ is more troubled about sin in him than about all, his past sins put together.

Chap. 8:1 reads “There is therefore, now, no condemnation to them which are” (not in their sins, but), “in Christ Jesus.”

What is the meaning of “sin is not imputed where there is no law?”

It is, not reckoning a man anything, but it is putting it to his account. The sin of Adam addresses itself to the whole Jewish people (Hos. 6:7).

What is the force of “justification of life?”

Simply that it is justification connected with life. The remedy for all of the flesh is our death (chap. 4.). Heb. 9:26 goes out and includes “new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3). So in John 1 we have “the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.” In a practical sense sin is not exactly “put away,” but the work that does it is accomplished. The power that brings it into result is another thing. John 2:2 does not teach that Christ bore the sins of the world. He died for all, He has glorified God as to all. And more than this, He has confessed the sins of His people and put them away forever. So that I have been brought into death because I cannot live. Not that sin has gone out of me absolutely, for then I should not have to “reckon” myself dead. If I have died I am wholly justified from sin (6:7), and if I always reckon myself dead I am free from it. It is like a young man who has contracted debts beyond his means to pay, and his father with ample capital has paid his debts. Well, if that be all, he is only ready to go and make more debts. But if his father makes him a partner the case is changed; He now speaks of our business and of our capital, and quite right too, though he brought no cash into the business. Only in this epistle it is not carried on to resurrection with Christ. The apostle is speaking individually and does not go on to union. He is keeping up the full position of the individual before God.

Well, now, you live through Christ, what are you going to do with yourself? The same principle in chap. 7 is applied to law. You die. Well, the law hath dominion over you, only so long as you live, and when you die, the law has no power over you. Verse 6 (chap. 7) should be “having died in that wherein we were held.” This chap 7 is the experience of a man with his first husband. The doctrine is, you cannot have both. You died to the law just as you died to sin. You must not say the law is dead. No, that is killing the gaoler and not the prisoner. The old husband is not dead. It will come into full force in the day of judgment.

(Concluded from page 240)

The Christian Calling and Hope: 1

Matthew 24; 25

I have taken this portion of the word of God to set forth “The Christian calling and hope,” as distinct from a Jew or a Gentile. There may be some here, there are certainly not a few elsewhere, who might be supposed to demur to this. They are not convinced that it is a question of Christians, for example, in the parable of the Virgins.

There are those, on the one hand, who have been disposed to exaggerate, maintaining that even the foolish virgins are really Christians. There are some, on the other hand, who deny that the parable speaks of Christians at all. These will have it that not only the foolish virgins are not Christians—which I believe to be quite true—but that the wise are not either, but what is commonly called the Jewish remnant. Now, I am of opinion that they are both mistaken; that in this Scripture we have positive evidence, of a clear and cogent kind, which ought to remove the doubts of any dispassionate mind, and to give with certainty the conviction that the Lord had real Christians in view in the wise virgins, and professing Christians in the foolish virgins. In order to demonstrate this more clearly, I will first draw your attention to the context, and then to the contents of the parable.

It is plain that from these two sources must be drawn the main evidence that the Lord Jesus has given by which we may form a sound judgment. That is to say, the Lord has given, in the surroundings of the parable, not a little to help us to understand its bearing and application. Then, again, what the general evidence of the context would lead to we shall find, I trust, entirely borne out by the specific contents of the parable. The language, the drift, the circumstances, and design all converge on Christendom; all point to the calling and hopes of the Christian; for alas! not only the parable instructs us, but it is a fact that we see now around us many who bear the Christian name with no reality.

First of all, then, we have the Lord's discourse, founded on the disciples pointing out, with not a little complacency, the grand buildings of the Temple. “And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them: 'See ye not all these things? Verily, I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.'“ The Jewish system was tottering to its ruin; the temple, where the glory of God had once been, was itself about to be destroyed.

“And, as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us when shall these things be?” They were disturbed and distressed by such a thought. Was not He the Messiah? Was not He going to establish Israel? Was not He about to restore the tribes—which had been so long wanting—to the nationality of God's chosen people? Was not He about to make the temple the center not only for Israel but for all the world? What, then, would be the meaning of such solemn words as that all was to be razed to the ground? Jesus meets the questions when these things should be, and what should be the sign of His coming and of the end of the age—not of the world.

The Jews were not so ignorant on this head as many who have less excuse in the present day; they did not confound the end of the age with the end of the world. They knew well that God means to bless this earth—to bless it as a whole, not merely His children passing through it, but the nations and the earth itself; to overthrow Satan's usurped dominion, and to deliver from the thralldom of the curse the whole creation. The disciples, who as Jews held all the hopes of their nation founded on prophetic testimony, were therefore anxious to know what should be the sign of his coming or presence, and of the end of the intervening time of sorrow and distress; for they were aware that it is only when He comes in power and glory that there can be an end of desolation. So the Lord explains that the time was not yet come; that they would be liable to be deceived about the time when the restoration of their people, and all this introduction of divine power to bless the earth, was nigh at hand.

“Take heed,” said He, “that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name saying I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” “And ye shall hear of wars, and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” It is the reverse of the glowing picture of Isaiah 2. When the age of the Messiah's reign comes, “He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” But the new age is not yet come, nor can it while the Lord Jesus is away. Whatever may be the promises and hopes of men, all their scheming will not avail; all their expectations must be falsified. “Nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom"; that is to say, a state quite contrary to what is held out for the kingdom. The prophets glowed as they looked forward in the Spirit to the time when “the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow into it. And out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem,” But the Lord intimates that the time is not yet at hand. There must still be the sorrows that belong to this age.

The new age would be characterized, not by the destruction of the earth, but by its renovation; not by the great White Throne, where the dead will be judged, but by the Lord coming to reign and govern the living. For he shall come “to judge the quick and the dead,” not the quick and the dead at the same time, but the quick first, the dead afterward. The judgment of the quick traverses over a considerable tract of time; the judgment of the dead is at the close of all, before the eternal scene where all judgment will be ended, when nothing will remain but the blessing of those that are of God, such as are of the enemy having been judged forever. The Lord explains that there must be an earthly time of manifold sorrow during this age before the blessed time begins for the earth in the new age. Whether it be the present era of sorrow, or the future dispensation of blessedness for the world, the end of “the world,” as popularly held, is a false notion; the end of “the age” is the true thought. The end of the earth will never be, in the sense of annihilation; the end of man's having his own way must certainly come. Man's day will close with the end of this age.

The new age will be under the government of the Lord Jesus. The fact that power will be exercised in rule supposes flesh and liability to disobedience. Evil will be put down; it may be kept thoroughly in check; but it needs the reign of the Lord to effect it. The eternal state essentially differs from this age. It will have no evil to be kept in check, but will display the peaceful dwelling of good in the presence of God, when evil has been judged, removed and punished.

The Lord then pursues His sketch of what the disciples must expect. “Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.”

“And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.'' This, again, is beyond controversy the close of what is going on now; not the end of the world in a physical sense, but of the period or dispensation which terminates with the appearing of the Lord Jesus in power and glory. His return to reign will open the new age.

Then the Lord proceeds to give some indications of the closing scene of the age a little more definitely. “When ye, therefore, shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains.” Nothing can be more distinct than this. The Lord Jesus is not here giving us the calling and hope of the Christian, but addressing the disciples in their then state and circumstances.

Now this is an immense help for the understanding of the prophecy. For many persons now as of old have taken the whole discourse as if it were addressed to Christians as such; they understand that it all describes the position of Christians at one time or another. But this is a fallacious idea. The Lord begins with the Jewish disciples, before Christianity, properly speaking, was revealed. For Christianity supposes the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord: these are the pillars of Christianity. Without them you have the Lord Jesus still connected with Israel. The essential features of Christianity display themselves on the basis of redemption, and in the gift of the Holy Ghost consequent upon it.

Now, in all we have heard thus far, there is nothing that is essentially Christian. We have disciples; I doubt not believers, but believers looking for the Lord's return to reign over Israel. They are disciples whose expectations are in connection with the land of Palestine and the Temple; whose hopes embrace Israelitish ascendency, whose fears are buried with the troubles or tribulation predicted for Israel by the prophets. Hence we see the Lord Himself deigns to refer to the prophecy of Daniel the prophet. Does not this show that He was speaking of the same time, place, people and circumstances as Daniel? Nothing can be clearer than that He is not describing Christians as such. What have Christians to do with Jerusalem or Juda? What have Christians to do with the Temple? They have no interest in those stones; they have no special connection with the grandeur of those buildings. The destruction of the Temple leaves Christianity unaffected, and where it was, in point of fact. We quite understand on the one hand that God saw fit that during Christianity the Jewish people and their Temple should be in ruins soon, if not immediately; as we know, it was important, on the other hand, that Christianity should derive its force from God while the Temple had still an outward appearance.

It was no mere concurrence of circumstances which gave birth to Christianity. It might have been said that Christianity grew up as a natural development after Judaism had actually disappeared; that there had been an old religion in Jerusalem, and when this perished, then Christianity sprung up. But God took care that the Temple and the Jewish people should still continue for a season. It is true they were spiritually defunct. It was merely while Judaism had sentence not only pronounced but executed upon it in the cross of Christ. For then it remained to the eyes of men alive, but really before God it was dead: only the Lord kept it a decent time for burial. Then when the Romans came, they took off as it were the dead corpse of Judaism to its grave.

But the Lord then shows us clearly that He is speaking of disciples, with Jewish position, circumstances, hopes and fears. He, therefore, warns certain persons who should be analogous to the disciples of that day; Jews who should be found at the end of the age, disciples in Jerusalem once more when there would be a Temple once more. For it is remarkable that Christ in speaking of the Temple gives it unity: the Temple may be built and destroyed, again built and destroyed, yet it is all counted the Temple, for God deals with things according to the place they take. He views all that is done in His name as having a kind of moral unity. Hence we find this carried out with regard to antichrist. The Temple, too, has been destroyed, and may be again, but it is still the Temple of God. In days yet future we know that it will be put to the most fearful uses to which any building has been applied since the world, began; still it is called the Temple of God.

Then there will be disciples—Jewish believers—keeping to the words of the Lord Jesus in the latter days of this age, for the Lord is clearly carrying on His thought to that time, just diverging more widely before the close of the age, as you can see: this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to all the nations, and then shall the end come. We know the end has not come yet. We are aware that this gospel of the kingdom needs to be preached still as a witness in all the world to all the nations. But how far it will take effect is not said: there may be few believers, but there will be witnesses of the gospel of the kingdom sent out, like the disciples when He was here. It is not telling the people that He died and rose and went to heaven. They preached the kingdom of heaven was at hand before the end of the age.

[W.K.]

(To be continued)

Lest Ye Faint

Of all the reproaches flung into the heart of our blessed Lord in the hour of His unspeakable humiliation, none probably had a more bitter sting than the words recorded in Matt. 27:43. “He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him: for He said, I am the Son of God.”

The bitterness of its sting lay in the truth of the sneer, and in its apparent reasonableness. For none ever trusted in God as did this Suffering One. His whole life had been one of unwavering confidence in God, so that of no other could be said so truthfully and emphatically, “He trusted in God.”

Yet the scoffers around the cross meant an untruth what time they spoke the truth; for their taunt reproached Him with being veritably an impostor, since God's word and human experience alike affirmed that God had never failed to deliver any who really trusted Him.

So the blinded ignorance of the human heart reasoning rightly, reached a wrong conclusion; and reasonable as the taunt appeared to them the deduction drawn by their prejudiced, bigoted, superficial minds was altogether false. They were entirely ignorant alike of the true God and of Jesus Christ the Sent One.

A further bitterness was added to the reproach by the opportuneness of the moment. “Let Him deliver Him now.” Now—with hands and feet transfixed, with disciples fled, with the crowd gaping, the rulers sneering, the soldiers making game of Him, the robbers speaking insultingly, (see Luke 23 New Trans.)—now, is the moment when the perfect trust, if it exists, should surely be vindicated. So they reasoned, while He endured in meekness and silence the reproaches heaped upon Him.

For not only was He there so soon to make an atonement for the wrong which sin had done to God; to make expiation of the guilt of sin; to give His life a ransom for many, and bear their sins as the Substitute from God; to give Himself a ransom for all to express God's love for the whole world: to die the just One for us the unjust ones to bring as to God, and to fulfill the entire divine purpose for which He became the Lamb, foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world and manifested at the end of the times; but He was also there to crown a life of unbroken obedience and complete trust, by a death of entire devotion,

The moment of vindication was not then; He was to be faithful unto death. Deeper waters were yet to be crossed; depths of unutterable loneliness and anguish had yet to be fathomed by the patient, spotless Sufferer, but His unbroken trust in the One who sent Him should yet find expression in those words of sublime confidence uttered at the last, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit.”

Yet again, consider the sneer flung into the sensitive heart of our Lord, by the chief priests and scribes and elders, who could say, “Let Him deliver Him now, IF He will have Him.” “If He will have Him!” and with these words in His ears, the lonely Sufferer hangs in silence with no answering heavens to witness to Him then; while yet a further note reveals the actual forces arrayed against Him as the voice of Satan, in their concluding reminder— “For He said, I am the Son of God.”

Here is the echo of the old wilderness temptation— “If Thou be the Son of God;” and here also the perpetual temptation of the people of God in all ages—if—why—? If you are the child of God why is this allowed to come upon you? If you do trust Him, why are you left in this condition or circumstance?

The Lord Jesus has left us an example that we should follow His steps. God had one Son without sin, but none without suffering; and the lesson of it all to our hearts is to trust Him at all times; in spite of the enemy, in spite of misunderstanding, in spite of our own hearts. Evermore while passing through the world the suggestion of Satan will come—to act independently as though man were self-sufficient; to act recklessly, depending upon a garbled quotation of Scripture, may be; to act cautiously and so avoid the cross with its reproach. But the Lord Jesus has met them all; and, spite of appearances, spite of heart-breaking reproach, spite of loneliness and general desertion, He trusted in God, and unswervingly finished the course; leaving us an example and an inspiration, that we, considering Him, may not faint in out minds, but run with endurance the race before us, looking unto Jesus the Leader and Completer of faith.

For the cross with its shame was not the end of that life of wondrous trust and devotedness. The glorious resurrection on the third day began to answer the questions of the taunts of Calvary, for He was raised by the glory of the Father, and declared to be Son of God in power by resurrection of the dead. His joyful ascension up to where He was before, answered the taunting query “If He will have Him"; for “He that descended is the same also that ascended far above all heavens that He might fill all things.” His coronation with glory and honor; His session at the right hand of power until His enemies be made His footstool; His return in power and great glory with His saints and holy angels; His kingdom and eternal glory; all combine to furnish an answer to the trusting devoted heart once broken by reproach.

“Beloved, now are we children of God"; and as we await the manifestation of the sons of God, let us more closely contemplate the divine perfection of our adorable Lord, so that we may gird up the loins of our mind, be sober, and hope with perfect steadfastness in the grace which will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. For when by the grace of God we too shall sit with Him in His throne, then shall the life of trust in God be eternally vindicated in the person of Christ and His members.

Till then may we say:-

“Glory to Thee for strength withheld,

For want and weakness known;

And the fear that drives me to Thy breast

For what is most my own.

I have an heritage of joy

Which yet I may not see,

But the Hand that bled to make it mine

Is keeping it for me.”

W. G. T.

Lecture on Ezra 3-5

But now in the third chapter there is a principle of very great beauty that comes before us. When the remnant did return, and when they showed this care in not being lax as to those who took the place of nearness to God, what is the first mark of that? What gave them their character before God? In this we find they were united, “they set the altar upon his bases, for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries” (3:2). How beautiful! It is not that they began with the wall. It is the more remarkable because there is another book which is devoted to the building of the wall, namely, the book of Nehemiah; but they began with God and not with themselves. They began with the great expression of acceptance before God. The altar was the link between God and His people was the point of contact, so to speak, between them—was the place where they made their offerings. Their thank-offerings, their burnt offerings—all were brought to the altar. It was, in short, therefore, what showed that the first thought of their hearts was God's worship according to their measure, and not merely their own skill or their own prowess against their enemies, and this the more strikingly because the reason given is that fear was upon them, and that fear led them to God and not to themselves or to other men. It is not a petition to the king-to Cyrus, nor is it even the lacking, the ways and means of erecting a defense against their enemies.

The first thing they did was to “set the altar upon his bases,” and to offer offerings unto God. “And they offered burnt offerings thereon unto Jehovah, even burnt offerings morning and evening.” And, further, it is expressly stated that this was done on the part of “Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren,” who “builded the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. And they set the altar upon his bases; for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries: and they offered burnt offerings thereon unto Jehovah, even burnt offerings morning and evening. They kept also the feast of tabernacles as it is written” (vers. 2, 3).

What, then, marked them was this—jealousy for the word of God—but the word of God used with a single eye. For it is not taking up such parts of the word of God as would bear upon their own doings for themselves; but rather what they owed to such a God. In short, it is a beautiful sample of the faith of the remnant. The first thought of their heart was God, and so much the more because they were really afraid of the enemies round about; but that fear was expressed, not in human measures to guard against that which they dreaded, but in drawing near to God, to own Him, to praise Him. “They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written.” Therefore we find their jealous care for the word of God. It was not one thing only, but the authority of the word filled their hearts. So, at any rate, it is that God speaks of it—that God presents them to us. We find, alas! their failure; but this is the way that they began on returning from captivity. “They kept also the feast of tabernacles as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required; aid afterward offered the continual burnt offering.” So that there was no weariness of it: it was no transient act. There was the daily offering. This is a very important thing.

It is always to me a very unhappy circumstance, beloved brethren, to see God's children merely putting in an appearance on the Lord's Day morning—the mere keeping up an outward link with the Lord and with His people. I admit that there may be circumstances where it cannot but be so—extreme sickness, or there may be positive duties of the most peremptory kind. I am not alluding to them, and we ought to be slow, therefore, to judge in any individual case until we know the facts; but I do say as a general rule now, that the same faith which makes us value the coming together to meet the Lord at His own table ought to make us rejoice to meet the Lord on every occasion, and further, to provide by every means for growing in the truth. For that is one great source of our weakness in worship? It is because we are not growing in spiritual intelligence. If we were using the truth of God and growing up unto Christ in all things there would be a greater fullness in worship and, allow me to add, greater simplicity. There would not be merely the continual use of the same thing, but we should have fresh thoughts without even thinking about them—without an effort, because our hearts would be filled day by day with His truth, and, therefore, it is of so much importance to avail ourselves of every hour.

The early church evidently felt this, for they used to break bread every day. They used to meet together daily; and that did not satisfy them. There were other times. They went up even to the temple. It is a mistake to suppose that freshness and fullness of joy depends on a great deal of knowledge, for this was not the case in the church at Jerusalem. They were still very much affected by the old state of things in Israel. They went up to the temple, therefore, for some time afterward. A great number of the priests were turned to the faith, and, for aught I know, they may have offered their bullocks and their rams still; but yet they had got hold of the true sacrifice. They had got hold of the truth of Christ, and, as sure as they had, the day would come when they would have done with their bullocks and rams; but the day would never come when they would have done with Christ. They would learn much better, and believe more fully.

And God may give us the truth, the effects of which we never realized when we received it; but the effect of that truth will be to drive from our souls, whatever is alien to it, because it is alien, to God's will. Therefore it is that you must give people time to grow. You need to be patient with them. You should seek to strengthen them and cheer them and encourage them to receive the truth. Instead of expecting the consequences all at once, leave room for growth. It is very easy, and it is a human thing to get a quantum of truth into the mind; but that is not life, that is not power, that is not growth. What is divine lives, and what lives must have a root and must grow, and for this time must be given. It is not the sign of growth to expand all in a moment. A human mind may take things in. If a man is bright he may take things in very quickly; but that is worth nothing. What shines out so brightly may go out just as fast, whereas what is of God will live and abide.

We see, then, that the word had a great place in their souls-authority over their consciences, and this from the first, and it formed them not only for that special feast, but for the daily one-the burnt offering-the daily burnt offering. Of course, I am speaking of this now as regards the Jews. But then it has a voice for us as well.

“From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto Jehovah. But” it is added, “the foundation of the temple of Jehovah was not yet laid"(ver. 6). Thus, you see, there was progress there. No remnant that was ever called out by grace arrived all at once, at the, truth that God is going to give them? It is a matter of growth as a whole, not only individual growth. But they did not arrive at the understanding of His mind and of His word, and they are not able to do at the beginning what they may understand, and have power for, another day. “The foundation of the temple of Jehovah was not yet laid.” But we find in the midst of this state of things that “in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of Jehovah.” This is noteworthy. They had no thought that all the work was done because they simply got to Jerusalem—that they were simply there owned as Israelites. There was what concerned Jehovah's glory.

This is most important; because many souls at the present time seem to think that the only blessedness and the only thing that is to be called work is the conversion of sinners-the bringing them to God. Never was a greater mistake. Now, I can thank God for it that in the present very low condition of Christendom even the weakest of saints feels the importance of a soul being born to God. Instead of being offended at that I rejoice at it. I rejoice that there are even Roman Catholics who really seek conversions, and I remember hearing of a child of one of our own brothers in Germany that was brought to the Lord by the labors of a young Roman Catholic man. He had received a mortal wound in battle at the time of one of the campaigns of his country. He was a foolish, giddy young man who had heard the truth; but he did it not till death was before his eyes and the judgment of God; but the person employed for his conversion was a Roman Catholic. This was a great rebuke, undoubtedly. It was a person who evidently followed the Lord and who loved the Lord, though in great darkness. Thus the Lord may employ, and not without a reason—a humiliating reason—one in a system of grossest spiritual darkness to be the means of pointing to the light and life of God one who ought to have known incomparably better. Well, then, God is sovereign, and He does these things; and therefore I am never surprised if they tell me that God has employed this person or that in circumstances of the most painful kind. Yet God looks for and uses fidelity. He will always bless those that go forth in the name of the Lord Jesus to win sinners, seeking their conversion. And He will give them their conversion.

But still there is another work. And allow me to say that this is a special work for the people of God—not merely the going up of the Israelites, and the recognizing of the priests and the Levites; but work is done for the house of Jehovah, the great corporate work of gathering round the name of Jehovah. That is what we find was so peculiarly dear to Israel, and this is the thing which they set about when they got to Jerusalem—when they were, each individual, in their proper place. What brings them together as a matter of work was the carrying on that work, and what kept them together was the using this central place of the name of Jehovah as that which had a divine claim on their consciences and on their hearts.

Now, it is this of which I want to see a little more, beloved brethren, and I believe that the Lord wants to see more of it. It is the all-important thing for us—not less care for souls, not less concern for their conversion, but—a far deeper, stronger sense of what concerns the glory of the Lord in His own people. And it is the more important because, where is it cared for? Who feels about it? You may find persons-Arminians, Calvinists, Dissenters, Churchmen, occupied about conversion where they are godly; but you will find none of them that enters into the glory of the Lord in His church; and, therefore, I am persuaded that we are the more responsible who have been made to feel in some measure what the church is. On us, poor and weak as we are, devolves very specially the responsibility of giving expression to that truth. That is our heart's care and desire for the good of the church of God—for that which concerns the name of the Lord committed to the trust of man here below.

And when we find the Israelites here together with this view, a remarkable difference appears among them. “When the builders laid the foundation o: the temple of Jehovah, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise Jehovah after the ordinance of David, king of Israel. And they sang together by course in praising, and giving thanks unto Jehovah; because he is good, for his mercy endureth forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised Jehovah, because the foundation of the house of Jehovah was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy” (vers. 10-12). Strange, at first sight, that the self-same thing should be the source of joy to the one and of tears to the other.

Why so? It was the cause of tears to the elder men because they felt how poor was the present expression of Jehovah's glory in their midst compared with what they had once seen—a source of joy to the others because they had only known the utter prostration of the name of the Lord upon the earth, and now their hearts were glad that at any rate there was a distinct and decided confession of that name as entitled to gather together His people, even though it were but a remnant here below. They were both right; and yet the expression of their hearts, how different! But of the two, surely, beloved brethren, it was not that the elder men did not feel the joy of the foundation being laid; but still the sense of sorrow and of humiliation for His name exceeded it. There was, therefore, a more chastened feeling with the elder men. Both were led, and led of the Lord, but in very different measures. And I am persuaded that, of the two, the elder men had the deeper sense of God's glory.

But there never is a blessing of God upon the earth without drawing out the wiles and enmity of the devil; and so we find On this occasion. There were persons who “came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither” (4:2). How kind it seemed! how fair, that now at least, instead of the old antagonism, their neighbors were going to be so friendly—to help them to build and to worship and to serve the same Lord as they!

Surely Israel ought to rejoice! Nay, beloved brethren, in this world we have always to judge. We must take care how we judge, but nevertheless, we have to judge. We have to prove all things and hold fast that which is good; and so they did on this occasion. Zerubbabel and Jeshua were not taken in in these later days, as were Joshua and the princes on a somewhat similar occasion long before, when the Gibeonites came up in their pilgrim guise. “Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto Jehovah God of Israel, as king Cyrus, the king of Persia, hath commanded us.” No doubt it was a state of weakness, a state of humiliation, for why mention king Cyrus? What had he to do? What a strange position that he should be commanding Israel! But so it was. They were really humbled, and humbled publicly in the earth, and they were not taken out of that state of humiliation. But while indebted to the powers that then were for their protection and that measure of good government which they enjoyed, still they maintained rigorously the word of God for the special place of Israel. They are as distinct at least, if not more so, than they were in the days of Moses, or David, or any other. Never was there a deeper sense in Israel of the special place of Israel than when they were thus low and feeble.

What a lesson for us! We are not to give up the peculiar place of the church of God because we are only a remnant. We are not to give up the principle that none but those who are members of that body-accepted as such-have their place of responsibility in the work of the Lord. We are not to yield to the spirit of the times that is around us. So, at any rate, Zerubbabel and Joshua decided, and they were right. Then the people of the land weakened their hands. Now they showed what they really were—not friends, but adversaries. And mark, beloved friends, they were adversaries, though they were worshipping the Lord God of Israel—adversaries, though they were not idolators, as far as we know, at this time. That is not what is said, but they were not Israel. That was enough. The adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of Israel were building the temple, and therefore it was that they came. They came under the garb of Israel; but it was really to hinder. Such was Satan's object; but he was foiled. Nevertheless, it is said that they “weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building; and hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even unto the reign of Darius king of Persia” (vers. 4, 5).

Here there is a considerable lapse. Several kings reigned between these two, and they are given in the rest of the chapter which is a parenthesis (vers. 6-23) to explain what took place between those two points. “And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they unto him an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. And in the days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, &c.” All this took place, and the consequence was that their pretentious opposition at least did take effect and troubled the Israelites, and they ceased from the work. But mark this—and it is a very important thing—God does not attribute the ceasing of the work to the command of the king, although the king did give in at last, and did yield to their importunate begging of him to stop the Israelites; but the Israelites began to stop before the authority of the king. It was want of faith, and not the king's authority that stopped the work; and, beloved friends, as a rule, is it not always so? The cessation of blessing among God's people is really never the work of the enemy without the want of faith, and, consequently, of faithfulness within. This is all-important for us to bear in mind, because we are so apt to lay the blame on circumstances. They might well do it here. They were wrong. God would have been with them had their faith looked up to Him, and He would have preserved them from ceasing that work. But inasmuch as they were too much occupied with what people said and did, outside them, instead of looking to God according to that good beginning when they set the altar upon its base-instead of crying to Him they listened to the adversary, and stopped their work, and the adversary managed to get the king's authority to seal what they had already done.

There is another thing, too, of exceeding interest, and that is, that the way that God set this to right was not by the king's authority, opening the door again, but the direct intervention of His own power—the power of the Spirit of God by the prophets (chap. 5.). It is by the prophets, not by the king—not by Darius. “Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build” (vers. 1, 2). How bold faith is! And God justifies the faith that He gives, for although this looked as though it was a want of deference to the royal authority, the fact is that they had, at least, as good an authority for going on with the work. For, in point of fact, if Artaxerxes here stops the building of the house, Cyrus had previously authorized the building of it. They did what was quite right. They regarded as an accident what Artaxerxes brought in. They regarded it as a thing merely brought about by circumstances. They viewed it as a commandment, not of Persia, but of himself. They go back to what Cyrus, had commanded. They knew well that it was one of the great maxims of the Persian kingdom that the laws of the Medes and Persians did not change. It was Artaxerxes that had changed.

Had Artaxerxes forbidden the building of the temple at the beginning, they might have been rather in a difficulty. There would have been the direct claim of God on the one hand, against that of the kingdom on the other, and the principle that we must obey God rather than men. But in point of fact, it was really, you see, between two kings, with this only difference, and a very great one, that the first and the greatest king, the founder of the Persian monarchy was the very one that had commanded the building of the temple. They were right, therefore in acting upon his edict. The other had merely come in influenced by temporary circumstances, and he had indeed passed away. They were quite justified in falling back upon the word of Cyrus, but the truth of it is, that the grand thing that influenced their souls was that it was the word of God—through the prophets. I point out this to show how beautifully God can give, along with the word of the prophet, the justification of what His people did; and this is the more important because, as you know, this very thing is alluded to in the prophets. The prophet Isaiah particularly names, in connection with Cyrus, the building of the house of Jehovah. It is distinctly connected with him—not only the destruction of Babylon, but the building of Jehovah's house, so that the children of the captivity were amply justified, as God always gives faith His full protection as well as guidance.

So, then, the prophets began to stir up the hearts of the people, and the people went forward according to the word of the Lord, and God took care of the king. God took care that although influence had been brought out against the people through the wickedness of the Samaritan instigators, and Artaxerxes had been influenced to see that Israel, and the. Jews, and Jerusalem particularly, had been a rebellious city, now comes a new search. Darius looks into the matter, and it is a well-known fact in history, as we find it exactly in this book, that Darius was always disposed to act upon what Cyrus had done. He had the greatest regard and reverence for Cyrus as the founder of the empire. He had a desire to be a restitutor of all the institutions of Cyrus. Hence, therefore, we can see the beautiful appropriateness, and Darius. does not care in the least for Artaxerxes or anybody else. He goes back to Cyrus, and he finds that Cyrus fully authorized what the Jews wished, against their adversaries. Thus God knows how to divert and suit everything. Our business is not to be setting one king against another, but to go forward in the name of the Lord—to take His word as our full warrant, perfectly sure that as we seek to be guided by God, it is God's part to guide all men and all circumstances. That is His work, not ours. Our part, in short, is to go on in faith. He knows how to deal with those that oppose us.

[W.K.]

Principles of God's Intervention: Part 2

Of the principles of God's intervention which come out here, and of which all such interpositions of His bear witness, more than one may be noticed. One very remarkable principle is that whenever God intervenes in a crisis there is a seeming delay that allows the enemy to go to the farthest extremity of his power before He Himself steps in. “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee; the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain” (Psa. 76:10). He makes the wrath of man to praise Him; but it is the remainder of wrath, the overplus, that which would go beyond this, that He restrains over and over again has this been seen in God's dealings. It is nothing else than this timely intervention which Psa. 75:2 when correctly read, speaks of— “When I shall reach the set time I will judge uprightly.” This is Messiah's utterance in response to the faith of His elect as expressed in verse 1, where the fact that His name is near, a signal manifestation of His power on their behalf anticipated, become occasion even then for thanksgiving. “We give thanks to thee, O God. We give thanks; and near [is] thy name; thy wonders declare [it].” This confidence is not misplaced; for, when the proper season has arrived, declares their Messiah, He Himself shall come in to perform the looked-for work of judgment. Paul tells us “He hath determined the times before appointed” (Acts 17:26). And here the time for God to arise and have mercy upon Zion is come. “The time to favor her, yea the set time, is come.” A set time for mercy, there is also a season of ripeness for judgment. And who can judge of that save He in Whose hand all issues lie. With perfect knowledge of all that is involved, shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Now this consideration corrects the mistake many make in looking for, and demanding, the active intervention of God to-day. Nothing is more common than to hear the exclamation “Why does not God step in and put a stop to all this.” And prayer is continually being made asking for such divine interference. It is generally on the plea that, if God is sovereign, it is surely to be expected that He will do so. Perfectly true it is that in His wise and holy providence He at all times marks all things, over-rules all happenings, and works throughout all history the counsel of His will. But His government to-day is not immediate, or in any sense direct. The character of our times, and the general course of events show that it cannot be so. Operative in providence He ever is; actively intervening in history He is emphatically not, to-day. He cannot be so regarded, nor appealed to on that ground. “When God ariseth to judgment” there will be no dubiety or mystery about His actions. It will be no indirect, unseen, control that He exercises. The time for His active participation in events will have arrived, and the shaping of their course taken directly into His own hands. We cannot say what are the features that determine the stage of maturity when God will so interfere. It is not for us to know the times and seasons which the Father hath put in His own power. But as showing that it is more than a simple question of it being open to God at any time, in His providence, to intervene, let us remember that there are other factors in the situation, factors very commonly not taken account of at all.

It may be quite confidently stated of all history that there are at least three factors to be recognized as going to its constitution. Particularly is this true of the crisis of history, when momentous issues hang in the balance, and epoch-forming events are in the making. There are then to be seen the wrath of man (Psa. 76:10; James 1:10); the working of Satan (2 Thess. 2:9); and the over-ruling government of God (Psa. 76 to; Dan. 2:19; 4:32, 34, 35). The latter is not to be considered apart from the two former, any more than are these two in themselves, man's wrath and the great adversary's activity (large as they bulk) to be allowed to monopolize the field of vision. It is well to be reminded of all the agencies at work; a situation cannot be understood otherwise. There is no question but that men are apt to forget all but the immediately visible. The wrath of man all can see. The fact remains that behind and beyond all the activities of men, in war as in peace, there are forces and actors concerned, too often neglected. Take the greatest crisis of history ever known, the crucifixion of the Lord of glory. It was in truth the act of man (Acts 4:26, 27). It was none the less an action in which the prince of darkness had his part, inciting to it, and cooperating in it (John 13:27; 14:30; Luke 22:53). Yet, withal, was it the determinate counsel of God (Acts 2:23; 4:30). The greatest event in history as it is, most fruitful in issues that determine the course of events ever afterward, what is true of that in this respect is true of all. Man acts, Satan works, God disposes of all that happens, causing each detail to fall into line with the working out of His own purposes and plans. Only thus can we understand the very evident fact already referred to that God in choosing His own time to intervene rather than coping with opposition at an early stage, and nipping it in the bud, always seems to delay His own action until antagonism has reached its height, and the enemy gone to the full extremity of his power.

So was it with the Lord Jesus Christ in the solemn event already spoken of. Crucified and slain by hand of lawless men, He had reached a point where the enemy could pursue no farther. They had done their worst. Human hate and Satanic malice could do no more. And just there did God come in. “He trusted in God that he would deliver him,” was the taunt with which they derided Him on the cross. “Let him deliver him now if he will have him,” was a challenge virtually to God now to intervene on His behalf. It was thus they jeered at Him as one for whom, spite of His claims, God had done nothing in the way of interference or protection. But your challenge, proud Pharisees, shall be answered. God will interfere, and that to some purpose, in His own wise time and season. Into death itself Christ descends; yet wherefore, but that by death He might destroy him that had the power of death, and from the dead He is brought again by the power of God. He, the Son of God, was manifested for this purpose that He might destroy the works of the devil, and thus is it accomplished. He, the first, and last, and living One, became dead, but now is alive for evermore and has the keys of death and of hades. “Him whom ye have taken and by hands of wicked men have crucified and slain, God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.” The malice of men and the adversary's hatred are allowed to go far, in this instance, to fully expend themselves. Then does God come in, and, making it all to praise Him, He puts a period to all that man and Satan can do, and carries forward His great purpose.

Again, if in lesser degree, do we observe the same principle in the illustrative case of Hezekiah, also already referred to. To what lengths are Sennacherib, Rabshakeh, and the Assyrians allowed to proceed in their attack on Judah. With a great host they come up against Jerusalem. Their investing of it seems complete, and no escape possible. What fury against God's people they manifest! What boastings of former victories they make! What blasphemy and railing against God they are permitted to utter! “Let not thy God in whom thou trustest deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.” Effectual intervention of God on His people's behalf they plainly scoff at, and prepare to carry forward their terrible designs to fullest execution. But just then God does interfere. The angel of the Lord went forth and in the night smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand. The slain of the Lord were many. “Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed?” said God,”... even against the Holy One of Israel.” “Because thy rage against me and thy tumult is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back.” Ungoverned as was their rage, and unbridled as seemed their fury, God still retained control, and in His own time reined them in, “The remainder of wrath,” does He restrain.

Then also in that still future and incomparably greater crisis, in view of which Psa. 75 and 76 were penned, and to which in full their true application is, the same principle shall be observed. Throughout the different phases of that crisis, and, in regard to the different actors in it, for of antagonists there are to be more than one in that day—nothing is more clearly to be observed, as the prophetic word makes plain, than the fearful extremities to which, ere God interposes, all are allowed to proceed. The attack of Zech. 12 may be the particular one Psa. 76 refers to here. If so, the fact is very plain once more that only on the verge of his triumph, to all appearance, is the enemy pulled up, and God's power re-asserted against him. Vast forces of men evidently, a gigantic hostile confederacy of nations, arrayed against Jerusalem and full preparations made for the overthrow and annihilation of God's restored earthly people, such is the picture set before us in this prophecy. Once again God intervenes just when opposition had fully blossomed out, and rage had reached its height. “In that day, saith Jehovah, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness.” “And Jehovah shall go forth and fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle.” “And this shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will smite all the peoples that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet.” “A great tumult from Jehovah shall be among them, and they shall lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor.” “And Jehovah shall be king over all the earth” (Zech. 12:4; 14:3, 12, 13, 9). “The remainder of wrath,” that which would, in its vehemence and ruthlessness, run past what God sees fit to allow as its measure, He restrains.

[J.T.]

The Salvation of God

Notes of an Address on Exodus 14:13

The first part of the verse is that to which I would draw your special attention this evening: “Fear ye not,” said Moses, “stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will show to you today.”

The salvation of God is a matter which concerns everyone of us, and concerns us in all the practical matters of our daily life. It is a truth which will be for our help and blessing if we make it our own; if, in the words of the text, we see for ourselves, according to the teaching of God's holy word, His great salvation.

It is a great error to suppose that salvation is only concerned with the days that are to come, that it is only a provision we need in immediate view of eternity, when we are leaving this world behind and passing to what lies beyond. No. Salvation concerns us now and here just where we are. The particular way in which salvation is of value for the present moment is shown us in this Scripture. The truth herein foreshadowed is applicable particularly to those who have already considered the matter of their personal salvation, and have to some extent taken up a stand for Christ here in the world. They must, in the terms of the historical allusion here turn their backs upon Egypt, and their faces towards the promised land of God.

And it is to this class of persons that I particularly wish to speak this evening. You will remember that this nation had, according to the direction of God, come out from Egypt. And indeed they had been brought out of Egypt in a marvelous way. I want you to think for a moment of the last night that the people spent in that land of bondage. They were there in an attitude of expectation, waiting according to the instruction of Jehovah for the event which He had told them would take place that night. He had told them that the angel of judgment would pass through the land of Egypt. He would be there by way of bringing down upon men the judgment that they deserved on account of their sins.

It was not then the time for the judgment of God to fall in its entirety upon the whole population of that land. But God was about to show His power and His right to execute judgment by passing through the land, and in every house where there was a first-born son he would be slain, with this exception—such as believed the word of Jehovah and prepared for this visitation of judgment in His appointed way, and took shelter that evening under the sprinkling, on the door-post, of the blood of a slain lamb, should be exempt. They should be free in the hour of judgment. They should be absolutely safe for the word of Jehovah said it.

And so it came about on the night of the pass-over. The wail of suffering rose from Egypt's houses, but Israel was free. These were delivered, not because they were better men than the Egyptians, but because they had obeyed the word of Jehovah, doing exactly what they were told to do by the servant of the Lord, Moses., And they were then brought out of their slavery.

But now the people of Israel were here in the wilderness, for such it was. They were led there by express direction of God, the pillar of cloud going before them and leading them to a particular place, and to a place which was beset with difficulties. They had before them the waters of the Red Sea; they had to the right and to the left of them unscalable cliffs, mountains being to the right and to the left of them. And it was there that the army of Pharaoh, which pursued them came in sight of them and threatened them that they should be brought back to slavery, and it was then that their hearts ached with fear. They were a vast host—six hundred thousand men beside children. Behind them the cavalry of Egypt came on in furious haste. They were a great crowd, but what resistance could they make in their own strength? They knew how to make bricks, and even how to make bricks without straw; and to bear the whip of Egypt's taskmaster. But to fight him with the weapons of war they were unable.

What, then, was the feeling is the hearts of those men and women? ‘This is a lost cause: we have started on a journey in error; we have come out on a mission which is doomed to absolute failure. We have no strength to meet this host of Egypt. It would have been better for us to have died in Egypt than to have come out on this fool's errand.' Then it was that the word of God came to them “Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD which He will show to you today.” And their salvation came. The power of God opened up a way of escape for them through the Red Sea. We are not here to-night to discuss the means by which this was done. We do know that the power of Jehovah worked on behalf of is people, and that His people escaped from their enemies, and that the Egyptians were overthrown.

But you ask, How does that fit in with my life? How does that come by way of help to me? Dear friends, if you have considered truly and earnestly that you would be a Christian, that you would walk in the ways of the Lord, that you would follow the meek and lowly Nazarene through this world, and if you have been but a little time on that way, have you not already encountered your difficulties? Have you not found that because you are a Christian, and just for that—and for no other reason, everyone is against you? And there is a hostile power, and though you know not what that power is, or how it works, there is, I say, a power that baffles your way, and you fail. You are shown your path and you say ‘Yes, I will go forward.' Monday morning comes and the difficulties arise, and in the evening you know you have disgraced the One whom you wished to serve. There is, in short, a power within and without antagonistic to you.

Many a time, perhaps, you say to yourself, ‘It would have been better for me if I had never made a start: I am not worthy to be called a disciple of Christ,' and you perhaps feel ready to throw it all up and go back to that bondage, that terrible slavery, to sin and Satan, in which once you were held. I read this word to you to-night, “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD.”

There was a man of whom we read in the New Testament, a man who knew something of the temptations of the world. He was strong in his own strength, a man of earnest passions and feelings—an impetuous man, a man full of love and devotion for the Lord Jesus Christ, a man who felt that he could fight and resist any temptation because of the love he had for his Master. He made a bold profession. When men turned away from Him, he said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And this man it was—Simon Peter, going forward to meet the power of the world in his own strength, who made a miserable failure. His great error was that he under-rated the power of the world, and he over-estimated his own strength to meet it. When the Lord spoke to His disciples on the night of His betrayal and told them that they would leave Him alone and turn from Him, Peter, strong in his devotion, said, “Though all shall be offended because of thee, yet will not I.” “I am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death.” And yet, before many hours were passed away, he had denied his Master with oaths and curses. He went in his own resolution to face the power of the world. He entered the high priest's palace and mingled with the soldiers of the high priest, associating and fraternizing with the world. He was standing in his own strength, and he denied that he knew the Lord, denied with oaths and curses any knowledge of Him.

Beloved friends, do you believe that there is a power in this world which is ever waiting to assault your fidelity and insult the cross? Do you believe that that power of the world and the evil within your own heart is more than you can master in your own strength? If not, you may find it so to your deep sorrow and shame. When Peter had denied his Master thrice, he suddenly found the eyes of his Master upon him. The Lord looked upon Peter, and Peter went out weeping bitterly. He felt how grievous was his fault. The Master said, “Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice,” but Peter would not be warned. He went to face the power of Pharaoh and his host in his own strength, and be failed. Yet the word came to him, as it were. ‘Fear not, Peter, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.' He had fallen to the dust, but there was One ready to lift him up and give him further power. And afterward we actually read how the man who denied his Master three times went forth in the face of Jerusalem and the whole world, boldly declaring the salvation of the Lord.

This divine power for salvation is what I want you to see. It is one thing for a man to find out his own weakness. It is another thing to find out the power that wishes to drag him back into bondage. It is yet another to find out how great is the power of God and His salvation.

I like to think about this aspect of salvation in connection with the glorious person of Him who was the Savior. I like to read, too, of the scene presented to us in the second chapter of Luke, when that little Babe was brought in to the old man Simeon, who had waited long, hoping that the ancient prophecies concerning the Messiah might be fulfilled in his day. And when they brought in the Babe Jesus, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”

There it is for us: the infant Jesus, the salvation of God. Do you not see it there in that blessed person? There is no power elsewhere. So far as the world judges, you would not look at a babe for power and strength, but it was just there that God's power, God's grace too, was seen by faith in the person of Jesus. But you have to look farther on in the history of that Blessed One, and consider another scene. The angel said, “And thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” And if you look elsewhere you will see that name emblazoned upon the cross of Calvary: “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” So far as the world was able to see, there was never such a spectacle of weakness as was presented in Jesus on the cross. There was Jesus who had raised the sick, healed the leper, given sight to the blind, stilled the waves of the sea—there He was between two malefactors. The very heavens were darkened above Him. Those shoulders uphold the worlds, yet was He nailed to the cross! Beloved friends, the salvation of the Lord was nevertheless there in that Nazarene. He is the salvation of the Lord.

There was a man who, in that tragic hour, found out this truth, a man whose life had been blasted by sin, and there he turned his face to Jesus. He looked in dim faith to Jesus, and there was power in the Crucified to change that blackened soul, and to cleanse him from all guilt, and to give him an entrance that day into the Paradise of God.

Beloved friends, Christ, the power of God, was there! And He is a power stronger than the power of the world. I would have you to look further still. I would have you look up to the right hand of the throne of God, Who is there? The same Jesus, the One who died; the crucified One is now in glory; and this is the One to whom also you are called to appeal for needed power. Are you in your sins? There is the cross, and the blood that cleanseth from all sin. As the man who was an Israelite could look back to the blood of the paschal lamb and know that that blood shielded him from God's judgment, so now you may look at the blood of Jesus Christ that God may cleanse you from your sins. But you must look up to the throne of God to see One there who has conquered Satan, who rose and ascended triumphant over death, and is there to help you here in the daily struggle in which you engage against the power of sin and Satan, Will you be enslaved by your own sinful habits? Will you be carried away by the lusts and passions of your own evil heart?

If not, you must stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. I know that there are a great many who look continually at the cross alone, and therefore know nothing of the deliverance of grace. They listen to a single text of Scripture— “I am determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified,” and refuse to heed any other. Hence they are; ignorant of the peace of God.

You ought to know also the power of the living Christ; to know that the man Christ Jesus can supply you with every needed strength, grace and wisdom which you may require in your path here. You have all that and more when you look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One to whom you can look for succor and blessing under all circumstances. Hence you may take the word of Moses to yourself, “Fear not"; fear no evil, and fear no terrible thing. The fear of temporal power and of national disaster now is great and widespread, but what is the fear of the forces of this world? What is the fear of those that kill the body? Would that there was more fear of him that wars against the soul. Men follow one another heedlessly in the paths of sin, they drink deeply of its pleasures, only to find the misery it brings. They quickly learn that the impelling power is so great that they cannot resist it. They hate their habits and despise themselves, and you find them driven to utter and hopeless despair, and tempted to end their wretched existence of bondage to sin. They often vainly seek some refuge in the grave, for the power which is impelling them seeks their certain destruction.

Take the herd of swine at Gadara, for instance. It was driven to destruction by a malevolent evil power. We read that the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake and perished. It is often the same with men, and they have no power to help themselves out of their enslaving and debasing habits. They think nobody cares for them, and they go swiftly, madly down to death.

O dear hearer, let me tell you there is a mightier power for the Christian, for Christ is the power of God. Some do not realize how they need the Lord Jesus Christ every day. They think that though they need Him in the matter of their sins, they do not need Him in the matter of their daily life. But it is not enough to look to Christ for forgiveness for all you have done. It is necessary to look to Him for guidance and victory every step of the way. Beloved friends, you know not what to-morrow may bring forth. You know not when your end may arrive, but whatever the period of your journey maybe, the apostolic principle is the only safe one for us all: “by the grace of God I am what I am.” It is only by His power and by His grace any of us can be preserved. “Fear ye not,” then “standstill, and see the salvation of the Lord.”

Now, what is meant by standing still? We must beware of a possible misapprehension of these words as if they imply that we have nothing whatever to do, as if it were sufficient for us to drift with the stream and let things take their course. There is something to be done, and you find later in the narrative that the people of Israel were told to go forward, even though the sea was in front of them; they were not on any account to turn back. Egypt was behind. They were never to think of retracing their steps with the strength that God would provide. What, then, does He mean by standing still? I think the word implies that they were to consider calmly their position from the divine standpoint. They were to dismiss their anxieties, they were to give up every fear, and to contemplate what power there was in Jehovah. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” The flower of Pharaoh's army was surely something not to be despised, as it was viewed humanly.

They might well fear that armed host. And the mountains were not to be scaled, and the sea was impassable, measuring both by human standards. Their position to a faithless man seemed hopeless, but let them only bring in God as their Helper, and “if God be for us, who shall be against us?”

Do you know what it is to have proved His divine power for deliverance in your daily life, to have God bringing you through a sore trial or temptation. Beloved friends it is a grand experience to be able to look back upon one's past and say, “God brought me through that great crisis: how I got through I cannot explain, but I got through, and it was God who brought me through.”

I must leave this matter for your serious consideration. It is of practical importance, and concerns each one of us. So long as we are here in this world we are liable to come in contact with sinful men, with sin and the tendency to sin. We know the temptation to sin is very dangerous to a holy life. We have to be constantly on the watch and very vigilant. And we must continue to be on the alert, and further than this, we have to look with a fixed gaze in that direction alone from which help can come. Then in the moment of trial and in the moment of difficulty we shall find that help comes.

Men pride themselves in these days on the wonders of wireless telegraphy, but the wonders of prayer are far greater. Prayer ascends to heaven with more than lightning rapidity, and brings instant relief. This then is the manner in which you must “stand still.” You must cease from your own efforts and rest in faith, upon the power of Christ. There is a moment when there is nothing for you to do. You must cease from your own works, and let the power of God work for you.

“Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” How long will it take us to contemplate the entire extent of this salvation—to know it fully? The progress will be gradual. But it is quite a mistake to suppose that we can ever grow into this knowledge by vague dreams of the great power, goodness and love of God. There is the practice as well as the theory. We need continually to look upon Him as revealed in His word, but also in the hour of our need we should not fail to prove how ready He is to help. The true Christian life is not something to which we resort in moments when we have nothing else to do. When Sunday comes, because it is respectable, many are found in some place where the Bible is opened and read, and they hear of the delivering power of the Lord. But in the home, in the workshop, in the battle of life, everywhere we may learn by actual instance how the power of God is exercised in response to the person who waits upon Him.

Let me ask, Do you really believe that, in the matters that press most against you every day, God will interfere for your help and blessing if you only look to Him? Be assured that He will protect you from the greatest power that can oppose you—the power of Satan. The ways of the great enemy are subtle. Satan did not display or show himself in that instance to which I referred just now. No! The servant-maid was the means in Satan's hands of causing Peter to deny his Master. But the Lord had said before to Peter, “Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.”

Consider the two. There was on the one hand Jesus looking upon His disciple with a heart full of loving solicitude, and on the other hand Peter, passionately devoted, but full of self-confidence, thinking that he could overcome the spiritual Pharaoh and all his forces. And, indeed, he was carried through eventually. But, oh! that failure! Oh! the sadness of it, that the Man of sorrows should have had another anguish added as He saw what sin could do with a man who had turned away from the world and become His follower, that it could find an entrance into the heart of an apostle who had the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that it should cause him to disgrace himself and deny his Master. It is so. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” Never seek to meet the power of the world, the power of sin and Satan, in your own strength; but “Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”

(Continued from page 247)

W.J.H.

The Christian Calling and Hope: 2

There will be Jewish disciples and believers who will preach that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, who will take up the testimony which the disciples were preaching in His day, and will proclaim this to all nations when Satan is prompting the beast and the false prophet to bring in the infernal kingdom-when there is that base usurpation on the earth which Satan cannot longer continue in the heavens. For a little while he will attempt to secure the sovereignty of the earth, and have a kingdom of his own, arrogating to his instrument, no doubt, the name of the Lord God. Then will be found the voices of faithful men, holding fast the old testimony, and proclaiming it unto all the nations when Christendom shall have gone into apostasy. These kingdoms may have their science and civilization; but they will fall into the deepest abysses of deceit and strong delusion. The mass of the Jews, too, will fall into the dreadful snare that the kingdom of God is come, when it is only the kingdom of the beast and the antichrist. Then will be heard those faithful Jews, going forth with power to proclaim that the true kingdom—the kingdom of heaven, not of the beast that rises up out of the pit, but the kingdom of the heavens—is at hand, the kingdom that comes down from above, and of which the Lord Jesus is King

When that kingdom is at hand, when the Lord is going to accomplish His word which was broken off by His death and resurrection—for He is now, manifestly, out of the world—what He will then establish will be the kingdom of heaven on the earth. This is the true hope that God has given as far as the world is concerned. But the only one who can accomplish the work, and the only one, too, who deserves the glory, is Jesus: all other men require to be saved and purified. He is the only one who has both a divine and a human claim. All others need to be washed, sanctified and justified. He is the Savior of all; He alone will have the dominion as of right. Thus, then, these faithful Jews—these disciples—when the mass of their nation are apostate, and when Christendom too is apostate, will renew the testimony in the latter day. This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world to all nations, a final testimony of the true kingdom, while the false kingdom is set up by Satan's power.

This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached everywhere, and then shall the end come. This is not the character of the teaching that is given to us as Christians. If we look at the Epistles of Paul, where does he ever give us anything of this kind of warning? How could an idol in the Temple be a sign to you or me, if we were Christians in England, France, Germany, or in any part of America? How could it be a sign to us if anything new were set up in Jerusalem? It is astonishing how—I will not say believers, but—sensible men can be deceived by such a notion. But we can perfectly understand that if an idol should be set up to be worshipped in the Temple in Jerusalem, it must be a most solemn sign of Satan's power over the people. And so the righteous will take warning and flee. It applies only to such as shall at that time be living in Jerusalem; but how could it be a sign to those scattered over all lands thousands of miles away?

It is no use to tell me that the thing may be communicated rapidly now-a-days, for the whole thing is represented by our Lord as a signal for flight to those who saw it.

It is not that others may hear, but “when ye shall see” the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet. The same are to flee.

It is not then an announcement by the telegraph that there are these dismal doings in Jerusalem, but persons on the spot, who see evident tokens of the power that Satan is wielding, and that their nation is damnably guilty; and who at once retire.

The Lord, it is plain by his call to the reader to understand, supposes that some would not understand; He supposes that there would be a very great tendency to mistake about it, and calls their special heed to the word. It is what concerned the Jew, as put down for a season by the Gentile; for Daniel speaks about these facts and not about the church. “When ye shall see” this, “then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains.” Clearly this is no sign to the Christian, as such, unless one believes that all the Christians of the world are then to be alive in Judaea. What more absurd?

Take it as the Lord gives it, for there is no need to put in any words of our own. I am expounding what no believer can deny; and who can affirm that what I am deducing is not the plain meaning of the Lord's words, or that they will bear any other construction?

“Then let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains"; it is to be an instantaneous flight. There is no time to communicate with others. It is as much as can be done to save themselves. “Let him which is on the house-top not come down to take anything out of his house"; it is too late to think about doing this. “Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.” Immediate flight is the only hope of safety. What sort of safety? It is the saving of flesh—of natural life. Is this what the Christian is expecting? Not so. The Christian is looking for the coming of Christ, not to save his life, but to change and take him up to heaven. The point here is escape, for it is not safe to remain. There is unprecedented trouble coming; those who refuse to worship the idol will be put to death, and those who worship will be besieged and led into captivity largely. Therefore the Lord warns His disciples to flee in order that they may not be so troubled. It has nothing at all to do with the Christian's expectation of going up to heaven to meet the Lord “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.” For, where would be the propriety of telling the Christian not to come down from the house-top at that time? Would it matter whether at the top or the bottom of the house? Thus it is perfectly plain that the Lord is here speaking simply of the Jew who sees this most startling sign of Satan's power and is ordered at the peril of his life to make his escape. It is much more like Lot and his family going out of Sodom, than Abraham from a distance with the Lord.

There is one thing to which I would call your attention regarding the word of God: there is not a book in the world that has fared so hardly as the Bible. When other books are read men strive to understand them, but when they read the Bible they shut their eyes and give up its interpretation as hopeless. This is due to the blinding power of Satan: he does not wish it to be understood, only read as a task. This is not the way to treat the word of God. I grant you we need a power above our own. To this end we cannot understand the Bible by forcing the lock; what we want is the key. But if you have Christ, you have already the key. In faith apply Christ to the Bible, and you can understand it. It is not a question of a superior mind or of great learning—for the most learned have been the most foolish in their mistakes. The simple man who understands but his mother-tongue understands the Bible, if he with true simplicity submits himself to the Lord and has confidence in His love. This is produced by the Spirit of God: 'tis only this that makes men humble, that gives confidence in God and in His word by taking away objects which overpower his own mind.

Suppose I am a red-hot Calvinist: I cannot understand the word which calls one to preach the gospel to every creature. Suppose I am a rather violent Arminian: I cannot understand the Scriptures which speak of “being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.” Assuredly then the wisdom of the Christian is to be neither the one nor the other. He should take all the Scriptures simply as they stand.

Take my advice, my friends; read the Scriptures carefully but believingly, and you will understand what is infinitely better than anything found in the various schemes of man. It is just the same as regards the interpretation of prophecy as in doctrine. No man should convince you that one part of the word of God is sealed up and the other open. There was a time when it was so. When Daniel was called to have those very communications which we have been reading, he was told to seal up the book; when John was called to have the same communications and yet greater ones, he was told not to seal up the book. Do, you not see the difference and the reason of it? The principle was this—the Jews were incapable of entering into the true and full meaning of the future till Christ came, at least until the end comes. It will only be then, when the last days of this age are come, that the godly remnant will understand. The wicked shall not understand. You cannot separate moral condition from real intelligence of the word of God. But the Christian already has, not Christ only, but the Spirit in virtue of redemption; and hence he is called and qualified to search all things, yea the deep things of God.

When the grace of God gives people the desire to do the will of God, then they become able to understand both doctrine and prophecy. They learn that all the revealed mind of God centers in Christ, not in the first man. When you are not wanting to find in prophecy England or America, the cholera or the potato disease, or yourself; when you are delivered from all these notions, fears, or wishes, then it is that you are in a fit moral condition; because you have not absorbing objects which govern and blind you. The only way to understand any part of the Bible is just by grace to give up our own will and desires for Christ; then we can face anything. We are not afraid of what God has to reveal; nor need we try to force anything of our own upon the Bible, being thus content to gather God's meaning from it. This is what I shall endeavor to do now.

(Continued front page 255)

(To be continued)

[W.K.]

Scripture Queries and Answers: The Unclean Spirit or the Man; Younger Brother; Thorn in the Flesh

Q.-Matt. 12:43, Who is it that walketh through dry places seeking rest and finding none—the unclean spirit or the man? If it is the man how do we rind the spirit coming back to the empty tenement, and, with his companions, making his abode there? J. G.

A.-It is the unclean spirit of idolatry which having, since the Babylonish captivity, departed from the Jewish nation, for “many days” (Hos. 3:4) still running their course, will at the close of this present period of grace, return in an aggravated form. For the Jews having rejected the Lord Jesus who came in His Father's name, will receive another who shall come in his own name (John 5:43)—the lawless one whose coming or presence will be according to the working of Satan, with every kind of power and signs and wonders of a lie. The Lord Himself gives the interpretation, of the passage, “Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation” (cf. Psa. 12:7; Matt. 24:34), thus showing “the man” to be representative of the Jews once “possessed,” then delivered, and finally in their last stage of continued unbelief, re-possessed with the spirit of idolatry in its most egregious form—the reception and worship of the false Messiah, the antichrist!

Q.- Luke 15:11-32. Who is represented by the younger brother t Jew or Gentile? J. G.

A.-The one who repents and returns to God, and is thus given to know the Father's joy in welcoming the poor sinner who comes as he is in all his rags and disgrace, and receives the kiss, the best robe, the ring and sandals, and shares, in his measure, the joy of the Father's heart and house. This we, believing Gentiles, have, in His rich mercy, been given to know; whilst the elder son in his self-righteousness, is like the Jew (Rom. 10:1-3), who remains a stranger to this grace of the gospel, Believing not in mercy to the Gentiles, he refuses it for himself (Rom. 11:30-32) and comes not into the blessing of those who now receive the fullness of the gospel.

Q.-2 Cor. 12:7-10. Was the “thorn in the flesh” a physical affliction? Does the term “my infirmities” refer to the same thing as the “thorn"? Is the “power” spoken of in this portion, and the “strength” physical power and strength to overcome what was a physical affliction, supposing the thorn to be such? J. M.

A.-The “thorn,” in the apostle's case, was a messenger of Satan for buffeting in order to the putting down of the flesh,” and as it would seem, was such as made him contemptible in the eyes of others, and produced also physical weakness (1 Cor. 2:3 2 Cor. 10:10; Gal. 4:13-15), “My infirmities” —or weaknesses of body—became an occasion for the special exercise of divine power and grace enabling him even to take pleasure in weaknesses for Christ's sake. Thus the excellency of the power was seen to be of God. As the Lord assured the apostle of the sufficiency of His grace, and the perfecting of His power in human weakness, so would he rather glory in his (bodily) weaknesses that this power of Christ may have its dwelling-place on him. The outer man might perish, but the inward is renewed day by day, and he fainted not. Thus our physical weaknesses are triumphed over (not renewed) by spiritual power— “the power of Christ”

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Lecture on Ezra 6-10

Chaps. 6-10

“Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written:-In the first year of Cyrus the king, the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded” (6:1-3). That was enough for Darius; so accordingly he says “Now therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shethar-boznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the river, be ye far from thence.” He gave them a rebuke, “Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place.” And so far from listening to their adversaries he puts honor upon them—makes fresh commands, carrying out still more fully what had been already proclaimed in the first year of Cyrus. “Also, I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this. And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there, destroy all kings and people that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God which is at Jerusalem. I, Darius, have made a decree; let it be done with speed.”

Thus the adversaries were completely refuted, and stopped in their evil work, and the house of God received—I will not say an impulse, but-its completion; for the beautiful fact, as we have already seen, is that the Jews had faith to resume the building of the house before they got this fresh decree. “And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered [not through the commandment of the king, but they prospered] through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo: and they budded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.” For now that God had given them power, God also controlled all the powers to be now in their favor. “And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy.”

In the 7th chapter we have a very important and fresh feature in this book, and that is the mission of Ezra, who comes, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, to visit the children of Israel. “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of Jehovah, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments” (7:10). this is a most important thing, beloved brethren, for those who are in the place of the remnant now. It is not the vain asking for power—a great snare in a broken state of things. When the church began, it began with power, but now it is in a state of ruin. It is not power that we want, but self-judgment—self-judgment and the heart to obey—to do the will of God, which always goes along with self-judgment: Whereas the difference is this. If people think that the great want is power, they virtually throw the blame upon God. They say that there is such weakness now. “It is no use to meet together to worship the Lord or to do anything else: we have not power.” Vain foolish thought! Most peculiarly so to those who know that the very essence of what God has wrought in the church is to send down the Holy Ghost to be therein forever, and if the Holy Ghost be not power I know not what is. But, beloved friends, what we really want is faith in the power that we have got, instead of these murmurs and complaints, as if God had taken away the power, and as if our business was to go on in our own poor and wretched way crying out for power. Not so. What we have to do is to put our hand upon our mouth, and ourselves in the dust, and to take the place of real humiliation where there is that which hinders the action of the Spirit of God. But the great point is to seek in humiliation to do His will.

Some years ago there was a working among certain persons who bore the name of the Lord, and they took, formally, their position upon this need of power; and they cried to God for power. At any rate they cried for power. What was the consequence? They got power; but I am persuaded that that power was really of the devil, and not of God; and although there seemed to be most remarkable things done, and even a sort of painful imitation of the gift of tongues, it was only a sham it was a non-reality: it was of Satan. It began, and it ended too, with the most frightful departure from the truth of God, and the most complete dishonor that was ever put upon the name of the Lord up to that day. There never was such systematic dishonor of the Lord Jesus in the church, as far as I know, as that which took place as the result of all this. Whereas, beloved friends, what should characterize us—that true work of God in which, through the grace of God, we have our part, is this—not the crying out for power, and staying in disobedience till we get power, but ceasing from the evil, and seeking of God to learn to do well—the acknowledging of the sin of the church and of our own sin, in particular our own failure, and separating, at once, according to the light that God gives us, from what we know to be offensive in His sight.

This was exactly what filled the heart of Ezra.

He comes with his heart set upon doing the will of God. This is the great thing. “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of Jehovah and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave unto Ezra the priest, the scribe.” On this I need not dwell. Ezra is empowered to act then; but the grand point, you observe, is the purpose of his heart to do the will of God.

And this we are entitled to expect now, that is, our heart should be towards the Lord, as we find, for instance, was the case with the church in Philadelphia. How does the Lord introduce Himself to us there? What does He speak about His action? “I have set before thee an open door.” He has power to open, and none can shut, and to shut, and none can open. But the way He here uses this power is to set before us an open door. In the book we are considering, king Artaxerxes is the figure of one that sets an open door before Ezra. Yes, but Ezra's heart was set to do the will of God. God works all outward circumstances, and opens the way when our heart inwardly is set to do the right thing in the sight of the Lord. We have no ground ever to complain of circumstances if only our heart be right with the Lord. The Lord can and will take care of all else.

What we, then, have to do is to judge ourselves. I am persuaded that this is the great want at the present moment of the remnant in Christendom, not to be asking for Power which, if it were given, might be the ruin of us. We want rather ballast to carry the truth we have got than to have full sails to carry us (I fear) in a more uncomely way than we are even doing now. For do not we all know, beloved friends, that our knowledge is far beyond our grace; and do you think, that we want something more to make us top-heavy? I am persuaded the very contrary—that what we want is rather the spirit of self-judgment instead of giving ourselves greater airs than we are apt to assume even now. We should seek to carry the truth of God in lowliness of mind, and in love, and in a deep sense of our shortcomings. This is the thing which becomes us. This is what we ought to seek. Power in such a state of things would be ruinous to us, I am persuaded, and therefore I thank God that He is not pleased to give more power of that sort. What we need is the action of the Spirit in our self-judgment, and if that were the case our blessing would flow like a river.

Well, Ezra proceeds; and he gathers together out of Israel chief men. “And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava: and there abode we in tents three days: and I viewed the people, and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi” (8:15). There was a lack in the work, you observe, a lack of energy for the work. “Then sent I for Eliezer, for Ariel, for Shemaiah, and for Elnathan, and for Jarib, and for Elnathan, and for Nathan, and for Zechariah, and for Meshullam, chief men; also for Joiarib, and for Elnathan, men of understanding. And I sent them with commandment unto Iddo the chief, at the place Casiphia, and I told them what they should say unto Iddo, and to his brethren the Nethinims, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring unto us ministers for the house of our God. And by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mahli, the son of Levi, the son of Israel,” and so on. “Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God.” That is the point. It is not asking for power, but it is afflicting themselves before God. It is humiliation of spirit before the Lord, that the Lord may be able to entrust us with a blessing. “I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers” —it was not outward power: that was not the thing— “and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him. So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.” And instead of a band of soldiers protecting them, God protected them, which was much better. So they came up through all their enemies.

When Ezra found himself in the midst of the people, there was a solemn and painful sight that met him (chap. 9.). There was this humiliation even in the captivity before he entered the land; but when he comes into the land it is a most painful sight. Those that had already returned from the captivity—those that were gathered towards the name of Jehovah in Jerusalem—he found in the most painful circumstances. He found sources of shame and sorrow. He found cases of evil. He found the most grievous sights and sounds among them.

Oh, beloved friends, what a sad thing for the heart of the man that had been afflicting himself before God away from the land among some of the people that were there. Now he came up and found that those that ought to have been so impressed with the sense of the grace of God, and so resting upon His protecting hand, were themselves in a state of carelessness, laxity, departure inwardly from His ways. They are outwardly near Him, but inwardly far from Him. So we are told. “Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites” (9:1). It was not even so with the Samaritans. Positively, here were persons that were in Jerusalem, and not only people, but priests, doing after the abominations of the Canaanites. And you are sometimes surprised, beloved friends, that among those that are gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus there should be distressing developments of evil. Why, it must be so. They were not walking with God. The very worst forms of evil will be found where you are closest to the Lord if you are not walking with Him—if you are not kept by Him; because Satan's great effort is against that. It is that which he hates above all that is on the face of the earth.

When people are walking hand in hand with the world, Satan can leave them. He knows where the world will lead them, and if flesh and spirit are joined hand in hand, it is always flesh that gets the uppermost. The only way to walk in the Spirit is to judge the flesh—to have nothing to do with it, but denounce it—to, mortify our members that are upon the earth. But all attempts to have a friendly harmony between the flesh and the Spirit is vain. Therefore Satan can leave that harmony to take, its course. He knows right well that that which is fleshly will always break down in the things of, God, whatever there may be of the Spirit connected with it. But where persons come, out from the world and are on the professed ground of the judgment of the flesh, if the world is allowed by the heart, or the flesh is tampered with, and, above all, in the worship of God—in the meeting of His people—if we indulge any personal feelings, or allow our own thoughts to govern us or our own feelings-what can it come to but the most distressing and unnatural sights? It is even worse than in the decent world. The decent world will, at any rate, keep an appearance; but where we have learned the vanity of appearance, and where it must be either Spirit really or flesh really, if there is a tampering with evil there, and the allowance of it there, flesh will come out in its worst form and Satan will bring the deepest dishonor on the name of the Lord.

So it was here. It was not in Babylon, but in Judea, that they were doing after the manner of the Canaanites. It was not the persons that were far away from Jerusalem. It was the people, and the priests here who had slipped away from the will of the Lord, It was they that were “doing according, to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the, Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so, that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the head of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.” Oh, think of that! “The head of the princes and rulers have been chief in this trespass.” And do you suppose, beloved brethren, that we are clear from such dangers? In no wise. Let us then look earnestly to God; but let us remember this, that all true blessing for us must begin with individual blessing, and that the secret of individual blessing will always be found, to have its root in self-judgment before God. We shall find that this is exactly so with Ezra who had been afflicting his soul and getting others to afflict their souls dawn in the captivity. So also in Jerusalem,

“And when I heard this thing I rent my garment, and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice. And at the evening sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto Jehovah my God, and said, Only God. I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. And now for a little space grace hath been showed from Jehovah our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place.” And thus, you see, Ezra takes a place of deeper humiliation than that. It was not merely a fast now, but there is this sign of more profound humiliation—the rending his garments—the sitting astonished even till the evening sacrifice, and only then spreading out his hands to the Lord to pray for his people as well as to confess.

But he is not content with this; for in the next chapter (chap. 10.) we read, “When Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God” —not telling other people to do so, merely, but doing it himself “there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore. And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing” (vers. 1, 2). They were right: they looked to God. They saw that it was a question between God and His people, and they apply it to their own selves, and the work of repentance goes on, and works meet for repentance. The result is this—that Ezra rises in answer to their call, “and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware. Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away. And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem; and that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away. Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together” (vers. 5-9).

And Ezra stands up again, and now taxes them plainly with their sin. “Ye have transgressed,” says he, “and have taken strange wives” —the great mark of apostasy for an Israelite, as far as the people were concerned-apostasy from God in taking a strange god, and apostasy from the people by taking strange wives. It was a complete giving up of their holy place of separateness to the Lord. “Now, therefore,” says he, “make confession unto Jehovah, God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives” (vers. 10, 11).

Now, we know what this must be, because we know how the wives would appeal to their husbands' love, and how the poor children would be on their knees to ask why their fathers should disown them. We know what a scene of grief and of entreaty this must have been, and what a time of agony to many a father and mother in Israel that had been thus found out in their sin. But the truth is that there is no real repentance without deep grief and pain. More particularly is it so where it is the sin, not merely of a sinner, but of the people of God—where they have a deep sense that, as God's people, they have brought His name into such contempt, and where this has gone on, it may be, for years. There cannot, therefore, be steps taken in that path of repentance without its costing much to the heart on every side, and so it was at this time.

The congregation are grieved, and they begin with putting away, as it is said— “And Elm the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the fast day of the tenth month to examine the matter. And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the month. And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah; and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah. And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass” (vers. 16-19). And so with others. “All these had taken Strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children” (ver. 44).

Thus the deeper the departure from the Lord, and the more fruits there were Of that departure, the deeper the pain. So it always is. Still, here we see that the grace of God is equal to every difficulty. All that we want is a single eye all that they wanted was the same. But we, beloved brethren, are now concerned. We are those, or among those, to whom God addresses such words as these now, and may the Lord give as to be found faithful; but faithfulness, in such a day as this, never can be separated from a willingness to see wherein we have been wrong, and a readiness to see it—a disposition, through the heart being subject to the word of God, to search and see it continually, and may God give us grace to be true to His own word. Amen.

Principles of God's Intervention: Part 3

As a second principle of God's intervention regularly to be seen in operation it may be remarked that what is generally put as the motive or incitement to such intervention is the deliverance of His own people. “When God arose to judgment to save all the meek of the earth.” (Psa. 76:9). Upon very little reflection we can readily understand how valid a reason to Him for interfering that must be. In this it is a question of His heart being engaged. We can hardly imagine our God remaining quiescent or inactive in face of the suffering and persecution met by His people in this scene. Their relief and their vindication must be objects kept in view by Him, and to which He applies Himself in suited time. Accordingly, we find it a principle with Him that when He does intervene, it is on behalf of His own, their position and circumstances being such as to call it forth.

This also comes out in Hezekiah's eminently illustrative case. It was a case of king and people seeking in a measure to be true and faithful to God, falling under the might and tyranny of the wicked. We can hardly be in doubt but that this will, humanly speaking, prompt early and decisive action on God's part. “The eyes of Jehovah” we read “run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” One cannot but notice therefore how steadily and progressively the issue comes to be one, not between Hezekiah and Sennacherib, but between God Himself and the Assyrian. He makes Hezekiah's cause His own, and having been appealed to on the ground of His interest in, and relationship to, His people Israel, gives striking manifestation of that interest, and affirms the reality of that relationship by their merciful and timely deliverance.

An earlier instance occurs to the mind also where this comes out not less clearly. When Israel, on their way from Egypt came into the region of Moab, marked hostility from that people, and also from the Ammonites and Midianites, was manifested to their approach. A form of that hostility, which they themselves had no knowledge of even, Balaam the prophet with his enchantment and divination being the agent, was being employed against them on the high places overlooking their camp. Again and again did Balak, king of Moab, seek to utilize these hostile influences against this people whom he hated as much as he feared; but God intervened on each occasion. Truly could it be said of His people “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper.” There was “no enchantment against Jacob, neither any divination against Israel.” Jehovah their God turned the curse into a blessing unto them, and—wherefore? “Because Jehovah thy God loved thee” (Deut. 23:5). And that always is the great reason of God's intervention.

It shall, in that day to come, be called “the day of the Lord” principally for the very reason that it is the day of the Lord's intervention. Take Deut. 32, where the history of their defection and apostasy, sketched so vividly, connects itself with the story of their future restoration. The very first steps of God's renewed dealings with them ultimately are seen to be prompted by His love for them. Chastised for their sins they had been, downtrodden of the nations and oppressed; but these same oppressors in their turn have God to reckon with, and He will render vengeance to His adversaries, as He now calls them, “and will be merciful unto his land and unto his people.” For these are the same of whom it is said “Jehovah's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, so Jehovah alone did lead him.” His love for them truly is no new thing, but old as their history, and evident throughout its varied course. It is His love for them still that brings Him in here again for their deliverance, and it is that which the enemy have to dread. Their guilt is that those whom they have afflicted and persecuted are God's chosen and beloved people. And that love will assuredly not desert them finally, grievously as they have sinned against it, but will, when their oppressors least expect it, cause Him to Intervene in power for them.

It could not be otherwise in that crisis which is approaching. Objects of His love are upon earth here, suffering under tyranny and oppression of evil men, and open to the attacks of Satan. Shall the malignity and hatred of the enemy be allowed to triumph, and His own be forever oppressed? It cannot be. “O Jehovah God of revenges” is the prayer of the oppressed remnant in Psa. 94, “O God to whom vengeance belongeth, show thyself.” “How long shall the wicked triumph?” “They break in pieces thy people, O Jehovah, and afflict thine heritage.” “They say Jehovah shall not see, neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.” How far wrong are their thoughts in this matter. The seeming delay is only “until the pit be digged for the wicked. For Jehovah will not cast off his people” but will prove Himself their help, their defense, and the rock of their refuge. It is upon the ground of His interest in them, and because of His love for them, that “He shall cut them (i.e., the oppressors) off in their own wickedness; yea, Jehovah our God shall cut them off.” “Shall not God avenge his own elect” said the Lord Jesus “which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them. I tell you that he will avenge them speedily” (Luke 18:7, 8). The souls of the martyred witnesses (Rev. 6:9-11) cry from under the altar, and their appeal is loud in God's ears “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood of them that dwell on the earth.” And that appeal shall be answered, for God shall judge, and one of the most important features of that judgment is that it shall be an avenging, a vindication, a deliverance of His own. “When God ariseth to judgment,” verily it is “to save all the meek of the earth.” If the first principle looked at gives a clue to the time or seasonableness of God's intervention, this shows its motive.

Still another principle governing the occasion of God's coming in upon the scene here in an active way is the fact, already in part alluded to, that God has a plan and purpose of His own for the earth. We can never surely suppose that He who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will has no such thing as a settled design regarding this earth. Is it to be imagined that while, as to heaven and heavenly things the counsel of God is settled and sure, the earth has been left entirely out of account? That, while God is to be sovereign, and righteousness supreme, throughout the universe, this scene is not to be privileged to witness and share in the restoration and release from the dominion of evil? On the contrary, it is distinctly testified that, in whatever respect heavenly things are hereafter to be affected by Christ, earth is to be likewise. God's purpose, now disclosed, is that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He is to gather together, sum, or head up, all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth (Eph. 1:11). At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, confessing Him Lord, of things in heaven, things on earth, and things even under the earth (Phil. 2:10). By Him all things are to be reconciled, in which is to be embraced not only things in heaven but also things on earth (Col. 1:20). His beneficent purpose of future blessing then in-dudes the earth in its range and scope.

A purpose this is, too, which nothing that the enemy can do or contrive, can in any way frustrate, but to the working out of which, on the contrary, God can bend and adapt happenings seemingly the most adverse. The germ of this truth is contained in Psa. 76:10, “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee.” He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him. This, it is admitted, is a principle which is true all round, and on all occasions, being generally accepted as indisputable. Many have difficulties as to a Particular Providence; as it is termed, concerned with minutest details of individual life. Few can have as to a General Providence, a disposing and shaping of historical events, the things that figure. on the world's stage as crises. “He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand, or say unto him What doest thou?” (Dan. 4:35). The purpose, however, for which He does so supervise and over-rule throughout history is not so generally recognized. What is, in one sense, the precise point, or object, of all Divine Providence in history is somehow missed. In fact there is altogether a serious gap or deficiency in the outlook of Christians generally in this matter, which is to be deplored, How defective must be the vision of believers who do not perceive the great and grand purpose of God for the establishment of a scene of blessedness and glory on this earth! To have no idea of, or hope regarding, the future for this world and its peoples, a future of blessing and peace and rest, must be a serious limitation, particularly in times of national stress and turmoil. To know that this entire creation, equally in its highest and it lowest spheres, long as it has groaned and been oppressed, in its age-long subjection to ills and disorders of every description, is one day destined to have its burden removed, and to be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God-how this brightens and enlarges the vision! To any who intelligently study scripture it is quite apparent that a scheme and dispensation of blessing and glory lies in store for man, for earth, and all this lower creation. Conflict and confusion, defilement and disorder reign now; but what comfort and confidence it gives to, know that there is a plan, and that these or any uprising of evil cannot thwart it, but will imply fall into line with it, and be made contributory to the carrying of it out. “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee.”

[J.T.]

(Continued from page 264)

(To be continued)

Denying Self and Taking the Cross

Notes of an Address on Matthew 16:24

I should like to call your attention this evening to one of the verses we have now read (Matt. 16:13-24): “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”

In considering this verse, containing., as it does, the direct words of our Lord Jesus Christ, I think it would be well for us to be clear that, so far as the Scriptures record, we never find that the Lord Jesus Christ invited men to come after Him unless they first of all had come to Him. This may seem a very small and unimportant distinction, but, in point of fact it involves a very great principle.

To come after Jesus is in itself an arduous task from which any man might well shrink who knows not the Master. It is the knowledge of the gracious and glorious person of the Lord Jesus Christ which awakens the sincere and whole-hearted response that men ought to make to His call to discipleship. But there are degrees and measures in the knowledge of Christ. There are many persons who know something of our Lord Jesus, who have answered His invitation and come to Him in their distress and weariness and penitence, and have found rest in Him and peace for their conscience; but yet they have never followed Him. They have been content, as it were, to know Him from afar. Such Christians, sad to say, count absolutely nothing in the world in the matter of witness, of effective testimony for the One whom they profess to love.

I heard during this past week from a Christian man what illustrates this. He is at the present moment in training in the Army. He, I know, is bold and forward to testify, when occasion offers, for his Master, but among all the recruits with whom he is associated he and one other are the only ones that take a pronounced and definite stand, firm and true for Christ. The majority are those who will listen attentively to the words of the gospel, who make a general profession of following Him, and who, if pressed to a confession, will vow that they do really believe in Him; but when it comes to standing up for Christ in the midst of a company of ungodly men, when it comes to putting on a firm front and confessing the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, their faith cannot carry them to such a pitch. Their courage fails to rise and face the jeers and persecution of the world. To such the Lord calls in the words of our text, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me.”

Why is it that men and women who have rested their souls for all eternity upon Jesus Christ, and upon His work at Calvary's cross, and who do, in the inner recesses of their hearts, love Him—why is it that they cannot speak out for Him when His name is abused, when evil things are said against Him, in Whom they are trusting for salvation? Why is it that at such times they seem dumb? Is there nothing within their hearts that prompts them to say something, and do something for Him, that will show that they are following after Him, and are not, like the rest of men, carried along by the world and in the ways of the world? The answer must surely be that they have not yet learned the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus the Lord.

But let me repeat, it is necessary first of all to come to Him. The Lord said, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest". Now we know that deep down in the hearts of men and women there is a sense of something wrong there, and that wrong cannot be set right except by Him. They come to Him in their several ways—in their feebleness, in their sorrow and in their penitence; and they find Him true to His word, ready to receive them and to speak peace to their guilt-stricken hearts. Oh, it is a great day when a man goes in his sins to the feet of the Savior!

Was it not a great day in the life of the woman of Capernaum when Jesus was sitting at the table of Simon the Pharisee and she came to Him in all her need? She came because she was sinful, and she came to the feet of Jesus seeking rest for her accusing conscience. She could find a refuge nowhere else, and she dared the power of the world, as represented by the surly Pharisee, to come to Him whom she believed to be the Savior of sinners. She wept over His feet, feeling afresh the sin of her soul, and she waited at His feet until she had His word: “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” And she went away freed and forgiven. It was a great day for her soul. It was a day that could never be matched in her history. She had come to Jesus. The poor woman, in all her grief and in her inability to cleanse the fountain of evil within her heart, came to Him, the fountain of light, in order to be cleansed. And she was cleansed.

This was a wonderful episode in her life, as it is in the life of every one who comes as she did; but, beloved friends, let us face another fact. We must understand that conversion does not comprise the whole of a man's Christian life. I admit it is the most important point in a man's history when he turns from the broad way that leads to destruction into the narrow way that leads to life, but we must remember that the career of a follower of Christ is not a gate, but away. When you enter that narrow way, having passed through the Door, which is Christ, what do you find throughout that narrow way? You find Christ who is Your Master and Lord. Recollect His words to the disciples of old and to you: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me."'

Beloved friends, the Lord Jesus Christ, in this verse I am pressing upon you, calls to those who have already come to Him, who know already something of the sweetness of His love and His grace, and He calls such to come after Him. And who is it calling for volunteers? It is the blessed Savior and Lord come down from heaven, walking through this world. Only a few heeded His call. Multitudes of men in the world of that day scorned. and despised the Nazarene. He had some followers it is true; a few women also here and there believed on Him. Crowds came to be healed, but how many were with Him as He traversed Galilee and Judea? Oh, such a little company. Why was this? Because the mass did not discern the beauty that was in Him. They saw not the glory of His Person, and yet, if they would, they might have seen it. If they had only considered His wonderful deeds and utterances, they might have learned sufficient of the glories of His Person to have renounced self and the world for His sake.

Now, by way of illustration, let us think of the man spoken of in the immediate context—Simon Peter. Why was it that he was commissioned to hold the keys of the kingdom of heaven? You will remember, perhaps, the first interview Peter had with our Lord Jesus Christ, as it is given us in the first chapter of John's Gospel. There we are told how he came to Jesus at the invitation of his brother Andrew. And he came, why? His brother said, Come to Jesus. We have found Him! He is the Messiah! He is the Christ! He is the One of whom all the prophets have spoken. He is the One whom all the types foreshadowed and foretold.

So Peter came to Jesus. Jesus knew him and welcomed him. Simon had learned something concerning the Person whom he found. The One to whom he had come was not merely Jesus of Nazareth; He was the Messiah of Israel; He was Jehovah's Anointed who should come into the world and be a king on David's throne.

Now it is clear the lessons Simon Peter learned that day prepared him to answer the subsequent call of Jesus. Some little time after, when Peter was on the shore of the lake of Galilee, a voice fell upon his ears, “Follow Me.” He followed Him. Why? Because he knew it was not just an earthly voice that called to him. It was the voice of the Messiah. It was the voice of the Christ, the Son of the living God. It was the voice of One who had come down from heaven to seek and to save the lost. Heaven was in that voice. Boats and nets were not worth considering. Jesus was worth more than them all. Beloved friends, do you know what it is to have left all and to be following Jesus?

In contrast with Simon Peter, there was another man whom you know from the Gospels. I mean a young ruler who came to Jesus and said: “What must I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered, “Go, sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.” That was a bargain. But the Lord added, “Come, follow me.” Here was the test. The man looked at Him, the Prophet, whom all Galilee and Judaea despised. Leave my wealth and possessions! Leave my rites and ceremonies! Leave my religion and my friends, and follow this Nazarene! There was no beauty in Him that he should desire Him. He could inquire of Jesus as a Teacher, but he would not follow Him as Master. The call of the Lord Jesus to him was in vain: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”

It is the great secret of power in Christian life, beloved friends, to love and adore the glorious Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. You may make the mistake most easily of slighting Him if you listen to the promptings of your own heart, if you are carried away by the formalities of religion. You may think of Jesus as only a name, just as much and no more to you than an historical name, with no living person behind it. The great secret of strength is to find out the power behind the name of Jesus.

There was a man in Jerusalem who thought that Jesus was one of those deceivers who had gone about seeking to draw away true men after him; and he did all he could to stamp out that name, to eradicate the desire from men's hearts to follow Jesus. That man's whole life was suddenly revolutionized. How was this? How was Saul of Tarsus converted? How was he turned from being a hot-brained persecutor, to be a meek follower of the Nazarene? It was because he saw the heavenly glory of Jesus.

On his way to Damascus, suddenly from heaven at noonday, shining brighter than the Syrian sun, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ shone down upon this man. He was stricken to the dust, “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?” Me, by Whom all things consist, whether thrones, dominions, principalities or powers! Me, before Whom all angels bow! Saul found that he, a puny man upon the earth, was persecuting the One who was in the Shekinah of glory.

Beloved friends, are there not tens of thousands of men who are turning their faces away from God? They go about their business day by day as if there was no God, and perhaps they attack the book that tells of Him, fighting in this way against Him that sits in the heavens. Perhaps there may be none such in this audience to-night. But I ask you, one and all, what is Jesus in your life?

To the proud man there prone in the dust, confused and desolate, came the word; “I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.” He who was despised on the earth was magnified in the heavens. The same appeal is made to you, my hearer. Are you on the side of earth, or on the side of heaven? Are you on the side of those that nailed Jesus of Nazareth to the cross, or are you on the side of God who has exalted Him? Will you not come after Him? He does not force you to be His disciple.

Some people say thoughtlessly, “I should like to follow Him,” just as that man who said, “Lord, I will follow thee whithersoever thou goest.” But Jesus spoke to this man. It was as if He said, Do you know what you are saying? Do you know why it is you are so ready to come? “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” Will you follow the Homeless Stranger?

God in His word sets before your view the glorious Person of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of sinners, once crucified on Calvary, now enthroned in glory, and He seeks the devotion of your life. He wants a complete and devoted response from your heart to the claims of His Son. If He has forgiven your sins, if He has made your future bright with the hope of His coming, is it not right that you should be for Him here in this world? The world is against Christ, and the man who comes to the Lord Jesus Christ should not stoop to serve the world.

But see what the Lord asks the man to do who comes after Him. “Let him deny himself.” When you have come to Christ, and have perhaps passed the first flush of the joy and rapture of knowing that all your sins are forgiven, that you have been accepted, and that, vile and sinful as you were, the Lord received you, and showered upon you the blessings of His love and His grace: I say, when the joy of this experience has for a moment subsided, then it is that many a person finds out, to his surprise, that he has a traitor within his own heart, that he has a foe within himself, and that he has within him what rises up day by day to impede his walk and service for the Lord Jesus Christ. The position then is that there is a voice within him that calls him to serve and follow Jesus Christ, and there is another voice which says, ‘Take your ease. All is right with you for the heaven to come. You have eternal life. Rest on your oars. Do not struggle. What need to make such efforts? All will come right in the end. Take your ease.' Need I say what result invariably follows unwatchfulness? The man who does not watch and pray is the man who falls into temptation. He succumbs, and what a spectacle such a failure is? That is a man who has rested upon Christ, and there he is, back in the mire, so to speak.

Beloved friends, I am referring to-night to facts which come to view in the professing life of men and women on our right hand and on our left, and why is it so? Why is it? Because they do not in self-denial follow the One that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw the great need for a continuous habit of self-denial Some people have one week a year for this purpose, and let the other weeks of the year go. If you look at the parallel passage in the Gospel of Luke, you will see that the Lord has fixed the time: “daily.”

Let us then, who follow Christ, deny ourselves. The word means to say “No,” to refuse. We read that when Moses came of age he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. The term used is precisely the one we have here. Moses denied himself and resisted the alluring prospect. He would not sit on the throne of that despot who was crushing the people of God in horrible slavery. He would be on the side of God, and he denied himself the throne of the world's empire. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and set aside the pleasures of sin, which were for a season.

We naturally like to be on the side of popular opinion. There is many a person to-day who is meddling with the things of this world just because he will not deny himself. A tempting offer comes from a worldly quarter: the desire for rest and ease from Christian endeavour arises. He is unable to say ‘No.' Lethargy and indifference have come over him, and Satan takes him at a disadvantage.

Remember, that when the Lord Jesus went to the garden of Gethsemane Himself to pray, He told His disciples that they ought to pray, lest they entered into temptation. Separated from the apostles, you see the Blessed Lord there left alone to visions of Calvary, of the power of Satan, and of all the power of the world rising up against Him. What does He say, “Father, if Thou be willing let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not my will, but Thine be done.” He rises strengthened. Again the supplication is repeated. But what of His disciples? No power received, for there was no intercession on their part, no denying themselves on that last night. And when those who apprehended their blessed Master came, those who had slept fled with the others. The Lord said, “Let a man deny himself,” and this example illustrates the need for it.

Sometimes the Lord will put you into a place, so to speak, where you are face to face with the hostile armies of the world, and then a sense of your own utter weakness to resist such force is borne in upon you. Then it is you learn you must never take your eyes from Him.

Take up your cross daily. This direction does not imply that we are to take up the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. It rather says, 'Let a man take up his cross.' What does the expression mean? We must not confound taking up the cross with being upon the cross. You find the Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross of Calvary, but you also find that it was the custom of that day that the one who was sentenced to crucifixion should carry his cross to the place of execution. The man who was seen carrying his cross was therefore the man who was thereby known to be adjudged for death, and the death of the cross; and the multitude were not slow to display their feelings against such a person. There is a man, they would say, who is worthy of death: he has outraged the laws of his country, and they would mock him and show how glad they were to be rid of him. Carrying the cross was therefore the sign of an outcast.

And the cross is the chosen badge of our service to Christ. It is the distinguishing mark which shows a person to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. The cross as a symbol in these days of ours has lost something of its original significance, because it has now been made an object of pride. When our officers distinguish themselves exceptionally in the present campaign they will be rewarded, probably, with the newly instituted military cross as a decoration. It is an official diploma, so to speak, of their bravery, of their special courage and devotion to their country. But there is its form. It is that of a cross.

There is, however, a feature of this new cross which connects it with the spiritual one. The military cross bears a crown upon each of its four ends; and so it is, beloved friends, with the cross you are asked to take up. The cross of a believer supports a crown. ‘No cross, no crown.' Each suffering one shall wear the crown.

When you look at a certain man, you know by his demeanor that he is a follower of Christ. He has something about his deportment that marks him out as a follower of the meek and lowly Nazarene. He is one who does not answer back. He is one who does not mind being made the off-scouring of all things. He has taken up the cross, and upon that cross he wears, you may see it if you will, the future crown. Those that suffer with Christ shall reign with Him.

Beloved friends, I ask you whether it is not a fact that when you go into general company you find you can speak of ordinary things, politics, pleasures, nature, and even God, and men will listen to you, join in the conversation, and attend to what you say. But when you introduce the name of Jesus the Nazarene, of Him who suffered and died, you get less response than before. Many will speak of God in an abstract way, while they have no real regard for Jesus in their hearts. Have you any place for Him? I feel sure you believe that there is a Creator of this world and that you are confident that there must be an Omnipotence somewhere that controls the world with all its intricate operations; but have your sins been forgiven? If you have had your sins forgiven, have you such little love in your heart for the Savior that you will not allow it to show itself by following Him?

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” That is the way. The way of the cross is the way of salvation. And the blessed Lord points the finger at you! No, He does not point the finger and tell you to go; He says, Come after Me, and points to the narrow way which He trod in such patience and obedience to His God, the end of it being involved in the blackness of darkness. But He who went to the cross is now enthroned in brightest glory. That is your way, it is my way, if we follow Him.

“If any man... follow me.” It will be a great attainment, beloved friends, when we are there in the place He has gone to prepare for us, when this world will be a thing of the past, when all the suffering for His name's sake will be over. Is it not a fact that the sufferings of this little while are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us?

Depend upon it, there is a great future before you and me, if we do but answer to these words of the Lord Jesus Christ, and deny ourselves and follow Him. He looks down, as it were, from heaven, and calls to you. He wants you to enlist for the duration of the war. There must be no turning aside, no resting; we are in a hostile country, and the campaign must go on until the Lord comes. It is a time of peril; and who is there upon the earth prepared to follow the Lord Jesus Christ in loyalty and devotion? You cannot follow Him with your sins. You must come and be cleansed from your sins. You must have that black past forgiven and obliterated, and nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, can cleanse you from your sins. Having been cleansed from your former sins, let your future be to take your cross, to deny yourself, and to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

W.J.H.

The Christian Calling and Hope: 3

Has it not been clearly shown that the Lord Jesus is, in all this, speaking of disciples connected with the Temple, with Judaea, with Jerusalem, and not of Christians? Take these further proofs of it. He says, “Pray that your flight be not on the sabbath day.” The Lord's day is our day, the first day of the week. The Jew rightly and properly keeps Jehovah's sabbaths. As to this, there are languages in Europe more correct than what we hear more commonly spoken around us.

The Pope's tongue, the Italian, keeps up the right distinction; it always speaks of Saturday as the sabbath day, and Sunday as the Lord's day. How curious that it should be so, where such blind darkness reigns on almost everything else!

In these lands there has long been a great deal of confusion as to the sabbath and the Lord's day. Let none be offended at the remark; for there is nothing lowering to either, The Lord's day differs from the sabbath, not by a lower but by a higher degree of sanctity, not by leaving Christians free to do their own will on that day, but by calling them out to do the Lord's will always, by a complete separation to the Lord's glory, the holy services of divine praise, in works. of faith and labors of love. In short, the Lord's day differs essentially from the sabbath day in that it is the day of grace, not of law, and the day of new creation, not of the old.

The consequence of this exhibits very important differences indeed in practice.

Suppose a Christian had the strength to walk 20 miles on the Lord's day, and to preach the gospel six or seven times, would he be guilty of transgression of the law? It is to be hoped that not a single person perhaps in this room would venture to think so; yet if he is under the Sabbath law, what can absolve from the obligations of that law? All under the law are bound within defined limits. Are you free to use the sabbath day in indefinite labor even for what you know to be the active purposes of goodness?

I grant you the Son of man is Lord of the sabbath; but are you the Son of man? are you Lord of the sabbath? You cannot do freely what you count ever so good; you are under stringent regulations as to that day. If the sabbath, be your day, keep it as such; if you, a Christian, have to do with the Lord's day, seek to understand its meaning, and to be true to it. I say, then, that the Lord's day is a day of consecration to the worship and to the work of the Lord. It is not the last day of a laborious week, a day of rest that you share with your ox or your ass. It is a day to be devoted to the Lord Jesus, to communion with His own in the world. Nor is there sin in the most strenuous labor for souls then; on the contrary such labor in the Lord is delightful wherever it is found.

But these Jewish disciples contemplated here are told to pray that the time for their precipitate flight should not be in the winter nor on the sabbath day; for the one would be inconvenient from its inclemency, and on the other they could not go farther than a sabbath-day's journey. But how could this affect us as Christians? Even if once Jews, we are no longer under such restrictions. The Lord is speaking not of Christians but of future Jewish disciples, connected with Jewish ritual, and filled with Jewish hopes.

Further, it is said, “There shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved.” All this is plain enough. It is not a question of the new life but of the old. They should then live and be the subjects of the blessed reign and glory when the Lord comes. It is earthly glory here, not in heaven. For the elect's sake those days should be shortened.

“Then, if any man shall say unto you, lo! here is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they should deceive the very elect.” “Behold! I have told you before. Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, behold, he is in the desert, go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not.” It is clear and certain that “the elect” here are Jewish. What would be the effect of such sayings on your mind, suppose one were to tell you that the Lord was in London or Vienna? You would pity the poor fellow, and say that he ought to be sent to a lunatic asylum; you would feel that he could not be in his right senses, except he were an impostor. You, as a Christian, could not be deceived by such rumors for an instant.

But it is clear that the Lord Jesus supposes considerable danger for the disciples here. In fact, being Jewish, not Christian, they might be deceived by the cry that He was here or there on earth; whereas no Christian could be in danger. But the Jewish disciples were exposed to it. They were looking for the Lord's coming to the earth; they know that the Lord's feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives.

It is clear, then, that the Jews might be taken in by such deceit. Not so the Christian. He knows that he will meet the Lord in the heavens, and that he will be taken up out of this world into the air to meet the Lord on high. But the deceits in question are addressed to such only as expect to meet the Lord on the earth. The whole of the scene thus far consists of the Lord's instruction to disciples connected with Jerusalem and Judaea, and has nothing at all to do with the Christians looking to join the Lord above. But here again is the reason why they are not to listen to false Christs. “For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” Learned men have applied all this to the Roman conquest. But the Roman army did not come out of the east, as the lightning is said to do here, nor did it shine unto the west: the very reverse would be a more apt figure, had the Romans been meant. So correctly has the Lord Jesus guarded against the misinterpretations of men.

I deny that the prophecy is obscure or ambiguous. There is no uncertain sound in the Bible. I grant you that there is no book so profound as the word of God, but this does not hinder its clearness for the simplest. It is meant for the highest as well as the lowest. If it were of use only for one class, to the exclusion of the other, it could not be the word of God; for what is of God must suit men in all conditions. I speak, of course, of believers: but still, even if the soul were in the densest natural ignorance, there is everything in the Bible to enlighten and establish such an one. If he be one who dives ever so much into the depths of God's mind, like the apostle Paul, the Bible is still beyond him. “Now we know in part,” Said this very man, one of the greatest of its inspired writers. How truly divine is all this! Is it really so with any other book? If you are a man of ability, you may soon fathom another man's measure, but never the depths of the Bible, though free to search all. The fact is, you only begin to find out how little you know of the Bible when you are really advancing in the knowledge of it.

There is no discipline so wholesome as this, because, on the one hand, you are strengthened and encouraged, on the other hand you are humbled. This is exactly what the soul wants.

The Lord, then, has given these firm standing points, these landmarks, as it were, in the prophecy, which hinder us from being carried away by every wind of theory. We can see clearly what the Lord has set before us. I have not knowingly passed over anything material. There is no violence done to a word here. I wish to give nothing but a clear, distinct, and positive impression of the mind of the Lord as given in His own words.

It is next said, “Wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” Now, if you apply this to the church—to the Christian—what will you be able to make of it? Is the church the carcass? I have heard something still more dreadful. Men have not been wanting who say that the Lord is the reference! Such are the ideas expressed by such an attempt to interpret the prophecy on, false ground. Learned men, including some of the Fathers taught this; and a great many of the moderns follow in their wake. The last notion I must beg to consider as very great irreverence as well as grossly mistaken. Understand me! I do not wish to fasten anything unfair upon any of them, but it appears to me a crude and unworthy interpretation, no matter how (according to the Christian scheme) they take the carcass, whether applying it to the church or to the Lord Is the church a corpse? I believe it to be a living body. And the Lord is not regarded as a body dead or even alive; but as the Head. But the Lord a carcass! What are they dreaming about?

The whole effort is false. There is no getting a consistent meaning out of the passage when interpreted of the church: the moment you apply it to the Jewish people, it becomes strikingly true. For the mass of the Jews will then be apostate, and the eagles or vultures who come together are figures of the divine judgments executed on the guilty people by the nations of the earth; but whatever may be the instruments, they are judgments of God executed by Him. If the Christians be the carcass, they are the object of the judgment, and there the eagles, or the executors of judgment, are gathered together. But this is not at all the relation of the Lord's coming to the Christian. Nor can the Christians be the eagles or instruments of divine vengeance, any more than the carcass, without abandoning all the truth and character of their calling. The changed saints undoubtedly will go up to meet the Lord; but is He then to be the carcass, and are the church the eagles? Thus, in such a scheme, you have only the choice of one evil less or greater than another; and it is generally thus with an erroneous interpretation. Apply it to the object the Lord had in view, and all is clear. This is the test of scriptural truth: whenever you press a false interpretation, the general testimony of scripture is dislocated.

Then the Lord adds, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn.” It is not here the believers with joy going up to meet the. Lord, but the tribes of the earth mourning: “And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

Here many lay great stress upon gathering His “elect.” You are too quick, my friends. The “elect” do not necessarily mean Christians If you speak of elect now, it is so; but had God no “elect” before there were Christians? There were elect Gentiles. Take Job for one, and his friends probably also the same; were they not elect men? Melchisedek and others, were not they elect? Need I enumerate the elect of Israel in the past? We find clearly elect Gentiles as well as Jews and Christians. When we read about Christians, then the elect must be so explained; if we read about Jews, then the phrase applies to a Jewish election; and so with the nations. We must be governed by the context. As the Lord here is clearly speaking about Israel, the sense should not be ambiguous. When we have “his elect” named, He means the elect of those described, that is, of Israel. This is not at all to bring in arbitrary rules, but in fact a very plain and necessary principle.

Let us suppose a case in common life. If you go into a crockery shop, and choose out some of the things there, everybody understands how far the choice extends: to the seed shop next door it does not apply. Your choice or the chosen, cannot be fairly said to be uncertain because you speak of it in two different places. The word applies equally to the things chosen in both shops. It is all simple enough in everyday matters; and so it is with the Scriptures.

The Lord, I repeat, in all this context is speaking about Israel and their hopes. Consequently “his elect” must be interpreted according to the object in view. These elect ones are to be gathered “from one end of heaven to the other,” not for heaven but on earth. (Compare Isa. 27)

Then “learn the parable of the fig tree.” The fig tree is a well-known symbol of Israel as a nation. This confirms what has been already said. In the Gospel of Luke, where the Lord takes a view of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews; He reverts to this very symbol, but enlarged remarkably. He says “the fig tree, and all the trees.” He does not speak of the latter in Matthew, because He is only in this part looking at the Jew; but in Luke He is looking at the Gentile as well as the Jew, and hence adds, “and all the trees.” (Compare Luke 21 as the authority for this statement.)

“Now learn the parable of the fig tree. When its branches are yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh; so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.” Now Mark the phrase “all these things” —namely, from the first troubles down to the last; and the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Clearly “this generation” does not mean, what some impute to it, a Mere period of thirty years; or a man's life. The phrase means, what it frequently does in Scripture, a line continued by certain moral tokens entirely independent of length of time. Hence we find in the Psalms very particularly this use of “generation.” I will give you one text which proves it in the most convincing manner. In Psalm 12: 9 we read “Thou shalt keep them, O Jehovah thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever.” This generation is supposed to go on, and it is an evil generation, a generation which has no faith, a stubborn, Christ-rejecting generation. “This generation,” the Christ-rejecting race of the Jews, is not to pass away till all these things be fulfilled. Hence the same generation which crucified the Lord of glory is going on still, and will, till He come again in the clouds of heaven.

Some of you, I dare say, have read a notorious article in a respectable Review, which boasts that the Jews of the present day are really what they were in the days of our Savior—a noble-hearted generous race (though they made that mistake!) as compared with their rude forefathers in the days of Moses, etc. Alas for the judgment of man! What a confession that “this generation” has not passed away! They are still the same proud, self-righteous Christ-rejecting race they were then.

[W.K.]

(Continued from page 272)

(To be continued)

Erratum

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Principles of God's Intervention: Part 4

The evident conclusion then to which all Divine effort-as it affects things here below-tends and moves is the establishment, according to His revealed will, of the kingdom of God in power here upon earth. Thus only, and then only, can be secured the ascendancy of good, and the predominance of righteousness, and that in permanence. The kingdoms of this world rise and flourish and decay. The time is approaching when it shall be announced, and that from heaven, “The world-kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ is come, and he shall reign forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15). Empires succeed each other, and the strife for place and power and dominion continues. God's purpose is, and He has definitely and unmistakably attested it, that Christ's rule and sway shall yet throughout the earth be universal and unchallenged (Dan. 2:34, 35, 44, 45). In the direct line of succession, as it were, to the great world empires of the past, and supplanting the revived form of it which shall be then in force, there is to be a kingdom which the God of heaven shall set up, “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.” That purpose is opposed by men; but in spite of all opposition, “Yet have I set my king,” says God, “upon my holy hill of Zion.” He is to have the heathen for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a possession.

The first effect, no doubt, of His advent is that “He shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.” For “He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God,” and there are sons of Belial who must be all of them as thorns thrust away and consumed; but judgment upon evil once executed, “He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even as a morning without clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain” (2 Sam. 23:3-7). For the sending of Jesus will mean the coming of times of refreshing 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. Such is God's plan and purpose regarding the earth. We may count on Him carrying it into effect, and thus may look for Him to intervene in His own good time in judgment, yet for blessing!

How antagonistic to the carrying out of that purpose, and how alien to the moral features of that time the elements predominating to-day are—how needful, therefore, also His intervention— a moment's reflection will show. For what are the features characterizing this age, and particularly this period of unrest and crisis now in progress? Man and Satan between them have filled the earth with corruption and violence. The deceitful working of Satan and the ungovernable passions of men predominate. This working of Satan has been spoken of as an important factor of history. So also the wrath of man. The relation of these to the third factor spoken of, the providence of God (thank God that is supreme), has been in a measure considered; but that there. are questions about these, the wrath of man and the working of Satan, both in themselves and in regard to their relation to each other, must be plain. How far do they act in concert? Or are they independent of each other? Does Satan plan and scheme all the devices of men? or do they, in their opposition to God, simply follow the bent of their own passions? Again, with what measure of intelligence must we credit the great adversary? Does he act in merely blind, hasty, unreasoning malice or is it cunning, calculating, far-seeing malignity that is to be perceived in all the dispositions he makes?

These are questions, perhaps, scarcely admitting of definite answer in our present state of knowledge. One thing at least recent happenings makes clear. We are not to suppose that every ebullition of human wrath and strife is directly attributable to Satan's immediate influence. For instance, an outburst of violence that betokens the breakdown of what we call civilization cannot be thought of as being purposely, deliberately planned and manipulated by Satan, the god of this age. It is rather the triumph of civilization than its failure that evidences his working (2 Thess. 2). The truth would seem to be that, finite as he is, after all, the great enemy frequently outwits himself. His instruments carry matters farther than he intended, or raise issues prematurely, and thus there are many historical crises not at all of his creation. His agents are not always docile and amenable to timely restraint. The wrath of man must often prove a very unreliable instrument to use, an exceedingly unmanageable and erratic medium to invoke!

How fully on occasion it comes to dominate the whole situation needs no emphasizing. Time and again, throughout history, it breaks forth. Storm after storm of human violence has arisen, swept the earth in its fury, and left its appalling mark on earth's face and history's page. Elemental to the race some would consider war, and the martial spirit generally. Inherent in the fallen nature we all of us possess, it certainly is at any rate. In this disordered and discordant scene it cannot be otherwise than that individual interests must clash, social jealousies and animosities assert themselves, national philosophies and ideals be found radically inimical to each other, imperial. aspirations and ambitions fiercely antagonistic; and, given the fact that man, a fallen creature, is constituted as he is, the appeal to arms would seem to be inevitable in a great many instances. And war is only one form of the outbreak of man's violence.

The wrath of man, of what is it not capable? All the righteous blood shed upon the earth from Abel downwards is witness to its fierceness against God. It is not less truly so against each other. Of all the human race generally who have passed away, the number who have fallen by the hand of their fellows is not small. That, again, evidences the length to which men, hateful and hating one another, will go. And all the strife and clamor and hate and violence characterizing us as a race, “the dark places of the earth full of the habitations of cruelty,” what does it show but that the wrath of man is, of influences adverse to God's beneficent working in this world, one of the most potent! It “worketh not the righteousness of God” we read (James 1:20).

Is it not well to be reminded of this to-day? If the ends God has in view are achieved by it on occasion, as no doubt they are, we must remember it is by virtue of His so over-ruling, or so utilizing it as to secure them by its means, and not on any account by reason of such being its real, or even ostensible, object. A Christian even (the passage exhorts), a new-born creature of God, is to be slow to wrath, remembering that the mere ebullition of human passion, into which even righteous wrath is so apt to degenerate, expresses not, furthers not, never in itself evolves, the righteousness of God. To praise Him He can make it. Turn it to the execution of His will, and harness it to the working out of His purposes—this He does continually. But, of itself, in its own aim, intent, direction and purpose, the righteousness of God is not what it seeks, nor is it at all calculated to advance it. How solemn to reflect that this wrath of man, this human violence, so antagonistic to God, so inherent in man, so useful to the enemy, is in some ways the most predominating element about him! History is simply, or largely, the record of its various outbreaks and achievements.

What a welter of disruptive and anarchical forces the scene presents! “An enemy hath done this,” its most revolting features clearly proclaim. A comforting thought it is that, in any case, powerful though the enemy may be, mysterious to us in his personage, and subtle in his working, he, and it, and all the instruments he may use will never, we may be assured with much confidence, thwart God, for He will make their very antagonism a means of furthering His purposes, and the remainder—the rest, that which would go beyond this—He, at any rate, will restrain.

The often-desiderated intervention of God, then, seems, by analogy with the past, and in keeping with what is revealed as to the future, to be based on, and conditioned by, these principles. The ripeness of the situation seems to determine the time of it, the deliverance of His beloved people to supply the motive for it, and the fact that He Himself has His purposes of blessing for this scene here below, to be the end He steadily keeps in view. It remains but to emphasize how strongly and solemnly attested is the fact that He will intervene. What one might call the official announcement of the same is given in Rev. 10 It is there announced, and that from heaven, with all the formalities befitting such a momentous, universal, divine proclamation. A mighty angel, pictured as girded with cloud and rainbow, descends from heaven, and, with loud and far-resounding tone, accompanied by the seven thunders' voice, gives notice of the imminence of such a change of God's attitude towards earth and man's doings upon it. For how long ages, evil in its dominant and apparent triumph has usurped place and power on earth, to the detriment of good, and the oppression of the righteous! Mystery it has been that for so long, and in so striking measure, this state of things has prevailed, with no marked interference on God's part. Now, however, that long-expected, long-desired Divine interposition is to take place. This august messenger, with foot on sea and on earth, with hand uplifted to heaven “sware by him that liveth forever and ever, who created heaven.... and the earth and the sea, etc., that there should be delay no longer,” and that “the mystery of God should be finished as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” Divine intervention! come it shall, as sure as God is eternal in His person, supreme in His creation, and sovereign in His universal control.

J.T.

(Concluded from page 280)

The Christian Calling and Hope: 4

But the grace of God will make them anew, “a generation to come.”

The Lord will judge the unbelievers at last, dealing with them righteously after His immense long-suffering, but delivering a godly remnant in His grace. The Lord has great things in store for Israel. There will be this double action—that is to say, the mass of them filling up the cup of iniquity which their fathers began to fill; and the remnant, who will be the holy seed, the Israel of the millennial day. Of the former He speaks when He says that “this generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled. Of that day knoweth no man, not the angels even, but my Father only.”

The next comparison (verses 36-42) is not to the fig tree or anything else taken from the physical world. A figure is taken from the dealings of God in the Old Testament, “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be; for as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them away, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field, the one shall be taken and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken and the other left.”

Instead of being an indiscriminate slaughter or Captivity such as the Jews had executed upon them by the Romans there is a direct contrast to this. Here there is discrimination: one man shall be taken and the other left; one woman taken and another left. The Lord will deal with perfect discernment in each case; not so did the Romans; not so any army that ever took a city. We know there is no time, no thought, no desire for discrimination. It is wholesale bloodshed or slavery. Thus it was when Titus took the city; so alas! it too often is unto this day. But when the Lord Jesus comes it will not be so.

Then the Lord winds up this part of His prophecy by saying, “Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore, be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” There, I believe, closes the portion of this prophecy which refers to the Jew. He began by referring to the Jewish disciples, because the disciples were really Jews then, though believers. He took them up just as they were; and we know they subsequently became Christians. They passed into a new relationship. Not that they had not faith; but (instead of looking for the Lord's blessing them upon the earth) when He rose from the dead, and went up to heaven, a new state of things was founded in connection with Him then and there.

Hence the same disciples merged into a new form and power of relationship with God. They were brought no longer to expect the Lord's restoration of the kingdom to Israel as their proper hope, but, contrariwise, that the Lord would come to receive them to Himself, and take them to the Father's home in heaven. This is the Christian's hope; this is what they wait for. The Lord is calling them out from everything on earth to Himself. They had been expecting the Lord to come and establish them on the earth up to the day when the. Lord Jesus went up and sent down the Holy Ghost. Christianity comes in as if a drawbridge had been opened and then let in an entirely new thing. The disciples at the beginning were on one side of the bridge, the disciples at the end would be at the other side. The drawbridge opens, and Christianity passes through. It is the calling of the Christians out of the world, waiting till Christ comes to take them up to heaven. The Lord Jesus having accomplished redemption, has Himself first taken His seat in heaven; then the disciples become heavenly, and are being transformed spiritually: finally, at His coming, the Lord Jesus will take them completely out of their natural condition, conformed to His own glorious body. The state of things on earth since redemption, till He come to take us to be with Him on high, is truly to be called Christianity.

I do not deny that the saints of old, before Christianity came in, will share in the resurrection, when they too are to shine in the likeness of Christ. Only there is this enormous difference meanwhile. We are brought, since His cross, into salvation and new relationships, and the Holy Spirit gives a fresh and infinitely greater power to those who are now gathered to His name. I am persuaded that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were far more faithful than many, perhaps than any, among us. Here we cannot take high ground; but we can boast of what Christ has given us. This is to bring in truth which will make our faithfulness more manifest; for the greater hold Christian privileges have on you, the more your unfaithfulness will be measured; and you ought to submit to this measure and be ashamed.

From this point the Lord begins to open out a new thing, namely, what the disciples were going to become. And evidently this is the proper order. The Lord had begun with them as they were, and then He leads on to what they were to become, with the new relationships of Christ dead and risen, when also fresh power was given by the Holy Ghost. As a mark of this, you will see that the Lord drops all allusion to Judaea, and all reference to the temple, prophets, and sabbath. The Lord opens out now into parables of a general and comprehensive nature, which would be equally as true at Timbuktu as at Jerusalem—it does not matter where. They belong to Christianity. What Christ died and rose to establish, by the mission of the Spirit, is not one of your narrow systems of men, nor your loose worldly associations. Christianity is exclusive of nothing but sin; it is the practical expression of Christ. The Lord here shows us this opening out into wider principles of a moral nature, which embrace all the true disciples, wherever they might be in this world, at any time till He comes. Hence we find three parables which apply to this.

The first parable is the wise servant contrasted with the evil one. It is a question of faithful service in the house, the duty of the highest and the duty of the lowest, not of intelligent activity in trading with goods given as in the parable of the Talents (chap. 25.). The form is very striking. We have, as you see, a double profession; and this in relation with the Lord, not with Israel as before.

This was not the case in the nation. In Judaism there was an enormous unbelieving mass in former times getting into idolatry and all kinds of wickedness, always persecuting the believer. But one of the characteristic marks of Christendom is that all are professors of Christ, whether truly or falsely. The Lord in the parable says the faithful and wise servant is to be made ruler over all his goods. But the evil servant says in his heart, “My Lord delayeth his coming"; it is not a mere notion. One may always have his notions; and one is none the better for them. But the Lord refers to what was deep and real, the heart's indifference to the appearing of Jesus. The evil servant says in his heart, “My Lord delayeth his coming"; he believes what he likes, and what he likes is that the Lord should delay His coming. If you love anyone, you want to see him. The absence of the person you love is trying to you. There may be the wisest reasons for delay, but the delay taxes your patience; and your hope of the speedy return of the one you love is the greatest joy to your heart.

The Lord gives this feeling and strengthens it. Grant that it may be hindered by false prophetic notions: yet there is in the heart of all true Christians a desire for the coming of Christ: only, when the soul is not in peace through a full gospel, it is afraid. And those who give them this kind of gospel are responsible for it; those who keep souls in fear do the greatest possible injury to the church of God. I am not speaking of such as set forth Christ or His work falsely, but even of those who do not preach it fully, who fear to set forth the full value of the sacrifice of Christ, and the perfect deliverance which His death and resurrection have wrought for the believer. The result of this defect in teaching is that Christians are apt to be alarmed instead of rejoicing at the thought of the coming of Christ.

They do not own that the acceptance of Christ is the acceptance of a Christian; they do not believe that the Lord by His death has not only put away their sins, but judged their sinful nature completely; and this in order to their walking now in the Spirit, to be followed by a perfect conformity to Christ's image in resurrection at His coming.

You cannot exaggerate what Christ has wrought for the believer; if you are resting on His redemption, all difficulties Godward are taken away. Then there is nothing left but the duty of serving Him now, and the delight of seeing Him then, as also of worshipping both now and forever.

He has done all for you to bring you to God, and to take you out of every evil. How can the believer not rejoice in this? I believe in my heart that all Christians, I care not where or who they are have joy and delight in the prospect of His coming.

Notwithstanding all their imperfect notions, I am sure all Christians love Christ here, and I grant that they are waiting for Him too. I may shock some of my zealous pre-millennialist friends; but I believe this hope belongs to every Christian.

There may be false prophetic views which hinder; but as the new nature does go out towards Christ, so it longs for the day when it will be ever with Christ. Waiting for Christ supposes longing for His coming; but if put in certain forms and propositions, this may never be found out. If you want to show that men do not look for Christ's coming, you can have abundant grounds for working on, On the other hand, I think God will give you sufficient evidence that all who are His really look and long for His coming.

Only let the children of God get clear of those clouds of noxious and unwholesome vapours that are constantly rising up between the Lord and them.

If you bring in a millennium at the present time, it is hard to see Christ's coming clearly; it acts as a cloud, which dulls the hope of that day. It may not destroy the hope, but one thus looks for the Lord's coming in an imperfect manner.

If you bring in a great tribulation first, this would enfeeble the hope greatly; it tends to produce a depressing effect, and to fill the heart with trouble.

The one puts a mistaken hope between you and the coming of the Lord, giving meanwhile a dreamy excitement in waiting for that day. The other case gives you a sort of spiritual nightmare, an oppressive feeling in the thought that you must go through so dreadful a crisis.

I believe, my friends, that the Scriptures deliver us from both the dream and the nightmare. I believe they entitle the believer to wait for Christ as simply as a child, being perfectly certain that God is true and our hope blessed. Again, I believe there is a tribulation to come, but not for the Christian. When He is speaking about the Jew, you can understand it well: for why does this great tribulation come upon him? Because of his idolatry; it is for him a moral retribution, with which the Christian has nothing at all to do. It is the judgment of God on the Jewish people; they who were called to be witnesses against idolatry at last fall into the dreadful snare of allowing the abomination to be put into the sanctuary of God: then the tribulation comes upon them. There is no connection between this and the Christian looking for Christ; and here the prophecy of the blessed Lord drops all allusion to anything of the kind. What He presents is, that when He returns, it is as Son of man, a title which is always used in reference to His coming in judgment, as in John v. 27 “The Father hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the. Son of man.” When He comes as judge, He deals with the evil servant, cuts him asunder, and assigns his portion with hypocrites.

Then comes the parable read to-night. I call at your attention particularly to it. I have been ng in coming to the ten virgins; but it is only right to disengage the Christian from the thought that the early part of this prophecy belongs to him: such an idea completely perverts his judgment.

But we have also in our day to do with another and opposite error, an error that takes away the parable of the virgins from properly applying to the Christian. Now I affirm, on the contrary, that it has nothing to do with the Jewish remnant directly, who, as they are not called to go out to meet the Bridegroom, so they could not have oil, and lastly, will not be exposed to the temptation of going to sleep. But many an one might have been Jewish disciple and then have ceased to be a Jew; practically such became Christians, in the true sense of the term, as Peter uses the word in his First Epistle, and Luke in The Acts. In this parable, then, the Lord shows the kingdom of heaven to be likened unto ten virgins. They all went forth to bear their testimony to Christ; the lamp was to give light. They were to shine as lights in the world: each taking her lamp went forth to meet the Bridegroom.

Now this is characteristic of the Christian. The Israelite did not separate from the world of which he was head. The Christian goes forth to meet Christ, who is gone to heaven. If he be a Jew, he leaves his ancient glories behind. Whether the greatest grandee in the Gentile world, or of the poorest condition, he alike abandons his old obscurity or his old grandeur. He willingly forgets all that is of the world. He is called out of every snare which can fascinate or arrest the heart of man. He has got a new and all-absorbing object in Christ; and Christ in joy and blessedness. It is not the Judge coming to deal with the wicked. If a Christian goes forth to meet the Bridegroom, does such a parable fitly bring images of terror? The Christian knows well that the same Jesus who is the Bridegroom is the Judge; he knows well that Jesus will be the Judge of those who oppose Him; but He is not the Judge and the Bridegroom in the same associations, or to the same persons. Where would be the sense of such confusion? The Lord purposely brings in the bright figure of the Bridegroom to those who are waiting for Him.

But there are other elements of moment. Here are persons true and false. They are not presented as one object: consequently the idea of the bride is not the thought. When we talk about Christians, real or professing, we do not fix our mind on unity; we think of individuals who go forth. He was about to show profession, and so brings in foolish, as well as wise, virgins. It is Christ looking at Christians professing the Lord truly or falsely, not as the bride of Christ. The Christians are all characterized by quitting every object on earth to meet the Bridegroom. Even the Jew, attached as he was to the old religion (and they had a religion which could boast an antiquity before which all others grow pale)—the Jew leaves all to go forth unto Him, as says the apostle in Heb. 13, “bearing his reproach.”

Here you have the same principle. As the Christian, even though a Jew, was called to leave all the old things behind, so here they went forth to meet the Bridegroom. Five of them were wise, and five foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps, but no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

Is it true that the Jewish remnant at the end of the age are to have oil in their vessels? They will never have oil in their vessels till the Lord Jesus comes and pours the Spirit on them. We must remember, oil symbolically means the power of the Holy Ghost. It is not merely the washing by the Spirit—even were it vitally: I grant you the Jewish remnant will have that. They will be really cleansed by the word in the heart. The disciples who will be found at the end of the age will not receive the outpouring of the Spirit till the Lord appears; they wait for that day.

(Continued from page 288)

(To be continued)

[W.K.]

Salvation Possessed and Known

“And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts 10:42, 43). These words form the conclusion of the address of Peter to Cornelius the centurion, and to those assembled in his house. They were the special words in the Apostle's discourse which seem to have been for the centurion's personal benefit, though others show the blessing that ensued. They particularly suited his case. They brought him deliverance and enjoyment and peace in the Holy Ghost.

I want you to look this evening at the words as those addressed to a man who was seeking to know from God that which would settle, once and forever, the great question of his own personal responsibility to his God. Cornelius was not a godless man. He was not a heathen man, in the sense of being a worshipper of false gods. He was a man who recognized that there was one God over all, and that He was the God of the Jews, and that God he most earnestly desired to know. We are told of him, in the commencement of this chapter, that he prayed to God alway, and gave alms to the people of God.

This is a striking witness to the character of the man. Cornelius was a Roman soldier, an officer, a man used to command, accustomed to enforce the strict military discipline which characterized the Roman army; but, in spite of the stern habits of his military life, he was a man who had been touched in his heart and conscience. He had seen and felt the follies and abominations of idol worship. He had been stationed in Palestine, the favored land of Jehovah, where prophets had testified of God and His worship. He had been serving in that same land so recently trodden, as it had been, by the feet of the Son of God. And will it be too great a stretch of our imagination to suppose that he learned from that other fellow-soldier of his, that centurion of Capernaum, who loved the nation of the Jews, and had himself come to the lowly Prophet of Nazareth, and besought Him, with faith, such faith in his heart as had never before been known in Israel, that he might receive the words that would heal his sick one would Cornelius have learned something of Jesus of Nazareth from him? And may he not also have heard some report from that other centurion whose duty it was to attend the crucifixion of the Lord of glory, and see that all was done according to the law of that mighty Gentile empire which was holding God's people in a grip of iron at that time? This man was a personal witness of the extraordinary events of that day. He saw a meek and patient Sufferer, lifted up between two malefactors, and yet so different from them. He was indeed always so different from all men, but with what distinction did the Holy Son of man stand apart from those two robbers. This centurion was a witness to the supernatural darkness that covered the land at noonday. He heard, too, that bitter cry of anguish, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” and the officer was smitten in his conscience, and confessed at the close that Jesus was a righteous man—the Son of God.

Cornelius must have heard something of these things. What he believed brought him on his knees to the living and true God. It caused him to love that people whom it was his business to govern in accordance with the exacting laws of his Emperor. For the centurion felt that the Jews were God's people, and he cared for their poor in a conspicuous manner; and yet the man was not at rest inwardly. There was that which was good and beneficent about him. There was that which showed that he had a care for holy things, and for holy persons, and yet the man kept on praying, being in need, of something to satisfy the conscience within him, which told him that he had sinned against God, and that he could not escape the judgment of sin; and he craved to know how sins, his sins, the sins of a Gentile, might be forgiven. He knew God's word, and that he himself was not a lost sheep of the house of Israel, to whom the Messiah came. He might well have said: 'What part have I with the house of Israel? The Messiah is for them, but, alas! not for me.'

Yet Cornelius desired the blessing of God's forgiveness; he was a sinful man, but he prayed always, and he was heard.

Beloved friends, there are many persons in this country, no doubt there are some in this hall to-night, who have a sense that they, too, have sinned against the holy God. They feel that the past, with all its sins, is not quite extinct, but that it will be brought forth again to their condemnation, and they do not as yet see how that past will be dealt with otherwise than to their extreme ruin. They feel that they have sinned against God, and they cannot rest because they believe they must answer for sins in their bodies in the day which is to come. They love to hear of Jesus. They love to hear of the Christ of God. They confess that there is no other Savior among men save Jesus of Nazareth, and yet they are not confident that He is their own Savior; they do not know that their sins are forgiven. They resort to religious ceremonies—and yet they find no rest; the conscience within them will not be quiet. It accuses them again and again of their guilt before God.

Beloved friends, I honor a man who, in this matter, refuses to acquiesce in an authority not duly accredited. How can we rest the eternal destiny of our own souls upon our own feelings, or upon mere fancy? Shall we go to g mortal, failing man like ourselves, and rest upon his word for it? No; in our responsibility to God, we want the word of God as a valid ground of assurance.

There are, perhaps, many here seeking rest and finding none. There is a memory before me of a sight that I witnessed many years ago, which I shall never forget. I was in a well-known “place of worship,” one of the most famous in our great Metropolis, and I was inadvertently the witness of an early morning service. But what still lives before me is the figure of a man who was one of the communicants. He was a tall man, evidently in a state of physical weakness; but there was more than bodily infirmity: there was mental pain, there was a storm of sorrow and anguish depicted on the man's face as he left his pew with others and fell upon his knees. He received the bread and the wine. He then rose and went back to his place; and, dear friends, I shall never forget the look of unrest, of unhappiness and of intense agony of spirit written upon his face as he returned to his pew, threw hire self upon the bench with his hands spread out, and his head bent upon his arms. He had evidently come there that morning to find in the ceremony something that would satisfy his heart. He had been through it, and, at the close, there was the sense that it was all of no use. The ceremony did not give him a solid basis on which to rest his soul.

The man was, no doubt, true, sincere and right in motive, but there was no need for his vain search after peace. The blessed Jesus was ready to speak the word of peace to him, only he was looking manward, to, the outward ceremonial, to something that he could see and hear. All the while the gracious Savior was saying to him, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The Savior gives rest by His word, and it is only when you have His word coming to you personally that you can afford to dismiss the great question of your guilt, once and forever, as a settled matter.

What was it that the blessed Master said to the woman who sought forgiveness of sins? “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” “Thy” The same forgiveness was for everyone who was in Capernaum to find, if they sought it. The sinful woman sought it. And to her the Lord said, “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”

Beloved friends, there is no other way of settling the great question. There is no other way of obtaining peace of soul, save by coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, and hearing His word to you:

Now, how was this man, Cornelius, to get such a word from Jesus? Jesus was gone. He had been here. He had left memories behind Him, sweet memories of His ministry, throughout Judaea and Galilee. The savor of the Presence that had been was not lost. What could Cornelius do but pray to God? And his prayer rose up as a memorial to God, a sweet sacrifice, as it were, to Him. He was one anxious and desiring to know for himself the fullness of the salvation of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ; and the man who seeks such knowledge shall not be disappointed. The Lord Himself was no longer in Palestine; but His ambassadors were. As He was sent into the world, so He sent His emissaries—the apostles—into the world to represent Him (John 17:18).

Accordingly, God sent His word to this man who was a Gentile, a Gentile soldier, one of the conquerors of God's ancient people. He sent the apostle Peter to speak the word to him that should dear his soul in its anxiety, and settle every doubt. Now, we know that Cornelius understood very definitely that Peter was coming to speak to him, that Peter was God's messenger to him, that he was directed to deliver God's word to him. Peter would be only the channel. The much-desired word was coming through him, and it would not be the word of a mere man When the centurion met Peter, and had gathered together his friends, he said: “Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.”

Dear friends, in the great question of the sin of a man's soul there are two persons concerned—the man himself and God. It is one of the cardinal truths of the gospel that in His grace the Savior God comes down to meet this individual need: It is a device of Satan to adulterate and corrupt the gospel, and to introduce some medium between God and the sinner. No, beloved friends, there is but one Mediator between God and man; the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. He sought the individual where he was, and now God is sending His word through the Scriptures to the individual.

There may be a word in my text to-night for some hearer personally. You may have a similar difficulty to Cornelius upon your heart. You know you have sinned, and want your sins forgiven, and you are asking, 'How am I to knew that they are forgiven? On what ground?' I do not know any possible trustworthy ground but God's holy word, and, having this, you need not fear all the powers of Satan. There is no power in this world, or under this world, which can destroy the imperishable word of God. The Lord said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.”

Here is the Bible. Here is God's word, but, beloved friends, you must receive it for yourself. You must be able to open this word and say: 'I know that, if there is no other person in the wide world, God is speaking to me.' It is comforting to that extent to know that God is speaking to others, and a person may well be rejoicing in this fact, but it is a different matter if I feel He may leave me out of the blessing, and while other persons have their sins forgiven, I am not included in the company. What a loss for me! The case of the new blessing which others had recently received must have been known to Cornelius, for Caesarea was not so far from Jerusalem, and the news spread rapidly of the people who were receiving the gospel. They had come into the town in the fullness of their joy, and spoken of the joys of their salvation. The sight of their ecstasy led Cornelius to pray, ‘Oh, that I knew my sins were forgiven! Oh, that I might have the remission of my sins!' And God sent Peter to speak to him this particular point of anxiety.

We have not much time to look into details of the apostolic visit, but will pass on to the particular moment when the word met Cornelius. Peter is referring, in the two verses I have read, to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he speaks first of all of Him risen from the dead, and ordained of God to be Judge of quick and dead. What is the special relation of this fact to the anxious man? What did this mean to the soul of Cornelius? Jesus ordained to be the Judge of quick and dead! Have you ever thought seriously of this, beloved friends? It is admittedly a commonly received truth. We know that Jesus Christ is the One who is coming to judge the quick and the dead, but have you ever considered what the prediction involves? The One who was once on this earth, stretched out upon the cross, in the place of shame (so far as this world's judgment is concerned), is He who not only rose from the dead, but into whose hand is placed the responsibility of the eternal judgment of men and women, whether they be alive or dead.

Friends, in the interests of eternal justice there is before us the great work of examining the lives of men and women, and adjudicating upon their words and deeds, and administrating due punishment, and the Person into whose hands this work is committed is that Holy Man who suffered on Calvary's cross. Is it not wonderful to contemplate that He will sit on His throne, and that the nations of the earth shall be gathered before Him, and that out of His mouth shall proceed the sentence of judgment? It is so. The Man whom the world despises is the One into whose hands is committed all judgment. Man regenerate or unregenerate has never paid adequate regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is many a person who is losing his way in the things that pertain to spiritual life, because he is seeking joy and rest apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. No man can neglect the veneration of Christ without serious loss. And the gospel of the grace of God is the one that exalts Jesus, and puts Him in the highest heavenly glory—a present Savior, a coming Judge. Would you not, then, like to be on the side of that Judge? Would you not like to have Him for you? If He is for you, oh! how good and blessed! If He assures you now concerning the forgiveness of your sins, oh! how safe must you be in the day of wrath which is to come!

There are persons—possibly Cornelius was one of them—who have that great day of judgment ever before their minds. They think of that time so awful, when all the world will be assembled before the throne, and will be there to be judged. They dread lest they shall then hear the word, “Depart from me"; and they say, 'I can never rest until that day is past.'

I am considering the case of those who are really in earnest, and seeking the salvation of their souls, and who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, but are fearful of what is to come. But, beloved friends, think that it is Jesus who will be there, and that He speaks to you now! What does He say to you now? Does He not say unto you, “I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish"? Does He not 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"? If the Judge Himself says to you, 'You shall not come into judgment!' you have this word for your reliance. If there is anyone who can speak to you about the time of judgment, surely it is the One who is ordained to judge the quick and the dead. And He says that the believer shall never come into judgment. Is this sufficient? Is this a word for you? Can you suppose for a moment that the robber on the cross, to whom the Lord said, “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise” —can you believe that this one shall yet be brought before the Lord as the Judge of quick and dead, to be judged, to decide whether heaven or hell shall be his eternal lot, he having been in the paradise of God now for some two thousand years? He had the Lord's word to him; and He said, “To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” It was to comfort and assure him in the last hours of his agony. And he passed in peace of heart into the presence of his Lord and Savior.

And so we just come back to this concise test. Have you received the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving unto you assurance for the future, as well as the forgiveness of your past sins?

But it was not only the fact that Jesus was ordained to be the Judge that Peter advanced. The apostle unfolded a further truth which Cornelius needed to know. He went on to say, “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” Jesus, risen from the dead, is Lord of all, not merely of the Jews. He is the Lord of all men and all things, for all things are put under His feet; and this too was meant to enlighten the centurion. Jesus, walking through this world, was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel; but, risen from the dead, there are for the Savior no national limits. There is no Gentile or Jew beyond the grave. There are here geographical distinctions that mark men off from one another, but beyond the grave there are none, and that is where the Lord of glory is. The risen Christ spoke through Peter as the One who had come out from among the dead; and His grace was flowing out to all men, as the prophets of old had given witness, that whosoever believeth in Him should receive remission of sins.

Cornelius found himself within the scope of this message. 'That is where I come in. That is exactly the word that addresses me.' Such clearly was his belief.

The force of this word of God is such that wherever a man is, whatever a man is, should he believe, he will receive remission of his sins. It is not a question of his bowing to some ceremony. A man is not required to be circumcised, to keep the law of Moses and thus be saved; such is not the truth of God in the gospel. The truth of God is that, whatever a sinner may be, let him come to the Savior as a sinner, and let him receive the remission of sins.

Then and there the word of the gospel entered Cornelius' heart, and he appropriated that word to himself. He said, 'It is for me,' and there were others with him, his household, his servants, all desirous to know the truth of God, and they found the same truth of God offered to them. “Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”

Beloved friends, I do earnestly beseech of you to consider upon what ground you are resting this night in this matter. Is it upon the word of God spoken directly to yourself? Have you at some point in your past history come to this position—that if God did not speak to you, if He did not dear away the doubts from your heart, no one else could, and then God in His word did come to you? Some particular text, some particular truth has flashed like a light from heaven to your soul, and you have known that God is for you. This knowledge God gives through His word. “We know” is the sincere language of faith. The man who believes the word of God is the man who knows it.

There are persons who affirm that it is presumption on man's part to say that his sins are forgiven. How can he know? Such knowledge would be in if God had not spoken. I do not think that we who rejoice in God's word, rejoice sufficiently in this fact, that God has spoken to us in this Book. Amid all the uncertainties of this time, and the great national struggle, causing men to wonder what lies beyond, oh! how we ought to thank God for that which never fails, His blessed, holy word! Here it is, as it was spoken of old. We have it now, in all its perfection, unchanged and unchangeable. It is for you and for me, but each heart must take hold of it.

I know that there are men who are proud of this book, that is, the book that is printed. They say there is no other book like it in the world. This is true. They say that it has made national history; but, beloved friends, there is another question, a deeper question than this, which it solves. Here am I, a responsible person, and where God has put me I have failed most miserably. I have despised God's precepts, and what is going to be the result of it? Is there not a word there for me, the erring and disobedient? It is very easy to speak of a Bible which is being sent forth to help and bless nations, and to bring men out of barbarism and into civilization. But, a man may say, ‘How about the sins of which I am guilty? God knows that I have despised His Son, and there are many sins I have committed, and I am responsible for them.'

Now this book speaks to the individual as the apostle Peter spoke to Cornelius. The word was for him, and, when received by him, the clouds dispersed, the doubts disappeared, and the man, gladdened by the sunshine of God's word, was a saved man in the full sense of the Scriptural term. To be saved, beloved friends, is not only to have the benefits procured by our Lord Jesus Christ, but to know that we have passed from death into life, and that whatever may come upon us, whatever may betide us in the future, all is well.

Have you observed the sequel to this preaching? The Spirit of God fell upon every person who was there, every man, every woman was sealed by the Holy Spirit. God thereby marked them out as His own, and they were subsequently baptized, and received into the company of God's people. This was not the admission of Gentile believers into the place of God's ancient people here upon earth. On the contrary, it was a new thing; Jews and Gentiles are now one—equally believing in Him, equally accepted by Him, equally rejoicing in His name, and equally possessed of His great salvation.

Oh, beloved friends, I ask you whether you know for yourself the salvation of God. In order to do so you have to come, personally, individually, with your sins, to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not sufficient, however, to come to Him. It is necessary that you should continue in the attitude of expectation and entreaty until you meet God, and learn the truth about yourself on the authority of God's holy word. Do not trust a man like yourself. Do not trust a fellow mortal. Do not let anyone deceive you. Lay hold of God's word for yourself. A man, wittingly or unwittingly, may lead you astray. You can only trust One; that One is the Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks through this holy Book to you, and He who died for your sins, He who suffered for you on the tree, He is the One who says to you, “Thy sins are forgiven.”

Let me say just one further word before parting. Some may have this difficulty which I will specify. And it is a difficulty which the more earnest Christian is not unlikely to have. There are many who start with a fervent determination that henceforward they will please Him at all costs, live for Him, shine for Him, be His good soldiers in this world. They seek to find from the Scripture what they must do, and everything seems joyous and happy and bright, and they can hardly believe the truth about themselves, they are so full of joy, and they are full of desire that everybody may be like them, just resting and trusting on the Lord Jesus Christ; and then something untoward happens. One day there is a disaster. From their mouths something comes which is so unexpectedly evil. They say, 'Surely, I cannot be a true disciple of Christ, or I should not have said or done this.' However, they try again, and find that a similar thing occurs before long, and they become very sorrowful and downcast, after vainly struggling again and again, and they have to confess themselves more prone to fall than they could have conceived. They know that they have done wrong. They say, 'Well, it is worse for me now than when I knew nothing of Christ. I know there is no love like His; He died for me, and, knowing that He died for me, I still go contrary to His will, and I do really what I do not want to do. I cannot seem to help myself.' And then they think they are lost after all, and are plunged into a gulf of darkness and despair. They felt when they came to the Lord, that their sins, and all the past, were obliterated, but now, after receiving the forgiveness of sins, they have gone wrong. What about that terrible disaster in their Christian pilgrimage? How about these sins? Satan says, ‘Your sins are now very different from what they were once, for you now know His love and yet you have sinned against Him.' Satan says, There is no hope for you. The salvation is for the sinner who does not know God's will.’

Beloved friends, such a state is true of thousands. They are clear as daylight as to the sins they committed before their conversion, but stumbled because of present failure. But, remember, there is one Person who will deal with all your sins. This is the One who died for your sins. You will have to come to Him and confess your sins to Him. You will have to own, with shame, that, having known His love, you have despised it. And you will find that His love and forgiveness will come to you sweeter than ever. You will find that another word of His will come to you, and say that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” “The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin.”

Dear friends, the remission of sins is the Divine act which covers everything. 'Oh, but,' you say, ‘my sin is after my conversion.' That is true, but when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, God knew, not only what you would commit up to the time of your conversion, but He also knew what you would be after your conversion. It is a sad thing that you should be so weak and willful, and that after knowing His love, and tasting something of the sweetness of His salvation, such a grievous failure should be true of you; but there is the grave fact, which God knew before He sent out the sweet invitation of His love to you.

Therefore, beloved friends, if you are on the way to God, to that bright place above, and if your face is towards Him who died upon the cross, who is now there, the Lord Jesus Christ will receive you and forgive you in spite of all your failure, if you will but come to Him and believe in Him. The truth is just this. “Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” It does not mean that we just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ one day in our history. There was a day when we first looked to the Lord Jesus Christ, a day of days in our history; but His gospel that we believe is to put away all doubts, once and forever. The terms are “Whosoever believeth,” that is, yesterday, to-day, and throughout life. You have to continue to believe. You have to look in faith, and not to take your eyes away from Him, who is the Source of strength to those who conquer, and of forgiveness to those who fail.

I just leave this passage with you. “Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” Is that word for you personally? Take it home to yourself, and in the light of God's holy presence, do you know, and are you certain, positive, within your own soul, that God therein speaks to you? It is no use looking at the matter from any other than a personal standpoint in order to get peace for your heart. You can rejoice over the conversion of other people, but first of all it must be realized in your own soul, and then, standing on redemption ground for yourself, you can rejoice with a deeper joy in the blessing, as it goes out to others. May God bless His word.

W.J.H.

Babylon and the Beast: 1

There are two forms of evil and rebellion against God which the Holy Spirit brings before us in this chapter, two figures more prominent than the rest, instruments of iniquity in the world since redemption, which the enemy has used and will yet use against God and His Christ. The first, as we clearly see, is the harlot or “great whore that sitteth upon many waters;” the second is what is called “the beast.” Now there need not be any uncertainty as to either in the mind of a true-hearted believer. God has been pleased to give us distinct marks by which we may discern and be sure of His mind.

It is not to be admitted that the intimations of prophecy are equivocal until they are accomplished. On the other hand there are prophecies unquestionably fulfilled which are still far from being plain. The difficulty therefore depends on other conditions than the question of whether they be already fulfilled or not. Take, for instance, the seventy weeks of Daniel. It will not be disputed by any intelligent mind that at any rate sixty-nine of those weeks have been accomplished. No doubt there has been, and there is, a good deal of debate as to the seventieth week; but there are difficulties about the previous sixty-nine weeks no less than about the last. In fact, it would be easy enough to prove that the obscurity which overhangs the last week is considerably less than that which still rests for many Christians on the previous parts of that short but most striking prophecy, as, for instance, on the starting point of them all.

The fact is certain that people very commonly make difficulties for themselves in the word of God. Constantly too that which is regarded as the chief or only adequate means of enlightenment, if it be a mistake, complicates the whole matter, and darkens the subject instead of ensuring clearness. The true key of all prophecy is the very same that applies to all the Bible; it is Christ Himself. Were there greater singleness of eye in introducing the Lord Jesus into prophetic scripture in His real relation in each case, I am persuaded there would be incomparably more spiritual intelligence and communion, more of that happy and united conviction which is the fruit of faith and of the Spirit's own teaching, than exists at present. It is clear, however, that this is but a particular case of the hindrance everywhere. The temptation for students of the Bible is to leave Christ out for canons of exegesis and I know not what; the triumph of faith is to bring Christ in. So it will be found in this particular case.

Thus in the present case the woman is a totally different symbol from the beast, but both the woman and the beast are only understood when we compare them with the man Christ Jesus. He too appears in Scripture, and sometimes symbolically. For instance, in this very book the Lord Jesus is introduced in some prophetic parts. Take chapter 12 as an instance, where He is viewed as the male of might or man-child, as He is called in our version. For man the true moral glory is dependence on God and obedience, the very qualities of the spirit and walk of Jesus here below. He came to do God's will, and lived, as He says, on account of the Father, perfect man, though infinitely more than man-complete contrast of him who, only man, sought to be as God in independence of will, and sunk into the slavery of Satan. Clearly therefore it is in relation to the Lord Jesus that we have another subject there described as the woman of whom He is born, who can therefore be none other than Israel (Rom. 9:5). She is not in the relation of wife to Him like the church, but of mother. No matter what number of men may say the contrary, the word of God is clear and decisive on the momentous difference. People are the more apt to confound the two, because the constant tendency throughout Christendom is to mix the relationships of the Jew and the Christian together, in standing and in walk, in doctrine and in hope.

In this case, however (chapter 17.), a corrupt woman is seen; as in chapter 21 The bride, the Lamb's wife. I the more freely speak of it, because there are outward signs which place them in contrast, or lead us of themselves to compare the two women. One outward sign referred to is that the Spirit of God introduces the two visions with striking similarity. “And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show thee the judgment of the great whore that sifted} upon many waters.” Then in chapter 21:9 we read, “And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.” Who can deny that these two verses have a stronger analogy than any others in the book? You can find nothing that so answers (it is true, in the way of contrast), for chapters 17 and 21 in this respect suggest each other. We never hear of one of the seven angels coming to show any other object; nor do we elsewhere hear of another object introduced with, “Come hither, and I will show thee” —this or that. Why so? Because, as is evident, the woman in chapter 17 is the earthly counterpart of the bride in chapter 21.

If the holy city, new Jerusalem of the later chapter, be the bride the Lamb's wife, or the glorified church, it naturally indicates that the great city of the earlier chapter is the antichurch, that corrupt evil body which professes to be the church, puts herself forward with supreme claims, and takes the highest ground in the Lord's name. But there is this fatal brand on her: Babylon seeks the earth; her communion is not with Christ. She courts and lavishes her guilty favors on the kings of the earth. She is the channel neither of blessing nor of glory for the dwellers on the earth, but only makes them drunk with the wine of her fornication. Can any traits be conceived more aptly descriptive of her who claims to be the representative of Christ, not in grace and suffering, but for her own pride and advantage on earth? We shall see other features less obvious but equally characteristic. What I am now stating lies on the surface of the scripture; and any one who reads the word of God as it is intended to be read—not merely a verse here or there and now or again—will not be disappointed. The connections of scripture should be looked into, as that which is given us to be read as a whole with faith and diligence, relying on God's goodness and wisdom, whose Spirit will lead us into all the truth.

Thus then the woman of chapter 17 is unmistakably the earthly contrast of the heavenly bride; a religious system, but a counterfeit, claiming to be the spouse of Christ, but only vile and corrupt in His sight, expressly pointed out by the revealing Spirit, in order to guard His people from being in any way carried away by her seductions or overmuch surprised by her persecutions. We have therefore the prophet brought in presence of this system in the vision. There was as yet only the mystery of lawlessness at work. Although the time was not yet come for the display of the fact, the apostle was permitted to see Babylon in the vision. “Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore.” God gives us next the stamp that is written upon her, and, more than this, the execution that will follow in due time. For she is one “with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” Intellectual men, even those that might seem opposed, have often looked at this corrupt religious system with a considerable measure of satisfaction. They have admired the way in which she softened the barbarism of past times, and pruned away much of the asperity of savage tribes, whether of the heathen in earlier days or of men in the middle ages. But when the Spirit of God brings the prophet into his due place to regard this woman, we find only a wilderness. Babylon is seen where all was barren as far as divine enjoyment was concerned. No springs of living water were found there. “He carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness.” Whatever may have been the civilizing effects of Babylon in the world, the Spirit of God sees in her only an object of divine judgment. It is so that she is pointed out to the prophet

“And I saw a woman,” says he, “sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” Here we have the other symbol It is not one that pretended to be the spouse of the Lord, whilst really the basest of prostitutes. A “beast” is used for an imperial power in Scripture, but this with force indeed, but without intelligence or conscience, in plain contrast with Him who is called the “Lamb,” the Lord Jesus viewed as the holy Sufferer; the same too who, in contrast with the beasts, will introduce the kingdom as the glorious Son of man. Jesus will hold the kingdom and openly administer it to the glory of God. This is its object as far as He is concerned “that every knee should bow, and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Not so the beasts. Whatever the powers so characterized may appear in the history of man, whatever may be their sphere or dignity, whatever the spread of art and science under any of them, whatever the nominal profession too of truth gathered from the Jews in former days, or from Christianity at the present time—God represents them as “beasts.” The reason is obvious. The essential difference between a beast and a man is, that the beast has no understanding of God, and is incapable of it, being only bent on its wants, or natural instincts: but there is no link of relationship with God in the conscience. Not so with man. He may be faithless; and so much the worse for him. He may reject the knowledge of the true God. He may be spiritually what Nebuchadnezzar became physically; that is to say, he may have a beast's heart given to him. Of course this was a miraculous judgment, Lamentations that was executed on the arrogant Chaldean; but it is morally applicable to every man who abandons the testimony of God, and gives himself up to the mere passing enjoyments of the moment.

In short then the beast represents an earthly power which owns not God, and has no thought beyond its own enjoyment, will, or passions. This was what stamped the beasts from the beginning. They were the powers that God raised up in His sovereign action when Israel became faithless. God then permitted the most cruel enemies of Israel to become world-kingdoms. There was Babylon first; there was Medo-Persia secondly; there was Greece or Macedonia thirdly; and, last of all there was the Roman empire. Imperial Rome had a most special place as well as ancient Babylon. For the Babylonian, being the first power that God owned, became typical of the last power in its judgment. In fact, however, the last empire had historically a most striking place in the providence of God. It was that power which in its servants or officials was guilty of the rejection and crucifixion of the Lord of glory. The Roman empire therefore had the most serious responsibility, little as they felt it; and you must remember, that in the government or God there is nothing forgotten. Who will not prove this true when he stands before the judgment-seat of Christ? There is nothing that can be hid. You will give an account of everything. Not that this should produce the smallest alarm in a child of God; but it is a solemn consideration. “We shall all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ.” It does not matter as to this whether a person be a believer or an unbeliever: all done by the body will be made manifest.

On a similar principle in the government of the world, nothing is forgotten before God—least of all the fact that an imperial power in this world which was set for just government rose up in its blind, guilty, folly, and allowed any reasons or excuses whatsoever to sanction the death of the Lord Jesus. And this the Roman empire did, though its representative in Judea well knew how wrong he was to suffer it. Under pressure of the people set on by the priests he did it, as a matter of public policy perhaps; certainly of expediency for himself as Caesar's friend, or to avoid possible trouble. It is often if not almost always so that the greatest crimes are winked at in this world, as far as its governmental authorities are concerned.

But there is another state of things in Babylon. For there is a great difference between the woman and the man in the world of nature, now corrupted, not with a beast's heart only without conscience before God, but even viewed as a beast. The empires ought to have served God like the Son of man, but in point of fact they were symbolically but beasts in pride of force and will without God.

(To be continued)

[W.K.]

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Lecture on Nehemiah 1

Chap. 1

The book we enter upon to-night gives us the last view of the people of God in the Old Testament as far as their history is concerned; hence, it has a very deep interest for us. It is the last time for the Jew; as we are now called out in the last time for God's people here below. That last time for us began, as we know, before the last apostle was taken away, that God might give us distinctive, definite, divine instruction; not merely a sober and sound judgment drawn from Scripture, but that the Holy Ghost might be able to tell us distinctly that it is the last time. Thus we see most dearly then the strong analogy on the surface of it between the Words that were spoken about Israel in those days and the position which the goodness of God has given to us now. I do not say this to set our imagination at work, but that we may gather the instruction which the Holy Ghost has given us—that which He tells us of the remnant that had returned, and of their state.

There is a considerable difference in the tone, between the Book of Ezra and that of Nehemiah. Ezra shows us the remnant returning from Babylon and first gathering together in Jerusalem—in the land. The Book of Nehemiah shows us the same remnant at a later epoch—the last that Scripture shows us historically. Malachi, no doubt, falls in with Nehemiah, just as Zechariah and Haggai move with Ezra. Haggai and Zechariah were a little before Malachi These will enable us, therefore, to connect the prophecy of these books of Scripture with the history.

But the first thing I wish to advert to, as a matter of practical profit for our own souls, is this the spirit which imbues all the conduct of Nehemiah. He was the instrument that God formed for His own glory in the circumstances that now come before us. We shall find that there is a peculiar propriety in this book, without in the least wishing to affirm that all that Nehemiah did or said was according to God's mind and thoughts. Not so. After all, he was but a man—a man of God, but a man. Still, that the Holy Ghost wrought powerfully by this man, and that what was wrought for God's own glory then is communicated to us for our profit now—who would deny?

What, then, is the first great and marked feature? What is the great moral trait that characterizes Nehemiah? We shall find it, not only at the beginning, but all though, from first to last. It is, I venture to say, a deep and constant sense of the ruined state of God's people. Nothing more important for us! It does not, at all follow that, because we who live in this day are the Lord's, we possess this feeling, any more than did they because they were really Israelites. They were Israelites just as truly as Nehemiah. but who entered most imperfectly into the mind of God about the state of His people. Yet it is evident that such a primary judgment affects the whole course of our service, of our prayers, of our worship. We are either in communion with God—I do not mean about ourselves, but about His people—or we are not. If we are working with one thought and God with another—if we cherish one field, and God, on the contrary, has a little different one—it is evident that whatever may be the goodness of God in maintaining us, there, nevertheless, must be a divergence from His affections, as well as from that sound judgment which ought to be found in the child of God; for, very evidently, all that is true and holy and good and for God's glory depends upon our being in the current of God's mind and work. Nehemiah was, and Nehemiah had to be, content with but a scanty portion of the remnant. This is a sorrowful feeling, but we must always face the truth. This did not make Nehemiah slight the remnant. His reason for regarding them with peculiar affection, whether they were walking well or walking ill, was that they were God's People.

They had lost the title now, and this is a very important thing to bear in mind. As a people, what God had written upon them now was not merely Ichabod: the glory was departed long, long before. The glory was departed when the ark was taken by the Philistines; but they had been taken themselves and carried down, not merely into Philistia, but into Babylon. The great power that symbolizes idolatry had carried them captive. A remnant was returned, but little had they learned the lesson of God. Outwardly they had, no doubt, profited by it. We never find them returning to idolatry after this; still, they had very little sense of the glory of God which they had lost. Now, this was what characterizes Nehemiah. There are two things, beloved brethren, and if there be a failure in either, there is the greatest loss for the soul. One is to hold fast, on the one hand, the greatness of the ruin, and the other is to hold fast, on the other hand, the faithfulness of God, spite of that ruin. These were found, and they were found together in Nehemiah. The Lord grant that they may be found in us! We need both, and we never can be really answering to what God looks for from us unless we enter into both in communion with Him, and are enabled to hold fast both.

Now, there are many things that tend to make us forget. Supposing we are brought together in the name of the Lord, and He gives us a marked flow of the sense of His presence: we are in danger of forgetting the ruined state of the church. We begin to be, not merely thankful, which is always right, but we begin to be satisfied. With what? No doubt, it appears to be with the grace of God towards us. Yes, but we are in danger of actually being satisfied with ourselves. We are happy: quite right, but do we still carry the sense of ruin? Is it not a grief and a burden—the scattering of the members of Christ—the deep desolation of all that bears His name—everything that is done throughout this wide world against the Lord? What is that object upon our hearts? What the Pope is about? What Protestants are about? What is done by everything that bears the name of the Lord Jesus? Why, have we got anything to do with that? We ought to have—I will not say something to do with it, but we ought to feel much about it. We ought to be burdened by whatever tarnishes the glory of the Lord Jesus; and, therefore, the moment we sever ourselves in heart from that which bears the name of the Lord Jesus upon earth, and settle ourselves down in the comfort and in the enjoyed presence of the Lord, we are altogether wrong in the most fundamental principle of God as to that which befits us in the present state of the church of God.

See how Nehemiah feels. Personally, he was surrounded by every kind of comfort. It was a sorry exchange, as far as that went, to abandon the court of the great king and to go into all the desolations of the land and of Jerusalem; and, after all, it might be easily a matter of reasoning to him, Why should I trouble myself about Judaea? It was because of our sins that we were driven out, and it is evident that the people who are there are altogether unworthy. They are behaving themselves without a thought or care for the glory of God. Why should I trouble myself about it? Has not God said, “Not my people"? Has He not taken away all that place of honor in which we were once? Why should I trouble myself more about it? It is all done with. It is no good to think of the people of God. It is only a question of the soul individually. All I have to do is to serve the Lord where I am. So he might have reasoned. No doubt whatever, Nehemiah was a pious man, and he was in a place; too, where he might have enjoyed his piety. He does not seem to have been under any restraint. He was evidently respected and valued by the great king. He was in a position of high responsibility, for you must not confound the place of a servant in modern days with that which was enjoyed by Nehemiah here.

The cup-bearer, in those days, was one who stood in nearest intimacy to the king, and, more particularly, to the king of Persia. You are aware that they made themselves extremely little before the eyes of their servants. As to their people—their subjects—they did not allow them to see them except on comparatively rare occasions. This grew up more and more among them, and it was always, through the jealousy and fear of men, a very responsible position, because the way. that many of the subjects retaliated upon the haughtiness and pride of these kings was by forsaking their masters and getting rid of them. The cup-bearer, therefore, was one that stood in one of the most delicate and responsible positions in the empire. He was one who had the life of the king more particularly under his command—if I may say so—and he who is in this position was, practically, in a place of most intimate relationship to the king-a sort of vizier or prime minister to the king, to a certain extent. Nehemiah had the king's confidence, as we can clearly see, and was not interfered with as to his conscience, but his heart was with the people of God.

He reminds us, in this closing book, of that which we find near the beginning of the history of God's people. Moses, the leader of the people out of Egypt, had just the very same feeling for the people of God. Providentially delivered, brought into the house of Pharaoh's daughter, with the very brightest prospects, why should not he use them? Why should not he wait and employ his influence to bring the people out? Why should not he release them from their burdens gradually? Had he put it to the vote of Israel, I cannot doubt that they would have come to that conclusion. They would have said that no way would have been so excellent, so wise, so prudent as for Moses just to wait a little. He had, at that time, one foot, you may say, upon the throne. It would have been comparatively easy for him, for we do not hear of Pharaoh's son: we hear of Pharaoh's daughter. He could have easily gained that position which his genius would naturally entitle him to. Changes of dynasty were always very easily made in the Eastern world in ancient times, so that nothing would have seemed, therefore, a more providential opening than what God had given to Moses. But no; he loved the people, and, what was more than that, he loved God. He had the sense of what God's glory was, and a sense that God must act according to His own glory, and that there was no other way of blessing the people.

So now Nehemiah—as Moses at the beginning so he at the end of the history—the one before they were formed into a people—the other after. “Not my people,” was written upon them—the same spirit, though in totally different circumstances. And so his heart was filled with grief. It was nothing personal; it was purely the grief of love, but it was the grief of love according to God. It was the love of the people because they were His people, even though God had blotted out their title. Still, there was the fact, and he knew right well that although God had cast off the people for a season it was not forever, and that the title of “My people” will shine in Israel more brilliantly than ever when the Messiah takes them up again—when they turn in heart and repent before Him, and He vindicates and delivers them.

Nehemiah, then, loved the people of God, at the very time when they had lost their title—when they were being chastised for their grievous faults and sins against God—at a time when it seemed, for, example, the most reasonable thing to give them up. Had not God given them up? Why, then, should Nehemiah feel so much about them? Why should he pine about a people that were so utterly unworthy? That was not the least a question for him. He knew that there was upon earth only the remnant of that people, most guilty and most justly punished, but nevertheless, the people of God, with whom God's plans of blessing and grace for the earth are bound up. He knew that there, and there only, was the Messiah to be born—that there the Christ was to come among that people and in that land. His heart, therefore, turns to Jerusalem. It might be in ruin, and it was: but there his heart turns.

Now, I should like to ask, beloved friends, whether that is the case with us, for the church of God is more to God than ever Israel was; and not more truly was Israel a people that had lost their place, than the church now is as an outward thing here below. The guilt of Christendom, I have no hesitation in saying, is worse than that of Israel. Incomparably more blest, it is incomparably more guilty, for the guilt is always in proportion to the mercies perverted or abused. Nevertheless, I dare to say that we ought to love the church, not merely the gospel, or the Lord, only; but, if we enter into the feelings of Christ, we shall know that Christ loves the church; and, therefore, to merely satisfy ourselves with the mercies which the Lord shows us would be just like Nehemiah blessing God for what he enjoyed in the palace of the great king, and being content to be without a thought and without a care and without a tear and without a prayer for the people of God. But not so. All his heart, as far as objects upon earth were concerned, was set upon them, and his grief was because of the way in which that people of God was now falling short of what was due to His glory here below. Hence, therefore, we see his weeping and mourning. “I sat down,” as he says; “and mourned certain days and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven.” And he pours out his heart to Him, and he confesses, and confesses, too, in a way which shows that there was no self-righteousness about it. He includes himself. “We have sinned against Thee, both I and my father's house have sinned.” There is no isolation of his spirit from this confession of the failure. He feels his own part, and so much the more because he was faithful, for it is never persons who are most guilty that are most ready to confess. It is when you are out of the guilt of the sin that you can the more thoroughly confess the sin before God. While you are still under the darkness and cloud of it, you are not in a spirit of confession; but when the grace of God has lifted your head above it, shining upon you from above, then indeed you can confess thoroughly to God. Now Nehemiah could thus feel. We can easily see from his general spirit that, by the grace of God, he was a man walking with the Lord, and could feel things clearly, and could feel things rightly, and his heart was free to occupy itself about God's people. So he owns their failure, their departure, their utter dishonor; but he cries to God.

[W. K.]

The Christian Calling and Hope: 5

It is only when the kingdom comes that the outpouring of the Spirit will be for them. They will go through a very serious process first. When they see the Lord Jesus they will mourn as for an only child. They will have a fountain opened in Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness; but the power of the Holy Ghost will be given only when they have seen the Lord. So far, it is quite different with the Christian, who, as you know, receives the oil or unction from the Holy One while the Lord is away. The Jewish remnant will only receive it when the Lord comes back. Again, they will not go forth from Jerusalem until the tribulation is at hand. It is a fleeing from the enemy's power and its consequences. It is a flight from the sore scourge in retribution and judgment for their iniquity; it is no going forth to meet in joy.

For the Christian has another course and hope altogether. Whether it be light or dark, the Christian goes forth to meet the Bridegroom. What is the original hope of the Christian? It is our object and calling revealed in and from heaven. That object is Christ, the blessed One, whose coming he awaits: hence he goes forth to meet the Bridegroom. Not so the Jewish remnant; they expect to see the Lord coming to deliver them by the putting down of their enemies. The Christian waits to be called up out of the world; the Jew waits for the Lord to come into the world. It is a totally different expectation. The parable speaks solely of the Christian. It does not refer to the Jewish remnant.

We shall see more proof of this. It is said that the wise took oil in their vessels: the foolish took no oil. This meets another error. It has been supposed that the foolish virgins mean Christians who are not pre-millenarians, which gives a very undue value to correct notions of prophecy. I grant you entirely that those who look for the Lord to come before that reign are in my judgment right; and I am quite sure that those who put the millennium before the Lord's coming are mistaken. But I can never sympathize with those who put a slight upon such Christians as have not been taught as you and I. These are self-flattering delusions, and are mere manifestations that bear the brand of sect or school written on them. I am persuaded that the best blessings we have are those which God confers on the body of Christ. That is to say, all those in whom the Holy Ghost dwells—those who rest on Christ and redemption. These are the men spoken of here. The Holy Ghost is a divine spring for sustaining testimony, as well as a divine power of understanding the word of God.

The foolish virgins never had oil. Some ask how can they have had their lamps burning. The answer is easy. They could burn the wick: there is no mystery about that. The foolish virgins were no Christians at all. The weakest Christian has the oil, as well as the strongest. The apostle John so tells not the fathers, nor the young men, but the babes, the little children. He tells the feeblest they have the unction from the Holy One. For those who had no oil could not be Christians. Hence a deeper evil is in question than denying the millennium to be after Christ's second coming or before it. The heart was wrong as to the Lord—a thing more momentous than right notions about prophecy.

If you have Christ, if you know the blood of sprinkling, if you rest on a crucified and risen Savior, you surely have the oil in your vessels. You are not one of the foolish virgins. Their folly consisted in something much more than in a right or wrong prophetic scheme. The foolish lived despising God and His grace; and, consequently, not having the Spirit of Christ, they were none of His. The foolish virgins have not the Holy Spirit; so the Lord says and deals with them.

We often think of the early Christians with their great advantages, we see that many of the Scriptures apply to them fully—we can only get the principle of them. I will call your attention to the fact here that there are other Scriptures which apply more emphatically to us now. There is thus what I may call a divine compensation. We can only take the general spirit of what was said to the Corinthians. For instance, they had tongues; they had miraculous powers among them. You know that we have them not, we have a few persons who pretend to have them: wherever there are pretensions to such gifts, their falsity is soon found out.

The fact is that God, for the wisest reasons, has not been pleased to continue these miraculous powers. The present condition of the church would make it to be a moral impossibility the God should bestow any of these miraculous virtues. For if the Lord were to restore them now, I should like to ask where? Most people would begin with themselves. If the Lord were to bestow these powers upon the various sects of Christendom, it would be putting His seal upon all the sects, and so call the attention of the world to the divisions of Christendom as if all right.

The Lord could not thus sanction the broken fragments of His house, or put this honor upon its actual condition. We are ready to be high enough, we are prone enough to think more highly of ourselves than we ought, and the Lord will not help us to be more so.

But He has left what is infinitely better-He continues everything for the soul which walks with God. He has taken away nothing needful for edification. He still gives peace and joy in believing. As He put, besides, this outward sign on the church, so He marked it of old with a brilliant signature, as it were, before the world. Those who look for the restoration of these powers are not alive to the fallen condition of the church. I hold it to be most important to the Christian to know what the church was and what it is, and to grieve before God for the difference. I have no sympathy with the Christian now who is not a mourner because of the state of the church. It is well to have joy in the Lord, but we should be humbled about ourselves and the church. You ought to feel deeply this condition for the Lord's sake. In this parable, you will observe, the Lord marks the failure from the original calling. “While the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.” There is a state of forgetfulness of the Lord's return.

But now mark another thing: it is midnight, and there was a cry, made, “Behold, the Bridegroom [cometh]; go forth to meet him.” Has that been fulfilled? I believe it has, or rather that it is being fulfilled now. The Lord has interposed to break the present slumbering condition of Christendom, doing so not only for the wise, but for the foolish.

Have there not been times when men were filled with the thought that the Lord was coming, when they have yielded to sore panic at the cry that the end of the world was coming? In the year boo they were sure it was just come. But time passed on, and the end of the world did not come. They slumbered again. Then, in the year 1000 (surely 1000 was the fatal number!), there was a yet greater alarm all over western Christendom, and the clergy took advantage of this, and got the barons and people to give their gold and their silver, lands and houses, to build grand cathedrals and religious houses, some of which, if I mistake not, exist to the present day. This fear passed away, and the end of the world did not come. Then there was a very long slumber indeed.

I do not deny there have been partial awakenings at various times since, but they were of the same character. At the period of the great rebellion, when the Puritans got into power in England, there was a momentary shaking in this country; and bold men rose up, who tried to establish the Fifth Monarchy, or present power in the world in the name of the Lord Jesus. Movements such as these took place at various epochs; but where was the going out to meet the Bridegroom? There was not even a resemblance to it.

In past ages then there was alarm, sometimes to the utmost degree; and this state is represented in the well-known mediaeval hymn and music, “Dies Irae,” the extreme expression of Catholic terror. Such was the feeling of the middle ages. Since then, in later times, Protestant fanatics tried to get power into their hands. But this is like seizing the earth, not quitting all to meet Christ.

The momentous fact is that two spiritual characteristics, very distinct from ancient or mediaeval or modern views, mark off truth from error as to this. Are we not to be humbled because of the evil that has been done in Christendom? And are we not practically to take our stand on what was the Lord's will from the first? If the Lord at the outset called the virgins to go out to meet Him, they should ever cherish this as their calling and joy of heart. The consequence of a revival of the Christian hope of meeting the Lord is a resumption of the original position, that of going out to meet the Bridegroom. How could believers honestly continue in what they know to be false and unscriptural if they look for the Lord to come back any day? Thus the practical effect is immediate and immense where heart and conscience are true to Him.

Once more come the foolish virgins to the wise, saying, “Give us of your oil"; but this is beyond the Christian, and the wise bid them “Go buy oil for yourselves.” There is One who sells, but freely, without money and without price: to buy even from an apostle is fatal.

What is the meaning of all the recent agitation? People zealous for religious forms, who know nothing of Christianity. It is the foolish virgins in quest of the oil, leaving no stone unturned to get what they have not, the one thing needful—taking every way except the right way. There is only one means of procuring the oil. It is solely through Christ Himself, without money and without price. I remember the time when men who would bear the name of the Lord's ministers spent their time in fishing, hunting, shooting, and dancing. Clergymen joined in worldly pleasures without shame. You rarely hear of such things now. The same sort of men now-a-days look very demure: they are in general busy everywhere about religion. Do you believe they are any better than the men who used to hunt and dance? All the fashionable ecclesiastical millinery or machinery, does it alter people's state or suppose it altered? The decking of ecclesiastical buildings, the fantastical costumes of clergymen, the modern taste for church music, simply show that the foolish virgins are at work. They are not in a fit state to meet the Lord, and know it themselves. They are troubled with the rumor of they know not what. The consequence, then, of this midnight cry is that a double activity is going on. For the Lord is awakening those who know Himself, who are wise by His grace, to go forth and meet the Bridegroom. The others, if indirectly, are none the less powerfully affected by the cry and its effects. Utterly ignorant of the grace of God, they are trying to make up by what is called “earnestness.” But they know not that they are far from God, yea, dead in trespasses and sin. So they think, or hope, that being earnest hey may somehow or other get right at last. What delusion can be more dreadful? If you ask them whether their sins are blotted out, and they are saved, they count it presumption. They are as ignorant of the true power and privilege of redemption as the heathen or the Jew. They have no idea that the Son of man came down to save the lost. Indeed if there be such a thing as salvation, their occupation is evidently gone. Neither grace nor truth admits of all this religious self-importance and bustle. As sinners we need a Savior, and a divine salvation; as saints we want a calm but complete devotedness to the will of the Lord Jesus. But man prefers his own works; and to win the world he finds that scenic representations of Christian facts or forms act most on the masses, and attract the light, sentimental, or even profane. Individuals in the midst of such seek to win souls, yet they subject Christ Himself to the church. It is just the bustle of the foolish virgins, who have not the oil and want to get it as soon as they can.

At length the Bridegroom comes, and “they that were ready went in to the marriage, and the door was shut!”

Afterward come the foolish virgins. Now they cry, but it is with horror and despair. Religious activity is at length seen to be of the old man. In an agony they cry, “Lord, Lord, open to us.” But the Lord of peace, the Giver of life and glory, has only to tell them “I know you not.” Do not tell me this is said about real believers. It is said of the foolish virgins who had no oil; of those who bore the name of the Lord, but had not the Holy Ghost. Of and to them it was said that the Lord knew them not. “Watch, therefore,” says He, “for ye know neither the day nor the hour.”

There is no authority for what follows ("wherein the Son of man cometh"). You have heard the names of Griesbach, Scholz, Lachmann, and Tischendorf; of Dean Alford, Bishop Wordsworth, and Dr. Tregelles in this country. I am not giving you a peculiar thought in the least, for all Biblical critics worthy of the name agree in this omission as required by the best authorities. Copyists added the clause from ch. 24, bringing in the sense of the coming Judge. But this is quite different from what the Lord here urges, which is the delight of meeting, yea, the going forth to meet Him, the Bridegroom. Man, as such, must be judged; all tribes of the earth mourn before the Son of man. But the calling and hope of the Christian is fraught with other and joyous expectations; and this spite of their unfaithfulness during the night whilst He tarried.

If the faithful and wise servant, contrasted with “that evil servant,” set forth the general place of the servant of the Lord, faithful or the contrary, the parable of the talents shows us those who trade with the goods of Christ, and that goodness in this work turns on confidence in Him and His grace (verses 14-36).

Then, from verse 31 to the end, we have the judgment of the Gentiles, or all the nations, by the Son of man when He returns and reigns. Those who treated well or ill His messengers, “His brethren,” who proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom before the end, are severed to His right hand or left respectively, as the sheep or the goats. It is the judgment of the quick at the beginning of the millennial reign, as far as the nations are concerned. But that judgment is final. It is not the judgment of the dead, or of the secrets of the heart. The one question for decision is their conduct towards His brethren, or the Jewish preachers of the kingdom after the Christians are gone from the scene. Faith only will enable any Gentile to deal with them kindly in that day; and those who do so inherit the kingdom. It is no question of heaven or resurrection here.

This last scene is clearly the third part of our Lord's prophecy, the principle and nature of His. procedure toward all the nations (as distinct from Israel, and of course from Christians) after He enters on “the kingdom.” At the beginning when the Lord was here of old, and just before the end of this age, there will be an active testimony to the kingdom: only the final preaching will be in all the habitable world to all the nations, not as at first restricted to the land of Israel. Now the King is come, and judgment of the quick proceeds accordingly. Mix this up with the judgment of the dead (the wicked dead of course; for the righteous dead are supposed in Rev. 20:4 to be raised long before, and the righteous living of the millennium do not die), and all is chaos. You lose the specific teaching both of Matt. 25:31-46, and of Rev. 20:12-13, the one being the Lord's judgment of the Gentiles living on the earth (good and bad), when He comes to reign over the world, the other His judgment of the wicked dead raised after the millennial reign is concluded before the eternal state.

The true view, of the King, judging all the nations in Matt. 25, it will be observed, alone explains, first, why the King's brethren should be regarded as a company distinct from the sheep; secondly, why there should be no scrutiny into all work, or ways of those who stand before the throne, but only the question how they behave to His brethren who are to carry the gospel of the kingdom among all the nations before the end comes.

These envoys being either slighted in hate or honored in love; the King now repays with interest the astonished Gentiles. Who does not see the contrast with the righteous and the unrighteous in the resurrection state? As the wicked will then feel in all its horrors their just and everlasting condemnation, so for the saints the perfect state will have come, and they shall know even as they are known.

W. K.

(Concluded from page 295)

Conversion to God: Part 1

Notes of an Address on I Thessalonians 1:9-10

“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.”

I suppose that there is hardly another passage in Scripture which gives us such a clear and definite presentation of Christian conversion as we find in this First Epistle to the Thessalonians, and especially in the first part of it. By comparing the Epistle with the Acts (17:1-10), which gives us the history of the apostle's visit to Thessalonica, we find that his labors there were very short. But his service was evidently blessed of God, and blessed of God in this particular sense, that the work of conversion in the men and women of Thessalonica was short and sharp and effective.

The work was not of slow growth, but the word of the gospel came upon them irresistibly, and revolutionized their whole life and conduct, so that they became absolutely different persons in conduct and demeanor from what they were before. The change was so rapid, and so pervaded their whole being, that the eyes of all could not but discern that some marvelous work had been wrought; and every one of these persons became in consequence a living witness of the power of God's gospel in men's lives. The gospel worked in a way that no doctrine, no philosophy had done or ever could do. Here were Gentile men, immersed in heathen darkness and blindness, men degraded by the impurities of heathen worship, visited by a certain man who preached the good news concerning Christ and His work; and the immediate effect of the preaching was that they abandoned their lifelong worship; they abandoned all the dark practices of their lives, and heaven's light began to shine out from them.

The effect was such that, as you heard in the verses I read to you, not only throughout the city itself, Thessalonica, but throughout the two provinces, Macedonia and Achaia, the news had spread like wildfire. The gospel of God had been at work in Thessalonica, and there were well-known persons who were completely changed in their lives by the acceptance of that gospel. Anyone could go to Thessalonica and see these converted persons, and watch them in their daily lives. They could listen to the words that came out of their mouths, and they could ask themselves, 'What has done this? What is the cause of the change? What explanation is there of this wonder?' And men were asking such questions throughout Macedonia and Achaia.

Thus the word was being sounded abroad through the converted, so that the apostle could say, 'Our work here is taken away from us. It is not now necessary for us to preach the gospel in this district, seeing there are men who are living it. Here are men who, in every step of their ways, testify to the fact that they are now in living touch with God above, and that a power has entered into their hearts and lives, and is enabling them to travel in the reverse direction from that which they had hitherto followed.'

This is a grand testimony, beloved friends, of what real conversion is. We do find, through the grace of God, instances of it still-multitudes of such instances-and we can only earnestly pray to God that these numbers may be multiplied. There are other multitudes watching these examples. And we should remember that there is not a more effective witness for God in this dark and sin-stained earth than the heavenly life of a man, woman, or child in this world. Men then see what God's grace can do for a sinful person.

Paul was called to speak of what the gospel had done in Thessalonica; and what it had done there, he knew could be done elsewhere. It was the great work of his life to go into Satan's strongholds, and to make known there the ways of life and salvation, and it gladdened his heart to see these shining lights in Thessalonica, showing out the bright glories of Jesus, the Savior of men.

Now, I wish to bring before you one or two features of these verses. You will notice how very comprehensive the verses are of true conversion. The apostle speaks, in the first place, of what the gospel had done for them He says, (1) “Ye turned to God from idols.” This was one important fact: but this was not all. I have referred already to the past of their lives. It is not sufficient that there should be such a change, but there must be some Person before them who becomes the Director of their fives. Thus he speaks of them (2) as serving a “living and true God.” But there was a third item. They not only turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, but, as to their future, they were waiting “for his Son from heaven.” And thus, you see, that in this short passage the Christian life is, as it were, portrayed in all its aspects: with regard to the past, with regard to the present, and with regard to the future. And this is stated of those who answers in this remarkable way to the description of true Christian conduct—and these were recently-converted persons in Thessalonica.

Well, we ought to seek to come up to the standard that is given us in the word of God, and to this exemplification of the standard, which was so striking, so far as the Thessalonians were concerned.

In the first place, then, the apostle speaks of their definite turning to God from idols. We can hardly conceive what a revolution this was in the case of these persons. We must think of them for a moment as they were before they heard the gospel. They had given up to idol-worship the higher and nobler part of their nature—the spirit that was within them, given to man in order that he might have to do with God above. But the Thessalonians bowed down to gods of gold and silver and stone; while, behind these idols, there was the power of the wicked one, drawing them away from God. They gave all their best to that which was false, and to what affected their morals and their whole nature. What a man worships, he becomes in character. The man who worships darkness and evil becomes dark and evil and brutal himself. And it was so in Thessalonica. And we can realize the power of the gospel of God which brought these heathen to the knowledge of a living and true God, and to the hope of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Let us not think only of those who were so far away from the light, and so far removed in character from the persons amongst whom we are. We are in a highly-favored land, where the knowledge of God is spread abroad by means such as were never known in apostolic days; and the “knowledge of God,” as the Bible declares it, is made known thereby in an outward way, so that one can hardly pass through life without receiving most of the facts of divine history. But, how terrible when, in the face of this privilege, the allegiance of the heart is still given to something inferior to God, which is, after all, only an idol, since it takes the place of the Supreme One. What is it, beloved friends, that men and women, in our country, are bowing down to? They are giving all that is best in them lo themselves, worshipping self, worshipping the world, desiring only success and ease and pleasure here in the world, and God, thus, shut out of their lives.

Be not deceived; there are many idols in the world. And the apostle John, writing to the family of God, says “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” It is so easy to allow something in the heart, which replaces God, to which we have bowed. You may take an innocent child, so beautiful that the hearts of men are irresistibly attracted to such a picture of unspoiled goodness. You may put your child in the place of God. You may thus displace God. You may refuse to listen to His word because of your idol. You may refuse to obey His call because of your idol. Where an idol, whatever it be, is enshrined in the heart, the result is terrible! There are idols of friends, idols of circumstances, which take possession of the heart, and which stand between the man and God.

Is this so in your case, my hearer? Have you an idol? Have you something in the heart which intervenes between you and God, and shuts out the light of the glorious gospel of God, the all-glorious truth of His word from your life? Flee from such an idol. Let the light of God's truth shine into your heart and show you that there is nothing comparable with His Son and His Holy Spirit.

The work of conversion mentioned in our text is as much needed now as it was then. The Thessalonians turned from idols to serve the living and true God. Beloved friends, it requires an effort to do this. You will observe that these men turned.' There was a definite revolution in their affairs. They were proceeding in one direction. They turned, and went the reverse way, and the light of God shone into their hearts.

It is a great achievement to have the heart turned towards God. It is a great comfort to have in this world the sense of this great Heavenly One above, and to know that He is omnipotent, and that He exercises a part in my daily life. How many a man has been brought close to temptation, brought to the very threshold of an evil, deed, and has been arrested by the thought of God!

O beloved friends, never, never seek to exclude God out of your life. The robber on the cross said to his colleague railing against the Holy Sufferer also there, “Dost not thou fear God?” His whole life showed that he had not feared man. But now he says, “Dost not thou fear God.” That man, stricken down with his penitence, feeling the horrible sin that he had committed against God, was brought to confess his sin, and to know that Jesus was the only Savior.

You, my friends, have you been converted? Has your life been turned towards God? Are the heavenly powers of holiness shining down upon your way in the things that you say and do, and in the things that pass through your mind? Is all that concerns you subjected to the Lord of heaven?

A converted man is the man who has turned to God. He has been living with his back to all that is holy and good, and he now turns about, like the man whom the Lord Himself described as going into a far country. By and by, he said, “I will arise and go unto my father.” He arose and went to his father, and, in doing so, he was a converted man. He turned from his profligacy to the father against whom he had sinned.

Now, in the history of every child of God there must have been a moment when the change was made, when there was the passing from darkness into light, from death unto life. Has it been so in yours? In the case of the Thessalonians, conversion affected them so completely that men saw and wondered. Men found that these were now governed by new motives of which they were ignorant. The course of life to which they had been accustomed was the encouragement of their evil passions. Idol worship taught that what a man lusted after was right, that what man wanted to do he might do. Conversion changed all this.

Sin is also a custom nowadays. Is it not thought, nowadays, that you can do what you will? and that if you only strive to do what you ought to do, you will come out safely in the end? Beloved friends, is it true that the man who this is really doing his best, and that the drunkard who reels in the gutter is reeling towards heaven? Such doctrines are contrary to the teaching of God's holy word. No, you are called to turn from the evil way into the way of light and holiness.

But there is not only the act of turning. There is the conduct that follows, and that conduct, so far as we have it expressed here, is summed up in a very beautiful phrase indeed-they turned to God from idols “to serve the living and true God.” We are told to serve the living and true God. I do not think that these Thessalonians acted in some special manner, and devoted their lives to God in some particular way. I do not think that they gave up their calling in life, and threw themselves exclusively into the service of the propagation of the gospel. I do not think the phrase implies this separation from ordinary pursuits. On the contrary, the Epistle implies that they went on with their work, that they continued in their customary vocation. In the midst of the place and circumstances in which they had been brought up they stayed, only now they worked for their God above. They had found a living and true God, and they had found out the way to serve Him in the midst of their ordinary duties.

Think of it, as life's aim! To serve the living and true God Is it not, from one point of view, as simple as A B C, doing the will of God, doing daily what He would have us do? And yet, although it is so simple, it is an idea that has not occurred to a great many persons; even some who are piously inclined fail to grasp the fact that the living and true God has a service for each one of us to do. There is a pathway through this world for you and me (for I am now addressing those who are converted)—there is a pathway through this world marked out for every one of us. We have our something to do. We have our words to speak. We have our works to perform. They are such that no one else can do for us. They are such that, if they are not done, the world, our companions, those around us, will be the worse because we fail to do them. God works through His servants, and His servants are men and women who have been saved from the wrath to come. They are those into whom He puts a new nature and His Holy Spirit, and places them here in this world for His praise and glory.

Beloved friends, this is a noble calling. It is a grand privilege to be here in this world to serve God. We look around us. Is it not a fact that, in general, God's name and God's will are despised? Is it the principal characteristic of our times that the will of God is honored, and that men systematically seek to know and do it? It must be admitted that even at this moment men are everywhere turning their backs upon God and His word. It is no excuse to say that God is great, and God is holy, while we are so finite and feeble. Man slights his God.

Take, for example, the honor and reverence that is due to this day. This is the Lord's day. Why must it be considered? Because it is the Lord's day, because His name is placed upon it, because it is the day that He has called His own. Is there a fear of what is due to Him? Is it not a fact that, just at the moment, when a great firm publishes a new Sunday paper, its circulation leaps at once to a million and a half or so? Is there that reverence of God's word, and of His name, and of what is due to Him that might be expected in a Christian country?

Dear friends, it is a great thing to serve God, but what does the term mean? It means that what I do and undertake must be entirely under the guidance and direction of God, and that I must have the sanction of His word for what I do and undertake, and that, in all my doings, I must fear God, reverence His name, and render unto Him what is due to Him.

Let us each in our measure seek to establish in our lives the fact that we are serving God. And when people inquire, ‘Why do you not do this?' let us say, 'I serve God. I fear God. I have His word. I tremble to disobey that word, I fear to do wrong to Him. Knowing His will, I tremble to disregard it.' It ought to be so. These Thessalonians had found the living and true God, and were serving Him. Do not think this is bondage. It is the joy of liberty. The man who has the true God in grace before him feels that he can never do sufficient; that what ever self-denial he may make, it is unworthy to be mentioned; that God's grace is so great, the sacrifice of the cross for him was so infinite, that anything he may renounce is but trifling.

Are you, then, living for God, or are you serving yourself? Have you an idol in your life? Perhaps you started on the new path in past years; you have still to make good your profession, and to serve the living and true God. There is a reason given in our verse why we should not slacken, and take holidays as it were, in the service of God. Why is this? The Thessalonians were told by the apostle to brighten the future of their lives with the hope of the return of God's Son from heaven. It must have been a tremendous revelation unto these men to hear that God's Son determined to visit this world again!

Once He visited it in His humility and grace. He came down, that mighty and holy One, and was found here in human form. It was a wondrous visitation that He, the Prince of peace, the Lord of glory, should be here as a man! Men saw the “Godhead glory shine through that human veil.” One man, you remember, said, “Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” It was a wondrous visitation, that the Son of God should tread this world without a place to lay His head, until He laid it down in death on Calvary's tree! It was indeed a wondrous visit.

But it is equally wonderful to learn that He who came once will come again. And these men were called out to wait for God's Son from heaven. He was coming again. And how did they know this? Who could unveil to-morrow and say what would be in the future? They had the truth from the best of all witnesses; they had it from the Son Himself. Before He left this world, He gave a promise to those He left behind Him. When He was in the upper room, and the little company of disciples with Him, their hearts were filled with grief because they learned that He whom they loved was about to take His departure.

[W. J. H.]

(To be continued)

Babylon and the Beast: 2

The woman (having the profession of being espoused to Christ, but really setting up to be mistress of all before the marriage to the deep dishonor of the future absent Bridegroom) has quite another position and guilt. She accordingly is seen in the vision “sitting upon the scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy.” She pretends to guide the beast or empire. This is the way in which the Spirit portrays her here.

It is plain that the time in John's day was not yet come historically for all this. When the vision was given, the believers were still persecuted by the empire, as he himself was an instance. John was “in the isle called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus.” He was there no doubt as a sufferer or as he says “a companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus.” Hence it is plain that the world-power was a persecutor at that time rather than the woman. The vile harlot did not yet stand forth in her full-blown profligacy or her meretricious splendor. Even the Roman empire as it was then was not yet developed according to the form exhibited in the vision; for certainly neither had all the heads been. yet realized, nor did the decem-regal division begin for long after in any sense. But all is carried forward in the power of the Spirit from first to last, when that which took the place of being the bride of Christ should rest on the Roman empire and seek to be its guide, no doubt directing badly, selfishly, and sinfully, according to her corruption; but still the picture drawn is that of the woman “sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” What a profanation of Christ's name falsely professed and abused to subserve the merest ambition and covetousness of man's dark heart!

Here let us for a few moments delay, because the question might be raised why the beast should be taken as the Roman empire. My answer is, that in all the visions of the imperial powers in all the prophecies of Old or New Testament, you never find more than the fourth beast or Roman empire until the Lord Jesus introduces a new and everlasting kingdom—until He brings in His own reign over all nations, tribes, and tongues of the world. We shall show how the difficulty of its actual disappearance from the world is met in this very chapter. The Roman empire has gone through various phases, and undergone extraordinary changes. Its course is not yet exhausted. All prophecy that treats of its close speaks of its existence just before it is extinguished by the Lord when He appears in glory. This very chapter proves not merely that all was open to God from first to last, but that He has made known to us in His word beforehand those singular revolutions that were afterward to become facts. Some of these have been realized already; others remain to be verified shortly. But that this is the Roman empire is plain from the fact that it is always thus the fourth kingdom is described. A beast with seven heads and ten horns, the last empire before the Son of man takes the kingdom in power and glory, is the way in which Dan. 7 sets it out symbolically on the first occasion in which it was brought before any. There, closing the successive imperial powers, Rome appears, and is described yet more minutely than here.

On the other hand it is granted that there are features introduced into the description of St. John not found in the older prophecy. God does not introduce the subject without fresh reason and fresh light; but that it is the same imperial power, with added relationships as especially to the harlot, cannot be doubted in my judgment by any one subject to the written word. But the simplest and surest proof of all lies in the plain fact that, from first to last, we have four empires of the world, and only four, the last of which is destroyed by divine judgment, and followed immediately by the display of God's kingdom when Christ appears in power and glory. It must be quite evident, save to Romanists, or others almost equally ignorant or visionary, that the kingdom so described is not yet established in the world. I say “in the world"; for it is not a question of heaven. Glory on high we have also revealed to us in Christ the Head of the church: of this the New Testament speaks in the clearest possible manner. But it is plain that these world-powers have the earth for their theater; and, further, that what displaces the last of them is a kingdom that God will establish by judgment executed on the quick in this world. A very great comfort it is to look onward to the certainty that God has not given up the earth forever into the hands of the adversary—the certainty that Satan's plans shall be overthrown when they seem most ripe—the certainty that, when the evil becomes intolerable, God will interfere and this by that Man whom He has ordained to judge the quick and the dead, fife Lord Jesus. These truths are taught in both the Testaments. For the present occasion Dan. 2; 7 may suffice to prove what has been just affirmed. I only refer passingly to clench the proof of what is meant by the beast here.

I say no more then of the beast than that it is beyond doubt the Roman empire: in what stage of its existence, and at what particular time, will appear as we go on.

Next, the woman is described as “arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls.” It is not the bride arrayed in fine linen, white and clean; it is the gaudy splendor of the world to attract the flesh, and this very distinctly in royal, yea, imperial colors, so as to found a primary claim of supremacy for her ecclesiastical pretensions; it is false glory, natural enough in the world as it is and adapted to its lusts, but altogether contrary to the express object of the Lord Jesus in having His spouse in this world. The bride of Christ was intended to be His epistle and is called by faith to manifest Him here below among men, the constant witness of His glory, character, ways, and heavenly place. Hence she must expect at present to share His rejection and suffering in this world. But this woman who usurps the name seeks nothing but fleshly pleasure and worldly importance; all that is naturally coveted and prized in the earth. This too and worse she ministers to others; for she has “a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations, and filthiness of her fornication.” How awful when religion with the highest pretensions to sanctity only sanctions man in the lowest, guiltiest inclinations of a nature fallen froth God and subject to Satan! Further, we are told that “upon her forehead was a name written.” The first word is most significant— “Mystery.” “Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.”

Such a blazon on her forehead from the Spirit teaches us that here it is in no way a question of a heathen city with any amount of political influence. Its real heathenism, or rather its ungodly antagonism to God's people now fallen, may very well be couched under “Babylon the great"; for such was Babylon of old to the ancient people. But “Mystery” goes deeper, and shows the need of spiritual discernment according to the divine revelation vouchsafed to us, in order to detect the true character of this gigantic yet subtle imposture. Neither pagan Rome nor modern commerce, nor a future city rising on the Euphrates, can possibly answer to such a designation. It well suits Rome nominally Christian. Her fall therefore has an interest and joy for heaven which attaches to no other judgment.

I may just observe by the way that “the great city,” as far as the bride of the Lamb is concerned, is excluded by all persons who profess to give the best reading according to the most ancient authorities for the word of God. And this is very interesting to us, because it is not a question merely of what prophetic students prefer. They might be liable perhaps to the thought of bias; but critics whom I could easily name if this were the place for it, who had not the slightest prepossession in favor of prophecy, have come to the conclusion now stated on the ground of nothing but clear and full external evidence. In short the way they read Rev. 21:10 is “showed me,” not that great city, the holy Jerusalem, but “the holy city Jerusalem.” It is not a question of greatness for her even when glorified, but of holiness; whereas what Babylon affects and wins at cost not merely of herself but of truth, grace, and Christ Himself, is present earthly greatness. “The great harlot” herself, she is the “mother of harlots,” as we are told, “and abominations of the earth.” Thus not only is she a corrupt system, but the parent of ecclesiastical corruption outside herself yet akin to her.

Again, she is the patron of what is most offensive before God—of idolatry in every shape. It is in vain to say that there never has been idolatry under Christianity; in vain to plead that the objects adored are only images for memory, not idols. The self-same excuse the old heathen philosophers used to urge. They sought to excuse their superstition by the assertion that nobody thought the idols were the gods, but only the visible tokens that reminded them of beings above and behind them. The apology of idolaters in Christendom is exactly similar to that of the pagans. The truth is, that to have such visible tokens or signs is the denial of faith, the destruction of the principle and power in which the Christian is told to walk. He is called to “walk by faith and not by sight.” All efforts therefore to make people religious by palpable symbols of the sort is false and pernicious in principle; it is but heathenism christened. Every Christian person is bound to set his face against it. No doubt all this came in by slow degrees, with an apparent show of pious reasons: When have they been wanting for bad things? The truth is, however, that we are not competent to judge in divine things and God therefore has revealed His will that we may be subject as children. Then, when we honor Him by subjection of spirit, we find out the excellence of God's will in Christ. We learn that there is nothing arbitrary but good, yea, the best in all the Lord lays on us. Although we accept it, not because we understand it but because He says it (and we accept it therefore gladly and simple-heartedly as His authority over our souls), yet, having done so, we learn that our God and Father is infinitely wise in all He says, and as good as He is wise.

The strange woman then not only corrupts herself and others, but is the parent of all religious corruptions here below. For there is not only a widespread system of ecclesiastical evil, but one pre-eminent, and others carried away and formed according to her pattern, though without her world-wide success. Further, she introduces and her idolatries have this peculiarly malignant brand in God's mind, that they betray departure from known truth for lies better loved. It may be presumed that every one here is aware that “abomination” is used for idol, according to language familiar to every reader of the Old Testament. The same style is found in Matthew, who cites the prophets, and in the Revelation, which habitually adopts Hebrew phraseology. And when the prophet saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, he wondered with great wonder—not of course that anything heathen should be opposed to Jesus, or should attack the servants of the Lord: there was no such great matter for surprise in that. Heathen persecution was becoming an old story, as was Jewish instigation through hatred of the gospel. John himself, experiencing at that time pagan opposition could hardly wonder if it grew hotter. But that what would bear the name of Jesus, however falsely—what would arrogate the place and title of God's church—that this body should become the greatest engine of persecution and tyranny the world ever saw, turning the power of the empire especially against the saints and witnesses of Jesus, did fill him with amazement beyond, measure.

I am aware of the usual pleas of Romanist theologians. But “God is not mocked.” The constant self-defense is that the church never persecutes; it is the civil power that punishes delinquents. But God looks at those who are really guilty—not at the mere hand which does the deed, but at the mind and will which morally and under the penalty of damnation compels it. Be it the civil power that hangs, stabs, or burns-the instrument is of small moment: His eye is on the true culprit, the more it covers its insatiable appetite for the blood of heretics under a sanctimonious cloak, and perverts the name of the meek and crucified Savior into a sanction of unheard-of cruelties, sometimes against men ignorant of truth and given over to folly, but far more frequently against saints of whom the world is not worthy, the choicest of God's children here below.

[W. K.]

(Continued from page 804)

Scripture Queries and Answers: Cursing the Ground Blessing or Punishment; Rending of the Veil

Q.-Gen. 3:17. Did God curse the ground as a blessing to Adam and his seed, or as a just punishment for his sin, as it is said, “for thy sake"? In the two following verses it would seem that there was no work before this; whereas in chap. 2:5 we read, “there was not a man to till the ground,” and again, in verse 15, “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Was this work or not? That is, was not the first position of “dressing” and “keeping” of the same character as the later one of “tilling the ground from whence he was taken” 23)?

E. T.

A.-That the ground was cursed because of Adam's sin is what scripture plainly states, That there was no “work” before his fall is not so stated. Man placed in the garden “to dress it and to keep it” shows that it was not God's will that His creature should be idle. But there was no “toil” or “sorrow” connected with such occupation. Now thorns and thistles were to appear, and in the sweat of his face was man to eat bread. Weariness is known, and so also the sweetness of rest after labor. Idleness was one of the iniquities of Sodom (Ezek. 16:49). It had no place in innocency, nor will it be compatible with the millennium (Amos 9:13), when “the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose"; nor—may we not add?—with the eternal state (Rev. 21). Labor here is good for all, and in it there is profit. For out of evil God can and does bring good.

It may be instructive to compare the case of Levi as an instance of God making His judgment an occasion of blessing. Gen. 49:7 says, “I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” But in Deut. 33:10 we see how their being thus divided and scattered is overruled for more effectually teaching “Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law.” “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.”

Q.-Luke 23:45. Why in this Gospel is the rending of the veil noted as preceding the giving up of the ghost by the Lord Jesus, whilst in Matthew and Mark it is given as following Christ's death?

W. G. T. B.

A.-Luke not seldom departs from the strict sequence of time, and delights in giving us the moral accompaniments or results of the ways, words or work of the Lord Jesus. Mark more particularly, and, in part, Matthew also, furnish us with the chronological order. But in this instance neither of the three appears to afford definite marks warranting us to say absolutely whether the rending was before or after our Lord's death. The darkness past, and God's holy judgment borne, He could now say, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,” and then expire. The truth would not be without Luke's account, which is as necessary for us as the record of the other Evangelists. In the four Gospels we have God's full and complete account of Christ's atoning work.

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Lecture on Nehemiah 2

Chap. 2

The king, as we learn from the second chapter, finds Nehemiah's countenance sad, and at once remarks about it. It was not a thing that these kings relished. Humanly speaking, a man coming specially to such a position would seem to have but small respect for the monarch, for, naturally, these great kings cherished the idea that whatever was sorrowful was quite unfit for their presence. Even supposing a man were ever so sad, still, there ought to be sufficient light and glory in their presence to banish all such sad thoughts; but the truth is that had it been merely for outward casualties—for the loss of substance or any natural thing here below—Nehemiah's tears and gloom would have all disappeared in the presence of the Lord, but the presence of the Lord deepened these. The more he went before God and weighed the state of the Jews in Jerusalem, the more grieved he was. It was not that his heart was not lifted up, but for all that the tears would naturally flow the faster. The deep sense of it would be felt just the same, because he felt what a God was theirs, and what they had been to God—what they were now to God! Nehemiah, therefore, was in no way delivered from sadness by his prayer. And this is what I wish to show. There was confidence in going to God, but, at the same time, there was still the deep sense of the ruin.

The king, however, puts the question, and we find that Nehemiah candidly tells us how much afraid he was, for, indeed, it might have cost him his life. The king might have suspected treason—might have suspected that there was some dark plot—and that Nehemiah's conscience was at work. All sorts of things might have entered his mind in accounting for this extraordinary gloom that covered his servant's face. But Nehemiah tells the simple truth to him. “Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, and the place of my fathers' sepulchers, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?” (2:3).

Perhaps it is worth noticing, but I only notice it to show what a difference there is between the word of God and the word of man. In the book of Maccabees, Nehemiah is said to be a priest, and also, singular to say, of the race of David. Now, whatever may be the case as to the race of David, for that very reason he could not be one of the priests. I mention it that we may see how men, when once they attempt to write upon the things of God, only expose their ignorance. Yet this is a book, as you know, that professes to be inspired-at least, it is accepted by a large portion of Christendom as such. Very possibly Nehemiah did belong to the tribe of Judah. It would seem that if Jerusalem were the place of his fathers' sepulchers, so it would be. It was there that they were buried very generally; but he was not a priest. This is a mistake. He was a civil governor and this leads me to a very important point, as to this book. The temple is not the point, but the ordinary life of the people of God. And, let me say, beloved brethren, that this is of great moment for you and for me in this our day.

Christianity is not merely a thing of God's worship: Christianity is meant to govern every day. I do not like your Sunday Christians, I do not like men and women who merely just maintain their place by coming to the table of the Lord. This is disgraceful. We are called, assuredly, to recognize His claims for every day, and so much the more because there may be difficulties. In a busy place such as we know is in our immediate neighborhood, many of us have our duties, though not all the same. Some of us have labors. Some of us may know what it is to labor early and late. Some of us may know what it is to labor by night as well as by day. And this is not confined to men, but applies to women, for there are those who work, and work hard and diligently; and I know not what we are here for except to be diligent in whatever may be before us. But I still say that it is a sorrowful thing to be diligent for the world, and not for the Lord, and that we are bound to take care that our ordinary life of every day be a witness of Christ. I do not say that we are all called to do the same work, but I do say that we are all called to the same Christianity, and we are all called that Christ should be apparent in what we are doing every day, and not merely upon the Lord's day, or the Lord's day morning. No, beloved brethren, this will not do for the Lord, and the failure to be thus witnessing for the Lord Jesus in our ways of every day, and in our ordinary matters, our ordinary life, our social life, our life of labor, of whatever kind it may be, is a blotting-out of the grand object for which we are called by the grace of God.

In short, while Ezra bears upon what is more manifestly the spiritual part—that which pertains to the worship of the Lord and the altar, and while the temple—the house of God—is the grand point there, we have here in Nehemiah the wall of Jerusalem; not the temple, but Jerusalem. Here we have, not the house built, but the wall built. It is the desolation, therefore, of what pertained to the people every day. It is what concerned their ordinary life, and, for this simple reason, that the people of God are always called to what is, if I may say so, extraordinary—at any rate, to what is divine.

It may be the commonest thing in the world, but we ought to do no common thing except in a divine way. Whatever we do—whether we eat or drink—we ought to do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, to do all to the glory of God. This is our calling. This is what the Jews had forgotten. They had no thought of it. The consequence was that they sank down; they were lower than the Gentiles. For so far, the Gentiles had something to live for and something to show. What had these poor Jews? They had lost heart, they had lost courage; and (what was the most important of all things) they had lost faith. They had lost practical faith.

Well, but I should like to know, beloved friends, whether there is not this same danger amongst you—whether there is not a danger of that for me, because supposing, now, we come in fresh and happy through the name of the Lord Jesus, yet, we at once find ourselves in by no means smooth waters.

We find there are storms; we find there are rocks and shoals, and we find, also, that our boats are not very strong, and that we are not very skilful either, in managing them, that is, we come into difficulties. Is it not so? And after we have encountered a little rough weather we are apt to get downcast and dispirited. We find fault with this one or that one. Is it not so? Now, I am not the least denying that there are faults, but then let us not forget that we have faults; and, further, that it is not a question of whether I or you have got faults—one or other or both (which is a little nearer the truth), but the great point is this—whether you and I are looking to the Lord or not. This is the thing that makes the heart happy-confidence in looking to the Lord, and also my living in this looking to the Lord, not merely for myself, but for you; for this is the true way to win another, that is, to be looking to the Lord about the other. Supposing there is a person that you have got something against, or that has got something against you; how is it to be met? Not by wit, not by power, not by influence. Not all the brethren can set it to rights, but the Lord can, and the moment that our heart has got perfectly settled in this, it gives quietness and confidence—it gives peace and assurance forever. The Lord grant that it may be so with us!

But what I press again is this, that the point here is the daily life—the social, civil life of Israel, and not merely that which was manifest by religion, but it is the bringing God into the common matters of life, of everyday life. That was the grand point here, and there it was that Israel failed. No doubt they failed, as we have seen, in the Book of Ezra, because the two things go together, and you will never find that the person who enjoys much in worship fails much in walk; but you will find, on the contrary, that where there is feebleness of faith in the worship of the Lord, there will be feebleness also in the walk. What God looks for is that there should be faith in both, and where there is faith there will be faithfulness. That is the secret of it. It is, after all, a want of being with God touching every matter, whether it is what concerns the worship of the saints or what concerns the walk day by day. There is only one resource for both, and the same for both.

Now this is what filled the heart of Nehemiah. He feels about it. He spreads it out, even when the king was speaking. And here is what I wish to show, how truly it is a question of faith. “The king said unto me, For what dost thou make request?” What does he do? Does he make a request to the king? No, he makes request to God. “So I prayed to the God of heaven.” It is not that he does not tell the king; but, even at that very moment, in the presence of the king himself, his heart was to the Lord. No wonder he got his request. No wonder that God listened and heard, and he could take it as from Him. Why? Because he prayed to the Lord first. It was not that he did not own the king, but the fresh first-fruits, so to speak, surely were due to the Lord.

“And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchers, that I may build it. And the king said unto me (the queen also sitting by him), For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. Moreover, I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah; and a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.” The letters were granted. The timber and other materials that he lacked were vouchsafed by the king, and he goes up guarded to Jerusalem, and the same thing that filled his heart with joy and thankfulness in the midst of his sorrow grieved the enemies of the people of God.

But there is another thing, too, and that is that we must not be too much occupied with what other people do or say. Mark Nehemiah. Now his heart was with the people of God, but, for all that, he knew what it was to act in dependence upon God; and this comes out most markedly at the very start. You will help the people of God most when you are looking to God most simply. It is not looking to the people and trying to get them up.

No, but I must look to the Lord myself. “So,” says he (verse 12), “I arose in the night. I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.” It was no matter of pomp or show, or anything that would be usual among men. It was not a question of bringing a number of engineers and other skilled artisans to see what was to be done; but he himself: his heart was in it. He does not wait for all that. He goes about it at once with all simplicity, and he goes about it by night with the express purpose that he might take a view at once without drawing attention-needless attention. It was not that there was anything that he owed to others. Want of candor would be a sad thing amongst the people of God, but it was no question of candor. Here it was wisdom, and the man that does not know when to be silent will hardly know when to speak. It is a great thing to learn that there is a season for both. He went out by night, then, and he saw it all, and saw it in the depth of sadness, and took a full view. “And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the rest that did the work.” It was between his own soul and God, with the few men that were then with him. “Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste.” His soul entered more deeply than ever realized, as we shall see, the state of things more than ever. “Then I told them of the hand of my God which was upon me.” Two things, you observe—sense of ruin, confidence in God, and both found together filling his heart. And look at the effect of it. They said, “Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.” Thus, you see, when a man of faith goes forward he goes forward, not in his own power or wit, but with a broken spirit and in dependence upon God. The hands of the feeble are strengthened for the work. It is God that helps. It is God that has the glory, but God making use of the faith of a man. So he did here.

Nevertheless, the moment that God begins to act, the devil tries to hinder. “But when Sanballat, the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem, the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us” (2:19). This was the first effort of the enemy. It was to pour contempt upon a work so simple and insignificant; but, further, it was the manifestation of their malice. Nevertheless, God used it for their good. Nehemiah learns more than ever before the adversaries that were there. But this is no reason to be alarmed. Ai the apostle Paul says, “An effectual door, but many adversaries.” So it was with Nehemiah now. There was an effectual door opened. The adversaries in no way frightened him. “Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we, his servants, will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem.”

[W. K.]

The Way of Holiness: Part 1

If we pay a little attention to scripture, we shall see that holiness, while based essentially upon being born of God, our having put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. 4), renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created us, being made partakers of the divine nature—holiness, while manifested here, is dependent on, and directly and characteristically associated with, the heavenly objects and hopes, revealed to us by the Holy Ghost, consequent on the glorifying of the Lord Jesus as man. Obedience and dependent confidence, perhaps I should more justly say confiding dependence, characterize at all times the soul whose eyes have been opened in faith, the divine life in man. But when God was hidden within the veil, and even so known, as to His actual revelation of Himself on earth, the holiness was co-ordinate to the revelation made. Faith, doubtless, may have often looked above it all, and known that God was in heaven, and man upon earth; and prophetic truth might point men farther, and tell men that eye had not seen, nor ear heard, neither had entered into the heart of man, the things which God had prepared for them that love Him; but it could only tell them that man had not, nor had it entered into his heart; and the ordered revelation given of God presented a God revealed on earth, and holiness was referred to His house, and that house was down here; admitted, as it was, that heaven was His dwelling-place, and that the heaven of heavens could not contain Him.

Yet His name and revealed glory were down here in the tabernacle and in the temple, and everything, and all true consecration, was referred to that. There He dwelt with His people, His house was holy—there were holy flesh, holy garments, a worldly sanctuary, an altar most holy, and holy vessels. They were to be holy, because He who dwelt amongst them was holy—would allow no uncleanness in the camp. The vessels were holy, and the unclean could not draw near. Everything was consecrated to Him as dwelling there, and once a year an atonement made, and His tabernacle cleansed, because of the iniquity of the children of Israel, among whom He dwelt. Naturally, though further thought might, and did, break into faith, holiness practically referred to the revelation made of God and His dwelling-place, as revealed; relative holiness—and all true holiness is relative—relates to God as He has made Himself known.

The abstract remained true, that holiness became His house forever, but the measure and character of it referred as obligatory to the way and measure in which the necessary and divine object of it was revealed. But the Holy Ghost signified, by the veil, that the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest while the first tabernacle had its standing. A law was given by a mediator; but the people could not come nigh, even to the revelation given of God upon earth. A holy house, and holy vessels, and sanctified priests, surrounded God outside. A figure of Christ in one, for whom it was death if he did not go in with a due cloud of incense, marked that the way of man to God was not opened; and the revelation of God to man was not till the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, declared Him, and the rent veil sheaved the open way, with boldness, into the holiest for sinners cleansed by the blood shed in rending it.

But there is more than this. Christ is entered in as man, and sits at the right hand of God in the heavenly sanctuary. Further, the Holy Ghost is come down, and takes the things of Christ and shows them to us, and all things that the Father hath are His. Hence we say now, not (save as what had been) “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him,” without adding, “But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit.” Such is the Christian estate, as contrasted with the statement of the prophet, often cited as if it were the Christian state itself. Hence we are called upon to set our affections on things above, not on things on the earth. We cannot set our affections on what we do not know. And note this, that the true character of a man morally is what his heart is upon: a man whose mind is set on money is an avaricious man; on power, an ambitious man; on pleasure, a man of pleasure. He is morally what he loves, and his mind is full of. Our conversation, our living associations, are in heaven. It is the place we belong to, and, in our home affections, are associated with, and as Christians pursue, as the one thing which governs our mind, here indeed in the race, but the prize is our calling of God above (am) in Christ Jesus. And what is this high calling, this calling above? The word of God lives, and makes faith live more uniformly in these things than we are aware of. We find not only the blessed personal names in the unity of Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but in the dispensed order of the divine economy in grace, God, the Lord, and the Spirit; for God has made Him, whom the Jews crucified, both Lord and Christ, and thereupon the Spirit is come down here.

So, in 1 Corinthians 12, there are diversities of administrations, but the same Lord; diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; diversities of operations, but it is the same God which works all in all. So, in Eph. 4, one Spirit, one Lord, one God and Father of all. So, in all the Epistles, grace is wished from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. To us there is one God the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ; and even in the first announcement by Mary Magdalene to the apostles of the new Christian privileges, based on redemption, after the resurrection of the Savior, it ran, “Go tell my brethren, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, my God and your God.” Thus we are called to walk worthy according to these three titles. In 1 Thess. 2:12, it is to walk “worthy of God,” who has called us to His own kingdom and glory. In Col. 1:10, That ye may walk “worthy of the Lord” unto all pleasing. So Eph. 4, That ye may walk “worthy of the vocation” wherewith ye are called, and that vocation is the power of the Spirit of God, God's habitation through the Spirit, one body, and strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith, rooted and grounded in love that we may be able to comprehend with all saints the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that we may be filled up to all the fullness of God. It is according to a power that works in us.

It is according to these things, Christ being our life, that holiness is formed in us. The new life is a holy life in its nature, but it has its objects by which, in thought and affections, it is formed in its character. While the Father's love is the sustaining and peaceful enjoyment of this state, the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us, Christ personally, as He is now in glory, is the object before our eyes. Other things are associated with Him, but Christ is the central and absorbing object. Christ is all objectively, and in all, as life, the living power in which He is enjoyed as personally in glory. There are two points to observe here in connection with this, as forming this holiness. First, its only measure and standard is Christ in glory, Christ as He is. Secondly, its full attainment and manifestation in us is when He comes and changes our vile body, and we appear with Him; then we are forever set apart to God, with and like Him, and perfected and perfect.

The effect of looking thus at Him is a walk down here as He walked in those who are in Him, and whose measure of duty this is. He was that Holy Thing come down from heaven, and “the Son of man who is in heaven;” and so, with perfect patience, and unfailingly displayed, with His own heart's joy above as to its state the effect was a path of perfect holiness, obedience, and love down here, a path which the vulture's eye hath not seen, but which He has traced in the wilderness, in which there is no way. Divine life in Himself, but with His heart in the heaven, to which He belonged, and was in divinely, speaking what He knew and had seen, and on the joy set before Him, as Man down here, He walked in grace and holiness. Now we are united to Him, and His joy is our portion, and as He had life in Himself, so we in Him; and so far as our hearts are fixed on Him, we walk as He walked down here, the heavenly things wherein He dwells being the sphere in which we, live, our conversation being in heaven, whence we look for Him to change our vile body, and fashion it like His glorious body. We are to be holy and without blame before God in love. Now this answers to God's nature, holy, blameless in His ways, and love; and, so living before Him, we enjoy Him, the infinite object of a nature which, morally speaking, is the same as His.

We joy in God, and this is evidently a holy joy. But when we come less abstractedly to consider our state, and that by which we live, likeness to Christ, which this verse in Eph. 1 also expresses, becomes the measure of our moral state. We live by the faith of the Son of God. Being like Him, and with Him forever becomes the object we pursue. Thus we are predestinated to be conformed to the image of God's Son, that He may be the first-born among many brethren. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the Heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly; and as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the Heavenly. Such is the wondrous purpose of God: He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.

This is the ground of all the blessedness: God's purpose is that we should be associated with, one with, His own Son, the second Man, the last Adam, as Son of man but Son of God, in His manhood, as we are and indeed more closely than we were with the first; not Christ, as is often stated, united to men before and without redemption, but we to Him when He is glorified, having accomplished the redemption which gives us a place in the glory with Him, and He has done all that is needed to bring us there. Of old, before the foundation of the world, He rejoiced in the habitable parts of Jehovah's earth, and His delight was in the sons of men. God prepared Him a body, and He came in time, and to do God's will in our salvation, becoming a true man, made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, now crowned with glory and honor. As man in the glory He had with the Father before the world was, and having become our life, and accomplished the work of redemption on the cross, and gone into glory, gone up on high as man, He has sent down the Holy Ghost, Himself our abiding righteousness, that we might know that we are in Him, and He in us; not yet with Him, but in Him, and knowing it by the Holy Ghost (John 14), as it is written, If any one be in Christ, it is a new creation. There is no condemnation for them who are in Christ Jesus. He has quickened us together with Him, and raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; but, as said, not yet with Him, nor partaking of the glory.

We have the treasure in earthen vessels. We are thus set, having Christ as our life, redeemed and justified, with the glory before us; Christ, as man, entered into it—entered too as our forerunner; with the Holy Ghost dwelling in us, the earnest of it, giving us to know withal that we are in Him, and He too in us, sons, and so heirs, but all in a poor earthen vessel. Our path as Christians is founded on this. Phil. 3 is the expression of it. This one thing I do, says the apostle; and, Be ye followers of me, says the apostle, and so walk as ye have us for an ensample for our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, and fashion it like His glorious body. The portion of true believers in heavenly things is settled. We give thanks to the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

(To be continued)

[J.N.D.]

The Propitiation for Our Sins

It is a striking feature of the writing of the apostle John that whatever God is shown to have provided, in His love, for His own glory and the need of man, is also shown to be closely bound up in and with the Person of Christ.

Paul reasons and declaims, setting out the believer's blessing in the form of doctrinal statement. He, as it were, labors to instruct and convince by argument, formally refuting the objections as they arise. So the apostle of the Gentiles proceeds, for instance, in the Epistle to the Romans.

But in the Gospel and Epistles of John we feel ourselves to be in altogether a different atmosphere. We are not so much watching the unfolding of truth in its various details, as we are gathered into the presence-chamber of a Person of ineffable grace and glory.

Both these modes of revelation are essentially needful. If the one provides contemplation for the renewed mind, the other awakens the adoration of the renewed heart.

When Paul instructs as to the second coming of Christ, he gives many facts as to the manner of that return—how the dead saints will be raised, the living changed, the Lord's descent into the air, the rapture of those for whom He comes, the shout and the trumpet, while also carefully distinguishing this event from the Lord's public advent in glory. But John gives us only the general fact of His coming for us to be with Him and like Him. The Lord's own words to His disciples, as repeated by him, were, “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.” The all-sufficient fact of Christ and His company is presented that it may absorb our undivided desires.

Again, as is well known, Paul discusses the subject of the resurrection of the body very fully in a long chapter of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, but a saying of the Lord Jesus sums up the doctrine in a phrase: “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). We must duly receive the teaching of both, of course; but we therein see that distinction between the two parts of scripture, to which we are now inviting attention.

It is a propensity of the natural mind to become engaged in the consideration of the truth of God as if it were no more than some abstract proposition. The holy and divine side is thus altogether excluded. In such case the introduction of its connection with Christ's Person introduces a more becoming attitude.

It was so with Martha. She believed in the resurrection in a general way, and quite realized that the power of God would resuscitate the body of her dead brother at the last day. But the Lord's revelation of Himself as the Resurrection. and the Life completely overthrew her theory. There was the One immediately before her Who could raise Lazarus there and then by a word. It was no question of waiting for the last day. The question was whether Jesus was the Son of God Who “quickeneth whom he will” (John 5:21). For every difficulty of the human mind vanishes in the august presence of the Son from heaven.

In like manner we may, see that propitiation is, by John, associated with the Lord's person. He does not present it as the work of the Lord; this we have elsewhere. But in the First Epistle of the apostle of love we read, “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:1, 2); and, again, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Jesus Christ, then, IS Himself the propitiation for our sins. This is as infinitely blessed as it is simple; for if I, as a poor sinner, needed a propitiation for my sins, and I am told that Christ is that propitiation (however little I may be able to explain the meaning of the term), I can rest assured in the fact that Christ being it, it will be more than adequate for my guilt.

But we may gather more than this from the manner of the usage of this truth in John's Epistle. The fact is first introduced in connection with the breach of a believer's communion by a sin. “If any man sin [or, shall have sinned], we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins.” John had been showing the intimate place into which the child of God is brought into fellowship with the Father and the Son! But when we walk thus in the light, it gives us to see as nowhere else the fearful hideousness of sin. We are not to sin; but, if anyone does, and is then overwhelmed by the sense of the terrible nature of sin in the presence of the holy God, a provision has been made. Jesus Christ, as Advocate, undertakes our case with the Father, duly representing the confession of our sins on our behalf; moreover, He is the propitiation for our sins.

Thus, whatever satisfaction the righteous and holy nature of God demanded because of those sins, Jesus Christ is that satisfaction. And the value and efficacy of propitiation is, therefore, in effect, declared to be commensurate only with His Person. If, therefore, we wish to estimate rightly the basis of our restoration to communion, we must think of the eternal excellency of the Son. However we may magnify the heinousness of sin (and we shall never exceed the truth in this respect), we may be sure that it is more than covered by the propitiation of the Son of God. For He did, and He alone could, offer what our sins needed, and the glory of God demanded.

But we gather even more from these words in John; we see what a character of holiness is stamped upon propitiation. We are not left to invest it with whatever degree of sanctity we please. The Spirit of God has hallowed the truth in the highest possible way, and in a way that the veriest babe in Christ can but recognize. The Son of God is the propitiation for our sins. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son, the propitiation for our sins.” The work of propitiation is associated with all the Godhead glory of the Son. Can we attach too great importance to a doctrine that is set before us in such terms as these? In the mind of the Spirit, as expressed by John, the work is merged in the Person; and the value of the work is to be measured according to the intrinsic worth of the Son.

It is important for us to remember this, because the human mind is so apt to belittle the things of God. And how terrible to detract from the Person of the Son, Whom no one knoweth (Matt. 11:27). Israel in the wilderness sinned by limiting the Holy One in what He would do for them (Psa. 78:41). Shall the Christian with impunity set the bounds of time and space to the Son of God, Who is the propitiation for our sins, and especially by imposing human limitations upon Him in the performance of that particular work? If any would speak or think slightingly of propitiation, let them remember that “He is the propitiation for our sins.”

W. J. H.

The War and Prophecy: 1

At a time like the present, when Europe is being devastated by the greatest war the world has ever witnessed, it is not surprising that many Christians should turn with more than usual interest to the prophetic scriptures to see what God has said as to the future. Is there any light in scripture concerning the events now taking place, and what will they lead to?

One effect of the study of prophecy, when taken up with a true motive and in a right spirit, is to steady and establish the soul with regard to whatever may take place in this world. It takes us into a region outside of the mere speculations of men, and gives us the certainty of divine revelation.

Then, again, we shall find that whatever may happen can but contribute to the working out of the ultimate purpose of God, which is the setting up of the kingdom under Christ. God's king will, surely be set upon His holy hill of Zion, in spite of the rage of the nations and the opposition of the kings of the earth (Psa. 2).

When pouring out His heart in prayer to the Father on behalf of “His own which were in the world,” Jesus says that He did not then ask for dominion over the world (John 17:9), the time had not yet come for that. But when God's time does come, He will ask and get universal dominion; “Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Psa. 2:8. R.V.).

Whatever may take place in the meantime, we may rest in the absolute certainty that the counsels and purposes of God must be carried out. All the ambitious designs of the world's emperors and rulers, the rise and fall of empires, are but events which take place on the way to the accomplishment of the ultimate design God has in view, namely, that evil shall be put down and everything brought under the rule of Christ who shall reign in righteousness and assured peace. Meantime, as the prophet says, God will “overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is, and I will give it to him” (Ezek. 21:27).

There never will be lasting peace till then. All the hopes that a permanent peace will follow on the close of the present war are doomed to be disappointed. No, the nations will again prepare for war. There can be no settled peace till God's king comes in power and glory, to put down His enemies, and to reign in righteousness as well as in peace.

In the following pages we desire briefly to trace the course of events as delineated in the prophetic scriptures. The bearing of the principles which we find in the word of God on the present condition of the world-powers, will, we trust, be of interest and profit to the reader.

We never can rightly understand the Bible—unless we know at least something of what is sometimes called “dispensational truth,” that is, the truth concerning God's ways with men in the various dispensations or periods of time. If, for example, we apply to the church of God now, passages in the prophets which unfold God's dealings with Israel in the past or in a future day, we shall get into utter confusion, and misinterpret much of the Old Testament scripture. We may see an illustration of this mistaken application of scripture in some of the printed headings in our Bibles, such as in Isaiah, “God revengeth His church,” “Restoration of the church,” etc., placed over chapters which apply not to the church, but to Israel in a day still future.

Then it is well to bear in mind that, in the study of prophecy, as in every other branch of truth, we need the guidance and instruction of the Holy Spirit who alone can unfold the word for God's glory and our blessing. “They shall be all taught of God” is a principle true at all times, and it is only thus we shall be kept from the mere speculations and fancies of the human mind, into which even learned men not unfrequently fall.

Prophecy, as indeed all scripture, circles round the person of Christ, who is ever the center of God's ways and counsels; and all things, both in heaven and on earth, are to be headed up in Him. Peter tells us that the scope of no prophecy of scripture is had from its own particular interpretation; that is, it cannot be isolated from the whole scope of God's mind and counsels, the ultimate aim of which is to exalt Christ, crowning. Him with glory and honor, and setting Him over all the works of God's hands.

Then again, the Christian (whose whole heart and soul must respond to everything that glorifies Christ) is, through divine grace, instructed beforehand by the prophetic word as to that wonderful series of events which will prepare the way for the establishment of the kingdom of the Son of man, who must reign over this world, till, every enemy being put down and His mediatorial kingdom finished, He voluntarily gives up the kingdom to God the Father, that God may be all in all. Moreover, the study of prophetic truth, though neglected by many earnest people, is important, because it shows us what the world is and what will be its end, and thus it should help to detach the Christian from the spirit and principles of this age, which is fast going on to judgment. May God grant us the light of the Holy Spirit's teaching on the divine word, so that we may truly value it and profit by its prophetic teachings, so instructive to us at any time, but especially at the present serious moment.

THE PRESENT PERIOD AND THE COMING OF THE LORD

Now this present period of grace, which has already lasted more than 1900 years, may come to a close at any moment, but we should never fix dates, because, in this connection, scripture never does so.

Christ is coming first for His people; He is coming afterward with His people in power and glory, and there is a certain interval between these two events. When he comes for His saints, He will be, as far as scripture shows, unseen by the world, and He will not come actually to the earth, but into the air: when He appears with His saints, every eye shall see Him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him, for He is coming in judgment. Then He will come to the earth; His feet shall stand upon the Mount of Olives (Zech. 14:4).

But we shall never understand the subject unless we see that the present period, when God is gathering out His church, is a distinct parenthesis in His ways with Israel as a nation. Israel as a nation had, and will have, a very special place in the ways of God. He gave promises to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He fulfilled them to their children. He brought a vine out of Egypt and planted it in His inheritance in the land of Canaan; and He looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth only wild grapes.

In due time Christ came, the true Messiah, King of Israel. He “came to his own, but his own (people) received him not,” they, so to speak, cast Him out of the vineyard and slew Him. Not only so, but, when the Holy Ghost came, they resisted Him; as their fathers did, so did they. But God's resources were not limited. He brought in something which was far higher as to the place of blessing bestowed than ever Israel as a nation enjoyed. This new thing was the church of God. Israel's blessings were national blessings in the land, in the store, etc.; the church of God is an entirely different thing, it is a gathering out from all nations of a people whose calling and hopes are, not of an earthly character as Israel's were, but essentially heavenly. When Christ, the Head, took His place in heaven, the Holy Ghost came down at Pentecost to form the body on earth, which consists of a people united by the Spirit to the Head in heaven.

It is perfectly clear, therefore, that, on the rejection of Christ, God, for the time being, broke off His dealings with Israel as a nation, as we read, “Blindness in part is happened to Israel"; and this will continue “until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in.” The church of God, therefore, began at Pentecost and ends with the coming of the Lord. As already remarked, it is a parenthesis in the dealings of God with Israel as a nation. After the close of this parenthesis, God will again take up Israel for blessing; and then “all Israel (i.e., not, as at present, individuals here or there, but the people as a nation, the whole remnant of Israel) shall be saved” (Rom. 11).

We may here remark that when we view this present period as a parenthesis, it explains many passages of scripture which we could not otherwise understand. For example, Matt. 10:23, “Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come.” The same work of preaching the kingdom of heaven, which the disciples were then sent out to do, will be resumed again, after the Lord has come and this present period is over, by the godly remnant of Israel in that day. Again, “This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled” (Matt. 24:34). –the same race of men who then rejected Him, characterized by the same unbelief, will be found again at the end. In these and many other passages the present period is entirely passed over.

It is by the Lord's coming for His saints that this period of grace will be brought to a close. This blessed hope was ever intended to be the true and proper and immediate hope of the Christian according to the teaching of the Holy Spirit in the scriptures.

We learn from the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, which was the first inspired epistle Paul wrote, that he himself preached the truth of the Lord's coming as a part of the gospel which he announced. The consequence was that these simple converts, who had been so short a time converted (he was only preaching there three weeks or so, see Acts 17:2), were “waiting for God's Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivered us from the wrath to come.” It was not that they were waiting for deliverance from the wrath itself, they had already got that, but they were waiting for the Deliverer. The end of the chapter 4 gives us, doubtless, the most complete and detailed explanation of this subject which we find in scripture.

In this aspect of the Lord's coming (which has sometimes, and we believe rightly, been called the “rapture") it is not a question of His visible manifestation in glory; in fact there is nothing to show that He will be seen by the world when He comes for His church. When the Lord Himself ascended He was not seen by any but His own disciples; nor, indeed, was He seen after His resurrection, except by those chosen witnesses to whom He manifested Himself by many infallible proofs. So it will be with us. We shall disappear from the world, unseen as He was. What grace and what a privilege for His people to be thus identified with Him!

The saints are divided into two classes in this passage— “those who have fallen asleep through Jesus,” and “we, the living, who remain” (this latter phrase occurs twice). It does not say that the Lord comes to the earth exactly, but He descends “from heaven,” and both those who sleep in Jesus and those who are alive and remain, are caught up together in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. He Himself conducts them to the Father's house. His “shout” it is which effectuates the resurrection of the dead and the changing of the living. The word here translated “shout” is only used this once in the New Testament, it was the word of command given to the oarsmen on the galleys, and by a commander to his troops; here it is used for the assembling together of the saints to meet the Lord in the air. The Thessalonians thought that those who had died had missed the blessing not so, says the apostle, on the contrary, the living ones will “in no wise anticipate (or go before) those who are fallen asleep,” i.e., the ones who had died. The “dead in Christ,” would have the priority.

So also 1 Corinthians 15 confirms this, “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.” It is but an instant of time between the raising of the dead and the changing of the living, and this takes place “at the last trump,” which, we know is a military allusion, referring to the trump for the starting off of the whole army, after all had fallen into line of march.

It is remarkable that the apostle should use the word “we” in both the epistles we have referred to— “we, the living who remain,” and “we shall not all sleep.” It is just as though he put himself amongst the number of those who might be alive when the Lord would come, and this because it was intended to be always the proper and immediate hope of the believer. Well may he add, in Thessalonians, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” Do we sorrow over some dear departed saint of God? Many, indeed, do sorrow at the present moment, Thank God we sorrow “not as others which have no hope"; and the time is coming when both we and they shall hear that assembling shout, and shall be caught up to meet Him in the air, and so to be forever with the Lord. What a meeting, and what a consolation)

(To be continued)

[F.G.B.]

Conversion to God: Part 2

The Lord recognized the love that made them feel sad; He recognized the love that wished Him back and craved for His presence. He, therefore, said, “If I go away, I will come again, and receive you unto myself.”

Dear friends, a great promise was that! It brought them joy and hope. These men at Thessalonica heard it also. They heard it from the lips of the apostle. They drank in its sweetness and comfort, and said, ‘Oh, what a glorious thing it will be for Him to come back here from His glory,' and they forgot, as it were, the difficulties and trials of their path through this world in the vision of hope that the Lord would return and receive them to Himself.

They heard also the angelic testimony to the disciples when they stood on Mount Olivet gazing up into heaven, where that beloved One had vanished from their eyes. They stood gazing up into heaven waiting for the cloud to open, and thinking He would return immediately; but the angel spoke to them, and said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” “This same Jesus!” It is the blessed Person Himself who is coming, the Person who bears in His hands and feet the marks of the nails! This is He whom the Thessalonians expected, and whom we, too, expect. That same Jesus shall come-not some bright vision for your deathbed—not something for your imagination—but no! that very Person who suffered here shall come back. This is a promise, the truth of which we cannot deny, for the Lord has said it. Can it be a fact that a man whose sins have been washed away in the precious blood of Jesus—can it be that a person for whom Jesus died on the tree, does not care to cherish the hope of His coming again?

Some persons think it is a doctrine for those who are well instructed in the word of God; that it is a doctrine for persons who have studied, for instance, the visions of the wondrous Book of Daniel—that it is especially for such. But the Thessalonians knew nothing yet about Daniel's prophecies. Did they know anything about Daniel even? Here was the simple fact, that some idolatrous people had turned to God, and were ignorant of divine revelation. They had turned from lives that were absolutely devoid of heavenly truth, and. they learned from the servant of the Lord that Christ would come from heaven.

We also have that word. Let me ask, What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for His coming? Waiting, I take it, means anxiously expecting. You will remember that those virgins who went out to wait for the Bridegroom slumbered and slept. Could they then be said to be waiting for the Bridegroom? How could they be waiting for Him? They were not even ready for Him.

Do you say, “My Lord delayeth His coming,” or is it a fact that you are affected by the scoffers that are around us, who say “Where is the promise of His coming?” But that promise was made nearly two thousand years ago. Then we are nearly two thousand years nearer the fulfillment of it! Beloved friends, if you love the Lord Jesus Christ, you will surely love His word, and He says “Surely I am coming quickly.” Wait for Him, then. Walk on the mountains, and look out for the Bright and Morning Star. “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and 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: so shall we be forever with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16,17). What a comfort this hope contains. Are you waiting for the Son from the heavens, even Jesus who has delivered us from the wrath to come?

There is a sad side to the future revealed in these words. Not only is the Son coming from the heavens, but the wrath is coming. The wrath of heaven is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, and the Executor of that wrath is Jesus, our Deliverer. He has delivered us from the wrath to come. The believer expects the Lord Jesus to receive him into the bright mansions above, but the Lord is also coming to execute judgment upon all. God, who passed over the days of ignorance, now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Why? Because He has appointed a day in which He will “judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained: whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”

O beloved friends, it is a grim outlook for this world; for the world can look forward to nothing but God's wrath. The unrighteousness, the disregard of God's holy word and will, must receive God's judgment by and by. God is holy, and He waits in longsuffering mercy, not willing that any should perish; but there is a limit to this longsuffering. This guilty world in which we are is stained by the blood of God's Son. It is true this blood speaks better things than that of Abel. It speaks of mercy and salvation to the sinner, but God's justice and holiness demand that the crucifixion of that just and holy Jesus should be avenged. The world stands guilty. Dear friends, all has to be answered for in a day that is coming. It is for you to come now to the refuge that God has provided, to believe on His Son, and to wait for His Son, that you may be taken away from this world before God's judgments break upon it. Men shall say “Peace and safety,” and sudden destruction shall come upon them. As it was in the day of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of man.

Beloved friends, these are established facts, resting for their truth upon God's holy word. They are there. Search the Scriptures whether these things are so or not. If they are so, heed them, make them part of your lives. May the light of them shine upon your pathway, and great shall be your reward now, greater still in the day which is to come.

I ask you, on which side are you? What is the rule of your life here in this world? Is God's Son governing your life Are you ready to lay anything on one side for Christ's name? Oh, beware of rejecting anything that you know is God's will. Every person who has turned to God from idols finds that very shortly, he must come to a decision. He has to obey God and give up something to do so. He has to break some tender cord, perhaps, for God. This is often a great struggle, and you have to bring yourself to face the naked truth, and ask yourself, 'Whom shall I obey?' Shall I obey God, or shall I obey someone, perhaps, who is dearer than all the world beside

Friends, to decide rightly in a question of this kind, you have to look at it from the right standpoint. Be on the side of God. Be on the side of truth. Let this holy Book be the standard for you, that to which you refer, and that which is your guide to obedience from day to day. May God bless the truth and light of His holy word! May the scripture we have considered have a deeper and fuller effect than ever before upon the hearts and lives of everyone present here this evening!

(Concluded from page 816)

W. J. H.

Babylon and the Beast: 3

It is the woman, therefore, not the beast, that is here charged with being “drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.”

Then comes the angel's explanation; and this we shall find gives fresh information of the most important kind. It is always thus in the interpretations of Scripture. Man's explanations are merely founded on the thing to be explained; God out of His fullness loves to give us more, and of even, deepening importance. So here we are told “the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.”

“The beast that thou sawest was and is not” —a striking and singular fact. The Roman empire, unlike all the other previous beasts; must cease to exist and then rise again. It was, and is not, “and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit.” It was to reappear with a diabolical character in the sight of God for its last phase. Thus the last of the imperial powers should have a history altogether different from its predecessors. After having flourished and sunk into decay and death, it should revive before its final and unexampled destruction at the appearing of the Lord Jesus. Now there is no maxim among men more settled than that the powers of the world are in this just like men. They begin and advance till they reach their height; then they decline till they vanish. But you may without fail reckon that the maxims of men are untrustworthy where they touch divine things. It is not in the power of man to discover or enunciate the truth. In this case illustration and illustrated are alike. Man having lived and died is to rise again—not merely his spirit, but concrete man; spirit and soul and body will reappear. So must the Roman empire. I am not now speaking about other nations, though it is far from being confined to one; but the Roman empire is here singled out for the reason already pointed out, that it has a character in God's eye because of the rejection and judicial murder of the Son of God.

The Roman empire is not done with. It may have died and passed away, speaking now symbolically. The beast may have come to an end long since. But Scripture declares that the beast, which was and is not, “shall ascend” —yea, dreadful to say— “out of the bottomless pit.” Even when it rose up against the Son of God it was said then to have ascended out of the abyss. The empire is yet to be clothed with a still more distinctively diabolical character on its fi al reappearance than it ever had of old. It “shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition; and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and shall be present.”

You observe the change in the latter words. It has the amplest warrant. There is no Biblical scholar now that would presume to contest the better reading or its version. I am putting forward no peculiar view, but the best representation of the undoubted word of the Holy Spirit in the passage. All classes, Catholic or Protestant, Lutheran or Reformed, Established or Nonconformist, if only acquainted with the authorities for the word of God here, will admit that what has just been given is indubitably true. It is impossible for intelligent men to stigmatize this critical correction as the peculiarity of any school whatever. It is a question now of fact, sure in itself and confessed by all competent men, many of whom never stopped to consider the difference of meaning which results from the emendation demanded by excellent authorities of every kind, and consequently no bad witnesses inasmuch as they had and could have no object in what they introduced. As it stands in the common text, the phrase looks a sort of riddle; for what is the meaning of the proposition that the beast was, is not, and yet is? From the correct text the darkness vanishes at once. Can one hesitate which should be regarded as the voice of the Holy Spirit? Internal evidence there is as conclusively in favor of the critical change, as is external testimony. The sense that is elicited from καὶ πάρεσται is simple and highly important; the only possible version of the vulgarly received καίπερ ἐστίν offers no just sense whatever, but a certain mystification which none would defend save prejudiced men who confound mist with mystery, and see scarce anything with certainty and clearness in the Bible.

There is no enigma then in what the Spirit really wrote. He expressly tells us that universal wonder will be excited among men when they see the beast once more which had been and then ceased to exist. When it reappears, they are filled with astonishment. Just as John wondered greatly at the persecution carried on by her who bore the Lord's name ever so basely, so the world will marvel when the long-departed empire of Rome lifts its head once more.

Our own day has seen serious steps toward that consummation, or at least the way paved for it. Not at all is it meant that anything at present existing indicates that the beast has ascended from the abyss, or that it can till the saints now living on earth (with those dead before them) are caught up changed into the glorious likeness of Christ.

On the contrary, I would rather seek to guard all the children of God from being carried away by a hue and cry about this person or that kingdom. Still we have seen events in the providential history of the world of no ordinary magnitude and of strange character. But nothing has been yet seen that answers to this kingdom ascending out of the bottomless pit according to the language of prophecy. I am far from saying that the Sardinian or Piedmontese progress, through overthrowing their southern adversary and swallowing lip the lesser duchies and taking possession of the Papal dominions, can be fairly so interpreted. But it is impossible to avoid seeing that these extensive and profound changes in raising Italy to a great and united kingdom are not more fatal to the temporal, sovereignty of the Pope than they clear the ground for the revival of the empire with Rome for its capital. In short the state of things so rapidly brought about in Italy and even Rome seems to my mind no small step towards a far deeper and still graver assumption which God will not permit till a day that is not yet arrived. Let us not therefore in any way indulge the dream that we are yet in presence of this most solemn reappearance of the Roman empire; but one can scarce shut one's eyes to the fact that certain steps or stages which must necessarily have preceded it in the wisdom of God, have recently been taken, and that not a few things are in train towards that which remains to be done.

Nevertheless the turning-point can be shown to be in no way a fact as yet. There is nothing in the least degree therefore that would warrant any one to point to what is now in course of formation as if the beast were being actually formed. The chief antecedent condition does not exist.

“Here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings.” In this statement the Spirit of God deigns to give a mark of another kind for determining the woman. We have already considered what may be styled the spiritual mark as contrasted with the bride of the Lamb. Here we are in presence of what may be called the geographical mark. For the woman is said to sit on seven mountains. Who in the world could doubt where the seven-hilled city is? Still less could it have been doubted in the time of John. There was but one such city, and that one rose up before every person's mind instinctively. It was Rome, and none other.

Further, there is what may be called the political mark added in the end of the chapter. “The woman which thou sawest is the great city which reigneth (or hath kingdom) over the kings of the earth.” There was only one city which had reigned over kings. There can be no question therefore that Rome exclusively is the city intended here by the Spirit of God. This is so true that a great many learned persons of the Roman Catholic communion have acknowledged the fact, even some of their most celebrated controversialists. Probably there are many here who have heard of the famous Bishop of Meaux, J. B. Bossuet, as others have heard of Cardinals Baronius and Bellarmin. These officials, of high distinction in the Romish system, acknowledge Rome to be intended. They have their own way of endeavoring to conciliate the fact admitted with their tenacious maintenance of Rome as the holy see. With this we need not concern ourselves. What we have to consider is not their way of reconciling their consciences, but their acknowledgment as far as it goes of the truth in the chapter. We have nothing to do with judging them; we can leave them in the hands of God. It is enough for me simply to use the concession, which has its importance in this place, coming as it does from those who have opposed to it the strongest possible interest if the reference were only carried out to the full. Let us beware of imputing bad motives—love of power, greed of money, pride of position in the world, or the like. These, I say, are questions for God to judge. I am only affirming now, that all the keenest prejudices of celebrated Romish ecclesiastics must assuredly be against acknowledging Rome as the city meant here; and yet, in spite of all, they have been obliged to own the fact, however they may seek to explain it away by limiting it to its ancient pagan phase.

It is certain therefore from the spiritual contrast with the bride, from the geographical place of the seven mountains, and from the special, that is supreme, relationship to the kings of the earth, that Rome and no other is the city aimed at by the woman Babylon in Rev. 17.

But we must distinguish between “the woman” and “the harlot.” The woman is the city that is said to have sovereignty over the kings of the earth. The reason is manifest. Rome did not wait for her governing power till she became an ecclesiastical system. We see how perfectly the truth hangs together. It is not said, “the whore which reigneth over the kings of the earth,” but “the woman” that does so. Beyond controversy her supreme authority was quite distinct from her assuming an ecclesiastical character. The latter was a change long subsequent. In virtue of its religious character, alas! false or corrupt, it is called a whore or harlot; but “the woman” is in relation rather to her place as a certain system of power or authority in the earth, just as Tire and Jerusalem are often each compared to a woman in Old Testament prophecies, with which we are all familiar.

[W.K.]

(Continued from page 819)

(To be continued)

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Lecture on Nehemiah 3-4

Chaps. 3, 4

But this is not all. This next chapter shows us the names and the work of those that took part in the building of the walls. “Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel. And next unto him builded the men of Jericho” (3:1).

Let me call your attention to the grace of God here noticing the work of everyone; and, further, in showing the distinctive character, for this was an important thing to remember. There is not one of you, beloved friends, who has not a work to do for the Lord. Are you doing it? Further, there is a work that you can do better than any other.

It is a very great mistake to suppose that the work of God depends upon great powers. I do not deny that there is such a thing as God giving a man gift according to his ability, because the Lord Himself says so. And I do not mean that the same gift is to be in a man of small ability as in a man of large ability. Certainly not; but I still say that there is a work that is suitable even where the ability may be ever so shall, and a work that can be done better by that man of small ability than by the man of larger; for that very fact shows him his own proper work, whereas another work can be done not only as well, but better, by another. In short, there is no place where the right person in the right place is more important than in the church of God, and the Holy Ghost fills and fits the servants. I do not mean, now, merely those that preach, and those that teach, for there is no greater blunder than to suppose that this, and this only is the work of the Lord.

Indeed, what is called “ministry” is distinguished from “preaching,” as you will find in the 12Th of Romans. The apostle speaks about the teacher giving himself to his teaching, but he that ministereth to his ministry; now-a-days people call “ministry” —merely preaching or teaching. But that is not the language of the Holy Ghost. There is a great deal of serving—saints' serving—that is done by persons who have no such power. And hence you find a phrase that is very common among us, that is, of people saying, “I was ministering such a day. I was ministering,” or something of that kind; or, “Some other person was ministering.” Well, now, this is only a mistake. The fact is, perhaps, that it would be no great loss if there was less ministering in that way, and more ministering in a real way.

In short, that which God calls us to is simply to do His will, but we are apt to prefer that which falls in with our own thoughts and our own feelings and our own notions, instead of finding that in which God blesses us most. Now, caring for souls—the binding up of those that are broken in spirit—the interesting ourselves in the troubles and trials and difficulties of the saints of God—is of great price with Him, and there is that kind of ministering that, I am afraid, is very imperfectly performed amongst us. This is really the meaning of ministry—not so much speaking. I do not wish to depreciate what is said. It would not become me; it would not become anyone. But I affirm that Scripture distinguishes ministry from mere speaking, and that is what I refer to.

Ministry, properly, and according to the word of God, is a much more practical work of helping the saints of God. I do not mean merely with money. Here is another misapprehension. People think that, the only way to help the saints of God is by giving them money. That is falling into the snare of the devil, because money is what governs the world, and it makes the saints of God to be the slaves of money. No, beloved friends, we have to raise our eyes to the Lord. We know the ruined state, or we ought to know the ruined state, of that which God has brought us into, and, truly, we should not have to correct such mistakes as these if there were not as true a ruin now as there was in Nehemiah's time, as far as the object of his affections was concerned.

Well, then, God marks here His appreciation of the various services performed by the different saints of God-the different members, at any rate, of God's people. I am only applying it now to the saints, of course. We find, then, that they come before us in their order. The fish gate builded some; and again, others repaired, as we are told, this or that. The old gate repaired Jehoiada, but we are told further that, while the Tekoites repaired, their nobles put not their necks to the work of the Lord. Oh, what a solemn rebuke this is—that the men who ought to have been most of all at the head, most of all encouraging, the men who had the means to do it best—they attained the painful and unenviable notoriety, and the solemn rebuke in the word of God that they put not their necks to the work of their Lord. God is not indifferent. God notices, and no excuses will set aside His rebuke. “And next unto them,” we are told, “repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite.” But this is not all. “The son of Hur, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem,” is found. If, therefore, there were those—and there were a few who held back—we find that there is noble service on the part of some, real devotedness.

Then, in the twelfth verse we read: “Next unto him repaired Shallum-the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters.” This is an important thing, too. It is a very great mistake to suppose that women have not a seemly and a weighty place in the work of the Lord. Indeed, they have, and the apostle Paul takes good care to show it. Let me refer to Philippians for a few moments, just to show where they can help and where not. The fourth chapter of Philippians gives us a beautiful picture, not without sorrow, but, nevertheless, full of profit. “I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord.” The work of the Lord very often brings difficulties, and the reason is not that it ought not to be carried on with a pure mind, but, alas! that will so often mingles with it. These two women, both of them valued by the apostle, were at variance more or less. “And I intreat thee also, true yoke-fellow” —Epaphroditus, I suppose he refers to— “help those women” (referring to these very ones) “which labored with me in the gospel.”

It would be wrong, to suppose from this, that they had been preaching the gospel along with the apostle Paul: it does not mean that. I dare say many persons have drawn that inference from it—that Paul recognized them as fellow-preachers of the gospel with himself; but that is not the case. The meaning of the word, the proper and true meaning—and it is important to bring it out here—is this: that they shared the trials of the gospel when the gospel went there, and when it was in a time of trial. These noble-hearted women joined themselves in all the conflicts of the gospel. They bore the reproach of it. They were acting in every possible means—perhaps, in opening their houses—perhaps in hospitality to those that went there with the word, perhaps in seeking souls, praying with them, inviting them—a thousand things that women can do a great deal better than men. And accordingly, the apostle shows that he was very sensible of this. He tells Epaphroditus to help those women. It is very likely the brethren rather slighted them, and that Epaphroditus, being a person of much fellowship of mind with the apostle, would enter into his thought and feeling. “I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which labored with me-shared with me the trials of the gospel” —that is the thought. It is no question about preaching, but of sharing the trials of the gospel— “with Clement also, and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.”

We do not find any such thing in Scripture as women preaching, any more than women teaching in public. There are women that had a gift, even of prophecy. I am not in the least denying that, and if a gift is given it is meant to be used; but then it must be used according to the mind of God. We hear of four daughters of Philip that prophesied: no doubt they exercised the gift in a proper way. Women can help women. Women need not think that that is too slight a thing for their gift. It does not become women, surely, to despise women, and, therefore, to complain of laboring in that sphere would be uncomely, particularly in a woman; but there are proprieties that God never forgets in His work; and as even in the church of God it was forbidden for a woman to speak, so much more before the world. The fact is that to preach before the world would not have entered into a woman's head in those days. It is in later times, and in these lands, where notions of liberty have spread very much, that women now almost forget that they are women—that is their danger—so much is the line broken down between men and women in the world now. And this thing is going on rapidly to the very greatest injury of both men and women. However that may be, God gives the blaze of true honor to the women doing the true work of the Lord that becomes them. We have it here, then, signalized.

Further, we are told of other persons that helped in the most interesting way in various parts, but this would clearly occupy me longer than I wish to-night, for I wish to take a survey of the book, so that I can only commend the matter to yourselves to look into various details of the chapter. You will see how carefully God registers the varied services of the different members of His people.

CHAP. 4.

“But it came to pass that when Sanballat heard that we bedded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews” (4:1). It was bad enough to find the work was begun. It was a great deal worse to find that it was going on, and that Nehemiah was not so easily frightened. Sanballat had threatened to report him as a rebel against the king; but where the heart is simple there is no such reason for alarm, and the more firm Nehemiah was in giving honor to the powers that be, the more he could afford to slight the threats and scorn of Sanballat.

“And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? Will they fortify themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they make an end in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?” Now the other man, Tobiah, joined him— “Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.” What does Nehemiah say? At once he turns to the Lord— “Hear, O our God, for we are despised.” So it was also in the early early days of the church. The apostles were beaten, and were threatened, but what did they? They spread it out before the Lord, and the Lord answered. He answers with His own power. The Spirit shakes the building where they are, and, with great power, He gave them witness.

Yes, but here was a day of weakness, and what I would impress upon your mind and my own is that we are no longer in the day when the Spirit shakes the building. We are no longer in the day of power and glory. We are no longer in the day when signs and wonders are wrought. But are we, therefore, without God? What do we value most?—the powers and wonders God works, or God Himself? This is the great question. Have we confidence in the presence of God with us, and do we value the presence of God above all the powers and miracles that ever were wrought? It is a very simple question: so it was now for Nehemiah. There was no such thing as the Red Sea opened for the people—no such thing as the Jordan crossed. There was no manna that fell down from heaven, but there was the evident word of God accomplished, and the way was open for them. There was an open door, an open door to that place where the Lord's eyes were continually—the land of God for the people of God. They had lost it as a matter of outward power, but not for faith. For they clung to God, even when God could not outwardly own them before all the world. This made it a trial, no doubt, but faith would find the trial most profitable.

And this is what I would further impress—that there is very often in thought, and sometimes in expression, a kind of complaint of the want of power. Now I distrust that. I never came out to power, and I should be sorry for anybody else to do it; but am I come out to the Lord? Am I come out because it is His will?—because it is His word? Let us be ever so weak, there He would have us be. There is nothing so sure as that, and, allow me to say, there is nothing that keeps us so truly and so steady, whereas, on the contrary, we may fall into the snare of clericalism if we are too much occupied with power.

Suppose a meeting, an assembly of God's people, where, by the remarkable gift of one, or two, or three individuals, everything went on with apparent beauty—every prayer thoroughly according to the truth—suppose, too, that everything that was done was done with intelligence: yet if the action and presence of the Spirit of God were ignored—I should feel that this was the most miserable meeting possible. It would be hollow; and we ought not to be deceived. It is not merely two or three persons that hide the shame and the weakness of the assembly altogether. The all-important thing, beloved brethren, is that God's children should be gathered round His name, and that the Spirit of God should be left in freedom to act. Consequently, as sure as we are acting with truth, weakness will appear, neither will the state of the assembly be the same thing from week to week. And it is far more important that we should be in the truth than that there should be a manifestation of power. A manifestation of power might be only a veil thrown over the true state of the assembly, and only the improper and unspiritual activity of two or three men of gift that would falsify the true state of that assembly. Now, I say, it is far better to have all the pains and penalties and sorrows of weakness than a state that is not true in the sight of God; and, of all things, that we ought to be in the truth of our condition. I am persuaded that anything is bad that would cause us to forget that, after all, we are only a remnant; and that the more we enjoy the truth, the more deeply are we called to feel the broken state of the church of God.

Another thing, too. There is often the idea that if we could only get the most spiritual and the most intelligent of all Christians together, what a happy meeting it would be! Yes, but, beloved friends, it would be all wrong, because that is not what we are called to. What warrants us to pick and choose among the people of God? Who gave us the title, even, to wish such a thing? Now, I feel the very contrary, and believe it to be of God, if, indeed, my brethren, you have got the secret of the Lord—if, indeed, you have the Spirit of God left free, I would rather look out for the lame, I would rather look out for the weak. I would rather try and get those that are in want, those that are feeble, those that are in danger. The strong ones, or, at any rate, those that think themselves strong, we must leave in the hands of the Lord; but, surely, the weak ones are those that the true, the real, the Good Shepherd cares for most; and we ought to feel like the Good Shepherd. The theory of gathering together only the best and the most intelligent is, therefore, a false theory. It is utterly contrary to the true principle of grace and truth. No, beloved friends, the only right thing is this: we do not pretend, we do not look for, we do not expect, that God will gather all His saints; but the moment we are in a position that we are not free and open to all the saints of God, we are false. It is not that I look for their coming, but the question is whether my heart is towards them all. If it is not towards them all, then I am a sectarian.

This, beloved friends, is exactly where Nehemiah was. His heart was towards them all, though it was only a poor little remnant. Why, after all, that remnant, when it came out, was only 42,000 and a few odd, and some seven thousand servants, that is, it was under 50,000, counting them all, masters and servants, and this was all the remnant of Israel. Time was when even Judah alone—one tribe—had no less than 450,000 fighting men. I mention this merely to show how great the wreck-how complete the ruin was.

Well now, Nehemiah—the same Nehemiah that loved the people, and whose heart went out to every one that was of Israel, whether they came or not, he whose heart received them in all their weakness, seeking, of course, to strengthen them, seeking to impart the intelligence that God had given his own soul, but not accepting and not receiving them upon any such ground as this, but receiving them because they were the Lord's, receiving them all in the Lord's land, where the Lord will have them be-now spreads out before God the insults and scorn and threats of these enemies of the Lord. This calmed his spirit. He was not uneasy. God listened and heard. “Hear, O our God; for we are despised; and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity: and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee w anger before the builders. So built we the wall” (vers. 4-6).

But it became more serious, so much so that there was a conspiracy among the enemies to come and fight. “Nevertheless, we made our prayer unto our God.” One of the most striking features is that it was not merely the people that read the Bible. It was not merely the people that grew in the knowledge of the Scripture. That they did, and we shall find the proof of it. But the first thing that was found in these early days was prayer. There was a spirit of prayerfulness among them. They went to God. They brought everything to God, and, consequently, had the grace of God working in them, and the wisdom of God that was imparted to them. We find, accordingly, that Nehemiah quietly takes measures, and he “set the people after their families with their swords, their spears and their bows. And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses.”

Well, the same thing has to be done now. I do not mean in the same way now. With the Christian it is not a question of fighting with the sword, but, undoubtedly, we have to fight the good fight of faith. It is not merely that we have to work, but we have to withstand as well as to stand in this evil day; that is, we have to be armed against the wiles of the devil, and not merely to be carrying on the peaceful work of the Lord. So it was then with the remnant of Judah, and he gives them direction, as they were scattered, that the trumpet was to communicate. The trumpet was to give a certain sound-a very important thing for us, too. “In what place, therefore, ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye hither unto us: our God shall fight for us. So we labored in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared” (verse 21).

[W. K.]

The Way of Holiness: Part 2

The thief was taken to paradise with Christ straight from the cross, paying indeed the penalty of his sinfulness to man, but the blessed Lord had borne his sins, and put them away out of God's sight; yet in general we [instead of being taken away forthwith as he] are left to pass through the wilderness, and to manifest the life of Christ—be the epistle of Christ down here.

Now, as this new life is a holy life in its nature, so it has its objects—the sphere in which it lifts. They that are after the Spirit mind the things of the Spirit; and He takes the things of Christ, and shows them to us. Now we are united to Christ in glory, one spirit as joined to Him, sitting in Him in heavenly places, and predestinated to be conformed to the image of God's Son, that He may be the first-born among many brethren. We look to have our vile body fashioned like His glorious body. He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; as is the Heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy we shall also bear the image of the Heavenly. In our bodies we belong to the old, we have our treasure in earthen vessels. But we are entitled to hold ourselves for dead, crucified with Christ. If Christ be in us, the body is dead because of sin; and Christ being in us as our life, nothing can satisfy the desires of this new life but full conformity to Him in glory, who is its source and power.

The turning of the heart, then, towards this full conformity as the one object of holy pursuit and progress, is clearly pointed out in scripture. First; I will quote Col. 3, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” Now this affection is the very essence of sanctification, as is evident, and we must not suppose that we, have not these things revealed to us. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him. But we have received not the spirit which is of the world, but that which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. So Paul, declaring his own walk, and what became Christians, says, “Be ye followers of me.... for our conversation is in heaven, from whence we look for the Savior, who shall change our vile body and fashion it like his glorious body.”

But more precisely, as connected with sanctification, the Lord says, in praying the Father for them, “Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy word is truth.” And then, “For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified through the truth. He sets Himself apart as the Man in glory to whom we are to be conformed, the Son of Gods in whom the whole truth, according to God's mind as to man in His purpose, is accomplished, that it may be brought, in living truth and power, by the Holy Ghost, and wrought in us. Which thing, says the apostle, is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing, and the true light now shineth.

Conformity to Him in glory is the grand result. He is there in it; and the Holy Ghost, taking the things of Christ there, forms us morally into His likeness. Such is God's way. Let us take other passages which, while they show this, show the completing of it in God's measure at His coming. In 1 John 3 we have, “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew Him not. Beloved, now are we children 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. And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself as He is pure.” Now the first thing we have to notice here is the blessed truth, how thoroughly we are associated in the mind and word of God with the blessed Lord all through. The world does not know us, because it did not know Him. We children; it does 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. This is the sure hope before us, according to God's purpose, and we know it will be accomplished.

What it is has not yet appeared, but we are so identified with Christ, that this we know, that we shall be perfectly like Him, conformed to the image of God's Son. And now see the present and sanctifying effect. He that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure. The sure certainty of being like Him gives the measure and character of our hearts' desires and affections, and we purify ourselves as He is pure. Sanctification, in its development, is the removal of everything, thought, or motive unsuited to that in which Christ is revealed to us as man in glory, and the realization in our minds of that which is revealed. In this there is growth. So we read in 2 Cor. 3:18. The veil being taken off the glory of the Lord: We with open [unveiled] face beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord. This is the same truth; beholding in spirit the glory of Christ, the exalted Man, we become continually more like Him.

Another remarkable passage is in 1 Thessalonians 3:12, 13, as showing when and where the great result is brought out and manifested. “The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, as we do toward you, to the end he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” Now this connects, in a most remarkable manner, present holiness in the saints and the appearing of the Lord. The apostle looks to their present state, but draws the veil, and shows it in its full manifested character when Christ appears; so that, if we do not know how to connect these two things, the sentence becomes unintelligible. Present holiness, in its nature and character, is what is manifested in us when Christ appears. So we are told that ministry is that we may grow up to Him who is the Head in all things, and the apostle labored to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. And our walk is to be worthy of God, who has called us to His own kingdom and glory. How high and holy is this calling! what a character it gives to the saints! what an association in heart and spirit with a glorified Christ on high!

Our conversation, our living associations, are there, and we wait for Him just to change our vile body, and all will be suited and in order.

We have, as a rule, to pass through the world; but the holiness introduced into it is that which is above, suited to the expression in motives and thoughts of what that glorified Man is, who is the object of our affections, who has sanctified Himself, that we may be sanctified through the truth. We are an epistle of Christ here. If God chastises us, it is that we may be partakers of His holiness. We are completely associated with the Second and glorified Man, who is not ashamed to call us brethren. Our holiness is wrought out in our lives down here; but it is formed up there in fellowship with Himself, where our affections and minds get into the state to be manifested down here. There is in that a bearing about the dying of the Lord Jesus, that His life may be manifested in our mortal bodies; but the whole positive side of forming and progress is in realizing what He is, separated from sinners, up there, the positive blessedness of the perfected Man.

This produces what He was down here, the perfect man down here, and this is what the perfect man [literally, full-grown] means in the New Testament: heirs morally, one who not only knows the forgiveness we need as regards the sins of the old man, but has learned his place and character in the new—has the positive side in Christ. But how blessed is this full association with Christ, the Man of God's purpose, who is according to His heart, and which by the Spirit brings us to know and enjoy Him where He is, and become continually more like Him, to whom we are to be perfectly like when with Him in glory!

May the Lord only give us diligence of heart in seeking it. To be in the holiest, where God is, and to know what holiness is there, and to find Christ there in glory, and to know God's thought and purpose as to man, and to know that we shall be formed in glory like Him, sons in the Father's house—what infinite joy!—and to know it is our portion, as scripture teaches, and that He is not ashamed to call us brethren, in what was ordained before the world for our glory. God, even if it be by chastening, makes us partakers of His holiness, and the Son the pattern of our glory, ourselves brought into fellowship with Him according to Eph. 1:4, 5. Such is the joy and hope of God's children.

(Concluded from page 327)

J. N. D.

Christ the Propitiatory

It has been already observed, in a former paper, that propitiation is, by the apostle John, intimately associated with the person of the Son of God (1 John 2:1, 2; 4:10). It is no less true that Paul, by the Spirit of God, speaks in perfect agreement with John, using terms modified to suit the character of the communications he was inspired to give.

In the Epistle to the Romans, the great theme is the demonstration of the righteousness of God, especially in His provision of a righteousness for unrighteous and guilty man. And in the first part of the book the dazzling search-light of the truth of God sweeps the broad face of the habitable earth, revealing the intractable evil of the universal heart and ways of all mankind, whether Jew or Gentile. Unrighteousness was to be found everywhere; righteousness nowhere. And what thrilled the great heart of the apostle of the Gentiles with joy was that he was commissioned to proclaim in the gospel that, when it had been fully proved that a man could not provide a righteousness of his own for God, God had Himself provided one for him. What had been foreshadowed and foretold by law and prophets for so long was now at length revealed.

“Now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all that believe. For there is no difference: for all have sinned, and do come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:21-26).

In this very full and rich passage there are two main subjects brought forward which can now be no more than indicated, viz.: (1) the righteousness of God, which is offered to all; and (2) the vindication of God's righteousness in so doing, and in making the believer righteous. Nothing can be more essential for man in having to do with a righteous God than righteousness. This man does not possess in himself, but the God of grace offers it through faith in Jesus Christ. The offer is made to all men, and the righteousness is bestowed upon all who believe. Not a single soul is excluded from the opportunity of accepting this justification, for all alike have sinned, and fall short of God's glory; whilst each believer is justified freely by His grace.

But is God righteous in thus justifying the ungodly? Had He not declared under the law, “I will not justify the wicked” (Ex. 23:7)? On what ground, then, does God righteously impute righteousness to the believer? The apostle, replying as it were to such a question, points to the Person of the adorable Son of God. It was Christ Jesus in whom God showed forth His righteousness in justifying those who believe. Prior to this time, God's gracious dealings were only secretly, not manifestly, set upon a righteous basis. The foundations of His righteousness in grace could not be revealed till Christ came.

And what was the result of Christ's coming? That God was shown to have been righteous throughout Old Testament times, as, indeed, He is now, in blessing every soul who receives the gospel. “Whom [Christ Jesus] God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare (1) his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare (2) I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:25, 26). God's righteousness is, therefore, said to be declared in regard to His remission (or, strictly, the praetermission, that is, forgiveness based on that which was coming) of the sins of Old Testament believers, and also in regard to His present act of justifying the believer in Jesus.

Now, observe that this public declaration of God's righteousness is connected with Christ as the propitiatory. It is in this character that Christ displayed God's righteousness: “Whom God set forth a propitiatory.... to declare His righteousness.” For it is a remarkable fact that a different word is used by Paul from that used in John's Epistle. This fact can be verified by anyone having the slightest acquaintance with the Greek tongue, and is noted in most versions. In John's Epistle, Christ is said to be the ἱλαστήριον but in the Epistle to the Romans He is called the ἱλαστήριον. We have one other instance only in the New Testament of the use of the latter word, which establishes its meaning beyond just question. The apostle, when enumerating the furniture of the holy of holies in the ancient tabernacle, spoke of the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat (ἱλαστήριον, Heb. 9:5). From the two passages, therefore, there can be no doubt that Christ is the Antitype of the mercy-seat, or propitiatory, as He is also the ἱλασμός or propitiatory sacrifice (1 John 2:2; 4:10), whose blood was sprinkled upon and before the mercy-seat (Lev. 16:4).

It will be remembered that Moses was to make the mercy-seat of pure gold, and to place it upon the ark of testimony. “There I will meet with thee,” said Jehovah, “and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat” (Ex. 25:17-22). Fine gold was emblematical of the intrinsic righteousness of God, as brass was of His judicial righteousness. Hence, when the blood of the victim, on the great day of atonement, was sprinkled upon the golden mercy-seat, the act clearly signified, in type, that the claims of Jehovah's righteous nature were glorified thereby. And the seven-fold sprinkling before the propitiatory indicated that a foundation was thus laid for communion with Jehovah, as He had said to Moses.

In the Epistle to the Romans (to which we have been referring) we find the mercy-seat, the blood, and the righteousness of God, all associated together. For Christ Jesus is shown as the propitiatory through faith in His blood to declare God's righteousness. This declaration He has made. As the exceeding riches of God's grace will be declared in coming ages (Eph. 2:7), so God's righteousness has been already declared “at this time.” Moreover, it was done here below. For this Epistle deals with the position of the believer in this world, not in the heavenlies as is done in the Ephesians. So the moral history of the world is summarized to prove it guilty before God; and where the fruits of man's unrighteousness abounded, there—not in heaven—God's righteousness in justifying the ungodly was demonstrated. In Old Testament times, as may be seen in the book of Job, the possible relation of unrighteous man to a holy God was unknown; but now Christ has declared it to be consonant with God's righteousness by becoming a propitiatory. In His own blessed Person lifted upon the cross, He formed the blessed answer to all the righteous demands of God.

Is there a difficulty in that Christ is the sacrifice, and, moreover, the mercy-seat where the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled? It is no greater difficulty than in Christ being both the Shepherd of the sheep and the Door through which He leads them (John 10). It was unbelief that could not understand how Christ could be both David's Son and David's Lord. Such paradoxes do not stagger faith. All the difficulties vanish when we remember He was “God manifest in flesh.” An ancient writer (Theodoret) has put it: “The Lord Christ is God, and the Mercy-seat, and the High Priest, and the Lamb, and in His blood He has worked out our salvation.” Christ is indeed all. His Person is one, and His work is one.

Herein was the great distinction between the Antitype and the types. They were many and varied and terrestrial; and they were, by reason of their very nature, in all points exceeded by the Antitype, as the heavens are higher than the earth. To insist on the necessities of the type in the Antitype is to speak derogatorily of the Person of the Son. In the type you must have a person to take the blood of the sacrifice from the altar to the mercy-seat; but in Christ the sacrifice and mercy-seat coincided, and hence there was no necessity for such transference of His blood, as in the type. And, on the word of Christ Himself, the work was finished when He bowed His head, and dismissed His spirit (John 19:30).

Moreover, the fact of the closure of the work was attested by the veil of the temple being supernaturally rent from the top to the bottom (Mark 15:38). The veil signified of old that the way into the holiest of all, for communion with God from above the mercy-seat, was not then made manifest (Heb. 9:8); but when rent thus it proclaimed that a new and living way into the holiest had been dedicated; so that by the blood of Jesus we may enter with boldness But the veil was emphatically a figure of Christ's flesh (Heb. 10:19, 20), and plainly points that the work whereby the restrictions of the most holy place were removed was accomplished in His flesh on the cross, and not in heaven after death. For Christ's death (the rent veil) declared the way open, which implies that the work on which this could be righteously done had then been accomplished, and, moreover, accepted by Him for whom it was accomplished.

W. J. H.

Babylon and the Beast: 4

But there is a great deal more. “There are even kings,” says the Spirit of God: “five are alien; the one is, and other is not yet come.” It is hard to doubt that these heads or kings here brought before us refer to the various forms of power which succeeded each other in Rome. Other beasts were simply said to have one head. The Macedonian might become four heads, and these evidently concurrent, not successive; but in, Rome we hear of seven heads, and these from the language of the interpreter not concurrent but successive.

The figure refers to the complete variety of political power that should characterize that empire. “Five,” it is said, “were fallen.” These were the previous kinds of power in Rome. “One is:” the sixth head was then exercising its rule. Thus the five fallen heads pointed to kings, consuls, decemvirs, military tribunes, dictators, or the like, which had been in Rome before, but had now yielded to the emperor. Although there was a shadow of consuls still kept up, as is notorious, yet the imperial head was universally known to be then in force. This is the one that “now is,” as we are told. But it is added that another was coming. “The other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.”

Here I still stand to what I hold to be an important, though negative principle in looking at the prophetic word: to understand it you do not require history. In general indeed the students of history applied to the interpretation of the prophets least understand prophecy. After all a conjectural opinion as to the meaning of these heads is no such great matter; nor does it really help in the interpretation of the chapter. Supposing the simple Christian believe that the five forms of power fell before the existing imperial one, what of importance can history add? He is not able to explain the details; he knows not the successive forms of power—what has he lost? Supposing he did name them accurately, what has he gained? He is assured on the word of God that there were five, though he may not know what their histories or their characters were. He does know what was of great importance—that a sixth form existed, the imperial line of the Caesars, as they are called and as everybody knew in John's day. Then he knows further that there was to be a seventh. What the seventh head would be is not here described; save that when he came, he must continue a short space. And what should we gather from this? That further minutiae are of no importance to the believer.

Whatever is of real value and for His glory God explains. Whatever is of no account in this point of view God passes by with the slightest notice or none. And so it is with these different heads of power, They are none of them explained. We are told the few words we have seen as to the seventh: no more than this was of consequence; and therefore the Lord gives us this fact alone in the case. “And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven.” Thus there was to be a most curious compound character in the eighth head. He would be, on the one hand, of the seven; on the other, he would be an eighth. This seems, to my thinking, to be explained by what we find in another part of the book: the wounded head of the beast was to live. The imperial power, as it was wounded to death, so it was to appear again. When it revived, it would be an eighth; but it was one of the seven, because there had been such a form of power in Rome once before.

Hence I do not admit that there is in general anything so difficult to understand in these symbols. The information given is plain enough if we are content with the word of God. It is when we leave the simplicity of Scripture that we fall into the by-path of speculation. For indeed we are in a wilderness-world, and where to turn we know not. But God has a way, though the vulture's eye sees it not; and in His word He has been pleased to reveal it, even Christ; and our wisdom is to hold fast to the way which grace has thus given us. Do we not need a way, if we are going through the wilderness? That way God alone can make known to us, or keep us in. But the way for us in Christ He has fully revealed.

As this is of immense importance everywhere, so is it, be assured, even in studying prophecy, just as much as anywhere else. To go from Scripture to history, in order to find the explanation of prophecy, is invariably an error. It may not always work out its worst effects, because he that wanders into history for this purpose may otherwise by faith keep fast hold of the word of God; and so far he will be preserved from evil. But the tendency of looking into man's account of the world to find the explanation of God's mind in prophecy is to abandon light for darkness.

Let me ask a question. How can history explain prophecy? It is evident that before history can be applied to the elucidation of prophecy, you must understand what the prophecy means; and when you know what it means, for what do you want history Is it to ascertain that God knew or spoke the truth? You have already what God gave it for, and ought not, if a believer, to take the ground of an infidel. No doubt what you discover in history, as far as it is true, must exactly fall in with prophecy. And this may be interesting—nothing more; but it must be evident to every one who reflects that, if we wish to be kept from fumbling in the dark, we must understand a prophecy before we can bring it into juxtaposition with the particular event we regard as its fulfillment.

For instance, take the beast before us. Supposing it is the question with me to whom or to what the beast applies here, how can history decide this? Am I to ransack all the annals of all times and all nations first? Or am I not to weigh the prophecy with prayer that I may know of what God is speaking? One man says, perhaps' it is the pope; another affirms Napoleon Bonaparte or his nephew. How am I to decide? First let me seek to understand the Scriptures about the beast with their context, and When I do so by the grace of God in my measure, this is what God meant me to get without going further and faring probably worse.

The truth is, that when God's mind is seized in Scripture, it will be found incomparably larger than question of popery or politics. He is occupied with the glory of Christ in heaven; if on earth, with Israel as the center when the kingdom is established by judgments on the Gentiles who now are allowed to rule exceptionally during the Lo-ammi state of the Jews. Hence what is described here is irreconcilable with men's thoughts. Take once more as an example the pope. The papacy may come in for a certain analogy, but is in no full sense the beast. It is not certainly for me to apologize for the papal power: none can justly insinuate that I sympathize with that monstrous imposture in any way. But the word of God ought to be dearer than all controversial objects; and although some may be keen enough Protestants, nothing justifies one in departing from the word of God, nor can any end consecrate an error.

The endeavour to find out the hardest things that can be found in the Bible, and to apply them blindly towards an object that you justly censure, is serious moral wrong. Whatever then the demerits of the papacy, the apocalyptic beast from the sea is really a quite different evil altogether, being the imperial power of the west in its last phase. It will be hardly disputed that the pope is an extremely diminished power now: is this honestly the lot of the little horn of Dan. 7? Judged by an imperial standard, there is not much resemblance between the two, as in my opinion there never was. The papacy never was anything politically, or at least territorially, but an inconsiderable power; whereas the beast here described is regarded as a commanding empire in the earth, and this of course Roman. But it clearly was when the Roman empire sunk into nonentity, weakened by the Eastern rent and its own corruption, and afterward extinguished by the barbarian hordes, that the papacy sprang up into a temporal authority no less than an universal episcopate. So far is the papacy from really answering to the beast, that it has only tome in during the non-existence of the beast. For the beast that was is not, according to St. John. Such is the true place and time of that strange incubus. Indeed the papacy is far more connected with the whore than with the beast, though I do not deny a sort of partial anticipation also. For I am not disposed to differ from the great and excellent men who, attached the solemn description of Babylon to the see of Rome during the latter part of the middle ages, and at the time of the Reformation. To my mind Luther and others who so used it were justified in the main. They were right in fixing the divine condemnation of Babylon on Rome, and this not merely as “the woman” but as “the whore,” which involves other features of guilt as already pointed out.

But the beast is the imperial power of Rome, and here in its last open apostasy and rebellion against God. The other powers had disappeared as empires. The beast is the only one that will reappear imperially before final judgment, after having passed through these different states. “The beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.” The last holder of that power, the last head, will display, I presume, the resurrection of the empire without and against God by Satanic energy, and in this condition it is doomed to perish forever under the judgment of God.

“And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings.” This is another most material point for understanding the chapter. “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.” Now if we look back upon ancient and medieval European history, what do we find? First of all the Roman beast unbroken, without any division whatsoever into separate kingdoms. There was a breach that gradually widened after the setting up of Constantinople, as it was overtly occasioned by that rival metropolis. There were sovereigns who divided between them the Roman empire for a season, as we know, when that empire began to decline; but in the days of its comparative solidity and world-wide grandeur (as you are aware, at any rate during the Scriptural account of the Roman empire), it was an unbroken power wielded by an emperor. In the days of the Caesars it was invariably so. There might be a difference, as we know there was in history, between the Augustus and the Caesar; but I am speaking now of the emperor; and I say there was but one emperor during the days of the Users. Such was the earliest state. Passing over the changes or modifications that took place until the barbarians broke up the Roman empire, we find all changed when the empire was gone. “The beast that was” ceased to be, the new condition being briefly told in the words, “and is not.”

What was found then? The various fragments of the Roman empire were gradually settled into separate kingdoms. I am willing now to meet our historical friends as much as possible, and will not raise questions about “ten” by contending for nine or eleven. Let us suppose there were exactly ten in round numbers. If ten, we have ten horns or kings of the middle ages, but no such thing as the empire or the beast; that is, no corporate bond existed for these ten kings—no single power held a suzerainete over them all, so as to direct their united forces, and make them all to be parts of the great Roman empire. Such a state of things had not begun to be. But, mark, in the time which the prophet contemplates there will be this exactly. “The beast that was and is not shall ascend,” that is, the old corporate bond of an emperor to control and lead all that once formed the beast, or properly Roman part of the empire, in short the west or western powers. The east appears not in the beast, as here looked at, for reasons that need not be entered into now. It is the strictly Roman part of the empire. The gold, the silver, and the brass are not spoken of here, but only the iron and clay, if we may speak in the language of Nebuchadnezzar's vision.

[W. K.]

(Continued from page 338)

(To be continued)

The War and Prophecy: 2

Our Lord Himself spoke often of His coming. In Luke 12:35, 36, He said, “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord... that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.” The attitude of the waiting servant, who has his hand on, the latch of the door, so to speak, is the true and proper attitude for everyone who loves Christ, and whose heart beats true to his absent Lord. Do we sometimes forget this? Alas we do, but as the compass-needle instinctively turns to the north, so the true and normal aspiration of the Christian is to see Him face to face. And even if, for a moment, the needle is agitated by the storm or the tempest, or temporarily diverted by magnetic influences, yet it soon swings back to its normal position. So Christ's coming is the center of attraction, the governing and regulating pore for the Christian's heart and life, the goal and climax of all his most cherished hopes. May our hearts never beat out of truth to their true and living center!

In John 14, too, Christ pours the oil of consolation into the hearts of His sorrowing disciples when just about to depart out of this world to the Father, by saying to them, “I am coming again, and will receive you unto myself.” And when risen and glorified, He speaks, Himself, once again in the last chapter of Revelation, presenting Himself as the “bright and morning star,” and closing with the words, “Surely I come quickly.”

In truth this momentous event, the coming of the Lord, an event unprecedented in the history of the world, and which lies entirely outside the calculations of the men of science of this or any other age, is the bright and blessed hope set before the church of God. The Lord said at the grave of Lazarus, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” He is, in His own person, the first-fruits of the harvest; and this is the pledge that the harvest itself will follow. The power of resurrection-life has been already displayed in Christ, who is the resurrection and the life; and it only needs that He, the Victor over death and the grave, should appear again upon the scene, and then this victorious power of life will be applied, not only to the souls of His people as now, but to their bodies also; and in one moment every one of His saints shall be raised or changed, and clothed with a body like His own. There is no mistake, no uncertainty as to this; scripture is clear and precise. Christ is already our life, and we pass into the full participation in it, even as to the body, when He comes.

It is true that this hope, in its proper heavenly character, was lost sight of by the church for many centuries; but oh, what manner of people ought we to be for whom this blessed truth has been recovered through the instrumentality of valued servants of God, many of whom have now gone to their rest! What a practical and formative power it would be in the life and walk of the Christian, in our conduct in the church and in the world, if we were looking and waiting for the coming of the Lord at any moment!

There are three or four words used in scripture in reference to His coming, viz., “coming,” “appearing,” “manifestation,” and “revelation.” When we think of His “coming” for His saints, it is a question of pure grace, and it is connected with our privileges as Christians—those blessed privileges which grace has conferred upon us. His “appearing” brings before us the solemn side of the matter connected with our responsibilities as those who are to serve and witness for Him here. The latter takes in also, we believe, our manifestation before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10), where we, shall receive according to the things done in the body, and the place of each in the kingdom will be assigned. There every act of service or testimony will be appraised at its true value by the Lord Himself.

Hence Paul could speak in his last epistle (2 Tim. 4:8), of the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, would give to Him in that day (the day of manifestation) and not to him only, but to all those who love His appearing. It is this aspect of the Lord's coming which we find, generally, in the Epistles to Timothy and to Titus, which instruct us as to the conduct of the servant in the house of God here on earth, rather than as to the privileges which belong to the church as the body of Christ.

It is remarkable that both the Old and New Testaments should close with the coming of Christ. In the former He is seen as the Sun of Righteousness, about to arise with healing in His wings, to usher in the “day” of blessing for this earth, with Israel restored to their land as the center of His government. But the New Testament gives us the “bright and morning star; “this is the heavenly hope of the Christian during the night of Christ's absence and His rejection by this world, before the “day” dawns. It is for the rising of the morning star we are waiting (as the godly remnant of Israel will be for the rising of the Sun of Righteousness); and, as Peter tells us, it should be already risen in the heart of the believer (2 Peter 1:19).

Though scripture never warrants us in fixing a date for the coming of the Lord for which we wait, yet it is not out of place to take our bearings, as a ship would at sea, and to seek to discern the characteristics of the times in which our lot is cast. And here we have to guard against the tendency to think that our time, serious as it is, is worse and more fraught with remarkable events than any other time in the world's history. If, for example, we take the epoch in history when the Roman Empire, which had dominated the most part of the then known world for many centuries, was crumbling to pieces beneath the sword of the barbarian hordes from the north these events must have appeared to the early Christians as a complete overturning of everything stable. For this reason they prayed for the upholding of the Empire, which they looked upon as that which hindered the development of lawlessness, of which they were warned in such passages as 2 Thess. 2, and others. At the same time there is no doubt that our times are exceedingly serious and solemn also, considering that a war of unprecedented magnitude is now devastating many parts of Europe. And no one can foretell what the issue of it may be.

And though the events now taking place are not, we believe, the fulfillment of prophecy; yet they are doubtless preparing the way for it. The events of which, prophecy speaks will not begin to unfold themselves until after Christ has come for His saints, as we shall see later on.

Then, again, comparing the present time with, say, some sixty or eighty years ago: there has been, undoubtedly, an immense increase in the distribution of knowledge and education amongst the masses, but with it there is less simplicity and more restlessness on the part of the people in general. Indifference and irreligion have increased as a consequence of the infidelity and the unsettling of the authority of scripture in the minds of men. This latter is being largely helped on by “Higher Criticism,” in which Germany had been a leader, and which is preached or taught from many of the pulpits of the land. Besides this, there is the giving up of light and truth, and the going back to superstition and sensuous religion, which appeals so much to lovers of display and that which gratifies the senses, in Ritualism and the Romeward movement.

Yet, while all this is so, there has been a great activity in the foreign mission-field, for which we can thank God. True, in spite of the many good and earnest men and women at work, we cannot close our eyes to the comparatively small results obtained; but we can rejoice that Christ is preached.

Moreover, there can be no doubt that Satan has been particularly active of recent years in the spread of evil doctrines and the formation of systems which overturn the very foundations of Christianity: for example, Christian Science, Millennial Dawnism, Christadelphianism, and others. These systems are, we believe, the active working of the spirit of error; and, though clothing themselves with the name of “Christian,” they are, in reality, antichristian and a deadly attack of Satan on the truth. They are all untrue to the great central truth of Christianity, the person of Christ, God over all, blessed for evermore, yet truly man—God and man in one person; besides being false as to the truth generally. And those who propagate these errors have shown an amount of zeal in flooding the world with tracts and books, which true Christian workers often. lack; thus the enemy succeeds only too well in spreading his poisonous and blinding influences by means of the printing-press.

But the Christian who is content to walk humbly in separation from the world, can always find a resource in God Himself outside it all, which nothing can change or set aside. His life, his truest interests, his deepest joys, are drawn from above, and cannot be taken away by anything which transpires in this world. And everything seems to point to the close of the present dispensation and the speedy coming of the Lord for His saints. Then this present penal of time will come to a close by the resurrection of those who have fallen asleep during all the ages which have elapsed, and the changing of the living, both together being caught up to meet the Lord in the air and so to be “forever with the Lord.”

Here it may be well to refer briefly to the question, Will the church go through the great tribulation?

Now, no one denies that the Christian may be called on to pass through much affliction; scripture says, “we are appointed thereunto.” But this is in a general way; it has nothing to do with “the tribulation.”

To suppose that the church must go through the tribulation is a mistaken view, detrimental to the believer's best and most cherished interests and affections. It neutralizes and militates against the true heavenly hope of the church, and that attitude of constantly waiting for God's Son from heaven, which should characterize the Christian. It savors of the spirit of the evil servant, who said in his heart, “My lord delayeth his coming.”

Besides this, it brings confusion into the interpretation of prophecy by confounding the present period with the period when God is about to take up again the government of the world with Israel as the center.

The error arises chiefly from not seeing the distinctive place and calling of the church as a company called out from the world for Christ, which is heavenly; in contrast with Israel, which is a people whose blessings are more of an earthly character, in the land, the store, etc.

Some have advanced Matt. 24:31 in support of this view. But the passage has really nothing to do with the church; it refers to the elect of Israel. It is evident that the whole of this part of the chapter is Jewish. We read of the land of Suctma, of fleeing to the mountains, of false Christs, of the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet. Also the title, “Son of man,” here given to Christ, and His appearing as a sign is not at all the way in which He is presented as coming for His church.

When He appears as Son of man in power and glory, His saints will appear with Him (Col. 3:4). They had been previously “caught up.... to meet the Lord in the air.” At His appearing, the tribes of the land will mourn because He is coming in judgment (see Matt. 26:64; Rev. 1:7; and, as to the title, Son of man, Psa. 8).

In Rev. 3:10 the Lord promises to the church in Philadelphia that He would keep them from (or, out of) that hour of trial which should come upon the whole habitable world, etc, And mark He does not say He would keep them during that hour, but “out of” it. He does so by taking them to Himself (see ver. 2).

THE PERIOD BETWEEN THE COMING OF THE LORD FOR HIS SAINTS AND HIS APPEARING WITH THEM IN GLORY

The translation of the saints from earth to heaven, to which we have already referred, is evidently a momentous epoch in the future history the world. It closes what might be called the “Church” period, or parenthesis, and reopens the Jewish period, bringing us back to a state of things somewhat analogous to what we find in the Gospels when our Lord was on earth. Prophecy maps out the future with unerring certainty, so that the humble Christian, taught of God, may know what is about to take place in this world far better than the most astute politician who depends only on a human forecast of events. Prophecy is connected with God's government of the world and the events which will occur when He is preparing the way for the blessing of Israel, and above all for the establishment of the Messiah as King in Zion. We read in Deut. 32:8: “When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.” In speaking of prophecy, it has been remarked that “Jehovah and His dealings, and the Messiah, shine through the whole. Israel always forms the inner circle, or chief platform, on which these dealings are developed, and with which the Messiah is immediately in relation. Outside of, and besides this, the nations are gathered, instruments and objects of the judgments of God, and finally, the subject of His universal government made subject to the Messiah, who, however, will assert His special claim to Israel as His own people” (J.,N. D., Synopsis, ii. 273). It is remarkable that a large portion of scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments, is occupied in dealing with the period of time with which we are now concerned; indeed, a much larger portion than we might think, especially when we consider the shortness of the time itself. Let us inquire then, What will take place immediately after Christ comes, and, what length of time will elapse between His coming for His saints, and His appearing with them in glory?

In order to answer these questions, perhaps the best scripture we may take up is the close of Dan. 9. The prophet was found on his knees in the place of confession of his own sins and those of the people—always the right place in a day of failure, and when God's hand was upon them in chastening on account of their sins. Daniel takes also the place of intercession, and in answer to his prayers, God gave this remarkable explanation of the vision, which, though it only occupies four verses of Scripture, carries us over a lengthened period of time, commencing with, the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem (which took place, as we learn from Neh. 2, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king) to the final judgment of those who will be allowed to desolate the city. of Jerusalem and the sanctuary in the last days, prior to the millennial reign of Christ. The 70 weeks are clearly weeks of years, and they are divided into three periods—first, 7 weeks or 49 years, which were occupied in the building of the city; then 62 weeks or 434 years, making in all 69 weeks or 483 years to the Messiah the Prince. After this (we are not told how long after), as the passage states, the Messiah shall be cut off and have nothing. This, we know, has taken place.

[F.G.B.]

(Continued from page 392)

(To be continued)

Erratum

Page 334, col. 2, line 3x, For was said Read was not said.

Lecture on Nehemiah 2-12

Chaps. 5-12

But there is another and a most sorrowful state of things which the 5th chapter reveals to us, and that is, the heart was wrong with considerable part of the remnant. And another thing, too, is very sorrowful. It was not only that the nobles of Tekoa failed when the rest were faithful in the work; but here “is a cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.”

“We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards and houses that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters.” Nehemiah was very angry, and “rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye, even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer. Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies?” (vers. 3-9).

So he pleads with them, and the consequence is that his rebuke was blest of the Lord. “Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them that they should do according to this promise” (verse 12). But he added a most solemn denunciation of such conduct for the future. “Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised Jehovah. And the people did according to this promise.”

There is nothing like example. If you want devotedness, the great thing is to begin with yourself. Be you devoted individually. If you want love, show love. You will very often find that the men who most claim love are those that least manifest it. Now that is not the way of God, and so it is, beloved friends, not merely with love—take lowliness. Who is it that most complains of the pride of others? The proudest men among you. Now, my friends, that has nothing to do with position. You may find a man who is what men would call in a good position after the flesh or the world, and the man who wants to pull him down has a great deal more pride than the man who is in that position, even supposing the richer man may not be all that one could wish. But then we have to take care of our spirit, beloved brethren. We have to take care of what our object is.

Now, I do not say this with regard to a man wanting to maintain his place; but I do say that the spirit that seeks to pull down is as sure pride as can be found in this earth, and that what God looks for is this: no matter in what position we are, we should all seek to be found according to Christ; but to dictate to others, or to wish to deal with others, is a poor way of accomplishing the will of the Lord, or carrying out

His glory. Nehemiah did not act thus. “Moreover,” says he, “from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor.” There was grace, nay, more than that. “But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, besides forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God. Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work” (verse 16).

Nor was this all. “Moreover, there were at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers besides those that came unto us from among the heathen that are about us. Now that which was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this required not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people. Think upon me, my God, for good; according to all that I have done for this people.” He loved them, and there were the fruits of it most manifest.

CHAP. 6.

But now there is a new plan adopted by the enemy. They had failed to alarm. The governor was on his guard, and the people accordingly. The next thing we find is they proposed a meeting. Why should not they live at peace? Why should they not have communion with one another? “Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of One. But they thought to do me mischief. And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” You see, it was not merely some ordinary call. It was that with which the glory of God was bound up. As long as the remnant were not in the place-that God had given them as the city where his eyes were-as long as it was a mere heap of ruins—it was evident that it might be an object of compassion; but there was no witness for the Lord there. So, we are told, they sent unto him four times, and he answered them after the same manner.

But there was, next after this, another effort made. They sent persons to preach of him in Jerusalem— “There is a king in Judah,” and to pretend that Nehemiah was affecting the throne. “Come now, therefore, and let us take counsel together.” This was a friendly warning as it appeared. “Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart. For they all made us afraid saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done.”

There was a third effort, still more subtle (ver. 10). “I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God.” Here was an enemy within. He proposed to Nehemiah to hide himself in the temple. Nehemiah utterly refuses. “And I said— Should such a man as I flee?” Where would have been his faith? How could a man leave the children, and show that all he cared for was his own personal safety? Besides, there would have been a flagrant defiance of the glory of God. It was contrary to God for an Israelite to use the sanctuary of Jehovah as the heathen did. The heathen made their sanctuaries to be a place of refuge in case of danger to their life; but God never permitted such a thing in His temple. His temple was for His worship, according to His word. This was, therefore, an heathenish idea that was suggested to Nehemiah, and this by a prophet, but he gave a false prophecy. Nehemiah “perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me; for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.” Oh, what schemes, what devices, if possible, to drag the people, and to drag a servant of God among the people, from the path of faith! So, all these things were detected by simplicity, by cleaving to the word of the Lord.

CHAP. 7.

This chapter shows us the people with the wall built, and the register of the people named with great care, on which I need not enter.

CHAP. 8

But, in the 8th chapter, we have them gathered together “as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe, to bring the book of the law of Moses, which Jehovah had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate, from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose” (vers. 1-4).

“And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed Jehovah, the great God: and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped Jehovah with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, and Bath, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly” (vers. 5-8).

Here was another feature, and mark, beloved friends, this studying, this learning, this profiting by the law of Jehovah was after they had found themselves in their true position. You will never find that men grow in knowledge in a false position. They may, no doubt, learn enough gospel to bring their souls to God, and they may learn certain moral duties, and we must thank God for it. We must not be slow of heart to own what God works, wherever He works; but never expect intelligence of the mind of God unless you are where God would have you be. And it is evident that what is good for, one is good for all, and that what God gives as His will for His people is binding upon all His people. Here, then, they were assembled. They were assembled in God's city—in God's land, and here it is that the law profits.

I do not say that in Babylon and Assyria there were not souls that, read the law of the Lord; but everything was so out of course—so opposed by circumstances so little agreeing with them—that in such a state the mind always glides over the word. The word does not make the same impression. The truths of scripture do not tell upon the heart. When you are in a true position all becomes luminous according to the goodness and sovereignty of God. So, we find, it was here, and not before, that the law of God gets its full place; and Nehemiah, as we are told, and Ezra the priest, and the Levites, said unto all the people, “This day is holy unto Jehovah your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law.” But there is a season to rejoice as well as to weep. There is a time when we must not eat the bread of mourners. So it was here. “So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy; neither be ye grieved. And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.” We ought to enjoy the truth of God.

The people accordingly, then, are found in the seventh month gathering together to keep the feast of tabernacles; and this they did, so that since the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day they had not done as they did then. A solemn fact. What had they been about all these hundreds of years? The Spirit of God records for our instruction that the feast of tabernacles had lost its place, practically, amongst the Israelites since the days of Joshua. The reason is evident. Why that feast? Why had it been disused? To tell you that they were in wars, that they were in troubles, is no real answer. No doubt there was fighting in the days of Joshua, and there were troubles in the days of the judges; but then came in David and Solomon. Why was not the feast of tabernacles celebrated then, as it was now?

The reason seems to me plain, and that is that they were so occupied with the present rest that they forgot the future just the way in which the Lord's coming passed out of the minds of Christendom. For hundreds of years people thought nothing about it; they were not interested in it. They were settled down in the earth. They were occupied with the work of the Lord. The hope was not sweet to them. They were no longer living in the hope of the' Lord's coming. God has raised it, and brought it in in a very low day. So it was here the gathering together of the people—the true gathering in, not merely that partial work which had been wrought when they were brought into the land under Joshua. It was then, on the contrary, that the keeping of the feast went out. And, now, in this low day, when things were at the most painfully weak point they had ever reached, it was then that there was faithfulness—not power, but faithfulness. When there was fidelity, and cleaving to the work of the Lord, then they began to find the importance of the feast of tabernacles. Their hearts were looking onward to the great gathering in, when the harvest and the vintage had taken place. “And there was very great gladness. Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner.”

CHAPS. 9-12.

In the 9th chapter there is another thing that followed. It is when the heart enters thus spiritually into the word—when there is subjection of heart to it, and when the bright hope of the people of God fills the heart with joy—it is then that we can have a deeper sorrow. It is the greatest mistake to suppose that one truth is antagonistic to another. “In the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting.” The more you fill the hearts of the saints of God with God's future for His people, the more they feel their present shortcomings. This was right. This is the true and divine way of delivering us either from self-deceit, on the one hand, or from the power of the world, on the other. They are found confessing their sins, and mark how they did it. “And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers.” And so they gathered together, and poured out the heart before the Lord. They owned their real state, but, at the same time, the heart turned to God with full confidence.

They further joined together and sealed the covenant before the Lord after their Jewish manner, in the 10th chapter. We have the rulers also, in the 11Th chapter; and then we have an account of the priests and Levites that went up with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, in chap. 12. On all these details I forbear to enter to-night. It would occupy me longer than would be reasonable; but I may observe that the last chapter gives us a final view of the work of Nehemiah.

[W. K.]

The Priest to Make Propitiation

One of the chief purposes of the Epistle to the Hebrews is to bring out the personal glories of the Messiah for the enlightenment and establishment of believers, particularly of those who were of that nation which so flagrantly dishonored Him, even unto crucifixion and death. For there were those in the apostles' day who, while they believed in Jesus as the Anointed One of God, still clung to the veneration of the law and the prophets. Like impulsive Peter on the mount, they would make, as it were, three tabernacles, one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Christ. And the Epistle to the Hebrews is the voice coming from “the excellent glory,” as the heavenly rebuke did to Simon, son of Jonas, setting forth Christ as the Son of God; and since He is the Son of God, all the splendors of the ancient types and shadows fade away by reason of the radiant glories of the despised Nazarene.

Beautiful and instructive and impressive as the ceremonial observances of the ancient economy were, they, nevertheless, could not but be limited and imperfect, and not in any sense or particular “the very image” of Him Who was coming. And, because of the inherent defects of the Mosaic sacrifices and priesthood, the “glory that excelleth” in the Antitype becomes the more manifestly declared, and that, too, by way of contrast rather than by comparison.

It is certain that the degree of fullness and perfection (assuming for the moment that it is permissible to speak of degrees of perfection as is commonly done in reference to human things,) in the fulfillment of Old Testament type, depended altogether upon the Person who was the Fulfiller. Who was to be the Priest that should suit God and man in every particular? Certainly not one taken from among men, for all such were compassed with infirmity (Heb. 5:1-3). Whatever a man “compassed with infirmity” did, must itself be marked with infirmity too, so that every priestly act of old was necessarily weak and inadequate. And for that reason it was the common thought of the Jewish worshipper that weakness and inadequacy were in some degree or other inseparable from the priesthood. Hence they were in danger of attributing these imperfections to the priesthood of Christ as well.

The apostle, to correct such unworthy thoughts, brings out in the very forefront of this epistle the unsurpassable glory of Christ's person—Son of God (chap. 1.), Son of man (chap. 2). Before a word is written as to His pontifical or sacrificial perfection, the truth as to His person is unfolded in a grand dioramic display. And is it not so presented in this order that our hearts may bow in worship in presence of the overwhelming majesty of the Son, ere we proceed to learn the blessedness of Christianity, based as it is upon the perfections of the Great High Priest and His sacrifice? We can always suffer to have our hearts enlarged as to our thoughts of Christ. However exalted they may be, they fall infinitely below the mark. How needful, then, to have the mind of the Spirit, of Whom the Lord said, “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you” (John 16:14).

The Godhead of the Lord Jesus secured a perfect performance of His priestly and sacrificial work, while His spotless manhood constituted Him a perfect representative of those whose sins were atoned for. We read, “Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same.” “In all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Heb. 2:14-17).

Now, on reference to the Old Testament ritual, we find that it was specially on the great Day of Atonement that Aaron officiated without those resplendent garments of “glory and beauty” that were his as the high priest. On that day he had to perform the solemn functions in the ordinary linen attire of the priesthood, and not in the beautiful robes peculiar to him (Ex. 28:1-39). The fact was, Aaron had to offer sacrifice for himself and the other priests ("his house"), as well as for the sins of the people. And, when clad only in the holy linen garments, he was—to use the New Testament phrase— “made like unto his brethren.” The gorgeous apparel proper only to Aaron would be resumed subsequently, after the propitiatory work was accomplished. The ephod, the breastplate, the Urim and Thummim, were all connected with Aaron's intercessory work for the people, to maintain them in that relation to Jehovah which was theirs in consequence of the blood being upon the mercy-seat. Thus the work of the high priest in the linen garments (propitiation) was introductory to the work in the glorious garments (intercession). And such is the order in which the work of the Great High Priest is set before us in the Epistle to the Hebrews (1) propitiation for sins (chap. 2.); (2) intercession and help that we may not sin (chap. 4, etc.).

And the tenor of the passage that speaks of the merciful and faithful high priest making propitiation for sins is that the Lord Jesus came down from above to do so. For this He was made a little lower than the angels; for this He took part in blood and flesh; for this it behooved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren, So that propitiation was His work in the days of His flesh. There is not a word that speaks of His going to heaven to propitiate (or make atonement for) sins. He descended in grace to work a work that sins might be atoned for, and many sons be brought to glory. And He Himself said to His Father of His work here, “I have glorified thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do” (John 17:4)

W. J. H.

Babylon and the Beast: 5

Here then is a new state of things—ten horns as well as the beast; not the beast alone as in ancient days, nor ten horns alone as in the middle ages, but the beast and the ten horns. You who desire to be under history as the rule for interpreting prophecy, do you not hear history? Can it be intelligently said that such a state of things has ever yet been? This is the state, I feel no hesitation in affirming, that will be. John shows us most clearly what we are to expect for the future of this age, and more particularly in the west. Naturally this must be of so much more solemn interest to us, inasmuch as our country forms a part of it. The continental powers with ourselves, the western powers, compose the material of the future ten horns or kingdoms. The countries of Europe, which boast of themselves as the flower of civilization at the present time, are destined to be redistributed into ten kingdoms when the beast rises up from the abyss; that is, when an imperial power is allowed with Rome as the center to become Satan's leader of the west. Such will be the beast, a Roman emperor with his satellite kings. When this future empire becomes established again, it will not be such an absorbing power as to blot out separate nationalities. There will be the combination of an imperial authority with each power acknowledged in its own quasi-independent state. I grant that there may be only a sham in such subordinate kings: still there has been usually no lack of vapor in the earth, and the future in question will be a day of shams. The grand point, however, will be this, that the chief who governs all will govern as firmly with iron hand as if the separate kingdoms belonged to himself exclusively. Such is the state of things described here.

It is not imagination: the word of God is perfectly plain about all. “These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.” And they “receive power as kings one hour with the beast.” They have their kingly authority for one and the same time with the beast; not after nor before the beast, but contemporaneously and in association with him. How comes this to pass? It is explained a little afterward. “God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will.” It is not their own. National independence would refuse such servility. Is there anything for which a kingdom would be more ashamed of itself than to be merely the vassal of a grinding active power? But here they are absolutely subservient: it is the common lot of all the western powers that they for the first time in Europe do the bidding of one ruler. Who can say that such a state of things was ever known in the west? Under the Caesars there was no room for it, as there were no such divided kingdoms. Since the day that the German barbarians broke up the empire, since the Goths, &c. (our forefathers, as you know), set up separate nationalities throughout the west, independence has been the ruling feature of all these little kingdoms. They have each had a will of its own; and all have fought; most determinedly to have their own way. They have valued above all things their right to be governed as they liked. A total change will pass over the west. When the redistribution comes (which will be as usual out of a revolutionary state; and a man must be rather blind not to see tokens of the storm brewing, not in our own country only, but in every country where free thought and discussion have prepared the way); when all respect for what is ancient and has been in honor shall have passed away; when men are seized with a passion for destroying everything that used to exercise influence and hold in check; when the demon of revolution has acquired throughout the west full force, and broken up all that still survives, this is to be the shape it will take. There will be a dividing afresh into ten separate kingdoms of no great size; but what gives them importance is, that all will be under the central power which is here called “the beast.” It is not of course a mere kingly power, which is styled a “horn” in the language of prophecy. The beast is the overruling corporate bond under which these horns range themselves as constituents and sinews of its strength. Accordingly there will be a novel unity unexampled in Europe or elsewhere. “They will have one mind, and give their power and strength unto the beast.” And what use does he make of it? To what end does the beast lead the horns? “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them (for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings) and they that are with Him, called, and chosen, and faithful.”

In the midst of such a dreary future, what a comfort that we shall be with Him then! You, if you love the Lord, will be with Him. Whoever you may be, if you are Christ's, you will come with Christ's in that day. He will appear from heaven, and so will you in glory. It will not then be a question of gathering His people to Himself. Not a hint of such a removal is given in this context. The faithful are already with Him. They had been therefore caught up to Him before. How this could be we know from other parts of Scripture; but I do not enter into them now. Keeping myself to the passage that lies before me, I say that it is quite plain that the faithful, chosen, and called, will be then with Christ. Further, these are not angels, but saints. Angels are never said to be “called,” nor are they ever said to be “faithful.” It is not a question of the dealings of grace for an angel. The angels who are kept of God are holy no doubt, and, if holy, are “chosen” or elect. Such is the language of Scripture about them. But an angel never is or could be said to be either “faithful” or “called.” What is the meaning of “calling"? When man fell and went away from God, “calling” was the means grace used for bringing him to God by the faith of a Savior of the world. This is not and never can be the history of an angel; it is only open to man. For he only of all fallen beings is called by grace—man when he calls on the name of the Lord Jesus—man visited in the infinite mercy of God, when His grace has shone upon him from on high, and brought him to Himself by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Such then shall be with the Lamb when the beast challenges the conflict which ends not in his perdition only, but in the ruin of the kings and their armies from these very lands. “But the Lamb shall overcome them (for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings).” It is no question of human resources in that day: the Lord shall be exalted, and we shall reign with Him.

Observe another thing. “The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.” This beyond controversy distinguishes between the whore and all other religious systems; for where do you find anything corresponding to this save with “the whore"? No doubt there are many religious systems bad enough. I am far from meaning that Romanism is the only corruption of Christianity. But is there no tangible difference? Others may influence for ill in their own land; but the dreadful plague-spot of Rome is that she, claiming to be the universal mother and mistress, is the corrupter of every land. Her claim of ecumenical dominion is the thing that points her out as the city of confusion, which answers to the Holy Spirit's warnings in this chapter. Thus the very boast of universality with corruption and idolatry determines at once what she is. Babylon is the harlot of the western kings, the most corrupting influence religiously of all the world. Hence “the waters, where the whore sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.” There may be, I repeat, grievous departure from Christ elsewhere; still this is a mere party, or at most a national blunder in religion; but, as for Babylon, she is according to Scripture the common nuisance of all nations and tribes and tongues. The result will be that her lovers will all turn on her. The ten horns—those that she most of all sought to win and hold—will hate her in the end.

Let me mention at this point a fact in illustration which, as all may not have noticed it, it is as well to name now. A remarkable change has even now taken place over the nations of the earth. They are not getting better, but the form of their evil is changing. The last Ecumenical Council held at Rome is the only one which neither had nor invited crowned heads to send representatives. The time is not yet come for the ten horns to receive authority as kings for one and the same hour with the beast. But there are practically no Catholic powers at the beck of Babylon. They are no longer her vassals, if they are not yet the minions of the beast. This is another serious state. In that council the pope could count on no civil supporters, unless perhaps some petty ones which would have only made the absence of the great powers conspicuous. Hence the invitations were exclusively to Romish ecclesiastics. No representative of Austria, Bavaria, Belgium, France, Italy, &c., was there. Even Spain and Portugal sent no plenipotentiaries to declare their adhesion to the pope : those that always had proved most submissive were for one reason or another passed by. By Babylon's own confession the western , powers though called Catholic could no longer be trusted. For the first time since they formed part of Christendom they were not called to an Ecumenical Council—none but ecclesiastics. It is not that the time is come for the horns to take their place, with the beast and to devour Babylon; but certainly there seems to be somewhat of a preparation for it in so striking a sign of her actual mistrust in her old paramours.

“The ten horns that thou sawest, AND the beast,” &c. It is not “upon the beast,” as in the common text, —an unquestionably spurious reading, which no critic would think of defending. The true text runs, “The ten horns . . . and the beast.” And this is of importance. Here one regrets that the strength of mere Protestant prejudice tends to make men false to Scripture. Is it not raceful for anyone, be he Catholic or Protestant, keep up an error in what professes to be the word? Why should a Christian have an interest but in the truth? If we accept the best authorities, “upon the beast” must be rejected as unquestionably erroneous; if we are not swayed by the feeblest possible testimony, we cannot evade the overwhelming evidence that the true reading is “the ten horns . . . and the beast.” And why, think you, should anyone be so anxious to perpetuate the blunder of “the ten horns upon the beast"? Because the true reading is fatal to the old delusion that the beast is the pope—a delusion completely refuted by “the ten horns. . . . and the beast,” unless one can credit the pope with destroying his own city. It is too hard a saying even for that fanciful school that the pope should turn out so fierce a foe of his own capital. Yet the words are certain, “the ten horns. . . . . and the beast, these shall hate the whore.”

On the other hand it cannot be denied to be perfectly intelligible that the Roman empire with all the ten subject kingdoms in its sphere will burn with implacable fury against ecclesiastical Rome, the old object of their deepest, superstitious, and passionate devotion; as I believe they will. We see that the power which has possessed itself of the papal temporalities is naturally by no means palatable to the pope; as it also has shewn but little scruple in taking his goods, we could not expect love or respect between the two parties. We know that the kingdom of Italy that is growing p has enriched itself very considerably by the spoils of the “church” so called. When the day comes for the beast and the ten horns the spoliation of Babylon will be complete. The beast will first enrich himself and his followers, and then destroy her. All that ecclesiastical Rome has—earthly power, wealth, grandeur, rank—will seem but lawful spoil for them.

It will be thus seen how important the various reading is in verse go; and when we speak of a “various reading” here, it is not meant that any want of certainty exists. There are often various readings which have no real value. No man ought to adopt a reading lightly or for a fancy. My own sympathy is strongly with the man who is averse to change; but there are some various readings so amply supported and certain in themselves that to hold out against them would be high treason to the word of God. The authority for “and the beast” is so preponderant that nothing but stubbornness can account for any man rejecting it, unless there be gross ignorance also.

Hence there cannot be the smallest doubt that “the ten horns.... and the beast” are to join against Babylon. This makes the meaning of the chapter substantially plain. After the closest links of religious attachment, we see the turning of the tide at the end. It is the day when the beast will no longer permit Rome in any way to guide the temporal powers, when the civil power, become proud of its imperialism, will turn and rend the harlot who was once the object of the most debasing affection and honor. But the greater the false love then shown to Rome, so much the more by and by will be the hatred with which the beast will turn and destroy what had been so extravagantly loved and honored. “These shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.” They execute God's destructive judgment in His providence. Such is the explanation: “God hath put in their hearts to do his will.”

More I need not add to-night, considering the lateness of the hour. But the subject is commended to your prayerful attention; for the Lord would have you study not only His revealed will but His word, that you may judge rightly of what is working now by seeing the end disclosed with divine clearness and certainty. You will thus also prove by experience that the prophetic word is most practical, “whereunto ye do well to take heed as unto a lamp that shineth in a dark place.” Instead of giving it up as precarious or unintelligible; you will learn increasingly how definite and interesting and important is every word for every child of God. May the present occasion stimulate you to read with confidence in His grace, honoring the word of Him who will strengthen and refresh you thereby for His service.

[W. K.]

(Concluded from page 349)

The War and Prophecy: 3

There remains, therefore, one week of the 70, or 7 years; and some, whose judgment is well worthy of respect, have explained that the first half of this week (or 3 ½ years) has been fulfilled in the ministry of our Lord, which just lasted that time; but the unbelieving part of the nation of Israel, not recognizing Him, have to go over the whole week in a future day. In the book of Revelation, we get the events recorded with the last half of the week especially in view; and our Lord referred particularly to this time also when he spoke of the “great tribulation.” According to the prophet Daniel, room was left for the acceptance of the Messiah by the nation of Israel; and at the beginning of His ministry the announcement was made, “the time is fulfilled” (Mark 1:15) the 69 weeks had gone by. But the Jewish nation was unbelieving, and only a small remnant received Him. The nation as such, influenced by the religious leaders, rejected Christ, and will be allowed of God to fall into the snare of receiving the Antichrist in a future day. Antichrist, as we shall see later on, will be in league with the imperial head of the revived Roman Empire (here called “the prince that shall come") and this head of the Empire will confirm a covenant with “the many,” or the mass of the Jews, for one week.

It has been said that, “In the half-week of the Lord's ministry the remnant received Him, the nation did not. When under Antichrist the nation again go through the first half-week, it will be the converse; the nation receive him [Antichrist], the remnant do not” (Coll. Writ., J.N.D., xxviii. 551).

The present period of time, during which the church is being gathered out, namely, the whole period from Pentecost to the coming of the Lord, being a parenthesis in God's direct dealings with Israel as a nation, is entirely omitted from the 70 weeks, as we might expect.

The interval between the coming of the Lord for His saints and His appearing with them in glory to reign, occupies therefore not only the last week or 7 years (which dates from the confirmation of a covenant with the apostate mass of the Jews, referred to in Dan. 9:27), but, before this begins, a certain space of time, the length of which we cannot determine. From the book of Revelation (chaps. 6-9) and other passages, however, we may gather that it will be long enough for the complete overthrow of the present political status, what has been often called the status quo, and for the development of the apostasy, the mystery of lawlessness, which is already working, and which will go on to the close. We see, indeed, the foreshadowings of this already. But, on the other hand, there will be the gracious work of the Holy Spirit in the hearts of the godly remnant of Israel, as well as in those Gentiles who will receive blessing through their instrumentality, in enabling them to witness for God on the earth, and in preparing them to receive Christ as their Messiah.

Let us now inquire what will take place on the earth during the interval between 'the coming and appearing of the Lord, always bearing in mind that the church, composed of all true believers of this dispensation, will have been already translated to heaven, “caught up to meet the Lord in the air,” and thus kept out of the hour of trial, which is about to come on the whole habitable world, to try them that dwell on the earth (Rev. 3:10).

The Jews will be gathered back to their land—the mass of the nation in the same unbelieving state in which they were when the Lord was on earth; but a remnant will be prepared of God to receive Christ the true Messiah. It is quite possible, even probable, that the events now taking place in Europe will prepare the way for this return.

The prophet Zechariah thus describes this godly remnant; after first stating that the apostates, the two parts of the nation, shall be cut off and die, he adds— “But the third shall be left therein (i.e., in the land); and I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, Jehovah is my God.” This remnant, in whose hearts God's Spirit had wrought, leading them to repentance, will pass through deep trial and persecution, as well as sorrow of heart, for having crucified their Messiah.

The return of the Jews to Palestine is a subject which has occupied the attention, not only of Christians who are interested in these things, but of politicians also. No doubt there are many more there now than there were some thirty or forty years ago, and the events now passing, as already remarked, may facilitate their return. But we have not to wait for the gathering back of the Jews for Christ to come for His church. Doubtless the bulk of the nation will return after that event has taken place, and with the modern facilities for travel, this would not occupy a long space of time.

Once Christ has come for His saints, and the Jews are back in their land, everything is ready for the last great series of events which will fill up the last week of Dan. 9, or rather more (Dan. 12:11, 12); and which will be brought to a close by the appearing of the Lord in the execution of judgment on the apostate Jews and Gentiles and the deliverance of His people.

In Dan. 2 we read the account of the great image, which formed the subject of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, gives us a general outline of the four great Gentile empires which have ruled the old world, presented as one whole. Nebuchadnezzar's universal authority was a grant from God Himself, when Israel, and especially the house of David, had utterly failed to represent Him in government. After that came the Medo-Persian empire, then the Grecian, and finally the Roman, under which our Lord suffered.

At the close of the present dispensation, the Roman empire will come into prominence again as we shall see later on. The feet of the image were part of iron and part of clay; this is what we see at the present time. The clay represents, no doubt, the democratic and socialistic elements, where the will of the people largely controls the ruling power. The result of the mixture is that it is “partly strong and partly fragile,” it has neither the coherence nor stability of the original monarchies.

But all these are broken to pieces and become as the chaff of the summer threshing-floor, when the stone cut out without hands (Christ in His judicial character) smites the image upon its feet. Then the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall not be destroyed or pass away as all others did.

We find in Scripture three personages who play a leading part in the events of this period, namely, THE HEAD OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, THE ANTICHRIST, AND THE ASSYRIAN. The first two of these are brought before us in Rev. 13; the former under the figure of a beast arising out of the sea; the latter, a beast arising out of the earth. The sea is, in prophetic imagery, the symbol of the unsettled, turbulent state of things, somewhat like what existed at the time of the French Revolution. This beast has ten horns and seven heads—; and from the explanation given us in chapter 17 we learn that the seven heads are seven mountains, and the ten horns are ten kings, who receive power for one and the same time with the beast, that is, with the head of the revived Roman Empire, as is clearly indicated by the seven hills or mountains. This re-formation or reconstruction of the Roman Empire which ruled and dominated the world for so many centuries, will be a very remarkable event, and will be the cause of wonder and admiration to the dwellers on earth of that day.

If we look at the Latin or Roman kingdom as it is now, it is by no means strong, as compared with some of the Powers; but what circumstances may, lead up to the putting of such complete authority into the hands of its chief or head in a future day, we cannot say. It may be a political move, designed to form a union of nations of the West, as a counterpoise to the growing power of the East and of Russia, or it may be brought about for other political reasons without war or bloodshed. But, however this may be, it is clear that, when the Roman Empire is revived, it will have a distinctly Satanic origin; it will “ascend out of the bottomless pit,” will blaspheme God, His name and His people, and derive its power directly from the dragon (Satan). We are told in chapter 17 that this beast “was,” that is, it existed in the days when John wrote; then it “is not,” for the empire in its unity under one head has disappeared; and it “shall be” (R.V.), it will reappear in its last imperial form, with its ten subordinate kings. This beast is said to continue forty-two months, that is, three and a half years, or the last half of the week mentioned in Dan. 9.

Moreover, when the Empire is reconstituted in the future, Satan will have been cast out of heaven (Rev. 12:7-12); he will be no longer there to accuse the brethren before God. The future head of the empire, arising out of the state of anarchy which will then exist, will represent Satan's power and authority on the earth (Rev. 13:-10). This beast, as before remarked, has seven heads and ten horns. The seven heads are seven mountains (Rev. 17:9), which locates, it geographically at Rome. And there are seven kings, or forms of power; five of which had passed away in John's day, one existed then, and another was to come and continue a short space. The eighth was “of the seven,” and is still future.

This eighth head will revive the empire under Satanic authority, causing all the world to wonder. We learn from Dan. 7:8 and 24, where he is represented under the figure of the “little horn,” that this king contrives by some means to put down three others and take their place.

The ten “horns” or kings under the future empire receive power for one and the same time with the beast (17:12), therefore it is clear that the empire must be revived, after ceasing to exist ever since it was broken up by the barbarians about the fourth and fifth centuries.

It has been remarked that “the empire existed at the first without these kings. Then these kings existed without it, and you have the ten kings without the beast. At the end you get the ten kings with the beast.... I can surely say we have not had the beast in this form yet” (Coll. Writ. J.N.D., xi. 499).

As to the extent of the future empire, it seems probable that we should exclude from it those portions of the ancient empires referred to in Dan. 2, which did not, at the time they existed, form part of it. These are the Babylonian, Medo-Persian and Grecian empires, which successively preceded the Roman. Some remains of these empires will, doubtless, be found at the dose; not in the form of extensive empires as they once were, but as minor kingdoms or states.

So, when the “stone cut out without hands” (Christ coming in judgment) falls on the image, it breaks to pieces, not only the legs and the feet (the Roman part), but the whole image. It would seem, therefore, that the previous kingdom may have some kind of existence, concurrently with the Roman, till the end (see also Dan. 7:12).

Another reason why it is likely that the future representatives of these three empires should be excluded from our forecast of the ultimate form of the Roman Empire is, because these probably belong to the confederation of powers in Asia Minor, Syria, Greece, etc., which will come under the control of the great northern Power, the final phase of which will be the “Gog” of Ezekiel, or Russia (Ps. 83, Ezek. 38; 39).

Even if the Roman beast of the future gained possession of the eastern part of the ancient empire for a time, it is probable that it would soon pass under the influence of Gog and his allies. This may be embraced in the series of events brought before us prophetically in Rev. 8 and 9.

Roughly speaking, the Roman Empire of the future would embrace what is now Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Tripoli, in Africa; and in Europe, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Italy, part of Southern Germany, part of Austria, and England. But the present war will doubtless modify these divisions considerably.

The imperial head of the future Roman Empire will have the seat of his authority at Rome, and he will be closely leagued with the Antichrist, the seat of whose power and pretensions will be at Jerusalem.

We have now to speak of THE ANTICHRIST, or second beast, of Rev. 13. He comes up out of the “earth,” which is a figure of the settled or ordered state of things, as contrasted with the “sea,” or state of unrest and anarchy. He has two horns like a lamb, but speaks as a dragon. Whatever his pretensions may be, to the spiritual mind, taught of God, his voice betrays his Satanic origin. He is a complete travesty of the Lord Jesus Christ. The seat of his power is at Jerusalem, and he acts in close league with the first beast of this chapter, the imperial head of the revived Roman Empire. He is more a religious than a political or civil ruler, though he has this latter character also.

At the present time the priesthood of Christ is exercised in heaven on behalf of His saints, and Satan is a kind of anti-priest, the “accuser of the brethren": but when the time spoken of in Rev. 13 arrives, Satan will have been cast out of heaven (Rev. 12:7-9), and will have his representative man on earth, not exactly as anti-priest, but as a kind of false prophet. The Antichrist has power to perform remarkable miracles, causing fire to come down from heaven, as the prophet Elijah did when witnessing for the true God and against Baal. He makes an image of the first beast, to which he has power to give breath (not “life,” that belongs to God), and he causes that all should worship this image on pain of death.

There are many passages of Scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments, descriptive of the Antichrist in various ways. We can only touch on a few of these. Our Lord Himself said to the Jews in His day, “I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.” Solemn pronouncement! If they would not have the Sent One of the Father, they should be caught in Satan's snare, and receive Satan's counterfeit, as they will in a future day. Again, we read in the First Epistle of John, “Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye have heard that antichrist cometh, even now there have arisen many antichrists.” The Antichrist (only so-called in this place) is here characterized by two things—he denies that Jesus is the Christ, this is Christ's relationship to Israel as their Messiah; and he denies the Father and the Son, the latter being the special relationship in which the divine Persons are revealed in Christianity. He is, therefore, the complete embodiment of avowed infidelity and unbelief in the truth in its full character as revealed in Scripture.

We have a very distinct reference to the Antichrist in 2 Thess. 2, where he is called the “man of sin,” the “son of perdition,” “the lawless one.” All the craft and subtlety, as well as the power of Satan, will accompany his manifestation, for his coming is said to be “after the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders"; this is the exact contrast to our Lord Jesus Christ, who did His works in the power of the Holy Spirit. Christ was, as Peter said to the Jews (Acts 2:22), “a man approved of God, by powers, and wonders, and signs, which God did by Him.” These same three words are applied to the man of sin, and the word “lying” may be taken as an adjective applying to all three. He is Satan's exact counterfeit of Christ, and the instrument of his lying deception. In the garden of Eden, Satan said, “Ye shall be as gods,” and this man “exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped." It is not here a question of imperial power so much, but of religious deception; his deceits will be practiced and his pretensions manifested in the temple at Jerusalem, which will be rebuilt at that day. There he sets himself forth as God. This is the full climax of man's self-will and pride.

We may now turn to another striking passage where we get further light respecting the Antichrist and his actings. It is in that remarkable chapter, Dan. 11, which gives us such a concise survey of events set down in the scripture of truth which were then future, but which have since become matters of history, at least up to verse 35. The history, given in its prophetic form, commences with the Persian kingdom, which was then just in its beginning, and carries us right on (from ver. 35) to the latter days, which are, of course, still future. All is in connection with Daniel's people the Jews, and with the land of promise. The prophet speaks of the “time of the end,” “the time appointed,” which evidently shows a break in the historical sequence of the chapter at this verse, and brings in the events of the last days.

Here we find “the king” introduced abruptly as a personage well known to the student of prophecy; “and the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods.” Is not the unity of Scripture, of which skeptics seem to understand nothing, a manifest mark of its divine inspiration? Here we have the prophet speaking hundreds of years before Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, and yet delineating the same features as are attributed to the same person in that epistle. Self-will carried beyond all bounds, and impious opposition to God Himself, is what characterizes the Antichrist.

It would seem from this passage in Dan. 11, that the Antichrist will be a Jew, indeed, it would be difficult to see how the apostate Jews would be deceived by his pretensions as a false Messiah if this were not so. Thus we read: “Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers (Jehovah, the true God of Israel) nor the desire of women (Christ), nor any god.” But, as man cannot do without an object of some kind, he honors the god of fortresses or forces: because the resources he relies on to carry out his designs and enforce his decrees cannot, after all, go beyond human strength of arms, though Satan's power acts behind it all.

Let us pause here for a moment to consider the moral and present effect which this prophetic teaching of the word of God should have upon us. There can be no doubt that much of what we see around us at the present moment will contribute to, and find its full expression in, the Antichrist. Infidelity in its various phases, such as the general unsettling of the belief in the authority and inspiration of Scripture, the socialism and lawlessness which are so widespread, the growing pride and boastfulness of the age, the desire for what some have called a “superman"; all these things and many more will find their complete climax in “the lawless one.” God warns His people beforehand as to what is coming, and it is for us to seek grace to keep clear of the spirit and tendency of the age, learning of Him who was meek and lowly in heart, who, though God over all, was truly the dependent and obedient One here, and who came down from heaven, not to do His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him.

Turning now to Isa. 57:9, we find “the king” introduced abruptly as follows: “And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell.” How vain it will be for the apostate part of the Jewish nation in that day to ally themselves with this deceitful enemy of Christ! It is, in truth, to debase themselves even to hell. And yet this is just what the scornful men who will then rule in Jerusalem, will do in order to secure themselves, if they can, from the over; flowing scourge which God will bring upon them, namely, the Assyrian. So we find in Isa. 28:15, “Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.” Vain delusion to think that they can escape God's chastisement thus! Terrible hardness of heart, under the influence of Satan's craft!

That man should rise to such a pitch of pride and wickedness as characterizes the Antichrist, we can hardly conceive, but God allows this great manifestation of Satanic energy as a just judgment upon the apostate nation of Israel, as well as upon apostate Christendom. “For lo,” says the prophet Zechariah, “I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.” Then follows God's judgment upon him: “Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.” The cup of his iniquity is full, and his judgment comes at last. We learn from various scriptures that he will meet his end, not by being overcome by force of arms, nor by angelic power, but by the judgment of the Lord Himself in person when He appears. Thus we read in 2 Thess. 2:8, “Whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to naught with the manifestation of his coming.” With this we may compare Isa. 30:33, which may be best read, “For Tophet is ordained of old; for the king also it is prepared he hath made it deep and large; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.” “The king” here is clearly the Antichrist, and his fearful doom, as being cast into hell, is plainly brought before us.

Finally, we get the execution of judgment on these two leaders in evil—the head of the Roman Empire, and the Antichrist who acted in league with him—described as the subject of prophetic vision in Rev. 19; “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him.... these both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.” The Lord Jesus will descend from heaven in warrior-judgment, as King of kings and Lord of lords, followed by the armies which are in heaven, and will execute summary judgment on both these, who will be cast straight into hell, without any further judgment.

“Everlasting fire,” we are told, in Matt. 25, is prepared [not for men but] for the Devil and his angels, but what a striking fact it is that these two men will be cast in there 1000 years before the Devil! During the millennium the Devil will be kept bound in the bottomless pit, or abyss (Rev. 20); after which he will be loosed for a little season, and finally “cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are.” Note the dosing words here, for they indicate that these two leaders of evil, who are taken in open rebellion against Christ, and cast into the lake of fire, will have been there during the whole thousand years of Christ's reign over the earth.

Let us inquire, What will be the state of things religiously in Christendom after the coming of the Lord for His saints? Scripture dearly proves that the rapture of the saints will, in the end, be followed by apostasy from Christianity; but we must not suppose that all profession of Christianity will be given up immediately upon the taking away of the church. On the contrary, the symbol of the woman riding upon the scarlet-colored beast (Rev. 17) shows us that the corrupt forms of Christianity which we see around us—Romanism, Ritualism, etc.—will go on, and even increase in outward pomp and show, for a time. How long God has lingered in patience over this terrible travesty of Christianity, called here “Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth"! She was characterized by pride, assumption, and idolatry she was a persecutor of the true saints of God, and she deceived the nations by her sorceries. But her cup is full at last, and judgment, swift and complete, comes upon her. MARKER

So we read, “And the ten horns which thou sawest, and the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her utterly with fire” (Rev. 17:16, R.V.). Thus she will be brought to utter desolation, for God will “put it into their hearts to do His mind, and to come to one mind.” These are the ten kings under the revived Roman Empire, or imperial head of power, which will control Western Christendom, who “give their kingdom unto the beast,” acknowledging him as their chief, and recognizing his authority as binding all together. These will cast off this corrupt religious system calling itself Christian, which had seduced them by its allurements, and held them bound under its sway for so long a time, making a bad use of conscience in its dupes, in order to forward its own ambitious ends.

There was, on a small scale, a sample of this at the time of the French Revolution. Then, as history informs us, Christianity was formally repudiated, and the sacredness of the Republic and the worship of Reason was solemnized. At the time to which our chapter (Rev. 17) refers, the profession of Christianity will be given up in toto; this is what is called in 2 Thess. 2:3, “the apostasy.” And we find in this same chapter that He who now lets or hinders the power of evil, will then be taken out of the way, so that full scope will be given for the exercise of man's will. This hinderer of the full development of lawlessness is, doubtless, the Holy Ghost, who took the place of Christ here, and who now is the blessed active Agent for the carrying on of the work of God in this world. The Holy Ghost dwells on the earth, in the house of God; but when the church is taken to heaven, the Holy Ghost will no longer dwell here in the same way as now. When this restraint is removed, there is no hindrance to the development of the apostasy. Such will be the end of these highly-favored Christian lands, and this is a very solemn consideration. Unbelief may sneer or deny it, but God's word is bound to stand true whatever men may say.

Going back for a moment to Dan. 9:26, 27, we find that the “prince that shall come,” whose “people” (the Romans under Titus, A.D. 70) destroyed the city and the sanctuary, shall confirm a covenant with “the many,” or the unbelieving mass of the Jews, for one week of seven years. In the middle of the week he will “cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease.” He will put a stop to the Jewish system of worship; or, as we have seen from Dan. 7 when speaking of the “little horn,” he “shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High: and he shall think to change the times and the law.” This state of things lasts during the period of three-and-a-half years, for they (the Jewish times and laws), “shall be given into his hands until a time, and times, and half a time,” or three years and a half. This period will, therefore, be a time of unparalleled energy of Satan, acting both through the head of the revived Roman Empire and the Antichrist in deceit and violence, and it will be a time of terrible trial to all who witness for God on the earth. It is to this time the Lord refers when He says, “There shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved” (Matt. 24:21).

[F.G.B.]

(Continued from page 852)

(To be continued)

Fragment: 24 Elders of Revelation 4

If the 24 elders of Rev. 4 represent, as I doubt not, all that are Christ's at His coming for His own, how comforting then to see ourselves safely garnered in heaven before any of the judgments (that follow in the book) are poured on the earth.

Scripture Query and Answer: Romans 11:28

Q.-Rom. 11:28. What is the meaning of this verse? E. P.

A.-The apostle here speaks of Israel who, though ultimately to be saved (ver. 26), are now alas, “enemies” in their attitude to the gospel of God's grace, which goes out in sovereign mercy to the lost, whether of Jew or Gentile.

Under the law, Israel's blessing was contingent on their obedience, but they failed completely, and lost everything, having now neither the land, nor king, nor prince, nor sacrifice, nor ephod. Yet if God's promises to Abraham are to be fulfilled, Israel must be blessed nationally, “and so all Israel shall be saved,” and “out of Zion shall come the Deliverer in that future day.”

Meanwhile, we Gentiles are being saved (not as the Jew for earth, but for heaven), and this calls forth the Jew's enmity to the mercy now being shown to the Gentile. For we had no promises, being aliens, and strangers to these covenants. But the gospel is God's power to salvation to every one that believeth. They believe not this gospel, nor the mercy that has made us its objects, else they would know themselves as objects likewise of this same mercy (vers. 30-32). For on the ground of sovereign mercy alone, can there be any real and permanent blessing for the Jew, any more than for the Gentile. Both are shut up in unbelief that God may have mercy on all.

Instead of acquiescing, and themselves believing, they are enemies, “forbidding us,” says the apostle, “to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved.”

Regarding the election, as God's purpose stands, not of works, but of Him that calleth, they are still beloved for the fathers' sakes, for God cannot forego His purpose, and His gifts and calling are without repentance. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.” “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things; to whom be glory forever, Amen.”

Lecture on Nehemiah 13

Chap. 13

It was now some time since the remnant had returned. When Nehemiah looks into the practical state, he finds a sorrowful feature—a great departure from the primitive spirit of separation, and I ask you, beloved brethren, whether we have not got to search and see whether it be not so with ourselves. We have continually to watch and to guard. It is not that one does not rejoice at the Lord bringing in, and if the Lord brought in ten times more to His children than are brought in now, for my part I should give God thanks; but I should not be blind to the danger. I should not be blind to the danger that the incoming of tenfold more would bring in tenfold more reason for humiliation—not for the less joy, but for the more watchfulness. And so we find on this occasion that “On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God forever” (ver. 1)—it was like a new thing: they had not thought of it before “because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water.”

First principles, you see, are returned to. “It came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.” There it was: they had read it over and over again before. Now they applied it. It is not merely that we want the word, but we want the Spirit of God to make the word living. And now that they found its application they acted upon it. “And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah.” No wonder that there were sources of weakness. We see this man, Tobiah, the standing enemy of the people of God-but mark what has come in. “And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offerings” this man had found a place even in the sanctuary of God in the house!— “the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the offerings of the priests. But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem.”

It would appear that Nehemiah paid two visits to Jerusalem, and that during his absence, there was this departure from first principles. “In the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon, came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king” —that is, a second leave besides the first. The first was in the twentieth year, and this was a dozen years after. “And I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.” Why, there was nothing so serious even when Nehemiah came the first time!

But there is another important principle, What did Nehemiah do? Did he stay away from the house of God? Did he not go up to Worship there? It never occurred to him to do such a thing as stop away: nor ought we. Evil in another person is no reason for staying away from the table of the Lord—none whatever; for, surely, if that were a sufficient reason, it would be a reason for all that are righteous, and supposing all that are righteous were to stay away, where would be the Lord's table? No, beloved friends, it is a false and a bad principle. What is true is this: if there be evil there, look to God that you meet the evil in a good way. Look to God for wisdom to deal with it according to His word. Look to God to strengthen the hands of those that care for the glory of the Lord.

It is not the presence of evil that destroys the character of the Lord's table, but the refusal to judge it. There might be the most fearful evil: that is not a reason to stay away from the table of the Lord; but if I knew that there was the most desperate evil here at Woolwich, for instance, I should not stay away because of that, but come down, perhaps, to help you. If I knew of it, and could help you, it would be my duty to do so—not to come down and do the work for you, but to come down and lay the responsibly upon you to look to God for grace and wisdom to do the work; for you are responsible. And so it was with Nehemiah. He did not stay away because Tobiah had managed, through the high priest's influence, to have a chamber in the house of God. But he came to Jerusalem and understood of this evil, and “it grieved me sore.” That was the first, effect. “And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber,” for an Israelite was entitled to act : everyone was bound. “Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense.”

There is, however, this difference now—that God would have the church to act together. For not even an apostle would act alone. When the apostle heard of something fearful at Corinth he did not refuse to write, and he did not say to them, 'Ye are no longer the church of God.' On the contrary, he writes most carefully. He says, “To the church which is at Corinth,” and he links them with all the saints that were on earth— “with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours” (1 Cor. 1:2). He tells them of the fearful evil that he knew was there, and he says that he has judged what is to be done, but he tells them to judge. His judging would not do: they must judge. They must prove themselves clear in the matter, and this was the way in which God worked in the church. So I press this strongly as being full of instruction, the grand difference, you observe, being this—that the Spirit of God brings in a judgment of evil. We enjoy Christ together. I am not permitted to go to my home and take a bit of bread there and some wine, and fancy that it is the Lord's Supper: it is no such thing. That is a mere feast of my own that I am devising out of my own heart. But I come and take it in communion, and in true communion open to all the saints of God in the world that are walking according to the Lord; and, doing so, I look to God to work among His people to clear out whatever is inconsistent with that holy fellowship.

That is what Nehemiah did now. He knows and feels their grief, and he acts; only, as I have said, there is individuality of action here, whereas now there must be communion. And he sees everywhere other things very disorderly. He perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been together; “for the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field. Then contended I with the rulers and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place.” And, further— “In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also, wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath.”

A very important principle there is here. Now I do not mean to say that we are under the sabbatical law, but what I do say is that we need grace, and that the day of grace ought to be, at least, as important in our eyes as the sabbath was to the man of law. And it would be a very sinful thing, beloved brethren, if we were to take advantage of, the Lord's day for our own selfish purposes. The Lord's day has a character of holiness beyond the sabbath day. The Lord's day has a claim of grace upon all the children of grace. May we never forget this. It is not that we are not to use it in the spirit of grace and liberty; but to use it for self is not to use it for Christ. It is to do what the Gentiles would do that know not God. May we never be like them.

And, further, he draws attention to a still more terrible fact. “In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod.” Everything was out of course. “And I contended with them” He seems to have dealt with the greatest severity, “and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves” —shows how even Solomon had gone astray through this very thing. Thus there is no thought of taking an example of evil to make light of evil now, but he warns even from the very highest in a day of great weakness. And, further, “one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib, the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite"; there was no respect of persons “therefore I chased him from me.” “Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed the wards of the priests and the Levites, every one in his business: and for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the first-fruits.”

Thus, I trust, we have seen, a little more clearly and fully, the general scope of this most weighty book. W.K.

Our Compassionate High Priest

One of the chief features of the Epistle to the Hebrews is the very explicit way in which it shows how the believer benefits through the absence of Christ on high. The Jewish saints were accustomed to expect the fullness of their blessing only in connection with the Messiah's presence upon earth. But, contrary to this expectation, Christ had ascended up to where He was before; and His followers needed to be taught in what manner it was expedient for them that He should go away. It was a puzzle to many how it could be possible for the Lord's absence to be bitter for them than His presence. They knew that when the Lord reigned in mount Zion He would subdue every foe, and give His people peace and joy in all their borders: But what could He do for them on high, before “that day” of power and glory dawns on the earth? This they had to learn, and the Spirit of God, in this Epistle, introduces the subject of the present work of the Lord on high. Let us glance at the bearing of the early chapters from this point of view.

It was first necessary that the Hebrew Christians should have a clear testimony as to the glories of the Person of the Apostle and High Priest of their confession. Such a testimony is rendered in the first two chapters of the Epistle. Therein they are shown that the One in whom they trusted differed immensely from any and all of the servants of God in past ages. The apostle, however, does not proceed to compare Christ feature by feature with Moses and Aaron; but he demonstrates Him to be God, become Man for the suffering of death. Such a fact concerning the Lord Jesus, without making any formal statement of comparison, proves Him to be immeasurably above and beyond all the Old Testament persons and institutions.

This superiority is delayed in detail throughout chapters 1 and 2. So that the saints might learn from thence that the One who had gone into heaven was, in contrast with former leaders and commanders, an ever-living and unchanging Person. Aaron had died on Mount Hur; and Moses, on Mount Pisgah, dosed his; connection with the people of God. But Jesus was not such a one as they. Received up in glory, He had taken His seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high, crowned with glory and honor. His interest and relationship with this world had not ceased; on the contrary, He is the appointed Heir of all things; and, though we see it not in actual accomplishment, all things are put into subjection under His feet.

Here, then we discover a supreme reason why the death of Jesus was in no wise a bar to present help and blessing from Him. It was undoubtedly so in the cases of Aaron and Moses. The people of Israel on their decease were taught to look to Eleazar and Joshua. But the glorified Jesus, though He had tasted death, was still the object of faith and the source of blessing for the saints in an enhanced degree, proportionate to His glorification above. This followed necessarily from the intrinsic worth of His person and the efficacy of His work.

As pilgrims through the wilderness, as followers of the despised Nazarene, as sufferers of persecution for Christ's sake, the saints needed continual supplies of grace and strength. Who was their Captain and Guide? Who, could rightly understand their peculiar and trying circumstances, and sympathize with them in the sorrows that came upon them because they were the disciples of Christ? Those to whom they had been accustomed to apply for sympathy, and advice and assistance—the Jewish priests and elders—turned from them with that scornful and loathing hatred with which they had regarded their Master. Was there no one who cared for them, and could help them in their weakness and trials? The Epistle answers that there is One, and it bids the holy brethren to consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of their confession!). In Him the suffering saints would find an inexhaustible store of compassion and strength for their succor. “For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted He is able to help those that are tempted.”

From this point, the apostle—having introduced the fact that the absent Christ, so far from forgetting them in all their trials and sorrows, is there in heaven to serve them still by such effectual sympathy and succor as none but He can render—at once proceeds to enlarge on their wilderness way and its dangers during their passage to the rest beyond (chapters 3 and 4.). The verses in which this is done have caused many a godly soul to shudder in the sense of its own inherent weakness, and in the dread lest it should after all fail to enter into the rest of God. The scripture is intended to produce such a distrust of self. The province of the word of God is stated in this very connection (4:16.) to be for the manifestation of the workings of the heart and what is within. It is good for us to be laid bare in this fashion.

But the error often consists in stopping at the discovery of one's own inability to go forward in one's own strength, in being overcome by the sense of the severity of the trials and the power of the enemies, and, as a consequence, in feeling ready to give up in despair. The truth is, however, as the apostle declares, that there is a divine provision for this infirmity of ours. He points to the Christ no longer on earth, but in heaven. He was there for them. They were not to give up, but, on the contrary, to hold fast. “Having then a great high priest passed, as he is, through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast the confession. For we have not a high priest unable to sympathize with our infirmities, but having been tempted in all things, in like manner apart from sin. Let us then approach with boldness to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace for seasonable help” (Heb. 4:14-16. New Transl.).

Weakness, however excessive, was therefore no occasion for despair. It was rather an occasion for proving divine sympathy and the fullness there is in Christ to supply suitable grace and strength for every sorrow, throughout the pilgrimage. Moreover, He has qualified Himself for such priestly ministration by the trials He endured in the days of His flesh. The Lord suffered by reason of His faithfulness to God amid a sinful world. He met the power of Satan. Hence the compassion of our great High Priest in whatever befalls us by the way. He is still the same as when He wept with the sisters of Bethany before He gave them back their dead brother. He enters into our sorrows ere He delivers us out of them.

Without dwelling further on this point, it is evident that this compassionate regard for the suffering saints and the ministry of effectual aid in the hour of weakness and trial form a special feature of the Lord's priesthood in its present exercise.

The question of our sins is entirely another matter. Here it is one of infirmity. As to sins, the saints were reminded that Christ made purification for them before He took His seat at the right hand of the Majesty on high (chap. 1:3). The propitiation once made for sins (2:17) is the foundation of His priestly action now going on. But atonement did not strictly fall within the functions of the high priest as such—a fact indicated in that Aaron fulfilled his solemn duties not in his high-priestly robes, but attired as an ordinary priest (Lev. 16:3, 4). It was in fact a special occasion on which Aaron represented the people in their sins. This Christ did on the cross. And not until His ascension did He enter upon His priestly work in connection with our encompassing infirmities. It is this work which is the particular subject of the former part of the Epistle to the Hebrews.

W. J. H.

The War and Prophecy: 4

(Continued from page 368)

Now, as to those who will be saved during this period the Lord Himself said to His disciples, whom He had sent forth to preach the kingdom of heaven, “Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of man be come” (Matt. 10:23). As before remarked, the same work in which the disciples were then engaged will be taken up again by servants of God amongst the faithful remnant of Israel in a future day, in preparing a people to receive the coming kingdom.

It is during this same time also that the “everlasting gospel” (Rev. 14:6) will be proclaimed to them that dwell on the earth and to the nations, kindreds, and tongues; “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” This gospel is entirely different from the gospel of the grace of God which is preached to-day, telling of remission of sins through faith in the Lord Jesus, and the blessed news of a full and free salvation though His atoning work on the cross. It is a call to fear God because He is about to judge, and to acknowledge Him in creation. Such a message will be most appropriate to those who have never heard the gospel of to-day, and at a time when Satan's special aim will be to supplant God's authority by that of the beast and false prophet And so (while it is true that apostate Christendom will meet its terrible judgment) the book of Revelation gives us views of several saved companies, both from amongst the Jews and Gentiles, some of whom will suffer martyrdom rather than bow to the authority of the Antichrist, and some will be spared to participate in the blessings of the millennial kingdom under the righteous reign of the Lord Himself (chap. 7:14-17; 14:1-5; 20: 2, 4, etc.).

We now come to speak of THE ASSYRIAN, the last of the three chief actors in the events of this period; and this brings us to the close, at the appearing of the Lord in glory. But, before speaking of the Assyrian, it may be well to remark that we find in the prophet Daniel another title, namely, the “King of the North,” and in Ezekiel, “Gog." It would not be wise to speak too dogmatically as to how far these latter are to be identified with the Assyrian, who is not mentioned by this name in Daniel, but is the subject of frequent prophetic testimony in several of the other prophets. We must remember that Daniel wrote when Israel was in captivity in Babylon, and Ezekiel wrote when among the captives by the river Chebar. It may be that “the Assyrian” is used in prophecy in reference to the last days, as covering more than one person or power. We find in Psa. 83 and other passages various nations confederated with the Assyrian, just as the ten kings are associated with the chief of the Roman Empire in Rev. 13 and 17. But it would be outside the object of this paper to go into the matter in minute detail. Whatever power or grouping of powers may be indicated by this name, it is clear that they come of those parts which are situated to the north of Palestine.

The Antichrist, acting in league with the head of the revived Roman Empire, will hive the seat of his authority at Jerusalem, and will be the inward corrupter of the apostate Jews; the Assyrian will be the enemy and corrupter from outside. The Assyrian of the past occupied chiefly the territory north of Palestine, which we call Asia Minor, now under the rule partly of Turkey and partly of Persia.

When the Assyrian came on the scene of old, Israel, or at least the two tribes, were still owned of God as His people. Afterwards, the wickedness of the kings of the house of David had led to God's pronouncing upon them the sentence of “Lo-ammi,” that is, “not my people” (Hos. 1:9). When they were carried away captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar, the people became actually “Lo-ammi” (though God still watched over them in mercy), and the “times of the Gentiles” began. Thus it was that, when Israel failed and turned to idolatry, God gave power into the hands of the Gentiles and His throne was no longer found on earth, as it had been at Jerusalem, where He dwelt in the house which was built for His name. Since that time (though God, of course, controls the course of events in the world) He no longer rules amidst His people as He did in Israel. This giving of power into the hands of the Gentiles, which began with Nebuchadnezzar, is a fact of immense importance in the history of the world, and it is also very necessary to bear it in mind for the true interpretation of prophecy.

But, to resume, our subject, in process of time Christ came, and He was crucified. Thus the Jews remain still “Lo-ammi,” and continue in their unbelief and judicial blindness till this day; and this will be so until, in a future day, the Spirit of God works sorrow and repentance in the heart of the godly remnant. God will then once more own them as His people (Hos. 2:1). It is when they are thus owned by Him once more that the Assyrian of the future will make His final attack upon the city and the land. This is an essential fact for us to remember in order to truly understand these prophecies.

It was by the Assyrian that the ten tribes were carried away captive (2 Kings 17), and the Assyrian of the past was a type or foreshadowing. of the Assyrian of the future. The overthrow of Sennacherib and his great host, in answer to Hezekiah's prayer of faith, prefigured the final overthrow of the Assyrian of the last days. In the past, Babylon (where the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin were carried captive after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar) arose after the Assyrian monarchy; and, in fact, out of the ruins of that empire, which preceded it. But in the future to which we now refer, the Assyrian will be the last enemy of Israel; this is just the reverse of history.

Now this consideration confirms the application of many prophetic scriptures on this subject to the events of the last days, though they may have had a partial fulfillment or foreshadowing in the past. We find many references to the Assyrian in the prophets— “Ho Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation.” God uses this rod for the chastisement of His guilty people Israel. But at length God judges this haughty enemy, and with this judgment, His indignation against Israel comes to a close; “when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will publish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks” (Isa. 10:12). Now dearly the Lord has not yet performed His whole work on mount Zion and Jerusalem; this punishment of the Assyrian is, therefore, unquestionably future. Again, in chapter 14 we read, “I will break the Assyrian in my land, and, upon my mountains tread him under foot.” He may be proud and powerful, but who can withstand the Lord of Hosts in His purposes, or who can disannul His decrees?

Again, we find in Isa. 30, “Through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be broken in pieces, which smote with a rod. And every stroke of the appointed staff, which the LORD shall lay upon him, shall be with tabrets and harps,” etc. (R.V.). It is plain that what is here brought before us is still future, and goes on to the final judgment of the Assyrian, for whom Topheth, or the fire of God, is prepared; and the passage describes the rejoicing which will follow the Lord's judgment of this powerful and haughty enemy of Israel; whom God had used as a rod to chasten them for their good.

We may now refer to a passage in the prophet Micah— “And this man (the Ruler of Israel, the Messiah) shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land; and when he shall tread in our palaces.” It is Christ Himself, the true “Judge of Israel,” once smitten and rejected by them; but in that future day to which the prophet refers, their deliverer from the power of the Assyrian. Indeed, this chapter takes in, in its scope, the final victory when “the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people, as a lion amongst the beasts of the forest,” etc. God Himself will purge the land and the people. He will purge them inwardly from their idolatry, and outwardly He will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the nations who come up against Zion. But, even in view of this, the true saint of God can enjoy the most profound rest and peace of mind, for he is brought, through grace, into the secret of God's thoughts about everything. These mighty nations think that they can carry out their own will and do as they like, “but they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.” God will be the deliverer Himself in that day, and He will strengthen His people and give them complete victory.

Finally, in this connection, let us look at Dan. 8. In the vision given to the prophet we have the “rough goat,” who is the king of Greece, and the great horn between his eyes was the first king, Alexander the Great. But, arising out of the fragments of his empire, there came forth a “little horn,” which became exceeding great. No doubt the passage, to a certain extent, refers to a person well known in history, Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syro-Macedonia; but, taking it in its completeness, and especially the explanation given in the latter part of the chapter itself, it goes much beyond this and takes in the events of the last days (see ver. 23). This little horn magnifies himself to the Prince of the host (Christ, Jehovah), and from Him (that is Christ, the Messiah) the daily sacrifice is taken away and the place of His sanctuary cast down.

We cannot say who will, in a future day, rule the territory in the east, north of Palestine; which is here referred to; but the prophecy makes it plain that he will be possessed of remarkable intelligence; as it is expressed, he understands “dark sentences” and carries out his aims through policy and craft, as well as by force of arms. His military power, however, will be derived from elsewhere, for it is “not by his own power.” He will be allowed to cast down some of the leaders of the Jews; will interfere with their system of worship, prospering by craft; and finally will exalt himself against the “Prince of princes,” as Antichrist does against the “God of gods” (Dan. 11:36).

From the geographic position of the territory in Asia Minor occupied by this king, as well as from other considerations, it would seem probable that he is to be identified with “the Assyrian.” His action in corrupting the Jews by his craft, as well as his more active opposition, is exercised “in the last end of the indignation” (i.e., God's indignation against Israel), “at the latter time of their kingdom, when transgressors shall have come to the full.” It is, therefore, near the time when the Lord will be manifested in glory for the deliverance of His people and the establishment of His kingdom. It is clear, as already remarked, that he derives his power from some outside source; more than probably he acts under the direction and authority of the ruler of the Russian empire.

But, whatever may be the crafty machinations of unscrupulous men, or their military prowess, it all comes to an end the moment God interposes on behalf of His people. And so he is “broken without hand.”

Let us now look briefly at the “GOG” of Ezekiel whom we must carefully distinguish from “Gog and Magog” of Rev. 20. The latter is an enemy who comes against the camp of the saints after the millennium, whilst the former is before it.

We read that “The word of the LORD” came to the prophet, saying, “Son of man, set thy face toward Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal” (Ezek. 38:2). In the word “Rosh” we have the first traces of a country now included in the Russian Empire; but at the time the prophet wrote, it was probably peopled by Scythian tribes, dwelling on the shores of the Black Sea, etc., then spreading themselves abroad in those lands now under the rule of the Czar.

In the last days, to which the prophet refers, Israel will have been once more settled in their land, “In the latter days, I will bring thee against my land.” They will have been again owned by Jehovah as His people, and will be dwelling safely, just before the millennial reign begins, and Gog comes up, fully intending to take a spoil and a prey.

The words of Ezekiel show us that Gog had been the subject of prophetic testimony previously; as we read, “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah; Art thou not he of whom I have spoken of old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them (i.e., Israel)?” (38:17).

We are told that Gog comes out of the “north parts;” or the “uttermost north,” with his “many peoples” and “a great assembly, and mighty army.” Geographically, therefore, there is ground for believing Gog to be closely linked with the king of the North or Assyrian; and the suggestion made by the late Mr. Darby, that he believed Gog to be “the last phase of the Assyrian,” appears to be very probably correct. If so, this explains what Ezekiel says as to previous prophetic testimony, for we know that the Assyrian is largely spoken of in the prophets.

When Gog appears, he comes with an immense host, like a storm, and like a cloud to cover the land; but his audaciousness draws down upon him the indignation of Jehovah, who comes in to deliver his people; and Gog perishes with all his host upon the mountains of Israel under the judgment of God.

It is to be remarked also that we find a very distinct reference to the northern invader in the prophet Joel. He says, “And I will remove far off from you him [that cometh] from the north” (Joel 2:20). So it is clear that this great enemy of Israel will occupy an important place in the closing scenes just before their final deliverance.

We have already seen that Jehovah's indignation—that is His anger against Israel on account of their idolatry and their sins—ceases with the judgment of the Assyrian. But there will be some lapse of time after the Lord descends from heaven in judgment upon the various actors in the scenes we have been looking at; and the establishment of full peace and blessing. In fact, He will reign first in the character of David, putting down His, enemies, before He reigns in the character of Solomon in peace and tranquility. We have three periods noted at the close in Daniel—three years and a half, or 1,26o days; 1,290 days; and 1,335 days. The first commences in the middle of the week, when the covenant with the people, made by the head of the revived Roman Empire, is broken, and their worship is stopped; and it ends with the overthrow of the beast and Antichrist (Rev. 19). But the full establishment of Israel in settled peace in their land does not come about till the close, 75 days later on, or perhaps more.

It would seem that the great northern power to which we have already referred, will be allowed to come against Jerusalem on account of the exceeding wickedness of the Antichrist and of the beast, with whom he is linked, and of the apostate part of the nation of Israel. The prophet Daniel (who never carries us into the millennium as Isaiah and other prophets do, but just up to it and no further) closes chapter 11 with a reference to the “King of the North,” who comes down against the seat of Antichrist's power (i.e. Jerusalem) like a whirlwind with his vast armies, overflows many countries, and passes on to Egypt. Tidings, however, out of the east and north trouble him, and he returns to Palestine, here called “the pleasant land,” and plants the tent of his palace between the Mediterranean Sea and Jerusalem: but “he shall come to his end and none shall help him.” This is very similar to what we have already seen concerning the fate of the Assyrian and Gog. Whether the tidings that he hears are that the Lord has appeared to crush the beast and the false prophet (Rev. 19), or that the ten tribes, many of whom may be within his territory, are being brought back to the land, it would, perhaps, be unwise to say definitely—though it may be so—but he comes to his end by judgment at the hands of the Lord Himself, and not merely by being defeated in battle by some other power.

Jerusalem will be the center of a conflict of nations in that day; “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it” (Zech. 12:2-3). Again. “For 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,” etc. (14: 2). This first attack is partially successful; the city is taken and some are carried away captive. But when the second attack is made, the Lord is Himself there, having already crushed the beast and false prophet; and He will go forth and fight against those nations; “and his feet shall stand, in that day, upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east.” From that mount of Olives a cloud received Him out of the sight of His disciples; now He comes to that same place in judgment on the nations, “and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west,” etc. an actual physical convulsion will take place which will open a way of escape for His people (14:5).

And here we would like to draw the reader's attention to the following extract from “Notes on Zechariah” by H. R.— “In the 'last day,' after the judgment of the Antichrist and the Roman beast, Jerusalem will be attacked by the surrounding nations. This attack will take place, if not under the personal direction of the Assyrian, at least under his patronage. Jerusalem will be taken and sacked; half the inhabitants of the city will be led captive, but the remainder of the people will not be cut off. Amongst those who will be spared there will be the feeble 'Remnant,' a part of which, the 'two witnesses' of Revelation, had already been martyred. It is the last trial which awaits the unhappy and guilty city.

“Later on, the King of the North or, the Assyrian, comes back from Egypt with his immense army, surrounds the beloved city, and it is then that the events mentioned in verse 3 of Zech. 14 take place: 'And the LORD will go forth and fight with those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.' There is an allusion here to what had passed when the Lord, having come out of heaven with all His armies (Rev. 19), had destroyed hose of the beast and false prophet. But now a new event has taken place; And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem toward the east. 'Then will be fulfilled what the angels announced to the disciples, witnesses of the ascension of the Lord on the mount of Olives.' ‘This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven'.... 'And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee' (Zech. 14:5). All that this chapter reveals to us is as the prelude to this great fact: Jehovah, the God of the prophets, will come.”

[F.G.B.]

(To be continued)

The Lord's Prayer: Forgive Us Our Debts (Sins)

A question has appeared recently, “How does” the “contention that we need not ‘ask’ and ‘plead' for forgiveness harmonize with the petition in the Lord's Prayer, 'Forgive us our trespasses'?” And this was answered by various statements, to some of which attention is here called, that we may compare them with the unerring standard of truth. For Scripture is, the true corrector of our thoughts and words.

It may perhaps help to clear the ground, if we consider for, or to, whom the prayer was given. It was, we submit, to the disciples of our Lord in contrast with the multitudes. For “seeing the multitudes he went up into the mountain, and when he had sat down, his disciples came to him; and he opened his mouth and taught them” (Matt. 4:25; 5:1, 2). And yet more explicitly in Luke, where no mention of “multitudes” appears, but “as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray even, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray,” etc. (Luke 11: 1, 2).

Thus, instead of being a prayer for all to use indiscriminately, it was for His disciples—to whom He had said, “When thou prayest, enter into thy closet... pray to thy Father,” etc. It was to His own, who were “not of the world” (John 17:14), to whom it was given, and not to or for all mankind; so that sinners are here excluded. To these the message of the gospel comes, and is preached on the ground that they are lost who have no works of any kind whatever which they can plead. Guilty before God, we, through believing, are justified freely by His grace, justified by faith, justified by Christ's blood.

Here works have no place. For, as says the great apostle, “not by works in righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us” (Titus 3:5). Never can any poor sinner (and, “all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God") be justified by works, but by faith of Christ” (Rom. 5:1; Gal. 2:16). As unconverted, how can we ask or plead for, forgiveness on the ground of our having forgiven others? That would be pleading a righteousness of our own, however small. Is it the sinner that is taught to say, “Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come"? Does God our Father look for these utterances from unconverted men? On the contrary, is it not the renewed heart alone which can rightly take up these words? For when the Father's kingdom does come, it will he the righteous who shall shine forth. Where then shall the ungodly stand?

The 'forgiveness' of the Lord's Prayer is of the child of God in regard to his walk day by day as under the Father's governmental dealings. So Peter, in his epistle, reminds the strangers of the dispersion, “elect through sanctification of the Spirit,” that the Father on whom they, as having been redeemed, now called, was Judge of every man's work (1 Pet. 1:14-21. And accordingly, if we do not now forgive, seeing we have ourselves been forgiven— “even as God in Christ forgave us” (ὀ θεὸς ἐν χριστῷ ἐχαρίσατο)—neither will our Father (governmentally) forgive us. I may add, that this prayer, perfect and divinely suited to the then disciples before redemption was accomplished, and the Holy Spirit was sent to indwell the believer as He does now, purposely gives way to Christian prayer which is presented in Christ's name. “Hitherto,” said our Lord at the close of His ministry, “ye have asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive” (John 16:23, 24). Now we are to pray in the Holy Ghost (cf. Rom. 8:26, 27).

But let us turn now to some of the statements made in the answer referred to. They are as follows— “The message of the Gospel is that when Christ died on Calvary, He made a full and final atonement for the sin of the world; He ‘offered one sacrifice for sins forever'; He offered it ‘once for all,' and it needs no repetition (cf. Heb. 10:10-14). He bore the sin of the whole world—every sin, past, present and future, of every sinner. His atonement stands complete and final, and all that we have now to do, is to appropriate the mercy which He has won for us. It is already ours in virtue of His Infinite Sacrifice, and we have no need to plead for it; we have only to claim it and rejoice in it. This we do when we pray: 'Forgive us our trespasses.'“ ... “He [God] has forgiven the sin of the whole world, and has proclaimed His forgiveness in the Cross of Christ; nevertheless, so long as a sinner remains obdurate and impenitent, he is God's enemy, and so God deals with him.”

If these quotations are indeed “the message of the gospel,” “the gospel which the New Testament teaches,” then we ought to preach it assuredly. But let us examine them.

Does scripture anywhere say that Christ made a full and final atonement for the sin of the world (i.e. in the sense of the words that here follow), that “He bore the sin of the whole world—every sin.... of every sinner"? We read that He gave Himself a ransom (ἀντίλυτρον) for all, His life a ransom (λύτρον) for many; that God sent His Son, the propitiation (atonement) for our sins; that He is the propitiation for our sins (Jewish believers); and not for ours only, but also for the whole world (Gentiles). He is the “way,” the “door,” the only “name” given, etc. Here there is what is available for all mankind, as there is also the appropriation of these on the part of him who believes. But when it is a question of sin or sins being borne, this is carefully confined to believers. “He bare the sin of many” (not of all). “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” “He bare our sins,” that we having died to sins might live unto righteousness; “by whose stripes ye were healed; for ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” These words are not spoken of sinners, but of believers.

“Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Here is presented the One who is God's Lamb, provided by Himself, who “takes away the sin of the world,” no other was equal to this stupendous work, but He is the One that takes it away. He effects it. He appeared for this very purpose, “for the putting away of sin by the sacrifice of himself” (εἰς ἀθέτησιν ἁμαρτίας). Is “sin” now put away? Where does scripture say that it is? But it will be put away, for He has done the work in virtue of which all evil shall be banished.

And not till the new heavens and the new earth are brought in will this glorious result be seen. But seen it will be, and for all eternity.

Whether as to the world or ourselves—is not sin now rampant in the world? is it not in the believer still? “If we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves.” But God, by the sending of His Son, and as a sacrifice for sin, has condemned sin in the flesh. So the believer is called to reckon himself dead indeed to sin. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body,” says the apostle, “that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Rom. 6). How could this apply if sin were already “put away” even for the believer? “Sin” is here our evil nature (the root) which produces “sins.” Our nature cannot be “forgiven,” but it has been, and is, condemned in the cross of Christ. On the other hand, our sins (that is, of those that believe in the Lord Jesus) are gone, they are blotted out, for “we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,” and believing we are justified from all things.

To conclude then, the gospel of God's grace is “preached” not to Jews only, but “to every creature which is under heaven.” For God hath set forth Jesus, a propitiatory through faith in His blood. Confessing my sins, I bow to God's judgment of myself as very guilty, without one shred of righteousness, and this is “repentance toward God.” I look to Him who died on Calvary's cross—the Just for the unjust, and believing (this is “faith towards the Lord Jesus Christ"), I see there my holy Substitute, who gave Himself for me. There all my sins were laid upon Him by God Himself. But although this was so 1800 years ago—my whole life then future—yet I am not “forgiven” my trespasses, nor am I entitled to say He bore my sins—my every sin, past, present and future, till I own my guilt and state, and believe in the Lord Jesus who was delivered up for my offenses, and in God, who raised Him from the dead for my justification. Being “justified by faith,” I have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom I have now received the reconciliation.

But the sinner who refuses the gospel has to be judged before the great white throne according to his works, seeing he refused the one and only sacrifice for sins. These were not borne, or atoned for, substitutionally, or they would not come up for judgment. He has died in his sins, and every sin will be remembered. Further, there will be the added guilt of not believing the gospel, which is God's power to salvation to everyone that believes. In the book of life their names are not found. If God has forgiven the sin of the whole world (!) why is the Holy Ghost here to convict of sin (John 16:8-11)? And why is man judged hereafter for his sins and his unbelief? For the believer, on the contrary, our Lord has avowed that he comes not into judgment (John 5:24). What is said as to reconciliation is true. Not God, but we need the reconciliation. But the expectation that “the word” preached by us, however faithfully, will be confirmed by “the signs following,” as was promised to, and fulfilled in the case of the apostles (Mark 16:17, 18, 20), is an assumption without warrant. We are not apostles, nor in apostolic days; and Scripture nowhere assures the continuance of “these signs.”

Bible Treasury: Volume N10

Covenant Theology: Is This Method of Interpretation Scripturally Sound? [Pamphlet]

Table of Contents

Deliverance From the Law of Sin: Part 1

Scripture Query and Answer

Scripture Queries and Answers

Lectures on 1 Chronicles 1-9

The Waters of Bethlehem

Return Unto Me

Studies in Mark 6:14-20: John's Rebuke of Herod's Sin

Cleaving to the Lord

Lectures on 1 Chronicles 9

Lecture on Esther 1-2

Studies in Mark 6:21-29: The Death of the Forerunner

The Church of God: Part 1

The Way of a Christian's Power: Part 1

Lectures on 1 Chronicles 10-12

Lecture on Esther 3-6

Studies in Mark 6:30-34: Seeking a Short Seclusion

The Church of God: Part 2

The Way of a Christian's Power: Part 2

Over You in the Lord

Scripture Queries and Answers: Sister's Part in Bible Reading Meetings

A Still Small Voice

Lectures on 1 Chronicles 13-15

Lecture on Esther 7-10

Studies in Mark 6:30-34: Seeking a Short Seclusion

Our Joy in Heaven (Duplicate)

Jonathan

Lectures on 1 Chronicles 16-19

Song of Solomon Introduction 1

Studies in Mark 6:35-44: Servant of Jehovah as the Shepherd of Israel

Deliverance From the Law of Sin (duplicate Revised)

An House of Cedar

Lectures on 1 Chronicles 20-22

Song of Solomon Introduction 2

Studies in Mark 6:35-44: Servant of Jehovah as the Shepherd of Israel

The Deity of Christ and Christianity

Lectures on 1 Chronicles 23-29

Song of Solomon 1

The Power of Prayer

Neglect of the Reading Meeting

Our Living Lord: Part 1

Lectures on 2 Chronicles 1, 2:1-3

Song of Solomon 1-2

Christ the Living Bread

Word of God - How Do You Read It?

Our Living Lord: Part 2

Association With Christ: Part 1

Lectures on 2 Chronicles 2:4-18; Chapter 3

Song of Solomon 3:1-7

The Pursuit of the Christian Ideal

Step by Step on the Way of Faith

Association With Christ: Part 2

Lectures on 2 Chronicles 4-6

Song of Solomon 3:7-11; Song of Solomon 4-5

Studies in Mark 6:45-52: The Pathway Over the Stormy Sea

Divine Comfort

Association With Christ: Part 3

Fragment

Lectures on 2 Chronicles 7-12

Song of Solomon 6-7

Studies in Mark 6:45-52: The Pathway Over the Stormy Sea

The God of Hope

Philadelphia and the Prospect Today: Part 1

A Letter on the Present War

Extract: Christianity Characteristically Heavenly

Advertising

Lectures on 2 Chronicles 13-20

Song of Solomon 8

Notes on Hosea 7:8-16

Studies in Mark 6:53-56: The Morning Without Clouds

Peace on Earth - Peace in Heaven

Philadelphia and the Prospect Today: Part 2

Advertising

Lectures on 2 Chronicles 21-25

Heavenly Springs - or Ever New

Studies in Mark 6:53-56: The Morning Without Clouds

Notes on 1 Thessalonians 5:23

The Prospects of the World According to the Scriptures: Part 1