We must not, however, forget that, with all the similarities, there are very striking contrasts. No two systems could be more distinct and separate than Judaism and Christianity, or law and grace. As to the former, the law said, Do and live; the gospel says, Believe and live; the law said, Thou shalt love God and your neighbor, or be cursed; the gospel says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” With regard to Judaism, the three things which characterized it were, (1), a place of worship on earth; (2), an earthly order of priesthood between God and the people; (3), all the people at a distance from God – outside the veil; but Christianity, in virtue of the accomplished work of Jesus, is characterized in Scripture, (1), by access to God with confidence inside the rent veil; (2), worshiping the Father in Spirit and in truth; and (3), a heavenly order of priesthood – Christ the High-Priest and all believers priests. Any other order of priesthood is subversive of Christianity, and why? Because the believer’s standing is always in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and the Holy Spirit has come down to indwell and abide with us forever.
Another thing that marks the unity of the Bible is the remarkable way in which its various parts are adapted and interwoven with each other, so that not one of the smallest books of it could be taken from us without serious loss. Perhaps someone would be ready to say, “It would be no loss to miss the book of Esther, for neither God nor Lord is once named in it.” Such, however, have little considered that the omissions of Scripture often show their beauty and perfection. It is so in this and other cases. When many of God’s people returned from the Babylonish captivity, there were some who, though they had the thoughts and feelings of His people, yet did not act in faith in returning to the land God had given them; such God never forsakes, though He does not openly show Himself to them. He always cares for His own, however weak and fallen they may be. This the book of Esther remarkably illustrates, and it is a point of all importance in the ways of God.
Others may say, Could we not part with the book of Proverbs or of Ecclesiastes without loss? Certainly not. In Proverbs 8. we have one of the finest descriptions given of Christ as “wisdom” found in Scripture; and in other parts, many of His actings and wise counsels, besides His kingly power and Sonship. And by losing Ecclesiastes we should be deprived not only of the experience of one who had had it in his power to try everything of earthly blessing to secure happiness, yet found it all to be vanity and vexation of spirit, and everything stamped with death; but we should lose the comfort given us of two things “under the sun” which are not vanity; one seemed “great” to him; this was the deliverance and salvation wrought out on Calvary, alluded to at the end of chapter 9; the other is the service of Christ – “Cast thy bread upon the waters; for thou shalt find it after many days” (Ecc. 9:13-15; 11:1). These things also show that the sacred writings are so adapted to each other, so fitted together and interwoven, that the more they are pondered, the more the unity of the Bible becomes apparent. To lose any part of what we now possess would be like missing some links of a golden chain, and could not fail to produce a gap or defect.
Before closing this part of our subject, there is another character of unity seen amidst all the infinite variety of the Holy Scriptures. We sometimes find the prophets, though unknown to each other, and without any intercourse, going on from the points where others ended, though almost all the prophets went on to the reign of Messiah. Look, for instance, at Isaiah, though he saw terrible failure in Judah and Jerusalem, and even touched on the Jews’ rejection of Christ coming in humiliation, yet he does not speak of their captivity; whereas, Jeremiah, about a hundred years after, not only enters much into their being given into captivity, but declares it will be for seventy years. Daniel, after this, finds out from Jeremiah’s books, that the captivity will be for seventy years, and goes on not only to give a prophetic sketch of the times of the Gentiles, but he also speaks of his own people in the famous prophecy of the seventy weeks. Hosea tells us of their present state and its continuance until the children of Israel return to seek Jehovah (Hosea 3:4-54For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: 5Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the latter days. (Hosea 3:4‑5)). The post-captivity prophets give us an appalling description of their moral condition, without hope, except in a few who fear Jehovah, till the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings. The prophecy in Malachi of John preceding the Lord coming in grace, and of Elijah preceding the Lord coming in power and glory, were both referred to by our Lord, thus connecting the Old and New Testaments, between which there is a period of more than four hundred years. Nearly a thousand references are made in the New Testament to the Old; and a multitude of prophetic scriptures in the Old have the records of their fulfillment in the New. It need scarcely be added, that the so-called Apocrypha is nowhere quoted in the New Testament, nor does it commend itself to a spiritual mind as inspired. It is doubtless correctly refused as such.
The same unity of purpose and links of connection are seen in the New Testament. If Matthew closes with showing Christ risen and on the earth, Mark goes on to tell us of His ascension, and sitting on the right hand of God.
Luke tells us not only that they saw Him go up into heaven out of their sight, but the disciples were told to wait for power from on high – the coming of the Holy Spirit; while John’s Gospel goes on still further, for there Christ not only speaks of new relationships. His ascension, His breathing on His disciples the Holy Spirit – risen life – but hints at His coming again, saying, “If I will that he tarry till I come.” In speaking to Thomas He refers to the Jewish remnant being blessed on seeing Him after we are gone; and the last chapter gives us a millennial scene.
So in the epistles. Peter looks at us as “pilgrims and strangers,” going on to the inheritance “reserved in heaven” for us; but under divine keeping all along the path, with trials and difficulties by the way. Paul, however, usually begins with us as in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and bids us walk here on earth as those who are heavenly, with all our resources in the glorified Son of God, and keeps His blessed coming before us as our hope. John goes on from the rapture at our Lord’s coming, sees us in heaven during the apocalyptic judgments of seals, trumpets, and vials; then, after the judgment of the great whore, and after the marriage supper, we come out of heaven with Christ in manifested glory to judge the quick and the dead, to establish His rightful place and kingdom on earth, and subdue all for God’s glory. It is impossible, then, not to be struck with the element of unity amidst all the almost endless variety of the contents of the Bible, and to see that one mind, and that divine, even the Holy Spirit, must have indited it.
(Continued from page 62).