34. “Ε. G. Κ.,” Sheffield. The true force of Paul’s desire, “If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of [or from among] the dead,” is lost, unless you look at it in its connections. Paul had seen the Lord Jesus in glory, and thus to him everything else was poor and unsatisfying. The excellencies of the Savior had so charmed his heart that he counted all things but loss; and the best things of himself, as a religious and blameless man, as dung. Thus his whole soul was filled with the Savior’s worth and glory. Happy servant of the Lord! Was he doubting his salvation? On the contrary, his heart was on fire with the love of Christ, and desire to “know Him”—to know more and more of His eternal and transcendent beauty. He longed to realize what the resurrection of Christ in all its power was, and to have it so, working in him that he might have the place on earth of rejection with Christ, to participate in all His sufferings that as a man he could, even to be made conformable unto His death. Being with the Lord in the glory was the goal set before him, to which his ardent soul was running, and desiring to reach in resurrection blessing at all cost—“If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection from among the dead.” The subject here is not the believer’s security, but the longings of a deeply attached heart going out to the Savior in thorough devotedness to Him.
The difficulties which many have as to this and similar scriptures, we have long been persuaded, arise more from the absence of moral fitness, from a low state as to the affections and conscience, than from lack of intelligence. Scripture says he which is spiritual judgeth [discerneth] all things; where this is lacking, or the fine edge of the conscience blunted with worldliness, the Spirit is grieved, so that we cannot know the deep things of God.
“Giving heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip” is a wholesome exhortation, and generally very acceptable to the children of God. The Godhead of the eternal Son, and His having purged our sins, the foundations of the faith, had just been brought out. The Son now in heaven had been contemplated in His creating, upholding, redeeming, reigning glories, as above angels, the highest form of known created intelligences. The salvation, therefore, was great; and how could any escape who neglected it? The absolute authority of God’s word is also insisted on.
If you refer to such scriptures as “he that shall endure until the end, the same shall be saved,” the questions are what is the end? what the salvation? and who are the people that are saved? (See Matt. 24:9-359Then 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. 10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. 15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains: 17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 23Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25Behold, I have told you before. 26Wherefore 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. 27For 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. 28For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. 29Immediately 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: 30And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31And 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. 32Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 34Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 35Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (Matthew 24:9‑35).) The context shows that it is prophetic, and refers to the great tribulation coming on the earth, at the end of which an “ elect” people of the Jews will be saved, that is, not put to death as multitudes of their brethren will be; and the salvation they look for, and will have, will be to have the promises to Abraham and David fulfilled to them in the millennial earth. We are not contemplated in the passage, nor the Gospel of the grace of God which we preach, but “the gospel of the kingdom” which will go forth again unto all the nations as a witness after the Lord has come and taken us to glory.
35. “J. W. Dayton,” Ohio. No doubt the Lord had a distinct reason for surnaming John and James Boanerges, or sons of thunder, in Mark 3:1717And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: (Mark 3:17), but what the especial bearing of the appellation was we are not told. It is remarkable though that these were the two who asked the Lord if they should command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did.
36. “H.,” Stoke Newington. It is quite true that the church on earth (looked at in the place of corporate responsibility to the Lord) has totally failed to maintain the character in which He set it by the coming down of the Holy Ghost. It is, in this aspect, in ruin. Besides, we have no apostles nor their delegates, so that we have no official elders, or deacons, which required such persons to appoint. But there are those who do the work of elders, and show plainly that the Holy Ghost has made them such. Eldership is not gift, but a local office. A spiritual mind can discern such. The sick one’s faith is manifested in calling such to pray for him, and those called show their faith in praying over such. We lately heard of two servants of the Lord praying over a sick saint; one of them asked the Lord to heal her and raise her up; the other that the Lord would deal with her soul and set her right with Himself spiritually. She says, as she became exercised before the Lord and increasingly at liberty in His presence, her whole health improved. We can quite understand there may be instances when an elder could not go in faith. Many years ago a friend of ours declined, saying that he could not go in faith.
37. “B.” Teignmouth. “Sin in the flesh” (that evil principle in us) God, in richest grace to us, condemned in His own spotless Son, when He was offered a sacrifice for sin upon the cross.
38. “H” Clevedon. Our articles on the Holy Ghost in the last month’s and present issue fully meet your question as to the personality of the Holy Ghost.
39. “S.,” Sligo. We must never forget that the psalms are (generally speaking) about Israel. David was the sweet psalmist of Israel, not of the church; though all was written for our learning. Those who “hope in his mercy” are also spoken of in the verse you quote as fearing Him; and refer to a remnant of pious Jews who will be deeply exercised, by-and-by, before they are brought into their promised blessings in the land under their true Messiah.
40. “S. E.,” Sydenham. Thanks for your kind and interesting letter. We praise the Lord that your difficulties have been removed by the sword of the Spirit, which is the infallible word of God. The divine statement that “The man is become as one of us, to know good and evil,” plainly shows that he had it not before he fell.
41. Ashford. We must never forget that the Lord is in the midst of those who are gathered together in His name. The question, therefore, is always as to what suits Him, the holy and the true. No one is competent to serve in the assembly who has not the Lord before him, and who does not practically honor the Holy Ghost. Scripture always points us to the Lord. Besides, in a time of ruin like this, scripture both warns and instructs, and the Holy Spirit exposes and resents evil. 2 Tim. 2, Rev. 2; 3, Jude, and other scriptures contemplate the present time.