This Man

God has placed man in a world lavished by His loving hand with great beauty. He wants us to enjoy such spectacles as the ocean surf dashing against huge rocks and bursting into spray a quiet lagoon in moonlight a tropical sun setting over the ocean with gently rustling palm trees on the shore flowers beautiful in color and fragrance which clothe the earth with their verdure.

The same God wrote the Bible, and gave us in it a breathtaking flow of spiritual thoughts whose beauty and serenity far surpass the wonders of His creation. This book is the story of these sublime thoughts, originating in the counsels of the Godhead in past and distant eternal ages. It is also about their execution in time by This Man the Son of God in Manhood.(1) God's thoughts are so rich that, as they become clear to us, they fill us with joy. Our spirits soar above the earth like the eagle on the clouds.

We will see the eternal God willing the universe into existence, including this world the ice ages overtaking the prehistoric creation God's remedial work on the earth to make it habitable for man the creation of man himself. All this is interpreted not only from the viewpoint of creation, but of the spiritual teaching underlying the creation. Our focus then shifts to the Gospel of John, whose great subject is eternal life. Here we discover a number of water scenes which feature the activity of eternal life among believers in service and worship. Following the water scenes the entire journey of Israel from Egypt to Canaan is retraced. Within that setting John has written chapters which are mirror images of the furniture of the tabernacle in the desert and the burnt offering. This has been achieved in such a way that it is not obvious to the casual reader, but becomes evident on reflection.

The writer has spent almost all his Christian life reflecting on the themes just mentioned, which constitute the first three parts of this book. Part 4 is a selection from booklets written years ago, which fall in line with the general subjects of this book. These have been edited to make them more suitable for inclusion in This Man.

There can never be too many books about Christ. John, the new creation writer, closed his gospel on that note "and there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written.”

This is my fifth book. It is dedicated to those who love God, for no one else would want to read it. "If any man love God, the same is known of Him" 1 Cor. 8:3.

T.L. Mather Jan 1, 1989

Light and Darkness - God and Man

Because this book is basically about God's two Creations i.e. the Prehistoric creation and the new creation in man the reader might expect it to begin at Gen. 1. Right? No, very wrong. That would be like buying a newly built expensive house without knowing anything about the builder. So we begin with God, the maker of all things.

It is well to begin with God, because He is as unknown today as when Paul noticed an inscription in Athens "To the unknown God." Even Christians, when asked to define the meaning of the word GOD are sometimes nonplussed.

Part I then was written to acquaint us with God in a broad sense, before we begin to consider His works. It has only two chapters. One is to explain who God is, and the other why He is unknown in the world today. If you are interested in God, and the associated question of God and man, read on.

Chapter 1.1

God Who Is He?

If you do not know God, however rational and educated you may be, your thoughts about the world, yourself and your destiny, are clouded. You know that at some point in time you must die. You may react to this fact in different ways. You may try to banish the thought by engrossing yourself with life. Why worry about death when life is so full? Enjoy a life filled with pleasure, or the pursuit of education, success, money, or prominence in the world. That approach buys time, perhaps, but no more, since you know within yourself that one day you must leave everything behind. You may hope that death is the end of all things that it means annihilation. (1) That view is hoary in age. The ancient Romans believed it, as can be seen from some of the inscriptions on their tombstones e.g. "once I was not, then I was, now I am not again." Others are not so sure. The world has been good to them, and they would rather return to it in some way. Out of this longing comes the opposite view to annihilation reincarnation, an Eastern doctrine with many followers in the West.(2) Others turn to good works in the vain hope of future reward. That is a key principle of human religion. It has never saved anybody but has deluded millions.

The common denominator in these various views of what lies beyond the grave, if anything, is man's rejection of what God has told him. He cannot do anything but squirm at the truth that "it is appointed to men once to die, and after this the judgment." Judgment after death being forced to account to God for your life? Anything but that. Invent fables to explain away the issues, but avoid reality. Reality is that you must be reconciled to God in this life, for after that it is too late. Death is not an escape. It only destroys the body, which God will raise again. Because man was created by an eternal God, he will live in glory or despair as long as God Himself, which is forever. That is why Paul told the Athenians that men should seek the Lord "if perhaps they might feel after Him and find Him" an allusion to a blind man groping for something that is there, but which he can't see. Can God then be found before your appointment with the grim reaper? Who is He this God we must all meet after death? Can we know anything about Him? Yes, we can, and must.

Our approach is to open up the subject of God Himself then how He has made Himself known to us. We will begin by assuming that the reader knows nothing about God, even though this is unlikely, so that the whole question is explored with thoroughness.

The Introduction to the Understanding of God Is That He Is an Eternal Being Without Beginning or End

It was God Himself who first disclosed the eternal nature of His being, and made this disclosure the first step in understanding who He is. At the burning bush the beginning of Moses' ministry God told Moses that He had no beginning, by stating that His Name was "I am" i.e. "I exist." He amplified this by saying "I am that I am" meaning that He existed eternally without giving any explanation of that truth. Paul too insists that the starting point for a man who would come to God is believing that He is i.e. accepting God's statement about Himself as the truth. So that His people would clearly understand His words, His bondman Moses spoke to them at the end of his ministry, just before his death. He made it clear that their God was the eternal God. Then he added a message of comfort that this eternal God would shelter His people from the storms of life Deut. 33:27. This tells us that God knows the end from the beginning. Man however must start with "that which is from the beginning" the eternal God whose Name is "I am.”

This is a test of our confidence in God, since we cannot understand eternity. Let us not occupy the seat of the scorner. Let us trust God that He is telling the truth about Himself. That is the first step in coming to God trusting Him about things we do not understand. He is a God who cannot lie. The serpent, who is a liar and the father of it, wants to undermine this trust, saying now as he did in the beginning "yea, hath God said?”

God and eternity are indissolubly linked together. Isaiah tells us that God is "the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity." But what is eternity? Everything is eternity, including the time periods in which we and other people live, have lived, or will live. Eternity has been defined as endless time. But this is questionable. For within the framework of this definition, time looks more like a crutch man invented to hobble along on the road to discover eternity only to discover that there is nothing to discover. Because we are finite we cannot visualize the infinite. From our vantage point as observers in "time" we can project ourselves forward in eternity more readily than backward, because we have an existence. We can go backward to the point at which creation began, but we soon lose our orientation after that. In any event time, which is measured by the sun, has no meaning when there is no sun, nor light years if there is no light. Eternity cannot be defined. It is like an ocean without a shore with no beginning and no end. The subject of eternity then, is the inlet to the larger question of God Himself, since He inhabits it.

How God Makes His Eternal Being Known Symbolically in the Scriptures Through the Circle and Its Materialized Forms

To help us understand what is beyond our comprehension, God has given us a simple geometric figure to represent Him. This is the circle, and its various materialized forms. These are found throughout the Bible like a watermark on quality paper identifying the manufacturer. A circle has no entry or exit points. So, because as a geometric form it is without beginning or end, it is by extension a suited figure of eternity, which the eternal God inhabits as the "I am." But God was not willing to dwell alone in eternity. The Lord Himself said "except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone, but if it die it brings forth much fruit" John 12:24. Because a circle has both a center and a circumference, its symbolic meaning is that God would not be alone, but would have people surrounding Him. Two of the materialized forms of the circle tell us something about those people in their relationships to God.

.. The Circle as a symbol of God, His people, and His power— The circle, a 360 degree configuration with a center and a circumference, and the semi circle of 180 degrees, are both Scripture concepts. So too is the wheel, which is one of God's names.

First the semi circle, suggested in the rainbow which followed Noah's flood. In that flood the ark was a figure of Christ sustaining the waters of God's judgment and sheltering His people. After the flood God resolved never again to destroy the earth by water, and as a pledge of this hung His bow in the cloud, which is the symbol of divine glory. Now the configuration of the rainbow is approximately 180 degrees. That is because Christ was 180 minutes on the cross suffering from God for our sins. The rainbow is a memorial of that. It tells us that God was glorified in the work of the cross. Light passing through water breaks down into the beautiful colors of the rainbow a message that God is both light and love. So when God is about to judge the earth in Rev. 4:3, "there was a rainbow round about the throne." God must judge the world to assert Christ's rights to it, but the rainbow recalls His covenant not to do it with a flood. Ultimately He will bless the earth and rule it, for "the God of all the earth shall He be called" Isa. 54:5.

This coming world rule of Christ leads us to the circle the unbroken 360 degree figure. "Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits on the circle of the earth" Isa. 40:22. God will never forget that Christ was 360 minutes on the cross. Neither will He let man forget it. He has providentially superimposed the number 360 on the human race as a measure of time and space. The circle a space consideration is by universal convention divided into 360 degrees. Then looking at time, the Bible year is 360 days from Genesis to Revelation. The Bible also has an internal chronometer the 70 weeks of Daniel to measure Messiah's rejection and the day of His wrath. Daniel's weeks are units of 2520 i.e. seven Bible years of 360 days. The same pattern emerges in the number counts of the original languages.(3)

The head of the new creation is the Man Christ Jesus, and "it is not good for the man to be alone." So while a circle has a center speaking of Christ who must be the center of everything it also has a circumference, speaking of those who surround Him as the fruit of His cross. A circle too can be expanded into concentric circles. This design feature helps us understand the thought of measured distances from the center. So God has many families in heaven cf. Heb. 12:22, 23, some nearer to the center, some farther away. Of these various families the Church will always be in the inner circle, as the bride of Christ.

These conditions were anticipated in the Lord's words while on earth "for where two or three are gathered together unto My Name, there am I in the midst of them" Matt. 18:20, the spirit of which is captured in A. P. Cecil's lines:

“Thou Holy One and True

Our hearts in Thee confide

And in the circle of Thy love

As brethren we abide.”

However while we are still on earth this can only be enjoyed by faith, for the Lord is unseen, as Peter remarks "whom not having seen you love." In heaven "our God the center is His presence fills that land" and there we shall see Him as He is. The opening chapters of Revelation picture the glorified saints surrounding "a Lamb as it had been slain." He is the center, and the redeemed surround Him as the planets do the sun.

Next we will consider a materialized form of the circle the wheel. This speaks of energy and movement, so is a fitting symbol of the power of God's throne. Solomon's temple, erected after the warrior king David had crushed God's enemies, embodies the symbolism of the wheel "and every base had four brazen wheels... and under the borders were four wheels, and the axle trees of the wheels were joined to the base, and the height of a wheel was 1.5 cubits, and the work of the wheels was like the work of a chariot wheel" 1 Kings 7:30-33. We find the wheel again at the beginning of Ezekiel under similar circumstances. The prophet foresees the destruction of Russia's armies the last great enemy of Israel at the end time. Following that event the millennial temple, which Ezekiel describes, will be erected. So Ezekiel opens "and I looked at the living creatures and behold one wheel on the earth beside the living creatures toward their four faces. The appearance of the wheels— and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel" Ezek. 1:15, 16. From these verses to 10:13 there is a stream of references to the wheels 1:18, 19, 21 3:13 10:8, 9, 13 with the most critical one being 10:13 "as for the wheels, they were called in my hearing Galgal.” i.e. God Almighty:(4)

The Circle materialized in the ring and the— crown how God looks at His people In the Scriptures God wants to enlarge the great thought of the circle that Christ is the center and His people surround Him. So He has given us two materialized forms of the circle to tell us something more how He looks at the people who surround Him. These are the ring and the crown. Both symbols are passive by themselves. They become meaningful when God confers them on us, as a mark of His approval. The general thought of the ring is acceptance, of the crown reward.

In the tabernacle, which was God's house on earth, we find rings in the exterior boards, the furniture of the house, and the High Priest's garments. The boards which framed the tabernacle had rings of gold to couple them Ex. 26:24, 29. There were four rings of gold on the ark, four rings of gold on the table, two rings of gold on the incense altar, and four rings of brass on the brazen altar. There was a double arrangement of two rings of gold linking the High Priest's breastplate and ephod Ex. 39:21. In summary the rings throughout the tabernacle suggest the link between God, His people, and their High Priest. In the world a ring is more a symbol of authority when the ring holder maintains possession of the ring. For example Esther 8:8 tells us that the king's edicts were sealed with his ring. When it is given to somebody it is a mark of favor or acceptance. Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand Gen. 41:42. In Luke 15:22 The father told his servants to put a ring on the prodigal's hand a clear indication that his person was accepted. This is probably the primary meaning for us.

The crown is a symbol of reward at the end. It is given in heaven for faithfulness on earth. The human head is not only designed to receive a crown, but its top is a semi circle. So when Jacob was dying, he called for blessings "on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was separated from his brethren" Gen. 49:26. The crown is a symbol of God's approval. It rests on the head the seat of direction. It speaks of what we did for God with the renewed mind. Our works vary depending on many things the individual's circumstances, for example, or the age in which he lived. So the crown reflects the varied character of our service, faithfulness, and other factors which only a righteous God can assess. Two examples would be a crown of life and a crown of righteousness. A characteristic glory encircles the brow of the person on whom the award is bestowed.

The Infinite Being of the Eternal God

God is a spirit, and fills all things in other words He is infinite. We will consider and expand this statement under two captions the form of God and the omnipresence of God.

... The form of God In what form did God exist in a past eternity? This is not an idle question, since Paul raises it in Phil. 2:6. He tells us about Christ Jesus "who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God." Paul gives us an insight into this question when he tells us that in Godhead glory Jesus dwells "in unapproachable light whom no man has seen nor is able to see" 1 Tim. 6:16. But it was Jesus Himself, the image of the invisible God, who told the woman at Sychar's well that God is a spirit. That is the form of God of which Paul writes in Phil. 2.

.. The Omnipresence of God: In 1 Cor. 6:19 Paul says "know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God?" This is true because God says so, but it is beyond the understanding of man. Why? Because it means that the Holy Spirit is dwelling in the bodies of an indeterminable number of believers in almost all the countries of the world. That alone is enough to tell us that the being of God is beyond comprehension. The Psalmist realized this when he wrote "where shall I go from Thy Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Thy presence?" Psa. 139:7. Having raised the question he concludes that God is everywhere heaven, hell, the uttermost parts of the sea, the darkness, the light. This ability of God to be everywhere at the same time is one of the marks of His power. It tells us that Jesus is God, for He pointed out that He was in heaven and earth at the same time. He said to Nicodemus "no man has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven even the Son of Man who is in heaven" John 3:13. Then Matt. 18:20 anticipates Church conditions when the Lord who is in heaven is in the midst of His own on earth. So Matt. 18:20 and John 3:13 are opposite but complementary truths which unite to tell us that the Lord Jesus can be in heaven or on earth at the same time. Then Eph. 2:22 informs us that the Church and it is all over the face of the earth is a habitation of God through the Spirit. So wide spread diffusion of believers over the world does not restrict the power of the Holy Spirit to indwell them individually or the Assembly corporately.

God in Three Persons—the Trinity

When Christians speak of the Trinity they mean God in three Persons Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. While this term is not found in Scripture, it is a useful one, and has been adopted by convention over the centuries. But how does the Christian reconcile this belief with Deut. 6:4- "hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord?”

Well, God is one in His united purpose, counsel and will, all three Persons working together in perfect harmony. This is evident from the very beginning of the Bible. The opening statement, for example, tells us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then at the end of that creation which displayed a common will in wisdom and power, the Same God said "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Not only are these words plural but we are introduced to one of the three Persons of the Godhead in Gen. 1:2 The Spirit of God, who hovers over the face of the waters. Now note that the plurality of the Godhead, for want of a better word, was not revealed in the opening statement of creation but was reserved for the creation of man the end of creation. That is because, in creating man, God looked forward to His own Son in Manhood who should make God fully known.

The creation record in Gen. 1 posed a problem. It told us nothing about the Trinity, but made it clear that there was more than one Person in the Godhead. The only one mentioned, however, was the Spirit of God. Who were the others? The answer had to await the appearance of Christ in Manhood, and specifically the time when He was baptized at the Jordan. Here the Holy Spirit descended on the Son of God in the form of a dove, and the Father's voice from heaven pronounced His delight on His well beloved Son. Then, when the Lord's work on earth was completed and He was about to ascend to His Father, He told His disciples to baptize "to the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Thus it was God the Son who revealed the Trinity to us. He did this in the entire span of His service for God on the earth ranging from the lowly Jordan to His ascension to glory.

Our knowledge of God flows from the full revelation of Himself in the Son of His love, and in His written Word. Paul tells us "in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" Col. 2:9. The fullness of the Godhead! Such depths seem beyond us until we read what John wrote "and of His fullness have all we received, and grace on grace" John 1:16. God's eternal Son, the incarnate Word, was the most approachable of men. John knew this and rested on His bosom, closest to His heart. That is the place God would like all believers to enjoy. In such closeness we learn God's thoughts as John did.

The Eternal God Is a Supreme King Whose Rule Is Universal

We know from John 10:34-36 that the word "God" means king or ruler. In those verses the Lord explained the meaning of Psa. 82:6 that men were called gods because they held judicial offices. So human rulers are God's delegates, representing Him in the world. Satan is called the god of this world. He rules it in lawlessness, opposing Christ's rights in it. He has made himself a second god in the universe, challenging God's throne. But where the word "God" is used in its proper sense i.e. referring to the True God its meaning is the supreme, unquestioned King to whose will everything, and all beings, must submit. No counselors advise Him Rom. 11:34 and He answers to nobody. He is unconcerned about public opinion, unlike human rulers Matt. 22:16. The word "God" then, means the Supreme King the eternal Ruler. The rule of God is predicated on His eternal existence, out of which flows His will.

God rules over two spheres the physical and the moral. In the physical sphere, the universe He created is upheld by physical laws which He framed otherwise it would dissolve. So He is the Alpha of the physical universe. But He is also the Omega, the finisher for He will dissolve the universe as we know it and replace it with new heavens and a new earth. When we consider the moral sphere or to spell it out more specifically, man in the world setting difficulties surface. The apparent triumph of evil over good seems to challenge the Scripture view of an omnipotent God. But does it? The Lord Himself drew attention to the paradox in the words "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." It is on earth, not heaven, that the will of God is flaunted. But there is an explanation the fall of man. Sin has made the world the battlefield of good and evil. However this is a temporary condition, fully explained in the Bible, and allowed for a purpose in the permissive will of God. When the moral revolt against God is put down, (5)Jesus Christ will be universally acknowledged as Lord to the glory of God the Father.

That was what Paul was thinking about when he wrote to Timothy. At the opening of his first letter he told him that Christ was "the eternal King, immortal, invisible, the only wise God" 1 Tim. 1:17. Then at the close of that letter he wrote about "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords" 1 Tim. 6:16. The Lord appears at Armageddon with that Name King of Kings and Lord of Lords written on His vesture and thigh. He rides a white horse, symbol of victorious power to crush His enemies and establish His kingdom. Once that is done the Father's words will come to pass "But unto the Son He saith Thy throne O God is forever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom" Heb. 1:8. When His 1000 year kingdom ends, His great white throne is set up in space to judge those who died in their sins. Finally the throne becomes the source of blessing in the Holy City Jerusalem. John sees "a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, flowing out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

Light From God

So far we have considered God in an abstract way i.e. His eternal existence, His dwelling in eternity, that He is a spirit, invisible, present everywhere, the supreme ruler of the physical universe He created, and of the realm of moral law. We have also seen that the Godhead consists of three Persons the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God has written the Bible in such a way that these truths are not found in any one book. They must be searched out, compared, and brought together. This requires diligence, but is rewarding. So, using these methods, let us build on the foundation of what we have learned about God in an abstract way. Our purpose in this chapter is to see what the Holy Scriptures, the sole means of illumination, teach about God in a personal way in other words how God has made Himself known to us.

There is something wonderful about this, because God is good. If it had been otherwise, how dreadful, since God is all powerful. But no shining above all truths is the goodness of God. Jesus insisted on this basic truth "there is none good but one, that is God" Matt. 19:17. He is the God who makes His sun rise on the evil and the good. He showers us with every blessing in our lives, causing those who love Him to say "bless the Lord o my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name." And if for a brief moment the storms of life assail us, He comforts us with these words "be of good cheer it is I be not afraid" Matt. 14:27.

The Peak of All Revelation—the Counsels of God

Because God is answerable to no one, He can only be made known if He wills to be made known, and then only on His own terms. He will not allow man to discover Him with the reasoning power of the human mind,(6) for He has decreed that no flesh shall boast in His presence. That is why He revealed the deepest truths of His existence to John, who was a fisherman. John's gospel opens with this sublime statement "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Same was in the beginning with God." This beautiful title the Word tells us that God intended to make Himself known through Christ.

Why "the Word?" Why should the Lord take such a title to make God known to us? Simply because a word any word for that matter is a communication tool to transfer thought between persons. To illustrate this, suppose you ask an artist to sketch a chair. He will visualize a piece of furniture on which people sit, but will tell you that the word chair is too general. By adding further words in effect a progressive revelation of what is in your mind the kind of chair you want him to draw becomes clear. That is why the revelation of God has been gradual. But the lesson of John 1 is that its starting point was the will of God to make Himself known. God's counsels originated with the Word in a past eternity. Paul told the Ephesian elders "I have not shunned to declare to you all the counsels of God" Acts 20:27. This tells us how important these counsels are. They originated in a past eternity, were executed in time by God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and look forward to a future eternity.

The Importance of the Foundation of the World in God's Counsels

Men scoff at the opening verse of the Bible, claiming that Moses had no idea of the insignificance of the earth when he wrote it. Not so. God's Son was to walk on this earth and make His Father known. It was on the earth He was to die for our sins, and open the way for God to have both a heavenly and an earthly people. So when God laid the foundation of the earth He was marking the beginning of that purpose, just as surely as a man announces his intention to build a house by laying its foundation. Matt. 13:35 confirms this "I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”

.. The foundation of the world witnessed by angels We know that the angels were present when the earth was founded, for the Lord asks Job "where were you when I founded the earth?... when all the sons of God shouted for joy?" Job 38:4, 7. This passage tells us how very ancient the angelic creation must be, since the earth, at whose foundation they were present, is billions of years old. The angels are spirits and frequently appear in shining garments i.e. clothed in light. So these earliest of created beings bear the impress of their Creator. They did not, and could not, understand that when God laid the foundations of the earth, a turning point was established. It was the mind of God that the angelic administration of the universe was ultimately to be replaced by man in Christ. The presence of the angels at the foundation of the earth is analogous to the ceremony of the changing of the guard. However long it might take, rule must eventually pass from angels to man.

.. The foundation of the world the dividing point for God's choice of a heavenly and earthly people: God's counsels for the blessing of His people were settled at a late stage in creation. First He created the heavens then the earth. It was not until He laid the foundations of the earth that He chose an earthly people. The Church, being heavenly, was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world Eph. 1:4 whereas Israel, being earthly, was chosen from the foundation of the world Matt. 25:34. From these Scriptures we learn that the foundation of the world is the great dividing point in God's counsels the Church chosen before that event Israel from that event. This raises the great question on what basis could God secure for Himself this heavenly and earthly people?

.. The Man of God's eternal counsels, and the record of divine conversations concerning Him When the mind of God was dwelling on the vision of Christ in Manhood, He told us even the words He spoke. The words "let us make man in our image after our likeness" were spoken in the counsels of the Godhead. The united purpose of the Godhead was that man should represent God on the earth. Adam however, was only "the figure of Him who was to come" Rom. 5:14. He sinned and misrepresented God on the earth in contrast to Christ the Last Adam, who glorified God on the earth. The Man Christ Jesus was made in the likeness of men Phil. 2:7 but is the image of the invisible God Col. 1:15. That perfection however only condemned man's sinful race, and made the death of Christ necessary if God's counsels were to be fulfilled that He should have both a heavenly and an earthly people.

That is why God has written into the Scriptures still another divine conversation one which concerns the death of Christ. In this conversation the Son is addressing His Father "lo I come" i.e. into the world to put away sin "in the volume of the book it is written of Me, to do Thy will, O God" Heb. 10:7. In Psa. 102 we have a dialog between the Father and the Son concerning the cost of doing the Father's will. The Son says "O My God, take Me not away in the midst of My days." The Father replies "Thy years are throughout all generations. Of old hast Thou laid the foundation of the earth" note how this time is pre eminent in the mind of God "and the heavens are the work of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure. Yea, all of them shall become old like a garment, and as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall be changed. But Thou art the Same, and Thy years shall have no end.”

The mutual love of the Father and the Son was unknown until the Son revealed it. He spoke of it in His prayer to the Father before the cross "Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world" John 17:24. The Son returned this eternal love with a commitment to lay down His life in the body God would prepare for Him all of which was written down in "the volume of the book." God then promised the Son to give eternal life to the many sons who should be brought to glory as the fruit of His death. Paul mentions this in Titus 1:2 "in hope of eternal life which God who cannot lie, promised before the world began." God could freely write our names in the Lamb's book of life (7) the guarantee that we shall enter the gates of the Holy City Jerusalem because of what was written in the volume of the book i.e. the death of Christ. Now eternal life is in God's Son it is the life which God's eternal Son enjoyed with His Father before the worlds were. Why should God want to give us this life? Wouldn't the forgiveness of sins have been enough? No. God wanted us to be sons with His Son. By imparting eternal life to us, God enables us to enjoy His thoughts concerning the glory of His Son, and in the still wider range of things the di vine bosom in all its richness and loveliness. He would throw open His house to us and be surrounded by the blood redeemed, the Spirit born, who both know Him and love Him.

God Has Told Us How He Works in Trinity to Execute

His counsels. The next question is how does God perform His works? Is there an order to the way He does things? If so, can we discern it in the way each Person in the Godhead carries out the works of God? Only in the Scriptures can we find answers to these questions.

As Jesus passed through this world all His works testified to the Father who sent Him. As Son of God He Himself did the works, but He did not do them independently. He did them in His Father's Name John 10:25 and in the power of the Holy Spirit Matt. 12:28. Because the Lord's purpose was to destroy the works of the devil 1 John 3:8 it might be helpful to compare His warfare with the way men organize armies. An army is mobilized by a king or similar overall power, has a commanding general to direct hostilities, and soldiers to do the actual fighting. This is analogous to the way God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit carry out their separate but coordinated work. Once we understand this principle it becomes clear why God worked the way He did in His two great works creation and redemption.

.. The pattern of God's work in creation: Paul told the Athenians that God made the world and all things in it Acts 17:24. He expanded this thought to the Hebrews, telling them that God made the worlds by His Son. Then he brought this truth to its zenith, telling the Colossians that "by Him" i.e. the Lord Jesus Christ "were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth...all things were created by Him, and for Him, and He is before all things" Col. 1:16,17. Paul wrote these Scriptures long after Moses had come and gone. Yet Moses tells us that the Spirit of God is the power or energy of God's works, for as soon as God is about to work He moves on the face of the waters.

.. The pattern of God's work in redemption: We find the same pattern in God's work in redemption as we observed in creation. John tells us that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world, and the Spirit and the water and the blood witness to the completion of the work 1 John 5:6 8. Paul tells us that God the Father is the source of our salvation Heb. 10:5-7, His Son the means Heb. 10:9, and it was through the Eternal Spirit Christ offered Himself without spot to God Heb. 9:14. Christ had to suffer these things(8) before He could enter into His glory.

God's Nature Light and Love

God's nature is revealed to us in John's first epistle God is light 1 John 1:5, and God is love 1 John 4:8. Can we then trace a pattern in Scripture as to how God manifested His nature, or is it purely random? The answer is that God has made His nature known to us as light and love in Christianity.

In His life and ministry on earth the Lord made God fully known both as light and love. John's gospel opens with Christ as the Light and closes with the Father's love of Him John 17:26. Both light and love are combined in Christ, for all the fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell in Him bodily. He loved His own who were in the world until the end i.e. until the Light of the world left the world and ascended to glory. What then? Why it was then, for the first time, that the nature of God light and love could be fully understood. In the Holy Spirit's service we see God as light in the affection between the Father and the Son we see that God is love. Like Nicodemus we may well ask how can these things be?

.. The Holy Spirit God as light: Jesus was the light of the world, but man put the light out by crucifying Him. Then the Holy Spirit came down to replace Him as the light, not of the world any more, for the world had rejected Him, but as the light of God's house. The light now was for God's people. The Holy Spirit's descent was the Father's answer to His Son's prayer "I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter" John 14:16. The Lord also told us why He asked His Father to send us the Comforter "but the Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatever I have said to you" John 14:26. "All things" is a very far reaching phrase, but without the teaching of the Holy Spirit even the Apostles did not understand things which today we take for granted.

.. The Father and the Son God as love The gospel of John is the gospel of the Father and the Son. There are many more references to the Father than to the Son in this gospel, because it was the Father's Name the Son came to declare "that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them" John 17:26. The Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world. This love is eternal, like the Son Himself. The Father loved the Son in a past eternity, as He will in a future eternity. As for time,(9) it is only a concept to help us bridge the two eternities, for there is really nothing but eternity. The eternal God who was Israel's refuge, is, was, and ever will be the eternal Son. This truth does not stand in isolation as just another doctrine, however true. It is the key, not only to understanding God's nature as love, but to understanding God's desire to share His love to love us as He loved His Son.

The Eternal Sonship of Christ Tells Us of a Divine Love Without Beginning or End

The greatness of God's love is compressed into the words of that well known verse "for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." That is an allusion to when Abraham "offered up his only begotten son" Heb. 11:17. But stop! Surely Paul didn't know the Scriptures when he wrote those words, for Abraham had many sons. We read about them in Gen. 25, as well as Ishmael, who was begotten before Isaac Gen. 16:11. But Paul did know the Scriptures when he wrote those words. He was handing us a key to the meaning of "only begotten" in Scripture language. "Only begotten" has nothing to do with time, precedence, or natural generation. Its usage in Heb. 11:17 establishes its meaning as exclusive relationship in affection. This thought is confirmed in Gen. 22:12 "your only son" which was not literally true.

When did the Father begin to love His only begotten Son? He always did. "I am the Lord I change not" Mal. 3:6. The cross brought this love to our attention God giving His only begotten Son but it was always there. It could not be that this love began in time. That is an ancient heresy, going back to the days of the early Church, when grievous wolves came in, not sparing the flock. It masquerades today as "new light" deceiving those who have not researched its history. It is really a doctrine of the unknown God. Why? Because if Jesus only became Son in time, He would have to be nameless in a past eternity, and so would His Father. So instead of the Father sending the Son to be the Savior of the world, we would have to say that an unknown and unnamed Person in the Godhead sent another unknown and unnamed Person in the Godhead to be the Savior of the world. If true, then God would not have sent the richest gift He could give the Son of His love but only One to whom He had no known relationship in affection. Such doctrine detracts from the revelation that God is love i.e. His very nature, which is eternally unchanged. To whom could He manifest that nature, that divine love, in a past eternity except His Son. We are certain this is so because John 17:24 tells us that the Father loved the Son before the foundation of the world.

When we began to consider our Lord's eternal sonship we quoted only part of John 3:16 "for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." Why? Because we can't understand the rest of the verse until we understand the meaning of "only begotten" first. Did God give His only begotten Son simply that we might have forgiveness of sins? No. That thought is there, but it was not the prime reason for such a rich gift. Let Scripture answer "that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life." The only begotten of the Father, God's eternal Son, would give eternal life to man. Eternal life is in God's Son 1 John 5:11. Now you are let into the secret of why God gave His only begotten Son. The Father wants to love you with the same love with which He loved His Son in a past eternity. This would be impossible unless you had the life of His Son. How else could you be holy and without blame before the Father in love. Because the Son is eternal, the life of the Son is called eternal life in Scripture. The heart of the Father which loved the Son, overflowed in love to us to make us sharers of His love. We have been made sons by adoption. James 1:18 tells us "of His own will begat He us." 1 John 5:18 insists that we are begotten of God. Sons with God's Son think of that! Then we are "begotten unto a living hope" 1 Peter 1:3 for the place of a son is in his father's house.

The Lord's people should cherish the eternal Sonship of Christ as the warm, living truth it is revealing the very beating of the Father's heart. It is the complement of the wondrous revelation that God is love. God wants us to taste that love, for it is sweet. So He gives us the life of His Son and brings us into the circle of the Father's love. Our Father loves us with the same eternal love with which He loved His eternal Son.

Chapter 1.2

Why God Is Unknown Today a Concise History of Man's Rebellion Against God Through Philosophy and Humanist Religion

The age in which we live proves Solomon's adage that there is nothing new under the sun. Man says sadly that he cannot find God, although he has searched. Has he? Hasn't he simply rejected God's revelation just as his forefathers did? How long did it take Noah's descendants to forget God and turn to idolatry? How long did it take men to forget the miracles Christ and His apostles performed, and then to deny them? Being blind from his birth man prefers his own thoughts about God to God's thoughts. He turns to philosophy and human religion for light. Yet this is only blindness and darkness. Blindness is an inability to see the light an internal powerlessness; darkness is outside man, preventing him from seeing the world around him as it really is. Blindness and darkness had their origin in an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Consequently humanist religion adds man's thoughts to God's thoughts the principle of mixture, which God hates, and which culminates in the harlot church of Rev. 17:5. Philosophy takes away God's thoughts, replacing them with man's thoughts.

Philosophy and Humanist Religion—a Smokescreen to Keep God at a Distance

Philosophy is human wisdom. Paul warned the Colossians about it because the Greeks idolized philosophical studies. In Col. 2:8 he writes "see that there be no one who shall lead you away as a prey through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the teaching of men, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ." This is the great warning against philosophy in Scripture. Christian university students who for one reason or another may study philosophy, should look at it in the light of this warning. In other words while they must study the subject they should not allow it to take them prey, but rather hold it as a judged thing. In particular the so called Enlightenment of the period preceding and following the French Revolution, should be looked at as darkness by a Christian.

When we come to the question of religion, we find there are surprisingly few references to it in Scripture. James 1:26, 27, gives us an insight into its practical and godly workings "if any one think himself to be religious, not bridling his tongue, but deceiving his heart, this man's religion is vain. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from the world." This tells us that defiled religion a major subject in this chapter is worldly in character humanist in the sense of man's thoughts having prevailed. We see its working in "the religion of the Jews." It was the religious leaders of the Jews who stirred up the people and influenced Pilate to crucify Christ. And so, although God gave the Jewish people their religion, He also set it aside by tearing the veil of the Temple in two when Christ died.

From these preliminary observations it can be seen that there is a relationship between philosophy and humanist religion a term which we shall shortly abbreviate to religion for the sake of conciseness. What is it? To find out we must go back to the conversation between Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden.

The Origin of Philosophy and Humanist— I.E. Worldly Religion—the First Tree in Eden's Garden

The serpent began his deception with great cunning "yea, hath God said?" i.e. are you sure you know what He really said. Eve apparently wasn't sure of God's exact words. She was vulnerable because she hadn't paid much attention to them and her memory of them wasn't sharp. So she added words God didn't say "neither shall you touch it." She became the mother of human religion which adds to the Word of God. Then the serpent took away from God's Word, saying "you shall not surely die" when God had said they would. The serpent persuaded Eve that there were good reasons for his denial. So the serpent became the father of philosophy which reasons and questions God's Word and eventually denies it. Religion and philosophy are simply opposite but complementary ways of undermining the authority of the Word of God.

Marx had a penetrating insight into the interrelationship between religion and philosophy. He said that Fuerbach's great achievement was "the proof that philosophy is nothing else but religion rendered into thought and expounded by thought."(1) Exactly. Their thoughts are man's thoughts, not God's. But "the Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain" 1 Cor. 3:20. These blind leaders of the blind want a god for this earth, rejecting the gospel of the glory of the blessed God which calls men to heaven. In religion and philosophy we see what passes for a search for truth by those who have rejected the truth.

Just as the Bible opens with Eve and the serpent adding to and subtracting from the Word of God, so it closes with a warning of the eternal consequences of so doing "if any man shall add to these things, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book. And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book" Rev. 22:18,19.

Get Rid of God—the Founding Principle of the World

Driven out of God's presence in Eden, man instinctively wanted to recognize Him preferably at a convenient distance. How to do it was the question. Cain and Abel had different approaches to the problem. Cain denied his fallen state Abel admitted it. Both brothers must have heard the story of the fall from their parents. Cain tried to repeat what his parents did. They covered themselves with fig leaves the fruit of the ground. That was not acceptable to God. Cain thought it should be, so he too offered it to God. That was absolute effrontery, because God had cursed the ground for man's sin. Abel on the other hand acknowledged his sinful state. He rejected the work of man's hands the fig leaves sewed together (2) ineffectual because Adam admitted to God that he was naked though wearing them. Abel believed in the work of God's hands. God Himself had clothed Adam and Eve with a divine covering based on death, of which the skins of animals were the evidence. So Abel offered to God "the firstlings of his flock and of its fat" Gen. 4:4.

Enraged that God had accepted Abel's offering but rejected his, Cain killed his brother. Then he went out from God's presence and built Enoch, the world's first city. That city was a prototype of the world itself, with all its activities, allurements, and wars.(3) In founding Enoch, Cain launched the world as a system of which John writes "love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father (4) is not in him" 1 John 2:15. It is important to see that Cain could not launch the world system until he first murdered his brother. Abel was God's witness in the world. Cain wanted his testimony ended, so he could do as he liked without appeals to his conscience. Then he could acknowledge God in a formal way but on his terms, not God's. He wanted his own religion and philosophy, suited to a world away from God. This is known in Scripture as "the way of Cain.”

The Development of the World's Religious System

Once the world was launched as a system, Cain's descendants overflowed the earth. As they migrated they either took their own religion with them or founded another. People complain about the effects of their own actions, saying that there are so many religions in the world they don't know which is right or sometimes that all are, depending on their viewpoint. Actually they are all wrong. Their views are specious because the origin of all human religion is departure from God. Today it is even more pointed. Christianity is not a religion. It is Christ. To reject Christianity then is to reject Christ and the Father who sent Him. Historically though, man was unable to banish the thought of God from his mind. That troubled him, so he invented substitute gods more tolerant to his sins, and to his liking. In the ancient world idolatry took root wherever man went, until it overgrew the world. Man must have some object of worship as a surrogate for the True God. Human cultures are so diverse, however, that the best we can do to illustrate these conditions is to draw back the curtain concealing the ancient world. That will give us a glimpse of how "the way of Cain" humanist worldly religion dominated the times.

At an early date men navigated the Pacific in oversize canoes, and settled the Southern Hemisphere by stages. They grew crops and built cities just as Cain did. Their cities evidence the flowering of the human mind in mathematics, astronomy, architecture, and so on. Their most imposing buildings, however, were the temples of the gods. They worshipped the god of the dead, whose poisoned venom stung man in the Garden of Eden. One of their processional avenues was called "the way of the dead." On the altars of the gods they killed human beings in sacrifices a public testimony to the fall and depravity of man.

But surely Egypt the land of the pyramids, and the Graeco Roman world with its admired civilization, must have had nobler standards. Well, the Egyptians worshipped animals, and had a Book of the Dead. The Greeks and Romans deified the forces of nature as well as their own lusts and passions. From the East came the absurd doctrine of reincarnation. Other peoples garnished the tombs of the dead with food, weapons, and slaves for the afterlife. Many of these ancient religions and superstitions are perpetuated in the modern world or secretly admired. I have seen a photograph of Buddhist priests blessing computers in a modern Japanese shipyard. People make pilgrimages to Athens today to pay their respects to the temple of the goddess Athena, which is under costly renovation.

What about the modern world? Is it immune to religious influence? Hardly. The religion of Allah and his prophet is making great conquests once more. Why should this be unless Karl Marx was right when he remarked that religion was the opiate of the people. But Marx himself was the founder of Communism, the greatest of all modern religions. It doesn't matter that Communism denies God's existence, for after all the other world religions deny God's claims so in principle what is the difference? Communism has a Bible Das Capital the Gen. 1 of which is The Origin of Species. It has hymns such as The International or The East is Red— sung with religious fervor. It has conferences, missionaries who spread its gospel, martyrs who die for its cause. It has its teachers to explain things academically, and they can be found in the universities of the West. It has a hope for its own dupes a heaven in this life for the socialist proletariat a hell in this world for its enemies. Cain's world is a leopard whose spots never change, though they may be arranged differently to suit the occasion.

The Second Tree— at Calvary—the Culmination of Darkness

The cross gave man an opportunity to vent his hatred against God openly. But it also enabled God to deal with the question of sin on a righteous basis. Sin entered the world at a tree God put it away at another tree.(5) God cursed the ground because of man's sin; His own Son wore a crown of thorns, the symbol of the curse. Man was in darkness, and put out the Light of the world. The issue in the garden too was the inheritance, which belonged to Christ but which Satan coveted for himself. When Christ came to claim it man said "this is the Heir. Come let us kill Him and the inheritance will be ours" Mark 12:7. The whole world system Cain founded shares in this guilt. The sign over the Lord's cross was in Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew the three main languages of the world when Christ visited it. The people who spoke those languages constituted the fountainheads of Western civilization.''' So God looks at the whole world as guilty of the death of His Son. The world will be judged for this crime. God will obtain redress in the judgments predicted in Revelation.

a. The Jew and the Roman: The Romans were the last divinely appointed form of Gentile government in the world. They had an admirable system of justice which however lay on a fault line compromise and the divide and conquer principle. They went to great lengths to avoid drawing the sword, but once they did there was no turning back. We see their judicial principles at work in the trial of Christ. Pilate was the representative of the emperor Tiberias. In him we see man judging God, of whom it is written "that Thou mightest be justified in Thy sayings" Rom. 3:4. He enquires "what is truth?" but walks away from The Truth standing before him. This is the essence of philosophical enquiry about truth a cosmetic approach to the subject mere mental gymnastics. The Romans in general disdained philosophy, although men like Pilate had considerable exposure to it through Greek tutors. Pilate's words and actions tell us that the ultimate end of Western philosophy is not the pursuit of truth but the rejection of the truth. Yet this man who rejected the truth reluctantly confessed it in writing. While accepting the chief priests' claim that only Caesar was their king, he became the author of the sign over the Lord's cross "this is the King of the Jews." When petitioned to change it he was resolute not to do so, saying "what I have written I have written." This was a direct rebuttal of the claim that Caesar only was their king words which denied their relationship to God. So those who said that Caesar was their king were forced to read a sign written by Caesar's representative that Jesus was their king.

b. The Greek the man of philosophy and education: Scripture speaks sparingly about philosophy the expression of human wisdom. When it does, it is in scathing and judgmental tones. In each of his Corinthian letters Paul makes it clear that God is at war with man's wisdom. In 1 Cor. 1:19, 20 he writes "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the understanding ones I will set aside. Where the wise, where the scribe, where the philosopher of this age? Did not God make foolish the wisdom of this world?" He continues the theme of God's war on human reasoning in 2 Cor. 10:4, 5 "for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but powerful through God to the overthrow of fortifications overthrowing reasonings and every high thing lifting itself up against the knowledge of God." One of these citadels of human wisdom was at Athens. It is instructive to see how Paul overthrew reasonings and high things there. He began in a humble way witnessing in the Agora the market place where traditionally philosophers aired their views. He was accosted by opposing schools of philosophers who unitedly agreed that he must give an account of his religious beliefs. They thought he was introducing foreign gods to Athens Jesus and His consort the Resurrection. This gives us an insight into how philosophy and religion unite against Christ.

Paul warned them that God "has appointed a day in which He will judge the habitable world in righteousness, by that Man whom He has appointed, giving the proof of it to all in having raised Him from among the dead" Acts 17:31. This union of religion and philosophy which was exposed at Athens is still the spirit which guides the world. The sign above the Lord's cross in Greek tells us of philosophical and religious enmity to Christianity as real as the opposition to Christ expressed by the other two languages Latin and Hebrew. So God's judgment is that the wisdom of this world is foolishness to Him. Man is equally scornful of God as Job 21:14 tells us "depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways." But God has the final say, in the warning that none of those who were invited to His Great Supper, and turned down the invitation, should taste it at all. Instead their destiny will be the Supper of the Great God at Armageddon.

After the Cross— the Waning Influence of the Church Over the World Due to Giving up the Truth

Paul speaks of the Church as the pillar and foundation of the truth. A pillar frames and supports a building it is visible, rising heaven ward. A foundation secures and anchors a building, but it is unseen, buried in the earth. These figures anticipate the Church's destiny in heaven and earth in the coming day of rule. The sad fact is that the Church did not live up to this figure historically. Paul commended the Ephesian elders to God and the Word of His grace. Yet the failure of the Church began at Ephesus. In Rev. 2:4, Jesus Christ the Righteous has this to say of the Christian witness in that city "I have against you that you have left your first love.”

Because man resists God's revelation and Christ is the One who revealed the Father, His Person has been attacked from the earliest days of Christianity. Intellectual curiosity leading to speculation beyond the limits of revelation is the root of the evil. It is the philosophical attempt to peer into the Ark of the Covenant, intruding into areas which we are forbidden to investigate, rather than resting on the simplicity which is in Christ. Because men seldom agree on philosophical matters, numerous doctrines arose. However they have a common denominator separating the divinity and humanity of Christ, and making human judgments on both. The various labels by which these doctrines are known are not informative. They obscure their common intent a denial that Christ was the Father's Son in a past eternity, a relationship which did not change when He became incarnate.

So basically what we are looking at is how the non eternal Sonship of Christ doctrine spread over the ages in different guises. Those who subverted the truth were unconsciously tools of the devil, that master of subtlety. He knows that people generally have very little interest in such questions, and tend to defend these truths lightly if at all. In the light of this lethargy his strategy was first to undermine the Person of Christ, as a necessary step on the way to questioning the work of Christ. Once disbelief as to Christ's Person set in, the way would be opened to question the efficacy of His redemptive work. Historically this clever strategy worked. It led to the Church of the Middle Ages when truth was ossified and in chains.

a. From the Patristic Age to the Ninth Century(7): This sketch will begin with Simon Magus the magician, who was censured by Peter in Acts 8:20-23, and by Paul in Acts 13:9-11. He was probably the first Gnostic. He thought he was the most exalted of all Aeons. In Gnostic philosophy Aeons were divine spirit beings flowing out of two principles God who is good, who dwells in the abyss, and eternal matter, the origin of evil. They taught that the world and man were created out of matter by an Aeon called Demiurge.

In Rev. 2:15 the Lord says "so hast thou also those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans." The Nicolaitans were one of the earliest Gnostic sects, founded by Nicolas, a deacon of the Church at Jerusalem. They were the forerunners of the Cerinthians, another sect founded by a Jew called Cerinthius. This man mixed their doctrines with Christianity. He taught that Christ was the most elevated Aeon sent by God, who descended on a Jew called Jesus in the form of a dove. Before the crucifixion the Aeon departed from Jesus, but at the resurrection will again be united to Him. This reunion will lay the foundation of the 1000 year kingdom. At the beginning of the second century Carpocrates founded the sect of the Ophites, who were the first to be called Gnostics. Carpocrates inverted the Biblical account of the fall, and pictured the serpent as wise and good. The later Gnostics divided into three schools, all of which died out by the fifth century. However the principles underlying their evil doctrines surface in later philosophical works.

Other aberrant teachings can be traced to Origen 185—254 A.D. Origen was the son of a martyr, and was both pious and fearless in the face of persecution. However he made the fatal error of mixing Christianity with philosophy. His views were avidly sought by intellectuals who saw him as an apologist for Christianity. His lectures were well attended by pagans, especially those of a philosophical bent. He was the father of fanciful interpretations of Scripture, whose influence went unchecked until the Reformation. He believed that God begat His Wisdom or Word eternally. In his view Wisdom was not God Himself but His image a second God, subordinate to the ultimate Father of all. He saw Jesus as a human being soul inhabiting body united as intelligence with the divine intelligence or Wisdom.

In approximately the same time frame, heretical views on the Person of Christ began to attract followers. Theodotus the elder left Smyrna about 190 and came to Rome. He taught that Christ was a man whom God adopted and divinely endowed at His baptism. He can be looked at as the father of the so called Monarchianism school.

A rival teaching evolved in the early centuries which was a variant of the Monarchianism heresy, and which eventually became known as Adoptianism. In brief it held that the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus, a man of perfect virtue, at His baptism, but that He was not deified until after His resurrection. Elipandus of Toledo became the leading exponent of these views. He attempted to separate the divinity and the humanity of Christ. He held that the Logos, conceded to be the Eternal Son of God, adopted the humanity of Christ, so that Jesus in His human nature became the adoptive Son of God. This teaching was resisted by the Church in Spain. The Spanish Asturian monks appealed it to Rome for a ruling. Adrian 1 Condemned it. However Elipandus found allies in other Spanish bishops. One of these was Felix of Urgel, who defended Adoptianism in 792 at the Council of Regensburg. He later recanted, and signed an orthodox confession at Rome. Then he repudiated it, but was eventually forced to concede defeat. He lost his bishopric, although he was received back into the Church, which had excommunicated him. Leo 3 condemned Adoptianism at a Roman council, which seemed to end the matter. However it simmered on in a diluted form in the works of theologians like Abelard and Peter Lombard.

b. The emergence of cults after the Reformation: Traditionally Rome claimed hegemony over both the world and the Church, and vigorously enforced her claims with the sword. The rise of Protestantism had an unsettling effect in both spheres. War broke out in the world which checked Rome's political power. As her influence diminished cults arose, exploiting the new found freedom. This does not justify Rome's position, but it does attest to the prevalence of evil doctrines, which she suppressed, at the same time adding her own.

These cults are the tares which the enemy sowed among the wheat. Satan did this while men slept i.e. were not vigilantly defending the truth. They have a common characteristic they "confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh" 2 John, v.7. The cults which have flourished in nominally Christian countries began by building on the public knowledge of Scripture. Lacing parts of their teachings to Scripture gave them a degree of acceptance and credibility, so that wheat and tares seemed the same in men’s eyes. Because professing Christians were only distantly familiar with the Word they could not distinguish between the wheat and the tares. Then these false teachers took away from the Word whatever opposed their evil teachings, and replaced this with error. In the parable of Matt. 13:24 30, the tares were allowed to grow undisturbed along with the wheat until harvest time. Then they were to be gathered together in bundles and burned. While it is not yet harvest time it is possible to identify some of the more prominent bundles even now.

Out of the proliferation of cults in the world today, some of the most prominent have been chosen for a cursory examination. This is all that is needed, since the common thread which binds their seemingly disparate doctrines together is what Scripture calls "contradicting and blaspheming" Acts 13:45... Christian Science The doctrine of Christian Science was codified by Mary Baker Eddy in 1875, when she published Science and health with key to the Scriptures. She explicitly denies that Jesus Christ is God the Son in the following statement "The Christian who believes in the first commandment is a monotheist. Thus he virtually unites with the Jew's belief in one God, and recognizes that Jesus Christ is not God, as Jesus Himself declared, but is the son of God. This declaration of Jesus, understood, conflicts not at all with another of his sayings "I and My Father are one" that is, one in quality, not in quantity, as a drop of water is one with the ocean, a ray of light one with the sun, even so God and man, Father and Son, are one in being." (8) As to the Lord's Manhood she says "wearing in part a human form that is, as it seemed to mortal view being conceived by a human mother, Jesus was the mediator between Spirit and the flesh, between truth and error."(9) She also taught that Jesus did not die "Jesus' students did not perform many wonderful works until they saw him after his crucifixion, and learned that he had not died."(10)

.. Jehovah's Witnesses: The doctrine of the Jehovah Witnesses on the Person of Christ has been broken down in three parts by Anthony Hoekema in The four major cults. He says "in order to understand Jehovah Witness teaching on the Person of Christ we shall have to distinguish between a pre human, a human, and a posthuman state."(11) In the prehuman state they teach that Jesus was the first creature of Jehovah. He was created an angel, given the name of Michael, but was not immortal. He was also known as the Word from the time of His creation until the incarnation. He was never equal to the Father. However they also claim that the Word was some kind of God, based on their translation of John 1:1, that "the Word was a god." Presumably by a god they mean a ruler, which would agree with their view that the Word was Jehovah's "Chief Executive Officer." As to His human state they aver it coming from God, taking the personality of His only begotten Son, His life pattern, and putting this personality "within the powers of the tiny bundle of live energy that He placed into the womb of Mary."(12) In other words it was an angel who was incarnated in the virgin's womb by Jehovah. This is a clear contradiction of Heb. 2:16 "for verily He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham." Then as to the post-human state they deny that the body of Jesus was raised from the dead. They do not know what became of His body either. Rutherford thought that perhaps God preserved it to exhibit it in the millennium. So they conclude that Jehovah God raised Christ from the dead as a spirit son. He became the first creature granted immortality. He resumed his angelic name Michael to link him with his pre-human state. So to them Christ is only a creature of Jehovah.

.. Mormonism: The Mormons believe that the world was created by God the Father and Jesus Christ with the help of Adam, who at that time was a spirit being named Michael. It is noteworthy that both the Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses have developed their own theologies around Michael as a pre creation spirit being. Perhaps that is why both of them ring door bells to bring this joyous news to a gullible public. In any case it seems that Adam was eventually put on the earth with Eve, another spirit being, and both were given bodies.

Their doctrines concerning the Lord's body are blasphemous. His body is said to be the product of the physical union of God the Father and the virgin Mary. (13) Hoekema comments "according to Mormon doctrine Jesus Christ was no more essentially divine before His incarnation than any of us." They dishonor the Lord by implying that if He were not married during His earthly life, He could not rise higher than an angel in the next life.(14) One of their leaders suggested that Jesus was the bridegroom at the wedding of Cana of Galilee, and speculated on the names of His wives.(15)

.. Miscellaneous The Christadelphians, Swedenborgians, and Unitarians deserve comment also. The Christadelphians believe that Christ inherited moral perfection from the deity, our human nature from His mother. The Unitarians deny the Trinity. The Swedenborgians also known as the New Jerusalem Church believe "that Jesus Christ is God, in whom is a trinity, not of persons but essentials, answering to the soul, body, and the operation of these in a man." (16) They claim that His second coming and the last judgment were past spiritual events.

.. Cults of the Post Christian world: The cults we have been considering so far have discredited the Person of Christ. They have confused the masses with their conflicting doctrines, so that people today have little interest in the truth. But man cannot live by bread alone, and something must come in to fill the spiritual vacuum. So a glut of new cults has surfaced. Is this accident or design? Are we looking at what Scripture calls "doctrines of demons?" Is this a counter attack by the powers of darkness against the once mighty bastion of Western Christianity? Whatever the case the new cults are heavy on Eastern religions. I saw this first hand myself. I was talking to a waitress in a restaurant about a long line of saffron robed men and women on the street outside who were chanting a prayer to an Eastern god called Hare Krishna. The waitress remarked that she knew the girl at the end of the line a French speaking girl from Quebec. So I went outside and said to her in French "read the Holy Bible." She was infuriated at my message. When I returned to the restaurant the waitress enquired what I had said to her that upset her so greatly. She was amazed at the effect of these simple words, not understanding man's enmity with God.

The reader who is interested in more than this brief sketch is referred to Those Curious New Cults (17) for specifics. The author of that book has investigated and reviewed a number of the more prominent modern cults. Among those covered are Astrology, I Ching, Edgar Cayce and the A.R.E., Spiritualism, witchcraft, Satanism, Scientology, Black Muslims, Herbert Armstrong and his plain truth, the Children of God and the Jesus movement, Hare Krishna, Zen Buddhism, Transcendental meditation. Baba, Bahai, Gurdjieff. We might add that the worship of the ancient gods of Rome, Greece, and Egypt is coming back. Surely the time is at hand and the effect of every vision.

c. Controversy among believers— denial of the eternal Sonship of Christ: Over the centuries certain believers have challenged the well understood and accepted doctrine of the eternal Sonship of Christ. In some cases their motives appear to be sincere in others the working of the human mind and will are evident. Whatever the reason the dissension created has had an unsettling effect on the Church, a good indication that the teaching is not of God. W.J. Hocking points out that the Unitarians, Christadelphians, Christian Scientists, and Swedenborgians, all deny the eternal Sonship of Christ. (18) This is a warning of the slippery nature of this teaching.

Lucas says that "this age long controversy caused three divisions among Baptists in a century."(19) The dispute was raging in the 17th century and in 1839, in the second edition of his work on Luke, Dr. A. Clark, a Presbyterian minister wrote "Here I trust I may be permitted to say, with all due respect for those who differ from me, that the doctrine of the eternal Sonship of Christ is, in my opinion, anti Scriptural and highly dangerous." Later on he calls it absurd and the phrase eternal Son a positive self contradiction. He gives five reasons for his views, which in sum tell us that he does not understand the Scriptural usage of the term "only begotten Son."(20) In the 20th century the non eternal Sonship of Christ doctrine is still circulating in parts of the evangelical Church, which tolerate it rather than judging it. However those who hold it are in the minority.

F.E. Raven, an influential teachers(21) among a group of exclusive brethren bearing his name, was rumored to have privately denied the eternal sonship toward the close of his life. Rumors however, are not evidence.(22) Whoever was responsible for introducing the ancient heresy in this group, it is an historical fact that it was first taught publicly at Barnet, England, in 1929. By this time these people were known as Taylorites, after James Taylor Sr. and later James Taylor Jr. who took over the leadership of the sect after F.E. Raven's death in 1903. One of their writers, C.A. Coates, wrote a pamphlet against the eternal sonship under duress. Lucas says that at the end of his life he bitterly regretted his involvement in the controversy. He died in 1945.

The hand of the lord can always be expected to reach those who, like Uzzah 2 Sam. 6:6, 7, would dare to touch the Ark of the Covenant. In this day of grace we should look for signs of moral death, rather than actual death, on those who would repeat his sin.

The World and Its Unknown God

In principle the world has not changed since the cross of Christ. The Jew continues to reject his Messiah, and the Roman or Western man to administer his sphere of influence, emulating Pilate's principles. As for the Greek i.e. the intelligent and educated their thoughts influence the world's leaders. Then we have just seen how the Church, which should have been God's witness to this darkness, failed so signally. The salt of the earth the preservative factor amidst the corruption soon lost its savor. Its spiritual influence in the world waned as it gave up the Scripture of Truth for philosophy, and became worldly.

a. The turning away of the professing Church from Scripture to philosophy: It took some time for neglect of the Scriptures to cause biblical scholarship to fall into disarray. As the centuries rolled on an increasingly worldly church abrogated to itself an authority to teach which God never gave it. This self assumed authority was abused, a case in point being the interpretations placed on the creation and natural science in general. "The Church" did not turn to the Scriptures for light on these matters. No. Instead it accepted Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, as the approved authority in the field of natural science. Thus the spring of human religion once more becomes apparent adding man's word to God's Word. Then when man's word is proved wrong, the Scriptures are suspect by association with the Church in men’s minds.

From Galileo to Darwin "the Church" fought a rearguard action with science, losing every battle. After Darwin, the war was lost. These conflicts may be summarized by saying that neither side knew what they were talking about neither the scientists nor the theologians. Science is shifting sand. Much of the knowledge of antiquity has been lost. It is certain however, that the ancient Egyptians knew what Galileo thought was his original discovery. On the other hand when scientific knowledge is on the upswing, the science of one generation becomes the myth of the next. Religion is devious, and even more misleading. What the theologians needed was a well thought out generalization and exposition of Gen. 1. Instead they fell back on philosophical arguments, making their conclusions tenuous. When educated men assessed the arena they lost confidence in the theologians. Gradually their views filtered down to the masses. The churches now paid the price of abandoning the Word of God for philosophy. Church attendance dropped dramatically. The coming apostasy cast its shadow over the lands of the West.

The kind of God the philosophers want: Over the ages philosophers and scientists on the one hand and theologians on the other, tinkered with the concept of God. The philosophers in particular wanted a god who would meet their specifications. Their god must be primarily interested in the world and its problems in man's life here not in the hereafter. This ruled out the God of the Bible with His invitation to the Great Supper and the prospect of dwelling in the Holy City. Of course if a god could be found who was generally disinterested in man and content to let man run the world without interference why that kind of god would do too. In any event He must disavow the Bible for nobody wants a God of judgment. Besides the Bible is unreliable since it has been put together by so many unknown editors. It spins tall tales about miracles, which everybody knows are nonsense. If there are any miracles science will perform them.

An engineer who built many great bridges once said to my father "it takes a good man to build a bridge, but any fool can blow it up." Once you have demolished God's revelation of Himself, how do you know He even exists?

Philosophers think that even God's existence is questionable For some time philosophers thought they could solve the question of God's existence. Then along came Immanuel Kant, who demolished their elaborate proofs by demonstrating that you can neither prove that God exists or that He does not exist. Good. If man could prove that God exists the finite would have exalted itself to the Infinite. If the mind were the inlet to the knowledge of God, the scholar would have an advantage denied other people. Jesus drew attention to this in Matt. 11:25 "I thank Thee Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and educated, and hast revealed them unto babes." The proof of God's existence can only come from God Himself. It is given to us in an unqualified statement by the God who cannot lie "I am" i.e. I exist. But this is revelation, which the philosophers have rejected.

This brings us to a watershed in the question of God's existence. In Matt. 12:30 the Lord said "he who is not with Me is against Me." So neutrality is impossible, because ignoring the question is to vote against Christ. On the one hand there are those who accept God at His word "He who comes to God must believe that He is" on the other hand are ranged the intellectuals of this world to whom God is unknown.

When Nietzsche pronounced God dead modern man chose science as the new god to succeed Him. This new god had a short life. For most people the death of science took place when the Enola Gay dropped the first atom bomb. This takes us full circle back to the intellectuals. They have left the masses with nothing. What do they believe? There seems to be no consensus. Those who would like to believe in a god would like one immune to scientific attack so they relegate him to the period before the "big bang" where science is mute. As for scientists, everything for them is the product of blind chance. If this is the case, and everything can be traced to evolutionary matter, does it not follow that man is His own god? Of course, and the Book of Revelation tells us that this is the outcome of listening to philosophers rather than God. That book predicts that the world will end up worshipping a man and his image.

Still doubt the drift of modern philosophical teaching? It might help to quote Teilhard's Hymn to Matter:

"Blessed be you, perilous matter, violent sea, untamable passion. Blessed be you, universal matter, immeasurable time, boundless ether, you who by overflowing and dissolving our narrow standards of measurement reveal to us the dimensions of God. I acclaim you as the divine milieu, charged with creative power, as the ocean stirred by the Spirit, as the clay molded and infused with life by the incarnate Word. You I acclaim as the inexhaustible potentiality for existence and transformation wherein the predestined substance germinates and grows. I acclaim you as the melodious fountain of water whence spring the souls of men, and as the limpid crystal whereof is fashioned the New Jerusalem. I bless you, matter, and you I acclaim; not as the pontiffs of science or the moralizing preachers depict you, debased, disfigured a mass of brute forces and base appetites but as you reveal yourself to me today, in your totality and true nature. Raise me up, then, matter, to those heights, until it becomes possible for me to embrace the universe.”(23)

Why Philosophy Is Inexcusable—the Positive Evidences of God's Existence

We have traced the thoughts of the unbelieving from their beginnings the Garden of Eden and Cain to the philosophy and religion of the modern world. Today Western man thinks God is dead or never was, or shrugs the whole question off as beyond the range of an answer. The truth is that the case for God's existence is quite strong. There is the evidence of an extant universe, and an earth teeming with life. Apart from a Creator why not nothing rather than all that? Then we have the Holy Scriptures to enlighten us about this Creator God. They also tell us what we need to know about ourselves the real history of the world and the destiny of man.

a. The evidence of creation as to God's existence: The creation from stars to atoms, life in its various forms including man, is evidence of God's hand. It is self regulating. The planets stay in their appointed places we tell time by the sun. Creatures have eyes to forage for food and avoid danger in other words to sustain their lives. But they must eventually die and we trace God's hand in replacing them "did not One fashion us in the womb?" Job 31:15. "The probability of life originating at random is so utterly minuscule as to make it absurd" said Fred Hoyle, an astronomer, and Chandra Wickramasingha, a mathematician, in their book Evolution from space, "it becomes sensible to think that life is deliberate."(24)

However, mental assent to God's existence through observation of nature is in itself of little value. James 2:19 remarks sarcastically "you believe that there is one God! Good for you! The devils also believe and tremble." Then there are those who believe in God but do not tremble, and so are worse than the devils. Eichmann, the mass murderer of the Jews, who shipped millions of them to the gas chambers, believed in God. He ended his life on the gallows with God the last spoken word on his lips "I have believed in God all my life, and I die believing in God." Before his execution he gave the reasons for his belief in God to the chaplain who was his spiritual adviser. The God in whom he believed was a god of his own invention the Darwinian god of struggle, of tooth and claw stained in blood. He arrived at this conclusion by the same mental processes which led him to believe in God's existence observation and deduction.(25) But God does not reveal Himself in creation, which only displays His wisdom and power. Look at exploding stars through a telescope, millions of light years from the earth, and ask yourself what this display can possibly mean. Suppose you are in India. As you are enjoying a colorful sunset, you are suddenly struck with terror as a tiger approaches you. The meaning of creation is not self evident. You need a manual to explain it, and to tell you about its first cause. God knew this, and gave us the Bible. Eichmann's reasoning mind led him to fallacious conclusions. The creation can no more tell us what God is like than an architect's buildings can tell us if he is a good man or a crook. Only God can tell us about Himself, and explain His works. In the Scriptures we learn that the suffering in creation which Eichmann assumed was God's order, is an aberration caused by the fall of man, whom God set over the creation. But Eichmann rejected the Christian revelation. In his own words "I have no sin" "I am not lost" "I will not accept Jesus Christ." Ominously he traced his rejection of Christianity to the time when he began to study philosophy and to think for himself when he became one of the educated class.

Ancient Athens too had an educated class, for the Greeks, as Paul remarked, seek after wisdom. Their philosophers had concluded that all things had their origin in God. Anaxagoras "made the epochmaking declaration that nature is intelligible only as the work of an ordering mind. Socrates carried this a step further he elevated Anaxagoras' ordering mind into a supreme God, to be worshipped in purity of heart."'(26)

b. The Scriptures reveal the nature of the God who exists: The evidence of creation leads the investigative mind to believe there is a God, but stops there. Philosophy can tell us nothing about this God. The testimony of the Scriptures, however, opens the heart to the knowledge of that God. The knowledge of God comes through the heart, not the mind. It was man's heart which was estranged from God in the first place, so that he lost the knowledge of God. So the Scriptures are not based on the human principles of reason and investigation, but on the divine principle of revelation. That is because God is sovereign and accountable to no one consequently He alone has the right to reveal or not to reveal Himself.

God's revelation in the Bible is progressive, going from one step to another, for it is the will of God that He should be fully known in His Son. In the beginning God spoke directly to man. He conversed with Adam and Cain, and warned Noah of the coming flood. He told Job of the wonders of His creation, Abraham of a universal blessing like the stars of the heavens and the sand of the sea shore.

Moses marked a transition point. With him God continued the pattern of oral revelation but began the written Word of God. This not only reduced to writing God's previous oral communications with man but gave us the Scripture of Truth in its varied forms. These written communications of God's mind continued until the canon of the Old Covenant was closed off. There is something unique in Moses, the bondman of God, and it shines out in His writings. To him was given the understanding of creation a quantum leap from the reasoning mind's understanding that all things are attributable to an ordering mind. Moses' ministry began at the burning bush. Here God revealed His Name to him "I am that I am." The burning bush was a type of Israel on fire i.e. persecuted by the Egyptians but surviving the trial. Before his death Moses concluded his ministry in a speech to the people. He told them what he had learned during his lifetime about this God whose Name was I am. In Deut. 33:27 he said "the eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." No wonder we read in Deut. 34:10 "there arose not a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face." The beginning and ending of his ministry foretold God's nature. How? Well in the beginning God revealed the eternal nature of His being I am so telling us that God is light. At the end he told the people that God would shelter them, so He is a God of love. In God's ways the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

So the Word was made flesh. He took on Him the form of a servant i.e. manhood, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself. In this way God re established the pattern He set in the beginning, of speaking directly to man. Paul tells us that in these last days God has spoken to us in His Son. Then God resumed His plan of committing His oral communications to writing. He gave us the four gospels, the Acts, a historical record of how the gospel was preached in the world, and the Revelation, the consequence of rejecting it. God raised up other writers, and Paul's pen completed the Word of God. Thus the canon of the New Covenant was closed off.

Almost 3500 years have come and gone from the time the earliest books of the Bible were written almost 1900 years since the Revelation itself was written. In spite of this immense time span, a variety of writers, and its composition in three languages, the Bible is a unity which cannot be broken. It has been translated from the original languages into almost all modern languages and dialects, in spite of every effort to suppress it and to kill and persecute its preachers. It confronts people in a motel room or an igloo. It makes man responsible to God. It enlightens us as to why the world is the jungle it is. It tells us of the presence of Satan in the world, and his opposition to God. It is the blueprint of world history and the revealer of the origin and destiny of man.

Another Reason Why Philosophy Is Inexcusable—the Negative Evidence of God's Existence in Satan's Existence

The presence of Satan and his baneful influence in the world is one of the strongest confirmations of the existence of God, his great adversary. It is a negative confirmation, complementing the positive confirmation the evidence of creation and the witness of the Bible. What is this world anyway but a battlefield for the opposing forces of good and evil? These forces are personified in God and Satan.

From the Garden in Eden to the end of time, the Bible tells us how the ancient serpent has conspired to subvert the rule of God in the earth. His presence in the world today is heralded by supernatural psychic powers. The historical evidence of how he enthralled and swayed the world with these powers is that every nation is littered with pyramids and temples to the gods. Erecting these imposing structures was man's way of thanking the gods for consultations and advice given at oracles, for healing him by occult medicine, and for condoning rather than condemning his sins. In the beauty of their architecture and sculptured stone man displayed the pride of life. The wealth of the people was poured into these buildings(27) which were surrounded by the humble homes of the impoverished masses. Men worshipped the innumerable pagan gods in these temples and sacrificed to them. Worldwide, sometimes directly, and sometimes in subtle ways, Satan contrived to have himself worshipped either as the serpent or the sun god.(28)

a. The opposing fellowships of God and the devil in the world: A table is a symbol of shared fellowship. God draws on this simple thought to give us a picture of the Lord's Table on one hand, and of the Table of demons and Jezebel's table on the other.

In Corinth the flesh of animals sacrificed to the gods was sold in the meat market. Paul told the Corinthians that they could buy this meat without asking questions about it. They could also eat it freely if invited out to dinner. However if someone at table remarked that the meat being served was the flesh of an animal sacrificed to an idol, they were not to eat it. The principle is stated in 1 Cor. 10:21 "you cannot be partaker of the Lord's Table and of the table of demons." Satan has another table, as we find out from 1 Kings 18-19, where Elijah says to Ahab "now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel to Mt Carmel, and 450 prophets of Baal, and the 400 prophets of the groves, who eat at Jezebel's table." In addressing the Church at Thyatira Rev. 2:20 the Lord calls Jezebel a prophetess who taught His servants among other things to break Paul's prohibition against eating offerings to idols. This links Satan's two tables. The demons have made a table a prominent feature at séances, where it often floats in the air. In such a setting it is a fitting symbol of Satan's kingdom, for he is the prince of the power of the air.

The table of demons is the invisible source of the doctrines of demons which corrupt the world. It is Satan's fellowship in a general sense, emanating from evil spiritual powers. This can be seen from Eph. 6:11, 12, where we are exhorted to "put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Jezebel's table, on the other hand, is in the world, not in high places. It is visible and carnal. Jezebel fed the false prophets there. Satan's agents in the religious world can be seen at Jezebel's table. There will be found the wealth and worldly luxuries in which the harlot of Rev. 17 reveled. She too was dressed as we might expect Jezebel to be. Jezebel's table, then, is the fellowship of corrupt worldly religion flaunting its riches and seducing the lost. In her was found the souls of men.

b. The power and the glory of a world ruled by Satan: In the temptation the devil took the Lord to a high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. Then, in Luke 4:5, 7 he said to Him "all this power will I give Thee, and the glory of them... if Thou therefore will worship me, all shall be Thine." In Scripture the glory of the world is Egypt, the power Rome.(29) So the workings of Satan in Egypt and Rome are the keys to understanding how he rules the world.

.. The world's glory the counterfeit magic of Egypt's psychics: In the light of Scripture it is clear that the great principle underlying the occult is the use of Satan's power to counterfeit God's power. Now God's power in the form of miracles is generally exerted when He is opposing the devil's power over man. This is what Satan wants to neutralize so he can retain man in his grip. A good illustration of this rivalry is the contention between Moses and Pharaoh over the liberation of the children of Israel from their slavery.

Moses and Aaron stood before Pharaoh as God's representatives. Aaron threw down his rod before Pharaoh and his court, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh assembled his court psychics to see if they could duplicate the miracle. Ex. 7:11, 12 tells us of their efforts "now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." So although Satan has supernatural powers which convince and awe men, God's power is greater than his. Another lesson which can be learned from this incident is how greatly Satan's house is divided. The psychics at Pharaoh's court are engaged in different forms of deception some are called wise men, others sorcerers and magicians. This pattern persists throughout the Bible as the list of deceivers expands sorcerers, magicians, diviners, false prophets, fortune tellers, mediums, wizards, people with familiar spirits, witches, and so on. Even the meaning of some of these terms is obscure. Modern language Bibles are no more successful in translating these terms uniformly than are dictionaries in defining them. This disagreement in itself may be an intimation that it is enough to know that they represent dark influences to be avoided. Then too we see that Satan's kingdom is a divided one, for its ruling principle is sin, which is lawlessness, or discord. It is only united against God.

.. The world's power the dream of "the first beast": Rev. 13 tells us about "the first beast (30) who will become the head of the revived Roman Empire. His destiny is revealed in Rev. 19:20 to be seized at Armageddon and taken alive to hell. However we learn from Dan. 4:28-37 that the first man to become a beast was really Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon. This king had a dream but could not recall it. So he ordered the psychics at his court to tell him what it was and also explain its meaning. They could do neither. Daniel did both.

In the dream Nebuchadnezzar saw an image, which Daniel described in detail. It had a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, feet of iron and clay. A stone cut out without hands hit the image on its feet, breaking them to pieces, and crushing the entire image into powder, which was blown away by the wind. The stone however became a great mountain, which filled the whole earth.

Daniel explained to Nebuchadnezzar that the head of gold was his kingdom Babylon. It would pass away and be succeeded by another the kingdom whose breast and arms were of silver. Daniel lived to see this part of the dream happen. A Babylonian king whose name was Belshazzar held a feast and drank wine from the gold vessels plundered from God's temple at Jerusalem. Then the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote the words mene mene tekel upharsin on the plaster wall facing the golden lampstand. Terrified, the king summoned all his psychics and ordered them to explain the handwriting on the wall. When they failed, Daniel was called in. He interpreted the writing that the kingdom was to be divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Daniel saw his own prediction fulfilled when Darius the Mede took over the kingdom. So we have a positive identification of two of the four kingdoms in the image. As for the other two, it is a historical fact that they were the Greeks under Alexander the Great, followed by the Roman Empire. Historians have marveled at the way these kingdoms have succeeded one another.

But where is the Roman Empire in the world today, one may ask? It is in nascent form Europe with its confederacy of states, called today the European Economic Community, and the continents colonized by Europe. In short the West, the term in use today. The West needs a leader to energize it and unleash its dormant longing for world power. It will find this leader in the first beast. To strengthen his credibility Satan will support him with a false prophet, who will make fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of men. This will be a most significant deception. In Scripture Moses represents the law, and Elijah the prophets. In the beginning Satan tried to discredit Moses in Egypt by counterfeiting the miracle of Aaron's rod becoming a serpent. In the revived Roman Empire he will counterfeit Elijah's miracle of bringing fire down from heaven. So Satan uses his power to mock the law and the prophets.

c. Satan's power in conflict with Israel and the Gentile nations: We have seen how Satan has used his power to oppose God in the world. Now we will see how he has used his power to oppose God's people who are passing through this world he rules, and even those who profess to be God's people a profession which only God can weigh, for the Lord knows those who are His.

.. The occult in Israel: In the mind of God the children of Israel were to be a holy people, separate from the nations of the world. "The people shall dwell alone" Num. 23:9 states "and shall not be reckoned among the nations." God wanted to preserve them, not only from the idolatry of the surrounding nations, but also from their horrible practices such as burning their children alive as sacrifices to Moloch. He also wanted to keep them from communicating with evil spirits, for He had given them His Word, and He resented them listening to Satan's words instead. But the Philistines were near, and Isa. 2:6 tells us they were sorcerers. The Moabites had a king called Balak, who hired the false prophet Balaam unavailingly to curse Israel. Rev. 2:14 informs us that he taught Balak how to get the children of Israel to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication. Seeing the danger to His people, God warned them repeatedly not to consult mediums, etc. for they would defile them. To do so would be rebellion against God which "is as the sin of fortune telling" 1 Sam. 15:23. Idolatry and magic arts are the deeds of the flesh Gal. 5:20.

To reinforce His prohibitions God decreed in Lev. 20:27 that "as for a man or a woman if there is a medium or a spiritualist among them then they shall surely be put to death." So Josh. 13:22 tells us that the children of Israel killed Balaam. Saul killed all the witches in the land. However even the death penalty did not stop the people's evil practices. From 2 Chron. 33:6 we learn that Manasseh practiced witchcraft, divination, and sorcery. He also consulted mediums and spiritualists. Saul built again the things which he destroyed when he consulted the witch of Endor to bring up Samuel's spirit from the dead. She alone had escaped when he had, in better days, removed the devil's agents from the land. Samuel's spirit appeared and rebuked Saul for seeking his counsel when the Lord would not speak to him. This incident makes it clear that God alone has power over the spirits of the dead. In so called séances an evil spirit imitates the voice of the deceased, and plays upon the gullibility of the client through supernatural knowledge of the dead person's past life.

.. The occult in the Gentile nations: Paul preached the gospel in the Roman Empire and assaulted the citadels of idolatry. Satan made a stand at Ephesus. His counter attack began with the man who was possessed by an evil spirit. The evil spirit was ignited to fury because seven men who did not acknowledge Jesus as Lord were calling on His Name to expel the spirit from the man's body. So the man, supernaturally strengthened by the evil spirit which possessed him, attacked and overpowered these seven men. This exposed their deceit, and the reality and the power of the Lord's Name, so that "fear fell on them all." People burned their occult books publicly books which cost 50,000 day's income. Then the devil precipitated a public riot to protest the preaching of the gospel at Ephesus, which was "the guardian of the temple of the great goddess Artemis, and of her image which fell down from Zeus.”

In the providence of God Christianity spread westward. The West replaced Israel as the sphere of profession, eventually becoming known as Christendom Christ's kingdom a misnomer of course. Israel's position in the world temporarily forfeited for rejecting Christ was markedly different, for it was a divinely appointed one. This does not make Christianity a Western religion, for the Lord commissioned the Apostles to go into all the world and preach the gospel. It is quite likely that the historical prevalence of Christianity in the West is simply an act of grace by God in answer to the Lord's prayer on the cross "Father forgive them." So God forgave His enemies the Western powers who crucified His Son. By the same token the Book of Revelation is primarily a book of God's judgment on the West for despising His grace. Both in Israel and in the Western nations, profession and reality co existed, enabling Satan to exert his power and extend his influence over those who only gave lip service to the profession of Christianity. Just as Satan had "wise men" at the courts of Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar, so today he has those who represent him in the halls of power in the Western world.

American presidents have not been immune to the influence of psychics, and have sometimes avidly sought their advice. Ruth Montgomery gives us an insight into how Abraham Lincoln was influenced by the occult in her book A Gift of Prophecy.(31) She remarks "Franklin Delano Roosevelt was not the first wartime president to summon a psychic to the White House at a time of national peril. Eighty two years before petite Jeane Dixon took her crystal ball to the presidential office by invitation, Abraham Lincoln had heeded the urgings of his wife, and sent for a gently reared young medium named Nettie Colburn." However it is doubtful that Lincoln needed any urging, for communicating with the dead, omens, and portends of disasters seemed to be part of the Lincoln family tradition.(32) In any event Nettie held the first of a number of séances for Lincoln in the Red Room of the White House in Dec 1862. These are well documented. They are recorded in several books in the Library of Congress which are accessible to the public. In the first séance Nettie went into a trance and a strong masculine voice sounding like Daniel Webster's came out of her. This spirit voice traced the history of the American republic and made an impassioned plea for Lincoln to overcome the pressure against him and sign the Emancipation Proclamation. This he did on Jan 1, 1863. The next month President Lincoln attended another of Nettie's séances. This one was at the Laurie residence, where Mrs. Lincoln had previously heard Nettie speaking in another voice. Here a Mrs. Belle Miller played the piano as Nettie went into a trance. An unseen force lifted the piano off the floor. Lincoln, two other men, and an army officer, sat on the piano to try to hold it down. But the piano continued to rise and fall to the beat of the music. This time Nettie informed Lincoln of a breakdown of morale in the army, close to mutiny. Lincoln was told he could quell it only by a personal visit to the troops, unaccompanied by prominent politicians or army brass. He complied and the army rallied. Nettie was summoned several more times to the White House. On one such occasion Mrs. Lincoln was with her in the family rooms when Lincoln walked in. Nettie was in a trance, and he listened to her describe one of the Civil War battles in detail. In one of the later séances she traced battle plans on a map of the Southern states. The last time Lincoln saw her she predicted his death. It was not news to him, since he had been told about it already from other psychic sources.

If the king listens to the serpent's voice, can we expect less of the people? George Steiner, Professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Geneva said "there are three times as many registered astrologers in Europe and the United States as there are chemists and physicists."(33) As the sun sets in the West so does the witness of Christianity. The Western world is about to be plunged into darkness, because it hated the light. In the midst of the growing apostasy, 1 John 4:1 is the beacon helping us to distinguish between truth and error "beloved believe not every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." The test is Christ "every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God and every spirit which confesses not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God." Once we have made this basic identification we become aware of many things which confirm it. False spirits prophesy about the things of the world not the things of God. Their predictions are mostly about disasters, deaths, wars, assassinations, and violence. That is because Satan is the god of the dead, and according to Gen. 3:14 will rule over the man of dust until his time runs out. While psychic predictions are sometimes true, they are often also false, whereas what God predicts always happens. The great protection of the child of God in passing through a world ruled by Satan is to ignore the serpent's voice and listen to and obey the Shepherd's voice. In John 10:4, 5 the Lord tells us that His sheep follow Him "for they know His voice, and a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers."

God's Three Creations –Matter, Life, and Man

It seems appropriate, in introducing Part 2 of this book, to consolidate what the reader has learned about God so far. As Part I opened God seemed distant and unapproachable. Jesus told us that God is a spirit. But a spirit is invisible, while we are in bodies of flesh. God is everywhere in heaven and earth while we are anchored to one place. He is the living God, while we are born to die. He is the Ancient of Days an eternal being which is simply beyond our understanding. Although there are three persons in the Godhead, they are one in purpose in the administration of God's throne. God is a king then? Yes, and that is the primary meaning of the word GOD. He is the Supreme King a ruler answerable to no one. His laws sustain the universe He created, although we call them the laws of physics. He rules over the realm of life, for His Son Jesus Christ our Lord is the author of life. Finally He rules over the moral universe, which is just as real as the physical. Men and angels who transgress His moral laws will eventually discover that God is the judge of all.

These first impressions of God overawe us, until we recall the ways in which He emphasized the eternity of His being in different forms of a circle. What is common to every circle is a center and a circumference. In this simple way God tells us that He must be the center, but He wants people to surround Him. We begin to understand this a bit more when we learn that God's nature is light and love. He must have a holy people around Him then, for God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. He must also be surrounded by a people who love Him for God is love He has a father's heart and His people should respond to His love.

The touchstone of the Christian revelation is the will of God to make His nature of light and love known to us. His will was expressed in His counsels. Because the foundation of the world is the water-shed of those counsels, the importance of the earth in God's sight cannot be overemphasized. It is at that time we see His foreknowledge. He understood that many would be indifferent to His revelation of Himself. So He chose a heavenly and an earthly people. We get some idea of the meaning of this in the history of creation when God saw the light that it was good, and divided between the light and the darkness. The darkness always has a moral implication in Scripture.

We are now ready to go on to Part 2 of this book. The subject of Part 2 is how God created the universe scripturally termed the heavens and the earth, how He filled the earth with life, and created man. So there are three spheres of creation. These correspond to the three ways God rules over everything the physical sphere i.e. matter the life sphere and the moral sphere, for man was created in the image of God.

Chapter 2.3

The Prehistoric Creation a Composite Theory to Explain It

As we have already seen, God spoke to Moses at the burning bush, revealing His Name to Him, and the eternal nature of His being. Moses made the next overture. He went into the tabernacle, and asked God to show him His glory Ex. 33:18. Now we know that God has two distinctive glories Creator and Redeemer. The tabernacle was a fitting place to make such a request, for it was the pattern of the universe God created, and also the seat of the sacrifices which looked ahead to the death of the Redeemer.

God granted Moses' request. He showed him His glory as Redeemer on the Mount of Transfiguration. Luke 9:31 tells us that Moses and Elijah appeared in glory, and spoke of the imminent death of Christ "which He should accomplish at Jerusalem." God also revealed His glory as Creator when He showed him "His back parts" (1) an allusion to what was behind Him His creatorial works of the past. Gen. 1 is an historical account of those Creatorial works, based on what God saw, not man. That is why we encounter the repeated phrase "and God saw etc.”

The Genesis record of creation was written to enlighten man in all ages both Jew and Gentile. Because the Jews were dispersed throughout the ancient world, God made their synagogues the conduit for instructing the Gentiles. After the Roman Empire fell, the voice of the creation record was heard by the simple people of the Middle Ages. Its witness continues on to our times, when knowledge has been increased. The essence of its testimony is the opening verse, which is a remarkably clear, succinct statement, attributing the creation of the universe to God. For most Christians this is probably enough. However, God wrote the record for our instruction. It is truly about "the deep things of God" and if we are interested enough to investigate them we will be richly rewarded.

From the second verse to the end of the chapter, the interpretation of Gen. 1 has been obscured in blinding controversy with no consensus. Commentators, unable to harmonize the creation record with their understanding of Scripture and science, term the various explanations of Gen. 1 theories, recognizing the debatable nature of the conclusions. Because this terminology has been adopted by convention in evangelical circles, it seemed prudent to employ it in this chapter. However, it probably reflects too pessimistic an attitude to the solution of the problems in the creation record. In spite of the areas of disagreement, much progress has been made in the understanding of the passage. Men of the world do not stop exploring God's creatorial works because they do not fully understand them, so why should believers become discouraged with the inspired account of them?

Our approach in this chapter is to explain the statement of creation first, and then the meaning of the days in Gen. 1 a barrier to an understanding of the whole. The various theories of Gen. 1 are only lightly touched on, because so much has been written on them. Instead we present our own theory, which is based on an analysis of the reasons for disagreement in the better theories, and careful weighing of Scripture to reconcile them. This synthesis is termed "a composite theory of creation." This chapter concludes with an account of the Tennessee Monkey Trial, as it is popularly called. This trial is recounted here because it demonstrates how a faulty understanding of Gen. 1 has discredited Christianity in public opinion.

The Creation of the Universe

The first shaft of light which bursts on us is the opening statement "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Clearly this is a space time consideration. "In the beginning" speaks of time "the heavens and the earth" of space. Life, the great prerogative of God, is not mentioned. So in a sense we are in the realm of physics. We are confronted with a statement of ultimate’s. Before God there was nothing. It is the word God which ties together "in the beginning" the point of origin of God's choosing and "the heavens and the earth" which He created. Without attributing the origin of things to God, the scientific community still recognizes a point of origin. The current theory to describe this event is called "the big bang theory.”

.. In the beginning: What wisdom there is in this expression. How could you state the age of the universe in solar years, for example, before the sun had been given its appointed place in the heavens to regulate time? What good would light years be before light was? The meaning of the phrase "in the beginning" is that God is commencing a work to execute His counsels. Indeed we learn from Rev. 3:13 that the beginning is one of the Lord's Names "these things saith the Amen,... the beginning of the creation of God."(2)

There are four beginnings in Scripture John 1:1, Gen. 1:1, 1 John 1:1, Mark 1:1. Each of these beginnings is the beginning of a book of the Bible, and they are tied together by a divine plan. The first beginning is "in the beginning was the Word." This tells us that God wanted to make Himself known, for we communicate by words. The setting of this statement is before creation, in a past eternity. The second beginning i.e. "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" is also in a past eternity. But in this beginning God took His first step in making Himself known He created. So "the heavens declare the glory of God" Psa. 19:1 i.e. they make known His wisdom and power. The third beginning is in time. It is the beginning of Christ's life on earth "that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at, and our hands have touched, of the Word of life." This teaches us that the world was created as a stage on which the Word of Life should be made known. The fourth beginning is also in time "the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" Mark 1:1. Thus the two beginnings of time are linked to the two beginnings of eternity to complete the full revelation of God in the Person of His Son, and to make us worshippers of the Father who sent Him.

.. God Created: The words create and make are not synonymous in Gen. 1. (3) The opening statement of the Bible has nothing to say as to when the creation was completed, except that God rested on the seventh day. His work was complete, yet there is an ongoing activity in creation. We merely note this here. The heavens are full of exploding stars, black holes, and other phenomena which have no apparent meaning. When we turn to the earth it is clear that God was making it ready for human habitation over long geological eras. Mountain ranges rose and fell, seas advanced and retreated, forests turned into coal beds, earthquakes and volcanoes exposed mineral deposits, and so on.

So the general impression that creation is always instantaneous is false. It can be as in the creation of man but the days of creation are vast ages. Also they overlap one another in some cases. We shall look at both these features later.

.. The heavens and the earth: This is the Scriptural term for the cosmos. The heavens here are the material heavens, although there are others. Consider Deut. 10:14 for example "the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's." Then Solomon says "the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee" 1 Kings 8:27. In the New Testament Paul is caught up to the third heaven, which he also calls Paradise where the crucified malefactor was told he should be with the Lord Luke 23:45. This unknown and presently unknowable sphere of things is excluded from the opening statement. We know very little about it. What we do know is that there are no uncreated heavens or anything else "for by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth" Col. 1:16. The teaching of Scripture is that heaven is the seat of rule of the earth because God dwells there Rev. 22:1. So now we change course, so to speak, to consider the earth.

The earth is no more than a speck in the universe. Actually it is only one out of a great many planets in the heavens. Why then did God choose it as the stage on which He would make Himself known rather than a greater and more imposing planet like Jupiter? Jesus' words in Matt. 11:29 tell us why "I am meek and lowly in heart." Its size was suited to the God who humbled Himself to become Man. Earth was the place where God manifested Himself. That fact accounts for its prominence in Scripture. As far as we know it is unique in the universe in its life forms and Christ is the Author of life and so glorifies God in creation. And on the earth the Son of God died glorifying God in redemption.

Literal Six Days of Creation Theories Made Untenable by the Vast Age of Both the Universe and the Prehistoric World

How old is this universe God created? Very old indeed. While our first verse does not tell us, other Scriptures do. From Isa. 57:15 we learn that God is the inhabiter of eternity. What did He do in the vastness of that past eternity? We know He created angels and they would require dwelling places. What else? The mind speculates but finds no answers. We know from Prov. 8 that God's eternal Son dwelt under the name of Wisdom in the bosom of His Father "the Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old." This is a fairly good indication of the antiquity of the universe because God does not exaggerate when He uses language. It intimates an age indeterminable by man perhaps, but very, very old "of old hast Thou laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Thy hands" Psa. 102:25.

Man has made considerable progress in verifying the antiquity of the universe, and of that part of it which interests us most the earth on which we live. However we must concede that estimates of the age of the universe vary considerably even those made in the same year (4) because of advances in technology, new discoveries in space, and other factors. Even so an educated guess of 10 billion years might give us a rough bearing. The earth's age, and that of the formation of the solar system, is estimated at 4.6 billion years.

The antiquity of the earth became evident to man in many ways other than the presumed time of its origin. Even if some of them are flawed, others are sound. In "The Christian view of science and Scripture" Bernard Ramm takes up the question of the earth's age. He tells us that Agassiz calculated that the coral reefs of Florida took 200,000 years to form. He then gives his readers two observations of his own. The first is in Yellowstone Park, where there are 2,000 feet of exposed strata containing 18 successive forests, each wiped out by lava. Without attempting to put numbers to this exhibit, he points out how great the time for it all to happen must have been "the individual forests had to mature, and then be covered with lava. Before another forest could appear the lava would have to be weathered to form soil for trees to grow in." His second observation is the formation of the gypsum deposits in West Texas and New Mexico, which he calculated had been formed from the evaporation of 5,000,000 ft. of water evaporating over 500,000 years. He also refers the reader to F.E. Zeumer's work "Dating the past an introduction to Geochronology." This book lists seven dating methods tree ring analysis, good up to 3,000 years—varved clay analysis to 15,000 years radio carbon dating to 30,000 years a form of radium dating called "per cent of equilibrium method," good to 300,000 years solar radiation to 1,000,000 years typical geological methods such as sedimentation, denudation, erosion, weathering, and chemical change applicable to all periods uranium and radioactive methods giving results up to 3 billion years.(5)

The first four billion years of earth's history is called "the Precambrian." Because so little is known about it, it is excluded from the geological calendar. This calendar is broken down into three great eras, each of which is subdivided into periods. The Paleozoic era the age of ancient life is the first great division. It begins with the Cambrian period, which is rich in the fossilized remains of distant life. Next is the age of middle life, known as the Mesozoic era, and last the age of recent life or Genozoic era. The geological calendar compiled by Tarbuck and Lutgens shows approximate ages for these eras in millions of years, based on radioactivity findings.(6)

So we see what God means when He says His works were "of old." Some creation theories have denied this, insisting on a literal six days of creation, and even the construction of the earth's geology around Noah's flood. The truth is that a day in Scripture is generally a time when God's purposes are being worked out or have been realized. The Lord said "your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day." The future eternity is the day of God, because in that He rests, as on the seventh day long ago. God rests when His purposes have been realized, the darkness banished. Even when a day has a time connotation it can be different from what we expect "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years etc." As long ago as the days of the early Church, Augustine said that the days in Gen. 1 were God divided days, not sun divided days. That interpretation is supported by each day having the stamp of the Alpha and the Omega on it a beginning and an end. Based on these considerations a literal six day creation can be ruled out, and the theories which rest on it. No theory of Gen. 1 can be constructed on any other principle than that of a very ancient universe. Gen. 1 is a divine history of God's works of old.(7)

Theories Built Around the Antiquity of the Universe and the Earth

Many problems in the text of Gen. 1 demand solution. The meaning of the days, which we have just considered, is only one. However it is an important one, for if the days of creation are not literal, then what are they? What are the alternatives?

.. The Day Age theory: The great exponent of this school of thought was the geologist Dawson. According to this theory the days are vast aeons. They are synchronized to the geology of the earth. The Genesis record is viewed as an ongoing account, so the chaotic period of Gen. 1:2 is interpreted as the early world not a world which later became chaotic.

.. The Gap Theory: This theory ignores the geological eras, placing them in the gap between Verses 1 and 2. Verse 2 is interpreted as the chaotic state into which the world fell after the original creation. The subsequent account is how God refashioned the earth for human habitation in six literal days. Dawson challenged the Gap Theory on the ground that geology could find no trace of the work of the six literal days of reconstruction. (8) Other critics claimed that it was invented to accommodate modern geological discoveries. However the antiquity of the Gap Theory silences this objection.(9)

.. Problem areas in the Day Age and Gap theories: Both theories have a common area of agreement the great age of the creation. The prime area of disagreement is the interpretation of Verse 2 "and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep." It is a unique verse seemingly impossible to fathom. Is it a parenthesis or not? Why is this the only verse in which God is not mentioned? It can't be called a day for it ends in darkness. Many questions suggest themselves but few answers.

Could it be that there is no answer to a scientific understanding of Gen. 1? Hardly. It seems more probable that it was written in such a way that it satisfies the needs of simple souls on one hand, and of the probing mind on the other. However this means that the student of science in one age will look at it in a different light from the student in another as knowledge is retarded or advanced. For example since Dawson lived before Einstein he could not understand the implications of "let there be light." But we are living in the time of the end, when Daniel was told that knowledge should be increased. For that reason the author believes that his Composite Theory of Creation, which reflects some of that increased knowledge, is timely.

.. The Composite Theory of Creation Because this is a theory, like those which have preceded it, parts of it are conjectural. It not only modifies the Day Age and Gap theories in the light of scientific advances since Dawson's time,(10) but it also effectively reconciles the two theories by sourcing the chaotic period to the fourth day. Previously this key to the chaotic period has either been misunderstood or ignored. With this key, supplemented by other Old Testament scriptures referring to the chaotic period, we can determine the intended chronological, rather than moral location, of Gen. 1:2.

At the beginning of Hebrews Paul informs us that God made the worlds by His Son and then he tells us that God's Son is the upholder or sustainer of the worlds He created. Well, Moses' first statement "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" agrees with Paul's first statement that God made the worlds by His Son. But we are puzzled by the apparent disagreement of the second statements of Moses and Paul. Moses' second statement "and the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep" does not appear to harmonize with Paul's second statement that God's Son upholds all things by the word of His power. We wonder why God's hand did not uphold His creation, but in His permissive will allowed it to drift into the chaotic condition of Gen. 1:2. Could it be that God wanted to demonstrate that without His sustaining hand everything would dissolve? Or was it a reflection of a deep moral discord in the universe the fall of Satan as some think. It is not necessary to take a position for our purposes here. It is more important to establish a principle that Gen. 1:2 is not located in chronological order. The account of creation which follows Gen. 1:2 is dual. It contains both the history of the prehistoric creation and of the remedial work which followed Gen. 1:2. It was the remedial work which confirmed God's role as the sustainer of His creation. The entire composite work consumed long gone eternal ages called days in the Genesis record.

The ages in Gen. 1 are so drawn out, so vast, that Dawson posed the question "Why are God's days so long? He is not like us, a being of yesterday.... even in human history a day is with Him as a thousand years; and we who live in these later days of the world know full well how slow the march of His plan has been even in human history. We shall know in the endless ages of a future eternity that even to us these long creative days may at last become but as watches in the night."(11) The long God divided days of Gen. 1 belong to a past eternity. They are better understood if divided into two periods the first three days and the last three days. Of the six days of creation the first three are basic, for the work of the last three days complements the work of the first three days.

The First Three Days

The great subject of the first three days is the creation of the universe, followed by God's sovereign choice of the earth an apparently inconsequential part of that universe as the planet where He would continue and expand His creative work in other ways. So He endows the earth with an atmosphere, seas, and continents. At the end of the three day period vegetation emerged on land.

.. Day One Divine light: Before the creation all was darkness. That is implied by God's intervention. He who Himself is light says "let there be light." God saw the light that it was good, and divided it from the darkness. So the original darkness was not banished. Instead there was light which was good and the darkness of which God says nothing. So we too will ignore it, and enquire about the light. What is light then, and why did God begin creation by willing it into being, untold billions of years ago?

We know today that light includes both the visible and the invisible range of the electromagnetic spectrum what we see, and what we do not see like radio waves, x-rays and so on. We know that light is energy, and that energy can be converted into matter. So it becomes clear why the appearance of light was God's first fiat in creation. None of these things were known until comparatively recent times, so in a sense we are privileged today over other generations. We know that when God said "let there be light" He was virtually saying "let energy be.”

.. Day Two: This day is the point of origin of the physical universe. God brought it into being by creating an expanse in the heavens. However He doesn't even tell us this in the account of day two. We learn about it indirectly in 1:14, where it is called "the expanse of the heavens" and viewed as a "fait accompli.”

Clearly He turned light, which is energy, into matter. No one had any idea that this was possible until Albert Einstein's discoveries of the relationship between energy and matter. (12) This brings us to the "big bang" theory of the origin of the universe. In layman's language the matter originally created underwent infinite compression into a microcosm. This reached intolerable limits and the compressed matter exploded. The colossal energy of the explosion hurled the matter outward in all directions into the darkness and nothingness. Thus space and the universe were born.

Observation of the farthest galaxies by telescope reveals that they are rushing away apparently from us, but actually from the primeval big bang at great speeds. Clearly we live in an expanding universe, which is only man's term for "the expanse of the heavens." Energy from the big bang propels the stars on and on, for in space there is no friction to retard the initial thrust. Even today, after these many billions of years, black body radiation now at 3°K still bathes the universe. This fact has made man concede the concept of a universe with a point of origin which is what Scripture teaches. There is no such thing as eternal matter or eternal energy. There is an eternal God. And this God is a directing God. He does not permit the expanse to rush outward in blind fashion, but orders it as it pleases Him. The Psalmist acknowledges that "the heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse shows the work of His hands" Psa. 19:1. Job is more specific "who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south" Job 9:9. So during the second day the heavens would be divided into galaxies, star systems, planets, satellites and so on. The earth would be positioned in its appointed place in the solar system of our galaxy. As Job said "He stretches out the North over empty space, He hangs the earth on nothing" Job 26:7. But at this remote period our planet would only be a molten globe in space without an atmosphere. It would be ablaze with color from the light of the big bang, which would floodlight it in all directions so there would be no night. This ends the organization of the expanse in the heavens.

Our next consideration is the organization of an expanse for our planet, so that a common principle an expanse links heaven and earth. On day two then, God divides the heavens and the earth in the written account. He directs our attention away from the heavens to the earth. The transitional second day sees a primitive atmosphere now introduced on earth. This atmosphere has been simulated in scientific experiments. For much of the second day this atmosphere would bear little resemblance to the one we know. The seas were likely precipitated from it, covering the surface of the planet. But they would be boiling from the internal heat of the world, the radiation of the big bang, and the radiation of the sun. This explains why the geological calendar is blank during these early ages of the earth's history. The planet had to cool down before life could appear. By that time there was an atmospheric air ocean in place above the earth.

.. Day three: Not until day three does it become evident that God is working from the simple to the complex. In doing this He is demonstrating the principle of dependency. His work on a given day depends on His work on the preceding day. Tracing this to its origin in Day one, we see that everything depends on God. Light, which comes from God, must precede life so too must an atmosphere. Vegetation on land must precede the herbivorous animals who require it for food. This is only one indication that the days overlap and run into one another. We know that the light of day one persisted for days one, two, and three, overpowering the light of sun, moon, and stars, which is not even mentioned in the day two account, for that reason. The same thing applies to God laying the foundations of the earth. We know that the angels rejoiced when God did this, but we cannot date it. We can only surmise that the third day saw God capping this work by placing the earth's crust on the foundations He had already laid. However it is clear from geological studies that the work of the third day carried on into the later days, just as the light of the first day did. These matters require careful consideration.

Scripture speaks of the earth's foundations, a term most people would consider to be poetic language. Yet the term is apt, even though its meaning was veiled until recent times. Today we know that the earth really has foundations, and that they are layered, a state which is probably related to the intensity of the extreme heat of the interior. They consist of an inner core, the hottest, an outer core which is extremely hot, and a mantle, still very hot.

The earth's crust both continents and oceans rests on the mantle. The crust is insignificant in thickness compared to the three major interior "foundations." Sometimes we get a glimpse of the extreme pressure and heat of even the upper mantle rock when volcanoes erupt. Huge molten rocks are hurled upward like pebbles, and fiery lava devours everything in its path. But what do we really know about the mantle, the ultimate support of the earth's crust, or the crust itself? Well, we know that the upper mantle consists of two parts the Asthenosphere, which is made up of fluid rock, and the Lithosphere, which is segmented into a number of solid rocky plates. These plates float on the Asthenosphere, and support the crust of the earth. So far 29 of them have been identified. They vary greatly in size. One small plate underlines Turkey. Of the large plates, one is under the Pacific Ocean the rest support both continents and oceans. So we live in a world of moving land and ocean. This can be illustrated in a modern tale of two cities on different plates. The two cities on the same plate do not move, but they move in relation to the two cities on another plate. Our mobile world contributes to volcanoes, faults, earthquakes, mountain building, and other evidences of tectonic activity.

Most of this knowledge was acquired in the 20th century. Before then the geology of the earth was sketchy. But now that we know these things it is timely to recount the history of their discovery. This will help us relate our present knowledge to what Moses wrote. We will start with F.B. Taylor, an American geologist who published a paper on continental drift in 1910. It was ignored because it was unsupported by a theory of causation. Then in 1912 Alfred Wegener, a German scientist, gave a lecture on continental drift. By 1915 he expanded the theory he proposed in this lecture and published it in The Origins of Continents and Oceans. In 1924 an English edition of this book appeared. Wegener was ridiculed because his theories of the cause of drifting continents seemed implausible. Among other things he proposed that the continents moved through the ocean floor. However his observations were acute, and his evidence strong. Wegener visualized an original super continent, which he called Pangaea i.e. "all land" rising out of a primeval sea. He believed this supercontinent broke up into smaller continents, which drifted to where they are now. To support his theory he demonstrated how the present South American and African continents approximately fitted together. It was not until the early 1960. that his deductions were verified by Sir Edward Bullard. This scientist aligned these two continents with the help of computers. He began their shore lines at a depth of some 900 meters on their continental shelves. He produced a map which fitted the two continents together like a jig saw puzzle. Wegener also found evidence of the same life forms on both of the separated continents of South America and Africa. One example was the swimming reptile Mesosaurus, which lived in the Mezozoic era. But the continental drift theory was formulated before the ocean floor was explored, and sea floor spreading understood. By 1968 the theories of sea floor spreading and continental drift were combined into the prevailing plate tectonic theory.

The Mosaic account, lined up with other Scriptures speaking of God laying the foundations of the earth, now becomes clear.

On day three God caused the original submerged land to rise from the water. This act was only the initiating division. It would give us what Wegener visualized in Pangaea, an all land continent washed by a universal sea. God clothed this continent with vegetation to feed the herbivorous animals of day six, who in turn would become food for the carnivores, establishing a life cycle. At some point of time unknown to us God divided the original land mass into separated continents just as He divided the heavens into galaxies. This explains why the continents are called the islands of the sea in Scripture.(13)

The Last Three Days

These are so arranged that they complement the first three days. Days one and four go together their common subject is light. Days two and five go together their common subject is the atmosphere and the seas and the life which should fill these two habitats. Days three and six go together the land and the animal life which should roam over it. Day six ends the work of the creation, which in this chapter excludes man, who will be considered separately in the next chapter.

.. Day Four: On day four we leave the earth behind. The earth was the subject of God's work in the first three days, beginning with the divine edict "let there be light." Now we are taken to the heavens to trace God's work there. Remarkably the subject is the same light only this time light in heavenly orbs. To be specific, Moses is writing about the solar system. We know this because on day four "God made two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night." The concluding statement that He made the stars also refers to the planets of the solar system, for the stars of outer space were created in 1:1. Although the moon has a minor but important function we will by pass it. Our primary emphasis here will be on the sun. We know that when the solar system was formed some 4.6 billion years ago, the sun was between 25 and 30 per cent dimmer than it is today. (14) We also know that its light would hardly be seen in the primitive earth for a long time because it would be insignificant compared to the incandescent light of the big bang. However big bang light decreased over the ages until the point was reached when it could sustain the vegetative life of day three. As this was going on solar light increased as we have mentioned.

Day four is that extended period in a past eternity when solar light gradually took over from big bang light. This gave the earth a regulated, dependable, and constant flow of light a precondition for the mobile life shortly to be introduced. In combination with the moon, the earth was lit day and night. Another feature of the work of the fourth day would be the establishment of the earth sun ratio. If the earth were too close to the sun the oceans would boil if too far away they would freeze. The distance between the sun and the earth had to be just right to maintain the sea, bird, and animal life on the earth.(15)

The fourth day concludes the opening statement of the Bible “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" i.e. the creation of the physical universe excluding life. It is noteworthy that the beginning of this creation was marked by light on earth 1:3 and the end of it by light in the heavens 1:14. Truly our God is light, and it is fitting to review His works now the creation of the universe in a very concise way. By the fourth day we see that God had brought the heavens into being. Out of the heavens He chose the earth for His own ends. He gave it an atmosphere, land and seas, and caused vegetation to grow on it. Out of the heavens too He selected our solar system to give the earth an ordered source of light, and to serve man, His ultimate work in creation, as a chronometer. The pre conditions of life had been established.

It is remarkable, too, that much of the earth's landmass was at or near the equator in the beginning. When this broke up near the beginning of the Cambrian period large new regions of coastline were opened up for the life to come. The climate was warm and equable.

.. Day Five: The subject of day five is the introduction of mobile life on earth. God had brought stationary life to the dry land on day three vegetation in various forms. Early fossils show moss and lichen later ones tell a story of lush growth and tropical plants. The details are less important than the underlying principle "whose seed was in itself, after its kind." Seeds are wafted by sea and air currents, spreading plants worldwide. But the vegetation itself is rooted in the land. The subject of day five is the filling up of the two spheres of Day two water and sky with mobile life.

So the history of day five opens with these words "and God said, let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life, and birds which may fly above the earth in the open expanse of heaven." The seas or oceans are not mentioned because they came later. They originated with the breaking up of the great land mass into continents. Although that occurred on day six, it was the termination of the work of day three. So the waters referred to here are the primeval waters surrounding the great super continental land mass which emerged on day three.

After God has spoken a brief statement follows, summarizing a new work of creation which He performed on the fifth day "and God created the great sea monsters, and every living soul that moves with which the waters swarm, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them saying be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." This is not a chronological statement of events, but an account of what God created in the order in which He was pleased to narrate it. Being sovereign He placed His own weightings on the different elements of creation comprising day five. He mentioned the great sea monsters first because they were the summit of His creative work in the waters, although in point of time they were last. Everything else is unclassified "every living soul that moves with which the waters swarm" an all inclusive but non descriptive umbrella covering every other kind of marine life. Man is free to investigate the life in the oceans and fill in the missing details.

Ancient marine life began with simple forms like corals which formed reefs. Then a primary food source was added jellyfish and trilobites. Trilobites were given that name because their bodies were sectioned into three parts. They had bony skeletons, and ranged in size from very tiny forms to 2ft. 4in. They multiplied greatly and became the prime food source for sea scorpions and fish. Great monstrous fish completed the cycle of small life being eaten by larger life, with the great sea monsters at the top of the feeding cycle. One of the greatest of these sea monsters was Dinichthys known as the terrible fish which had massive jaws, an armored head, and was 33 ft. long. Then there was the Plesiosaur 39 ft. long, and Kronosaurus, 55 ft. long. The period when these monsters lived is called the age of fishes. The great sea monsters created on day five were the rulers of the seas by day six, just as the dinosaurs of that day ruled the land.

Bird life was abundant and far ranging on the fifth day. Their over flights of land would spread seed everywhere, so that the world would become forested. Birds fed on the abundant fish in the waters. A gigantic Pteranodon was discovered in Texas with a wing span of 50 ft. Many fine fossil specimens of another bird called Archeopteryx have been found, which even show its feathers. When the climate grew colder with the approach of the ice age, new huge flightless birds appeared. Two of the greatest were Diatryma, which was 6 ft. 6 in. tall, and Phororhacus, about 10 ft. tall. Both birds could outrun most of their prey, and kill them with their terrible beaks and sharp talons. The emergence of these birds and the dying out of the earlier types tells us that God did not end His day five creative activities on that day. His work was ongoing in character, with successive waves of creation spread out over long periods of time. The Christian acknowledges God the Son as the Author of life, or the Originator of life, as variously translated Acts 3:15. John tells us that "all things received being through Him, and without Him not one thing received being which has received being" John 1:3.

Most paleontologists hold different views, claiming that life evolved from one form to another due to various factors. Some of their claims seem little more than the product of over active imaginations. Others have some substance to them, for God built into the creature the ability to adapt to a changing environment. However when change or adaptation takes place in nature, it is not mindless or by chance, but according to the preprogramming of the creature by God. When radical new life forms emerge in the fossil record which cannot be explained by permitted change or adaptation, God must have initiated a new wave of creative activity. He initiated the creation of marine and bird life on day five, but this does not mean that He ceased to create such life when day five ended. He continued to create on day six, replacing older life forms with others of different designs.

As the history of the fifth day unfolds, the word created occurs again. It should alert us to a new development, for it was last seen when God created the heavens and the earth. It tells us that a new sphere of creation is opening up mobile life. We are moving from physics to the life sciences with this change. So day five may be summarized as the filling up of the waters and sky of day two with the characteristic life suited to each sphere. The waters are to teem with marine life the sky with bird life. The birds link heaven and earth. They soar in the heavens but return to the earth to nest and reproduce as God commanded them...

Day Six Prehistoric Life on land: On the sixth day God brings all His works to a climax, before entering into His rest. An indication of this is the expansion in the number of words used to recount His works on the sixth day. These are equal to or greater than the number of words for the other five days, depending on what verses are included or excluded from a tabulation. In spite of this God dismisses His prehistoric creation on land with a few words a creation which spanned hundreds of millions of years. He says simply "let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth according to its kind.”

Early life on land began on the super continent God brought out of the waters on day three, and clothed with vegetation. The story of life began about 600 million years ago, as the Cambrian Period dawned and the supercontinent began breaking up. The broad character of day six animal life on earth is based on everything now being in place to recycle life, just as in the seas. The earth was lush in the vegetative growth of day three which harnessed the energy of the fourth day sun through photo synthesis. The herbivorous animals Moses calls them cattle fed on this vegetation. Next in the life cycle are the predators the carnivores whom Moses labels the beast of the earth. Finally there are the decomposers, who remove dead flesh from the earth. This would be a broad class, but most likely insects are intended. At this time the ancient forests swarmed with insect life, cockroaches being a prime example. However we know that dinosaurs had T.B., so bacteria and probably viruses are included. But in the Mosaic record only that which meets the eye is directly mentioned as Solomon put it, what is seen under the sun.

The history of this ancient life has been preserved in fossils. The fossil record, fragmentary at first, has grown to enormous proportions as new discoveries continually expand it. The undiscovered fossils still buried in the earth are thought to be very great. This wealth of specimens is not due to the great numbers of flora and fauna which became fossilized, but to small numbers which built up into countless specimens over geological ages. Extinct life forms became fossilized in so many different ways that it is only practical to convey the general idea to the reader who has not read the literature on the subject. Plants left behind spores and pollen, and their leaves can be clearly seen in coal. Extinct animals have left behind evidence that they were once alive in fossilized specimens of their footprints, droppings, and eggs. X-rays of dinosaur eggs have even revealed details of the embryo. When prehistoric animals died, some of their skeletons were preserved in various ways such as violent burial, or more often by being washed into a body of water. Eventually their bones were silted over, and the covering turned into sedimentary rock, encasing their skeletons into something analogous to a plaster cast. Sometimes water with a high mineral content seeped into the bones, petrifying them. Fossils are cut out of the rock which entombed their remains, and sent to museums for restoration. Using special acids, technologists dissolve the rock in which the fossils are buried, freeing them for study and mounting.

It is surprising that nothing is known of fossil discoveries in the ancient world. It was not until 1770 that the jaws of a huge fossil Mosasaurus were uncovered in a chalk quarry in Holland. Then in the early part of the nineteenth century an explosion of discoveries occurred in England, making household names of the more prominent finders the Rev. William Buckland, Dr. Gideon Mantel' a physician, Richard Owen a comparative anatomist, the Rev. Robert Plot of Oxford University, and Baron Georges Cuvier "the father of Paleontology." A publicity stunt helped fuel public support. Owen hired a sculptor to carve life size figures of prehistoric animals. These were mounted later in the grounds of the Crystal Palace Exhibition, which was attracting worldwide public attention at the time. As a promotion, Owen and his sculptor threw a dinner party for 20 people inside the body of an Iguanodon. Then in 1878 a massive discovery of 40 Iguanodon skeletons was made by miners in Belgium. In the previous year a dinosaur graveyard was found in Colorado. Dinosaur hunting then became the rage in the United States, with two powerful men Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh competing for public acclaim. They became rivals because of a personality clash, but their rivalry filled the museums of their choice with many specimens. As the pioneers faded away they were replaced by institutional expeditions. Sometimes their professionals were alerted by amateurs Who sighted huge bones jutting out of rocks. That was how one of the most famous dinosaur discoveries was made in 1907 in what is now Tanzania. German scientists unearthed the skeleton of Brachiosaurus, which is about 39 ft. tall. It is the largest mounted dinosaur skeleton in the world. It is exhibited today on a platform in the Humboldt Museum in East Berlin. The end result of this plethora of discoveries is that dinosaurs are scattered in museums all over the world. Unless you are a world traveler, the best way to get to know the dinosaurs is to buy one of the many books about them, or better still one about the dinosaurs and the life which preceded and followed them. Then at one glance you can live in the world of Dimetrodon, a 13 ft. long animal who lived in the Permian Period. He had a big semi circular sail on his back, which some scientists think was his air conditioning system. Then there are the mammals, who took over after the dinosaurs died out without any explanation, 64 million years ago. There are many beautiful specimens of these, many of them recovered from the Rancho La Brea tar pit in Los Angeles. Animals were attracted to it by water on its surface. Stepping in for a deeper drink, they began to sink. Their cries of fright attracted predators like the saber toothed tigers, who jumped onto them but feasted too long and were engulfed in the tar. Nature can be cruel, but the final test looming ahead for the prehistoric world was the worst of all.

The Ice Age the End of the Prehistoric Creation

The coming of the ice age which might better be called the ice ages was gradual. It overtook the world in the Pleistocene Epoch, about two million years ago. The sixth day had ended and the world was about to become waste and empty or without form and void ending with darkness on the face of the deep. The desolation began as the world got colder. It snowed continually. We know this because the thick ice masses we call glaciers are formed from the accumulation, compaction, and re-crystallization of snow on land. So it took a great deal of time for the glaciers to form. Because of this the ice age was prolonged. Also it saw considerable fluctuations in climate which caused alternating glacial and interglacial periods. Some animals like the Mastodon survived the rigors of the ice age by migrating south or north with each successive advance and retreat of the glaciers. Most animals however could not cope with these conditions and died out. The glaciers overran the earth although isolated spots like the western part of the Yukon escaped them. These great ice sheets crushed whole forests in their paths. As they overran the continents they carved their way through valleys and river beds, or gouged out new channels. The fiords of Norway and Alaska are good examples of this activity. They transformed the shape of mountains for example the Matterhorn. Everywhere they changed the face of the earth. As they melted, the crust of the earth compressed by their weight slowly began to rise a process which is still continuing. Water levels were affected and flooding took place. As they melted they deposited the rocks and gravel they had picked up, enabling geologists to retrace their paths.

If we look at the world today we will find a whole continent, Antarctica, covered with ice. This is not what is left of the ice age, however. It greatly preceded the ice age, being about ten million years old. Long ago the continent of Antarctica was carried away on its plate from its original semi tropical setting to its present inhospitable location. Ruling Antarctica out then, what caused the Ice Age? This is much debated by scientists but there is only a modicum of consensus.

a. What caused the Ice Age? Gen. 1:2 is a two part statement.

The first part reads "and the earth (was or became) waste and empty" a description of the desolation of the earth as the great ice sheets advanced over the continents. The second part reads "and darkness was on the face of the deep." This is the aftermath of the Ice Age the meltdown of the glaciers and the environmental conditions of the time. This does not concern us at this point. We wish to focus on the earth becoming waste and empty. The translation quoted here was by William Kelly, who, although he held the gap theory, was honest enough to give alternative renderings. To this day Hebraists disagree among themselves as to the preferred translation. The author likes the translation of a family friend, Louise Greig, that the earth "became trackless waste and emptiness.”

In isolation Gen. 1:2 does not tell us very much. We must turn to scientific findings and creation passages in other Scriptures for help.

.. Scientific theories on the cause of the Ice Age: Milutim Milankovitch contributed greatly to our understanding of the problem when he postulated variations in the earth's orbit as a prime cause. Milankovitch believed that variations in incoming solar radiation are a principal factor in controlling the world's climate. He supported his hypothesis with a mathematical model. Acceptance of his views advanced and retreated like the glaciers themselves. They now occupy a prominent place in scientific thought because of a paper published by Hays, Imbrie, and Shackleton in the December 1976 issue of Science. These scientists state "our geological data comprise measurements of three climatically sensitive parameters in two deep sea sediment cores." These cores were screened and selected with great care. The analysis involves abstruse mathematics. However under Discussion they state "we regard the results of the time domain test as strong evidence of orbital control of major Pleistocene climatic changes" following which they give their reasons for this statement. Item six of their Summary states "it is concluded that changes in the earth's orbital geometry are the fundamental cause of Quaternary ice ages.”

.. Light from Scripture as to the cause of the ice age: Long before these scientific discoveries, the author had come to similar conclusions in principle at least. The mechanics i.e. some alteration of the earth sun ratio, variation of the earth's orbit, or whatever the cause may be is properly the domain of science. However the principle is spelled out in the Genesis record that an unspecified disorder in the solar system caused the Ice age on earth. This is the meaning of God's remedial work within the solar system on the fourth day which will be explained later under the caption The Adam Creation.

The Ice age and its aftermath followed the long drawn out work of the prehistoric creation, the account of which ended in Gen. 1:25. Therefore Gen. 1:2 must be transposed to follow Gen. 1:25 if the text is to have any meaning chronologically. Gen. 1:2 was divinely located out of chronological order to stress its underlying spiritual meaning, and so encourage us to investigate it. God uses precisely this technique on several occasions in the Book of Revelation. But in order that the chronological order should not be lost, God has given us other Scriptures to help us determine it, and transpose it to its chronological setting. When we position Gen. 1:2 after Gen 1:25, the conflict between the Bible and science ends, and the two main theories of creation are reconciled. This is the key tenet of my Composite Theory of Creation. We will now test it in terms of Scripture.

The account of the Ice age in Gen. 1:2 is condensed into these cryptic words "and the earth became waste and empty." It does not tell us how this transition took place, but two prophets shed light on it, and in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established. Jeremiah writes about this time -beheld the earth and lo it was waste and empty". Jer. 4:23. Isaiah goes a step further, telling us that it was God who wasted the earth "and He shall stretch out upon it the line of waste and the plummets of emptiness" Isa. 34:11. Then later in his book Isaiah writes "for thus saith the Lord who created the heavens, God Himself who formed the earth and made it, He who established it not as waste did He create it He formed it to be inhabited." This last verse is double proof of the correctness of the author's Composite Theory of Creation. First it rules out the Day Age view that Gen. 1:2 is a description of the embryonic world. Dawson was generous enough to concede "the words employed are generally used to denote the ruin of places formerly inhabited'.(16)Secondly the words "He formed it to be inhabited" agree exactly with the life God created in the prehistoric world. This largely perished in the Ice Age Gen. 1:2. It was renewed in modified form after that in six days more of indeterminable length, though nothing like the protracted six days of the prehistoric creation. In rejecting the literal six day restoration of the gap theory which has no scientific support the contention between Buckland and Dawson ends. There can be no conflict with the geological record because what the Composite Theory of Creation advances is the geological record. The chronological positioning of Gen. 1:2 after Gen 1:25 is therefore a closed case.

b. Controversy as to why God should desolate His work speculation as to the reason, and inferences Some Christians are unhappy with the thought that Gen. 1:2 should be interpreted as God undoing His own works. A comparison of Gen. 1:2 with other Scriptures does not sustain this objection. Three other instances may be cited of God destroying His creation in part or in whole Noah's flood, the coming judgments of the great tribulation, and the time Peter writes about when "the heavens shall pass away...the earth also...shall be burned up" 2 Peter 2:10. Moreover the objection vanishes when we see why God does it to make way for something better. So it was at the beginning in Genesis and so it will be at the end when the first heavens and the first earth shall pass away, only to be succeeded by new heavens and a new earth.

Other Christians those who hold the Gap Theory especially are more interested in speculating on why God destroyed the work of the first creation. They attribute the ferocity of the prehistoric world and the desolation of the Ice age which followed it, to the fall of Satan. Jennings interjects a thought along these lines while commenting on Tophet, whose pile is set on fire by the breath of the Lord "this Tophet had been prepared long ago a word that is strongly suggestive of what had taken place before the day of man altogether. Before man had come upon the scene, before he fell in disobedience and so came under the penalty of the first death, Tophet had been prepared. But that inevitably suggests that there had been a prior fall a prior sin in a pre—Adamite era and this the Word of our Lord distinctly confirms "then shall He say to those on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" Matt. 25:41. (17) It is probable, though not certain, that the fall of Satan may have been the underlying cause of much that is unexplained in the remote past.

God is the God of Measure, and His acts are measured, not mindless. So it is not surprising that we find the four basic arithmetical functions in the Genesis record each with a moral teaching. The first is division. This is prominent in the work of the first four days. God divides the things which displease Him from those which He sees as good. Addition comes on days five and six, in which God adds mobile life to His remedial work of days two and three. The life God added proceeded from where God was and because He is a blessing God, that life was ordered to be fruitful and multiply. In summary God divided the good from the bad, added life to the good and told it to multiply but in the end He subtracted from all His work by desolating the world according to Gen. 1:2. Why? Because Gen. 1:2 omits all reference to God. Did Job have an insight into Satan's rebellion against God and its consequences when he said—(18)

“The Wise in heart and Mighty in strength,

Who has defied Him, and remained unhurt?

Who displaces mountains, and they know not

That He has overturned them in His wrath;

Who makes the earth to tremble out of her place,

So that her pillars rock to and fro;

Who commands the sun, and it rises not;

And seals up the stars.”

The Adam Creation

Paul tells us that God is not the God of disorder. So He begins a remedial work, which for the sake of convenience we will call The Adam Creation. A chart outlining what God said and did, and bearing this caption, accompanies this chapter. In view of what has already been written it need hardly be emphasized that the account of creation in this chart is not restricted to the Adam creation, but includes the prehistoric creation as well.

In the strictest sense the term The Adam Creation is a misnomer. The only creation is the prehistoric creation. Man followed as the next and last creation. However the term is factual if we understand it to mean God's work of refashioning the earth after the Ice age, restocking it with life, creating man, and making everything in the world subordinate to him. God began this work at some unknown point late in the Pleistocene Epoch, which ranged from 2.5 million years ago until Adam was created. The time cannot be established, but in a general way the ice sheets had probably retreated, leaving a desolated world behind them and inducing flooding conditions.

If the reader has followed what has been written so far, he will see clearly that the correct interpretation of Gen. 1:2 is the key to the riddle of the only two theories worthy of consideration the Day Age and Gap theories. The Day Age theory is largely true, but its starting point is fallacious that God created the world a ruin which Scripture states is not the case. The gap theory does not provide for the dual content of the days in Gen. 1 i.e. the ages of the prehistoric creation and the shortened times of the Adam creation both of which are covered in the same account. Furthermore there is no scientific evidence that God refashioned the earth in six literal days a tenet of the gap theory. When Dawson challenged Buckland to provide geological evidence of this so called six literal days work he was unable to reply. Some think that a reconciliation of these conflicting theories is unlikely. R.A. Torrey tried it in 1907 in his Difficulties in the Bible but was handicapped by the science of his day. Bernard Ramm comments on this point in The Christian View of Science and Scripture (19)— "you cannot appeal to both the gap of Gen. 1:2 and the age day interpretation of the days without throwing the whole process of reconciliation of Genesis and Geology into confusion. Who could ever tell which belonged to the ages of the gap, and the ages of the six age days?" Keeping this objection in mind we will now move on to a consideration of the six days work of the Adam creation.

a. Day One: The first question we are faced with here is the meaning of a day in the Adam creation. It arises because Gen. 1:5 says "and the evening and the morning were the first day" a statement repeated on each succeeding day, varied only by marking out the day in question. Gap theorists tend to hold these days as literal. However they are more likely to be periods shorter than the prehistoric days but extensive just the same. The clause "the evening and the morning were the— day" is a device to separate the days, ending each day with the morning. Its meaning is primarily moral to teach us that God's work begins with light and ends with the morning.

Gen. 1:2, if interpreted literally, would mean that the entire world was flooded and in darkness, following the melting of the great ice sheets. This is too sweeping a conclusion, especially in the light of the geological record. Rather it suggests darkness and deep waters at a given point where God intervenes, and which is largely representative of the whole. There God retraces His work in the beginning by once more saying "let there be light." The geological record is not involved in this initial intervention. Rather God "described a circle on the face of the deep" Prov. 8:27-29. Because the circle is the symbol of the eternal God, its inclusion here tells us that just as the creation began with God, so it must end with God. And it does, for man was created in the image of God.

Day Two: We know that the atmospheric heavens and the waters on the earth the subject of day two were still in place. If this were not so, the cold of outer space would have frozen the deep over which darkness prevailed before God began His remedial work. Nevertheless they were malfunctioning. God's work on day two was establishing the ratio between water in the seas and water vapor in the clouds as it existed previously or as He chose to modify it— "when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep" Prov. 8:2-29. What is not told us, but what we know today, is that all life on earth lives at the bottom of an air ocean, one of whose functions is to shelter it from the deadly radiation of outer space.

Because the source of the disorder in the solar system remains uncorrected in day two, the divine light of day one is the candle of the earth. The geological record is not affected by what happened on day two.

Day Three: Two edicts go forth on this day. In the first "let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear" we see God retracing His original work in another way. In the prehistoric creation this fiat was executed when the supercontinent arose from the primeval sea. Here it is realized by the removal of the ice sheets from the land, so that once more it can appear. The record assumes we know, as any school child does, that water vapor, snow, and ice, are all water in different forms. The second fiat ordering the earth to bring forth vegetation follows logically from the removal of the glaciers which destroyed forests and other forms of vegetation on the earth. So God returns to His original thought of a world filled with fruitfulness.

Once again we observe that the source of the disorder in the solar system is still not corrected on day three. So on that day the divine light of day one is still the only candle of the earth. The geological record is not affected by these doings, because what has taken place is the geological record, not a confrontation with it.

Day Four: On day four God's work is not on earth but in the heavens or to be more specific in that part of the heavens we call the solar system. The reason why the work of the fourth day has not been generally interpreted as the restoration of the solar system's usefulness to life on earth is the reference in the text to the stars. Most people mistakenly think these must be the stars of outer space. Not so. They are mentioned in the record to give us a composite picture of the solar system, thus identifying the subject under discussion. So we have the sun, the moon, and the other planets of the solar system which are called stars here. Scripture would seem to support this interpretation, for it calls Venus, one of these so called stars, the bright and morning star. As for the stars of outer space, they were part of the original creation of the heavens, and have nothing to do with the remedial work or making of the fourth day. The stars of the fourth day are really the other planets of the solar system. They were made, not created, on the fourth day. There is a distinction between make and create in Hebrew, as Kennion points out. How they were made is not told us, but a ratio adjustment in their orbits might be how it was done.

So God made the two great lights the sun and the moon. In the simplest possible terms He corrected whatever malfunctioning took place in the earth sun ratio, the orbit of the earth, or other causation factors of the Ice age on earth. Once this was done the divine light of days one, two, and three was withdrawn. That temporary arrangement was replaced with the definitive light of sun and moon. A constant, regulated source of light for the earth was a precondition for the life of days five and six ahead.

e. Days Five and Six: The last two days have a common theme restocking the world with mobile life in the three spheres of creation heaven, earth, and sea. Several questions arise because of this work.

.. Prehistoric life what was its meaning? Of the various forms of prehistoric life, the dinosaurs, rather than the life which preceded or followed them, seem most to have caught the imagination of the public, especially children. So we shall consider them as representative of prehistoric life as a whole. This is not true scientifically, but it is a practical way of looking at this subject, for most people think that way. A contemporary scientist, Dr. David Norman acknowledged this phenomenon in these words "the nature of their appeal...may be simply their immense size, or the grotesque appearance of their skeletons or...a violent or blood thirsty life style...dinosaurs are very big...even awe inspiring, and are all extinct...they are also the very personification of 'dragons' or other mythical beasts that are associated with folk lore traditions dating back long before dinosaurs were first described. This common factor of a human obsession with dragons, mythical beasts, or dinosaurs, may be a key feature relating to the very essence of the human condition the imaginative and creative aspects of the human intellect.(20)”

Dr. Norman's analysis of the popularity of dinosaurs is a penetrating one. It may even have some support in Scripture. In Revelation, for example, Satan is called a dragon thirteen times. He is called the great dragon, suggesting a beast of huge size and ferocity as the dinosaurs were. He is called a great red dragon, implying a predator red with blood. His tail draws the third part of the stars of heaven and casts them to the earth. Out of his head comes the roar of the dragon calling the world together to make war with the Lamb.

In principle it is true that whatever happens in heaven affects the earth, so the fall of Satan should not have left the earth unscathed. A number of writers mostly gap theorists have linked the fall of Satan to the carnage of the prehistoric world. This may be. Certainly the evidence of fierce struggle is there, not only in the ferocious teeth and claws of the predators, but in the way their prey were equipped to battle them. The herbivorous creatures were encased with formidable armor, spikes projecting out from their backs, huge horns, and tails at the end armed with spikes or battering rams of bone to flail their enemies. Still there is nothing in Scripture to indicate headship over the beasts before Adam, so all must be conjecture and inference as to the meaning of all this. If Satan's fall was the root cause of the carnage, when did this take place? The fossil record is a history of violent death from the earliest beginnings of life on earth. Furthermore the immense size of the dinosaurs might be simply sourced to the extreme fertility of their semi tropical habitat, which was luxuriant with vegetation. The 80 ton Brontosaurus and other huge herbivorous creatures would act as giant lawn mowers to control the growth of vegetation. This in turn called for king size predators to maintain a balance in nature. An alternative speculation is attributing the Ice age to the fall of Satan.

Perhaps the best approach to these theological speculations is to by pass them. There is no point in taking a position on matters which may have some merit but are debatable. It is more realistic to look at the prehistoric world as a prelude to what was to follow the world as a home for man. One feature of prehistoric life should be mentioned in passing that is that the fossil record reveals waves of unexplained disappearances of animals followed by similarly unexplained waves of new life.(21) To a believer this is evidence of a Creator. The story of the Adam creation which follows is virtually a parallel of this phenomenon.

.. Life in the Adam Creation: We need not assume that the Ice age exterminated all life. A number of animals like the wooly mammoth and the mastodon coped with the extremely cold climate. But regardless of what life spilled over into man's world, it was greatly depleted. So "God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, and cattle according to their kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind." That tells us that God restocked the earth with another wave of originations to replace the disappearances, just as He did many times before in prehistoric ages. This time, however, the lower animals were attuned to human needs. Man could not cope with the savage life of the Triassic, for example.

The creeping thing is a broad term for insect life, bacteria and viruses all of which are involved in the life and death cycle of human existence. However the Genesis record does not go into details. It is written from the viewpoint of what can be seen under the sun.

The cattle are the herbivorous animals, many of whom man has domesticated. With the ox he tilled the ground until recent times. The horse gave us basic transportation in peace it was the prime beast of burden on the farm in war it formed the cavalry. The cow gave milk, the sheep wool for clothing. All of them put meat on the table.

The beasts of the earth today are not different in principle from those in the prehistoric world. However, some of them were scaled down and others were modified so they were less ferocious. God did this to help us cope with them and subdue them. Consider, for example, the crocodile. Although dreaded, it cannot be compared to huge monsters like Allosaurus. The tiger of today is ferocious, but not nearly as much so as the saber toothed tiger of the Pleistocene. God takes pride in this fierce creation, which displays His power and might. This can be seen in what He says to Job. He rehearses His creatorial works from laying the foundations of the earth to giving life to the predators Job 38, 39. In this discourse He reminds Job of the lion who hunts his prey on land, the crocodile who makes the deep boil like a pot, and the eagle whose young suck up blood.

Animals of all kinds are also used to illustrate truths throughout the Bible. In Revelation, for example, the Lord is symbolically portrayed as a lamb and a lion the one being a herbivorous animal and the other a carnivorous one. In Rev. 13 His enemy is depicted as a beast. This beast is like a leopard. He is assisted by another beast a hybrid who has two horns like a lamb but speaks like a dragon. Daniel too dreamed of "four great beasts coming up from the sea, different one from another" Dan. 7:3.

The Relevance of the Composite Theory of Creation to Our Times

In a broad sense two creations are spoken of in Scripture the heavenly, which is assumed but of which we are told very little, and the earthly, which is the subject of this chapter. The heavenly sphere is deathless it is the home of life of the holy angels. We are given glimpses of the city whose builder and maker is God at the end of the Bible, but that is all. The earth is just the opposite it has been a scene of death from the beginning. Every living thing is born to die. Even the command "be ye fruitful and multiply" implies the death of the parent stock. Unlike the holy angels who are sexless because their population is static, man was created male and female, and the race must be constantly renewed to replace the ravages of death. Indeed the inevitability of death, and man's accountability to God for his life on earth, is the teaching of the Bible from its opening pages. It is a compelling reason why God gave us a revelation of creation in writing, because man's secret thoughts are to forget about God as much as possible, and make this world his home.

While the interrelationship between heaven and earth is stressed in the Genesis record, its primary thrust is the earth. It seems highly probable that God's great purpose in creating the universe was simply to form the earth out of it. This statement would evoke ridicule from those who know not God, because they cannot see the earth for what it is a moral center for the display of God's ways and the resolution of the sin question. If the creation of the universe displays God as the God of physics, the creation of the earth displays Him as the God of life. Life in two spheres as well natural life and eternal life. First we see God as the Creator of marine, bird, and animal life, with man the crown of that creation. Then we see God the Son become Man, and communicating His own life to man which life is called eternal life in Scripture. The Man Christ Jesus reveals God as the Ruler of the moral universe. The earth is the only world in which God has been revealed to man in these two ways, which explains its importance. Satan understands this only too well. The seed of the serpent said "this is the heir come let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be ours" Mark 12:7. The inheritance is the final rule of this world for one thousand years not other worlds, no matter how great they may be. Satan will contest this with Christ at Armageddon, but will be overcome.

So it is evident that the natural man looks at God's revealed thoughts as foolishness. Having rejected God's offer of eternal life the unregenerate scoff at Christ being the Author of natural life. They prefer to attribute the origin of all things to blind chance. Much of this can be traced to the theory of evolution a subject which would require too great a weighting in this book if reviewed in depth. It is preferable to trace evolutionary thought to its roots in the ancient world. By evolutionary thought we do not mean the attempts of the ancient Greeks, for example, to theorize about evolution. Rather we think of evolution as part of a larger package whose end purpose is subverting the doctrine and practice of God's creation. This we will examine in the way Scripture tells us how to simplify and understand apparently complex problems "by their fruits ye shall know them." We will first look at the roots of the subversion in the ancient world then the flowering and fruiting of the bitter fruit being reaped today.

a. Satan's attempts to subvert the creation in the ancient world: The accepted teaching of science today is that everything not just life arose by pure chance. One statement, culled from the October 1960 edition of M.D. of Canada, should expose the folly of this position "mathematicians have calculated that if a molecule of ribonucleic acid had to be created by the chance encounter of atoms, it would require infinitely more time than the presumed age of the entire universe." However, such calculations have not dispersed unbelief among scientists. Consider this statement, for example, by Dr. David Norman, a contemporary scientist "in the Triassic Period the various continental blocks had, by pure chance, all bumped together to form the so called supercontinent of Pangaea." By pure chance? Hardly. That supercontinent was to fragment into continents, forming islands in the sea much as original matter was to fragment into the islands in space we call planets, and so forth. A directing mind is behind all things, and an overall plan we find difficult to discern.

This is not helped when an opposing mind is at work in the universe, blinding men's minds to the truth and keeping their understandings darkened.

World history is the record of how the evil mind of Satan has deliberately attempted to pervert God's creation. Satan was irritated because God made the lower creation subordinate to man. He saw in this a delegation of authority he wanted vested in himself. He also wanted man to transgress the framework in which God had set him. He would wean man from the earth the home which God had provided for him and divert his thoughts to the heavens and the higher creatures who inhabit them. He accomplished these various objectives by getting man to worship both animal gods and the fallen angels under the guise of gods. At the same time he implanted the germ of space travel in man.

These were the central themes of paganism from earliest times. The ancient Egyptians left behind them abundant evidence of their characteristic idolatry in temples, idols, and paintings on the walls of their tombs. Satan's priests taught man to worship animals as gods. This was a subversion of the divine order which made the lower creation subject to man. Not content with this, they invented hybrid gods whose bodies were part human and part animal. This implied physical union between man and beast. If such a thing were possible it would destroy the distinct kinds God established and introduce confusion into the creation. God knew how the nations lusted after such evil. So in Lev. 18:23 He prohibited His people from engaging in such defilement. These aberrations or attempted aberrations for it is difficult to determine how far they went were either practiced throughout the pagan world or the subject of their fantasies. This is evident because of their prominence in the mythology of the Graeco Roman world. If Mt. Vesuvius had not erupted in A.D. 79, burying the twin cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, we would not have known as much as we do about life in those days. The entombment of these pagan cities, which spared them from the pillage of the barbarians later on, gives us a remarkable insight into the life of that far away world. In Pompeii the rich had artists paint murals on the wet plaster walls of their houses, so they became a permanent part of the decor. The principal subjects perpetuated the ancient Egyptian theme of human animal confusion, adapted to their own mythology. The ancient murals depict hybrid creatures with, for example, the body of a horse and the head of a man or the body of a horse and the head of a woman. These creations of their imagination are pictured soaring through space in pitch darkness. This helps us understand what Paul meant in Rom. 1:25 when he wrote about those who served created things rather than the Creator. These hybrid creatures are representative of recurring themes in the murals. They reveal the longing of the human heart, prompted by Satan, to commit two opposite transgressions to bring confusion and chaos into the creation by procreating with the lower animals, and in association with higher beings i.e. the fallen angels, to leave man's home on the earth for the heavens. The latter theme had many variations in Pompeii. A popular motif was the attempted union of Zeus the king of the gods i.e. Satan, with Leda, the wife of the king of Sparta. An occasional mural will show a woman travelling through space in inky darkness, with no evident means of propulsion. At other times gods and demons are illustrated in human form with outstretched wings. Gods in human form with wings attached are featured at the nuptials of Zeus and Hera, and the crowning of Zeus winged demons in human bodies at the Villa of the Mysteries. This particular corruption has filtered down to present times in illustrations of angels with wings something that is unheard of in Scripture.

These vile perversions of the ancient world seemed to have passed away when men yielded feigned obedience to Christ in what was once called Christendom. Actually they remained dormant, until evolutionary dogma enabled them to blossom in another form, more suited to a technological age.

b. The Post Napoleonic professing Christian world impact of evolutionary thought : The battle of Waterloo brought peace to a world drenched with the bloodshed of the Napoleonic wars. It introduced what was, for man, a century free from major European wars. (22) It was a century of unprecedented gospel blessing, enlightenment in the Scriptures, expansion of scientific knowledge, and the arts of peace. Satan wanted a different gospel preached a social gospel to anchor man to this world, and blind him to the truth that he is lost and needs a Savior. His "yea, hath God said?" this time was to cast doubt on the credibility of the creation record. He waited for the opportune time to launch his counter attack shortly after the mid century mark. His scheme to deceive the nations was helped by the lack of consensus among believers as to just how the Genesis record of creation should be interpreted. This was the setting in which Charles Darwin and his associates dazzled men’s minds with the theory of evolution of animal populations.

As a young man Darwin was undecided about his career. He first attended Edinburgh University to study medicine, but dropped out because of a sensitivity to surgical operations. He then went to Cambridge University to study for the Anglican ministry, but changed course again and became a scientist. In this field he succeeded brilliantly. He became noted for his studies of earthworms and the formation of coral reefs. His further researches led to the publication of two works on evolution The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man. Evolution became virtually a religion in the Western world. Its apostle could not have made more converts had he completed his theological training and been ordained as the Rev. Charles Darwin.

Like all religions, evolution has its characteristic appeal. First the time was right man had heard the gospel and wanted no more of it. This is anticipated in the Lord's parable in Luke 14 the rejection of the invitation to the Great Supper because of the more appealing attractions of this life. Secondly, like all religions, evolution contains a certain amount of truth to make it plausible and acceptable on top of which is superimposed a mountain of error. Faith in man's wisdom surmounts the difficulties, making evolution the preferred alternative to belief in divine creation.

The element of truth in evolution is that animal populations change and adapt to the dynamic and restless environment of the earth. If they lacked this capability they would soon become extinct. Darwin saw the mechanism as natural selection, but left the door open for other agencies also. Later Mendel's discoveries in genetics helped us understand how God has built change and adaptation into His creatures. Scripture does not rule this out it merely ignores the detail of how God creates, while insisting that He did create. As William Kelly remarked "there is nothing in Scripture to exclude a succession of creatures rising to higher organization from lower (23)." Furthermore we need not look to the prehistoric world to observe this. Man is able to breed animals for specific needs work horses and racehorses, hunting dogs, guard dogs, and gentle pets. The lesson we may distill from all this is that God preprogrammed His creatures to change and adapt within kinds, through various regulating mechanisms of His choice such as natural selection, genetic mutations, and so on.

Evolutionary dogma teaches that all the way from molecule to man everything arose by blind chance alone, without a Divine, directing mind.(24) The extension of this thinking is that there are no limits to the mechanisms of change, since God is not recognized as the Author of them. These errors lead on to exaggerations and untenable conclusions. In the early beginnings of life fish were supposed to have migrated to land and evolved into animals. Now while the Genesis record does not define kind, it is reasonable to assume that a very broad classification was in the mind of God. 1 Cor. 15:39 may capture the thought, although kind there is inferred in the Greek "there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds." The Genesis record makes it clear that marine life preceded life on land but that was because of divine fiat. How do the evolutionists explain this fact? They do so by inventing what Scripture calls "cunningly devised fables." The fish crawled out of the water and began to breathe on land, they claim. Nobody is certain why they did this but some have suggested that the predatory fish were giving them a hard time. The amphibian fish were even more resourceful, and in time evolved into reptiles. And some reptiles evolved into dinosaurs. What happened when the dinosaurs died out then? Why the mammals took over. But what were the mammals doing before then? It is suggested that they were hiding away from the dinosaurs. It is as unlikely that a saber toothed tiger would hide away from anything as that some fish was the remote ancestor of a dinosaur.

As the 19th century waned, Darwin's teachings were transplanted to the political arena, admittedly in distorted form. Nevertheless they evolved, shall we say, into the militaristic doc trine that might is right. Then came the horrors of battlefields like Verdun in the First World War W.W.2 followed like one horseman of the Apocalypse coming after another. German cities were fire bombed Japanese cities A bombed. Millions of lives were taken in the gas chambers. With W.W.3 looming ahead, the nations of the world are spending one trillion dollars a year in armaments. No wonder Dean Rusk said "only one third of the people of the world are asleep at any given moment. The other two thirds are awake and probably stirring up mischief somewhere.(25)”

What was it that Darwin wrote about man's evolving goodness in The Descent of Man "The moral structure of man has reached its present standard, partly through the advancement of reasoning powers, and consequently of a just public opinion, but especially from his sympathies having been rendered more tender and widely diffused through the effects of habit, example, instruction, and reflection. It is not improbable that, after long practice, virtuous tendencies may be inherited'.(26)”

Darwin's teachings on the moral structure of man are a denial of the fall, the entrance of sin into the world, and man's need of a Savior. The evolutionary doctrine that everything can be attributed to chance has to be a refutation of the truth that the Son of God was sent into this world not by chance but to execute divine counsels. Its ultimate blasphemy is only unveiled when we take its teachings to their logical conclusion i.e. that since God's Son became a Man His true genealogy can be traced to an animal. So little has changed since the Lord was on earth and said "ye do dishonor Me" John 8:49. In this sense Darwin's teachings paved the way for the Post Christian world.

c. The development of evolutionary thought in the Post Christian world: The Post Christian world is a turning away from God to Satan. It arose from the public repudiation of the principles of Christian morality in the way the belligerent powers fought the two world wars. It is not surprising, therefore, that W.W.2 Saw the air, the seat of Satan's power, in the ascendancy. Radar, radio, and T.V. were subtle manifestations of this sphere of influence. More visible were aircraft and missiles. In W.W.2 air power replaced sea power, as was evident in the Pacific theatre and the surrender of Japan. On land the German army was crippled from lack of fuel caused by the air bombing of the synthetic fuel plants which supplied it. Missiles threatened England. It was not apparent until sometime after the war that a fundamental change was taking place. The missile and the computer the principal fallout from the war were ushering in the Space Age.

The time was right for man to burst the chains which bound him to this planet. I recall the elation in Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto when the astronauts landed on the moon. "Moon girls" walked around the square handing out "moon juice" to people watching the moon walk of the astronauts on out size T.V. screens mounted everywhere. Other people celebrated a "howl in" under the light of the moon in High Park. To the public this seemed to be the climax of the space race with Russia which President Kennedy launched, and which the United States had won.

Darwin's theory is the principal motivation for space exploration(27) and indirectly for the modern drift back to paganism. Even the rockets which were probing planets named after the gods were themselves named after the gods.(28) Few people understand that the driving force behind space exploration is worldwide scientific lobbying for government funding of space exploration programs. Why? Because scientists want confirmation of evolutionary doctrine that life originated by chance on earth by finding it on other worlds. Given the number of worlds the chances should favor the probing. So the world at the time of the moon landings was in a ferment. Scientific congresses were held at which the top flight scientists of the world debated the likelihood of life in other worlds and how space probes should be directed to find it. Project Ozma was launched. Its director had a huge radio telescope to search for signals from space transmitted by "intelligent beings from other worlds." There were of course other motives for space exploration military and national prestige considerations being among them. However the overriding consideration was that the world's scientists wanted confirmation that life had evolved by chance in other worlds as they claimed it had on earth. We are living in a pagan, non Christian world.

Subtle confirmation of this scientific motivation surfaced when the astronauts returned from the moon. They were quarantined on landing to make sure they hadn't picked up low forms of life on the moon. Even their clothing was examined for moon germs. The findings were negative. But there was a positive finding the teaching of Genesis was confirmed from a study of the moon rocks. The moon was found to be low in chemicals that might indicate the presence of life but high in content of many pieces of spherical glass colored dark brown, yellow, and yellowish brown. That confirms the function God assigned the moon to reflect the sun's light "the small light to rule the night" Gen. 1:16.

Another part of the same package denying or distorting the Genesis account of the origin and destiny of life and of man in particular is the heinous doctrine of reincarnation. This means the rebirth of a soul in a new body. It is a denial of man's accountability to God for his life in the body. It seeks to avert the judgment Scripture warns about "it is appointed to man once to die, and after this the judgment" Heb. 9:27. This doctrine, widely held in the East, found roots in the West after it had largely abandoned its Christian traditions. Nature abhors a vacuum, and into the vacuum of Western indifference to the truth this error rushed.

In summary Satan has had a strategic plan in place over the ages to demote man from the exalted position in which God placed him and to dethrone God as the Creator. His tactics have varied. In his attacks on man he has implanted the idea of union with the lower creation, the offspring of which were to be worshipped as gods or goddesses. Latterly he has suggested to man the desirability of making contact with "intelligent beings from outer space." But this is simply a revival of man's age old dream of leaving this earth for the heavens in consort with the fallen angels the gods of the pagan world. Man can rationalize this behavior because he thinks he is his own god. Doesn't evolutionary teaching attribute everything to blind chance? If life arose in this world by blind chance why not in other worlds too? Why not search out this life? In the quest man is accountable to no one. Being his own blind chance god he can do as he likes.

Such is the thinking of the age. We will now move on to the triumph of one phase of Satan's tactics as an illustration of the whole. This took place in the public arena, in the United States. Regrettably it exposes the failure of an effective opposition due to a faulty understanding of Gen. 1.

The Tennessee Monkey Trial

The public profession of Christianity regardless of whether it is true or feigned has historically been a strengthening force in Western civilization. That profession is fading fast. Scripture teaches us that it will be given up entirely some day, as men will openly apostatize from the faith. Why did this happen? It was a gradual process, but we might learn something about it from what is virtually a case history in its development. This is the Tennessee "monkey trial" of 1925.

The battle over the teaching of evolution in the school system: Although Darwin's Origin of Species was published in England in 1859, there was little reaction to it in the United States at first because of the Civil War. Eventually though, militant fundamentalist groups lobbied against the spread of evolutionary doctrine. They succeeded in getting Oklahoma to outlaw evolutionary textbooks. In Tennessee in March 1925 the Butler Act became law. It prohibited the teaching of evolution in educational institutions. The next month the press notified the public of a coming challenge to the act by the American Civil Liberties Union. To bring the matter before the courts George W Rappleya, an engineer who believed in evolution, persuaded the A.C.L.U. to target J. T. Scopes, a biology teacher who was openly teaching evolution in Dayton, Tenn. Rappleya swore out a warrant against Scopes. Then the opposing sides mustered their forces for the midsummer trial.

The Conflict moves to the courts amid a comic setting: The defense marshaled twelve professors and scientists led by Prof. Kirtley Mather of Harvard, and a number of prominent lawyers. The principal lawyer for the defense was Clarence Darrow, an agnostic for the prosecution William Jennings Bryan, a fundamentalist lay preacher. They appeared in court in shirt sleeves and suspenders because of the heat. People fanned themselves. Both the town and the scene of the trial soon began to look like a circus. Showmen offered to rent chimpanzees to the litigants to make the "monkey trial" more realistic. Outside the courtroom a man calling himself John the Baptist the third showed up. He wandered in and out of hot dog and watermelon stands and swarms of cranks. A tailor whose name was Darwin put a sign in his store window "Darwin is right inside." H.L. Mencken was nearly driven out of town for calling the townspeople yokels. In this carnival atmosphere the trial opened on July 10. It was a sweltering day. Because of the heat and the overcrowding of the building the trial was adjourned. Then it was re opened outside, under the maples. More than 2,000 spectators listened in from car tops or anything else they could find. While 165,000 words were spoken daily by both sides, they were largely meaningless.

c. The Trial Darrow began with a psychological softening up of the prosecution: He tried to discredit the fundamentalist cause and its champion with smear tactics. Then he called Bryan to the witness stand. "We are calling him as an expert on the Bible" Darrow said "his reputation as an authority on Scripture is recognized throughout the world." Instead of rejecting this bait Bryan fell for it. Then Darrow sprang the trap. He read Gen. 1:5 "and the evening and the morning were the first day." He asked Bryan if he believed that the sun was created on the fourth day. Bryan answered affirmatively. "Then" Darrow said "how could there have been a morning and evening without any sun?" Bryan was unable to answer. The world authority on Scripture mopped his brow. Darrow went on to discredit the miracles in the Bible. He made them look so ridiculous that the spectators broke into laughter. Bryan turned livid. His voice rose in anger. Unable to refute Darrow effectively he indulged in emotional rhetoric instead. Judge Raulston saw through the emptiness of his rebuttal and rightly ruled that his testimony be removed from the record.

The state won the trial, but only because Scopes had clearly broken the law. It was a Pyrhhic victory. The Butler Act remained on the books until 1967 when it was repealed. Poor Bryan died in his sleep a few days after the verdict. He was a better man than his performance at the trial suggested. His failure was due to his misunderstanding of the days of Gen. 1. d. An overview of the trial and its fallout We believe that the Composite Theory of Creation outlined in this chapter would have answered Darrow's arguments. God did not create the sun on the fourth day it shone for millions of years before the Ice age of Gen. 1:2. He simply did an unspecified remedial work within the solar system on day four. There was evening and morning without the sun because the divine light of Gen. 1:3 illuminated the world for the first three days. But nobody understood this at the trial. Darrow himself scorned the Bible. He continued his harangue, ridiculing the Scriptures in general and miracles in particular. He sold the court a bill of goods ignorance of the Scriptures and denial of God's works in them miracles being only a case in point. The Lord's words to His adversaries covered both areas "you err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God" Matt. 22:29. The sad fruits of this ignorance were foreseen long ago by the prophet Hosea "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge 3''" Hos. 4:6.

A Summary of the Composite Theory of Creation

The Composite Theory of Creation is at variance with both the early earth literal six days of creation theory and the flood geology school. The first of these two theories fails to interpret the days of Gen. 1 as extended eons of geological time, and the second makes the earth's geology revolve around God's judgment on His creation that is Noah's flood rather than on the creation record itself which is in Gen. 1. Furthermore neither of these two theories has serious scientific support. The Composite Theory of Creation is a synthesis of the best features of the Age Day and Gap theories, which acknowledge the antiquity of the earth yet fail to reconcile scientific findings with the Genesis account.

The core tenet of the Composite Theory of Creation is that God intentionally located Gen. 1:2 The record of the ice age out of chronological sequence, and that the ice age itself can be attributed to a malfunctioning of the solar system, corrected by the remedial work of the fourth "day." Once this is understood, and Gen. 1:2 transposed to the end of the creation account, the Old Testament Scriptures which refer to the ice age are aligned with it, rather than left standing in isolation. In total this means that our interpretation is at harmony with the geological record. It is also in agreement with Scripture which is the best proof of its correctness. But this is the subject of Chapter 2.4

Chapter 2.4

Confirmation of the Composite Theory of Creation on the Moral Plane

For almost two thousand years, with the knowledge of the Scriptures and of science ebbing and flowing in many lands and generations, Christians have debated the interpretation of Gen. 1. Why this should be is explained in Prov. 25:2 "it is the glory of God to conceal a thing but the honor of kings is to search out a matter." Like the universe itself the object of endless probing by science Gen. 1 is one of those passages of Scripture which can be classified as "the deep things of God.”

With so many theories current on the interpretation of Gen. 1, how can we be certain that the one advanced in this book is not just another one, but the correct interpretation? The answer lies in 1 Cor. 15:46 "that was not first which is spiritual." So God gave us the story of the natural creation first in Gen. 1 Then much later the underlying spiritual meaning of it in the New Testament. Because these are congruous, the best proof of the Composite Theory of Creation is its link to the New Testament writers, who were distanced from Moses by some 1500 years. They link together the three domains over which God rules. In Gen. 1 we see God as the ruler of the physical universe He created and the life in it. Then when we come to the New Testament we see that Same God giving us a mirror image of that creation in the moral sphere. Man is introduced to God's moral universe by the new birth. Because of man's lost condition he needs a new creation. In 2 Cor. 5:7 we find it "if any one is in Christ there is a new creation the old things have passed away behold all things have become new." We know that Christ is the Head of this new creation from Rev. 3:14 "these things says the Amen....the beginning of the creation of God" i.e. the new creation, in the language of Scripture.

To summarize the new creation, while separate and distinct from the old creation, is its mirror image in the New Testament. That is because Christ is the Head of both creations, so a unity shines through. The physical creation of Gen. 1 is explained in spiritual terms in the New Testament.

The Range of God's Works Is the Key to the Understanding of the Whole

God began His creation with the heavens and the earth displaying His wisdom and His power. He ended His creation with a woman revealing His heart. The key to understanding everything between i.e. the story of the creation interpreted from a spiritual viewpoint is to begin with the origin of the woman, and trace things backward to the ultimate origin of man.

In the first book of the Bible nothing is said about the organization of marine, bird, and land life into males and females. This is only said of man. It is not until the flood is approaching in Gen. 6:19 that this is noted and then only in passing. The omission is deliberate. It is to alert us to the unique nature of man's being, as we read in Gen. 1:27 "so God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him male and female created He them." The creation of the female implied the coming in of death, for the biological function of any class of female is to perpetuate life subject to death. Death did not enter the world because of the lower creation rather it was "as by one man came death." Scripture presents this in reverse order in Eve. In the second instance she brought death into the world by listening to the serpent. In the first instance at her creation she brought death on the man, typically of course, that he might have her. So we read in Gen. 2:21, 22 "and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to overcome Adam, and he slept. And he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead. And the Lord God built the rib that He had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man." But where did this man come from to whom the woman was brought? Gen. 2:7 tells us that "the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground." When man fell God said to him "in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return." To return to dust is to return to the amorphous state of things before God formed man's body mere dust scattered like powder before a breeze. The dust came from the ground and it is to the ground man's body returns. So the first man Adam and his descendants are of the earth earthy. But we must go back further than the ground to determine man's origin. The ground was the dry land which came out of the seas on the third day. The earth is also the reservoir of the deep, on the face of which is darkness.

We can now summarize the origin of man and woman. The woman came out of the man. The man came out of the dust, which came out of the ground, which came out of the deep and the darkness. The deep speaks of the human heart in its natural state filled with darkness and alienated from God by the fall, as Paul tells us. That is the origin of the first man Adam, the man of dust. Man's sin seemed to have defeated God's purpose in creating him. Man's prospects seemed hopeless.

What is hidden in the creation story however, is that God had a new Man in mind to replace the man of dust. (1) That is why the underlying spiritual teaching of Gen. 1 is the typical history of another Man, the Lord Jesus Christ the Last Adam, the Man of glory. Also included is the story of the believer's transfer from the headship of Adam the man of dust to the headship of Christ the Man of glory.

The Last and Glorious Man—the Story of How the First Three Days of Gen. 1 Reveal the Birth, Life, Death and Resurrection of Christ

The first three days of Gen. 1 Correspond morally to three New Testament truths first the birth of the Son of the Highest into this world secondly the division of the people among whom He moved because of His life and teachings and thirdly His death and resurrection. These three truths, in the order listed, correspond to a matching day of the first three days in Gen. 1. Both these truths and the days in Gen. 1 are tied together by the divine light of Christ as Creator and Redeemer. The key of knowledge is understanding that the divine light of days one, two, and three of the Genesis record, and not the sun, was the light of the world, just as Christ was the Light of the world when He was personally present in it.

a. Two views of the first day: In a spiritual sense the first day may be looked at in two ways. Its primary meaning is the entrance of Christ into a world of darkness in other words His birth and early life up to the point His public ministry began. But there is a derivative sense to the first day, for it may also be looked at as a picture of a believer turning from darkness to light at his conversion.

.. Day one viewed as the birth and early life of Christ: The birth of Christ is inferred as Genesis opens when God said "let there be light and there was light." The counterpart of this is found in the scenes in the New Testament anticipating the Lord's birth or telling us about it.

In Luke 1:78, 79 Zacharias, the father of John, recognizes the coming of the Light into the world. His son John should be His prophet. He spoke of "the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dayspring from on high has visited us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death." Then when Jesus' parents brought Him into the Temple, Simeon spoke of Him in Luke 2:32 as "a light to lighten the Gentiles." So the birth of Christ was the entrance of Light into the world of both Jews and Gentiles the true light, "which coming into the world lightens every man" where before all was darkness. God Himself who is light was present among men.

When John grew up He did indeed become the prophet of the Most High, for in John 1:4 9 we read "in Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in darkness and the darkness comprehends it not. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all men through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. The true light was that which, coming into the world, lightens every man." But this raises the question why God should send a man to tell the people that the light is shining. Alas only God saw the light that it was good in Gen. 1, and in John 1. But God shares with us a few rare glimpses of the shining of the Light in the early life of Christ in the gospels.

When Jesus was baptized in the waters of the Jordan, God's thoughts reverted to Gen. 1 John sees the Spirit descending like a dove from heaven and abiding on Jesus. In Gen. 1 The Spirit did not land on the watery waste but here He alights on Jesus, to whom John bears witness that He is the Son of God. He is the Great Light of Gen. 1 Come down to the watery waste of this world, for as soon as the Spirit of God came down in Gen 1 God said "let there be light.”

.. Day one as a picture of the new birth of a believer: It takes light to expose what is hidden in the darkness. Who would know that the world of old had been ruined until God said "let there be light." Then it was evident. It is the same really with the human heart as Psa. 119:130 tells us "the entrance of Thy words gives light it gives understanding to the simple." Paul draws on this in 1 Cor. 4:5 when he tells us that the Lord is going to bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of hearts. Then he writes another letter to the Corinthians on this subject. In 2 Cor. 4:6 he says "because it is God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine, who has shone in our hearts, for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." How darkened the human heart is! Normally we expect darkness at the bottom of the deep, not at its face, or surface. That darkness was so great that God had to tell men that the light was shining. On the face of the deep there was darkness in the face of Jesus Christ there is light. That light is the knowledge of the glory of God. It was the will of God that He should find all His glory in a man, and that man the Man of His eternal counsels, the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the "shining forth" meaning that God could not contain these thoughts He must share them with others. They must shine out, first on earth, then in heaven, until the entire universe is filled with the light of His glory.

The entrance of divine light into the heart marks a new beginning in man. Day one to the believer is when he accepts Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. On day one he can thank the Father who, as Col. 1:12, 13 tells us, "has made us fit for sharing the portion of the saints in light, who has delivered us from the authority of darkness." This means that, just as in Gen. 1 There is both light and darkness light where Christ is accepted darkness where He is rejected. 1 John 2:8 tells us that "the darkness is passing and the true light already shines.”

b. The second day and the Second Man: In 1 Cor. 15:47 Paul contrasts two men the first man out of earth made of dust, meaning the man of Gen. 1:2 who is without form and void, and the Second Man, the Lord out of heaven, our subject here. This Second Man, this Man of the second day, is the Man of heavenly blue. Because of this His life and ministry on the earth is divisive and physical division is the great mark of the second day. The Person of Christ divided men when He was in the world, and still does.

.. Intimations in Gen. 1 of how the Man of the second day would divide men and confirmation of this in John's gospel: In the Genesis account of creation the divine light of day one still illuminates the watery world of day two. God did all His works from the waters in the first three days. The reason is the seas in Scripture depict man's fallen state in different ways the wicked, the nations, trouble, restlessness and so on. God attracts some of this water heavenward on day two, leaving the waters below in their state of ruin.

To apply this division of the waters on day two morally, consider John the Baptist's witness. Pharisee priests and Levites were sent from Jerusalem to question John. They hear his witness to Christ but return to Jerusalem unaffected by it. They are representative of the rejection of Christ's Person in the historical record of all the gospels as well as His teaching, His miracles in fact everything. They are the waters of Gen. 1 which remain where they are in a state of ruin. But God has spoken the waters must be divided. Two of John's disciples hear him say "behold the Lamb of God" and they follow Jesus. They are the waters removed from the waste below their natural lost ruined condition and attracted heavenward to follow the Heavenly Man.

So day two ends in division some for Christ, those who have responded to the heavenly calling and some against Him those who chose to remain in the ruin of their fallen condition. At the same time the great light of day one is shining on day two. The world has no other light than The Dayspring on High who visited His people. God's dear children have been separated from the watery waste and attracted to the heavenly atmosphere of Christ. They are children of the day, having believed on the True Light which now shines.

.. How the Person of Christ, the Man of the second day, continues to divide men at the present time: God wants us to know that the rejection of Christ was not merely an historical thing i.e. restricted to the time He was on earth but an ongoing thing. He gives us an insight into how the Person of Christ divides men in the Lord's two questions to His disciples. His first question was "whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?" They replied that men were not agreed but in general terms thought of Him as a prophet. That is how unbelievers think of Christ today. Many of these Christ rejecters are in pulpits, and make no distinction between the Lord and the ranking religious teachers of all ages. They are blind not seeing the sun. Then there are His outright enemies, who in their secret hearts hate Him because His teachings expose their evil deeds. Looking past this barricade of rejection the Lord asked His disciples a second question "but whom say ye that I am?" Peter was given a revelation from the Father and replied "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Matt. 16:16. When we accept Christ as Savior the new birth separates us from those who have not been born again. "Ye are either for Me or against Me" Jesus said. It was God who divided the waters on day two, and it is the voice of Jesus calling us which removes us from the desolate waste of our former ruined condition and draws us heavenward.

The revelation of the Second Man as the Son of the Living God prepares the way for the third day. In what way? Well the Man of the second day has replaced the man we began with the man of dust. His Person has been revealed as Son of God. Once the excellency of His Person has been established, the way is opened for His redemptive work. This work is intimated on the third day of Gen. 1. To have a people God's Son must die for their sins and be raised on the third day.

c. The third day the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and the blessing flowing out of it:

The third day conveys two thoughts to us first Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, with fruit bearing because of it, and secondly the blessing accruing to believers because of His finished work.

.. The cross and the resurrection: On day three God said "let the waters under the heaven be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear." The one place to which the waters were gathered together is the cross foreshadowed in these words. We find the same thought in Psa. 69:1, 2 "save Me, O God, for the waters have come in to My soul I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow Me." Like the land buried under the seas Christ died and was buried, but like the land He too rose on the third day. That is where the command "let the dry land appear" becomes significant, for Scripture never uses words carelessly. In the resurrection scenes of the Lord Jesus the word appeared is prominent. It links the resurrection of Christ on the third day with the appearing of the dry land on the third day c.f.— Mark 16:9, 12, 14 and Luke 24:34. God is not content with raising the earth it must be seen.

.. Memorials of what Christ was in the flowers and fruits of the third day: God saw His work of raising the land from the waters and pronounced it good. He then proceeded to crown His work on the land by clothing it with vegetation. Then He said once more that this too was good before closing off His work of the third day. Now what do we learn from this?

Because the flower of the field is the end of the third day's work, this subject is interwoven throughout Scripture. Touching on a few examples, as memory recalls them, we can think of the Rose of Sharon, which speaks of the beauty and fragrance of Christ, and the lily of the valley which is Christ as the lowly dependent Man. He grew up before the Father as Isa. 53:2 tells us "like a tender plant" the plant of the Father's planting "and as a root out of dry ground" the dry ground was Israel who saw no beauty in Jesus that they should desire Him. And it is the Lord Himself who retraces God's ways with seed c.f. Gen. 1:29 an oblique throwback to the third day. In John 12:24 He says "except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abides alone but if it die it brings forth much fruit." Jesus was the True Corn of Wheat, the fruit of that heavenly land, and we are the Wheatfield. Even Israel, which presently rejects Him, will eventually be re-gathered. The Golden Lampstand in God's House is a figure of this, for it sheds its light on the twelve loaves on the Table of Showbread, representing an Israel which has forgotten the Lord, but which has not been forgotten by Him. That lampstand has captured in gold the death and resurrection of Christ in the budding, flowering and fruiting of the almond tree. When the Church period ends Israel will return to the Lord, and this witness will no longer be needed. But now let us leave God's House with its golden flowering almond tree, and walk out to the fields. There we find a different witness, for the Lord Himself reminds us, from the fields, of His coming splendor and worldly glory as the True Solomon, the King of Peace, who will reign over this world for 1000 years. His words in Matt. 6:28, 29 capture that coming glory "consider the lilies of the field how they grow they toil not neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that even Solomon in all His glory was not arrayed like one of these." If these examples are examined carefully a common thought emerges they are all memorials of the beauty and fruitfulness of Christ in this world treasured up before God the Father. They are also reminders to us of the preciousness of Christ. Mary of Bethany entered into this in spirit when she anointed Jesus' feet with costly perfume of spikenard. It was her tribute to His perfect walk, about to end in death. The Lord took this to the grave with Him John 12:7. He approves her act in Mark 14:9 "verily I say to you wherever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she has done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.".. Redemption ground the standing of the believer. The end of the third day's work puts the believer firmly on redemption ground for the first time. We have seen that on day one we were convicted of sin by light from God shining into our darkened hearts. Then on day two we turned to God from idols, so to speak, attracted to the Heavenly Man, and fleeing from the man of dust. But it is not good enough to be attracted to Christ. We are sinners and cannot approach God. What then? Why Christ settles the question of our sins to God's satisfaction on day three. In 1 Cor. 15:2,3 Paul explains the meaning of the dry land buried under the waters and rising the third day when he says "for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." What Scriptures? Well the first Scripture pointing to the death and resurrection of Christ is the third day of Gen. 1.

The Book of Romans gives us the point of reference for the believer's standing at the end of the third day. He is justified as an individual through the death and resurrection of Christ. Collective things come later. But spreading the fruit of redemption ground is his happy privilege as Paul points out in Col. 1:5, 6 "the gospel, which has come to you as it is in all the world, and brings forth fruit.”

The Last Three Days— the Ascension of Christ Followed by the Testimony of Christianity

The subject of the first three days of Gen. 1 morally speaking is the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ. We have seen how this is clearly mirrored in the gospels particularly John's gospel.

The subject of the last three days of Gen. 1 again speaking morally is the ascended Christ, His Church, those comprising it, and the conditions in the world during the Church period the purview of the New Testament epistles and the Acts of the Apostles. This explains a fact long known to students of Gen. 1 without a real understanding of why it should be that each of the first three days has a corresponding day in the last three days to which something is added. The explanation is that the subject of the first three days is the entire scope of Christ's life on earth, which calls for God's assessment of it, and reward. Consequently the subject of the last three days is Christ's ascension, the Church which is the reward of the cross, and the pathway of the Church through this world. What has God wrought then what has He added to Christ for His sufferings? That is the subject of the last three days, making it clear that the death and resurrection of Christ the culmination of the first three days is the solid bedrock on which God has added His own building the Church, whose Head is the ascended Christ.

a. The fourth day the solar system in moral format: The key to understanding Gen. 1 from the standpoint of both the creation record and its underlying moral teaching is what happened on the fourth day. In the Genesis record of creation the solar system is not pointed out to us in such a way that we can identify it until the fourth day. Why is that? A brief review of how God has enlightened His creation in the past will answer our question.

The opening statement of the Bible "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" includes the creation of the solar system, since it is part of the universe the subject of the first verse. But when we come to the second verse the world is in darkness. This tells us that the solar system was malfunctioning without going into details and we have learned that this triggered the ice age. Because of this God substituted divine light for natural light with His fiat "let there be light." For three days the Great Light of day one shone, but on the fourth day it was replaced by the light of the sun and moon, as God restored the solar system to its former function. We will now consider the spiritual teaching underlying these events.

.. Christ as the sun the Great Light of the heavens:Since we know that all things were created to mirror the glory of the Great Light, the shining of the divine light which persisted for three Genesis days has its counterpart in Christ as the light which shone for the three moral days of His life on earth. Day one was His birth and early life day two His ministry as we read of it in Matt. 4:15, 16 "the land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who sat in darkness saw great light and to those who sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up." However the effect of this precious day two ministry was to divide man from man. Those who loved the Savior are symbolized by the waters above the expanse i.e. the clouds of heaven, always in Scripture speaking of the divine presence. They left behind the waters below and followed the Heavenly Man. But the waters below were not moved by Christ's ministry. They are symbolized by the restless seas under the influence of the power of darkness. These are His enemies, who succeed in putting out the light of the world. On day three then, as the Lord Himself said, the Great Light can shine no more in the world "as long as I am in the world I am the light of the world." But He is no longer in the world. He told us that the Great Light which came from God would return to God in John 16:28 "I came forth from the Father and am come into the world again I leave the world and go unto the Father." So we find the Great Light in heaven on day four pictured as the sun supreme in the heavens separated from the world but its only true source of light. This is Christ in ascension glory, exalted by the right hand of God. Even the length of the solar year confirms the Lord's words in Rev. 3:21 That He occupies the throne of God.(2)

.. The moon the Church and the stars or planets picturing individual believers: In our studies about God which introduced this book we saw that He symbolizes Himself throughout Scripture as a circle. This is to convey two great thoughts that He must always be the center, but that He desires to be surrounded by myriads of blessed beings who know Him and love Him. This truth is central to the reconstituted solar system. Once the sun is established in its rightful place the inspired writer considers the heavenly bodies in their relationship to it.

First there is the small light the moon. It does not generate light. Instead it reflects the light of the sun to a darkened earth. So it is an apt figure of the Church. As the pillar and ground of the truth the Church does not generate light. The Church maintains the truth Christ has given it, and like the moon reflects the light of the Word of God to a darkened world. The Church is not authorized to teach, as Rome maintains, for then it would not be the moon but the sun. Christ is the Head of the Church which is His body, and raises up evangelists in it to proclaim the glad tidings to the world which is probably the primary thought here.

The stars of the fourth day are not the stars of outer space but the planets of the solar system. We know this because the stars were created in the first verse of the Bible. Here a selected and very minor part of the starry universe is made not created implying a remedial work. Morally the planets speak of individual believers, for we are the children of light as Paul remarks in Phil. 2:15 "among whom ye shine as lights in the world." The planet then is the light of individual believers witnessing for Christ in the night of His departure from us. For this reason Jesus in lowly grace, to identify Himself with His people, and cheer them with the thought of the approaching morn, calls Himself the Morning Star in Rev. 22:16 "I Jesus have sent My angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.”

.. The fourth day as the gateway to the proclamation of the gospel and the 1000 year earthly kingdom: By now it should be clear why the fourth beginning "the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God" corresponds to the fourth day of Gen. 1. The fourth day is God reversing man's judgment on His Son. Man put out the light of the world God exalts that Light in the heavens in the picture of the sun. He does more He issues a pardon to those who put out the light of the world. This is known as the gospel of the glory of the blessed God. It is a call to man on earth from the glory to the glory with a time limit known only to God. While the gospel is proclaimed man continues to reject Christ God to honor Him. When the gospel ends all men will be forced to honor the Son even as they honor the Father. Then will come that rule of the earth from the heavens predicted in Eph. 1:10,11 "to head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth in Him, in whom we have also obtained an inheritance.”

The Conclusion of God's Work on Days Five and Six

The complementary nature of God's work now becomes evident. On the last three days He adds to His work on the first three days. On day one He said "let there be light" and divine light shone on earth on day four the sun shines on earth from the heavens. On day two He divided the waters into clouds above and seas below on the fifth day He filled the clouds with birds, the sea with fish. On day three He brought the land out of the waters and clothed it with verdure on day six He set animals and man on that dry land. So on the last three days He added to His work of the first three days after the sun was in its appointed place on the fourth day. Light and life go together, and so life is the theme of days five and six.

The underlying moral teaching makes it clear why God followed this pattern in creation. The sun is set in the heavens on the fourth day the moon, figure of the Church, reflects the glorious light of the gospel to a darkened world, and the planets speak of the witness of individual believers. This is the Church period from Pentecost to the rapture. It is characterized by the three classes of 1 Cor. 10:32 the Jews typified by the land animals the Gentiles typified by the fish of the sea and the Church of God typified by the birds which soar in the heavens.

Let us now summarize the moral teaching of God's creatorial works. This is found in the New Testament. From the observation that the work of the last three days represents something added to the work of the first three days, emerges the truth that the Church is added to Christ on His ascension to glory. So days one to three are clearly the gospels days four five and six the Acts of the Apostles and Paul's epistles. This is the same as saying that the first three days are about Christ the last three days about Christ and the Church.

The Ancient of Days Ceases His Work on the Seventh Day

Ex. 31:17 tells us that "in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He ceased, and was refreshed." How varied the days of Scripture are! In John 11:9, speaking of solar days, Jesus said "are there not twelve hours in the day?" But the days in Gen. 1 began before there was a sun to measure time. Not only that but Gen. 2:4 tells us that the whole six days of creation were one day "these are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens." Scripture also gives the meaning of a thousand years as one day, and does so in connection with the destruction of the present heavens and earth. In 2 Peter 3:8 we read one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. Could it be that Peter is teaching us that just as God created the heavens and the earth and ceased from His work on the seventh day a period which cannot be measured so the earth is predestined to last seven days which can be measured, because they last one thousand years? It is an interesting conjecture and worth testing.

The first four days in Gen. 1 can be looked at as four thousand years. They would range from the fall of man to the ascension of Christ in glory the sun of the fourth day. In those four days Adam has been replaced by Christ, who has completed the work of redemption. This leaves three more days. Of these three days, days five and six account for the Church period of roughly two thousand years. Day seven accounts for the 1000 year reign of Christ in earthly splendor.

It need hardly be added that following the 1000 year kingdom and the winding up of all things, God ushers in new heavens and a new earth. What instruction there is for us in the elastic meaning of a day in Scripture in 2 Peter 3:12, 13 where we learn that the whole of the future eternity is considered a day, just like His works in a past eternity as we have pointed out. Peter writes "looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

Chapter 2.5

The Creation of Man

In the creation of man every work of God reached its zenith. God had made Himself known as the Creator of matter and life. In creating the universe and filling the world with life He established the physical laws which govern all things. Thus He is the God of the physical universe and of life. He is also the God of the moral universe, whose laws are just as binding and inflexible. But this was unknown until man was created.

The Uniqueness of Man in the Universe

The creation of man opened the door to God's moral universe. Consider these words, never spoken to any other creature "and the Lord God commanded the man saying of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it, for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die" Gen. 2:16,17. Man then is to be tested, and conflicting moral principles are drawn to our attention good and evil life and death. Who then is this moral creature called man created male and female as to the body, yet possessing an eternal soul and spirit, alone among created beings on the earth?

.. Man's soul and spirit: Opening up this subject gives us an insight into the eternal part of our being. The soul is mentioned at the creation of man not the spirit "and the Lord God... breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul" Gen. 2:7. At death the spirit is mentioned, not the soul "the body without the spirit is dead" James 2:26.

The soul is that part of our being closest to the body. With the soul we experience sadness from the depressing experiences of life, and with the soul we taste the joys of life sunshine, good food, companionship and so on. So it is the seat of our emotions, which are geared to life in the body. To lose one's soul, as the Lord remarked, would make profitless everything else gained in life. It is an unimaginable thing never again to experience the joys and even the turmoil of life.

The spirit, on the other hand, is the highest part of man's being. It is with the spirit that man dominates the outside world rather than responding to it. Possession of a spirit from God creates a yawning gap between man and the lower creation. Man's brain is analogous to an organ man's spirit to a gifted organist. With his spirit man builds ships, aircraft, cars, bridges, roads, cities and the amenities in them. In so doing he fulfills the mandate God gave him to have dominion over the earth and what God had created in it. But the spirit is God oriented as well as earth oriented. In this connection the human spirit is analogous to a light bulb. In the natural man it is impossible to turn the bulb on because it is not plugged in to an electrical outlet. With the spiritual man, just the opposite is the case. As Paul remarks in 1 Cor. 14:15 "I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also.”

.. The human body: Both man and animals are creatures of the sixth day. Like the animals we must breathe, eat, drink, and sleep. We walk and run. We have blood, muscles, and bones like them. We enjoy the pleasures and dangers of life our children play just as animals frolic and we react with fright to danger just as they do. Our bodies suffer from disease and wounds like them. Eventually they die. So we have two sexes like the animals, for though individuals die the race must be perpetuated. Our bodies are called both earthen vessels denoting their origin and end in death and natural bodies, descriptive of the natural animal like functions of the body in life.

In what ways do our bodies differ from the animals, though? Structurally the human body has an erect posture and a mind which enables us to communicate with one another in speech and writing. But there is another important difference the human body has no natural protection from the elements corresponding to fur in animals. So we must wear clothing. This is not pure chance, as scientists might suggest, but can be traced back to the fall.(1) Man needed no clothing before the fall but the first thing the parents of the human race did when they fell was to clothe themselves. Modern man might argue that he needs clothes to shelter his body from the cold. This argument can be easily faulted. First the animals don't, secondly this isn't true in warm climates, and thirdly there is a universal shame to public nakedness unknown to animals. This intangible thing leads us to a summit difference between man and animal’s man has an undying soul and spirit. This has already been noted but not its implications. Paul puts it succinctly in 1 Cor. 15:21, 22 "for since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." There is a somber side to resurrection if men die without Christ. We are told that the lost receive bodies at the end of time in which to stand before God for judgment Rev. 20:11-15. But Paul is writing about those who are in Christ "who shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to His body of glory" Phil. 3:21. So unlike an animal's body which dies and that is the end of it, the body of a man in Christ is looked at as a tent a temporary thing awaiting our house from heaven a body of glory like Christ's.

The Central Place of Man in the Universe

Even the casual observer of nature knows that many of God's works, like the ends of the earth, are poles apart. The stars and the atom, the oak tree and the acorn, sufficiently illustrate this design feature. But mightn't nature disclose some median principle at work as well something central between the large and the small? The answer is yes. The center is man, but only because in creating man God did not have before Him the first man Adam, but rather the vision of His own Son in Manhood. That is what Paul means when he tells us in Rom. 5:14 that Adam was the figure of Him who was to come. When we combine this teaching with the truth that God will give us bodies like Christ's own glorious body, it becomes clear why God has made man central in His universe.

Man is central in time and space in God's creation. Man is central in time between the first heavens and the first earth God created in Gen. 1, and the new heavens and the new earth of the future eternity Rev. 21:1. Man is central in space because God created the human body central in mass between an atom and a star.(2) Man is central between God's two creations matter and life. His body is composed of atoms and Paul acknowledges this when he writes in Heb. 11:3 that "things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." To complete this centrality between the creation of matter and life, man's form was infused with the breath of God, making him a soul of life.

But most importantly Christ is the moral center of all God's thoughts and ways. He was central on the cross. He is central in the midst of His own Matt. 18:20 He will be central in heaven in the midst of the elders and living creatures. These three centralities speak of "Jesus Christ, the Same, yesterday, today, and forever" Heb. 13:8. Truly This Man is the center of everything.

A Comparison of the Old and New Creations

How blessed the new creation is. We enter it morally through the new birth. "If any man be in Christ he is a new creature old things are passed away behold all things are become new" 2 Cor. 5:17. Christ is the beginning of it. "These things saith the Amen, the beginning of the creation of God" Rev. 3:14.

Because God created man male and female, and Adam was the figure of Him who was to come as Eve was of the Church, there are two ways of comparing the two creations. Where headship is concerned, the old creation began with the heavens and the earth, and ended with a man. The new creation began with a new Man and ends with new heavens and a new earth. But in actual fact, woman came last in creation, because only at the end could God reveal His heart. So we might say that the old creation began with the heavens and the earth and ended with the creation of the woman. This unveils God's richest thought the passing away of the old creation to make way for new heavens and a new earth, with Christ in Manhood enjoying His bride, the Church, close to His heart forever.

Foreshadowings of the New Creation in the Actual Creation of Adam and Eve

The gulf between man and the rest of creation is an immense one. Man is created male and female the animals are made according to their kind. Man's creation is not according to a previous kind but "according to our likeness." Only in man's case is the female created by removal from the male. The woman came out of the man the man came out of the dust of the ground, which in turn came out of the waters under which it was submerged. If we thus trace man's beginning to the darkness and the deep, let us not forget that it was over this the Spirit of God hovered and God said "let there be light." So are we born of water and the Spirit. Woman's beginning was the deep sleep God brought over Adam. That is a figure of the love of God in providing a bride for Christ through His death. The combination of these two beginnings reveals God's nature as light and love. Only then can Eve be brought to Adam. That is the great lesson of Gen. 1 union with Christ following the revelation of God's nature as light and love.

.. The creation of man: Unlike woman, who was created in the Garden in Eden, man was created outside in Eden in other words in the world and was brought into the Garden to be tested. The reason for this was to contrast him to Christ the Last Adam. Just as God removed Adam from the world to the garden to test him, so the Spirit of God drove Christ into the wilderness to try Him Mark 1:12, 13. Both Adam and Christ were tempted by the devil Adam with quiescent beasts and all he wanted to eat in a garden Christ while fasting and surrounded by wild beasts in a desert. Adam was overcome by the devil Christ overcame the devil. Adam got his bride in a garden, passing through death in a figure. With Christ the Garden of Gethsemane anticipated His actual death, and another garden His resurrection.

.. The creation of woman: If the creation of man intimates the Lord's temptation, the creation of woman speaks of how He overcame Satan's power of death at the cross and in so doing secured a bride for Himself.

The creation of woman has no parallel. It was distinct, and different from every living creature..."and the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam and he slept." Then He removed one of his ribs and filled up the incision. God formed a woman from the rib and brought her to the man. Adam exclaimed "this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Isha woman, because she was taken out of Ish man.”

This first surgical operation was a prediction of how Christ the last Adam would get His bride the Church. Adam's deep sleep is a picture of the death of Christ. The incision needed to remove the rib from the sleeping Adam was a picture of the piercing of the Lord's side after He was dead. God brought Eve to Adam as the Father presents the Church to Christ. After Adam awoke from his deep sleep and saw Eve he exclaimed "this at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." The counterpart of this is what the Lord said when He was risen from the dead. He told Thomas to thrust his hand into His spear pierced side i.e. where the ribs are. In Luke's Gospel He says "a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see I have." He specifically says flesh and bones, not flesh and blood. His pierced side is the witness that the blood has been shed. The first Adam says "bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" the last Adam "flesh and bones" so the redemption price has been paid. The Lord is risen and about to receive His bride.

Part 3

Part 3 of this book is an outline of the gospel of John. It is written to demonstrate the links between John's gospel and the Old Testament particularly Moses' writings. Part 3 is dominated by two great themes. One theme is John's water scenes. These are the water scenes of the new birth, corresponding to God's creatorial work over the waters in Gen. 1 The other is a retracing of the story of the desert. John's gospel tells us how Israel got into the desert, how they worshipped God in the tabernacle, and finally left the desert behind for the Promised Land. In summary the water scenes tell us how an individual gets eternal life the desert scenes stress our collective life in the family of God.

John and Moses are in agreement about man. Man was taken from the earth, and must repeat the history of the earth. In his fallen state he becomes like the earth waste and empty, with darkness on the face of the deep. Then just as God began to work from the waters in Gen. 1, so God begins at the water scenes of John's gospel to give man the new birth. "My Father worketh hitherto and I work.”

The presentation of the water scenes in John's gospel is not in chapter order, but moral order. The first water scene is Christ's baptism at the Jordan, where He identifies Himself with the godly in Israel. However this raises the question of man's spiritually dead state. John illustrates this condition with two pools bodies of inert water one featuring an impotent man and another a blind man. They suggest Nicodemus before he received the new birth blind as in 3:3 and impotent as in 3:5. Indeed he will prove to be the pattern man in John's gospel. The pools change their character once man has eternal life. They become rivers of living water figures of service for Christ, and a fountain rising heavenward a figure of worship in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Then John takes up the question of how God can righteously give eternal life to sinners. He answers this with God's salvation, which is both body and soul. Chapters 3:12 and 3:13 are concerned with this question. They mirror the Passover and the Red Sea. It becomes evident that John has begun to retrace Israel's journey from Egypt to Canaan. The next step is the desert, where God enrolls us as students in His house. Chapters 3:14 to 3:17 are about the tabernacle the house of God in the desert, where God teaches us. Chapter 3:18 is concerned with the burnt offering. In Chapter 3:19 we have the crossing of the Jordan. Then the land comes in sight and the land is linked to the temple. Chapter 3:20 depicts certain temple scenes in John's gospel. That gospel begins with Herod's temple and ends with God's temple raised from the dead as Jesus predicted at the beginning of John's gospel. We are in Canaan.

Chapter 3:21 is captioned "the witness of John in the Scripture of truth." This is not a summary chapter. Rather it substantiates John's claim that what he wrote his witness is true. In verifying this claim we discover that the Gospel of John has sunk its roots deep into Scripture as a whole. The gospel of John does not stand alone in the Scripture of truth.

Chapter 3.6

John’s Gospel

The Range of Christ's Service for God in the New Creation

The Gospel of John introduces John the Baptist a man sent from God almost as soon as it opens. This is because there is an unique relationship between John the Baptist and the Apostle John. John the Baptist prepared the way for Christ's first coming the Apostle John for His second coming. John the Baptist's ministry reached its climax at the Jordan Christ's ministry began at the Jordan.

If we look at the Apostle John's writings from the mountain top, his water scenes begin with the Jordan, the river of death, and end with the pure river of water of life in the Holy City Jerusalem. Between these great events come the three days which introduce John's Gospel an extended view of Christ's work with the Church and Israel. Taken together then, the subject before us is Christ as the Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end.

The First Great Thought in John's Gospel Christ As the Alpha the Beginning of His Ministry of Blessing

John, who penned the Revelation, wrote about Christ as the Alpha and the Omega Rev. 1:8 and also the first and the last Rev. 1:11. So in opening that book he introduced us to the One who would begin God's judgments and finish them. In his gospel John also makes Christ known to us as the Alpha and Omega, although he does not state this explicitly. We know this is so because John begins with His ministry that is Christ in His Alpha characteristics. Then he tells us of His great collective work with the Church and Israel in the story of the three days. This closes all things revealing Him as the Omega or finisher. We will begin by considering Christ as the Alpha. That is the first great thought in John's gospel the beginning of Christ's ministry something infinitely precious to God.

John 1-18 introduces the gospel. Its subject is the Godhead glory of the Word made flesh, and John's witness to it. However that witness is not complete without "the record of John" from vs. 19—28, which is almost a postscript. In these verses John denies that he is the Christ, but testifies to Him as One whom the priests and Levites did not know. Only God the Father knew Him. He was about to declare who He was. The Holy Spirit too was soon to attest to His qualifications for divine service.

Christ's Qualifications for Divine Service—a Comparison of Three Water Scenes

Jesus was the God whose work of old began at the waters and ended in blessing for man. He will renew His work at the waters but this time man will have a divine witness to the moral glory of His Person.

a. The Spirit and the dove God seeking rest: John stresses the importance of the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove in his witness. The Spirit hovered over the face of the waters in Gen. 1:2, and the dove flew over the waters in Gen. 8:8-12, but not until Christ appeared at the Jordan do the Spirit and the dove come together to find rest on Christ.

.. The Spirit in Gen. 1:2: The first flood in Scripture is in Gen. 1:2, and it was accompanied by darkness. God intervened. The Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters. God said let there be light and there was light. God then moved to make the earth over as a home for man. This is a picture of Christ coming into the world at the beginning of John's Gospel and the blessing which man reaped because He came to us. However only the Holy Spirit is mentioned. He is moving the opposite of rest. God is light and can find no rest in darkness.

.. The dove in Gen. 8:8 12: After the Ark was at rest Noah decided to test the depth of the receding waters. So he released a dove from the Ark. The Ark is a figure of Christ the dove, of the Holy Spirit who indwells Him. How was it though, that the Ark was at rest? Noah had built it on dry land. This in itself must have induced laughter from the people around him. Then when they discovered that it had no rudder to steer it and no means of propulsion oars or sails they must have laughed him to scorn. But that is why the Ark is such a beautiful figure of Christ. He never steered an independent course of His own through this world. He never used human methods to forge ahead in the world. He was completely obedient to His Father's will. Again the Ark sustained God's judgment, saved those inside it and at the end landed on the mountains. This is a beautiful picture of Christ undergoing God's judgment at the cross, but when that was finished received up into glory. It follows then that when the dove was released it found no rest for the sole of its feet. As long as the world was under judgment the dove returned to the Ark for rest, for the Ark spoke of Christ.

.. The Spirit and the dove John 1:32 34: In Gen. 1 the Spirit found no rest when He hovered over the face of the waters in Gen. 10 the dove found no rest for the sole of her feet over the waters. At the waters of the Jordan in John 1 the Spirit descends from heaven like a dove and abides on Christ. Although the Spirit and the dove are brought together in this way, we have something else, not found in the two floods in Genesis. That is the Father and the Son, one of the great themes in John's Gospel and Epistles. The reason for this is that when the Spirit alights like a dove on Christ it is a signal that the whole Godhead is pleased with Him. So the word "Jordan" means "their descent." The name, then, agrees with what took place there. The Spirit descends from heaven the Father's voice comes from heaven and the Son has come down from heaven.

b. The Jordan- the seal of God's approval of Christ to serve Him: we have seen that there was no rest for the Spirit over the waste of waters in the first flood, and no rest for the dove after Noah's flood, but that the Spirit rested on Christ in the form of a dove at the Jordan River. This raises the question of why a river should be chosen in this way to introduce the water scenes of John's Gospel. The answer is found at the beginning of the Bible. Scripture tells us that "a river went out of Eden to water the garden." Unlike the waste of waters in Genesis a river is formed it has a channel. Its waters flow turbulently over the surface of the earth to refresh it. Christ was God's Servant the channel through whom the Holy Spirit worked. A river, then, is a symbol of energetic service in the world, producing fruit for God. So a river is chosen as the inlet to the water scenes in John's Gospel which follow. But why the Jordan?

The Jordan was chosen because of its lowly setting. Its topography conformed to the Man who was meek and lowly in heart. The Jordan flows along a valley descending steadily from its source waters until it reaches the Sea of Galilee, 695 feet below sea level, and eventually to 1285 feet below sea level, where it flows into the Dead Sea. How could God choose Jesus of Nazareth to serve Him, men disdainfully thought this unknown Man whom John baptized in the Jordan? How could this Man understand the Scriptures without a formal education? He even condemned the qualified teachers of the nation, warning His disciples not to be called Rabbi, Rabbi Doctor today. Worse still He was a carpenter. They could understand the creator of the universe becoming an architect perhaps but a carpenter? No. God knew that such depths of humbling Himself would make men reject Him "We hid as it were our faces from Him— He was despised, and we esteemed Him not"— Isa. 53:2, 3.

So it was that men despised God's Christ because He humbled Himself. How did God respond to such treatment of His beloved Son? Why He honored Him both at the beginning and end of His ministry. The beginning was the lowly Jordan the end the mountain peak where He was transfigured. So the topographical features answer to the lowliness of Christ Phil. 2:7,8 on one hand, and how God has exalted Him on the other Phil. 2:9 11.

The Second Great Thought in John's Gospel—Christ As the Omega—the End of His Work in the Church and Israel

At the close of the Revelation, when all His judgments are ended, the Lord once more refers to Himself as the Alpha and Omega 22:13. John records His words testifying to the completion of judgment "it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end" 21:6. But in his gospel John has a different theme blessing. That is the end of the Lord's work with the Church and Israel. It is the story of John's three days. The incidents related at the beginning of John's gospel took place on three different days, although only the third day is mentioned as such. The two preceding days are both called "the next day" so that to avoid confusion most commentators refer to them as "the first day" and "the second day.”

While the incidents recounted in the three days actually happened while the Lord was on earth, their real meaning goes much beyond the events themselves. The three days are prophetic. They are an overture to the execution of all God's counsels by Christ. As in Gen. 1 These are days as God sees them. The first day, generally understood as testimony to Christ and the Church age, could be 2,000 years or so. The second day might be either 3.5 or 7 years, depending on whether one half or the whole of Daniel's week is to be understood. The third day, being the millennial reign of Christ, would be 1,000 years. Having said this it is also true that the days are literal, as already stated. The emphasis in these three days is on the moral side of things, not the duration of time, much as in Gen. 1.

The First Day

The first day can be viewed in two opposite ways i.e. predominantly as a forecast of the Church age, but derivatively as the night of Israel's darkness, for in this time they have rejected their Messiah. The latter view is the introduction to the second and third days, without which they cannot be properly understood.

a. The first day witness to Christ and Christianity: From this viewpoint we have first a comprehensive testimony to Christ (1:29 34), and then a forecast of the Church period a result of believing that testimony 1:35-42.

.. Witness to the person of Jesus the Lamb of God as God's Son: John the Baptist's closing testimony precedes and introduces the first day. From John 1:19 he denies that he is anything; from 1:29-34 he exalts Jesus instead. In detail he witnesses that he is not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the Prophet who should come into the world. Then he points to Christ as the Lamb of God and the Son of God. The Spirit confirms John's testimony by descending from heaven like a dove and abiding on Him a clear sign that Jesus was the Christ. This explains John's warning "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." The sin of the world is rejecting Christ. This sin is inexcusable because God gave the world a double witness to Jesus as the Christ. First there was John's witness and men were forced to admit that "All things John said of this man were true." Then there was the witness of God the Father and the Spirit at the Jordan. Jesus God's holy Lamb will take away the sin of the world by judging it for rejecting Him. It is the Lamb who opens the seals and it is the Lamb who stands on Mt. Zion. Then the meek those who are like the Lamb will inherit the earth. With its sin of rejecting the Lamb swept away in judgment, the world will enjoy universal peace and righteous government for 1000 years.

.. Christianity to come what God wanted it to be: The remainder of the first day (Vss. 35-42) gives us an insight into the elements which in the future would constitute true Christianity. The story begins when two of John's disciples heard him say "Behold the lamb of God." They left John and followed the Lord. "What are you looking for?" Jesus asks them and they reply "Rabbi, where abidest Thou?" Jesus answers "Come and see." They came and saw where He dwelt and abode with Him that day for it was about the tenth hour.

The opening incident tells us that we must come to Christ as individuals. Then He tests us for reality i.e. why did we come to Him? Do you really want Christ or will something else do just as well? Many come to Christ out of idle curiosity to see this Man who worked miracles. But His Person they rejected. They belong to the class of people who must "come and see" the Lamb's judgments Rev. 6 because they would not "come and see" the Lamb. Here we find a different class of people those receptive to the good seed of the Word of God. "Rabbi where abidest Thou?" they enquire. The Lord discerns the first precious turning of the heart to Himself and replies "come and see." They discover that His real dwelling place was not an earthly one but the bosom of the Father's love. The Son of the Father is the Son of the Father's love. Their souls find rest in beholding the Lamb of God. So the subject which opens John's gospel also closes it, for at the cross we find four women beholding the Lamb of God.

Attracted to Christ as the One who dwelt, not in the houses of men but in His Father's bosom, Andrew brings his brother Simon to Christ. This is evangelism, another mark of Christianity the first day. The two disciples and then Peter now three in total are brought into the divine presence as the Lord said they would be "For where two or three are gathered together unto My Name there am I in the midst of them." Lastly the Lord gives Simon Peter a new name Cephas meaning a stone. Adam the head of the old creation had named the animals, but in giving Peter a new name Jesus is proclaiming Himself the head of the new creation.

A progression of events has been taking place here which we shall now summarize. First we have personal salvation, out of which flows the delight of the soul in Christ. Christ and the two disciples foreshadow the Assembly. This should give collective rest and satisfaction for the Church dwells in the bosom of the Father as Christ does 1 Thess. 1:1. Then we have the evangelist going out of the Church to lead others to Christ. Peter the convert is renamed. He speaks of growth God's thought for His Church of living stones in the Holy Temple. We know that the Lord revealed to Peter the truth of the Church as a Holy Temple in which Peter like other believers should be living stones.

The precious things we have been considering here are meaningless unless we live in the atmosphere of divine love which attracted the two disciples to Christ. Love is the bond of perfectness. Without it we are nothing. Though they understand all knowledge, if love is not at work among believers they are headed for shipwreck. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I have become like sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal" 1 Cor. 13:1.

b. The first day from a Jewish standpoint: John told us what the first day was for the Church abiding in the bosom of the Father's love. He says "they came and saw where He dwelt and abode with Him that day." But these precious privileges were lost to Israel when they crucified their Messiah. Their sun set and they were plunged into darkness and how great was that darkness. The first day to Israel is the time when they lose their distinctive place of nearness to God, and their prominence in the world. The Scriptures which tell us of their loss however, also tell us that it is temporary. All will be restored in the morning.

.. Israel's loss of nearness to God: We can learn much from the way two articles of furniture in the tabernacle were located. These are the golden lampstand and the table of showbread. They were positioned opposite one another Ex. 40. The golden lampstand speaks of the death and resurrection of Christ, and is the only light of the holy place. The table of showbread displays twelve loaves, which represent the twelve tribes of Israel. The meaning of this arrangement is that during the night of Israel's darkness the light of the golden lampstand shines on the twelve loaves. That tells us that God has not forgotten His people, though they have forgotten Him. They will be restored to Him in the morning. That is why "Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the Lord" Ex. 27:21.

.. Loss of Israel's exalted position in the world: When Paul and Barnabus were in Cyprus, their preaching was opposed by Elymas the sorcerer. Luke tells us that this man was a false prophet and a Jew. Paul pronounced judgment on him "and now behold the hand of the Lord is on you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a season" Acts 13:11. This judgment is temporary "for a season" and is drawn from our perception of the sun in nature. When the sun sets, the world is darkened. But this is temporary "for a season" for it rises again in the morning. "But unto you who fear My Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in His wings" Mal. 4:2.

The Second Day—the Dawning—a Movement Among a Nucleus of Godly Jews to Accept Jesus As Messiah

After the Church is raptured it will be the mind of God to re-gather Israel, even though their will is opposed to this "for a small moment have I forsaken you" the small moment is the Church period "but with great mercies I will gather you. In a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, says the Lord your Redeemer" Isa. 54:7, 8. Israel responds by saying "come and let us return to the Lord, for He has torn, and He will heal us He has smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us. In the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight" Hos. 6:1, 2. This Scripture must be carefully considered.

Hosea says "after two days will He revive us." This tells us that on the second day Israel as a nation is still dead. The second "day" is the short period of time between the end of the first day, when the Church is raptured, and the third day when the 1,000 year kingdom begins. On the second day the Spirit of God commences a work among a nucleus of the Jewish people to accept Jesus as the Messiah. In faith they preach a gospel suited to the times, to the Jewish nation and the world. Their message known as the everlasting gospel is not the gospel of the present day, but one of fearing God and giving glory to him for the hour of His judgments has come. Because the world is worshipping the beast and his image, they become God's witness in the earth against this blasphemy. So they are God's witnesses in "the hour of temptation which shall come on all the world, to try those who dwell on the earth" Rev. 3:10. These godly Jews will be the spearheads of the Jewish nation's repentance which introduces the third day of blessing. Clearly the second day is a median point, linking the first and third days.

We are given a preview of these conditions in the actual story of the second day, which begins at 1:43 and continues to the end of the first chapter. As the second day dawns v. 43 we see Jesus purposing to visit His people. He has to do all the work of recovering them, unlike the first day when beholding the Lamb of God was enough for us to follow Him. He has to find Philip and He has to tell Him to follow Him. Philip finds Nathanael and at once the lingering doubts of the Jew that Jesus could be the Christ are exposed "can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Invited to come and see he responds reluctantly. He does not come and see where Jesus dwelt i.e. in the Father's bosom, like those of the first day. He comes to see the working of the power of the Son of God, the King of Israel, who saw him when he thought he was alone under the fig tree.

The Lord told Nathanael that He saw him under the fig tree before Philip called him. These words are prophetic of the future rest of Israel "under the fig tree." In Scripture the fig tree speaks of Israel as a nation, whose king is the Lord.(1) But when Jesus the Lord came to His own nation of Israel, He found no fruit for God. This can be seen in the parable of the fig tree in Matt. 21:19 "and when He saw a fig tree by the roadside, He went to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it let no fruit grow on you any more forever. And the fig tree withered away at once.”

For almost 2,000 years the fig tree has been cursed. The remarkable prophecy of Isa. 18 is a prediction of the effect of that curse. At the close it tells us that God will lift it. So 18:1-2 is most likely an intimation of the Balfour Declaration of 1917 in which "His Majesty's government looked with favor on a national homeland for the Jews." Isaiah's language suggests a great maritime and protective power, as Britain was at that time. History tells of the later involvement of her daughter nation the United States an involvement which continues to the present day. So the passage is an identification of the Anglo American powers "shadowing with wings" probably having the double meaning of air power and custodial characteristics. Then 18:3 takes us up to 1948, when the State of Israel was established the ensign lifted up on the mountains being the Star of David. Blowing the trumpet probably means the declaration by the Knesset in 1980 that Jerusalem was the capital of the new state. God's reaction to these events is neutrality, because they have returned to the land in unbelief. "I will take My rest and I will consider" 18:4. We are brought up to the present time in 18:5, 6. This tells us of the prosperity of the land under efficient Jewish management, offset by the threat of the surrounding Arabs. They want to cut Israel off from being a nation, and wage continuous war on her. Isaiah sees no peace for Israel until his last verse, when they return to the Lord and His Name on Mt. Zion. This healing of the curse on the fig tree occurs in the troublous times at the end of the second day. To this the Lord refers in Mark 13:28 29 "now learn a parable of the fig tree. When its branch is still tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near" i.e. the 1,000 year kingdom "so you in like manner, when you shall see these things come to pass, know that it is near, even at the doors.”

Now that we know why Jesus saw Nathanael under the fig tree and drew this to his attention, the appropriateness of his confession is evident at once. Only by acknowledging Jesus as God's Son and the King of Israel can the Jewish people find that rest on Mt Zion with which Isaiah concluded his eighteenth chapter. But the Lord would take the matter further. The Jew is the conduit to world peace, but because of his unbelief the conduit is silted up, and we have world wars instead. As soon as Nathanael confesses Him, Jesus opens his eyes to see the coming world of bliss "hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." That is a clear allusion to Jacob's dream at Bethel a dream which is brought into even sharper focus when we compare it to the two dreams of his son Joseph. As the Bible opens Jacob has a dream whose central feature is a ladder linking heaven and earth. As the Bible closes the Holy City Jerusalem comes down from heaven to earth, fulfilling the terms of Jacob's dream. Joseph has two dreams, which tell us of Christ's coming glory, when heaven and earth shall bow down to Him. Only then can heaven and earth now separated by man's sin come together morally. These dreams look forward to the fulfillment of Eph. 1:10 "that in the administration of the fullness of times He might head up in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him." Jacob's ladder, then, is no less than a symbol of Christ Himself, for only He can bring heaven and earth together.

.. Jacob's dream of the union of heaven and earth: In Gen. 28:12, 13, we learn about Jacob's dream at Bethel "and he dreamed and behold a ladder placed on the earth, whose top reached to heaven and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it, and behold the Lord stood above it." Nathanael must have noticed that while the Lord stood above the ladder in Jacob's dream, the Same Lord now told him that the angels of God would now ascend and descend on the Son of Man. A change was to come in. God would no longer be at the top of the ladder i.e. in heaven, separate from earth. Instead the Son of Man was to be the ladder, linking heaven and earth. Who is this Son of Man? We know from Scripture usage that the title Son of Man speaks of Christ as rejected in this world but Lord of the worlds to come. When the angels of God ascend or descend on the Son of Man His rejection will be over, and His world kingdom come. All must bow to Him a feature opened up to us in the dreams of Jacob's son Joseph.

.. Joseph's dreams of heaven and earth bowing down to him: Joseph is a beautiful type of Christ as Son of Man because he is first rejected by his brethren, thrown into a pit, and sold for silver. Then he is exalted in the world as Christ will be. Pharaoh said "only in the throne will I be greater than you" Gen. 41:40. Pharaoh decreed that Joseph should ride in the second chariot of state, accompanied by a proclamation "bow the knee." Finally Joseph's brethren "fell before him on the ground" Gen. 44:14, fulfilling the terms of his dreams.

In Joseph's first dream his sheaf arose and also stood upright and his brothers' sheaves stood round about and bowed down to his sheaf. This was in the field in other words the earth. His brothers became jealous when they correctly interpreted this to mean that he would rule over them in the world. Then Joseph had another dream in which the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowed down to him. This meant that the whole house of Israel the sun and the moon being the father and mother, the eleven stars the brothers must bow down to Joseph. Worse still in their heated thoughts, the figures in the second dream were drawn from the heavens, so when the two dreams were combined both earth and heaven must bow down to Joseph. So shall it be with the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom Joseph was merely a type.

The Third Day and Its Festivities—Eating and Drinking in Christ's 1000 Year World Kingdom

The third day is the only one of the three days which is actually called a day in John's gospel. Hosea tells us about the first two days but we must turn to John to understand what he means. Hosea tells us that after two days God will revive Israel, then on the third day they will live in His sight. The Jew longed for the third day of kingdom glory, saying wistfully "blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God." This earthly longing quite correct for the Jew who is the man of the earth is in contrast to the heavenly prospects of the Church. We look forward to the marriage supper of the Lamb the festivities of grace. We shall eat the fruits of the tree of life and take of the water of life freely. But the Jew longs for the fruits of the earth corn and cattle and so on. John picks up this theme of earthly abundance for the table by linking the two stories of the loaves and fishes with the story of the water turned to wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee on the third day.(2)

These three signs of God's power have an underlying teaching built into them. In each case there is a symbolic reminder of Israel's past unfaithfulness to the Lord. When they return to Him whom they have forgotten their proper relationship to Him will be restored. Then the earthly blessing which belongs to them when they are obedient will flow out. The Lord will spread a table for them of bread, fish, and wine.

a. The first coming of Israel's king He feeds His fickle subjects at the Sea of Tiberias and departs: In John 6 the crowds followed Jesus because He healed their diseases, and satisfied their appetites with bread and fish. Surely then they should have owned Him as Lord according to Psa. 103:3, 5. He was abundantly blessing Israel's provision and satisfying her poor with bread as prophesied in still another of their Psalms Psa. 132:15.

In Scripture the Lord Jesus is presented to Israel in three ways as prophet, priest, and king. In John 6 the Holy Spirit brings these three ways to our attention, not only illuminating this chapter but helping us connect it with the second scene at the Sea of Tiberias in John 21. In John 6 then, as soon as the people had eaten they acknowledge Jesus as the prophet who was to come Deut. 18:15-19. Next they wanted to take Him forcefully and make Him king but on their terms, not His. So He becomes the priest leaving His people for a time and going into a mountain where He is alone. The mountain speaks of His present position in the heavens acting as our Great High Priest during the time His earthly people have rejected Him. The people rejected Christ as that prophet bringing judgment on themselves for so doing, as God had warned them in their Scriptures. They cried "away with Him. Crucify Him" so He has gone away to the heavens to become our priest. They said "we have no king but Caesar." So God has granted their request for Gentile rule. To this day, though back in their land in unbelief, Israel depends on the Western Gentile nations for survival, rather than on God. At the end of their history the Lord will overthrow Caesar's power. The Lord will then be their King. This is more or less the theme of John 21. (3)

b. The second coming of Israel's King He feeds His disciples at the Sea of Tiberias: At the close of Israel's history Satan will engineer a conspiracy against God's anointed, counterfeiting the Lord's three offices of prophet, priest, and king. Of these John takes note principally of Satan's counterfeit king, whom he calls "the beast." The beast is the last Caesar. The world will worship the beast and his image crying "who can make war with the beast?" Only the Lamb can. He opens the book sealed with seven seals, overcomes the beast, and establishes His rule over the earth.

In John 6 the Lamb walks on the raging sea in the darkness. The sea is a figure of the nations restless, unstable, whipped up to frenzy by the wind i.e. Satan's power over them Eph. 2:2. The darkness is the time when Satan seems to prevail "this is your hour and the power of darkness" Luke 22:53. But the Lord walks on the raging water, demonstrating a power which is superior to the power of the nations under Satan's influence. He tramps on it all, so to speak. His power over Satan is His entering death and rising out of it. John watches the Beast try to counterfeit this power in Rev. 13:1 "and I stood on the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea." John who saw the Beast at the sea shore also saw the Lamb at the sea shore. The sea shore is a place where we can contemplate the storms and waves of the sea in complete safety. From the vantage points of two sea shores, Scripture lets us look at the two kings. In Revelation man's king is a savage beast, but God's King is a gentle Lamb. However the Beast is vanquished at Armageddon when the Lamb comes out of heaven on a white horse crowned with many crowns. In John 6 the Lamb walks on the raging sea in the darkness, but in John 21 He stands on the shore in the morning, the victory won.

As John's gospel ends, the time has come to assess Israel's departure from the Lord, to account to Him for their restored usefulness as His servants, and for Him to strengthen them with food. Three things characterized Israel's departure from the Lord night, nakedness and nothing (4) It was night when the disciples went fishing. Peter was naked, and they caught nothing. But once they hear and obey the Lord's voice, the net is filled with 153 fishes. This is figurative. (5) The disciples speak of the godly Jewish remnant who go out into the world preaching the everlasting gospel. This is done at a time when the Beast and the Dragon are persecuting them. The fish speak of the Gentiles who believe their message. They are fished out of the sea not only from the nations but from the beast's rule over the nations, for he arose out of the sea. They are brought to land. The land speaks of Christ's kingdom, which they enter on the earthly side. It is settled rest. More specifically the fish are brought before the Lord. He does not use these fish to feed them, for He wants us to understand the typical meaning of the act. His servants must account to Him for the work He commanded them to do. He feeds them instead with His own bread and fish at His own fire. In this way they cannot boast about what they did, for what the Lord sets before them is proof of their failure in the past. The fire reminds Peter of when he warmed himself at the world's fire. The bread and fish are reminders of when He previously fed Israel with bread and fish at this same sea, but they rejected Him. "As many as I love I rebuke and chasten." The evidence of that love is before the disciples, and they are at rest in His presence.

c. The wine of kingdom joy at the wedding in Cana of Galilee The joy at the introduction of Christ's kingdom will be universal because He will rule both heaven and earth. Heaven will celebrate with the Great Supper of Luke 14. Earth's celebration is typified in the wedding at Cana of Galilee. The wedding is the renewal of Israel's wedding vows to the Lord Jer. 3:14 which they had broken. We cannot understand this fully until we connect the bread and fish of John 21 with the wine of John 2. Just as a meal is not complete without something to drink, the moral teaching of the wine is needed to round out the picture of Israel's sins in the past. The bread and fish of John 21 tell us of Israel's treatment of Christ in life the wine of their treatment of Him as He faced the cross.

The Lord once called Israel an adulterous generation, looking for a sign. The adultery of which He spoke was spiritual in nature He was their husband, but they did not want Him. They were looking for a sign of His power, but secretly hoping He would not give them one. They were mistaken. He would give them the sign of the prophet Jonah that is the sign of His death. That would be, among other things, the convincing sign that the adulterous generation had rejected Him.

So at the Last Supper, which spoke of His death, the Lord disowned Israel for the present. He did this by pointing out to His disciples that there was no way He could drink wine until that day when He would drink it "new" with them "new" means in a different way in His Father's kingdom see Matt. 26:29. In so declaring He took the oath of the Nazarite given us in Num. 6:13 21. The Nazarite was not to drink wine from the time he took his oath until it was completed, after which he could drink wine again. Since wine in Scripture is a figure of earthly joy, the Lord was telling His own that there could be no earthly joy for Him when His own people were plotting to crucify Him. But later on, when Israel should be restored i.e. in His Father's kingdom, He would drink wine i.e. receive earthly joy from them.

The fulfillment of these things is the wedding at Cana of Galilee. There we find the Lord turning water into wine. A wedding is the height of earthly joy.(6) The Lord is restoring His marriage link with Israel which they had broken when they disowned Him and turned to the Gentiles. So He pays His Nazarite vows before those who fear God as prophesied in Psa. 22:25. That is to say He views the Nazarite vow which He took at the Last Supper as fulfilled. So He anticipates His Father's kingdom, and He can freely drink the wine of earthly joy with Israel, for they now obey the command to do whatever He tells them see John 2:5. No wonder the Nazarite oath ends in Scripture with the blessing “The Lord bless thee and keep thee, the Lord make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put My Name upon the children of Israel and I will bless them.” Num. 6:24 27.

Israel's blessing will cover all the land. "You shall no more be termed forsaken, neither shall your land any more be termed desolate, but you shall be called Hephzibak (My delight is in her) and your land Beulah (married) for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married" Isa. 62:4.

Chapter 3.7

(Suggested Reading: John 3)

Born of Water and of the Spirit

Nicodemus is a beautiful illustration of James 4:8 "draw near to God and He will draw near to you." The starting point for anyone ignorant of God is God Himself. In Heb. 11:6 Paul says "he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." I am sure that Nicodemus is credited with diligently seeking God in spite of his poor start. If you do not know what his reward was I will tell you. It was God Himself. Go back to Abraham's days and you will see what I mean. God had said to him "fear not, Abram, I am your shield and your exceedingly great reward." But he missed the point for he replied "what will you give me?" Give him! What could God give any man more than Himself? So with Nicodemus. By his actions, rather than his words, he placed a higher value on man's approval than on God's. In John 19:39 he is called the man "who at first came to Jesus by night." In spite of that handicap he draws near God in this chapter, and what a rich reward he gets.

The Heart of Man Is Waste and Darkness

There is more than one explanation of why Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. But for the present let us consider a reason which takes us back to the old creation. The earth had once been fair, coming from the hand of God. Then it became without form and void, with darkness on the face of the deep. God began a remedial work to restore it. So with man, dust of the earth. God did not call their name Adam i.e. earth, in vain. Cradled in the earth are the seas, as the heart is in man. But man's heart is in the same darkness that the Spirit of God found on the face of the deep. With him too a new creation has become necessary. But Nicodemus has come to the same God who worked of old in creation and who is about to work a new creation in him. "If any man is in Christ (there is) a new creation; old things have passed away, behold all things have become new" 2 Cor. 5:17.

God Brings Light Into Our Darkened Hearts

Now the great lesson of the old creation which applies equally to the new is that God's works begin with light Gen. 1:3 and end with blessing Gen. 1:28. Then too God began to work where the need was the ruin, the darkness, and the deep and the energy of His work was the Holy Spirit. Was ever need greater than that of man who is all darkness or specifically of the well educated religious man who came to Jesus by night? The Lord opened his understanding of the great principle of the new creation with these words "unless a man is born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." His works in the old creation were also by water and the Spirit Gen. 1:2. Of course we do not know where, on the face of the deep, the Spirit of God began His work in the old creation. "The wind blows where it will and you hear its sound but can't tell where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit" John 3:8. A good example of this is when the Spirit said to Philip "approach and accompany this chariot" Acts 8:29. God does not have to tell us why one man is specially chosen for blessing any more than you have to explain why you chose your wife. The Spirit is sovereign in His actions and not accountable to man.

In the Genesis record of creation God said "let there be light" as soon as the Spirit of God moved over the face of the waters. The new creation starts the same way, with the light of God shining into our darkened hearts and giving understanding to the simple. "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" 2 Cor. 4:6. The face of Jesus Christ is in contrast to the face of the deep in the old creation. We are taken out of Adam and the hidden works of darkness to behold the face of Jesus Christ. The light first shines inside to dispel the darkness of our hearts, but once this is done we gaze at the light itself an object outside ourselves. We behold as in a glass the glory of the Lord and are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord see 2 Cor. 3:18. Well, Nicodemus came to the One who alone could say "he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life" John 8:12. That is the divine order light first, then life. We find light in the old creation on the first day, life on the last two days. You cannot have life without light first in nature. But here the comparison ends.

Man's Barriers Against the Light of God

In nature, darkness is dispelled by light. With man the moral darkness was so great that it comprehended not Christ as the Great Light. That is why God sent John the Baptist to tell man that the Great Light was shining. When Nicodemus comes to the Great Light he is not instructed in the way of life first. He is not ready for that. In Genesis God told us about the ruin before He said "let there be light" just as an evangelist must convict men of sin before he preaches the cross as the answer. So Nicodemus must first understand that, like all men, he is not only in darkness but has a nature opposed to God. Unless he is born again he cannot receive the life God would give him. The Lord tells Nicodemus that the natural man can neither see the kingdom of God nor enter it. These foundation truths are unfolded later in the blind man of John 9 a figure of the man who can't see and the impotent man of John 5 a figure of the man who can't enter.

How Nicodemus illustrates the first barrier! He had not seen Jesus as the Son of God for he called Him "Rabbi." All that he stood for as a natural man made him shun coming to "the carpenter's son" in the day time. He had a reputation in the religious world. Should he jeopardize this by being seen with Christ? Nicodemus has much company. Men's names may change but not their nature. Such then was the humiliation of Jesus the Word who was made flesh that His own creature could have such thoughts of Him. "He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief... He was despised and we esteemed Him not" Isa. 53:3.

Light Is for the Heart, Not the Mind

Yet the words of this humbled Savior gave life which the law could not. The law gave light but had to stop there. "By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" Gal. 2:16. Here was a man who taught a nation under law which once said "all that the Lord has said will we do and be obedient" Ex. 24:7 not knowing their hearts. What hope for the nation when its teacher had abundantly proved by his words and actions that "the world by wisdom knew not God" 1 Cor. 1:21. Neither education nor religion can enlighten you in spiritual things. The wise and prudent must become babes to enter into God's kingdom. It is not your mind that needs light it is your heart your affections. Nicodemus looked to Jesus for light, but only for his mind. He called Him a teacher. But the Lord does not teach flesh. He reminds him instead that he Nicodemus is the teacher of Israel and yet did not know these things. This is because they are spiritually discerned. You cannot learn them until you are in communion with God, and you cannot be in communion until you are born again. Because he is fallen, man needs not law but grace. Under grace the heart is attracted to Christ. But the teacher of the law could not understand grace. The only nature he understood was the one he was born with the flesh the old man. The Lord's words about the need of the new birth only made him marvel and exclaim "how can these things be?" as before he had said "how can a man be born when he is old?”

The New Birth Calls for the Death of Man in the Flesh

Well, the Lord Jesus knew that Nicodemus could not understand the nature of the new birth and so He reminds him of something he did understand. As a man of law He points him to Moses the law giver and his serpent of brass. The story of the brazen serpent showed man to be incurably bad. There was nothing for him but death. The first man's beginning was listening to the serpent in the Garden of Eden; his end is the cross "the serpent lifted up" not in type but reality. That is why the brazen serpent is introduced here to remind us of our beginning and end in the first Adam. The serpent is a picture of sin itself, and its author, Satan, for it takes us back to the garden in Eden, not merely the serpent lifted up in the wilderness. That was our beginning when our first parents listened to what came out of the serpent's mouth instead of every word that came out of God's mouth by which man alone should live. What came out of the serpent's mouth proved to be the sting of death. The first Adam was bitten by the serpent's poisonous fangs and so by one man's disobedience many became sinners. The venom of sin has stung the whole human race and death is the result. "The wages of sin is death" Rom. 6:23.

Christ assumed those wages for us when He was lifted up on the cross. During those three hours of darkness He was made sin by God Himself this is what the serpent of brass spoke of. The serpent of brass had never stung anyone just as Christ had never sinned. But it was a figure of sin itself. Even so on the cross the sinless One, the Lord Jesus Christ, was made sin. Then the Scripture was fulfilled "and it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day" Amos 8:9. And so there was darkness over all the land from the time appointed to the ninth hour Matt. 27:45. Darkness was His portion that light might be ours.

The cross, which ends the first Adam, is also our beginning in the last Adam. There I am put an end to crucified with Christ as a man in Adam, but believing I receive a new life in God's Son. Man failed under law but Christ fulfilled it, and made it honorable, even to the sentence "cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" Gal. 3:13. So God now has a new standard of righteousness Christ. "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes" Rom. 10:4. The Bible calls the law "the ministry of death" 2 Cor. 3:7 the gospel "the ministry of righteousness" 2 Cor. 3:9.

Man's Choice Now—the Light or the Darkness

Our next subject is man's responsibility to accept God's offer of "so great salvation." In his gospel John reveals the nature of God to us a nature which he states in his epistles to be light and love. His gospel starts with light, but because we are all darkness he brings in the subject of grace John 1:16, 17 to meet our need and then truth in the figure of the brazen serpent. The light of the law which Moses gave condemned us; the light of the gospel justifies and frees us. Now God can reveal the other side of His nature love. The first time love is found in John's gospel is where He so loves the world as to give His only begotten Son John 3:16. This love could not be unfolded until men understood how God gave Him not only the greatness of the gift of God's Son but the measure of it the cross, in the figure of the brazen serpent in the previous two verses. So now there is not only a full revelation of what God is as light and love but a way back to the God whose majesty was offended by our sins.

The immediate result is that man becomes responsible to obey the gospel and in the remainder of John 3 men are consequently divided into two classes those who believe and those who believe not. It was undoubtedly so when the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness some believed, others believed not and perished. That is why the Lord, in revealing life to man out of His death takes the title of Son of Man which in Scripture means the rejected One here but the Lord of the world to come. It is as Son of Man He will judge His enemies. Then God will once more divide between the light and the darkness as He did at the beginning. Outer darkness will be the portion of His enemies the inheritance of the saints in light will be ours.

Our portion is the fruit of grace. For it is sobering to see, in the story of the brazen serpent, the condemnation of the total man— man in the flesh. There is no difference between one man and another for all have sinned. The brazen serpent tells us that all men experience death because all have sinned. Just as Nicodemus gives us in a figure the sentence of death on man, Lazarus completes the figure with the execution of the sentence. In the intervening chapters, i.e. from the brazen serpent in John 3 to the grave of Lazarus in John 11 The Lord is acting in the full outshining of divine love to man so that he might pass out of death into life.

A Review of God's Ways in Three Beginnings and Endings

John gives us three beginnings and endings at the opening of his gospel. The Passover is mentioned in 2:23 the brazen serpent in 3:14 and the death and resurrection of Christ in 2:18-22. These three events span the whole history of Israel and each one has a beginning and end: The Passover This was the end of Israel's slavery in Egypt and the beginning of their journey to the Promised Land. In the Passover a spotless lamb was sacrificed a lamb which looked on to Christ. John the Baptist reminded them that the Lamb was present when he cried "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" John 1:29. After the Lamb had gone on high Paul wrote "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" 1 Cor. 5:7.

The Brazen Serpent: In the desert and at the moral ending of their desert journey at that the children of Israel were bitten by poisonous snakes. God instructed Moses to make a serpent of brass and erect it on a pole. Those who had been bitten would not die if they looked at the serpent of brass. That look had saving power because it meant trust in God believing His message "Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth" Isa. 45:22. What did the people see when they looked? Why a serpent of brass which reminded them of man's beginning listening to the venomous voice of the serpent in the garden of Eden. What could be more in contrast than their beginning in Egypt when they looked at a spotless Passover lamb and their moral end in the desert when they looked at a serpent of brass. Surely in the brazen serpent we see the utter condemnation of man in the flesh. Why was Nicodemus chosen to receive this teaching from the Lord? Because as man went he was one of the best. If the best of men stand condemned at the cross what of the rest of us? At the end of John's gospel we find Nicodemus at the cross where he finally understands the meaning of the Lord's words "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.”

c. The Temple Destroyed and Raised Again: The temple was erected in the Promised Land but the Lord Himself was the Temple. "In Him all the fullness (of the Godhead) was pleased to dwell" Col. 1:19. He Himself is the beginning "that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life" 1 John 1:1. Then the time came when He said "the things concerning Me have an end" Luke 22:37. In the Revelation He brings these two things together "I am...the beginning and the ending saith the Lord" Rev. 1:8. In the beginning Jesus is the Passover Lamb in the end He is the brazen serpent. The Passover lamb had to be perfect for it was a figure of Jesus who is perfect. Then that Lamb is made sin on the cross the serpent lifted up. Now we must return to the Passover to complete the chain of God's salvation. The Lamb's blood is shed, for without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins.

What wisdom we find in the way Scripture is written. Wedged between the Passover 2:23, and the brazen serpent 3:14, the Lord tells Nicodemus that a man must be born again or he cannot see or enter the kingdom of God. In other words because the only way to get the new birth is through Christ dying for our sins, this message is bracketed between the mention of the Passover and the brazen serpent. Once we are born again we can enjoy God's nature. What is God's nature? John tells us it is light and love see 1 John 1:5 and 1 John 4:8. His gospel agrees with that teaching. In John 3:16 God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Because we have believed on the Son in John 3:21 we come to the light that our deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God.

The Revealed Father's Heart

Alas that man does not hunger and thirst after such righteousness! We can only say "what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid" Rom. 3:3,4. May we who know Him act as obedient children not fashioning ourselves according to our former lusts in our ignorance 1 Peter 1:14 but abiding in the knowledge of our Father's unclouded love, await the assembling shout that will take us all to glory. There in our Father's house of love and light and song we shall see the One who spoke not of the earth but who, coming from heaven was above all, and attracted our hearts to that bright glory. Gazing on His face we shall see our Father whom He so perfectly made known to us here. From the first tender movement of our hearts to the Lord Jesus until the wilderness ceased, we will remember that He was our Father. Even the little children know the Father 1 John 2:13. And how the Father has cherished us with a love which found expression in these words to an earthly people and how much more to a heavenly one "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" Jer. 2:2. Yes, it was in the wilderness that the brazen serpent was lifted up that the Father gave the Darling of His bosom for such as us. Even when we are in the glory, God will never let us forget that. It was in this world and at the cross that the Father's heart was brought to light and our hearts won. It is the revelation of the divine bosom at the cross that will ever draw forth praise, worship, and adoration to our Father.

The knowledge of God and the love of the Father is something that grows with the new life God has implanted. Truly everything starts when we are born with water and the Spirit. But the work of the Spirit does not stop there. In John 4 we find water again this water scene being at a well. But we propose to by pass this for a time to consider two other water scenes both at pools of water.

Chapter 3.8

(Suggested Reading: John 5)

The Pool of the Impotent Man

The Lord chose two pools as the setting for two of His mighty works in John's gospel. A pool, of course, is a dormant body of water confined by the earth. Lacking energy in itself, or motion, it is in sharp contrast to a fountain or a river. The pool of Bethesda, like its counterpart at Siloam, tells us the story of what man is without God, although each pool has its own teaching. God had worked at the waters before in the old creation when all was ruin. Now man himself is ruin. Jesus came to the ruin as the Spirit of God had come to the deep. He went up to Jerusalem where the pool was.

The occasion was a feast of the Jews. These feasts were called the feasts of the Lord in the Bible, but because God's people had got away from Him, John calls this one a feast of the Jews. Although the Lord was there personally the Jews didn't own Him as Lord; therefore He will not own their feasts as His.

God Is Willing to Bless an Unwilling People

Yet God retained a link with His people. His angel troubled the waters of the pool of Bethesda. As already remarked this pool was at the city of David and by the sheep market. Doesn't this remind us of David's words "the Lord is my Shepherd...He leads me beside the still waters" Psa. 23:1,2 for what body of water is stiller than a pool? And so we find the True David at a sheep market, in Jerusalem, for the Lord was still the Shepherd of Israel even though they were unwilling sheep. Do you get the picture? There are five porches a porch leads out, and five is characteristic of man we have five fingers, five toes, five senses, etc. The Lord is leading them beside the still waters, for all that ever went before Him were thieves and robbers.

If He led them beside the still waters He also troubled those same waters with His angel in a ministry of bodily healing. For He is both the God "who healeth all thy diseases" Psa. 103:3 and the Lord "who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire" Heb. 1:7. Angels are subject to God's Son and they troubled the pool at His bidding. Man must be troubled before he can be blessed. Yet he would rather be left alone without God, unruffled like the pool. Satan too likes it this way he prefers to have man at ease in this world, untroubled by words like `heaven,' hell, "eternity, ‘salvation.' A strong man armed keeps his goods in peace his goods are those without Christ but here a stronger than Satan is present. Everything about Christ troubles man. At His birth the king was troubled; so were all his subjects at Jerusalem. Now the water of the pool is troubled by His angel, and we shall soon see that religious man is to be troubled. I have no doubt that God has good reason to trouble man. Whenever you find a soul in exercise, but still out of Christ, God is troubling that man, making him anxious about his soul's lost condition.

Well, the impotent man was at the place of blessing this pool at Jerusalem, yet he could get no blessing for himself. What was the matter? Oh, under the law there is blessing if you can keep it, but who can? Some other man must always take you to the pool, where God was working. You have no strength to go there yourself for the cure. As an unknown author wrote long ago:

“Work, my soul, the law demands,

And gives you neither feet nor hands.

But better news the gospel brings—

It tells you 'fly' and gives you wings.”

The Law Had Failed to Bring Blessing to Man

This poor man was a picture of all this of Israel, man under trial by law but powerless to please God. Man loves the principle of law which is responsibility. It gives him self respect because with it he can compare himself with other men and deceive himself into thinking he has come out well. Long before Israel had the law the ancient Egyptians knew about man's responsibility but not how to meet it. They embellished their tombs with drawings showing a pagan god weighing the good and bad in their lives. The law had promised life in this world only, if man could keep it. But this man had been powerless thirty eight years. So he was a type of Israel under law. We see this in Moses' words to Israel "Now the time in which we came from Kadesh Barnea, until we crossed the brook Zered, was thirty eight years, until the whole generation of the men of war was consumed from the midst of the camp, as the Lord swore to them" Deut. 2:14. Well, the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth subsists by Jesus Christ. That is why when Christ came we hear no more of the angel who troubled the pool. That angel was the outward symbol of the law see Acts 7:53. But Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes Rom. 10:4. If you want a good illustration of this, consider the angel in Matt. 28:2. When he rolled back the stone from the sepulcher he sat on it. By this act he indicated he was at rest his service finished. So angelic service in connection with the law ended when Christ rose from among the dead. The law, which could only promise life and only natural life at that disappears before Christ who gives life to man, and that life eternal life.

The Lord Probes the Root of Man's Trouble His Will

The Lord begins by touching the root of every man's trouble. He asks the man "will you be made whole?" The impotent man avoids the question. He complained that he had nobody to help him into the pool. Worse still while he was trying to get in somebody else beat him to it. The Lord didn't ask him about these superficial things. No. He probed the hidden root of all man's troubles his will. It is the will of man resisting God that makes him powerless to come into God's blessing.

Every time a man sins, the spring of his actions is his will. The will is sin itself, since a creature should have no will. Men without God, for this very reason, are called children of disobedience, and the sad fruits of this disobedience are displayed in their lives. Sins are quite distinct from sin in Scripture. Sin, the will, may be compared to the root of a tree sins to the fruit the tree bears. Men's sins are many and varied but can be broadly classified under two groups violence and corruption. (Corruption could be fraud, deceit, lies, etc.) God never forgives sin the root but always judges it which explains why Christ was made sin for us at the cross that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Man is offered the forgiveness of his sins because Christ not only bore them in His own body on the tree, but was made sin the root itself and so came under the judgment of God.

His Mighty Voice Brings Us Out of Death Into Life

Notice how gracious the Lord is to the impotent man although He knows his real moral state. He says "rise, take up your bed and walk" the bed here is what we would call a sleeping bag. Now let's take a hard look at the three separate things in this command:.. "Rise" The First Command: To whom is this command addressed? Why, to every man, for "unless a man is born of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Here is the man who can't enter. How can an impotent man, a man who can't walk, who can't even rise be expected to enter? The impotent man is a figure of man without Christ he lacks power to walk with God because his will is opposed to Him. On the surface his case seems hopeless. Man might argue, "How could he obey a command to get up when he was powerless to do so for thirty eight years?" That all depends on who is giving the command. Here is God manifest in the flesh, the One who said "all power is given unto Me" Matt. 28:18. The prodigal son is another illustration of the breaking of the will as the first step back to God. When he came to himself he said, "I will rise and go to my father." The will once broken, we are free to do the Father's will, not our own. If it is kept broken and not allowed to re assert itself, we will have power with God in our lives.

.. "Pick up your bed" The Second Command: This means, `now that you have got up, demonstrate your new power to others by taking up your bed.' When a man is born again he leads captivity captive as Sampson did with the gates of Gath. You see, for thirty eight years that bed had the same power over the man that prison walls would have had. It held his body as securely as a vise. The practical meaning of the figure is that the newborn soul is given power over the sins which once ruled him. He not only walks away holding his old sins captive but publicly shows this strength. The man carried his bed so all could see the change in his life now that Christ had come into it. When you are saved a new power takes over your life, giving you power over the things that had power over you.

.. "Walk" The Last Command: What a change! "Unless a man is born again he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Now he is equipped to enter that kingdom, walking in ways that are pleasing to God, using the power God has given him, and attributing it all to the Savior before his fellow men.

Religious Man Objects to the Lord Exercising His Power

Now the religious people, the Jews here, don't want us to display the Lord's mighty power to save in the world. They would keep this as quiet as possible. They questioned him "who told you to pick up your bed and walk?" This question should tell us something. When it becomes clear to the world that a man is saved and his life shows it, they want to know what happened. "Who gave you power over your old sins?" is their real question. Since the impotent man doesn't know, he goes to the temple to find out. That was the wrong place to go. Those who sat in Moses' seat did not want their authority questioned or their uselessness exposed. When it was, they were the ones who rallied the rabble to demand the Lord's crucifixion. Even Pilate knew that the religious leaders brought the Lord to His judgment seat because they envied Him. It is the same today. The unsaved, modernist, liberal clergy those who have the greatest authority over the people, and whose opinions are widely sought, are the bitterest enemies of all the cardinal truths of Christianity those concerning the Lord's person, His work, His resurrection. Here they quibbled about the Lord's healing on the Sabbath. Who had given the Sabbath anyway? Was it not God?

And God was present in their midst. The Sabbath was the sign of God's rest in the old creation, but sin had come into that creation and God could not rest where sin was. "My Father worketh hitherto and I work." The same God who gave the Sabbath had the right to set it aside when sin disturbed His rest. But how blessed that where sin abounded grace did much more abound! Did the impotent man recognize this and glorify the God who had healed him? Alas, there is much to suggest that he sided with the religious leaders who, during his thirty eight years' distress had never helped him. This sign teaches us a lesson, but I doubt that it taught him anything. All he tells his questioners is that it was the Man who healed him who told him to pick up his bed and walk. Note that he omitted the word "rise." Man hates to think that because of self will he has no power himself and can only rise in the power of Jesus. If he can only hide this truth, then whatever good he may do in the world will reflect on himself rather than give glory to Christ. Man will approve this, for the good works will then exalt the man under judgment and deny his fall. Look at the world of today and you will see what great works they have worked in their own name. Any why? because "they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" John 12:43.

So he tells the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. This brings out the hatred of the Jews to Christ and they seek to kill Him. It also brings out on the Lord's part a solemn witness to who He is, and the eternal consequences of rejecting Him. "The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who honors not the Son honors not the Father who has sent Him" John 5:22, 23. God the Father was not made flesh God the Son was. Not only so, but it was the Son who was humbled at His creature's hands and crucified. God the Father will have all honor Him throughout the universe Phil. 2:10, 11.

People forget this. I have seen men wearing the ring of a fraternal society on which there is a picture of a compass. Ask them what it means and they will tell you that in this way they acknowledge God as the great architect of the universe. But this does not save a man..."You believe in God? Good (for you!) the devils also believe, and tremble" James 2:19. Many believe in God but deny He will judge them. The devils know better and shudder.

Christ Is the Man of Power Because He Is the Man Who Did God's Will

It is blessed indeed to turn away from the impotent man to Christ, the Man of power. What was the great thing I say it reverently that made Christ the Man of power as opposed to man in Adam who lacks power? It is that in Christ we see a Man entirely devoted to the will of God. This was the mainspring of everything He did. "I can of My own self do nothing," He says John 5:30, and then as proof that His thought went not beyond His Word Psa. 17:3 He would not turn stones into bread although hungry, for His Father had not told Him. "Not My will but Thine be done," He says again Luke 22:42 when the bitter cup of death and the forsaking of God passes before His soul. And again, "Now is my soul troubled and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour" John 12:27. When all is over the Father's answer is to raise Him from among the dead and give Him glory. If Israel, like Rachael, calls Him "the Son of my sorrow" as they do in John 5, the Father changes His name to Benjamin "the Son of My right hand" Gen. 35:18.

Thus in John 5 the moral basis is established for leading man out of Judaism into Christianity, an act that must await the tenth chapter when the Lord leads His own sheep out. But the foundation is laid here it is a Man who does the will of God. Here the believer is taken out of death our old condition both as belonging to the old creation, and as having failed to keep the law when tested into life in the Son of God John 5:24.

To conclude this chapter, the Lord has to break our will so we will listen to His Word and through that learn His will and do it. The natural man will not listen. "Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life," the Lord said in John 5:40. A day is coming when Israel will do the will of God "Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power" Psa. 110:3. But God is looking for obedience in His people now, not in a day of power but in a day of outward weakness. This He greatly values. A prayer that God will always answer is "teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my God" Psa. 143:10. This is what marks us as God's people.

All this happened at the sheep market. "My sheep hear My voice." We know that we are His sheep and that the Lord is our Shepherd when we obey His voice. May this be our delight. What is needed today is willing devotedness of heart to Christ.

Chapter 3.9

(Suggested Reading: John 9)

The Pool of the Blind Man

In the previous chapter we saw that man could not enter the kingdom of God he was impotent. In this chapter we find out that he cannot even see that kingdom because he is born blind. Once again a pool is the setting used to demonstrate man's condition. Here the Lord performs an unmistakable sign of who He is the glory of His person as the Son of God by opening the eyes of a man born blind. And if man is blind from his birth it is clear that he needs a new birth.

Man Has the Power of Darkness Against Him and Is Blind Himself

Darkness and blindness are the two things against man. Darkness is the external power which Satan wields Col. 1:13 blindness our own internal lack of power due to the fall. To illustrate this: in a darkened room the furniture is all there and I have eyes, but the darkness prevents me from seeing it. But if I am blind I have no power in myself to see the furniture, even if the light is turned on and the darkness dispelled. So it was that when Christ came into this world as the Great Light the authority of darkness was set aside He cast out demons, healed the blind, etc. But because man was blind he couldn't see the Light only "the carpenter's son." Well, if he couldn't, let us remember that in the old creation before there even was a man saw the light that it was good, and I have no doubt John 1:32 is the same thought. So God raises up a testimony, John the Baptist, to witness to the Light. This would be incredible if it were not written in the Word. Why? Because it is so contrary to nature. That is, I don't have to tell people that the sun is shining, but that was what John the Baptist was doing. "See the Light" was his message. So great was the moral darkness of man, so incurable his blindness, that he "comprehended not” that the True Light was shining, even when John the Baptist insisted that He was.

This confirms the Lord's words to Nicodemus "unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." To see it requires more than the setting aside of Satan's power and the witness of the Baptist. God Himself must intervene.

But the Son of God is present at this pool as at the other one. In the pool of Bethesda He had proved He was the Lord by freeing the prisoner; now at the pool of Siloam He will prove it again by opening the eyes of the blind Psa. 146:7, 8. No one else can.

Only the Lord Can Open the Eyes of the Blind

Immediately before the Lord opened the blind man's eyes He said "as long as I am in the world I am the Light of the world." But the light does not help a man who is born blind to the person of the Son of God. So the Lord spat on the ground, made clay of the saliva, anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay and said to him "go, wash in the pool of Siloam" a word which means "sent.”

Why did the Lord open the blind man's eyes this way? He had opened the eyes of the two blind men at Jericho without such a striking figure. But there is distinct teaching in the way He opened this man's eyes. Just as there were three commands to the impotent man, so there were three acts by the Lord to relieve the blind man of his blindness John 9:6.

.. Spitting on the ground: This is a figure of what comes out of the mouth, not merely of a humbled Savior, but of God. But what can come out of God's mouth but the Word of God? At the end of the Bible, when man has completely rejected Christ, a sharp two edged sword comes out of the Lord's mouth. That is the Word of God coming out of His mouth in judgment. Here it is the Word of God coming out of His mouth in grace. He spat on the ground. That is to say, the Father's commandment, to which He was obedient, was that He should meet us in our need here on the ground. The greatness of this downward stoop is the subject of Phil. 2.

Making clay of the saliva: The clay is Jesus taking a body, just as what came out of His mouth was a figure of His obedience to His Father's commandment to do so Heb. 10:5. To do this He must have stooped down, as in actuality He humbled Himself. This act confirmed His words in the previous chapter "I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of Myself, but He sent Me" John 8:42.

.. Anointing the blind man's eyes with the mixture: Now the natural man would object that all that Jesus did so far was make the man even more blind, if possible, for He put an impenetrable mixture of clay and saliva over his eyes. Exactly. The unregenerate always stumble at the thought of the Word made flesh 1 John 4:2. Those who are born again confess Jesus Christ come in the flesh. The blind man is not ashamed to confess Christ, saying "if This Man were not of God He could do nothing. "Such are of God as those who confess Him not come in the flesh are not of God. The impotent man made no confession. He told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. So the Jews tried even harder to kill Jesus. He merely demonstrated the principle of man's will, but the blind man seeing the Son, and believing on Him, obtained the Son's life.

Our Part Is Believing Only

The Lord's word to the blind man was "go wash in the pool of Siloam." When a man sees that this humbled Man, the Man of Sychar's well, the Man who thirsted at the cross, is the Sent One of the Father, his blindness goes. If there is no going to this pool, as Naaman at first stubbornly refused to "go and wash in Jordan seven times" 2 Kings 5:10 the blindness remains. Naaman's leprosy did not go until he applied the Jordan the waters of death to his flesh. The washing at the pool of Siloam may have been only the blind man's eyes, but the Word of God does not confine it that way. The washing may well have been the whole body. If so, it would be a figure of the washing of regeneration John 13:10. The great lesson, however, is that the new life is communicated by the Spirit, and because this is so it is in opposition to our natural life. "The flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other" Gal. 5:17. This verse applies to the Spirit's opposition to all forms of flesh. In writing it the apostle had in mind religious flesh for the Galatians were giving up the liberty of Christianity and turning back to law keeping.

That is why we find no beauty in man's 'temples' or 'synagogues.' We can't find Christ in them. He is outside. If any man would meet Him, he must be thrown out of the synagogue or leave it himself. Well, "they threw him out." They made good their threat "that if any man did confess that He was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue" John 9:22. The first thing the blind man must have seen was that Christ wasn't there. Man's temples and synagogues are no places for a man with opened eyes. Even the Jews knew that.

Our Joy—the Worship of the Father and the Son

But if man had thrown him out, they had forgotten the Lord's words "he who comes to Me I will in no way cast out" John 6:37. He came to worship the Son of God. The Son is worthy of worship having come to seek and save the lost. The Father seeks such the fruit of the Son's seeking to worship Him. So in John 4 we have the worship of the Father; in John 9 the worship of the Son. These Scriptures make it abundantly clear that Christianity is the worship, not only of the revealed Father, but of the Son of His love. Worship is more connected with the Lord's Person than His work, but in that blessed work the glories of His Person shine out.

Sometimes we get carried away with the majesty of God's work in creation. How much more should we be transported when we think of God's work in the new creation. That is what makes the souls of the redeemed burst out in song "To Him who loves us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood To Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Rev. 1:5, 6.

Worldly religion cathedrals, incense, music but not of the heart, priests and ministers who are not born again these are not for the true Christian. Many years ago, as a young airman, I was marched to a church parade in Bournemouth, England, during World War 2. The minister opened his prayer by asking "Almighty God" for the victory of our arms. No hymns of the Savior's love were sung only two national anthems. I saw that he did not know God as his Father, for he had not come to His Son to get eternal life. His sermon, too, was all about this world. Then I remember a different experience on my return home. I heard a real servant of the Lord pray. What he prayed about I do not recall, but I do remember his opening words "blessed Lord Jesus." Ah! "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Spirit" 1 Cor. 12:3. Those few words addressed to the precious Savior who opened my blind eyes, and whom I had learned to love, warmed my heart and thrilled my soul.

Nicodemus— the Pattern Man in John's Gospel

A closing question might be who is the blind man? Can he be identified? A hasty answer to this question might be "of course not." However, there is much to make us think he was Nicodemus, and that Nicodemus was the impotent man as well.

First of all the Lord's words concerning the man who could not enter John 5 and the man who could not see John 9 were addressed to Nicodemus. Having established the principle, as it were, the Lord then went on to illustrate it in the cases of the impotent and blind men. Secondly the Lord's commands to the impotent man and acts on the blind man were threefold in each case, and also progressive. This corresponds precisely with Nicodemus' own life and spiritual experience, which is given to us on three occasions in Scripture, in each of which we see an increase of light and power. On the first occasion Nicodemus overcomes his reluctance to be seen with 'the carpenter's son.' He comes to Jesus by night when men need some other light than nature provides, and he at once demonstrates his impotency in the Lord's presence. Next he stands up to answer the question of the Pharisees in their very presence: "Has any one of the rulers believed on Him, or of the Pharisees?" Yes one has Nicodemus. They rebuke him saying "search and look, that no prophet rises out of Galilee" John 7:47, 53. Unknown to them until that time, he had searched until he found Christ, who was opening his blind eyes still more to see His glory. So God strengthened him to witness about Jesus before man. The third and last occasion was in John 19:39,40 where we read "and Nicodemus also, who at first came to Jesus by night, came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took therefore the body of Jesus and bound it up in linen with the spices, as is the custom with the Jews to prepare for burial." Here he is the man whose eyes are opened. He defies the religious world and its leaders and identifies himself with a Savior who has been crucified by their malice. So what he did is enshrined in the pages of Holy Scripture. Christianity is not a religion. It is a Person. Christianity is Christ. It was this discovery that caused the man who at first came to Jesus by night to come to His cross by day. For Nicodemus the True Light now shone, never to go out.

Chapter 3.10

(Suggested Reading: Gen. 49:22-26; John 4)

A Fountain of Water

On his death bed Jacob gathered his sons together and told each one what should happen to them at the end of days see Gen. 49. His last words to his sons predicted the future of each tribe. He dearly loved his son Joseph and said that he was a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches shot over the wall. What a perfect description of the scene at the springing well of Sychar. For Jacob was dying in John 3 because the nation had cut itself off from Christ the source of life. That is why the Father was seeking worshippers in John 4, for there were very few of them in Judea. To fill in the picture, the Lord leaves Judea and goes to a Gentile village in Samaria. By this act His branches shot over the wall the middle wall of partition which separated Jew from Gentile. Not only that but the Lord as the True Joseph is found here as a fruitful bough by a well. To make the link with Jacob's death bed complete the well in John 4 is Jacob's well, for so "the woman" calls it v 11, 12. But it was a "springing well" that is a fountain. Jesus, then, sat at the water of a well which was springing up as a fountain. It is the same thought as the springing well in the Book of Numbers, and for the same reason, as we shall see.

The setting of the springing well was the moral death of Israel. Jerusalem, where the law was, had nothing for the heart of God, so that this Samaritan village becomes the scene for the display of grace. The Lord not only leaves Judea, but sends His disciples, the other link with Israel, away to buy food. He is now free to go after one lost sheep, one who is continually referred to as "the woman."(1) She is nameless intentionally. When we appear before God it is our state and our sins, and not what man calls us, or thinks of us, that is in question. Nicodemus had come to Jesus by night the Lord comes to "the woman" by day. We must be born again individually, no matter how different we may be.

The Story of "the Woman”

Well, this woman came to draw water at the well of Sychar. She was alone, or so she thought, being ignorant of the name "Thou God seest me" Gen. 16:7, 13 which another woman, at another fountain of water, had once given to the Lord. It was enough for her that nobody saw her when she came to the fountain. She chose a time when other women were not around. She had a past and the people of the town knew it. I doubt that she wanted to escape their glance when she was enjoying the pleasures of sin, which, we are told, are but for a season. That season had closed for her and nothing was left but a thirst in her soul. She was also ignorant of something that we cannot sin and escape the consequences. "God requires what is past" Eccl. 3:15.

The Lord first tests "the woman" by asking for a drink of water. She seems to have ignored His request for she merely reasons out loud that the Jews and Samaritans did not speak to one another. Ah! Could she but know who He is that is, the glory of His Person, and His gift of "living water." Still, her attention is arrested and she replies "Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with and the well is deep from whence then hast Thou that living water? Art Thou greater than our father Jacob which gave us the well?”

What a question! Could such a One be greater than Jacob? Yes, but it was the greatness of humiliation which refused to exalt Himself. His Father would do that in His own time. So He answers her question by telling her not of Jacob's well but of His. "Whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.”(2)

Oh how "the woman" desired this water! She had tasted the water from Jacob's well but it was outside of her and her thirst was inside. Man's thirst is inside him, yet he vainly tries to satisfy it with what is outside him the world. The reason this can't work is that the entire world is only a mirror image of man himself and man is thirsty. Everything we see in the world the things man has built in it, the weapons of war to destroy it, and its amusements, travel, T.V., etc. to divert our thoughts from what is happening are the products of other men like ourselves. They have merely projected their thoughts and their thirst outside. So what is outside man the world is what is inside thirst. Thirst is absence of relationship with God. For example in hell there isn't even a drop of water. And so when God saves us He meets our thirst inside with His own well. If only "the woman" could have this built in well to meet her thirst at the source and not have to go for water anymore! That is why she says longingly "Give me this water that I thirst not, neither come here to draw." The water that the woman was accustomed to draw the water of the well of this world's pleasures is in contrast to the water of eternal life. But could Jesus give the yearning human spirit anything? She doubted it. "Thou hast nothing...and the well is deep." People today think the same way what has the lowly Nazarene to offer me compared to the water of this world's well? What they mean is, "If I accept Christ what has He to offer me in exchange for losing this world? I can see no resources in Christ.”

There are no heavenly springs in this world's pleasures. Like Sychar's well they are deep underground the hidden unfruitful works of darkness. But the lost hanker after them. In these earthly pleasures you must drop your bucket deep inside the well over and over again. You get nothing free in this world...you must draw for it. Do you never get weary of the effort and of the same old pleasures that can never satisfy? And how often does the well run dry! Twenty five years ago I handed my secretary a gospel tract I had written. She was a real woman of the world, who enjoyed life to the full scuba diving in coral reefs, jet trips to foreign countries, sea cruises, dancing, listening to symphonies, dining in expensive restaurants and so on. Knowing her disinterest in spiritual things I told her that the opening story was a personal experience in W.W.2, thinking that this might interest her enough to read it. Instead she placed the palm of her hand on the tract and pushed it over her desk back to me. How sad. While God gave us earthly pleasures to enjoy, He never meant them to crowd out His greater gift. The water He wants to give man is a fountain gushing up to eternal life. It is the springing well of the Old Testament. It is the Holy Spirit.

The Brazen Serpent and the Springing Well Again

The springing well followed the brazen serpent in the Book of Numbers. And that is exactly what you have here. The Lord had told Nicodemus about the brazen serpent in the third chapter; now in the fourth chapter he tells the woman about the springing well. The order is the same in both cases. This is because I cannot get the springing well the Holy Spirit dwelling inside me until I am ended as a natural man at the cross in type the brazen serpent. This is all positional and most blessed. From the positional point of view God sees all His children as worshippers for all are ended in Adam, have the life of Christ, and the Holy Spirit, the power and energy of that life, to lead them in the worship of the Father and the Son.

The Soul's Condition Is Exposed by Christ

The moment a man wants this water he is made conscious that his sins stand in the way of the blessing and must be brought to light. Who can bring her sins to light but Christ? "Go, call your husband" the Lord says, "and come here." To shield her life from scrutiny she answers "I have no husband." But in God's sight "all things are naked and opened to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" Heb. 4:13. So the Lord replies, "You have well said I have no husband. For you have had five husbands and he whom you now have is not your husband. In that saidst thou truly." "The woman" is astonished that her secret is gone. Slowly she recognizes she is in the presence of God. First she calls the Lord a "Jew" then "Sir" then "a prophet" and finally "the Christ." She saw the glory of His Person more clearly than the Lord's own disciples, who in this chapter only call Him "Rabbi.”

If you do not know the Lord you will be uncomfortable in His presence. She was. Could she divert His attention from her sins, perhaps, by talking about religion instead? I have no doubt that was her thought. She has many followers who try to hide behind religion. Ask them "Do you know the Lord?" and they will reply, "I go to such and such a church." Very well, I say, but that isn't my question. "Do you know the Lord as your Savior?" God doesn't want to occupy us with religion but with Christ. The Lord graciously answered the woman's question but brought her back to her need of Him. So should we.

And what is the result? The woman left her waterpot. The waterpot would be only an earthen vessel in those days. So is the body. It is in the body we draw pleasures the pleasures of sin for a season from this world's well. It is in the body we sin against God and it is the things done in the body for which man is judged. Moreover it is in the body of the believer that the Holy Spirit dwells. This involves a responsibility to leave the waterpot, and not to take the Holy Spirit to some place which would gratify our fallen flesh. He is holy. So must we be, seeing He dwells inside.

A Weary Savior and His Rest

But let us turn from the woman and the waterpot to Jesus, who, "being wearied with His journey sat thus on the well; and it was about the sixth hour." This expression "it was about the sixth hour" is found again in John 19:14. It was the preparation of the Passover, and about the sixth hour, when Pilate said to the Jews "behold your King!" The King of the Jews had left them to go to Samaria in John 4 for He was not wanted. Then in John 19 He leaves them to go back to heaven. Again He was not wanted, for as soon as Pilate said "behold your King" they replied "away with Him, crucify Him.”

If He was tired with His journey at Sychar's well, how much more so before Pilate. His sufferings from man were coming to a climax "about the sixth hour" from man who at His birth could find no room for Him in the inn, from man who saw to it that He wandered in this world His hands had made as a homeless stranger, since the foxes had holes and the birds of the air had nests, but He had nowhere to lay His head see Matt. 8:20. He could not rest His head until His work was finished. And so He bowed literally rested His head and delivered up His spirit to His Father. The only rest He found in this world was then.

As the True Joseph His branches had gone over the wall to the Gentiles. But this had provoked the hatred of His brethren again like Joseph. "The archers have sorely grieved Him, and shot at Him and hated Him" Gen. 49:23. But the bow is a weapon of distant warfare. It tells us that man could not reach His Person no matter how he tried. Only God could do that, in the three hours of darkness. Again Jacob's final blessing of Joseph applies to the True Joseph "blessings...shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of Him who was separated from His brethren" Gen. 49:26.

His rest now is in His (predominantly) Gentile bride purchased at such great cost. The woman at Sychar's well is a striking figure of the worship which would ascend to the Father and the Son from the Gentiles after the Lord's ascension to glory and the descent of the Spirit at Pentecost.(3)

Our Rest Is in Christ

We who have come to Him have found rest too, even as He promised. Like "the woman" we were weary and heavy laden until we came to Him for rest. She had had five husbands and another man. She had tried everything but nothing satisfied her. We see this in that "the woman" had six men and the number six stands for incompleteness in Scripture. Solomon, who had a thousand wives, tells us "one man among a thousand have I found, but a woman among all those have I not found." This woman had six men in her life and it was just as unsatisfying as Solomon's. But when the seventh man appeared the Lord Jesus Christ she is satisfied. Seven in Scripture speaks of completeness or perfection. So the Lord here is the last Man the last Adam for there will be no other. He has displaced every other man in the affections of His Gentile bride.

God has made the human heart so that anything can occupy it but nothing can satisfy it but Christ. The heart can be diverted from the true joys by the passing things we see in this present evil world or it can be engaged and satisfied with Christ. God has given the believer the same Object who is before His heart Christ. This alone satisfies, and worship follows. Worship in John 4 is the fruit of seeing the work of the cross in John 3 i.e. the brazen serpent and the giving of God's Lamb for such as us. It touches the springs of our affections to see the greatness of the gift, divine love in all its fullness told out in the cross. Even in Egypt when the lamb was provided for Israel "the people bowed the head and worshipped." In John 3:16 the Lamb is not merely for Israel but for the whole world and the Father seeks worshippers. The revealed name of Father goes beyond the Jew, as the Lord Himself went beyond Judea to Gentile Samaria. "Whosoever believes" John 3:16 receives the Son's life; "whosoever drinks" John 4:14 has the Spirit as a springing well that there might be a fitting response to the greatness of the gift. Such a revelation, since it will fill the world to come, must be spread abroad in this world too.

Righteousness and Peace and Joy—Our Present Portion

Just as the heart is satisfied in worship there is a desire to share the Object of that worship with others. This is service. "The woman" is the first fruits of Samaria to Christ. But she will be followed by many others for the fields are ripe for harvesting. There is both reaping and gathering fruit to life eternal and rejoicing.

The Kingdom of God, the entrance to which we had in John 3 by the new birth, is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost" Rom. 14:17. Yes, and there is no record in John 4 that the Lord accepted food from His disciples, or a drink from the woman, although He gave her the springing well the Holy Spirit. The theme of John 3 is righteousness and peace, for there we find the brazen serpent; joy in the Holy Ghost follows in John 4 as we enter into this. Righteousness and peace and joy were seen in Christ as He went through this world. He wanted to tell the joy that was in His heart to others for His delights were with the sons of men. And so at the cross righteousness and peace kissed each other Ps 85:10 to make it possible.

Chapter 3.11

(Suggested Reading: Num. 21:1-18; John 7)

Rivers of Living Water

Life as we know it cannot exist without water. That is why Scripture speaks of "the water of life." But water can also be an agent of death in the raging seas, floods, and storms. This is to be expected in a world in which life itself takes fierce and gentle forms the tiger on the one hand and the deer on the other. The explanation is found, not in studying nature, but in revelation. Good and evil, light and darkness, characterize a world stamped by sin. It was not so in the beginning when God saw everything He had made, and behold it was very good. But man marred the creation by his fall. Scripture now calls him "the man of dust.”

God's Works With Water in the Old Creation of Gen. 1

Only by turning to God's thoughts on any subject do we get light. The beginning and ending of God's thoughts reveal His purpose and its fulfillment. For this reason the beginning and ending of God's thoughts concerning water is a rich subject for the enjoyment of our souls. God begins at the deep. The Spirit of God hovers over that. Because of the entrance Gen. 1:2 and the work Gen. 1:9, 10 of God in this world, the deep changes to the waters, the waters to the seas. Even so, the sea is not pleasurable to God, for in the eternal state the sea is no more Rev. 21:1. Yet it is from this waste that God raises the dry land, the whole of which is Eden a paradise in which He plants a garden. The thought of a garden is an enclosure and fruit. There God would enjoy man and man God. A river went out of Eden to water the garden. Then it was divided into four main streams. Such were God's thoughts for the earth at the beginning a river whose crystal clear streams should keep the whole earth green a delightsome thing. But we miss the point if we don't see that it was from the garden God's presence that this parting to bless the earth took place. Connect this with the end of God's dealings with the earth. It is from the millennial temple God's presence again that the "waters to swim in" come out "a river that could not be forded" Ezek. 47:5.

God's Work With Water in the New Creation—the Story of John's Two Pools

But if God purposed blessing for the earth in the beginning and will see that it is blessed in the end, what of the intervening period marred by sin? It is here that the two pools in John's gospel come in. These pools symbolize the ruin of man, a ruin agreeing to the primeval chaos of Gen. 1:2. At them we find man himself impotent and blind dust of the earth and truly as without form and void as the earth once was. Then there are the waters, not now the deep, but in two pools, motionless, confined by the earth. There is the Spirit of God, for every act in Jesus' life was done in His power. The Lord had told Nicodemus too that man must be born of water and of the Spirit. He is needful, both for life and power. And just as the Spirit of God came to the deep where the darkness and the great need were so does the Lord go up to Jerusalem to meet man's need at these pools, in the power of the Spirit.

a. Man is powerless under law, and blind to the glory of Christ by nature: The Lord said "sin no more" to the impotent man, who is simply a figure of Israel under law but powerless to keep it because of man's fallen nature. Acts 7:53 confirms this. It tells us that they had received the law as ordained by the ministry of angels and had not kept it. So at Bethesda an angel disturbed the pool, but it took One mightier than an angel to cure their willfulness.

At the pool of Siloam, on the other hand, the Lord lays no guilt at the door of the blind man. He says "Neither has this man sinned nor his parents." A nature is in question here. We cannot help being "born blind at our birth" it is completely beyond our control. That man, the man under judgment, must be ended by death. Ye must be born again.

b. The Man of power Christ gives a new nature to fallen man: The Lord had freed the prisoner in John 5 and opened the eyes of the blind in John 9 thus proving beyond doubt that He was Israel's God. In the face of such proofs the Jews rejected both His words and His works. Since Jesus knew what was in man John 2:25 He did these great signs on the Sabbath. When the Jews objected to this the Lord answered "My Father works until now, and I work" John 5:17. The Sabbath was the sign of God's rest in creation. But the Lord clearly indicated that sin had entered that creation, making a new work necessary. Since man could do nothing, the Lord of glory would do it all for him. He would give eternal life to man.

To give this life to man the Word of God must be applied in the power of the Spirit of God. John 3:5 makes it plain that man must be born of water the Word of God and the Spirit. The two pools in John's gospel and the signs the Lord performed at them typify the new birth. However God does not stop with the new birth. He uses John to show that just as the old nature man acquired at the fall is powerless and blind, so the new nature is one of power and vision. This new nature is symbolically represented to us in John's gospel by pictures of water in living energy, not only in contrast to the two pools for the water in a pool is stagnant but flowing out of them. Old things having passed away, all things have become new.

How the Pools Symbolically Change Their Character—Becoming a Fountain Rising Heavenward and Rivers to Refresh the Earth

To understand the transition which our caption indicates, we must group the rivers our subject in this chapter with the fountain of John 4. The rivers of living water do not stand by themselves, anymore than the fountain does.

a. A springing well for heaven: In the pool of Siloam all is grace. There the Lord is worshipped as the sent One of the Father. Now eternal life expresses itself in two ways service and worship, the figures of which are rivers and a fountain respectively. Rivers illustrate living water without in the world. In the chapter dealing with the Gentile sinner we have a fountain of living water within. But it does not stay within any more than the waters "in his belly" in John 8. They were many faceted, but the springing well worship in the power of the Holy Spirit springs heavenward, not over the earth like the rivers. There is but one object the worship of the Father and the Son. It is as though the waters of the pool of Siloam in the ninth chapter are energized to become the springing well in the fourth chapter. The link is that at the pool of Siloam the Lord is worshipped as Son of God; in John 4 the Father seeks such to worship Him.

b. Rivers to refresh the earth: The figure of a river is not difficult to understand. In nature a river is a flow of water rushing turbulently over the earth, and refreshing it. A river moves in channels, though these may change from time to time. It also has a source. Now let us apply this by going back to the beginning.

We are told that a river flowed out of Eden, to irrigate the garden where Adam was the figure of the man to come. From there it divided into four rivers. We find only one river connected with the Lord in John's gospel the Jordan. The river speaks of service in living energy and His service was undivided.

It was at His baptism in the river Jordan that His public ministry commenced. "Immediately the Spirit drives Him out to the wilderness. And He was in the wilderness forty days tempted by Satan" Mark 1:13. Our service, however, is expressed in many different channels of grace. That is why the Lord uses the figure of rivers, not a river, for us. "He who believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" John 7:38. But to do that you must first thirst, and come to Him and drink. Nothing can go out of your belly that hasn't first gone in it. The great point is that the rivers, which are pictures of eternal life in mighty rushing energy flowing over this earth, are confined in channels, for eternal life is the possession of believers. We are the channels God uses in service to refresh this poor earth. Like the four main streams in Gen. 2:10 we all have one source of energy, and that is Christ.

However, while we can apply the figure of rivers as service for the Lord at the present time, we must not lose sight of the setting of the Lord's words. They were spoken at the feast of tabernacles John 7:2. This was the last of the seven feasts of the Lord Lev. 23 and prefigured Israel's blessing in the coming millennial day. In that future day Israel's impotency will be gone. The pool of the impotent man, so to speak, will be changed into the rivers of which the Lord spoke on that last day, the great day of the feast. Israel is impotent today because they do not thirst for Christ. They are a river bed without water. One day they will be rivers again to the whole earth. "Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power" Psa. 110:3. Then their belly will be filled and the rivers will go out to others. Now note how they go out over the world a fitting picture of the service an earthly people render to God. The rivers of eternal life, then, speak of the many forms which service to the Lord may take, a service which is confined to the earth, for a river does not rise above it.

Chapter 3.12

(Suggested Reading; John 10)

The Passover the Salvation of the Soul

Our studies in John's gospel so far have been at water scenes. These are suggestive of beginnings in God's ways with man. The early water scenes in John's gospel were written to give us an elementary understanding of eternal life that life which is in God's Son. Because the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ it is interesting to contrast the respective ministries of Moses and Jesus Christ. Moses' ministry began with judgments on the darkness and the waters and morally ended with the children of Israel having light in their dwellings. Christ began as the Great Light at the waters (1) and ended with eternal life communicated to man.

Having said this a question immediately arises how can God righteously give eternal life to man who is a sinner, deserving not life but the judgment of God? It is a question anticipated and answered in John's gospel and in Exodus, Moses' second book. It is the story of the Passover the salvation of the soul.

The Passover in Exodus and John's Gospel

God's ancient people started as slaves to sin and Satan in the world. Using Moses as His servant God delivered them from the iron furnace of Egypt, the house of bondage. Then He brought them into the land of promise. But when Christ came to visit the people He had delivered in the land of promise to which He brought them, they rejected Him 1:11. They preferred their darkness to the Great Light of His presence among them. So the Passover, that vivid remembrance of their great deliverance from Egypt by the Lord, is no longer called a feast of the Lord but a feast of the Jews 6:4.

The Moral Condition of the Jewish Sheepfold When the Lord Entered It

God's people were slaves in the land of Egypt. They were powerless to deliver themselves God had to lead them out. His mighty arm was bared for them at the Passover and the Red Sea. Now this same God is with them. The same God who led them out of Egypt is about to lead them out of Judaism. But to lead them out He must first be with them.

This is the setting of the Scripture "to Him the porter opens and the sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name, and leads them out" John 10:3. The porter was in charge of the gate in the sheepfold a fenced enclosure to protect the sheep from wolves outside. He admitted the shepherd to the sheepfold because he took care of the sheep. The sheep went out to pasture under the shepherd's protection and back to the sheepfold at the end of the day. The Lord took everyday things and applied them. He is the Shepherd, the Holy Spirit the porter, and Israel the sheepfold an enclosed place in the earth protected by God Himself. But in this sheepfold there were two classes of sheep those who had gone astray "ye are not of My sheep, as I said to you" John 10:26 and His own sheep, specially singled out. In one sense of course "all we like sheep have gone astray" Isa. 53:6. What made us the Lord's sheep was hearing His voice and obeying it when He called us by name. However, going back to Israel, the Lord's voice must first be heard. So the porter the Holy Spirit opened the gate to Him the gate of the Jewish sheepfold at His baptism in the River Jordan. There He descended on Him in the form of a dove. All the Lord's public ministry in the Jewish sheepfold dates from that moment. Before that time He had been subject to His parents, had grown to manhood, was a carpenter, was occupied with His Father's business, but except for such glimpses as these, Scripture veils His life from us until Jordan. Then the same Spirit, the porter of the sheepfold who had descended on Him in the form of a dove, takes Him into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. His ministry has begun. But this ministry produces a division in the Jewish sheepfold. If we connect John 10 with the story of the blind man all becomes clear. The blind man was one of His sheep He called Him and He came out of the Jewish sheepfold to worship Christ as the Son of God. This left those who were not the Lord's sheep in the Jewish sheepfold in plain words left them in Judaism "for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that He was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue" John 9:22. On his confession, they reviled him and said "you are His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses as for this fellow, we know not from whence He is" John 9:28, 29.

In spite of the cleavage, the Lord moved in and out of the Jewish sheepfold all His life. "By Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture" John 10:9. Only the sheep who went in and out with Christ found pasture the rest starved in the sheepfold. During His lifetime He fed the sheep as He reminded the Jews at the end of it "I sat daily (with you) teaching in the Temple and ye did not seize Me" Matt. 26:55.

To those who were not His sheep He provided abundant testimony that He was rightfully admitted by the porter as He was God manifest in the flesh. This is why their sin is so great "If I had not done among them the works which no other one has done they had not had sin, but now they have both seen and hated both Me and My Father" John 15:24. They had seen His works, therefore their sin remained.

To put their rejection in the proper setting, the Jews knew God as the God of creation. So there would be no mistake as to who He was, He identified Himself by acting anew in the way He had worked of old in the first creation. In the old creation God spoke and His works followed. "He spoke and it was done." Here we have an incredible thing. God manifest in the flesh spoke in John 8 and His word was rejected; He worked the works that none but God could work in John 9 and His works were rejected. Previously when He had come into the world as light the darkness comprehended it not the Light was rejected. Compare this with what He did when the earth was ruined. He had said "let there be light" and there was light whenever He spoke, the works followed and creation came into being. Here He worked in the same way, light, word, works but total rejection was the response. Only one thing then was left He must separate His own sheep from the evil religious system of Judaism as He had once divided the light from the darkness. This He does in John 10. He leads them out of the Jewish sheepfold the enclosure of the Jewish sheep. Having done this He must bring not lead out other sheep. These are Gentiles. They were never in the Jewish fold, so there is no question of leading them out. Instead they must be brought. But one flock, one Shepherd, is an impossible thought apart from the death of Christ. To begin with God had established the religious system of Judaism and divided Jew from Gentile. Only God, then, could set it aside. This He must do when they reject the One whom He had sent. But the death of the Sent One of the Father must come in before this could take place. So the Lord tells an allegory to the Pharisees the ones who most opposed Him.

The Pharisees had asked the Lord "are we blind also?" to which He replied "If ye were blind ye should have no sin. But now ye say we see therefore your sin remains." The meaning of this is that if they had simply confessed themselves "blind from their birth" the Lord would have said to them also "neither has this man sinned, nor his parents." Instead they took the ground of seeing. But what did they see? They saw the Lord entering in by the door and should have acknowledged Him as the Shepherd of the sheep. That is, His genealogy son of David, son of Abraham Matt. 1:1, was unquestioned His acts of power showed where He came from His doctrine was with authority unlike the scribes He did the Father's will, not His own. John the Baptist told them who Christ was John 1:26, 27. And to Him the porter opened that is the Holy Ghost descended from heaven like a dove and abode on Him. He was the porter opening the door to His public ministry in the Jewish fold. All this they saw and denied, therefore their sin remained. They were strangers to the Shepherd's voice "ye are not My sheep, even as I have told you.”

Christ the Good Shepherd

Since they did not hear His voice they could not understand His allegory. "God speaks once, yea twice" Job 33:14. When He speaks to them the second time it is to declare who He is since they had denied it. Four times He says "I am" God's name Ex. 3:14 twice in connection with the door and twice in connection with the good Shepherd. He closes His discourse by a declaration concerning His life "no man takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of My Father" John 10:18. In this way He was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the resurrection of the dead. This was the sign He had told the Jews of in the beginning "destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" John 2:19. Because He tells the truth "I and My Father are one" they sought to stone Him again as they tried to do in the eighth chapter when He said "before Abraham was I am" John 8:58.

Thank God His declaration "I am" is in connection with our need. Otherwise we, like the Jews then, would reject Him and be forever lost. He is the door of the sheep. It is not enough for a man to know this he must act on it. "By Me if any man enter in he shall be saved." We all know how prominent a part the door played in Noah's ark. It must be so for the Lord has said that He is the door. But there is another type of the door, one that is more in line with what is before us than that and that is the door at the Passover. Noah's door led into the ark. The door at the Passover was also entrance into shelter. But what followed the Passover was going out of Egypt. In John 10 it is going out of Judaism the Jewish fold. Now the Passover begins with judgment hanging over all but deliverance promised through a lamb a lamb whose blood is sprinkled on the side posts and lintels of the doors in Egypt.

Christ Our Passover

These thoughts must have flooded across the Lord's holy soul when He led His own sheep out for the last time. That was in the large furnished upper room where He exclaimed "with desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer" Luke 22:15. After He had eaten the Passover He instituted the Lord's Supper. This broke His connection with the Jewish sheepfold. The Jewish sheep He had led out should be joined by Gentile sheep on His ascension to glory. He would bring them, and there should be one flock, one Shepherd.

But that was future. What was before Him at that Passover feast was a lamb. Abraham, the father of those justified by faith, understood this when he said "My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering" Gen. 22:8. In the Passover story in Exodus it is your lamb partly because it met their need and was anticipatory. When the real Lamb came into sight He was not their lamb but God's Lamb "Behold the Lamb of God.”

Every Detail of the Passover Lamb Agrees With Christ

The Passover was observed in the month Abib which means green ears (of corn). This too was a beginning. "This month shall be to you the beginning of months it shall be the first month of the year to you" Ex. 12:2. The first man's beginning disobedience of God brought in death the Last Man's obedience in accepting the wages of sin death ushered in life green ears of corn.

This life is first seen in the lamb, a helpless little creature. It was to be without blemish. There was to be a lamb for a house hold. Although many lambs would be needed, for there would be many households, God never talks about lambs, but always about "your lamb" always the singular, never the plural. Why? Because God has only one Lamb for man, the Lord Jesus Christ. So for four days they were to guard it. This means that, although marked for sacrifice, its life would go on, doing different things from one day to the next until the four day period was over. Then it was killed and its blood put in a basin Ex. 12:22. In this way it was a perfect type of the Lord Jesus whose life as God's Lamb is recorded in four gospels. In each gospel we behold the Lamb of God in different ways, yet each gospel begins with the life of that spotless Lamb and ends with His death on the cross. Only those who beheld Him in that way the sin bearer can enjoy the second "behold" "behold the Lamb of God" i.e. they can behold Him for enjoyment. The Apostle John did. He recorded these two "beholds" but wrote earlier of another "we beheld His glory" the glory of the Lamb on earth. Those who do that on earth will, like the Apostle John, behold it in heaven too "and I beheld...a Lamb as it had been slain" Rev. 5:6. Do you know why, even in type, God goes to such lengths to show us the spotless perfection of His Lamb? It is to show His complete suitability to be the sin bearer, for only a sinless man could be offered up for others' sins. So it was that He offered Himself through the Eternal Spirit without spot to God Heb. 9:14. The judgment that fell on Him when He did this is foretold too "roast with fire" Ex. 12:9. If the lamb's flesh had been boiled in water, or roasted in an oven, the fire would have reached it only indirectly. But in roasting in an open fire there is no escape from the fire. This is a picture of the all encompassing judgment of God on Christ at the cross. The head, legs and inward parts were to be roasted. The head speaks of the Lord's divine intelligence (unlike Isaac in Gen. 22 He knew the cross was before Him); His legs His perfect walk; His inwards truth in the inward parts. He was completely offered up to God. When the lamb was eaten, not a bone of it should be broken Ex. 12:46. It is this that John refers to, "for these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, 'a bone of Him shall not be broken'" John 19:36. In all these details God jealously guards the Person and work of His Son.

Nothing Can Shelter From God's Judgment but the Lamb's Blood

What God looked for in the Passover was the blood. "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" Ex. 12:3. This is how God makes a distinction between man and man although all are guilty since all have sinned. The One who is going to do the judging has promised to pass over without judging if He sees the blood. I think there is another thought too that "passing over" is more than not judging the house passed over. "Over" also means going on to judge the house without blood. Only the blood shelters us from God's judgment due to our sins.

The blood must be applied with hyssop, a weed which grew in lowly places. This act speaks of repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20:21. It is a public confession too, because the blood was not hidden from the world it was applied to the side posts and lintels of their doors. These would face the streets where people passed by. So all men are to be made aware that the blood shelters, since God would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth 1 Tim. 2:4.

The Blood Brings Us Into a Place of Nearness and Privilege With God

Finally, the blood was not applied to the door which man might think to be the best place, but to the sideposts and lintel which frame the door. The door speaks of Christ. He Himself said, "I AM the door." The sideposts and lintel, because they surround the door, speak of the position into which His blood would eventually bring man. We surround Him as His brethren even as He is in the midst. But this position of nearness is only possible because the blood has been applied to us. We need it first for shelter before there can be any thought of approach. We needed it, but He was without sin, so no blood must be applied to the door. This striking type of the blood brings out the grand purpose of God in having a redeemed people surround their Redeemer.

Satisfy yourself about this place of privilege by comparing the three 'firstborns' in Scripture. The firstborn speaks of promise in nature for example, the birth of the first child in a family is a happy occasion and raises natural hopes. But God had said, "all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die" Ex. 11:4, 5. All would be lost then if God had not provided a lamb in the next chapter. Thanks be unto God that He does and that when He looks at a house where the blood has been applied He says "that speaks of the blood of My firstborn, Jesus" see Psa. 89:27. This blood is a witness that I have judged My firstborn instead of his therefore I cannot judge this man's firstborn. I will pass over this house and go on to judge the firstborn of the Egyptians who have no blood to shelter." And the result? The Egyptians had to bury all their firstborn Num. 33:4, but the firstborn of Israel were to be sanctified Ex. 13:2.

The Lord Jesus Is the True Passover Lamb

As time went on the Passover was kept in the letter which kills and not in the spirit which gives life 2 Cor. 3:6. Egypt and the deliverance of the Red Sea were forgotten. When the True Passover Lamb was in their midst the Jews gazed not on Him although John the Baptist exhorted them to do so saying, "behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" John 1:29. When they killed the Passover Lamb at the appointed time it was in enmity. So when they are in question it is called "the Jew's Passover" John 2:13; 11:55. May we reject such coldness of heart! Instead may we value that great work which both sheltered us from judgment and brought us into nearness with Himself, saying with the beloved Apostle Paul "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us therefore let us keep the feast" 1 Cor. 5:7, 8.

But the Prince of Life has been slain "smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered" Zech. 13:7. The scattering is due to wage earners being over the flock of God now that is people with no interest in the sheep except for the money in the job. The wolf has caught and scattered them but it does not say devoured them. We are all aware of the scattered condition of the one flock the Church of God today. We are also aware of our eternal security as His sheep. "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand." No, the wolf may catch but he cannot pluck out of such a hand. He may scatter, but all the sheep will be gathered again in glory where they shall behold a Lamb as it had been slain standing in the midst of the throne. God's purposes are never frustrated. With this in mind we shall close off our meditations on the Passover. Its purpose was to keep God away as a judge. But God's purpose is more than that it is to bring man into blessing.

The Passover and the Red Sea prepare the way for the lost sheep to worship God. Man fell body and soul, and must be saved body and soul or lost forever. That is why the shedding of the Passover lamb's blood in Egypt the initial deliverance of Israel is linked to their final deliverance at the Red Sea. It is the Passover and the Red Sea which bring us into the desert to worship God (2) in His tabernacle, a theme John retraces in his gospel beginning with Chapter 12. How beautifully these themes flow into one another, forming a divine trilogy salvation of the soul prefigured in the Passover, salvation of the body prefigured in the Red Sea, followed by the worship of God in His desert tabernacle. We can now worship the God from whom we were estranged by sin, because He has given us a perfect salvation. We will now conclude the subject of the Passover by briefly connecting it to the Red Sea, and this in turn to the grave of Lazarus the subject of the next chapter.

a. The Passover looks on to the next deliverance the Red Sea: The judgment of the Passover was a representative one, as the sparing of Israel's was too that is to say, only the firstborn were dealt with, not people as a class. That is why the blood is called "a token." Only the firstborn were destroyed or sanctified it was a token of future total destruction for those without the blood or of deliverance for those sheltered by it. This took place at the Red Sea where all the Egyptians were completely destroyed and all the children of Israel were completely delivered.

Thus the Red Sea and the Passover are connected. It was the Passover lamb's blood that enabled Israel to go through the Red Sea as on dry land, "which the Egyptians trying to do were drowned" Heb. 11:29. In the Passover it was a question of a guilty soul and a Holy God. In the Red Sea it was a question of men passing through death and judgment, and death was Satan's power wielded over the body. So the thought in the Passover seems more the salvation of the soul in the Red Sea the salvation of the body. God's salvation includes both, since the fall includes both. When we see this we exclaim like Jonah "salvation is of the Lord" and are vomited onto dry land Jonah 2:9, 10.

b. The Red Sea and the grave of Lazarus: In John's gospel God's salvation, which began with the salvation of the soul in John 10, is completed typically in John 11 with the death and resurrection of Lazarus the salvation of the body. The parallel between the children of Israel passing through the Red Sea pursued by the power of death as seen in Pharaoh's army, and Lazarus being raised beyond the power of death, is striking indeed. Lazarus himself is helpless, but the Deliverer promised in Genesis comes to save him. (3)The linkage with the Red Sea in Exodus demonstrates the power of that Deliverer.

Chapter 3.13

(Suggested Reading: Ex. 14; John 11)

The Red Sea the Salvation of the Body

“THIS MAN does many signs" the chief priests and Pharisees cried at their Council after Jesus had raised Lazarus from among the dead "what do we?" The answer is that they could do nothing. Only the lowly Jesus had power to do anything for God. The history of the family of man up to this chapter had abundantly demonstrated this.

The Family of Man—Its Ruin Through Subjection to Satan

The family of man consisting of man John 5 and 9 woman John 4;8 and child John 4:46 54, was in ruin a ruin about to terminate in death. (1) John signals the end of this subject by a man with a name, Lazarus, as he signaled the beginning of it by another man with a name, Nicodemus. The gap in between was filled with the nameless lost sheep known only by their sins and infirmities "the woman", "the impotent man", "the blind man", the" woman taken in adultery", the "certain nobleman's son."(2)

The Lord performed many signs on His people to heal them and let them understand that God was present. Blessed as all these signs were they did not relieve man from the oppression of death his great enemy. Regardless of our individual history, death is the end of it. Yet the Lord did nothing to stop Lazarus' death even though Martha and Mary lamented that if He had been present their brother would not have died. No wonder the Jews said "could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?" But they were wrong. God could not set aside Satan's power of death over man which He Himself gave to him because of our first parents' sin. He could break it by the work of redemption alone. But until the Lord came that power held full sway and so the Lord remained two days where He was.

Now the Scriptures had said "the Lord...brings down to the grave, and brings up" 1 Sam. 2:6. Apart from the resurrection of the dead in Christ, God's salvation would not be complete. Eternal life for the soul John 4 must be accompanied by incorruptibility for the body John 11 in figure. That is why the Passover is followed by the Red Sea the figure of death and judgment.

The Breaking of Satan's Power Over Man

The grave of Lazarus corresponds to the Red Sea, the great lesson of which was "God for us" when we are faced with Satan's power death. Pharaoh is a type of Satan his armies of the flesh. The position of God's people seemed hopeless. They have been saved in Egypt and delivered from the authority of darkness yet that power is pursuing them. How do I get to Canaan then, with the hot breath of the enemy behind me, no escape on either side, and the Red Sea, i.e. death and judgment cutting off my passage in front of me?

Before I know the answer the Lord separates Pharaoh and his hosts from me by His presence in the pillar of the cloud. The presence of the Lord confounds the flesh but comforts me. But now the test comes a way must be made through the Red Sea. And so Moses lifts up his rod and stretches his hand over the sea. The result is a strong East wind. The East in Scripture generally speaks of the place of judgment hence judgment falling on the power of death which Satan exercised over man. "All that night" would tell us of the totality of that judgment, for he holds sway over the darkness Eph. 6:12. The rod brings in a great authority the power of God over the waters. They part. The power of Satan over redeemed man has been broken forever.

The Conflict Is Between the Lord and Satan—We Have No Part in It

In the midst of the sea they are on dry land. Dry land is our portion the waters were the Lord's. He was lifted up on the cross, as the waters were at the Red Sea, to show that our passage through death and judgment was only possible because He had passed that way first. Israel could only see their portion dry land and His portion the waters lifted up. His portion the waters "were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left." A wall separates. That is to say the death of the Passover Lamb Christ in figure separated them from the waters death and judgment and gave them standing before God dry land. The waters did something else. When they returned they separated the people from Egypt typically the world and separated them for Canaan typically heaven.

Man Must Choose Between Bondage to Satan or Deliverance by the Lord

All men must be cut off from the world sooner or later. Both the Egyptians and the Jews had to enter the Red Sea, since it is appointed to men once to die. The man of the flesh trusts in religion the gods of Egypt to take him through the Red Sea (death) to Canaan (heaven). The believer trusts in the death of Christ his Passover. And so it is a case of "how long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him, but if Baal, then follow him" 1 Kings 18:21.

Well, the flesh thinks it will follow the visible what it has always trusted in. The Egyptians were a religious people and their Pharaoh figured largely in their religion. They followed Pharaoh. They entered the Red Sea without first having got under the shelter of the Passover Lamb's blood. So they must be cut off from Egypt not cut off like Israel to be brought into blessing, but cut off to be brought into judgment. "After death the judgment" the Word teaches, and those Egyptians, though dead many years, still have this to look forward to. Death cuts us off from this world but not from God's judgment. Only the blood of Christ can do that.

God's Earliest Thoughts and Satan's

It would now be appropriate to consider the certainty of this judgment and the way of escape found in the earlier and complementary type in Gen. 1. In the old creation God had turned the darkness and the waters into the light of a land of life. Then sin and Satan came in and God has to say "dust you are and to dust you shall return." This He said to man the crown and last work in that creation. The idea behind "return" is going back a reversal. But the return God ordered was partial. It was only to the dust the unformed state for God had made man's body of the dust of the earth. But the earth had come out of the waters over which darkness was, before God began to work. If God had ordered a return to that the portion of the devil and his angels there would have been no hope no forgiveness for man. But man sinned being tempted, unlike the devil and his angels. God had no thought of allowing Satan the victory by undoing His original blessing of man. Instead He promises a deliverer for man from Satan's power the woman's seed Christ, "for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil" 1 John 3:8. Alas, if man persists in following Satan and denying the work of the woman's seed, deliverance from the power of death will not be his, and he must follow Satan back to the darkness and the waters. This is exactly what took place after much warning Ex. 14:24, 25 at the Red Sea. In the finality of judgment it will take place at the lake of fire. Darkness outer darkness will forever be on the face of that deep. The Christ rejecters of today, like the Egyptians then, will never know God except in judgment.

The Flesh in the Believer Prefers Egypt to Canaan

Israel on the other hand passed through the Red Sea in the sheltering power of the Passover lamb's blood. It was this too that opened the way to Canaan. But the believer does not immediately go to heaven although that is the purpose of God for him. First he must pass through the Red Sea and be proved in the wilderness. In the ways of God our hearts must be tested to show what is in them. There God's heart is made known. The lesson of the wilderness is entire dependence on God. It is death to my flesh but a Father's love made known. And a Father's love would never permit His people to become slaves to Egypt again Egypt the land of the authority of darkness and the lash of the tyrant although His people lusted for its good things. If their desires were un-judged and captivity became necessary in God's ways, then they were carried to Babylon but not back to Egypt. The natural heart murmurs against the Father. So at the grave of Lazarus it complains "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died" as at the Red Sea it objected "because there were no graves in Egypt, halt thou taken us away to die in the wilderness?”

The Power of the Son of God Opens the Way for Us

The passage through death is hopeless apart from the Son of God. At the Red Sea Moses' rod was the witness to that power here it is Jesus Himself. His affections are deeply touched as a blessed Man holy affections at the power Satan wields over man the power of death. He weeps. But He does more He prays to His Father. Never does He exercise His power without His Father whether to provide bread for Himself when hungry or to intervene on behalf of His creature as here. At the grave of Lazarus the Lord anticipated the work of the cross when He should forever annul Satan's power of death. Then He cried with a loud voice "it is finished." Now He cries with a loud voice "Lazarus come forth." Do not His words "I go that I might wake him out of sleep" suggest His going to the cross, the moral basis for raising from the dead every believer who has died? In the structure of John's gospel chapters 12 17 are parenthetical they are tabernacle scenes. Viewed in this light the Lord's demonstrated power over death in John 11 is immediately followed by His breaking Satan's power of death in John 18 and 19.He went that He might wake Lazarus up.

Lazarus As a Figure of the Natural Man

Lazarus has to be viewed two ways as a type of the natural man and as a type of the believer. As a type of the natural man Lazarus is exceedingly instructive. In that light he is the end of a long chain we have had before us impotency John 5 blindness John 9 sin against God John 4 and 8. The end of these things is death and Lazarus demonstrates this truth. But the Lord exposes man's true condition here. His voice is heard twice. First the people at the grave these represent His servants now for they hear His voice are told to roll the stone away, as a public demonstration of man's corrupt state. For four days i.e. the period from Adam to Christ man was stinking and still is. Nature, in the person of Martha, protests this, as people today hate the gospel because it exposes to the world the stench of man—man dead in trespasses and sins dead to God. They want this truth hidden. But the Lord commands His servants to roll away the stone (3) and expose man as he is. Secondly when Lazarus came out the Lord commands them to free him and let him go. You won't understand why the Lord said this unless you noticed that Lazarus did not walk out of the grave. He couldn't. His hands and feet were tied figuratively man's work and walk are terminated by death and he couldn't see since a cloth was wrapped around his face figuratively under the power of darkness. So if a man is not born again he remains in death what he was in life powerless like the impotent man of John 5, and blind like the man in John 9. There is this difference that in death he is bound in that hopeless state, with no prospect but coming before Christ for judgment. The grave clothes too speak of the state of the lost after death "bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness" Matt. 22:13. When the Lord said "Lazarus come out" he had to appear before Him just as he was bound with the consequences of the fall. For it was in the garden in Eden that man got his grave clothes.

Lazarus As a Figure of the Believer

Next, as a figure of the believer, Lazarus teaches us that we have a new head. We have been transferred from the headship of Adam the man of dust to the headship of Christ the Man of glory. The Lord, and not Satan, now holds the keys of hades and of death Rev. 1:18. "Whether we live we live to the Lord, and whether we die we die to the Lord. Whether we live therefore or die, we are the Lord's" Rom. 14:8. If we are alive at the time of the Lord's coming, we shall never die John 11:25; instead we shall be changed. If we have fallen asleep in Jesus before the Lord's coming, then we are absent from the body and present with the Lord. And as consciously enjoying the Lord's presence this is far better. At the assembling shout the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible. "If the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from among the dead dwell in you, He who raised up Christ from among the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit who dwells in you" Rom. 8:11. Both shall meet the Lord in the cloud and so shall we be forever with the Lord.

The Resurrection of the First Man and the Resurrection of the Last Man

The resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the foundation of all this blessing, is in contrast to that of Lazarus. "But now is Christ risen from among the dead and become the firstfruits of those who slept" 1 Cor. 15:20. Why the firstfruits? I once heard a man say "didn't Lazarus rise first?" Well, when Lazarus was raised he came out of the grave once more in a body of flesh and blood which was only to die again. "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption" 1 Cor. 15:50. Not so with the Lord Jesus. His holy flesh knew no sin and as the incorruptible Man He could rightfully have returned to the Father without going to the cross. If He had done that He would have been the only Man in the Glory. But the thought is impossible, for He came into the world to lay down His life for us. This was His Father's commandment.

He entered into death for us. Sin was attached to His precious blood by imputation our sin in the three hours of darkness on the cross. When He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father He appeared to His own in a body of flesh and bone the blood having been shed for sin. "Handle Me and see," He says "for a spirit has not flesh and bone as you see I have" Luke 24:39. If further proof were needed, Thomas is told to thrust his hand into His side John 20:27. Also He ate a piece of broiled fish and honeycomb Luke 24:43. Well, since He would have us like Him, the believing dead shall be raised incorruptible and we the living shall be changed 1 Cor. 15:52 but Christ is the firstfruits. In all things He must have the pre eminence.

The grave of Lazarus completes a great scheme of things in God's ways, which began with the wedding in Cana of Galilee in John 2. A wedding is man at his best; a funeral, man at his extremity. In between is the wretched story of man, impotent, blind, sinning. The Lord alone is our Deliverer.

It was to have us with and like Him that He entered into death. But when He took His life in power again John 10:18 Peter sees "the face cloth that was about His head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself”

John 20:7. Not only is all in order in the way the clothes are placed, but death could not bind Him as the grave clothes did Lazarus, or the stone seal His sepulcher. As to the stone He does not take that away anymore than at the grave of Lazarus. Another servant, His angel, does that. The body of Jesus, once in the tomb, is there no longer.

The Rich Man Who Became Poor to Enrich Us

He had entered and left the tomb of the rich man Joseph of Arimathaea to fulfill the Scripture Isa. 53:9. When the rich man built the tomb it was a confession that his riches were futile he couldn't take them beyond the grave. Since he must leave this world as naked as he entered it, he is really poor. But "ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty, might be rich" 2 Cor. 8:9.

Everything has been changed because Jesus has entered the tomb that made up the rich man's "future." He entered into the very place that Joseph had admitted he deserved by building it. And now He is risen. Was the tomb now Joseph's future anymore? No. Is it mine? No. The Lord was raised again for my justification. The angel rolled away the stone. I have seen and believed.

Chapter 3.14

The Tabernacle the School of God for His Children

The story of Lazarus and his two sisters at table with the Lord is a new development in John's gospel. In John's water scenes, the Lord worked with individuals, because we must be saved as individuals. But here is a man who is not alone but has company. With Lazarus the family of God becomes prominent. That is because God is a father, and when we are saved we are brought into His family. Just as a father enjoys the company of his children in his house, so God longs to have His children around Himself in His house. It is there He educates them in the things of Christ. This is a key to the tabernacle chapters of John's gospel.

The Tabernacle

The tabernacle was central between Egypt, where Satan ruled, and the temple in the land, where God ruled. The entire span of things is Israel's desert journey, which John retraces in his gospel. Perhaps this is because his gospel presents Christ as rejected from the beginning. And so John takes us through the desert with the solace of God's presence, until the wilderness ceases and we enter into the rest of the land.

a. God's school in the desert: With the natural man there can be no entering into the precious things which the tabernacle portrays. He is blind to the glory of Christ like the man of John 9. If he gazed at the tabernacle what would he see? Why badgers' skins Ex. 26:14. This, the outer thing, speaks of Christ's unattractiveness to man without God "there is no beauty in Him that we should desire Him" Isa. 53:2. But let that man pass the brazen altar, i.e. have to do with God about his sins through the work of the cross, and he ceases to be impotent and blind. He moves about amid heavenly things, taking God at His Word that "every place that the sole of your foot shall tread on, that have I given to you" Josh. 1:3. Then his eyes behold, not badger skins, but the fine twined linen and pure gold known only to God's priests in the inside. That is why the signs of healing the impotent man and giving the blind man his sight were both done on the Sabbath. It was a foreshadowing of the time when God would break His link with the old creation, of which the Sabbath was the sign, so He could go on with the new creation. There must be a new creation, the foundation of which was to be the cross. Then with man set aside, led as a redeemed people through the Red Sea to a place unknown to man but known to God, we are taught by His Spirit in the desert.

b. The shortcomings of the tabernacle: There are many, but only two will be cited to demonstrate the point.

.. The work of the people only shut man out of God's presence: Moses blessed those who finished the work of their hands Ex. 39:43. Christ lifted up His hands and blessed His people after His finished work Luke 24:50. The end of Moses' finished work was erecting a veil to shut out of God's presence those whom he had blessed. The end of Christ's finished work was God tearing the veil of the Temple in two so those whom Christ blessed could enter God's presence with Him as their High Priest. John 1:17 tells us that "the law was given by Moses grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." So Moses was the first to light the lamps, but from then on it was the office of Aaron to maintain the light.

.. The ceaseless, unfinished work of the priests and the absence of praise: Sometimes what is missing from a man's house can be revealing. So too with God's house. There were no seats in the tabernacle for the priests, because their work was never finished. Christ's work by way of contrast was finished and He sat down on high. Why is it too that although Lev. 1 gives us a detailed account of the burnt offering it does not mention the priests praying`` or singing? Could it be that the Song of the Lord could only be heard in the land that picture of settled rest? Are we looking at a provisional order of things, looking forward to the finished work of Christ. Yes we are.

The Furniture of the Tabernacle

We have noted various shortcomings in the tabernacle shortcomings which are connected with man his work being imperfect. We strike a better note when we examine the furniture in the tabernacle. Here God's thoughts are made known to us, and His heart revealed. The distinctive truth about the furniture is that it looks forward to Christ and His finished work, and redemptive glories.

It is now time to consider the furniture in the tabernacle as a guide to following it through John's gospel. There were two broad classes of furniture the vessels of approach, both made of copper, and the golden vessels of display. After we have sketched both classes we will remark on the use to which one of them was put, since this is central to the understanding of them all.

a. The vessels of approach: These were the altar of burnt offering and the laver. They were located in the court, apart from the tent which covered the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.

.. The Altar of Burnt Offering: This is John 12. This chapter informs us that the death of Christ is imminent and its bearing on men. It is not yet the Passover but six days before it. So the Lord says "the hour is come that the Son of Man should be glorified" 12:23 and again "I if I be lifted up from the earth will draw all men to Me" 12:32. The subject of the chapter is the brazen altar, but not yet the sacrifice on the altar. That is the subject of John 19, 20. The cross divides men into two classes those who accept Christ's atoning work at the cross, and those who reject it. There was no altar in Egypt. So we see one class of men in Judas who objected to Mary anointing the Lord's feet with expensive perfume, and the chief priests who will plot Christ's betrayal. The Lord's sheep compose the other class. John 12:2 gives us a picture of those who have heard the Shepherd's voice "where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst of them" Matt. 18:20. So we have Lazarus, Mary, Martha, and the Lord who has come to them. Notice the setting of His coming to them also. They prepared a supper for Him and Lazarus sat at table with the Lord. This is a foreshadowing of the Lord's Supper and the Lord's Table.

It helps us to see the brazen altar in John 12 if we understand that Jesus is the Ark of the Covenant. In the tabernacle the Ark supported God's throne the mercy seat. Both were located in the Holy of Holies, separated from the brazen altar by the greatest distance of all the Holy vessels. This means that God and the sinner were far apart. Who could bridge the distance? Only Jesus. Because we are sinners and cannot go to God He must come to us. Jesus the Ark of the Covenant comes to Bethany. It is in this chapter He announces His death.

.. The Laver (Bath): This is the feet washing of John 13. It is the next piece of furniture after the brazen altar. Once our sins are put away by the death of Christ we are ready to approach God. The laver (bath) was to wash away defilement we pick up as we travel through this world.

b. The golden vessels of display: These are the golden lamp-stand, the golden altar of incense all in the Holy Place and the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies.

.. The Golden Lampstand: This was the light of the tabernacle a light separate and distinct from the light provided by nature in the world outside. The Holy Spirit is the light of the House of God a light that is not seen outside i.e. by the world, and which the world cannot receive John 14:17. The light shines opposite the lampstand Num. 8:2 i.e. to show God's priests the beauty of the lampstand as well as to provide light for the Holy Place. The lampstand is Christ; the light of the lampstand is the Holy Spirit.

In these three chapters John 14, 15, 16, the Holy Spirit is taken up in many ways we cannot discuss in this brief outline, but He is not uniformly the subject, although woven throughout. Why? Because in the Holy Place there were other vessels as well the table and the golden altar but the light falling on them all came from the same source the lampstand. So in one way or another the Holy Spirit pervades these three chapters.

.. The Table of Showbread: There may be an allusion to this in John 15 although we do not say definitely that this is so. Three things suggest the connection. First the Lord's discourse was to the twelve. There were twelve loaves on the table representing the whole nation of Israel before God. The twelve apostles have a special place of prominence in the future of this nation Luke 22:30. The figure of course takes in all believers the baked loaves the way God views us passed through judgment in Christ, with frankincense on us i.e. fragrant to God because associated with Christ. Secondly the table contained not only bread but the golden bowls and cups for the drink offering Num. 4:7. The strong wine they held was to be poured unto Jehovah for a drink offering Num. 28:7. So in John the subject is fruit bearing. But it is the fruit of the True Vine Christ Israel the old vine having failed. The fruit of this vine is for the Father, who is the vinedresser. Finally, the table upheld everything on it. So in John 15 the Lord is the True Vine we His branches depend on Him. Thus abiding in Him we produce much fruit.

.. The Golden Altar of Incense: This was located outside the veil. Now that the veil is rent there is no distance between us and the Father, either in intercession or worship. So in John 17 we have both the Holy of Holies the Lord's sublime prayer to the Father and the golden altar of incense i.e. His intercession as High Priest for His own. This is because in John 17 the Lord is viewed as on the other side of death. With a rent veil and no barrier between the Holy of Holies and the golden altar, Chapter 17 includes both subjects.

.. The Ark of the Covenant: As already noted under the golden altar of incense this is Christ Himself, praying to His Father in the most Holy Place John 17.

In Deut. 31:26 Moses commanded the Levites, whose task it was to carry the Ark, to "take this book of the law and put it in the side of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against you." But Moses had put the tables of the law inside the Ark when he reared up the tabernacle a testimony that only Christ could keep the law. Man stood condemned under Moses' ministry, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Here we find Him praying for a feeble people as they pass through the desert of this world.

Chapter 3.15

Outside God's House—the Brazen Altar and the Laver

When the children of Israel saw their foes dead on the other side of the Red Sea they burst into song, acknowledging that their salvation was all of God and not of them. In this song they said "He is my God and I will prepare for Him an habitation" Ex. 15:2. Now this "habitation" was the tabernacle in the wilderness, where God Himself could come to them and mark His presence with the pillar of the cloud. God had never done this before. He had come to Adam in the garden but when man sinned he was driven out from the presence of the Lord. What made it possible for God to come to man was the shedding of the Passover Lamb's blood in Egypt beautiful type of the death of Christ. Still, the Apostle Paul in Heb. 9 tells us it was a limited access until the death of Christ. Then God rent the veil and there is now no distance between us and our Father.

This new position is the scene pictured in John 12 where we have a figure of the central truth of Christianity "for where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst of them" Matt. 18:20. John describes the Lord coming to Bethany six days before the Passover i.e. the cross was before Him but not yet accomplished. It is mentioned because it is the only way in which man, who is a sinner, can have access to God's presence. Now John never teaches Church truth, for that is Paul's ministry. But he gives us pictures of things that apply to the Church period, and assumes we have read Paul and understand what they mean.

This distinction is important to help us rightly divide the Word of Truth. John takes up the Lord's Table as expressing the heart of God and the revelation of His desire i.e. that He might dwell with man. Hence his view of things is both abstract and dispensational. By abstract we mean that John takes God's view of His people apart from their failures "for from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him" Num. 23:9. "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen perverseness in Israel" Num. 23:21. Yet in the 25th chapter they are committing fornication with the daughters of Moab! Again, John's view of the table is dispensational in that he writes about it now in the time of rejection and in the future the time when the whole world will throng to it. The Christian must read the whole Word of God to understand these distinctions. For example, John, for the reasons just stated, never gives us failure at the table, but Paul does. Paul tells us of the practical difficulties we encounter he writes about putting away the wicked man at Corinth, the seeds of party spirit there whose later germination has so divided the church of God since. But John only takes up the perfection of things attached to believers as accepted in the Beloved One. He gives us God's view of us a view that will become a reality at the rapture. The judgment seat of Christ will follow this. Then all believers who have in any way contributed to the ruin of the church by works of the flesh will see that portion of their works burned up. They will add their Amen to the Lord's pronouncements and all believers alike will see the unity in glory which was ever before God's eye in John's writings and which must surely come to pass.

John then gives us the Lord's Table with Lazarus sitting at it. "There" they made Him a supper that is, the language suggests that the Lord's Supper is eaten at the Lord's Table. Then we have a picture of the moral state God expects in His saints. They are shown to be worshippers (Mary) or servants (Martha). Thus, we have the two or three gathered to the Lord's name with the Lord coming to them and absolutely no thought of failure because they are looked at as in Christ.

Now in the case of both Israel and the Church God has desired to dwell with man a desire that even He Himself could not realize until the blood of Christ was shed. But it is equally important to see that Satan has in every way opposed this desire. The story of the two or three and Satan's counterfeit of them runs through the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

God's Two or Three and Satan's

The thought of God dwelling with man and Satan's opposition to it begins with Eden. There we find the two or three Adam, Eve, and the Lord God. Satan sought to replace God as the center and because man listened to him he was driven out from God's presence. Wicked Cain aligned himself with Satan, but righteous Seth with God "then began men to call on the name of the Lord" Gen. 4:26. This division of men into those who are of God and those who are of Satan persists to the end. The devil has two ways of controlling man through the world system he invented to prevent man realizing he is lost and needs a Savior. These two ways are politics and worldly religion. The story of Moses before Pharaoh shows his political power and how he tried to use it to prevent Israel worshipping the True God in the desert. When this failed he tried to corrupt what God established with a religion suited to the flesh. Satan's two, or three, then, are himself, Nadab and Abihu. The sin of Nadab and Abihu "offering strange fire before the Lord" means fire not taken from the brazen altar. It means that Satan has raised up a religious system in the world to counterfeit Christianity. I recall visiting one of the largest cities in the world and viewing the church steeple of "the citadel of modernism." Its steeple should not have pointed heavenward but downward for the Nadab's and Abihu's who "preach" in it are not only going to hell themselves but pointing out the way to others. But thank God for Eleazar and Ithamar God's two or three who preach Christ and Him crucified. "The holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons' after him" Ex. 29:29. Then at the cross we again have the two or three Christ in the midst one thief believing in Him the other siding with Satan and eternally lost. At the end of time God gives us a contrast between His two or three and Satan's. Satan's two or three himself, the beast and the false prophet will be in the lake of fire. Then God's two or three will be displayed as God purposed the man (the Lord Jesus Christ the last Adam), the woman (the Church, the Bride of Christ) and the Lord God. And in the day of God the thought is God dwelling with man the race rather than with the Church or Israel. This is the eternal state. John sees the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and he hears a great voice out of heaven saying "behold the tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God" Rev. 21:3.

With this overall sketch of God's desire to dwell with man and its ultimate fulfillment we can better understand the foreshadowing of God's dwelling with man in Christianity as given us in John 12 and the relation of this to God's coming to His ancient people in the tabernacle. It is clear that the death of Christ alone has made both possible.

The opposite ends of the tabernacle display the same thought the unity of His person the Ark, and His work the brazen altar. It is a truth better expressed in the Lord's own words "I came forth from the Father and am come into the world; again I leave the world and go unto the Father." These words of the Lord give us the full circuit of His coming forth from the Father, His life, and His death.

Bethany—the Inside Place With God—the Outside Place With Man

The moment we see the moral glory of the One who visits Bethany we see why men must either worship Him like those in Matt. 2, or bow to Him in judgment like those in Phil. 2:10,11. But because Christ is rejected now, Bethany is an outside place. The outside place with man is the inside place with God, and the inside place with man is the outside place with God. That is why the Jews wanted to kill Lazarus. The grave of Lazarus answers to the Red Sea, for a similar deliverance from death and judgment took place there. Then Bethany, where Lazarus sat at table, was outside Jerusalem cut off from it spiritually just as much as the tabernacle was cut off from Egypt by the Red Sea. So the word "Bethany" has a double meaning "house of affliction" and "house of response." It represents the true character of Christianity in the world. Paul wrote to "the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father" 1 Thess. 1:1 That is, resting in the Father's bosom. Yet in the sixth verse of the same chapter he notes that they had "received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost.”

The thought behind "house of affliction" is that the world is against you because you belong to Christ. This must be so for the servant is not greater than his master. It was at Bethany, when the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume that the flesh objected in the person of Judas Iscariot "why wasn't this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?" The flesh would always deny Christ anything. It is the story of Michal, Saul's daughter, all over again. She despised David for dancing before the Ark 2 Sam. 6:14—23. As a result she died childless. The flesh is always barren because it rejects Christ. So the Christian who walks in the flesh will continue to be "David's wife" the relationship is not broken but he will not bear fruit for God. To do that he must walk in the Spirit, denying the flesh. This is what makes the perfume "very costly." We are to buy the truth and sell it not. "Buying" the truth means exchanging something we had or hoped to get in this world some worldly goods, prospects, etc. trading that for Christ. The truth, once bought, is never to be let go. And do you think the world will love you for this stand? If you do, consider Lazarus. He completes the picture of "the house of affliction." Having been raised from among the dead in the previous chapter he is seated at the Lord's Table in this chapter. Thus he is a picture of a believer at the Lord's Table i.e. seated there as a dead and risen man. But the world does not want a dead and risen man seated at the Lord's Table this is a testimony against them. So the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus to death.

If Lazarus illustrates the "house of affliction" the sufferings of God's people because of the hatred of the world for Christ Martha and Mary illustrate the "house of response" the response of believers to the One who is present and who loves them. Martha symbolizes service, Mary worship. These two women are figures of the two ways in which eternal life displays itself in living ways service, the rivers of John 7:38; worship, the fountain of John 4:14. This was before the Lord in the tenth chapter. There He ended His work for the sinner and led out His own sheep. These are to go in and out and find pasture. They go in (Mary) for communion, out (Martha) for service. Lazarus sits at the table with Him. In Scripture this is the position of a son servants (the angels for example) usually stand. It is the enjoyment of an established relationship. The two women show the way in which that relationship is expressed Mary, sitting at Jesus' feet hearing His Word is a figure of worship; Martha, who stands and serves, is a figure of service see Luke 10:39,40. I think the reason the chief priests wanted to kill Lazarus was related to this distinction. The world knows nothing of worship of Christ or service to Him, but it does sense a relationship to Him in the believer which it resents.

What Has God Wrought? a Review of God's Salvation for Man

Bringing us into the family of God is the Lord's work. He comes in at each stage where failure has taken place, not only restoring the ravages of sin and Satan but raising us to peaks of glory transcending the state before the original ruin. He finds man impotent (Chapter 5) He gives him power; blind (Chapter 9) He gives him sight; thirsting for this world's pleasures (Chapter 4) He gives the satisfying springing well; sinning against God (Chapter 8) He forgives the sinner saying "Go and sin no more"; at the point of death (Chapter 4) He says "your son lives"; dead (Chapter 11) He raises from among the dead. Now note the range of His works. The salvation of the soul is the beginning (Chapter 4) "wilt thou be made whole" and the salvation of the body the end (Chapter 11) raising Lazarus from among the dead. In between we have the Spirit of God given (Chapter 4), that we might worship the Father and the Son. "The Spirit Itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God" Rom. 8:16. If we tie these things in together we see that just as man's fall was body, soul and spirit, so God's salvation is body, soul and spirit.

But there is more. Not only are we saved body, soul and spirit but we are brought to the Lord's Table. This is the great thought in Chapter 12. It is outside Jerusalem, the great religious center, and at Bethany, where the Lord was at home. He was surrounded by those who loved Him. The Lord's Supper and the Lord's Table are found in John 12:2. The Lord presides at His Table as the Head of a new family no longer the family of man but the family of God. In the family of God, Christ has the preeminent place there they made Him a supper. So too John's first Epistle begins with Christ just as his gospel did.

When we are in Christ the ruin that stamped us as belonging to the family of man has passed away. The family of God is just the opposite of the family of man. Death and judgment is behind the man for he is dead and risen. The women are no longer sinning, but worshipping and serving Him.

Looking Back at God's Ways

A backward glance at God's ways is refreshing. We know it was the Word of God and the energy of His Spirit that turned the waste world of Gen. 1:2 into a home for man. The Lord had this in mind when He said "My Father worketh hitherto and I work" John 5:17. Then the Lord's voice was heard once more at the pools of Bethesda and Siloam. And His sheep, those whom He was seeking, heard His voice. The result was the new birth.

The Lord is our Shepherd. He feeds His sheep, as David once fed his father's sheep at Bethlehem the house of bread. This He did as the True David in the sixth chapter with the five barley loaves and two small fishes, just as He had led them beside the still waters of the pool of Bethesda in the fifth chapter. The tenth chapter shows that if David feared not the paw of the lion or the bear for love of the sheep, so the True David would lay down His life for the sheep. This marks the end of the Lord's work for the sinner in John's gospel. From then on they are no more sinners but sheep. Finally Jewish sheep were not enough; there must be one flock, one Shepherd John 10:16.

So far then we have seen what characterized us in the family of man sin, ruin, and death, and what characterizes us in the family of God Christ our new head power for service and worship we ourselves dead and risen men seated at the Lord's Table and abundant food for all in the family of God.

Dispensational Views of Man at the Lord's Table

These varying views of man at the Lord's Table highlight the different character of things depending on the dispensation. They compare the present with the past and the future.

The contrast between the past and the present: Here we will look at Mephibosheth and Lazarus opposite types of man at the Lord's Table. Mephibosheth represents man under law. That is why he is lame on both his feet. Therefore his feet, being under the table, were hidden from view. This means that God would have no part of the walk of lame Israel, but still the responsible man himself was in sight at the table. But in Lazarus we find a dead and risen man at the Lord's Table. That is to say Lazarus, the man in the flesh, had died and been buried, and so had been put out of sight. When the Lord raised him he is now seated at the table as a dead and risen man completely out of sight as a man in Adam and seen only as a man in Christ. This completes the picture of Bethany. Here we find separation from the world, the setting aside of the flesh, and appreciation for Christ.

The contrast between the future and the present: John gives us a glimpse of the Lord's Table in the coming millennial day of glory. The change in dispensation is indicated by the expression on the next day and Jesus was coming to Jerusalem John 12:12. Then the Lord's words to His own will be fulfilled "that ye may eat and drink at My Table in My Kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel" Luke 22:30. Then will He come to Jerusalem whose name Jehovah Shammah means "the Lord is there." The Lord's Table will no longer be the place of rejection it will be the public place. That is why all closes morally here by the world going after Him the Greeks coming up to worship at the feast and saying "we would see Jesus" John 12:21. In the millennial day all the nations of the earth will come up to His holy temple at Jerusalem. Thus does the Spirit usher us into the next day v 12. It is the day when Satan is bound for a thousand years and instead of Christ being rejected Satan is rejected. The false Herods who denied the rightful King will be gone and all will cry "Hosanna, blessed is the King of Israel." The false religious element too will pass away, acknowledging like the Pharisees "behold the world is gone after Him" v. 19. All nations shall come up to worship Him at Jerusalem in that day when there shall be on the bells of the horses "holiness unto the Lord" Zech. 14:20.

This future public power contrasts with today's position of reproach. We meet the Lord in an outside place and He comes to us. This is a position we should greatly value, as He does, for in it we become sharers of His public rejection. That is why those who worship Him now are 'wise men' who have made a choice. At Bethany there is not only the wise men with their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, but those who have made a choice like Mary Luke 10:42. Mary had kept her gift treasured it up against the day of the Lord's burying. Those feet that the world were to pierce so cruelly were wiped with her crowning glory. Everything of value in nature, everything that gave luster to her in the old creation, she set aside for Christ. This cost Mary much in man's eyes, but being close to Jesus she devoted all that she had to Him. Her choicest should enter His tomb, and pass away in His death. This is entire devotedness to Christ, exceeding the wisdom of wise men. It is choosing Christ and rejecting a world which rejected Him. When through grace we have made this choice, the house will be filled once more with the fragrance of the perfume.

The Next Step—From the Brazen Altar to the Laver

The brazen altar and the laver go together. These two articles of furniture were outside. The brazen altar is in measured relationship to the Ark and the Mercy Seat inside, because the cross has satisfied all the righteous requirements of God's throne. The laver is unmeasured and stands alone, as though God would tell us that its service is unceasing while we are in the flesh. The brazen altar and laver are positioned before God's house, telling us that we cannot enter it until we have passed them.

We now pass from the brazen altar in the twelfth chapter to the laver in the thirteenth. For this is what feet washing is about reconciling our standing as justified before God and typified by the altar, with our state as passing through this world and still having the flesh.

The Feet Washing in John's Gospel

When the Lord came to wash Peter's feet, Peter mistakenly questioned the Lord's ways "Thou shalt never wash my feet." Then he made the opposite error of wanting his hands and head washed also. But as so often in Scripture, error is first refuted "if I wash you not, you have no part with Me" and the truth revealed "he who is washed (bathed) needs not save to wash his feet, but is wholly clean, and ye are clean, but not all." The washing or bathing of the body to which the Lord refers in the verse just quoted is the washing of regeneration also mentioned in Matt. 19:28 and Titus 3:5. This occurs at the new birth when we are born of water and of the Spirit. It is passing from a ruined state into a new one in which we are "wholly clean." That is why the Lord said "and ye are clean but not all that is, all the disciples were clean, their bodies washed with pure water, except Judas Iscariot. "My own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate My bread, has lifted up his heel against Me" Psa. 41:9. It is in this chapter that he takes the sop and Satan enters into him. "He then having received the sop went immediately out, and it was night" John 13:30. It was to be their hour and the power of darkness. Inside all was light. The Lord, now about to leave the world and go to His Father, opens up His heart to them. They are to have a new position before the Father, completely different from that of Israel in the world, and He wanted them to know it.

In Ex. 12:22 The blood had been in the basin in this chapter the water is in the basin. The Passover Lamb was before them and the type was soon to yield to reality in His Person. "This is He who came by water and blood even Jesus (the Christ) not by water only but by water and blood" 1 John 5:6. The blood expiates the water cleanses. The value of the blood is to make us clean all over. Thus positionally we have part with Him "How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Rom. 8:32. But if we are to be in the good of that glory to which He has gone and here He is returning to His Father we must have "part with Him" in a practical sense. His gracious act assures us that He does not give us up when our feet get dirty at the same time that it guards us against careless walk. This brings us to the real purpose of feet washing.

The woman in Luke 7 washed His feet with tears and anointed them with ointment. Simon gave Him no water for His feet an act of discourtesy which the Lord noticed. Still John does not speak of the Lord's feet being washed with water. His walk of which the feet speak was utterly clean and perfect. So the purpose of feet washing is that our feet should be clean like Christ's. But this is not possible unless they are continually washed. The laver is the only vessel in the Tabernacle, whose measurements are not given. God would not restrict the amount of water used. This thought too is in line with the Lord's own words "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet" John 13:14. But it is one thing for the Lord to wash our feet and quite a different thing to wash the feet of others. For one thing we must be Christ like to do it, for natural resentment is the same today as when Peter said "You shall never wash my feet." Three things must be clearly understood first, how our feet got dirty, second that the water which cleanses them is the Word of God, thirdly that we can't wash other people's dirty feet unless we are ourselves in communion with the Lord, and so have the mind of the One who first washed men's feet.

Our feet get dirty because in this world we are in mixed condition that is, we have eternal life but we also have the old fallen Adam nature. This old nature is at home in this wicked world and will respond to its evil if we let it. Now this world is full of corruption, violence, deceit and lies. It is impossible not to pick up such dirt if you walk down the streets of this world as necessity forces us to do.

One day I entered a restaurant and sat down facing a mural depicting a dancing girl performing before a Roman Emperor. That was corruption. Another day I sat down in a barber's shop before a copper engraving of two gladiators battling to the death in an arena. That was violence. Both these sinful scenes were defiling. But here the Lord washes the feet of His saints by bringing a suited Scripture before them "neither be partaker of other men's sins, keep yourself pure" 1 Tim. 5:22. This is a service the washing of water by the Word which the Lord performs for us constantly as we contract defilement without wishing to do so, and unknown to anybody but the Lord and ourselves. "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" Eph. 5:25, 26. It is important to see that this is a present service. The Lord girded Himself with a linen towel. Linen speaks of priesthood. It was the same linen towel with which He wiped the disciples' feet. The importance of this is that the Lord was not a priest on earth see Heb. 8:4 so that the figure indicates that He carries this work on now for us in Glory. Finally we must apply this to ourselves. Are we "able to admonish one another?" Rom. 15:14. Only if we use the towel with which Christ was girded can we wash another's feet. Feet washing is individual. The one who washes feet must learn to grapple with souls. You cannot do it unless you have a linen towel unless you are so walking with the Lord that nothing stands in the way of you really being a priest. All believers are priests Rev. 1:6 but some believers do not exercise their priesthood because of their low state of soul. In Israel there were three classes the Priest, the Levite, and the common people. But in Christianity we may be all three at different times depending on our state of soul. A spiritual man is one who walks before the Lord in self judgment. If we fail to do this we will become common persons without power to wash another's feet the work of the priest only. That is why Paul writes "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault you who are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness considering yourself lest you also are tempted" Gal. 6:1. I am only spiritual if I am nothing in my own eyes and Christ is everything.

Now that we have considered feet washing as outlined in Scripture a word on the beauty of clean feet may be in order. In the previous chapter we had Lazarus at the Lord's Table enjoying the position of a son. How, may we ask, could this be unless his feet were clean? Is the Lord's presence compatible with defilement? Martha was there too the figure of service. So Scripture says "how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things" Rom. 10:15. But beautiful feet are not dirty, and preaching has no power if there is inconsistency. The Lord Jesus preached righteousness in the great congregation (Israel) but note the order "all that Jesus began both to do and teach" Acts 1:1. Mary, who prefigures worship, completes the picture. Could any believer enter God's presence "be ye holy for I am the Lord your God" Lev. 20:7 unless his feet were clean? Worship is the overflowing of the heart to our Savior God and this cannot be if we have un-cleansed defilement on us for which provision has been made.

Look at the beauty of holiness as evident in the Lord's prayer to His Father in John 17. In each succeeding chapter from John 13 onward He looks on to His departure to be with His Father until it really takes place. From man's viewpoint He was still very much in the world in all these chapters, but as a Divine Person He could view the cross, God's great purpose for man's blessing, as already past. From this chapter until the 17th chapter which is really inside the veil we have His departure to the Father viewed in different ways in relation to His own who will be left behind. The Lord followed the pathway of the brazen altar, the laver, the Holy Place and the Holiest of all His Father's presence in each case doing something for others justifying us, washing our feet, interceding for us, etc. We retrace this path at each point receiving one of these specific blessings. All ends in this world in the presence of God as it will one day in the glory.

The Unity Between the Laver, the Water Scenes in John's Gospel and the Crystal Sea

Before closing off these meditations we will review some of the ways water is taken up in John's writings. First we saw it confined in two pools motionless and inert in the earth. By itself the Word of God, of which the water is the symbol, cannot give life although failure to heed it brings death see Rev. 19:21. We are born of water and the Spirit. The two pools are hinted at in the Lord's words to Nicodemus in John 3. The man who cannot enter v 4 is the impotent man at the Pool of Bethesda the man who cannot see, the blind man at the Pool of Siloam. But let the Spirit of God come in and the blind man's pool is energized to produce the springing well of John 4 he worshipped Jesus as the Son of God and the impotent man's pool is energized to produce the rivers of John 7:38. Eternal life in the energy of God's Spirit is displayed in worship Mary and service Martha. Worship has one object the Father and the Son and the fitting symbol chosen is a fountain or springing well which, while it originates in the earth, gushes up heavenwards. Service, on the other hand, takes many forms. Martha was worried about many things and so the figure is rivers. These flow over the earth relieving it of its barrenness giving it life.

Solomon tells us that "all the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full" Eccl. 1:7. In the glory the sea will be full "before the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal" Rev. 4:6. Crystal is transparent but solidified. No more rivers will flow into that sea for service of an earthly character is forever ended. And so "they cast their crowns before the throne" v 10. Crowns are the reward for faithful service to Christ in this world i.e. service that has not been burned up at the judgment seat of Christ but receives the commendation of the Lord. But we cast them before the throne as an admission that all we did that was worthy was of Himself. What abides then? Worship. That is what preceded that act "the elders fall down before Him who sat on the throne and worship Him who lives for ever and ever.”

The relation of all this to feet washing should now be evident, tracing it through God's ways in law and grace and ending in the glory. Under law Aaron and his sons were to wash their hands and feet from it see Ex. 30:19. Since the hands speak of work and the feet of walk, and man was responsible because still under law, both hands and feet had to be washed. Under grace we do not work for our salvation so that only our feet have to be washed. At this juncture let us emphasize what we said previously that is that the point in feet washing is to make our feet like Christ's while we are still here. When we are in the glory around the crystal sea our feet never require washing. Why? Because no dirt can be picked up on our feet then nothing that defiles can enter the Holy City. But there is something more "the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass" Rev 12:21. The street is where men walk, and in this world pick up defilement on their feet. But this street is pure gold that is unalloyed divine righteousness. All the saints walk the same way for the city has only one street. There will be no division of opinion as to how we should walk and no need to wash our feet when around the crystal sea. The walk of every saint on the street of the Holy City will be characterized by divine righteousness.

Chapter 3.16

(Suggested Reading; John 14 and 15)

Inside God's House the Holy Place

The hope of Israel for the restoration of the kingdom on earth was founded on the God in whom the Apostles believed. Now His Son, whom the Father had sent, tells them to believe also in Him. Why? Because all earthly expectations were to be shattered by Jesus' death. The truth that Messiah was to be cut off without His inheritance Dan. 9:26 although prophesied, was contrary to all Jewish hopes. What was left for them then, when their hearts were troubled, not only by no earthly kingdom, but also no earthly king?

The Father's House

God's beloved Son who came forth from His Father and came into the world was now about to leave the world and return to the Father by way of the cross. With such a prospect before Him He comforts His own, where the natural heart would seek comfort from others. But then they did not know what the Father was to Him. In John 14:28 He says "if ye loved Me, ye would rejoice, because I said I go to the Father.”

At supper the Lord calls His own 'children' a term He repeats when feeding them in resurrection "children have you any meat?" He would have us know the place of children their Father's house. So we have the promise of His return for us. Then the way in which we shall see our Father is unfolded "no man has seen God at any time, the Only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him" John 1:18. How could the Father be different from what the Son had shown Him to be on earth? He made the Father's heart known at the well of Sychar, at the coffin of the widow of Nain's son, at the cross. It will be the same Jesus in the Father's house. There we shall gaze on His blessed face and in doing so see our Father. But the Son is going back to His Father. Must hope then be deferred? Is it not possible even now to taste the joys of the Father's house? Must we wait till we are ushered into it to see the Father and the glory of the Son? The Lord who came forth from the Father and came into the world anticipated such thoughts. He prayed to His Father that the Comforter the Holy Spirit might come. That is why the gift of the abiding Comforter is connected with the Father's house. He comes out of the Father's house to bring the glories of the One who fills that house to us as Eliezer did to Rebecca Gen. 24.

The Holy Spirit—Symbolized in the Golden Lampstand—Is the Light of God's House

The tabernacle was constructed without windows. This was to prevent natural light from entering it. It was illuminated by the Golden Lampstand, whose light speaks of the Holy Spirit. He alone can reveal the beautiful things inside God's house.

In Chapter 14 the Lord, who was the Light of the world, is about to leave the world. The Holy Spirit who is the light, not of the world but of the sanctuary, will replace Him. But in the tabernacle the light of the golden lampstand shone opposite the lampstand Num. 8:2 That is, to reflect and display its own beauty, which, with its hammered workmanship of pure gold, spoke of Christ. The light from the golden lampstand also illuminated the Holy Place and the golden vessels of display in it. That is no doubt why we find references to the Holy Spirit in three whole chapters of John the 14th, 15th and 16th chapters. It is through Him we receive a blessed foretaste of the beauties and glories of that Man who will fill the universe of God with the light of His glory. Once again we must pause and emphasize the fact that in these "tabernacle" chapters (12 17) the Lord is going back to His Father. "Whosoever believes" John 3:16 has everlasting life; "whosoever drinks" shall never thirst John 4:14. But in the first case it is because the Father has sent His Son. Now that the Son is returning to His Father the Father will send the Spirit in the Son's name that we may drink John 14:26. The Spirit will not speak from Himself but bring the glories of Christ before us while He has gone on high.

These truths are beautifully summarized in a verse from one of J.N. Darby's hymns.

“Tis thence now Christ is gone on high

Redemption's work complete

The Spirit brings His glory nigh

To those who for Him wait.”

The Vine and Its Branches

A vine may well have grown on the house where the Lord ended His Upper Room ministry or He may just have drawn from nature as He often did. But why did He choose the vine as a symbol of what His life had been in the world? And why did He call Himself the True Vine?

a. The Lord Jesus, not Israel is the True Vine: In Scripture Christ is the Truth and God is true. So by calling Himself the true vine i.e. the vine of God the Lord was contrasting Himself with Israel. Israel was the vine God had once brought out of Egypt. He had evicted the nations in Canaan and planted it there so it took deep root and filled the land Psa. 80:8, 9. Yes He had planted a vineyard, hedged it round about, and rented it to farmers. Then when harvest time came there was no fruit for Him. The farmers beat and killed and stoned His servants and when He sent His Son they said "this is the heir, come, let us kill Him, and let us confiscate His inheritance" read Matt. 21:33-46. How could Israel be God's vine any longer when even the Gentile Pilate had said "Thine own nation and the chief priests have delivered Thee to me" John 18:35. The grapes of Eschol came from Canaan the figure of heaven. The Lord Jesus was the heavenly vine and His fruit pleasurable to the Father.

But this leaves unanswered the other question why the Lord Jesus chose the vine as a symbol of Himself. First of all, let us consider two characteristics of the vine dependence and fruit bearing. A vine is in distinct contrast to a tree which supports itself and which is often used in Scripture as a symbol of a great man Nebuchadnezzar, for example. But the Lord was the dependent Man and we know that the vine clings to its trellis for support. Then the fruit of the vine is wine, the symbol of earthly joy in Scripture "then said the trees to the vine, come and reign over us. And the vine said to them, should I leave my wine, which cheers God and man, and go to be promoted over the trees?" Judg. 9:12, 13. All this is symbolical of course, but certain general guidance emerges as we reflect on it. The instruction in these symbols is that only a dependent Man could bear fruit on the earth that would cheer both God's heart and man's too, although the fruit is primarily for the Father.

b. Who are the branches? The Lord also said "you are the branches." The branches speak of responsibility on earth under divine government. There are two reasons why we should not consider them figures of the Church as some do. First the doctrine of the Church is not given to us in the Scriptures by John, but by Paul. Secondly, Paul teaches that "he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit" 1 Cor. 6:17 a truth which is inconsistent with men being thrown away as branches, withered, gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned see John 15:6. No, once we have heard and believed the word of truth, the gospel of our salvation, we are "sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise which is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory" Eph. 1:13, 14.

The branches clearly are the Apostles, judging from the Lord's own words "ye are the branches" but as we shall see later, not confined to them. Still, we see the grand principles in the Apostles. There are two classes of branches, both introduced by "if" v 6, 7 to distinguish them. Each class of branch is treated separately the lifeless branches are burned, the branches with the life of the vine are pruned to increase their yield of fruit.

.. The branches of profession are burned: These are diseased, dead, broken or withered branches, still clinging to the vine, but useless. They exemplify those who only profess to be Christians. They do not really belong to Christ, could never bear fruit for that reason, and are gathered, thrown in the fire and burned. Judas is an example. He was an apostle. He was also the treasurer. He became greedy for money and conspired to sell the Lord for thirty pieces of silver, thinking He would deliver Himself and he would be rich. When his plan failed he threw the coins down before the priests. Truly men gather them and they are burned, for the priests would now have no part either of Judas or his money. So he hanged himself. Judas is not alone. The withered branches of profession have historically made up much of the so called Christian world. Those nominally attached to the name of Christ constitute often the fiercest persecution of the branches who abide in Christ and in whom He abides. So He will send the Comforter to testify of Him, and the Apostles also should bear witness because they had been with Him from the beginning. Their testimony continues to this day as does that of the Holy Spirit. In the meantime may we as the true branches bear much fruit that His Father may be glorified.

.. The branches that abide are pruned: The vine is never said to be pruned only the branches. Christ is the vine and everything flows from Him. The branches that abide in Him all bear some fruit, but it is the work of the Father to prune the good branches to increase their yield. The fruit belongs to the Father.

The pruning of hedges and shrubs is a chore with which every gardener is familiar, and is not confined to a vine. In a tomato plant for example a gardener will pinch back the young shoots when there are enough tomatoes on the plant. This prevents the energy of the plant going into promoting wild growth, which is the natural thing, without cultivation. Similarly, raspberry plants will sucker endlessly if left to themselves. This type of pruning, then, is done with the object of diverting the natural energy of the plant from the growth of foliage into fruit bearing.

We have considered Judas as a withered branch. Now we will consider a good branch, Peter. Peter's natural energy made him the leader of the disciples. But the Lord had to say "Simon, Simon, behold Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat" Luke 22:31. Satan may well be the pruning shears in God's hand but wheat is wheat. The idea behind pruning is the removal of those things in our lives which, if left un-removed would only foster the wild natural growth seen in men of the world who do not know God. Once removed, fruit for the Father becomes more abundant.

These grand principles, while exemplified in the twelve Apostles, are not confined to them. They occupy a prominent place in the Lord's Prayer to His Father in John 17. But He also said "neither pray I for these alone, but for those also who shall believe on Me through their word"— John 17:20.

The Table of Showbread

At this point we might consider the relationship of the Lord's remarks to the twelve Apostles to the next article in the Tabernacle the Table of Showbread. This Table was made of "shittim wood" generally believed to be acacia overlaid with pure gold. The shittim wood was a picture of Christ's spotless Manhood, the gold of His divinity, all present unitedly in Jesus on this earth. Everything touching the Table was gold. A crown of gold was round about it, a golden crown to the hand breadth border round about it, and four rings of gold to carry it. Even the poles of shittim wood set in these rings to carry it were overlaid with gold. The dishes, spoons, covers and bowls used in its service were of pure gold see Ex. 25:23 30. When this Table was carried through the wilderness Aaron and his sons were to spread a cloth of, blue on it "and put on it the dishes, and the cups and the bowls, and goblets of the drink offering" Num. 4:7. This leads us to the consideration of three things respecting the Table of Showbread which are relevant to John 15.

a. Christ: He is the vine in John 15. The spies brought back the grapes of Eschol, the fruit of the vine. Only the heavenly vine bore fruit on this earth. Aaron and his sons believers as a company of worshipping heavenly priests know this and spread the cloth of blue Christ as the heavenly Man on the Table. We also know the union of God the gold and Man the shittim wood in the person of our blessed Savior.

b. Man in Christ: Just as the vine held up the branches so did the Table support the twelve loaves of showbread. Primarily, these represent Israel but the Lord said "you are the branches" that is the twelve Apostles. They really represented the nation in God's eye for of them Jesus said "you are those who have continued with Me in My temptations and I appoint unto you a kingdom that you may eat and drink with Me at My Table in My kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel" Luke 22:30. Believers in the present day are doubtless included, and Israel too, for God has not given up His people. The loaves speak of Man in Christ and witness to administration in man—Man in Christ on the earth. The loaves were of fine flour, baked. This administration is imperfect two rows of six yet sustained by the Table which not only held up but enclosed the showbread. Pure frankincense was put on the showbread the fragrance of Christ it was renewed every Sabbath, and eaten by Aaron and his sons in the Holy Place see Lev. 24:5 9.

c. The Father's Portion: "The goblets of the drink offering" Num. 4:7 held the wine for the drink offering. The wine was God's portion. The Lord had said "I am the true vine and My Father is the vinedresser." As abiding in Him we bear much fruit. "In the sanctuary shall the drink offering of strong drink be poured out to Jehovah" Num. 28:7.

How God Trains Us for Worship in His House

In closing these meditations let us recall the respective work of the Father and the Son in fitting us for priestly service before the Lord. In John 13 the Lord washed His disciples' feet the laver in figure to remove defilement picked up from their walk through this world. In John 15 the Father pruned the branches to remove things in ourselves which hinder our fruitfulness to God. The end of God's ways with the soul is joy without ecstasy and joy in a world which is completely opposed to us. Out of this flows worship.

What we have been considering is how God brings our state in line with our standing. Our standing is typified by Lazarus a dead and risen man seated at the Lord's Table. Alas, our state may contradict our standing. God takes care of two things which drag us down, as it were, to the level of the world. One is dirty feet picking up filth from the world as we pass through it. That is where feet washing comes in. The other is pruning to increase the yield of fruit by removing excess foliage. Spelled out, this means that we yield fruit for the Father, instead of wasting our energies on natural outlets. Then our voices would be hushed when we come together for worship. With these practical difficulties removed we may enter the Holy of Holies for worship.

There we will offer the fruit of our lips to the Father for the veil is rent.

Chapter 3.17

(Suggested Reading: John 17)

Inside God's House the Holy of Holies

In the 17th of John the curtain is pulled back, so to speak, and we are allowed to hear the Lord addressing His Father before He went to the cross. Great was the privilege of His own in hearing these words; privileged are we that they have been written down for us.

The Lord speaks as though the cross were all over even though He has not gone to it. This is because He is a Divine Person for whom failure is impossible. So the chapter views the Lord on the other side of death and in certain parts of it interceding for His people as their High Priest. This interpretation is confirmed by Paul's statement "for if He were on earth, He should not be a priest" Heb. 8:4, which also agrees with the character of the Lord's ministry on earth, for at no time did He act as a priest on earth. (1) Viewed then as on the other side of death, the Lord is in the Holy of Holies.

Inside the Holy of Holies

We have seen how the Tabernacle chapters have displayed this approach Godwards John 12 The brazen altar, John 13 the laver, John 14-16 the golden lampstand and now in this chapter the Holy of Holies. But because the Lord is on the other side of death the veil is viewed as rent Matt. 27:51 and so the golden altar of incense comes into view with the Lord Jesus, as the great High Priest of His people, interceding for them before God at that golden altar.

One might wonder why the Spirit of God arranged the chapters of the gospel of John so as to outline for us the desert journey from Egypt to Canaan and especially the detail of the Tabernacle from John 12-17. The answer may well be found in Psa. 73. There David wondered at the prosperity of the wicked "until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end" Psa. 73:17. So it is that this chapter brings all these things into focus the world, a world which had rejected Christ at the outset John 1:5-14, the Father, the Son of the Father's love the family of God taken out of the world. In the light of the sanctuary we bow to God's judgment that a world that rejected our Savior God can only be a desert to us a desert through which we are journeying to the place of God's rest where together with our fellow pilgrims from all ages we shall be re united in the blessed family of God to praise and worship our Savior and the Father who sent Him.

The theme of chapter 17 is the Father and the world with the Lord presenting us first as Himself in the Father's presence and then in the presence of the world. It is anticipating the Holy City Jerusalem in which the saints are seen in these two characters before the Father and before the world. Indeed a chain links the Lord's prayer, His prayers here to His Father, and the Holy City Jerusalem the answer to both.(2)

With these introductory remarks we may now look at the Lord's words and His prayer to the Father. These are separate and distinct. John 17:1 marks the beginning of His words "these words spake Jesus John 18:1 The end of His words "when Jesus had spoken these words." In between His words His two prayers to the Father are recorded.

The Lord's Opening Words to His Father

The sublime words that the Lord uttered from verses 1-8 are, not a prayer, but the Lord as God's blessed Son, addressing His Father as an equal in the Godhead. The Scripture is careful to note this distinction with the opening expression "these words spoke Jesus" with the Son making a demand not a request on His Father as One equal with Him in the Godhead "glorify Thy Son" and with the tenor of these introductory words which concern the glory of the Son His Person and His work before the Father and before the world. He was the Word of creation. It is this and other aspects of His Divine glory, which the Lord brings before His Father.

“The hour has come" He says, looking forward to the cross, and "I have finished the work Thou gavest Me to do" looking past it. The cross is not His subject here but His own rightful glory. So He lifts up His eyes to heaven and says "glorify Thy Son that Thy Son also may glorify Thee." Well, the Father heard the Son's voice that He should be glorified. His answer is found in Psa. 21:3-5— "for Thou goest before Him with the blessings of goodness Thou settest a crown of pure gold on His head. He asked life of Thee and Thou gavest it Him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in Thy salvation, honor and majesty hast Thou laid upon Him." These verses give us the Father's reply raising Him from the dead, giving Him length of days for ever and ever as Man, and crowning Him with a pure gold crown to make it clear that He is the True King. Following that He is invested with honor and majesty. His enemies are destroyed and "we will sing and praise Thy power." All this is to be on earth. It was on the earth He had glorified God in His life and in His death. It will be on the earth that God will exalt and glorify Him in the coming thousand year kingdom. Then as Man He will fulfill His words to the Father "that Thy Son also may glorify Thee." A Man will establish a one world government over this earth and rule it in perfect righteousness. That is how the Son will glorify the Father, for nothing like that has ever happened in this world. We get the type of this in Joseph to whom Pharaoh said "only in the throne will I be greater than you" Gen. 41:40. "And they cried before him (Joseph) bow the knee and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt" Gen. 41:43.

Great as this future glory will be there is still another namely that the Father has given Him authority over all flesh. At present men may deny the Lord who bought them. But the Father who judges no man but has committed all judgment to the Son will see that they bow the knee in the day of judgment if they refused to do so now see Phil. 2:9 11. This authority is exercised over all flesh God will be glorified in judgment if man rejects Christ, but He will also be glorified in blessing when man accepts Him. Here believers are viewed in a special way as the Father's gift to Christ v 2. How a man's son treasures a watch his father gave him, not because it is a watch but because he will always remember it as his father's gift. So Christ cherishes us as the Father's gift to Him and to these He exercises His authority to give eternal life. His disciples longed to enjoy it. Peter said "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life" John 6:68. The following verse makes it clear that the great characteristic of this life is the knowledge of the Father and the Son.

The Lord's first demand was that the Father should glorify His Son so that His Son, as Man, might glorify Him in the administration of the coming kingdom. Now He demands that the Father glorify Him but with a different glory that glory which He had with His Father before the world was. Thus, the Son, in receiving a future glory, is not to lose any of the glory He had with the Father in the past because He became a Man.

But, one might ask, what has this to do with the remainder of His words to the Father concerning those whom the Father gave Him. The answer is that this was settled in the counsels of the Godhead in a past eternity "according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love" Eph. 1:4. And so the Lord tells the Father that He has made His name known to the Apostles "the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world." They had kept the Father's word the Old Testament Scriptures. But there was more than that. The Father had words divine communications from Himself to pass on to them. This the Lord had done on the earth. They had received these words from the Father and believed that the Son had come out from the Father and that the Father had sent Him. This ends the Lord's words to His Father for the moment, though they will be resumed later.

The Lord's Two Prayers to His Father—the Golden Altar of Incense

The Lord is seen here as the Great High Priest of His people. He says "for their sakes I sanctify Myself." To sanctify is to set apart in holiness. Since the Lord was the One whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world the meaning of this Scripture is that the Lord has set Himself apart to fulfill a new office in the heavens that of High Priest. That is why His prayers here are in the present tense with a few exceptions which can be explained but do not affect the force of this remark. There are really two prayers, commencing with verses 9 and 15 with expressions which reverse themselves. Thus in verse 9 the Lord says that He prays for them and prays not for the world; in verse 15 He prays not that the Father would take them out of the world but He does pray that they might be kept from the evil. Thus it is clear that the relationship of the saints to the world is in question here. The Lord prays not for the world and He prays not that the Father would take those whom He had given Him out of the world. Now let us examine the two prayers to see what He does pray for.

The first prayer: This begins with the Apostles. "I pray for them...whom Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine." For them He prays that they might be kept in that blest name of Holy Father in which He had kept them while He was in the world and that they might have His joy fulfilled in themselves. His joy was founded on His obedience to His Father's will. As about to possess His life the life of the new man, the great principle of which is obedience He prays that His joy might be fulfilled in themselves that is that they might taste the joy Christ had in His path by obeying the Father's will.

The second prayer: This also commences with the Apostles, but is not restricted to them. It broadens to a wider circle ourselves v. 20 and then the whole family of God v. 21. Like a stone thrown into a pool we get ever widening circles until we come to the confines of the pool God Himself "That they also may be one in us." The purpose of this unity of believers in the family of God is that "The world may believe that Thou hast sent Me. "In stating these truths it cannot be overemphasized that everything begins with the Apostles and the foundation truths established in their writings the Holy Scriptures. In praying for us the Lord lays great emphasis on this. He prays "for those also who shall believe on Me through their (i.e. the Apostles') word. The second prayer then, is about the family of God. What does the Lord petition His Father for concerning this family? First that we may be kept from the evil of the world then that this might be done by sanctifying them through His Truth His Word. This prayer has surely been answered. Nothing sanctifies us keeps us from the evil of the world but the Word of God. Then the Lord prays for the unity of the family of God a subject we shall take up later. The Lord's closing thoughts carry us beyond a world that must soon pass away. At the close He prays the Father that we might be with Him, where He is, and behold His glory.

The prayer which the Lord taught His disciples to pray ended with 'Amen' since they were to say it. Not so the Lord's prayers here which need no confirmation, being perfect. Only He could begin by saying "Amen Amen I say to you." In this chapter the Lord's second prayer ends at verse 23.

The Lord's Closing Words

Verses 24 to 26 bring us back to what we had in verse 1-8 the Lord's words to His Father. His two prayers came in between. His closing words summarize what He was occupied with before His Father the world, the Father, Himself, and His own.

With the Lord's closing words we have covered the 17th chapter of John's gospel in the verse by verse order in which the Lord spoke. But certain things the Lord said run through His opening words, His two prayers, and His closing words. These things should occupy our attention.

Internal Themes Found in the Lord's Words and His Prayers to the Father

As might be expected in such sublime words and prayers, perfection is featured everywhere, but in varied star bursts of glory.

a. The perfection of the Last Adam's work: The first man Adam had nothing worthwhile for God. He and all his race were thieves and robbers stealing from God His glory. But the Lord Jesus, the last Adam, restored that which He took not away Psa. 69:4 i.e. He never robbed God of His glory but rather restored it. When He restored it He added a fifth part Lev. 5:16 i.e. He not only settled the question of sin to God's glory but gave God greater glory than if sin had never entered. He has filled the whole universe with the light of God's glory.

All this comes out beautifully when we compare the works of the two men, Adam and Christ. The first man Adam begat a son in his own likeness not God's Gen. 5:3. When the law was given to a people specially favored by God brought out of Egypt and the Red Sea they soon betrayed the fact that they were in the likeness of the first Adam. Given the law they broke the first commandment by worshipping the golden calf(3)— thus really breaking all the ten commandments. Now the last Adam appears on the scene. He receives not ten commandments but one commandment and fulfills it in ten wondrous ways. The one commandment is clear "I know that His commandment is life eternal" John 12:50. The ten ways in which He displayed this life eternal are woven throughout the fabric of John 17 both the Lord's opening words, His two prayers and His closing words, for they knit it all together. Here they are:.. I have glorified Thee on the earth.

.. I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.

.. I have manifested Thy name unto the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world.

.. I have given to them the words which Thou gavest Me.

.. I have kept those whom thou gavest Me.

.. I have given them Thy Word.

.. I have also sent them into the world.

.. I have given them the glory which Thou gavest Me.

.. I have known Thee.

.. I have declared to them Thy name.

b. The Unity of the family of God: There are three unities. The first concerns the Apostles v. 11; the second we who believe on the Apostles' word v. 21. The third v. 22 is the whole family of God in the full glory of God with the Father displayed in the Son and the Son in the saints "that they may be perfected into one." Christ and the saints will be displayed before the world which will then know that the Father sent the Son.

The unity of the family of God is dear to the Lord's heart for it is the subject of His prayer to the Father. The unity the Lord prayed for here must not be confused with the unity of the Church. No He is not praying for that, but for the unity of the family of God before the world a prayer that has been answered. We are divided on many things but where do you find a believer who will repudiate another believer's faith in Christ before a world hostile to both of them? The unity of the body of Christ in unbroken display must await the glory; the unity of the family of God in confessing Christ before the world is a very real thing in spite of the disarray of the Church. The purpose of this unity is stated by the Lord that the world might believe that the Father sent the Son and know that God loves all His children even as He loves His Son.

c. The world and the Father: The last two verses are not part of the Lord's prayers. He specifically stated "I pray not for the world." The world and the Father are always opposed in Scripture c.f. 1 John 2:15. So it is that the world is mentioned 18 times the Father 6 times. It is the Lord's witness that the world cannot satisfy the heart of man. The Father can. So He calls His own out of the world to the Father.

Where the Father and the Son are concerned the Lord uses the term "the earth" God's word for the dry land what God Himself called it. When He uses "the world" it is for man's home and the system of things man has fashioned here to give him a home other than the Father's house.

These many references to the world end with "the world has not known Thee" a statement in complete contrast to the beginning life eternal v. 3 the knowledge of the Father and the Son. For this reason the Father gave the Son men out of the world v. 6 men whom the world hated because they did not belong to it v.14 even as the Lord did not. He did not pray that they might be taken out of the world v.15 but rather that they should be sent into it as He was v. 18 to testify to it that the Father sent the Son v.23 and loved Him v.24 before the foundation of the world. But they are in the world though He is not v. 11 and must experience its hatred v.14 because the world, in spite of the testimony of the Lord v.13 and His own v. 21, had not known the Father. These divine communications tell us that the world is not the home of God's people but that it is the will of God that they should pass through it testifying to it of the Lord Jesus as the sent One of the Father until taken out of it.

A backward glance will now make it clear that we have come from the inner circle the Father and the Son to the Apostles then to us who believe on the Lord through the Apostles' word then the whole family of God and finally to the outer circle the world. But since the Lord prayed not for the world, the question arises why is the world brought in at all?

It is a good question. But let us remember that at the beginning the Lord reminded the Father of the glory that He had with Him before the world was. He was in the world and the world was made by Him but the world knew Him not. Was He always, along with those given Him by His Father, to be shut off from the world He had created to be cut off from His inheritance forever? The answer to this question is that Christ and His own have a present position of public rejection and a future position of public display. It is our present position that elicits the Lord's supplicating prayers to His Father. His desire is that we might have His position as the rejected One before the Father and before the world. This is like the little book in Rev. 10:10 in our mouths sweet as honey, but bitter in our bellies. That is, His position before the Father is sweet as honey to our taste we enjoy that. What is bitter is His position before the world rejected, despised. Since we belong to Him we soon find that the world hates us as it hated Him no matter what we do what abilities we possess or anything else. It takes a while for the Christian to digest this fact. But when he accepts it, it is bitter in his belly unless and until he realizes that this is exactly what the Lord prayed to the Father that our position in this world should be.

But then there is another side to this. We who share His reproach shall also share His glory. In the widest sense the answer to the Lord's prayers is the Holy City Jerusalem. This world will yet learn that God is a righteous Father when the Holy City Jerusalem reigns over it. And in the new earth the expression is "behold the tabernacle of God is with men." The key word is men not Israel and the Church any more but the widest possible circle of blessing men. This was the word the Lord employed in His prayer to the Father "the men that Thou gavest Me." His inclusion of the largest circle the world looks onward then, not only to millennial glory but to the day of God when God Himself shall rest, surrounded by myriads of blessed beings from all ages who love Him and have been brought into the good of His ways. Before the world was created the Father loved the Son and we were chosen in Christ before its deep foundations were laid. If a world of the ungodly comes in between the Father's counsels and their execution it is but a momentary delay until new heavens and a new earth are created in which righteousness dwells.

It is blessed to turn from a world opposed to the Father to the Father Himself. He is mentioned six times in the chapter as already noted. But these mentions are in three groups of two thus a full divine testimony to the world. The first group gives us the relationship of the Son to the Father v.1 and 5 He is the Son whom God must glorify as Man in the future administration of the earth that in so doing the Father might be glorified. The Father must also glorify Him with the glory He had with the Father before the world was. This is the universal message of John 3:16 although it goes beyond it. It is a testimony to the world of who Jesus is and the Father's recognition of it. The next group gives us the relationship of the world and the saints to the Father. As to the world it did not know Him and to it He must be a "righteous Father." But to God's children He is a "Holy Father." This is another testimony to the world that God has a people in it who love Him and walk in His ways. The final testimony is the beginning of that cry "Abba Father" "Father Father" of the child of God. This is found in vs. 21, 24. Here we find the sense of our unity in God's family and that we are to be taken out of the world to see God's Son the full consummation of our joy where in seeing Him we shall see the Father.

Chapter 3.18

Outside God's House—the Sacrifice of the Burnt Offering

Exodus closes with the setting up of the tabernacle and the cloud covering the tent of the congregation; Leviticus opens with the offering up of the burnt offering at the tabernacle. A cloud in Scripture is the symbol of the presence and glory of God; the burnt offering is a type of Christ coming to do God's will and glorifying God as to the question of sin at the cross. Sin, the root principle, must be dealt with if God were to be glorified. That is why the cloud preceded the burnt offering God was to be glorified in the cross of Christ.

The same order is followed in John's Gospel. The Lord's Prayer to His Father in John 17 is the cloud in John 18-19 Christ is the burnt offering.

The Burnt Offering—What Is It? Why Should We Probe Its Meaning?

Our purpose in this brief outline of the burnt offering is to help the reader compare it to the crucifixion scenes in John's Gospel. In other words it is a key to understanding the unique way John writes about the closing scenes of the Lord's life on earth, the cross, and the question of sin.

God could have judged sin without showing mercy, in which case our race would have been totally lost. Righteousness and judgment are the foundation of His throne, and if He had taken that course of action none could have complained, for all have sinned. But as long as He took no action the question of why He allowed sin to exist in the universe remained unanswered. Finally, Christ came into the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. In so doing He demonstrated that God was not only light in exposing our sins but love in sending His own Son to die for them. In this way God has received a larger and a deeper glory than if sin had never entered, or if, having entered, He had only acted on the principle of judgment. This is the side of the cross presented by the type of the burnt offering.

.. Animal offerings and sacrifices did not please God: We learn this in the 10th chapter of Hebrews, where the Spirit of God does not immediately break into His subject of Christ coming into the world to do the will of God. He starts off by discussing what is not the will of God. This is the way the Lord began with Nicodemus. He told him what stood in the way of man obtaining eternal life John 3:3,5 before He told him how man could have it. And so we find two negative statements introducing our subject i.e. that Christ did not come into the world to perpetuate the old system v. 5 of sacrifice and offering. In v. 6 we further find that "in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure." Such things had their place under the law as types and shadows of the work of Christ, but the law and the prophets were until John. Once John had presented Christ the old system must go. God is not going on with a system of law keeping for salvation, now that Christ has come. The will of God is wrapped up in Christ.

.. The burnt offering instructs us about Christ whose offering and sacrifice please God: But while the blood of bulls and goats could not put away sin, nothing affords us more instruction on Christ as the Man who came to do the will of God than the burnt offering of Lev. 1. Not only that but the type perfectly agrees to the antitype the Lord Jesus in John's Gospel not only in His person and work but the setting in which both are written. In John's Gospel the Lord is portrayed as Son of God superior to all His circumstances, which for that very reason, are not even recorded. That is why John omits the Lord's agony of soul in the Garden of Gethsemane, the last Passover, and the first Lord's Supper. He gives us very little of the sufferings of the cross. John leaves these themes to the writers of the synoptic Gospels. He writes about Christ as the Son of God, a divine person having power over His life to lay it down and take it again. He was the Son who made the Father known. John's Gospel is about the Father and the Son. For example in the 14th chapter the Lord assumed that His disciples knew the Father to whom He was going so fully had He declared Him and done His will. In John's Gospel those subjects which do not lend themselves to this side of the truth are passed over.

An Outline of the Burnt Offering

A range of sacrifices could be offered from a bullock, the most expensive one, to turtledoves or young pigeons, the cheapest. The variety of the sacrifices is indicative of the degree of our appreciation of the work of the cross some are rich toward God, others poor. The common thread is that regardless of such distinctions there is only one sacrifice for rich or poor, for the great subject of the burnt offering is sin itself not the sins of individuals.

.. The sacrifice must be voluntary: No pressure was brought on the offerer to bring a sacrifice. He might offer the sacrifice "of his own voluntary will." That is because Jesus, the true burnt offering, offered Himself through the Eternal Spirit without spot to God. For this reason too every bullock, sheep or goat must be a male without blemish.

In exercising "his own voluntary will" the offerer must first decide whether or not to bring a sacrifice. It would be costly because only a male without blemish could be offered God demanded the best. Then the offerer had to decide from the range of options how expensive a sacrifice to bring. When Jesus Himself was the offering it was beyond price. His enemies did not think so. They priced Him at thirty pieces of silver. In the Garden they called him "Jesus of Nazareth" and no title could be lower in men's eyes than that. He declared "I have told you that I am" and no title could be higher than "I AM," God's own name. They fall backward to the ground. That "I AM" should also be called "Jesus of Nazareth" would make any man do that. But it is in that character the All Powerful One that He surrenders of His own voluntary will to them.

.. Killing the sacrifice: The man who offered the sacrifice had to kill it himself "at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord." That tells us that God must be propitiated first. The offerer must also put his hand on the bullock's head. The bullock is dying but his need is met. More than that by this act he identifies himself with all the value of the sacrifice to God "A burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor to the Lord. Typically he is accepted in the Beloved One.

But it is not enough to kill the bullock. Just as in the Passover when God said "When I see the blood I will pass over you" so once more He must see the blood the evidence that the sacrifice's life was laid down. The presentation of the blood to God is the service of His priests "The priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar." Lev. 1:5. When Aaron is mentioned alone it is Christ, when Aaron and his sons, it is believers as a company of worshippers. In Egypt the blood was to shelter sinners from a holy God; in the desert it is so that a redeemed company might approach that same God. On the cross the type is fulfilled "but when they came to Jesus, and saw that He was dead already, they broke not His legs; but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water" John 19:33,4. That spear thrust released water and blood. Why did the soldier do it? Because he thought the Lord was dead but he had to be certain! (l) To make sure death had taken place that this was not fainting or unconsciousness he directed his spear thrust upward to the heart. The upward thrust avoided the ribs so that again not a bone was broken in piercing the Lord's side. Little did the soldier know, in fulfilling his duty to Rome, that God Himself called for the blood without the pouring out of which there could be no remission of sins. Our sins were attached to His sinless life's blood by imputation and God demanded the blood. But it came from the riven side of Christ when He was already dead on the cross not in life. The judgment of God was past when the Roman soldier's act took place. Understanding God's thoughts of the blood, we can already anticipate our song in glory "To Him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in His blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father: to Him be the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen" Rev. 1:5, 6.

.. Preparing the sacrifice for burning on the altar: After killing the bullock, the offerer skinned it and dismembered it. Then Aaron's sons, the priests figures of believers today fired the altar and stacked wood on the fire in an orderly fashion. They laid the dismembered parts on the wood which was now burning but once more in an orderly way. So 1 Cor. 14:15 says "I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also.”

The animal's four dismembered parts are individually mentioned. The head and the fat go together and are burned at once. The inner parts and legs go together and are burned after they have been washed.

.. The head and the fat are burned first: The head is the symbol of intelligence. It is the directing force, not only in man but in the brute beast. It speaks here of Christ doing the Father's will in the full intelligence of what it would cost Him. In the type of Isaac being offered up there was limited intelligence of what it would cost him to do Abraham's will, as his questions to his father show. In Christ there was full intelligence. Consider the crown man awarded Him. Think of Him, publicly wearing the symbol of the curse the crown of thorns. He knew what the curse would mean abandonment by God on the cross. He accepted it from His Father that His will might be done "By which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" Heb. 10:10. Both in His person and in His work the Lord Jesus as the true burnt offering glorified God perfectly.

Fat is the stored up energy of an animal. Typically it speaks of the inner energy of Jesus. This was displayed in the world both in His words and His works. He said to His own "My meat is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work" John 4:34. He drove the money changers out of the temple saying "Take these things away. Make not My Father's house a place of business" John 2:16. So He fulfilled Psa. 69:9 "The zeal of thine house has eaten me up.”

.. The inner parts and legs are washed before burning: Truth in the inner parts was always found in Christ "Thou hast proved My heart— Thou hast tried Me, Thou hast found nothing: My thought goeth not beyond My Word" Psa. 17:3. His legs, His holy walk, has been the subject before us in this book. This holy walk agreed with what was inside hence the legs and the inner parts had to be washed with water so the sacrifice would correspond morally with what Christ was actually. The legs come last in the order of the parts, for the cross ended Christ's walk as man on the earth. The last act in the ritual was the burning of the washed inner parts and legs on the altar.

What Think Ye of Christ Whose Son Is He?

Are we taking a quantum leap from our studies of the burnt offering to the question in our caption "What think ye of Christ whose son is He?" Not at all. What we are really asking is whether or not you appreciate God's gift of His Son as the burnt offering. In posing this question it is only reasonable to consider what God thinks of Him first, then man.

.. What God thinks of Christ: Long before Christ died on the cross God made the ritual of the burnt offering unveil His appreciation of His Son's work. As the sacrifice burned on the altar it formed a cloud ascending heavenward to God. It reminded Him of all that Christ was to Him "It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord." So God had every right to think that man would share His thoughts. After all He was the One who so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son. He was the burnt offering God's Son.

.. What man thinks of Christ: At first sight this is a bleak picture. Judas betrayed the Lord, He was arraigned before the High priest, tried by Pilate. The judicial process, such as it was, came to an end. His "crime" emblazoned over the cross "Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews" in Hebrew and Greek and Latin, gives us a world picture of man.(2) But the Lord said of His sheep "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." To them God gave power to become the children of God. John's gospel tells us who they are, and at the end we find them clustered around the cross. So too were the Lord's enemies proving the truth of His words "He who is not with Me is against Me" Matt. 12:30. God once more divides between the light and the darkness as He did in Gen. 1. Only now the light and the darkness are moral not physical. To be specific they are the men and women gathered around the cross.

Character Sketches of the Four Soldiers and the Four Women at the Cross

The four soldiers and the four women are representative of worldwide rejection or acceptance of Christ. That is because four is the representative number in Scripture e.g. the four winds of heaven, the four corners of the earth. The brazen altar on which the burnt offering was offered was four square and the Holy City Jerusalem lieth four square.

.. The four soldiers: The soldiers represent Satan's power acting through the union of the Jew and the Roman. Satan rules the world through two devices religion and politics both of which are unmasked here. Common hatred of Christ, the light amid this darkness, surfaces as soon as He is delivered into their hands. The four soldiers were a detachment from the main body of troops under Pilate's command, with orders to carry out three crucifixions. The soldiers are not named. Like many other anonymous people in John's Gospel "the impotent man" "the blind man" "the woman" they have no link with God. They are known only for what they did. That is why John simply says, "These things therefore the soldiers did.”

Before the cross, among other indignities, the soldiers dressed the Lord in scarlet and purple and mocked Him. At the cross four of them plundered His clothes. Our clothes tell us much about our circumstances. In this life, for example, a soldier wears a uniform, a surgeon a gown, a mayor a robe of office. In glory we shall wear white garments. Before the cross the soldiers mocked the Lord by dressing Him in kingly robes of purple and scarlet and saying "Hail king of the Jews." At the cross the four soldiers divided all the Lord's clothes except his tunic for which they gambled. After the cross one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear.

These deeds show man's estimate of God's Christ. God is determined to reverse them. For this reason we must reverse the order in which these wicked acts took place if we would understand the spiritual lessons underlying them. So we begin where man ended the piercing of the Lord's side with a spear, which caused blood and water to flow out. The blood of God's Holy Lamb expiates our sins. God required it we accept it and are saved. The water came from the Lord's extreme physical suffering on the cross. It cleanses us by separating us in spirit from a world which so evilly treated our Savior God. The next thing to be reversed is the Lord's tunic. The tunic was a one piece dress woven from the top throughout. It speaks of Christ Himself "All Thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia" Psa. 45:8. But in this context the tunic speaks of man in Christ. We have appropriated the value of the blood which flowed from Christ's spear pierced side, so God sees us as "in Christ." The meaning of "in Christ" is that as He is so are we in this world. In the last chapter of Romans Paul speaks of Andronicus and Junia. Characteristically they were prisoners. God the Father considers it an honor that we should share Christ's rejection. The Father clothed the prodigal with this tunic "Bring forth the best robe and put it on him." The next step backward in this chain of reversals is the division of the Lord's garments into four parts. These speak of the four Gospels, with their message of forgiveness to man. This is to be spread to the four corners of the earth. In the Gospel, God turns man's evil to good. Where sin did abound grace did much more abound. The final reversal in this chain is the acknowledgment by the world that Christ is Lord of Lords and King of Kings. All will bow the knee to Him no longer saying Hail King of the Jews in mockery but confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Man's crown of thorns will be swept away for "Thou settest a crown of pure gold on His head.”

.. The four women: The four women are in marked contrast to the four soldiers. The latter represent the peak of the old creation man in his might; the four women represent the frailty of the old creation, for the woman is the weaker vessel. They are the Lord's mother, His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene.

The Lord's mother is the first woman mentioned Mary Magdalene the last. The other two women are obscure. The Lord's mother represented purity in woman, as the handmaiden of the Lord; Mary Magdalene had been possessed by seven devils. The Lord speaks to His mother at the cross; to Mary Magdalene after it in resurrection.

The Lord's words to the dying thief and to His mother stand out in relief. Both were in anguish he in the body, she in her soul. He said "Remember me" and Jesus did. She said nothing, being a spiritual woman, although a sword was piercing her soul as Simeon predicted in the temple. He was about to lose his life she her son.

Taken as a group the four women were doing what John the Baptist told all to do at the beginning "Behold the Lamb of God." Because of this their devotedness in the face of the world's hatred is drawn to our attention in the word of God.(3)

Arrangements of the Lord's Sheep at the Cross Which Foreshadow Christianity

The men and women at the cross came there because they loved Christ. "He who practices the truth comes to the light that his works may be manifested that they have been wrought in God" John 3:21. They are the children of the resurrection the Lord's sheep. God would honor them for their devotion to Christ, for His principle is "Those who honor Me I will honor" 1 Sam. 2:30. How did He honor them? By mentioning them in His written word. He has done more. If we look closely we will see that these men and women can be arranged in roles which give us a concise picture of the events from Christ's first coming into the world to His second coming. This is worthy of God, for the cross is both the execution of His counsels and the revelation of His heart.

.. Mary symbol of the beginning of the Lord's life: Her presence at the cross is a reminder of the beginning of the Lord's life, for she was the vessel of the incarnation. The burnt offering must be without spot or blemish. So He was sinless from the beginning "That Holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God" Luke 1:35. But He was also a man. This beautiful union of God and man can be seen in the Lord's words to Mary "Woman behold your son."(4) In addressing His earthly mother as "woman" He made it clear that she was a creature He the Son of God her Creator. But He made it equally clear that He was a man, with all the tender sympathies a man should display to his mother. John would now replace Jesus as her son to comfort her and care for her in her old age.

Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea symbols of the end of the Lord's life and work: As symbols, these two men speak of sin and death. The Lord told Nicodemus that "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." The wages of sin (5) the serpent's sting is death. Since Christ assumed those wages when He was lifted up, He was taken down and buried in Joseph's tomb.

.. Mary Magdalene and Mary the wife of Cleophas the Lord's resurrection and the first day of the week: The new creation is the reverse of the old creation. God began the old creation with light "And the evening and the morning were the first day." But now Christ is risen, the first or new creation day begins with the morning and ends with the evening. In other words the Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene in the first day of the week and to the wife of Cleophas at Emmaus on the evening of the first day Luke 24.

.. John the harbinger of Christ's second coming: John and Mary are linked together, for the Lord spoke to both of them at the cross. Mary is the symbol of Christ's first coming John of His second coming. Together they give us the whole range of Christianity from Christ's first coming to His second coming. This includes such great events as the Lord's life, death, resurrection and ascension, followed by the descent of the Holy Spirit to form the Church at Pentecost. John's revelation closes with the longing of Spirit and bride for the Lord's coming. Fittingly so, for Jesus said to Peter "If I will that he" i.e. John "tarry till I come, what is that to you?" John 21:22. The meaning of the Lord's words was that John would linger on, in his written ministry, until Christ returned. In Rev. 41 John "Looked and behold a door was opened in heaven." Then he heard a voice saying "Come up here.”

That is why the Lord told John at the cross to behold his mother, and Mary to behold her son, and why John receives Mary into his house. Mary and John the beginning and the end in John's house, the man who tells us God is love.

Observations on the Houses of John and Paul

Our first observation is that John owns a house in Israel Paul rents a house in Rome. We learn about John's house at the cross. Following the Lord's command he admits Mary, now an old woman by the standards of the ancient world, into his house. We first learn of Paul's house when he is an old man and a prisoner. John has Mary's company in his house Paul has none and is guarded by soldiers. The meaning of these distinctions becomes clear when we consider the respective character of the two Apostles' ministries.

a. Paul's house and ministry: Paul's dwelling place reflects the character of his ministry. He rented a house a mark that he owned nothing here. That is because his riches were heavenly. His ministry is about the Church of God, which is heavenly but still on earth, rejected like its Head. So Paul "dwelt two whole years" an allusion, no doubt, to the stay of the Church on earth "in his own rented house.”

Paul received all who came in to him. We enter Paul's house to enjoy his company and be assured his conversation will be about the Assembly, and the heavenly side of things. We are told that he preached the kingdom of God, which had not yet come in power, for he was in chains. He rose above his captivity, for he taught "those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him.”

b. John's house and ministry: Like Paul, John's house reflects the character of his ministry. John owned his house a mark of tenure on the earth. The long ranging character of John's ministry on the earth was established by the Lord Himself in John 21:22 "if I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to you?" So John's gospel, epistles, and Revelation feed the family of God on earth. How touching are some of his expressions such as "I write to you fathers" "I write to you little children.”

This long ranging character of John's ministry is additionally confirmed in Mary's presence in John's house as appointed by the Lord at the cross. Mary and John speak of the span of time between Christ's first coming for she was the vessel of the incarnation and His second coming c.f. the opening of Rev. 4.

In the end John shared Paul's fate. He had to leave his house, being banished to the isle of Patmos. Paul was led captive from the island of Malta to Rome and his rented house John was removed from his house and led captive to the isle of Patmos. The island position of the believer is assuring cut off from the world the seas as an island is, yet we are on redemption ground, waiting for the call John hears on his island "come up here.”

Chapter 3.19

The Rising of the Sun—the Crossing of the Jordan

And now we come to the end of John's Gospel. This is signaled by a stop sign which reads "but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ" as "the woman" of 4:29 did "the Son of God" as "the blind man" of 9:35-38 did "and that believing you might have life through His name." By believing we become sheep, and the Lord our shepherd. He calls His own sheep by name, and leads them out. So they are no longer looked at as sinners but sheep. John 10 is the end of God's ways with the sinner John 20 the end of His ways with the saint. In between we had the tabernacle scenes for God's ways are made known to us once we understand that this world is a desert. But John 20 is, morally speaking, the crossing of the Jordan. The Lord entered the Jordan at the beginning of the Gospel to identify Himself with the godly in Israel here in John 20 it is the identification of the godly with His death. Once His sheep are led over the Jordan God's ways end and His purpose is realized bringing them into the land.

Many thoughts converge as this important Gospel closes. John has retraced Israel's desert journey, the tabernacle, and the offering up of the burnt offering. In John 20 the desert is over and our subject as already mentioned is the crossing of the Jordan. Old things have passed away behold all things have become new. That is why John ties together the Genesis account of sin entering the world through a woman with his own account of the Lord's appearance in Manhood to another woman at the sepulcher with sin put away. John's Gospel begins and ends morally with a woman together with a new man who replaces Adam. In Genesis the woman brings sin and death into the world in John she sees them put away, for Christ is risen. The woman at Sychar's well was the beginning of Jesus' journey, and there He was weary. The woman at the cemetery garden was the end, for there He told Mary Magdalene that He was returning to His Father. So the first day of the week on which He spoke to Mary is the new creation day. It is characteristic of Christianity.

Thomas, figure of the Jew, is not present and is unbelieving, so the Lord's solace for the loss of Israel will be the Assembly. After it is raptured from the earth, however, the Jew like Thomas will return to Him saying "My Lord and my God.”

What a rich vista this brings before our eyes. It is too much to deal with adequately. Perhaps we could start by rehearsing what God's ancient people must have done when, for the last time in the desert, they took down the tabernacle. This time it was to be moved out of the desert, across the Jordan and into the Promised Land. That is John 20 in type.

Taking Down the Tabernacle—to Move It Across the Jordan and Into the Promised Land

When God's ancient people crossed the desert the tabernacle went with them. If they moved from one resting place to another the tabernacle was dismantled and erected again. The holy vessels in it its furniture were first covered by Aaron and his sons and afterward carried through the wilderness by the sons of Kohath. Of the various holy vessels, we are particularly interested in how the Ark of the Covenant and the brazen altar were covered, for this sheds light on the closing chapters of John. Well, Aaron and his sons took down the veil and covered the ark with it. Then they put on it a covering of badger skins and spread over it a blue cloth. By so doing the badger skins were hidden and the blue cloth could be seen. They removed the ashes from the brazen altar. Then they spread on it a purple cloth and a covering of badger skins so hiding the purple cloth but exposing the badger skins. The reversed role of the badger skins is meaningful. It might help to understand why if we think of the last time the holy vessels were to be covered in the desert i.e. when the desert was to be left behind, having served its purpose.

The Ark Crossing the Jordan—Jesus As the First and the Last

When God's ancient people crossed the Jordan nothing is told us of the brazen altar or the other holy vessels, or even the tabernacle. The ark alone is mentioned in the record of the crossing in Josh. 4. There are two reasons for this. First of all the ark is a picture of Jesus as the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last. It was first in God's mind in that it was the first article of furniture to be built, before even the tabernacle or anything in it, and it was last in that its passage of the Jordan ended the desert and opened the way to the Promised Land. Secondly its pre eminence over all the other holy vessels, even the brazen altar with which it was linked, tells us of "the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow." The sufferings of Christ are recorded in John 18-19. These are over now, so the ashes have been removed from the brazen altar and a purple cloth has been spread on it. That is God's estimate of the cross sin has been removed from His sight and the One who removed it is to be clothed in purple. But stop! A covering of badger skins is placed over the purple cloth hiding it from man's view. Exactly. God's mind for the future glory and exaltation of Christ is hidden from the world. Man sees only the badger skins. Christ, he says, is only a prophet, the son of Joseph and Mary "He was despised and we esteemed Him not." So the brazen altar fades away and we are left to muse on the ark. In the record of the crossing of the Jordan God directs our attention to the ark alone. It is draped with a blue cloth, which speaks of Christ as the heavenly Man. The cross over, He is the Man in the Glory. Like Stephen we gaze on Him. "But we all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit" 2 Cor. 3:18.

The People's Passover at the Red Sea and the Jordan

To understand the meaning of the Passover we must trace it to its origin in Egypt. Here the blood of the Passover lamb sheltered the firstborn of the children of Israel from God's judgment, for they were sinners as much as the Egyptians who perished, not being sheltered by blood. God insisted on the blood for salvation, for He said "when I see the blood I will pass over you." In itself the blood of a lamb was worthless. Its value at that time was that it looked forward to Christ, the Lamb of God, whose blood was to be shed for sinners "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us" 1 Cor. 5:7.

The Passover in Egypt is called "the Lord's Passover" Ex. 12:11, while the Passover at the Red Sea and the Jordan is called "the people's Passover.” Actually it is one Passover with certain features of it distinguished for our instruction. The people passed over the Red Sea and the Jordan in the protecting power of the Passover lamb's blood shed in Egypt. That is why no blood is shed at the Red Sea or the Jordan for Christ cannot suffer twice for sins. Now to distinguish between these three views of the Passover, the shedding of blood in Egypt illustrates the truth of forgiveness of sins through the precious blood of Christ. The Red Sea is more the salvation of our bodies, something which you could understand if you saw Pharaoh's army coming near you. These two things have a common link in that only God can forgive our sins or raise our bodies if we die. The Jordan is what we do in gratitude for what God did for us we identify ourselves with the death of Christ.

Having said this we might also note that the Red Sea and the Jordan are remarkably linked. The Red Sea cut Israel off from Egypt the Jordan cut them off from the desert. Egypt in Scripture is a figure of the glory of the world its allurements and attractions, and so the scene of Satan's ways with man in the flesh; the desert is the world as the scene of God's ways with redeemed man (a born again soul sees the world as it really is a desert, and passes on to another world the glory). Whenever God cuts us off from anything He gives us something better. We must not limit these things to Israel though they are illustrative of the Christian's experiences also.

What then does the desert teach us? It was certainly a better place than Egypt for God's people. Here God poured out His heart of love to them. There were no tyrants with whips to make them work harder, and God supplied all their temporal needs. Best of all He dwelt among them. In exchange for God's goodness they murmured and rebelled against Him. The desert journey was all unbelief. Still it was a teaching school. Israel did not graduate i.e. did not cross the Jordan until they learned the lesson that all the good was of God all the evil of themselves.

The desert was part of God's ways to make the goodness of His heart known, and expose the evil of the people's. In spite of that His purpose was to bless them. That is why He overlooked the desert, and in His purposes saw His people as entering the Red Sea and coming out the Jordan. He still does today, for Israel's God is ours. Once you have crossed the Jordan you are in the land. That means that our enemies must be dispossessed of their usurped spheres in heaven and earth a thought Scripture fully anticipated at both the Red Sea and the Jordan. Once these thoughts are understood it becomes clear why John 20 is a picture of the church period which had not yet dawned. This stretches from the day of Pentecost to the second coming of Christ. God visualizes two things during this period attachment to the Person of Christ by the Church and the temporary blindness of Israel to their Messiah. As a consequence of this we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ but Israel's earthly blessings are deferred. Such is the inlet to John 20.

How God Comforts Christ for the Loss of Israel

In resurrection the Lord does not reveal Himself to unbelieving Israel. The figure of Israel's rejection of their Messiah is Thomas called Didymus. He was not present when Jesus came into the midst just as the Jewish nation has missed the blessing of the Lord's presence in the Church period. The other disciples witness to Thomas that they had seen the Lord. He scorns their testimony, just as the Jews do today. Eight days elapse before the disciples are assembled together again. This time Thomas is with them. The Lord once more appears in the midst. Kinney says eight is habah, the coming One in Psa. 118:26. On this appearance the Lord reproaches Thomas "because you have seen Me you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed." In the future Israel will accept Christ and will mourn "when they look on Me whom they have pierced" Zech. 11:13, 12:10— 13:6. This agrees with what Thomas said `Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe.”

Now the Lord's position in resurrection is more than Israel's rejection of Him. He has lost them for a time the nation whom He loved. So God compensates Him for this temporary loss by giving Him the Church to comfort Him. This is prefigured in the life of Joseph a distinct type of Christ. As Genesis opens the serpent tried to make God a liar by saying "Ye shall not surely die." As Genesis closes Joseph, among the best of men, dies and is put in a coffin. As John opens the true Joseph offers the water of eternal life to the woman at the well. As John closes the true Joseph is risen, victorious over death. Instructive as these beginnings and endings are, there is much to learn about what came between them the story of Joseph's life. This is divided between his relations with the Gentiles and his brethren, the children of Israel.

.. The house of Israel: Joseph was "a man in whom the Spirit of God is" in Pharaoh's words Gen. 41:38 so his experiences foreshadow what happened to the true Joseph later. "The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him" Gen. 49:23. The archers speak of distant warfare. Joseph's brethren stripped him of his coat and threw him into a pit without water. Then they sold him for twenty pieces of silver. These experiences roughly parallel what was to happen to Christ later. Still the archers could not reach His person. Instead all the house of Israel the sun and the moon and the eleven stars must bow down to the true Joseph. But at the moment Israel does not acknowledge Christ as the true Joseph.

.. The Gentiles: Jacob said "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall" Gen. 49:22. So the Lord Jesus Christ the true Joseph came to Sychar's well fulfilling these words Jacob spoke on his death bed. Joseph's branches ran over the wall of partition separating Jew from Gentile. He became a fruitful bough to the Gentiles, offering them the water of eternal life. Jacob was dead and so was the Jew who spurned the offer, so Paul says "seeing you... judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo we turn to the Gentiles" Acts 13:46. They accepted the ongoing offer of the gospel. John's Gospel ends with service, Luke's with worship the two great features of eternal life. But blessed as these things are God wanted something to comfort Christ. He would give Him a bride. This is the Church, the collective side of things.

It is left to Pharaoh type here of God the Father to give us a picture of the Church the Father's gift to Christ. Joseph has lost his brethren as Christ has lost Israel. Pharaoh comforts him by giving him a wife called Asenath. She bears him two sons. May the type be true in us. May He be satisfied with our love. May it be constant to Him.

The Garden and the Graveyard

We now turn to another scene the opened tomb at the rising of the sun. It is another beginning, with Christ in resurrection speaking to Mary Magdalene first, and not directly to the apostles. She became a conduit the messenger of the Lord to inform them of what He said, but she herself heard it first from His own lips. She was a woman, and only a woman could receive such a message from the risen Lord.

Sin came in to this world because a woman listened to the serpent's voice rather than to the voice of the Lord God. Since the wages of sin is death the whole world became a graveyard. The serpent's lie "Ye shall not surely die" opens the book of Genesis but at the end of that book Joseph, one of the best of men, was buried in a coffin in Egypt. Is there no hope for man, then? Yes, when man sinned God promised a deliverer, the woman's seed. Although 4000 years rolled on until Christ the woman's seed came into the world, the Gospel of John begins as though the Garden of Eden were yesterday. It opens with the Lord telling Nicodemus that "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up" (i.e. crucified) "that everyone who believes on Him should not perish but have eternal life." So at the cross the spotless woman's seed, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin for us. He died for our sins that we might have eternal life. Thus John's Gospel ends with Christ's victory over Satan complete. The serpent had deceived the woman in a garden and turned the world into a graveyard. Such is the setting of the Lord's words to Mary Magdalene a graveyard and a garden, with Himself the victor over death and the serpent. In the beginning the woman had listened to the serpent's words in a garden here another woman in another garden listens to the voice of the Son of God.

The End of the Lord's Journey

The Lord's words to Mary Magdalene at the sepulcher announced the end of His journey. That journey was not what men think it was from the manger to the cross. Not at all—it was from the Father to the Father. We have the Lord's words for that statement "I came forth from the Father and am come into the world again I leave the world and go to the Father" John 16:28. John traces that journey for us from the woman at the well in John 4 to the woman at the sepulcher in John 20. In John 4 Jesus was weary with His journey as He sat on the well in John 20 a woman sees Him standing and He tells her that His journey is almost over. "I ascend to My Father" He says, letting us know that the heavens will be opened to receive Him just as the sepulcher has been opened to testify that it can no longer receive Him.

Now that the Lord's journey is over we can look back at it and see that many other things have been opened too. In summary the Lord has opened the doors of Satan's prison to free us and has thrown open the doors of His Father's house to welcome us. Between these two great openings He has opened our spiritual understanding and the affections of our hearts so we may be happy with Him in His Father's house.

.. Opening the doors of Satan's prison: The world is Satan's house and man's prison. In this he stores his possessions furniture, the things of the world, and people, his slaves. He guards his possessions jealously, and he is a strong, well armed man. However the Lord is a stronger man. He overcomes the strong man and frees us from bondage to him. Paul tells us about this "forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" Heb. 2:14,15.

This took place at the cross where Satan was overcome, the doors of His house were opened, and we were freed from serving him. Many things were opened at the cross. The soldier pierced the side of Christ and His blood flowed out God opened the way to His presence by tearing the veil of the temple in two. Paul links these two things together in Heb. 10:19, 20 "Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He has dedicated for us through the veil, that is to say His flesh." Then outside in the world where Jesus died the rocks were opened, a witness to the judgment He bore for us. The type of this was Moses at Horeb smiting the rock Ex. 17:6 and "is there any rock like our God?" 1 Sam. 2:2. Even the centurion's mouth was opened to declare "truly this Man was the Son of God.”

“Rock of Ages, cleft for sin,

Grace has hid us safe within

Where the water and the blood

From Thy riven side which flowed

Are of sin the double cure

Cleansing from its guilt and power.”

But Christ is the Savior of the body as well as the soul. So other things are opened. The women find the Lord's tomb opened, for Christ has been raised from among the dead "and become the firstfruits of those who slept" 1 Cor. 15:20. That is the divine order Christ first, then His saints. So after His resurrection "the graves were opened and many bodies of the saints who slept arose" Matt. 27:52,53.

The opening of all these things we have been considering tells us that our deliverance from the strong man's power is complete. We have overcome through the blood of the Lamb.

.. Opening our spiritual understanding: On the evening of the first day of the week Jesus drew near Cleopas and another person most likely his wife as they walked to their home. He opened the Scriptures to them, causing "our heart to burn within us." That tells us that He opened their heart too, for they invited Him into their home. When we open our home to the Lord it is a sign that we love Him. Lydia opened her house to Paul and his fellow servants. So did Martha one reason why "the Lord loved Martha." The two at Emmaus experienced that love for a fleeting moment when "their eyes were opened and they knew Him, and He vanished out of their sight.”

We have reproduced here by permission, a beautiful poem by a Christian lady from Saskatchewan, who wishes to remain anonymous. Its contents breathe the opening of our spiritual understanding to the preciousness of Christ.

My Theme

Speak to me now of Christ! my soul is weary

Of fightings, fears, and words that have no end;

Hungry and thirsty am I yea, and longing

For sweet refreshment He alone can send.

Speak to me now of Christ! not your opinion

Comparing man to man but leads to strife;

Of Jesus let me hear my soul's Beloved,

Whose words speak comfort, peace, eternal life!

Speak to me now of Christ, Who lowly suffered

Enduring spitting, scourging, grief and shame

Who, when accused and cursed, He answered nothing

He is my Savior let me hear His Name!

Speak to me now of Christ, Who, heavy laden

Bore the dread cross up Calvary's cruel hill.

The Lord of life! He died in bitter anguish

For my vile sins His own life blood did spill.

Speak to me now of Christ, Who spoke to Mary,

That resurrection morn of death's defeat,

Revealing to her heart that secret, "Father”

I now ascend, and, in Me, you are meet.

Speak to me now of Christ, Who now is seated,

Crowned with all glory on the Father's throne.

His eye still on the desert, lone and dreary,

He watches every footstep of His own.

Speak to me now of Christ, Who soon is coming

To take us home, where sight can never dim,

Where all his own, with tongues and hearts uniting,

In one eternal song, shall speak of Him!

And when I speak, let me speak well of Jesus,

The altogether lovely One, my Friend

My every thought of Him brings peace and comfort

He loves me, and will love me to the end.

.. Opened heavens and an opened door: The Lord told the couple at Emmaus that He must suffer these things and enter into His glory. So the heavens must be opened to receive Him. But like the corn of wheat He will not abide alone. "In My Father's house are many mansions...I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there ye may be also" John 14:2, 3. The other side of the truth is that we will rise to meet Him. John writes "After that I looked and behold a door was opened in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me, which said come up here" Rev. 4:1.

Chapter 3.20

Temple Scenes in the Land of Promise

Just as Mary Magdalene at the sepulcher is the moral equivalent of the crossing of the Jordan, so Christ in resurrection in John 21 is the moral equivalent of the land with its temple in it. That is because, at the end of John's gospel, Christ has fulfilled the promise He made at the beginning "destroy This Temple and in three days I will raise it up." So John's gospel has retraced Israel's journey from Egypt to Canaan.

The Lord's promise was not understood by the Jews, who could not look beyond the temple of the day. They boasted to the Lord that it had been under construction for forty six years. However the Lord honored it as God's House, and John gives us a number of temple scenes in his gospel.

The Temple in the Mind of God

The synagogues of the Jews were worldwide, but the temple was only at Jerusalem. We know from the Gospels and the Acts that the synagogues were used both for social functions and religious instruction. However sacrifices could not be offered in them. It is clear from many Scriptures that animals could only be sacrificed in the temple. Why should this be?

The answer to this question is that God's throne the mercy seat was in the temple and nowhere else. Indeed the temple was built for one great purpose to be a resting place for the mercy seat and the ark which supported it. (1) God's throne was offended by sin. The cherubim on the throne constituted a silent witness of how God drove out our first parents from His presence and then posted "Cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way of the tree of life." God's throne could only be satisfied by sacrifice. Of course the animal sacrifices the Jews offered could not take away sins. They simply looked on to the blood of Jesus which can.

This helps us see why John does not record the tearing of the temple's veil in his Gospel. From John's perspective Jesus Himself is the Temple, and the Holy of Holies in the temple at that. He is also the Ark of the Covenant which, resting on the earth, supports God's throne above, for such is the teaching of the way these pieces of furniture were divinely constructed. This exposes the blasphemy of the Jews in denying the Son of the Father. Once these thoughts are understood the way is opened to consider two other temple scenes one in John 8 and the other in John 2. John 8 is past John 2 while historically past, looks on into the future.

The Adulterous Woman at the Temple—the Purging of Israel and Her Religious Leaders

This account goes much beyond the simple story John tells us.(2) It instructs us about two matters. First we see how the Lord purged the adulterous spirit of the people of Israel by forgiveness and His word "go and sin no more" which could only be carried out in the new covenant He would give them. Secondly the teachers of the law, convicted of their own inability to keep it, depart one by one in shame. To arrive at this interpretation we must first know that in God's eyes Israel was married to the Lord. It is a marriage on this earth the Lord's marriage with His earthly people "For your maker is your husband the Holy One of Israel" Isa. 54:5. Yes, Israel is presented in Scripture as a married woman "turn O backsliding children, saith the Lord, for I am married to you" Jer. 3:14. But as the Scripture just quoted proves, the marriage has been a one sided one, with a poor response from the married wife. The Lord faithfully kept His wedding vows, so to speak. He showed His love to them at the Passover. Then He carried them on eagles' wings. In the last book of the sacred record He says "the burden of the Word of the Lord to Israel by Mal. 1 have loved you saith the Lord" Mal. 1:1, 2. As to Israel, her wedding vow was "all that the Lord hath said will we do and be obedient" Ex. 24:7. This was a bad beginning because it ignored God's previous dealings with them in grace. The reason they took such high ground, putting themselves under law as though they could keep it, was that they did not know their hearts. Then they worshipped the golden calf in the desert and idols in the land. So they violated the great commandment of the law "you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" Matt. 22:37. When the Lord their God, even Jesus, came to them, they disowned Him by trying to stone Him 8:59 and finally crucified Him. They cried "away with this Man" so denying their marriage relationship to Him. They cried "we have no king but Caesar" so committing spiritual adultery with the Gentiles. This is still true today. Israel, settled in the land, is unbelieving as to Christ and leans on Western Gentile arms to support her. So Israel the married wife has become an adulteress under the law only fit for stoning. As John 8 opens Jesus has returned from the Mount of Olives to the temple. This gives us a dispensational picture. The ascension was from the Mount of Olives. The ascended Christ has to leave His faithless Jewish wife while He called out His heavenly bride the Church. But now it is time to re establish His relationship with His Jewish wife.

The first thing we notice is that the adulterous woman is brought before the Lord for judgment in contrast to Rebecca who comes voluntarily. Rebecca was asked "Will you go with this man" and she answered "I will go." Ignorant of God's ways, this contrast between the law and grace was the farthest thing from the hearts of those who brought her. Their motive was not to uphold the righteousness of the law. This is evident because they did not bring for judgment the man involved in the case. No! This was to be a test case to trap the Lord into violating His own law by showing grace or into carrying it out and denying grace. Or so they thought. They had left out of their counsels the One who came not to condemn the world but to save it. The law spoke "that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God" Rom. 3:19. Under law His finger had written the commandments on tables of stone and delivered them to Moses who came down from the Mount to find Israel worshipping a golden calf. They had broken the first commandment. The requirements of "the mount" the presence of God were too great for them. So in John 8 the Lord does not write in the mount. Instead He comes down from the mount, and finding the first commandment broken once more, writes down here, where our need is.

In John 8 the Lord writes twice. The first time may well indicate a retracing of His ways with His people of old. He wrote the law first the Old Testament and after that the New a message of grace. This He would not write on tables of stone like the law, but on the ground. "The ground" is man, who after all is but dust. Viewed this way, writing on the ground is really writing on "the fleshy tables of the heart." It is the New Covenant in figure. We get it in Jer. 31:33 "but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, I will put My laws in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be My people." So it will be when Israel comes into New Covenant blessing and those who will not have grace must depart from the Lord like the woman's accusers.

In John 8 the full force of the law fell on them. They are told "he who is without sin among you let him first throw a stone at her." This finds the eldest going out first "even unto the last." So all the beggarly elements of the law depart "being convicted by their own conscience." They had stood in the presence of the One who had given the law, the first commandment of which was that they were to love Him. Instead they were seeking to confound Him with His own law. No wonder they were convicted!

When they depart the classes shrink to "he who is without sin" the Lord Jesus, the only One entitled to cast a stone, the woman, and the people. To the woman He says "neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." When the woman departs from the Lord only He and "all the people" remain. It was this way in the beginning John 8:2, but law and misconduct made the Lord their judge. Law did not deliver them at the Passover and the Red Sea. Then all was grace. At the end of their history they will return to grace. The Old Covenant, the Law, had failed, and Israel had become an adulterous woman in God's eyes. That must go from His presence, along with those who seek their own righteousness by it, that He may be free to bring in a New Covenant, founded on grace.

The Gathering Conspiracy Against Christ at the Temple

At winter time as Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch, a group of Jews surrounded Him. They accosted Him, saying "How long do You make us doubt? If You are the Christ tell us plainly" John 10:24. It was a specious question, for they knew He was the Christ from His works. When these works came to their zenith with the resurrection of Lazarus, their hostility knew no bounds. The chief priests and Pharisees convened a meeting of the Sanhedrin which was in the temple. Then they revealed the thought of their hearts that if they left Christ alone "the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation." From then on they conspired to put Jesus to death. They searched everywhere for Jesus, hoping to find Him in the temple John 11:47-57. Finally they found Him, not in the temple but in a garden. Taken before the High Priest, Jesus witnessed "I ever taught in the synagogue and in the temple" John 18:20.

The Money Changers at the Temple—Purging the Spirit of the World

In John 8 Jesus was left alone in the temple when the woman and her accusers left. In John 2 we have a reverse situation He drives away from Him those things which are offensive to God. These are the people who make big money out of God's things. We see them today in the T.V. non evangelists, those who make huge profits out of cutting records of hymns or religious themes publishers of "best selling" but frothy Christian literature and so on. They represent the spirit of the world business and money making preying on the gullibility of God's people. In the Lord's Day the excuse for their operations was convenience they provided a service for temple worshippers.

John tells us that Jesus "found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting, and when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables. And said to those who sold doves, take these things away. Make not My Father's house a place of business.”

In Matthew's Gospel when the Jews demanded a sign to authorize His right to do such things the Lord replied "an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish thus shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights" Matt. 12:39,40. In John's Gospel He repeats the same truth using a different figure. His reply to the Jews for a sign (3) was "destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." To make the Lord's words unmistakably clear John adds "but He spoke of the Temple of His body.”

Why does the Lord link the sign of His death and resurrection with driving the money changers out of the temple? Simply because all power was given to the risen Lord in heaven and in earth Matt. 28:18. It is the risen Christ who judges all flesh. John never knew Christ as Judge, and when He saw Him about to act in that capacity he fell at His feet like a dead man through sheer fright Rev. 1:17. At the beginning of Revelation the Lord was about to judge the responsible Church at the beginning of John's Gospel to purge the temple the symbol of responsible Israel. In both cases God dwelt with a people one heavenly, one earthly, and God will assert His rights to holiness over those in whose midst He dwells. The money changers must be driven out, that the Lord's house should no more be a den of thieves. In doing this the Lord looked forward to the time of which the prophet wrote "in that day there shall no more be a Canaanite" (also translated as merchant or trafficker) "in the house of the Lord of Hosts" Zech. 14:21.

The Holy Temple of Our Days

When the Lord was on earth man thought little of Him. The master of ceremonies at the wedding feast complained about the order in which the wine was served and the Jews complained about His driving out the money changers without a sign to back up what He did. Without Christ there can be no wine, that is no natural joy in the outside place, and no worship in God's House the inside place. So when the Ethiopian eunuch travelled to Jerusalem to worship, he found nothing there, because Christ had been rejected. What had God done? He made Him the cornerstone in the Holy Temple He is building now. That is why the Lord spoke these words to Peter on the first day which we have seen is a figure of the Church age "You are Simon the Son of Jona. You shall be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone" John 1:42. So the Holy Temple became Peter's view of the Church. It is still under construction, stone added to stone as believers are saved. When the last stone is put in place in that mystical building, the coming of the Lord will take place. Then the way will be opened for the construction of a visible temple at Jerusalem. This will be the world's last and glorious earthly temple.

Waters to Swim in

The future house of the Lord of Hosts will be the enormous temple of Ezekiel's prophecy. This will far exceed in magnificence the temple Solomon built, for God says "the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former" Hag. 2:9. It will be the worship center not just of Israel but of the entire world "many nations shall come and say come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob" Mic. 4:2. Zechariah tells us that any nation which refuses to come to Jerusalem to worship there will be punished by the Lord Zech. 14:16 19. In that day Israel will have accepted Jesus as their Messiah. Because of this change of heart they will be a suitable conduit for God's blessing of the nations. The ancient sin of Jewish religious haughtiness and superiority over the Gentiles will yield to the New Covenant spirit of grace and supplication. This will suit the heart of the God who will dwell among them. To celebrate the joy of the earth God will give all men a sign of His presence at the temple. In the beginning of things rivers flowed out of the Garden in Eden. At the end they will flow out of the temple of God Ezek. 47:1 5.

These waters are progressively deep "waters issued" "to the ankles" "to the knees" "to the loins" "waters to swim in." In Gen. 1 The waters covered a ruined earth. Then the Spirit of God began to work. The end of God's work as already noted found a renewed earth refreshed with rivers flowing out of Eden. Only God could turn waters of death into waters of life. Indeed the Bible ends with "a pure river of water of life clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb" Rev. 22:1. So at the end God's throne becomes the source of the water of life for both heaven and earth.

Chapter 3.21

The Witness of John in the Scripture of Truth

You have now come to the end of John's gospel. But before you pass on to other things, perhaps you should know that John, like other authors, was concerned about what his readers might think about his book. John knew that his gospel was truthful. What he did not know was that it would become a best seller. He has had readers for roughly 2000 years of the Church age, and he will have readers for 1000 years after that. But what John did not know God did. He moved John to write, in the rich language of the King James Version "this is the record of John." In the common language of our day John's record is his witness or testimony as to the Person and work of the Son of God and, flowing out of that, God's gift of eternal life to us. As the disciple whom Jesus loved, who lay in His bosom, what witness could be greater?

The Range of John's Witness

A theme runs through not only John's gospel but all his writings. It is that he was a witness to Jesus as the Son Of God, that he saw His blood shed at the cross, and that because of this God has given believers eternal life. This theme is supported by his assertion that his witness is true meaning of God, for God is true.

a. John's witness to Jesus as the Son of God and to His finished work: John's witness begins at Jesus' baptism in the Jordan. That was the commencement of His public ministry, when the Spirit descended from heaven like a dove and landed on Him. So in John 1:34 we read "and I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God." John's witness ends in John 19:32-35. He saw a soldier pierce the Lord's side with a spear after He was dead, and that out of His pierced side flowed blood and water. John was present at the cross and personally witnessed this incident. So John's witness to Jesus as the Son of God ranges from the beginning of His ministry on earth to its end the shedding of His blood without which God could not give us eternal life. In John 1:7 he states this truth "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

John's witness that God has given eternal life to those who believe on His Son: John has given us in 3:14-16 a record of the Lord's own promise of the gift of eternal life to those who believe in the sin cleansing value of His death and blood shedding. To this John adds his own words in 1 John 5:11 "and this is the witness, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.”

The truthfulness of John's witness as to the Person and finished work of the Son of God: In each of his writings his gospel, an epistle, and the Revelation, John insists on the truthfulness of what he is writing. In John 19:35 he states that his witness is true, and he knows that what he says is true. In 3 John v. 12 he says "and you know that our witness is true." Then in Rev. 1:2 he discloses the reason why we should accept his witness as true "John, who testified the Word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

John's Witness Is Supported by the Scripture of Truth

John's claim as to the truthfulness of his witness can be easily verified from Scripture. Let us begin at his gospel, which is not only the Word of God but is bonded together with the Word of God in both the Old and New Testaments. John's witness is part of the unity of all Scripture, which is given by inspiration of God. That means it is God breathed; not only every word, but every letter of the original languages.

a. In the New Testament John's witness does not stand alone: John's witness to the Person and work of the Son of God, and that God has given us eternal life, is the kernel of his gospel. This gospel does not stand alone, but is in harmony with the other books in the New Testament.

.. The link to the synoptic gospels through Luke: The Synoptic gospels are Matthew the gospel of the king, Luke the gospel of the Son of Man, and Mark the gospel of God's servant. In spite of these different viewpoints their common ground is a gradual rejection of Christ what we would call a build up in the language of our day. Not so with John, who opens with the instantaneous rejection of Christ the light shining in the darkness which comprehends Him not. That is because eternal life can have nothing to do with Adam life and vice versa. They are opposites. John's great subject, from the very beginning, is eternal life.

However while the manner of presenting Christ varies in the various gospels, they are in complete agreement. To make sure we understand this unity, the Holy Spirit has matched Luke, the gospel of the Son of Man, to John the Gospel of the Son of God. This has been done with a symmetrical beauty which makes its intent unmistakable. Consider these facts only Luke and John tell us why they wrote their gospels Luke at the beginning Luke 1:1-4, and John at the end John 20:31. At the beginning of his gospel Luke tells us of the birth of Jesus, who is the Son of Man at the end of his gospel John tells us that Jesus is the Son of God. Marie de Fleury captured the thought in her hymn:

“Mark the sacrifice appointed,

See who bears the awful load,

`Tis the Word, 'tis God's anointed,

Son of Man and Son of God.”

.. The link to the Pauline epistles: This has been fully covered in the relevant chapters of this book. Consequently only John's general principle is repeated when he treads on Church ground he assumes you are familiar with Paul's doctrine, for he doesn't teach it.

.. The link to his own epistles and the Revelation: This link is based on John's own explanation of why he wrote his gospel "that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His Name." He wrote his epistles for those who believe and have eternal life Revelation to inform us of the judgment about to fall on those who wouldn't believe. On them the wrath of God abides. b. In the Old Testament the consequences of accepting or rejecting John's witness: The subject here is blessing or judgment, depending on whether man has or has not accepted, God's offer of eternal life.

.. The blessing of God's people their journey from Egypt to Canaan: John has woven into the fabric of his gospel are run of Israel's desert journey from Egypt to Canaan. He gives us the spiritual counterpart of the actual journey. From the five books of Moses, John retraces the deliverance of God's people, their desert journey, and the tabernacle they built in the desert. Since law cannot take us into Canaan, John draws on other Old Testament sources for the fording of the Jordan, and the building of the temple in the land.

John knows that under Christianity we are entitled to begin where Israel finished. That account will be found in Num. 21:7-17— the moral end of the desert journey, which is the brazen serpent and the springing well. So John begins with the brazen serpent in his third chapter, and the springing well in his fourth. John is teaching us the end of the man under judgment and the communication of eternal life by the Spirit. John's water scenes follow. These mirror God's work at the waters in Gen. 1, for the God of creation is also the God of new creation. John now takes us into Exodus, where Israel's journey from Egypt to the desert is retraced. We have explained previously how John has mirrored the Passover, the Red Sea, and the Tabernacle in the desert. Next comes Leviticus, which opens with the burnt offering, corresponding to John 18-19. The counterpart of Deut. 27:12, 13 is John 3:18-36 the blessing or cursing on man for accepting or rejecting Jesus as the Son of God. So John has exhausted the Pentateuch. He stops there, so to speak, knowing that law cannot take us into the Promised Land.

Joshua replaces Moses, and the people cross the Jordan and enter Canaan. The Jordan has its counterpart in Mary Magdalene at the tomb. She truly followed the Ark of the Covenant across the Jordan. At the beginning Christ identified Himself with the godly in Israel by being baptized in the Jordan at the end we identify ourselves with His death at the Jordan. We cut ourselves off from the world, a separation of heart which elicits songs of praise as in 1 Chron. 6:31, 32 "and these are those whom David set over the service of song in the house of the Lord, after the Ark had rest. And they ministered before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem." The temple speaks of the throne of God in the land Christ ruling as the True Solomon, with His enemies vanquished. Because He is the first and the last, John presents Him as God's temple at the beginning and end of his gospel. At the beginning we see Him as the True Temple in John 2:18-21, where He says "destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up ... but He spoke of the temple of His body." The end is recorded in John 21:14 "this is now the third time that Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was risen from the dead.”

.. The judgment of the world John's deep roots in the Old Testament: John's witness that judgment must fall on all Christ rejecters is true. He wrote his gospel as though man's sin in the Garden of Eden was only yesterday. The promised Deliverer comes and is rejected. The gospel follows, and it too is rejected. Wrath must follow. John's witness to this coming wrath is the Book of Revelation.

The Revelation has deep roots in the Old Testament. Indeed its imagery will be veiled from our understanding if we are not familiar with the Old Testament. Daniel and the Revelation go together, as every prophetic student knows. Although Daniel and John lived hundreds of years apart, one might think that the two men collaborated to synchronize much of what they wrote. This strengthens John's claim that his witness is true.

Eternal Life for Man—John's Great Witness

In his first epistle John has much to say about eternal life. In 1 Jon. 5:10, 11 he refers to the witness that God gave of His Son and then explains it "and this is the witness that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." When men of the world hear about eternal life they think it means deathless life. Since experience convinces them that death is inevitable, they reject John's witness. However the Scriptural meaning of eternal life is much more than an unending life. In Scripture eternal life is the life that the Son enjoyed with the Father before the worlds were. It might be objected that no man could know anything about that at all. This objection is a valid one. It is the reason John wrote his gospel, for eternal life is its great theme.

John's task is to teach us the character and working of eternal life by displaying it in pattern men and women to whom God has given eternal life. In John the woman becomes a symbol of the way eternal life is received and displayed in us as individuals. On the other hand John depicts the man as representative of collective fellowship in the family of God.

a. Eternal life in the individual the gift and its display: The story of the woman links John's witness to Genesis. It begins in the Garden of Eden. By listening to the serpent's fiery voice the woman brought sin into the world, and so death its wages. However, the serpent's venom in targeting the woman did not go unnoticed. God's judgment on the serpent in Gen. 3:15 was "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. It shall crush your head, and you shall crush His heel." Thus God promised a Deliverer to deal with the serpent in His appointed time. Paul tells us in Gal. 4:4 when this was "but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law.”

John reveals the woman's seed, the promised Deliverer, in Manhood. He is the lowly Jesus, yet truly God's Son. He sits down at the well site at Sychar, being tired from His long journey. Strictly speaking His journey was from the Father to the Father. But John's gospel gives us another way of looking at His journey. It tells us that His journey began with the woman at the well and ended with the woman at the sepulcher. The end of the Lord's journey at the sepulcher reveals its purpose from God's side to destroy the serpent's power of death over man by dying for our sins and rising from the dead. The beginning of the Lord's journey at the well reveals the purpose of His journey from our side the gift of eternal life to man.

Sin and death had come into the world by a lone woman listening to the voice of the serpent. To get eternal life we must as lone individuals listen to the voice of the Son of God instead. We must be alone with God, and listen to and obey His word, just as Eve was alone with the serpent and obeyed his voice. This truth emerges in the case of both the woman at the well and the woman at the sepulcher. Both were alone, for different reasons. Both listened to the quickening words of the Son of God. In John 5:24 He Himself said "Amen. Amen. I say unto you he who hears My word, and believes on Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and shall not come into judgment but has passed out of death into life.”

This leads us to the way eternal life is displayed in the individual Christian. First we will consider the woman at the sepulcher. She would be an enigma to the man of the world. He loves the world and its pleasures, but not Christ. Mary knows that the world crucified her Lord. He has displaced the world as the object of her affections. Secondly there is the woman at the well. She leaves her water pot when she finds Christ. She knows that there are no refreshing springs in this world, and wants the water of eternal life instead. The world has nothing to offer Christ has everything. Why not tell this to the world then? She does, saying "is not this the Christ?”

In summary eternal life in the individual takes two forms. In one I am occupied with the things of God and reject the things of the world. In the other I go out to the poor world offering it what I personally enjoy.

b. Eternal life in the family of God: The family of God is the dominant theme in John's ministry. It is true that at times he touches on the Church, but when he does especially in his gospel it is almost in a subliminal way. In other words when he does write about the Church he assumes we understand Paul's epistles, which give us the doctrine of the Church. His characteristic ministry is the family of God.

.. The family of God what is it?: The family of God is a term of convenience much like the Trinity, the eternal Son, and so forth. The family of God is made up of God's children over the ages. Its head is Jesus, the Captain of our salvation. In Heb. 2:13 He says "behold I and the children whom God has given Me.”

By natural birth we enter the family of man and man is a sinner, subject to death and judgment. But God wanted us back, and from the dawn of the human race sought out a family. The first man to enter God's family, as far as the record shows (1) is Abel. We read about him in Heb. 11:4 "by faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts and by it he being dead yet speaketh." The family of God transcends God's dealings with man in corporate ways such as Israel and the Church, and the coming and going of countless generations. Peter expressed the thought in Acts 10:34, 35 when he said "of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he who fears Him, and works righteousness, is accepted with Him." Still the question arises how can God, who is holy, forgive a sinner and bring him into His family, before the death of Christ took place? Paul answers this question in Rom. 3:25 "to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." This clears up the question of how God called Abel righteous long before Christ came. In our days we enter God's family through trusting in the finished work of Christ on the cross.

.. John's views of the perfection of the family of God: In his gospel and his epistles, John gives us what appear to be abstract views of those in the family of God. By abstract we mean theoretical, without failure in walk God's view of us from the mountain tops. Actually, what John writes about is what God wants from us, but seldom gets. Even so we are to strive for the standard He sets up. He gives us every help to keep our state of soul congruous with our perfect standing in Christ.

John begins each of his epistles with someone in the family of God. His first epistle opens with the head of the family "that which was from the beginning" the opening salutation of the second epistle is to "the elect lady and her children" while the third epistle opens with a greeting to a man Gaius. So we have Christ, the head of the family of God a man, Gaius, and the elect lady and her children all commended in the truth. Similarly the gospel of John opens with "in the beginning was the Word" soon to become incarnate and the head of the family of God. Then as the gospel opens up the family of God appears Lazarus, Martha, and Mary.

A chart will be found in this chapter with the caption the family of man to the family of God. From this it will be clear that those in God's family are given eternal life, and this life is displayed in power in the world and in God's house. The picture John paints of the family of God both in his epistles and in his gospel does not allow for the failure we so often find in God's children. Does John then entirely ignore this side of things?

.. John is aware of failure in God's children: It is clear from the examples given the elect lady and her children, Gaius, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, that God's children can walk in ways that are pleasing to Him. But what about the sin which does so easily beset us? In 1 John 1:8 the Apostle faces this question squarely "if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." Furthermore, "if we say that we have not sinned we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us." If a child of God sins, communion is interrupted. On our side we are to confess our sins, knowing that He is faithful and just to forgive them on God's side "if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Sinning, however, is not normal Christianity, but more like an eclipse of the sun. So John says "my little children, these things I write to you that you sin not." In a way then, we might look at the loss of communion which sin causes as a temporary breakdown in communication between the head of God's family and His children.

.. Unbroken communication in the family the essence of fellowship with the Father and the Son: It has often been noted that God's children have a two way communication system in prayer they speak to God, but in reading the Bible God speaks to them. While true, this is too simplistic, for the Living God is actively communicating with us and with God as well. When we read the Bible in communion with God the Holy Spirit our Teacher opens up its meaning to us. When we pray we are not alone. We have a High Priest who upholds us before the Father, interceding for our infirmities. It is with helps such as these which God has provided that eternal life in man triumphs over the storms of life, making us like Gaius and Lazarus, the elect lady and her children, Mary and Martha.

Part 4

From a number of studies over the years, some published and others not, the author has selected five to round out this book. Their theme is the Wisdom of God. They complement Part 1 of this book, whose general subject was God and His counsels. Part 4 is about the wisdom of God in bringing those counsels to fruition.

Chapter 4:22 is a wide ranging study of Wisdom and her children, against the dark background of the folly of this world. Chapter 4:23 the seven pillars of Wisdom's house is a treatise on the mysteries of God in the New Testament. It is a development of 4:22 in a sense, telling us how God has revealed His richest and deepest mysteries to Wisdom's children.

Chapters 4:24, 25, 26 stand by themselves as studies in the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. They relate to the chapters which preceded them in that they demonstrate the wisdom of God in reversing man's judgment on Christ, and exalting Him to His throne in glory.

Part 4 is the meat of the mighty Christ Himself, the living bread who came down from heaven. In His own words "he who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes on Me shall never thirst." In the glory we shall find these words just as true as in time, for we shall eat the fruits of the Tree of life, and drink of the pure river of the water of life. That is our prospect, our blessed hope. On this note the author says farewell to his readers. They must share like precious faith in our Lord Jesus Christ or they would not have read thus far. Our living hope is to be gathered together on the cloud to meet the Lord in the air. May He come quickly. So shall we ever be with the Lord.

Chapter 4.22

Wisdom and Her Children

Solomon, inspired by the Holy Spirit, makes it clear that Wisdom is a Divine Person. "Jehovah possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was anointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the earth was. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth while as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens I was there. When He ordained the circle on the face of the deep when He established the skies above, when the fountains of the deep became strong when He imposed on the sea His decree that the waters should not pass His commandment. When He appointed the foundations of the earth then I was by Him, His nursling 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" Prov. 8:22-31.

Majestic as the language is, Solomon still has not told us who Wisdom is. It is not until the second last chapter of Proverbs that a man called Agur really raises the question of who Wisdom is. He starts by saying "I have neither learned Wisdom nor have I the knowledge of the Holy" —30:2. Agur did not know, like Solomon, that "the fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy is intelligence" 9:10. Armed with this knowledge and intelligence we can answer the questions Agur posed but could not answer "Who has ascended up into the heavens and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a mantle? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His Name, and what is His Son's Name if you know?" Prov. 30:4. Jesus Himself answered the question "who has ascended up into the heavens and descended?" when He told Nicodemus "no man has ascended up to heaven but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man who is in heaven" John 3:13. Agur's next question "Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a mantle?" was answered when Jesus rebuked the wind and said to the sea "Peace be still" Mark 4:39. Agur also wanted to know who had established the ends of the earth. We know today it was Jesus, for by Him God made the worlds Heb. 1:3. He established the ends of the earth and knows their distance apart. This Savior God has removed our transgressions from us "as far as the East is from the West" Psa. 103:12 because this distance cannot be measured on the globe but the Northern and Southern ends of the earth can be. Agur has covered all creation now the heavens and the earth the wind, the waters the earth. So his last question really asks us who created all this "what is His Name and what is His eon's Name if you know?" Well, we do know. We know that His Son's Name is Jesus. We have proved it by answering all Agur's questions. "We know that the Son of God has come, and has given us an understanding that we should know Him that is True and we are in Him that is True, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the True God and eternal life" 1 John 5:20. So Jesus is Wisdom personified. Before the creation in Prov. 8 "I was there.. I was by Him, His nursling, and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him." Here is the Son of God eternally in His Father's bosom before creation and during creation and in the world He created loved and cherished by His Father. The Son of the Father's love is Wisdom. Riches and fragrance are treasured up in Christ the True Wisdom. The enjoyment of the preciousness of Christ who is the Wisdom of God is the heritage of Wisdom's children.

In this brief introduction to the study of Wisdom we have seen that God in His wisdom has been pleased to use many figures to convey divine truth to us. But the underlying thought is simple. Wisdom loved man and came from heaven to earth to dwell with man and died on the cross to put away our sins. Now Wisdom would have us dwell with Him not in the houses of men but in His Father's House with its many dwelling places. How encouraging in these dark days this bright future is. Wisdom wants our company. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning us. May we be filled with the knowledge of that will "in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" see Col. 1:9.

Having established who Wisdom is, the next question is who are her children? The Lord Jesus anticipated and answered this question in Luke 7:35 "Wisdom is justified by all her children." Wisdom's children bow to Wisdom's Word the effect of which is that they love her. Those who are not Wisdom's children scorn her Word, and are governed by the principles which control the world, such as power and wealth.

To bring the subject of Wisdom and her children into focus, we have begun with Solomon, the wisest of men. Then out of many incidents in the precious life of Jesus we have selected a few which tell us who are Wisdom's children and who are not.

A Wise King Who Failed Privately

In 2 Chron. 1:1 12 and 1 Kings 3:5 28 we are given an insight into the source of Solomon's wisdom the philosopher king whose wisdom has become a proverb. The account in 2 Chronicles tells us that God appeared to Solomon at night after he had offered one thousand burnt offerings and said to him "ask what I shall give you." His reply was "give me now wisdom and knowledge." This pleased God, who added unprecedented riches, wealth and honor. Both in this account and in the one in 1 Kings it is clear that Solomon did not ask wisdom and knowledge for himself. Rather it was to help him judge the people. This can be seen from the story in 1 Kings 3. In this passage two women appealed to him for judgment. Both had borne a son but one of them had accidentally lain on her child and killed it. She arose at midnight, discovered what she had done, and exchanged children, claiming the other woman's living child as hers. The rightful mother demanded her child back, but how could she prove her case to the king? Solomon commanded that the living child be cut in two, and a half be given to each mother. They reacted as he had anticipated the false mother consenting to this because it was not her child the true mother pleading for her son's life. Then the king commanded that the child be delivered unharmed to the woman who was unquestionably revealed as the real mother. This wise judgment was proof of God's answer to Solomon's request for "an understanding heart to judge the people that I may discern between good and bad.”

The result was that "all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the King, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.”

Solomon must have learned from his father that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" Psa. 111:10. He began right by offering one thousand burnt offerings. This pleased God. Solomon also pleased God when he asked Him for wisdom and knowledge to judge the people. Evidently it did not occur to him to ask for wisdom and knowledge to judge himself, although later on he commented that the man who rules his spirit is better than one who takes a city see Prov. 16:32. Solomon's public life displayed the wisdom God granted him, but his private life was marked by indiscretion. "King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh...he had 700 wives, princesses and 300 concubines....it came to pass when Solomon was old that his wives turned away his heart after other gods and Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord." 1 Kings 11:1-6. Thus the man whose beginning was good he offered up 1000 burnt offerings ended badly with 1000 women who turned him away from God to idols. In all this there is a lesson for us, for we too can ask God for wisdom "if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God... and it shall be given him" James 1:5. Let us ask for wisdom to go through this life as God would have us, denying the inclinations of our foolish hearts. "Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine" 1 Tim. 4:16. We must start with ourselves. Paul remarked "but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection -" 1 Cor. 9:27. Our personal walk with God comes first the doctrine follows. Enoch walked with God and he was not, for God took him Gen. 5:24. "Before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God" Heb. 11:5.

These observations, however, do not detract from the undoubted wisdom Solomon received from God. Rather they amplify it, proving that all true wisdom can be traced to God, and not to man. And so God has graciously recorded Solomon's wisdom in the Holy Scriptures. Proverbs gives us practical wisdom for passing through an evil world and traps to avoid. Ecclesiastes is the viewpoint of a wise man on the things he sees "under the sun" an expression which is the key to understanding that book. With the transcendent light of Christianity our vision is no longer restricted to the things "under the sun" and to the gloomy conclusions of "the preacher" in that book. Solomon rises to his sweetest in "the Song of Songs" which is Solomon's. Written as a love song, the Holy Spirit indicted it to bring into flowering and fruiting the relationship of abiding love between the Lord and His people.

Solomon wrote about both wisdom and folly. Indeed he wrote more about the fool, the foolish and foolishness than any other writer in the Bible. He teaches wisdom by his observations of folly. In Prov. 7 for example, he outlines the way of foolishness followed by the way of Wisdom in Prov. 8. Wisdom shines all the brighter for the contrast. She competes openly for men's favor against the foolish woman of Prov. 7. The first thing we learn in our studies of wisdom, then, is that we must make a choice Wisdom or folly. Wisdom has much to offer. She is accompanied by "intelligence" 7:4 "understanding" 8:1 "instruction" and "knowledge" 8:10 "prudence" 8:12 "counsel" and "strength" 8:14 "riches and honor" 8:18. Wisdom wants to impart these desirable things to those who will listen to her voice. "I will fill their treasuries" 8:21.

A Foolish King and Wise Men

When Jesus was a child of two years or less "wise men" came from the East seeking Him. When they arrived at Jerusalem they asked this question "where is the King of the Jews who has been born? For we have seen His star in the East and we come to bow to Him." The source of their wisdom was heavenly then they looked up and saw His star in the East. This was what led them to Christ. Can we not learn from this that Christ the second Man is out of heaven see 1 Cor. 15:47. He came from heaven and has returned to heaven. Heaven becomes the home of the heart because Christ is there, and He is our object and the source of our joy.

The wise men were not content simply to find Christ. They said "we come to bow to Him" as Young translates it. They came to do homage to Christ as the King of the Jews like foreign ambassadors coming to pay respects to a great sovereign. The essence of their wisdom was acknowledging that Christ was the rightful King of the Jews. But this implied that Herod was not. That is why not only Herod the King was troubled but "all Jerusalem with him." Herod saw in Jesus a future rival to his throne whom he must eliminate. He determined to find both the birthplace and time of birth of the new King so that if one plan failed he would have another plan ready to kill Jesus. To execute his first plan he sends the wise men on their way. Find the young child, was his message, then tell me where He is, so I too may come and bow before Him. What deceit and treachery! Troubled because Christ was born, afraid that He might claim his throne, he plots to kill Him, not bow before Him. But God warns the wise men in a dream, after they had found Christ, and they return to their own country by a different route. Joseph too is warned in a dream and takes Jesus to Egypt. So Herod puts his second plan into effect. He knows Jesus must be about two years old. It would not be too difficult to calculate this, once he knew when the star first appeared. So he orders that all infant boys aged two and under in Bethlehem and its suburbs should be killed. Now at last he thinks his throne is secure.

But for Herod personally there is no security, for he has not been able to answer the wise men's question "where is He?" He lost his opportunity to bow before Jesus in time he will be forced to do it later, for "at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" see Phil. 2:10, 11. Herod has many followers. But hanging over all the Christ rejecting governments of this world is a great sword which the True King will one day wield Rev. 19:15 to establish His one world government over the nations, after which He will rule them with a rod of iron Rev. 2:27. Wise are the men who bow to Christ now, and not later.

The wise men longed to see Christ. Their question "where is He" makes that clear. They rejoiced exceedingly, with great joy, when they saw the star which led them to Him. When they entered the house where Christ was, they first bowed down before Him. Then they opened their treasures and offered to Him—not to His parents—gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.

And God, as He had promised, had filled their treasures. All we have comes from God, so we can only give back to Him what He has given us "of Thine own have we given Thee" 1 Chron. 29:14. Then too it was at the end of their travels that the wise men opened their treasures. The end of a pathway which seeks Christ is surrendering all to Him. They left behind the reputation they had in the East gave their treasures to Christ, and turned away from the false king. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" Luke 12:34. Though Jesus was a child with His parents at the time, He was old enough to receive the gifts of the wise men from the East. Ten years were to pass before Jesus was separated from His parents. Then it was their turn to seek Him. They found Him in the Temple "sitting in the midst of the teachers and hearing them and asking them questions" Luke 2:46. There is a link between these events. The wise men sought wisdom the doctors of the law heard Wisdom. Wisdom's delights were with the sons of men.

Wise Women and Foolish Men

In Matt. 2 we had wise men who came from distant lands to present Jesus with gifts which foretold what His life should be riches and fragrance. They also came to bow before Jesus "all the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee" Psa. 22:27. The essence of their wisdom was recognizing Christ as the King of the Jews. Now we are going to consider two wise women. They are spiritually linked to the wise men for they saw in the lowly Jesus of Nazareth Israel's True King. Both are the children of Wisdom. The wise men came to Christ early in His life the wise women in one case during His Galilean ministry and in the other case at the close of His life. Thus the wise men and wise women span the entire life of Christ. The gifts of the wise men expressed what the life of Christ should be the perfume poured out by the wise women expressed what it was fragrance.

Wisdom always involves a choice. Just as the wise men and the wise women chose Christ, foolish men decided against Christ. Herod wanted to prevent Christ from taking over his throne when He grew up. He is a figure of those who rule by manipulating the political system of the world. Then there is Simon and Judas Iscariot. Simon denied that Jesus was even a prophet Judas grudged Jesus the perfume for His anointing. They tried to deny Christ as the Savior of man and the object of our heart's worship. Since Simon was a Pharisee and Judas an Apostle they represent religious man. Thus the Scriptures expose the two ways Satan controls the world and opposes Christ power politics and human religion. The man of the world denies that Christ must inevitably head up the government of this world in a kingdom that shall have no end. Religious man denies the fall, the need of a Savior, and that man's true purpose is to serve and worship God.

a. The necessity of the cross the sinful woman in the house of Simon the Pharisee: When the Lord Jesus accepted the dinner invitation of Simon the Pharisee and sat down at table Luke 7:36 Simon had no idea of the glory of His Person. He did not understand that by gracing Simon's house with His presence Simon's table became the King's table, just as the Lord had the colt taken away from its owners because He needed it. As the Creator, Christ owns all things as the King, the table of His host becomes the King's table. But of this Simon knew nothing. We see him first of all denying Christ the common courtesy of a hot Eastern country washing the feet of a guest which would be dusty from walking over dry roads. Worse still, Simon does not kiss Him or anoint His head with oil. What an opportunity Simon missed to show kindness to the Christ of God. And what a lesson there is in this for all of us. If we fail to serve Christ God will raise somebody else up to do so and the loss will be ours. Sometimes God chooses the most unusual people to do this. So it is here. A woman known throughout the whole city as a sinner, hears that Jesus has gone to dinner at Simon's house. Although unidentified she may have been Mary Magdalene out of whom Christ cast seven demons. Following this incident she is the first woman mentioned as serving Christ Luke 8:2. Unlike Jesus who had been invited to Simon's house, she seems to go there uninvited. Simon knows her evil reputation but does not tell her to go away when she enters with her alabaster jar of myrrh. He thinks she will serve a useful purpose in exposing Jesus "this Man, if He were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is who touches Him, for she is a sinner.”

True she was a sinner, but she stood in the presence of the Savior of sinners. Like everyone who sins and is convicted by the Holy Spirit she breaks down in God's holy presence. Her tears flow like water as she weeps before the Savior. So copious are her tears that she washes Jesus' feet with them. Then she dries them with woman's crowning glory the hairs of her head. Finally she takes the myrrh from her alabaster jar and anoints Jesus' feet. Her act of love never takes her out of her true place a suppliant sinner at Jesus' feet. So Jesus says to her "your sins are forgiven." These words are resented by the dinner guests “who is this who forgives sins also" is their unspoken question. The question of the wise men was not "who is this?" but "where is He?" Their question indicated that Christ was known, but not where He was. "Who is this?" indicates that Christ is unknown though He is personally present. Simon thought that "this" was not even a prophet the woman knew Him as a Savior. "And He said to the woman, your faith has saved you go in peace." She had come in her sins, she went away without them. She was saved and justified on the principle of faith. She trusted in Christ not knowing how He could save her but believing He could. She had obtained peace the peace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Only God can forgive sins, and she stood in the presence of God revealed in flesh. But even God can only forgive sins righteously. And it is only as we realize this stark fact that the meaning of the woman's alabaster jar of myrrh is understood. The myrrh in it spoke of the suffering grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which led Him to the cross to die for her sins. The myrrh was sealed in the alabaster jar until the realization of her sins brought the woman to tears. Then she anointed Jesus' feet with the myrrh. Little did she think, in performing this act, that it spoke of Christ going to the cross to die for those sins which He had forgiven her. Myrrh is the common denominator in the gifts of the wise men and wise women, for all need a Savior.

b. The shadow of the cross the godly woman in the house of Simon the leper: Now we come to a scene in the house of Simon the leper in Bethany. Jesus is there. It is supper time, and Lazarus, whom Jesus had recently raised from the dead, sits at table with Him. The two sisters of Lazarus are also present Martha and Mary.(1) Supper is prepared and served by Martha. Mary's part is to bring out a costly treasure she has saved for this occasion spikenard perfume. Matthew tells us it was stored in an alabaster jar and was very precious John and Mark give us its great price in the money of the day. Mary anoints Jesus with the spikenard, fulfilling what remained of the prophecy of Cant 1:12, 13. The myrrh had been poured out in the house of Simon the Pharisee the spikenard here in the house of Simon the Leper now both perfumes are poured out while the King is at His table. In the first house it was a question of a woman in her sins in this house of a godly woman with deep spiritual affection for Christ. The woman in Luke 7 is a figure of man coming to Christ for forgiveness of sins the godly Mary of Bethany is a figure of redeemed man worshipping Christ from the heart with the burden of sins gone "the worshippers once purged have no more conscience of sins" Heb. 10:2. Every time we pour out the preciousness of Christ in our hearts to our Father, the House of God is filled once more with the fragrance of the perfume.

“Thou gav'st us, in eternal love

To Him to bring us home to Thee

Suited to Thine own thought above

As sons like Him, with Him to be

In Thine own house. There love divine

Fills the bright courts with cloudless joy

But 'tis the love that made us Thine

Fills all that house without alloy.”

Mary spared nothing. Matthew and Mark tell us that she poured the precious perfume on the Lord's head. John tells us that she anointed the Lord's feet. But in Matthew and Mark the Lord speaks of His whole body being anointed. Clearly then, Mary began at His head and did not stop until the contents of her jar were all poured out at the Lord's feet. Mary's final act was to wipe His feet with her hair, like the woman in Simon the Pharisee's house. But in this house we may be sure that the Lord was kissed and His feet washed when He entered, so this is not mentioned. What is mentioned is the anointing. Now we ask, what value shall we put on Mary's act? In Israel a king was anointed. The Lord said about David "arise anoint him for this is he" 1 Sam. 16:12. Unquestionably both women recognized Christ to be the True King of Israel before Pilate forced the guilty nation to recognize it by the sign above His cross. But as we have already seen the spiritual value of the act goes well beyond that.

When Mary anointed Christ with extremely expensive perfume she made all the disciples indignant especially Judas. He insisted that it could have been sold and the proceeds given to the poor. This was only a pretext. If the perfume had been sold the money would have been turned over to him, for he was the treasurer. He was also a thief, and would have stolen it. Because he could not get the 300 denarii at which the perfume was valued, he sold Christ instead for 30 pieces of silver. Apart from his perfidy notice the contrast between Judas and the wise men. They gave Christ gold but wisely did not weigh the amount, for they knew that Christ was priceless, and their greatest gifts only tokens. Judas sold Christ for silver. He thought he knew what Christ was worth in that too just 30 pieces. Judas is the heart of man at its worst. For Simon there was hope for Judas none.

The children of wisdom shine in high relief against the depravity of man. They are like Job's three daughters, whose names mean "beauty" "purity" and "fragrance" Job 42:14. "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us" Psa. 90:17 is as true now as when it was written. Mary is an outstanding example of this. How greatly the Lord valued the wisdom and understanding of her heart. Her act was unique. Though other women later prepared spices and perfumes for Jesus' body after the crucifixion, they were not needed. The Living One had arisen. Mary's perfume alone went with the Lord's body to the tomb as He Himself said it would "she has prepared My body for burial with perfume" Mark 14:8. This explains the Lord's commendation "verily I say to you, wherever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she has done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her" Mark 14:9. So the author composed a hymn entitled Mary's Memorial as a tribute to what she did.

The Treasures of Wisdom's Children

The Lord Jesus said, in Luke 12:34 "for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." The great treasure of Wisdom's children is Christ who is ever precious to those who believe in Him. God has stored up, in the Holy Scriptures, priceless treasures of His Son in Manhood, so we may share His thoughts about Him. Clearly Wisdom's children of the past have already shown their devotion to Him. It is their appreciation of Christ, recorded in the Scriptures, which gives us a forward look at the life and death of Jesus, a glance at His life as it draws to a close, and a backward look at that life.

a. The forward view of what the life and death of Christ would be: A prophetic forecast of what the life and death of Christ would be is given us in the gifts of the wise men. There were three gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Gold is mentioned first, for in Scripture it is a symbol of God and divine righteousness. Psa. 18:31 states "who is a rock save our God." So gold is found in the tabernacle at the beginning of God's ways, and in the Holy City Jerusalem at the end. There are perhaps two reasons for this. First it is a lustrous metal which does not tarnish, and so is a store of real wealth, and secondly it must be mined from rock with much labor. Christ then is God manifest in the flesh, glorious forevermore. When He said "I am" in the garden His enemies had to fall to the ground John 18:6 when the Father declared Him His Son, His disciples had to fall on their faces Matt. 17:6. This is the meaning of the gift of gold.

The gifts of frankincense and myrrh however, speak of Christ's Manhood. They are extracted from resinous trees. Fragrant incense rises from frankincense when fire touches it. Thus it is a picture of the Lord's life. He glorified God in spite of the opposition of sinners. This was fragrant incense to His Father, who smelled a smell of delight in Him. The last gift was myrrh. It is extracted from the myrrh tree a tree with cruel thorns. Myrrh can be used both as a perfume and as a narcotic to alleviate pain. At the cross the Lord refused to drink the wine medicated with myrrh which was offered to Him to relieve His sufferings. Myrrh speaks of the perfect grace of our Lord Jesus Christ in the sufferings of the cross.

b. God's estimate of the life of Christ as it drew toward its close: We do not know what the wise men used to store their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. But we are told that the perfume of the women was stored in each case in a container of alabaster.

(2)This omission of a container in one case and emphasis in the two others is deliberate. It is done to draw our attention not only to the contents of the alabaster jars, but to the alabaster jars themselves.

Howard Carter, the British archaeologist, illustrated his book The tomb of Tutankhamen with photographs of the most important artifacts he discovered in that tomb. A number of these are in color, greatly enhancing our appreciation of the workmanship. He included three photographs of artifacts in pure white alabaster an alabaster canopic chest, an ornamental alabaster boat, and an alabaster vase. The ancient alabaster was resistant to scratching, so that its beauty was not easily marred. It was obtained from caves through which flowed underground springs saturated with lime. Over long periods of time the lime in the waters formed stalagmitic deposits, layer on layer, sometimes imparting a banded appearance to the alabaster.

These introductory remarks help us to understand better why the two wise women stored their perfumes in alabaster jars. The alabaster jar speaks of beauty and purity formed in seclusion their contents of fragrance. God directed their choice both of the alabaster jars and the kinds of perfume inside them. His purpose was to constitute an imperishable record in Holy Scripture of what Christ was to Him both inside and outside. Outside was the visible display of His pure and spotless Manhood inside moral perfection and devotion to the will of God a perfume poured out from His lips whenever He spoke to man or prayed to His Father. Let us test this interpretation by reference to the Scriptures.

Just as alabaster is formed in secret, so the beauty and purity of the early life of Christ was observed by God alone. He grew up before Him like a tender plant, but man saw no beauty in Him to desire Him see Isa. 53:2. They thought of Him only as the carpenter's son. In rebuttal God the Father says "Thou art My beloved Son" as His ministry began at the Jordan. Clearly then what was alabaster in God's eyes was not beauty in man's eyes. So much then for the beauty of His Person in figure the alabaster jars. What about His words the perfume stored inside would man find fragrance there as God did?

To make sure that they would, God would have the perfume stored in Christ poured out before men. Alas man hated 'what He said as much as what He was. Wisdom's children were different. Peter was a representative child of Wisdom when he said "Lord, to whom can we go Thou hast the words of eternal life?" And long before Peter these prophetic words were written about Christ "my heart is indicting a good matter. I speak of the things which I have made touching the King. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men grace is poured into Thy lips therefore God has blessed Thee forever" Psa. 45:1, 2. Charles Wesley's hymn gives expression to the pouring out of this perfume from the gracious lips of Christ in these lines:

“Our hearts are full of Christ and long

Their glorious matter to declare

Of Him we make our loftier song

We cannot from His praise forbear

Our ready tongues make haste to sing

The glories of the heavenly King.”

“Fairer than all the earth born race

Perfect in comeliness Thou art

Replenished are Thy lips with grace

And full of love Thy tender heart

God ever blest! We bow the knee

And own all fullness dwells in Thee.”

But it remained for Solomon, David's son, to give us the prophecy which ties together all the themes of this chapter "while the King is at His table, my spikenard sends forth its fragrance a bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me" Cant 1:12, 13. Here we have Christ presented as King, just as the wise men acknowledged Him to be then the King at table as Christ was when the wise women anointed Him then the very perfumes they used to anoint Him spikenard and myrrh.

c. The backward view of the life and death of Christ: Long after Christ had ascended to glory, God had the Apostle Paul record His estimate of the life and death of Christ in Phil. 2. This is the well known backward look at Christ's pathway. What is remarkable about it is that it traces Christ's journey from the Father to the Father in the same order as the wise men's gifts are listed in Matt. 2 first gold, then frankincense, and lastly myrrh. It commences with the exhortation "let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." The humility and obedience of Christ recorded in Phil. 2 is to be reproduced in us. It will be if we can say from the heart "thanks be unto God for His unspeakable free gift." Let us retrace the gifts in order to fix them in our minds.

.. The Gift of Gold: This is verse 6. Here we are told that Christ Jesus subsisted in the form of God. For this reason He thought it not robbery to be on an equality with God. This corresponds to the first gift of the wise men gold. It is God giving, really giving His only begotten Son as in John 3:16. In sending the Son, man is given a gift without price the Son of God Himself. Until the wise men opened their treasures the glory of Christ was hidden in the types of the Old Testament. But now we understand God's gifts to us the first of which is the gold.

.. The Gift of Frankincense: To carry out the Father's commandment the Son must become a Man. And so "He emptied Himself, taking a bondman's form, taking His place in the likeness of men." Contrast Him with Adam who was made in the image and likeness of God Gen. 1:26, yet sinned. Christ was made in the likeness of men Phil. 2:7 but He is the image of the invisible God Col. 1:15 and never sinned. By this distinction Scripture guards His sacred Person with a drawn sword.

.. The Gift of Myrrh: The myrrh is found in v 8 where we are told that He became obedient unto death and that the death of the cross. Contrast this again with Adam who was disobedient in a small matter under ideal conditions. Under the shameful and cruel death of crucifixion the Lord was completely obedient to His Father's will. The fragrance of myrrh can arise by crushing and truly it was at the cross that the heel of Christ, the woman's seed, was crushed as prophesied in Gen. 3:15. That is a figure meaning that the precious walk of Christ on this earth came to an end at the cross.

.. Internal evidence from Scripture linking the gifts of the wise men and wise women to the death of Christ: Remembering that nine is the number of judgment for Christ died at the ninth hour then (9 + 9²+ 9³ + 999 being 1818 He might be crucified Mark 15:15) + (2536 gold and frankincense and myrrh Matt. 2:11) = (4354 a pound of ointment of nard pure of great price John 12:3). This unbelievable arrangement demonstrates that with God all things are possible.

Wisdom's House—What Is It?

Wisdom's children live in a house, but it isn't prominent in this world. Solomon writes about it in Prov. 9:1 "Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn out her seven pillars." Wisdom built that house to be a home for herself and her children. Discarding the figurative language, the house of Wisdom is where God dwells with His beloved "behold I and the children God has given Me." It is the house of God.

Although the visible form God's house takes in the world varies with the dispensation, in principle it is one and the same. Its first form was the tabernacle in the desert a tent, unattractive on the outside, but beautiful inside. To man this would seem an unlikely place for God to dwell. The tabernacle in the desert was followed by the splendidly ornate temple Solomon erected in the land. In Christianity the physical temple yields to the spiritual. In Eph. 2:21, 22, Paul writes about "an holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." When the Lord comes back for the Church, it will be the mind of God to erect the most splendid building the world has ever seen a building which will last for 1000 years. This will be the temple of Ezekiel's prophecy. From this brief sketch it will be seen that in the beginning the visible form of God's house was a tent hidden away from the world in a desert, but that in the end it will be a magnificent temple to which all the world must come to worship.

The Song of the People—the First Intimation of the Two Great Forms of God's House—the Tabernacle and the Temple

In Ex. 15, Moses and the children of Israel sang a song to the Lord. It was the Lord who had redeemed them in Egypt, and brought them through the Red Sea as on dry land. It was the Lord too who had destroyed their enemies their immediate preoccupation at the moment "Pharaoh's chariots and his army has He cast into the sea his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea." Then the song takes another theme that this delivering God is worthy of worship. The song is inspired, for they sing of two future houses where they will worship God. The first would be the tabernacle, the last the temple.

The tabernacle is anticipated in these words "Thou hast guided us in Thy strength to Thy holy habitation." God had indeed guided them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea and into the desert. It was there they were to build Him an holy habitation i.e. the tabernacle. The song continues, but this time the subject changes to the temple to be built in Mount Zion, when they enter the promised land "Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of Thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which Thou hast made for Thee to dwell in, in the sanctuary, O Lord, which Thy hands have established.”

Then another verse "the Lord shall reign forever and ever" introduces a fresh thought that God is not only dwelling with His people, but that His throne is there too. That is the great thought which unites the seemingly diverse structures of the tabernacle and the temple. God's throne is in both of them.

The Throne of God in the Tabernacle and the Temple

The Lord will establish His throne on the ashes of Satan's throne. That principle was established when He destroyed the glory of the world by drowning Pharaoh's armies at the Red Sea. Only then did He erect His throne in the desert. At Armageddon He will destroy the power of the world when He overthrows the Beast's armies on land. Then He will establish His throne in the last temple the temple of Ezekiel's prophecy. In summary, God destroys Satan's throne on sea and land, in so doing sweeping away the power and glory of the world. These things tell us of a God of judgment, for righteousness and judgment are the foundation of His throne. But what form does God's throne take in His visible house?

God answers this question in an unexpected way. He begins with the figurative representation of the Man who will sit on His throne, rather than the figurative representation of the throne itself. The figurative representation of Jesus is the Ark of the Covenant.(3) Ex. 25:10-16 tells us that the Ark was built before everything else because Christ must have the pre eminence. The Man who will sit on God's throne the Man in the glory is greater than the throne. Then only are we told about the throne, called in Ex. 25:17-22 The Mercy Seat. The Ark rested on the ground, and supported the Mercy Seat above just as Christ on earth was to be the upholder of God's throne in glory. Two Cherubims of gold one piece with the slab of gold which constituted the Mercy Seat looked inward and downward at the tables of the law. They were a reminder that Cherubim with a flaming sword drove our first parents away from God. Man could now only come before the Mercy Seat with blood, speaking of the coming sacrifice of Christ.

The Ark was the unifying link between the seemingly diverse forms God's house was to take the tabernacle and the temple. Just as it was the first thing built, so it was the first thing to go over the Jordan to its final resting place in the temple. The Ark began in the desert, for it was in the desert that Satan tempted Christ. It ended in the temple the figure of the settled rest of God's throne.

The Ark and the Mercy Seat, when fitted together, as they were designed to be, demonstrated that the throne of God belongs to Christ alone. So the pillar of cloud rose from the Holy of holies where the Ark and Mercy Seat rested. The cloud in Scripture speaks of God's presence and the unsullied glory of His throne. A good example from the New Testament would be the Mount of Transfiguration, which anticipated the coming kingdom.

“To Him Thy voice from out the cloud

Once spake Thy deep, Thy full delight

And now without a veil to shroud

In Him shines forth Thy glory bright.”

The Contrasting Forms of the Tabernacle and the Temple

We have seen how the Ark and Mercy Seat provide the unifying element in the tabernacle and the temple, making God's house one in principle. Still, it is undeniable that the forms of the buildings differ. What can we learn from this planned diversity in God's house?

a. The tabernacle the rule of God over His people while the world rejects His Christ: The tabernacle had to be built strictly according to God's plans, for it was His house. Moses had no voice in anything not even the furniture in the house. Moses received the plans from God on a mountain indicating the exalted and heavenly character of God's house. This also gives us instruction about God working in Trinity. God may be compared to the architect of the house Moses the contractor figure of Christ by whom God made the worlds Bezaleel and his assistants the workmen figure of the energy of the Holy Spirit in performing God's work. It is significant that the first mention of wisdom in Scripture is in connection with Bezaleel, the wise hearted man who built the tabernacle. Interesting as this is it must not divert us from examining why the tabernacle differs from the temple, the key to understanding why God insisted on no deviation from His plans.

In the tabernacle God's throne is in a desert, so the rule of the world is not the thought here. It is more moral rule over God's people. Consequently the tabernacle is a figure of present conditions, when Wisdom is hidden in the House of God, and the darkened world outside engages in folly. God's throne in the tabernacle was continuously moving, because He accompanied His homeless people in their desert wanderings. Like Israel we are journeying on to our rest. Unlike Israel where all was material, with us all is heavenly. We follow the Ark of the Covenant across the Jordan. But with us the end of the journey is Christ in glory. I have tried to capture that theme in a poem I composed entitled Home of the heart.

Home of the Heart(4)

Receive us, Lord Thy promise this on earth

Unto Thyself, in that bright place above

Where glory dwells, and where there is no dearth

Of joy the home of life and love.

The Father's house the fatted calf now killed

Is ours through grace God's righteousness fulfilled.

O come then Jesus Savior, Lord and Friend

Enfold us with that love which knows no end.

On Thee we'd gaze and seeing Thee the Father

Made known in Thy blest life and death

No hindrance then nor flesh, nor world, but rather

Enjoyment full of God made known— and rest.

Lord Jesus come Spirit and bride now say—

The Holy City home of endless day—

Is ours by right of blood redemption

For Thou, blest Lord, hast answered every question.

b. The temple the rule of Christ over the entire world for 1000 years: David and Solomon are types of Christ in two contrasting ways. David the warrior king is a type of Christ subduing all His enemies, as He will in the end time. David was succeeded by Solomon, the king who reigned in peace as Christ will, and displayed wisdom in his reign. 1 Kings 4:30 tells us that Solomon's wisdom exceeded the wisdom of all the sons of the East and it was from the East that wise men came to do homage to Christ. Solomon's reign is a faint picture of the time Psa. 72:8 predicts, when Christ "shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth." His wisdom will transcend Solomon's wisdom. His rule will meet God's requirements in 2 Sam. 23:3,4 "He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And He shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds.”

Solomon also built a temple. Solomon's temple looks forward to the last of all temples the temple of Ezekiel's prophecy. God's throne will be in it. It will be the seat of glory and government on the earth for the last thousand years of its history.

Beholding the Beauty of the Lord in the Tabernacle

When Moses finished the supervisory work entrusted to him, he erected the tabernacle and put the holy vessels into it. The holy vessels are the furniture of Wisdom's house. Of these we propose considering only one the golden lampstand. Moses positioned it opposite the Table of Showbread and lit its lamps as the Lord had commanded him to do Ex. 40:25. From then on it was Aaron's duty as High Priest to light the lamps of the golden lampstand at even Ex. 30:8. The lamps were to burn continuously from the evening to the morning Lev. 24:1-4.

That is because the Jews have clung to the law of Moses and rejected Christ for almost two thousand years. During this time a largely Gentile Church has accepted Him. These two facts explain why Moses had to place the golden lampstand so that its light fell on the table of showbread with its twelve loaves speaking of the twelve tribes of Israel. All night the night of Israel's rejection of Christ until the morning, when Israel repents and accepts Christ, God remembers His ancient people who have forgotten Him. In the light of the golden lampstand, so to speak, He sees His people in those twelve loaves. "I say then, has God cast away His people?" is the question Paul raises and answers in Rom. 11:1.2 "God forbid...God has not cast away His people.”

He asserts this publicly in Acts 26:7 "our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night." The light of the golden lamp-stand shines on the twelve loaves. They are not forgotten.

Now let us go back to the ancient days when the golden lampstand was first made. As we have already observed nobody was consulted as to how it was to be made. This must have aroused Aaron's curiosity as to why it was designed the way it was. He must have inspected it close up and from a distance, as he went about his duties. We are now about to visualize what he saw. But before we do so, we should understand that these precious things are for our enjoyment too. When Wisdom's children enter her house, she wants them to behold the beautiful things in it. David captured the thought in Psa. 27:4 "one thing have I desired of the Lord, that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.”

a. Beholding the beauty of the Lord in the golden lampstand the close up view When Aaron first inspected the golden lamp-stand, he must have noticed the marks of the "hammered work" which the artificer made. When he refilled the lamps with clear olive oil it was oil taken from beaten olives. It is unlikely that he connected these two things as we can today who have the Holy Spirit as our Teacher John 14:26. (5) The hammered work of the golden lampstand speaks of the death of Christ, who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities see Isa. 53:5. The olive tree as a source of light is a familiar figure of the Holy Spirit. The beaten olives for the light speaks of Christ offering Himself through the eternal Spirit without spot to God see Heb. 9:14. These two things then testify to the death of Christ.

But Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. The truth of His resurrection is displayed in the "almond work" embellishing the golden lampstand the budding blossoming and fruiting of the almond tree new life after the winter season. Aaron's rod which budded (6) also speaks of the resurrection of Christ. It was hidden in the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies see Heb. 9:4 "and behold the rod of Aaron”—budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms and yielded almonds” Num. 17:8. So the same figures of resurrection life budding, blossoming and fruiting are found both in Aaron's rod which budded and in the golden lampstand. In one case though, hidden from man's eye but seen by God's in the Holy of Holies for the resurrection of Christ is precious to the Father. In the other case displayed in workmanship of gold we see the value of the resurrection of Christ and share the Father's thoughts about Him. But perhaps the reader wonders why God chose the almond tree to display the resurrection of Christ both on Aaron's rod and the golden candlestick? It is because the almond tree is the first tree to break out in blossom in springtime in the Holy Land. It is a fitting choice since Christ is the firstfruits of resurrection 1 Cor. 15:28. Finally, the decorative almond flowers in the golden lampstand are the first flowers mentioned in the Bible. This brings before us the origin of flowering and fruiting in Gen. 1:11 "and God said let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind." The origin of flowers and fruits then is the land raised from the waters on the third day a figure of Christ rising from the dead on the third day. Paul, writing of this in 1 Cor. 15:23, says "Christ the firstfruits afterwards those who are Christ's at His coming.”

b. Beholding the beauty of the Lord in the golden lampstand its appearance a few steps away from it: When the evening drew on it was the duty of Aaron as High Priest to light the lamps of the golden lampstand. There was no other light in the Holy Place. Perhaps after lighting its lamps he might stand back from it and admire its beauty. Not only was its workmanship exquisite, but its pure gold made it very costly. Of the 29 talents of gold which the people offered for the tabernacle work, one whole talent of pure gold was needed for the golden lampstand and its utensils.

What Aaron would see from a distance would be the representation of an almond tree in springtime in pure gold. This impression would be strengthened in the eye of the beholder because the lamps were so located that the light they threw fell on the lampstand itself, displaying its beauty. Its base rested on the ground as a tree would(7) and out of it arose a central shaft like a tree trunk. Out of the top of the shaft arose a single branch. Commenting on this Saltau says— "if we accurately read the portion of Scripture descriptive of the candlestick we shall find that the central part of the vessel, consisting of a shaft and its branch is that which, apart from the rest, is eminently called the candlestick."(8) Then out of the sides of the shaft arose three branches on each side curving upward, making a total of seven branches. Each branch was embellished with the budding, flowering and fruiting habits of the almond tree Aaron's rod that budded captured in workmanship of pure gold. The single branch at the top had more almond work than the other six branches and towered above them as well.

Saltau sees in this arrangement the union of Christ and the Church which confirms our view that the golden lampstand represents the death and resurrection of Christ. This alone would make such a union possible.

c. The golden lampstand in history and prophecy: The lamps in the golden lampstand were designed to burn a measured amount of oil. Aaron filled them with oil every evening, but in the morning they burned out. The wisdom of God is revealed in this feature of the oil and light of the golden lampstand. As believers we are in the light as He is in the light 1 John 1:7. Christ is our Great High Priest and we never lack a supply of the Holy Spirit or the light He sheds during the night of Christ's rejection the lamps burn continuously during the night. The night began when Judas betrayed Christ John 13:30 and will not end until Israel acknowledges Him as Messiah Zech. 12:10-14. Then the light of the lampstand can go out. The end of Israel's night will be the world's morning. "For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead?" Rom. 11:15. But perhaps the reader is inclined to say, like Nicodemus "how can these things be?" For the answer we must turn to the banqueting hall of Belshazzar, King of Babylon, for here we find God's thoughts about the golden lampstand and the world's thoughts opposed to one another.

In Dan. 5 we read that King Belshazzar, whose nation had once besieged Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple and taken away the holy vessels, held a feast for his nobles. Under the influence of wine he commanded that the holy vessels of the Lord be brought in for use as drinking cups. They drank wine out of them and praised their gods for granting them victory over Jehovah. It was a deep insult to the true God, who had only permitted their victory because His people had sinned against Him. In the same hour the fingers of a man's hand wrote the words "Mene mene tekel upharsin" on the plaster of the wall opposite the lampstand. When the king saw this he trembled with fear and demanded an interpretation of the words. Daniel told him briefly that God had assessed him personally, found him deficient, and would give his kingdom to others.

Of all the holy vessels why is the golden lampstand alone mentioned in this drunken feast? It had been removed from the House of the Lord where Aaron supplied it with oil for light to the house of the king where there was no oil and no light. Everlasting darkness was about to descend on the king's house. Just as Herod the king had mocked the birth of the King of the Jews so King Belshazzar mocked the God over whom he deemed himself triumphant. Are the rulers of the world today any different? Have they too not mocked the value of the death and resurrection of Christ the central idea of the golden lampstand? Then they too will be swept away in judgment, just like Belshazzar. Only then will the kingdoms of this world become the world kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. That will be the morning of this world. The light of the lampstand in the House of God will have burned out because the light of the morning outside will have replaced it. The knowledge of God will be universal when that morning dawns "the light of the morning when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds" 2 Sam. 23:4.

The coming of the Lord for the Church ushers in both the judgments on the world and its final blessing. Then we shall enter in to the joy of our Lord.

“Oh day of days for Him and me,

When I shall gain the heavenly goal

And He who died to save me, He

Shall see the travail of His soul;

And I shall praise Him as I would,

For all His mercies multitude.”

Beholding the Beauty of the Lord in the Lily Work Outside the Temple

The subjects we are considering are too vast their range too great to do more than touch their fringes. So in the tabernacle we selected the golden lampstand as a representative piece of furniture, and for the same reason we will restrict our consideration of the temple to the lily work outside it. The subjects chosen in each case are only examples of the wisdom to be found in God's house not the whole but part of the whole. The lily speaks of the life of Christ as Man in this world "and we beheld His glory" whereas the almond tree, depicted on the golden lampstand, speaks of His death and resurrection.

Jesus compared the lilies to Solomon, the great king who built the Temple. "Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these" ..Luke 12:27. He also urged us to consider the lilies. Why? Because beyond a doubt they speak of Him. The lily is a suited figure of Christ's moral beauty and dependence on God. How dependent on God the lilies are. They cannot move away from where they are planted. They depend on the earth where they grow for food, and the heavens for sunshine and rain. In Scripture Christ is looked at as the Lily of the valleys Ca 2:1. That is, God has only one Lily but there are many valleys. He grew up before God like a tender plant. The valleys are low places and speak of Christ's humiliation here. He made Himself of no reputation. He was God's Son the Creator of the universe but man called Him the carpenter's son. Man's treatment of Him made Him a Man of Sorrows. This gives us another view of Christ's life as the Lily among thorns Ca 2:2. Thorns came into this world because man sinned Gen. 3:18. In a world of sinners a world filled with thorns Christ stood out alone among them spotless, perfect. But despised and left alone by men this Lily surely was see Isa. 53.

We find lily work in two places in Solomon's Temple both outside the Temple. The golden lampstand, in contrast, was inside the Tabernacle. One of the two locations of the lily work is on the brim of the huge molten sea a reservoir of water used for ablution purposes. The other is on the top of the two great pillars of the Temple.

The Lily work of the Temple on the Molten Sea: The universal character of Christ's reign His one world government is the lesson taught by the location of the lily work on the top of the molten sea. The molten sea was supported by twelve cast oxen which faced outward three oxen to each of the four cardinal points of the compass. Twelve is the number in Scripture standing for human administration- e.g. the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve apostles etc. Because the oxen are beasts of burden they symbolize the patient unceasing work of administration in the kingdom. Because they face each of the four cardinal points of the compass they teach us that, in the day of Christ's power, the saying of the Pharisees will be fulfilled "the world has gone after Him" John 12:19. He will no longer be typically hidden in the House of God like the golden lampstand. Rather His power will radiate out from the glorious future Temple at Jerusalem to all points of the compass.

The lily work on the two great pillars of the temple: Next we will consider the lily work on the top of the two pillars in front of the Temple. The lilies here are figurative of the exaltation of all that Christ was as Man His work and His teachings Acts 1:1 in the permanent one world government He will establish and maintain in power until the end of the world. Why so, you might ask? Well, the pillar on the right was named Jachin He will establish the pillar on the left Boaz in Him is strength see 2 Chron. 3:17. The Man of God's right hand will establish His kingdom and uphold it in strength. He said He was meek and lowly in heart and taught that the meek should inherit the earth. So they cried "away with This Man we will not have This Man to rule over us." This will force Him to reply "but those Mine enemies who would not that I should reign over them, bring here and slay them before Me" Luke 19:27. This agrees with the meaning of "Jachin" Christ establishes the Kingdom in power. The pillar Boaz "in Him is strength" also teaches us that no man can take the kingdom from Him once it is established. He is the Man of power "His kingdom shall never be destroyed...and the kingdom shall not be left to other people...it shall stand forever" Dan. 2:44. The beauty of all this is that at the top of the pillars the pinnacle of world power is the lily work. It is God's reversal of man's rejection of Christ.

When Christ takes His great power and rules the world, the principles of the Sermon on the Mount will prevail and the meek will inherit the earth.

The Knowledge of God's Will

In Eph. 1:9, 10 Paul tells us that God has made known to us the mystery of his will. That part of the mystery which concerns us here is that Christ will rule this world for 1000 years. God has revealed His deepest secrets to us. The children of Wisdom alone know that the present world must pass away. Therefore they "have more understanding than all their teachers" Psa. 119:99. As Wisdom's children we know that the clamor of the nations will one day cease, the groaning of creation be hushed but not until the Prince of Peace reigns. The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. Wisdom need cry no longer for durable riches, honor, righteousness. For Wisdom will flow from the One who leads in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment. We anticipate the day when the entire world will enjoy the Wisdom who is now our exclusive portion "for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" Hab. 2:14.

Chapter 4.23

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom’s House

Filled with wisdom as Solomon was, he could not plumb the depths of Prov. 9:1 as he penned it "Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn out her seven pillars." The first part of this sentence is clear Wisdom has built her house. We know that in Wisdom's house her children find rest, and are taught of God. The second part of this sentence is figurative, and full of spiritual teaching. The pillars in Wisdom's house speak of what supports and exalts it. In Wisdom's house seven pillars have been hewn out. We believe these seven pillars are figures of seven great divine secrets now revealed to us.

These seven great secrets originate with God's desire to make Himself known in time. In a past eternity He had His counsels, known only to Himself, to carry out this purpose. But when His Son appeared on this earth, He opened up these secrets to His inner circle for the first time. These were the mysteries of His kingdom. He revealed them when it was clear that He was rejected as King, and so would return to His Father without His kingdom. When He was in glory the way was opened up for Paul mostly, and John to a lesser degree, to reveal the other mysteries. This gives us a key to the mysteries man's rejection of Christ, and God's various responses to that rejection in heaven and earth. God gave us the mysteries because we share Christ's rejection. He does not want us to forget that we will also share His glory.

An Introduction to the Mysteries of God

A mystery is a secret, but it is more than a secret, just as a sign is a miracle but more than a miracle. There are no mysteries in the Old Testament only secrets. God hid the mysteries until Christ was rejected. The mysteries tell us God's purposes for the glory of His Son whom man rejected. God told Daniel the secret of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, but its deeper meaning was hidden until revealed in the mysteries of the New Testament.

To understand a mystery requires divine initiation, implicit in which is the gift of the Holy Spirit as our teacher something unknown to the Old Testament saints. J.N. Darby puts it succinctly "the initiated know mysteries, the uninitiated not that is the meaning of the word; but the true initiated are those taught of God."(1) He also has a word on the effect of being initiated into the mysteries "it brings us into a totally new world." (2) Our spirits escape the oppression of this world, and soar into the realm of divine thoughts and purposes.

So in 1 Cor. 2:7 Paul says "we speak God's wisdom in a mystery that hidden wisdom which God had predetermined before the ages for our glory." In initiating us into His richest and deepest mysteries, God repeats the warning of 1 Cor. 8:1 "knowledge puffs up, but love edifies." So in 1 Cor. 13:2 Paul writes "and though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries.... and have not love, I am nothing." Does Paul then disparage God's mysteries Paul, the man God used to reveal most of them? Hardly. In 1 Cor. 4:1 he writes "let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God." Paul is simply insisting on a balance between the knowledge of God's mysteries, and love the bond of perfectness. When this is achieved the truth is adorned with love and the body of Christ is edified.

Because the mysteries are so rich in divine thoughts, there are several ways of looking at them. The method of presentation chosen here is to delineate seven major mysteries, some of which embrace other mysteries which are tributary to, and may be classified under, the seven major mysteries. These are the seven pillars of Wisdom's house.

The Mystery of God

The first of all the mysteries we will investigate is known as the mystery of God. This is not a generalized term, but a mystery with a specific meaning, standing apart from all the other mysteries. It is the source mystery from which the others flow, although its hidden spring is the mystery of God's will, which we will bypass until the close of this study. Paul stresses the importance of the mystery of God in Col. 2:2. He says "the full knowledge of the mystery of God, in which are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (3)The mystery of God may be defined as the understanding of why God allows evil to flourish in the world even to triumph over good at times without judging it. (4) To understand why God is not presently a God of judgment is to understand His ways and purposes to grasp the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

This perplexing question of the prevalence of evil in human affairs is an enigma, not only to men of the world, but also to many of God's people. Jonah was offended at God because He did not judge Nineveh after he had witnessed to it. James and John wanted fire to come down from heaven to burn up the ungodly. God's people justify God in His ways, however, even if they do not understand them. The world tends to accuse God of disinterest in human suffering because, being all powerful, He does not intervene in wars, terrorism, plagues, disease, famines, moral corruption and so forth. Some have even hard thoughts about God as we see in Luke 19:21 "I feared Thee because Thou art a harsh man." This attitude is unconsciously behind the clauses in insurance policies which classify natural disasters as "acts of God." An even better illustration is an incident which took place in a German concentration camp. A Rabbi who was waiting his doom in the gas chambers, was exhorting a group of his fellow Jewish prisoners to maintain their belief in God. One young Jew protested "if God exists He must be a monster, to allow what is going on here." True enough, for the god who is responsible for the chaos in the world is a monster. In Rev. 12:3 he is called "a great red dragon.”

a. The part played in the Mystery of God by Satan's present rule of the world: Satan's rule over the world the source of its misery is unquestioned. In 2 Thess. 2:7 Paul speaks of it as the mystery of lawlessness, something which sheds light on the mystery of God. He noted the workings of the mystery of lawlessness even in his days, so it was permitted by God in His wisdom. He tells us that God checks its full blown wickedness at present, but will eventually let Satan have his way in the end time. However that is another matter, and our concern here is primarily to establish the fact of his rule at the present time. In Eph. 2:2 he is called the Prince of the Power of the Air. He governs evil spirits who support his throne, who are referred to in Eph. 6:12 as "the rulers of the darkness of this world." Because of this "the whole world lies in the wicked one" as 1 John 5:19 tells us, meaning that man is happy with the world as it is the way the wicked one organized it. Only God's people see it for what it is evil. In 2 Cor. 4:4 the wicked one is called "the god of this world" and in John 14:30 "the Prince of this World." Satan boasted of his rule to the Lord in the temptation account of Luke 4:5 6 "and the devil, taking Him up to a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him all this power will I give Thee, and the glory of them, for that is delivered to me, and to whomsoever I will I give it. "Since these Scriptures tell us that Satan's rule over the world is an uncontested fact, the mystery of God becomes a question of "how long, O Lord, holy and true?”

b. Why God is not judging evil now but will later: God has postponed judgment because this is a day of salvation. Man has abused the acceptable year of the Lord. Solomon read the human heart in Eccl. 8:11 "because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil." God on the other hand is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" 2 Peter 3:9. But there is a time limit to the mystery of God known only to God Himself. Paul warned man of it in Acts 17:31 "He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom He has ordained, whereof He has given assurance to all men in that He has raised Him from the dead." When that day comes God will judge evil. Of that day 1 Sam. 2:10 warns "the adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces...the Lord shall judge the ends of the earth." So does Job 38:13, telling us that the ends of the earth will be seized, that the wicked might be shaken out of it. Clearly the present world will be purified by divine judgment when the time God has allotted for evil to run its course in the world runs out. Then the Lord will assert His claim to the throne of this world, for Ps 22:8 tells us that the kingdom is the Lord's, and He is the governor among the nations.

The Two Mysteries of the Kingdom Which Precede and Prepare the Way for the Mystery of Christ

When Christ came to this earth, the Jews were familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures just quoted and many others also, which clearly state that Messiah would judge evil and establish His earthly kingdom. The godly in Israel in particular, saw in Jesus Israel's Redeemer, as we learn from the opening and closing incidents in Luke's gospel. His genealogy proved that He was David's son His works that He was God's Son. But man preferred the status quo the rule of Satan rather than the rule of God. The human heart is opened up for us in Luke 20:14 so we may see how it works "this is the Heir come let us kill Him that the inheritance" (i.e. His kingdom) "may be ours." And so they bring the Lord to Caesar's judgment seat to achieve their purpose. Pilate questioned the Lord as to whether or not He was a king. In John 18:36 He replied "My kingdom is not of this world if My kingdom were of this world then would My servants fight but now is My kingdom not from hence." This tells us that for the present the Lord was forfeiting His kingdom in the world, allowing Satan to continue his evil rule here. But the same statement also makes it clear that He was not abandoning His claim to the kingdom. Instead His kingdom would take a different form until the time came to claim it publicly. What form could this be? The answer is revealed in the mysteries of the kingdom. There are two the mysteries of the kingdom of God and the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens. These terms are different ways of looking at the same kingdom.

a. The mysteries of the kingdom of God: The eighth chapter of Luke opens with an account of the Lord going through the country, city by city and village by village, preaching and announcing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God. The twelve apostles were with Him. When a great crowd assembled out of every city, He told them the parable of the Sower. This raised His disciples' curiosity. They asked Him "what may this parable be?" His reply was "to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God but to the rest in parables." The reason the mysteries of the kingdom of God were hidden from the people generally is that they had previously rejected Him. This is clear from Luke 4:28, 29 "and they were filled with rage in the synagogue, hearing these things, and rising up they cast Him forth out of the city, and led Him up to the brow of the mountain on which their city was built, so that they might throw Him down the precipice." That is why the Lord said to His disciples "to you it is given to know" meaning that He was initiating them into the knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God, as distinct from those not so initiated. The same principle in the same setting, the parable of the sower can be seen in Mark 4:10, 11 and Matt. 13:10, 11. It is important then that we understand the meaning of the term the kingdom of God, otherwise we cannot understand the mysteries connected with it.

The Lord's words to Nicodemus in the third chapter of John's gospel shed a great deal of light on the meaning of the term the kingdom of God. From John 3:3-5 it is clear that the kingdom of God is the moral aspect of the kingdom. We might almost say it is what God expects from us in practical upright Christian life, because we have entered His kingdom and are subject to Him, and He is holy. This agrees with Luke 17:21 "behold the kingdom of God is within you." The lives of those entering the kingdom of God by the new birth are ruled by God's principles, not man's. In Rom. 14:17 these opposite principles are exposed "the kingdom of God is not meat and drink" man's principles of enjoyment "but righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit" God's principles. The kingdom of God is a hidden mystery to the lost, because they cannot understand a life governed by an unseen power, and lived by principles opposite to those which motivate the world. A Christian's life is ruled by the spiritual principles of the kingdom of God found in the written Word.

b. The mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens: The kingdom of the heavens is a term only Matthew employs. That is because the theme of his gospel is the king of Israel, in a literal sense. That king was rejected by His people, and has gone to the heavens until the time comes for Him to receive His kingdom. No such emphasis is put on Christ as king in the other gospels. So it is in Matt. 13:10, 11 That we read "and the disciples came, and said to Him, why speak Thou to them in parables? He answered and said to them because it is given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heavens, but to them it is not given.”

In brief the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens are the consequences to Israel and the world of rejecting Christ as king. As to Israel the mystery of the kingdom of the heavens is supplemented by a tributary mystery, which Paul singles out as this mystery. In Rom. 11:25 he tells us that we should not be ignorant of this mystery, "that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." Because of this the kingdom has become a kingdom in mystery. Where is the king? Certainly not on earth, where man rejected Him. He has gone to the heavens to sit on His Father's throne, until He shall come out on a white horse to overcome His enemies and sit down on His own throne. That is the theme of the Book of Revelation. That book opens with the kingdom in mystery— "I John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and patience in Jesus." It ends with the actual kingdom established in power in the world.

The Mystery of Christ

The same Paul who tells us that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in the mystery of God, also tells us about the riches of the glory of another mystery, called the mystery of Christ. Clearly then the riches of the mystery of Christ are heavenly, because the riches are linked up to the glory. That is to be expected, since Christ has returned to the glory without His earthly kingdom, and God compensates Him for this loss by giving Him the Church. The Church is predominantly Gentile because of Israel's partial blindness. To the Gentiles, who had been without hope and God in the world, this mystery Christ in the Gentiles the hope of glory was to be preached. The mystery of Christ in other words the mystery of the king is so called because the king is hidden in heaven. He is exiled, as it were, from His earthly kingdom, but only for a while. His return has become a living hope for believing Gentiles.

The mystery of Christ involves two things. First is the revelation of the mystery for God had hidden it. Secondly, once revealed it is to be made known to the nations by the preaching of the gospel. The gospel is itself a mystery i.e. it is a mystery within the mystery of Christ. Let us explore these two considerations.

The revelation of the hidden mystery of Christ to Paul: In Col. 1:26, 27, Paul tells us that God had hidden the mystery of Christ, but would now make it known "the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations. To whom God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you the hope of glory." Then in Eph. 3:3 6 Paul tells us that the mystery of Christ was revealed to him, and he understood it "how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery, as I wrote a little before in few words, whereby when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.”

In Col. 1:23 Paul exhorts the Colossians not to be "moved away from the hope of the gospel, which you have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I Paul am made a minister." Because Paul received this truth from God he was no ordinary minister of the gospel, but directly accountable to God to preach His message. He emphasized this when he said in 1 Cor. 9:16 "for necessity is laid on me yes woe to me if I preach not the gospel.”

The mystery of the gospel: In Rom. 16:25 Paul writes about the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. Then in Col. 4:3 he asks for prayer "that God would open to us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of the gospel, for which I am also in bonds." This tells us that the mystery which has now been revealed is to be made known to the nations. But why should Paul be imprisoned for proclaiming such a blessed message as the gospel of the glory of the blessed God?

The reason is that the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who perish, as Paul informs the Corinthians at the opening of his first letter to them. Paul's reception by the philosophers of Athens is the historical proof of what he told the Corinthians "and when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others said we will hear you again about this matter." These wisest of men considered Paul's message absolute foolishness. Some mocked it openly. The more polite distanced themselves from it. Regardless of the form rejection of the gospel may take, God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. Paul sums the matter up in 1 Cor. 1:21 "for after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God" i.e. by the investigations of their philosophers "it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe.”

The Two Great Heavenly Mysteries of Christ and the Church Which Flow Out of the Mystery of Christ

As we have seen, God's focus has shifted from earth to heaven, because that is where Christ is now. Because He is great two great new heavenly mysteries will now occupy our attention. Scripture uses adjectives sparingly, and when it tells us that these mysteries are great it wants us to pay close attention to them. Between the two great mysteries is a parenthetical mystery which Paul introduces with the words "behold I tell you a mystery.”

The great mystery of Godliness ending with Christ being received up into glory: The great mystery of godliness is given us in 1 Tim. 3:16 "and without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." The mystery of godliness is from the birth of Christ to His ascension to glory, omitting His death.

(5)No Jew would have believed that Messiah's life would have taken this character. This mystery ends with Christ received up into glory, just as Mark 16:19 says "He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God." The reason the mystery of godliness ends with Messiah on high is that only then could the Holy Spirit be sent down to form the Church. This happened on the Day of Pentecost, and united Christ in glory with His body the Church on earth. This unity is the subject of another mystery that of Christ and the Church. But before we touch on that mystery we must look at the question of death the great barrier to actual union with Christ at the present time.

A parenthetical mystery which must come to pass before we too are received up into glory: Paul told us in Rom. 8:38, 39 that death cannot separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But it is not until he opens up the subject of death and resurrection in 1 Cor. 15 that we learn how death is swallowed up in victory. We who have borne the image of the earthy shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Nothing less will do. Our present bodies of humiliation, which are subject to death, are not consonant with the greatness of God's salvation. "For in this we groan" Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:2 "earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven." He also tells us in 1 Cor. 15:50 that it is impossible to enter the glory of God in our present bodies "now this I say brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption." It is at this juncture that Paul introduces his parenthetical mystery, which straddles the time between Christ being received up into glory and the Church being received up into glory. He says "behold I tell 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. For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." This mystery rounds out the details of how the Lord is the Savior of the body. He will clothe us with glorified bodies, like His own body of glory. To crown it all, in John 14:3 He has promised to receive us to Himself. When Christ was received up into glory it was without His bride when we are received up into glory He will have His bride, and we will dwell together.

The Second great mystery the union of Christ and the Church: Speakers at Christian weddings often choose Eph. 5:22 32 as their text. It is suitable because here Paul brings out the relationship in affection God expects between the bride and the bridegroom which is analogous to that between Christ and the Church. This helps a speaker move from the natural to the spiritual plane, exhorting the newly married couple in the Lord. So skillfully does Paul handle his subject that his words are less an analogy than an interwoven topic, the real meaning of which is hidden until the end. Then he informs us "this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church." This mystery the union of Christ and the Church is true to faith now. It will become a physical reality when the dead in Christ are raised and the bodies of the living saints are changed. Then we will both be received up into glory in bodies of power to dwell with the Lamb forever.

It is the mind of God that Christ should present the Church to Himself restored to the freshness of her first love, glorious and holy. That nearness, that intimacy of bridal affections, was conceived in a past. eternity, wrought out in time, and will be brought to fruition after the rapture. Of that time John writes in Rev. 19:7-9 "the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white...blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." John also tells us that after 1000 years of rule with Christ His bride will be as radiant as on her wedding day. We learn that from Rev. 21:2 "and I John saw the Holy City New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

“God and the Lamb shall there

The light and temple be

And radiant hosts forever share

The unveiled mystery.”

The Mystery of God's Will and the Administrative Mysteries Relevant to It

There are four administrative mysteries. Their subject is the administration of the Church in man's hands, and the administration of the 1000 year kingdom in the Lord's hands. With the Church, failure comes in, and one of the three administrative mysteries of the Church tells us how Christ deals with that failure. With the kingdom, Christ's administration is perfect, filling up the mystery of God's will.

a. The Pauline administration of the Church: This subject is really Paul's administration of the Church in the days of its youth and pristine freshness, and also the steps he took to perpetuate godly order after his departure from the Church.

.. Paul's stewardship of the mysteries of God: In Eph. 3:9 Paul speaks about "the administration of the mystery hidden throughout the ages in God." Then the first chapter of Colossians tells us that Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, was both a minister of the gospel and a minister of the Church. He was a faithful administrator, as he himself points out in 1 Cor. 4:1 "let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God." Paul held the Church together in the unity in which God established it during his lifetime, although his epistles make it clear that divisive elements were at work.

.. The mystery of the faith Paul's insistence on godliness: Paul's concern for the administration of the Church can be seen in Titus 1:5 "for this cause I left you in Crete that you should set in order the things that are wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I had ordered you." Paul insisted on strict moral qualifications for elders and deacons in 1 Tim. 3:9, at the same time he introduced the subject of the mystery of the faith. He tells Timothy that the mystery of the faith is to be held in a good conscience. To emphasize the importance of this requirement, Paul inserts it halfway between the moral qualifications of an elder and a deacon. After Paul left the Church these moral requirements were ignored. Church offices proliferated and were filled by men who advanced themselves by emulating the political principles of the world. Paul saw where that would lead, and in 2 Tim. 2:2 made provision for darker days "the things that you have heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.”

b. The mystery of the seven stars and the seven golden lamps: Paul had been faithful in the administration of the mystery as we have just seen. But he had forebodings of what would happen when he left the Church. We see this in Acts 20:17 when he addressed the elders of Ephesus "for I know this" he said, indicating that he was certain about the matter, "that after my departing" i.e. after he had left the Church, "shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock." Later, in Acts 27, we are given a picture of the subsequent breakup of the Church's unity in the story of Paul's shipwreck. It was caused by ignoring what Paul said. The Lord holds man responsible for this, because Paul's words were commandments of the Lord. To show that this is so, the Lord chose seven assemblies out of the many of that day, to pass judgment on the Church as a corporate entity. Except for Ephesus, they were relatively obscure. (6)But they were all located in the Roman province of Asia, the landmark of Paul's ministry. Ephesus, the crown of that ministry, whose elders Paul had warned, is addressed first. Consequently these seven assemblies are representative of the Church as a whole, over which Paul was the minister.

The setting of the Lord's judgment on the Church is the Isle of Patmos, where He appears to John. There is a duality in the Lord's words spoken after His appearance. First they were messages for seven actual assemblies at the time. Secondly they looked down the centuries that lay ahead, giving us in their entirety the Lord's judgment on the Church corporately from beginning to end. The latter aspect is truly Church history, predicted in advance with divine foreknowledge. Many excellent histories of the Church have been written, but none as condensed and penetrating as this. The mystery assures us that the Lord is judging the Church corporately, for He Himself said that the seven lamps are the seven churches. The seven stars are the angels i.e. representatives, of the seven churches, but there is nothing to tell us who they are. The Lord apportions praise and censure. While there are bright spots, His word to Sardis "I have not found your works perfect before God" detect failure. Before closing this subject the broad aspect of the Lord's words should be noted i.e. that He is not exclusively addressing the True Church, but in some cases that which takes His Name in profession only. An example would be Rev. 3:16 "I will spew thee out of My mouth" which He would never do to His own. This observation will help us understand the mystery of the woman later on.

c. A parenthesis to explain why the mystery of God's will our last mystery cannot be understood until the mystery of God is finished: At this point two mysteries which bring the mystery of God to a conclusion must be explained, for they are the gateways to the concluding mystery of God's will the last of the administrative mysteries, which also concludes this chapter.

.. The mystery of the woman: This mystery can best be understood by comparing "the woman" with the bride of Christ, and their relative roles with the Lord and His angel. Not only does the Book of Revelation open and close with the Lord and His angel, but at the approximate opening and closing of the text itself we find the Lord and His angel separately revealing a mystery. At the beginning the Lord reveals the mystery of His judgment on the true Church at the end His angel reveals the mystery of His judgment on the false Church. But what a difference there is in the character of the judgments! With the true Church, His bride, His judgments take the form of praise or rebuke they can be nothing more for He has borne our sins and at the end the bride is seen in glory. The Lord's judgments on the false harlot Church end in her utter destruction, for strong is the Lord God who judges her. The bride of Christ is the subject of heavenly mysteries, so the angel takes John to see her in heaven. Although mystery is written on the forehead of the harlot, there are no heavenly springs in her, so the angel takes John to a desert to view her. (7) Nor do we find heavenly wisdom in her mystery. Rather it is what James 3:15 speaks of "this wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish." The woman may think that she has a mystery for her initiates, but God has a different thought. "Come here" His angel says to John, "I will show you the judgment of the great whore." The mystery of the woman is that God will judge her, and remove her from the earth. Why does God judge her? Because she opposed God's testimony on the earth, for John saw her drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs. Then she committed fornication with the kings of the earth i.e. usurped what belonged to Christ and ruled the world by her corrupt principles. God tolerates her until she is found sitting on the scarlet colored beast the last form of imperial rule in the earth. Then in Rev. 17:7 the angel says "I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast which carries her.”

.. The mystery of the beast who carries the woman: The scarlet colored beast who carries the woman is the political head of the revived Roman Empire. The angel tells John the mystery of the beast. This beast receives his power from ten kings who hate the woman. The reason is obvious the woman is controlling the beast their recognized political head just as a horsewoman would control her horse. Men of the world resent religious interference in their political affairs, but historically Satan has ruled the world by a skilful blend of religion and politics. The woman astride the beast simply illustrates the principle of the religious element controlling the world's politics in its full blown development. Why then does Satan not resist the destruction of his own well honed tool of world rule? Simply because at the end time he wants to enjoy the undivided worship of himself through the beast and his image, and the woman frustrates that longing. The mystery of lawlessness culminates in the worship of this man as soon as the woman is destroyed. The next step is to make war with the Lamb. How foolish to strive with our Creator. In Rev. 10:7 we read "but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished." So severe will be God's judgments on the nations that no one will ever again question His apparent failure to judge evil. All opposition to Christ's rule of the earth will be swept away. The mystery of God will be finished, and the mystery of His will our closing consideration will be understood.

d. The mystery of God's will: This is the last and most majestic of the administrative mysteries. It is the last because it comes in when all attempts at human administration have failed. It is the most majestic because the will of God is the spring of all things.

Paul communicates this ultimate mystery to us in Eph. 1:9, 10 "having made known to us the mystery of His will...for the administration of the fullness of times...to head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth...in Him." Thus the mystery of God's will is that His Son in Manhood will head up a divine administration and rule the universe. That is why, although Satan may rule the earth at present, it is a restrained rule, for God will never allow any man to rule the world completely except Christ. This principle is found in Ezek. 21-27 "I 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." Armed with this knowledge, the Christian knows the world will pass away, though great wars threaten, or mighty nations struggle for the unattainable goal of world dominion. They build their empires but they all crumble away. Our portion is connected with what will never pass away a share in Christ's future administration of the universe. We read of this in 1 Peter 1:4 an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you." This inheritance closes off the passage in Eph. 1:7 11 which unveils the mystery of God's will "in whom we have also obtained an inheritance." May we value that inheritance, and the words which will show that we did "well done, thou good and faithful servant.”

A Parting Look at the Seven Pillars in Wisdom's House

We have now completed our grand tour of Wisdom's house, and admired the seven pillars she has hewn out to support it. Surely we can now form an overall impression of their grandeur.

It is evident that three pillars bear God's Name. At one end of the house is the pillar of the mystery of God, at the other end the pillar of the mystery of God's will, and in the center the pillar of the mystery of Christ. Four pillars flank the mystery of Christ two on each side. Let us say that the two pillars on the left are the kingdom mysteries, and the two pillars on the right the Church mysteries.

Now we can understand the overall plan of the mysteries. We begin at the mystery of God, where we learn that God is not presently judging evil, but will do so at His appointed time. Because of God's temporary toleration of evil, man crucified Christ, and He lost the kingdom of this world for a season. We might say that He then moved the seat of His kingdom to heaven, and the kingdom itself became moral to those who love Him. The heavenly mysteries of Christ and His Assembly are now God's interests. But eventually God will judge the world, and unveil the mystery of His will. That is the ultimate mystery, for it tells us that Christ will rule over all things, sharing that rule with His heavenly bride.

As we leave Wisdom's house, let us remember the exhortation in 2 Peter 3:11 "what manner of persons ought you to be, in all holy way of life and godliness.”

Chapter 4.24

The Seven Sayings of Christ on the Cross

It was the words of the Lord which brought the world into being. For what purpose? To prepare a home for man in this world. But man forfeited that home when he sinned, for the wages of sin is death. So that same God spoke again this time on the cross to provide man with a heavenly home instead.

How important then are the words of the Lord spoken on the cross His seven sayings. They are the subject of this chapter. Truly "the words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times" Psa. 12:6.

The Setting of the Seven Sayings on the Cross

The seven sayings of the Lord on the cross can only be appreciated when we understand His circumstances when He uttered them. A skilled craftsman knows how to display the natural beauty of precious stones by setting them in their proper place in a diadem. Is God less understanding than man? Of course not. The setting of the seven sayings is the Lord's sufferings from man, the power of Satan against Him, and the wrath of God.

Judas betrayed Him with a kiss. He was bound and delivered to the High Priest. False witnesses accused Him; the High Priest rent his clothes. After being denied sleep all night, He received an unjust trial from Pilate. Herod and his men of war set Him at naught. The soldiers of Rome humiliated Him and mocked Him. Although God, He was also man, and had the sensitivities of a man. He deeply felt these indignities. "In His humiliation His judgment was taken away" Acts 8:33. The low point in His humiliation was when the soldiers parted His garments and cast lots for His vesture. "And sitting down they watched Him there.”

Then there were the indignities to His Person. When the Jews had blindfolded Him, they struck Him on the face Luke 22:64. One of their officers struck Jesus with the palm of his hand John 18:22. They spat in His face Matt. 26:67. They led Him bound to Pilate whose soldiers also spat on Him and smote Him with a reed Matt. 27:30. The treatment He was to receive from His own nation was foretold in the verse preceding the prophecy of His birth at Bethlehem... "they shall smite the Judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek" Mic. 5:1. Isaiah prophesies... "I gave... My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair" Isa. 50:6. The final indignity was the crown of thorns. It will be noted that these abuses were all heaped upon the Lord's blessed head. Was it Satan's desire to frustrate the divine sentence that the woman's seed Christ should crush his head was it hatred at the gracious words He uttered, and the intent to still them forever? Whatever the reason, Bernard of Clairvaux noted it in the hymn he composed well over 800 years ago:

O head! once full of bruises

So full of pain and scorn

Mid other sore abuses

Mocked with a crown of thorn.

Scourging followed the first rite in crucifying a man "the plowers plowed upon My back they made long their furrows" Psa. 129:3. His hands and feet are nailed to the cross and it is erected. What will He say now, this Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief He who was silent before the High Priest, Herod and Pilate? Ah! listen to these matchless words "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." This from the One who made heaven and earth. This from the One who had obtained a more excellent name than angels being crucified by those for whose forgiveness He prays. In this beginning of the cross God's greatest work do we not see God reverting to His first thought when as Creator He began His work at the darkness and the waters? This was their hour and the power of darkness. The waters lay ahead. But what did God do in the darkness of old? He said, "Let there be light." So, on the cross, surrounded by the moral darkness whose wickedness we have just described, the glory of God is displayed and God Himself magnified in that prayer beyond all prayers— "Father forgive them." This brings to light the Father's heart in a way the creation never could. It wins our hearts too. Then He attributes their sin to a sin of ignorance "for they know not what they do." So it is that Peter, the Apostle to the Jews, and Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, unite to speak and write on this theme. To the Jews Peter says "and now brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers" Acts 3:17. To the Gentiles Paul writes "which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" 1 Cor. 2:8. Peter and Paul were chosen by the Spirit of God to utter such words because Jew and Gentile comprise the world of man, and the message of forgiveness was to be carried to the four corners of that world.

The Three Sayings in Luke's Gospel

“Father forgive them" is the first of three sayings recorded in Luke's gospel which we should now consider as a group.

At the beginning of Luke's gospel, we find the story of the Lord, as a child of twelve, saying "wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" Luke 2:49. At the end of that gospel His Father's business took Him to the cross. Only in this gospel are we given His two cries to His Father and His message to the dying thief. In between these events comes the story of the prodigal son, which ties them both together.

The prodigal son in Luke 15 is in marked contrast to the Lord Jesus, the True Son, who told the parable. But we must not forget that the Lord Jesus said, "a certain man had two sons." The "two sons" are the Jew and the Gentile, both of whom are guilty of crucifying Christ. In the parable the bad conduct of the elder son is partly obscured by the grosser sins of the prodigal. That is why, in the parable, the prodigal son the one farthest from his father really represents the state of both for all have sinned and it is only a matter of degree. The prodigal's cries, then, give us the true story of man. Thank God another Man the Lord Jesus Christ the Last Adam responded to each cry with a corresponding cry of grace, at the cross. The prodigal's FIRST CRY "father give me" the source of his downfall is responded to by the Lord's FIRST CRY on the cross "Father, forgive them. "The prodigal's LAST CRY "I have sinned" is answered by the Lord's LAST CRY on the cross "Father into Thy hands I commit My spirit" since "the body without the spirit is dead" James 2:26. (1)That is, He accepted the judgment of God for the prodigal's sins. Each of these two cries of the prodigal, then, were answered by corresponding cries of the Lord Jesus, the True Son, at the cross.

It is Luke, too, who gives us the Lord's words of comfort to the dying thief "verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with Me in paradise" Luke 23:43. These words must be connected not only to the parable of the prodigal son but to the fall of man. The story of the prodigal is the story of a thief who squandered his father's substance in riotous living. But man was a thief from the beginning, eating the forbidden fruit so that he had to be driven out of the paradise of God. Luke tells us what man was like ever after that. The prodigal son went into "the far country" (the world) of his own accord. By way of contrast the True Son also left His Father's house and went into the far country, but only because His Father sent Him. The prodigal son fed the swine there; the True Son fed His Father's sheep. The prodigal son disgraced his father's name, whereas the True Son glorified His Father. But is there no hope for the prodigal no way back to paradise, no return to the Father's house for man? Yes! If the root of man's misery was eating the fruit of a tree in the Garden of Eden, and so bringing sin in, the Lord Jesus bore our sins in His own body on the tree see 1 Peter 2:24. Small wonder, then, that two thieves were crucified with Christ a constant reminder of what man is. One died without Christ, but one repented, just as man is divided to this day. How beautiful to hear one thief say, "we indeed justly... but This Man hath done nothing amiss" and then turn to Christ "Lord remember me" with the gracious reply "verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." This was the work of the True Son. It was on the cross He left this world and went to His Father. So the way was opened up for the prodigal to return to his father. In the parable, there was no entrance to the Father's house until the fatted calf was killed. And so the dying thief went to be with the Lord in paradise no earthly vista that, but the paradise of God Himself the answer to that matchless prayer Father forgive them.

In the three sayings we have just considered, then, Luke presents the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man; in three further sayings John presents Him as the Son of God. The Son of Man in humiliation and outgoing grace is also the Son of God superior to all His circumstances.

The Three Sayings in John's Gospel

The Lord's triumph over the woes of the cross shines forth in the command "woman behold thy son" and to John "behold thy mother." There is no denial of affection, but rather the contrary care for His earthly mother at a time of extreme suffering which has the effect of turning all other men in on themselves. But the Lord ever spent Himself on others, yet at the same time maintained the distinctive glory of His Person. "Woman" makes it clear that she was but a creature, never intended to be the object of idolatrous worship. By her own admission, she needed a Savior Luke 1:47. In the address to the church at Thyatira, figure no doubt of the system that worships "the mother of God" and where "the depths of Satan" are found read Rev. 2:18-29 the Lord sternly says "these things saith the Son of God" a rebuke to those who would deny His title and call Him Mary's son as others had called Him the carpenter's son. Again, let us note that a divine Person is speaking. Man requests or negotiates such an arrangement as the Lord dictated for the care of Mary. God is not the Author of confusion 1 Cor. 14:33, and the Lord would not have entrusted His earthly mother to John's care unless the natural means for her support were gone. Several Scriptures mention Mary but omit Joseph see Matt. 13:55; Mark 3:32; Mark 6:3. His words are not a request but a command, and are instantly acted on by the Apostle "from that hour that disciple took her to his own home" John 19:27.

John also gives us the heart rending cry "I thirst." The Lord does not plead for water as any man would do in such circumstances. The evangelist, in this cry, records man's ill treatment of God's blessed Son. The Psalmist before him had prophesied it "My throat is dried" Psa. 69:3... "My strength is dried up... My tongue cleaveth to My jaws... Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death" Psa. 22:15. In life He had offered the water of life freely to man. When He asked a drink from the woman at Sychar's well there is no record that He received it. About to die, a sponge filled with vinegar is all that man can put up to His mouth. He was the True Joseph "they took him and cast him into a pit; and the pit was empty there was no water in it" Gen. 37:24.

When Jesus had received the vinegar He said "it is finished" and having bowed His head He delivered up His spirit. He addressed the Father at the beginning and ending of the cross "My God" during the three hours of darkness. But "it is finished" like "I thirst" is for all to hear. God did not say "it is finished" in Gen. 1, although Moses records the fact. Sin was soon to enter in, causing the Lord to say "My Father worketh hitherto and I work" John 5:17. His Father had worked hitherto to provide man with an earthly home but man had forfeited it by sin. Now the Lord Jesus has finished all God's work and says so. He will return to His home with His Father. "I came forth from the Father and am come into the world; again I leave the world and go to the Father" John 16:28. But before He went to that bright home He would not forget God's original purpose to provide man with a home. So he addresses a woman Mary to provide her with a temporary home down here, and a man, the dying thief to provide him with a permanent home up there. He attests to all, that the work the Father gave Him to do is complete, before laying down His life, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God.

His divinity, again, is the great subject before us. No man, dying on a cross, could deliberately bow his head, but would simply drop it in weakness. He had once said that the foxes had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, but the Son of Man had nowhere to lay (i.e. rest) His head Matt. 8:20. Now He rests it on the cross, His work completed. But He rests it Himself just as He Himself delivers up His own spirit. Man can do neither when he dies his strength vanishes and his spirit is taken from him. In this closing act, then, the Lord's own words are fulfilled concerning His life "I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again, this commandment have I received of My Father" John 10:18.

The Seventh Saying—the Summit of Them All—the Cry of Abandonment by God

By this time it will be clear to the reader that we have not been considering the Lord's sayings in the order in which they were spoken, but rather by the order in which they are presented in each gospel. This method of presentation leaves us only two more gospels Matthew and Mark both of which give us the cry of abandonment... "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" It was uttered "about the ninth hour" Matt. 27:46 that is, toward the close, and in a loud voice.(2) The cry of abandonment is omitted in Luke and John. God maintains the glory of His Person as the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father by these two omissions, as we shall see.

The cry of abandonment would be inappropriate in Luke, who gives us the opening and closing of the cross, marked by that expression of uninterrupted relationship "Father" in both cases. The first cry "Father forgive them" was before the three hours of darkness the last cry "Father into Thy hands I commit My spirit" after the three hours of darkness, at the close. In the first cry, He was suffering from man, not God, so He cries "Father." In the last cry, His sufferings from man and God are over, for He is about to enter into death. The three hours of darkness are finished, His bearing our sins is past and the cry of relationship is heard once more "Father." It is into the Father's hands He commits His spirit. In between, in those three hours of darkness, it is not "Father" but "My God." He is conscious of the distance and the darkness, the forsaking of God because of being made sin. From a past eternity God had this moment before Him, and even enshrined it in His order of creation. His work there began with the darkness and the deep. We find both again at the cross the three hours of darkness and the deep too "deep calleth unto deep at the noise of Thy waterspouts... all Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over Me" Psa. 42:7. "Save Me, O God, for the waters are come in unto My soul... I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow Me" Psa. 69:1, 2. How awful to think that our sins brought our precious Savior into this position... "ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin" 1 John 3:5. The Bible always maintains the distinction between sin and sins. Sin may be compared to the root of a tree; sins to the fruit the individual acts of corruption and violence that appear in a sinner's life. Sin was a challenge to God's throne. But in that awful moment when He was made sin "then" note that "I restored that which I took not away" Psa. 69:4. Not only did He not take away God's glory like other men, but in restoring it He added the fifth part Num. 5:7, 8. That is, He brought greater glory to God's throne than if sin had never entered the universe. But at what a cost to Himself! "Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" is a penetrating question coming as it does at the close of the cross and summarizing all it had meant to Him. He had fulfilled the type of the Passover Lamb roast with fire that is, the judgment surrounded Him there was no escape from it see Ex. 12:9. Yet He knows why, for He cries prophetically "but Thou art holy.”

The cry of abandonment is omitted from John's gospel, too, for that gospel presents Him as the Son of God whose dwelling place was always the Father's bosom. Surely there never was a moment when He was more agreeable to God than when He offered Himself to Him through the eternal Spirit, without spot see Heb. 9:14. It is true that the Lord Jesus was forsaken by God when as Man 'He bore our sins on the cross. It is also true that as the Son of God in the Godhead, He never left His Father's bosom. "Yet I am not alone" He said, "but the Father is with Me" John 16:32. And again "He that sent Me is with Me the Father hath not left Me alone" John 8:29. Then the type of Abraham and Isaac confirms this "and they went both of them together" Gen. 22:6. But as Man He was forsaken by God.

It is astonishing how much of the gospels are taken up with what the Lord suffered from man which could never save us and how little with the forsaking in the three hours of darkness the entire basis of our salvation. The reason for this apparent imbalance is clear. We can understand what man did to Him, but we can never understand what God did to Him, nor are we meant to. And this is just the point. No man is ever saved by believing with his mind, but with his heart Rom. 10:9, 10. The cross is meant to stir our affections once and for ever. What more could God possibly do for us than give up His only begotten Son? The cross never appeals to nature. Peter shrank from the thought and said "be it far from Thee, Lord. This shall not be unto Thee" Matt. 16:22. Nor can it ever appeal to man's intellect for the preaching of it literally 'the word of the cross' is foolishness to those who perish see 1 Cor. 1:18. Well, God veiled the scene in darkness when the Lord became the sin bearer and suffered the storm of God's judgment, abandoned by God, and fulfilling the prophecy "I will cause the sun to go down at noon and will darken the earth in the clear day" Amos 8:9. "Shall Thy wonders be known in the dark? and Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?" Psa. 88:12. It is worth repeating that our salvation was entirely wrought as the result of Christ's being made sin during the three hours of darkness, for it is a vital truth. Nothing that He suffered from man could ever save us only what He suffered from God. His humiliation, the scourge, the spitting, the crown of thorns, the very crucifixion, could not save us. No, He must sustain the wrath of God against sin in those three hours of darkness to do that God "hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" see 2 Cor. 5:21. Scripture clearly maintains this distinction "He showed them His hands and His side" John 20:20. His hands are man's part in the cross the piercing of crucifixion. His side is God's part in the cross. God required the blood "the life of the flesh is in the blood" Lev. 17:11 claimed the life which the blood represented and that came from His spear pierced side after He expired. "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin" 1 John 1:7.

The Lord Jesus Christ divides men. At His birth there was no room for Him in the inn, but the angels praised God saying, "glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward man" Luke 2:14. At the end of His path of worth man said "away with this Man." So His precious body was committed to the rich man's tomb. A woman, Mary, anointed Him before His death— against the day of His burial with spikenard very costly John 12:3 7. A man Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes after His death, winding His body in linen clothes with the spices John 19:40. Thus before and after His death, His loved ones a woman here, a man there, expressed their understanding of what He was to God fragrance. His life began with angelic praise since man gave Him none and ended in fragrance. "Thy name is as ointment poured forth therefore do the virgins love Thee" SoS 1:3.

“O teach us, Lord, Thy search-less love to know,

Thou, who hast died.

Before our feeble faith, Lord Jesus, show

Thy hands and side;

That our glad hearts, responsive unto Thine,

May wake with all the power of love divine.”

The Father's Answer

What is God the Father's answer to the seven sayings of the Lord on the cross? As recipients of the Father's mercy in the gospel we know that the Lord's opening prayer "Father forgive them" has been answered. But this is not enough, for the cross goes beyond our blessings. It is the moral center of the universe and has filled it with the light of God's glory. Indeed the very cry "why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Psa. 22:1 is a question. David adds another one prophetically "why art Thou so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning?" In the same Psalm, the second verse should read "but Thou answerest not." We know that the Father always heard Christ see John 11:41, 42. But God could not answer His cry of abandonment in the three hours of darkness. He had to turn away His face from the sin bearer. But before He laid down His life, communion was restored, the mighty work finished, and it was into His Father's hands He committed His spirit. It is important to see this. The cross begins and ends with "Father." For this reason, then, a divine answer must be given to His sufferings and forsaking on the cross. This answer is in two parts.

a. God glorifies His Son in Manhood: If we were writing the Bible we would put Psa. 21 after Psalm 22, for Psalm 22 gives us the cross, Psa. 21 The answer to the cross. But God, well knowing how man would treat His Son, anticipates the honors He will bestow on Him. Instead of a crown of thorns He is to have a crown of pure gold. Man awarded Him a shameful death God raised Him from among the dead so that He might ever be a Man before Him "He asked life of Thee, and Thou gavest it Him, even length of days for ever and ever.”

There is more. We know Him now as "being by the right hand of God exalted" Acts 2:33 that is, there is a Man in the glory, seated on the Father's throne Rev. 3:21. The thought of the throne is rule. Had not man given Him a reed in mockery? Very well, God gives Him a scepter of righteousness "but unto the Son He saith Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom" Heb. 1:8. Man bowed the knee in mockery when they arrayed Him in a royal robe. But Paul tells us that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father" Phil. 2:10,11. This statement, connected as it is with the cross, makes it clear that time is running out for His enemies, who will soon be made the footstool of His feet.

b. God awards His Son the kingdom man denied Him: The gathering storm of judgment is depicted in Revelation in seven thunders, which are the seven answers to the seven sayings of the Lord on the cross. The symbolism teaches us that a storm of judgment is about to fall on the earth because man claimed it as his inheritance after denying the Lord's claim to it. When the storm is over God will award Christ the rule of the world for 1000 years.

The Bible employs symbolical language freely. This being the case, it is not hard to grasp the thought that thunder is connected with a storm in nature, and that the seven thunders in Rev. 10 represent the storm of God's judgment on the ungodly... especially when we connect them with the lightning in Matt. 24:27 when the Son of Man comes in judgment. There are good reasons for the storm of God's judgment, one of them being man's denial of Christ's rights to the earth. When the Lord was on the earth they said "this is the Heir, come let us kill Him, and let us seize on His inheritance" Matt. 21:38. By this crowning act of iniquity man took wrongful possession of the world and has misruled it ever since. God does not recognize man's seizure of the inheritance and instead offers man a home in heaven if he will believe the gospel. Those who reject the gospel message after hearing it are called "those who dwell on the earth" in the Book of Revelation. It is evident that they are singled out, for they are mentioned nine times in that book. They are the people who have heard the gospel call to the Father's house with its many mansions, but ignore it, preferring to dwell on the earth instead. But the earth belongs to Christ, not them, and they must be dispossessed of it, so that He, in Manhood, might reign over it with His bride, the Church.

All believers know that the Lord sold all that He had to buy the field the world Matt. 13:44 for the treasure in it that He valued. But possession has not as yet been taken. A striking illustration is provided in the transaction recorded in Jer. 32; namely, the purchase made by Jeremiah of a field from Hanameel. The records of this purchase and its completion the sealed book and the open book are placed in an earthen vessel where they are to remain for many days v 14; that is, until the purchased piece of land can be openly taken possession of. In 2 Cor. 4:7 Paul may be thinking of this transaction when he tells us that "we have this treasure in earthen vessels.”

In Rev. 5 the first book, sealed with seven seals, is produced. In that chapter the second coming of the Lord has taken place and we are in heaven. We sing a new song "Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof: for Thou was slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation... and we shall reign over the earth" v 9, 10. The book had been sealed while we, who are now seen in heaven, preached the gospel while we were on earth. When the book is opened in heaven, the raptured saints acknowledge His purchase. But this has no effect on the enemies of God and of the Lamb... "those who dwell on the earth." So the Lord must produce the other book... the little book open. But since it is earth, not heaven, which disputes His purchase, He comes down from heaven, pictured as 'a mighty angel,' to assert His rights where they are denied in the world. He is the "First born of all creation" Col. 1:15 because He is the Creator God. But His rights to the earth are not based upon that, as we have just seen, but on the work of the cross. It is time for a public display of the mind of God "Thou halt put all things in subjection under His feet" Heb. 2:8 for He claims the world by setting "His right foot upon the sea, and His left foot on the earth" Rev. 10:2. He cries with a loud voice and seven thunders utter their voices. But a voice from heaven tells John to "seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered and write them not" v. 4. Only then could the mystery of God be finished. "The mystery of God" in this chapter is why evil had been permitted in the world without God interfering with it. But "there should be time no longer" v. 6 that is, sin will not be allowed to reign when Christ takes over the world.

God had rebuked the world before with thunder in answer to its sin Ex. 9:23. Here seven thunders answer to perfect righteousness. Those seven cries of Christ upon the cross had not gone unheard. The seven thunders are God's answer to the claims of Christ to "all things" heaven, earth, and sea, based upon the blood of His cross. How blessed that we will share "all things" with Him. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Rom. 8:32.

God—Creator, Savior, Judge

The Spirit of God, the author of Scripture, uses the number seven to indicate what is complete and perfect, either in good or evil. Mary Magdalene was possessed of seven devils perfect evil. For perfect good we have the example of the Lord's seven sayings on the cross. It is of great interest to note that there are seven sayings of God in creation too, in Gen. 1. For the expression "and God said" is found seven times before God, in counsel, willed the creation of man. "Create" is a summit word, expressing both purpose, the highest end of that purpose and the prerogatives of the Creator. But we know from Scripture that there is another creation a moral one called the new creation. We should not think of the new creation as the new heavens and the new earth, although true enough in their time. They will be brought in when the time comes to banish all traces of sin in the universe. But the emphasis on the new creation for the day in which we live the present truth is the Scripture "if any one be in Christ there is a new creation the old things have passed away behold all things have become new" 2 Cor. 5:17.

It is instructive, then, to compare the seven sayings of Christ on the cross the basis of the new creation with the seven sayings of God in the old creation.

The old creation was finished that is, the work of making the world a home for man when God ended His seven sayings “He spake and it was done, He commanded and it stood fast”

Psa. 33:9. Then He spoke again in counsel, to create man, and again to bless him after his creation. Man was given dominion over everything and suited food "every herb producing seed... and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree producing seed" Gen. 1:29. But if God's seven sayings in the old creation are followed by the introduction of a man Adam into the scene, then how wondrous that the seven sayings of the same God on the cross have introduced the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ into the scene to replace the first Adam. This last Adam is the Head of new creation glory "the beginning of the creation of God" Rev. 3:14 that is, of the new creation. This Man, and not the first man Adam, is to have dominion over everything. The first man never could, because of sin, and was barred from eating of the tree of life. Now that we have been transferred from the headship of Adam, the man of dust, to the headship of Christ, the Man of glory, we can eat the food God had in mind for us in the beginning the Tree of life. "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the Tree of life" Rev. 22:2.

“Soon we taste the endless sweetness

Of the Tree of life above;

Taste its own eternal meetness

For the heavenly land we love.

In eternal counsels founded

Perfect now in fruit divine;

When the last blest trump has sounded,

Fruit of God for ever mine!”

The Man of Peace

The Psalmist had said "the voice of the Lord is upon the waters, the God of glory thundereth, the Lord is upon great waters" Psa. 29:3 for the voice of the Lord broke forth in creation, beginning with the waters. But man had sinned and ruined all that. Christ spoke seven times on the cross, and accomplished a work that redeemed us. And when the seven seals are opened, and the seven thunders utter their voices, creation will be restored to Him whose right it is. And so David closes his Psalm on the voice of the Lord by reminding us that "the Lord sitteth King for ever... the Lord will bless His people with peace" Psa. 29:10, 11. This is the end, so to speak, of the voice of the Lord. On His way to the cross, and knowing what should befall Him, He said "peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you... let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" John 14:27. Such are the deep perfections in which His people rejoice. "Unto you therefore who believe He is precious" 1 Peter 2:7.

In the knowledge of doing His Father's will He had entered into death with perfect serenity the Man of Peace. He made peace by the blood of His cross, where "righteousness and peace have kissed each other" Psa. 85:10. In resurrection His message, twice repeated, was "peace be unto you." We worship that blest Son of the Father's love, the darling of His bosom the Man of peace. As we close our musings on the words of the Lord, and the central part of them all His seven sayings on the cross, the words of the Psalmist come before us "mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace" Psa. 37:37.

Chapter 4.25

The Hind of the Morning

“My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" that crowning cry of the Lord's seven sayings on the cross was anticipated in Scripture long before Jesus was born. Psa. 22 opens with those prophetic words. David, the shepherd boy who became king, was also the sweet psalmist of Israel. The cluster of psalms from 21 to 24 may well rank among his sweetest. David's theme in these psalms is Christ, the True Shepherd and King, of whom he was only a figure. Perhaps Psa. 22, whose inspired title is "the hind of the morning" is the heart of these psalms, for it is the 1 Peter 1:11 prophecy of "the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow." Christ who was both David's son and David's Lord, said, in Luke 24:44 "these are the words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me.”

The Wine of Astonishment

Although Psa. 22 is about Christ, its inspired title is more suggestive of nature. It reads "to the Chief Musician. Upon Aijeleth Shahar i.e. according to the hind of the morning. A psalm of David." We have introduced the subject of the hind of the morning here because it is a prophetic forecast of the theme which opened this book the God of light and His counsels, and the darkness opposing them. His counsels are unveiled in this prophecy about Christ, His cross, Israel and the Church. The darkness too is exposed the Jew and the Roman uniting to put Christ to death. Then in triumph the hind leaps out of the darkness into the resurrection morn.

As a shepherd, David was a keen observer of nature. He observed this leaping habit of the hind a female red deer at the break of dawn. The hind would lie in the underbrush as it sensed the night was ending, stirring restlessly. As soon as the first rays of the morning sun burst on the earth, the hind would leap up like an arrow from a bow. There was no waiting no indecision the bound was immediate from darkness to morning light.

The hind of the morning is never mentioned directly again in this psalm after the title heading. No wonder David wrote "Thou hast showed Thy people hard things Thou hast made us drink the wine of astonishment" Psa. 60:3. There is still further wine of astonishment for the reader to drink in Psa. 22. For up to and including Verse 21, God does not answer Christ's pleas for deliverance on the cross, although He is His only One. Why?

We cannot find the answer to such questions with the mind of man. It becomes wine of astonishment a stupefying portion if we try to do so. But there is divine wisdom and guidance for believers in the Scriptures. To these then we will turn for the answer, remembering the Lord's words in resurrection "O fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself" Luke 24:25-27.

Christ's Opening Appeal to God Not to Forsake Him

Psa. 22 opens with these words "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Why art Thou far from My Salvation, from the words of My groaning? My God, I cry by day, and Thou answerest not, and by night, and there is no rest for Me. And Thou art holy, Thou that dwellest amid the praises of Israel." Every Christian should recognize these opening words "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" as among the last of the Lord's seven sayings on the cross. Next come words which Christ did not speak on the cross, but which are really a prophecy of what His thoughts and feelings would be during His crucifixion. So here we are admitted into a secret previously known only to God the secret of how Christ privately reviewed His whole life with God, including the woes of the cross, before entering into death.

The question raised in Verse 1 is a penetrating one "why?" Why had God forsaken Him? Clearly God HAD forsaken Him for He was far from delivering Him, from the groans He uttered in sheer physical pain. Three times He speaks to God. On the third occasion He tells Him that He cried by day and night. The hours on the cross seemed like days and nights to the Lord, so prolonged and acute were His sufferings. He cried by day the time when God works but God, though hearing Him, did not answer. This was grievous to Him. He cried by night symbolically the time of Satan's power but there is no rest for Him. Why?

The answer comes from the Lord Himself "Thou art holy." How could there be rest for anyone under the judgment of a holy God? He had taken our place as the sin bearer God "hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" 2 Cor. 5:21. So the question is closed as soon as the words are uttered. This is important to see. Christ justified God in everything that had been done to Him. Then He goes on, in this Psalm, to make two further appeals to God, not because He questions the righteousness of His judgment in any way He has just vindicated that but on other grounds.

The key thoughts in each of these appeals are contained in the opening plea we have just considered. One appeal is based on His sufferings incomprehensible because He is God's only One forsaken by God though He trusted in Him; the other appeal is that God did not forsake Israel who also suffered, although differently. God was not far from them. He was so close that they praised Him and He dwelt amid their praises. The Psalm continues on to expand these two themes.

Christ Reminds God of His Faithfulness in Delivering Israel From Their Trials and Sufferings

“Our fathers trusted in Thee; they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them. They cried unto Thee, and were delivered; they trusted in Thee and were not confounded." God had heard their groaning Ex. 6:5 when they had to make bricks without straw in the iron furnace of Egypt in anguish of spirit and cruel slavery. He sent His plagues on Pharaoh and desolated the land of Egypt. When the children of Israel left Egypt and Pharaoh's armies pursued them, they were afraid. They cried out to the Lord. God was a delivering God then "Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath He cast into the sea; his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea. The depths have covered them; they sank into the bottom as a stone. Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power; Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy" Ex. 15:4 6. They built a tabernacle for the Lord in the desert and a Temple for Him in the land. Then they forgot the Lord and He allowed His holy and beautiful House to be destroyed and His people carried away captive to a far land. But not all the people forgot their ancient Deliverer. There was a godly remnant who trusted Him. They represented the people as a whole in God's eyes. Daniel belonged to this godly remnant. Just as a woman would cherish a remnant of her wedding dress if most of it were burnt in a fire, so the godly remnant reminded God of what Israel once was. And Daniel stood foremost for God among the godly remnant, representing all that Israel should have been to God. He suffered along with the Jews who had given God up. Not only that, but he confessed their sins before God, acknowledging that he had part in them and interceding for the people before God Dan. 9:15-19. He prayed toward Jerusalem three times a day Dan. 6:10. If the Passover and the Red Sea spoke of the beginning of Israel's history, then Daniel in the lion's den spoke of their end. Had God ever forsaken them? Not a bit. At the very end He said "I have loved you saith the Lord" Mal. 1:2.

And what memories would be stirred in the heart of a godly Jew by the Lord's plea for deliverance from the dog and the lion. The dog and the lion these animals were prominent at the beginning and ending of Israel's history their leaving Egypt and (in the person of Daniel) their entering the lion's den. In Egypt at their beginning a dog did not bark at them Ex. 11:7; in the end the angel of God shut the lion's mouths Dan. 6:22. This makes the cry of Christ most piteous. For the mouth of the dog and the lion, which God shut for Israel, were opened against Christ at the cross v 13, 16.

Like Israel He put His trust in God from beginning to end. "But Thou art He that took Me out of the womb Thou didst make Me hope when I was upon My mother's breasts. I was cast upon Thee from the womb." And God had not failed Him from the beginning. Herod tried to kill Him when He was a young child, but God warned Joseph to escape to Egypt with Him see Matt. 2:13. So God delivered Him from Egypt at the beginning of His earthly days, just as He delivered Israel out of Egypt at their beginning Matt. 2:19-21. Surely God will deliver Him at His end-deliver Him from those who gaped upon Him with their mouth like a ravening and roaring lion just as He delivered Israel at their end in the lion's den. He points out His hopeless position to God hopeless from man's viewpoint "but I am a worm and no man; a reproach of men, and despised by the people." How this humiliation of the Savior agrees with what was prophesied about Him "He is despised and rejected by men a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief" Isa. 53:3. Man of sorrows indeed! "All those who see Me laugh Me to scorn they shoot out the lip, they shake the head saying He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver Him let Him deliver Him, seeing He delighted in Him." The record of the crucifixion in the gospels is the mirror image of these words. Christ's pleas end with the words "be not far from Me" v 11. It was the distance, the separation from God because of being made sin, that Christ felt most keenly.

Christ Tells God of His Sufferings; He Is Not Delivered Although He Is God's Only One

Christ never thought of Himself always of others. As we are abiding in Him, so will this be true of us. Before going to the cross He said, "Let not your heart be troubled" John 14:1. His soul was troubled as the anguish of the cross loomed ahead John 12:27 but His first concern was for His own. So here. Israel was the apple of God's eye. In the first appeal He recalled Israel's history to God. Now He tells Him about His own great sufferings.

The agony of crucifixion is given to us vividly in these words—I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint...My heart is like wax...it is melted in the midst of My bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd...and My tongue cleaveth to My jaws...and Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death...they pierced My hands and My feet...I can count all My bones...they look and stare upon Me...they part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture." Even the piercing of the Lord's side by the Roman soldier after death is covered... "the horns of the Reem"(1) as earlier the piercing of His hands and feet when He was nailed to the cross. No detail is omitted of the sufferings of Christ. Now while it is true that other men have suffered comparable physical agonies from the awful death of crucifixion, they suffered justly, as the thief who was crucified with Christ admitted, but He had done no wrong Luke 23:41. More importantly, He is God's Darling His only One. His great physical sufferings were intensified by the knowledge that God had forsaken Him.

This plea closes the same way as the first one "be not Thou far from Me." He appeals for deliverance from the sword the power of Rome and from the dog Gentiles generally but here specifically the Roman soldiers v. 16-18. "Save Me from the lion's mouth" is a closing appeal for deliverance from Satan's power. The further words "yea from the horns of the Reem hast Thou answered Me" are clearly not part of the appeal. They are an answer to it, and properly introduce the next division of the Psalm the divine answer to Christ's appeals.

The Divine Answer to the Seven Sufferings of Christ

We are all familiar with the seven sayings of Christ on the cross words like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times Psa. 12:6 but are we equally familiar with His seven sufferings? To the Father, on whose throne He has sat down as the Great Overcomer Rev. 3:21 This theme is infinitely precious. Should it not be to us too, for "to you therefore who believe, He is precious" 1 Peter 2:7.

Broadly speaking the seven sufferings are divided between His sufferings from God on one hand and His sufferings from Satan and man on the other. Now the essence of His sufferings from God was that God, who is good, was far off. The essence of His sufferings from Satan and man was that they, who were evil, were near. So His appeal to God is for nearness to Him, and for deliverance from the power of Satan and man pressing on Him.

The Divine Answer to Christ's Sufferings From Satan and Man

Satan tempted the first man Adam in the best of circumstances in a garden in Eden; he tempted the second Man, Christ, in the worst of all circumstances a wilderness. Satan overcame Adam, secured the power of death over him, and brought the Adam race into bondage to him. Christ however overcame Satan in the temptation. Frustrated, Satan "departed from Him for a season" Luke 4:13 only to return at the cross where he brought all the forces of evil to bear against Him. These were "strong bulls of Bashan" the Jewish religious establishment "dogs" the Roman soldiers and "the lion's mouth" the power of Satan himself. The role of "the strong bulls of Bashan" is well defined in the New Testament... "when the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death. And when they had bound Him, they led Him away, and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the Governor" Matt. 27:1, 2. The "dogs" (the Roman soldiers) are easily identified too, for Matthew cross references his gospel to our Psalm "and they crucified Him, and parted His garments, casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet "they parted My garments among them and upon My vesture did they cast lots" Matt. 27:35. "The lion's mouth" is Satan, the last enemy here "yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with Me" Psa. 23:4. It was in Psa. 23 that David reviewed the ways of God with him that led him from the valley of the shadow of death to the blessed portion of dwelling in the house of the Lord forever. "The valley of the shadow of death" to David was the valley of Elah, where he fought Goliath 1 Sam. 17. In that encounter Goliath is a figure of Satan, David of Christ. David cut off Goliath's head with his own sword as Christ destroyed him who had the power of death by dying to sin and rising again "that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" Heb. 2:14,15. So Christ reviews the ways of God with Him at the cross. There was no shadow in the valley for Him He tasted death for every thing see Heb. 2:9. But neither was there any fear of evil. He counted on God's presence being with Him at the end "Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort Me" this is true dependence when every man was against Him, urged on by Satan.

Yes, Satan marshaled all his forces "the assembly of the wicked" against Christ. They pierced His hands and His feet. However, this was the worst Satan could do. The most ancient of all prophecies had to be fulfilled that the serpent should bruise Christ's heel Gen. 3:15. And so it was. Satan's enmity was the cause of the Lord's bodily anguish on the cross and there can be no doubt that he stirred up the reproach of men. The Lord prayed for deliverance from all this. What was the divine answer?

To His bodily sufferings there could be no answer but resting His blessed Head on the cross when His work was finished. The reproach of men yielded to the acclaim of God "honor and majesty hast Thou laid upon Him" Psa. 21:5. As for the enemies who surrounded Him at the cross, God would take care of them in His own time "sit Thou at My right hand until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool" Psa. 110:1. "Thine hand shall find out all Thine enemies Thy right hand shall find out those who hate Thee Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of Thine anger" Psa. 21:8,9. "All thine enemies" includes Satan, who once boasted that he would give Christ all the kingdoms of the world and their glory if He would worship him. But in the day when Christ's enemies are subdued, men will know that "the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" Psa. 24:6.

The Divine Answer to Christ's Sufferings From God.

Christ suffered three ways from God being made sin, being abandoned by God, and accepting death as the just judgment of sin. Think what must have passed across His holy soul when He, who did no sin 1 Peter 2:22 in whom is no sin 1 John 3:5 and who is without sin Heb. 4:15 was made sin for us 2 Cor. 5:21. But when this happened darkness replaced the day a darkness over the whole land. And God, who is of too pure eyes to behold iniquity, abandoned Him. This was marked by the cry "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" Finally He accepted the judgment of our sins which He had assumed "in that He died He died unto sin once" Rom. 6:10.

Now let us consider the divine answer to Christ's sufferings. First, what was His reward from His Father for the awfulness of being made sin? Was it not in bringing many sons to glory? "For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings" Heb. 2:10. "It pleased the Lord to bruise Him He hath put Him to grief when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied" Isa. 53:10, 11. So the divine answer here is "behold I and the children whom God has given Me" Heb. 2:13. The second question concerns the opening verse and central theme of our psalm-why had God forsaken Christ. The Father always heard Him John 11:42 why then had He not answered His question and His twofold appeal not to be far from Him? From the gospel record it is clear that the Father answered Him before He laid down His life, for He addressed Him as "Father" once more the cry of relationship and not "My God." "Thou hast made Him most blessed forever Thou hast made Him exceeding glad with Thy countenance" Psa. 21:6. The third question is better put in the language of Scripture "who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living" Isa. 53:8. It can also be answered from Scripture "He asked life of Thee and Thou gavest it Him, even length of days for ever and ever" Psa. 21:4. Here we are admitted into a divine secret that Christ asked God for life as Man in resurrection also that His petition was granted "Thou hast given Him His heart's desire, and hast not withheld the request of His lips" Psa. 21:2. And in that resurrection life God acclaims Him as the rightful King alone fit to receive the Kingdom setting a crown of pure gold on His head.

So there was a divine answer for all Christ's sufferings from God because of the work of the cross. Nearness was restored, He was given life in resurrection and children after a new order. The Father's love was fully tested at the cross. The beauty of the divine bosom in all its richness and loveliness shone out there. He must declare it to others that they might know it, too. Nobody could declare it who had not tasted it. But Christ had experienced its sweetness, for He was the Son of the Father's love. This brings us back to the heading of our psalm "the hind of the morning.”

The Leap of the Hind of the Morning

At the beginning of this study we were confronted with two problems why David called his psalm "the hind of the morning" but did not directly refer to the hind again, and why the Father, who had heard Christ's appeals, did not answer them at once. Borrowing the language of Scripture we called this question "wine of astonishment." But we have studied this psalm sufficiently to arrive at an answer to the difficulties.

In nature the hind patiently waits for the end of the night. It is not disappointed. When the first rays of the morning break, it bounds off in joy. Well, Christ fulfilled the figure of the hind of the morning. He entered into the darkness of death and rose out of it. It is the morning of His resurrection now. His first and greatest joy is that the Father who previously had heard His appeals has now answered them. Resurrection is the proof of that. "Yea, from the horns of the Reem hast Thou answered Me" is the Lord's rejoicing cry in resurrection. This cry of our precious Savior should not be included in Verse 21. It stands in startling contrast to the plea "save Me from the lion's mouth" just as the hind leaping in the morning is in dramatic contrast to the hind waiting for the morning. Properly it is the commencing verse of the second division of our psalm. It is a beautiful verse, this declaration that He has been answered from the horns of the Reem. The horns are the piercing force of an animal and answer to the piercing of the Lord's side on the cross the last indignity to His body. It stands out in bold relief from the opening of the first division of our psalm "Thou answerest not." The Father's answer centered on His resurrection. Like the rays of the rising sun to the hind, the Father's answer is the source of all joy and praise for everything which follows. As the hind is seen in activity in the morning so is Christ in the morning of His resurrection. He opens to our vista succeeding waves of blessing, each larger in extent than the previous one all the fruit of His work on the cross. Everything ends in praise.

The Risen Lord's Message to Mary Magdalene That He Has Brethren in Resurrection

Now let us turn to a resurrection scene. It is a morning scene, suited to David's title "the hind of the morning." At the sepulcher the Lord appears to Mary Magdalene, anxious to declare the Name of the One who answered Him from the piercing of the cross. This was the first thing on His heart v 22 "I will declare Thy Name unto My brethren." And so at the sepulcher the risen Lord said to Mary "Go to My brethren and say to them I ascend to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God" John 20:17. The question which might arise in our hearts who are Christ's brethren is very simply answered. "Ye are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus...there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" Gal. 3:26,28. Just as my natural brother shares a common life with me, so is a brother in Christ the sharer of Christ's life with me "he who believes on the Son has eternal life" John 3:36. Paul picks up this theme in Hebrews "for both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren" Heb. 2:11.

Marvelous as this message of unity was, the setting of it in a garden and the manner in which it was delivered to a woman, give fresh luster to the ways of God. For it was in another garden the garden in Eden that another woman, Eve ignored the voice of the Lord God and listened instead to the voice of the serpent. She ate the forbidden fruit and brought sin and death into the world. So it was fitting that in this garden a woman should listen to the voice of the Lord God, and tell the story of His triumph over the serpent's power. The message of Christ's coming ascension was to be told to His brethren men and women who are sharers of His life eternal life.

The Risen Lord Becomes the Leader of Praise and Song in the Midst of the Church

After the Father's Name is declared the language of verse 22 quickens "in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee." So it was on the evening of the same day that Mary Magdalene delivered the Lord's message that Jesus came and stood in the midst of the assembled disciples. True, the Church was not yet formed that had to await the Day of Pentecost but our psalm is a prophecy of the conditions that should apply when it was formed. The Lord's appearance in the midst was, then, a foreshadowing of Church conditions, when He blesses His own with His presence. Referring to our psalm the Epistle to the Hebrews makes it clear that the Lord in the midst becomes the Leader of our hymns of praise "I will declare Thy Name unto My brethren, in the midst of the Church WILL I SING PRAISE unto Thee" Heb. 2:12. Thus Christ becomes, to the Church, not only the Leader of our praise but the Leader of our songs of praise. This theme is emphasized in the beautiful lines of Mrs. J. A. Trench:

“Now He praises, in the Assembly,

Now the sorrow all is passed:

His the earnest of our portion

We must reach the goal at last.

Yes, He praises, grace recounting

All the path already trod

We associated with Him

God, our Father and our God.

“Join the singing that He leadeth,

Loud to God our voices raise:

Every step of faith yet trodden

Is a triumph of His grace:

Whether joy, or whether trial,

All can only work for good,

For He holdeth all- who loves us

And hath bought us with His blood.

Christ Resumes His Relationship With Israel As Jehovah

The Church is now left behind and the Spirit of God prophetically moves on to the time when He will begin to revive Israel, when they say "Come, and let us return unto the Lord, for He hath torn, and He will heal us, He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us. In the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight" Hos. 6:1, 2. During the Church period Israel was a valley of dry bones Ezek. 37:1, 2. For God to raise them up there must first be national repentance for the enormity of their sin in crucifying their Messiah. When He appears to them they see the wounds of His crucifixion and exclaim "what are these wounds in Thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends" Zech. 13:6. "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications. And they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for His only Son, and shall be in bitterness for Him, as One that is in bitterness for His firstborn...and the land shall mourn, every family apart...and their wives apart" Zech. 12:10-14. This, then, seems to be the meaning of verses 23-24 of our psalm. Structurally they follow "the congregation" the Church period but precede "the great congregation" Israel, which is the subject of verses 25 and 26. "Ye that fear Jehovah praise Him" the Psalmist then says in verse 23. "Jehovah" is God's covenant name with Israel, which indicates that they are returning to the Lord. It is beautiful to see that just as the Church period was introduced by the Father answering Christ v 21 so Israel is introduced by the Father hearing Christ verse 24.

Christ Ends His Nazarite Vow and Drinks the Wine of Kingdom Joy With Israel

In verse 25 we find Israel restored to the Lord and praise ascending from the great congregation. But part of the verse "I will pay My vows before them that fear Him" needs to be explained.

In the Upper Room, on the night of His betrayal, the Lord Jesus took the oath of the Nazarite. This oath is described in detail in Num. 6. The Nazarite undertook not to drink wine "all the days of his separation." After that he could "pay his vow" his undertaking would be satisfied and drink wine. Wine is a symbol of earthly joy in the Bible as the Holy Spirit speaks of heavenly joy the two are contrasted in Eph. 5:18. The Lord Jesus, then, took the oath of the Nazarite because it was impossible to receive earthly joy from Israel when they were about to crucify Him. The words of His Nazarite oath were "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I DRINK IT NEW WITH YOU IN MY FATHER'S KINGDOM" Matt. 26:29. In verse 25 of our psalm that time has come and He can pay His Nazarite vow before those who fear Him. He had been in heaven, acting as the Great High Priest of believers during the Church period, and so separated from Israel. But now "the days of His separation" are ended and He will freely drink the wine of kingdom joy with Israel. There is another beautiful figure of the same thing in the marriage supper at Cana of Galilee. There the water of Jewish purifications all that the law could offer is changed into the wine of kingdom joy. The good wine is kept to the end. What truth does this simple figure teach us that the good wine is kept to the end? Is it not that in Christ's 1000 year kingdom men will do whatever He says? see John 2:5. "Thy people shall be willing in the day of Thy power" Psa. 110:3. And this is true earthly joy to the Lord's heart the best wine at the end. "The meek shall eat and be satisfied" verse 26 for the Lord had said that the meek shall inherit the earth see Matt. 5:5. Though Israel's joys are earthly as these figures teach us, they will be very real "blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.”

These blessings will be enhanced by an end to carnage in the animal kingdom. The groaning of creation of which Paul speaks in Rom. 8:19 22 will be hushed. "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed their young ones shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox" Isa. 11:6, 7. This change in the habits of the animals is hinted at in Psa. 22 and 23. Up to the end of the first section of Psa. 22 That is the section concerning the cross all the animals mentioned are fierce ones strong bulls of Bashan, a ravening and a roaring lion, dogs, the horns of the Reem. So when the work of the cross ends, the fierce animals disappear from the text. They are replaced by gentle ones, teaching us that the blessings of the kingdom are founded on the cross. First there is the hind of the morning with its symbolic leap out of the darkness of death to the morn of resurrection. Then comes the sheep, the shepherd, the green pastures and still waters.

The Nations of the World Come Under the Sway of Christ's 1000 Year Kingdom

It is beautiful to see the mixture of power and meekness in the coming kingdom. Power will be used to introduce the kingdom and to suppress evil in it once it is established. The nations will be ruled with a rod of iron Rev. 2:27 but the principles of the kingdom will be those in the Sermon on the Mount. The meek shall truly inherit the earth not those who have filled it with wars and violence. "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's House shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" Isa. 2:2-4. The great men of the world have sometimes used the latter part of the Scripture just quoted to suggest that the wars they waged would be followed by peace. The truth is that only Christ can bring lasting peace to the world. When men acknowledge that the kingdom is the Lord's and He is the Governor among the nations, wars will cease. Those who learned war will come to Jerusalem, to the holy Temple that shall be built there, to learn to worship God instead both the families of the nations and the fat ones of the earth. Then the last words of David will be fulfilled "The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And He shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds" 2 Sam. 23:3, 4.

The Little Flock

The last two verses of our psalm relate to the people of God generally "a seed shall serve Him it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He hath done it." Then comes the Shepherd Psalm.

“I saw the flock of God, a goodly throng

Of blood- bought people moving fast along

Nor could deceiver ever enter there.”

“Fear not, little flock" the Savior said, "for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" Luke 12:32. Men scoff at this because Christianity seems to be in retreat in the world. Even believers can be affected by the growing darkness if they forget that the morning lies ahead. We are warned "because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall grow cold" Matt. 24:12. Don't let that happen to you, dear young believer. Men thought they had Christ secure in the grave with a few soldiers to guard His precious body. Vain thought! To their eye He was a failure, but an unwanted failure. He rose from the dead in power, mocking the will of man. So with the Church today. To man's eye we, too, are a failure, and just as much unwanted as Christ was. Our message is said to be irrelevant. Another vain thought! Those who scoff at the message of the gospel now will tremble in the Day of Judgment.

Let us pay particular attention to the Lord's words "fear not, little flock." There is much in this life to make us fearful, naturally speaking sickness, disease, pain, suffering, the difficulty of earning a living, bereavement, the hatred of the world to name only a few of the trials of everyday life. The lesson of "the hind of the morning" is complete confidence in God when everything is against us. "For we have not a High Priest not able to sympathize with our infirmities, but tempted in all things in like manner, sin apart" Heb. 5:15. We are strengthened in the trials of life by the knowledge that we have a Great High Priest who passed through them all and was delivered out of them. God delivers us from our trials only in His own good time not ours and the end of His ways with us is that we become worshippers. What was the first thing on Christ's lips in resurrection? Was it not the declaration of His Father's Name the One who answered His pleas and delivered Him? Then he becomes the Leader of praise and song in the midst of the Church. That is the culmination of Psa. 22 song, praise, worship, and adoration. Because we read the psalms as prose, we tend to forget that they are metrical and were to be sung. Indeed Psa. 22 is addressed to "the Chief Musician." Little did David know that God's thoughts rose above this man, whoever he was, to His beloved Son, who is to be the Chief Musician of the choirs of the redeemed throughout eternal ages.

Song and worship go together. They are the out flowing of the heart of redeemed man. Israel first began to sing at the Red Sea when Jehovah saved them from Pharaoh's chariots. In that song they looked forward to worshipping the Lord in the tabernacle in the desert Ex. 15:2 and in the Temple in the land Ex. 15:17. "And they ministered before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing until Solomon had built the House of the Lord in Jerusalem" 1 Chron. 6:32. Did it stop then? Oh no. "When the burnt offering began the song of the Lord began also" 2 Chron. 29:27. There was a service of song suited to the One who dwelt amid the praises of Israel. And when did Israel's song end? Only when they lost their love for the Lord and were carried away captive for their sins. Then their songs of joy turned into a lament "by the rivers of Babylon there we sat down, yea we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps on the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song...sing us one of the songs of Zion...how shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land" Psa. 137:1-4. These things were written for our instruction, and to give us hope see Rom. 15:4. If we abide in Christ we will have a song of praise on our lips "singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord" Eph. 5:19.

One day the wilderness will cease for us as it did for Israel, and we shall enter into our promised land the heavenly glory. Then we shall sing a new song, saying "Thou art worthy...because Thou hast been slain, and hast redeemed to God, by Thy blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and made them to our God kings and priests, and they shall reign over the earth" Rev. 5:10. When we sing this new song God is about to judge the earth to purify it and introduce it to the blessings of the Kingdom of God things we have been considering in Psa. 22. And we shall share Christ's universal rule with Him Eph. 1:10. But the sweetest song in the Bible is not about the Kingdom but the King. It is "to Him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in His blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father to Him be the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen." Rev. 1:5, 6.

Chapter 4.26

The Man in the Glory

The Man in the glory is Jesus the Great Forerunner of the Christian. In Heb. 6:19-20 Paul says "which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters into that within the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus." He is the Forerunner because He is the first Man to run the race from earth to heaven. That race is over for Him, for He is the Man in the glory of God. But not for us. We are to follow our Great Forerunner until we too attain the goal the glory of God.

“And we our great Forerunner see

In His own glory there

Yet not ashamed with such as we

As Firstborn all to share.”

The Christian is a soldier, and must overcome the storms and difficulties of this life, not sinking under them, but enduring hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. So in 1 Tim. 1:19 Paul exhorts Timothy holding faith and a good conscience, which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck. Certainly Paul hadn't, for in Phil. 1:21 he says "to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." This from a man who had been beaten, chained, imprisoned, and faced death for Christ's sake. Acts 27 recounts how he behaved on a ship during a great storm. He is quiet, in complete confidence in God. Had the ship's leadership listened to him and stayed in harbor, they would have avoided the storm. Now in their hour of trouble his voice alone arises to encourage all on board.

Paul was an overcomer because he had an anchor for his soul. This anchor, this our faith, is the Christ of God who died and rose again, and who ascended to the right hand of God. We cannot find Him here, for He is risen. The message of the angels in Acts 1:11 is "why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This Same Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven.”

Apart from divine revelation, it is an impossible thought that a man should sit on God's throne in glory. But God's thoughts are exceedingly rich. This can be seen in the promise of Rev. 3:21 That He will even share His throne with those who overcome "to him who overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father on His throne." So the story of the Man in the glory begins with Christ the Great Overcomer, but does not end until all His redeemed are with Him in the glory.

The Opening of the Heavens

a. The first intimation of a Man in the glory of God The first time the heavens were opened was at the Chebar river, where the prophet Ezekiel was among the captives in a Gentile land. Chebar means as if made clear, and truly the position of God's people at that time, and the means of man's future blessing, were made clear by the visions of God which Ezekiel saw when the heavens were opened.

Since they were opened at Chebar they must have been shut before that. In brief, man's history made that necessary. Driven out of the garden in Eden, he departed from the presence of the Lord and built himself a city where he could forget God. And this he did to such an extent that God sent the flood on the earth, sparing righteous Noah. After the flood, government was instituted, and idolatry sprang up. God called Abraham out of this condition, and an earthly people Israel were separated to Him to preserve the Name of God on the earth. He delivered them out of Egypt by the blood of the Passover Lamb, took them through the Red Sea as on dry land, and then brought them into the desert. Here a tabernacle to the Lord was set up, but they worshipped the golden calf. When they entered the Promised Land, they worshipped Baal. God's purposes in calling out Abraham from idolatry in the first place seemed to have been frustrated. The guilty nation was punished by being taken captive to Babylon. Ezekiel found himself among the captives. The temple was still standing at Jerusalem and Ezekiel was allowed to see, in a vision, the idolatry that was being practiced there, and the departing glory of the God of Israel, reluctant to leave, but compelled to, for God is holy Ezek. Chapters 8 to 11. Eventually God permitted the destruction of the temple. It is most important to understand that when this took place, God removed His throne of government in the world from Israel(1) and transferred earthly power to the Gentiles. Apart from the moral lessons, this is the great thought. Now let us turn to the first chapter of Ezekiel.

It is very easy, in reading the fascinating description of living creatures and wheels in Ezekiel's visions, to overlook the most important part.. "and above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it" Ezek. 1:26... "this was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord" Ezek. 1:28. The language here is deliberately vague "the likeness of a throne" etc. "as the appearance of a man" etc. Yet it tells us that a Man will sit on God's throne incredible thought and not on earth, the place of man's dominion, but in the heavens "a man above." Thus the heavens are opened to let us enter into this great secret that there shall one day be a man in the glory, seated on God's throne, without telling us who this man will be. And so, in the measured language of Scripture, the heavens are not declared to be opened again until they open upon the only Man fit to sit on that throne a Man of a new order-our Lord Jesus Christ.

As we trace the opening of heaven throughout Scripture, an important truth comes to light. This truth is that all is vision whenever heaven is opened except where Christ is seen in Person. At Jordan, the opened heavens gaze at Him on earth; at the martyrdom of Stephen earth gazes at Him in heaven. God wants to impress on us the truth that there is a Man in the glory of God, and to behold Him there as Stephen did. 2 Cor. 3:18 tells us "but we all, looking on the glory of the Lord, with unveiled face, are transformed according to the same image from glory to glory.”

b. The first time the heavens are opened to a man the Jordan: It was at the Chebar river that the heavens were first opened, so that Ezekiel might see the appearance of a man above the throne. Now at another river, the Jordan, the heavens are opened to that Man "and Jesus, having been baptized, went up immediately from the water, and lo, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him" Matt. 3:11 c.f. also Mark 1:10, Luke 3:21, 22.

The meaning of the words "the heavens were opened to Him" is that they were opened to behold a perfect Man for the first time. All who ever came before Him were thieves and robbers. The testimony of the Father's voice carries to our ears His great delight in Him the testimony of the Holy Spirit descending on Him as a dove opens our eyes to behold the Lamb of God on whom God is resting. But for Him there could be no return to that bright glory from which He came except by the cross, for in His own words "except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" John 12:24. He was the Corn of Wheat, the fruit of that heavenly land. Only a sinless Man can enter the glory of God. To put away our sins, and secure us as His companions in the glory, the True Corn of Wheat chose to fall into the ground and die so that there might be much fruit— a Wheatfield, so to speak, each believer like the Corn of Wheat Himself. So heaven, which was opened to behold Him, is closed again. It must be so, for that blessed One had said at the age of twelve "wist ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" Luke 2:49. His Father's business led Him to the cross to die, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God.

c. The heavens are opened so Stephen can see a glorified Christ: With the Lord's work on earth over, it is fitting that we should look into the Father's estimate of it, for what the world thought of Him is of no account. He finished the work His Father gave Him to do, and as the True Corn of Wheat fell into the ground and died. But He was raised from among the dead by the glory of the Father. Not only that but He was the ascended and glorified man, at the highest pinnacle of glory. So that we may know that, the heavens are opened again. Here we behold the Man whom the King hath delighted to honor.

“The heavens are opened now!

Sound it through earth abroad;

And we, by faith, in heaven behold

Jesus the Christ, our Lord.”

The occasion is the martyrdom of Stephen. Dear Stephen was part of the Wheatfield just like the Corn of Wheat. Firm in his testimony to the Jews, recalling their wicked history, yet he displays Christ in every feature. "All that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel" Acts 6:15. Then when his witness was ended he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus, standing on the right hand of God, and said "behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." Had that blessed Man not once stood at the river Jordan? Yes! He was Israel's servant on earth and remained Israel's servant in the glory. But they would not have Him, so He sat down..."and they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge, and when he had said this, he fell asleep"— Acts 7:55-60.

Thus "the servant is not greater than his Lord...if they have kept My saying they will keep yours also" see John 15:20. Stephen was the first of many who would prove the truth of these words by resisting unto blood, for the Church of God has been a persecuted church from the beginning, though Hades' gates have not prevailed against it see Matt. 16:18. For the knowledge that there is a Man in the glory is the anchor of the soul. This truth is important. We need an anchor to hold us in the storms of life. That anchor is our great forerunner Heb. 6:19. 20. He has trail blazed the path on which we are now walking, and He has entered the glory of God. The great Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering that is, perfected in the glory, "which is what is meant all through here by perfect." (2) He espoused our cause against Satan, our great adversary, entered into death, and was raised out of it by the glory of the Father. That is how He chose to enter the glory and why God now has Him in that bright glory before Him.

Up to this point we have seen that the heavens were opened three times in each case to man. In the Old Testament the heavens were opened in anticipation of a man upon the throne. In the New Testament the heavens were opened first on that Man a Man after a new order. So the heavens were opened to look down and see that Man on earth. Then they were opened again so Stephen, on earth, could see that same Man in heaven. In between the New Testament openings we have the great events that brought that Man from earth to heaven. He smote Satan, of whom Goliath was the type at His temptation and became victor over him with his own sword the power of death at the cross. For this mighty work, God seated Him at the right hand of power in the glory, and the heavens were opened to let Stephen see Him there. This opening of the heavens, then, is to let us, like Stephen, see the Man in the glory the Man who is rightfully entitled to sit on God's throne.

d. The heaven(3) opened in blessing: Peter had gone to pray on the housetop, had fallen in a trance "and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending to him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners and let down to the earth, wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and birds of the air" Acts 10:11,12. Peter was hungry. A voice spoke to him "rise, Peter, kill and eat." Peter insisted that he had never eaten anything common or unclean, and was told that "what God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." This was done thrice, and the vessel was received up again into heaven" Acts 10:16. The vessel as a great sheet knit at the four corners came from heaven and returned to heaven.

The meaning of Peter's vision? Heaven is the source of blessing for the earth, and this blessing, because the sheet was knit at the four corners, was shown to be universal. (4) The difficulty was that Peter, as a good Jew, would like to confine the blessing to the Jews. But a crisis had arrived for Peter. Gentiles were coming to bring him to Cornelius. This being the case, God had to remind him that what He had cleansed Peter was not to consider common. This was most important for Peter, for he was the one the Lord had entrusted with the keys of the kingdom of the heavens Matt. 16:19. Peter had no difficulty turning one key, so to speak, to let the Jews in at the day of Pentecost. But without the vision he would have found it hard to turn the other key and let the Gentiles in. Even so, nothing vital is ever committed to man. If the Lord gave Peter the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, He Himself retained the keys of death and hades Rev. 1:18.

e. The heaven is opened in judgment, revealing Christ on a white horse: This scene is in stark contrast to the opening of heaven Peter saw, unfolding God's ways in grace. This opening of the heavens in judgment is due to the world's refusal of the gospel.

What is astonishing about the last time heaven is opened is that Christ is presented, but not, as we might expect, as the First Object to arrest our gaze, but the second. "And I saw the heaven opened, and behold a white horse and One sitting on it (called) Faithful and True" Rev. 19:11. The white horse here precedes the throne Rev. 20:11. John's readers would need no explanation of these symbols as we do. For in the days of the Roman Empire an Emperor returning in triumph from the wars rode on a white horse. By way of contrast the Lord rode on an ass and a colt, the foal of an ass. But when the time comes to assert His rights, He rides a white horse. The white horse is the symbol of crushing, victorious power. White horses belong to Christ and His people. But why, we might ask, does Scripture put the horse before the rider here? We believe it is to arrest our attention to a change in the way God is dealing with man. It is no longer the acceptable year of the Lord when the gospel of forgiveness of sins is preached, but the day of vengeance of our God. Because we believed the gospel we are seen with the Lord on white horses when He Himself comes out of heaven on a white horse.

Heaven opened, never to be closed again: This is the time when the Lord's words in John 2:51 will be fulfilled "hereafter you shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." In that day there will be that union of heaven and earth which God had in mind when He created them. Sin had separated them morally, but we have seen how from time to time God opened the heavens, looking on to this time. Now they will remain open.

So we have come to a climax of what Scripture teaches us about Christ as the Man in the glory. It was brought about by Christ appearing out of heaven on a white horse to overthrow man's world and to establish His world wide government in power. This will take the form of a kingdom, of which Christ will be the undisputed Head, as Eph. 1:10 makes plain "that in the administration of the fullness of times He might head up in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth..." Christ will rule this earth for a glorious 1000 years from the seat of His administration in heaven. His administration will be characterized by righteousness something unprecedented in the government of the world. Furthermore, once established the kingdom will never be given up, as Heb. 1:8 teaches us "but to the Son He says Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom.”

Men in the Glory- The Story of the Many Sons Christ Would Have With Him to Share His Glory

Up to this point we have been considering Christ as the only Man in the glory. From this viewpoint He is our goal, and where He is that must be our rest. However the Corn of Wheat who fell into the ground and died would not abide alone. From Heb. 2:10 we learn that the Captain of our salvation is bringing many sons to glory. That being the case, the Christian's hope must be in heaven. It is. Phil. 3:20, 21 tells us that we will receive glorified bodies like Christ's as well "from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to His body of glory." This event is followed by the judgment seat of Christ to deal with our responsible life when we were in the world. We know that this sequence of events is correct because 1 Peter 4:17 tells us that judgment must begin at the House of God i.e. before God can judge the world.

The rapture of the Church will profoundly affect so many things that we can only touch on two of them as they affect us the past and the future. The past is the review of our past lives on earth at the judgment seat of Christ. The future is the glorified body we receive at the rapture. Without such bodies we cannot inherit the kingdom of God. In view of the importance of this subject we have brought it into focus from Scriptures ranging throughout the New Testament.

a. The Judgment Seat of Christ: We must account for our responsible lives. When our life's work is finished it will be tested by fire at the judgment seat of Christ to see what it is worth. Six materials which are analogous to our life's work are listed in 1 Cor. 3:12 all of which speak of finished things.

The first three are wood, hay, and stubble, speaking of a harvest of works bearing man's approval and which, due to their size and bulk, are prominent in this world. The wood comes from felling great trees the hay from mowing fields of grass the stubble is what is left in the earth after the harvest. Taken together the character of the work is worldly the tree is vertical the fields of grass horizontal and the stubble what is rooted in the earth after the harvest. When Christian work of this character is finished it will be examined and burned up at the judgment seat of Christ.

Not so with the gold, silver, and precious stones. These things are taken out of the earth and given to God. Silver is central, for throughout Scripture it speaks of redemption. On God's side the Lord's price was thirty pieces of silver. On man's side all the children of Israel had to give half a shekel of silver when they were numbered "the rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they give an offering to the Lord to make an atonement for your souls" Ex. 30:12-15 c.f. also Ex. 38:25. Gold and precious stones are found in the Holy City Jerusalem. God publicly displays that of which He approved at the judgment seat of Christ. The city is of pure gold, like its street where the righteous walk. There is only one street in the Holy City because everybody will walk the same way according to divine righteousness. That is why the street is pure gold, for gold in Scripture is the symbol of divine righteousness. The gold is pure i.e. not alloyed, but this pure gold is "as transparent glass." Pure gold is not transparent in nature. That is just the point. In the mixed conditions of natural life too many Christians allowed alloys into the gold ulterior motives, hidden thoughts, dislike of some of our fellow believers, resentments and other fleshly springs. These will have been purged out by the fire of the judgment seat of Christ through which the gold must pass. The result of this purification is that everything is transparent. Nothing is hidden any more, and with our fallen nature gone there will be nothing to hide. As for the precious stones, they adorn the foundations of the wall of the Holy City Jerusalem. They speak of God's workmanship in the saints removing them from the mire of this world and breaking and cutting them as a skilled workman would to bring out their beauty. This work is seldom understood or appreciated in this darkened world, but the Holy City is a city of light, and it is this light falling on the precious stones which will bring out their many hued splendor. What hath God wrought indeed!

b. The heavenly saints in glory: In Rev. 4 we are given a picture of the saints in their glorified bodies, following the judgment seat of Christ. They are symbolized in the 24 elders seated on thrones, around the throne of God and the Lamb. They are viewed in two ways. First they are seen before the Lamb begins to judge the world by taking the book sealed with seven seals. They are clothed in white garments, and have crowns of gold on their heads. After the Lamb has taken the book the elders are seen with harps and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of saints.

.. The white garments and golden crowns: These figures both tell us, in different ways, that the judgment seat of Christ is past. The white garments look forward to the marriage of the Lamb in Rev. 19:7,8 "for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready" i.e. at the judgment seat "and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. The crowns speak of the Lord's approval of our path at the judgment seat and vary with our circumstances. For example a crown of life will be awarded the martyrs who laid down their lives. Paul looked forward to a crown of righteousness. But all had crowns of some degree, for then shall every man have praise of God. Our crowns are distinct from the Lord's. That is why we cast them before the throne saying "Thou art worthy, O Lord." Man denied Him His crown man awarded Him a crown of thorns, God set a crown of pure gold on His head. He comes out of Heaven at Armageddon to claim His throne and is seen with "many crowns.”

.. The harps and bowls: The harps accompany the new song “Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation" Rev. 5:9. The harps speak of training and rehearsal, for a harpist is a skilled musician. We learned the new song on earth but don't sing it until we are in heaven, and then only when the Lamb who was slain is about to judge the earth. We are happy because the Lamb who was slain is about to claim His kingdom. However our joy is tempered by the admission that we were as wicked as those about to be judged, but the blood of the Lamb redeemed us. This is the teaching of grace. It also shows the wisdom of God. In elevating us to the exalted position seen here God does not want us to forget what we once were. Finally, golden bowls full of incense speak of the prayers of saints, ascending to God as fragrance.

In summary, prayer, song, and praise flow from the crowned saints clothed in priestly garments of spotless white. Sinless perfection then, characterizes the glorified saints. This is the necessary inlet to the understanding of the glorified body. J.G. Deck captured the thought in these lines:

“All taint of sin shall be removed

All evil done away

And we shall dwell with God's beloved

Through God's eternal day.”

c. The spiritual body: "There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body." In these simple words Paul points out the distinction between the bodies we now have and those we will receive at the rapture. The background to his words is death and resurrection building up to the swallowing up of death in victory. So he writes "It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body" 1 Cor. 15:42 44. He also points out that if we are alive when Christ comes we the living shall have our bodies changed too into spiritual bodies 1 Cor. 15:51-52.

Our natural bodies are inconsistent with the greatness of God's salvation. They display the working of death in sickness, disease, age and infirmity. We are troubled by evil thoughts and the sin which doth so easily beset us," for we still have an old sinful nature inherited from Adam. "For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven" 2 Cor. 5:2. We cannot enter the Holy City in our natural bodies. Their life principle is blood "the life of the flesh is in the blood" and we know that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." So we await the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, "who shall transform our body of humiliation into conformity to His body of glory" Phil. 3:20, 21. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, our natural bodies of flesh and blood will be transformed into spiritual bodies of flesh and bone like the Lord's own glorious body. The Scriptures which tell us about our spiritual bodies are diverse, but when brought together give us a picture of "our house which is from heaven.”

.. From division to unity what hath God wrought? Division is a principle God brought into the world either in anticipation of man's sin or as a response to it. God could not tolerate unity in a world of sin. The human body is divided male and female when it is born into the world. Man's world is divided into nations, languages, social and innumerable other distinctions. Finally man himself is divided from his world by death. "The great gulf fixed" the final divisor is death.

The great thought of the spiritual body is that it is deathless. It is deathless because we will be in God's presence, and He cannot tolerate sin, whose wages is death. So the present biological division of the race into male and female will be abolished. The Lord made this clear when He was on earth "the children of this world marry, and are given in marriage. But those who shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage, neither can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels" Luke 20:34-36. Paul too insists that in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female Gal. 3:28. These distinctions must be abolished because they imply death and the need to replace the wastage of death by birth. In glory the numbers of the redeemed do not change and those who were once male and female are now one in Christ. The saints in Revelation are always seen that way, worshipping around the throne or serving Christ on white horses.

The new song we sing in Rev. 5 tells us many things. God will have ended the present man made divisions of the church. There will be no national or linguistic distinctions in glory. At Babel God scrambled human language at Pentecost He demonstrated how these diverse tongues could speak "the wonderful works of God." In the glory we shall no doubt be programmed to speak one language as Adam was when he was created.

.. Dependence on God our food and drink: Our natural bodies are sustained by food and drink. Eating and drinking are marks of dependency on God, for food and drink come from Him and without them we would die. Do we eat and drink in the glory? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Certainly the spiritual body has that capacity, for the Lord ate a piece of a broiled fish and a honeycomb in resurrection. The scene in Gen. 18 is suggestive also. Other Scriptures have spiritual connotations. The marriage supper of the Lamb speaks of the festivities of grace. Rev. 22 tells us of the water of life and the tree of life with its fruits, reminding us of the Lord's words "He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes on Me shall never thirst." If Christ is our food we are dependent on God as He was, and that is the key to power.

.. The physical and mental powers of the spiritual body: When our bodies are changed we will receive glorified bodies consonant with our new position those who share the rule of the universe with Christ. We enter into the powers of the world to come. The spiritual body is a body of power. It transcends God's original mandate to man over the earth to which it is no longer confined. We rise from the earth at the rapture to meet the Lord in the cloud and after some time in heaven leave it with Christ and go to Armageddon on earth. So the spiritual body clearly has the power to travel through space. Then on the mental plane the scene on the Mount of Transfiguration implies powers of mind exceeding those we now possess. How could Peter identify Moses and Elias? In what tongue did they converse, for ancient Hebrew would be as incomprehensible as Chaucer's English to us?

Some of these powers involve changes to the way human beings live which are completely beyond our understanding. There is little likelihood that we will sleep, for there is no night in the Holy City. Work in the sense of toil will disappear for it was God's sentence on man because of sin. Our occupation then? Won't time hang heavy on our hands? Enough that God has said His servants shall serve Him and given us as much as we can understand of what this might be. The scene in Rev. 4 and 5 is one inlet to our occupation in glory. There we are engaged in worship song and prayer. Later on, when Satan's power is destroyed on the earth, we are awarded administrative positions in the kingdom. So we are given some indication of what we do in glory at least from the rapture to the end of the kingdom.

War in Heaven and Earth Over Christ's Inheritance

We turn now from the scenes in Rev. 4 and 5, to question what it was which prompted this heavenly convocation. Is it not that God's time had come to overthrow man's judgment of Christ and to restore His rights in the world? If that is so, no one can ignore that question. Whether we believe it or not, every human being is born on a battlefield, and must take sides in a war raging between Christ and Satan. In Matt. 12:30 the Lord made it clear that neutrality is impossible in this war, for He said “he who is not with Me is against Me." In other words every human being must enlist either in the Lord's armies or Satan's. This has been called the conflict of the ages.

What is it about this war which began so long ago, and has engulfed us all? Put simply, it is the rivalry between Christ and Satan for the throne of the universe. Everything belongs to Christ as Creator and Redeemer, but Satan disputes Christ's inheritance. He has opened a two front war in heaven and earth although the earth is the major battlefield.

The Cold War

War seldom begins with outright hostilities. Its roots are subtle, having their origin in the will. Various covert acts and confrontations short of open war generally precede war itself. We have seen this in the so called cold war between the East and the West. Because this term is so familiar we have chosen it to describe Satan's opening gambits and modern moves in the conflict of the ages.

a. Satan's strategy to dethrone man from his lordship over the earth: Although God created both the heavens and the earth, the mandate of the first man was restricted to the earth. Man was to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the works of God's hands. The heavens were barred to him by God's edict in Psa. 115:16 "the heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth has He given to the children of men." Satan has worked unceasingly to make man rebel against God in both spheres earth and heaven.

Man's disobedience on earth: The first man Adam found the earth subject to him. Then came the tempter, Satan, the great enemy of our race. His ways with man were to wean him away from God, introduce sin, shut him out of God's blessing, and topple him from his God given place of dominion in the creation. "Then your eyes shall be opened" he promised our first parents Gen. 3:5. He did not tell them that one day their eyes would be shut when "the gates of death opened" Job 38:17 and that at the end of time "the books would be opened" Rev. 20:12 when the lost must give an account of themselves to God. Thus the root of sin is exposed— "yea, hath God said?"— that is, believing Satan and distrusting God.

Satan's tactics to entice man into the heavens: Once Satan had engineered the fall of man our race became little more than his tool. He turned from strategy to tactics, implanting in man's mind the germ of a further rebellion if God had held something back from him on earth, then surely He was keeping something back from him in the heavens. However God restrained man from venturing into space until the 20th Century, when the thought of his heart became clear "depart from us for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways." The two world wars followed. These wars spurred research and development in aerospace, as governments poured money without restraint into military aviation in the desperate struggle for victory. This paved the way for the Space Age in which we live. It also enabled Satan to deliver on his promise "ye shall be as gods." He is the ruler of the authority of the air space would be a better rendering and the 20th Century is the space age. In seeking to overthrow the verdict of Babel he has knit the communications of the world together through devices which function in space such as radar, radio, T.V. and satellite voice and data communications. He has overthrown the natural barriers separating the nations such as oceans. Jet aircraft have made them highways instead. He has broken the barriers separating man from the planets by linking missiles to computers. The computer amplifies the human mind a transparent attempt to imitate the powers of the spiritual body which does not stand in isolation. The devil wants to demonstrate that if God can give man a spiritual body he can at least imitate some of its powers. But how feeble the effort is when man is forced, in venturing into space, to take his earth environment with him. What a clear admission that he belongs to the earth.

In the early days of space travel, when man was on his way to the moon, some believers thought that God would prevent him from getting there because Psa. 115:16 prohibited it. In a booklet I published in those days I pointed out that this Scripture is simply a statement of relative spheres the heavens belonging to the Lord, the earth given to man. It is also an implied prohibition of manned space travel for that very reason. But man has defied God from the beginning, and his ventures into space merely add to his transgressions. The Word of the Lord being ignored, God has permitted man to have his way for now, although the end of that way will be judgment. So it was with the angels who kept not their first estate, and are now in chains of darkness, awaiting the judgment of the great day. They were heavenly beings, and kept not their first estate by coming to earth man is an earthly being and is not keeping his first estate in going into space. In principle there is no difference, and God's wrath against a creature breaking the barriers of a created estate will fall on both the angels and the men who have done it.

But just as Eve could muster convincing reasons for eating the forbidden fruit, modern man can give you equally convincing arguments for space travel. God, on the other hand, does not have to explain the reason for His prohibition. However it is not hard to find it in the influence the old serpent has wielded in the world. Even if you have read very little history, you cannot deny the evidence of this fact left behind in the world in the imposing temples of the gods impressive even in their ruined state. The longing for the pagan past can be seen in the lavish and costly restoration of the shrines of the gods. The justification is their architectural beauty but the real reason is a hankering after the old gods which deified man's lusts and passions and their leader, the old serpent.

If God says yes then man says no

For Him we'll neither stop nor go

If God says no then man says yes

No wonder the world's in such a mess

Man reaches for the stars as Isa. 14:13, 14 suggests "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God...I will be like the Most High." Is he himself exalted when he gets there? Hardly. The Globe and Mail, Toronto, of May 28, 1969 reported that the astronauts broadcast profanity from the moon. Random magazine articles have hinted at seeking lewd pleasures in space, where there will be no police. Money is being poured with abandon into space warfare. Taken together these things reveal the secret of the human heart to export sin throughout the universe. That is why God does not want man in space. It is the will of God that sin be confined as it ultimately will be in the lake of fire.

The Hot War—the Story of the Seven Year War for the 1000 Year Kingdom

The rapture of the Church affects heaven and earth. As we have seen, in heaven it is followed by the judgment seat of Christ on earth by the beast of Rev. 13, Satan's representative, disputing Christ's title to the world. To some extent we must retrace ground partially covered to understand the beast's role in opposing Christ. In a world noted for its cynicism, the beast will not be able to establish his credibility the moment he appears on the world scene. But eventually the world will accept his claims, and when it does heaven acts. Rev. 4 depicts a convocation of the glorified saints to consider the question of Christ's rights to the earth, which the beast is disputing. In the next chapter the Lamb settles this question by opening the book sealed with seven seals. This is a declaration of total war on Satan and the beast. This lasts seven years a period of time known to Bible students as the 70th week of Daniel.(5) It is fought in heaven and earth, and ends in the victory of the Lamb, and the establishment of His 1000 year kingdom on earth.

An overview of the seven year war: The war in the heavens is covered in Rev. 12:7-9. This is the story of how Michael and his angels expels Satan from his vantage point in heaven, and casts him down to earth "and there was war in heaven— Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Later on the Lord Himself leaves heaven to destroy Satan's rule on earth at Armageddon.

b. Overthrowing Satan's throne at Armageddon the climax of the conflict: What is Satan's throne? The answer to this question is that it is the closest imitation of God's throne that Satan can contrive. He knew that God made Himself known in Christ in Manhood, and sat Him on His throne in glory. So he too would make himself known in a man who would represent him. This man is called the beast in Scripture, and together with his false prophet and Satan, constitute a false trinity, challenging God's throne. Unable to exalt his throne above the stars of God and cast out by Michael from heaven to earth Satan and the beast must settle for a throne on earth. It is on earth, as we learn from Rev. 13:2, that the dragon gives the beast his power, and his throne, and great authority.

Satan's throne and his false trinity are dismantled in stages. From Rev. 19:20 we learn that the beast and his false prophet are seized alive at Armageddon, and thrown into hell. Then from Rev. 20:1 3 we learn that Satan is imprisoned for the duration of Christ's 1000 year kingdom "and I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand. And he seized the dragon, that old serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled, and after that he must be freed a little season.”

The imprisonment of Satan and the dispatch of the beast and false prophet to the lake of fire ignominiously ends Satan's throne on the earth. He is never able to re establish it, due to the breakup of the false Trinity. The beast and the false prophet are not tried for their crimes at the Great White Throne like other men, but are sent alive to the lake of fire. Satan will join them later also without a trial. This is unnecessary, since all were caught in open insurrection against God.

c. The fruits of victory: When the conflict ends, all believers will share in Christ's reclaimed inheritance. But there is also a commendatory award for those who were faithful in Christ's service during the Church period. This further portion is an award by the Lord of administrative office in His kingdom to those who served Him well. "Well done, good and faithful servant enter into the joy of your Lord" will be cheering words to those who served Him faithfully in the time of His rejection, and are rewarded with rule over five or ten cities in the day of His power, as the case may be. "The joy of your Lord" is the 1000 year kingdom, for the Lord has had no earthly joy before.

Satan Breaks the Armistice at the End of the 1000 Year Kingdom

The end of the kingdom sees man blessed in almost idyllic conditions, almost comparable to the Garden in Eden. But he is not thankful to God for all this, but rather resentful that he must go to Jerusalem to worship God there. As in Eden his heart is ready for the message of the serpent.

How much is conveyed in the simple words of Rev. 20:7, 8 "and when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be released from his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." Satan has apparently learned nothing from his successive defeats. His hatred of God has overridden every other factor. Having lost his own throne at Armageddon, he is revealed as nothing but a rebel against God's throne. His strategy is to assault the throne of God on the earth, which is in the Temple at Jerusalem. His tactics are to inflame the mobs because God forced them to go to Jerusalem to worship Him there. "And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city, and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Then Satan meets his end "and the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and sulphur.”

The Great White Throne—the Final Triumph of the Throne of God

In John 5:22 The Lord said "for neither does the Father judge any one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." This is a very sweeping statement, for several judgments are mentioned in Scripture. But of the other judgments not a word can be found at the close of the Bible. Instead John tells us only of the Great White Throne set up in space.

The beginning of God's judgments on the world can be traced to the throne John saw when a door was opened in heaven. The Great White Throne is the end of them. It is central in God's ways of dealing with His enemies. This centrality is based on what John saw before and after the Great White Throne. Before John saw the Great White Throne God had overthrown Satan's throne at Armageddon. Then when Satan was released from the abyss he attempted to assault God's throne at Jerusalem. So he joined the beast and the false prophet in the lake of fire, the last of the false trinity. After John saw the Great White Throne Satan's followers those who died in their sins stand before Christ for judgment. Their sins, listed in Rev. 21:8 begin with "the fearful and unbelieving" making it clear that these are those who obeyed Satan's voice since the Garden in Eden. They are cast into the lake of fire to join the false trinity previously sent there.

Although this closes the scene of judgment, its setting is significant. Rev. 20:10 tells us it is in space "and I saw a Great White Throne, and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them." The earth was the scene of man's first rebellion against God, and he has desecrated it with his evil works battlefields, temples to the gods, and the artifacts of scientific idolatry. (6) As the world grew old he ventured into space. The Russian astronaut Gherman Titov commented in San Francisco "I didn't see God in space." But he will at this time. Balaam, another false prophet like Titov, predicted this in Num. 24:17 "I shall see Him" (meaning God) "but not now I shall behold Him but not near." It is sad to think that the last thing man will see before being consigned to outer darkness is the face of the Man who could have saved him from that fate.

In the finality of judgment, man is not only sent to the lake of fire, but his works in heaven and earth are burned up. 2 Peter 3:10 also predicts this event "the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works in it shall be burned up.”

This closing out of judgment is a final testimony both to how thoroughly Satan deceived the nations, and to the Scripture witness that God is true. In the temptation in Eden, Satan implanted in man's heart the thought that God was holding something back from him on the earth. Man nourished the thought until he believed that God was also holding something back from him in the heavens. In both spheres he transgressed God's commandments and so lost both heaven and earth. Because man rebelled against God by venturing into space, in space he will be judged. It is in that setting that he loses his former home on earth, is banished from the heavens to the lake of fire, and from the presence of God. The end of the lost is confinement; of the saved liberty. It is only at the end that the whole universe will see that God has kept nothing good from man. The rapture sees us leaving the earth for space, as we meet the Lord on the cloud. The Holy City gives us the range of the entire universe, for we come down from heaven to the earth we once left. And we have the fullest enjoyment of God's presence. What blessed confirmation of 2 Cor. 4:18 "the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

God's Throne Changes Its Character After the Final Judgment

Paul's message in 1 Cor. 15:24-28 sheds additional light on God's last acts of judgment. He says "then comes the end, when He shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when He shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power." He continues "and when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all." Since there will be no insubjection left anywhere, the judgmental character of God's throne passes away. It is replaced by the state of things predicted in 2 Peter 2:13 new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. In the eternal state the throne will not have to enforce righteousness. Instead it will dwell, because we have eternal life, one of whose springs is obedience. Thus in a sense the Great White Throne is the gateway to the eternal state.

New Heavens and a New Earth

The new creation began with a New Man. It ends with a new heavens and a new earth. The Son of God is that new man and we are in Him. He is the beginning of the creation of God the new creation and He will be faithful to His word "Behold I make all things new.”

John is the first man to behold all things made new. He records what he saw in these words "and I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea." As in Gen 1 God destroyed His work only to usher in something better. There is no more sea because the sea is a barrier separating people, at least in the days in which these words were written. The sea is singled out as a symbol of division the characteristic of the old creation. The new creation is characterized by union the union of heaven and earth, and of God and His people. So the new heavens and the new earth are the environment, so to speak, of the new body. God had this in mind when He gave us spiritual bodies. This is confirmed by these words "And I John saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Clearly then God has not withheld anything from man even the heavens. The great qualifier of course is that you cannot be in the heavens God's sphere unless you are united to Christ. That is why the great voice out of heaven says "Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them their God.”

God's Last Thoughts in the Bible

In John 16:33 the Great Captain of our salvation encourages us to follow Him, promising us His joy if we do so "these things I have spoken to you that in Me ye might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Joy and cheer in a world like this the beauty of the Lord our God upon us, and our spirits free to worship Him in the beauty of holiness. How blessed!

Then He has given us "the revelation of Jesus Christ." The opening and closing of this revelation is full of words of encouragement to the overcomer the one who follows in His path, and so ends where He is in the glory. Consider these words in Rev. 2:28, addressed to the overcomer in Thyatira "and I will give him the morning star." The Lord is speaking to Wisdom's children in a dark time. It certainly was a dark time at His first coming, but that did not prevent the wise men from the East from following His star until they found Him. Before His second coming even wiser men looked for Him as the bright and morning star. Then in Rev. 3:12 That Blessed One addresses the overcomer in Philadelphia "him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out, and I will write on 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." So we see that these messages to the overcomers in these two assemblies range from the expectation of Christ's return to the New Jerusalem in the eternal state.

How blessed the eternal state will be! Rev. 21:4 7 gives us a picture of it "and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things have passed away." Instead of these former things we enjoy the fountain of the water of life the revealed Father's heart in all its richness and loveliness. With that the Bible strikes its last new creation note. It is a parting message to the overcomer, complementing and surpassing the messages to the overcomers in the Church at the beginning of Revelation. It is the summation of everything we have been considering in this book but, transcending doctrine, it is written to exhort and comfort us. Consider then these golden words "he who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be to him God, and he shall be to Me son.”

Notes and Bibliography

Preface

(1) The story of This Man is the story of the first man's opposition to Him in His life and death. It is also the story of how He overcame, making His enemies children in the family of God.

.. How This Man overcame His enemies "How can This Man give us His flesh to eat?" the Jews enquired. How indeed. They had tuned out His words "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 trying to disprove that Jesus came down from heaven they began a course whose end was Jesus' death thus proving that He would give His flesh for the life of the world.

So "they sought therefore to take Him...but many of the crowd believed on Him and said "will the Christ, when He comes, do more signs than those which This Man has done?" John 7:31. The Chief Priests and Pharisees are disturbed at such thoughts. They send officers to arrest Jesus. They return without Him saying "never man spoke like This Man" John 7:46. Then He makes it clear that He is the Lord who alone can open the eyes of the blind Psa. 146:8. They react angrily saying "This Man is not of God" John 9:16 and then "we know that This Man is a sinner" John 9:24. His followers knew better "all things which John spoke of This Man were true" John 10:41. Reluctantly the Chief Priests and Pharisees admit "This Man does many signs." John 11:47. This aroused their envy, which Pilate detected. He enquired of what This Man was accused John 18:29. Barabbas was accused of murder This Man of nothing yet the Jews cried "not This Man but Barabbas" John 18:40. To make sure that Pilate got the message they cried "if you let This Man go, you are not Caesar's friend" John 19:12. Thus Jew and Gentile made common cause against This Man. They became His enemies, hating Him without a cause.

Yet in the secrets of their hearts even His enemies know who This Man is..."ye both know Me and ye know whence I am" John 7:28. Before His death the Jews spoke of Him as "This Man who opened the eyes of the blind" John 11:37 an admission that He was the Lord. After His death the Roman soldier's exclamation made it clear who This Man was who opened the eyes of the blind -"This Man was the Son of God" Mark 15:39.

.. This Man and His people The words "Jesus died" tell us of His triumph His enemies have become His people "through This Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins" Acts 13:38. This Man has become our Savior.

“We live of Thee, we've heard Thy quickening voice

Speaking of love, beyond all human thought,

Thy Father's love, in which we now rejoice

As those in spirit to Thy Father brought.”

This Man is the Lord God, the Great Light of Gen. 1, the Light of the world as long as He was in the world. It was in this world He opened the eyes of the blind to see the light. He is the Great Light of the Holy City Jerusalem too, dispelling all the darkness, for "night shall not be anymore, and no need of a lamp, and light of the sun for the Lord God shall shine upon them" Rev. 22:5. Our God is not only light but love and it was He who first loved us. We have tasted that love and found it sweet. It is the love of This Man "Jesus Christ the Same, yesterday, and today, and forever" Heb. 13:8.

Part 1

Chapter 1.1

(1) The atomic scientist Szilard once said "there is nothing alarming in thinking that after your death you'll be in the same state as you were before birth." Day of the Bomb P448 McGraw Hill. So there is nothing new under the sun as Solomon said.

(2) Max Ehrlich pointed out that "many famous figures throughout history believed in reincarnation from philosophers like Homer and Plato to military men like Lord Nelson, who believed he had been a common Egyptian sailor, and General George Patton, who was convinced he had lived as one of Alexander the Great's warriors." National Star June 21, 1975. So again there is nothing new under the sun.

(3) In Dan. 9:18 "Thy Name" is 360 in 2 Chron. 6:41 "the Ark of your strength" is also 360. In this light the multiples of 360 are significant. Pilate pronounced Christ (1080 guiltless) i.e. 3 x 360. However by man He was (720 rejected) i.e. 2 x 360. But (720 rejected) + (354 God) = 3(358 Messiah). God measures Messiah's rejection in terms of Daniel's 70 weeks, where 2520 is the unit of a week because it can be written 3.5(720 rejected) where 3.5 represents the great tribulation period when Messiah's claim to the throne is upheld.

Furthermore there is the matter of 7. The ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter is expressed by π the first letter of the Greek word perimetron perimeter. 7 is both an irrational and a transcendental number, which has intrigued mathematicians for centuries. Although it has long been known that 355/113 gives a good approximation of π the author has restated this in a formula which expresses it in terms of God's Christ and His throne. To understand it the following definitions are given (3+3+6+8) the digital representation of 3368 Lord Jesus Christ in Greek 3.75 the area of God's throne the Mercy Seat in cubits 8 its perimeter and 6 its diagonal measurement and (2² + 3² + 6² + 8²) the digital representation of (2368 Jesus Christ) in Greek to the second power. The formula itself is

π= (3 + 3 + 6 + 8)x(3.75 + 8 + 6)

(2²+3²+6²+8²)

It is interesting to note also that (284 God in Greek) =4²(3.75+8+6). This tells us that God's throne, around which there is a rainbow see Rev. 4:3 is the expression of Himself. That is why

(320 a rainbow)x(284 God)

(4²x π) (1808 Jesus the Lord)

(4) Galgal connects God to a materialized form of a circle just as El does symbolically, for El is 31 or π³). Galgal is El Shaddai, meaning the Almighty God. This Name of God makes it clear that He symbolizes Himself in one of the materialized forms of the circle the wheel. A footnote in the J.N. Darby translation of the Bible under Gen 17 tells us that "Shaddai is the plural of Shad power, Isa. 13:6. Joel 1:15 may give its force. 'Almighty' will always represent Shaddai; 'The Almighty God' is El Shaddai.")

Rev. 10:7 tells us when this will be "in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished." The mystery of God is why God, who is both good and all powerful, permits evil to rule unchecked as far as man can see.

The mainspring of God's will is making Himself known i.e. revealing His nature, which is light 1 John 1:5 and love 1 John 4:8. That is why the introduction to John's gospel begins with the Word in a past eternity the source of God's counsels and ends with the work of the Word made flesh "no man has seen God at any time the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." God however is sovereign in the limits of what He will reveal. The Lord Himself says "no man knows the Son but the Father neither knows any man the Father except the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him" Matt. 11:27. God has then withheld from us what is not ours to know. But while this is so He has richly revealed to us the greatest of all knowledge the counsels of God before the world began.

There is only one hook of life. When we read in Rev. 13:18 "the book of life of the Lamb slain front the foundation of the world" Israel is before God.

Observe how the numerics in the Greek bring these two thoughts together (2172 The counsel of God Acts 20:27)=(2172 a crown of thorns John 19:2).

Time in Scripture usage is another thing. It seems to be that segment in the totality of eternity which God has set aside to deal with the question of sin. If that is what is meant it would be the period from the fall of Satan to the great white throne.

Chapter 1.2

(1) Kung Does God Exist? P 225 Vintage

(2) This well known interpretation is confirmed in the number counts of the Hebrew words in the Old Testament agreeing with the number counts of the Greek in the New Testament. In Genesis the sum of (2741 and they sewed together the leaves of a fig tree and they made for themselves aprons Gen. 3:7)-(2741 Then said the Lord God the man has become like one of us, to eat and live forever Gen. 3:22). The same number shows up in the Greek of Matthew's gospel, where the blood of Christ is revealed as God's answer to man's sin in the Garden of Eden (2741 This is My blood Matt. 26:28)

(3) Corruption and violence are the two principles of sin. Cain's city begins with corruption Lemech takes two wives and ends with violence the murder of two men. Sin then is the principle governing the world, but this is concealed from the worldling by the hectic pace of life, and by amusements, which lull him to sleep. We note the activity of life in Jabal a businessman, Lemech a military man, Tuba! Cain a technologist. Jubal a musician, is a prototype of the entertainment industry. This is the highest paid of all, because it diverts men’s thoughts from their accountability to God. The combination of these elements pleases the man of the world so greatly that this life and the world of his making, becomes the horizon of all his thoughts.

(4) In Scripture the Father is opposed to the world, the Son to the devil, the Holy Spirit to the flesh.

(5) So Peter writes "who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree" 1 Peter 2:24. "The tree" and "the cross" are different ways of looking at the Lord's death. As "the tree" it is the entrance of sin in the tree of the Garden of Eden, and the putting away of it in the tree of Calvary. As "the cross" it is shame and suffering. and so the basis of God's judgment of the world.

(6) The Jew and the Roman go together. The Jew delivered Christ to the Romans who crucified Him. The Greek however was not directly represented at the cross. The Greek stands for the scorner the disdainful, quizzical, philosophic thinker the sophisticated elite. His role is future the intellectual opposition to the gospel as it was preached in the world.

(7) Source data A History of Christian Thought —McGiffert. Sources of early Christian Thought; the Christological Controversy Richard A Norris. The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church Editor J.D. Douglas

(8) Mary Baker Eddy Science and Health P 361

(9) Idem P 315

(10) Idem P 45, 46

(11) Hoekema The Four Major Cults P 270 The Paternoster Press

(12) Idem P 271

(13) Idem P 56

(14) Idem P 56

(15) Idem P 56

(16) Winston's Encyclopedia

(17)Petersen- Those Curious New Cults Keats Publishing

(18) Hockett- The Son of His Love P 14, 145 Believers Bookshelf, Sunbury PA

(19) Copies of letters of G. A. Lucas dated March 27, 1961 London. England, given to the author by the late John Bulloch

(20) A selection from Clark's book in the author's files

(21) Frederick E. Raven was an astronomer, and the Director of Greenwich Observatory

(22) Such of his voluminous works as the author scan-read to establish the facts, show that F. F. Raven held the Eternal Sonship for most of his life c.f. P 183 and 447 New Series Vol. 5 P. 123, New Series Vol. 7 P. 186, New Series Vol. 8. Whether he still did at the end of his life is, however, a moot point. As this work was going to press the author heard of a book by Dr. W.J. Ouweneel which may have definitive answers to these questions. Unfortunately it is available only in the Dutch language.

(23) Cited from Does God Exist? Hans Kung, P 175 Vintage

(24) Mather, The Second Coming of Antichrist P. 10 Berean Foundation

(25) Eichmann, though versed in philosophical disclaimers that there is no proof of the existence of God, believed there was. He based his beliefs on the evidence of nature from the macrocosm to the microcosm, the earth sun ratio, the atmosphere, the seasons, and the study of scientific hooks. These and other considerations which he assembled in a logical way, made the existence of God conclusive to his mind see Hull The Struggle for a soul P 146 7 Doubleday and Co N.Y. He said "I am left in amazement and awe before this gigantic, regulatory, planning, creating power that directs the movements of the tiniest, as well as the greatest worlds. And this is God.”

(26) Angus The Environment of Early Christianity P. 176, 180. Published in 1914 in London, England. Angus was professor of New Testament and historical theology at the University of Sydney.

(27) There are so many of these buildings that we need only single out three, all from ancient Greece, as representative of the lavish wealth poured into all of them. These are the Parthenon in Athens, the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, and the temple of Apollo at Didyma, near the town of Soke in modern Turkey.

The temple of Athena Parthenos, built of gleaming white marble, was erected on the Acropolis. It is a favorite tourist attraction in modern Athens, even though its pristine beauty was marred when gunpowder stored in it exploded. The famous Elgin marbles which once embellished it can be seen in the British Museum. This temple had two rooms. In the Eastern Room, which was about 100 feet long, was a statue of the goddess Athena. The smaller Western Room is thought to have been a dwelling for invisible maidens who waited on the goddess. It was called the Parthenon meaning the room of the maidens. So the temple became known as Athena Parthenos, which was abbreviated to the Parthenon. Next we will consider the temple of Artemis at Ephesus, which was the largest Greek temple. It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It generated much wealth and commercial activity, which Paul's preaching threatened. Its architect was Paionios. As he was completing this temple he was engaged as a consultant by the Milesian architect Daphius to help design a comparable temple for Apollo at Didyma. Construction of this temple went on for 600 years, but an earthquake ruined most of the buildings in the Middle Ages. Its 120 pillars alone each cost one million dollars in today's money.

(28) The statue of Athena in the Parthenon had a serpent called Erichthonius coiled at her feet. Psychic medicine was practiced at the temple of Aesculapius the god of healing in ancient Greece. Today the insignia of a physician perpetuates that tradition. This is the Caduceus a pole with two entwined serpents coiled around it, and two wings at the top. Need we mention also Apollo, the god of light and enlightenment, and so by extension of prophecies i.e. psychic communications. One of his famous shrines was at Delphi. Here the oracle often answered questions with political overtones, aimed at influencing the course of events in this world.

(29) Rome is the last form of imperial Gentile power in the world the feet and toes of clay and iron. Rome crucified Christ. So "the stone cut out without hands" the Lord Himself smashed the image on its feet. This will end Gentile power in the world, following which Christ will rule it for 1000 years. That is why, in Aramaic (2369 and the stone which struck the image became a great mountain and filled all the earth Dan. 2:35) has its Greek equivalent in (2369 Christ, God's power 1 Cor. 1:24)

The key to Egypt as the symbol of the worlds glory is that Moses was educated there, absorbing all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Most of that wisdom has been lost, because it was not written down but passed on verbally, from one generation of priests to another. This was done to confine knowledge to a ruling caste. This policy eventually was shown to be disastrous when military reverses wasted the temples and priesthood. Investigations in modern times have recovered some of this lost knowledge. We now know that the Egyptians had an advanced knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. Many of the mathematical discoveries attributed to the Greeks actually filtered down to them from Egypt. They knew the earth was spherical, the distance from the earth to the sun, the distance travelled by the earth in a second of time, and much more. For some reason much of their medical knowledge was written down. From the papyri we know that they practiced specialized medicine, and performed operations using anaesthetics.

(30) God calls the man of Rev. 13 "the first beast" to link him with Nebuchadnezzar, the first man who became a beast. Why'? Because Nebuchadnezzar, the head of gold of the image, was the beginning of Gentile power. The man of Rev. 13 the feet and toes of the image is the end of Gentile power. But the image is one the authority and line of succession unbroken. So the head which directs the image is the first man to become a beast, and the iron feet which walk on the earth claiming it for man is called the first beast.

(31) Ruth Montgomery -a gift of prophecy P 37 William Morrow & Co. N.Y.

(32) Not too much of this surfaces in the media, probably Out of a desire to protect Lincoln's image. The tabloid press reveals Lincoln's obsession with the occult probably because it is sensational and builds circulation. This does not detract from its persuasiveness when reputable personalities are quoted. From a book review of Willie Speaks Out by Elliott Freckles in Confidential Flash of Jan 14,1975 we learn that Lincoln not only mingled with the leading psychics. Sensitives and mediums of his day, but possessed psychic powers himself. Willie was Lincoln's favorite son. He was disconsolate at his death, and had his body exhumed three times. The deceased Willie is the narrator in Willie Speaks Out. Another of Lincoln's sons. Robert Todd Lincoln, had the reputation of being a carrier of death. "Four presidents have been assassinated since our republic was formed" he told a friend "and I have been present at three of those deaths. I carry a curse with me" Modern People, Feb 23, 1975. Then there are the stories of the haunting of Ford's Theatre in Washington, where Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. These were reported in The Star of June 29, 1976.

(33) Globe and Mail, Toronto, Dec 28, 1977

Part 2

Chapter 2.3

(1) This thought is not mine. Mr. R. B. Hayhoe, my father-in-law, mentioned it to me at his summer cottage many years ago.

(2) If there is a beginning there is also an end. So in Rev. 21:6 the Lord says "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.”

(3) Alfred Kennion, Vicar of Gerrard's Cross, published a book entitled Principia; or the three octaves of creation in 1890. In Appendix "A" to this work he takes up the question of the distinction between created and made in Hebrew. It is an examination in depth of the Hebrew, too elaborate to reproduce here. At the end, however, he says this "Thus the translation of the Authorized Version and of the Revised Version stands, only it must be understood that the words created and made are progressive, the one referring to the beginning, the other to the completion. But we have seen that the completion signified by this word is very commonly nothing more than a final preparation for actual use.

(4) The Globe and Mail of July 9,1987 ran an A. P. release from New York captioned "Study gives oldest stars youthful gleam. This said "The universe may be only 11 billion years old, according to a study that suggests scientists have overstated the age of the oldest known stars in the Milky Way. Other studies have suggested that some stars are between 16 and 18 billion years old. The new finding is based on the work of Harvey Butcher, Professor of Astronomy at the University of Groningen, Holland and was published in Nature. The article concludes "that would make the age of the universe 11 billion to 12 billion years." Little more than six months later Jan 14,1988 to be precise the Globe and Mail carried another story with the caption "Scientists hail find of distant galaxies." This was written by John Wilford of the New York Times Service, from Austin, Texas. In this we learn that "Astronomers...have detected what they believe may be the oldest and most distant objects ever seen in the universe and may he so far away and thus so old, perhaps 17 billion years, that their radiations are coming from the creation of some of the universe's first galaxies." So in six months the age of the universe has varied by six billion years, but the new discoveries dating it at 17 billion years bring it into line with previous overestimates. To bring this problem into focus the universe is bigger than man.

(5) Bernard Ramm, The Christian View of Science and Scripture, The Paternoster Press.

(6) Tarbuck and Lutgens, The Earth, P 504 Charles E Merrill Publishing Co.

(7) How could God make the heavens and the earth in six literal days or even days of a thousand years, when Gen. 2:4 tells us of "the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.-

(8) In Dawson's work The origin of the world according to Revelation and science P 146, published in London in 1877, he wrote "The Rev. Dr. Buckland, in placing the great events of geology between the first and second verses of the Mosaic account, did not pretend that there was a geological basis for such an hypothesis; and no writer has ever brought forward the first fact in geology to support the idea of a rearrangement just before man; not one solitary fact has ever been appealed to. The conclusion was on Biblical grounds, and not in any sense on geological." Dawson was a geologist, and Chancellor of McGill University. Buckland was both a theologian and a palaeontologist. He was a protagonist of the gap theory.

(9) The Gap Theory can he traced as far back as Edgar, a 10th Century King of England, which lends some weight to undocumented claims that it was held in the early Church. It was also claimed that it was taught after the Reformation, but again proof is lacking. We do know that in the 16th Century Episcopius espoused it, and Rosenmuller and Dathe in the 18th Century. In 1791 Dathe argued that Gen. 1:2 should be translated "and the world became etc." By the 19th Century it had gained a fair degree of credibility among German theologians. In the English speaking world it was endorsed by Buckland in his Bridgewater treatises, by J.N. Darby, by Wm. Kelly in a work entitled "In the beginning," by Pember in "Earth's earliest ages," by Pratt in "Scripture and science not at variance." by Rimmer in "Modern science and the Genesis record," by Scofield in his reference Bible, by Sedgwick in "Discourses on the studies of the University of Cambridge" and by Thomas Chalmers, founder of the Free Church of Scotland.

(10) Dawson wrote about "the ether." He thought the solar system could not be more than 100,000,000 years old, based on Sir William Thomson's calculations. But we must remember that his book was written 111 years ago.

(11) Dawson The origin of the world according to Revelation and science P. 156

(12) It is ironic that man used this knowledge to reverse what God did in the beginning.

God turned energy into matter, so He could form it, and add beauty to it. Man reversed that, turning matter into energy, when he devised nuclear weapons. He brought destruction, misery, and fear into the world by so doing. In man's hands nuclear energy is a potentially hideous thing. In God's hands the nuclear furnace we call the sun is an example it is a source of blessing for the earth.

(13) As the breakup of the supercontinent continued, the new fragmented continents were carried to different locations on their plates. Some, like South America and India, married other land masses. Australia was left on the shelf, so to speak, unwanted. The British Isles and Europe were separated as the English Channel tells us. As a result of these happenings the flora and fauna on the separated continents were carried away too. So days three and six go together. The formation of the seas, which God commanded on day three, commenced when on that day God brought the supercontinent Out of the primeval waters. But it did not end until the supercontinent broke up into continental blocks, whose very existence established the limits of the oceans. Understanding this solves one of the mysteries of Scripture the term the isles of the seas. Thus in his Studies in Isaiah Jennings writes "He bids the clamor of the isles" that is really the sea washed continents "to cease." This is cited from P. 479. It was published by Loizeaux Bros.

(14) Scientific American Feb 1988 P 91

(15) The solar system is divided into temperature belts. One of these the euthermal belt in which the earth is located is the belt favorable to life. The other two are the hyperthermal belt in which Mercury and Venus are located, where the temperature is too hot for life, and the hypothermal belt the zone beyond Mars, which includes all the other planets, in which temperatures are too cold for life. Thus it is clear that while the earth sun ratio is perfect for life, this is not the case with the other planets of the solar system.

(16) Dawson P. 101 The origin of the world according to Revelation and science.

(17) Jennings Studies in Isaiah P 373 Loizeaux Bros

(18) Translation of Job 9:47 by G. H. Pember in Earth's Earliest Ages P 73 Flemming H Revell Co

(19) Ramm The Christian view of science and Scripture P. 173 The Paternoster Press, London

(20) Norman The illustrated encyclopedia of dinosaurs P 8, 9

(21) In his book Fossils and the history of life an imprint of Scientific American Books Inc New York the paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson remarks "what we really want to know is what exactly caused extinction in a particular instance. and this is just what even now we are hardly ever given to know"..."mass extinctions occurred between the Cambrian and Ordovician, the Silurian and Devonian, the Devonian and Carboniferous, the Permian and Triassic, and the Triassic and Jurassic" P136. Then turning to the subject of mass originations Dr.Simpson notes that "except for the early Cambrian one, a special case, it is striking that each of these, immediately follows an episode of mass extinction. Many compilations of data on first and last occurrences, show that it is a common or even usual tendency for changes in the rates of last occurrences or extinctions to be followed at a geologically somewhat later time by comparable changes in rates of first occurrences or originations" P. 139

(22) The Civil War raged in the United States, however, and Europe had a brief taste of war in the Franco Prussian conflict of 1870. To look at this in perspective H. W. Koch in his History of Warfare, published by Bison Books needs 580 pages to recount the strife from the breakup of the Roman Empire to the present.

(23) Kelly In the Beginning P 18 published in London and Glasgow in 1894

(24) John Gaylord Simpson states this succinctly on P 211 of his work Fossils and the History of life, already cited "if an ineffable entity that may be called God created the universe, a possibility that no evolutionist should deny, this creation was not in the fashion of the biblical parable...It was the creation of a universe in which evolution could and did occur without supernatural intervention." Simpson is Professor Emeritus of Geosciences at the University of Arizona.

(25) The Financial Post Mar 2, 1966

(26) Cited from Science Digest Oct 1960

(27) This was first brought to public attention in an article in Business Week Dec 12,1959 with the caption What Darwin means to the Space Age. The writer observed that "Darwinian theory is even supplying much of the thinking in scientific circles today about what man may find when he first soars through space and lands on other planets. The same reasoning can be extended to the possibility of finding life on other planets, as Darwin himself used to explain how life came into being on earth. Life, scientists generally concede, was a matter of chance.”

(28) Many U.S. rockets have been named after pagan gods. Consider the following names Apollo Atlas Centaur Gemini Hermes Jupiter Mercury Nike Pegasus Poseidon Saturn Titan Zeus. The human heart turns to idolatry once the True God is given up.

(29) The Telegram of August 25, 1969 reported that analysis of the 54 pounds of moon rocks from the Apollo 2 Tranquility base, reveals them to be as old as the earliest rocks in the earth's crust. Yet they are different from rocks on earth. On July 29, 1969 the Globe and Mail reported from Houston the findings of a dozen earth scientists. They said that the slippery footing of the moon which the astronauts experienced, was caused by many pieces of spherical glass. That could be expected from the description of the moon's function in Gen. 1.

(30) The Tennessee trial had a lengthened shadow. Arkansas also had an anti evolutionary statute the Rotenberry Act, which went unchallenged from 1927 to 1965. Then another biology teacher, Susan Epperson, backed by the Arkansas Educational Association, filed a suit to test its constitutionality. This went as far as the Supreme Court, which threw it out in 1968. From then on the legislative pendulum swung the other way. American high school and college students today are generally ignorant of the true account of their origin, or of man's place in the universe God created.

Chapter 2.4

(1)The numerical count of the Hebrew words in Gen. 1:26 "let us make man in our image according to our likeness" is 1184, just as the numerical count of the Greek words in Heb. 13:14 "the coming One" is also 1184. But since 2 x 1184 = (2368 Jesus Christ) this tells us it was not Adam God had before him in creating man but the Coming One, His own Son Jesus Christ the Lord.

(2) This is verified by a formula the author discovered. To understand it, the necessary definitions follow. 31 is El God in Hebrew, which in itself is 7. Next there is God's throne the Mercy Seat, which was suspended above the earth in the holy of holies as a picture of Christ's coming rule over the earth. Its measurements are given in Ex. 25:17 "and you shall make a Mercy Seat of pure gold two cubits and a half shall be its length and a cubit and a half its breadth." The Mercy Seat then measures 2.5 x 1.5 = 3.75 cubits the cubit here being Sir Isaac Newton's earth commensurate cubit. The value of 7 used here is 3.141592654.

Based on these definitions π (31 x 3.75)=365.210146 which is not significantly different from the solar year of 365.2422 days. This is welcome confirmation of Christ pictured as the sun sitting on God's throne on the fourth day.

Chapter 2.5

(1) The fall and the necessity of replacing the first man Adam with the Last Man Jesus the Lord is remarkably attested to in the combined testimony of the Hebrew and Greek languages. So (6262 This Man who opened the eyes of the blind) + (3642 This Man was the Son of God) = (796 the serpent tempted me and I ate) + 3(2368 Jesus Christ)+ (2004 The Son of God)

Part 3

Chapter 3.6

(1) Remarkable confirmation of this truth is found in the Lord's own words. The number count of His words in the Greek of the Textus Receptus is (5975 before that you Philip called, being under the fig tree I saw you) (889 Lord God Rev. 16:7)+(2368 Jesus Christ Heb. 13:8)+(2718 Christ Jesus the Lord 2 Cor. 4:5)

(2) Note how God follows the pattern He established in Gen. 1. On day three the dry land appears from the waters and fruitfulness follows. So in new creation the third day sees the joyous wedding feast of John 2, whose moral setting is Christ raised from the dead on the third day. This links together John 2 and John 21.

(3) In John 6 the Lord feeds His people with bread and fish in John 21 He feeds His inner circle with bread and fish. In John 6 the people follow the Lord in boats in John 21 The Lord finds His disciples in a boat. In John 6 the people would make Jesus a king on their own terms in John 21 He is, as risen triumphant from the dead looked at as the king to whom the Father would give the kingdom. In the larger sense John 6 is the king rejected at His first coming John 21 is a preview of some of the circumstances surrounding the king victorious at His second coming.

(4) This observation was passed on to the author many years ago by an aged Christian who attributed it to the captain of a ship.

(5) God's throne, the Mercy Seat, rested on the Ark of the Covenant, which in turn rested on the earth. Taken together these things tell us that in the thousand year kingdom God will rule the earth from the heavens. Again both the Mercy Scat and the Ark were located in the Holy of Holies, whose measurements constitute a cube 10 x 10 x 10 i.e. 1000 cubits, which is why at the end heaven and earth are cubes. This can be seen in heaven in the measurement of the Holy City Rev. 21:16, and on earth in the 153 fishes, since 153=(1³+ 5³+3³). Thus in the 103 year rule of Christ, nothing can be added to the fullness of His administration of the earth. The God of Measure has enshrined that truth in these measurements.

(6) A wedding speaks of natural joy it is man's best day. Natural joy, not spiritual joy characterizes Israel, for they are a people of the earth. At one time they had natural joy typified here by wine but the wine had run out. But now Jesus, whom the nation had so long ignored, is invited to the wedding. Standing nearby are six stone water jars, used for Jewish ceremonial washings. These had their origin in the Scriptures but had degenerated into externals because of the hardness of the human heart. So the jars were of stone to correspond to the heart of the people although they contained water the Word of God. Perhaps if more water were added man might improve. To show that the thought is vain the Lord commands the jars to be filled to capacity. Now all can see that the Word of God, by itself, cannot bring natural joy to the stony hearts of the people unless God works. He does, changing the water into wine. The master of ceremonies complains to the bridegroom that the usual procedure has been reversed. It is normal to serve wine of the best vintage first. Then when the guests have drunk so much of it that they cannot tell the difference the poorer wine is served. But man's way would not do for God this was the lesson. All the wine the Lord received from Israel was of poor quality from the time He brought them out of Egypt until Jesus came to them. So the first serving of wine at Cana of Galilee must demonstrate this. Again at Cana the wine, such as it was, ran out and nothing was left but the water of Jewish purifications in stony hearts. Then at the end of their history they give Jesus His rightful place and the water is changed into the wine of kingdom joy. The best wine to the heart of God will come at the end in Christ's millennial kingdom when they obey the command "Whatever he says to you, do it" 2:5

Chapter 3.9

(1) How instructive the Word is here the man's own mouth testifying to who Jesus is (3904 if not were this man from God not He could do nothing John 9:33) (536 righteous Father)+ (3368 Lord Jesus Christ)

Chapter 3.10

(1) "The woman" who "had no husband", in the fourth chapter, is in sharp contrast to Nicodemus the Pharisee of the third chapter in every way. Nicodemus was the flower of Jewish culture, called "the teacher of Israel" by the Lord Himself; "the woman" was a profligate pleasure seeker. Nicodemus was under law; "the woman", having no law was a law unto herself. Nicodemus worshipped God; "the woman" worshipped she knew not what. Nicodemus blurts out his message without waiting for the Lord; "the woman", in spite of her ignorance, is silent before the Lord until He speaks.

If we compare the grand moral teaching of John 3 and 4 we will learn still more. The first thing to remember is that a man in Scripture usually typifies energy a woman or female as in Num. 19:22, a state. So what we find in Nicodemus is that man is in such total ruin that sin, the root principle, is the subject taken up, whereas sins, the fruit of that fallen nature, is the subject of the woman at the well. But while God forgives sins He never forgives sin the root; He always judges it. That is why we have the brazen serpent in John 3.

(2) Eternal life is in God's Son. This life and nature is given to all who believe in the name of the only begotten Son of God. It displays itself uniformly in two ways service and worship. The blind man confessed Christ to the Jews. That is service. Then when Jesus made Himself known to him he worshipped Him. In John 4 the fields were ready for harvesting. That is service. Then the Lord made it known that "the Father seeketh such to worship Him." So in John 9, which is at Jerusalem, the Son is worshipped in John 4, in a Gentile land, the Father seeks worshippers. This anticipates the time when Jew and Greek cry "Abba Father" see Rom. 8:15 and Gal. 4:6. "Abba" is a word meaning "Father" to both Jew and Greek.

These are ideal conditions, seldom found in practice. The reason why failure in worship or service is ignored by John is that his great subject is eternal life. Since eternal life is the life of Christ and this life is given to us on believing, the nature within us the new man never sins. The old nature with which we were born, and which we still have, does sin. It is failure to mortify this old nature and live in the power of the new man which explains why, in practice, some believers fall short of God's mind for them in service and worship. Such live their lives outside the Lord's presence and grieve the indwelling Spirit by their carnal walk. Instead of leaving behind their water-pot when they go into the city they retain it and the world sees a bit of itself along with a bit of Christ. Unlike "the woman" who attracted others to Christ, their trumpet gives an uncertain sound. True service, like worship, is only possible in the power of an un-grieved Spirit. Do you want the key to this? Before the Lord Jesus spoke of the fields white to harvest He said "My meat is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work." Yes, the Spirit of God is not only the One who communicates the life of Christ to man, but He is also the power of that life. If the Spirit is un-grieved by self will there is a springing up in living energy in praise and worship to God and in service for Christ.

But failure in Christian life is unnatural. We enjoy a life which finds expression in worship the water that I shall give him and service reaping and gathering fruit in the fields white to harvest, and rejoicing. When we are taken home we will rejoice in the fruits of service 1 Thess. 2:19,20 and our worship will be unhindered by the flesh. While here the Spirit of God sets aside the evil of our old nature and causes our spirits to rise in worship so that we anticipate the coming day of glory. But even here the foretaste of Jesus' love is so sweet that our hearts respond in worship to the Father who sent Him, like the water rising from a fountain. The water in a fountain gushes up because it is under pressure. Even so the water from the Spirit's well the redeemed heart energized by the Spirit gushes up in the unhindered power of the new life as worship to our God and Father. The believer goes into the Lord's presence for worship and out into the world for service until the day when he shall go no more out Rev. 3:12.

(3) We are now living in days when the Gentile who has received all this rich blessing has rejected it like the Jew before him. So he too will be cut off and God will return to heal His ancient people. This is the subject of Rom. 11. The Jews were cut off for unbelief and the Gentiles brought into blessing. But if the Gentiles do not continue in God's goodness they too will be cut off and God will return to bless the Jew. The period of Gentile blessing is two days for one day is with the Lord as a thousand years. So the two days represent a measured period for the preaching of the Gospel. Then the healing of "the certain nobleman's son," poor feverish Israel at the point of death.

Chapter 3.12

(1) Egypt became darkness the waters became blood Ex. 7:20. Frogs came out of the streams, rivers, and ponds to plague the Egyptians Ex. 8:6. In contrast to this the children of Israel had light in their dwellings Ex. 10:21

(2) John intimates that the desert journey will be covered in his gospel by retracing the moral end of Israel's desert journey the brazen serpent and the springing well in Chapters 3 and 4. The springing well tells us that everything ends in praise.

(3) Lazarus had been in the grave four days, and since a day is with the Lord as a thousand years this is an intimation of man's morally rotten state in the four thousand years from Adam to Christ. In another sense John's gospel begins as though the serpent's sin in the Garden of Eden was only four days away and already God has sent the promised Deliverer. Genesis begins with the serpent introducing sin in the world, and ends with the death of Joseph. John 3 opens with the serpent followed by the True Joseph in John 4 the Deliverer from the power of death. The gospel ends with life John 20:31 to those who believe on the Name of the Son of God.

Chapter 3.13

(1) The family of man began with a wedding John 2 and ended with a funeral John 11. The family of God begins with the death of Christ and ends with the marriage of the Lamb.

(2) John does not give us the names of those he is writing about while they are not in Christ. They are the lost sheep of Isa. 53. Although all have gone astray they do so in their own way so "the woman," "the impotent man" and so forth. When we come to Christ we receive a name, for the giving of a name denotes authority over the one on whom it is bestowed. Adam showed his lordship over the creation ny naming the cattle, birds, and beasts which the Lord God brought to him. Christ the Last Adam showed His authority over the new creation by naming a man God brought to Him John 1:42. Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, who was a man of the first day, and Philip the man of the second day, are both mentioned by name in John 6. This is a bridge chapter, because in it the king is rejected, so that it links the opening and closing of the gospel in which the king is accepted. The Lord's consolation while he is rejected is "the family which God has given Me." So in John 12 That family is assembled together with names Martha, Mary, Lazarus, for "He calls His own sheep by name" John 10:3 and John 20:16.

(3) The graves of the rich were cut out of rock. They had steps leading down into the burial chamber, where the bodies of the deceased were laid on niches. After a funeral the burial chamber was sealed with a circular stone which was rolled on a grooved track. This could be rolled back if the sepulcher had to be reopened to accommodate another body.

Chapter 3.14

(1) 1 Cor. 11:4 tells us that "every man praying or prophesying having his head covered dishonors his head." In the tabernacle however the Jewish priests wore head coverings as a sign that the blood of Christ had not yet been shed and so the Holy Spirit, the power of prayer, not yet given. The Jews maintain this tradition in their synagogues to this day, the males showing up in a black circular head cap. Interesting too that the Pope wears a head covering in his, public appearances.

Chapter 3.17

(1) Except at the cross, where He was both the priest and the sacrifice c.f. Heb. 9:14 "who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God." J.D. Deck captured this thought in his hymn "by Him our sacrifice and priest, we pass within the veil." This is not a contradiction of Heb. 8:4 since at the cross the Lord was lifted up from the earth.

(2) In his Exposition of the Gospel of St. John W. M Kelly cites comparisons of the two prayers from Bishop Chase's book on the Lord's Prayer as follows "our Father who art in heaven" with "Father" in Verses 1, 5, 21, 24, with "holy Father" in v.1, and with "righteous Father" in v 25 "hallowed be Thy Name" v 5, 6, 11, 12, 26. Kelly adds "that Thy Son may glorify Thee" in v. 1 "Thy kingdom come" with v. 5 "Thy will be done" with v. 5, 11, 21 "bring us not into temptation" with v. 12, 15.

(3) In the Book of Exodus God said "You shall not make for yourself any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them" Ex. 20:4,5. Critics of the Bible are quick to point out that God violated His own law, for the brazen serpent and the cherubim at the ends of the Mercy Seat were both graven images. While God is answerable to no one when He issues a commandment, His motive here is clear to keep His people near Himself. He knew that man's heart would rather worship a graven image than God. The children of Israel proved this divine foreknowledge in their later history when they burned incense to the brazen serpent, causing Hezekiah to break it in pieces 2 Kings 18:4.

There is however a more specific answer, and it is found in the Gospel of John. At the opening of that gospel the Lord told Nicodemus of the brazen serpent here in John 17 He is in the Holy of Holies where the cherubim were. Consider the two extremes. The brazen serpent was lifted up in the world the cherubim in the Holy of Holies. The brazen serpent was a picture of the devil, sin itself the cherubim of God's answer to it, driving man out of the garden in Eden. The brazen serpent spoke of Christ made sin and so His death and blood shedding. When the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies he sprinkled the blood on the Mercy Seat before the downward gazing cherubim, who symbolically no longer drive us away from God. So God gave His ancient people two visual reminders sin in the brazen serpent distance from God in the cherubim. The sprinkled blood was for God's eye only, and it brought nearness.

Chapter 3.18

(1) God wants us to be certain of this as an historical fact too. John was an eyewitness of the piercing of Christ's side, and immediately after telling us of it he adds "and he who saw it bare record, and his record is true." This sets aside the brazen lie circulated as recently as 25 years ago that Christ did not die on the cross, but swooned. The origin of the deceit can be traced to Matt. 28:12-15. The death of Christ was necessary for man's salvation, which is why John concludes his testimony by saying "and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.”

(2) The numerics here arc striking, like many of the scenes at the cross. For example, (1704 behold the Lamb of God John 1:36) + (3009 behold I bring Him out to you John 19:4) + (1399 behold the Man John 19:5) + (2227 behold your king John 19:14) = (2164 Greek and Latin and Hebrew Luke 23:38 i.e. the three languages over the cross) + (1089 Jesus died 1 Thess. 4:14) + (2368 Jesus Christ Heb. 13:8) + (2718 Christ Jesus the Lord 2 Cor. 4:5). We might add that (1089 Jesus died) is 33' which is the Lord's age at death to the second power.

(3) We would draw the reader's attention to a numerical design so elaborate yet simple and beautiful that chance must be ruled out. Four women were beholding the Lamb of God at the cross and 4(1704 behold the Lamb of God) =(6816 His mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.) Thus the tour women beholding the Lamb of God at the cross are fully identified.

(4) In the Greek of the Textus Receptus the numerical value of woman behold your son is 2368. But 2368 is Jesus Christ in Heb. 13:8. Thus the Lord stamped His saying with His own number 2368 Jesus Christ.

(5) It is most important to see the difference between sin and sins otherwise we cannot understand the burnt offering. For there are two different reasons why the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world. They are set forth clearly in two separate verses of Scripture. The first is "this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners" 1 Tim. 1:15. The second is "wherefore when He cometh into the world He saith ... I come.... To do thy will, O God" Heb. 10:5, 7. Both verses are about the Lord's first coming into this world, but each gives a different reason for it. When Paul writes to Timothy who was a Greek (and the Gentiles knew nothing of God) the purpose is stated as the salvation of sinners (those who do their own will); when he writes to the Hebrews, who were God's people and instructed in Scripture, he states that the purpose in His coming was to do the will of God.

In Hebrews you get the great doctrine or foundation Christ coming to do God's will. But when the Lord came to His own those Hebrews they refused Him. Therefore when it is a question of applying the doctrine i.e. coming to save sinners the Hebrews who understood the doctrine are denied the blessing and the message is sent to a Gentile Timothy. Again it is not sent to an assembly but to an individual. Salvation is between the individual soul and God the church has nothing to do with it.

Chapter 3.20

(1) Solomon, a distinct type of Christ in kingdom glory, blessed the whole congregation of Israel at the dedication of the temple. Of it Fereday says in Solomon and his temple "the temple was the resting place of the Ark." This is confirmed in 2 Chron. 6:11. where we learn that Solomon put the Ark in the temple. This tells us that God's throne was at rest when the Ark was at rest. Then Solomon prayed before the altar, linking it to God's throne and the Ark. In fact the altar is the key to what gives rest to God's throne. It speaks of the cross, and Psa. 97:2 tells us that "righteousness and judgment are the foundation of His throne." This is beautifully brought together in 2 Chron. 7:1 "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 the Lord filled the house.”

(2) Apart from the figurative teaching the actual story is full of instruction. It is the written Word of God which guards against such sins as those of this woman. If the Word of God is written on the fleshy tables of our hearts rather than as Moses gave it on tables of stone sin of such a character will be avoided. "Thy word have I hid in mine heart" because it is desperately wicked. The heart speaks of the natural affections and due to the fall man's affections are alienated from God. But the heart of the believer is purified by faith Acts 15:9. Where this is not the case, the other meaning of the Lord's act comes in "They that depart from Me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the Lord, the Fountain of Living Waters" Jer. 17:13. This is an allusion to the schools of the East where the teacher wrote the names of the students who came late, neglected their studies etc. in the sand for future punishment. In those days they lacked blackboards. How solemn, then, to be written in the earth by the Lord Himself for future judgment.

(3) In 1 Cor. 1:22 Paul tells us that the Jews require a sign. God took note of this. Because He wanted to reveal Himself to man, He had to become a man, but because He became a man He had to demonstrate that He was also God. c.f. John 10:25. That is the reason for signs, of which there are nine in John's gospel, grouped in three clusters of three. First death and resurrection the sign of the prophet Jonah, 2:18- 22, walking on the sea, 6:15-26, resurrection of Lazarus, 11:1-44. Secondly healing impotent man, 5:1-47, blind man, 9:1-41, nobleman's son, 4:46-54. Thirdly providing food and drink bread and fish for the people, 6:1-14, bread and fish again, 21:1-14, water into wine, 2:1-11.

Chapter 3.21

(1) In the list of elders Adam is implied in Heb. 11:2 but not mentioned by name because of his failure. However God cannot revoke a blessing, and He blessed Adam in Gen. 1:28. This is enough to tell us that while he is in the family of God he has to be passed over in silence.

Part 4

Chapter 4.22

(1) This story is given us in Matt. 26, Mark 14, and John 12. In each case the Holy Spirit varies the story slightly to stress some truth characterizing the particular gospel. For example John tells us that it was Mary of Bethany who anointed Christ Matthew and Mark only that it was a woman. The reason Mary is named in John 12 is that after the 10th Chapter of John's gospel the Lord calls His own sheep by name c.f. John 10:3. The sheep's name was Mary.

(2) The original suggests a container, but not its form, and is variously translated. We have used the word jar following J.B. Stoney. The alabaster jar was sealed because it contained spikenard liquid nard a very expensive perfume. The purpose of the seal was to prevent evaporation of the costly perfume stored inside. As Vine points out, it was not the alabaster jar which was broken, but rather the seal. This would release the perfume. This teaches us that our best and costliest treasures what we have learned of Christ through the Spirit are to be stored out for the appropriate time. Then they are to be opened publicly in praise and worship. A good example would be Phil. 2 one of God's alabaster jars. These treasures are costly for two reasons. First, the time spent on spiritual meditation is time lost in the world where we could have used it to heap up worldly treasure. Knowing this Paul's word in 1 Tim. 4:15,16 urges diligence in divine things "meditate on these things, give yourself wholly to them, that your profiting may appear to all. Take heed to yourself, and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you shall both save yourself, and those who hear you." Secondly the treasures themselves teach us that we have lost nothing, for the world is a worthless thing which will pass away. Psa. 2:8 says "ask of Me and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for Thy possession." To emphasize this truth, all the perfumes of the wise men and women came from far off lands. The spikenard and frankincense were products of far away India. Frankincense and myrrh trees also grow in Eastern Africa. India and Ethiopia are mentioned twice in the Bible to let us know the range of King Ahasuerus' sway Esther 1:1 and 8:9.

(3) The Ark of the Covenant speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ in the days of His flesh. Very briefly it was constructed of acacia wood His Manhood overlaid with pure gold His divinity. On it rested the mercy seat with its two cherubim at either end looking inward and downward viewing the tables of the law in the Ark, as it were. Christ was the only Man who kept the law and made it honorable and the gaze of the cherubim toward the mercy seat testifies to that truth. For those outside of Christ the character of the throne, then, is that of a throne of judgment. The blood of Christ upon the mercy seat has changed the character of the throne, for the believer, from a throne of judgment to a mercy seat and the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us we may boldly approach that throne now.

(4) Hymn composed by T.L. Mather

(5) While Christ was in the world He was the Light of the world. Now that He has left the world the Holy Spirit has come down here not to be the light of the world but the light of God's House. As our Teacher He also brings to our attention the glories of the exalted Christ, just as the golden lampstand displayed the precious things in the Tabernacle and illuminated the lampstand itself. For further help on this work of the Holy Spirit read the Lord's discourses to His own in John's Gospel as He was about to leave the world.

(6) Aaron's rod is a symbol first of the death of Christ and then secondly of His resurrection. In Egypt Aaron had thrown down his rod before Pharaoh and it became a serpent. The serpent, of course, takes us back to the old serpent in the Garden in Eden and his power of death over man because of sin. Through sorcery the magicians in Pharaoh's court imitated Aaron's serpent. Aaron's rod, however, swallowed up their rods. Aaron couldn't understand what this meant. He would be like those God used to write the Scriptures without understanding what they wrote "holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" 2 Peter 1:21. Today we know that Aaron's rod becoming a serpent was a figure of Christ being made sin on the cross. Moses lifted up the serpent of brass on a pole in the desert to demonstrate that there is life in a look at the crucified one. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" John 3:14,15. Not only that but in dying Christ overcame Satan and his power of death over man. That is the meaning of Aaron's rod which became a serpent swallowing the serpents of Pharaoh's magicians "then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written -" death is swallowed up in victory " 1 Cur 15:54. The death of Christ was followed by His resurrection "He was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father" Rom. 6:4. So no trace of death is found in Aaron's rod that budded. The serpent's power is broken, although the cost of doing so is displayed in the hammered work of the lampstand. What Bezaleel captures in workmanship of pure gold is the triumph of resurrection life over death.

(7) Ex. 25:31 should read in part "its base and its shaft, its cups, its knobs and its flowers" etc. This is obscured in the A.V.

(8) “The holy vessels and furniture of the Tabernacle" Henry W. Soltau republished recently in an American edition by Kregel Publications Grand Rapids Michigan from the English edition of 1851.

Chapter 4.23

(1) Collected Writings of J.N. Darby P 396 Apologetic Vol. 2 Morrish Edition

(2) Idem P. 337 Doctrinal Vol. 9

(3) Due to disagreement in the manuscripts varying translations of this passage have arisen. Translators have had to take a position as to whether the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ or in the mystery of God. Most translators have chosen the former, as the following three examples demonstrate (unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge K.J.V) (so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge N.I.V) (attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is Christ Himself N.A.S.B). An alternative way of rendering this passage is (and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the full knowledge of the mystery of God, in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge J.N. Darby translation). The rendering in which the treasures are hidden i.e. in the mystery, differs from those translations which read in whom, i.e. in Christ. So it is not a matter of translation but of interpretation. Following J.N. Darby we believe the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in the mystery of God.

(4) There are of course providential checks, but these do not invalidate the general principle. This subject is covered in condensed form by W. M. Kelly in his Lectures on the Book of Revelation P 206 7 "this" (he is referring to the mystery of God) "I take to mean the secret of His allowing Satan to have his own way, and man too (that is to say the wonder of evil prospering and of good being trodden under foot). God checks, no doubt, the evil in a measure, partly through human government, and partly through His own providential dealings... still there is an influence for evil that no government can root out, and good that is belied and so has comparatively little influence. That is what seems so mysterious a thing to us, when we know God, and how He hates evil.”

(5) The death of Christ is omitted from this passage because it was not a mystery. Numerous passages in the Old Testament Scriptures predicted it c.f. Psa. 22, Isa. 53, and so forth.

(6) Their relative obscurity is to alert us to investigate why they should be chosen instead of say Corinth or Thessalonica. The obvious answer is that each Assembly symbolized a later and sequential development in the history of the Church. As the ages have rolled along the obscurity has lifted. Various writers have identified each Assembly in its historical setting.

(7) Rev. 17:1 identifies the angel. He is one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls. The angel in Rev. 21:9 is probably the same one, for "there came to me one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me saying Come here. I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife." So God is glorified in judgment and in blessing.

Chapter 4.24

(1) Thus Scripture completes the proof that He was a real man body, Heb. 10:5 soul, Matt. 26:38 and spirit, as here. It is His human spirit which is here in question see footnote to P 403 Vol. 3, "Synopsis of the Books of the Bible" J. N. Darby, Stow Hill Edition.

(2) So with the closing cry "Father into Thy hands I commit My spirit." During His life He had fulfilled that which was spoken by the prophet "He shall not strive, nor cry, neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets" Matt. 12:19. But when death and judgment are in question here, as at the grave of Lazarus (John 11:43) He cries s with a loud voice, that all might hear. In the Book of Revelation it is astonishing how often the expression "a loud voice" is found thirteen times. Those who refuse to hear God's voice speaking loudly in grace must hear it speaking loudly in judgment. As a Judge His voice is as the sound of many waters see Rev. 1:15.

(3) Note how careful Scripture is. We are told that God created the heavens and the earth but nowhere does it say He created hell. The Lord Himself said it was prepared for the devil and his angels" Matt. 25:41. To prepare is to fashion out of something already there. There is no thought of creating hell in Scripture, even for the devil and his angels. It is prepared. As for man, "He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" 2 Peter 3:9. Judgment is His "strange work" Isa. 28:21.

Chapter 4.25

(1) The closest modern approximation to this extinct animal is the buffalo. In "Bible Animals" published by Longmans, Green Co., London in 1892, J. G. Wood quotes seven references to the Reem in the Old Testament and comments: "From these passages we gather the following important points. First the Reem was an animal familiar to the people of Palestine, as is evident from the manner in which its name is introduced into the sacred writings; secondly, it was the most powerful animal known to the Israelites; thirdly, it was a two horned animal; fourthly, it was a savage and dangerous beast; and fifthly it had some connection with the domesticated cattle." Wood goes on to identify the Reem as the now extinct Urus whose immense horns are spoken of in Julius Caesar's Commentaries as little smaller than elephants in size. Their horns were adorned with silver and used as drinking cups in antiquity. The horn cores of a skull found near Bath were 17.5 inches in circumference, 36.5 inches long and 39 inches from top to top.

Chapter 4.26

(1) The reader is referred to the story of the golden image in the second chapter of Daniel, which gives the various forms of Gentile rule from Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon) to Rome the last form of Gentile rule, which Christ will destroy before setting up His earthly kingdom. The important point to see is this that Gentile rule in the earth only began when Israel's sin became so obnoxious to Jehovah that He removed His throne from them and sent Nebuchadnezzar against them. He destroyed their temple and commenced the rule of the Gentiles in the world.

(2) Excerpt from "Notes and Jottings" J. N. Darby, Page 252. Stow Hill.

(3) In Scripture there is a distinction between "the heavens" and "the heaven" but we have ignored it as tending to confuse the general reader. However "the heavens" speak of the ultimate dwelling place of God Himself. This being the case they would include all else for He fills all things. It is an absolute expression. On the other hand "the heaven" (also described as being opened) is more connected with the earth and administrative rule. See also Gen. 7:11 Psa. 78:2¬ John 1:51 Acts 10:11 Rev. 19:11 Deut. 11:17 1 Kings 8:35 2 Chron. 6:26 and 7:13 Luke 4:25 Rev. 11:6.

(4) “The New and Concise Bible Dictionary". Morrish Edition. Page 573, says under "four" "completeness in that which is created or ordained by God. Four winds from the four quarters of the heaven Jer. 49:36. Four quarters of the earth Rev. 20:8. In the arranging the camp of Israel there were four standards Num. 10:14, 25. Ezekiel saw four living creatures, each had four faces, four wings, and four hands Chapter 1:5-8.

(5) The weeks in Dan. 9:25 27 are generally understood to mean weeks of seven years. 69 of those weeks were completed when Messiah was cut off without receiving His kingdom. The 70th week is still future. It is unusual in that it is divided into two periods of 3.5 years each, termed the first half of the week, over which controversy has arisen, and the last half of the week, generally recognized as the time of the great tribulation.

There are two references in Daniel to a period of 3.5 years and five in Revelation. In these Scriptures this time period is written in three different ways, all of which amount to 3.5 years. Dan. 7:25 tells us about war against the saints "until a time, and times, and the dividing of time." This language is similar to that of Rev. 12:14, where the woman Israel is nourished in the desert "for a time, times, and half a time." Then Dan. 12:7 defines the limit of the scattering of the power of the people of holiness as "for a time, times, and a half." Rev. 11:3 and 12:6 speak of 1260 days for God's two witnesses and the woman being fed in the desert respectively. Rev. 11:2 and 13:5 speak of 42 months as the time Jerusalem will be trodden underfoot by the Gentiles 412 and the beast empowered to continue, respectively. It would appear then that these Scriptures refer to the last half of Daniel's week. This raises the question of the missing first halt of Daniel's week. The answer to this problem will be found in the opening of the seven seals in Rev. 6. As the seals are opened we can identify both the last half of the week we have been considering, and the missing first half of the week.

... Identifying the last half of Daniel's week in Revelation: The 3.5 years of wrath can be identified in the seals ranging from two to seven, based on the character of the events they narrate. The great tribulation opens with the second seal the red horse, telling us that peace is replaced by war and a great sword. That theme of anguish persists on to the seventh seal, although there are variations in the character of the judgments. The seventh seal continues the theme of the day of wrath, for out of it flow the seven trumpets c.f. Rev. 8:1, 2. When the seventh angel sounds, the mystery of God is finished c.f. Rev. 11:15. The seven angels who sounded the seven trumpets Rev. 15:6.7, are given seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God. Bringing this all together, it is a reasonable deduction that the seals ranging from two to seven are concerned with the 3.5 years of great tribulation known in Scripture as "the day of vengeance of our God.”

...Identifying the first half of Daniel's week in Revelation: The first half of the week will be found in Rev. 6:1, 2 "and I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals." (all the seals except the first are numbered to alert us to the special character of this seal which isn't) and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four living creatures saying Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse, and he who sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer." The bow is a symbol of distant warfare and its use here speaks of the wide spread nature of his conquests. It is worldwide, persuasive psychological warfare. He does not come with bloodshed, but a delusive peace to sell to the world. He is a false Christ, usurping the white horse which belongs exclusively to Christ. This man is the second beast, whose acts of deception are recounted in Rev. 13:11-17. He goes out conquering and to conquer to deceive the world into worshipping the first beast and his image, and receiving the mark of the beast, without which no one can buy or sell. It would likely take 3.5 years to sell, introduce, and enforce such sweeping changes to the Western way of life. But in the end the world will accept them. People will he persuaded that they have traded their lost liberty for peace and safety. They have left God out of their thoughts for He will bring sudden destruction on them. The mark of the beast is Satan's attempt to mock God. He knew that God put a mark on Cain, so placing him under His protection. So he puts a mark on man for the same reason. God is repudiated publicly. So wrath to the uttermost falls on them. Rev. 14:9, 10 also warns of a future torment reserved for them. In summary the last half of the 69th week saw Messiah cut off without His kingdom despised and rejected of men, but the first half of the 70th week sees Satan's man acclaimed and accepted by the world. It is this choice which brings the wrath of God on man in other words the seals from two to seven, which we have previously identified as referring to the great tribulation.

(6) W. M. Kelly said— not his exact words since I quote from memory, having lost the reference that God would destroy the effete works of Gentile idolatry. The sense of his words was that they would not be found in Christ's earthly kingdom. It is significant that the Industrial Revolution amplified man's muscles with machines, and the Scientific Revolution amplified man's mind with computers. Thus in body and mind man has exalted himself above the state in which he was created. But to what purpose? Of all man's works nothing will remain but those which were done for Christ.

This Man

Table of Contents

Preface

Light and Darkness - God and Man

Chapter 1.1

Chapter 1.2

God's Three Creations –Matter, Life, and Man

Chapter 2.3

Chapter 2.4

Chapter 2.5

Part 3

Chapter 3.6

Chapter 3.7

Chapter 3.8

Chapter 3.9

Chapter 3.10

Chapter 3.11

Chapter 3.12

Chapter 3.13

Chapter 3.14

Chapter 3.15

Chapter 3.16

Chapter 3.17

Chapter 3.18

Chapter 3.19

Chapter 3.20

Chapter 3.21

Part 4

Chapter 4.22

Chapter 4.23

Chapter 4.24

Chapter 4.25

Chapter 4.26

Notes and Bibliography