Table of Contents

Christ the Propitiatory

The Church at Prayer

The Salvation of God

Christian Marriage

Our Living Lord

Conversion to God

The Rapture of the Church and the Appearing of the Lord

Salvation Possessed and Known

Leaven Leavening the Lump

A Conversation on Dress

The Old Bondage and the New Service

The Heavenly Mind on Earth

The Cry of the Suffering Christ

The Path of the Just in a Day of Apostasy

The Seventy Weeks of Daniel

Counsel for the Last Days

Robes for Worship and Light to Shine

The Institution and Observance of the Lord's Supper

Golden Apples in Silver Dishes

Speaking with Tongues

WJH - Booklets

W. J. Hocking

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With the prayerful desire that the Lord Jesus Christ will use this God-given ministry in this form for His glory and the blessing of many in these last days before His coming. © Les Hodgett (contact@stempublishing.com) (2011)

Christ the Propitiatory The Church at Prayer The Salvation of God Christian Marriage Our Living Lord Conversion to God The Rapture of the Church and the Appearing of the Lord Salvation Possessed and Known Leaven Leavening the Lump A Conversation on Dress The Old Bondage and the New Service The Heavenly Mind on Earth The Cry of the Suffering Christ The Path of the Just in a Day of Apostasy The Seventy Weeks of Daniel Counsel for the Last Days Robes for Worship and Light to Shine The Institution and Observance of the Lord's Supper Golden Apples in Silver Dishes Speaking with Tongues

Christ the Propitiatory

W. J. Hocking.

Published by F. E. Race, 1919.

It has been already observed, in a former paper, that propitiation is, by the apostle John, intimately associated with the person of the Son of God (1 John 2: 1, 2; 1 John 4: 10). It is no less true that Paul, by the Spirit of God, speaks in perfect agreement with John, using terms modified to suit the character of the communications he was inspired to give.

In the Epistle to the Romans, the great theme is the demonstration of the righteousness of God, especially in His provision of a righteousness for unrighteous and guilty man. And in the first part of the book the dazzling search-light of the truth of God sweeps the broad face of the habitable earth, revealing the intractable evil of the universal heart and ways of all mankind, whether Jew or Gentile. Unrighteousness was to be found everywhere; righteousness nowhere. And what thrilled the great heart of the apostle of the Gentiles with joy was that he was commissioned to proclaim in the gospel that, when it had been fully proved that a man could not provide a righteousness of his own for God, God had Himself provided one for him. What had been foreshadowed and foretold by law and prophets for so long was now at length revealed.

“Now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all that believe. For there is no difference: for all have sinned, and do come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3: 21-26).

In this very full and rich passage there are two main subjects brought forward which can now be no more than indicated, viz.: (1) the righteousness of God, which is offered to all; and (2) the vindication of God's righteousness in so doing, and in making the believer righteous. Nothing can be more essential for man in having to do with a righteous God than righteousness. This man does not possess in himself, but the God of grace offers it through faith in Jesus Christ. The offer is made to all men, and the righteousness is bestowed upon all who believe. Not a single soul is excluded from the opportunity of accepting this justification, for all alike have sinned, and fall short of God's glory; whilst each believer is justified freely by His grace.

But is God righteous in thus justifying the ungodly? Had He not declared under the law, “I will not justify the wicked” (Ex. 23: 7)? On what ground, then, does God righteously impute righteousness to the believer? The apostle, replying as it were to such a question, points to the Person of the adorable Son of God. It was Christ Jesus in whom God showed forth His righteousness in justifying those who believe. Prior to this time, God's gracious dealings were only secretly, not manifestly, set upon a righteous basis. The foundations of His righteousness in grace could not be revealed till Christ came.

And what was the result of Christ's coming? That God was shown to have been righteous throughout Old Testament times, as, indeed, He is now, in blessing every soul who receives the gospel. “Whom [Christ Jesus] God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare (1) his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare (2) I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3: 25, 26). God's righteousness is, therefore, said to be declared in regard to His remission (or, strictly, the pretermission, that is, forgiveness based on that which was coming) of the sins of Old Testament believers, as also in regard to His present act of justifying the believer in Jesus.

Now, observe that this public declaration of God's righteousness is connected with Christ as the propitiatory. It is in this character that Christ displayed God's righteousness “Whom God set forth a propitiatory . . . . to declare His righteousness.” For it is a remarkable fact that a different word is used by Paul from that used in John's Epistle. This fact can be verified by anyone having the slightest acquaintance with the Greek tongue, and is noted in most versions. In John's Epistle, Christ is said to be the hilasmos, but in the Epistle to the Romans He is called the hilasterion. We have one other instance only in the New Testament of the use of the latter word, which establishes its meaning beyond just question. The apostle, when enumerating the furniture of the holy of holies in the ancient tabernacle, spoke of the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy-seat (hilasterion Heb. 9: 5). From the two passages, therefore, there can be no doubt that Christ is the Antitype of the mercy-seat, or propitiatory, as He is also the hilasmos or propitiatory sacrifice (1 John 2: 2; 4: 10), whose blood was sprinkled upon and before the mercy-seat (Lev. 16: 14).

It will be remembered that Moses was to make the mercy-seat of pure gold, and to place it upon the ark of testimony. “There I will meet with thee,” said Jehovah, “and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat” (Ex. 25: 17-22). Fine gold was emblematical of the intrinsic righteousness of God, as brass was of His judicial righteousness. Hence, when the blood of the victim, on the great day of atonement, was sprinkled upon the golden mercy-seat, the act clearly signified, in type, that the claims of Jehovah's righteous nature were glorified thereby. And the seven-fold sprinkling before the propitiatory indicated that a foundation was thus laid for communion with Jehovah, as He had said to Moses.

In the Epistle to the Romans (to which we have been referring) we find the mercy-seat, the blood, and the righteousness of God, all associated together. For Christ Jesus is shown as the propitiatory through faith in His blood to declare God's righteousness. This declaration He has made. As the exceeding riches of God's grace will be declared in coming ages (Eph. 2), so God's righteousness has been already declared “at this time.” Moreover, it was done here below. For this Epistle deals with the position of the believer in this world, not in the heavenlies as is done in the Ephesians. So the moral history of the world is summarised to prove it guilty before God; and where the fruits of man's unrighteousness abounded, there — not in heaven — God's righteousness in justifying the ungodly was demonstrated. In Old Testament times, as may be seen in the book of Job, the possible relation of unrighteous man to a holy God was unknown; but now Christ has declared it to be consonant with God's righteousness by becoming “a propitiatory.” In His own blessed Person lifted upon the cross, He formed the blessed answer to all the righteous demands of God.

Is there a difficulty in that Christ is the sacrifice, and, moreover, the mercy-seat where the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled? It is no greater difficulty than in Christ being both the Shepherd of the sheep and the Door through which He leads them (John 10). It was unbelief that could not understand how Christ could be both David's Son and David's Lord. Such paradoxes do not stagger faith. All the difficulties vanish when we remember He was “God manifest in flesh.” An ancient writer (Theodoret) has put it: “The Lord Christ is God, and the Mercy-seat, and the High Priest, and the Lamb, and in His blood He has worked out our salvation.” Christ is indeed all. His Person is one, and His work is one.

Herein was the great distinction between the Antitype and the types. They were many and varied and terrestrial; and they were, by reason of their very nature, in all points exceeded by the Antitype, as the heavens are higher than the earth. To insist on the necessities of the type in the Antitype is to speak derogatorily of the Person of the Son. In the type you must have a person to take the blood of the sacrifice from the altar to the mercy-seat; but in Christ the sacrifice and mercy-seat coincided, and hence there was no necessity for such transference of his blood, as in the type. And, on the word of Christ Himself, the work was finished when He bowed His head, and dismissed His spirit (John 19: 30).

Moreover, the fact of the closure of the work was attested by the veil of the temple being supernaturally rent from the top to the bottom (Mark 15: 38). The veil signified of old that the way into the holiest of all, for communion with God from above the mercy-seat, was not then made manifest (Heb. 9: 8); but when rent thus it proclaimed that a new and living way into the holiest had been dedicated; so that by the blood of Jesus we may enter with boldness. But the veil was emphatically a figure of Christ's flesh (Heb. 10: 19, 20), and plainly points that the work whereby the restrictions of the most holy place were removed was accomplished in His flesh on the cross, and not in heaven after death. For Christ's death (the rent veil) declared the way open, which implies that the work on which this could be righteously done had then been accomplished, and, moreover, accepted by Him for whom it was accomplished. W. J. H.

The Church at Prayer.

(A word about the assembly prayer meeting.)

W. J. Hocking.

“Peter therefore was kept in the prison; but prayer was made earnestly of the church unto God for him” (Acts 12: 5, R.V.). “They lifted up their voice to God with one accord” (Acts 4: 24).

The habitual exercise of prayer under all circumstances and by all men is inculcated and encouraged in scripture. We find from examples there recorded that prayer was offered to God both individually and collectively.

Peter at Joppa prayed alone on the housetop. Paul and Silas united their prayers and praises at midnight in the prison at Philippi. The disciples at Tyre with their wives and children accompanied Paul and those with him to the ship, and they knelt down upon the beach and prayed together before they bade each other farewell (Acts 21: 3-6).

There are, of course, many instances both in the Old and New Testaments of persons who have privately unburdened their hearts in prayer for themselves or for others, and have been both heard and answered through the abounding mercy and favour of God. But collective prayer was not a prominent feature of the Jewish economy, and examples of this form are not frequent in the Old Testament.

Two men or more might go up to the temple to pray, but they would not, though in the same building, necessarily be in agreement with one another as touching the subject of their petitions. And agreement of this nature the Lord laid down to be an essential condition of success in joint prayer (Matt. 18: 19).

Now this unanimity in petition which was declared by our Lord to be necessary to success, we find from later New Testament history was characteristic of the early saints. Unity of prayer became a special feature in the church period. Such prayers appear in the history of the Acts and in the doctrine of the Epistles. From the very beginning they formed an essential part of the constitution of the assembly, which is said to have “continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2: 42).

It is not overlooked in these remarks that the so-called “Lord's prayer” was framed for collective use by the disciples of Christ in the days of His ministry “Our Father,” etc., they were to say. But this prayer was only a provisional one: it was not offered in the name of Christ, and it had in view the earthly kingdom mainly, and cannot be regarded as a type for use after the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

The Formation of Christ's Assembly.

After the Lord's ascension we find that the disciples continued together during the subsequent ten days “with one accord in prayer,” waiting for the promised gift of the Holy Ghost. On the day of Pentecost itself they were “all with one accord in one place,” and it was upon this company assembled together in agreement of purpose that the Holy Spirit was shed forth by the exalted Christ. This unity thereby formed was thenceforth perpetuated by the abiding presence of the Paraclete. By the one Spirit they were all baptized into one body (1 Cor. 12: 13).

By this action and presence of the Holy Spirit there was a new thing formed in the earth — a church to pray as saints had never prayed before, a church to praise as the “sweet psalmist of Israel” had never praised, a church to be the pillar and ground of the truth in a degree unknown to the prophets and holy men of old.

Moreover, as the Holy Spirit is still present, these qualifications of the church remain true today. It is, therefore, possible for a company representative of the church of the living God still to pray, to praise, to hold the truth, even as was done at the beginning, always provided that the Spirit of God is honoured and obeyed, and that the word of God is acknowledged to be the sole standard of reference for guidance in all matters.

If this be possible, and who can deny it? what showers of blessing we are missing! Take, for example, the instance of united prayer by a company meeting together in the name of the Lord Jesus. How effective this effort should be when prayer is made under these conditions! If the effectual fervent prayer of one righteous man availeth much (James 5: 16), how much greater a result may be expected from the effectual fervent prayers of an assembly of righteous persons, unified and energized by the Holy Spirit of God?

Prayer in the Spirit.

I ask my brethren whether it is not a factor of the utmost account in the potency of assembly prayer that the Spirit of God Himself maketh intercession with groanings that cannot be uttered? Surely we have not become oblivious to the fact that when the Spirit intercedes He does so according to God (Rom. 8: 26, 27). Why, in this very thing lies the boldness that we have in God. For we know that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we also know that we have the petitions which we have asked of Him (1 John 5: 14, 15).

Now, assembly prayer is essentially prayer in the Holy Ghost; if so, it is therefore prayer which is according to God, prayer which is heard, prayer which is answered. Clearly, the church is entrusted with an enormous power which may be exercised in prayer and supplication for incalculable good and blessing for itself and for others. Have we forgotten that such a power is available? or is its very existence denied or disbelieved? We believe, and we ask our readers to believe, that if the saints were gathered together in assembly, owning as such the presence of the Lord Jesus in the midst, and were unanimous in felt dependence upon the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, there would be great and striking answers from God now as there were at the beginning.

Let us briefly consider for our encouragement two examples of this class of prayer which are recorded in the early chapters of the Acts: —

(a) Prayer by the church for boldness in the face of persecution (Acts 4: 24-31);

(b) Prayer by the church in connection with the imprisonment of Peter (Acts 12: 5-12).

In both these cases answers were given of God promptly, and the remarkable results which ensued showed unmistakably that He was acting on behalf of the witnesses of Christ in Jerusalem, and in response to their united appeal.

Prayer for Boldness.

(a) In the first case it was a question of testimony for Christ in Jerusalem. Peter and John were under the ban of the great Jewish council. They were commanded by the supreme authority in religious matters to desist from speaking or teaching in the name of Jesus. The apostles were thus confronted with the alternative of hearkening either to God or to the high priest and his colleagues. They had to choose between prison and death on the one hand and disobedience to the Lord on the other.

In these circumstances they did not act with the dogged determination of strong-minded men who were bent upon a certain course in spite of every obstacle, but, like men of God, they, confessing their own weakness, betook themselves to prayer. But they did not pray singly, as Elijah did, for instance. They acted as members of the body of Christ, and reported affairs to “their own company.” Then the whole assembly prayed as one company: “they lifted up their voice to God with one accord.” There was unison in their petitions. That phrase, “with one accord,” so characteristic of the church history found in the Acts, indicated that there was among them only one mind and one mouth (Rom. 15: 6). It is an early sample of that co-operative prayer which should ever mark assembly action.

Amongst other features of their petitions it may be noticed that the assembly

(1) acknowledged the supreme power of God (Acts 4: 24);

(2) showed from the Psalms that the same worldly powers which opposed the Lord Jesus were now opposing them, His servants (Acts 4: 25-28);

(3) sought power to speak the word of God with all boldness in face of the threatenings that they were not to speak at all in that Name (Acts 4: 29, 30).

This concerted activity of the assembly in prayer had an immediate effect. “And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4: 31). These results showed how puny and impotent was that evil company in the council chamber at Jerusalem that was flourishing the sword to terrorise and silence the servants of God. In the assembly was the Voice that could shake the earth (Heb. 12: 25-27). In the assembly was the Holy Ghost as the Omnipotent Witness on the earth. No wonder the disciples spoke the word of God with boldness in consequence of their prayer.

Prayer for Deliverance.

(b) The second instance of joint prayer was one in which the civil authority threatened the church in the life of one of its members. King Herod, having put James to death, purposed the execution of Peter also. With this evil design he kept the apostle in prison during the Passover, intending to put him to death so soon as the feast was passed. What could the feeble flock of disciples do in opposition to the Idumean king with his prison and his soldiers?

They did what the church should invariably do under all circumstances. The assembly should not rely for support upon an arm of flesh, nor should it forget the Lord's assurance that the gates of hades shall not prevail against it. Its habitual attitude throughout its day of conflict is to be “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Eph. 6: 18). Hence in Jerusalem the disciples on this occasion prayed to God for Peter, and they prayed not as units but as a unity. It is written of them that “unceasing prayer was made by the assembly to God concerning him” (Acts 12: 5).

Thus, in its new capacity as the church of God on earth, the assembly made supplication throughout the days of unleavened bread and into the night immediately preceding the purposed execution of the apostle. Then Peter himself, having been delivered by the angel, stepped into the prayer-circle, a living proof of how assembly prayer could set in motion here upon the earth the irresistible machinery of heaven.

What Place has Assembly Prayer Among Us?

In view of these incidents and of various exhortations in the Epistles to this kind of united prayer, we wish to challenge our readers concerning the place and importance assigned to assembly prayer in modern practice. Is collective prayer the most prized weapon in our spiritual armoury? If not, why not?

It must be understood that no reference is now being made to the prayers of an individual nor to those of a number of individuals met as such to pray for specific objects, such as, the progress of the gospel. These have their season and usefulness, but scripture shows that there is a very special place reserved at the throne of grace for the assembly. If this prayer-meeting is neglected or allowed to fall into disuse, there must be great disadvantage and loss. It will be hard to find an excuse to justify this dishonour. Those assembled may be but two or three numerically, perhaps with sisters in the majority, but they are gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus; they recognize the Lord in the midst; they own also the presence of the Holy Spirit to guide and direct, and are full of pious fear lest they should grieve the Spirit and hinder His action.

Under such conditions, the praying assembly is swayed as a single organism by the Indwelling Spirit into an impulsive appeal upward for grace to help in time of need. Assembly prayer is not the utterance of a hundred prayers on the same theme by a hundred persons on the same occasion, but the presentation of a single prayer, intensified a hundred-fold on account of the harmony wrought by the Spirit of God among the hundred persons present.

The regular weekly prayer meeting is a church meeting equally with the breaking of bread. The throne of grace is then approached by the assembly as such, even if there are but a few in number.

Let not the assembly allow the prayer meeting to lapse, neither the individual believer absent himself habitually therefrom without adequate reason.

The Salvation of God

Notes of an address on Exodus 14: 13.

W. J. Hocking.

Published by F. E. Race, 1915.

The first part of the verse is that to which I would draw your special attention this evening “Fear ye not,” said Moses, “stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will show to you today.”

The salvation of God is a matter which concerns everyone of us, and concerns us in all the practical matters of our daily life. It is a truth which will be for our help and blessing if we make it our own if, in the words of the text, we see for ourselves, according to the teaching of God's holy word, His great salvation.

It is a great error to suppose that salvation is only concerned with the days that are to come, that it is only a provision we need in immediate view of eternity, when we are leaving this world behind and passing to what lies beyond. No. Salvation concerns us now and here just where we are. The particular way in which salvation is of value for the present moment is shown us in this Scripture. The truth herein foreshadowed is applicable particularly to those who have already considered the matter of their personal salvation, and have to some extent taken up a stand for Christ here in the world. They must, in the terms of the historical allusion, here turn their backs upon Egypt, and their faces towards the promised land of God.

And it is to this class of persons that I particularly wish to speak this evening. You will remember that this nation had, according to the direction of God, come out from Egypt. And indeed they had been brought out of Egypt in a marvellous way. I want you to think for a moment of the last night that the people spent in that land of bondage. They were there in an attitude of expectation, waiting according to the instruction of Jehovah for the event which He had told them would take place that night. He had told them that the angel of judgment would pass through the land of Egypt. He would be there by way of bringing down upon men the judgment which they deserved on account of their sins.

It was not then the time for the judgment of God to fall in its entirety upon the whole population of that land. But God was about to show His power and His right to execute judgment by passing through the land, and in every house where there was a first-born son he would be slain, with this exception — such as believed the word of Jehovah and prepared for this visitation of judgment in His appointed way, and took shelter that evening under the sprinkling, on the door-post, of the blood of a slain lamb, should be exempt. They should be free in the hour of judgment. They should be absolutely safe, for the word of Jehovah said it.

And so it came about on the night of the passover. The wail of suffering rose from Egypt's houses, but Israel was free. These were delivered, not because they were better men than the Egyptians, but because they had obeyed the word of Jehovah, doing exactly what they were told to do by the servant of the Lord, Moses. And they were then brought out of their slavery.

But now the people of Israel were here in the wilderness, for such it was. They were led there by express direction of God, the pillar of cloud going before them and leading them to a particular place, and to a place which was beset with difficulties. They had before them the waters of the Red Sea; they had, to the right and to the left of them, unscalable cliffs, mountains being to the right and to the left of them. And it was there that the army of Pharaoh, which pursued them, came in sight of them and threatened them that they should be brought back to slavery, and it was then that their hearts ached with fear. They were a vast host — six hundred thousand men beside children. Behind them the cavalry of Egypt came on in furious haste. They were a great crowd, but what resistance could they make in their own strength? They knew how to make bricks, and even how to make bricks without straw; and to bear the whip of Egypt's taskmaster. But to fight him with the weapons of war they were unable.

What, then, was the feeling in the hearts of those men and women? 'This is a lost cause: we have started on a journey in error; we have come out on a mission which is doomed to absolute failure. We have no strength to meet this host of Egypt. It would have been better for us to have died in Egypt than to have come out on this fool's: errand.' Then it was that the word of God came to them — “Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD which He will show to you today.” And their salvation came. The power of God opened up a way of escape for them through the Red Sea. We are not here tonight to discuss the means by which this was done. We do know that the power of Jehovah worked on behalf of His people, and that His people escaped from their  enemies, and that the Egyptians were overthrown.

But you ask, How does that fit in with my life? How does that come by way of help to me? Dear friends, if you have considered truly and earnestly that you would be a Christian, that you would walk in the ways of the Lord, that you would follow the meek and lowly Nazarene through this world, and if you have been but a little time on that way, have you not already encountered your difficulties? Have you not found that because you are a Christian, and just for that and for no other reason, everyone is against you? And there is a hostile power, and though you know not what that power is, or how it works, there is, I say, a power that baffles your way, and you fail. You are shown your path and you say 'Yes, I will go forward.' Monday morning comes and the difficulties arise, and in the evening you know you have disgraced the One whom you wished to serve. There is, in short, a power within and without antagonistic to you.

Many a time, perhaps, you say to yourself, 'It would have been better for me if I had never made a start: I am not worthy to be called a disciple of Christ.' And you perhaps feel ready to throw it all up and go back to that bondage, that terrible slavery, to sin and Satan, in which once you were held. I read this word to you, tonight, “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD.”

There was a man of whom we read in the New Testament, a man who knew something of the temptations of the world. He was strong in his own strength, a man of earnest passions and feelings — an impetuous man, a man full of love and devotion for the Lord Jesus Christ, a man who felt that he could fight and resist any temptation because of the love he had for his Master. He made a bold profession. When men turned away from Him, he said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And this man it was — Simon Peter, going forward to meet the power of the world in his own strength, who made a miserable failure. His great error was that he under-rated the power of the world, and he over-estimated his own strength to meet it. When the Lord spoke to His disciples on the night of His betrayal, and told them that they would leave Him alone and turn from Him, Peter, strong in his devotion, said, “Though all shall be offended because of thee, yet will not I.” “I am ready to go with thee both into prison and to death.” And yet, before many hours were passed away, he had denied his Master with oaths and curses. He went in his own resolution to face the power of the world. He entered the high priest's palace and mingled with the soldiers of the high priest, associating and fraternizing with the world. He was standing in his own strength, and he denied that he knew the Lord, denied with oaths and curses any knowledge of Him.

Beloved friends, do you believe that there is a power in this world which is ever waiting to assault your fidelity and insult the cross? Do you believe that that power of the world and the evil within your own heart are more than you can master in your own strength? If not, you may find it so to your deep sorrow and shame. When Peter had denied his Master thrice, he suddenly found the eyes of his Master upon him. The Lord looked upon Peter, and Peter went out weeping bitterly. He felt how grievous was his fault. The Master said, “Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny Me thrice,” but Peter would not be warned. He went to face the power of Pharaoh and his host in his own strength, and he failed. Yet the word came to him, as it were: 'Fear not, Peter, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.' He had fallen to the dust, but there was One ready to lift him up and give him further power. And afterwards we actually read how the man who denied his Master three times went forth in the face of Jerusalem and the whole world, boldly declaring the salvation of the Lord.

This divine power for salvation is what I want you to see. It is one thing for a man to find out his own weakness. It is another thing to find out the power that wishes to drag him back into bondage. It is yet another to find out how great is the power of God and His salvation.

I like to think about this aspect of salvation in connection with the glorious person of Him who was the Saviour. I like to read, too, of the scene presented to us in the second chapter of Luke, when that little Babe was brought in to the old man Simeon, who had waited long, hoping that the ancient prophecies concerning the Messiah might be fulfilled in his day. And when they brought in the Babe Jesus, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.”

There it is for us: the infant Jesus, the salvation of God. Do you not see it there in that blessed person? There is no power elsewhere. So far as the world judges, you would not look at a babe for power and strength, but it was just there that God's power, God's grace too, was seen by faith in the person of Jesus. But you have to look farther on in the history of that Blessed One, and consider another scene. The angel said, “And thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” And if you look elsewhere you will see that name emblazoned upon the cross of Calvary: “This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” So far as the world was able to see, there was never such a spectacle of weakness as was presented in Jesus on the cross. There was Jesus who had raised the sick, healed the leper, given sight to the blind, stilled the waves of the sea — there He was between two malefactors. The very heavens were darkened above Him. Those shoulders uphold the worlds, yet was He nailed to the cross! Beloved friends, the salvation of the Lord was nevertheless there in that Nazarene. He is the salvation of the Lord.

There was a man who, in that tragic hour, found out this truth, a man whose life had been blasted by sin, and there he turned his face to Jesus. He looked in dim faith to Jesus, and there was power in the Crucified to change that blackened soul, and to cleanse him from all guilt, and to give him an entrance that day into the Paradise of God.

Beloved friends, Christ, the power of God, was there! And He is a power stronger than the power of the world. I would have you to look further still. I would have you look up to the right hand of the throne of God. Who is there? The same Jesus, the One who died; the crucified One is now in glory; and this is the One to whom also you are called to appeal for needed power. Are you in your sins? There is the cross, and the blood that cleanseth from all sin. As the man who was an Israelite could look back to the blood of the paschal lamb and know that that blood shielded him from God's judgment, so now you may look at the blood of Jesus Christ that God may cleanse you from your sins. But you must look up to the throne of God to see One there who has conquered Satan, who rose and ascended triumphant over death, and is there to help you here in the daily struggle in which you engage against the power of sin and Satan. Will you be enslaved by your own sinful habits? Will you be carried away by the lusts and passions of your own evil heart?

If not, you must stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. I know that there are a great many who look continually at the cross alone, and therefore know nothing of the deliverance of grace. They listen to a single text of Scripture — “I am determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified,” and refuse to heed any other. Hence they are ignorant of the peace of God.

You ought to know also the power of the living Christ; to know that the man Christ Jesus can supply you with every needed strength, grace and wisdom which you may require in your path here. You have all that and more when you look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the One to whom you can look for succour and blessing under all circumstances. Hence you may take the word of Moses to yourself, “Fear not”; fear no evil, and fear no terrible thing. The fear of temporal power and of national disaster now is great and widespread, but what is the fear of the forces of this world? What is the fear of those that kill the body? Would that there was more fear of him that wars against the soul. Men follow one another heedlessly in the paths of sin, they drink deeply of its pleasures, only to find the misery it brings. They quickly learn that the impelling power is so great that they cannot resist it. They hate their habits and despise themselves, and you find them driven to utter and hopeless despair, and tempted to end their wretched existence of bondage to sin. They often vainly seek some refuge in the grave, for the power which is impelling them seeks their certain destruction.

Take the herd of swine at Gadara, for instance. It was driven to destruction by a malevolent evil power. We read that the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake and perished. It is often the same with men, and they have no power to help themselves out of their enslaving and debasing habits. They think nobody cares for them, and they go swiftly, madly down to death.

O dear hearer, let me tell you there is a mightier power for the Christian, for Christ is the power of God. Some do not realise how they need the Lord Jesus Christ every day. They think that though they need Him in the matter of their sins, they do not need Him in the matter of their daily life. But it is not enough to look to Christ for forgiveness of all you have done. It is necessary to look to Him for guidance and victory every step of the way. Beloved friends, you know not what tomorrow may bring forth. You know not when your end may arrive, but whatever the period of your journey may be, the apostolic principle is the only safe one for us all: “by the grace of God I am what I am.” It is only by His power and by His grace any of us can be preserved. “Fear ye not,” then “stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”

Now, what is meant by standing still? We must beware of a possible misapprehension of these words as if they imply that we have nothing whatever to do, as if it were sufficient for us to drift with the stream and let things take their course. There is something to be done, and you find later in the narrative that the people of Israel were told to go forward, even though the sea was in front of them they were not on any account to turn back. Egypt was behind. They were never to think of retracing their steps with the strength that God would provide. What, then, does He mean by standing still? I think the word implies that they were to consider calmly their position from the divine standpoint. They were to dismiss their anxieties, they were to give up every fear, and to contemplate what power there was in Jehovah. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” The flower of Pharaoh's army was surely something not to be despised, as it was viewed humanly.

They might well fear that armed host. And the mountains were not to be scaled, and the sea was impassable, measuring both by human standards. Their position to a faithless man seemed hopeless, but let them only bring in God as their Helper, and “if God be for us, who shall be against us?”

Do you know what it is to have proved His divine power for deliverance in your daily life, to have God bringing you. through a sore trial or temptation. Beloved friends it is a grand experience to be able to look back upon one's past and say, “God brought me through that great crisis: how I got through I cannot explain, but I got through; and it was God who brought me through.”

I must leave this matter for your serious consideration. It is of practical importance, and concerns each one of us. So long as we are here in this world we are liable to come in contact with sinful men, with sin and the tendency to sin. We know the temptation to sin is very dangerous to a holy life. We have to be constantly on the watch and very vigilant. And we must continue to be on the alert, and further than this, we have to look with a fixed gaze in that direction alone from which help can come. Then in the moment of trial and in the moment of difficulty we shall find that help comes.

Men pride themselves in these days on the wonders of wireless telegraphy, but the wonders of prayer are far greater. Prayer ascends to heaven with more than lightning rapidity, and brings instant relief. This then is the manner in which you must “stand still.” You must cease from your own efforts and rest in faith, upon the power of Christ. There is a moment when there is nothing for you to do. You must cease from your own works, and let the power of God work for you.

“Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” How long will it take us to contemplate the entire extent of this salvation — to know it fully? The progress will be gradual. But it is quite a mistake to suppose that we can ever grow into this knowledge by vague dreams of the great power, goodness and love of God. There is the practice as well as the theory. We need continually to look upon Him as revealed in His word, but also in the hour of our need we should not fail to prove how ready He is to help. The true Christian life is not something to which we resort in moments when we have nothing else to do. When Sunday comes, because it is respectable, many are found in some place where the Bible is opened and read, and they hear of the delivering power of the Lord. But in the home, in the workshop, in the battle of life, everywhere we may learn by actual instance how the power of God is exercised in response to the person who waits upon Him.

Let me ask, Do you really believe that, in the matters that press most against you every day, God will interfere for your help and blessing if you only look to Him? Be assured that He will protect you from the greatest power that can oppose you — the power of Satan. The ways of the great enemy are subtle. Satan did not display or show himself in that instance to which I referred just now. No! The servant-maid was the means in Satan's hands of causing Peter to deny his Master. But the Lord had said before to Peter, “Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat: but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.”

Consider the two. There was on the one hand Jesus looking upon His disciple with a heart full of loving solicitude, and on the other hand Peter, passionately devoted, but full of self-confidence, thinking that he could overcome the spiritual Pharaoh and all his forces. And, indeed, he was carried through eventually. But, oh! that failure! Oh! the sadness of it, that the Man of sorrows should have had another anguish added as He saw what sin could do with a man who had turned away from the world and become His follower, that it could find an entrance into the heart of an apostle who had the keys of the kingdom of heaven, that it should cause him to disgrace himself and deny his Master. It is so. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” Never seek to meet the power of the world, the power of sin and Satan, in your own strength; but “Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.” W.J.H.

Christian Marriage

(Gen. 2: 18-24; Matt. 19: 4-6; Eph. 5: 22-33)

W. J. Hocking.

Marriage possesses the unique feature of being an institution established by God from the very beginning of human history. God's authority is, therefore, behind the prominent place it occupies in man's social life. The first marriage was ordained in the Garden of Eden for the increase of Adam's comfort and the consummation of his bliss.

The Marriage of Adam

Adam was created in sinless perfection, and was surrounded in Eden with everything he needed for his satisfaction and delight. The whole scene, animate and inanimate, was subject to his will and pleasure; but he himself was alone, and the isolation made inevitable by his supremacy was a drawback to his perfect felicity. “And Jehovah Elohim said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helpmate, his like (or counterpart).”

Accordingly, the woman was formed by Divine handiwork, not from the dust of the ground as Adam had been, but out of Adam himself, so that literally the woman was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Eve was the Creator's provision for Adam. Discerning the incompleteness of Adam in his solitude, God provided for him a consort designed exactly to meet his deficiencies. Accordingly, in their marriage the two became one flesh, each being the complement of the other.

The marriage of Adam is the prototype of the marriage of all his sons. In every case of true matrimony, God arranges the union. Divine wisdom observes the moment when the loneliness of the man is no longer good for him, and He provides a bride who is the complement of his nature with its personal characteristics. Adam had no choice of brides; there was but the one that would suit him, and she was prepared of God especially for him. Adam had no rivals for the possession of Eve. Nor can such a thing be imagined in Eden, where each of the two found in the other everything required to complete their enjoyment and to perfect their capacities. There was no alternative that either could have chosen or found.

The primitive marriage in Eden was remarkably simple and exclusive. Two only shared the delights of the occasion. And this mutual reserve is a character marriage still retains. In matrimony two hearts, two lives become one exclusively in each other. At every wedding a new little world is formed with a total population of two numerically, but administratively of one only. How happy the new experience, and how momentous!

Instituted before the Fall

It is a fact of the highest significance that the marriage relationship was established between Adam and Eve while they were still in a state of innocence. At the time of their union, sin had not entered the world, nor its just penalty, death, incurred. But the entrance of sin through their disobedience did not set aside the holy character of marriage which its divine origin and sanction had originally imparted to it.

This, indeed, was the ground upon which the Lord Jesus long afterwards vindicated the primeval institution and affirmed the abiding sanctity of marriage. It was not a relationship introduced by the law of Moses, for instance; but wedlock was God's purpose for man from the very start of his history. So the Lord in replying to the cavils of the Pharisees, said to them, “Have ye not read that He Who made them, from the beginning made them male and female?” (Matt. 19: 4). And had they not also read in the same connection, “And the two (man and wife) shall be one flesh”?

It is true that, having been united in wedded bonds, Adam and Eve jointly disobeyed the commandment of the Lord, and fell into and under sin. Nevertheless, the holy and divinely-sanctioned character of marriage which it received in the state of sinlessness remained after the entrance of sin. God had made the single pair, and He made them the one for the other exclusively. As our Lord said, God had joined them together by bonds that are indissoluble by man. This character of permanence attaches to marriage still, as it ever has done. In every union under divine superintendence, God binds together the two hearts and lives by a tie that none can sever.

The Human Credentials of Marriage

Another aspect of the marriage tie may now be considered. As a relationship established by God in the original circumstances of man's creation, it possesses a pure and holy character. It is obvious, however, that in Eden there were necessarily no human witnesses to the first marriage contract. But with the multiplication of the human species, there arose the necessity that each matrimonial alliance should have a propriety in the eyes of men generally, and should receive public confirmation and approval.

From the days of Noah, God set up among men forms of government for the maintenance of civil order and social well-being. The “powers that be” in the community are ordained of God, and their regulations are to be recognised and obeyed by the Christian (Rom. 13: 1-7; 1 Peter 2: 13, 14). It is seemly, therefore, that Christian marriage should conform to the requirements of the law of the land. Indeed, it is expressly enjoined upon the believer to “be subject unto the higher powers,” and to submit “to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake.” Where this is done in the case of marriage, the act of union is formally and legally recognised, and its validity established in the eyes of all men.

The Invocation of God's Blessing

The ceremony of marriage required by civil laws to bestow a wedded status upon the persons concerned is altogether distinct from the spiritual union of husband and wife which results from the exercise of God's own will and guidance upon the hearts of the same two persons. The latter is the most serious and yet the most happy side of the undertaking. For this reason, the married couple, realising the solemn nature of the initial step they have taken in the united life to which they have committed themselves, seek the fellowship and prayers of the assembly of God on their behalf. Thereby, they openly confess that in their new relationship, their joint desire is to receive divine help that they may walk together in the fear of the Lord, in obedience to His word, and in the furtherance of the glory of His name.

On the Wife's Part, Submission

In Ephesians 5: 22-33, there is given to those who are married much advice, embodying the leading principles which should govern their new and peculiar relations to one another.

The injunction laid upon the wife in this passage is that of submission to her husband: “Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.” This habit of feminine subjection is unpopular in this twentieth century, nevertheless the Christian wife is exhorted by the highest authority to practise it; and, however unfashionable in worldly society such obedience may be, she cannot escape her responsibility to render it as unto the Lord to Whom she is accountable for her conduct.

But the submission thus solemnly enjoined is not the blind mechanical obedience of a slave to the owner, such, for instance, as that of an Israelite to an Egyptian taskmaster. Rather is it the glad subjection which springs involuntarily from a passionate devotion to the loved one, a ready submission to the will of the beloved man, needing no compulsion, nor even prompting.

“As unto the Lord”

To a believing woman there is one authority from which there is no appeal. Hence the apostle brings the Lord Himself before the wife in the matter of her submission in her married relationship. She must submit to her own husband “as unto the Lord.”

The Lord Jesus is the pattern to all His own of that perfect obedience which is well-pleasing to God. “Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered.” Though continually accompanied by sorrow and suffering in the course of His subjection, it was a joy to Him to obey. Our Lord ever delighted to do the will of Him Who sent Him. Love to His Father was the mainspring of everything He did as the obedient Servant. In like manner, the believing wife should in her love, devotedly fulfil the “law” of her husband.

But the injunction here is coupled with the name of the Lord, not so much as the pattern of obedience, as the One from Whom her husband's authority is derived. She is to submit to her husband “as unto the Lord.” She is exhorted to recognize the Lord Jesus behind her husband as the directing, governing authority in family life. As the “head of the woman is the man,” so the Head of every man is Christ (1 Cor. 11: 3). Thus the godly decisions of the husband will express the will of the Lord for her, and to these she will render obedience with all readiness and cheerfulness. “As the church is subject unto Christ”, so will the devout Christian wife be subject to her own husband in everything (verse 24).

On the Husband's Part, Affection

As the distinguishing feature of the wife's conduct should be subjection, so that of the husband's should be love. “Husbands, love your wives.” The form in the original tongue of both exhortations to the married pair indicates that the act enjoined is to be constant and characteristic. Both the submission of the wife and the love of the husband must be a continuous habit, not an occasional occurrence.

In these guiding principles of piety in the two pillars of the home, it is significant that love is particularly enjoined upon the husband, and not, as might almost have been expected, upon the more tender and susceptible partner, the wife. The husband, therefore, needs, in entering upon his new responsibilities, to consider this distinction carefully in order to grasp the special force of the exhortation addressed to him.

It is clear that, while the wife should regard her husband as the fountain of authority in the affairs of the household and in the conduct of their joint lives, the husband in the exercise of that authority should express his advice and judgment to her in the terms of love and endearment befitting a channel of the divine will. The real unity of married life will be most fittingly displayed by this blending of authority and affection. The authority of the husband will be conveyed by the expressions of his love, and the obedience of the wife will be prompted by the impulses of her affection.

Christ's Love for the Church the Husband's Model

In this passage, the husband is instructed to regard the intimate relation of Christ to His church upon which the apostle dwells, as the model of his own relation to his wife. Two features of this relation may be mentioned specially in this connection, viz.: (1) Christ's self-sacrifice, and (2) Christ's devoted care.

In the first place, the husband is to practise his love in the form of entire self-surrender in order to secure his wife's highest welfare, for, “Christ also loved the church, and delivered Himself up for it.” The blessed Lord surrendered up Himself altogether, without reserve, to promote the best interests of His church. And this whole-hearted sacrifice to ensure the present blessing and future glory of the church of His choice is set up as the model for the husband's imitation.

In the ideal marriage of scripture, therefore, the wife becomes the enthralling object of her spouse's affection and devotion to a degree which deepens in intensity as the years pass. Self is set aside in the home-life, and he that is married is solicitous in everyday matters how he may please his wife rather than himself. And while he may forget his own little lordship in the absorbing self-sacrifice of his love, he finds that his wife does not forget his authority over her nor omit her ready obedience to him, just because he is so lavish in his love toward her.

But, secondly, the husband's love should be manifested by a continual care for the well-being of his wife. This pleasant duty is impressed upon him by the present service of the love of Christ in sanctifying and cleansing the church with the washing of water by the word (ver. 26). Whatever the behaviour of the church towards her Lord, Christ is faithful and unremitting in the activities of His love that she may be purified from everything that is inconsistent with her new status as His chosen bride and the sharer of His coming glories.

Guided by the lofty standard of Christ's concern for His church, the husband studies to promote the welfare of his wife, as his own body (ver. 28). He helps her, first of all in her spiritual life, in the exercises of worship and prayer and service in the home. He lightens her labours in household affairs, shoulders her burdens of family responsibility, shields her from anxieties and fears, comforts her in hours of sorrow, and ministers help to her weakness without telling her so. Neither will he forget to note her acts of devotion to himself in response to his love, nor to praise her many excellences, as the scripture enjoins (Prov. 31: 28, 29) if he should be so negligent as to need this injunction.

Making a New Home

Another feature of pious marriage life made prominent in this passage is that matrimonial union involves the establishment of a new household. The apostle says, “Because of this a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be united to his wife, and the two shall be one flesh” (ver. 31). By entrance into the marriage relationship, two parental homes are vacated, and a new Christian home set up by the married pair.

The advantages and far-reaching influence of a truly pious dwelling-place cannot easily be over-rated. As a national feature, home life is not cultivated on scriptural lines now to the degree that it was formerly. Families thoroughly united in the bonds of piety and walking together in the fear of the Lord are not found so frequently as they should be.

It is a striking testimony to the value in the divine estimation of the home that in the scriptural history of man, family life is given precedence to national life. A great part of the Book of Genesis is devoted to the record of family life set apart in the world as a witness for the living and true God against the corrupting influence of idolatry while national history begins in the Book of Exodus.

This form of effective witness for God is sorely needed today. And it devolves upon the newly-married couple to organize a home which shall in its primary purpose be entirely controlled by the will of the Lord. Under such management, the home will become a centre from which the light of God's truth will shine upon the darkness and ungodliness of the surrounding world. Its occupants will be recognized as the servants of Christ.

A home is not to be confused with a house. An architect plans the house, but love and order construct the home. It is important that in the new Christian home an agreed policy between husband and wife should predominate; “and they two shall be one flesh.” Particularly in things God-ward concerted action should prevail. The former spiritual habits and activities hitherto practised by each need not cease, only they may now be prayerfully pursued with the enhanced energy that concord and consultation supply to Christian service. The two happy persons will unite as they never could before in “labour for and with the Lord.” And the former effect for good and blessing will not diminish, but will rather be increased by the intimate wedded union of two hearts devoted to the Lord.

Joys Doubled

The shepherd in our Lord's parable sought in solitary places for the sheep which was lost, and his success in finding it was a joy to him. But in the loneliness of the wilderness this joy was restricted. He wanted some hearts to share his joy. And “when he cometh home”, he called his friends together, saying, “Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost”.

Home is the sphere of joy, especially of private and personal joy. The joys of married life are more than doubled in intensity just because they are shared by the two who have become one, and who are now everything to one another. Small matters bring great joys in the intimacies of home life, in which strangers may not meddle.

The daily offering of praise and thanksgiving to God, no longer strictly personal to each, has fresh fervour to which each contributes from a grateful heart. The joint prayers of husband and wife are the more powerful in their intercession, seeing they are offered from the hearts of those whom God has joined together. These devotional exercises carry with them their own peculiar and almost inexpressible joys, which are all the sweeter to the taste because they are shared together in the new home.

In service to the Lord each is strengthened by the other, and what otherwise might be lacking in either is supplied. New forms of service become possible through joint desires and efforts. When an Apollos needed instruction in the things of the Lord, the house of Aquila and Priscilla was opened to receive him; and the husband and wife united in expounding the way of God to him more perfectly (Acts 18: 24-28).

They agreed to use the convenience of their house for the spiritual benefit of one who, though not lacking in zeal and ability, was immature in the faith. And the pious pair had the joy of finding that the hospitality and the Christian atmosphere of their home was turned to good account in the after-life of Apollos. The newly-married might well seek to emulate the home service of Aquila, of Gaius, and of Lydia, as recorded in the New Testament. It will be a new form of service for them, and is well within their reach.

Sorrows Halved

New homes are so bright and fresh and joyous that it may seem churlish to suggest that some day sorrow will be an uninvited visitor. But it must be so. Tribulation of some sort is inevitable in every household; but if the Lord is there, the inmates will have His peace. Dark thunder-clouds may steal across the bright blue above, but the believer knows that the sun still shines in the heavens, and that the rainbow is in the rain.

Moreover, in married life there are two hearts to bear one sorrow, and each striving to take the greater share of grief and loss. The strong man shields his partner from the impending stroke, and the loving wife hides in her bosom many a pang lest her dear man should have still more to bear. But sharing is better than concealment. Men and women are made strong in hours of sorrow by sympathy; and there is no sympathy so choice and so effective as that which dwells in the Christian home-life.

(From an Address)

Our Living Lord

Notes of an address on Revelation 1: 17, 18.

Delivered at Birmingham, June 1st, 1914, by W. J. Hocking.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conversion to God

Notes of an address on 1 Thessalonians 1: 9, 10.

W. J. Hocking.

“For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you; and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.”

I suppose that there is hardly another passage in Scripture which gives us such a clear and definite presentation of Christian conversion as we find in this First Epistle to the Thessalonians, and especially in the first part of it. By comparing the Epistle with the Acts (Acts 17: 1-10), which gives us the history of the apostle's visit to Thessalonica, we find that his labours there were very short. But his service was evidently blessed of God, and blessed of God in this particular sense, that the work of conversion in the men and women of Thessalonica was short and sharp and effective.

The work was not of slow growth, but the word of the gospel came upon them irresistibly, and revolutionised their whole life and conduct, so that they became absolutely different persons in conduct and demeanour from what they were before. The change was so rapid, and so pervaded their whole being, that the eyes of all could not but discern that some marvellous work had been wrought; and every one of these persons became in consequence a living witness of the power of God's gospel in men's lives. The gospel worked in a way that no doctrine, no philosophy had done or ever could do. Here were Gentile men, immersed in heathen darkness and blindness, men degraded by the impurities of heathen worship, visited by a certain man who preached the good news concerning Christ and His work; and the immediate effect of the preaching was that they abandoned their lifelong worship; they abandoned all the dark practices of their lives, and heaven's light began to shine out from them.

The effect was such that, as you heard in the verses I read to you, not only throughout the city itself, Thessalonica, but throughout the two provinces, Macedonia and Achaia, the news had spread like wildfire. The gospel of God had been at work in Thessalonica, and there were well-known persons who were completely changed in their lives by the acceptance of that gospel. Anyone could go to Thessalonica and see these converted persons, and watch them in their daily lives. They could listen to the words that came out of their mouths, and they could ask themselves, 'What has done this? What is the cause of the change? What explanation is there of this wonder?' And men were asking such questions throughout Macedonia and Achaia.

Thus the word was being sounded abroad through the converted, so that the apostle could say, 'Our work here is taken away from us. It is not now necessary for us to preach the gospel in this district, seeing there are men who are living it. Here are men who, in every step of their ways, testify to the fact that they are now in living touch with God above, and that a power has entered into their hearts and lives, and is enabling them to travel in the reverse direction from that which they had hitherto followed.'

This is a grand testimony, beloved friends, of what real conversion is. We do find, through the grace of God, instances of it still multitudes of such instances — and we can only earnestly pray to God that these numbers may be multiplied. There are other multitudes watching these examples. And we should remember that there is not a more effective witness for God in this dark and sin-stained earth than the heavenly life of a man, woman, or child in this world. Men, then see what God's grace can do for a sinful person.

Paul was called to speak of what the gospel had done in Thessalonica; and what it had done there, he knew could be done elsewhere. It was the great work of his life to go into Satan's strongholds, and to make known there the ways of life and salvation, and it gladdened his heart to see these shining lights in Thessalonica, showing out the bright glories of Jesus, the Saviour of men.

Now, I wish to bring before you one or two features of these verses. You will notice how very comprehensive the verses are of true conversion. The apostle speaks, in the first place, of what the gospel had done for them. He says, (1) “Ye turned to God from idols.” This was one important fact: but this was not all. I have referred already to the past of their lives. It is not sufficient that there should be such a change, but there must be some Person before them who becomes the Director of their lives. Thus he speaks of them (2) as serving a “living and true God.” But there was a third item. They not only turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, but, as to their future, they were waiting “for his Son from heaven.” And thus, you see, that in this short passage the Christian life is, as it were, portrayed in all its aspects: with regard to the past, with regard to the present, and with regard to the future. And this is stated of those who answered in this remarkable way to the description of true Christian conduct — and these were recently-converted persons in Thessalonica.

Well, we ought to seek to come up to the standard that is given us in the word of God, and to this exemplification of the standard, which was so striking, so far as the Thessalonians were concerned.

In the first place, then, the apostle speaks of their definite turning to God from idols. We can hardly conceive what a revolution this was in the case of these persons. We must think of them for a moment as they were before they heard the gospel. They had given up to idol-worship the higher and nobler part of their nature — the spirit that was within them, given to man in order that he might have to do with God above. But the Thessalonians bowed down to gods of gold and silver and stone; while, behind these idols, there was the power of the wicked one, drawing them away from God. They gave all their best to that which was false, and to what affected their morals and their whole nature. What a man worships, he becomes in character. The man who worships darkness and evil becomes dark and evil and brutal himself. And it was so in Thessalonica. And we can realise the power of the gospel of God which brought these heathen to the knowledge of a living and true God, and to the hope of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Let us not think only of those who were so far away from the light, and so far removed in character from the persons amongst whom we are. We are in a highly-favoured land, where the knowledge of God is spread abroad by means such as were never known in apostolic days; and the “knowledge of God,” as the Bible declares it, is made known thereby in an outward way, so that one can hardly pass through life without receiving most of the facts of divine history. But, how terrible when, in the face of this privilege, the allegiance of the heart is still given to something inferior to God, which is, after all, only an idol, since it stakes the place of the Supreme One. What is it, beloved friends, that men and women, in our country, are bowing down to? They are giving all that is best in them to themselves, worshipping self, worshipping the world, desiring only success and ease and pleasure here in the world, and God, thus, shut out of their lives.

Be not deceived; there are many idols in the world. And the apostle John, writing to the family of God, says “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” It is so easy to allow something in the heart, which replaces God, to which we have bowed. You may take an innocent child, so beautiful that the hearts of men are irresistibly attracted to such a picture of unspoiled goodness. You may put your child in the place of God. You may thus displace God. You may refuse to listen to His word because of your idol. You may refuse to obey His call because of your idol. Where an idol, whatever it be, is enshrined in the heart, the result is terrible! There are idols of friends, idols of circumstances, which take possession of the heart, and which stand between the man and God.

Is this so in your case, my hearer? Have you an idol? Have you something in the heart which intervenes between you and God, and shuts out the light of the glorious gospel of God, the all-glorious truth of His word from your life? Flee from such an idol. Let the light of God's truth shine into your heart and show you that there is nothing comparable with His Son and His Holy Spirit.

The work of conversion mentioned in our text is as much needed now as it was then. The Thessalonians turned from idols to serve the living and true God. Beloved friends, it requires an effort to do this. You will observe that these men turned. There was a definite revolution in their affairs. They were proceeding in one direction. They turned, and went the reverse way, and the light of God shone into their hearts.

It is a great achievement to have the heart turned towards God. It is a great comfort to have in this world the sense of this great Heavenly One above, and to know that He is omnipotent, and that He exercises a part in my daily life. How many a man has been brought close to temptation, brought to the very threshold of an evil deed, and has been arrested by the thought of God!

O beloved friends, never, never seek to exclude God out of your life. The robber on the cross said to his colleague railing against the Holy Sufferer also there, “Dost not thou fear God?” His whole life showed that he had not feared man. But now he says, “Dost not thou fear God?” That man, stricken down with his penitence, feeling the horrible sin that he had committed against God, was brought to confess his sin, and to know that Jesus was the only Saviour.

You, my friends, have you been converted? Has your life been turned towards God? Are the heavenly powers of holiness shining down upon your way in the things that you say and do, and in the things that pass through your mind? Is all that concerns you subjected to the Lord of heaven?

A converted man is the man who has turned to God. He has been living with his back to all that is holy and good, and he now turns about, like the man whom the Lord Himself described as going into a far country. By and by, he said, “I will arise and go unto my father.” He arose and went to his father, and, in doing so, he was a converted man. He turned from his profligacy to the father against whom he had sinned.

Now, in the history of every child of God there must have been a moment when the change was made, when there was the passing from darkness into light, from death unto life. Has it been so in yours? In the case of the Thessalonians, conversion affected them so completely that men saw and wondered. Men found that these were now governed by new motives of which they were ignorant. The course of life to which they had been accustomed was the encouragement of their evil passions. Idol worship taught that what a man lusted after was right, that what man wanted to do he might do. Conversion changed all this.

Sin is also a custom nowadays. Is it not thought, nowadays, that you can do what you will? and that if you only strive to do what you ought to do, you will come out safely in the end? Beloved friends, is it true that the man who sins is really doing his best, and that the drunkard who reels in the gutter is reeling towards heaven? Such doctrines are contrary to the teaching of God's holy word. No, you are called to turn from the evil way into the way of light and holiness.

But there is not only the act of turning. There is the conduct that follows, and that conduct, so far as we have it expressed here, is summed up in a very beautiful phrase indeed — they turned to God from idols “to serve the living and true God.” We are told to serve the living and true God. I do not think that these Thessalonians acted in some special manner, and devoted their lives to God in some particular way. I do not think that they gave up their calling in life, and threw themselves exclusively into the service of the propagation of the gospel. I do not think the phrase implies this separation from ordinary pursuits. On the contrary, the Epistle implies that they went on with their work, that they continued in their customary vocation. In the midst of the place and circumstances in which they had been brought up they stayed, only now they worked for their God above. They had found a living and true God, and they had found out the way to serve Him in the midst of their ordinary duties.

Think of it, as life's aim! To serve the living and true God! Is it not, from one point of view, as simple as A B C, doing the will of God, doing daily what He would have us do? And yet, although it is so simple, it is an idea that has not occurred to a great many persons; even some who are piously inclined fail to grasp the fact that the living and true God has a service for each one of us to do. There is a pathway through this world for you and me (for I am now addressing those who are converted) — there is a pathway through this world marked out for every one of us. We have our something to do. We have our words to speak. We have our works to perform. They are such that no one else can do for us. They are such that, if they are not done, the world, our companions, those around us, will be the worse because we fail to do them. God works through His servants, and His servants are men and women who have been saved from the wrath to come. They are those into whom He puts a new nature and His Holy Spirit, and places them here in this world for His praise and glory.

Beloved friends, this is a noble calling. It is a grand privilege to be here in this world to serve God. We look around us. Is it not a fact that, in general, God's name and God's will are despised? Is it the principal characteristic of our times that the will of God is honoured, and that men systematically seek to know and do it? It must be admitted that even at this moment men are everywhere turning their backs upon God and His word. It is no excuse to say that God is great, and God is holy, while we are so finite and feeble. Man slights his God.

Take, for example, the honour and reverence that is due to this day. This is the Lord's day. Why must it be considered? Because it is the Lord's day, because His name is placed upon it, because it is the day that He has called His own. Is there a fear of what is due to Him? Is it not a fact that, just at the moment, when a great firm publishes a new Sunday paper, its circulation leaps at once to a million and a half or so? Is there that reverence of God's word, and of His name, and of what is due to Him that might be expected in a Christian country?

Dear friends, it is a great thing to serve God, but what does the term mean? It means that what I do and undertake must be entirely under the guidance and direction of God, and that I must have the sanction of His word for what I do and undertake, and that, in all my doings, I must fear God, reverence His name, and render unto Him what is due to Him.

Let us each in our measure seek to establish in our lives the fact that we are serving God. And when people inquire, 'Why do you not do this?' let us say, 'I serve God. I fear God. I have His word. I tremble to disobey that word, I fear to do wrong to Him. Knowing His will, I tremble to disregard it.' It ought to be so. These Thessalonians had found the living and true God, and were serving Him. Do not think this is bondage. It is the joy of liberty. The man who has the true God in grace before him feels that he can never do sufficient; that whatever self-denial he may make, it is unworthy to be mentioned; that God's grace is so great, the sacrifice of the cross for him was so infinite, that anything he may renounce is but trifling.

Are you, then, living for God, or are you serving yourself? Have you an idol in your life? Perhaps you started on the new path in past years; you have still to make good your profession, and to serve the living and true God. There is a reason given in our verse why we should not slacken, and take holidays as it were, in the service of God. Why is this? The Thessalonians were told by the apostle to brighten the future of their lives with the hope of the return of God's Son from heaven. It must have been a tremendous revelation unto these men to hear that God's Son determined to visit this world again!

Once He visited it in His humility and grace. He came down, that mighty and holy One, and was found here in human form. It was a wondrous visitation that He, the Prince of peace, the Lord of glory, should be here as a man! Men saw the “Godhead glory shine through that human veil.” One man, you remember, said, “Now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” It was a wondrous visitation, that the Son of God should tread this world without a place to lay His head, until He laid it down in death on Calvary's tree! It was indeed a wondrous visit.

But it is equally wonderful to learn that He who came once will come again. And these men were called out to wait for God's Son from heaven. He was coming again. And how did they know this? Who could unveil tomorrow and say what would be in the future? They had the truth from the best of all witnesses; they had it from the Son Himself. Before He left this world, He gave a promise to those He left behind Him. When He was in the upper room, and the little company of disciples with Him, their hearts were filled with grief because they learned that He whom they loved was about to take His departure. The Lord recognised the love that made them feel sad; He recognised the love that wished Him back and craved for His presence. He, therefore, said, “If I go away, I will come again, and receive you unto myself.”

Dear friends, a great promise was that! It brought them joy and hope. These men at Thessalonica heard it also. They heard it from the lips of the apostle. They drank in its sweetness and comfort, and said, 'Oh, what a glorious thing it will be for Him to come back here from His glory,' and they forgot, as it were, the difficulties and trials of their path through this world in the vision of hope that the Lord would return and receive them to Himself.

They heard also the angelic testimony to the disciples when they stood on Mount Olivet gazing up into heaven, where that beloved One had vanished from their eyes. They stood gazing up into heaven waiting for the cloud to open, and thinking He would return immediately; but the angel spoke to them, and said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” “This same Jesus!” It is the blessed Person Himself who is coming, the Person who bears in His hands and feet the marks of the nails. This is He whom the Thessalonians expected, and whom we, too, expect. That same Jesus shall come — not some bright vision for your deathbed — not something for your imagination — but no! that very Person who suffered here shall come back. This is a promise, the truth of which we cannot deny, for the Lord has said it. Can it be a fact that a man whose sins have been washed away in the precious blood of Jesus — can it be that a person for whom Jesus died on the tree, does not care to cherish the hope of His coming again?

Some persons think it is a doctrine for those who are well instructed in the word of God that it is a doctrine for persons who have studied, for instance, the visions of the wondrous Book of Daniel that it is especially for such. But the Thessalonians knew nothing yet about Daniel's prophecies. Did they know anything about Daniel even? Here was the simple fact, that some idolatrous people had turned to God, and were ignorant of divine revelation. They had turned from lives that were absolutely devoid of heavenly truth, and they learned from the servant of the Lord that Christ would come from heaven.

We also have that word. Let me ask, What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for His coming? Waiting, I take it, means anxiously expecting. You will remember that those virgins who went out to wait for the Bridegroom slumbered and slept. Could they then be said to be waiting for the Bridegroom? How could they be waiting for Him? They were not even ready for Him.

Do you say, “My Lord delayeth His coming,” or is it a fact that you are affected by the scoffers that are around us, who say “Where is the promise of His coming?” But that promise was made nearly two thousand years ago. Then we are nearly two thousand years nearer the fulfilment of it! Beloved friends, if you love the Lord Jesus Christ, you will surely love His word, and He says “Surely I am coming quickly.” Wait for Him, then. Walk on the mountains, and look out for the Bright and Morning Star. “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: so shall we be for ever with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4: 16,17). What a comfort this hope contains. Are you waiting for the Son from the heavens, even Jesus who has delivered us from the wrath to come?

There is a sad side to the future revealed in these words. Not only is the Son coming from the heavens, but the wrath is coming. The wrath of heaven is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, and the Executor of that wrath is Jesus, our Deliverer. He has delivered us from the wrath to come. The believer expects the Lord Jesus to receive him into the bright mansions above. But the Lord is also coming to execute judgment upon all. God, who passed over the days of ignorance, now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. Why? Because He has appointed a day in which He will “judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained: whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.”

O beloved friends, it is a grim outlook for this world; for the world can look forward to nothing but God's wrath. The unrighteousness, the disregard of God's holy word and will, must receive God's judgment by and by. God is holy, and He waits in long-suffering mercy, not willing that any should perish; but there is a limit to this long-suffering. This guilty world in which we are is stained by the blood of God's Son. It is true this blood speaks better things than that of Abel. It speaks of mercy and salvation to the sinner, but God's justice and holiness demand that the crucifixion of that just and holy Jesus should be avenged. The world stands guilty. Dear friends, all has to be answered for in a day that is coming. It is for you to come now to the refuge that God has provided, to believe on His Son, and to wait for His Son, that you may be taken away from this world before God's judgments break upon it. Men shall say “Peace and safety,” and sudden destruction shall come upon them. As it was in the day of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of man.

Beloved friends, these are established facts, resting for their truth upon God's holy word. They are there. Search the Scriptures whether these things are so or not. If they are so, heed them, make them part of your lives. May the light of them shine upon your pathway, and great shall be your reward now, greater still in the day which is to come.

I ask you, on which side are you? What is the rule of your life here in this world? Is God's Son governing your life? Are you ready to lay anything on one side for Christ's name? Oh, beware of rejecting anything that you know is God's will. Every person who has turned to God from idols finds that very shortly he must come to a decision. He has to obey God and give up something to do so. He has to break some tender cord, perhaps, for God. This is often a great struggle, and you have to bring yourself to face the naked truth, and ask yourself, 'Whom shall I obey?' Shall I obey God, or shall I obey someone, perhaps, who is dearer than all the world beside?

Friends, to decide rightly in a question of this kind, you have to look at it from the right standpoint. Be on the side of God. Be on the side of truth. Let this holy Book be the standard for you, that to which you refer, and that which is your guide to obedience from day to day. May God bless the truth and light of His holy word! May the scripture we have considered have a deeper and fuller effect than ever before upon the hearts and lives of everyone present here this evening! W.J.H.

The Rapture of the Church and the Appearing of the Lord.

W. J. Hocking, editor of "The Bible Monthly."

The following pages consist of a reprint of answers made by the Editor of The Bible Monthly in the issue for September, 1941, to certain questions submitted to him on the subject of the Second Advent of the Lord Jesus Christ, particularly with reference to His promised summons to His own, whether they may be then sleeping or waking, to meet Him in the air, and to the distinction of this hope from the Lord's subsequent public manifestation, along with His saints, in His judicial glory to His earthly people and to the world at large.

These replies, after a few verbal changes, are being reproduced with the prayerful desire that they may be of interest and service to those who, according to Scriptural teaching, await God's Son from the heavens and also love His appearing (1 Thess. 1: 10; 2 Tim. 4: 8).

E.B.D. — Is the Church's expectation of her Lord's return and of being “caught up . . . . to meet the Lord in the air” (commonly termed “the Rapture”) simultaneous with His manifestation, or is it a separate and previous occasion?

We believe that the rapture of the church will precede the public manifestation of Christ in glory. The removal of the saints from the earth to be with the Lord must necessarily be an earlier event than that when they will accompany the Lord out of heaven and will be manifested in glory with Him. Scripture teaches that we shall be caught up to be “with the Lord” for ever, and that we shall subsequently return “with Him” at His visible appearance to Israel and to the Gentiles for their judgment and eventual blessing. The apostle writes, “When the Christ is manifested, Who is our life, then shall ye also be manifested with Him in glory” (Col. 3: 4). It follows that those who shall be manifested with Christ when He comes forth out of heaven into the view of those upon the earth must on a previous and separate occasion have been taken from the earth to be with Him where He is on high. The fact of Moses and Elijah “appearing in glory” (Luke 9: 31) with the Lord Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration was evidence that they had previously been removed from the earth.

This relative order of the two future events is made unmistakably clear in 1 Thess. 4. There the apostle writes to remove the despondent state in that assembly due to their fear that some of their number who had “fallen asleep” would miss the glories of Christ's public coming. He bids them not to be sorrowing as those who had no “hope” (1 Thess. 4: 13), which they were doing because they did not understand how their brethren in the grave could possibly participate in the glories of Christ's visible appearing. But Paul declared for their enlightenment and comfort that as certainly as “Jesus has died and has risen again” God will “bring with Him” at His public appearing all those who have “fallen asleep through Jesus” (1 Thess. 4: 14). How this will be done had not up till then been revealed in the scriptures, nor apparently in the apostolic doctrine

Accordingly, in the parenthetical verses that follow (1 Thess. 4: 15-18), the apostle explains how it will come about that departed believers will be enabled to share in the procession of glorified saints on the day of Christ's open manifestation. He is writing in the first of all his Epistles, and he gives the explanation in accordance with the “word” or revelation he had himself received from the Lord on the matter: “For this we say to you in the word of the Lord . . . .” (verse 15). Paul then goes on to reveal that the procedure to ensure a joint participation will be by a resurrection of the dead and a transformation of the living. Believers alive at the coming of the Lord will not take precedence of those fallen asleep, nor will death rob a single sleeping one of the honours of the day of Christ; “for the Lord Himself, with an assembling shout, with archangel's voice and with trump of God, shall descend from heaven; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we, the living who remain, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we shall be always with the Lord.” (1 Thess. 4: 16, 17).

By this new and comprehensive “saying” of the apostle it would be evident to the distressed Thessalonians how God will “bring with” Christ in the day of His manifestation those of His own who were then in the tomb. They will be included in the “first resurrection,” for “the dead in Christ shall rise first,” and be “caught up” in company with living and “changed” ones “to meet the Lord in the air.” As the sleeping saints will be “raised in glory” (1 Cor. 15: 43), they will be thus fitted to “be always with the Lord” in glory. In this manner “made perfect” (Heb. 11: 40), and not in their disembodied state, “God will bring with Him” (Christ) those who have “fallen asleep through Jesus.” They will be brought from above with Christ, the Firstborn from among the dead (Col. 1: 18), because they too will have been raised from among the dead and transported thither to be manifested when the Christ is manifested to the inhabited earth.

We believe, therefore, that the plain meaning of this passage in 1 Thessalonians 4 is that the moment when believers in Christ, whether dead or alive, are caught away to meet the Lord will be prior to, and distinct from, the subsequent manifestation or appearing of Christ and of those who will form His glorious retinue (2 Thess. 1: 7-12), together with the “angels of His power.”

E.B.D. — It is said that the “parousia” (Christ's personal presence, the subjective phase of the Second Advent, 1 Thess. 2: 19) and the “epiphania” (His manifestation, the objective phase, Rev. 1. 7), the “shout,” the “voice of the archangel,” the “trump of God,” and the raising of the dead “first” (1 Thess. 4: 16, 17) will all take place on the same occasion. Is this so?

We do not think they will all take place on the same occasion. It has already been shown in the previous “answer” that the rapture of the saints and the manifestation or appearing of Christ are not coincident events, so that the various occurrences specified in 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17 should not be associated with the manifestation of Christ to every eye, mentioned in Rev. 1: 7. Neither is it in accordance with the scriptural usage of the words to say that the Greek term, parousia, is used to express the subjective phase of the Second Advent in distinction from epiphania, the objective phase. This alleged distinction between these two words we believe to be unfounded for the reasons which follow.

There are in the Greek text of the New Testament several closely related words each of which varies slightly in meaning from its fellows. All have the basic idea of “coming,” and for the most part are alike translated “coming” in our A.V. Of these Greek words, two are mentioned in the query. Parousia relates to “coming” especially in the sense that a state of being absent has been changed into a state of being present by the person's coming, or arrival. In most of its occurrences, parousia may therefore be rendered into English by our word, “presence.”

Thus, Paul writes of the “coming” (par.) of Titus to him in Macedonia (2 Cor. 7: 6, 7); and also of the “coming” (par.) to him of Stephanas and his companions (1 Cor. 16: 17). In Phil. 2: 12, the apostle contrasts his former “presence” (par.) with them in Philippi with his “absence” from them in Rome, where he was writing. See also Phil. 1: 26 Parousia is used to express his “bodily presence” in 2 Cor 10: 10. These instances show that the person to whom parousia refers is not merely on the way, but is come, is present, has actually arrived, and is in the company of those to whom he was coming.

Now this same term (par.), used as we have seen of the coming or actual presence of Paul or of his friends, is also used of the coming of the Son of man (Matt. 24: 3, 27, 37, 39); of Christ (1 Cor. 15: 23); of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 2: 19; 1 Thess. 3: 13; 1 Thess. 4: 15; 1 Thess. 5: 23; 2 Thess. 1, 8; James 5: 7, 8; 2 Peter 1: 16; 2 Peter 3: 4; 1 John 2: 28). All these passages unquestionably refer to the actual, not imaginary, coming of Christ in the future. When Paul (Phil. 1: 26) says to the saints, “. . . that your boasting may abound in Christ Jesus through me by my presence (par.) again with you,” he is plainly expressing his conviction of paying them another pastoral visit. Similarly, as the general N.T. usage entitles us to assume, the apostle used the word in the First Thessalonian Epistle with reference to the Lord Jesus: “What is our hope . . .?” he asks them; “are not ye also before our Lord Jesus at His coming (par.)? (1 Thess. 2: 19, one of the texts in the query). In both instances the apostle speaks of a personal visit; in one case of his own arrival or presence in Philippi, and in the other of the arrival or presence of the Lord Jesus in the air, when, as he expects, he will see there with him his Thessalonian converts, the fruit of his labours and the crown of his rejoicing.

The query relates to the suggestion that in this text (1 Thess. 2: 19) parousia is used to signify “the subjective phase of the Second Advent.” Now, “subjective” means what is only an idea existing in the mind, and is opposed to what is real and external to the mind, or “objective.” And in plain language the suggestion is that in 1 Thess. 2: 19, the coming (par.) or second advent of the Lord Jesus means no more than an emotional apprehension of His personal presence without any external basis for its support. In other words, the “coming” (par.) of Christ in its “subjective phase” would be only a dream or a fantasy, pious perhaps but purely mystical, and without any foundation in reality or fact.

The passages already cited from Paul's Epistles prove, however, that the suggestion of a “subjective phase is an extravagant perversion of the meaning of parousia. Was the coming to Paul of Stephanas and his companions a real event (objective), or was it true only in the apostle's inner consciousness or imagination (subjective)? And if the “coming” (par.) of Paul's friends was a real phenomenon to him, we may safely believe that the “coming” (par.) of our Lord Jesus Christ, so frequently mentioned in the New Testament, will be an actual occurrence, objective not subjective, that is, a real phenomenon, whether to believers or unbelievers.

Whether the coming (par.) of the Lord will become known only to believers or to unbelievers, or to all in both classes, may be gathered from each passage and its context. The parousia of the Lord is in itself a general term, necessarily involving the fact of His presence without indicating either the manner of His presence or the class of persons who will be aware of it. But we find that in some texts Christ's coming (par.) is said to “appear” or to be manifested. Thus, we read of “the appearing, epiphania, of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Tim. 6: 14; see also 2 Tim. 1: 10; 2 Tim. 4: 1, 8). It is, however, a mistake to suppose that the “appearing” or manifestation is merely a synonym for the Lord's coming (par.), for the apostle joins the two terms in a single phrase, in which one of the words qualifies the other. In 2 Thess. 2: 8 he speaks of the future day when the Lord will destroy the wicked or lawless one (antichrist) “by the appearing (epiph.) of His coming (par.).” At that period to which Paul is referring, the presence or coming of the Lord Jesus will be manifested by the shining forth (epiph.) of His glory, which will annihilate the lawless leader and religious deceiver of men.

Clearly, then, Scripture has distinguished between the coming or presence (par.) of Christ and the manifestation (epiph.) of that presence. The “coming” is the Lord's actual presence by-and-by in contrast with His absence which is the fact now; the appearing or epiphany of His coming is the outward evidence of His future presence by the visible outshining of His manifold glories, making that presence manifest to all men. Hence the coming (par.) is applied (1) to the time when the presence of the Lord is not manifested to all men, but becomes known to “those that look for Him” (Heb. 9: 28); and also (2) to the time when He comes with clouds, and all shall know of His arrival (Rev. 1: 7), and He will even “become manifest to those not inquiring” after Him (Rom. 10: 20, quoted from Isa. 65: 1).

In the first stage of the Lord's coming, He will be concerned only with the removal of “His own.” And of this coming the world at large will be ignorant, or oblivious, or incredulous, as the case may be. In effect, the great aerial event will, no doubt, be disregarded by Christendom and heathendom alike as entirely as were the Lord's appearances after His resurrection by Jew and Gentile. Those appearances were confined to a limited circle as the first stage of His second advent will be. As Peter said to Cornelius, “God . . . . gave Him to be openly seen (emphanees), not of all the people, but of witnesses who were chosen before of God” (Acts 10: 40, 41). Thus, the risen Lord manifested Himself to certain of His disciples (John 21: 1), but not to any of His enemies; to such as Peter and John, Thomas and Cleopas, but not to Annas and Caiaphas, Pilate and Herod, nor to any of their followers. They, His adversaries, to whose unrighteous judgment He meekly submitted Himself, will nevertheless, according to His own testimony before the Sanhedrin (Matt. 26: 64) “see the Son of man” in the day of His manifestation or appearing when He comes with clouds of glory and majesty to exercise His judgment upon all evildoers.

There is therefore a moral distinction between the two successive stages or phases of Christ's coming (par.) The first stage is the gathering together of those that are His to Himself in the air: the ones then affected are “those that are Christ's at His coming (par.)” (1 Cor. 15: 23), whether they are dead or alive (1 Thess. 4: 15-17). The good only are “caught up” at this stage, but at the later stage of the coming, the evil are punished. The epiphany of Christ's coming is judicial in its character and universal in its aspect. “For as the lightning goes forth from the east and shines to the west, so shall be the coming (par.) of the Son of man” (Matt. 24: 27).

The first stage of the Lord's return brings to those concerned immeasurable bliss, but the second, “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” His secret coming for “the just” is a delightsome prospect for them, but the subsequent “brightness” (epiphany) of His coming (par.) is a sudden, shattering and devastating blow for the haters of God and the doers of evil. It will be the day of summary retribution, and the Lord Jesus is God's appointed Judge. In His glorious advent for this purpose, God will “bring with Him” those already gathered to Himself at the initial stage of His coming (par.) When the Royal Judge on His white horse of successful subjugation is seen issuing from heaven, He will be followed by “armies,” also on white horses, and clad in pure fine linen, symbolical of “the righteousnesses of the saints” (see Rev. 19: 11-14; 8). In order to follow the Rider out of heaven, these “armies” of saints must previously have been transported there. This preliminary assembling in the heavens of the redeemed in order to take part in the regal procession out of heaven on the day of the manifestation constitutes the “rapture” which is revealed in 1 Thess. 4: 15-17. Thus, the two events are comprehended in the single term, “coming” or parousis, the hope” and the “appearing” both forming essential parts of the parousia.

This unity of these two distinct events, making them two parts of the same event, is plainly expressed in a statement of Paul, and is illustrated in a prophecy of Isaiah. The apostle speaks of the hope and the epiphany of the Second Advent as a single event for the Christian (Titus 2: 13), and the Jewish prophet, in a single sentence, foretells Messiah's introduction of the day of grace and the day of judgment (Isa. 61: 1-3). No interval of time between the two events is noted in either of these passages; but that there is an interval in both cases we learn elsewhere in Scripture.

Take first the prophecy in which the Spirit of Christ speaks concerning Himself as Jehovah-Messiah Who was coming. In the synagogue of Nazareth, the Lord read aloud from this part of Isaiah, declaring to the audience, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your ears” (Luke 4: 16-21). Then the Lord with apparent abruptness rolled up the book and sat down. He had ended His reading in the middle of a clause. Why? The prophecy declared that His mission was twofold: “to proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah and the day of vengeance of our God.” In the prophecy the proclamation of the “acceptable year and the gloomy “day” are united as a single service of Christ. But the Lord, by His own lips, showed that the fulfilment of the second half of the clause has been deferred, and that in His Advent to this world a wide interval of time separates the “acceptable year” from the “day of vengeance,” though the announcement of both events appears in the prophetic utterance of Isaiah as a single phrase, only one half of which was fulfilled by the First Advent of Christ.

There is in Titus 2: 13 a like comprehensiveness in the apostle's reference to the Second Advent of Christ. In a single phrase, Paul unites the two stages of the coming (par.) of Christ — the blissful hope and the impressive epiphany — as the twofold event filling the believer's outlook. He describes the redeemed as those “awaiting the blessed hope and appearing (epiph.) of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.” In both the English and the Greek, the hope and the epiphany or manifestation are bracketed as a single theme of confident anticipation for the Christian, intimating by this grammatical construction that both, taken together, comprise the future “coming” or presence (par.) of Christ. To the believer, therefore, the unity of his proper expectation consists in the twofold truth that (1) Christ will come for him; and that (2) he will come with Christ at the epiphany (appearing or manifestation) of His coming in glory.

E.B.D. — Is there any ground for supposing (a) that what is termed the doctrine of “the Rapture” owes its origin to “gnostic heresy,” and (b) that it is antinomian in its results?

(a) We do not believe there is any ground for such a hypothesis. We believe that the doctrine of the “rapture” is a revelation of God recorded only in scripture. It is not derived from human philosophy nor heathen mythology. Light does not originate in darkness, nor truth in falsehood and fancy. Gnosticism consisted mainly of wild speculations based upon an amalgam of Jewish and Gentile philosophy, to which were added perversions of apostolic doctrine. Poisonous germs from this cult appeared in some of the early assemblies, in Colosse, for example, and the inspired Epistles were provided as antidote against these corrupting influences (see J.N. D.'s Synopsis, Morrish ed., Colossians; Bp. Lightfoot's Colossians, 1904, pp. 71-111).

The fact is that the historical church, having quickly abandoned the distinctive truth of her heavenly calling, and having succumbed to the influence of worldly opportunism, lost all relish for the heavenly hope. And in even the earliest extant Christian writings, apart from Scripture, no allusion is made to the specific calling and hope of the heavenly bride of Christ (see “The So-Called Apostolical Fathers on the Lord's Second Coming,” by W. Kelly).

(b) No. We do not agree that “the blessed hope,” rightly understood and faithfully maintained, is “antinomian” in its effect upon the Christian life. The converse is the case. It was the evil bondman that relinquished the blessed hope, saying in his heart, “My lord delayeth his coming,” who became “antinomian in consequence, for he ill-treated his fellows and he also ate and drank with the drunkards (Matt. 24: 48, 49). Such conduct was a plain outrage upon the law of fidelity and decency in his master's house.

One of the greatest spurs to Christian fidelity and diligence is the expectation of the Lord's immediate return. Thus, James used the fact that “the coming of the Lord is drawn nigh” as an incentive to patience and firmness of character (James 5: 7, 8). In view of the same hope, Paul also exhorts the Thessalonians to “watch and be sober (1 Thess. 5: 4-11). The possible nearness and the certain suddenness of the rapture is actually a corrective to any tendency to laxity and antinomianism in the household of God. Any abuse of the truth that arises is surely the fault of the abuser and not of the truth itself.

Salvation Possessed and Known

Notes of an address by W. J. Hocking on Acts 10: 42-43.

Published by F. E. Race, 1915.

“And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins” (Acts. 10: 42, 43).

These words form the conclusion of the address of Peter to Cornelius the centurion, and to those assembled in his house. They were the special words in the Apostle's discourse which seem to have been for the centurion's personal benefit, though others show the blessing that ensued. They particularly suited his case. They brought him deliverance and enjoyment and peace in the Holy Ghost.

I want you to look this evening at the words as those addressed to a man who was seeking to know from God that which would settle, once and for ever, the great question of his own personal responsibility to his God. Cornelius was not a godless man. He was not a heathen man, in the sense of being a worshipper of false gods. He was a man who recognised that there was one God over all, and that He was the God of the Jews, and that God he most earnestly desired to know. We are told of him, in the commencement of this chapter, that he prayed to God alway, and gave alms to the people of God.

This is a striking witness to the character of the man. Cornelius was a Roman soldier, an officer, a man used to command, accustomed to enforce the strict military discipline which characterised the Roman army; but, in spite of the stern habits of his military life, he was a man who had been touched in his heart and conscience. He had seen and felt the follies and abominations of idol worship. He had been stationed in Palestine, the favoured land of Jehovah, where prophets had testified of God and His worship. He had been serving in that same land so recently trodden, as it had been, by the feet of the Son of God. And will it be too great a stretch of our imagination to suppose that he learned from that other fellow-soldier of his, that centurion of Capernaum, who loved the nation of the Jews, and had himself come to the lowly Prophet of Nazareth, and besought Him, with faith, such faith in his heart as had never before been known in Israel, that he might receive the words that would heal his sick one — would Cornelius have learned something of Jesus of Nazareth from him? And may he not also have heard some report from that other centurion whose duty it was to attend the crucifixion of the Lord of Glory, and see that all was done according to the law of that mighty Gentile empire which was holding God's people in a grip of iron at that time? This man was a personal witness of the extraordinary events of that day. He saw a meek and patient Sufferer, lifted up between two malefactors, and yet so different from them. He was indeed always so different from all men, but with what distinction did the Holy Son of man stand apart from those two robbers. This centurion was a witness to the supernatural darkness that covered the land at noonday. He heard, too, that bitter cry of anguish, “My God, my God, why bast thou forsaken me?” and the officer was smitten in his conscience, and confessed at the close that Jesus was a righteous man — the Son of God.

Cornelius must have heard something of these things. What he believed brought him on his knees to the living and true God. It caused him to love that people whom it was his business to govern in accordance with the exacting laws of his Emperor. For the centurion felt that the Jews were God's people, and he cared for their poor in a conspicuous manner; and yet the man was not at rest inwardly. There was that which was good and beneficent about him. There was that which showed that he had a care for holy things, and for holy persons, and yet the man kept on praying, being in need of something to satisfy the conscience within him, which told him that he had sinned against God, and that he could not escape the judgment of sin; and he craved to know how sins, his sins, the sins of a Gentile, might be forgiven. He knew God's word, and that he himself was not a lost sheep of the house of Israel, to whom the Messiah came. He might well have said: 'What part have I with the house of Israel? The Messiah is for them, but, alas! not for me.'

Yet Cornelius desired the blessing of God's forgiveness; he was a sinful man, but he prayed always, and he was heard.

Beloved friends, there are many persons in this country, no doubt there are some in this hall tonight, who have a sense that they, too, have sinned against the holy God. They feel that the past, with all its sins, is not quite extinct, but that it will be brought forth again to their condemnation, and they do not as yet see how that past will be dealt with otherwise than to their extreme ruin. They feel that they have sinned against God, and they cannot rest because they believe they must answer for sins in their bodies in the day which is to come. They love to hear of Jesus. They love to hear of the Christ of God. They confess that there is no other Saviour among men save Jesus of Nazareth, and yet they are not confident that He is their own Saviour; they do not know that their sins are forgiven. They resort to religious ceremonies — and yet they find no rest; the conscience within them will not be quiet. It accuses them again and again of their guilt before God.

Beloved friends, I honour a man who, in this matter, refuses to acquiesce in an authority not duly accredited. How can we rest the eternal destiny of our own souls upon our own feelings, or upon mere fancy? Shall we go to a mortal, failing man like ourselves, and rest upon his word for it? No; in our responsibility to God, we want the word of God as a valid ground of assurance.

There are, perhaps, many here seeking rest and finding none. There is a memory before me of a sight that I witnessed many years ago, which I shall never forget. I was in a well-known “place of worship,” one of the most famous in our great Metropolis, and I was inadvertently the witness of an early morning service. But what still lives before me is the figure of a man who was one of the communicants. He was a tall man, evidently in a state of physical weakness; but there was more than bodily infirmity: there was mental pain, there was a storm of sorrow and anguish depicted on the man's face as he left his pew with others and fell upon his knees. He received the bread and the wine. He then rose and went back to his place; and, dear friends, I shall never forget the look of unrest, of unhappiness and of intense agony of spirit written upon his face as he returned to his pew, threw himself upon the bench with his hands spread out, and his head bent upon his arms. He had evidently come there that morning to find in the ceremony something that would satisfy his heart. He had been through it, and, at the close, there was the sense that it was all of no use. The ceremony did not give him a solid basis on which to rest his soul.

The man was, no doubt, true, sincere and right in motive, but there was no need for his vain search after peace. The blessed Jesus was ready to speak the word of peace to him, only he was looking manward, to the outward ceremonial, to something that he could see and hear. All the while the gracious Saviour was saying to him, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” The Saviour gives rest by His word, and it is only when you have His word coming to you personally that you can afford to dismiss the great question of your guilt, once and for ever, as a settled matter.

What was it that the blessed Master said to the woman who sought forgiveness of sins? “Thy sins are forgiven thee.” “Thy!” The same forgiveness was for everyone who was in Capernaum to find, if they sought it. The sinful woman sought it. And to her the Lord said, “Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.”

Beloved friends, there is no other way of settling the great question. There is no other way of obtaining peace of soul, save by coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, and hearing His word to you.

Now, how was this man, Cornelius, to get such a word from Jesus? Jesus was gone. He had been here. He had left memories behind Him, sweet memories of His ministry, throughout Judea and Galilee. The savour of the Presence that had been was not lost. What could Cornelius do but pray to God? And his prayer rose up as a memorial to God, a sweet sacrifice, as it were, to Him. He was one anxious and desiring to know for himself the fulness of the salvation of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ; and the man who seeks such knowledge shall not be disappointed. The Lord Himself was no longer in Palestine; but His ambassadors were. As He was sent into the world, so He sent His emissaries — the apostles into the world to represent Him (John 17: 18).

Accordingly, God sent His word to this man who was a Gentile, a Gentile soldier, one of the conquerors of God's ancient people. He sent the apostle Peter to speak the word to him that should clear his soul in its anxiety, and settle every doubt. Now, we know that Cornelius understood very definitely that Peter was coming to speak to him, that Peter was God's messenger to him, that he was directed to deliver God's word to him. Peter would be only the channel. The much-desired word was coming through him, and it would not be the word of a mere man. When the centurion met Peter, and had gathered together his friends, he said: “Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God.”

Dear friends, in the great question of the sin of a man's soul there are two persons concerned — the man himself and God. It is one of the cardinal truths of the gospel that in His grace the Saviour God comes down to meet this individual need. It is a device of Satan to adulterate and corrupt the gospel, and to introduce some medium between God and the sinner. No, beloved friends, there is but one Mediator between God and man; the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. He sought the individual where he was, and now God is sending His word through the Scriptures to the individual.

There may be a word in my text tonight for some hearer personally. You may have a similar difficulty to Cornelius upon your heart. You know you have sinned, and want your sins forgiven, and you are asking, How am I to know that they are forgiven? On what ground? I do not know any possible trustworthy ground but God's holy word, and, having this, you need not fear all the powers of Satan. There is no power in this world, or under this world, which can destroy the imperishable word of God. The Lord said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.”

Here is the Bible. Here is God's word, but, beloved friends, you must receive it for yourself. You must be able to open this word and say 'I know that, if there is no other person in the wide world, God is speaking to me.' It is comforting to that extent to know that God is speaking to others, and a person may well be rejoicing in this fact, but it is a different matter if I feel He may leave me out of the blessing, and while other persons have their sins forgiven, I am not included in the company. What a loss for me! The case of the new blessing which others had recently received must have been known to Cornelius, for Caesarea was not so far from Jerusalem, and the news spread rapidly of the people who were receiving the gospel. They had come into the town in the fulness of their joy, and spoken of the joys of their salvation. The sight of their ecstasy led Cornelius to, pray, 'Oh, that I knew my sins were forgiven! Oh, that I might have the remission of my sins!' And God sent Peter to speak to him this particular point of anxiety.

We have not much time to look into details of the apostolic visit, but will pass on to the particular moment when the word met Cornelius. Peter is referring, in the two verses I have read, to the Lord Jesus Christ, and he speaks first of all of Him risen from the dead, and ordained of God to be Judge of quick and dead. What is the special relation of this fact to the anxious man? What did this mean to the soul of Cornelius? Jesus ordained to be the Judge of quick and dead! Have you ever thought seriously of this, beloved friends? It is admittedly a commonly received truth. We know that Jesus Christ is the One who is coming to judge the quick and the dead, but have you ever considered what the prediction involves? The One who was once on this earth, stretched out upon the cross, in the place of shame (so far as this world's judgment is concerned), is He who not only rose from the dead, but into whose hand is placed the responsibility of the eternal judgment of men and women, whether they be alive or dead.

Friends, in the interests of eternal justice there is before us the great work of examining the lives of men and women, and adjudicating upon their words and deeds, and administrating due punishment, and the Person into whose hands this work is committed is that Holy Man who suffered on Calvary's cross. Is it not wonderful to contemplate that He will sit on His throne, and that the nations of the earth shall be gathered before Him, and that out of His mouth shall proceed the sentence of judgment? It is so. The Man whom the world despises is the One into whose hands is committed all judgment. Man regenerate or unregenerate has never paid adequate regard to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is many a person who is losing his way in the things that pertain to spiritual life, because he is seeking joy and rest apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. No man can neglect the veneration of Christ without serious loss. And the gospel of the grace of God is the one that exalts Jesus, and puts Him in the highest heavenly glory — a present Saviour, a coming judge. Would you not, then, like to be on the side of that Judge? Would you not like to have Him for you? If He is for you, oh! how good and blessed! If He assures you now concerning the forgiveness of your sins, oh! how safe must you be in the day of wrath which is to come!

There are persons — possibly Cornelius was one of them — who have that great day of judgment ever before their minds. They think of that time so awful, when all the world will be assembled before the throne, and will be there to be judged. They dread lest they shall then hear the word, “Depart from me”; and they say, 'I can never rest until that day is past.'

I am considering the case of those who are really in earnest, and seeking the salvation of their souls, and who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, but are fearful of what is to come. But, beloved friends, think that it is Jesus who will be there, and that He speaks to you now! What does He say to you now? Does He not say unto you, “I give unto my sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish”? Does He not say unto you, “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life”? If the Judge Himself says to you, 'You shall not come into judgment!' you have this word for your reliance. If there is anyone who can speak to you about the time of judgment, surely it is the One who is ordained to judge the quick and the dead. And He says that the believer shall never come into judgment. Is this sufficient? Is this a word for you? Can you suppose for a moment that the robber on the cross, to whom the Lord said, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise” — can you believe that this one shall yet be brought before the Lord as the Judge of quick and dead, to be judged, to decide whether heaven or hell shall be his eternal lot, he having been in the paradise of God now for some two thousand years? He had the Lord's word to him; and He said, “Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” It was to comfort and assure him in the last hours of his agony. And he passed in peace of heart into the presence of his Lord and Saviour.

And so we just come back to this concise test. Have you received the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving unto you assurance for the future, as well as the forgiveness of your past sins?

But it was not only the fact that Jesus was ordained to be the Judge that Peter advanced. The Apostle unfolded a further truth which Cornelius needed to know. He went on to says “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” Jesus, risen from the dead, is Lord of all, not merely of the Jews. He is the Lord of all men and all things, for all things are put under His feet; and this too was meant to enlighten the centurion. Jesus, walking through this world, was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel; but, risen from the dead, there are for the Saviour no national limits. There is no Gentile or Jew beyond the grave. There are here geographical distinctions that mark men off from one another, but beyond the grave there are none, and that is where the Lord of glory is. The risen Christ spoke through Peter as the One who had come out from among the dead; and His grace was flowing out to all men, as the prophets of old had given witness, that whosoever believeth in Him should receive remission of sins.

Cornelius found himself within the scope of this message. That is where I come in. 'That is exactly the word that addresses me.' Such clearly was his belief.

The force of this word of God is such that wherever a man is, whatever a man is, should he believe, he will receive remission of his sins. It is not a question of his bowing to some ceremony. A man is not required to be circumcised, to keep the law of Moses and thus be saved; such is not the truth of God in the gospel. The truth of God is that, whatever a sinner may be, let him come to the Saviour as a sinner, and let him receive the remission of sins.

Then and there the word of the gospel entered Cornelius' heart, and he appropriated that word to himself. He said, 'It is for me,' and there were others with him, his household, his servants, all desirous to know the truth of God, and they found the same truth of God offered to them. “Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”

Beloved friends, I do earnestly beseech of you to consider upon what ground you are resting this night in this matter. Is it upon the word of God spoken directly to yourself? Have you at some point in your past history come to this position — that if God did not speak to you, if He did not clear away the doubts from your heart, no one else could, and then God in His word did come to you? Some particular text, some particular truth has flashed like a light from heaven to your soul, and you have known that God is for you. This knowledge God gives through His word. “We know” is the sincere language of faith. The man who believes the word of God is the man who knows it.

There are persons who affirm that it is presumption on man's part to say that his sins are forgiven. How can he know? Such knowledge would be impossible if God had not spoken. I do not think that we, who rejoice in God's word, rejoice sufficiently in this fact, that God has spoken to us in this Book. Amid all the uncertainties of this time and the great national struggle, causing men to wonder what lies beyond, oh! how we ought to thank God for that which never fails, His blessed, holy word! Here it is, as it was spoken of old. We have it now, in all its perfection, unchanged and unchangeable. It is for you and for me, but each heart must take hold of it.

I know that there are men who are proud of this book, that is, the book that is printed. They say there is no other book like it in the world. This is true. They say that it has made national history; but, beloved friends, there is another question, a deeper question than this, which it solves. Here am I, a responsible person, and where God has put me I have failed most miserably. I have despised God's precepts, and what is going to be the result of it? Is there not a word there for me, the erring and disobedient? It is very easy to speak of a Bible which is being sent forth to help and bless nations, and to bring men out of barbarism and into civilisation. But, a man may say, 'How about the sins of which I am guilty? God knows that I have despised His Son, and there are many sins I have committed, and I am responsible for them.'

Now this book speaks to the individual as the apostle Peter spoke to Cornelius. The word was for him, and, when received by him, the clouds dispersed, the doubts disappeared, and the man, gladdened by the sunshine of God's word, was a saved man in the full sense of the Scriptural term. To be saved, beloved friends, is not only to have the benefits procured by our Lord Jesus Christ, but to know that we have passed from death into life, and that whatever may come upon us, whatever may betide us in the future, all is well.

Have you observed the sequel to this preaching? The Spirit of God fell upon every person who was there, every man, every woman was sealed by the Holy Spirit. God thereby marked them out as His own, and they were subsequently baptised, and received into the company of God's people. This was not the admission of Gentile believers into the place of God's ancient people here upon earth. On the contrary, it was a new thing; Jews and Gentiles are now one — equally believing in Him, equally accepted by Him, equally rejoicing in His name, and equally possessed of His great salvation.

Oh, beloved friends, ask you whether you know for yourself the salvation of God. In order to do so you have to come, personally, individually, with your sins, to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not sufficient, however, to come to Him. It is necessary that you should continue in the attitude of expectation and entreaty until you meet God, and learn the truth about yourself on the authority of God's holy word. Do not trust a man like yourself. Do not trust a fellow mortal. Do not let anyone deceive you. Lay hold of God's word for yourself. A man, wittingly or unwittingly, may lead you astray. You can only trust One; that One is the Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks through this holy Book to you, and He who died for your sins, He who suffered for you on the tree, He is the One who says to you, “Thy sins are forgiven.”

Let me say just one further word before parting. Some may have this difficulty which I will specify. And it is a difficulty which the more earnest Christian is not unlikely to have. There are many who start with a fervent determination that henceforward they will please Him at all costs, live for Him, shine for Him, be His good soldiers in this world. They seek to find from the Scripture what they must do, and everything seems joyous and happy and bright, and they can hardly believe the truth about themselves, they are so full of joy, and they are full of desire that everybody may be like them, just resting and trusting on the Lord Jesus Christ; and then something untoward happens. One day there is a disaster. From their mouths something comes which is so unexpectedly evil. They say, 'Surely, I cannot be a true disciple of Christ, or I should not have said or done this.' However, they try again, and find that a similar thing occurs before long, and they become very sorrowful and downcast, after vainly struggling again and again, and they have to confess themselves more prone to fall than they could have conceived. They know that they have done wrong. They say, 'Well, it is worse for me now than when I knew nothing of Christ. I know there is no love like His; He died for me, and, knowing that He died for me, I still go contrary to His will, and I do really what I do not want to do. I cannot seem to help myself.' And then they think they are lost after all, and are plunged into a gulf of darkness and despair. They felt when they came to the Lord, that their sins, and all the past, were obliterated, but now, after receiving the forgiveness of sins, they have gone wrong. What about that terrible disaster in their Christian pilgrimage? How about these sins? Satan says, 'Your sins are now very different from what they were once, for you now know His love and yet you have sinned against Him.' Satan says, 'There is no hope for you. The salvation is for the sinner who does not know God's will.'

Beloved friends, such a state is true of thousands. They are clear as daylight as to the sins they committed before their conversion, but stumbled because of present failure. But, remember, there is one Person who will deal with all your sins. This is the One who died for your sins. You will have to come to Him and confess your sins to Him. You will have to own, with shame, that, having known His love, you have despised it. And you will find that His love and forgiveness will come to you sweeter than ever. You will find that another word of His will come to you, and say that “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.” “The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin.”

Dear friends, the remission of sins is the Divine act which covers everything. 'Oh, but,' you say, 'my sin is after my conversion.' That is true, but when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, God knew, not only what you would commit up to the time of your conversion, but He also knew what you would be after your conversion. It is a sad thing that you should be so weak and wilful, and that after knowing His love, and tasting something of the sweetness of His salvation, such a grievous failure should be true of you; but there is the grave fact, which God knew before He sent out the sweet invitation of His love to you.

Therefore, beloved friends, if you are on the way to God, to that bright place above, and if your face is towards Him who died upon the cross, who is now there, the Lord Jesus Christ will receive you and forgive you in spite of all your failure, if you will but come to Him and believe in Him. The truth is just this. “Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” It does not mean that we just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ one day in our history. There was a day when we first looked to the Lord Jesus Christ, a day of days in our history; but His gospel that we believe is to put away all doubts, once and for ever. The terms are “Whosoever believeth,” that is, yesterday, today, and throughout life. You have to continue to believe. You have to look in faith, and not to take your eyes away from Him, who is the Source of strength to those who conquer, and of forgiveness to those who fail.

I just leave this passage with you. “Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” Is that word for you personally? Take it home to yourself, and in the light of God's holy presence, do you know, and are you certain, positive, within your own soul, that God therein speaks to you? It is no use looking at the matter from any other than a personal standpoint in order to get peace for your heart. You can rejoice over the conversion of other people, but first of all it must be realised in your own soul, and then, standing on redemption ground for yourself, you can rejoice with a deeper joy in the blessing, as it goes out to others. May God bless His word. W. J. H.

Leaven Leavening the Lump

Some Remarks upon the Scriptural Figure of Leaven and its Bearing upon Assembly Discipline.

W. J. Hocking.

Published by C. A. Hammond, 1931.

“Do ye not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, according as ye are unleavened” (1 Cor. 5: 6, 7, New Trans.).

In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul introduces an allusion to the characteristic property of leaven in connection with that assembly's responsibility to put out from their company the person who was guilty of gross immorality. In order to ascertain so far as possible the special force of the figure used in this injunction, it is proposed to examine the context carefully as well as the phrase itself.

The Spiritual State of the Assembly at Corinth

The exceptional case of guilt existing at Corinth had become well known in adjacent localities (1 Cor. 5: 1), and news of it had reached the apostle himself at Ephesus. The Corinthian saints themselves, however, were strangely indifferent to the presence of open immorality in their midst. They were, in fact, puffed up with pride and self-satisfaction instead of being all humbled and ashamed before God. They ought rather to have been mourning because of such wickedness among them, and to have been seeking that the offender might be removed from them (1 Cor. 5: 2).

The apostle then stated what, in his own judgment, should be done with regard to the man who had done the sinful deed. Paul declared that he himself would not come to them and in their midst exercise that disciplinary authority which, as an apostle of the Lord, he possessed to deal directly and personally with such offences. Thus the assembly was left to act in this matter according to its own responsibility to the Lord, while at the same time by this Epistle it received the infallible guidance of the apostle to direct its action.

In this circumstance, we cannot fail to observe the overruling wisdom of God towards the saints generally. The instructions concerning the case at Corinth form a most valuable precedent for church procedure, everywhere and always. Though oral apostolic ruling in a given case is not possible today, assemblies are enabled to act in matters calling for similar discipline in the light of this recorded apostolic advice. He tells them what he would do if he were there, but he does not act for them.

The offence at Corinth was heinous even when compared with heathen morals, and the fact of its occurrence was apparently not disputed. It seems as if the man were still living with his stepmother, when Paul wrote. The apostle declared that if he were present at their assembly meeting on the question, the judgment would be to deliver the evildoer to Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 5: 3-5, R.V., N.Tr.). Delivering to Satan was the prerogative of an apostle only (1 Tim. 1: 20), and is nowhere attributed to any other. Here at Corinth, their responsibility was to put away from among themselves that wicked person, and this is emphatically laid upon them as a command by the apostle (ver. 13).

The Exclusion of Leaven at the Passover

Having thus expressed his own judgment with regard to the case, and all who were spiritual would at once acknowledge this decision to be the Lord's commandment to them (1 Cor. 14: 37), the apostle expatiates upon the importance and urgency of this duty. Purity and freedom from all that is defiling are invariably presented in scripture as distinguishing marks of a profession of godliness. On this ground they must act.

In this connection, Paul reminds them of the practice instituted in Egypt for God's earthly people in connection with the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread. The Israelites were solemnly enjoined to exercise, both then and afterwards, the most scrupulous care during the period of this feast to free themselves and their houses from every trace of leaven. Thorough and systematic search was to be made in every household, and any found was immediately to be put away out of their houses (Ex. 12) so that not a particle might be seen in any of their borders (Ex. 13: 7; Deut. 16: 4).

To mark its cardinal importance in the eye of God, this prohibition was accompanied by the penalty of death upon the disobedient; for anyone, throughout the seven days of the feast, eating anything leavened should be cut off (Ex. 12: 15, 19).

This paschal restriction, rigidly enforced from the days of the Exodus, is typical in its significance, and has its present application to believers in Christ with respect to association with evil, as the apostle here shows with remarkable distinctness. The nation of Israel, in connection with the slaying of the passover lamb annually, kept a cycle of seven days free from all leaven, neither eating it in their food, nor suffering its presence in their houses.

In like manner, the assembly of God, throughout the whole cycle of its sojourn in the world, is here said to be responsible to keep itself free from the leavening influence of malice and wickedness and from all admixture of evil in its corporate associations. Clearly, this high standard of holiness cannot be maintained in the assembly if any “leaven” is allowed in the company; for even a morsel of leaven will permeate the whole mass, and is defiling to the whole.

Likening the frightful immorality in the assembly at Corinth to leaven and its effects, the apostle imposes their duty upon them: “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. For our passover also hath been sacrificed, even Christ: wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Cor. 5: 6-8, R.V.).

The Fourfold Truth about Leaven Applied

It will be observed that there are two very clearly defined sections in this passage, the division being marked by the change from the second personal pronoun (“ye”) to the first (“our”). The former (ver. 7), is addressed to the saints at Corinth with regard to their immediate duty; the latter (1 Cor. 5: 7, latter part, and 1 Cor. 5: 8), is a general exhortation applicable to all Christians everywhere and at all times. Corinth must purge out the leaven, and all must keep the unleavened character proper to the feast, in both their individual and their collective relationships.

In the first part of this passage, then, the Jewish practice of eliminating all leaven from their borders at passover-time is applied by figurative analogy to the case of incest harboured at Corinth. In so doing, the apostle sets before the assembly four distinct but closely connected statements about leaven in order to awaken their dulled consciences.

(1) Their defilement as a company through the presence of leaven: “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

(2) Their responsibility to get rid of the leaven: “Purge out the old leaven.”

(3) The result to them when freed from it: “that ye may be a new lump.”

(4) The contrast between their defiled state and their normal unleavened character: “as ye are unleavened.”

Let us consider each of these four points a little further:

(1) In the first place, Paul reminds them of what is common knowledge, even apart from the scriptures: “Know ye not that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?” The nature of leaven is such that when a small particle of it is added to a mass of pure dough, its special character is invariably imparted to the whole lump. This diffusive action of leaven is automatic, and requires no human aid. Silently and imperceptibly, the subtle influence is exercised until the secret process of pervasion and amalgamation is completed, and the final result is visible. Hence the baker, after kneading his dough, waits until it is leavened before making up his oven fire for the baking (Hosea 7: 4, R.V. ). There is no need that he should assist the leaven in its work of leavening the dough, though its action is more rapid and effective when screened from the light.

In scriptural usage, leaven uniformly represents evil, and especially evil in its insidiously defiling character rather than in its violent aspect. Sin may act either by subtlety or by force; hence corruption and violence are the two great classes of sin (Gen. 6). Of the two corruption is more easily concealed in its working than violence, and is, therefore, fitly represented by leaven, which is corruptive of what, apart from its presence, is good and wholesome. Corinth was taught that even the presence of a little evil exerted a polluting influence upon the whole assembly.

(2) Accordingly, the Corinthians were next directed to “purge out the old leaven.” In order that an unleavened character might be maintained for the whole lump, they were to cleanse themselves by removing the old leaven. Later in the chapter Paul says, in non-figurative language, that they must put away from themselves that wicked person (1 Cor. 5: 13). From this latter passage we learn that the depraved person is figuratively described in verse 7 as “the old leaven.”

In domestic custom, “leaven” usually consisted of a piece of leavened dough set aside to be used when another batch of loaves should be required. This practice of using sour dough for the production of leavened bread explains the meaning of “old” as applied to leaven in the text. What was “old” had appeared at Corinth among what was new and of God. The sin of the incestuous person was connected with what was of the “old man,” corrupt according to its deceitful lusts (Eph. 4: 22), which for the believer was crucified with Christ (Rom. 6: 6). The fallen man had forgotten that he was purged from his “old sins” (2 Peter 1: 9). He was, therefore, to be removed from their midst, lest the deadly poison of his unhallowed deeds should spread itself throughout the whole assembly. He was the “old leaven.”

In passing, it should be noted that the word “therefore,'' following “purge out” in the A.V. is omitted in the New Tr. and the R.V. The instruction is sufficiently emphatic, binding, and urgent without this conjunction.

(3) Further, the apostle made it clear what was the immediate object of the act of discipline he was enjoining upon them; the purging was in order that “ye may be a new lump.” By the expulsion of the evildoer the assembly would correct its then compromised condition. The wicked person being removed, it would become collectively what it was not at the moment of the apostle's writing. Then the “whole lump” would be converted into a “new lump,” that is, one no longer defiled but newly purged. The presence of the old leaven had in measure defiled them corporately, but their normal, pure, unleavened character would be renewed or restored by its removal.

(4) Finally, the apostle presented to the Corinthian assembly the great reason why they should exercise this drastic discipline. As so frequently in the Epistles, he bases their practical conduct upon their standing in Christ. They were bound to preserve an unblemished reputation in the world since they were representatives of God's holiness. Accordingly be bids them, “Purge out the old leaven . . . as ye are unleavened.” As to standing, they were unleavened. They were “sanctified in Christ Jesus,” holy ones by calling (1 Cor. 1: 2). How inconsistent and unholy to suffer such flagrant evil among them!

It is striking and instructive to observe the apostle's mode of address at this juncture. In spite of their callous indifference concerning the one whose presence defiled the whole assembly, Paul reminded them, “ye are unleavened.” The status given them through grace was unchanged. They were a “holy temple in the Lord.”

But because the apostle mentions here that they were unleavened as the ground for his exhortation, this is no basis for the false inference that some have drawn that the assembly was not defiled inasmuch as the saints themselves were not guilty of the sin committed. This wrong conclusion could only have been made through ignoring or overlooking the earlier part of the same sentence. There it is stated, though no degree of guilt is specified, that when they had excommunicated the wicked man, they could then be described as a new lump. As long as the old leaven was present, they stood in need of purging or cleansing. Though not individually guilty of the same crime, they were corporately defiled. by its unjudged presence.

Summary of the Preceding Remarks

The following seems to be a short summary of the general force of the passage under consideration (1 Cor. 5: 6-8). The apostle reproved them for their unseemly boasting or glorying, which was not “good,” seeing that this case of exceptional wickedness had occurred among them, and the culprit was allowed to fraternize with them as before. Were they not aware that unjudged sin invariably worked in polluting the whole community? Did not they know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump?

On this account, they must at once cast out the old leaven, in order that they might become a new lump (fresh dough), freed from the defiling presence of this leaven. Their failure to exercise discipline showed grave inconsistency with their calling to holiness. Since they were regarded by God as “unleavened,” they must cleanse themselves from the old leaven, and keep a perpetual feast with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, unmixed with any foreign element of leaven.

How Leaven Leavens

Having sought to ascertain the general line of the apostle's argument, we proceed to consider the special bearing upon it of the words, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.” Something has already been said upon this point, but a little more may provide additional help. What is the precise meaning of these words? It has been held by some that the meaning of the sentence is that a little leaven, if allowed to remain, will eventually leaven the whole lump. They, therefore, deny that Corinth, when the apostle wrote, was considered to be actually defiled by the presence of the fornicator.

But such a conclusion from the text is unwarranted, and, indeed, is subversive of the very truth upon which the apostolic injunction is made. They are exhorted to purge themselves by putting away the man. They needed cleansing. What is the meaning of their becoming a new lump by purging out the old leaven, if its existence among them had not in any way affected their practical purity as a lump? By still companying with the fornicator their spiritual relations as an assembly had become contaminated, and they must now clear themselves, as indeed they subsequently did (2 Cor. 7: 11). They had not all copied the man's immorality, but they were tolerating his society, though in profession as an assembly of Christ they were an unleavened association. This negligence in purging out the leaven constituted their corporate failure.

It is, of course, necessarily true that if they failed to heed the apostle's directions, their impure spiritual condition would “wax worse and worse,” since it is the nature of leaven to continue to work until it assimilates the entire mass to itself. But the worst had not yet come; hence the apostle refrains from describing the Corinthian assembly as “a leavened lump.” We shall be wise if we also avoid doing the same and thus going beyond scripture.

Nevertheless, they were tainted or infected, and they were required to cleanse away the leaven of evil that affected the whole assembly. They were not to wait until the morals of all those composing the assembly were utterly debased before removing the unclean person whose presence had already defiled them corporately. In other words, an infectious disease is regarded and described as such in its earliest stage as well as when it is fully developed in the patient.

If a single case of plague occurs on board ship, the whole of the passengers and crew are treated as possible carriers of the disease and are, therefore, placed in quarantine. By general maritime law it is a punishable offence for any person to come ashore until the ship is granted a clean bill of health by the proper authority. In the eyes of national health interests, the single case of plague “leavens” the whole of the ship's company, though all but one are immune from the disease, showing none of its symptoms. Is the assembly to be less concerned about the spreading of spiritual disease than the nation about physical disease?

The existing confusion on this head probably arose through a failure to observe that the sentence about leaven (A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump) is in the form of an aphorism, expressing its character in a general way. Leavening the entire mass is said to be the effect of leaven, without stating whether that effect is present or future, or both; or whether the effect is partial or complete.

There are other sentences in scripture similar in construction, such as, “Evil communications corrupt good manners”; “the tongue . . . . defileth the whole body”; “the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin” (1 Cor. 15: 33; James 3: 6; 2 John 1: 7). They teach that the corrupting, the defiling, the cleansing, are true now and always of evil communications, of the tongue, of the blood of Jesus Christ. The first two are solemn warnings, and the third God's gracious provision, ever efficacious against defilement.

Even in ordinary talk, we say, “A little sugar sweetens the whole cup,” wishing thus to convey the truth that sugar when added imparts its own flavour to the whole cup, without taking into account in the statement whether the sugar has or has not had time to be dissolved and thoroughly mingled with the contents. A person asking for a cup of sweetened tea is satisfied that his request has been granted if the sugar has been added; the stirring is a separate affair.

Thus leaven leavens the lump, and the assembly is defiled by the presence of open and unjudged sin in the individual. The army of Israel was defeated at Ai because one man had transgressed the word of the Lord. Jehovah said, “Israel hath sinned”; “they have taken of the accursed thing”; “they have stolen and dissembled”; though the spoils of Jericho were only found in the tent of Achan (Joshua 7). He was the “little leaven” leavening the whole camp, and the valley of Achor is the witness of his removal in judgment.

The degree to which leaven may have spread in an assembly is evidently not a point relevant to the matter on which the apostle delivers his judgment in 1 Cor. 5. The fact that leaven was there at all was the ground of the apostle's exhortation. Both the man with a leprous spot and the man “full of leprosy,” like he who came to our Lord, were alike ceremonially unclean, and to be excluded from the camp of Israel. Discipline was always compulsory, even though it was the king himself who was defiled, as in the case of Uzziah (2 Chr. 26: 21). The presence of a leper was a menace to all

Similarly, the presence of a little leaven among those who were as to status unleavened was an abnormal condition of affairs. The apostle instructs them to put an end to this anomalous state by purging out the old leaven, and so become a new lump. Neither leavened bread nor leaven itself was to be seen in all the borders of the Israelite during the feast (Ex. 13: 7).

The Three Measures of Meal

There is a wide distinction to be noted between the use of leaven as a figure in the Lord's parable and in the apostle's doctrine. In both cases leaven is used to illustrate the phenomenal and insidious manner in which evil spreads itself, but, while Paul urges its immediate removal, our Lord utters no word to support such action, but in His explanation of the kindred parable of the tares deprecates any such effort.

Clearly, the two occasions differ widely, and they must not be confused. The Lord's parable of the woman hiding leaven in three measures of meal till the whole was leavened (Matt. 13: 33) was not a similitude of the church or assembly, but of the kingdom of the heavens, as the verse declares. It concerns, therefore, Christendom, or the whole mass of nominal Christian profession. In this it agrees with the companion parables of the field and the tree, in both of which there are foreign elements also (the tares and the birds), even as here the leaven is seen concealed in the meal. The Lord in these few words portrays the mixed condition of those who avow allegiance to Himself during the period when He is absent from the earth and in the heavens.

In His interpretation of the parable of the wheat and the tares, the Lord definitely forbids the rooting up of the tares; they were to grow together with the wheat until the harvest at the end of the age, when the Son of man Himself by His angels will gather out of His kingdom all “them which do iniquity.” Thus the procedure for the kingdom is in contrast with what is advocated for the church in 1 Cor. 5. The Son of man will, by-and-by, do in His kingdom what His servants are told to do now in the assembly. In the Gospel leaven is allowed to remain and spread, but in the Epistles it is to be purged out that it may not spread. In the Gospel the leaven is hidden, but in the Epistle its presence is known.

The subjects of the two scriptures are quite distinct and unrelated, except that leaven is used figuratively in both instances. In Matthew, leaven illustrates the spread of evil in nominal Christianity, a process of diffusion which will continue until the whole becomes a uniformly corrupted mass. It has no connection with what is set out in the Epistles as the proper and prescribed behaviour of the church of the living God with regard to impenitent evildoers in its midst. Nor can this parable of our Lord be with any justice quoted to excuse negligence in obeying the apostolic injunction to purge out the old leaven.

The Leaven and Corrupt Teaching

In the Epistle to the Galatians, the words, “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,” also occur, although in this instance, the figure of leaven is not developed to the same extent as in Corinthians. Nevertheless, this passage also is of the utmost value as a guide in matters of assembly discipline, and of equal importance being a supplement of the one just considered. Here leaven has reference to evil doctrine introduced into the assemblies in the district of Galatia, so that a number of companies were all concerned in this instance, while only one company was directly responsible in the case at Corinth.

The outstanding lesson to be learned from the Galatian passage is that evil teaching is leaven, and is, therefore, to be regarded as destructive of the purity of the assembly equally with evil practice. Consequently, the responsibility enforced upon the assembly at Corinth to purge out the old leaven was also binding upon the assemblies in the province of Galatia.

From the Epistle it appears that there were teachers in Galatia who sought to bind again the yoke of legal bondage about the necks of the disciples, compelling even the Gentiles to live according to the works prescribed by the law of Moses. In their fleshly zeal they constrained believers in Christ to be circumcised (Gal. 6: 12, 13). But to those who were thus perverted by the advocates of the legal system, the apostle says with solemn warning, “Christ shall profit you nothing” (Gal. 5: 2-4). He goes on to say further, “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of Him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (Gal. 5: 7-9).

Evidently the normal growth of the Galatian believers through obeying the truth of the gospel was frustrated by these instructors who were preaching circumcision and undermining the foundations of the Christian liberty secured through the atoning work of Christ on the cross. The saints were thereby hindered from running well. This unsound doctrine introduced a corrupting element which would vitiate the whole system of the Spirit's teaching. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump,” said Paul. Its presence debased the character of the entire Christian faith as held by the assemblies, and the influence of the corrupt “word” would spread as a gangrene (2 Tim. 2: 17).

Thus, while malice and wickedness are described as leaven in the former Epistle (1 Cor. 5: 8), so the same metaphor is here applied to evil teaching. Heterodoxy is the corruption or defilement of the truth, and it spreads with the facility of leaven in pure dough. Hence the need for special precautions also to be taken against this subtle agent of corruption working among the saints. Our Lord bade His disciples to beware of the leaven of the doctrine of the Pharisees and the Sadducees (Matt. 16: 6, 11, 12), and it is noteworthy that His warning immediately preceded the intimation of the founding of His church. The Lord knew what corruption would be brought about among the saints by men, who would arise “speaking perverse things” and teaching “contrary to the doctrine they had learned” (Acts 20: 30; Rom. 16: 17).

Leaven a Figure of Immorality and Erroneous Teaching

By these two scriptures in 1 Cor. 5 and Gal. 5 we are taught that immoral living and evil teaching are to be regarded as defiling a whole assembly, and not only those in the assembly who are personally guilty of the evil practice or doctrine. In such an event, the assembly is responsible to the Lord to put out, after due and deliberate examination, the wicked person from among themselves. This is the appointed means of corporate purging.

Should there be failure on the part of the company through indifference to purge out the old leaven, it forfeits its character as an assembly of God. It disobeys the word of God and dishonours the name of the Lord. It reaches that disorderly condition described in 2 Tim. 2: 20-22, from which those who are faithful are called to purge themselves. If the assembly will not cleanse itself by excommunicating the evildoer, the individual must act for the honour of the Lord by departing from what is content to remain in a state of defilement.

It is significant that the Greek word used for intensive and thorough cleansing, ekkathairo, only occurs twice in the N.T., once as an act enjoined upon the assembly, and once upon the individual. To the former the address is, “Purge out the old leaven”; to the latter, “If, therefore, one shall have purified himself from these (the vessels to dishonour) in separating himself from them, he shall be a vessel to honour” (2 Tim. 2: 21, N.Tr.). The injunction is plain; “to obey is better than sacrifice.”

Leaven after Baking

Some have sought to justify their evasion of discipline in the assembly on the ground that sin must necessarily exist in all Christian companies in accordance with the apostle's words, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1: 8). It being an impossible thing to find an assembly where sin or leaven is entirely absent, they claim to be exonerated from any responsibility in this respect.

It would be sufficient to reply that all excuses must be unavailing in the face of the direct injunctions we have been considering, but the figure of leaven itself supplies its own answer to the plea for laxity. Leaven is a portion of moistened flour or dough in which putrefactive agencies are actively at work. As an old writer says, “Leaven both arises from corruption, and itself corrupts the mass in which it is mixed.” This activity of the leaven in disseminating its own qualities is arrested when placed in a heated oven. Leaven spreads, but not leavened bread. A piece of sour dough will leaven and puff up a whole lump of dough, but a piece of a baked leavened loaf will have no such effect.

Now we find that provision was made for this distinction between unbaked and baked leaven in the typical ceremonies of the law. Leaven could never be offered to Jehovah (Lev. 2: 11), but baked leavened bread was permitted on certain occasions. For instance, at the feast of weeks or Pentecost, the Israelites might offer two wave-loaves, “baken with leaven.” This was called a “new” meal-offering, for it was exceptional, the ordinary meal-offering consisting of unleavened loaves or cakes exclusively (Lev. 23: 16, 17). The unleavened meal-offering was a shadow of Christ, while the two leavened wave-loaves typified the church formed by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. In the former there “is no sin” (1 John 3: 5), but in the latter there is “sin in the flesh,” yet “baken” with fire, being judged in Christ Himself, the sin-offering (Rom. 8: 3, 4).

Further, according to the regulations for the peace-offering, which prefigured the communion of God with His people, it was permissible for the offerer to bring both unleavened cakes and leavened bread to Jehovah (Lev. 7: 12, 13). The former set out Christ in His perfect spotless purity, the latter the worshipper, who possessed an evil nature, which had in the sacrifice and death of Christ passed under the fire of God's judgment. Both were accepted.

Thus, leaven in a baked form loses its power of transmitting its fermenting qualities, and is then a recognised figure of the believer in whom sin as a thing judged of God is present, but by that judgment which fell upon Christ as a sacrifice it is rendered inoperative and innocuous. It is when a believer fails to maintain this character of holiness that sin works in his members. Should he fail to confess his sins and be cleansed from all unrighteousness, he becomes what scripture calls “old leaven,” an active agent for propagating evil among his brethren. He is then amenable to the discipline of the assembly in which he is found, and is to be put away.

In the instruction to “purge out the old leaven,” the minute accuracy of scriptural language may be marked, for the obvious allusion is to the original command to the Israelites in Egypt that on the first day of unleavened bread they were to “put away leaven” out of their houses (Ex. 12: 15). But if it had been mingled with moistened flour and fermentation had begun, the leaven could not be removed, whatever stage the process had reached. In such a case the Israelite must destroy the whole mass affected, treating it all as leaven. It could not be transformed into a new lump.

Clearly, the apostle's admonition in 1 Cor. 5, has reference to the preliminary ceremony at the Passover season of clearing away leaven from the houses in order that they might observe the seven days' feast of unleavened bread in the prescribed manner. This view is confirmed by his coupling the purging out the leaven with their keeping the feast (1 Cor. 5: 7, 8).

General Summary

From the above consideration of the important passages in question, it appears, amongst other matters of moment, that scripture teaches: —

(1) That normally the assembly of God is unleavened (1 Cor. 5: 7), and is so described although an evil nature is present, speaking figuratively, as baked leaven in each of the persons forming that assembly;

(2) that the presence of cases of moral or doctrinal evil adversely affects the spiritual condition of the assembly to such an extent that, in order to maintain its rightful status of holiness, it is corporately responsible to the Lord to “purge out the old leaven”;*

(3) that the effect of this purging out is that the assembly becomes a new lump, a description that cannot be applied to it so long as the old leaven is allowed to remain;

(4) that as leaven during the feast of unleavened bread was ceremonially defiling to the Israelite, whether it was found in the dough or in the house (Ex. 13: 7), so active moral or doctrinal evil in an assembly leavens or defiles both by its permeating action and by its very presence in the company;

(5) that when an assembly evades its responsibility in the exercise of the rightful discipline of purging out the old leaven and resolves to tolerate its continued presence it becomes fully leavened or corrupt; and then the path of faithfulness to God and His word is to purge oneself out in accordance with the directions of 2 Tim. 2: 20-22.

{*There seems no ground for the hasty conclusion that, because of the presence of the evil person, all intercourse with the assembly at Corinth was to be suspended until they had acted in discipline. Paul himself hoped to come (1 Cor. 16: 5-7) and possibly winter with them. He speaks also of the proposed visit of Timothy, and also of Apollos (1 Cor. 16: 10-12), while he presses them to co-operate in the general collection for the saints at Jerusalem (1 Cor. 16: 1-4).}

A Conversation on Dress

W. J. Hocking.

MARY: A young believer who desires to please the Lord in all things.

JANE: A young believer who sees no harm in following the latest fashions.

MR. GRIM: An elderly Christian who has very, very decided opinions upon dress.

MR. P.: An elderly Christian who is applied to for advice.

Mary: Good evening, Mr. P., we have come in to talk with you on a little matter which I find very puzzling. I hope you will not think it too slight to claim your attention.

Mr. P.: I do not think I shall Indeed, the little things in a Christian's life are often of great importance. Little foxes, you know, can spoil the vines, for the grapes are tender (Song of Solomon 2: 15). Therefore if we, abiding in the Vine (John 15), wish to bring forth fruit, let us beware of anything, however small it may be, which will in any wise mar our testimony for Christ.

Mary: Since the Lord in. His mercy brought me to Himself and made me His own, my earnest desire is to live for Him and to do everything to please Him. And now, I just wish to ask you whether you think it makes any difference how I dress. Jane thinks it does not; but Mr. Grim says he is surprised that a child of God should give even a single thought to such a worldly subject as “dress.” For myself, I know not what to think; but I should be very glad if you could help me from Scripture.

Mr. P.: Since the word of God is a light to our path, it certainly is the place to go to, and we will seek its guidance. But what does Jane say?

Jane: I think it is a very trifling matter to talk about. What does it matter about one's dress? God looks at the heart not at the dress. I should like to know whether people will be any safer for heaven because they dress like dowdies.

Mr. P.: Don't be so sure, dear Jane, that it is a mere trifle. That which seems so insignificant and unimportant to you may have very great influence for evil over another. Supposing now your fantastic dress was a means of stumbling to a fellow-believer or a hindrance to an unbeliever's conversion, would it be a trifle then?

Jane: If people did not look at their neighbours so much they would not stumble so often. Besides, it concerns nobody but myself how I dress.

Mr. P.: Softly, dear Jane, that sounds too much like what Cain said after he had killed his brother, “Am I my brother's keeper?” You or I cannot help others looking at us; and whether we wish it or not we have an influence, for good or for evil, over those around us. By the power of God believers have been made one in Christ; not only children of the same family, but in closer bonds even than that members of the same body (1 Cor. 12: 25-27). On this account we have that weighty warning in 1 Cor. 8: 9-12, “Take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. For if any man see thee, who hast knowledge, sit at meat in the idol's temple, shall not the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; and through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish for whom Christ died? But when ye sin so against the brethren and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ.” Now this “sin against Christ” was all about a “trivial matter” as to whether a Christian should or should not eat meat that had been offered to idols. To those who saw that the meat was none the worse for being thus offered, and that they themselves were made neither better nor worse by eating it (1 Cor. 8: 8), to those, I say, it truly seemed a trifling thing; but to the weak ones, eating such things seemed a very serious matter — a most heinous sin. The apostle's counsel here is of extreme importance. The strong ones were to look at the matter, not from their own standpoint, but from that of the weak ones (Rom. 15: 1). That which was so trifling in itself becomes of the utmost importance because of the weak brethren. And if any despised this way of looking at it and spoke, as you have spoken, Jane, the apostle says, “Why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” (Rom. 14: 10). And from this we learn that we have to give an account to God as to whether, even in trifling things, we have been stumbling blocks to weak ones for whom Christ died. How solemn this is!

Jane: I quite see the truth of what you say in some things, Mr. P. Of course, a Christian going to balls, theatres, and music halls, would no doubt stumble many, and lead them into dreadful sin; but I fail to see that a fine dress will stumble any one.

Mr. P.: But supposing, Jane, a weak-minded Christian were to follow you in your love of dress; and she were surrounded at home by those who were fond of balls and theatres and were trying to lead this weak one astray. Satan would at once tell her there was no more harm in sharing the amusements of the world than in dressing like the world. She, in a feeble moment, yields to the temptation; and then, slipping from little sins to great ones, she at last becomes a moral wreck. But who is to blame for the first step?

Again, even supposing your concern about dress does not come between your own soul and Christ (as it is sure to do), you may easily become instrumental in destroying the communion of a weak believer. For each one who can walk in safety on the verge of a precipitous cliff, there are twenty, or more, who would turn giddy and fall over. Therefore, for the sake of others, let the one with iron nerves keep away from the edge of the cliffs. Christians should be like lighthouses, warning of danger, not like Will-o'-the-Wisps, luring the unwary into marshy and miry places. You see, Jane, we are told “to consider one another.” So we should try to draw one another closer to Christ and not to put so much as a hair between another's soul and Him.

Mary: I am very much afraid dress will be a snare to me in the way you speak of; for when I am about to have anything new, I get quite excited. I lie awake hours at night, thinking what colour it shall be, how it shall be made, and so on. I forget to read my chapter, hurry over my prayers, lose my temper and everything seems to go wrong. I know it ought not to be so. I remember when I was converted, my father, who is not a Christian, said very sneeringly he was glad I had turned “pious,” for he should not have to buy so many new dresses for me.

Mr; Grim: That just shows that even the world does not expect to see Christians dressed up like dolls. It is only consistent if we have given up the world to let it be seen in our dress. We shouldn't be going about with Christ in our hearts and the world on our backs.

Mr. P.: Quite true: but the question is how we shall let the world see that we are delivered from it.

Mr. Grim.: That is simple enough: wear things different from the world.

Mr. P.: But I am afraid, Mr. Grim, that the person who is occupied in dressing differently from the world is thinking as much about dress as the person who is engrossed with following its fashions. Christ has to take a secondary place in both hearts; whereas we are all agreed, I am sure, He should have the first place.

There can be no doubt whatever that gay and gaudy apparel indicates pride of heart and a desire to attract looks of admiration from people around. We have an instance in Isaiah 3: 16, etc. There Jehovah speaks very severely to the daughters of Zion, who were walking with stretched-forth necks and wanton eyes, mincing as they went, and making a tinkling with their feet. They desired others to take notice of their chains and bracelets, rings and nose-jewels, their bonnets and mantles, hoods and veils. All this showed plainly enough that their hearts were as empty of the fear of the Lord as their heads were of a due sense of womanly propriety; and therefore the Lord warns them that He will assuredly judge them for their worldly ways. This is one side. And, wrong as this side is, those that rush into the other extreme are none the less wrong. The Pharisees, when they fasted, put ashes on their head, dirtied and disfigured their faces, looking unutterably sad; but only that they might appear unto men to fast (Matt. 6.) They made broad their phylacteries and enlarged the fringes of their garments for a similar reason (Matt. 23: 5). Hypocrites as they were, they dressed only for human eyes; and, in spite of the apparent humility of their garb, their hearts were full of pride. Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who continually wore filthy sackcloth upon his flesh, is well known to have been the proudest and most overbearing man of his time. So also the “Friend” in his suit of sober grey, and the “Salvation” lassie in her poke-bonnet, may, after all, be as proud as a West-end belle in her diamonds and lace. Dress, we must remember, is only the external thing; and unless the heart is right, all else is wrong.

Jane: I am glad to see, my dear Mr. P., you agree with me that dress is a matter of very little importance.

Mr. P: Nay, nay, Jane, I said not that; indeed I think otherwise. My desire is that we may look at the subject from the proper point of view.

To every Christian there is an inside as well as an outside; and an outside as well as an inside. And we should strive to make our outside (that is, our words, actions and appearance) agree with our inside (that is, our hearts and motives), and both to be according to the will of God. We can never deceive God; but we may our fellow-man, since he judges what we are inside from what he sees outside. Now the believer that has Christ inside and the world outside, is certainly false and unfaithful; while the one that puts on a Christian appearance outwardly and has unholy motives within is nothing less than a canting hypocrite.

Mary: Oh! Mr. P., I am afraid I often appear very different from what I really am. I hope I am not what you say.

Mr. P.: I speak more particularly of those whose general manner of life is such. The Christian whose deep desire is to please Christ cannot be said to be a hypocrite, even though he should fail at times. Very few of us, alas! walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called. However, let each strive to be more pure and consistent in future.

Now, in turning to the word of God, we shall not find it to be a mere fashion book, laying down rules as to the cut of our garments; but, better than that, it gives us broad and general principles, which, if we are willing to learn and to obey, will guide us plainly enough in the matter before us. Take that very comprehensive verse (1 Cor. 10: 31), “Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God”; and again, “Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3: 17). Here, in the first of these passages, we have what should be the object of each action, viz., “the glory of God; and, in the second, what should be the character of each action, viz., “done in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Mary: What does “in the name of the Lord Jesus” mean?

Mr. P.: It means that we should ever bear in mind that here on earth we are acting for the Lord Jesus; and all that we do is to be done just as He would do it if He were here Himself. When the disciples cast out devils in the name of Jesus, the effect was as if He had done it Himself. So a Christian should perform everything, even in the matter of dress, as He would Himself.

Mary: Do we know what sort of garments the Lord Jesus wore when on earth?

Mr. Grim: We know He was not clad in purple and scarlet, except when the soldiers did so in mockery.

Jane: But we know He was not in rags, else the four soldiers at the crucifixion would not have troubled to have divided His raiment among them.

Mr. P.: There is little doubt that our blessed Lord wore the ordinary garb of the time. We cannot suppose He dressed to render Himself conspicuous by any oddity in His attire. Still we are nowhere told the manner of His dress. If it were known it would probably become the ruling fashion of the so-called religious world, and people would be flocking to their tailors to be converted into disciples of the Lord Jesus.

To return, however: before we can act “in the name of the Lord Jesus” and to “the glory of God,” we must understand the place God has given us in Christ. Else we may mistake God's will like Saul of Tarsus, who thought to do God service by persecuting His church.

Mr. Grim: If Mary only understood that, according to Scripture, she is dead, there would be an end to all this chatter. You do not deck out a corpse.

Mr. P.: Will Mr. Grim show to us from the word that Christians are said to be dead?

Mr. Grim: There are a number of passages: “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Rom. 6: 2). “Buried with Him by baptism into death” (Rom. 6: 4). “Our old man is crucified with Him (Rom. 6: 6). “Dead with Christ (Rom. 6: 8). “Dead indeed unto sin” (Rom. 6: 11). “Dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world” (Col. 2: 20). “Ye are dead” (Col. 3: 3). “Dead to sins” (1 Peter 2: 24). “Being made conformable unto His death (Phil. 3: 10). “I am crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2: 20).

Mary: Do these passages really teach that I am a dead person?

Mr. P.: They teach a most blessed fact and it is this, viz., that whereas you, a sinner in your sins, were living under the just judgment of God, Christ Jesus in wondrous grace at the cross took your place and bore the sentence of death, curse and condemnation in Himself. Now God reckons you to have died with Christ and to have been buried with Him: so that there is no longer such a one as Mary the sinner. She is dead; and in her stead is Mary the saint “a new creature in Christ Jesus.” Thus the truth of God's word is that the “old man” that used to enjoy the things of sin and the world is now dead in God's sight. Therefore Mr. Grim is quite right in saying that you are dead, as far as the world and sin are concerned; but he has not stated all the truth. We are to yield ourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead (Rom. 6: 13). We are to reckon ourselves to be indeed dead unto sin but alive also to God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 6: 11). We, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness (1 Peter 2: 24). Therefore I should not only know that I am dead, but that I am also alive from the dead to walk “in newness of life.” So our question should be not so much what sort of dress suits a dead body but what suits one that is alive unto God. As it also says in Col. 3: 1, 2, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” Thus, belonging now to an entirely new state of things, I must make everything to be consistent with the resurrection-place I occupy in Christ. I shall then be governed by heavenly motives which will be altogether different from those which govern the world. For instance, every child of God should certainly be dead to such vain thoughts as the poet has ascribed to the worldling:

“Long long the fair one labours at the glass,

And having tired, calls in auxiliar skill

To have her sails, before she goes abroad,

Full spread and nicely set to catch the gale of praise.”

Mary: Then it is because I am “risen with Christ” that I am to do all “in the name of the Lord Jesus” and to “the glory of God.”

Mr. P.: Certainly; God has given us a heavenly position in Christ (Eph. 1, 2), associating us with Christ where He now is (for “as He is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4: 17), and teaching us to hope for future heavenly glory and to expect a path of persecution and ill-favour from the world down here. And unless we live according to this position, we cannot be living to the “glory of God.” If our ways are not heavenly they cannot be “in the name of the Lord Jesus.” If you saw a young man of twenty years or more continually nursing and playing with a doll, have you not a right to suppose him to be lacking in wisdom proper to his age? And if you see Christians, who have been made partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1: 4), of the heavenly calling (Heb. 3: 1) and of an inheritance incorruptible (1 Peter 1: 4), all agog after the follies and fashions of the day, you have a right to suppose them guilty of the gravest inconsistency. They are leaving the fatted calf for the husks that the swine do eat. When we see children gathered round a confectioner's window we naturally suppose that sweets have an extraordinary interest for them And when we see children of God spending their time and their money in looking after and obtaining laces, ribbons and jewellery, we at once conclude, not without reason, that these things occupy a great place in their hearts.

Jane: But we are bound to think of dress and such things a little.

Mr. P.: Just so; but the point is — what is your object in dress? Is it to please yourself? Is it to please others? Is it to please Christ?

Mary: I can see now that our motive should be to please the Lord and to live according to the peculiar character of the position we occupy as being no longer of the world. And I certainly must learn to ask myself the question — Am I dressing to please myself or my Lord? Is my heart set on the vanities, of life like the world, or am I testifying to my heavenly position in Christ? But are there no Scriptures which give us plain direction on this subject?

Mr. Grim: Oh, yes; only many Christians contrive to overlook them. They speak too plainly for most people. In 1 Tim. 2: 9, 10, it says, “In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; but (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.” And in 1 Peter 3: 3, 4, “Whose adorning, let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit which is in the sight of God of great price.”

Mr. P.: The principle taught in these verses is very beautiful as well as helpful. Women are to be seen in modest apparel. This is certainly opposed to tawdriness and finery. The believer's dress should never bring into prominence either by its oddity or by its gaiety. As to gold and pearls, they are but seldom necessary articles of wear, and are mostly worn to attract attention or to set off the person. Costly array supposes that the same end is in view. Therefore these things should never characterise a Christian. In short, dress should ever be reckoned a necessity not an object of life. And just as gluttony and drunkenness are sinful abuses of eating and drinking, so vanity of dress is a sinful abuse of that which is necessary for decency and propriety.

Mary: Do these Scriptures teach us that it is wrong to plait the hair?

Mr. Grim: You see what it says “not with broidered hair” “not plaiting the hair.”

Mr. P.: If we read the whole verse we see it says that women are not to adorn themselves with broidered hair but with good works. They are to be known to others, not by their ornaments, but by their deeds of loving service; not by beauty of hair or dress but by beauty of moral character. In short, the verse strongly condemns the fantastic cutting and curling and twisting and plaiting for ornament's sake. Of course there is a plaiting for convenience as well as for ornament. You will remember it is specially recorded that Absalom had long and beautiful hair, of which he was so proud as to have it cut and weighed once every year. But the Spirit of God also records that this young man's hair proved his ruin; for by it he was hung in the branches of an oak. But while long hair was a shame to Absalom, we are told it is a glory to women (1 Cor. 11: 15). Surely this passage is overlooked by those who mutilate their hair after the fashion of the day, thus changing their glory into their shame.

Mr. Grim: I can't say much for their self-respect much less for their consistency.

Mr. P.: We will not judge young people too harshly, Mr. Grim. The old ones, who ought to know better, deserve severe speech. But let us remember that the young are young. They have had but little experience, and often they fall into these ways quite innocently. So we can forgive them a great deal. Let us therefore be patient and gentle in endeavouring to show them their folly; for you and I may have made these, or worse, mistakes ourselves.

However, I would just like to say to Jane and Mary — speaking as a father would to his children — do seek to cultivate a real, true, womanly spirit. The Scriptures have given us some of its characteristics — modesty, shamefacedness, sobriety, and the meek and quiet spirit. These are ornaments beyond all price. Alas! these beautiful flowers are very rare to-day. The hot, dusty, foetid atmosphere of busy life in the twentieth century has a most blighting, withering influence upon them. They flourish best in the pure, balmy breezes of God's presence. But you may be sure they suit a Christian a deal better than anything the milliner can produce. Depend upon it the words in Timothy and Peter are not given by the Holy Ghost in connection with dress and appearance unless it is for our careful consideration; so that we may, in the liberty of God's dear children and in the light of His own word, serve Him and adorn His doctrine in all things.

Jane: I wish my brother Sam had been here to-night. I know he thinks quite as much about dress as I do. But you seem to have the idea that it is only the “poor sisters” who fail in this. Why, he often asks me, even in the meeting, if his tie is straight.

Mr. P.: If vanity is unseemly in a woman, it is exceedingly more so in a man; for, being of stronger mind, it is the less expected that he should be taken up with foppery. Of course all we have said tonight applies as much to your brother Sam as to you. And I hope you will faithfully repeat to him what has been said. I must, however, say also that he seems to have a very poor sense of the Lord's presence in the meeting.

Mary: I should like to ask another question, Mr. P. Is it wrong to wear nosegays? I was told once we must not; since they are things of nature?

Mr. Grim: Of course not: are we not dead to nature?

Mr. P.: I do not think it says so in the word anywhere. We are dead to sin, dead to law, and dead (crucified) to the world, but I do not recollect the expression “dead to nature.” We can enjoy the works of God around us, and admire the display of His Almighty handiwork without having our hearts set upon such things. Can we not enjoy our dinner without thinking about it all day previously? It certainly is wrong to have our minds centred on the creation around us to the exclusion of Christ and those spiritual and eternal things that are not seen; but still there is no need to close up our eyes and to refuse to see the beauties of creation.

Jane: Then you don't think it wrong to wear buttonholes, Mr. P.?

Mr. P.: I do not think it is a question of harm; but, like the subject of dress we have been considering, it is a question of motive and consistency. To be always raising the question — “Is it right or is it wrong?” though it may be useful occasionally, is to be like the Jews of old who were ever quarrelling as to how much of their hands and arms they should wash before meals.

We have to serve Christ, not in letter but in spirit. Now you are asking about wearing flowers. Let me ask you what difference there is between wearing a cabbage rose, a massive gold chain, or a dress with all the colours of the rainbow? Christ should be seen in the Christian; but these things lead people to look at the person himself or herself. If you put a peony in your buttonhole you surely cannot see it and admire it yourself, so it must be there, “asking alms of public gaze.”

Jane: Well, if it is wrong to wear flowers it must be wrong to cultivate flowers, and we ought to be able to know Christians by their weedy gardens.

Mr. P.: A Christian, who spends all his spare time in his garden cultivating flowers, is certainly not doing God's will. For whether we desire it or no we are Christ's bond-slaves (1 Cor. 7: 22); and in this hobby he is pleasing himself and not serving Christ. What would you think of a servant who sits down in the middle of her work, reading novels, and when her mistress asks her why the floor is not swept and the dishes washed, she says she has had no time; she has been busy reading, which she likes best. Her mistress would scarcely recommend her as the best of servants. Yet many Christians are fonder of serving themselves than of serving God. They give all their time to their hobbies and none to the service of Christ.

Mary: Then shouldn't we grow flowers?

Mr. P.: We cannot lay down rules for one another. It depends whether you have to neglect the things of God by so doing. There are plenty of cases where work in the garden is a pleasant and healthful recreation, and perhaps even necessary for the body.

Still, Jane, I think you can see for yourself, without any more words of mine, that there is a great difference between flowers in a garden, or on a table, and flowers on the person. And before you wear one again, just ask yourself — not “Is there any harm in this?” — but, “Will this be for the Lord's glory?”

Mary: I have to thank you, Mr. P., very much for your kind help. I see the subject in quite a different light now.

Mr. P.: Before we separate I will read one passage of God's word which will speak for itself.

“Be not anxious . . for your body what ye shall put on. . . Is not the body more than raiment Why are ye anxious concerning raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God doth so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek); for your Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6: 25-33, R.V.).

The Old Bondage and the New Service

The Substance of an Address on Romans 5: 19 - 6: 17.

by W. J. Hocking.

Published by C. A. Hammond 1945.

It is upon my heart this evening to speak a little to you concerning our relation as believers to sin that dwells within us, and also to God Himself through our Lord Jesus Christ. In both cases our obedience or disobedience is involved. As the sin or sinful nature dwelling within us leads to the terrible result of disobedience to God, so the new life which we have in Christ displays itself in loving obedience to God and His written word. The divine truth regarding these relations to sin and to God is set out clearly and fully in the Epistle to the Romans, especially in the passage just read to you.

It is idle, and evil too, to suppose that we who are born anew by God's Holy Spirit and justified from all things through our Lord Jesus Christ are not required to be in our manner of life entirely different from those not born again and not justified by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The fact is that the whole tenor of our lives should distinguish us easily from those who are in the sinful state in which we ourselves were until the mercy and goodness of God delivered us. It is deplorable, however, that many believers are not diligent enough to establish, nor even to seek to establish the details of their lives in accordance with the plainly-stated precepts and principles of God's word. The reading and study of God's word is commonly confined to certain parts of it which seem more attractive and easier to understand. It is assumed that such a partial reference to scripture for daily instruction and guidance will be sufficient for the well-being of the soul, and no more is needed. But God has given us all the scriptures in a single volume for our instruction in wisdom and righteousness (2 Tim. 3: 16, 17). Every portion is divinely inspired, and the whole is profitable for our development as men of God. If we neglect only a small part of God's word we are to that extent the poorer spiritually, less able witnesses for Christ, less faithful, less devoted, less useful as His servants. We shall fail to become “complete, fully fitted to every good work.”

The Truth about a Believer's Sins

Referring now to Romans, we have in it truth which is vital and fundamental to our normal life as Christian believers. When a sinner is awakened from his slumber and neglect of God to a sense of his personal responsibility for his sins, the first desire of his heart and conscience is to obtain some relief from the guilt he has begun to feel. He knows he is under the just condemnation of God, because of the long catalogue of sins against which the wrath of God from heaven is revealed (Rom. 1: 18). Where can he find relief? Then the gospel of God comes to him, and points to Christ as the Substitute for sinners, the Saviour of sinners, the Lover of sinners, the Seeker of sinners, the One Who by His sacrifice has satisfied the righteousness of God in respect of every believer. The sinner hears and believes this gospel, and rejoices in such a deliverance from his sins. He learns on divine authority, which he believes, that all his sins are forgiven, and that he himself is justified through faith in Jesus Christ.

The first part of this Epistle, to Rom. 5: 11, deals with the subject of the remission of sins, and of justification by faith through Christ Jesus. It shows that the believing sinner receives absolute pardon from his guilt through the blood of Jesus. Moreover, through the grace of God the believer is not only freed from his guilt, but is reckoned to be righteous because of his faith in God (Rom. 4: 5). He looks believingly to the Lord Jesus Christ Who was delivered for his offences and raised again for his justification (Rom. 4: 25), and he receives the grand truth of the gospel that though he once was responsibly under the full weight of his sins, he is now delivered from that burden, and is accepted by a just God as a justified person (Rom. 3: 26). And what is the effect upon the believer of this great discovery? He joys in God Himself through the Lord Jesus Christ by Whom he has now received the reconciliation (v. 11).

To rejoice in the God of his salvation might seem to the believer to be the very climax of divine blessing. If he is now so full of joy, what more can he contain or require? But the young believer soon finds his joy in God interrupted. He experiences something within him that does not respond to the abounding grace of God. He fails to appreciate the possessions of faith. He looks back to the country from which he came out, to the present age from which he was redeemed. He finds evil thoughts and desires arising, increasing in intensity, and multiplying till he is sorely distressed and bewildered by the unexpected anomaly. He clings to the belief that Christ suffered and died for his sins, yet he still has a disposition to commit sin, and he discovers that the wrong act is not distasteful to him while doing it. Afterwards he is sorry; he regrets what he has done; he resolves that it shall not occur again, but it does! Why is he so powerless to prevent the recurrence? Is there no remedy for the proneness of a believer to sin against God? This Epistle answers such questions.

The Truth about a Believer's Sin

From the middle (ver. 11) of the fifth chapter of Romans, where we read of the believer rejoicing, joying, boasting, exulting in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the apostle takes up the subject of the sin within the believer. We may commit sins. If we do so it is because something exists within us from which these sins proceed. From our natural birth we possess an irrepressible disposition to sin. This evil tendency is inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve. It was “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin” (ver. 12). With the single word “sin,” God points His finger to the seat of the trouble in the believer. Sin is in the heart. From that root, all varieties of evil fruit spring. The fountain is poisoned at its source. This is true, not of one person only, but of all men alike. All share in the possession of sin and in its consequence and penalty, death. And although a believer's sinful acts are forgiven and he himself justified, there remains within him the inherited disposition to sin.

But there is no need for despair. Grace has appeared and brought a remedy against the dominion of sin as well as for the guilt of sins. God has provided not only for my sins but also for the evil heart of unbelief abiding within me. And the deliverer in both cases is the same Blessed One, Christ Jesus. As by Adam sin came into the world and spread its dominating power over men everywhere, so by Jesus Christ grace came into the world and God's act of favour is freely extended to men everywhere, irrespective of race, colour, or country. This grace has found righteous means not only to pardon the believer, but to enable him to rise above the domineering power of his indwelling sin and instead to do the will of God with fidelity and delight.

It is sometimes said that deliverance from sin is a matter of personal effort, and that evil habits can and should be overcome by one's own firm resolution and perseverance. But this advice overlooks the fact that although the wicked deed may be checked by will-power alone, the sinful desire fills the heart beforehand. And divine holiness uncovers the secret source of inward evil. In God's sight, the thought of foolishness is sin. Our Lord condemns alike the lustful look and the adulterous act (Matt. 5: 28). The evil thought defiles the whole man, as well as the evil word and the evil act (Mark 7: 21-23). We should habitually govern our words and our deeds, but who can govern the imagination of the heart which God beholds? If we are walking with God, we are with One Who knows our thoughts even before we recognise them ourselves. The holiness of God is very pure, infinitely above any human standard, and in order to act rightly with regard to that standard, we must attend to the words of scripture concerning the “sin which doth so easily beset us.”

Two great correlated truths relate to Christian living —  (1) sin dwells in the believer, and (2) grace has overcome the power of sin and provided a way of escape from its tyranny. Many honest and true-hearted believers who desire to live according to God are most anxious to discover some means of avoiding the repeated failures which they deplore. They say: “I have to go again and again to seek pardon for sins, of which I am ashamed. How can I live more consistently?” Yes, by the supply of God's grace, you will be enabled to fashion your life according to the instructions of His word. Simply, the way of faithfulness is the obedience of faith. The same faith that clings to Christ for the forgiveness of sins, must cling to Him for power to obey God even as He obeyed. The secret of a victorious life is the renunciation of self and the determination to do everything by the faith of the Son of God. Looking in faith to Him, sin is suppressed, and holiness attained. The reign of grace in the new life of the believer is “through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The Law of Sinai Caused Man's Offences to Abound

In verses 19 and 20 the effects of sin and grace are summarised, and also that of the law. “Sin abounded,” not only numerically by its multitudinous acts, but overwhelmingly, by overcoming all human efforts to subdue it. Sin's power to overcome man exceeds man's power to resist sin. Man is unable to extinguish the solicitations of the evil nature within him; but, thanks be to God, “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.” While sin has a power to lead me captive, grace by its stronger power delivers me from its thraldom, and that power is exercised by our Lord Jesus Christ.

God gave the law to man not as a means of deliverance from sin, but as a test of his moral standard. The law was not given until Moses, twenty-five centuries after Adam. The Israelites were held responsible to observe it in their national life. The result was a complete failure under this test. Disobedience to God was ingrained in the soul of the people. Under the law, Israel became worse than the surrounding nations to whom the law was not given. As the apostle writes, “the law entered that the offence might abound.” The law magnified the guilt of those under it, for they knew the will of God but deliberately disobeyed it. Thus the law proved to be “the strength of sin” (1 Cor. 15: 56), and not a means of deliverance from it.

But Israel did not understand their own weakness and failure in serving God. From the first, they deceived themselves with the notion that it was easy for them to fulfil all Jehovah's commands. They were a self-satisfied and self-deceived people. They nursed a lie and comforted themselves with a falsehood. They needed to learn the truth about themselves; and “by the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3: 20). So God gave them the ten commandments with His statutes and judgments also to keep. The people's response was unanimous, “All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient” (Ex. 24: 7). But they were not obedient; sin within them was too strong. The law told them to worship God only, to love Him with all their heart, and to love their neighbour as themselves; but this law only provoked them to do the very opposite. God said, “Thou shalt have no other gods.” They said, “We will have them. Aaron, make us a golden calf.” This they worshipped, proving how completely they were ruled by their innate spirit of disobedience to the known will of God.

The law was a provisional institution. Yet many Christians turn back to the law of Moses, assuming that its observance is necessary for a pure and holy life. But when they say that the law ought to be kept as a rule of life, they overlook the revealed truth that the sin that dwells within them, the mind of the flesh, “is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8: 7). There is enmity in the mind, not submissive obedience. What God commands the flesh disobeys.

On account of this inborn dislike of the will of God, many who have been most zealous for the law have become the greatest sinners. For example, who in the days of our Lord were more zealous for the law than the Pharisees (Matt. 23)? They carefully observed all its ceremonial requirements. They tithed even their garden herbs. They fasted twice in the week. To the law of Moses they added the tradition of the elders. All these law-works, they did in the sight of their fellows to ensure their admiration and applause. But when the Lord Jesus looked upon them, He saw that the phylacteries upon their foreheads and the wide hems upon their garments were evidence of the pride of their hearts, not of their obedience to the will of God. The outside of the cup and platter was clean, but within He saw corruption and wickedness. The Lord told the scribes and Pharisees plainly they were but hypocrites, like whited sepulchres, good to look at outwardly, but inwardly full of uncleanness. Proud of their own fancied attainments, they despised and hated the piety of our Lord. None among the Jews was more zealous for the crucifixion of Christ than the Pharisees. They long plotted to put Him to death, even uniting with their rivals, the Sadducees, to gain this end. They made use of the law in which they boasted to secure a death-sentence from Pilate. “We have a law,” they said, “and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God” (John 19: 7). No, the law cannot save from the power and penalty of sin, but by the law is the knowledge of sin, and by it sin becomes exceeding sinful (Rom. 3: 20; Rom. 7: 13).

The law says to the one under it, “Thou shalt”; and to the disobedient, “Curses be upon you.” “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them” (Gal. 3: 10). Thus the law brought a curse, not a blessing to man. It revealed sin in the heart, but did not remove it nor cure it. But grace reveals a remedy. “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.” So we are brought to the feet of our Lord for our deliverance from the reign of sin in us. He Who was able to endure God's wrath against my guilt is able to supply power over the sin that dwells within me and that is too strong for me. In Him and through Him deliverance comes. By looking to Christ Jesus, by trusting in Him, by occupation with Him, I get away from my own evil desires and my own natural inclinations. With the eye of faith upon the Lord, grace, not sin, reigns in my heart, and I walk before God in His love and in His fear.

Will God's Abounding Grace Excuse my Continuance in Sin?

The evil nature is likely to abuse the truth of God in the scripture we have been considering, “Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound,” and regard it even as an excuse for a believer's sin. The apostle deals with such an attempt: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound” (Rom. 6: 1). Shall we take advantage of the abundance of grace, and by our self-indulgence make a fresh occasion for its display? The more we sin, the more grace will bestow. God is infinitely gracious, and the worse our behaviour is, the greater will be the supply of God's grace to cover our sin. Those who talk or think in this strain, whether intentionally or not, are liable to turn, as we read, “the grace of our God into lasciviousness” (Jude 4). And history shows that many gross evils have arisen in Christendom from such abuses of God's abounding grace.

But the snare is ever spread for our feet, into which without constant vigilance we may stumble at any time. Take, for example, our attendance at the Lord's table for the commemoration of the Lord's death. There we are in the presence of the Lord Jesus, Who said, “Where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Is there not a tendency within us, in spite of the solemnity of the occasion, for our attention and our thoughts to wander into irrelevant matters? Instead of being absorbed with the contemplation of Christ Himself and with the recollection of His death upon the cross, we become engaged with something trivial and improper. Thus, even in the sanctuary of the Lord's presence, sin raises its horrid head within us, seeking to carry us away in spite of ourselves.

Here lies the danger of abusing the abounding grace of God and regarding such failures as of no consequence. A dulled conscience may begin to make excuse, and say that such lapses in attention are inevitable, and do not matter; Christ died for our sins! But such a failure does matter. It is a disregard of the presence of our Lord. It is sin in the holy place. “The thought of foolishness is sin.” It needs God's forgiveness, our confession, and Christ's cleansing. And God has made that provision for His children, who still possess an evil nature. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1: 9). Confession shows that such lapses are neither under-estimated nor ignored by us. The inward motions of sin are rebuked and deplored. And there is no desire within us to “continue in sin that grace may abound.”

The Believer's Death to Sin

Clearly, the evil of allowing sin to be active within us without let or hindrance is manifest in scripture. Death itself is declared to be the barrier to the activity of sin. The apostle writes, “How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Rom. 6: 2). To do so is a contradiction in terms. Carefully note what is said, for the text is often misunderstood because it is misquoted or misread. Paul does not say that sin itself is dead, nor imply that the evil nature has disappeared altogether. It is we ourselves who have died to sin; how then can we go on living in sin? It is a dangerous deceit to suppose that sin itself is extracted from believers. “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1: 8).

The truth that should be in us is that we have died unto sin. Through Christ Jesus we have taken the place of death, where sin can no longer exercise its dominion over us. This revealed truth we are called to believe. It only becomes a practical reality to those who do believe it. Lack of faith hinders deliverance from the authority and power of indwelling sin, but faith in Christ Jesus gives us the joy of victory. On the testimony of the scripture, we accept the truth that we are reconciled to God by the death of His Son; on that same testimony we are called to accept the truth that “so many of us as were baptized unto Jesus Christ, were baptized unto His death” (ver. 3). Both truths rest upon the same immutable foundation — the death of Christ.

We believe, therefore, not that sin is dead, but that we died out of its clutches. Between ourselves and sin, there is the barrier of the river Jordan; sin is on one side, and we are on the other. We have no communication nor connection with sin, our former master. Sin has no authority nor right over us, to issue orders or make suggestions regarding our conduct. We now give ear only to the voice of the Living One, Who became dead, and Who is alive for evermore. We listen for and hear only the voice of the risen Shepherd of the sheep, for in Christ is that “newness of life” in which alone we are to walk (ver. 4). In this new life, we can communicate continually with our new Lord in prayer and service and have communion with Him in praise and worship. But if we deny our standing, and meddle with sin, we bring defilement upon the heart and conscience. Let us abhor the evil and cleave to the good. If at the breaking of bread or at prayer-time evil thoughts should arise, we must remember we are dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. And in His bright presence exclusively, our new nature rejoices, and needs naught else.

The believer's death to sin is an integral part of the Christian profession, and it is here associated with the initiatory rite of baptism. “Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into (unto) Jesus Christ were baptized into (unto) His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into (unto) death” (Rom. 6: 3, 4). The apostle reminds them of what their baptism signified. It outlined their profession. They declared in figure that they had been baptized unto the death of Christ. They, as it were, announced to the whole world that they were associated with the Christ Who died, and Who by His death disappeared entirely from the world, for the world last saw Christ upon the cross. Christ in heaven has no link with the world. As an institution or system, He has no relations with it, nor will have, until He comes to judge the habitable world in righteousness (Acts 17: 31). Christ by His own death is separated from the world and its sin. And because of the believer's association with the death of Christ he also is separated from the world and from sin, its governing principle. Hence the believer's death to sin is, so to speak, the A.B.C. of the Christian profession, as the rite of Christian baptism testifies. And by our faith in our death and burial unto Christ, we obtain our practical deliverance from sin and its tyrannical power over us. This new kind of living characterises believers because, as the apostle says, “We are buried with Him by baptism into (unto) death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so also we should walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6: 4).

In passing, we may notice that the apostle while stating that we have died with Christ, avoids saying that we have risen with Him, as he teaches plainly in other Epistles. Here we are shown that we have part with His death, but not with His resurrection, for baptism symbolises only our death with Christ, and not our present imputed resurrection with Him. But we do read here of our future share in the first resurrection because of Christ. “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection” (Rom. 6: 5). This is “the redemption of the body,” which will take place at the coming of the Lord for His saints (Phil. 3: 20, 21). Meanwhile we are in a sort of divided state. The spirit and soul are already redeemed, but we are in the body, and the body is not yet redeemed. Now the body is the instrument through which indwelling sin operates in the believer. In a later passage (Rom. 6: 12) Paul calls it our “mortal body,” or body of death, because it is in our present body that sin seeks to reign unto death (see Rom. 5: 21).

Our Old Man Crucified with Christ

In the next verse a new term appears “our old man”: “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him that the body of sin might be destroyed (annulled) that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Rom. 6: 6). The apostle here speaks, not of sin being dealt with, but of “our old man.” This term is sometimes alluded to as “our old nature,” that is, the root of evil within us. This is not correct. The old man is not a personification of sin itself, but is the old self, the old person, the seat of our former personality and responsibility before our new birth. Thus, in Gal. 2: 20, the apostle says, “I am crucified with Christ”; he means the old I, Saul the persecutor of Christ, the enemy of those who confessed Christ's name, the one who described himself as a blasphemer and injurious, the chief of sinners. That old man, Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I” — not that old I — “but Christ liveth in me.” The new I, the new man, is he who inwardly delights in Christ, and outwardly conforms to the life of Christ in his everyday words and deeds.

The life of Christ in us consists of a Christ-like behaviour, which while it is a profound performance, is a simple matter, but simple only in the sense that it is not intricate or complicated in attainment. For a likeness to Christ is found in a babe in Christ as well as in the young men and fathers of the family of God. The adoring admiration of Christ leads to an unconscious imitation of his words and ways. To delight in Christ is to become like Him spiritually. Walking with Christ, communing with Him, listening to him, brings a moral conformity to His image and likeness. By this means the new nature is allowed to follow its instincts in a growing attraction by the aid of the Holy Spirit to the adorable Person of the Lord Jesus Himself. And thus we walk “in newness of life,” and not according to our former manner of life.

In the apostle's words, “Our old man is crucified with Him that the body of sin might be destroyed.” “Destroyed” expresses the true sense less correctly than “annulled,” or “rendered powerless,” so that it does not assert itself. Because of our crucifixion with Christ, the body with its disposition to serve sin is kept in its rightful place of inaction. Thereby the new life becomes uppermost in practice, and takes charge of our ways, and our likeness of character to the Lord Jesus Christ is developed accordingly.

Then, the believer's complete detachment from the rule of indwelling sin is again emphasised: “For he that is dead is freed from sin.” Our imputed death with Christ has procured for us a complete emancipation from bondage to sin. The metaphor, death, is conclusive, and should silence every doubt concerning our deliverance. All a persons's obligations cease to be binding on him at his death. A purchased slave dies, and his owner can exact no further service from him. Death frees the slave from bondage. So, the apostle writes, “He that is dead is freed from sin.” The believer by the death of Christ is made free from bondage to sin, seeing he died with Him.

Death with Christ Delivers from the Dominion of Sin

Next we read, “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God” (Rom. 6: 8-10). Here the apostle shows that the death of Christ is His victory over the power of sin; “in that He has died, He died unto sin once for all.” Christ came to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. In Him there was no sin, nor could He commit sin. But the Lord in His ministry came in contact with sin and sinners; for He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. The woman taken in adultery was brought to Him for judgment. He was here as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He came to serve in a world where sin reigned unto death, and where He was the Obedient One, even as far as death, the death of the cross. At His death, His work of propitiation was completed. “He has died unto sin once for all.” Being raised from the dead He dies no more, death has dominion over Him no more. He became dead, but He is living to the ages of ages. Now He lives unto God. His sacrificial work for sin is behind His back; He has not to repeat it, nor augment it. And when He appears the second time to those who look for Him, it will be “without (apart from) sin unto salvation” (Heb. 9: 28).

At present, our Lord Jesus having died unto sin is living “unto God” in the Father's house, preparing for us a place there, where all is purity and holiness and righteousness, apart from the slightest taint of sin. Absolute separation from sin, from its dominion and defilement, is the character of the life of Christ, and this is to be the character of the lives of those who died with Him. Like Him, we are to have nothing whatever to do with sin. And so far as we live by faith in the truth that we have died with Christ, so far shall we live “in newness of life.”

Reckoning Ourselves Dead unto Sin but Alive unto God

Our responsibility is bound up with what Christ has already accomplished. “For in that He died, He died unto sin once: but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through (in) Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6: 10, 11). Our responsibility is to “reckon” ourselves to be dead unto sin. All evil suggestions, cravings, impulses, arising from within are to be met by the recollection that we have died with Christ. This act of faith is the secret of strength to overcome. The courage of faith that counts ourselves to be dead unto sin but alive unto God conquers. Only in this manner can believers fulfil the injunction of the apostle,” “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof” (Rom. 6: 12).

It may be noted that the word “reckon,” is the same as is used in Rom. 4, in connection with our justification by faith. It occurs eleven times in that chapter, being translated “counted” and “imputed,” as well as “reckoned.” There, it is God Who “imputeth righteousness” (ver. 6) to the believer. Such an act seems impossible to the natural mind. Many a believer looking at himself sees that he is not righteous, and cannot understand how he is made righteous. Yet there is the plain scripture that “his faith is counted (reckoned) for righteousness” (Rom. 4: 5). Abraham is an illustration of this great truth. He believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. He believed what was impossible in the ordinary course of human nature, because of God's word. When Abraham and Sarah were both physically impotent, God said that they should have a son. Abraham believed the promise of God, which was the right thing for him to do: And because he believed, God reckoned the patriarch to be righteous. Moreover, not he only but all believers have been given a righteous standing by God's counting, God's imputing, God's reckoning.

But in relation to our sinful nature, we are exhorted to do the reckoning. We are to “reckon” ourselves “dead indeed unto sin.” This “death” is not a matter of fact, ascertainable by our senses, but a matter of faith in what is stated by the Spirit of God in the scripture before us, which regards us as having died with Christ.

Does Deliverance from the Law Provide an Excuse for Sinning?

By grace believers are delivered from bondage to the law. Does this release give them the liberty to sin as and when they please? This is the second great question considered in the chapter. The question in verse 1 is, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?“Now the apostle after saying “Ye are not under the law, but under grace,” immediately asks, “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace?“. If we have been freed from the obligations of the law, we are also free from the penalties which the law inflicts upon the disobedient. Our perverse nature then inquires whether this deliverance from the prohibitions and commandments and punishments of the law entitles us to do as we like and to sin as we please. But the truth is that if we are freed from the yoke of bondage to the law and to sin, it is that we may put on the yoke of Christ, and to obey even as He obeyed. If we are no longer bond-slaves to sin, we are bond-slaves to God, Whose service is perfect liberty.

Some may imagine that this question is one not likely to arise in the practical history of believers; they think those no longer under the law are unlikely to sin. But God knows the subtlety of the heart. And we have the case of Ananias and Sapphira who seemed to have sinned because they were not under law as formerly, but under grace. It was soon after Pentecost and the preaching of the grace of God through the crucified and exalted Christ. Grace wrought in the hearts of believers so that they sold their goods and distributed the proceeds to the poor. Such generosity was not an ordinance of the law but an act of grace, done in the spirit of Christ Who “though He was rich, yet,” as the apostle wrote, “for your sakes became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. 8: 9). Ananias and Sapphira agreed together to imitate the generosity of their brethren and sell their possessions for the benefit of the poor.

Now here the husband and wife were tempted by Satan to sin because they were not under law but under grace. It was not a provision of the law that they should sell all that they had and give to the poor all they received. It was grace that set them the shining example of a complete surrender, but left them free to imitate it or not. Here the guilty pair saw an opportunity for deceit. They agreed to keep for themselves part of the price, and to bring the remainder to the apostles as if it were the whole. By this pretence they took advantage of the liberty of grace to “lie to the Holy Ghost.” Not being under the law, but under grace, they sinned unto death, and the judgment of God fell upon them both.

This solemn incident of sin under grace stands recorded on the first page of Christian history as a warning to all who are “under grace” lest they fall into sin in like manner. We must take heed lest we trespass upon the grace of God, and forget that grace reigns through righteousness. We have communion with the Holy One, and He knows our secret thoughts and intentions. And we ought to remember that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17: 9). There the Lord looks, for He searches the heart, and tries the reins. He desires to see truth in the inward parts. Let us beware, therefore, lest we make our deliverance from the rigorous exactions of the law an excuse for secret sin.

Sin's Sure Wages and God's Gracious Giving

The great truths revealed in this chapter are concisely summarised in its final verse: “For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God life eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord” (W.K.). The service of sin yields only barrenness and deadness as its wages in this life; the judgment after death being outside the scope of this passage is not mentioned here. But God's act of favour yields an exuberant fulness of life in Christ Jesus. Many who through faith have eternal life fail to live that new life. Life eternal is not a mere static existence. It dwells in a sphere of which Christ Himself is the centre and the circumference, and from which sin is banished. Eternal life begins when the heart is attracted and attached to Christ Jesus. Henceforth, the Lord Jesus animates our thoughts and words and actions, and is the source and motive of all we think and desire and do.

This life eternal is not acquired by effort or purchase it is God's free gift, which He bestows where there is faith in His Son. It is not to be explained or defined. It is possessed by the believer, and that life is in God's Son. It is enjoyed most by the believer when its peculiar functions are in full exercise. Indeed, life eternal is the condition of continuous spiritual activity, for it is “in Christ Jesus our Lord.” There is an abiding sense of the living presence of the Lord Jesus, Who is always with us. The consciousness of this presence remains in spite of the thousand-fold activities of secular life. Of this choice privilege the world cannot rob us for eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord is God's free gift to those whom He has justified by faith and delivered from bondage to sin by the death of Christ.

The Heavenly Mind on Earth

Philippians 2: 5-11.

W. J. Hocking.

“For let this mind be in you which [was] also in Christ Jesus; who, subsisting in the form of God, did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God; but emptied Himself, taking a bondman's form, taking His place in [the] likeness of men; and having been found in figure as a man, humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and [that the] death of [the] cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and granted Him a name, that which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of heavenly and earthly and infernal [beings], and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord to God [the] Father's glory” (J.N.D.'s Trans.).*

“For let this mind be in you which [was] also in Christ Jesus, who subsisting in God's form did not count it an object for seizing to be on equality with God, but emptied Himself, taking a bondman's form, having come in likeness of men; and, when found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted Him and granted Him the name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus should bow every knee of [beings] heavenly and earthly and infernal, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ [is] Lord to God the Father's glory” (W. K.'s Trans.).*

{*The words in italics form the principal variations from the Authorised Version.}

In our various meetings during the last two or three days we have had brought before us a great deal concerning the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. We read together, for instance, yesterday afternoon the third chapter of this Epistle, which speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ, as He is now in the glory. In the second chapter, from which we have just read, we also have the Lord Jesus Christ, but as Man upon earth.

Indeed this Epistle, if we might characterise it as a whole in distinction from others, might be called, because of its presentation of Christ for the believer's life, the Epistle of true Christian experience. Christian experience should be, and, perhaps, in the majority of cases, is the experience of Christ by the saints of God as they pass through this world. This is well to note, for there are those who mistakenly imagine that Christian experience is our experimental knowledge of the hateful and unreliable nature which we all have within us, which is incorrigibly sinful, and will be so to the end.

But God's way with His children is that while they are in this world, so full as it is of vanity and vexation of spirit, and of things which are opposed to the new nature and distasteful to it, full of worries to bear, of afflictions to endure, of disappointments to suffer, they should yet be able, amid all these distractions, to feed upon Christ, and find in His love and care a sufficiency for every need. We know that heaven for us will be the utter absorption of our glorified persons in the worship of our Lord Jesus Christ; and then all our blissful activities will be in direct connection with Him who is the centre of that heaven. But the peculiarly sweet and precious experience of believers now is that in this very world where sin seems to dominate everything, and even to intrude into our very holiest and highest occupations — so much so that even when we gather together on the most solemn occasions, and taken up as we would then be with devotion and worship to God the Father and God the Son, even there sin — what is opposed to God — raises its shameless head and reminds us that we are on earth and not in heaven. Yet in the midst of such imperfection we have a secret spring of peace and joy, of which the world knows nothing.

The secret of that spring is in the sacred person of our Lord Jesus Christ. He comes to us in all our difficulties and trials, and speaks to our aching hearts His assuring word, “Fear not.” He lays His hand of power upon our weakness; He lifts us up when we feel that we are being trodden in the mire; He sets us going with fresh energy on our heavenward way; He fills, our hearts with gladness and with joy. This is true Christian experience; and this Epistle is full of references to such experience of Christ by Paul himself and by his Philippian friends.

Christ for our Daily Lives

The man Paul had in days past taught as an apostle in the great cities of the world; he had faced many varied audiences; he had endured many ordeals in carrying the gospel into the centres of the world's darkness and despair; he had smitten down Greek and Roman idols, and had won many victories for his Master; but now he was languishing as. a prisoner at Rome. There was nothing for Paul to do but to stand still and see someone else doing his life work. What was his inward resource amid all his suffering? He still found that to him to live was Christ and to die was gain. It did not matter to him whether Christ was magnified in his life or in his death (Phil. 1: 20-21). The experience of life for him — when the manifold activities of a great nature such as Paul's was forbidden him — was to find that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself was a sufficient compensation for every vicissitude he had endured and which he might yet have to endure.

Thus the experience of the great apostle comes down to the common experience of all believers. It may be just a little child who has confessed its faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and has its troubles with its home lessons, who learns that it can find help and relief in that tender Teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ; or it may be that some older person is burdened with those graver difficulties which so often come into men's lives, and he too learns to bow his knees in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and to find that help and grace which He is so ready and pleased to give. This is an experience of Christ which we shall not have in glory; but we have it here and now. Why then, my brethren, should we groan? Why should we be cast down, seeing we have such an One as our unchanging resource?

The Lord Jesus Christ is set before the heart of these Philippian believers in every chapter of this Epistle. In the second chapter we have the Lord Jesus Christ as a Man in this world; in the third chapter we have the Lord Jesus Christ as a Man in the excellent glory. The great thought which carries us forward as we read the third of Philippians is that where Christ is there we shall be also. But here in the second chapter we have what is supremely necessary for the formation of a practical Christian life and career. The Lord Jesus Christ is set forth as a pattern for us. We see in Him the humble Man who served God, even to death, the death of the cross. His mind should be in us.

The Blighting Influence of Self

The Philippians to whom the apostle was writing were active believers. They were not sitting down, enjoying their pleasures, and forgetting their responsibilities, but they were active in spreading the knowledge of the gospel; and a similar zeal was also noticeable among those at Rome.

But there were practical difficulties among the brethren that arose by reason of their commendable activities; there was something which mingled itself with their service, and spoiled its fragrance as a holy ointment. There was the symbol of death in it. This was the intrusion of self into the service of God. The most difficult problem which we have to encounter as children of God is the problem of ourselves. It is astonishing how many varied forms self can take. Only the word of God will infallibly show us what we ourselves are. Sometimes self intrudes into what we do and plan and purpose, and we are deceived, for we think it is someone else, whereas it is just ourselves, whom we do not recognize.

These persons, to whom the apostle refers, could not preach Christ without bringing themselves into the service, and making it an occasion for putting themselves forward, for being ambitious, for seeking the first place among their brethren. The news of this self-seeking reached the apostle, and it saddened him because it spoiled a good confession, and marred a good work. Christ was being preached, but oh, how badly, because they were preaching Him out of contention and strife, and not out of His constraining love.

It is often so with ourselves. What is it that makes Christians strive together? It is just self-seeking. X wants his own way; Y wants his own way; Z wants his own way; and the one who in the strife is the strongest, the one who can put down all others, is the one who gets the first place. Well, he has secured the first place; he has put himself in the forefront; he is before the eyes of others; but where is his Master? Where is Christ? Where is the pattern of the humble Man? The testimony that he should have rendered to the One who was here and who served God so perfectly in this world has been completely obliterated. In the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ there was no self. But in this case self has appeared and obscured the Master.

We must take the lesson to heart. There is only one cure for selfishness, and the apostle introduces this cure in the second chapter with that delicacy of treatment which he alone could give. He sends a message of love and exhortation to them, and puts his word of correction in this way. He says, “You will remember that ten years ago I was amongst you at Philippi; you will remember how I endured then, how I was in the prison then as I am now; you will remember under what circumstances we had fellowship in the gospel; and you must know the love of my heart for you, and I know your love for me, because you have been so ready to send your gifts for my necessity once and again. I still love you, and I desire Christ may be magnified in you, for nothing would give me greater joy than to see clearly in you the lineaments of the Master. Will you give me this joy? If there is any truth in the gospel and in the church, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any fellowship of the Spirit, any tender mercies and compassions,” he says, “fulfil ye my joy that ye be like-minded, that ye be of one accord, that ye be of one soul among yourselves.”

The Mind of Christ Jesus

What does all this exhortation mean? What is the apostle striving to bring home to their hearts? He desires that they should have the mind which was in Christ Jesus. If they were of one mind and of one accord in the Lord, it would be for this one reason, that the working of self was absolutely suppressed, and that Christ had the chief place among them. Every person would have the mind of Christ, and would be putting Christ first and putting himself entirely in the shade. If they were of one mind in the Lord, self would be out of action, and excluded.

Such is the only way in which believers can ever be of one mind. We find that its importance is such that Paul dwells upon this exhortation to the Philippians to be of one mind, and he strengthens his exhortation in a remarkable way by the verses which we know and love so well concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. He would not speak of himself as an example of unselfishness, as he had done in some other cases; he would not put the truth before them merely in a doctrinal form; he would not threaten them as if God were again speaking from Sinai with thunderings and lightnings; but he appeals to them by the example of our Lord Jesus Christ to cultivate a spirit of meekness and humility.

And so the waywardness of the Philippians has given us this incomparable picture of our Lord Jesus Christ in His humiliation to death, even the death of the cross. Paul says, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. You will note how he puts it. He says, Let this mind be in you. He does not tell us to undertake some course of self-denial or fasting or prayer, some rigorous exercise of discipline, such as mortifying our bodies; but he just says, Let it be in you. The mind of Christ will be there most certainly if you will only let it be there. The Holy Spirit has come down to form Christ in you, and the mind of Christ will be active in you, if you will only let it be there. By putting this wretched self of yours in its place you shut the Master out, and thereby you shut out from your life that character which in Him was so pleasing to God.

We have on record in the Gospels that marvellous phenomenon of heaven re-opened, and of God the Father Himself speaking from heaven to human ears, and saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him.” it was because the Son of God had come down into the place of utter lowliness that the Father spoke in that way. There was to the Father's eye the exhibition of the mind of Christ. Let that mind be in me; let it be in you; so the apostle wrote. It may be so; it will be so if we only let it. You cannot attain it by efforts of your own; it must be the production of another, and that other is God's Holy Spirit, who will work to this end in your heart and mind if there is no opposition of self, if there is no grief to Him, no hindrance of His influence. He came down to do this; and the apostle's plea was, Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus.

When we read the whole passage we are perhaps staggered at the vastness of its scope and its terms. It is not an uncommon thing for this section of scripture to be read publicly, but there are many who in reading seem afraid to take the whole of verse five as it stands, and they commence their reading in the middle of it. They begin at “Christ Jesus”; because involuntarily there comes up in their hearts this thought, “Oh, but this can never be true of me; I am reading about Christ Jesus; this is about Him, and about what He did; it cannot become true of me; and therefore I will only read what is true about Him. It is too much to expect that the same mind which was in Christ Jesus should be in me also.”

But ought we not to read the scriptures as they stand? If that mind be not in me, it is because I will not let it be there. My tiny heart has been filled with another occupant, instead of with Christ, shedding abroad there His lowly mind by His indwelling. Too often, alas, self is there, my own way, my business, my desire for self-aggrandisement; and there is therefore no room in my heart for my Master and myself. There is room for one, but not for two masters. Which shall it be?

The apostle, however, says, Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus; and to enforce this great exhortation he uses three words concerning the inscrutable person of our Lord Jesus Christ, words which we may read, and which we do well to read, and ponder again and again. There is nothing more sacred, more precious in the whole world than the revealed truth concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not ours to walk with Him in Galilee; it is not ours to hear His discourses in Jerusalem; but it is ours to read of Him in word's written by God's Holy Spirit which are absolutely true and adequate, which must not be exceeded, which we dare not diminish, words about the grace and glory of our beloved, our blessed Lord. There is no pen but that of God's Holy Spirit which could write suitable and accurate words concerning our Lord Jesus Christ; and, beloved friends, we have an inestimably holy and valuable treasure in the words which we possess, the words concerning the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The words are given us in the scripture to awaken our worship rather than to add to our information. I agree that they are simple, that they are easy to read; only we make the most tremendous mistake if we suppose that because they are easy words we can necessarily understand them. The words of inspiration are true, and clear and distinct; and these words set out for our faith the blessed person of our Lord Jesus, Christ, God manifest in flesh. Therefore on such a theme we cannot, we should not, trust ourselves to use any words concerning our Lord Jesus Christ that do not exactly coincide with what the Spirit of God has already written. All the failures and errors of doctrine that bestrew the devious paths of Christendom since the days of the apostles are due simply to the efforts of men to define and limit what is indefinable and illimitable about the Lord Jesus, Christ. What human tongue is competent to tell His praises and His worth, and what mind could probe the mystery of His Person? Let us receive the words of Holy Scripture concerning Christ Jesus just as they are written, and hold them fast exactly as the Spirit of God has given them to guide our poor wandering minds into eternal truth, and our renewed hearts into reverent worship.

No Selfish Ambition in Christ Jesus

We ought not to inquire curiously beyond what is written into the mystery concerning the Word who became flesh and dwelt below. But here we have a revelation concerning Christ Jesus, “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant.” He was God in all the fulness of His person and Godhead, and the wonder was that Christ Jesus was here as God in this world, but here without any effort or desire to assert the rights of His own eternal Person as the Son of God. What a perfect contrast with the first man who was in the world!

The first man was Adam, the second man the Lord from heaven. He was Lord of all; yet He came in true humility. The first man was not content with his estate in this world. Adam was the vicegerent of God in the earth, so that all creatures were subject to him. He was supreme in this world, but there came into his heart, through the instigation of the evil one, the desire to be something that he was not. He coveted what apart from disobedience was out of his reach. the serpent's suggestion, he desired to eat the forbidden fruit that he might become as God, knowing good and evil. Adam thus became ambitious to rise and, as he thought, to better himself. It was a false thought, but there was the thought in him. He looked abroad in Eden, and everything that he surveyed was his, with one exception. There was just one tree upon which a ban rested, and his soul, the appetite within him, desired above all things to have the fruit of that tree, and to become, as he thought, something better than God had made him.

This was the secret of Adam's downfall; and the desire for something God has withheld has been the corrupting influence in the hearts of men from that day to this. Men are not content to take what God has given them, to forego what He has forbidden them, to rejoice in what He bestows, and to thank Him even for what He does not give them.

Now our Lord Jesus Christ was in this world. He was in the essential nature of His being in the form of God. He was God manifest in flesh, come to declare the Father, but being in this world He was content to be just a man, and in man's form, dependent upon every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. As such He was exposed to the great temptation of the forty days. Satan came to Him as He hungered, and said, “If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Christ Jesus was God; He was the Son of God, as Satan knew; He had the power to provide Himself with bread from stones, but He had taken the place of a dependent man; He did not think it a prize to be grasped at to be equal with God as He was there in the wilderness. He said, “Man doth not live by bread alone.” He was unmoved by Satan's subtle suggestion, “If Thou be the Son of God.” He did not deny that He was God, but showed that His meat was to do the will of His Father. He was the Son of God, but He was in the wilderness as a man, and being in the form of man He decided to remain obedient to God, subservient to the will of Him that sent Him. Around Him there was a most striking contrast with the beauty of Eden, blooming in its purity, as it came fresh from the hands of the Creator. Adam was surrounded by a glorious garden, and had everything that eye and heart could desire. But the Lord Jesus Christ was forty days in the wilderness with the ravenous beasts.

There it was that the temptation came to Him, and there in the desert the blessed Master resisted the evil one and conquered. He was obedient to His Father's will; He did not strive after that equality with God which was His intrinsically, but which He did not use.

Such was the mind in Christ Jesus, and that display by itself gives us guidance for our application of it in our daily life. We are each situated differently in this world, and is it that we are ambitious to rise out of our present circumstances, ambitious to make our way, ambitious to overcome those things which seem to impede our progress, and to drag us down, and yet which must be the appointment of God? Are we chafing at His hand? If so, how contrary we are to Him who was the Son of God. We with our sluggish minds cannot perhaps perceive the exceeding beauty and value to God of that life of Christ. If we could only picture for a moment God the Father looking down upon the millions of mankind who have all erred from Him, walking each in their own way, given up to seeking their own pleasure, pursuing the occupations of this world to the exclusion of the glory of Him who is above, and then for Him to see one Man in the wilderness thoroughly obedient to the will of Him who sent Him! The Father found His delight in the Son. The mind in Christ Jesus was beautiful and glorious to the eyes of God. The record of it is given for our profit. It is here for our emulation, as our example. Away with all petty strife and vain glory! Let us consider Him who was obedient, who resisted the subtle temptations of the evil one to exalt Himself above the lowly station that He had taken in order to do the will of Him that sent Him.

The Self-emptied Servant

Christ Jesus was “in the form of God” and yet subservient to Him in the purposes of eternity (Heb. 10: 7), and in the acts of time. He thought it not robbery, as Satan did, to be equal with God, “but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant.” Often the first phrase is translated, “He emptied Himself.” The Lord Himself, though the Creator and Upholder of all things, humbled Himself or emptied Himself. You will observe that this was the action of Christ Jesus Himself. He voluntarily — of His own will — emptied Himself. When here He was never other than the Son of God, yet all the way through His pathway of service He trod it as a man. He laid aside His glory, and He came to serve thus.

I know no more beautiful picture of Christ Jesus, the self-emptied Servant, than the one which we have in the thirteenth chapter of John. On that night in which the Lord Jesus was betrayed He was with His disciples at the passover supper. We are told, He specially desired to eat the passover with them before He suffered. He had been with the apostles for a considerable period. For three years they beheld His meekness; they had seen His gracious demeanour; they knew that He was meek and lowly in heart; and they, as His disciples, surely knew, for He had so taught them, that they must be in character as their Master. But there at that table, keeping the feast, as they were for the last time with their blessed Lord, they strangely forgot the lowliness and obedience of our Lord and their Lord as a man. For what were they doing? They were discussing with themselves who should, be the greatest. Would it be Peter or James or John? There was a spirit of ambition working in their hearts, with, as it were, the shadow of the cross itself athwart the room where they were. They were quarrelling amongst themselves as to who should be greatest in the very presence of this lowly Servant come from God, the self-emptied Son, about to take the lowest step of humiliation.

Can we do other, as we read John's record, than wonder and worship at the meekness of the Master, humbling Himself in His lowly service of love? In the omniscience which He possessed, knowing that He came into the world from the Father and that He was now going back to the Father, the Lord Jesus, knowing all that soon must be accomplished, rose from supper, and laid aside His garments. He took a towel and girded Himself, and said in deeds before them all, I am your servant. He took a basin with water and knelt at their feet. He cleansed their feet and, dried them with the towel. He passed in this humble service from one to another. What must have been in the hearts of the apostles as they saw their Master doing what the menials of the household did! Can we think calmly tonight of the Lord of glory bowing in humble service at the feet of Peter, the man who was about to deny Him, of James and John, and of Judas Iscariot about to betray Him?

Here, as always, Christ Jesus served in dependence, upon and in conformity with, the will of Him who sent Him. It was as if He said, “My Father sent Me among these persons who do not understand Me even now; I have been some long time with them, and yet they know Me not; I will serve them with the basin and the towel; I will show them what true service is.” The Lord then showed that the man who seeks to serve God must be ready to go down beneath the lowest of mankind, down to serve a traitor, a son of perdition, an emissary of the devil himself.

The disciples did not understand Christ Jesus, so He humbled Himself that they might learn humility. It was to show His humility, that He emptied Himself and took upon Him the form of a servant, and bent down to wash the feet of the traitor apostle. He said, “Know ye what I have done to you? if I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet.” Have we the grace to do it? It must be grace in us to enable us to go down; for if we are to wash the feet of others we must go down beneath them. We must get below them; we must not stand upon a pedestal and elevate ourselves. No, we must bow in the presence of our brethren, and catch thus the spirit of our Master and our Lord if we are to serve our brethren in the mind of Christ Jesus. There should be no self in the service of Christ.

Christ Jesus in the Likeness of Men

Let us now come back to our chapter. The apostle passes on: “He took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” No one I hope will misunderstand me because the illustration of the feet-washing which I have just given is not historical of the Incarnation. I mean that when we read that the Lord took upon Him the form of a servant, the direct reference is to His entrance into this world. He came to men and was not seen in the form of God, which is invisible and unapproachable, but He was made flesh.

That incident in the upper room illustrates what the Lord understood by service to Him that sent Him. Service for God meant to Christ Jesus service to man, and indeed, service to the worst of men for God's sake.

But Christ Jesus was made in the likeness of men; God has servants on high; the angels are His heavenly servants, strong and mighty and intelligent to do His behests, to go at His bidding from one end of the universe to the other. Those mighty and countless inhabitants of heaven serve their Maker, but the Lord Jesus Christ was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. He was made in the likeness of men. He was in this world in fashion as a man. If the Lord Jesus had come as an angel He would have come in the likeness of one who had not sinned, but He came in the likeness of men, so that angels looking upon Him might look upon one who was in the likeness of men, but who knew no sin, as all else did.

Christ Jesus was in the likeness of sinful flesh, for He was in the world as a man, though Himself knowing no sin. And being found in fashion as a man He humbled Himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ came into the world so quietly, so silently, that the great mass of mankind was unaware of that unparalleled event. Christ Jesus was born in the manger at Bethlehem in the stillness of night, coming thus in the way of lowliness. The angels knew, but so few on earth. The lowly and poverty-stricken maiden in Galilee was chosen as the medium through whom the Son of God should be born among men. It was a humble way for the Son of God to come into His own world. He came, not as He will come by and by, not as a flash of lightning, not in the full blaze of His glory so that every eye will see Him, but He entered in that lowly way so that pious men and women could look upon Him as the Infant of Bethlehem. He did not obtrude Himself upon man's notice. He was found punctually at the time and at the place indicated beforehand in the scriptures, but He was there in the way of humility and lowliness.

We find the Incarnation itself has its lessons. The apostle uses it in order to impress upon us what we are so slow to emulate, to show us the great value of humbleness of mind in the presence of God. Christ Jesus came as a babe! He was welcomed not by the great ones of the Jews, but by Simeon and Anna who were waiting in obscurity for the fulfilment of God's promise concerning the Messiah.

We might profitably go through the whole history of our Lord Jesus Christ, and mark His continuous self-effacement. Never would He put Himself first. He humbled Himself, that is, I take it, He set Himself and His own inclinations on one side altogether. He considered not what might be most pleasing to Himself, but what was the will of Him who sent Him. He said to His disciples, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me and to finish His work.”

The Humbling Death of the Cross

But this word of God goes further to say that Christ Jesus humbled Himself, and became obedient as far as death, even the death of the cross. There was no need for the Lord Jesus Christ to die. With us death is a necessity, for “the wages of sin is death.” The Lord Jesus Christ was the pure, the holy One, who was apart from the domination and taint of sin and death, but yet His pathway of obedience led to death, for “the Son of man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give His life a ransom for many.”

To the Jewish mind the death of the pious was a strange, unaccountable thing, and in the case of the Lord Jesus Christ it was most strange. The first commandment with promise to him who honoured his father and his mother was that his days should be long in the land. Who was there in Nazareth or in all the world who was uniformly subject to parents as the Lord Jesus Christ was? He was a model to all, perfect in every way and in everything, but to Him long life was not granted. He was cut off in the midst of His days, but not for Himself. It was for others. It was that the great purpose of God to save might be accomplished. In order that men might not die, He was obedient unto death.

But the great point here is that our Lord Jesus Christ, from the moment of the manger to the moment of the cross, displayed an unvarying and unbroken path of perfect obedience to His Father and God. This fact of obedience is what we need to lay hold of, we who are so ready to display opposition to those who oppose us.

We ought to think of Him who would, not strive nor cry nor lift up His voice in the streets. When He was reviled, He reviled not again, but committed Himself to Him who judges rightly. He spoke no angry word; no remonstrance escaped His lips. Smitten, mocked, but never a word. Like a lamb, like a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth.

Not that the Lord Jesus could not speak, but He would not speak, because the path of obedience would be marred by one murmuring word. He was absolutely passive to the will of God, and He is thus the pattern for you and the pattern for me.

Christ Jesus became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The cross was ever before Him. God looked upon Him extended there as the Obedient One in whom He found all His delight. There were raucous voices that cried, Away with Him, crucify Him, but the Lord Jesus did not hear those harsh cries. He heard only the voice that spake from heaven. Day by day, morning by morning, His ear had been opened habitually to hear as the Obedient Servant, and it was to that voice He listened, even at Calvary, and that voice He obeyed. And when they nailed Him to the tree He said in that perfect communion He ever had with His Father, Oh, My Father, forgive them; they know not what they do; they are accomplishing Thy purpose concerning Me; it is Thy will that I should be extended upon the cross of cursing; they are doing Thy will; oh, My Father, forgive them. Was not this death Thy gracious purpose before the worlds were made? And so the obedience of Christ was perfect to the end, to death, and to the death on the cross.

Beloved friends, we have something stupendous before us, in the world: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” We know how we feel when an unkind word is spoken to us; we know how we feel when someone denies us our rights; when men trample upon us, when they will not do us justice; we know how our spirits are ruffled at such times, do we not? But it was never so with the Son of God's love. The apostle says, let His mind be in you. Do not let the sun go down upon your wrath; do not quarrel among yourselves; do not let your angry feelings rise; think of the Master; think of His humble obedience; and let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.

Universal Homage to Christ Jesus

After all, what happened in the sequel? There was the cross most truly, and there was the degradation of that shameful death. The Lord suffered at the cross a most humiliating death; but the story of His love does not end at that point. That was the close of the first chapter of the biography of Christ Jesus; that was the chapter concerning Him on earth. But we open the second chapter when we read the clauses that follow. There we look into heaven and the future. We know that the One whom men despised and dishonoured, God has highly exalted. God has given Him the name which is above every name.

And so our hearts leap from Golgotha to the glory, for there we see Him. We see Christ Jesus crowned with glory and honour, possessing the name which is above every name. And we look forward still for the further glories to follow. God the Father has decreed it. In the light of this passage we look onward to the time that is coming when millions and millions of living men, and the many millions more who now lie in the dust of the earth will all unite in homage to Him who was crucified but who is now glorified. They shall all bow the knee to Him whom God has exalted, and the homage they render to the obedient Son shall be to the glory of God the Father.

What motive carried the Lord Jesus Christ onward from day to day? “I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is called today, for the night cometh when no man can work.” In the little day that our Lord Jesus Christ lived here in this world, how full every moment was of service to the Father! He took the place of obedience for the glory of God the Father, and as He looked back to survey His earthly life He could say, “I have glorified Thee upon the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.” The Father knew then the perfection of the Son's obedience, and the Father has recorded here for our adoration that He has not forgotten what is in consequence due to His beloved Son. He has decreed that as men's voices cried out for the crucifixion of His obedient Son, so their knees shall bow to Him and their tongues confess Him Lord.

And so it will be, for this and every word of God must be fulfilled. But we must not forget our present responsibility. It is ours to exhibit the mind of Christ now in this world; and whatever achievements we may make today in this respect will not help us for tomorrow. The man who has displayed the mind of Christ today and who has found the secret of suppressing himself and of allowing the mind of Christ to shine in his ways, will have the same difficult path before him tomorrow. I say “difficult,” because “ourselves” are ever with us, and until we know how to put them where God has put them we shall find they stand in our way and prevent the mind of Christ shining in us and out of us.

Oh, for grace to set forth more perfectly these virtues of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is comparatively easy perhaps to do the strong things, the things which give a display in us of knowledge and of power, but when the spiritual life means just being quiescent to the divine will, just accepting what God arranges for us day by day, then it often is that our wills chafe against obedience, and instead of the mind of Christ Jesus the mind of self displays itself.

May God give us grace to take home these words to ourselves, and may we find in the Person and self-emptying service of our Lord Jesus Christ for God, something that is of power and value and influence in our own ways and testimonies for Him.

The Cry of the Suffering Christ

W. J. Hocking.

“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.” (Psalm 22: 1-3)

In Psalm 22 we have one of the many Old Testament prophecies which refer directly to our Lord Jesus Christ. This one, however, is distinguished from the rest because it foretells facts concerning His unique and unfathomable sufferings which are not to be found in other predictions. Here we have them in all their simple, solemn, and pathetic sweetness from the lips of the Holy Sufferer Himself.

Three Outstanding Messianic Psalms

Many Psalms give glimpses of Jehovah's Anointed One Who was to come, but three of them are conspicuous among the rest by the vivid details of His sufferings which they make known beforehand. Besides Psalm 22, there are Psalm 69 and Psalm 102. All three foretell in words of song the amazing pathway of the Hope of Israel laughed to scorn by all who saw Him and the Saviour of men without a place to lay His head. Each of the three Psalms presents its own particular phase of the sufferings of Christ followed by its appropriate sequel, but the one which touches our affection and devotion most deeply is Psalm 22.

The theme of Psalm 69 is the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ as He unflinchingly bore the reproach of Jehovah in the face of those who hated Him without a cause. High and low were His enemies. Those that sat in the gate spoke against Him, and He was the song of the drunkards. “Save Me, O God,” He cried, “for the waters are come into My soul.” Jehovah heard and answered, as the latter part of the Psalm shows. God will bring righteous and overwhelming retribution upon the ungodly generation that rejected and crucified their Messiah. The sufferings caused by the enmity of man are followed by the righteous judgment of those who caused those sufferings.

Psalm 22 is differently framed, and its theme is unique. Here, though the sufferings depicted are far deeper and more poignant, the result for man is not judicial but merciful. Not a word is uttered about wrath and judgment for man. Indeed, one might almost call Psalm 22 the nearest approach in the Old Testament to the revelation of the super-abounding grace of God in the New. Instead of thunderbolts of wrath from God falling upon those who maltreated the Messiah, the Psalm ends with praise arising to God from all mankind. The sufferings of Christ will yield what the whole world has never yet rendered to God — united and universal praise. Now, there is praise from a few here and a few there; but the Psalm views a time when all the world will be rejoicing in God and giving Him what is due to His name, giving Him, in fact, what man's tongue was designed to render — intelligent and heartfelt praise. And “in that day” all the “kindreds of the nations” will worship before Jehovah of Israel in consequence of the sufferings of Christ which are set forth in the prophetic monologue of this Psalm.

Psalm 102 also celebrates the sufferings of Christ. There Messiah is presented in His humiliation among and by men and in His invariable attitude of meek and lowly submission to whatever was the will of God. The Psalm is called “the prayer of the afflicted when He is overwhelmed.” In His infinite greatness, Christ “emptied Himself,” and obediently took the poor man's place in a world of self-sufficiency and self-exaltation. He was forsaken of men, and left to mourn “as a sparrow alone upon the housetop.” In His distress, Messiah cried, “O My God,” desiring that He might not be taken away in the midst of His days. Thereupon Jehovah vindicates His suffering and outcast Son (vers. 24-27). Though the days of His humiliation might be shortened, was He not the Creator of the earth and the heavens? All creation perishes, but Messiah abides unchanged continually, the Same “yesterday and today and for ever.” Thus, the prayer of the afflicted One is answered by a divine witness to the intrinsic glory of His person; and the passage is quoted in Heb. 1: 10-12 as a crowning testimony to the glory of the eternal Son, by Whom God spoke to men in New Testament days.

Sufferings and Praises

In Psalm 22, however, the sufferings of Christ are from God. Forsaking by God is expressed in its opening stanzas, and affords the key to the whole Psalm. The ferocity of men appears as in other Psalms, but the abandonment of the Messiah of Israel by the Holy One of Israel is, as it must necessarily be, the predominating features of the prophecy. Moreover, it is the Holy Sufferer Himself Who confesses that He is forsaken by His God. He Who endured it describes it. He is, indeed, the Speaker throughout this Psalm. And as He records His own sufferings, so He declares the praises to God that follow as their effect. We learn that propitiation or atonement being accomplished, the earth, in due course, will become full of praises to God.

You will recollect how beautifully this combination of propitiation and praise is portrayed in Leviticus 16 by the blood and incense. There the great work of Christ's atonement is foreshown in type. The blood of both the bullock and the goat is taken from the court of the tabernacle into the most holy place and sprinkled there upon and before the mercy-seat. Aaron enters that most holy place where Jehovah's presence rests enthroned upon the mercy-seat with blood and incense. The sprinkling of the blood of sacrifice in the required manner is accompanied by the fragrant fumes rising from the burning incense and affording a sweet odour to Him Who sits between the cherubim. Thus the type illustrates how the incense of praise is intimately associated with the propitiation Christ made in respect of our sins. His atoning work is the abiding basis for the believer's worship now, and for the homage of all men in the millennial day and kingdom.

As we were reminded this afternoon, the Father “seeketh” worshippers; and if we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have been constituted worshippers on the basis of the propitiatory work of the Lord Jesus, and the Father seeks that we worship Him as we are thereby entitled to do. What then can we offer to God the Father that will be acceptable? Shall we bring any material offering in our hands? Shall we bring anything in our hearts springing from our own natural affections and efforts? You surely know that we can find nothing in ourselves worthy of His acceptance.

Where then as worshippers shall we find what is sure to be acceptable to God the Father? Everything that concerns the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is well-pleasing to the Father. And if one subject concerning Him is more acceptable than another, it is that which relates to His sufferings and death, whereby “God was glorified in Him.” As worshippers, therefore, we need to have in our hearts a clear sense of the vast work of atonement accomplished upon the cross when He, the blessed Son of God, Who knew no sin, was “made sin for us” by God (2 Cor. 5: 21).

Scripture often refers to Christ's atonement in easy words that even an infant may recite, but how profound and unfathomable is their full significance! They are, however, for us to meditate upon continually, allowing the Holy Spirit to develop and enlarge their meaning and implication before our eyes so that our hearts may break forth in worthier songs of praise as we remember that the holy, perfect, sinless Son of God was upon the cross “made sin for us” by God. We cannot fully understand the profound doctrine, nor need we do so in order to worship God. But when we are before God in “the holiest of all” and recall that the death of Christ is the most notable occurrence in the world's history and that something was done there and then of immeasurable value and requiring no repetition, then songs of irrepressible praise will swell within us. The incense of acceptable praise will ascend to the eternal throne.

The Sufferer and His God

Let us bear clearly in mind that in this Psalm we hear the words of Christ Himself addressed to God. Most of us are familiar with the bitter cry which forms the forefront of the Psalm and provides the keynote to its pervading theme. We read, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Here the pathetic words occur prophetically. In the Gospels they are found historically. Matthew and Mark record that the Lord uttered them upon the cross. In the depths of His anguish, the Lord used the words, having the fullest sense of their profound significance and also the knowledge that the prophecies of Psalm 22 were being fulfilled in Himself. At the due moment He had appeared in the world for the putting away of sin by the sacrifice of Himself. In this work, the Blessed One stood alone the God-forsaken One. This awful experience He Himself proclaimed aloud that whosoever would might hear “Eli, Eli, lama sabacthani?” As so often, those who heard did not understand His speech. They said, “Let be, let us see whether Elias will come to save Him.” That this crucified One should thus address God in heaven was beyond their comprehension. The fact is that therein lies the central truth of the propitiation which Christ made for our sins and for the whole world.

This occasion is, I believe, the first time that we read in the Gospels of our Lord using the words, “My God,” when addressing Him. The Son was constantly in communion with the Father, hearing His word and doing His commandments. In converse with His Father, we read of Him answering and saying, “I praise Thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes. Yea, Father, for thus has it been well-pleasing in Thy sight” (Matt. 11: 25, 26).

This communion of the Son with the Father was unbroken, not only during His public ministry when He was preaching the gospel to the poor, healing the sick, and doing His multitudinous deeds of mercy among men, but also, as you will remember, during that solemn midnight hour in Gethsemane. There the Lord was alone, apart from His disciples, prostrate upon the ground, and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Yet in this agony of anticipation, the Blessed One was not altogether alone. As He said to His disciples earlier that night, Ye “shall leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, for the Father is with Me” (John 16: 32). Throughout His “strong crying and tears,” communion with the Father was unbroken. “Abba, Father,” He cried. “O My Father, if it be possible . . . .” “O My Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me: nevertheless not My will, but Thine, be done.” Knowing fully what the Father's will had decreed for the morrow, the obedient Son acquiesced in Gethsemane as He had always done. The cup which My Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?

But here the Lord is speaking from the cross. It is now not “My Father” as in the garden, but “My God.” The question of sin has arisen, and God, Who is Judge of all, is the appropriate name of address. God is the righteous governor of the world. His nature is opposed to sin, and His essence demands the punishment of sin. There can be no communion between holiness and unholiness, between light and darkness. And there, Him Who knew no sin God had made sin for us. In the consciousness of sin-bearing, and of being “made a curse for us,” He exclaimed, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

So our Lord in the midst of His suffering for sin confessed Himself forsaken by His God, but still addressed Him as “My God.” This relationship of Jesus subsisted from His earliest infancy. In this very Psalm, He declares, “Thou art My God from My mother's belly” (ver. 10). From the manger in Bethlehem right onwards He the perfect and blessed Man, recognised God as the One Whom He obeyed and on Whom He depended. But here it was a time of noontide darkness, and there was an immeasurable difference. His God in Whom He trusted had forsaken Him! and Why?

Christ had come into the world to take the place of the unholy and unrighteous under the judgment of the Righteous and Holy God. He Himself was the Holy One. “That Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God,” the angel said to Mary (Luke 1: 35). The very demons in Capernaum said to Him, “I know Thee Who Thou art: the Holy One of God.” And what charge did Peter lay against the Jews after Pentecost? “Ye denied the Holy One and the Just” (Acts 3: 14). It was the fact that the Lord Jesus had been presented to His people as the Holy One. And when the apostle referred to the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 2: 27), quoting from Psalm 16: 10, he said, “Neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.”

But here Christ, the Holy One, acknowledges His God as the Holy One: “O My God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not . . . but Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” What is the explanation? The Holy One was the sin-bearer. The Just One stood in the place of the unjust. “He bare our sins in His own body on the tree.” Oh, deepest of all deepest depths! Oh, profoundest of all unravelled mysteries that this should be! The human heart stands still in silent awe before the impenetrable veil for ever screening from mortal gaze the Saviour in that dread hour. One only was there in the darkness and in the shadow of death. He alone can speak of it. He has spoken. His words are before us. “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken ME?”

We cannot understand this cry of anguish wrung from the heart of Christ, nor fathom its import. Apart from its interpretation, however, we possess the truth and blessedness of the fact through the ministrations of the Holy Spirit. Our faith lays hold of this poignant utterance of the suffering Christ. It tells us of the price paid for our redemption. It measures for us the value of the sacrifice made upon the cross for our sins and for the glory of God in respect of them. The Holy Christ was forsaken by the Holy God!

Hence, the more we meditate upon this great cry in the presence of the Lord from Whose lips it came, the more we learn of His atoning work. Then He was standing where He had never stood before beneath the weight of our guilt and of God's wrath against it. During His life of ministry, He was not bearing our sins, as some wrongly imagine. It was upon the tree that He bore our sins in His own body, as Peter tells us. There He suffered for us, for our forgiveness, for our redemption, that we might be brought to God, that the blessings of God in all their fulness might flow unhinderedly into our souls.

But there is another aspect of the work of atonement that we must never forget. Because of man's sin God's glory was at stake. God's eternal attribute of justice was in question. Was God the Holy One Who abhorred sin? or was He One Who would favour sin and overlook its due penalty? The Lord Jesus supplies the answer in His Person, and upon the cross He upheld the immutable holiness of God. There He declared in the ears of the universe, “Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel,” witnessing to that holiness by the confession of His own abandonment.

The Holy Sufferer had been made sin and was deserted, left alone because of it. In His agony Christ called aloud to His God. “My God, My God,” He said. The repetition means much — deep emotion, pressing need. When Abraham stood at the altar on which Isaac lay bound, holding aloft the knife to slay his only son, the angel of Jehovah called, Abraham, Abraham. Twice the father's name was called from heaven. There was urgent need for the patriarch to hearken. Not a moment must be lost. More urgent still was the cry of the blessed Lord. He was in the depths of His anguish, submerged beneath the waves of divine wrath against sin; and the cry rang out in the desolate waste, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

These are the words of the beloved Son of God, the Only-begotten of the Father, God manifest in flesh. Let us ponder over them and brood upon them, again and again. Let them penetrate our inmost souls. To do so purifies the spirit and enlightens the heart. We behold fresh visions of the grandeur of God's grace, and we glory more and more in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see more and more of the light and love of God in Him Who stood alone in that dread place of darkness and curse. And we adore more fervently Him Who loved and endured to the end, never even when abandoned by Him losing touch with His God, calling Him “MY God” in the confidence that He would be heard for His piety (Heb. 5: 7).

The Seven Words from the Cross

We learn from the Gospels of seven utterances made by our Lord during His crucifixion. Three of them were spoken during the earlier hours, and four during the later period. The only one of the seven found in more than one Gospel is the cry of Christ's abandonment by His God, recorded by both Matthew and Mark. It is evident from this double testimony of the Holy Spirit that this cry demands our reverent attention and prayerful meditation, especially.

First, the Lord, when they bound Him to the tree of cursing, prayed, “Father, (He did not say “My God”), forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23: 34). Again, while the sun still shone brightly in the heavens, Jesus saw Mary His mother and the beloved disciple. He said to her, “Woman, behold thy son,” and to him, “Behold thy mother (John 19: 26, 27). His sympathies were not dulled by His sorrows and His sufferings. Further, we can hear His gracious and assured promise to the believing robber sharing the horrors of crucifixion at His side, “Verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23: 43). Though poorer than the poorest of the poor, the Lord could still give. Cast out of His inheritance, stripped even of His garments, He seemed to possess nothing, yet He bestows upon this converted criminal the right of entrance to paradise itself. What joy there was in heaven over the one sinner who had repented!

But then the noonday sun was supernaturally eclipsed. There was darkness over the whole land from the sixth to the ninth hour. The Holy Sufferer was hidden from the eyes of men. He was closeted with God; and in the “night season” He was not silent. But out of the prevailing darkness came the cry, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” John also records (John 19: 28-30) two other utterances, “I thirst” and “It is finished,” both spoken with the assuredness of omniscience. What had to be done had then been accomplished.

What then had been finished? What had been done? Who can describe it? Who can measure it? Was it not that stupendous work of propitiation which in respect of all His attributes satisfied God as to sin, enabling Him to be just and the justifier of the unjust who believe in Jesus? The Lord knew what He had accomplished. He knew what He had endured, and that in His suffering He was forsaken of God.

Moreover, the Son of God knew that the appointed offering for sin had been made and that the sacrifice was acceptable. He knew that the darkness had passed, and that He had emerged into the sunshine of God and the Father's delight and complacency. We have next the seventh utterance, “Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23: 46). And He passed into paradise, there to welcome the penitent robber who had believed on Him and for whose sins He had made propitiation to God.

Propitiation and Praise

In the third verse, Messiah provides the answer to His own inquiry, “Why hast Thou forsaken Me?” The answer is, “Thou art holy, O Thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” The holiness of Jehovah required the judgment of sin before either His people or the praises of His people could be acceptable to Him. Propitiation for sins is the foundation of worship and praise, because the place where Jehovah dwells is holy.

Now the children of Israel were a people separated from all other nations of the earth to offer praises to Jehovah continually. The tabernacle was built in the wilderness and the temple on Mount Zion that He might dwell among them and receive their tribute to His name. Jehovah appointed that daily, morning and evening, the priests should burn “the most holy incense” to Him in the holy place. Incense is a figure of the sweet-smelling praise that God seeks from the lips of man.

Israel was elected in order that in their daily service of praise they might illustrate what Jehovah required from all men. He brought them out of the house of bondage, showing them His mercy when the destroying angel passed by their dwellings, and His redemption when their enemies were drowned in the Red Sea. Immediately, the song of praise ascended to Jehovah from His redeemed people. Moses and the children of Israel celebrated His victory, ascribing their deliverance to the strength of His right arm (Ex. 15).

Moreover, in this national praise-song, Israel looked forward to the mountain of Jehovah's inheritance, His dwelling-place, the sanctuary established by His own hands in the land of promise. Then “they believed His words; they sang His praise.” But soon they forgot Jehovah's mighty works, disobeyed His commandments, and worshipped the idols of the heathen that knew not God. They forsook the Holy One of Israel, and neglected their daily offering of praises before His dwelling-place. Israel sinned grievously, and provoked the righteous wrath of their God, the One Who inhabits the praises of Israel.

To this great sin by that favoured nation especially the Holy Sufferer seems to make allusion in verse 3. Because of their sins, not His own, He was forsaken, and His cries were unheard. Jesus was standing in the breach. He had given Himself a sacrifice for sins. He was making propitiation for sin. By His suffering, He would bring holiness where there was now unholiness, righteousness where there was righteousness, and praise where there was now but “cursing and bitterness.” By His atoning work, the Lord Jesus would satisfy every claim the Holy One inhabiting the praises of Israel made in respect of the sins of men; but in the meantime that Holy One was irresponsive to His cry.

The close connection between propitiation and praise is plainly marked in the construction of the Psalm. The former part, to the middle of verse 21, depicts Christ upon the cross, while the rest of the Psalm foretells the results of Christ's atonement in imbuing Israel and all the nations to the ends of the earth with the spirit of praise to Jehovah.

The Fathers Delivered, but Christ Abandoned

In verse 4 the Spirit of Christ still speaks. The Lord upon the cross contrasts Himself with pious men of olden days. “Our fathers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and others) 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.” Was it not, therefore, contrary to God's past dealings that the Lord Jesus should be forsaken by God in His sufferings, and His cries for deliverance disregarded? Abraham was not perfect in his piety, yet his prayers were heard. Job was noted for his patience in suffering, but showed much impatience with his “friends,” and confessed to Jehovah, “Behold, I am vile.” Job, too, was heard and delivered.

But when the Messiah in His agony cried out to God, there was silence in the heavens. No arm of Jehovah was outstretched to save Him in that hour. What the will of God had given Him to do, He must do by Himself, enduring all alone, unaided. And in His soul was the bitter sense that in His extremity, God was not helping Him as He had helped the fathers in Israel. Why was this change? Because He, Son of man, Who knew no sin, had been “made sin” to make expiation for sin. Then and then only, for this and for this only, did God forsake His obedient Servant that the glory of “the death of the cross” might shine undimmed throughout the ages of eternity.

But the patience and lowliness of our Lord comes into view in that dark hour. As the forsaken One, He says, “But I am a worm and no man.” He accepts a place of nothingness among the sons of men. He obliterates self entirely. Now as always, “Christ pleased not Himself.” As a “worm and no man,” He surrendered every claim upon divine deliverance. This is the crowning evidence of that Blessed One's perfect humility and self-abnegation. The worm is the symbol of utter weakness, and the Lord Who was “crucified in weakness applied the figure to Himself to justify the seeming neglect of His God.

On the cross, the Lord is not oblivious to the thoughts and words of the bystanders. They add to His sorrow's and sufferings. He is reproached and despised of the people. They taunt Him because no deliverance comes to Him from God in Whom it was well known that He trusted. But, unperceived by onlookers, Christ in the midst of His crucifixion maintains unbroken confidence in His God (vers. 9-11). As in Bethlehem and Nazareth, in Capernaum and Chorazin, in Bethany and Jerusalem, so at Calvary, Jesus was “the leader and completer of faith” (Heb. 12: 2). Despising the shame of the cross, He abode steadfastly in the will of God according to His own word, “Not My will, but Thine be done.” Man mocked, Christ suffered, God was glorified.

At the commencement of His ministry when our Lord was tempted of Satan, He was in the wilderness with the wild beasts (Mark 1: 13). When upon the cross, He sees men around Him behaving towards Him like the cruel and shameless beasts that perish. He is beset by “strong bulls of Bashan” and by the “ravening and roaring lion.” Unclean and destructive “dogs” have compassed Him about. Nailed to the tree in the midst of them, He is helpless. He is poured out like water. His strength is dried up like a potsherd. All His bones are out of joint.

Such is the confessed weakness of Christ crucified as the assembly of evil-doers surround Him and work their wicked will on Him Whose hands and feet they have pierced. They strip Him of His raiment and gamble for His vesture. They gloat upon His nakedness as a sight for their wicked hearts to enjoy amid the solemnities of the paschal feast!

In these verses (12-18), Christ by the prophetic Spirit is describing His sufferings from man as they were multiplied and concentrated at the cross. But throughout, Messiah expresses His unwavering dependence on Jehovah. He says, “Thou art My God . . . Thou art He that took Me out of the womb . . . Thou art My God . . . Be not far from Me” (vers. 9-11). Thus the Christ spreads out before His God the story of His sorrow and suffering from man led on by the prince of this world. All that the power of darkness brought Him in that hour He received as the will of God for Him. As the self-emptied Son of God, He was obedient even down to the death of the cross. And in this lowest depth of humiliation to which He had come, He owns the supreme purpose of God that brought Him there: “Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death” (ver. 15).

The Cry of Conquest, “It is Finished”

But the end comes. The intensity of prayer is replaced by the fervency of praise. The Lord pleads with Jehovah: “O My strength, haste Thee to help Me. Deliver My soul from the sword; My darling (only one) from the power of the dog; save Me from the lion's mouth” (vers. 19-21). Then in the middle of verse 21, the Speaker suddenly changes His tone. Hitherto in the Psalm, unanswered supplication has been His theme. Now, the answer has been given; the reply is received. “Yea, from the horns of the buffaloes (unicorns) hast Thou answered Me.”

No statement is made in the Psalm concerning the immeasurable significance of the change from asking to receiving by the One Who at the outset confessed Himself forsaken of God. It is left to us to ponder upon the fact that the same Voice that said to God, “Save Me from the lion's mouth,” adds afterwards, “Thou hast heard Me from the horns of the unicorns.” The One Who previously said, “O My God, I cry . . . but Thou hearest not” (ver. 2) now declares to Him, “Thou hast heard Me.” With strong crying and tears, with prayers and supplications, He had called upon God in His suffering upon the cross as the sin-bearer. Then the moment came when He knew that His work of propitiation for sins had been accomplished, and that because of His piety He had been heard by Him Who was able to save Him out of death (Heb. 5: 7). His piety or holy fear had been tried to the uttermost; and in the very bottomless depths of suffering when abandoned by God on behalf of guilty man His unfaltering obedience shone untarnished and undiminished, approved of God though derided by man.

Now deliverance had come even when He was transfixed “by the horns of the unicorns” and under “the power of the dog.” The throne of righteousness in heaven and the cross of Calvary on earth were united when Christ Jesus had offered His one sacrifice for sins. His atoning blood was upon the golden mercy-seat beneath the cherubim of glory. His eternally efficacious work of expiation for sin was completed “in the body of His flesh” upon the cross. This fact, the Lord Himself in His omniscience announced to men, to angels, to demons. “When therefore Jesus had received the vinegar, He said, It is finished; and having bowed His head, He delivered up His spirit” (John 19: 30). The apostle John thus records the Son of God's verbal testimony to the conclusion of His own work. It was but one word as originally uttered upon the cross, but it fell from the lips of omniscient omnipotence, and will reverberate to the ends of the universe throughout the ages of the ages.

After hearing the Lord's own pronouncement upon the work He had by Himself undertaken in respect of sin that God might be just and the justifier of him who believes in Jesus, can we entertain the notion that nevertheless something more remained to be done to establish fully the glory of God? Is it possible that when Christ gave Himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God, and said, It is finished, there still remained something more to be done in order to make propitiation for sins? Unless supported by plain scripture, such a suggestion by its implications discredits Christ Himself and impoverishes both His word and His work.

Opening the Gates of Praise

The Forsaken One having been heard from the horns of the unicorns, propitiation having been made, the service of praise at once begins. The fragrant odours of the most holy incense mingle with the fumes of the accepted sin-offering. Still with eyes uplifted to heaven, the Captain of salvation, now made “perfect through sufferings,” says, I will declare Thy name to My brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise Thee (ver. 22). Here is the prophetic promise of the results of an accomplished atonement. The name of God as the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit should be thereupon unfolded, and Christ Himself would be the Leader of worthy praise to God in the midst of His assembled worshippers.

Historically, it was in this strain that our Lord spoke of His God to Mary Magdalene after His resurrection. He said, “I ascend unto My Father and your Father; and to My God and your God” (John 20: 17), a declaration not made nor true before. But now atonement for sin had been made, the righteousness of God in respect of His grace had been established, and it was consistent with the glory of God that a new relationship of believers should be announced. Accordingly through the work finished upon the cross, our Lord associated His feeble and failing disciples with Himself as His brethren. Now they were entitled, not merely because they had been born afresh by water and by the Spirit, but because of Christ's offered and accepted sacrifice for sins, to stand before God as sons in an acceptance like that of Christ Himself — “My Father and your Father.” Being raised from the dead “by the glory of the Father,” the Lord connects His own with Himself as His brethren. As He had said, 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). “My God” was the cry of the Lord when alone and forsaken, when bearing our sins in His body; none could then share that cry. But now He says to His brethren, “My God and your God.” This new link was the firstfruits of Christ's atoning sufferings and death.

But the harvest follows the firstfruits. Throughout the remaining stanzas of this psalm, the unfolding of ever widening circles of praise to Jehovah continues. All the seed of Jacob and of Israel shall glorify and fear Him. All the ends of the earth and the families of the nations shall remember, shall turn unto Him, and shall worship before Him. And in the concluding verse, we read, They shall come and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that He has done this.” The final phrase, “that He hath done this (it)” is suggestive. The words are general, and some might ask, Who has done it? and What has He done? But to every spiritual mind the reference is obvious. It is the unrivalled act of making propitiation performed by Christ on the cross, where He was set forth as a mercy-seat to declare the righteousness of God in respect of sins (Rom. 3: 23-26).

Christ Himself in His utterance, “It is finished,” was the first witness to His own completed work. His followers, led by the Spirit of God, have continued that testimony on earth throughout succeeding generations. Expiation for sins is the foundation of all praise, worship, and service. And heaven and earth shall yet unite in ascribing all worthiness to the Lamb that was slain. Every heart and voice of the redeemed shall joyfully confess to the glory of God that “He hath done this.”

Let this psalm, beloved friends speak continually to us of “the affliction of the afflicted” One (ver. 24); and may it awaken our songs of praise, imparting to them a holy savour befitting the sanctuary of God and the presence of Christ. His sufferings and sacrificial death form the everlasting basis of acceptable worship. The Father seeks worship in spirit and truth. Who can render this save those who know Christ Jesus and who rest in faith upon His finished work! May we have the happy experience that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the midst of His assembly as the Leader and Theme of its praises as often as we remember that “He hath done this” and indeed whenever we gather unto His name.

Brief Outline of Psalm 22.

This prophetic psalm is a concise delineation of Christ in His sufferings as the propitiating sacrifice and in the resulting praise to God from all mankind. The psalm throughout is a direct address to God, and the Speaker is Christ Himself. It is divided into two principal sections. In the first, Messiah is speaking in the midst of His sufferings as One forsaken by God, the Holy One of Israel, and His prayers for relief are unheard. In the last section, Messiah is heard and delivered, whereupon He leads a song of triumphant praise to Jehovah in which all the nations of the world eventually join.

Thus, the spirit of Christ in this psalm by the prophet David testified beforehand of the sufferings of the Christ and of the subsequent glories (1 Peter 1: 11). The solemn and impressive portraiture in its early part sets forth the Lord Jesus in the work of making expiation for sins, which was peculiarly and exclusively His own. He Who endured the cross describes its principal anguish, otherwise unknown to men and angels. Messiah also foretells the celebration of His victory in praises to God from all men everywhere.

(A) In the first section (vers. 1-21), Messiah calls to His God concerning what He is suffering in utter loneliness. Man works his evil will upon Him unchecked by the Holy One of Israel. Throughout His sufferings, Christ communes with His God in the utmost assurance of trust (vers. 1-5; 9-11; 15; 17-21).

(1) Ps. 22: 1-6. The Holy Sufferer is conscious that God has deserted Him in His extremity and stands aloof from His groaning and incessant cries for help. Christ confesses that this estrangement is because God is holy, while He Who knew no sin has been “made sin.” In the midst of this unexampled suffering on earth, Christ, having emptied and humbled Himself for this service, retains His lowliness of mind, and as “a worm and no man” claims nothing from God but meekly submits even to this abandonment as His righteous and holy will.

(2) Ps. 22: 7-11. Christ speaks of the people's mockery of His trust in God as His unfailing Helper, but He knows that from the womb He had been chosen and preserved by God. And He still calls upon God not to be far from Him in His trouble, but to help Him, for there is none else.

(3) Ps. 22: 12-15. Christ sees His enemies surrounding Him like strong bulls of Bashan, while He is weak like poured-out water. But the weakness of crucifixion He accepts as the will of God, and says to Him, “Thou hast brought Me into the dust of death.”

(4) Ps. 22: 16-21. Christ is oppressed by the callous shamelessness of the wicked men who compass Him about like dogs. They pierce His hands and feet, strip Him naked, gamble for His vesture, and indulge to the full the lust of their staring eyes upon Him. But yet again He pleads to be delivered from the sword, from the power of the dog, and from the mouth of the lion.

(B) At this point in the psalm an abrupt change occurs in the style of the Speaker, which continues to the end. In the middle of verse 21, His theme is no longer His affliction but His deliverance. The entreaty of prayer becomes the rendering of praise. The night of weeping is over and the morning of joy has dawned. The Afflicted One is conscious that His appeal has been heard and answered. The culmination of His suffering has been fully and efficaciously endured. The will of God He had come to do has been accomplished, and He has been delivered. In consequence of His triumph, the name of Jehovah Who inhabits the praises of Israel, will eventually be extolled in tributes of praise and adoration throughout the whole earth.

(1) Ps. 22: 21. God hears the complaint of His forsaken One, transfixed upon the horns of the unicorns. Christ upon the cross declares “It is finished,” bowing His head in death, thus terminating His obedience on earth (John 19: 30; Phil. 2: 8).

(2) Ps. 22: 22-24. Having been delivered, the Afflicted One becomes the Offerer of praise to God and the ever-acceptable Precentor of His people. He declares the name of His Deliverer to His brethren (John 20: 17). In the midst of the assembly He awakens praises to God (Heb. 2: 12). Then Messiah calls upon all the people of Israel to glorify and revere Jehovah (ver. 23), for Jehovah had not, as they had done (Isa. 53: 2, 3), despised and abhorred the affliction of the Afflicted One, Whose cries Jehovah now had heard.

(3) Ps. 22: 25-31. Messiah foretells the praises from the whole earth that will arise to Jehovah during the millennial kingdom. In the “great congregation” of Israel, the risen and glorified Messiah will offer His praise with those that fear Him (vers. 25, 26). All the Gentile nations will turn to Jehovah and render Him due reverence and worship (vers. 27-29). Also, unborn peoples shall be instructed in the righteousness of God established by Christ Jesus through His work of expiation (Rom. 3: 21-26). The echoes of “It is finished” will still be reverberating everywhere, for all shall be taught that “He hath done it” (vers. 30, 31).

The New Testament fully establishes the prophetic and Messianic character of this psalm. Our Lord on the cross adopted its opening words as His own (Matt. 27: 46; Mark 15: 34). The division of Christ's garments is expressly foretold (ver. 18). The historical piercing of His hands and feet agrees with the prophecy of ver. 16, also with that in Zech. 12: 10, “They shall look on Me Whom they pierced,” as well as that in Rev. 1: 7, “Every eye shall see Him, and they which have pierced Him.” Thus the Psalms and the Prophets unite beforehand in their witness to Christ and Him crucified.

The Path of the Just in a Day of Apostasy

The substance of an address on Exodus 33: 1-11; 2 Timothy 2: 16-22.

W. J. Hocking.

Published by C. A. Hammond, 1939.

There is an intimate connection between the two passages I have read in the Old Testament and in the New. Both contain divine instruction for those who seek to do the will of God in a day of apostasy, and they have therefore a special application in the present day.

The word apostasy implies a departure or a falling away from what is true and from what was formerly held to be true. It is an abandonment of truth, giving it up to take another standing, or make another confession instead of the former one. Apostasy was found in the children of Israel according to Old Testament history and it was found in the church of God even in New Testament times. Both Israel and the church departed from their first standing given them of God in the earth. They departed so very seriously and so very quickly from the truth that they exposed themselves to the immediate judgment of God. But we learn from scripture that God was pleased to withhold the execution of His judgment.

Meanwhile God has prescribed a pathway for the just, or a course of conduct, which is pleasing in His eyes, which He will reward in the future, and in which He gives immediate compensations. These conditions hold good for those who at the present time are faithful in the face of apostasy.

Israel Chosen to Witness to the One God

These two passages, then, tell us of the abandonment of divine truth by both Israel and the assembly of God, His earthly people and His heavenly people. They tell us also of the mercy of God rejoicing against His immediate judgment upon the apostates, and of the manner of conduct at such times which receives His approval and His presence.

Now look first for a little at the apostasy of Israel recorded in Exodus. At this time Jehovah had but just recently brought the people of Israel out from the house of bondage in a way that astonished the nations of the world. It had never been known in human history that a vast company of men, women and children should be brought dry-shod through the midst of the sea in a single night, and that their enemies and oppressors should disappear in that same night and in that same sea. But this was the way in which Jehovah redeemed His people out of Egypt, and brought them across the Red Sea.

The children of Israel had been purchased, in figure, by the blood of the Lamb. In the hour that the judgment of Jehovah fell upon the ungodly Egyptians, His people were sheltered by the symbol of His presence; the pillar of cloud and fire saved them and destroyed their enemies.

Jehovah brought them through the Red Sea into the wilderness in order that He might make plain to them the purpose He had in so doing. He had been dealing with them, the seed of Abraham, in this striking and exceptional manner to carry out a certain object before Him. He was about to commit to their keeping His honour and glory in the world as the one God, the only supreme One, the One commanding absolute worship and service from all nations and all His creatures. By their fidelity to His will, they were to be a witness against the idolatrous nations around them that there was but one God, and that Jehovah, the God of Israel, was that God. They themselves were to have no other god but Him. If they fulfilled this purpose, obeying His voice, and keeping His covenant, they should be His own people, a peculiar treasure to Him, above and beyond all the nations of the world.

Jehovah brought the house of Jacob and the children of Israel to the foot of Mount Sinai to hear this news and the terms of His covenant, which was conditional on their implicit obedience to Him. Now, they were a people proud and self-satisfied with themselves, and were quite prepared to carry out these conditions, whatever they might be.

You would have thought that the long years of bitter bondage in Egypt would have humbled their spirits and caused them to distrust themselves in the presence of Jehovah's majesty. They were kept captives under Pharaoh, and were powerless to deliver themselves. They had no hope in themselves for deliverance, nor strength, but Jehovah alone by His right hand had brought them out. We should have thought they would have learned the lesson of looking without and not within themselves for strength. Henceforth they would surely trust exclusively to Jehovah, to His power and help in this new relationship. But they did not know the evil of their own hearts. They were confident in their own ability to discharge all obligations laid upon them. Although their backs were still scarred with the whips of the taskmasters, and the degrading brands of slavery were upon them, they were nevertheless a proud and stiff-necked people at the foot of Mount Sinai.

When Jehovah proposed the terms of His covenant with them, by which they must keep His law and be faithful to His name, they said, with deplorable levity, “All that Jehovah hath spoken, we will do.” Lightly they accepted the obligation of perfect obedience. They stood before their Deliverer and Redeemer confident in their own strength to fulfil His law, although that law, brief as it was (for its precepts might be numbered on the two hands), those ten words carried with them the sentence of death for disobedience to even one of them.

Nevertheless, the people said, through their elders, “We will risk the consequences. We can trust ourselves. We believe we can love God with all our hearts and our neighbours as ourselves. We will undertake it, and we will endure the penalty if we fail.” So the covenant was solemnly sealed. It was sealed with the blood of sacrifices which was sprinkled on the book of the covenant and upon themselves. It was a covenant of death, but they accepted it. They heard the voice of Jehovah in the mountain, speaking with thunderings and lightnings, with those terrible notes that made them tremble in their sandals, but still they said, “We will obey the law and keep it.”

Moses Receiving the Tables of the Law

The children of Israel having accepted the covenant of law, Moses went up into Mount Sinai to receive the ten words in a written form, as a permanent standard of reference. Jehovah undertook to write with His finger on two tables of stone those words which He had commanded through the lips of Moses. Moses, accordingly, went up into the divine presence, and disappeared from sight in the cloud that enveloped the mount. He was there with God, fasting for forty days and forty nights, to receive from Him the “law of commandments contained in ordinances” that the people had undertaken to fulfil under the penalty of death for disobedience.

Now it was in the absence of Moses that the trouble arose in the camp (Exodus 32). “The man that trusteth in his own heart is a fool,” because he leaves God out of account. He allows the prejudices of his own opinions and the pride of his own desires to influence him rather than the word of God. He is governed by the sight of his eyes rather than the faith of his heart.

So it was that as Moses tarried in the cloud, the unbelieving people said to Aaron, “What has become of Moses we know not. We have lost the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt.” Mark their words: “the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt.” Was this true? It was false. They had only to cast their memories back three months for the date of their great deliverance. Consider what this meant. Look back three months from tonight May, April, March. Think of events so stupendous as the death of the firstborn and the passing through the Red Sea happening at the beginning of March, and of us giving the credit for such wonders to man and not to God!

But Israel forgot God their Saviour and Moses His servant. They said, “Up,” Aaron, “make us gods.” This man Moses has disappeared. What has happened to him we do not know and we do not care. What we want is something visible to which we can bow down, and give the allegiance of our hearts. Make us some image to be our deliverer and redeemer, our guide, our helper through the wilderness.

A dumb idol was the terrible delusion they sought for themselves; and Aaron, poor, weak-minded man, true of heart in many ways but vacillating in purpose when confronted by the uneasy, restless mob of Israel clamouring for a god, could not resist their demands.

Aaron told them to break off their golden ear-rings and bring them to him. Perhaps he thought they would not make such a sacrifice, but they did. They were in earnest. Aaron took their ear-rings, melted them, and moulded the form of a golden calf. The people were satisfied and said, “This is thy god, O Israel; (that calf) brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.” Three months ago the power of that calf clave the Red Sea, and brought us through, and our women and children, and all that we have! That calf! And they bowed themselves down and worshipped “the similitude of an ox that eateth grass”!

The people made a feast to Jehovah, even attaching His name to the worship of the idol. They rose up early, slew the burnt offerings, and fed upon the peace offerings. They sat down to eat and drink, and rose up for orgies of play. Yet God had said of them to Moses, “This nation shall be My nation; they shall have no other gods before Me.” Now they were dancing around the golden calf, and giving themselves up to licentious indulgence. They had already broken both tables of the law. They not only had dishonoured God and worshipped the golden image of a calf, but in their sinful lusts they had dishonoured one another. Gross apostasy had already set in. The nation had openly abandoned their trust.

Jehovah's Eye sees Apostasy in the Camp

Now what should be done? The eyes of Jehovah in the mountain saw what was taking place at the foot of Sinai. He spoke to Moses, and told him that Israel was worshipping a molten calf. Using the people's words, Jehovah calls them, “thy people which thou broughtest up out of the land of Egypt.” They are thy people, Moses. Thou didst bring them out of Egypt. The people say so. How can I call them My people when they are doing the very thing I brought them out of Egypt that they might not do? They have turned back to the idols of Egypt. They are taking away My glory and giving it to a senseless, inanimate image.

God told Moses He would destroy them. The penalty of the law they undertook to obey should fall upon the nation because of their disobedience. “Let Me alone,” He said, “that My wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them.” Jehovah threatened to sweep them from the face of the earth because of their sinful apostasy.

How was it then they were not swept away, and why did not Jehovah's wrath break forth? Moses was there with Him. Moses heard the solemn words Jehovah uttered in His righteousness, and he took a new office, a blessed office for his sinful nation. Moses became a mediator for his apostate people. They had fallen into idolatry, and he interceded with Jehovah for them.

The Mediator in the Mount

It may be mentioned here that in scripture the functions of three important offices are connected with those who name the name of the Lord — the Mediator, the Advocate, and the High Priest. Our blessed Lord acts in all three offices. The Mediator is for those who have sinned, and departed from the estate given to them by God; the Advocate is also for one that has sinned, but the Advocate is with the Father (1 John 2: 1), and it is through Jesus Christ, the Righteous, that the communion of those in the family of God is maintained. The High Priest is for the pilgrims of God as they pass through the wilderness, encompassed with infirmity and failure. To these the Great High Priest ministers strength and sympathy in the hour of their need.

I only mention the other two offices by the way. Moses was the mediator on the Mount, and he prayed to Jehovah for this people, otherwise doomed. But he called them, not his people, but Jehovah's people. He said, “Why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy people?” Moses reminded Jehovah of His oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and that He had chosen this people when He made His promises to the fathers, and had called out their seed as a nation to be His witnesses in the land promised to be their inheritance.

Well now, this mediation of Moses stayed the outpourings of the vials of judgment upon the people. Jehovah hearkened to the voice of the mediator. He could not contradict what Moses had pleaded. He had promised Abraham that his seed should bring blessing to the whole world and that they should possess the land of the Amorites. How could Jehovah gainsay His own word, confirmed by His immutable oath, even if the people fell into idolatry?

The Broken Tables the Sign of Israel's Apostasy

Accordingly, Jehovah stayed His hand, and Moses came down from the Mount at the close of the forty days with the two tables of the law in his hand. But when he came into the camp, and saw the glittering idol in the sunshine and the people gathered around it in their wicked feast of dancing and merriment, his anger “waxed hot.” He who had bowed himself before Jehovah in the Mount and had interceded with his whole heart for the guilty people, was now consumed with zeal for God's honour. He cast the tablets of stone out of his hand because they symbolised the transgression of the people.

How could Moses take into the camp given up to idolatry those tables that said, “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me”; “thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,” nor bow down to it; “thou shalt worship and serve Me, and Me only.” These words the people had heard, but had not heeded the covenant they had so solemnly made, nor kept its bond.

Moses therefore smashed the tables in the presence of the people. The law was broken in fact and in figure before it reached them. We find from the history that Moses interceded for the Israelites again and again, three times; but we must not continue this part of the history now, interesting and instructive as it is. I commend it to your attention as a most important parenthesis (Ex. 32 — 34) in the narrative contained in the Book of Exodus.

During the first forty days, Moses had received the law and various instructions concerning the building of the tabernacle, the dwelling place for Jehovah in the camp (Ex. 25 — 31). Then came this sin of apostasy, and after this is dealt with in the parenthesis, the subject of the building of the tabernacle is resumed (Ex. 35). At the moment, we are concerned only with the fact that Israel stood before Jehovah a people that had destroyed itself, breaking the covenant and forfeiting the status given to them.

Like Failure in the Church

Now to this painful episode in the early history of Israel, there is an analogy in the early history of the church of God which began on the day of Pentecost with the descent of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came down according to promise, and by His invisible, almighty power He consolidated all the believers on earth at that particular moment into one company. This unity was formed, not by ties of flesh and blood, not by similarity of opinions or of deeds or of rank, but by His own peculiar power of assimilation because they had been redeemed by Christ's precious blood, and chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.

So by a divine power, strange to earth, come down from heaven, believers were made one, one in heart, one in purpose, the oneness being unique, having as its essential feature that all on earth who were Christ's were bound to Christ, the Head in heaven. The unity of the church or assembly, therefore, was not that of a human nation or brotherhood, nor that of a human company formed by mutual agreement upon a certain object or upon a certain manner of life, or upon some special interest common to all in the company. The church of God is united in itself because it is united to Christ in heaven, apart from its own choice or desire.

The Lord said in effect to His own before He went on high, “Ye shall be My witnesses. If ye love Me, keep My commandments. I am going away, and you will be alone in the world. But I will send the Comforter to you, and He shall be with you, not to tarry for a period only, but to be with you continually. So long as the church is in the wilderness, the Holy Spirit will abide or dwell in it. I want your hearts to be loyal to Me, and that you may adhere to My words. The Holy Spirit shall be your Teacher, and open your hearts to receive My words. You shall know what is My mind and will for you, and I want you to be obedient while I am away. You will not see Me but you must be true to Me, every one of you.” The Lord did not then unfold to them the truth of the assembly, the one body, but gave them the moral principles essential to its practical life, especially that of faithful obedience during His absence.

Now in the Acts, we have the history of the formation and the extension of the assembly of God by the preaching of the gospel, and in the Epistles we have the doctrinal and practical exhortations addressed to the assembly. And from the same scriptures we also learn that failure and apostasy appeared in the church at the very outset. We have not to turn many pages in the Acts before we find that the holy and beautiful assembly of Christ was disfigured by sin. Ananias and Sapphira lied to God the Holy Ghost. They deliberately said to the apostle what was false, and sought to deceive him in the midst of the assembly, the habitation of God by the Spirit. Thus the holiness of Christ, the Head of the church, was besmirched for the first time, so to speak, amongst His own. Right there on the threshold, almost before Christ had taken His seat on high, there was sin unto death in the very midst of the assembly of God.

I do not now intend to remind you in detail of the doleful tale of what took place in the early church. Read through Corinthians, Galatians and Colossians. Nearly all the Epistles speak of wrong teaching and evil practice sullying the honour and glory of Christ and denying His holy word. As you read such things, and meditate upon them, you may well ask, Why is it that the church which sinned so grievously nearly two thousand years ago is on the earth today? Why did not the glory of the Lord wipe out that unfaithful company from the earth, as it did Ananias and Sapphira? Why does the church still stand? Why is it still here?

We answer such questions by the analogy we have in Exodus concerning Israel. There is a Mediator, a High Priest, an Advocate on high for the church. There is One at the right hand of God, the God of holiness and righteousness. Christ is there to plead for His church, and to save the whole assembly on earth in spite of prevailing apostasy.

What does Christ plead for its preservation? He pleads His own love and His own purchase. “Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it.” He could say, “It is My church, O God. I bought it. I went beneath the waters of judgment and death and made it My own. I sanctify and cleanse it daily with the washing of the word. Before Me is the bright vision of the day when I shall, take to Myself that church, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. It must not be consumed by wrath.”

Besides, it is the eternal purpose of God that the church shall share the glory of Christ. God's foreknowledge and predestination to this end, as set out in Ephesians, are involved in its maintenance until that end is accomplished. Upon this ground the church stands, and upon it, too, rests the intercession of Christ on high. It would not be consistent with the principles of God's righteousness that the apostate church should be here today, apart from the mediatory service of Christ, of Him Who died and satisfied the righteousness of God in respect of what believers are by nature and practice. There was a respite for Israel because of God's promise from the foundation of the world, and also a respite for the church because of His promise before the foundation of the world.

Israel's Bitter Draught

We have seen that Israel was spared, but their sin was not passed over altogether. We read that when Moses came into the camp, he acted for God to show the people God's mind about their awful sin. He destroyed the golden calf and ground it to powder. He strewed the powder upon the water and made the people drink it, the fruit of their own doings. Those that drank it, drank the bitter draught of self-condemnation as idolaters. The god to which they bowed down and worshipped as their deliverer from Egypt, they accepted as only dust, and they swallowed it! What a god to worship!

The people publicly owned their sin in this way. Not all of them would do so. Apparently there were those who refused, and stood for the golden calf. On these the penalty for their sin fell. Moses called for volunteers to stand by him and act for the glory of the name of Jehovah. And the sons of Levi, his own tribe, to a man gathered at his side.

They were told to gird on their swords, go through the camp, and slay the unrepentant ones who held fast to their idolatry and immorality. These leaders in wickedness were justly slain because they were poisoning the camp with their idolatry and licentiousness. So the holy name of God was cleared by this act of judgment, and the righteousness of the law upheld by the death of the three thousand. Moreover, we read that Jehovah “plagued the people because they made the calf which Aaron had made” (Ex. 32: 35), but these were not utterly destroyed.

A Centre of Meeting outside the Camp

After this public condemnation of the apostasy; a new thing took place. Moses set up the tabernacle, or tent, without the camp. This could not, of course, be the tabernacle constructed afterwards, in which the glory of Jehovah dwelt in the midst of the camp, because its construction had not even begun. We are not told what sort of tabernacle it was. It was probably an ordinary tent, but one well-known to the tribes. Moses took it, however, outside the camp, “afar off from the camp.”

Why was a separate place chosen? Because the polluting dust of the idol was still in the camp, and it was a defiled place before God. The camp had been judged, but not cleansed. The name of Jehovah, the living and true God, had been dishonoured there; and Moses took the tabernacle outside the camp, and entered it himself. He did not call others to go with him, but he himself stood apart from the camp, as being under Jehovah's ban. He was as jealous for the honour of Jehovah's name in the camp as on the Mount.

Moses called this tent “the tabernacle of the congregation,” the tent of meeting. Now where did he get this name? Moses did not invent it. The previous chapters give the instructions Moses received in the Mount. There he saw the pattern of Jehovah's tabernacle, fashioned according to things in the heavenly places, and there he heard its name, “the tabernacle of the congregation” (see Ex. 29: 10, 44; Ex. 30: 26).

This then was the name by which Jehovah's tent should be known when it was set up in the midst of the camp. Moses used this term for the emergency tent, indicating that he was acting upon the communications he had received from the Lord during the forty days. He, as it were, said, “O Jehovah, I know Thou meanest to dwell in the midst of Thy people. I know a tabernacle must be erected according to Thine own specifications. This cannot be done now because of the defilement wrought by the calf, but I set up this tent away from the polluted camp and call it by the name Thou hast chosen 'the tent of meeting'.”

The Presence of Jehovah outside the Camp

Moses, leader of the people as he was, went into the tent before them all. The people were astonished, standing every one at his tent door. They said, “What a strange thing is this! Moses went up into Sinai, and we nearly lost him then. Shall we lose him again? What is going to happen?” For Jehovah had heard the prayer, the unspoken prayer, of Moses and signified His approval. The pillar of cloud descended to the door of the tent, associating itself manifestly before the eyes of the apostate nation with that tent of meeting.

The children of Israel recognised that pillar. They had seen it only a few weeks before, when they crossed the Red Sea. It had then stood between them and their foes. Now they saw that protecting symbol of Jehovah's presence, not in the midst of the camp, oh no, that was defiled, but standing at the door of the very tent which Moses had pitched outside the camp and where he then was.

As Moses went into the tent, the cloudy pillar stood at the door, signifying the divine approval of this new meeting-place. There Jehovah talked with Moses, not with that terrible voice he had heard on the mount, which caused him to say, “I exceedingly fear and quake.” That was the condition under the law only, but now the law having been broken, mercy had come in through intercession; and Jehovah, in His mercy, in this solitary tent, outside the camp, spoke with Moses “face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.”

This new meeting-place, then, was the place of intimate communion with Jehovah Who had placed His name there. Moses himself was obedient and “faithful in all his house.” And every man in the camp who had similar feelings and was zealous for the honour and glory of God, turned his face away from the place that the idol had defiled and “sought Jehovah,” going out where the pillar of cloud was, outside the camp.

Was not it better to be where Jehovah was? Was it not better to be standing for His name along with His servant Moses than to be in the camp polluted with the dust of the idol, and with the moral disfigurement of its worship upon the people in that camp? Yes, it was better to be where Jehovah was, and gather to the pillar of His presence. And many chose that “good part.”

Analogy not Correspondence

Herein, I take it, lies the chief point of the analogy to what we have in 2 Timothy 2. There are other points of likeness, but I do not dwell on them now. I will endeavour to show the analogy between the two cases of apostasy.

There is not in church conditions an exact correspondence because what we have in the Old Testament was under the law, and not under the grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ. Even after the repeated mediation of Moses had partially prevailed with Jehovah and the tables of testimony were given a second time, and Jehovah had proclaimed His name (Ex. 34: 6, 7), His grace was unknown. His name showed that He was a God of mercy, but that He was a God of judgment too, Who would “by no means clear the guilty”; grace and truth had not yet come into the world.

Compare, as probably you have done, what Jehovah said of himself when the ten words were first given (Ex. 20), and what He said when He proclaimed His name to Moses, as he was hidden in the cleft of the rock. Jehovah declared Himself to be “merciful and gracious,” but still “visiting iniquity.” There would be a display of His mercy, but only partially, and only for some. Under the renewed covenant Jehovah would be merciful and gracious, but in a limited measure.

The apostle in 2 Corinthians 3 calls these renewed and modified covenant relations with Israel the ministration of death and condemnation; law and mercy mixed never gave life and liberty. Nevertheless, this is what Christendom has adopted in these days. They proclaim a mixture of law and grace. They set the commandments of Jehovah before them, and try to fit in the words of mercy with the words of inexorable law, and the two do not and cannot agree.

The result is a ministry of death and judgment, which the apostle disapproves. But through the revelation of grace we have the ministry of life and glory, the glory of God which we see in the face of Jesus Christ. And oh, what liberty this knowledge gives!

Divergence from the Standard of Christianity

Now here in our passage from 2 Timothy we have some instructions for the day of apostasy, with which you are familiar. You know them well, but let us briefly consider them again. They certainly apply to us now, as they applied in the days of the apostles. Indeed, they have even greater force and urgency today because the departure from revealed truth that began then has been increasing ever since. When a line begins to deviate from another straight line, the further it extends the further the amount of divergence from the standard of direction increases. The two lines never meet, nor become parallel to each other. It is a departure from rectitude, and if there is no correction, the degree of divergence must continue to increase.

Well now, in the apostle's day, departure from the truth began in the assembly. And Paul spoke of “perilous times” ahead. Evil doctrine and evil practice sprang up in the church itself, which was the appointed guardian of the truth. Just as Moses brought down to Israel the second edition of the law, written again by the finger of God, for them to maintain, as they went through the wilderness, and as they lived in the land of Canaan, so the maintenance of the written word was committed to the assembly.

Moses gave Israel Jehovah's law, His word, and it was deposited with them for safe keeping and observance. Certainly the two tables of testimony were encased in a little wooden box, the ark of shittim wood, for security, a figure of our Lord Jesus Christ in Whom the integrity of the law was maintained intact. So the word of God, His revealed will and His express commandments, were given to the church to keep according to their original terms. We are, therefore, to hold fast, without addition or subtraction, the form of sound words, particularly those addressed directly to the church in the scriptures.

The whole of the New Testament makes a very small tract in bulk. But although small it contains much truth, which is exceedingly broad in its application. This is for your maintenance and for mine. The difficulties in doing so have increased even of late, and are likely to increase still further. But we are responsible to keep the precepts of the Lord relating to church matters, to hold them fast, to obey them as those who have to stand before Christ on His judgment seat, and there be examined as to our integrity. We must, therefore, be faithful to the words of truth which we find in the New Testament. Because we are not under law but under grace, we cannot excuse ourselves either from a laxity in obedience to God's word, or from a neglect to ascertain our duty.

The Tendency to Laxity

Beloved friends, have you realised that we who know the riches of God's grace are often the very first to abuse it, and make light of sin? Remember how we came to God, to Christ, laden with our sins, with that huge burden of guilt pressing us to the very earth. They were all forgiven in a moment, and what do we say? We say, “Thank God for the forgiveness of our sins.”

But because mercy came to us so freely, our evil hearts may say, “Sin does not matter, disobedience is not serious. We can have forgiveness again in a moment. Let us do what we like. We have only to ask for forgiveness and it will be given. We can please ourselves.” We thus say in effect, “As for that man Moses who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. He is out of sight, and out of sight means out of mind. What he says about keeping the covenant does not matter. We will have what gods we please.” Thus in a spirit of apostasy we often abuse the grace that redeemed us. Is this true, or is it not?

“Oh yes,” you say, “it is true of Christendom generally.” But what about ourselves here tonight? Are we all absolutely true, faithful, and loyal to the word of our Master and to the truth in His word? Certainly, we have known persons professing Christianity give up the Bible piece by piece. They tear out pages here and there and throw them into the waste paper basket, and say that much of the rest is no good except for those who believe in the fairy tales of literature. To such lengths do men go.

In all directions, God's word is despised and disowned; but where is your reverence for that word? Do you value it so highly, and believe it to be so precious that you cannot live a day without it, that you need it to guide you every step of the way, and keep you from the sin of disobedience? If you do not in this sense believe it, you will one day have to tell the Lord why you have neglected His word and done what is absolutely contrary to it.

The Firm Foundation amid the Quicksands

Well, here in chapter 2 we have divine instructions for the conduct of the faithful man of God in a day of general departure from His word. Paul speaks about profane and vain babblings to be shunned, and the words of some spreading as a gangrene. The figure is that of the evil devouring the good, like Pharaoh's lean kine, and it denotes the general state of the Christian profession. But on this I do not dwell, but on what remains, and withstands the corrupting influence of evil.

In 2 Tim. 2: 19 we read, “Nevertheless” — in spite of all the apostasy, in the face of the spiritual ruin in Christendom “the firm foundation of God stands fast.” What God has wrought and what He has said is imperishable and all the sinfulness of men and all the strategy of the evil one cannot overthrow what He has established. The church is founded upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone. The foundation is sure and steadfast. The revelation concerning it is immutable. The hills and mountains, the earth itself, may pass away, but not one syllable of the word of God shall ever fail. Here, then, we have a solid foothold remaining amid the shifting sands of religious opinion.

I commend this solidity in the scriptures to my younger friends. You must not let this go. You may be taught differently in your schools, and in the office your companions may tempt you to disown the infallibility of God's word. They will say that it is of no consequence whether you read the word of God every day or not. It does not matter whether you believe the whole of the Bible or not. Times have changed, they say, since it was written, and it is now out of date. Your answer is that the foundation of God stands fast. What we have now is as true as when it was written, like the tables of stone, with the finger of God. The scripture is written upon an imperishable material, a foundation which can never be destroyed. So let us hold fast the word of God, and not be carried away by the profane and vain babblings of Christendom.

The Seal with a Double Inscription

Then, having declared the permanence of the firm foundation of God, the apostle used the figure of a seal to indicate the supreme authority attached to this foundation. Moreover, this seal bears a double inscription, each of the two parts being of special significance in the light of the context. The words are, “having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His; and, Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.”

The fact that there are two sentences upon the seal suggests that the allusion is to a public seal in its highest character. The great seal of England, for instance, has an obverse and a reverse impression. It has two sides, in distinction from an ordinary common seal of a Government office with only one side. The great seal of England that is affixed to all State documents of high importance would be invalid with one only of its sides. It bears on one side the effigy of His Majesty, crowned and enthroned, with a suitable inscription, and on the other an effigy of him in some official capacity, as Admiral of the Fleet, Commander of Land Forces, or something of the kind, with another inscription.

There are thus two sides to the seal, and impressions of both are necessary to establish the validity of the document sealed. Then it becomes authoritative all over the world, because the power, prestige, and integrity of the whole British Empire are represented by the two faces of the seal. Both of them impressed upon one piece of wax are a symbol of sovereignty and supreme government. I believe that divine authority is what the seal signifies in the text. The seal indicates the sovereignty of the Lord on the one hand, and on the other His will for those that acknowledge His Lordship and government. It applies to the firm foundation of God, and is specially attached to this inspired document written by Paul the apostle to Timothy on the eve of his departure to be with Christ on high.

The seal, then, tells us two things. First, it declares the divine omniscience concerning those that are His in a time of ecclesiastical declension and disorder; in such a time “the Lord knoweth them that are His.” This statement must not be hastily dismissed as a truism. It is of particular value for these times. When the wheat is mixed with tares, and the leaven is in the meal, when the professor and the possessor are mingled inextricably in a mass of confusion, the Lord knows which are His. He knows the hypocrite and the humble. We may make mistakes in identity; He never. He knows who belong to that church He loves so much, which He will present to Himself by and by. He looks down upon this mass of confusion calling itself by His holy name; His eye is never deceived, and He knows them that are His. There is an immense comfort in this for all who are distressed by the conditions in Christendom, and fear lest He should have forgotten.

But on the other side of the seal we have the personal responsibility of the individual: “Let every one . . . . We like to have the best of everything with nothing to pay. Most of us like free gifts. And what great blessings God has given to us without money and without price! But having all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, our responsibility to act accordingly begins. God makes us rich in His Son, and then makes us responsible proportionately to the value of those riches.

Note that the first inscription is in the plural, “The Lord knoweth them . . . ,” while the second is in the singular, “Let every one . . .” . Personal responsibility is thus plainly indicated upon the seal, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from unrighteousness.” This is a more correct translation of the injunction. “Lord” is the title used in both these inscriptions. “Christ” is the term of affection and love, but here responsibility is pressed upon each one to his “Lord.” After all, though the times are disorderly, we are still servants of the Lord, and we have to render an account to Him Who is our Master. While unrighteousness and unfaithfulness prevail in Christendom, are we striving to be approved of the Lord as His good and faithful servants?

Depend upon it, the Lord will talk to us one by one by and by about our behaviour in this day of ecclesiastical apostasy because we name the name of the Lord. We know Him as Lord; let us each one do the things He has said, and the things that will give honour to His name. When Moses stood apart from the people for the honour of Jehovah's name, “it came to pass that every one who sought Jehovah went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.”

“Let every one,” for this is a personal responsibility, now as in the day of the golden calf, “that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.” Perhaps some imagine that “unrighteousness” is a less serious matter than “iniquity.” But unrighteousness is particularly hateful to God. It means doing that which is not right. And from this conduct we who call on the Lord must depart. We must not be links between the righteous Lord and unrighteousness. The gospel is the revelation of the righteousness of God, and therein also “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1: 17, 18).

This passage should be an eye-opener for any of us who have been holding truth in one hand and unrighteousness in the other. We may be priding ourselves that we are holding fast the truth, that professing Christianity is doing what is wrong, but that we are doing what is right. But are we holding the truth in righteousness, or in unrighteousness? The righteous Lord loveth righteousness, and He tells those that name His name to withdraw from unrighteousness, for “what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?” The will of the Lord is that those bearing His name should avoid association with the evil of unrighteousness.

We know how easily physical infection is communicated by contact, and in like manner contact with spiritual evil defiles us. A nurse drops a bandage on the floor, and what a severe reprimand she gets from the surgeon! The floor might be clean, but no risks of infection are allowed with the patient. The communication of a single germ might bring terrible results. So even the common experiences of life teach us the danger of infection by contact, and the motto on the seal of God's firm foundation is “Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.”

The Great House and its Vessels

Now the figure of the “great house” which the apostle introduces seems to be an enlargement of the instruction conveyed by the foundation and the seal. The figure of the house is not new, but it is remarkable that here the name of God is not attached to it. Timothy would at once observe the omission. In the First Epistle (1 Tim. 3: 15), it is called “the house of God, the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth.” Here in the second, it is simply “a great house.”

The idea conveyed by “a great house” is that it is one built by a man of substance in order to reflect his own eminence and glory in the world. There has been deterioration, therefore it can no longer be called “the house of God,” the place where His glory is seen on earth.

“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour and some to dishonour.” Now in the passage no invidious distinction is made between the vessels of gold and silver, and the vessels of wood and earth. The “honour” of the vessels seems to depend upon their use rather than upon their intrinsic value. They are of different materials and for different uses. The vessels of gold and silver may be to the honour of the Master, and so may the vessels of wood and clay be equally to His honour, all fulfilling the purpose for which they were designed.

The main point to consider is that in the Master's eyes the vessels take their individual character from their utility. They are in the house for use not for ornament. In His estimation, the vessels that have been misused have been debased, not in their composition, but by their contact with impurity. Thus, the golden vessels of the Temple that were carried away by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon were used to dishonour there. His grandson Belshazzar, for instance, made impious use of them at a banquet to his gods. Libations to his idolatrous images were placed in the vessels consecrated to Jehovah. Could anything be more dishonourable to Jehovah than that?

Well, such is the principle involved in this figure. The criterion for judging the vessels is whether the honour due to the owner is withheld or not. Therefore, is not the dishonourable use of a vessel, whether silverware or earthenware, an act of unrighteousness Take the steward who tampered with his master's debts, was he righteous or unrighteous? When the debtor was told by him to write fifty instead of one hundred, was he not guilty of an act of unrighteousness? The steward was a vessel unto dishonour, for a steward is a servant in the house, specially responsible to look after the interests of his master, and to “depart from unrighteousness.”

How to become a Vessel unto Honour

Continuing the figure, the apostle recurs to our personal responsibility. We are in the great house, and among its assorted vessels. The Master is on high; the great house is here in ruins and desolation, with its many vessels: what are we to do? Some vessels are being used to dishonour. What is one to do to avoid being counted a vessel unto dishonour? The answer is given: “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour.” Previously, each one was called to depart from unrighteousness: here it is a man purifying himself from the vessels unto dishonour by separating himself from them.

The departing or withdrawing is from acts of unrighteousness, while the purging is from persons who are called “vessels unto dishonour.” This purging or cleansing oneself is an act which reflects honour upon the name of the Master, and the one so doing becomes thereby a “vessel unto honour.”

Why am I standing aloof from vessels of dishonour? Because my Master whom I serve has made me a representative in the world of His righteousness and holiness during His absence, and I must be true to this trust. I must be pure and holy in my outward contacts. The result is that I shall thus be “a vessel to honour, sanctified, serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work.” It is not said that by this means a vessel of wood or earth shall become a vessel of gold or silver. The intrinsic value of the vessel is unchanged, but it is available for a service “unto honour,” because of its avoidance of certain associations.

Now if the Master comes into the great house to seek a vessel unto honour, which will He use? Not one of gold, if it were dirty, unclean, defiled. He would select one even of earth if it were sanctified and made ready for His use. Notice then that the man who acts for his Master in His absence as if He were present is the one who is “serviceable” to the Master, “meet” for His use. Why? Because in a day of apostasy he puts his Master's honour above everything else. He says, “I will be true to my Lord, and will live alone for the honour of His name. What I am, and what I do, and what I associate with, must agree with the holiness and righteousness of my Master.” Such a one is a vessel to honour, and can be used for anything the will of the Master may determine.

Personal Pursuits for the Purged

But beside purging myself from others, I must take great heed to myself and my new association. “Flee also youthful lusts; but follow (pursue) righteousness, faith, charity (love), peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” The apostle does not enjoin a pathway of isolation for the one who separates himself from the vessels unto dishonour. He still has his own personal responsibility to the Lord on which he has acted, but it does not follow that he must remain entirely alone. His place apart is not one of isolation, but of insulation. Keeping oneself free from contagion is a plain duty, but then there will be others who do likewise. And with them we are to follow or pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. This is the company of those that seek the Lord “outside the camp.”

First of all, before you go into such a company look after your own spiritual condition. Flee from the lusts to which the energy of youth is specially liable. For instance, you may be lifted up with pride even because you have purged yourself from vessels to dishonour. There is the danger of saying, “Stand away. I am holier than thou. Do not defile my garments.” It is the Pharisaic feeling of being superior to others because of being separated from external evil. Such pride is an abomination to the Lord, and a stumbling-block to others.

Next, the apostle enumerates spiritual qualities which should be personally pursued by those who seek to be separate from the uncleanness of Christendom. They have departed from unrighteousness: therefore, they must first of all follow after righteousness, individually and collectively. The Lord said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.”

In the assemblies, for instance, see that the rent is paid promptly, that the widows are cared for, and that all its affairs, private and public, are conducted in righteousness. As vessels of the Lord, do not fall to the level of the world. Never do what is unrighteous, nor say what is unrighteous. Do not go behind somebody's back with what is ungracious, unkind, untrue, and whisper slander. These things are unrighteous. If you depart from a company on the ostensible ground of departing from iniquity, do not spread iniquity yourself in another company. No, if you go to those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart, you must pursue righteousness with the energy of one striving for a goal.

After “righteousness” comes “faith” as an object to pursue. I take it personal belief for salvation is not meant, but the faith once delivered to the saints, the sum and substance of Christian doctrine, given to be believed. We have to act on what the Lord has given us in His word, and on that only.

Then there is “love,” which is a better rendering of the original than “charity.” There is a love that is spontaneous. You cannot help loving some brethren because of their gentle, gracious manner. But “love” here suggests effort; it is a love to be sought, to be pursued. That person with awkward corners, always ready with a snappy word, harsh and biting, is to be loved by you. You must love Alexander the coppersmith who does you much harm as well as Barnabas the good man who renders you great service. Seek after this love. It is needed even among those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Love learns to love the unlovely, because the Lord set the example. But it must be pursued to be attained.

Finally, “peace” is to be pursued. Peace is the fruit of righteousness, and also its twin-brother in the kingdom of God. Therefore, do not sow discord among those calling on the Lord out of a pure heart. Remember that self-will is the great enemy of peace. In an assembly a great deal of quarrelling and mischief is often caused by one or two insisting upon their own way. One says, “I know what should be done. I have learned it for myself. I know it is true. It must be done. I feel responsible to the Lord to see it is done, and it shall be done.” This may be self-delusion, but it is certainly self-will. And such sinful egotism is a frequent cause of division in the gatherings. But I am to follow peace with all, the things that make for peace, and the things wherewith one may edify another.

Harmony in the gatherings is often disturbed through impatience. How often our Lord might have opened His mouth in correction and rebuke, but did not do so! He listened, He endured, He waited patiently on God for the time to speak. For He had come to bring peace, not a sword. This is what we must do, for this is the way to pursue peace.

If I clearly know the will of the Lord about a matter and others are dull, I can tell Him. I can say, “Lord, I believe this is Thy will. These brothers and sisters do not see it; show them also. If I know it, O Lord, it is because Thou hast taught me, and if Thou hast shown it to me, Thou canst show it to others. I was a long time learning it, but Thou wast patient. They may be even longer, be patient with them, and give me patience with them too.” The Lord will hear.

If we earnestly seek peace in this way as we mingle with those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart, there will be a much happier state among the saints of God.

There is a great danger, beloved friends, when we turn away from the ruin of Christendom because we see its unrighteousness before the Lord, and go into the company of those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart, of taking with us the very elements of personal disobedience to the word of God that caused the ruin of Christendom from which we departed. We may carry with us the seeds of insubjection to God's will, or of worldliness, which lead to apostasy. If we are not careful to walk in the ways of holiness, pursuing righteousness, faith, love, peace, we may ourselves introduce infection in the company of those that “call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”

Let us not be guilty of such dishonour. Let us rather be true to the Lord, and to His word, while the multitude of those who confess Him are content to do what is right in their own eyes.

The Lord is coming at the very earliest possible moment for His church. He tries our patience a little, but so long as He waits let us depart from unrighteousness, and covet earnestly to do only those things and to be only those things that are well-pleasing in His sight. This is the path of the just which is “as the shining light, going on and brightening until the day be fully come” (Prov. 4: 18, N.Tr.).

The Seventy Weeks of Daniel.

W. J. Hocking.

Part 1.

“Seventy weeks are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy” (Dan. 9: 24, R.V.).

The period of “seventy weeks” mentioned in the book of Daniel is a most important one in the general prophetic history of God's earthly people. And a careful study of the scripture in its context and of other passages which will elucidate its meaning is commended to our readers, who should in this study prayerfully seek that wisdom and understanding which God gives through His word to those that wait upon Him.

It is suggested that it would be helpful if the following translation by J. N. Darby of the above passage should be compared with that of the Revisers, and the Authorised Version with both. It will be noted that the main differences in J.N.D.'s rendering are indicated by the italics: “Seventy weeks are apportioned out upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to close the transgression and to make an end of sins, and to make expiation for iniquity, and to bring in the righteousness of the ages, and to seal the vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies.”

The Occasion of this Prophecy.

The announcement that a period of “seventy weeks” had been prescribed of God in connection with Daniel's people and Daniel's city was made to the prophet by Gabriel in answer to special confession of sins and earnest prayer by Daniel, as recorded in this chapter. We find (1) that the date of the communication of the prophecy to Daniel was in the first year of Darius, the king of the Medes (v. 1); and (2) that the immediate cause of Daniel's abasement and supplication was that the accomplishment of the desolations of Jerusalem as foretold by Jeremiah was at hand (v. 2). Gabriel was sent to the prophet in answer to this supplication (v. 23), and the communication which he brought had no assurance of a complete deliverance, but on the other hand contained a direct reference to the continuance of the desolations which had come upon the holy city and the sanctuary because of the transgressions of the people. Briefly, the further period assigned for the fulfilment of these judgments was “seventy weeks.”

Jeremiah's Prophecy of Seventy Years.

Daniel, in his exile in Babylon, was a student of scripture. The prophecies of Jeremiah were specially sent from Judah to the Jewish people who were carried captive to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 29: 1). The word of Jehovah contained in these “books” or rolls was for their particular instruction in respect of the chastisement that had come upon them and the duration of their captivity under that chastisement.

There are two of the prophecies of Jeremiah which have special reference to the extent of Judah's captivity under the king of Babylon. From being the head of the nations, Israel became the tail. When Jehovah abandoned the kingdom of David because of its idolatry, the place of supremacy among the nations was entrusted by Him to Babylon in the first instance. Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold in the symbolic image of his own dreams.

The first of these prophecies declared that the people of Judah and the surrounding nations should serve the king of Babylon for seventy years, and that then Jehovah of hosts would punish the king of Babylon and make his land desolate: “This whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nations, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and I will make it desolate for ever” (Jer. 25: 11, 12).

This prophecy made it clear that at the expiration of seventy years the Babylonian empire would be destroyed, and the servitude of the people of God to that empire would come to an end.

The second prophecy was contained in a letter from Jerusalem by Jeremiah to the elders of the captivity in Babylon, and this also related to their deliverance from bondage in due course. “Thus said the LORD, After seventy years be accomplished for Babylon, I will visit you, and perform My good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place” (Jer. 29: 10, R.V.).

This prophecy, as the former, alluded to the tenure of the headship over other nations by Babylon continuing for term of seventy years, and promised the subsequent restoration of the Jewish captives to their own land.

What was Daniel's Difficulty?

Daniel was familiar with these prophecies, and no doubt the knowledge of what God had foretold through Jeremiah concerning the downfall of the Babylonian empire after seventy years enabled him to interpret to Belshazzar the significance of the writing on the wall of his palace. At any rate, he did not ask for time to ascertain the interpretation, as in the case of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2: 16-19). The meaning of “Peres” was clear to him.

The same night Babylon was captured; Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, was slain (Dan. 5: 30, 31); and Darius, the Median, took the kingdom.

Now the displacement of this great empire by the power of the Medes was the appointed sign to the captives of Judah that the time of their deliverance was near at hand. They would in consequence be expecting that Jehovah would return to them and perform His promise. No wonder that Daniel habitually, three times a day, with his windows open towards Jerusalem, gave thanks and made supplication before his God (Dan. 6: 10, 11). This he did in spite of the king's decree to the contrary and the den of lions out of which he was delivered — a typical assurance that the whole people would also be delivered from their captivity to the Gentiles, if they would only be faithful to their God as Daniel was.

But Daniel received other light on the destiny of his people. Prior to the destruction of Babylon, in the first year of Belshazzar, its last king, the prophet had a dream which greatly troubled him (Dan. 7), and even when the vision was interpreted to him he was still troubled, and like Mary with the words of the shepherds of Bethlehem, and of Jesus in the temple (Luke 2: 19, 51), kept the matter in his heart. Daniel, like every godly Jew, was hoping for the speedy fulfilment of the promises to Abraham and the establishment of Messiah's kingdom. By the vision on this occasion, however, he was instructed that four kingdoms or empires must pass away before the Son of man would set up His kingdom, which should never pass away nor be destroyed (Dan. 7: 13, 14, 27).

This dream corresponded in its general import with the dream which came to Nebuchadnezzar in the second year of his reign and which Daniel interpreted to the king (Dan. 2). The great image of that dream portrayed a succession of four diverse Gentile empires which would ultimately be destroyed and succeeded by the kingdom set up by the God of heaven to stand for ever (Dan. 2: 44). Daniel therefore learned this relative order of events (1) at the beginning of the Babylonian supremacy through the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, and (2) towards the close of that supremacy, nearly seventy years later, through his own dream in the first year of Belshazzar.

But in the third year of the reign of Belshazzar, a further vision appeared to Daniel, betokening much trouble and oppression for his people from the future Gentile kingdoms. The prophet saw the double-horned ram of Medo-Persia, followed by the rough goat of Greece with bitter persecution of the holy nation and the desecration of the sanctuary. Daniel fainted at the prospect unveiled before him. He was astonished at this vision of further tribulation for his people, and none understood it (Dan. 8: 27).

Now the difficulty of the man of God after the fall of Babylon seems to have been to reconcile the prophecy of Jeremiah with the tenor of the various visions. Jeremiah had foretold the restoration of God's favour to the people of Judah on the expiration of the seventy years allotted to the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar. Now (Dan. 9) Babylon had fallen, and the supremacy had been assumed by the second world-empire—that of the Medes and Persians. Still Jerusalem was not restored, and, moreover, the second of Daniel's visions (7), that of the ram and the he-goat, showed that further desolations would come upon that city under the kingdom that would follow Persia, viz., Greece. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, and the effect of this prospect of prolonged oppression was to cast Daniel into the depths of despondency (Dan. 8: 27). But he was not altogether without resource, for he gave himself to the word of God and to prayer.

The Prayer of Daniel.

Feeling his inability to understand the times of which the Spirit of God had spoken in vison and prophecy, Daniel set his face unto the Lord God to seek instruction therein by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. Earnestly he confessed his sin and that of his people, including in his confession not only the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but also the ten tribes of Israel scattered near and far (Dan. 9: 4-19).

The principal petitions of Daniel on this occasion were:

(1) That the anger of the Lord might be turned away from His city, Jerusalem (v. 16);

(2) That the face of the Lord might shine upon His sanctuary which lay desolate (v. 17);

(3) That God would behold the desolations of the people and of the city called by His name (v. 18).

While Daniel was speaking in prayer the answer was sent. The sanctuary and altar at Jerusalem had been laid waste, and no sacrifices could be offered to Jehovah, but it was about the time of the evening oblation (cp. Ps. 141: 2) that Gabriel, whom he had seen in the vision at the beginning, touched the suppliant and delivered his message. The commission of the angel was to make Daniel skilful of understanding in things to come.

The Decree Relating to the People and the City.

Daniel had besought the Lord to make His face shine upon the desolated sanctuary on Mount Zion and the holy city, Jerusalem. The seventy years of Jeremiah's prophecy had now approximately run their course, and the first Gentile empire was overthrown. Was not Babylon to be succeeded by three other empires?  How long would their supremacy last, and must the restoration of the nation wait until their rule was past?

These and other points of inquiry were met by the divine communication through Gabriel. This communication consisted of two parts, viz: —

(1) The announcement in general terms that the God of Israel and the Disposer of times and seasons had apportioned a period of seventy weeks in connection with the nation and the holy city; and

(2) The subdivision of the period of seventy weeks, with details of future events, before Israel should know the full and final removal of God's desolating judgments (vv. 25-27).

The latter part (2) of this prophecy will receive special consideration in separate sections of this paper (Parts 2 and 3).

In the first part of this communication, Daniel was instructed briefly what was before his people. In former dreams and visions he had learned much concerning the rise, progress, and end of the four Gentile kingdoms, but now the subject-matter of Gabriel's message directly concerned Israel. The prescribed seventy years of chastisement of Judah and Jerusalem by the first of those kingdoms had passed, but there were still seventy weeks marked off in their future national history, in order:

(1) To close the transgression;

(2) To make an end of sins; and

(3) To make expiation for iniquity; and

(4) To bring in the righteousness of the ages; and

(5) To seal the vision and prophet [or, prophecy]; and

(6) To anoint the holy of holies.

From these words it would be clear to Daniel that much had still to happen to his people before the blessings of the millennial kingdom would be introduced, and before the promises made to the fathers of Israel would have their complete and glorious fulfilment.

Daniel had confessed to God the transgression and sins of himself and his people, but the cup of Israel's iniquity was not yet full. That climax would come about during the seventy weeks in the denial and crucifixion of their Messiah.

Expiation for iniquity could not be made until the soul of the Suffering Servant of Jehovah should be made an offering for sin (Isa. 53: 10).

In the millennial reign, Jehovah will perform His promises to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. He will cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David, who will execute judgment and righteousness in the land. Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely, and her name will be Jehovah our righteousness(Jer. 33: 14-16; Jer. 23: 5). Then will be brought in the righteousness of the ages.

Vision and prophecy will cease in that day, for all will know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. The revelation of God in His word will be complete, the sufferings of Christ having been finished and His consequent glories accomplished according to the whole prophetic vision.

The anointing of the Holy of holies probably refers to the temple of the coming kingdom on which the glory of Jehovah will descend in a splendour exceeding everything known before. There the precious ointment will run down upon Aaron's beard and to the skirts of his garments. There the dew of Hermon will descend upon the mountains of Zion, when Jehovah commands the blessing of life for evermore (Ps. 133: 1-3. See also Ezekiel 37: 26-28).

Seventy Weeks of Years.

The opening words of Gabriel to Daniel contained the statement of a definite period of time decreed or divided off, having special relation to the future destinies of the people of Israel. The times of the Gentiles began to run with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple and the exaltation of Nebuchadnezzar to the place of supreme rule among the kingdoms of the earth. And Jerusalem will be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled (Luke 21: 24). Meanwhile, as Daniel is instructed, a portion of these times is divided off, during which special events will occur in the history of the Jews. “Seventy weeks,” the angel said to the prophet, “are decreed upon thy people and upon thy holy city.” It will be noted that in these communications Israel is spoken of as Daniel's people, and Jerusalem as Daniel's city, never as the people or city of Jehovah. The people were Lo-ammi, that is, not His people, as Hosea had declared (Hosea 1: 9).

We may now inquire briefly what period of time is signified by the term, “seventy weeks.” And this inquiry should be prefaced by the explanation that a literal translation of the Hebrew words would be “seventy sevens.” When referring to time-periods in the Old Testament, this word “sevens” is usually synonymous with weeks of seven days each. Indeed, this is its general usage, as in Ex. 34: 22; Lev. 12: 5; Num. 28: 26; Deut. 16: 9, 10, 16; 2 Chron. 8: 13; Jer. 5: 24. The signification in these cases is clear from the context, as it is also in another place in Daniel (Dan. 10: 2, 3).

Here, however, a term of seven days is obviously inapplicable. Seventy weeks of seven days each would be about a year and a half in extent only. And we know that the period from the edict to restore Jerusalem to the coming of the Messiah (v. 25) was far more than this. By the same test, seventy times seven weeks as well as seventy times seven months are found insufficient to reach unto the coming of Messiah the Prince.

It is different, however, when the “sevens” are regarded as sevens of years. So reckoned, the interval is covered. Seventy times seven years is 490 years, and we learn from the context that until the coming of Messiah the Prince is sixty-nine sevens, or 483 years. This period is in accordance with the facts of history, as we hope to point out in more detail in the second part of this paper.

The following quotation may, however, be added to supplement the remarks already made. “Daniel had made inquiry about seventy years of the captivity in Babylon; the answer speaks also of seventy periods, which in our English translation are called 'weeks'; the word, however, does not necessarily mean seven days, but a period of seven parts of course, it is much more often used in speaking of a week than of anything else, because nothing is so often mentioned as a week which is similarly divided. The Hebrews, however, used a septenary scale as to time, just as habitually as we should reckon by tens; the sabbatical years, the jubilees, all tended to give this thought a permanent place in their minds. The denomination here is to be taken from the subject of Daniel's prayer; he prayed about years; he is answered about periods of seven years, i.e., the recurrence of sabbatical years.

“His prayer had related to the deliverance of Israel from their then captivity; the reply goes much farther; for it sets out, not from the release of the people, but from the edict to restore and to build Jerusalem, and it reaches through events of varied kinds, until the absolute and established blessing on the ground of righteousness and forgiveness is brought in.”

The Seventy Years of Chastisement.

It might prove helpful in this connection to point out the references to the dates covered by the seventy years of chastisement predicted by Jeremiah. This period of penal servitude was distinct from and preceded the “seventy weeks” apportioned to Daniel's people and city. The latter period forms a special section of the “times of the Gentiles,” at the conclusion of which the Gentile kingdoms will be overthrown and the full blessings of the new covenant introduced for Israel.

A concise history of the period of this particular chastisement under the Babylonian power is given at the close of the Chronicles. In the brief summary there introduced it is shown that the punishment began with the burning of the house of God and the destruction of the wall of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, who carried captive to Babylon those that escaped his sword. There the captives remained until Babylon itself was overthrown, and the kingdom of Persia set up. Meanwhile, the land lay desolate, keeping sabbath until the seventy years of Jeremiah had passed.

The passage in Chronicles is as follows in J.N.D.'s translation: “All the chiefs of the priests also, and the people, increased their transgressions, according to all the abominations of the nations; and they defiled the house of Jehovah which He had hallowed in Jerusalem. And Jehovah the God of their fathers sent to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending; because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked at the messengers of God, and despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the fury of Jehovah rose against His people, and there was no remedy.

“And He brought up [against] them the king of the Chaldees, and slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and spared not young man nor maiden, old man nor him of hoary head: He gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of Jehovah, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, he brought all to Babylon. And they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all the palaces thereof with fire, and all the precious vessels thereof were given up to destruction. And them that had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they became servants to him and his sons, until the reign of the kingdom of Persia; to fulfil the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath, to fulfil seventy years.

“And in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of Jehovah by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, and he made a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also in writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia “All kingdoms of the earth has Jehovah the God of the heavens given to me, and He has charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all His people, Jehovah his God be with him, and let him go up” (2 Chron. 36: 14-23).

Part 2.

“Know therefore and understand  From the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah, the Prince, are seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. The street and the moat shall be built again, even in troublous times. And after the sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, and shall have nothing” (Dan. 9: 25, 26, J.N.D.'s Trans.).

In the former part of this paper, dealing with verse 24, we saw that Daniel was first instructed by the angel Gabriel, that a period of time, called seventy weeks (heptads, or hebdomads), had been marked off in the calendar of future history, in which important events bearing upon Daniel's people would occur. The expiration of this period would see the fulfilment of the divinely-founded hopes of the people, an end being made of sins, and everlasting righteousness being established in connection with the kingdom of Israel set up with Jerusalem as its centre. After giving, in this preliminary statement, the general scope of this particular prophecy, the angel added certain details which would serve as landmarks of the highest importance in the understanding of the coming events.

After the introductory statement, three sub-divisions of the period of seventy weeks were enumerated. Gabriel explained that the whole span of this allotted time would consist of the following portions:—

(1) Seven weeks;

(2) Threescore and two weeks;

(3) One week;

making a total of four hundred and ninety years, or seventy heptads.

Regarding this prophetic era of seventy weeks (heptads) as consisting of seventy sevens of years (70 sabbatical years, Ex. 23: 10, 11), then the intervening portions would be:—

(1) 49 years;

(2) 434 years;

(3) 7 years;

making a total of four hundred and ninety years, corresponding with the seventy heptads (see also p. 10, section: 'Seventy Weeks of Years').

The Sixty-nine Weeks.

It is necessary to observe carefully the language used with reference to the sub-divisions specified, since it indicates quite definitely what would be the starting-point from which the years composing the seventy weeks should be counted. Gabriel's words were, “From the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah, the Prince, are seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks.”

Here we find specified what event in the immediate future might be awaited, and its appearance regarded as the beginning of the deliverance of Jerusalem from her state of desolation, concerning which Daniel had set this inquiry afoot (ver. 2). That event was to be the issue of a proclamation to restore and to build Jerusalem.

This word or proclamation would come, not directly from Jehovah, but from the Persian monarch. And this Circumstance of divine aloofness is in perfect keeping with the then condition of the people who had been cast off by Jehovah on account of their sins. The chosen nation are regarded as Lo-Ammi throughout the book of Daniel. The people are referred to as Daniel's people, not as Jehovah's. The prophetic unfoldings recorded in this book were given to Daniel at Babylon in visions, or communicated through an angel, and not direct from Jehovah, as in the case of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others. And the authority for the restoration of the desolate city would come through the Gentile sovereign, and not as Jehovah's expressed mandate. While God would work for the blessing of Jerusalem and the Jews, He would do so secretly, mediately, and in His providence.

The angel in the course of his message to Daniel first spoke of a period which would stretch

from the edict to restore and build Jerusalem to Messiah the Prince.

This period was to consist of two unequal parts, viz., “seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.” Hence we gather that sixty-nine weeks, or four hundred and eighty-three years, would elapse from the issue of the aforesaid edict unto the coming of the Messiah who was the hope of Israel's nationhood.

It follows, therefore, that this prophetic message giving the date when the Messiah might be expected to appear was as carefully and precisely expressed as the seventy years of the people's servitude to the king of Babylon were stated by Jeremiah (Jer. 25: 11, 12). Daniel and the faithful saints of God who followed him and cherished the words of this prophecy would be enabled to locate its fulfilment with accuracy. As Daniel “understood by books” in the first year of Darius that the close of the seventy years of desolation for Jerusalem was at hand (ver. 2), so Simeon, Anna, and others knew from this prophecy of the book of Daniel that the advent of the Messiah was at hand in their day Luke 2: 25, 36-38).

The First Seven Weeks.

It is a singular feature of the phraseology of the prophecy that the sixty-nine weeks should be separated into two parts of unequal duration, and that the shorter portion should be named first. Why was the sub-division made in this striking manner? And the following explanation, which is the most easy and natural, is the one that commends itself as being true.

Gabriel declared (1) that the word to rebuild Jerusalem was to be the initial event of this prophetic era, and (2) that seven weeks would follow that event, these weeks being distinguished by this separate mention from the sixty-two that follow and complete the sixty-nine up to Messiah the Prince. It is simple and unforced to conclude that the interval of seven weeks following the word to restore Jerusalem would be the time occupied in fulfilling the word concerning the restoration of that city. They form a special allotment of seven out of the sixty-nine weeks, appropriated for the particular purpose of re-building the city of the Great King.

This information concerning the immediate future of Daniel's city and people would allay his personal anxiety on this account which he had so feelingly expressed in his prayer (Dan. 9: 4-19) to which this message was sent as an answer. During the first seven weeks (forty-nine years, or seven sabbatical years, see Lev. 25: 8) thus specified, the street of the city and the moat should be built again, though the times would be troublous on account of many adversaries. The work of restoration would be accomplished, but in the face of great difficulties and opposition, as the book of Nehemiah shows.

Thus we see these seven weeks are singled out that God might give us not merely a history but a prediction of the troubles. The derision, the hatred, the enmity, the endeavours to destroy, the continual intrigues and plottings in and around the land, the efforts to stir up the court of Persia against them, the carelessness of the people, the faults of the princes, the unfaithfulness of the priests — all these things counter-worked, the bitterest and most humiliating of all their sorrows being found among themselves — Daniel's people, not the Gentiles, nor even the Samaritans. Here then we have the prediction, not only the history of it; so much does God think of His people in the day of small things.”

The Edict to Build Jerusalem.

A few words may be of service in determining the point of time from which the prophetic period began to run its course. The words of the angel are precise, and refer to the licence or firman relating to the re-building of Jerusalem, which would be issued by the Persian monarch. And our inquiry will be whether Scriptural history contains the record of any such permission.

On examination of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah we discover that three distinct decrees were promulgated by the kings of Persia in connection with the return of the Jews from the Babylonian captivity to which reference is made by the inspired writers.

(1) The first of these decrees was issued by Cyrus in his first year (B.C. 536), and it authorised the Jews in all parts of his dominions to return to Judah for the building of the house of the LORD God at Jerusalem (Ezra 1: 1-3). This decree coincided with the conclusion of the seventy years of the Jews' captivity.

This decree of Cyrus was confirmed about seventeen years later by Darius, the son of Hystaspes, in his second year (Ezra 4: 24). The work of re-building the temple of God, which had in the interval been interrupted by command of an unfriendly king, Artaxerxes (Ezra 4: 19), was resumed seventy years after its destruction (Zech. 1: 12), the people being encouraged in this work by the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah. Four years later, in the sixth year of this king (Ezra 6: 15), the house of God was completed and dedicated to the service of God with joy (B.C. 515).

Though sometimes regarded as a separate Persian edict, this decree is a ratification of the original one by Cyrus (Ezra 6: 3), and related to the erection of the temple-buildings only.

(2) The second decree or commandment (Ezra 7: 7-28) was issued by Artaxerxes Longimanus in his seventh year of rule (B.C. 468). In this case the commission was granted to Ezra the scribe, empowering him “to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 7: 11-28). Permission was thereby given for the sacrifices to be re-established, for the temple furniture and its services to be restored, and for the people to be taught in the law of God.

Clearly, both these edicts (1 and 2) have reference to the restoration of the temple and the worship of Jehovah at Jerusalem rather than to the city itself. Indeed the Persian policy was to forbid the reconstruction of the city and its walls (Ezra 4: 16). These decrees, therefore, do not correspond with the chronological sign given to Daniel, which was a royal warrant to build and restore Jerusalem.

(3) The third decree was issued a few years later by the same king, and this applied specifically to the building of the city and its defences (B.C. 445). In the twentieth year of his reign (Neh. 2: 1), Artaxerxes gave letters, or warrants, to Nehemiah, authorising him to build the city of his “fathers' sepulchres” (Neh. 2: 5). In this “word” of the Persian monarch was found the appointed indication that the seventy weeks of Daniel were beginning.

A long time had elapsed since the overthrow of Babylon, and the consequent release of the people of Israel from servitude to that Gentile empire. The authority of Artaxerxes (B.C. 445) for the restoration of Jerusalem was granted about ninety years after the prophecy of the seventy weeks, and the commandment of Cyrus to build the temple (B.C. 536), and about seventy years after the dedication of the temple in the reign of Darius (B.C. 515).

Why was there such a considerable interval as this? The answer appears to lie in the lethargy and indifference of the people to the divine claims. We gather from the exhortations of Haggai and Zechariah what was their prevailing spirit. The people said that the time had not come that the house of Jehovah should be built (Haggai 1: 2). Many did not even return from the land of their captivity when permission to do so was given by Cyrus. They had settled down in their place of exile, and were content to remain where they had acquired houses and lands. And when the house of the LORD was dedicated, there seems to have been little regard for the city of their fathers.

But God was gracious in spite of the apathy of His people, and He eventually overruled matters at the seat of the Persian Government so that Nehemiah was appointed Tirshatha or governor in the land of Judah (Neh. 5: 14). Nehemiah was entrusted with the work of restoring a measure of civil order in Jerusalem, so that the repatriated Jews might dwell there in safety, even as Ezra had many years previously been commissioned to reinstate the worship of Jehovah in a newly-built temple.

Nehemiah set to work with great energy and organising ability to make the city secure from its enemies, and in fifty-two days the walls were completed (Neh. 6: 15), though the gates were not finished in that time (Neh. 6: 1). The prophecy of the seventy weeks foretold that the interior of the city (the street, or open places; see Ezra 10: 9; Neh. 8: 1, 3, 16; Zech. 8: 4, 5) and the moat or trench outside the walls would occupy seven heptads or forty-nine years in all. The entire completion of Jerusalem as a habitable city is not recorded in scripture, but the Jews would learn from the prophecy in Daniel that the work of re-building the city would be more expeditious than the reconstruction of the temple, i.e., the anointing of the Holy of holies.

The Threescore and Two Weeks.

The next installment of time after the seven weeks mentioned by the angel was sixty-two weeks, and this interval would bring the watchers among the people of God to the time of Messiah the Prince: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks and threescore and two weeks.” “It cannot be,” the Lord Jesus said, “that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem” (Luke 13: 33). Hence in the counsels of God it was to be that Jerusalem should be re-established as a city of habitations, so that there the promised Prince might come in the fulness of time, and present Himself to the nation as the Son of David.

It will be remarked with what care the Spirit of prophecy indicated by this break (1) the reparation of the city in seven weeks, and then (2) the stretch of a further sixty-two weeks until Messiah came to the place where God had set His name, where, alas, when He offered Himself to the Jews for their reception He would be rejected and slain.

Zechariah, who prophesied soon after this message was sent to Daniel, was full of allusions to the city and its future. In his short book, the name itself, Jerusalem, occurs thirty-nine times. And it was that prophet who foretold in exact terms the formal presentation of Messiah's claims to the people at Jerusalem: “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt, the foal of an ass” (Zech. 9: 9). This was fulfilled, with the exception of the fourth clause which is omitted by Matthew in his quotation (Matt. 21: 4, 5), with reference to the occasion when the Lord rode into Jerusalem a few days before His crucifixion.

It is further to be noted that the lengthy period named precludes the application of the prophecy to a Persian prince. The term, Messiah, means the anointed one, and it is used in scripture to distinguish those marked out in that manner for the kingly or other office. In one of his prophecies, Cyrus, king of Persia, is spoken, of by Isaiah as the anointed of Jehovah (Isa. 45: 1). But this instance is an exceptional one, Cyrus being anointed for the special purpose of the subjugation of Babylon, and is mentioned by name. Ordinarily, the Messiahs or anointed ones were those called to rule in Israel, and pre-eminently the term is applied in promise and prophecy to Him who would be anointed by the Spirit of God to be the Prince of Peace.

This number of weeks carried the prophetic period up to the time of the Messiah which is stated generally. It is not specifically stated what exact point of time in the life of the Messiah would be their termination. The sixty-nine weeks might be regarded as extending —

(1) Unto the date of His birth; or

(2) Unto the beginning of His public ministry; or

(3) Unto His presentation to the Jews as the King in Zion.

As, however, this prophecy relates to the Messiah as the Ruler of God's appointing and anointing whom He thus promised to raise up in substitution for the Gentile rulers who held sway over Israel, the last meaning (3) seems most appropriate to the scope of the prediction.

It is undeniable that the Lord was born King of the Jews, as the Magi acknowledged (Matt. 2: 2). After the Lord's baptism in Jordan, Andrew expressly confessed Him as the Messiah (John 1: 41). But it was not until the close of His ministry that the Lord definitely presented Himself to Jerusalem and the Jews as the Anointed of Jehovah, and He was then crucified as the King of the Jews (cp. Acts 10: 37, 38).

It would appear, therefore, though some reckon otherwise, that the sixty-nine weeks extended from the decree to re-build Jerusalem (the twentieth year of Artaxerxes) unto the date of the Lord's public entry into the city of David, though the latter point of time is not so precisely stated in the prophecy as the former.

Messiah cut off.

The next event foretold to Daniel by the angel's word of prophecy was the violent death of the Messiah when He should come at the pre-arranged time. Daniel in his prayer had besought the Lord that His anger and fury might be turned away from His city, Jerusalem, but by this communication he was instructed that the cup of Israel's iniquity was not yet full. He learned that though the city would be restored at the defined date, that work would be executed in troublous times, and moreover, that though Messiah would also come at the defined date, the sinful hearts of His people would be unchanged, and the blessings of the kingdom could not then be introduced, for the Messiah Himself would be cut off. Gabriel's words were: “And after the threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, and shall have nothing.”

The presence of the definite article before the “sixty-two weeks” identifies the period with the one named in the preceding sentence. As this term of years reached on to the Messiah, we must consider them to have been completed in the days of His flesh, and for the reasons already stated, they were completed at the public presentation of Himself as King to the daughter of Zion. Now, it was “after” the expiry of these weeks that Messiah was cut off, and while the prophecy did not state how long afterwards, the date must coincide with His crucifixion and death.

The word, “cut off,” used by Gabriel to describe the result of the advent of the Messiah, frequently occurs in a judicial sense. It is employed throughout the Old Testament for the punishment by death of offenders in Israel (see Ex. 12: 15, 19, and a number of other passages). This penalty being prescribed by the law of Moses, the Jews pleaded the fact in their hatred of the Lord Jesus, saying to Pilate, “We have a law, and by our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God” (John 19: 7). And as their King, therefore, He was crucified, His title, King of the Jews, being owned only on the cross, and there in derision by a Gentile.

Messiah to have Nothing.

It will be observed that the phrase which follows in our ordinary version, “but not for Himself,” is rendered, with greater correctness and propriety, in the Revised and other versions, “and shall have nothing.”

The former phrase implies that Messiah was cut off for others, and suggests a reference to the atoning death of our Lord. But while it is undeniably true that atonement was involved in the death of Christ, there is not sufficient ground for assuming it to be in view in this connection, nor for assigning this sense to the original text.

Here the immediate subject of the prophecy is the reception of the Messiah when He shall come. Strange as it would appear to the prophet sorrowing over the miserable condition of his people, the declaration to him was that when the One anointed to rule should come to the city and people of God, He would be subjected to the death penalty prescribed by the law of Jehovah for civil and religious offenders. Messiah would be cut off, and have nothing.

And historically this was the result after the sixty-two weeks. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. After His crucifixion His very garments were claimed by His executioners, and His sepulchre was another's: He had nothing. It is written that His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth (Psalm 72: 8). Yet, in Jerusalem, He found no throne, no temple, no priesthood — nothing that was His by right of inheritance, as the Anointed of the Lord, was accorded to Him by the people of the Jews and their rulers.

Part 3.

“And the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with an overflow, and unto the end, war — the desolations determined. And he shall confirm a covenant with the many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and because of the protection of abominations [there shall be] a desolator, even until that the consumption and what is determined shall be poured out upon the desolate” (Dan. 9: 26, 27, J.N.D.'s Trans.).

We now come to the concluding portion of the prophetic time decreed upon Daniel's people and city. Seven sevens and sixty-two sevens of years extended to the introduction of the Messiah, and His rejection by the people, leaving one seven of years to be fulfilled. To this period the angel next refers.

It should be carefully noted at the outset of this part of the paper that during the whole of the seventy weeks the anomalous condition of the people in Daniel's day would remain. The nation of Israel would be Lo-Ammi throughout, disowned of Jehovah, while the sovereignty of the Gentiles over the Jews would also continue throughout. In conformity with this policy towards the nation the angel calls them, in speaking to Daniel, “thy people,” and shows him that the answer to his prayer would be deferred; for the desolation of Jerusalem and the temple of God were to abide until the seventy weeks have expired.

The language of the angel Gabriel is much compressed, and is couched in general terms. There are in consequence some difficulties in the interpretation of the details of this part of the prophecy especially. But it seems clear that the following events are therein foretold to occur after the sixty-nine weeks and the cutting off of the Messiah: —

(1) The destruction of the city and the sanctuary;

(2) A flood of judgments and further desolations up to the end;

(3) A Gentile prince will make a treaty with the greater part of the Jews for one week (seven years);

(4) This prince will suppress the Jewish sacrifices in the midst of this week;

(5) Because of the abominations (idolatries) in Jerusalem a desolator will come;

(6) Judgments will continue to he poured out upon the desolate (Jerusalem) until the full penalty is paid.

It may be appropriate to make a remark or two in connection with each of these heads.

The People of the Coming Prince.

(1) The event named to follow first after the cutting off of the Messiah the Prince is a further destruction of the city of Jerusalem and of the holy place by the people of the prince that shall come: “And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.” Now we have seen that the starting-point of Daniel's seventy weeks was the Persian edict to restore and to build Jerusalem. It is now revealed that after the sixty-nine weeks Jerusalem would again be destroyed. Nebuchadnezzar was the agent of its first destruction; who would be the agent in the second case?

This the word of the angel answers in precise terms — “the people of the prince that shall come.” Who is this prince? Gabriel had previously announced the advent of Messiah the Prince and His untimely death. If Messiah were in view in the second clause, it would imply that the people of Messiah, that is, the Jews would destroy their own city and the sanctuary. This, however, cannot be the meaning, for no scripture even suggests that the Jews will turn against the city of the sepulchres of their fathers. The prince that shall come, therefore, if not the Messiah nor indeed a Jew at all, will be a Gentile prince.

Since this destruction was to occur after the crucifixion of the Messiah, we must conclude that the people of that prince would be of the fourth empire, under whose jurisdiction and by whose civil authority the Lord Jesus was slain. It was indeed an act of righteous retribution that the Romans into whose hands the Jews delivered their Christ to be crucified should come and take away their place and nation (John 11: 48). The Lord Himself foresaw the imminent doom of the guilty city even as He offered Himself to them as the King of Zion. Weeping at the prospect, He lamented, “If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation” (Luke 19: 41-44). The Lord spoke also on a subsequent occasion of the future demolition of the temple (Luke 21: 5, 6).

The fulfilment of this clause of the prophecy seems to have been when Jerusalem was compassed by the armies of Titus, the Roman general, in A.D. 70, captured by them, and burned. This act is ascribed to the people of the coming prince, and not to the prince himself. It is therefore to be understood that the prince is a notable personage yet to come. He will be the head of the Roman empire when it is revived in its last days, and he is spoken of in other parts of the prophetic word under other descriptive titles. For instance, he is the beast whom John saw rising out of the sea (Rev. 13: 1-10).

Here in Daniel no distinctive features of the prince are mentioned, but it is gathered that he will be eminent as such. He is not himself associated with the sack of Jerusalem, though his people are. As the great head of the Gentile civil power he is a contrast with as well as an enemy to Jesus Christ who is the true Prince of the kings of the earth the Prince of princes (Rev. 1: 5; Dan. 8: 25).

The End.

(2) The angel spoke of the end, and of what would be the character of the painful experiences of the Jews up to the end. “And the end thereof shall be with an overflow, and unto the end, war, — the desolations determined” or “the determined [portion] of desolations.” The end would be with a flood, or overflow, and until the end war would continue and also the desolations, which Daniel hoped might cease in his day.

The end refers to the close of the age which commenced with the supremacy of Nebuchadnezzar and which will go on so long as the Gentile rule remains in the ascendant and Israel is servant to the nations. Daniel, like every godly Jew of his day and of succeeding days, anxiously sought for light upon the termination of this servile condition. So the disciples asked the Lord, “What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the age? And Jesus answered . . . then shall the end come” (Matt. 24: 3-14). And after His resurrection they said, “Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1: 6). In Daniel the phrase, “the time of the end,” recurs noticeably (Dan. 8: 17; Dan. 11: 35, 40; Dan. 12: 4, 9). The end therefore means the conclusion of that period called elsewhere “the times of the Gentiles.”

In the Revised Version we find the reading, “and his end shall be with a flood,” making the end to refer to that of the coming prince (cf. 11: 45) instead of that of the period. Even if this rendering be accepted, the general result will be unaltered, since the end of the seventy weeks will coincide with the destruction of the Roman prince, the beast who is destroyed with the false prophet by the Lord Himself as the Warrior King from heaven (Rev. 19: 20). But internal considerations appear to favour the translation given by J. N. D.

The end, however, will be accompanied by a flood or an overflow. This is a figure well-known in the prophets, and used to signify overwhelming destruction by invading hostile armies. See, for example, Isaiah 8: 7, 8; Isaiah 10: 22; Isaiah 28: 2, 15; Jer. 47: 2; Dan. 11: 22, 26. It may also be allusive to the deluge of Noah's day, when the overflowing flood of waters swept away the corrupt and the ungodly, and thus purified the world that then was. No doubt the overflow or flood mentioned by Gabriel has reference to the invasion of the holy land by the Assyrian, or the king of the north in the last days, and we learn therefore that the final deliverance of the Jews from their troubles will be deferred until this predicted invasion has been accomplished.

Until that time war will continue. This state corresponds with the warning by the Lord of the wars and rumours which will prevail until the end comes (Matt. 24: 3-14). Desolations upon the guilty city will also remain until the end. Their extent and their intensity are, however, fully pre-determined. The uttermost farthing of the great debt of the people must be paid, but nothing beyond this will be exacted from them.

The Covenant for One Week.

(3) The outlook indicated in verse 26 was as far as the end of the age and of the seventy weeks. The following verse relates to the final week of the series, immediately preceding the end, as it does. The angel first says, “And he shall confirm a covenant with the many for one week.”

Who is the person now mentioned? He confirms a covenant, or in the words of the R.V., makes a firm covenant, with the many. Only two persons are mentioned in this prophecy, viz.: (1) Messiah, the Prince, and (2) the prince whose people destroy Jerusalem. The person named cannot be the Messiah, since we nowhere read that the new covenant which He will introduce for the houses of Israel and Judah will be for one week only. On the contrary, His covenant will be an everlasting one (Jer. 31: 31-34; Jer. 32: 40). The easy natural interpretation of the passage is that the treaty-maker is the prince that shall come, that is, the future prince of the fourth or Roman empire who will grant facilities to the Jews for the re-establishment of their national worship, with protection from their adversaries, the term of this league or covenant to be for one week or for seven years.

This compact is to be made, not with the whole of the Jews, but with “the many,” that is, with the majority of the people in contrast with the minority, or the “little flock.” Reference to the many as distinct from the remnant of faithful ones is also made in Dan. 11: 33 and Dan. 12: 3.

It will be observed that the new translations do not support the rendering in the Authorised Version of “the covenant,” which has led some to suppose Jeremiah's covenant is meant in the passage.

The Break in the Continuity of the Weeks.

From the construction of this prophecy it is clear that an interval exists between the expiration of the sixty-nine weeks and the commencement of the last of the seventy. It ought to be no matter of surprise to us that the crucifixion of their Messiah by the Jews should be the occasion of a vast disturbance in the calendar of prophecy. Jews and Gentiles being alike guilty, God was pleased to exercise the sovereignty of His grace and call out a people for the heavenly kingdom of His Son. This is proceeding in the present interval of His long-suffering, the consummation of the earthly dispensations being deferred in consequence.

There has therefore been already a period of nearly two thousand years between the sixty-ninth and the seventieth week. The delay is due to the awful sin of the Jews, although God has turned even this to account through the preaching of the gospel of His grace. Although deliverance seemed so near at the advent of the Messiah, the mighty work could not be wrought because of the unbelief and animosity of the nation. There was similar delay at the end of the seventy years of Babylon's supremacy when to Daniel deliverance seemed so near (Dan. 9: 2). The prophet was shown, however, that there must be postponement of this deliverance on account of the iniquity of the people. Accordingly while under Ezra and Nehemiah the temple was restored and the city rebuilt, the Jews still remained subservient to Gentile rule. They remained too the same stiff-necked and perverse generation; and this unchanged obduracy of the people was again proved when the Day-spring from on high visited them, for they even made use of the lawless hands of the Gentiles to which they themselves were in bondage to secure His crucifixion.

“If the Jews, and Jerusalem in that her day, had repented, all was ready for her re-establishment in glory. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob could have been raised up, as Lazarus had been. But she knew not the day of her visitation, and the fulfilling of the seventy weeks, as well as the blessing that should follow had necessarily to be postponed. Through grace we know that God had yet more excellent thoughts and purposes, and that man's state was such that this could not have been, as the event proved.”

There are other instances in scripture of unnamed intervals occurring between events named in juxtaposition. Thus, the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance are mentioned together by Isaiah (Isa. 61: 2), but only one of the two is fulfilled (Luke 4: 19-21). So also Peter quotes the verse of the Psalm which states that the face of the Lord is against them that do evil (1 Peter 3: 12), but he does not add the remainder of the verse which predicts summary vengeance upon them (Ps. 34: 16). The latter clause has yet to be fulfilled.

The Final Week.

As the commencement of the seventy weeks was to be marked by the issue of the edict to restore and build Jerusalem, so the commencement of the seventieth week will be marked by the alliance of the Roman prince with the Jews for their help and protection. Both of these acts of the Gentile rulers were outwardly of a friendly character towards the outcast people.

It has been thought by some that this final week will begin its course directly the church is removed at the rapture. If this were so, then the church being caught up today, the covenant would be signed with the prince of the revived Roman empire tomorrow. This is not possible, and is inconsistent with the series of preparatory judgments which are foretold in the Apocalypse (Rev. 6 etc.) as preceding the appearance of the beast which emerges from the sea (Rev. 13). The seal-judgments have no connection with the events of Daniel's last week, except so far as they are prefatory to the coming of the head of the resuscitated Western empire. Then at his appearance the unbelieving mass of the Jews will be in their own land with a polity of their own, organized to the extent that they can enter into an agreement with this prince for their own protection. Thus they will resume their subjection to that Gentile power under which they crucified their Messiah, that power which is now non-existent, but which will re-appear for the fulfilment of this prophecy.

There is good ground, therefore, for expecting an interval to occur between the translation of the church and the beginning of Daniel's seventieth week. As there was a transitional and uncounted period between the death of the Messiah and the destruction of Jerusalem, so there may be a transitional and uncounted period between the rapture and the final week of the desolations of Jerusalem.

The Breach of the Covenant.

(4) “And in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease.” The patronage of the Roman prince continues for three and a half years only, then he uses his authority over the Jews to forbid the offering of further sacrifice. From this clause we understand that the people will have returned to their own land and their ancient ritual restored. As these sacrifices will be offered and the feasts kept in unbelief, they will not be acceptable to Jehovah, and the people will in point of fact prepare themselves to receive the abominations of idolatry in a degree never known before, and thus ripen themselves for the unsparing judgments of the Lord.

The covenant with the head of the Roman empire appears to be referred to by the prophet Isaiah as a covenant with death and an agreement with hell (Isa. 28: 18). We gather from this prophecy that the covenant will be undertaken by the Jews for political reasons. They are in dread of a threatened incursion into their territory of the northern Assyrian power of that day. They seek therefore the protection of the Roman imperial power against the overflowing scourge, that is, the Eastern nations, who will then be massing against the Western. But the covenant will be disannulled by the Roman Prince, and in concert with Antichrist the nominal worship of God in Palestine will be proscribed, and the abomination of desolation set up in the temple (Dan. 12: 11; Matt. 24: 15; Mark 13: 14).

The Desolator.

(5) The next clause presents difficulties of translation, although its general significance is undoubted. J.N.D. translated it, “Because of the protection of the abominations [there shall be] a desolator.” In the R.V. we have, “Upon the wing of abominations shall come one that maketh desolate.”

The original word, translated “overspreading” in the A.V., is so rendered in that place alone. It signifies wing, which is often used figuratively for shelter or protection, such as a bird affords to its young (Ps. 17: 8; Ps. 36: 7; Ps. 57: 1; Ps. 61: 4; Ps. 63: 7; Ps. 91: 4). This, as will be seen, is the sense given to the word by J.N.D.

The translation of the Revisers seems to convey the sense that as a bird is carried on its wings to its destination, so the desolator is brought to Jerusalem because of the abominations. This is true in itself, but perhaps is not the correct turn of the passage.

The abomination will be set up in the temple at Jerusalem under the power of the Roman beast and the Antichrist jointly, and men will be forced into idolatrous worship under the pain of death (Rev. 13: 15). For idolatry of the very worst type will then be practised in the holy city under the auspices of the Roman prince that shall come and of the Antichrist or the false Messiah, that Jewish prince and prophet whom, coming in his own name, the Jews will accept. Because of this protection of abominations in Jerusalem, there shall be, said Gabriel, a desolator, that is one who makes desolate.

This desolator will be a foreign power used of God as a scourge upon the guilty city. It will be a descendant of an ancient enemy of the people, in the Assyrian king of the north (Dan. 11), who will attack the “pleasant land” as the executor of the vengeance of God upon Jerusalem and the Jews. Fear of this power drove them three and a half years before to make an alliance with the Roman prince which will prove unavailing. Their “refuge of lies” will be swept away, and the waters will overflow their hiding-place.

It has been suggested that the clause might be translated, “Because of the protection by the abominations, there shall be a desolator” instead of, “Because of the protection of the abominations, etc.”

The interpretation of the passage which has already been given is that on account of the shelter and encouragement of idolatry at Jerusalem by the Jews as the responsible religious power, and by the Romans as a power of civilization, God will send upon them a desolator, that is, another world-power which will inflict desolation upon them, because of their protection of the abominations.

The alternative meaning suggested is that because the Jews will in that day forsake the protection afforded by the Lord God Almighty for that by the abomination, that is, the wing of Jehovah for the wing of the idol, God will send the desolator upon them. The desolation that will follow will show them how vain a thing it is to trust in the shelter of such a wing.

We invite our readers to consider both suggestions very carefully. Whatever is the exact nature of the sin, the desolator is the executor of God's providential judgment upon that sin.

The Consummation.

(6) Again, as at the close of verse 26, the angel refers to the end, to that time to which Daniel with such eagerness looked forward, when the anger and fury of the Lord would be turned away from His city Jerusalem and His holy mountain: “Until the consumption [or, consummation], and what is determined shall be poured out upon the desolate.”

The word rendered consumption, or consummation, is used elsewhere to express the execution of Divine judgments to the full. Thus we read in Isaiah, “For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, [only] a remnant of them shall return: the consumption determined shall overflow in righteousness. For a consumption, and [one] determined, will the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, accomplish in the midst of all the land”; “I have heard from the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, a consumption, and [one] determined, upon the whole land” (Isa. 10: 22, 23; Isa. 28: 22; J.N.D.). In Jeremiah the same word is translated “full end “in several passages (Jer. 4: 27; Jer. 5: 10, 18; Jer. 30: 11; Jer. 46: 28). The meaning of the prophecy is that the avenging judgments executed by the desolator will form the consummation or climax of God's governmental retribution.

At this point, the judgments decreed upon the nation will be entirely exhausted, although the nation itself will not be fully consumed. All that was fore-ordained will then have been poured out upon the desolate, that is, upon Jerusalem (see Isa. 40: 2; Isa. 52: 1; Isa. 54: 1; Isa. 62: 4).

Then the desolations of Zion will be finished, and that prophecy will be fulfilled which says to her, “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah; for the LORD delighteth in thee” (Isa. 62: 4).

Counsel for the Last Days

Substance of Two Addresses by W. J. Hocking, 1909 and 1910

on 2 Timothy 2: 15-19 and 2 Timothy 3: 14-17.

Published by C. A. Hammond, 3rd. ed., 1945.

1. The Permanence of Divine Things

The Foundation and the Seal

“Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth. But shun profane babblings; for they will proceed further in ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a gangrene; of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; men who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. Howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His, and, Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness” (2 Tim. 2: 15-19, R.V.).

In the latter part of this scripture we have truth that has already been brought before us today. For we have been reminded what are our duty and responsibility in the present condition of the Christian profession. Only here we have a little more than a reminder of what is due from us. It is also needful for us to know what we have been made “in Christ,” and what we inherit in the things that God has already given us and which we can never lose. If called to the path of duty we must have that which gives us strength for the task. It is no use to go to an anaemic person and merely tell him to have strength; in his weakness he needs to be made strong, to have his “loins girt about with truth.” Amid the wreck of Christendom what have we still remaining? Do we not oftentimes find ourselves desponding because we look at what we have not, instead of what we have because it is secured to us “in Christ”?

This Epistle was written in view of what had come upon the church in apostolic times. There were still those who had seen the fair scene in Jerusalem at Pentecost, when all were filled by one holy Personage, and were all of “one accord.” The astonishing outward unity was true not only of Jewish believers in Jerusalem, but of Gentiles who were brought into the assembly. All forgot racial animosities, and the love of God was by the Holy Spirit shed abroad alike in all their hearts.

But how soon the brightness of visible Christian unity faded! In half a century it was gone. When Paul wrote his later Epistles, how much had come in to sadden his heart! It was a trial and a sorrow to such an energetic man to be shut up in Rome while tidings came in from all parts of the world that assemblies were departing from the faith, and saints forgot to love one another. Disciples turned away from him, neglected his teaching, and were ashamed of his chain! If so then, what now? Men then were erring from the truth and worse was to come. But God's providence overruled this for our profit, that in the counsel given for that day we might have guidance in paths of similar difficulty.

Hence we have words in this Epistle which send a flash of light over the dark waters of strife and confusion. Men of that day were misconstruing the word of God; and it was needful for a workman, if he did not wish to be ashamed, to handle it rightly, and present himself “approved unto God” (ver. 15). It is a solemn thing to take the scissors and the paste and seek by removing here and adding there to improve the word of God. Let us heed the warning of the apostle, and be careful to divide or handle rightly the word of truth. Some whom Paul knew had missed the mark. People like something new, and so did Hymenaeus and Philetus. They talked of the resurrection as having taken place already, and their “profane babblings” overthrew the faith of some. A man who speaks to others on any subject takes a great responsibility upon himself, but how much greater do those take who speak of the word of God?

The Foundation

But the apostle has a word of cheer and comfort, which is found in the last verse I read. “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure,” or, as it should read, “Howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth.” I think it is a needed word of assurance at all times; and from what has been before those assembled here today it is clear that the encouragement is intensely needed at this time. In face of the disturbing apostasy the apostle turns to what is immovable and imperishable. Never mind, Timothy, the fables of Hymenaeus and Philetus; you have the firm foundation which God has established and which abides evermore. In spite of all that is bewildering at the present time, this fact is as true and fresh today as ever; and there is as much power in it as ever. We need not want to go back to Pentecost. What have we got now? The foundation of God. What is it? Because it is not defined in the passage people begin to speculate. You have only to consult commentators to see what confusion is the result. Some would refer you to a concordance. A concordance is excellent when used as it should be, but it is not a substitute for the Bible. It will help you to find parallel references to a text, but it will not give you its meaning, nor provide its interpretation.

The foundation, I believe, refers here to that which God has established for the comfort of our souls. It is not one thing or another specifically, but a general term which comprehends all those things He has given us in Christ Jesus. But three things are specially prominent among those secured to us in these days, and they have all been before us at various times today. In Haggai 2: 4 we have Jehovah's promise, “I am with you.” The New Testament answer to this is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ in all His fulness and sufficiency, Whose perpetual presence is guaranteed to His own. And, blessed be God, the brightness of His promised presence is not dimmed today. The prophet spoke also of the Spirit and the word of God (Hag. 2: 5). And we still have all three — the Son of God, the Spirit of God, the word of God.

Think now what this implies to me and to you. We have Christ as He was given to the church at the beginning. Take an instance from John's Gospel. In John 5 the Lord is spoken of as the Giver of life, while in chapter 6 He is the Supporter of that life, its bread. And the believer whose hunger has been satisfied is the one who knows how to continue to eat His flesh and drink His blood (John 6: 56). What else but the appropriation of the Christ Who died can give support to the soul in days like this? We look back on One Who was ceaselessly active when here amid a “faithless and perverse generation,” yet abiding in unbroken communion with the Father; and we have the privilege of hearing His words and seeing His actings to all sorts and conditions of men. As we read of these things our souls are fed, encouraged and enlightened. In John 10 we see the Shepherd Who cares for the one excommunicated sheep of John 9, as well as His “one flock.” When through faithfulness to Him we find ourselves cast out and alone, is He not at hand to welcome us? He is the same Good Shepherd today as ever.

In John 13 we have infinite comfort. The Lord Jesus Christ just before He was crucified is in the midst of His own. They are only a very few, but a Judas is there, so callous, and a Peter is there, so self-confident. But are His loving words affected by what He sees in their hearts? He speaks to lead them on in the knowledge of Himself, liable as they are to carnal and worldly temptation; and by words and illustration intended to fasten the truth on their hearts He washes their feet, removing the defilements of the way. Amid all the confusion and failure of the present time we have One Who acts for us in glory as He did figuratively in the upper room. We have Him serving us still in this way; for amid all the wreck of ecclesiastical things this firm foundation stands.

This is John's record. There are some who seem to delight to set Paul at loggerheads with the other apostles, but he is not so seen in the scriptures, when read aright. Nor is he as to our subject. This apostle has a deal to say to the Hebrews about the Mosaic system being set aside to make way for Christ. But though the Jewish covenant is shown to decay, in the first and last chapters we are reminded that Jesus Christ never passes away. “Thou art the same”; “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever” (Heb. 1: 12; Heb. 13: 8) . It is true that we ourselves have seen Christian conditions and institutions fade away; but in the person of Christ we have One on Whom change can never come; and He abides in supervision and ministry as at the beginning. In the Revelation vision of the churches, where does John see the Lord? Still there, walking among the seven golden candlesticks.

But we have also the Spirit of God. The Lord promised to send down another Comforter, or Paraclete; One Who should be as much to them here in this world as He Himself had been. He should come down and remain until the bride of Christ is ready and the Lord comes to meet her in the air. There is a lovely picture of this in Genesis 24, where Eliezer convoys Rebekah across the desert to Isaac. Is it not the blessed office of the Spirit to cheer our onward way by the ministry of Christ? The great sin of Christendom is the practical denial of the presence of the Holy Ghost. If we realised His presence when gathered together for worship, how softly we should move, how slow to speak, how swift to hear, how much we should fear to break the silence of the Spirit or miss His utterances! He remains with us in all the sovereign activity He had at the beginning. Why do we not see more of His activity? Because we look amiss; we look for some great spectacle, and forget the still small voice. Two features are ever found in the work of the Spirit, He is here to glorify Christ, and He is the power by which we worship the Father and the Son. And one absolute mark of the ministry of the Spirit is that it glorifies Christ. But this in itself might be misleading. Hence we have a criterion in the scriptures. The Spirit of truth always works in accordance with the word. Truth is a threefold unbreakable cord — the Son could say, “I am . . . the truth” (John 14: 6); so also, “the Spirit is truth” (1 John 5: 6); and “Thy [the Father's] word is truth” (John 17: 17). If I find myself taking a certain course of action, how am I to test whether it is in accordance with the Spirit? I have the word of God as a guide. And so we can always use this test upon ourselves, only — we prefer to try it on others!

A word now on the treasure we have in the word of God as a fundamental basis on which to rest. This character of scripture is found assuring and refreshing by us only when we come to it with human theories set aside. Some come with the set notion of supporting their own fancies, and look out texts accordingly. But we need the word of God as a continual sustaining power in our own souls, and this living link by the Spirit with God Himself alone can keep our souls in communion with the Father and the Son.

If we set up a religious routine of our own, it is possible for persons to fall in with it and to trust in that routine for benefit to their own soul. A person may go to the worship-meeting looking for a word of ministry, and, if there is no word, go empty away; and serve him right! We must go direct to the word of God for ourselves. Why do we not? Because we know it will proceed to set us right and to discover what is wrong with us; and the flesh shrinks from this treatment. But this firm foundation abides, whatever our circumstances, and whatever our errors.

We must regard it as the word of the Lord, not one jot or tittle of which can fail. It is settled in heaven, and by it we are admitted into the counsels of the Most High. A great many think the Lord may and does speak to them of their personal ways, but apparently they think He has no right to interfere with ecclesiastical matters. Some say, “I believe that where I was converted, the Lord means me to stay.” We ought to be in our ecclesiastical associations only where we can, and do, obey the commandments of the Lord.

The Seal

None shall, or can, overthrow the firm foundation of God. But it has a seal. A foundation is supposed to be out of sight, but a seal is visible. We have the two metaphors here. A foundation is that which is unalterably settled, and a seal is the emblem of authority, and the sign of unchangeable purpose (Dan. 6: 17). Think of this seal in connection with the One Who put it there. His seal is open to the inspection of all. There are two great truths plainly expressed in God's seal and counter-seal, which all can lay hold of, and which indeed ought to lay hold of us all: (1) “The Lord knoweth them that are His, and (2) Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.” Without discussing the connection between the seal and the foundation, does it not come home to us as a power to steady and comfort us that whoever may misunderstand our ecclesiastical associations, the Lord knows every one of us. The knowledge of the Lord is what we still have to fall back upon as a resource in the present mass of confusing and opposing forces.

Peter was particularly instructed as to the Lord's knowledge. He lent the Lord his boat from which to preach, and the Lord knew his circumstances as a fisherman, for He was not oblivious to the anxieties of a business man. “Let down your nets for a draught.” “At Thy word I will — just one net.” The Lord knew the whole incident comprehensively, but Peter did not know, nor dream, how much the Lord knew (Luke 5: 1–11). The net enclosed a great multitude of fishes, but the net brake. The Lord said “nets,” but Peter had let down one only. In John 21 there is an echo of a sadder scene —  Peter's denial. When the Lord probed his heart to the bottom, he cried, “Thou knowest.” How restorative to the soul to be brought back to this inscription upon the seal! We may be alone, and even scorned by the Christian community, but “the Lord knoweth them that are His.” When all doubt us, He knows us in the totality of His omniscient love.

One other word the apostle adds as the counterpart of the seal, “Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.” This cannot mean merely unrighteousness in personal conduct, for if a man is a Christian at all he has given up unrighteousness. Are we then to set up to be judges of what is unrighteousness in others? We have both Guide and guide book with regard to the rectitude of our associations and it is incumbent on us to depart from what He condemns, remembering that God's wrath is revealed against those who “hold the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1: 18).

We are each building, according to the Lord's parable (Matt. 7: 24-27). This is not by preaching, but by obedience to the word of God. The man who digs deep is the one who is doing the will of the Lord. We are rearing a building in our individual lives, and now and again we shall have a storm, and then it will be proved on what foundation we are building. If we are not building on the word of the Lord it will quiver, and shake, and collapse.

Having received any truth from the Lord, let us hold it fast for Him. He is soon coming, and He will then have something to say to us about our conduct. Whatever has not been of Him will go, and go for ever. We have not to make a way of life for ourselves, nor to build up our own associations. The way of God's good pleasure is prescribed for us in the scripture. May we keep His word for His name's sake.

2. Continuance in Divine Things

An Address on 2 Timothy 3: 14-17.

“But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and that from a babe thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

“Every scripture is inspired of God, and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction that is in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly furnished unto every good work.”

There is no question that the words we have just read have a direct application to us at this present time, and that we may take them as a direct exhortation from the Holy Spirit to our souls, as well as a needed instruction with regard to the blessed character of the word of God. We know that these words were addressed especially to Timothy; and Timothy was a man who, unlike Paul or Peter or John or James had, so far as we know, received no direct revelation of truth personally from the Lord. The apostles were men who received at firsthand from the Lord, as did the prophets also; and both, in the power of the Spirit, communicated what they received to the church of God. But here was a person who did not himself receive from the Lord; he received what he knew from the apostles, especially from Paul; and, therefore, in this respect he corresponds exactly with ourselves, because what we have received of spiritual knowledge we have received from the writings of the apostles and prophets. I am speaking particularly with regard to New Testament truths of course; and therefore the exhortation here applied to him and the obligation laid upon him may very well be taken home to ourselves for our profit and maybe our correction.

Early Declension and Present Danger

It is for us to continue, to abide in the things that we have heard. Now we know that this Second Epistle to Timothy contemplates what was a very terrible state of things — a future state of things the beginning of which was discerned by the apostle in his day, because even then the testimony by the church to the heavenly Christ had been corrupted. The truth was there as it had been given by the Holy Ghost, but through the inattention of the saints and through their failure in responsibility, error came in and was mixed with the truth. The leaven was hidden in the meal. This mixed state of things was foreshadowed; indeed it had already begun when the apostle wrote his First Epistle, and in the Second the general condition throughout the various assemblies had developed from bad to worse. The particular evil is not before me to point out now, nor the particular aspects of that declension and apostasy. But the peculiar difficulty then, as it seems to me, was the difficulty which we now have, a difficulty arising from the fact that wherever we go, wherever we contemplate seriously the things associated with the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we invariably find this one thing — that mixed up with the truth, intimately associated with the truth of God, there is that which is not the truth; and we, if we realise our responsibilities to the Lord, if we realise the danger to our own souls of such a medley, must feel what a grave reproach this is bringing upon Christ's holy name.

There is no sane person who wishes to poison himself with evil doctrine; there is no person who wants deliberately to run into spiritual danger; there is no person who desires to corrupt his soul with that which is of the enemy and not of God. But, beloved friends, the danger that we all must fear, either more or less, is this: that we may find ourselves in association with, or imbibing that which we in our simplicity suppose to be of God, but which all the while contains some subtle element which is of the enemy, and tends to ruin the peace and joy of our hearts, and destroy our personal communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. I suppose we have all to some degree found this to be the case from actual experience.

Delusion as to the Present Danger

It is a sad reflection that some persons are living in what we may call a fool's paradise, and cherish the delusion that everything around them is all well. No, beloved friends, it is not well. A man living entirely in the world and not professing any allegiance to Christ may cry out, “What is wrong with the world we live in?” He believes it is the very best state of things possible, and by human endeavour and enterprise, everything is gradually proceeding to a perfect felicity. A man of the world may talk like this, but we ought not to deceive ourselves; we ought to face the fact that we are in circumstances of considerable spiritual peril. We are usually thoughtful enough about our bodies; we carefully avoid injury to life or limb. As far as the body is concerned we are very careful, and take all precautions lest the physical vicissitudes of life come upon us. But is it not a fact that the soul is greater than the body? Is it not a fact that the new nature which I have by the Spirit of God, that new thing which is born of God, that this is more precious than my mortal body? Is it not that which God has begotten in me by His word and His Spirit, Who enables me to hold communion with the Highest and with Him Who is on the right hand of the Highest? And if some error creeps into my heart and robs me of that enjoyment, is it not a danger? It is a most serious danger, for while I have lost present communion, I am in a condition to lose still more of my spiritual possessions. I am sure you are all with me in feeling that this is a danger to which we are daily and hourly exposed.

Spiritual Despair

There are, on the other hand, some persons who are imbued with such a strong sense of the extraordinary nature of the times in which we find ourselves that they think things are so hopelessly bad that it is not easy nor worth while to take any precaution whatever. They say, “Let matters take their course; let us go forward, and trust to God that everything will come out right in the end.” Now, in preaching the gospel we lay down the truth very emphatically to unbelievers who talk like this. It is the unbeliever who says, “Never mind about the future; let us go on; let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.” But there are believers who, if they do not use the same words, act in like manner. They say, “All the testimony is gone; the truth is overthrown; it is trodden under foot in our streets; and, therefore, all our responsibility is over, we can do as we please, we shall all get to heaven, and then things will be right.”

Now, beloved friends, such a despondent spirit as this is wrong, absolutely wrong; it is a spirit of downright cowardice, to call it by no worse name. No, the truth of God is unalterable, and our responsibility with regard to it is unchanged. We are here in the world, and, as we surely know, in this holy book we have a sacred deposit. Did not God's ancient people esteem the living oracles a great deposit? Was it not to them a matter of national pride that to no other people did God speak with His own voice, and communicate His very words? And, beloved friends as representing the church of God, we have that word just as it was given at the beginning, and ought not we to love it? ought not we to reverence it? and ought not we to seek at all times to be bound and guided by it?

The Charge to Timothy

Well, now, in the words that are addressed to his son in the faith by the apostle, we have first what applied directly to Timothy (2 Tim. 3: 14, 15), and in the second place what was of more general concern (2 Tim. 3: 16, 17). In the first two of the verses, then, Timothy is particularly addressed, but, as we have seen, the words apply to ourselves also. The apostle says to him particularly, “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Timothy learned from the apostles, and he had learned particularly from Paul the doctrine about the church of God, because it was in the apostles' day that these truths were made known, and the apostle Paul was the specially honoured instrument of God to make the revelation known that since Pentecost there was “one new man,” no longer Jew and Gentile, but the church of God united by the Spirit of God to Christ, the living Head in heaven. This and other things the apostle had communicated to Timothy, and Timothy was exhorted to abide in the sense of their origin and nature.

Danger of Drifting

In other cases we have the exhortation for him and others to hold fast what they had. Well, to do this we require a fund of energy. There is another exhortation to hold forth the word of life (Phil. 2: 16). This again requires energy. Here we are told to abide in the things that we have heard; this requires energy too, but energy of a different kind. It is more of the character of what we might call passive resistance, resisting the power of evil which tends to cause us to drift away from the truth. The truth never alters, beloved friends. The truth will never drift away from us, but we may imperceptibly drift away from the truth; and this is our natural tendency. What we knew last year, what we knew yesterday we may even now be abandoning. Insensibly we move, at first; the first step is easy, and is so near the right path that we scarcely hesitate to take it. But having taken it we have not continued in the truth. There was the truth, we had it in our hearts, we enjoyed it, but now we are leaving it. You all know to what I allude. I am not referring to any particular thing, to any one special doctrine of the New Testament more than another; but I am certain of this, that everyone here must have realised in his heart that those truths taught in the scriptures are unquestionably from God. You have received them from the scriptures, and they have wrought with much power in your soul. Suppose it to be, for the sake of an example, the truth of the Lord's coming again. When it first dawned upon our souls that there was a promise in the scriptures of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth, and that His personal advent was imminent, and that we were called to wait for the Son of God from heaven, did not this truth come to us with a power that laid hold of our hearts and affections and moved our whole beings? We knew that it was a revelation of God; we knew that it was not a cunningly-devised fable. We went forth to meet the Bridegroom. How are we today? Is it that we have stepped aside from the powerful influence of this truth, or are we abiding in the things that we have heard? We are called to abide in Christ; we are called to abide in the doctrine of Christ; indeed, we must abide, beloved friends, in the place and in the associations and in the enjoyment of the truths that God has made known to us.

Learning and Assurance

There is a distinction in this passage which I think we should do well to consider. The apostle says, “Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of.'' Now “assurance” does not at all imply that we study the scriptures and that by this study we come to a mental conclusion that they are true. We must study the Bible in quite a different manner from that in which, for instance, a man studies science. A man studies science to find out phenomena, and anyone that is at all acquainted with the history of science knows that its pathway, as we look back, is strewn with the wrecks of exploded theories which the professors have had to abandon. For the moment they fought for their hypotheses with their lives, but time has gone on, other investigators have arisen, and what was once believed to be a scientific truth has subsequently been proved to be a false hypothesis — a baseless assurance.

But, beloved friends, in our knowledge of the word of God, we have nothing of this kind. We do not come to the word of God as we come to the tentative theories of a scientific text-book. We come to the word of God as to a Book which is an infallible, immutable, and unquestionable authority for our souls. We come to it as the word of God; we come to it as a Book which has a paramount demand upon our whole persons, and coming to it in this way we receive its utterances by faith; and the possession of such a spirit, I take it, is what the “assurance” means. It is one thing to learn the doctrine of scripture. There are persons who learn the truth of God almost of necessity. It has been their fortunate circumstance to be in the immediate sphere where the proclamation of God's special truth as revealed in the New Testament is continually ministered, and so the teaching insensibly finds its way into their hearts. Did I say hearts? Let us hope so — into their minds at any rate, and they in this manner become acquainted with New Testament facts and New Testament doctrine. Many may have learned the truth in such a way, but I take it that the apostle by “assurance” meant much more than a mere external reception.

You must indeed first receive the truth in this way. God will not communicate anything to you or to me directly, as He did to prophets and kings of old. We cannot now expect a vision or a revelation. We have everything complete in the written word — everything that is good for us to know; and we are left in the world to learn these things. But, beloved friends, the question for each of us to consider is just this: in learning scripture have we been fully “assured” of it, have we laid hold of it with our whole being, has the sum of our affections been concentrated upon the Living Person Who is the centre and subject and substance of the revelation of God's holy word?

Christ in the Scriptures

It is, in point of fact, only the personal Christ that can lay hold of our affections, and impart to us this assurance. We do not reverence and worship the Book of God as a book. We worship the Book because therein is the medium through which we know our Saviour and Lord, and coming to Him as our Lord we have in the scriptures His guide-book for us. We have the Book of His commandments, not grievous to us, but still they are His commandments; and He therein conveys His word of authority to us in that sweet and winning tone of love which finds its way into our hearts, beloved friends, and causes us to feel thoroughly assured that we are hearing the voice of the Son of God in the scriptures.

It is thus we are “assured” of the truth of God, and in no other way. And, my beloved friends, it is of no value whatever simply to become acquainted with a set of doctrines however judiciously they may have been selected for us. We must come to the scriptures as to the fountain-head of all wisdom, and learn our lessons at the feet of Him Who can teach us as no other can. He taught Timothy, but He taught him Christianity through His apostle. The written word for the church was not given at the first; it was then the spoken word, but still it was the word of the Lord. “I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you,” as Paul said. The Corinthians, like all the early saints, had the will of the blessed Lord through the lips of the apostles; but the apostles took care that their personality did not stand between themselves and their Master; and thus those to whom their communications were made were under no delusion about their origin. They looked through the apostles to the living God, Who was giving them all needful instruction through His servants.

Well, we see that there is the need of this personal assurance in the heart; and, my beloved friends, if you will allow me to say so, I think that the spot where declension invariably begins, where the sense of tiredness with the things of God commences, is invariably in the heart. Having lost fellowship with Him, we then lose our appetite for divine things, and it becomes the more difficult to abide in the things which we have learned.

The Divine Origin of the Things

The apostle here, in exhorting Timothy to abide, gives two reasons for his continuance. “Knowing of whom thou hast learned them,” is the first. What was the origin of this truth which he had known and was assured of? He had received it by apostolical authority; he received it on the word of the apostles, who had transmitted to him the word and the will of the Lord; and therefore Timothy had a divine warrant for what he believed to be the truth, and this certainty that it was given of God was the reason why he should not depart from it. He was not told to cleave to a system on the ground that it was hoary with antiquity, that it had a splendid retrospect, and could point to miraculous evidence in the past. There was no argument of this kind, no sensual appeal in any way, but the ground was simply this the authority of the word of the Lord. And, beloved friends, I do not think we need anything further than this today, We are in a day of extremest difficulty, and the question, “What is truth?” is the question that is being generally canvassed, both in the world and in Christendom. But we need not argue about the relative merits of rival religious views. We have simply to open our ears and learn the truth by coming to the scriptures. Here we have the truth from the Lord Himself. Now, having received that word, having had it directly from the Lord Himself through His word, how can we do other than abide in it?

Beloved friends, what shall we say in that day when we must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ. The Lord has His claim upon us; we are in the world for Him. He has opened our eyes to see a little here and a little there of His revealed truth. But however little it may be it is precious — too precious to surrender; and in view of the fact that we received it from Him what shall we say to Him in the day of account if we have allowed ourselves to slip away from it? It is not that we run away from our duties; it is not that we make a violent effort and simply bolt from our responsibilities. No, beloved friends, but we slide slowly away, we move just gradually along in the contrary direction; the soporific influences of the moment creep upon our heart and cause us to leave the positions assigned to us as soldiers of Jesus Christ in the great campaign of faith; and so we become the ensnared victims of the great enemy of our souls.

No, it remains that we have to abide in the things which we have heard and been assured of, knowing from whom we have learned them. The theories and views of men can never stand the light of the judgment-seat, but what we have from the Lord we know that He will stand to in that day. If He has told us this or that we know that He will never charge it against us that we have been holding it fast for Him. He has given to us a sacred deposit; it is for us to produce it unsullied in the day that is to come.

The Authority of the Old Testament

But it was only a part of the whole body of truth that Timothy had received from the apostle. There was more. There was also that which he from his childhood knew to be from the Lord. Timothy had the very excellent advantage of being brought up by pious instructresses. His mother and his grandmother instructed him from the nursery in the truths of the Old Testament; and so we have the divine authority of the Old Testament, fully maintained here by the apostle. The apostle Paul, although himself the medium of a very great revelation, was not jealous of Old Testament claims. He placed it side by side with the New. They together compose the holy writings; and they both were those which Timothy had known.

“Oh, but,” you say, “was not the New Testament quite different from the Old? Had the churches not to abandon Judaism, and turn away from Mosaic institutions and ceremonies?” Most assuredly they had. They had that which was better, but that which was better was exactly in accordance with that which was of old. There was no contradiction. The Old Testament contained the essence of the New. There was one thing wanting to bring to light the hidden secrets of the Old Testament. What was it? The Lord Jesus Christ Himself. As He said to the Pharisees, “Ye search the scriptures” (the Old Testament scriptures), “for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me” (John 5: 30). On that memorable walk to Emmaus, when the Lord revealed Himself to the hearts of the two coming away from Jerusalem supposing that all their hopes and cherished ideas had been dashed to pieces, then He opened their eyes, opened their understanding, and unveiled to them those Old Testament scriptures which testified of Him (Luke 24). As soon as they learned that the law, the prophets, and the psalms witnessed of the sufferings and the glories of the Messiah their difficulties all vanished. For He is the key to all such closed doors of scriptural interpretation.

And so Timothy, having the Old Testament scriptures and being then brought by faith to the knowledge of Christ, had nothing to surrender, nothing to unlearn. He had rather a new field of truth for his soul to explore, where he now saw that the Lord Jesus Christ was revealed in a variety of ways, His beauties being brought out by the law and the types, as well as by promises and prophecies, in those varied characters which we also have found in the Old Testament by the light of the New.

Therefore it was that Timothy had these precious things from a child, and if he did not now abide in the things which he had learned he would be giving up that too. You cannot abandon one part of scripture without the other, because the scripture is an undivided whole; it is a complete unity. As has been said, the New Testament lies hidden in the Old, and the Old Testament lies open in the New. Put them together, and you have a perfect revelation from God. Separate them and you are in a fog, a mist; and you cannot understand either one or the other. So Timothy was exhorted to abide equally in what was of the New Testament, and in what was of the Old.

Instructing Children in the Scriptures

There is another point in connection with this subject, beloved friends, that one cannot help noticing in passing. It is clear that these Holy Scriptures which God gave by personal communication through the Holy Ghost to the prophets of old, this peerless Book with all its sacred splendour, with its profound and illimitable wisdom, can be communicated to a child. “From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures.” And I ask you whether we have not today a responsibility to the young in this respect. What was true of the Old Testament is true of both Old and New; and if Timothy derived an incomparable advantage from the scriptural instruction he received in his most early childhood ought we not to see to it that the children of this day, our own children particularly, the children of our families, of our households, are in like manner instructed in the truths of holy scripture?

Beloved friends, it is a grand mercy of God that such a book as the scripture of truth, which is so profound that the most agile mind is baffled by its instructions and revelations, can, as we gather here, be taught to a child, while by teaching it to a child we are conferring upon it a priceless boon. And, looking to the fact that all around us in the educational world is a sea of confusion and error, and that in public and general schools that which is not of God is communicated, along with, if not instead of it, ought we not to be the more careful that the children who are under our particular care should be instructed in what is true and what is of God? What is of God is true, and the communication of truth is the best preservative against error.

There are some persons who say, “Let the children grow up; let them get to years of understanding; there are parts of the scriptures which I do not understand myself, and how then can I communicate them to my children?” But, beloved friends, here we have the fact that these holy women of old, Eunice and Lois, took the little babe Timothy, and they sowed in his heart the seeds of a new life, while they communicated to him those holy writings which when he was advanced to the superior knowledge of Christianity he had not to surrender, but still to maintain. They were still to be a guide to him. Therefore we ought and it is a serious responsibility that we should instruct our children in the truths of holy scripture, since they are able to make them “wise unto salvation.”

Wise unto Salvation

One may notice, further, that the apostle does not assume that Timothy was already wise unto salvation. Why is this? Because, I think he needed, as we need, the wisdom for the moment. Wisdom is progressive: the wisdom that we had last year is not enough for today. We are continually finding ourselves in fresh predicaments, and in these predicaments we want a fresh supply that will instruct us for the occasion.

“Able to make thee wise.” What does this mean? A wise man is a man who not only acts rightly. He must act rightly, of course. But the truly wise man is he that acts for God; the wise man is he who is controlled by the mind of God, having been made wise by the sacred writings. What is the wisdom of the world? It is the wisdom that in its prospect and retrospect is bounded by this world; it never looks beyond the confines of this present age. What did the wisdom of this world do? It crucified the Lord of glory. They looked at Him, the despised Nazarene, as of no worth; indeed, as a danger to the state and to their religion, and they crucified Him between two malefactors. This was the wisdom of the world. They looked at the Lord Jesus, and this was all they saw!

What is the “hidden wisdom” of scripture? What is the wisdom of God? It is the wisdom that comes from above; it is the wisdom that enables us to look at the petty things of this life with the eyes of God, that is, as He has revealed them in His holy word. It is a great thing to be able to do this; it is a great thing to have the heavenly light upon the earthly path, and, beloved friends, herein is the special value to us of the scriptures. Why do we often make mistakes? I think, if we were honest and sincere with ourselves, we should confess that invariably each mistake which we have made in the past was made because we did not carry out the simple instructions of scripture. We go wrong because we act according to the light of our own eyes. Beloved friends, there is nothing in a man's life — you know this as well as I do, but allow me to remind you of it — there is no slight circumstance in our daily lives, whether in the home or in business — there is nothing, good or bad, great or small, but we may have the light of God's truth upon it.

The holy scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation, and that salvation, I take it, means more than the salvation of our souls. Do not let us narrow down the large words of scripture, nor take these grand and comprehensive terms, and just whittle them down to some little miserable definition to which we are pleased to reduce them. No, beloved friends, we want to have the exact words of God as given to us, and as we meditate upon them and consider them in the Genesis to Revelation light we shall find that we comprehend in them things that we have never dreamt of before. The fact is that we need salvation every day; we need salvation from the tendencies to stray which we find in ourselves, and from the difficulties into which we thrust ourselves, often through our own folly. What dishonour we sometimes bring to the name of the Lord Jesus through our wanton foolishness, because we did not think soon enough, because the suitable text of scripture did not come home to our souls, nay, because we acted before it came home; we were in too great a hurry, and did not wait. Beloved friends, do not let us be in a hurry; hurry is not of God; hurry is of the world. When we leave the turmoil of the streets and find ourselves in the peace of the sanctuary, how all there is calm and quiet; not a footfall there in the presence of God; all is holy hush; all about us are signs of the greatness and majesty of Him in Whose presence we are. No, beloved friends, there is no haste there; and “he that believeth shall not make haste.”

Faith in Christ Jesus needed

The scriptures are able to make us “wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Now I think “Christ Jesus” is the key to all our difficulties. There are many persons who burden themselves with immense trouble because of the difficulties they find in the scriptures. They have a long catalogue of them, and they are always dwelling upon these unsolved problems. When you meet them for godly intercourse they confront you with such a long list of questions upon this, that, and the other, that you feel you want a big encyclopedia to consult, and that even then you would not find the answer to their posers. They ask you, and you say you do not know; and they ask somebody else, and they do not know; and so they spend their time feeding upon these unsatisfying husks. No, beloved, friends, there are always difficulties in scripture, and there always will be. A man who has not found any such in the scripture is a poor specimen of a Christian indeed. Of course my difficulties arise because I am reading the word of God, and because of my little mind, my little heart. Oh, my beloved friends, you cannot put the ocean into a teacup — and the infinite word of God is altogether beyond me and my feeble comprehension. There will, therefore, always be difficulties. But there is a golden key which unlocks a great many of the believer's more practical difficulties, and this key is Christ Jesus as it is put here, “faith in Christ Jesus.” It is not, of course, the personal faith for salvation, but the faith that sees Christ Jesus, and the honour and glory of Christ Jesus in connection with the affairs of this life. Why am I here in M—? Why am I doing this, that, or the other, if it is not that faith in Christ Jesus is the prompting motive?

Depend upon it, there is never any wisdom in our conduct, and we are not wise even in being here tonight, without that faith in Christ Jesus which will also enable us to solve the manifold difficulties of this life. I do not say of scripture, but of this life — that is, difficulties in deciding what we should be and what we should do for God. There are always new vistas opening before us, and they look, oh, so pleasant from a distance; and the question arises, are we to go there? There are so many allurements; sometimes there is even the name of Christ outwardly connected with it; there is a great field of service connected with it; there are many holy privileges and associations connected with it; it all looks, oh, so pleasant and inviting. Is it that the distance lends enchantment to the view? What may I do? What will give me divine light on the way and remove my difficulty when there are so many voices calling me in every direction, and many using the name of the Lord? What am I to do? There must be personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself for the guidance of His word. Did He not say to His own, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life?”

Guidance in the Assembly

There was one question of this nature asked here this afternoon. It was how a person might know in the assembly whether he was directed by the Spirit of God to take an audible part. I think that this principle we are considering solves the problem: the answer is “faith in Christ Jesus.” When we are together in assembly the Lord Jesus Christ is there; He is Lord, He is Lord of all, and how much more is He our Lord when in our midst! Beloved friends, He is the Lord of the blasphemer; is He not then Lord of the believer? The day is coming when the scoffer shall bow to Him; ought we not to bow to Him now? and if I am in the assembly and I know the Lord is there, this very fact, which can only be realised by faith in Christ Jesus, this very fact will bring me to my proper place of subjection and cause me to assume that right and reverent attitude in His presence which becomes both brother and sister.

There are a great many brothers and sisters who think that in an assembly meeting it is only the brothers who have to be led by the Spirit. This is quite a mistake. Brothers have to be led by the Spirit to open their mouths, but the whole assembly must be led by the Spirit to open their hearts to the Lord, and the Spirit is there to produce in the hearts of those assembled all that which is suitable to the occasion.

There is one infallible guide whereby we may know that which is of the Spirit. If the “Spirit is truth” (1 John 5: 6), and if “Thy word is truth” (John 17: 17), there can be no contradiction between them; so that what is of the scripture is of the Spirit, and what is done to the glory of the Lord Who is in the midst is of the Spirit also; while Christ Jesus Himself is the Truth (John 14: 6). And reverent regard to His invisible presence is an indispensable element of that worship in spirit and truth which the Father seeks in His worshippers.

The Inspiration of Every Scripture

We now come to what is a more general truth, yet one of vital importance (vers. 16, 17), but our time is almost gone, and I can only refer to it briefly. But do not let us forget the previous exhortation; here we have what is true of the scriptures as a whole and equally so of its parts. The apostle had already mentioned the holy writings which were of Old Testament times. Now he comes to that which is general, because at that time some of the New Testament scriptures had not been written. Some apostolic truths had not then been communicated in the way of writing, and therefore these were not yet “scripture.” Hence the Spirit of God caused the apostle to write in terms which should be of the greatest assurance and comfort to us in these days of Biblical criticism.

“Every scripture,” he says, “is inspired of God.” Now we know that it is a common article of the creed of Christendom — at any rate it was so once — that the scriptures are inspired of God. But, beloved friends, we must not think only of the general fact that scripture is given of God in a providential manner, like rain and sunshine. We need to have the central truth about it in our hearts, and this truth is that in the scriptures we may be absolutely certain that we have the voice of God to our souls. There are many persons who have tortured their minds and the minds of other people to provide an adequate definition of what inspiration is where it begins, where it ends, what it really involves, and so on. Beloved friends, we can afford to leave all these inquiries and confine ourselves to the single fact that when we open our Bibles and read our Bibles, there we have that which is of God. God has infused into its words that which is of Himself, and which gives them a character which nothing else has.

We may see an illustration of this divine character in the formation of Adam. God formed the body of the first man out of the ground, and there was a shapely form — not of some hairy uncouth savage, as many persons think nowadays but of a handsome man, a man that God had designed to occupy a place of sovereignty in His world below. But there it was, a lifeless, inert mass, beautiful to look at, but a thing without life; no motion, no sound, just simply a part of this lower world dust, a grand and beautiful body of dust only. Now God communicated from Himself to that inanimate mass; “He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.” Thus were the soul and spirit communicated by the direct inspiration of the Almighty, and thus man was placed at a tremendous distance from the rest of the living world. The beasts that perish have their soul and spirit; they return to the dust from which they have sprung. Man received his originally from on high. This emanation from God constitutes the difference between man and lower creation.

And it is even so with this holy Book. People will tell you that the works of Shakespeare, as well as the older writings of Greek and Latin poets and philosophers, have their measure of inspiration, and so they put some parts of the Bible a little way above such books, but only just a little way. By and by they bring the whole volume to the same level, and presently it goes into the waste-paper basket no use at all as an infallible message from God to man.

The great truth, however, is that in every scripture we have something which is different in kind and nature from every other book on the face of the earth; and the essence of the difference lies in this: it is inspired of God; and though I may be the simplest person on the earth I can come to it and get divine direction. I may be only a little child just able to prattle, but I can be instructed in my measure in the truths of scripture. That blessed and holy Visitant from heaven above, the Lord Jesus Christ, when He was here, was pleased to take the babes in His arms and bless them, and the heavenly light and radiance in Him did not distress or awe the infantile minds, but gave them a sweet content.

Oh, beloved friends, it is a great mercy of God that we in this day of great theological errors have our Bibles, that we have scripture which is inspired of God, and nothing can wrest it from us. We possess it; but the crucial point is whether we make that use of it which we ought to make. It is profitable — profitable in a fourfold way — but as declared here, particularly to Timothy, it is so especially “that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works,”

The Man of God

Now, you notice this term, “man of God,” which occurs here, and also in the First Epistle. I think it is a word to retain in our minds as a subject for prayerful meditation, while we consider its special significance in the connection in which it is used. We find the term in the Old Testament also. We see that at a particular period it was applied to the prophets of Israel. It was used at the time of the people's declension, their national declension from the worship of Jehovah, and when the chosen seed of Abraham had been carried away into the baseness of idolatry, and the whole ten tribes especially were involved. The prophet of God is then called the man of God. Why? Because he was the man who stood for God in the midst of the mass of his fellow-men who were characterised by error. The man of God stood for God, and, if necessary, stood alone.

There is, according to prophecy, a man coming who has an evil title; “the man of sin” (2 Thess. 2: 3), who shall sum up in himself impiety in all its worst forms. He is the man that will stand for sin. But we are called today, every one of us, like the prophets of old, and like Timothy, to stand for God. Oh, beloved friends, it is surely a privilege to be on God's side, and to know that we are in the current of God's thoughts in a day of general departure and declension. We can see error all around. Some persons say, “You should not talk about these things; they do not create any pleasant feelings in our minds.” Of course they do not, they are not intended to awaken a pleasant feeling; they are intended to arouse in us the very reverse a revulsion of feeling so that we should never be ensnared by the evil tendencies.

There are those who are entrapped. You do not want to be entrapped, do you? Be, on the contrary, a man of God. Do you ask how you can be a man of God? Only by cleaving simply to the scripture. Do not attempt loyalty to God in any other way. There are persons who look round upon the divisions of Christendom and throw up their hands in horror in view of the number of the sects. Some persons they know have been the evil instruments of making more sects. Cannot we reduce them? they say. If there are, say five hundred, can we not make four hundred and ninety-nine by bringing two sects together, or even reduce the total to four hundred and ninety-eight? Beloved friends, even in such a case not very much good would be done after all. No, we are not called to do this. It is not for you — if I may still keep to the figure five hundred — it is not for you to select (say) number four hundred and number four hundred and five, and join these two together and let the others go their separate ways. If you wish to do the work of re-union you must aim to bring all the five hundred together. This you will never do; it is too late in the church's day to attempt it.

How to Consult the Bible

What we have to do is to be men of God, and the only way in which we can be perfectly instructed to become such in these perilous times is by having the word of God before us, and by coming to it as an inspired communication to our souls. Depend upon it, the reason why we do not profit by the word of God as we might is that we do not approach it in a practical way. By a practical way I mean coming to it for light upon particular points of conduct or of service or of association. There are persons who, having a difficulty, say, “I will lay it before so-and-so, he may help me.” They write, or wait till the brother comes, who sends it to another, and so the question goes round, and when it returns eventually the question is exactly where it was before — so is the questioner. We should, of course, seek to help one another. I am not saying a word against that practice, but, beloved friends, you will never get useful help from other persons unless you yourselves go directly to the word of God, and honour the Spirit of God Who has been given expressly to guide you into all truth.

It is an absolute necessity in these days to have direct recourse to the word of God. It may be on a personal matter, or it may be upon a church matter, and we ought always to remember the distinction between the two things. We have a personal relation as children of God, and the scripture gives us light for its due discharge. But in the face of the terrible confusion and the wreck and havoc that have been wrought in the outward testimony of the church of God, we still remain individual members of the one body of which Christ is the Head. Now, as members of that body, have we not also a particular responsibility in our corporate relationships? Is there anything that the Lord, to Whom we are attached by this loving tie, is there anything that He would have us try to do for Him while we wait for His coming? I know of no other means of obtaining the answer to such a question save by reference to Holy Scripture. There you have that which is inspired of God, which will teach you all that is good for you to know, and which will instruct you in all good works. May God bless His word to this end unto us all. W. J. H.

Robes for Worship and Light to Shine

Notes of two addresses on Zechariah 3 and 4.

W. J. Hocking.

Inroduction

Few words relating to the general scope of the prophecies of Zechariah may be of some value as a supplement to the notes that follow of two addresses originally delivered for the encouragement of those of the children of God who see the difficulties but not always the resources of the present day.

Zechariah the priest (Neh. 12: 16) prophesied in Jerusalem to those Jews who had been permitted by Darius to return from their exile to the city of their God. The express object of their return was to rebuild the house of God destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar.

Difficulties arose in the execution of this work, and the zeal of the people flagged, so that they abandoned the construction of the house of the Lord, and built houses for themselves (Haggai 1: 2-11). But through the ministry of Zechariah, which was preceded and accompanied by that of Haggai, the enthusiasm of the repatriated remnant was reawakened, and some twenty years after their return from Babylon the house of God was completed (Ezra 6: 15).

Zechariah prophesied during a period of two years or more. He prefixes dates to most of his separate communications, but it will be noted that he uses Gentile, not Jewish chronology (Zech. 1: 1; Zech. 1: 7, etc.).

The collection of his prophecies may be divided into two parts, and may be thus distinguished: —

(A) Prophetic visions (Zech. 1 – 6);

(B) Prophetic messages (Zech. 7 - 14).

While the prophecies had reference to the feeble and broken of the people who had indeed returned from Babylon to the land of Judah but were still under the Persian yoke, the word of the Lord looks onward to the coming of Christ, first to suffer and then to reign, first to be rejected and then to be welcomed. The eventual restoration of all Israel, as well as of Judah, is definitely foretold (Zech. 1: 19; Zech. 8: 13; Zech. 9: 1; Zech. 11: 14; Zech. 12: 1).

In the first part of the book (A: 1 - 6), the Jews are warned to turn to God from their evil doings; and in support of this urgent call to repentance, the prophet records eight visions* which had all come to him in a single night. These visions, with a brief indication of what appears to be their significance respectively, are as follows: —

(1) The red horse and his rider, with three other horses (Zech. 1: 7-17): signifying the empires of Persia, Greece and Rome, the empire of Babylon having been destroyed.

(2) The four horns and the four carpenters [smiths] (Zech. 1: 18-21): the retributive judgments which would fall upon the adjacent powers that scattered Israel and Judah.

(3) The survey of Jerusalem (Zech. 2: 1-13): the appropriation of Jerusalem for Jehovah for future blessing. Compare similar acts of measurement in Ezekiel 40 and in Revelation 11.

(4) The investiture of the high priest, who is first seen in foul robes (Zech. 3: 1-10): the spiritual cleansing of the people in order that they might become Jehovah's priestly nation.

(5) The golden candlestick and the two olive trees (Zech. 4: 1-14): the restoration of the nation to the place of witness for God in the earth under the Offspring of the house of David.

(6) The flying roll (Zech. 5: 1-4): the decreed judgments of God which would break out upon the holy land because of their moral guilt.

(7) The woman, and the ephah carried to the land of Shinar (Zech. 5: 5-11): the return of the people to Babylon (idolatry) in total abandonment of the worship of Jehovah.

(8) The four chariots and horses (Zech. 6: 1-8): the great world powers whose actions are seen in the vision to be under the control of the Lord of all the earth.

{*Some expositors make seven visions, counting that of the flying roll and the woman and ephah as one, but though they both speak of judgment, the prophet “lifts up” his eyes successively to see the two sights (Zech. 5: 1, 5).}

This section is concluded with a reference to Messiah as the King-Priest who will build the temple of Jehovah. As a Priest upon His throne He will exercise His Melchizedek priesthood and introduce millennial glory to the earth (Zech. 6: 9-15).

The second part of the book (B: 7 - 14) commences with the word of the Lord which came to Zechariah two years later than the night-visions (cp. Zech. 1: 1; Zech. 7: 1). The later communications show that while Messiah will undoubtedly come to put an end to Gentile supremacy and to restore the kingdom to Israel, He at first will be rejected by the Jews with contumely and scorn.

In Zech. 7 and Zech. 8, the Jews are charged with hypocrisy in their fasts, but Jehovah nevertheless promises that there shall finally be fulness of blessing for both Israel and Judah, and that their fasts shall be turned into feasts.

A “burden” is begun in Zech. 9, wherein God promises to subdue the surrounding enemy peoples, and gives a direct prophecy of the anointed King coming to Zion, lowly and riding upon an ass (Zech. 9: 9). Nevertheless, Messiah will be just and will bring salvation, and it is in this character that He will deliver His people from their oppressors, and turn away ungodliness from Jacob. The subject of the general restoration of all Israel is continued to the end of Zech. 10.

In the following chapter there is distinct prediction of the Messiah, who would come to the poor of the flock as their Shepherd. He would be a marked contrast to the foolish shepherd or Antichrist whom the Jews would receive. The Good Shepherd would be so disdained of the nation that they would offer no more than thirty pieces of silver to secure His betrayal into their hands.

Antichrist having been introduced into the prophetic message (Zech. 11), the last three chapters (Zech. 12 - 14) are occupied with the events of the closing days which end with the establishment of the kingdom of Israel under the Great King.

The feeble and dispirited remnant were encouraged by these striking messages by the lips of Zechariah to look ahead to the consummation of the divine purpose, when Jerusalem, though then lying in ruins, will be the acknowledged metropolis of the world, and all nations will come up to Mount Zion to worship Jehovah of hosts, who will be King over all the earth.

Before this happy issue, however, Jerusalem will repent of her sins with great mourning, for the house of David will look on Him whom they pierced (Zech. 12: 10), and a fountain will be opened for their sin and uncleanness (Zech. 13: 1).

There will be a great league of nations in the last days, and Jerusalem will again be besieged. But in that day Jehovah will appear for the deliverance of His people and the utter discomfiture of their foes (Zech. 14: 1-3).

From this rapid summary it will be gathered that the great object of the prophecies of Zechariah was the encouragement of the Jews of Ezra's day to proceed with the work of re-building immediately before them on the ground that Jehovah will assuredly redeem His promises to Abraham and David and others, and that eventually when Messiah comes, the day of weakness will be succeeded by the day of glory and by the new heavens and earth wherein righteousness dwells.

This feature is specially prominent in the two visions (Zech. 3: 1 - 4: 14) which form the subject of the two addresses.

First Address

Robes for Worship

Joshua's Filthy Garments Removed (Zech. 3)

This is one of the eight visions that came to Zechariah the prophet. They all had regard to the then condition of the small remnant of Jewish people recently returned to Jerusalem. But these visions, in addition to their local and immediate application, had also a forward look to the great tide of blessing that will come to the earthly people of Jehovah in a day yet future, for the word of the Lord in this, as in all respects, cannot return unto Him void; it must be accomplished.

While however the direct application of the vision which I have now read is to God's earthly people, we may without spiritualising derive from it help and light in so far as it has by analogy a bearing upon the present condition of things in Christendom; and with this object in view it is proposed this evening to look at some of the points most prominent in this chapter.

The Shattered Nation

First of all, I may be allowed to recall to your memories the condition of the people to whom this prophecy was first spoken. The nation of Israel was broken up most sadly on account of their own evil and idolatrous departure from the Living God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They fell into the ways of the idolatrous peoples around them, and therefore God, in His governmental dealings, showed His displeasure with their conduct. As a nation the people of Israel were the custodians of His law. But they had broken faith with Him. They were no longer worthy of their place in the forefront of the nations of this world, and one of the two kingdoms into which the people were divided in the days of Rehoboam was overthrown. The Northern tribes were taken prisoners by Assyria and expatriated. The ten tribes in the time of Zechariah were lost to earthly ken, are lost today, and will be so until the Great Shepherd of Israel seeks them out upon the Gentile mountains on which they are scattered, and brings them back rejoicing to their own heritage.

Two tribes were left in the land. They, too, had failed and were also over-run by a Gentile power. Nebuchadnezzar took away the kingdom and people of Judah, destroyed the city of God, and broke down the temple of Jehovah upon Mount Moriah.

The land of Judah lay waste for long years, and the face of God was averted from His chosen people. They languished in Babylon for many years until God turned to them again and released them from their captivity. He gave them favour in the eyes of the Gentile power. But oh! see them coming back. What were they in point of numbers? Fifty thousand all told out of the mighty host of Israel; truly they were but a small company compared with the two millions or so who had marched through the Red Sea; just a poor, miserable crowd coming back from Babylon to their own land to find the city of God in desolation, and the holy house of Jehovah lying in shameful confusion upon Mount Moriah.

What were they to do who were but a handful of persons, in the face of the strong and active enemies about them? They came back in the manner recorded in the Book of Ezra. There were many valiant hearts; there were faithful men, and women too. And they realised that they were brought back for the purpose of establishing afresh a house for God in Jerusalem so that the worship of Jehovah might be reintroduced in the earth. During the interval of the Jewish captivity there was no place in the earth consecrated for the worship of God as ordered in Old Testament times. And these few men were called back from captivity to re-build what the Gentile power had destroyed.

With readiness of mind they set themselves to work, and the foundation of the temple was laid. Some rejoiced and some wept; the latter being cast down in despair when they compared the condition of things with the time of Solomon's reign, and thought of that magnificent house in all its beauty fresh from the hands of the builders. What was this little stone now laid on Mount Moriah, and the few people surrounding it, in comparison with the dedication of the former house? They were filled with dejection, as they remembered the past.

However, the foundation of the temple was laid, and then it was that a power arose in opposition to this work of God. Satan, the great enemy of God and man, was opposed to the restoration of the worship of God in Israel, and the Samaritans and others were stirred up by him to deter these feeble folk from carrying on their work.

But another very serious enemy interfered with the work of building, and that enemy, a more successful enemy than any, arose in their own breasts. They said: What about our own houses? What about some place for us to dwell in? What about our own position in Jerusalem? We must look after ourselves; we must secure our own little freehold in this land again. They therefore turned their backs upon the work of God, and set to work to erect their own houses. And for years the work of God's house was suspended, until God sent the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, to stir up their hearts, to arouse them to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, to let their own houses alone, let God have His worship, let the priesthood have a place in which they could officiate according to the prescriptions of Moses. This testimony had its effect. We have made a selection from these prophecies of Zechariah for our consideration tonight.

The Building of the Church

But you say: What has this vision of Zechariah to do with us now? Surely we have no house to build; we have no cathedral to erect; surely there is no building of human architecture that has now to be reared. This is absolutely true. God is not now to be worshipped in this place or in that place, in this mountain or in that mountain. The worship of God is by the Spirit of God; it is in spirit and in truth that the Father seeketh worshippers to worship Him. The essentials of worship are within the worshipper. Worship now springs from what was once the fountain of all evil. Evil thoughts and all evil action arise out of the heart of the natural man; and it is from that same heart begotten by the Spirit and indwelt by Him that worship and praise ascend to God like a fragrant incense.

Nevertheless there is a house in being, the house of God is still here below. There is a holy temple now growing unto the Lord, unseen but nevertheless true. Surely I am speaking to those who are men of faith, who are confident that what is greatest and best and most permanent in this world consists of those things that are beyond our natural senses, that are the product of God's Holy Spirit working in men through His word. This fact is the characteristic feature, the essence of the New Testament teaching, and it illustrates the absolute contrast between the New Testament and the Old. The Old Testament was material and carnal, the New Testament brings out what is spiritual, is apprehended by faith, and is acceptable to God because men heed His word.

There is therefore a present work in this world in connection with the erection of God's house; for God's house consists, as we know, of those who are builded together for a habitation of God by His Holy Spirit (Eph. 2: 22). The house is being constructed by the Spirit of God; but you and I have our responsibility with regard to it. We are helpers in this great work, and the voice of the Spirit will come to us, indeed, it does come to us, through the word, as to the part we are taking in this service.

When we look into the New Testament and see the foundation stone of the spiritual temple laid at Pentecost, we see a state of things which has no parallel at this present moment. We see a spirit of love, a spirit of power operating in the hearts of men which is not duplicated in modern days. The general features of the followers of Christ are quite changed from those seen in the earliest days. There is such a great difference as there was between the people of Israel as a whole nation, together as a community in this world for its own and the world's good, and its broken, scattered and helpless condition when the remnant returned from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Clean Garments for Holy Work

The Jews were deterred from building the temple because of the enemies that stood in the way and hindered their progress; but in this chapter, in this fourth vision of Zechariah, we find not what was outside the people, the power of the Samaritans, but we find what was inside them. We find the removal of an objection made to their labours which was founded upon the moral condition of the people themselves.

Let us consider what difficulty is meant. Clearly, to build a house for God is a holy work. To work directly for God demands that I must have a clean heart and clean hands. Any sort of person cannot come along and lend a hand in God's work. It is not everyone who is a fit partner in a great service for God. And this was just the difficulty in Jerusalem. The people had not been in Babylon without spiritual damage to themselves. They had there learned ways they had not learned in Zion. After all, what is idolatry? It is something that steals into the heart and displaces the throne of God there. We are all susceptible to this snare — to have a little altar in our heart to some thing or person other than God, and I think this was the case with these returned people. Even though they had outwardly abandoned the grosser forms of idolatry, they were, as God looked upon them, clothed in filthy garments.

I do not think I am stretching the meaning of the vision; let us read the scripture again. The prophet saw Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. In verse 3 we read, “Joshua was clothed in filthy garments, and stood before the angel.” Now you know that in the ritual of the nation of Israel the high priest had a double representative capacity. There were certain rites and ceremonies in which he stood before the people as representative of God. For example, when he came to them from God to declare the completion of atonement and to make known the law and the testimony to them as from God, he was as God to them. He was on such occasions the voice of God to the people, but he also executed another rite in which he acted as the representative of the people. Take the great day of atonement when the scapegoat was selected. The lot fell upon one of two goats to be slain as the Lord's offering, and the blood of that beast was taken into the most holy place. The other goat remained alive, and had its part to fulfil in the ceremony. That part was taken when the high priest clothed in his white garments laid his hands upon the head of the animal. In this attitude he confessed all the sins of the people. These iniquities and transgressions he uttered as spokesman for all the tribes of Israel, and they were transferred in figure to the head of this clean animal, which was then led away into an uninhabited place.

The high priest was on this occasion the representative of the people, and so he is in Zechariah's vision. As the representative of the people chosen for God's work he should be arrayed in spotless linen garments because he was in the holy place before the angel of the Lord. But Joshua is not seen in white robes; he is in filthy garments.

Cleansing Our Ways

How are we to apply this figure to ourselves? So far as the remnant of Israel were concerned, they were strictly, literally, unfit, as God looked upon them, to undertake the great work of the restoration of the temple. But let us put it to ourselves. What does it mean to be clad in filthy garments? Garments refer to what is external in our lives, to our words and conduct. We know that in God's sight the heart is unclean, and that when the word comes from the Lord Jesus Christ in living power to a man it cleanses his heart, so that the Lord can say of such a one, as He said of His disciples, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.” Believers therefore have clean hearts.

But something else is necessary, and that is to have clean garments. The acts, the utterances, the habits, the associations, all these have to be pure, cleansed from all defilement, in order that a person may be such a representative in this world as God wishes. Clothed in heaven's livery as His servant, God says, “Now go, and do My work.” The world will then see one clothed in white garments, conduct spotless, words unblemished, the purpose without guile; the garments unspotted from the world. We sometimes forget, I think, that we have to co-operate with a God who is holy.

It is a great thing to believe and to know on the authority of God's word that as regards my former status as a sinner God cleanses me from every stain. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, does cleanse from every sin. But there are also the garments. When the leper was cleansed on the day of his purification the cleansing in a ceremonial sense was complete when the sacrifice was over. Two birds were taken alive and clean, and cedar wood and scarlet and hyssop. One bird was killed over the running water and the living bird was dipped in the water stained with the blood of the slain bird. Then it was freed, and the instructions were that the priest should at that juncture declare that the man was clean (Lev. 14: 4-7).

No one could dispute the priest's word, but the instructions went on to specify the manner in which the man must cleanse himself. He must shave off all his hair, whitened by the ravages of leprosy, and he must wash his garments in water and remain away from the camp for seven days. This was his personal work. Turning to the antitype, it is equally true that in God's things He requires cleanly garbed servants. And the garment-cleansing is your work and mine. “Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Cor. 7: 1).

You will recollect that these two sides to the truth are also shown in the work of our Lord Jesus Christ at the grave of Lazarus. The Lord spoke at the tomb, saying, “Lazarus, come forth.” The dead man came forth, but he was seen still fettered in his funeral cerements. Then the Lord said, “Loose him, and let him go.” The loosing was the work of another. The word of the Lord to Lazarus did not remove the garments that fettered Lazarus, and prevented his mingling in his former pursuits. Until the risen man was unbound he was not free and active to serve God in this work-a-day world. And there are similar conditions in our spiritual relationships. God does His work; let us not fail to do our part in our cleansing, whether of ourselves or of one another.

The Heavenly Advocate

But you will say, Surely you are not considering your text; you are going beyond the scripture you have read. Zechariah's vision tells us explicitly that the removal of these garments from Joshua was the work of another. “He answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment (Zech. 3: 4).

It is perfectly true that in the vision the external purification is performed by another. And you surely, as a person of experience, have proved how utterly impotent you yourself are to rid yourself of the evil habits and ways of your unregenerate state. They cling to you, though you struggle to free yourself. You would do good, but evil is present and prevalent with you. You have the best of desires, but the poorest of performances. You try and try and fail and fail; you find you cannot help yourself. You may say (and there is many a Christian who has just settled down to evil ways because he has tried so often and failed), “I shall get to heaven all the same; I have tried but I cannot do it”; and you just accept the condition of fettered hands and feet as inevitable, and leave it at that.

But, beloved friends, we find in the 7th chapter of Romans a vivid picture of a strenuous struggle with the inward propensities to evil. And it appears as though defeat were inevitable, but at the end of the chapter there is a shout of glorious victory. The apostle says, “I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Here we learn that it is the Lord who gives the power of conquest.

The prophet Zechariah was looking into heaven in his vision. There the angel of the Lord was, and there also Satan was, pointing in scorn to the little people that God had brought back from Babylon defiled by Gentile manners. And, beloved friends, there is in heaven an accuser of us also, who says things about us that are true. He knows our lives, and he recounts on high our imperfections and failures. Another is there too, One not seen in this vision. “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2: 1). It is the One who came, the blessed Son of God, to destroy the works of the devil, to oppose and nullify his activities. Hence we need not fear what the accuser may say, true though the charges may be, because there is One there to plead His death and by His gracious power also to cleanse us from that defilement, and so overcome the great accuser.

You may say, But how is the cleansing performed? The Lord Jesus Christ in heaven considers the details of our lives and ways, and, by the power of His gracious Spirit, brings home to us His cleansing words so that we become ashamed of our evil conduct, and in our secret closet we confess to Him our sins. And He is faithful and just to take away our filthy garments and to give us a sense of our real and unchangeable standing before Him.

We see therefore that even in that practical cleansing which is our responsibility, it is the Lord Jesus who really makes it effective.

Satan might accuse Joshua, but God said, “Have not I chosen Jerusalem?” “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee” (Zech. 3: 2). We are what we are because God has chosen us. There are persons who are afraid to speak of God's electing power, afraid to take to themselves the glorious utterances in the Epistle to the Ephesians. Why is the fact of election recorded at all if it is not something for humble-minded believers to be proud of and to thank God for? It is written for you and for me, if we will only believe it.

Why did Jehovah bring the remnant back from Babylon? Because He promised Abraham that the world's blessing should be through his seed, and that word must stand. And what had Satan to say? Satan never kept his word from the beginning; he is a liar, as well as a murderer, from the beginning (John 8: 44), and his purpose is to deceive and destroy the sons of men, but God's word abides for ever. Blessed are those whose hearts and feet rest upon the unchanging foundation of the holy word of the living and true God.

Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” (Zech. 3: 2), the Lord said of the returned remnant in Jerusalem. We too have been in the fire; we have been in the furnace of defiling sin, and its marks were left upon us. Sin wrote its name, as it were, upon us, and it was only the power and the grace of God that could remove its scars.

Here in the vision we see the work of reformation done. On this occasion the filthy garments were taken away, and Jehovah said, “Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments” (Zech. 3: 5). The garments given were suited for the work that had now to be done. The Revised Version in Zech. 3: 4 gives “rich apparel” for “change of raiment.”

In the second half of this chapter we have something communicated which is additional to the vision. There we have what was said by the angel of the Lord to Joshua as the representative of the people. This word laid upon him a great responsibility. “If thou wilt walk in My ways, and if thou wilt keep My charge, then thou shalt also judge My house, and shalt also keep My courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by” (Zech. 3: 7), meaning in the latter sentence no doubt that he would be given special access into the presence of God. This privilege would be the result of obedience to God's word, and I think the principle has its application to us.

It was asked here last evening why it is that there is not a greater answer given by God to our prayers. This is a very practical question, because every believer in Christ has undoubted right of access to the presence of God in prayer, and what cannot prayer do?

Why then is it there are not greater answers to prayer? It is the prayer of a righteous man that availeth much. The persons who are obedient to God's word are those who can go into His presence and have the right of access there. I am not limiting the fact that every believer in Christ can make his prayer to God and know that it shall be heard, but there are some who have power in prayer. There are those who prevail in prayer. And do you not think that God takes notice of my conduct, of my care for His word, of my zeal in His service? How can I, if I disregard what He has said, how can I come to Him with confidence and ask this, that or the other for other persons or for myself? No, I think there is a responsibility for practical holiness in connection with the undoubted privilege of every believer to pray to God. Let us see that we do not fail to receive answers to prayer because of personal unfaithfulness and unrighteousness in our ways.

The Temple Erected for Messiah.

But we must not overlook what follows, because in Zechariah 3: 8 we get the key to the restoration of the people of Israel. With all respect to the people of the Jews as a nation, and they are certainly a remarkable nation in many ways, one really cannot see anything in them as a nation which explains why God should have selected them.

What were they more than the Persians or any other people? The reason for their restoration from Babylon was one absolutely different from anything derived from qualities of character. There was no merit whatsoever in them; but the remnant was delivered from captivity because God's word must be fulfilled, particularly His promise about the Lord Jesus Christ. That the promised Branch might shoot forth, the house of David must be restored.

The Lord must appear, and where must He appear? In the temple (Mal. 3: 1). How could He appear in the temple if there was no temple in Mount Zion? The temple must therefore be built, because Messiah when He comes was to appear in the temple. Accordingly, when we open the Gospels we find there the record of the Holy Babe in the temple, brought into the temple at a given time, and Simeon is led there at the same time by the Holy Spirit, as Luke tells us (Luke 2: 27). What for? To meet the Branch, the Day-spring from on high, the long-promised One. And when the aged saint sees the Babe he takes Him in his arms, and blesses God, saying, “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation.”

The Lord in His life among men was notably associated with the temple. At twelve years of age He was found in the temple speaking to the doctors of the law, asking them and answering their questions. He was there, as He said, about His Father's business. He more than once went into the temple, and cast out of its courts those who sold animals for sacrifice and who exchanged money. He went there as the Anointed Servant to witness that His Father's house was being made a house of merchandise.

The Lord Jesus was to come to the temple, and therefore the chosen people must be restored to the holy land, and the temple rebuilt. When the fulness of time came, the lowly maiden of royal pedigree was found (not indeed in Bethlehem, but in Nazareth, though she was truly descended from the house and lineage of David) to bring forth that holy Babe who would be for the salvation of men. God's purposes in this respect must stand fast, and for this reason the Jews of Zechariah's day need not entertain any fear of their enemies.

As to our own times, we know that in that unseen temple which is being erected in this world the living stones are daily coming to that One who is truly the Living Stone, and they are being built up a holy temple to the Lord. Presently the headstone of the edifice will be added, and the whole thing will be complete, and the Lord Himself will come to receive to Himself His body and His bride. The work is going on, and the explanation of all successful gospel service is to be found, only as we regard it in the light of the glory of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is it that the word of God is so operative at the present day? Because the temple of God is being framed, and fashioned for the Lord Jesus Christ. When it is complete and manifested in glory, the heavenly city and the temple will be one (Rev. 21: 10-22).

The Seven-eyed Stone

“Behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes” (Zech. 3: 9). The foundation-stone of the temple was laid in Jerusalem. It was the witness that the work was begun. It was begun in the name of Jehovah, and what is begun in His name will surely be completed in His name. God never yet left a work unfinished. Man has many and many a time left his work, as he did the tower of Babel, because he was unable to complete it. No human work is really completed. The great engineering feats of the world are often said to be complete, but immediately the completion is announced an army of workers is provided to keep them in order and to prevent decay. But the work of God stands unaffected for evermore, and what He begins He will finish, and when finished it needs no amendment.

But another thing: “upon one stone shall be seven eyes,” He says. This is a figurative reference, of course, and this figure is more fully developed in the next chapter. But when the “eyes of the Lord” occur in prophetic language the general reference is to the great fact that God sits upon the throne of the universe and that His eyes run to and fro through the whole earth, beholding the evil and the good. And though men do not credit the active omniscience of God, still it is true. Here was the fact that in connection with this foundation stone were seven eyes, that is, the perfect government of God in this world as displayed in the coming kingdom will be associated with the Stone of Israel.

The reminder of God's perfect government was given to hearten up these people. The prophet said, as it were, Go ahead, and do your work; get on with the building of the temple; the Messiah the Prince is at hand. And they did get on, as we know. God is speaking in the same way now. We need a stirring up to greater zeal, and in connection with the work of the Lord particularly. The great truth to stir us up to courageous and self-denying effort is this: that God has put the reins of government in the hands of Him who was crucified, but now glorified.

When I open the last Book of the Bible I see seven eyes associated with the Lamb that was slain (Rev. 5: 6). All powers of government are found in Him. The power to discern, to control, and to govern, to arrange things for peace and holiness, all are perfected in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The seven eyes in heaven are in exercise for us now. We are so often discouraged and perplexed with the events of daily life; this world seems to us to be in such a muddle. But whatever seems to be inexplicable, particularly as it concerns believers collectively, there is One who has complete control, and He sees and knows it all.

His seal, the mark of God, was engraved upon the foundation stone that they had despised and neglected (3: 9). God had put His mark upon it, and it was to be a memorial in this world of the coming Messiah. It was on that account that they had to be up and doing. Compare the seal in 2 Tim. 2: 19, and the consequent responsibility indicated in the verses that follow.

There are great lessons for us here in Christian life and relationship, and particularly in connection with the things of God as they concern believers collectively, because we have been speaking, not of the building of a single person's life and character, but of the great company of those that are Christ's taken together. Believers are linked with the Lord Jesus Christ, and they have a responsibility to one another in consequence.

Are we putting our own affairs first, or are we putting the affairs of Christ first? Are we in our prayers to Him saying, “Lord, show me what Thou wouldst have me to do to help and comfort my brethren, those who like myself have been saved by grace and are waiting for Thee to come from heaven”?

We have our own individual line, and we want help in this. But we must not forget those who are linked with us, because we are all linked with Christ. There are grave assembly difficulties, but there is no need to despair, the power of God is on our side. Let us labour therefore with zeal and diligence, counting nothing too great to give up in service, self-denying service, for Him who loved the church and gave Himself for it.

Second Address

The Candlestick, the Olive Trees, and the Oil (Zech. 4; 1 Peter 2: 4-9).

I spoke last evening on the third chapter of the prophecies of Zechariah, but I then had no expectation of speaking this evening, and of following the subject further.

The fourth chapter contains another out of the series of eight visions which Zechariah the prophet had, and this is a complement of the one in the third chapter. The fourth and fifth visions form a pair, and they correspond by analogy with two correlated truths we have in the New Testament. In the third chapter the theme was that God was able to make the defiled people of the Jews who had been restored to their own land fit and competent to carry on His work in the restoration of the temple worship at Jerusalem. The high priest we saw at first clad in filthy garments, and then clad in robes befitting his holy task.

In the fourth chapter the question answered in the vision is not so much building God's house to restore His worship as a competency to testify in the earth to the name of Jehovah of hosts. The candlestick seen in vision is plainly a figure of the spread of light. It signifies therefore a means of witness or testimony. You must recollect that in Old Testament times there was but one nation that held the knowledge of the true God. Scatter that people among the nations, and where is the testimony of God? It is gone. God says in effect in this vision, I will bring back My people from their captivity and put them in the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and they shall again be custodians of My law. Such was the meaning, the strict spiritual meaning, of the candlestick that Zechariah saw.

The Living Stone

Now in the scripture that we read from the 1st Epistle of Peter you see that the two services indicated in Zechariah 3 and 4 respectively, worship and testimony, attributed to believers of the present day. Peter speaks of those who had come to the Living Stone. You recollect that in the third chapter of our prophet there was a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ under the Old Testament figure of the Stone. But in the New Testament there is a new feature revealed in connection with this figure of the Lord Jesus. He is there shown not only as a Stone, but as a living Stone, which, as a term, is a contradiction in nature.

But we ought always to remember when considering the figures used in God's word that they relate to spiritual things that cannot be adequately depicted by physical phenomena: they have no exact counterpart in nature. A stone speaks of what is dead, inanimate. It is normally without motion or power; but when it is called a “living” stone, something that is supernatural is denoted. It becomes, as we cannot fail to see, an appropriate figure of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has no peer among the sons of men, nor in the universe. He was the Life: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” All life in its origin and maintenance was vested in Him, and so He was the Living Stone.

There were those in Peter's day, and those, thank God, in this day, who have come to Christ as the Living Stone, disallowed indeed by men, of no account in the councils of men, but chosen of God. As we believe from our very souls, He was the sent One of God. We confess that He is the Son of the Living God, and own this truth in the face of all men. He is the chosen One of God, and precious to us because He meets our deepest need. When we were faced with the guilt of our sins there was no hope upon earth for us, and what could we expect from the heaven against which we had sinned? Then the light of the gospel shone upon us, and we came to Jesus to find our every need met in Him. He is precious to us because of this.

The Holy Priesthood for Worship

In connection with our coming to that Living Stone we find two facts referred to by Peter. There are indeed many important facts in these verses, but I only wish to refer to two of them this evening — worship and testimony.

Those who come as living stones are called in the 5th verse “a holy priesthood” amongst other things, whilst in the 9th verse they are called “a royal priesthood.” The particular function of the holy priesthood as declared in the 5th verse is to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ; and herein you see a correspondence with the truth embodied in the vision of Zechariah 3, that God has in the world those whom He has cleansed for a specific purpose, viz. , to sing the praises of His new creation. The birds of the old creation sing upon the tree tops in their natural way to the God of nature, to the glory of Him who created them; but there is also a new creation. Some men are born again. They stand before the Living God brought to Him out of the paths of sin, and created anew in Christ Jesus. They are fitted and qualified to raise hymns of praise. They sing to God, and they sing to Him out of new hearts. They sing a new song which begins below, but will resound throughout the long ages of eternity.

The Royal Priesthood for Testimony

This then is the first qualification, that these living stones should come to the Lord Jesus Christ to worship God in the beauty of holiness. But in the 9th verse it speaks, not of a holy priesthood, but of a royal priesthood. There is a kingly side to this priesthood. This is the representative side of God's government, and this phase we find portrayed, as we shall see, more fully in the vision found in the fourth chapter of Zechariah.

Now the duty and responsibility of the royal priesthood was to show forth the praises, or virtues, as may be seen in the margin of your Bibles, “of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light” (1 Peter 2: 9). This is not necessarily singing the praises of God, but the testimony that they render in the world as evidence of God's spiritual work in their life history. A man who is a drunkard believes the gospel; he emerges from that squalid condition in which he was. He is a new man. He lives in the world to the glory of God, and men look at him, and ask, What has brought it about? They say he has turned pious, but the great underlying fact of his altered life is this: he has been made anew, and wherever he goes he is a living witness to what the power of God has done. He is in fact a part of the golden candlestick of which we read in Zechariah 4.

The Candlestick

I need not tonight repeat what was pointed out last evening. It is not at all assumed in these addresses that the visions have a direct application to the church. Their direct reference is to what God has done, and will do, with His ancient people, the Jews, when He brings them back to their own land; but we are entitled to take hold of certain facts which, while they are true of the people in Zechariah's day and of the Jewish people yet to come, they are also true of us now. There is the great fact of the confessors of Christ being lights in this world to shine for Him, which was true then and is true now.

The candlestick that the prophet saw was plainly connected with that candlestick which was made by Divine direction and set up by Moses and Aaron in the tabernacle, and repeated in the temple of Solomon. But when the king of Babylon destroyed the temple, the candlestick with other things was taken away captive. Now it was brought back to Jerusalem; but you cannot put a candlestick upon a foundation stone. You must have a house for it; the temple must be got ready for it; and the prophet says, Go on with your work, and the day will come when the candlestick will shine in its place, and the light of testimony before the Lord will be revived.

Not Might, not Power, but God's Spirit

But I wish to draw your attention to the answer of the angel to the prophet concerning the meaning of the candlestick and the olive trees. “The angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 4: 5, 6). Surely the angel in these words is not answering the prophet's question directly. The point of his query was what is the meaning of this candlestick with its seven branches, and the bowl of oil above it, and the pipes carrying the oil into the branches of it; and then the two olive trees, one on the right hand and one on the left hand? The prophet wanted to know exactly what it all meant; and the answer of the angel was, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.”

How are we to understand this strange reply? The prophet must have known that there was some reference in it to the restoration of the testimony of God through Israel to all the world. But what else was in the mind of Zechariah? The difficulty in his mind was how this great work was going to be accomplished. How was the temple to be built? How was the scene of desolation at Jerusalem to be restored, the site cleared for the re-erection of the temple? How could the feeble little company of Jews accomplish this? The divine assurance against this doubt was this, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.”

We find this text quoted so many times nowadays that it is well to observe carefully the connection in which it was originally used. You cannot cut up a scripture in snippets, and expect to understand each snippet individually. Scripture is put together in a Divine order and for a Divine reason by its Divine Author.

The point of the Lord's reply was this, that God would work effectively for the accomplishment of His own purpose. The people of Israel had a distinguished history as a nation. Jehovah had brought them out of Egypt with a high hand. When He commenced to work for them He displayed His power in a marvellous way. The plagues that came successively upon Egypt showed His power in a way that the king on the throne and the beggar on the dunghill would be bound to own that God was working. Everything was effected by the manifest power of God, but when it came to the slaying of the firstborn there was no question about denying His power any longer, and every father and mother who had lost a son rose up in hot haste to drive out the people of Israel.

These open visitations spoke with a loud voice to all men. God made bare His arm so that they might know. When He came down on Mount Sinai, the voice heard was so terrible that the people quaked. All through the marvellous passage of the Israelites through the wilderness God wrought manifestly; and again when they entered the land, as the Jordan and the walls of Jericho could tell. Their whole history is full of deeds of might and power, so that everyone amongst the Gentiles might see that God was working in a miraculous way for His people Israel.

The point now was, would God do it again? Was He prepared to work miracles for these fifty thousand exiles that had come back to their own land? Were these great and marvellous things to be repeated? Was the candlestick to be set up again by miraculous power? The answer was given clearly and plainly: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit.”

If God had wrought miracles for the two tribes, what about the ten? God had other ways of working than by might and by power. He could shake the earth and the heavens; He could make men mark His mighty power; but in that day of brokenness for the nation when ruin had come upon the twelve tribes scattered over the face of the whole earth, would God put honour upon one little fragment of Israel, and work miracles in the midst of it?

If so, He would be putting His seal of approval upon a very small part only of the nation. And it was not God's way of working then, nor is it now.

No Pentecostal Miracles now

God is now working in the church by His Spirit, and the Spirit of God works in a way that men cannot understand, that is to say, the Spirit of God works secretly, quietly, without noise. But you say, Surely when the Spirit of God came down at Pentecost there was outward evidence of His presence; surely people were then given to feel that a great phenomenon was before them. Fishermen stood up and preached with irresistible power. Men spake with tongues and prophesied, and wonderful things were done, so that the fear of God came upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

There was power undoubtedly in the church then, but the church was then in its pristine glory, and God manifested His presence there in a way that all the world might observe. God gave the power of tongues so that His servants might go into the ends of all the earth with the gospel without delay. A great change of dispensation took place at Pentecost, and God showed He was not confining His attention to one small people upon the earth.

Today, in the day of weakness, we are not entitled to look for might or power, but we must look for the unimpaired agency of God's Spirit. “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth; so is everyone that is born of the Spirit” (John 3: 8).

People sometimes set themselves to seek with earnestness some outward evidence of the action of the Spirit of God, but we ought always to remember that it is quite possible to have exhibitions of power that are superhuman. They may be above the power of man, and yet not be the power of God. There is a spiritual world, spiritual agencies, evil powers; and men who clamour and cry in anxiety of heart for outward evidence, for miracles, for something that will arrest people's attention, may get what they seek no doubt, only not from the Holy Spirit of God, but from evil spirits who will simulate what is of Him.

“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.” This declaration is the more emphatic when we remember that in the Old Testament God's Spirit was not working in the way that He did in the New, not working in the same way, I mean. I refer of course to the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said that when He went away He would send another Comforter. He Himself had been One, but His own stay upon earth was limited. A few short years and His service was done, but He promised that when He took His seat at the right hand of God He would send the Holy Spirit, and that He should abide for ever. He would come to be here permanently, that is, so long as the people of God were passing through the wilderness on to the Father's house above.

Now the Holy Spirit had been working in the Old Testament, only not in the same manner as at Pentecost and after. God manifests Himself as He pleases, but we must heed the way in which He manifests Himself. According to Zechariah, the Spirit would put such energy into the Jews, such courage, such wisdom, such confidence, such power of resistance to their enemies, that the work of building the temple should be accomplished, that if they would only get on with their building and not neglect it as they had been doing for the past fourteen years the temple should be completed, the headstone laid and the whole work finished.

So that the great truth of this verse is this, that God works, and will continue to work, in the days of weakness in His own manner, but that manner will not be in outward show to the aggrandisement of those through whom He works.

When a man can speak with tongues he will use them all for the glorification of himself. I have been striving for this, he thinks; and he does not forget to let people know that he has them.

There is one infallible proof of the action of the Spirit of God. The Spirit always works for the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ. “He shall glorify Me,” the Lord said; and when a man speaks by the Spirit he speaks to the exaltation of Christ. He says, Don't look at me, but look at the One who saved me. You may be sure that man is speaking by the Spirit of God. Man exalts himself, but the Spirit of God exalts the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Great Mountain

The prophet says, “Who art thou, O great mountain?” (Zech. 4: 7). I suppose the special reference was to the great mountain of desolation and rubbish on Mount Zion, where the temple had been broken down. There was this great mountain as a hindrance, but what was that to the power of God? “Who art thou?”

We can make a spiritual application of the figure. “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove” (Matt 17: 20). The lady who prayed that the hill which obstructed her view might be removed found, of course, that it was not removed. She looked at the Lord's words in a literal way, and her petition was a selfish one.

But we have our mountains. In our spiritual life we frequently come to a great mountain which seems more than we can surmount. What are we in the habit of doing? Do we, as the disciples should have done in that particular instance, do we betake ourselves to prayer and fasting? Do we believe that the mountain, however great, will be removed? Sometimes in our little histories very small things may be very great mountains to us. They seem more than we can manage, more than we can scale. It may be bereavement, it may be domestic anxiety, it may be business matters; whatever the mountain may be, its formidableness disappears in answer to prayer.

But the reference in the text is to the building of the temple. “Before Zerubbabel [the representative in Jerusalem of the house of David] thou shalt become a plain, and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it” (ver. 7), that is to say, the foundation had previously been laid, and if they only trusted God and went on with the work the headstone should be laid, and everyone would cry, Grace, grace unto it; that is, exclaim what a fair and beautiful edifice it had become.

The work of God is bound to prosper. It does not, as a matter of fact, prosper in some cases because we do not believe it is the work of God. God never fails. He may be a long time doing His work, but it is always accomplished. Summer is coming; it is very slow this year in coming, but it is bound to come because God has ordered it; it is part of His great plan; and we can take the same attitude in spiritual matters also. Something has to be done, and if God sent me to do it that work will succeed; there will be accomplished what is in the mind of God to be done, and no power can defeat it. If we believe and wait, we shall see the headstone put on, and wonder as we see the fair and beautiful result.

The Day of Small Things

Then God asks, “Who shall despise the day of small things?” It was a day of small things after all. The Persians probably when they allowed the Jews to go on building thought so, despising what the Jews were doing. They were building to an unseen God; there was to be no idol in that building; there would be no visible token of God in that temple. How absurd it all seemed to Persian eyes, and if the Jews listened to the philosophy of the Gentiles, or to the unbelief of their own elders, they would despise the day when everything seemed so small and unpromising.

The work of faith is always foolish in the eyes of men, and because it seems small and foolish there are many who despise it. You preach the gospel, and nothing seems to happen; the word of God is declared, and what has come of it so far as the eye can see or the ear hear? There appears to he no result, but we need to believe that the word of God is living, that it is the seed of life, and that it effects some result, unseen now to us perhaps, but the day will come when the fruit will be manifest.

Do not let us despise the day of small things, small audiences perhaps, small results to long days of toil. There were those who despised the work for God in the days of Zechariah, but the temple was nevertheless completed; for the angel says, “They shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet” [that is, the tool used when the building was completed] “in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven.” The number “seven” refers back to the previous vision (Zech. 3: 9), the reference being to the seven eyes in the foundation stone laid before Joshua, and these seven eyes will be seen again in the headstone by Zerubbabel, that is to say, the government of God executed in secret now will be manifest in glory when the Lord has completed His church.

Eyes that Run

“They are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” This is true still. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth not solely, however, in the observance of all things, which must be constantly true of Omniscience. Scripture teaches more than this. The Eyes not merely scrutinize in general, but take particular concern of what happens, not only to those who are His, but to men throughout the whole earth.

We know that just now those who observe closely national affairs in the world are in great anxiety as to what may happen, dreading a repetition of that great conflagration which is within nearly everyone's recollection.

But the believer knows that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro through the whole earth. In the secret counsels of the empires of the world and wherever men are, their secrets are all known to Him. What they purpose is before the eyes of the Lord, and He is on our side, and if God be for us, who can be against us? The nations may assail one another, but the life of each believer is in the hands of the Good Shepherd, and not one of His flock can perish, nor can a single harm befall those who are His. He knows what is coming upon us just as He knows what concerns us now.

It is a great comfort to know this and to know that there is a restraining power in this world which protects and preserves those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. The activities of God are secret, but they are none the less real, and are engaged in securing the well-being of those who are His. This is a matter of faith in what God has spoken. We do not know how the matters of today are being moulded for our well-being. While the process is in operation we are not able to discern the final result; only we are told definitely in scripture that these great world movements, these mighty forces that influence your life and mine, are all working out our eventual good.

His eyes are upon us, and upon us for good. The Spirit of God is at work in the world for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and for the blessing of those who believe in Him.

We are His witnesses. The Spirit of God is pleased to work through believers, and there is one thing which makes me a competent medium through whom the Spirit of God may and will work. I reminded you just now that the great office of the Spirit of God is to glorify Christ. Now if I have in my heart a real desire to glorify God in my body, in my spirit, in my life, in all that concerns me, if this is a consuming passion with me, to glorify God in whatever I do, then the Spirit of God finds in me a fit instrument through whom He can work. I am as it were a golden pipe through which the oil can flow, and as it runs it becomes a light in the candlestick, shining here to the glory of God. We are lights in the world, set to shine in the darkness for the Lord Jesus Christ.

Stephen testified to his absent Master, and looking up he saw heaven opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and his face shone with love for Christ. Those who were about him saw the fulness of his heart reflected in his countenance. It was too much for them; this testimony for Christ was too vivid. He was too much like his Master, and so they took up stones and beat out his life.

The light was shining in Stephen, and it will shine in us. The Spirit of God is here to do it. He can take up weak and failing persons and fill them with His power, and use them, not for their own glory, but for the honour and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. May this be true of each and all of us.

The Institution and Observance of the Lord's Supper

Two Addresses by W. J. Hocking.

Second Edition, revised.

The Institution of the Lord's Supper as Recorded in the Gospels

It is a striking circumstance that in the New Testament we have very few ordinances of any sort prescribed for the believer. We have baptism, and we have the Lord's Supper, but no others. This absence of ritual is in great contrast with the religion of the Jews. Under the Mosaic Law, there were many sacrifices to be offered daily, and throughout each day, and these sacrifices were of many kinds. There was at Jerusalem a gorgeous and ornate building in which men were to worship. There were priests specially delegated for the purpose of ministering in the holy things and in the holy place and in the various holy services. There were also the Levites with definite duties in the Temple precincts; there was in short a great host of rites and ceremonies to be performed. But when we come to the New Testament, we find that this order of things disappears, and that worship in spirit and in truth takes the place of worship by rote. The Lord's Supper is mentioned definitely in a few places only, but always in the simplest language, while the service itself is distinguished by its simplicity. There is nothing difficult in its observance. There is nothing costly in the bread and the wine which constitute the Supper. They both are inexpensive articles within the reach of all. There is no priesthood, as distinct from the assembly, authorised for its administration; and the prescribed ritual, if we may call it so, is very simple indeed.

Christ Himself not Shadows of Him

Why is there this striking contrast? There are many reasons, but this evening I will mention only one, which I think may be sufficient for my purpose. Under the law, the sacrifices and the services of the priesthood all pointed down the Old Testament ages to One Who was coming, and Who was to do the great and sufficient work of making an end of sins and of introducing righteousness. But in the New Testament, we find that Person has made His advent into the world, and has accomplished the work of redemption. Moreover, He, though absent, makes His presence known and felt in connection with this simple memorial service. And when you have the substance, will you care for the shadow? When you have the Antitype, where is the need for the type? The Lord's Supper as an act of communion brings the hearts of the children of God into close and living association with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and having Him, all legal symbolism is now superseded, as the Epistle to the Hebrews shows in great detail. It is the Lord, then, Who gives the Supper its essential character, and therefore He is able to make His own people recognise His presence under the most adverse and difficult circumstances. They may be scattered and separated, they may be persecuted, but wheresoever they may be in the wide world, let them only be gathered to His name, let them but be desirous to "do this in remembrance" of Him, and, according to His own promise, He is there in the midst; and His presence amply compensates for every other disability. The presiding presence of Christ Himself enables each believer to rise superior over all outward circumstances, whatever they may be during the observance.

I know that eating the Supper is not altogether an act of individual communion, and we will, perhaps, touch later upon that part of the subject. But it should be clearly understood by all that no person can properly enter into the meaning of the Lord's Supper, and that no Christian can experience the blessed fulness and joy of its observance apart from the personal recognition of the presence of Christ Himself, verily in the midst according to His word, not cognizant to the senses, it is true, but cognizant in spite of the senses. Oftentimes there are matters arising in connection with the observance of the Lord's Supper which may tend to distract or turn away the heart and the thought from the subject of the moment, but when Christ's presence is by faith realised all these things lose their influence, and dwarf into their proper insignificance and irrelevance.

The Circumstances of the Institution

It is interesting to look at the institution of this Supper with particular reference to the circumstances under which it was inaugurated. This will help us I think to gain a view, the right view, of this memorial and of its spiritual import. It was upon the eve of the great climax (shall I say?) in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ that this Supper was instituted. He had been in this world, the Son of God incarnate, passing through its varied scenes, the wonder of the angels and the scorn of men. What that passage through this world meant to Him we shall never know. But there was always before Him during His ministry that crisis to which from time to time He alluded as His "hour." There was an hour, the fixed moment, to which He was advancing. Everything concerning Him had been pre-arranged, all the events were determined by divine counsel beforehand; and He knew the future. He was never taken by surprise, as we are, but consciously faced as one Who had counted the cost, the desertions, the sorrows, the agonies of Calvary. He went forward, unchanged in heart and purpose and action by what He knew was coming. His love never diminished in the slightest; His works of mercy were never left undone because of the greater work of atonement before Him, but with imperturbable grace He proceeded continuously day after day, night after night, in pursuance of His lowly service. His days were filled with beautiful expressions of heavenly love in this dark and evil world, set forth for man's faith and knowledge both then and now.

But when the Lord drew near to Calvary, He was in the very shadow of that oppressive darkness which enveloped Him upon the cross. And it was on the eve of His departure from this world that He instituted this Supper. On the passover night itself, on that night so full, too, of events of universal and eternal importance, He instituted this Supper. You will remember that He was then together with His disciples in the upper room expressly to keep the passover supper. The company was Jesus and the twelve Those with Him were twelve distinguished men, but distinguished in a special manner. They had been called out to be His apostles, His beloved followers and His chosen witnesses. They were selected to see more of His face than any in the world besides, to hear more of His words than others, and to be admitted by Him into scenes of closest intimacy.

Disciples Contending for Precedence

The disciples were around the table, and Jesus at the head. Looking upon them there as, indeed, He is now looking upon us here, He saw all that was within them as well as what they actually did and said. Scripture records that during that memorable night they showed that they were men of like passions with ourselves — changeable, unreliable, sometimes impulsive in love and earnest zeal, and at other times carried away by foolish and wicked thoughts.

The disciples should have known what was before their Master. Only a few days previous Jesus had said to the twelve, "We go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests, and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him unto the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify" (Matt. 20: 17-19). Jews and Gentiles would unite in His crucifixion and death. He had told them on three separate occasions of His death (Matt. 16: 21; Matt. 17: 22, 23; Matt. 20: 17-19). You would have thought that their interest in and expectation of this startling event would have been quickened on that night — the passover night. What did the blood of the lamb typify? Did it not recall the hour of judgment and death passed long ago in Egypt? Did not the Lord say when He sat down with them, "With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer" (Luke 22: 15)?

Had the apostles considered seriously what the Lord had said to them about His rejection and death, would they not have entered that room with solemn hearts and chastened spirits? Would they not have been filled with a foreboding sense of the sorrow and pain before their beloved Master? We find, however, that they were engaged in petty quarrels, struggling among themselves as to who should be greatest amongst them (Luke 22: 24). Observing, I suppose, the disciple whom Jesus loved taking the place nearest to Him, their jealousy was aroused. Why should John be there? Why not one of them?

What a grief this painful altercation must have been to our Lord! He was contemplating the morrow when He would bear their sins in His own body on the tree — just such selfish sins as these. They could not understand His loving purpose. They were unable to enter into the grief before Him. Such lack of spiritual feeling and sympathy was the sorrowful result after His three years' service with them. There was for Him no comforter, no sympathiser, none that cared, even among His own. Do not let us judge them too harshly; let us rather judge ourselves. Are we never guilty of the indulgence of unworthy thoughts at the table of the Lord? In the most solemn moments, when the Spirit of God is making to live again before us the hour of suffering at Calvary, thoughts may even then arise in our hearts, altogether out of harmony with the subject of the Spirit of God. We must know that often we ought to bow our heads in shame when our Lord looks round upon us as we are eating His Supper, because thoughts intrude into our hearts which ought never to be there at such a holy season.

The Lord's Service at the Supper

Jesus rose from the table, He laid aside His garments, He girded Himself with a towel, knowing, as the beloved apostle has said, that the Father had given all things into His hands, that He had come from God and was going to God. He then went round as the servant of them all to wash their feet. Was not this a sight to move their hearts? The Lord of glory, Whom angels delighted to serve, was there meekly serving twelve men of humble birth — Peter, James, John, and Judas too. The Son of God had come down to serve them all! "I am among you as He that serveth." The word, the act, form a rebuke for us all. Let us remember that on no occasion in our spiritual experience do we see the glory of humility exhibited more than at the Lord's Supper. That loaf, that wine — what do they tell us? Of the One Who came down from above to serve; of the One Who did serve in life and death; of the One Who went under the cloud of wrath to serve; and Who went to the death of the cross and into the grave to serve. Let us, then, never be ashamed to serve this Christ, for has He not in His obedience to God served us, even to the death of shame?

Jesus and Judas

All these circumstances are associated with the institution of the Supper, which in its calm beauty forms a striking contrast with the tumult of evil passions around Him in Jerusalem, and before Him on the morrow. Even in the little company itself there was wilfulness as well as weakness. One was altogether divided in heart from the Lord. For Judas was there. "Ye are clean," says the Lord, "but not all." In the little circle, there was this spectacle of direct apostasy before the eyes of our Lord. This man had been able to withstand the benign rays of heavenly grace and glory shed directly upon him for three years. His heart was not softened by the Master's ministry of grace, but was hardened. The love of Jesus had never penetrated his soul. It had, on the contrary, become a stronghold of sin, of shameful deeds, of Satan himself. The betrayal by Judas was an exhibition of the power of Satan, overcoming one in that small apostolic band.

The Lord appealed to the traitor. He gave him the sop, and Judas took it, but withstood the overture. All the love of Christ was thrown away upon him; his soul was completely devastated and ruined. "That thou doest," the Lord said, "do quickly." Then he arose from the table and went out, and Scripture adds, "it was night." He went out into the blackness of night's darkness to do a deed of still blacker darkness. Judas was at the passover-table, but went out from the presence of the Lord, to go to his own place. He was not "clean," as the Lord had said (John 13: 10).

But the betrayer having gone, the Lord, as they were eating, took the bread and the cup, and instituted His memorial Supper. This done, He went on to speak those valedictory words which we have, and which we love so much, in the Gospel of John (14–16). These discourses speak, not of the forgetfulness on the part of the disciples, not of the evil within them, but of comfort to their hearts which were full of love for Him, and of sorrow, because He was about to leave them. He knew that they truly loved Him; He knew that in spirit they were prepared to renounce everything for Him. But He knew also that they would be exposed to persecution and death, and that they were feeble in action though fearless in spirit. He said 'I am going away. You are filled with sorrow. I know that you love Me. I know that you will lament when I am gone from you, but I will come to you again.' So He brightened the future for them by the promise of His return, and thus buoyed them up with the blessed hope of His returning, having first taught them the remembrance of Himself in the Supper until He should come.

All these circumstances on the night of the betrayal tend to give a special character to the Supper of the Lord. They all combine in an appeal to our affections that we should value its observance above all else. There is no engagement more solemn and serious, and nothing more blessed as a spiritual occupation. I do not know of anything that we can do or say which calls for more earnest examination of our own hearts than the participation in this feast. Yet the service itself is simple and easy to perform. And, while we are assured of the Lord's presence in our midst, this brings before us no terrors as there were at Sinai — no clouds of darkness, no thunderings or lightnings. On the contrary, we have the sweet and loving invitation of the Lord Himself, "This do in remembrance of Me", uttered afresh to our hearts.

The Lord took Bread and Blessed

Now let us notice for a little the actual institution of the Supper by our Lord though the details are no doubt familiar to us. While the disciples were eating, the Lord took bread (Matt. 26: 26). This act was not associated with the ritual of the passover supper, but was quite separate, and quite distinct in meaning. The passover supper was kept, and the ceremony maintained in the prescribed form; and then the Lord instituted a new Supper which would supersede it. The passover was about to be fulfilled by the sacrifice of our Lord Himself, and having been fulfilled, it disappears as an appointed feast for the Christian era.

The Lord took of the bread that was before Him, and He blessed. We do not read that He blessed it. You will observe that the word "it" is in italics in our version, and therefore the significance is not that He took a piece of bread, and made it something else. He did not transform its nature. He blessed. He blessed God. He recognised the Giver of all good. His heart went up, as He loved it should, in thanksgiving to Him that was above. No occasion too great, none too small, for such devotional acknowledgment. For each and all things He always would bless, and give thanks. If you compare the account in Luke with those in Mark and Matthew, you will find that in Luke the parallel words are, "When He had given thanks." Blessing, therefore, is in this instance equivalent to giving thanks. There is no support at all in Scripture for the notion that the bread mysteriously and wonderfully became something different from what it was before.

The Lord blessed on this, as we find He did on other occasions. It was a relief to Him to look upwards. He could find nothing of joy in what was around Him in Jerusalem, but He could turn to God, and to the joy set before Him. His link with the Father was close, His fellowship with Him was intimate and precious. It was His constant habit to look up and give thanks.

There is no doubt that there is more involved in the Lord's act of blessing than the mere giving of thanks for the reception of the bread. There was about to be sacrifice and blood-shedding, and both were before the holy soul of our Lord. This bread was to be the memorial of His body, the vehicle of this supreme service. It had long been before Him to do this deed of redeeming love.

He had come into the world to inhabit the body prepared for Him (Heb. 10: 5), and to taste the vicissitudes of life among sinful men. Now He had come near to the accomplishment of the work of atonement given Him to do. He could and did bless God that it was so. Presently He would wrestle in agony in the garden of Gethsemane, with the power of darkness in full view. Wrath would be before Him in vision, and then He would struggle, as it were, at the prospect of bearing sin which was so abhorrent to His holiness. Here at the table, He was about to say of the loaf in His hand, "This is My body." The joy that was before Him of having accomplished the Father's will and glorified His name, and of having rescued from terrible destruction myriads of the souls of men, filled Him with delight; and He looked up and blessed. Then He broke the bread and passed it to them, bidding them eat.

Not that He partook of it Himself. He had desired to eat the Passover with them before He suffered (Luke 22: 15), but this Supper was something new and different. This was something for them to do for His sake. This was to be a memorial of Him. Did He Himself require such a memorial? Does He need some tangible token to keep us before His heart? some memorial to bring us to His remembrance? Never; our names are engraved upon the palms of His hands. But do not we forget? Do not we often need reminding? He knew our weakness; and He took the bread, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." And by these simple words He joined us up, so to speak, with Himself in His great work at Calvary and its results. It is as if He said, 'Make this your own, let this truth be yours, let it be within you, let it be assimilated in your very being; take, eat.'

Hence it is, beloved friends, that in the Supper we come so close to the blessed person of the Lord Jesus Christ. "This is My body," are the Lord's words. There is no need, however, for fanciful notions with regard to the bread. Let us be clear that the material is bread, and that it remains bread. He said, "This is My body," using, of course, a figure of speech, such as was often upon His lips. He spake in the pictorial manner of that nation to which He came. When He said "This is My body," He thereby attached a special significance to the loaf as His memorial. This, and nothing else, was to be the emblem which should set forth to them His body, and should for this reason recall to their minds the things done in His body.

The Bread a Memorial

Let us be clear with regard to another point. When the Lord said, "This is My body," He held the bread in His hands, and handed it to them. He handed it to them to eat. But He was still there before their eyes as they ate. He administered, if we may use that technical term, the bread before and to them. But He Himself was distinct from the loaf. The bread was a memorial for them, and given to His own by the Lord, He being separate from the bread which was and is emblematical of the body in which He suffered and completed the work of atonement. This feature of the Supper is ever true, and it is an important one for faith to realise. He Himself, the living, glorious Lord, the One into Whose hands all things are now given, is present to preside at the Supper and to superintend, if allowed to do so, what is done on the occasion. But He is separate from that which is His memorial. The living Lord conducts us in our remembrance of the Christ Who died.

I have a particular reason for referring to this distinction between the Lord Himself and this memorial of His death. I have found that some persons regard the Lord's Supper as if it were only a means of causing them to remember someone they have in some measure forgotten during the previous week. For six days, or the great part of the six days, they have been so busy with other things that the Lord has been altogether out of their thoughts. The memorial is valued because the ordinance brings Him back to mind. This is a false view of the Lord's Supper. In the Supper we remember the Lord as He was, in His sufferings and in His death. It is a shame to think that any Christian should require some formal observance to cause him to remember the Lord as He is in the glory. Can it be that some of us are so far removed from the living joy of knowing Christ Himself as our living Lord that He passes out of our hearts, and that we need something visible, like the breaking of bread, to bring Him back to our minds? We, in fact, do not assemble to remember Christ the glorified Christ, we come to remember the One Who died. There is but the One adorable Person, of course. Jesus Christ, Who is on high, is the same Jesus Who was crucified, but on Lord's day we meet to go back to what is past, and to what is never to be forgotten. And the Spirit uses that marvellous faculty of memory which we possess, the power we have of making yesterday live again, illuminating it so that those events of long ago become as fresh as ever in our hearts. We know that we all can in some degree recall the past, and this power of remembrance is turned to account by the Spirit of God in connexion with the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. So in the presence of the Lord Who lives we remember the Lord Who died.

There is something further stated about the bread, which is His body — which, as Luke says, "is given for you." If you carefully compare the accounts in the three Gospels (which it is always profitable to do) you will find that some words in Luke are not found in Matthew or Mark. Luke adds just those words which lay hold of our hearts, and draw us into close communion with the Master Himself. "This is My body, which is given for you"; and as He said this His words applied to His own individually as well as collectively. The words suited personally any one of those that sat at the table. "It is given for you." 'For me,' says Peter, 'For me,' says James. They each and all could respond thus, and say, 'It is given for me.'

The Lord by this personal touch meant to quicken the pulsation of their affections towards Himself. He wanted to draw out the undivided devotion of their souls, as they should realise that the sufferings through which His holy body would pass would be on their account. The great work would be for their benefit and blessing. I know that therein was the accomplishment of the will of God; I know also that the death of Christ has very wide-reaching results in the heavens as well as the earth. We shall never measure it properly, nor understand it fully. But at the Lord's table, while there may be loftier thoughts, is there anything which can touch the heart more deeply than the remembrance that He suffered for me? He died for me. "My body is given for you," He says. The whole man was given. The blessed Person Who surrendered Himself as an offering, a sacrifice, held nothing back. Such is the sacrifice the Father loves — the whole burnt-offering, everything completely rendered to God. "This is My body, which is given for you."

The Cup after Supper

But the Supper was not confined to the loaf only. Subsequently the cup also was given. He took the cup and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, "Drink ye all of it, for this is My blood of the new testament." In these words the Lord shows us unmistakably that the particular event in His history to be remembered on these occasions is His death, because there were the two elements, each bearing its witness. There was the bread, and there was the wine. The bread was the body, and the wine the blood. Separate as they were in that emblematical form, jointly they truly set forth the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

While in the body, as we know, the blood is the life. So it is expressed throughout the Old Testament. But when blood is seen distinct, it is the witness of death. And it so came about with our Lord historically, for we read that the soldier came with a spear, and pierced His side, after He had delivered up His spirit. Forthwith there came out blood and water (John 19: 34). This token of death was registered upon earth as evidence that the great work of life-giving had been accomplished. At the supper the cup reminds us that there was veritable death in the case of our Lord Jesus Christ. When we think that Jesus Christ, our Saviour, and Lord, did indeed taste death, bowing to the king of terrors, who brings paleness to the cheeks and tremors to the hearts of multitudes of men, we are filled again and again with amazement. The Lord Himself tasted death; and yet He had displayed such power over death in others, making the grave yield up its victims, young and old. He had but to speak, and the dead lived again. Yet now He says to the apostles, "This is My body . . . this is My blood."

How full of wonder must have been the hearts of those men as they pondered over these words! What did the Master mean? It was not the first time He had spoken of giving them His flesh to eat. Indeed He had often spoken of His death. It had now come very near at hand. "This is My body which is given for you." 'There is no other way of life but this for you; it must be this way of death for Me. In My life, in My incarnation, I am altogether separate from you. Only through My death can you participate in My life. Only thus can you be blessed; hence I give My body for you, and shed My blood for you.'

The Incarnate Son was present in this world, but His death also was necessary for man's salvation. God had said, "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." Here in the loaf and the cup was pictured the sinless One giving His life and going down into death for the blessing of those who were around Him, and of those who should believe on Him through their testimony. The Lord took the cup, and gave thanks, and they all were invited to drink of it. But Judas was not there. Jesus had washed Judas' feet with water, but his heart was left unclean. What would be the use of even an apostle eating and drinking with an unclean heart? It is worse than useless to drink the cup of the Lord if the heart is estranged from the Lord. This is to drink judgment to oneself (1 Cor. 11: 29). The hearts of the eleven were true to Him, and He invited them all to take and drink. 'You can share, you can participate. Drink ye all of it.'

Moreover, the Lord added, "This cup is the new testament (covenant) in My blood," speaking of that new covenant of which the prophets had foretold, of the covenant which would be yet made with the house of Israel and Judah and which will be seen in all its glory in days yet to come (Jer. 31: 31-34). But the atoning blood of Christ, as the basis of that covenant, was about to be shed, and the cup is the memorial of it.

Sins Forgiven. Christ Remembered

"This is My blood which is shed for you for the remission of sins." You observe the Lord's Supper is not a place where the children of God come together to remember their sins. Their sins are remitted. The institutions of the law differed in this respect. When the sacrifices were offered of old, there was a remembrance made of sins every year on the day of atonement (Heb. 10: 3). But believers are not invited to the Lord's Supper to remember their sins. They come to remember Him Who died, having borne their sins in His own body on the tree. It is not that they are unconscious of ever having sinned — for such a person there could be no Supper in its true sense. The supper is for those for whom Christ shed His blood that their sins might be forgiven. Jesus, looking upon the company in the upper room, saw the indelible marks of disfigurement that sin had wrought in their moral characters and that He had come to remove by His blood-shedding. They were clean by His word, but He came not by water only, but by water and blood, and He was about to shed His blood for the remission of their sins. So when we drink the cup, we are reminded of His blood shed; and then we are indeed on holy ground. We are together in close fellowship with our most holy Lord and Saviour. Hence we cannot but think what it is that has brought us there so near to Him, Who is "of purer eyes than to behold evil."

The disciples did not enter into the true character of the cup. They could not anticipate the value of the blood of Christ to them, much less to God. But we know it. Why is it we come together? To remember the Lord in His death. Being there, the cup brings before us that precious blood which has cleansed us from every sin, and made us suitable to sit in the presence of the Lord.

Judas had gone out, but Peter and James and John and others remained, and they were made the recipients of this communication from the Lord, in spite of the activities of Satan in their midst, and the weakness of their own flesh. And why is it they were there? Why is it they were maintained in such hallowed society at such a time? Because of the precious blood of Christ about to be shed that their sins might all be removed.

Oh, beloved friends, consider how wonderful this theme is for our meditation when we are together to remember the Lord Jesus Christ! Can it be possible that sometimes we appear on such occasions to lack subjects for thought and worship? Can it be that the trivial happenings of the past week occupy our hearts, and obliterate every holy memory of Christ and His passion and His death? Is there not enough in the death of Christ to engage our hearts for one brief hour? Do we chafe because there is a long protracted silence? Is there not sufficient love and interest in our individual hearts to cause us to be absorbed with the Lord Jesus and what He suffered for us? Do we find it irksome because there is no audible human voice? It is a happy thing when a man breaks the silence by the Spirit of God, expressing what is on the hearts of all, but it is happy also, when there is no voice, to recognise in our own experience the supremacy and sufficiency of the Lord Himself.

Beloved friends, let us think again of the night of the institution of the Supper. The Lord of glory is here in this world, where for three years He has laboured in active ministry of mercy and truth. He is about to die. He gathers around Him just before He leaves the world eleven men out of the millions of the world's inhabitants — eleven men who, because of previous training, might at least have been expected to enter into what was before Him. But there was not one who showed a sympathetic understanding of the real facts of what was immediately before the Lord. They were all very far away in spirit from sharing the burden of His heart at that time. But is there not still an astonishing lack of interest in the death of Christ? Out of all the millions upon the face of the globe at the present time, how many meet together habitually for the sole purpose of fulfilling the Lord's word: "This do in remembrance of Me"? Very few, comparatively, show any regard for His will in this respect.

Do we care for the Lord's death, as He would have us? Did He anywhere prove His love for us as He did upon the cross? Shall we tire of this holy theme? Is once a week too often to remember Him? Oh, beloved friends, what grief was added to the Lord by the indifference of His own who could not watch with Him one hour on the night when He was being betrayed? What, then, is it now in the eyes of our Lord that so many can be indifferent, careless, regardless of the memorial of that infinite work which cost Him so much to accomplish?

We can, of course, think of the Lord at any time and in any place, but we ought to have the Lord's words written upon our hearts, "This do in remembrance of Me." The "remembrance" is a question of doing, not of meditating only. It is not a material sacrifice to be offered, but it is an act to be performed. The Lord definitely said this, and it is not for us to take away one iota from what He has said. "This do in remembrance of Me." 'I shall leave this world that does not want Me. I shall return to the place I had with the Father before the worlds were. I want you to raise a memorial to My death here in this world, not in marble, not in costly architecture, not in anything which can be procured by the riches of this world, but the memorial of a simple act, of no external value in itself, nor of anything impressive in the grandeur of its ceremony. Do this in remembrance of Me. I call for this act of obedience on your part.'

Beloved friends, be assured that unless we eat the bread and drink the cup, we cannot "do this" in remembrance of Him. You may make excuses for your neglect, you may raise objections and difficulties to its observance, but you cannot carry out the word of the Lord unless you eat the Supper. His words are simple and easy of understanding as we have reiterated this evening; and because they are simple, their claim is irresistible, and our negligence is inexcusable. The Lord does not ask us to make a great sacrifice, but He does ask us to eat bread and drink wine in remembrance of Him. Let your whole heart and soul ever be in the observance of His will. Let all that is true and spiritual and begotten of God within you be concentrated upon the performance of this act. If we honour Him, He will honour us. If we are true to Him, He will be — I was about to say, true to us, but then He is always true to us whatever we may be. If we deny Him, He is still faithful, which is all the greater reason why we should, so far as in us lies, carry out this word of our Lord, laid by Him upon the loyal hearts of those who love Him, and who love to follow His footsteps through this world.

A Hymn of Remembrance

Lord and Saviour, we remember

In that hour of shame,

Thou to God Thyself didst render:

Praise Thy name.

Blessed Saviour, we remember

Thou hadst met the foe;

Yet the darkness gathered round Thee,

And the woe.

Holy Saviour, we remember

Bitter was Thy cry,

When, for sin by God forsaken,

Wrath was nigh.

Precious Saviour, we remember

Thou didst overcome;

Through Thy victory we who wandered

Are brought home.

Lord and Saviour, we remember

Somewhat of Thy love;

All its fulness do Thou teach us

From above.

The Observance of the Lord's Supper as Recorded in the Acts and the Epistles

Last week we read the passages from the Gospels which record the institution of the Lord's Supper. There we had the inspired account of the actual circumstances under which the Lord spoke to His disciples on that evening when He set apart the bread and the wine as emblems of His body and His blood, desiring His own to eat and drink of them in remembrance of Himself. It is of interest and help to find that we also have in Scripture instances of the actual observance of the Lord's Supper, showing that the early disciples understood what the Lord wished them to do, and that they very rightly and naturally and spontaneously responded to His desire, and habitually commemorated the Lord's death in the appointed way. And these records shed their light upon the practice that we should adopt today in observing the words of our Lord.

Breaking Bread in Jerusalem

We find from the first Scripture that I read in the Acts that the disciples in Jerusalem immediately after Pentecost were in the habit of breaking bread together. This practice had been speedily adopted by them as a company. There were the apostles who preached, there were disciples who had known the Lord in the days of His flesh, there were others who had believed the preaching of the apostles by the Spirit of God; and these were all banded together by the same Spirit Who came down on the day of Pentecost, and were all given by Him a unity of mind and a unity of purpose. All their hearts and affections were concentrated upon the Person of Jesus Who had risen and Who had ascended to heaven out of their sight. He was out of sight, but not out of mind, nor were His words out of mind.

And these believing Jews were together, being all of this common persuasion, that there was none upon earth and none in heaven comparable to the blessed Person of the Lord Jesus Christ; and whatever had been said of old through Moses or through Isaiah had no greater claim upon them than the words of the Lord Jesus. There was a profound loyalty in the heart of each one of them that led them to carry out the express wish of the Lord concerning His Supper. His word about it was repeated to them, and they felt its authority over them, and that it was incumbent upon them to obey His word. The Lord had said, "This do in remembrance of Me," and therefore they continued steadfastly in the breaking of bread. Other practices of the apostolic company are mentioned which were carefully maintained — doctrine, fellowship, as well as prayers, but bound up with these church observances and of equal importance with them there was the breaking of bread (Acts 2: 42).

I think, beloved friends, that we ought to note well with regard to the breaking of bread that its observance demands the personal love and devotion of the heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. The ceremony is nothing in itself, the actual act of eating and drinking is nothing in itself; and as we find from one of the Scriptures that I have just read (1 Cor. 11: 20-29), the very simplicity of its form may be misused, and bring a person under the Lord's judgment because of his profanity. But if the Supper is observed in its simple character, and consciously under the eyes of the Lord, there is nothing sweeter, while there is nothing more powerful on this earth as a spiritual service than the breaking of bread.

The observance does not require a high degree of spiritual advancement and growth, but it does require that the heart of the individual participant shall ring true to the presence of the Lord Himself. The Lord's word in the upper room must be recognised behind the bread and the wine on the table. The Lord Himself must be present to our faith, giving us to realise His approval of our presence and of our actions as well as His acceptance of the love and devotion of our hearts. It is a worship service designed by our Lord to lift up and to knit up our hearts to Himself.

In our general walk the Lord comes before our hearts in His glory, as the One Who is on high, as our Captain, our Lord, and also as the One Whom we shall be like eventually; and as the ascended Christ, He directs to Himself all our energies and all our services. But at the Lord's Supper our position is different. We are not then looking at Christ in glory, as the One Whom we are serving, and as the One to Whom we shall go, but at the same Lord conducting us to the foot of the cross, Himself there as the victim, as the Saviour, as the One Who suffered there with our sins upon Him. Then by this remembrance He, as it were, crushes within us all movements of selfishness and sin and draws out to Himself those new affections, those new movements of our hearts, begotten in us by the Holy Ghost.

For this reason, the Lord's Supper is of the greatest spiritual value to young Christians, as it is to the old. Could you have younger Christians than these of whom we read in the Acts 2? Just born again by the Spirit of God, but they nevertheless continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers. Their hearts were brought to realize in these occupations the living presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. I will repeat that this realization is of essential importance in the spiritual life of every believer. It may be said that there is no occupation on earth of a collective character in which the spiritual life is brought into closer touch with Christ than at the proper observance of the Lord's Supper in its inevitable framework of divine worship.

I only allude now to these few verses in Acts 2; they can be studied at your leisure; but we do find from them that the disciples, being all together in Jerusalem, were enabled day by day to break bread. They broke bread "from house to house," or rather, at home. They met together for preaching in the Temple courts; they broke bread at home. They assembled in many places, but at home in their upper rooms they broke bread, and day by day was not considered too frequent to remember the Lord Jesus in breaking bread. The Lord had said, "This do in remembrance of Me." The early observances of these words are a death-blow to the notion of those persons who assume an air of superiority to their fellows, and say, "I can remember the Lord anywhere. I can sit in the privacy of my chamber and remember Him. I can walk along the street and remember Him." This may be so, but this is not to eat the Lord's Supper. "Do this for a memorial of Me." Therefore only in the doing is due obedience rendered. The Lord has not given us a thousand acts to do in His name. His commandments are not numerous, nor grievous. He has not surrounded us with manifold rites and ceremonies, but there is this one thing specially specified for us all to do in remembrance of Him.

Breaking Bread at Troas

In the second passage read from the Acts, we have a very interesting record. There we find the apostle Paul at Troas; and evidently Luke, the writer of the book of the Acts, was also of the company of visitors, for he speaks, as you notice, in the first person: "we sailed away . . . we abode seven days" (Acts 20: 6). They all came together with the local assembly (ver. 7) on the first day of the week to break bread. It was not possible for the disciples in Troas to be together for this purpose every day as they did in Jerusalem after Pentecost (Acts 2: 46). Many of the latter were foreign Jews who had come to Jerusalem to keep the feast of the passover and later the feast of weeks. These were free from ties by secular occupations and duties. These, therefore, had special opportunities to meet together every day, but it was not so at Troas, where the Lord's Supper was eaten weekly. Consequently, the apostle had to wait seven days until the first day of the week in order to break bread. It is striking that the apostle did so, because he was in a great hurry to reach Jerusalem by the day of Pentecost and his time was precious. His time was so pressing that he could not visit the important assembly at Ephesus, but sent for the elders to meet him at Miletus (Acts 20: 16). Nevertheless Paul abode in Troas seven days for the breaking of bread. The great apostle waited seven days so that he might enjoy the incomparable privilege of breaking bread with the disciples, and so have communion with them in the body and blood of Christ (see 1 Cor. 10: 16).

The narrative shows that the definite purpose for which they all came together was to break bread. (ver. 7). The Revised Version reads, "When we came together to break bread," expressing the unity of purpose and object between the visitors and the local believers. Yet the occasion of the gathering was in one respect unique. The great apostle to the Gentiles would be there. The disciples would be sure to hear some valuable truths from his lips. Paul was a man of visions and revelations from the Lord, and therefore worth listening to. We might have supposed, therefore, that they would have come together specially to listen to the precious exhortations and instructions that would be sure to fall from the lips of the apostle. But they came together in order to break bread. They came together to meet the Lord of Paul and of all the apostles, and to eat the Lord's Supper. They realised that there was an order in divine things, and first and foremost in divine things is the Lord Himself. Happy the man who keeps first things always first. Christ is first; the Lord is first. His claims must be supreme. Let everyone here tonight make our life's motto this: Let the Master be first.

And so, when they came together in Troas on that first of the week, the one object before them all was to carry out the Lord's word. It was as if they said: "We shall, no doubt, get a needed word from the apostle, but let us fulfil our responsibility to the Lord first of all." Beloved friends, let us all strive to order our habits and dispositions continually in the consciousness that the breaking of bread stands first and foremost of all other claims that may be made upon us. Let us feel that the Supper is the Lord's wish expressed in His word. It is His regular demand laid upon us, and we must regularly respond and not deny Him the obedient worship of our hearts. Let us agree that we will put ourselves to all kinds of discomfort rather than miss the breaking of bread. And when we do come together it will be with this definite object before our minds. Do not let us wait until we enter the door and our eyes fall upon the bread and the wine that then for the first time we think of the breaking of bread before us as a remembrance of the Lord in His death. When we come together, the Lord Himself should fill our hearts; and we should all come to show forth His death. Let there be ten, twenty, or a hundred or more, and let all come with this one purpose to break bread, what a meeting there will be! What power there will be, because all hearts will be united with the common purpose and aim of breaking bread in the presence of our risen and glorified Lord. All will be desirous of fulfilling the word of the Lord, "This do in remembrance of Me." Will any present miss a sense of that joy and peace whose source is in heaven where every eye will rest upon the Lamb that was slain? Not one.

The First of the Week

This example at Troas of the breaking of bread is of special interest also because of its association with the first of the week. There is a beautiful bond, as it were, existing between the first of the week and the breaking of bread. The first of the week — was it not then that our Lord rose victorious from the grave? Did He not come forth and make Himself known to His disciples on that memorable first of the week (John 20)? And He also made Himself known, we are sure, at Troas on that first of the week. On this, the Lord's day, He loves to display Himself to the hearts of His faithful disciples, as He did to John in the Isle of Patmos on that day (Rev. 1: 10). It is a day that stands out notably in Christian history, because of its hallowed association with the triumphal resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord in His rising power and glory reveals Himself on the first day of the week as the Firstborn from the dead. And so at Troas they came together on that day for the breaking of bread. Afterwards the apostle delivered a discourse to them, it being the eve of his departure on the morrow, continuing his speech until midnight.

The Lord's Supper at Corinth

Let us now come to the Epistle to the Corinthians. Here we have full instructions with regard to procedure at the breaking of bread. In 1 Corinthians 11, they are set out in detail, and they repay close attention. The breaking of bread is here called the Lord's Supper (ver. 20). The Corinthians had been coming together to break bread, but they had not been eating the Lord's Supper in the true sense.

The apostle corrects their errors. I wish you to notice in this chapter (vers. 20-34) the recurrence of the title of the Master as Lord — the Lord's Supper, the Lord Jesus, the Lord's death, the Lord's body. And the reason for this repetition of this title of supremacy is easy to find. Because the saints at Corinth had forgotten that Jesus is the Lord. The "Lord Jesus" is an expression by which we acknowledge the supreme authority and power possessed by Him even when we remember Him as the crucified One. The world knows Him only as Jesus of Nazareth on the cross; we know Him by the Name which is above every name. Jesus was indeed there at Calvary. He went into that place of seeming weakness, being "crucified in weakness," uplifted between the two malefactors. But God raised Him from the dead and made Him Lord and Christ. He is Lord of all, all persons, places and things, Lord of every one of us, and has the right of perfect control and command over everything that we have and are. There is not a pulse of our beings but is under the strict supervision of our Lord. And we are always responsible to Him for what we do, what we say, and what we think. Much more then when we "do this" are we responsible to our Lord. The Corinthians had forgotten Him in this respect, and each one had made the Supper "his own" supper (vers. 20, 21). They had looked upon their own things and had lost sight of the things of the Lord. It is easy to forget the Lord's presence, and then the true value of the Lord's Supper is lost.

The simple routine of the Supper is a snare to many. It is natural for some to be attracted most by extraordinary acts and uncommon scenes which appeal to the senses. They would celebrate the death of Christ by an impressive ritual. In the absence of such it is difficult for them to concentrate their hearts and thoughts in remembrance and worship of the Lord. There is one object, however, always present and always worthy of the attention of the most careless and fitful persons, and that is the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. When His presence is perceived by faith, He collects the wandering thoughts, and subdues the restless spirit. He speaks, as it were, within each tumultuous heart, and says, "Peace, be still." And so, when we are together, on the occasion of the Supper, the Lord Himself comes into the vision of the faith in the heart. Observing the Supper according to the scripture develops this faculty of our faith. Since we come together from time to time to think of Him and remember His death, our hearts and minds should become more practised in the memory of His sacrifice and in the sense of His presence. The oftener we "do this," the better we should "do" it.

I do not know what words I can use to impress upon all who are here tonight the importance of this feature of the observance of the Lord's Supper. It is of the utmost importance to be able to realize on such occasions the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in the loaf and the cup, but in the midst of His own. You know that a person can go away into his own room and shut the door, and know the secret presence of Christ with him. This must surely be in accordance with the experience of us all. But this personal experience should also be true collectively, when we come together, and it will be so if our hearts and minds are unitedly set on the things of the Lord Jesus Christ, and not on our own things and the things around us.

There is, as we know, a continual effort to draw away the thoughts of the unwary from the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Something is always apt to arise between our souls and Him, and fill our minds with matters not proper to the Lord's Supper and the Lord's Table. Therefore continual watchfulness is needed on our part, and prayer to the Lord Himself, Who will never fail us. The Corinthians had broken down in due reverence, and had grievously failed in this particular. They had fallen so far as to desecrate the Lord's Supper, reducing it to the level of a common meal. Oh, how the heart of the apostle was horrified by what they were doing! He writes to them urgently, impressively, sternly, to win their hearts back to an apprehension of the real character of the Lord's Supper.

The Lord's Supper and the Lord's Day

This phrase, the "Lord's Supper," is a peculiar one in Scripture usage. The term, Lord's, in the original text is not applied to anything else except to the Lord's Day (1 Cor. 11: 20; Rev. 1: 10). The Lord's Day and the Lord's Supper are therefore two opportunities which are sacred to the Lord Himself. This Day is the Lord's, and is no one else's. The Lord's day is hallowed because it belongs exclusively to Him, and wherever you are you can never destroy that bond between the Lord and His own day. This term is full of significant meaning to Christians. It is the day of our Lord's resurrection. If Christ be not raised, we are yet in our sins; but He was raised, and that on the Lord's day. Everything belongs to the Risen One, but especially that day. The first of the week is now distinguished from all other days by the special appellation, the Lord's day. It is His day, the first of a new order of things, the beginning of the new creation of God.

But the Lord's Supper is by the use of the same form of the word, "Lord's," distinguished from all other suppers. It is His, and exclusively His. That simple homely meal is His. The Lord Jesus Himself is there. It is His feast, He presides, He makes the Supper what it is ideally. Take away the realised presence of the Lord, and what does it become? Well, at Corinth it became an occasion for gluttony amongst the rich, and for envy and dissatisfaction amongst the poor. Instead of holy meditation, instead of worship and prayers and thanksgiving, instead of bowing at the throne of glory and grace, those present were carried away by selfish earth-born feelings, and the Supper became to them an unholy occupation. But the Lord by His apostle recalled their hearts to Himself in words of instruction, of warning, and of rebuke.

From these verses we learn an important truth. The apostle Paul had received special revelation with regard to the Lord's Supper. He says, "I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you." We know that the apostle Paul was not one of those who saw Christ in the flesh, but he saw Him in the glory. The Lord in heaven communicated direct with the apostle of the uncircumcision. He had special work for Paul to do, and He gave him special instructions concerning the gospel of God and the assembly of God. This memorial service could have been made known to him through the twelve, who were apostles before him, but it was so ordered that full instructions with regard to the Lord's Supper should be communicated personally to the apostle Paul by the Lord Himself. Does not this fact strike you as strongly emphasizing the importance of the Lord's Supper as a Christian institution for believing Jews and believing Gentiles alike?

We saw last week the beautiful and affecting picture of the Lord Jesus in the upper room, dispensing the bread and the wine to His disciples, and giving to them both a significance they never had before. We also recalled the solemn associations of the institution of that Supper, what was proceeding at the table itself, and what was immediately before the Lord, and by these circumstances our hearts were directed to its spiritual beauty and instructive value. We now learn something fresh. Not the Lord at the table, but the Lord on the throne communicated to the apostle Paul the details with regard to the breaking of bread. The Lord in His glory thought it needful to speak directly to Paul and to reveal to him His mind with reference to the Supper. Was not the Supper of the highest importance to the members of His body, seeing the Lord made it the subject of a special revelation to Paul, the apostle of His assembly? The Supper is indeed of the first importance in the assemblies of the saints. May the Lord continually teach our hearts to feel its value and importance in an increasing degree.

The apostle said, in effect, to those men at Corinth who needed to be rebuked, 'What are you doing? I cannot praise you in this. You have altogether strayed from the real meaning of the Lord's Supper, and have eaten and drunk unworthily. Do you know that I received it from the Lord Himself? It was not my own ordinance. I did not even receive it from Peter, James and John. I received it direct from the Lord. What I received from Him I delivered to you. It has therefore the utmost claim upon you. Do not think it is anything which can be undertaken lightly. It is deeply solemn, it is intensely holy, and the Lord Himself has desired that you should eat His Supper with your whole hearts.' The apostle spoke always by the Holy Ghost, of course; but here he says, 'I am speaking to you not merely as an apostle. I am communicating to you that which I received from the Lord Himself.' Always remember, too, that this Epistle to the Corinthians was not only written to the saints at Corinth, but to all calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus everywhere (1 Cor. 1: 2). As Gentiles we come within the scope of this communication made to and by the apostle of the Gentiles. The Lord's Supper comes to us, therefore, from the Lord Himself through the apostle Paul.

The Night of the Betrayal

"The Lord Jesus, the same night in which He was betrayed." Have you ever at the Lord's Table pondered upon this expression? — "the same night in which He was betrayed." Why is the fact brought into this passage? The betrayal is mentioned, I think, so that saints may recollect that the Lord's Supper is to be observed, not in heaven, but on earth. Its institution in the upper room was in an atmosphere of treachery. The betrayal of the Lord by Judas was a fruit of sin. And it is not to be forgotten that on that night Satan entered into the heart of an apostle (John 13: 27). In heaven, where Christ is and where we shall be with Him, there will be nothing of sin, nothing of self hence nothing will then be necessary to recall our wandering hearts. But here upon the earth, even at the Lord's Supper, there is the possibility of the unwanted presence of that which is not of God, but of self and of sin. It is painfully true that nowhere here below can we escape from the evil of our own natural heart and the natural hearts of others. We must take heed, therefore, lest we fall.

"On that night in which He was betrayed, He took bread." These people at Corinth were exposed to the danger of doing, not to the same degree, but to the same kind of disloyalty to Christ that, in its full development, led Judas to betray his Master. We must not execrate Judas and forget our own liability. The Lord did not speak harshly to him. His deed of shame is recorded in holy writ for our warning, not, however, that we should gaze upon Judas, but rather upon the Lord, and think what sorrow it was to Him to say to His apostles, "One of you shall betray Me." The Lord Jesus cared for Judas, and yet Judas betrayed Him. Recall what He has done for you, for me. Is it possible that I can forget Him even in the solemn moment appointed for the remembrance of Him? that I may be engaged unworthily even at such a time as that? that my eyes may be drawn away from Him to consider others, and that I might even think evil thoughts on such a sacred occasion as His Supper? What would it be to the Lord's heart if I should forget Him when I am together with others to remember Him in the breaking of bread?

Beloved friends, it magnifies in our eyes the Christ we adore and serve that in the night in which He was betrayed He took means to awaken the weak and forgetful hearts of His own lest they should wander farther and farther from Himself, and from the remembrance of His coming cross and passion, and so He established this Supper of bread and wine.

Not that Judas was present at the Lord's Supper. We learn from the scriptures that the Supper, the Lord's Supper, was instituted after the passover, "when He had supped" (verse 25). But Judas went out directly he received the sop from the Lord. The Lord gave him the sop, and said, "That thou doest, do quickly" (John 13: 26-30). After the exit of the traitor this ordinance of remembrance was founded. Can you think of the Lord requiring Judas to do this "in remembrance of Me"? No, it is true, not treacherous, hearts He wants. He wants your worship, your fellowship in His sufferings. "Could ye not watch with Me one hour?" the Lord said to Peter in Gethsemane. Shall it be that we become tired of being together to think of Him, and when there is silence and opportunity for deep meditation upon the holy theme of the Lord's Supper, we fretfully wish someone would speak, or sing, or pray? Let the Lord's word come home again to you: "Could ye not watch with ME one hour?"

"This is My Body"

"The same night in which He was betrayed, He took bread, and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and said, Take, eat, this is My body, which is [broken] for you. This do in remembrance of Me."

I love that sentence, "This is My body." I know that the words have been misinterpreted and abused to induce men and women to indulge in idolatrous practices. It is not implied that in the Supper the bread becomes the body of Christ. The bread remains bread continually. The Lord said, "This is My body." What then did He mean? He was referring to Himself, and referring to Himself, as it seems to me, in all His absolute perfection and completeness as the Holy Son of God. "This is My body," wholly, completely and unreservedly given up in sacrifice to God for them and us. "This is MY body" think of Him, the blessed Lord, the Holy Christ Who was here in the days of His flesh, perfect man and perfect God, walking through this evil world filled with all the perfection it was possible for man to have and to exhibit. The Lord came at last to the cross, to the altar of sacrifice, and laid Himself completely upon the altar, offering up Himself, His body, soul and spirit, in sacrifice to God. He held nothing back from Him. He was the complete burnt-offering, ever acceptable and fragrant to Jehovah.

We know that our own natural tendency is to hold something back from the Master. It is a great day when through the grace of God a man comes to the point that he is able and is willing with his whole soul to give himself up to the Lord, as we are all enjoined to do in Romans 12, rendering spirit, soul, and body to the Lord for His service and praise. People talk about consecration as a great event, and so it is, but in point of fact we are consecrated from the beginning of our spiritual history. We are the Lord's by purchase and by sanctification. We belong entirely to Him, every part of us. But often there is the disposition, like that of Ananias and Sapphira, to keep something in reserve for ourselves, or to do something or other just in our own way instead of the Lord's. For instance, we may give the Lord one day in the week, and perhaps use the other six mainly for our own pleasure and purposes. How seldom is our offering "without spot or blemish"!

"This is My body, which is for you" (R.V.). The Lord has in this great renunciation set us an example. He has given everything for us. What have we given for Him? What have we done in return? When we look upon the cross, we remember that His body was there offered as a sacrifice for sins, for my sins, for your sins, for the assembly. We have here a wonderful word of our Lord, beloved friends: "This is My body," and My body is for you! God had prepared that body for Him. It was a holy thing born into this world, never tainted with sin; and the Lord from first to last kept Himself pure and unspotted from evil; and when He came to the end of His ministry, He said to His own, "This is My body. I have kept it so that it might be sacrificed to God for you. I am about to lay down My life. No man can take My life from Me. In obedience to My Father, I give it up of Myself for you."

If such self-abnegation does not speak to a man's heart, what will? If this perfect sacrifice does not call out praise and worship from the redeemed, what will? We shall not learn any greater wonder than this in heaven. More fully, no doubt, we shall then know it, but here and now we begin to learn the great lesson. We do so especially at the Lord's table. There the Lord tells us afresh what He did for us at the cross. There are, perhaps, some present, who have been several hundreds of times to the Lord's table. If I were to appeal to any of them for their experience, I think they would say that every time they have learned something fresh, something they had not known before quite in the same way. Some truth has come before them with greater vividness than ever before. The Lord's Supper is always fresh and new and beautiful and joyous to those who realize that the Lord's words were addressed to them personally, "This is My body; it is for you. This do in remembrance of Me."

The Cup and the Covenant

"After the same manner, also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, This cup is the new covenant in My blood." In these words the Lord brings before us the important truth that He offered Himself, and by His blood made an atonement for our sins. Moreover, the cup is the new covenant in His blood. A "cup" is a frequent scriptural figure, the cup referring to what is in the cup. "This cup," that is, the wine, "is the new covenant in My blood." The Lord specially refers to the new covenant, promised of old through Jeremiah, which God will make with His repentant earthly people, when their sins will be done away, and Jehovah will write His laws in their hearts (Jer. 31: 31-34). The foundation blessings of that future covenant with Israel are ours now through the blood of Christ.

"This cup is the new covenant in My blood." From these words we learn that the blood of Christ is the only ground upon which we can be at the Lord's table at all. The Lord in the midst is in such words speaking to us, and we enjoy the communion of His presence. He is telling us secret things about Himself and His sufferings, which are hidden from the world. Why is it that we can be in such sacred nearness without fear and dread? Why is it we are not ashamed of ourselves, and our eyes filled with tears because of our sins? The answer lies in the words, "This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you for the remission of your sins, that you might be with Me at My table, a blood-washed company, a part of that great ransomed throng that will remember My death and sound My praise through all eternity." Thus the deepest realities lying beneath the foundation of our spiritual lives are brought before us in this wonderful Supper.

For a Remembrance

"This cup is the new testament in My blood. This do in remembrance of Me." The apostle reproaches the Corinthians afresh by repeating the Lord's call to remembrance. They had observed the appointed ceremony, but had forgotten Him. They shared the bread and the wine, but the Lord Himself was not before them. They thought only of themselves and of their "own supper," and consequently, they did not eat the Lord's Supper, conscious that the Lord was in their midst while they were doing so.

This serious fault is one to which we also are liable. You may think I am reiterating this warning unnecessarily about the danger of mere formality at the Table of the Lord. But if you honestly consider your own experience, you must admit its necessity for yourself, if not for others. We do require to be reminded of our weakness. The Lord said to His sleeping disciples in Gethsemane, "Watch and pray . . . the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Besides, let us remember also that there is an evil personage who tempts us to ignore this danger. Remember that Satan was at the passover supper, and that there he entered into the heart of Judas. And in our case Satan seeks always to distract our hearts and take away our thoughts from the real object of our assembling, that is, the remembrance of the Lord in His death. The death of Christ was the defeat, as it will be the ultimate destruction, of Satan. At Calvary he made his most stupendous effort against the One Who came to destroy him and his works. The Lord said, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me" (John 14: 30). Satan failed then. Now he seeks to draw the hearts of the faithful away from the Lord Jesus, particularly the unwary at the Lord's Supper. Oh, beloved friends, we shall do well to admit this weakness, and to remember how easily we are tripped up if we are not watching and praying, as our Lord enjoined.

Eating Unworthily

And now, we come to the latter part of this Scripture. We eat this bread and drink this cup, and thereby "show the Lord's death till He come." From the time of His betrayal until the time of His coming again, the observance of the Lord's Supper is to be maintained as a silent but eloquent testimony to the whole world that our Lord has died, but is alive, and will return.

Then the apostle proceeded to speak a special word of admonition and reproof to the Corinthians who had so misbehaved themselves at the Lord's Supper. "Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup." Now we ought to recollect that these words of the apostle have a direct reference to the manner in which the Corinthians had been eating the Lord's Supper. I say this because of the common mistake that the apostle is speaking of the worthiness or otherwise of the persons at Corinth to eat the Lord's Supper. But personal worthiness is not the question. If eating depended upon personal worthiness, where would worthy ones be found? There are none worthy, no, not one. The very fact of the Lord by this memorial directing attention to His body and His blood given for us shows that we are not worthy. We are only worthy in the sense that He has taken us in our degraded condition, and cleansed us from our sins by His precious blood, and thereby fitted us to be a kingdom of priests to God and His Father (Rev. 1: 5, 6). In this manner the Lord has given us peace of conscience, and also by His own invitation has given us the right to partake of the supper. But this right is entirely the result of what He has done, and not of our own personal fitness or worthiness.

It is clear then that the apostle is not speaking here of individual worthiness at all. He is alluding to the manner in which these saints had conducted themselves when they were together. They had acted with reprehensible carelessness before the Lord and at His Supper. They ignored what the bread signified and what the wine signified. They forgot the solemn realities that were expressed by the emblems, and they partook of them as common food with no spiritual significance. They missed therefore, the whole purport of the Lord's Supper as a memorial of the Lord's death. This was a serious lapse, as you will see, if you think of their conduct in the light of the solemn verses which we considered just now.

Take yourself to task in this respect. Ask yourself when you come to the Lord's Supper "What am I here for?" Because someone else comes? Because it is customary to attend? Is this or something like it, your reason? Such are all very poor and insufficient reasons for a lover of the Lord. The real cause of our assembling is that the Lord has invited us to do so, and that He is present at any gathering, and that in the bread and the wine He by the Spirit brings to our view His body which was given for us, and His blood which was shed for us. Having this purpose before us, we discern the Lord's body (ver. 29). It is not that we believe that the bread becomes the body of the Lord, or the wine His blood; such is the wicked opinion of deluded masses in Christendom. Nevertheless, the Lord's own word comes to us even as we are participating. We hear Him speak, and the eyes of faith behold Him, and we are occupied with Him and He is talking to us of His decease, which He accomplished in His body at Jerusalem. This is our spiritual, but real, experience.

Preparation for the Lord's Supper

Do not let these warning words of the apostle keep anyone away from the Lord's Supper. It is an occasion for you to fulfil His desire, but also to think while you are fulfilling it, of what you are doing. Do not be light about your attendance at the breaking of bread. Let it be a serious matter. "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat." Let him be careful of his thoughts and acts. Do you not think there is great need on the Lord's day to be thinking beforehand of the Lord's Supper? I am not referring to that very unwise and improper practice of looking out some scripture to read aloud on the occasion, or some hymn to be sung. This is feeble and wrong, and tends to quench the working of the Holy Spirit in the assembly.

What is the proper way to prepare for the Lord's Supper? What is the theme that will then be specially before us? The Lord's death. Who is there that fully understands what the Lord's death signifies? No person knows anything of its spiritual import apart from the revelation of Scripture. The proper preparation for the Lord's Supper is to store our minds with some of those numerous passages of Holy Writ relating to that subject, so that we may have right and holy thoughts about the sacrifice and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Saturate your mind with the very words of the Holy Ghost in reference to that death. Never give yourself up to your own thoughts and ideas on that sacred subject. The person who thinks his own thoughts about the death of Christ is sure to end in error and delusion. The one who most rightly appreciates the death of Christ is the one most subject to the word of God, and who will not trust himself to express views about that death in terms other than scriptural.

Throughout the Scripture, both the Old Testament and the New, we find the great theme of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ recurring, and presented to us in diverse ways. The prayerful study of such passages prepares our hearts so that when we are together our meditations are kept in accord with God's revealed truth about His beloved Son. Let us therefore examine ourselves with regard to this practice, and so let us eat the bread and drink the cup in the felt presence of the Lord Who died. We are kept by the word of truth; and we may know that the Spirit of God is assuredly directing our thoughts when in the assembly He brings before us His own words about the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

One Loaf, One Cup

We also read one or two verses from the tenth chapter of this Epistle (1 Cor. 10: 16, 17). They refer to the bread and the cup in their symbolism of unity. We see that the loaf sets forth not only the body of Christ that was given for us, but also that it is a figure of that spiritual body which has been framed by the Spirit in this world. By Him all believers are baptized into one body (1 Cor. 12: 13). This truth of spiritual oneness is set before us in the unbroken loaf. We, being many members, are one body in Christ. This aspect of the loaf and the cup is subsidiary to the central feature of remembrance in the Supper. It is, however, touched upon in this chapter, and we ought not to overlook it, because in partaking of the bread and the cup, we share the one observance in which all believers everywhere are entitled to unite. It is an act of communion, and an exhibition of the fellowship of the body of Christ. And in that form of communion the most spiritually minded of the members of the body of Christ are to be found. What is the state of the believer who does not rejoice in the death of the Lord Jesus Christ? It is the foundation of every blessing for all the saints.

The one loaf speaks of the invisible unity of the mystical body of Christ, and it is important to observe that there is neither plurality nor division expressed in the appointed emblems. The one body is neither multiplied nor divided. There is one cup and one loaf, both showing that imperishable unity which remains true of the body of Christ in spite of the undeniable disunion exhibited in the professing church. These to faith are silent witnesses of the abiding efficacy of the blood-shedding of the Lord Jesus Christ.

But do not let us overlook the main object of these Scriptures we have been considering, friends. Do not let us forget the teaching of the Holy Ghost as to the Lord's Supper. The Spirit Himself is present on such occasions to weld our hearts together in a holy unity of spiritual worship and joy, and in the power of a holy recollection of the death — the sufferings and death — of our blessed Lord and Master. We need to have this theme brought over and over again before our spirits to fill our hearts and lips again and again with silent devotion and audible praise. Why is it we are often slow to praise? Because we are slow to realize in any measure the value of His death in God's sight. It is the sense of what He has done for the glory of God that centres our affections upon Himself. Depend upon it, it is worth our while to be together in this prescribed manner for united heart-worship of our Lord Jesus Christ.

One has sometimes heard the painful remark by believers that it seems a waste of time to come together only for the Supper. They think the time could be made more profitable by teaching and exhortation. They say the hour passes, and nothing is forthcoming to feed the new man! But what a low view to take, what an altogether misshapen conception of the Supper of our blessed Lord! What can be better than to listen to Him and to hear the whisperings of His love in our hearts? Do we not on such occasions give our hearts over to Him to do with them what He pleases? If so, a human voice, so far from being essential, may even obliterate the heavenly voice of our Master. The voice of the Lord's apostle, Paul, kept quiet at Troas until the bread was broken in remembrance of his Master. Ministry has its needful and appointed service, but is secondary in importance to divine worship.

Therefore, let us strive to see more and more in the simple observance of the Lord's Supper, and always to maintain a sense of His presence with us in it and of His voice speaking to us concerning His sufferings and death.

A Hymn When Gathered

Gathered to Thy name, Lord Jesus,

Gathered here with one accord,

Thine own self we own among us,

Faithful to Thy promised word;

May our eyes on Thee, blest Saviour,

Rest with one unceasing gaze,

And our hearts, with Thee enraptured,

Overflow with songs of praise.

As we wait in Thine own presence,

Brought by Thee to God so nigh,

As we solemnly remember,

Thou for us didst deign to die;

May our souls bow down before Thee

Who didst bear our every sin,

And in hallowed sweet communion

Here below Thy praise begin.

Golden Apples in Silver Dishes

An apple a day for twelve days.

W. J. Hocking.

Second Edition, C. A. Hammond, 1945.

“As apples of gold in pictures (baskets) of silver

is a word spoken in season” (Prov. 25: 11 N.T.)

First Day

The Night of Weeping

“O My God, I cry . . . in the night season, and am not silent” (Psalm 22: 2)

In that memorable night of Israel's first passover, there arose a great cry throughout the land of Egypt such as had never been heard before, nor should be heard again (Ex. 11: 6; Ex. 12: 30).

The mansions of the great and the hovels of the poor were alike filled with the sobs and bitter groans of the bereaved. All the families of the great empire mourned in concert for their firstborn sons, taken from them by a single stroke. The darkness of that night of judgment became resonant with a weeping and a wailing, for which there was no relief.

The name Bochim (“weepers,” Judges 2: 5) might well have been applied to the land of Egypt, for at midnight the haughty kingdom had suddenly been transformed into a nation of weepers. It was due to one proud man fighting against God and resisting His will.

Pharaoh, by his stubborn resistance to the will of Jehovah, had brought this lamentation and woe to his subjects. Proudly and persistently the great potentate had defied the Omnipotent of the heavens, saying, “Not Thy will, but mine be done.” He refused to free from their bondage Israel, the firstborn of God, well knowing and yet daring the dreadful alternative for the firstborn of Egypt. Hence, through man's obstinate self-will, the hope and promise of a mighty nation perished in that night of weeping.

Leaving Egypt and its smitten households, let us draw near to Gethsemane and the Man of sorrows. In Olivet's garden another midnight hour of grief rises ever and again before us. From thence come to us the cries of the Strong Man in His “agony” and His sweat of blood.

It is not now a myriad grief-stricken voices rising from among the architectural glories of the dwellers on the Nile. In the quietude of the garden retreat outside the city we hear one single voice, quivering from inward anguish in the fervency of its supplication, offering up with strong crying and tears that prayer of prayers, “O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”

What a night of weeping was this! There in the loneliness of Gethsemane's garden, the Blessed Saviour and Lord became sorely troubled and very sorrowful, even unto death. There He fell upon His face, knowing fully what the morrow would bring forth for Him.

There His sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down upon the ground. Thrice the Perfect man and Holy Son of God cried aloud in the night season to His Father, and “was not silent”: “Take away this cup from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what Thou wilt.”

A stone's cast away are the sleeping disciples. But, beloved reader, let us not sleep as do others. Let us watch with Him one hour even now. Let the privacy of our own hearts be the Gethsemane of our souls. There let us kneel with Him. There let us mingle our tears with His. There let us gaze with holy horror upon the dreadful cup, brimming with our sins and God's wrath, so soon to be drained on Calvary's cross. Let us seek to have what fellowship we may with the Lover of our souls in His great sorrow.

In Gethsemane's night of weeping we hear the cries, not of the disobedient and rebellious smitten for their sins, as in Egypt, but the anguish of the Obedient Man, viewing His coming cross and death in the light of His own Omniscience.

His strong crying and tears were unto Him Who was able to save Him out of death. And in this dread appeal the Son, though the cup did not pass from Him until He drank it (Matt. 26: 42; John 18: 11), was heard because of His piety (Heb. 5: 7, N.Tr.). On the third day He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.

After sorrow comes rejoicing. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. The noonday darkness of Calvary exceeded the midnight darkness of Gethsemane; nevertheless, there was beyond both a morning without a cloud or a pang, the morning of resurrection and heavenly glory. Here darkness and tears; there no night, no tears, neither sorrow nor sighing.

“Hark! What sounds of bitter weeping,

What submissive anguish deep!

'Tis the Lord His vigil keeping,

While His followers sink in sleep:

Ah, my soul, He loved thee;

Yes, He gave Himself for me.

He is speaking to His Father,

Tasting deep that bitter cup;

Yet He takes it, willing rather

For our sakes to drink it up:

With what love He lovèd me;

Gave Himself, my soul, for thee.

Then His closing scene of anguish!

All God's waves and billows roll

Over Him, left there to languish

On the cross, to save my soul:

Matchless love, how vast, how free!

Jesus gave Himself for me.

Hark again! His cries are waking

Echoes on dark Calvary's hill;

God, My God, art Thou forsaking

Him Who always did Thy will?

Ah, my soul, it was for thee,

Yes, He gave Himself for me.”

Second Day

Resting in His Shadow

“As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons: in His shadow have I rapture and sit down; and His fruit is sweet to my taste” (Canticles 2: 3)

Which of us in the hurrying occupations of life has not longed for a quiet hour — for a few moments of leisure, that our jaded energies might relax? More than that, we all know the sweetest rest of all would be in the company of our Beloved Lord and Master — resting in His shadow.

But many fail to find this blessed shadow. They search in vain, plodding on wearily and painfully day after day, crushed down beneath the burden of their daily cares. “Seek and ye shall find,” said our Lord. But these fail to find rest because they seek a place, and not a Person. Christ Himself is “the apple-tree.” At His feet there is both rest and rapture.

Some wearied hearts seek rest in the solitudes of nature. But that shadow which gives rest for the believer's soul is not to be found amid lonely hills nor in some secret forest glade. Some seek peace for their weary hearts in dim cloisters of religious fame.

Some retire to the quiet routine of a monkish retreat, where relieved from life's duties and responsibilities the heart fondly but vainly hopes to find within the prison walls of earth the tranquility of heaven. They may perhaps find relief for body and mind, but there is no rest for the soul apart from Christ Himself known and enjoyed by the inward man.

Only the shadow of the apple-tree, Christ Himself, will satisfy and refresh wearied saints. We must seek Him Whom our souls have learned to love. No one else and nothing else can be a substitute for Him. Like the bride in the Canticles, let us say, “I will rise now, and go about the city; in the streets and the broadways will I seek Him Whom my soul loveth” (Cant. 3: 2). I will sit down in His shadow with great delight.

* * * * *

Shadow used figuratively frequently occurs in Scripture. The figure varies slightly in the application of its meaning, but in general it sets out the relief and the protection which God affords to those who trust in Him.

In one passage, it is the shadow of a cloud in the heavens screening from the scorching heat (Isa. 25: 6, 5); in another, the shadow of a great rock to the weary traveller in a thirsty land (Isa. 32: 2); and in yet another, the grateful shadow of a beautiful apple-tree with its green leaves and its luscious fruit (Cant. 2: 3). But the One figured in all the passages is the same. He is the One beloved and adored by all saved men. His shadow is an unfailing and a celestial delight.

Shadow! How vividly the figure of shade speaks even to us! But think of the wearied pilgrim in Bible lands toiling across the desert sands in the glare of a sultry, cloudless sky, his hands listless, his feet leaden, his life-force ebbing fast. And think what the sight of a shadow-patch means to him! It seems life itself to him. In the cool shadow, he who was ready to die can rest and recover his lost energy.

So many of God's people become weary in well-doing because they find themselves overburdened with the cares and anxieties of this present life. In the home, the office and the workshop, in private and in public life, there is an incessant drain upon the vital energies of mind and body. Every nerve cries aloud for relief, for rest.

Modern conditions form a continual menace to the welfare of the soul. Time, thought, and financial means are taxed beyond endurance to make ends meet in matters of everyday existence. True children of God are heated and bothered. They are so exhausted that they seem unable to find a quiet moment for prayer, praise, and Bible-reading.

Then, as the nerve-strain brings them nearer and nearer the breaking-point, how they long for some relief! The very burden and heat of the day cause them to scan the horizon eagerly for the sight of some shadow-patch. Up to now they have forgotten Him Who is their Shield and Defence, and have been struggling along, doggedly yet despairingly, in their own strength. Now, these fainting souls cry out, “Tell me, O Thou Whom my soul loveth, where Thou feedest Thy flock, where Thou makest it to rest at noon?” (Cant. 1: 7, R.V.)

It is sad that any one of the saints of God should lose personal touch with the Master. It is sad that any should, through facing the responsibilities of life in their own strength alone, become overwrought, nervous, borne under by the strong, sweeping current of daily duties. Why should the children of God exhibit to the world such lamentable weakness and failure when the Mighty One is near at hand to bear them up, to carry them through, to ensure for them victory over every foe?

Why should we labour on and on in the scorching sun-rays when the coolness of His shadow is nearby for our present rest? There in Him we may abide — resting not for a moment only, but always. For, if we will, we may prove even now the truth of that millennial promise: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Ps. 91: 1).

Oh, the quietude and delight of the shadow of Omnipotence! There we find absolute protection and fullest relief. But there also we find communion with the Lord, and this is sweeter far than mere freedom from care. “Under the fig-tree, I saw thee,” the Lord once said to the surprised Israelite, to whom these words were a revelation. And Nathanael confessed, “Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel.”

Seated under His shadow, we too shall learn from His own words to us the secrets of His Person. In the refreshing quietude of His presence, we shall learn Who He is, what He has done, and what He can do; just as when we are staggering and stumbling over the sun-scorched sands we learn the humbling lessons of what we cannot do.

There was shadow under the palm-trees of Elim for the pilgrims of old. And there is now a shadow for rest provided for all the weary. The Lord calls us to keep this tryst with Himself. He says, as He said to His disciples long ago, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile” (Mark 6: 31).

Do let us remember that we have not to go far to find this shadow. The Lord is at hand. Only having found it, let us sit down there, making His presence our abiding-place.

There we learn how the Lord besets us behind and before; how His hand leads us; how His right hand upholds us. Resting in His shadow we shall fear no other shadows: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me” (Ps. 23: 4).

Third Day

Drifting Away

“We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them” (Hebrews 2: 1, R.V.)

A dead tree-trunk blown into the upper waters of the River Amazon on the eastern slopes of the Andes is eventually discovered on the shores of the Scandinavian peninsula. The great log has had a tortuous journey of many thousands of miles across South America and northward through the Atlantic Ocean — by drifting.

Yet, of itself, the baulk of sodden timber did not move an inch. It exerted no energy, but by passively yielding to the force and mercy of surrounding elements it at last arrived at that immense distance from the point of its departure — by drifting.

Brethren, there is a very great danger of our becoming like so much dead driftwood, carried about by winds of doctrine and waves of circumstance.

This warning to saints of God is an old one. Paul uttered it when writing to the Hebrews. Its exact force is disguised in the Authorised Version, which reads, “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.” The general idea conveyed by the words, “let them slip,” is that we should be careful not to let them escape from us.

But the text is rendered more correctly by the Revisers: “Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things that were heard, lest haply we drift away from them.”

The change is an important one. By the amended translation we see that the faith once delivered to the saints is regarded as a fixed and permanent thing, but that we are in danger of being carried away from the truths of God. Our drifting away from them, not their drifting away from us, is the point of the warning.

The gradual glide away is usually unperceived, and is therefore more to be dreaded than the sudden shock of the smash-and-grab enemy. Most saints would strenuously resist open and violent efforts to rob them of the truth; even the timid and the meek are apt to “put up their backs” when persecution comes.

But while most are on the alert against thieves which break through and steal, all are inclined to neglect the moth and rust that secretly corrupt. We ignore or undervalue the effects of the popular opinions of the day upon our proper esteem for the revealed truths of Scripture.

But insensibly reverence for the oracles of God is weakened, and our confidence in them is undermined. Though the movement is unrecognised, drifting away from the truth has begun, and open declension and denial will surely follow.

In the early church we have an instance of the tendency to drift away from the truth. The movement, imperceptible at first, began at Antioch, and rapidly increased in effect until Peter, Barnabas and many other Jewish Christians were all but carried away from the truth of the gospel.

How did the drifting away begin? It began with Peter who seemed to be a pillar of the church. When he came to Antioch, he separated himself from the Gentile brethren, making a difference in his treatment of them because they were not Jews (Gal. 2). Many other Jewish brethren at Antioch followed the apostle's example.

It might seem a negligible matter for Peter to treat the Jewish brethren as Jews and the Gentile brethren as Gentiles according to the practice of his nation in past centuries. But in doing so, Peter was actually denying what he himself had established in preaching the gospel — that God now put no difference between Jews and Gentiles (Acts 15: 8, 9).

However insignificant Peter's behaviour might appear to some, the apostle Paul discerned what direction the drift was taking. He declared that Peter and those with him were not walking “uprightly, according to the truth of the gospel.” The fundamental teaching of Christianity is that there is no difference in man's guilt nor in divine mercy to all that call upon the Lord (Rom. 3: 22, 23; Rom. 10: 12, 13). This was being set aside at Antioch by those who still made a difference between Jews and Gentiles.

Through Paul's bold and decided protest, those who were beginning to drift away were saved from further departure from the truth. But the incident stands in Scripture as a beacon-warning to us to beware lest we be carried away also by the undercurrents of human opinion and popular theology.

Peter feared what Jewish brethren would say (Gal. 2: 12), and he was caught in the snare that the fear of man brings. We, too, are liable to be influenced by the opinions of others, and thereby to drift away from the scriptural teaching and practice which we have received of God.

It is desirable at times to examine our bearings, and to ascertain whether we are being carried away from Scripture, which is our infallible chart for reference in checking our course. Let us consider the following questions each for himself.

Are you as confident as ever that the Lord Jesus Himself is in the midst of two or three gathered to His name? Or is there some doubt in your mind about it? Have you drifted away from the happy experiences you once had in the assembly of His saints?

Is your attendance at the prayer meeting and the Bible-reading as regular as it used to be? Or have you drifted into the habit of finding, if you can, some colourable excuse for being absent?

Is your contribution to the assembly collections less than it used to be, although your income is greater? Have you lost the sense of your stewardship of your Master's goods, and taken up the idea that others are quite able to make up what you withhold?

Is there such a flavour of piety about your home as there was at one time? Have you noticed that family worship and prayer, hymn-singing and Scripture study are not now practised generally by those professing godliness? And have you therefore found in this neglect by others an excuse for giving up these pious habits entirely in your own home?

Do you recognise your responsibility to train up your children in the “nurture and admonition” of the Lord? Or, have you drifted into the fashion of the times to pay someone else to take this load from your shoulders? Surely, you have not succumbed to the offer of a high standard of education at low fees, and imperiled the souls of your children by sending them to Roman Catholic schools!

In your daily occupation, is your word your bond, and is your workmanship not with eye-service as men-pleasers? Or, have you drifted into the “tricks of the trade,” practised now more than ever?

Know this of a truth, beloved, if we have drifted away from the truth once known and practised by us, we shall not know any outward and manifest blessing from God. His word is, “Return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good” (Jer. 18: 11).

Fourth Day

God's Son in the Fourth Gospel

“Nathanael answered and said unto Him, Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God” (John 1: 49)

The Fourth Gospel might almost be styled the Gospel of the Holy of Holies. In the Jewish tabernacle, the light of the Shekinah of glory always shone through the vail filling the holy place with its glory, so in John's record of the Life of lives there always shines upon the worshipping hearts of its readers the divine glory of Christ.

In the Gospel story, the incarnate Son of God is displayed as the translucent Vail, on which the blue of heavenly glory blends With the scarlet and purple of Messianic glory in an exquisite harmony, wrought by the Holy Spirit.

The transcendent theme of the evangelist is the Creative Word become flesh, tabernacling among men, manifesting forth His glory, the glory as of an only-begotten from beside a Father.

John presents to us the very words of the Lord that by them we may know the Eternal Son and the Father He came to declare. In the other Gospels, a multitude of miracles, wonders and signs is associated with His ministry. They are the credentials of His official glory; but here His words, coming from the fullness of His heart, declare His personal glory as the Son in the bosom of the Father.

The few signs recorded by John are introduced only as preludes to deep unfoldings of grace and truth by the Lord's own blessed lips. Thus, the feeding of the crowds with a few loaves and fishes forms an introduction to the Lord's great discourses concerning Himself as the Living Bread come down from heaven, to give life to the world and to sustain life in His own (John 6).

Taking but one more instance, the account of the Lord of glory rising from supper and girding Himself for the menial task of cleansing the feet of His disciples (John 13) is an introduction to His final farewell and instruction to His own in the chapters that follow.

How shall we measure the value of those valedictory words! They occupy about a sixth part of the entire Gospel, and they set out in undying terms that during His absence those who believed on Him would be the objects of the ceaseless activity and tender care of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

From our hearts we thank God for the rich unfoldings of the Fourth Gospel. Read in it wherever we will, and we know ourselves in the presence of the Thrice-Holy One. Everywhere we hear His life-giving voice; we see His Filial glory; we gaze, like the awe-struck trio upon the mount of Transfiguration, upon One Whose countenance shines as the sun, and Whose Form is radiant with the effulgence of the glory-cloud. We are constrained to say to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

Moreover, in this Gospel, we not only see Him displayed in His personal glory, we also hear His voice, as the voice of the Son of the Father's love. In former days, God in various ways spoke to men by holy men. In this Gospel, God's Spokesman is God's own Son. The Eternal Son is the Everlasting Word, Who declares the Father.

And how tender and sweet is the voice of Jesus, the Son of God! Of old, the Voice of Jehovah in resistless might broke down even the cedars of Lebanon (Ps. 29: 5), and at Sinai that Voice caused men to shudder with fear and dread (Ex. 20: 18-20; Heb. 12: 19).

How different today! In the Gospel of John, the words of the Lord Jesus are to us as a “honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.” In their fragrance, they are as “ointment poured forth.” They do not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. They woo the feeblest, and they win the strongest, a bluff Simon as well as a timid Nathanael.

This Gospel shows us how the voice of the Son of God was graciously modulated to suit every occasion and every condition among men. We hear Him speaking in Judea, in Galilee, and even in Samaria; in the temple at Jerusalem, and in the synagogue at Capernaum; in Solomon's porch and by Jacob's well; on the stormy sea and by its peaceful shore amid the joy of the wedding feast in Cana and the grief of the graveside in Bethany; to a rich rabbi by night and to a blind beggar by day.

The words of Jesus, the Son of God, were not like a sharp sword nor a deceitful bow, but were sweet to the taste. Even some who were not His disciples said, “Never man spake like this man” (John 7: 46). And no wonder for grace was poured into His lips, and grace and truth came by Him. These words are enshrined for us in the Fourth Gospel especially.

Fifth Day

Abiding in Christ

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me” (John 15: 4)

There were eleven sad men in the moonlit streets of Jerusalem, following their Master, Who was on His way to Gethsemane, to Gabbatha, and to Calvary. He had come forth from God into the world, and now He was about to depart out of the world unto the Father.

Sorrow was fast filling the hearts of His followers because this was their last walk with Him, and they would see His face no more. Three years before, these men had left all they had in the world to follow the Lord Jesus; what would they do when He had gone back to God (John 13: 3) and they were left alone?

While He was with them they lacked nothing, and He had covered them with His protecting hands from the power of their worldly enemies. “If ye seek Me,” He said in the garden to the constables, let these go their way.” And as they looked back in memory, they recollected that, since they had known Him, it had always been His habit to stand between them and the foe.

Then the Lord spoke to these sorrow-stricken hearts, whose fears and misgivings He knew so well. And to meet their distress at the very thought of losing the Face, the Voice, and the Presence of their Lord, He uttered the strange injunction, “Abide in Me.” He was leaving the company of His own, and was going to the Father's house; but to those remaining behind in the world, His farewell word of comfort was “Abide in Me.”

Very shortly, these eleven men would see their beloved Master float upward from their midst on Mount Olivet until a cloud received Him out of their sight. Then, on their way back to the holy city, would not the words of the Vanished One, “Abide in Me,” ring again in their ears? What a link with the Absent One was formed as they fulfilled this word in their daily lives!

In the Scripture we have the last words of Jacob and of Moses, of Joshua and of Samuel, as well as of others. But we never find such a farewell word as this given to soften the separation from a loved leader and guide.

There is no hint anywhere of abiding in Abraham or in Moses, in David or in Daniel. Only One could say before departing, “Abide in Me,” setting Himself by a single pregnant phrase as their defence against a hostile world, and inviting its outcasts to abide in Himself for fruitfulness and power and peace.

Happy, holy abiding-place! Peter in prison, Paul in Rome, John in Patmos, found the secret of the Lord's words, and abode in Christ. Jesus, the Son of God, had passed through the heavens, and was seated at the right hand of God, and they, His disciples, were invited to abide in Him there.

Faith carried them up the shining way with Christ, and in Him they entered into what was within the vail. There they abode — in Christ. There, for them and for us, is the abiding city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. We do not see that city afar off, as the patriarchs did, for our citizenship is in heaven. There we abide in Christ, there we dwell in Him Whose Name is Secret, Wonderful (Judges 13: 18).

The Psalmist had some dim aspirations after such a secret person or place, but he sought for it mainly as a refuge: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. . . . He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust” (Ps. 91: 1-4). God Himself was the singer's retreat from every peril.

And it was the One of Whom the Psalmist sang as the Perfect Abiding-place Who said to His disciples, “Abide in Me.” But, while in the Old Testament He is portrayed as a Refuge and a Fortress, in the New Testament He is the Vine. He is the source and sustenance of spiritual vitality for all who abide in Him. He is the Life itself: and abiding in Him, that Life expresses itself in the branches by their fruit-bearing.

The Father is the Husbandman of the Vine and its branches. His good pleasure is that every branch shall bring forth more fruit. One special function of fruit is the propagation of its own species (Gen. 1: 12). And this multiplication of fruit-bearing branches is one result of fruitfulness in the Vine.

When the descendants of Abraham, to whom the promises of God were made, were in Egypt, they “were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty” (Ex. 1: 7). They were like the sand on the seashore for multitude. This was the vine God brought out of Egypt (Ps. 80: 8).

And after the departure of Christ, multitudes in all parts of the world believed in the Lord Jesus through the word preached by His witnesses, as He Himself said would be the case (John 17: 20). The early believers abode in Christ, and were fruitful in this respect because of Him in Whom they abode.

There are other directions in which the branches of the Vine may bear fruit, but letting this instance suffice for the moment, those must be counted happy people who are effective proclaimers of the word of life, that incorruptible seed by means of which men are born from above. Soul-winning is fruit for the Father, and it is fruit that will remain.

But only the obedient are fruitful. Let us ponder upon the fact that the Lord makes fruit-bearing contingent upon our obedience to His precept, “Abide in Me.” He went on to say, “Without Me (that is, separate from Me; otherwise than abiding in Me) ye can do nothing.”

Because there is a tendency in us to depart, the Lord says, “Abide.” “Many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him,” we read (John 6: 66). We are not regarded as immobile substances having no life, that stay just where they are placed, like the memorial stones set up by Joshua. “They are there unto this day,” said the writer of that history (Joshua 4: 9).

We are sheep as well as branches of the Vine, and sheep have the propensity of straying. Hence His injunction, “Abide in Me.” Apart from Him we shall be barren, fruitless branches. Let us then not be like the church that left her first love (Rev. 2: 4), but let us keep His commandments that we may abide in His love (John 15: 10). And let us ever cry,

“Oh, keep my soul, Lord Jesus,

Abiding still in Thee;

And if I wander, teach me

Soon back to Thee to flee.”

Sixth Day

The Healing Stripes

“The chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” “By Whose stripes ye were healed.” (Isa. 53: 5; 1 Peter 2: 24)

The sufferings of Christ form a choice theme for the devout contemplation of the saints of God in every age. From the bruised heel of Genesis to the slain Lamb of the Revelation they are set out in various ways throughout Scripture.

The prophet Isaiah, looking onward, in the power of the inspiring Spirit, beheld the suffering Servant of Jehovah, and chronicled his vision (Isa. 53) in language beloved of all who look backward to Calvary by their aid: “The chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.”

In the reading and remembrance of these few words the wonder of divine suffering ever grows upon us. The Servant of Jehovah is before us, enduring stripes; “by Whose stripes ye were healed,” as Peter quotes. Stripes! Stripes are for the back of fools, so the wise man teaches us (Prov. 19: 29); and the law of Moses ordained that a judge in Israel, finding a man guilty in the courts, might sentence him to receive stripes, but never to exceed forty in number (Deut. 25: 1-3).

Now, in the eyes of both God and man, the Lord Jesus was found without guilt. “I find no fault in Him,” said the Roman governor. The Father declared from heaven that He found His good pleasure in His beloved Son. Jehovah said, “Behold My Servant, Whom I uphold; Mine Elect, in Whom My soul delighteth” (Isa. 42: 1). Yet it is of this spotless, unblemished One that we read, “With His stripes we are healed.”

Turning the leaves of Isaiah's great prophecy, we find the words of the suffering Servant Himself, “I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair” (Isa. 50: 6). And these words were fulfilled in amplest measure when the Jews smote the Lord Jesus with the palms of their hands, and the Gentiles scourged Him (Matt. 26: 67; Matt. 27: 24).

Terrible as these indignities from violent men are to contemplate by the worshippers of the Lord, they are not the stripes that healed us. Upon the Holy Sufferer there came smiting by God as well as smiting by man. “They persecute Him Whom Thou hast smitten,” said the Psalmist (Ps. 69: 27).

In Scripture, “smiting” is a term describing an act of divine judgment. Jehovah smote the rebellious and idolatrous land of Egypt by the death of their firstborn (Ps. 78: 51; Ps. 105: 36; Ps. 135: 10). We also know that He smote the Good Shepherd of the sheep (Zech. 13: 7; Matt. 26: 31). How marvellous that there should have been the infliction of divine wrath upon the Lord Jesus, and that with His stripes we are healed!

God's ways of grace are not as our ways. In righteousness, the servant who knew his master's will, but did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes (Luke 12: 47). In grace, the Lord Jesus, Who knew the will of God, and Who did it to the uttermost, received in Himself the stroke of God's wrath — and by His stripes we are healed.

The apostle Peter in his context to the quotation from the prophet Isaiah amplifies a little the subject of those sufferings on our account. He brings together many phases of Christ's sufferings during those dark hours that our adoration may be intensified as we read of Him Who bore our sins.

“Christ . . . Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth; when He suffered He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously: Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree . .. by Whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Peter 2: 21-24). Those stripes for our healing came upon the meek, submissive Christ from “Him that judgeth righteously,” — upon the One Who “did no sin.”

How awe-inspiring the dark noontide of Calvary! The eye of faith penetrates the dense darkness covering the land from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, and dimly discerns the unseen, unreckoned, unmeasured, unmitigated stripes that descended with horrid force upon the Holy Sufferer for our healing.

“The cross! 'twas there Thou bowedst Thy head;

There deeper pangs than mortals know

Did rend Thy heart, and deepest floods

Of wrath divine did Thee o'erflow.

Thy cross, Thy cross! 'tis there we see

What Thou, our blessed Saviour, art;

There all the love that dwells in Thee

Was labouring in Thy breaking heart.”

Alas, alas! only the rod upon Another could bring healing to us. Without the cross and its stripes there could be no balm of Gilead for wounded men. It was when the Golgotha tree of cursing was cut down and cast into the Marah waters of judgment, that those waters were made sweet and pleasant to quench the thirst of penitent sinners and to refresh the weary hearts of burdened saints.

And so the voice of the smitten Sufferer comes to us, “I am the Lord that healeth thee” (Ex. 15: 26). He Who was wounded for our transgressions “bindeth up the breach of His people, and healeth the stroke of their wound” (Isa. 30: 26; Isa. 57: 17, 18).

All our blessing flows from the Holy Sufferer upon Calvary's tree of cursing. By His stripes we are healed, and the tree of death becomes the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God. Eating of Him, we never hunger any more.

“Precious are the stripes that healed us,

Perfect is the grace that sealed us,

Strong the hand stretched forth to shield us

All must be well.”

Seventh Day

Fire for the Chilled and Food for the Hungry

Part 1

“When therefore they went out on the land, they see a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread” (John 21: 9)

God's care of us in the common things of life, though so constant, often comes to us in the nature of a surprise. Have we not at times said plaintively and anxiously: What shall we eat on the morrow? Then in the morning, drawing aside the tent curtains, we have seen at our very door little, round, eatable things, fallen from heaven? Day by day, our daily bread!

While we were sleeping, angels, sent forth to minister to the heirs of salvation, had spread for us a table in the wilderness. How the sight of this choice provision by heavenly hands filled us with shame and self-reproach! We forgot that our Father knew our need of food, for both body and soul. Truly, our “flesh is weak” in faith, but our God is faithful.

God enables the unable, too. Elijah displayed a mighty energy when he ran before the chariot of Ahab from Carmel to Jezreel. But he so ran because he knew the secret place of strength. The praying man of God would not rise from his knees until the little black rain-cloud appeared. Then he rose on wings as an eagle; after three years of famine, he ran and was not weary.

But even the fine gold may become dim. And Jezebel's sharp tongue filled with fear the prophet who alone on Carmel had faced the four hundred priests of Baal. Fearing the wrath of the queen, he fled into the wilderness, and fell asleep under a juniper-tree, praying in his hunger and despair that he might not awake. The prophet of God was cold and famished in a barren land.

But a surprise was in store for Elijah at his waking. No ravens were there with a ration of bread and flesh. The touch which aroused him was not that of a widow woman with her bottomless meal-tub and a few sticks for a fire. Elijah found his Bethel when he was under the juniper-tree. He was not to die, but live. An angel of the Lord had provided for his wants. Fire and food, the gifts of his God, were at his elbow.

At the prayer of Elijah, fire had fallen from heaven upon the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. Water had fallen upon the parched land from the windows of heaven, opened at the prayer of that same righteous man. But the burning coals, the hot cakes, and the cruse of water were given him of God unasked. How faithful was and is our God!

Jehovah knew the long and toilsome journey before His servant. The angel provided him a second meal after further sleep. In the strength of that food, not prepared by human hands, Elijah travelled for forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mount of God.

As David sang, so also might Elijah have sung, “It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect” (Ps. 18: 32). Truly, our God ever prepares the way for us, as He also prepares us for the way. Wherefore should we doubt Him? Though we may well distrust ourselves, not occasionally, but always.

Let us come now to the sea of Tiberias. “After that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee,” said the Lord to His disciples on the night of His betrayal. To the women at the empty sepulchre, the angel said, “Tell His disciples and Peter that He goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you” (Mark 14: 28; Mark 16: 7). Accordingly, the disciples, knowing that their Master was risen from the dead, went in due course into Galilee that they might see Him. Thus far this was commendable obedience.

But weak flesh is impatient of delay. It was too tedious for them to wait patiently for the Lord to appear and direct their steps. “I go a-fishing,” says one. “We come with thee,” say the rest. Oh, ye followers of the risen Christ, think of the impetuous Saul, that disobedient king who refused to wait for Samuel to offer the burnt sacrifice (1 Sam. 13: 8-14). His fleshly haste cost him his kingdom. Sheep of Christ, will you not wait in patience for the Great Shepherd Who was smitten for you? Do not spoil your obedience by your impatience!

But the seven disciples, well aware of the Lord's promise to be in Galilee before they were, sailed away on their fishing adventure, though the Master had not yet disclosed Himself to them.

Was there no one of them who recalled those words in the Lord's farewell, “Without Me ye can do nothing”? At any rate, they all proved their truth that night on the Sea of Tiberias. For all their strength, their skill, their sagacity, their seamanship, were unavailing; that night they caught nothing. And the early morning light found them a weary, dispirited, listless, hungry crew, overwhelmed with the shame of a fruitless enterprise.

Whose form now appears upon the strand in the misty dawn? Whose voice rises above the sound of many waters breaking on the shore? It is a question. What is it? “What sort of a night? What catch? Have ye any fish?”

No; this was not the Lord's word. Such an inquiry might seem to the disappointed men a sting of reproach for their self-devised and fruitless expedition. Such a rebuke would be well deserved, but the One Who was speaking knew how “to speak a word in season to him that is weary.” Compassion came first, chiding may follow.

“Children, have ye aught to eat?” How the word fitted the state of the famished men! It came from Him Who for the past three years had kept His eye upon them to see that they lacked nothing.

This voice that hailed them across the waves was the voice of Him Who had pitied the weary multitude on the neighbouring hillside because they had nothing to eat, and would surely faint on their way home. “Give ye them to eat,” He had said to His apostles, and then He Himself had “filled the hungry with good things.”

The Gracious One knew that men without food are men without spirit, “ready to perish.” What have these seven shivering men to say?

The Lord asked them, Children, have ye anything to eat? Did ye forget to take bread, as once before when crossing this lake? They have to confess that now there is no food in the ship: and “they answered Him, No.”

Before displaying His mercy to them, the Lord by His gentle question made them feel the foolishness and failure of their adventure. They would then appreciate the more the refreshment He had prepared in readiness for them. There was fire and food on the shore.

Eighth Day

Fire for the Chilled and Food for the Hungry

Part 2

Seven men in a boat! A night's toil! No fish! Failure admitted! A Master neglected! What sort of disciples are these? Shall they not eat the bitter fruits of their own folly? Many a master would agree they they deserved this at least. But what master is like our Master? and what beloved is like our Beloved?

In a word, the Lord indicated the exact spot where they would now find in abundance the fish they had vainly sought throughout the watches of the night; and there the net was quickly filled. The great fishes were on the right side of the ship, about two hundred cubits from the land, near the Master. Far out on the waters, where the Master was not, they could not catch one.

The party came ashore. When they had landed, they beheld further evidence of the Lord's thoughtfulness and loving care. They saw a fire of coals, and there was also food — a fire of coals, and fish laid thereon, and bread.

The little company found themselves in the presence of the Lord of the land and the sea. He brought them into His banqueting-house. He did not say to them, “Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled,” where ye can. In the fullness of His love as of His power, He provided the fire and the food, “needful to the body,” and refreshing to the soul.

“Come to breakfast,” said the Lord, Who delights to serve His own, while He added, “Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.” But He was their Host. They were at the Lord's table. He took bread and gave them, and fish likewise. Which fish? Those on His fire, or those in their net?

The Lord had said, “Bring some of the fish which ye have now caught.” The truth was they had toiled all night and had caught nothing. The fish, therefore, that they hauled ashore were His. At His word, they cast the net; in that spot, these fish were found. They could only bring to the morning banquet what He Himself had given them out of the sea.

This was indeed true, but, knowing it was the Lord, they did not query His word, but accepted the loving grace that passed over without remark their long hours of wasted toil without Him, and credited them with the brief but prolific moments of their labour, when it was in and with the Lord.

In communion with their risen Lord, these seven men ate of the food brought by Him out of His secret storehouse; and He ate of the fruit of the labour in which He had guided their hands. He first knocked; they opened the door; He entered; they supped with Him, and He with them.

What care the Lord has for us as men “in the flesh”! Our blessed Lord is no ascetic. The Son of man came eating and drinking. Once, He said to the apostles, “Come ye apart into a desert place and rest awhile; for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.”

He knows our frame and its need of regular supplies of food and rest; He remembers that we are dust. Of old, He made the thousands of tired men and weary women in His audience sit down and rest themselves on the soft green grass, while He fed them with bread and fish — the produce of land and sea.

In this care for others, the Lord was unchanged after His resurrection. Looking upon the seven disciples, He was touched with the feeling of their infirmities. They were cold and wet, weary and hungry. Without their aid or their asking, He provided food and warmth to revive their exhausted energies.

The Lord had a care for their souls, too, but first they ate together. They were too weak, worried, and disappointed to profit fully by His words until they were warmed and filled. But “when they had dined,” the Lord, as it were, took a towel and girded Himself for further service. With the basin of the water of His word, He went to Peter's feet, and said, “Lovest thou Me?” In chapter 13 it is the body; here it is the soul.

Then, in the flickering firelight, Simon Peter saw himself among the brutal soldiers, and heard the voice of a servant-maid, and the crowing of a cock. Love's labour had awakened reproachful memories of the apostle's threefold denial of his Master, but love's ministry did not cease until his soul was restored, and Peter confessed before them all, “Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee.”

* * * * *

There are today many dispirited souls who need the fire and food of the Lord's own ministry. Many disciples of Christ have gone into a warfare at their own charges. Some impulsive brother has said, I go a-fishing. Others catch the enthusiasm, and troop off with him.

They forget that the first essential feature of faith is to wait for the Lord, that His unseen presence is near at hand, that He must be sought to be found, that without Him they can do nothing.

Nevertheless, off they go without His word of approval, though inwardly they cherish a general hope that He will bless their plans. But they cast their nets, and haul them in empty — again and again; until, even to themselves, it is clear that the enterprise is a failure. They are then sad and dispirited. They for their reviving need fire and food in the Master's presence.

Think of the many derelict schemes and “lost causes” among Christians, launched with much fervour and outward promise, but ending in a blank of disappointment. Think of dwindling companies, of men failing to “keep rank” in the assembly, of lifeless worship, of formal prayers, of unseasonable and unprofitable ministry, of disunited households, of barren gospel preaching — of empty nets.

Oh, Lord, pity the shivering and starving among Thy saints, and come to meet them with Thy fire and Thy food, as long ago Thou didst come on the Galilean shore!

Indeed, we do not need to pray thus to our loving Lord, the Great Head of His church. He never forgets even those who are cold and hungry through their thoughtless neglect of Him and His word. For such especially He kindles the fire and prepares the food. His delight is to warm the affections and to strengthen the inward man. His joy is to make His own lie down in green pastures, and to lead them beside the still waters that He may restore their souls by His own pastoral care.

Ninth Day

Casting Away the Garment

“And they call the blind man, saying to him, Be of good courage, rise up, He calleth thee. And, throwing away his garment, he started up and came to Jesus” (Mark 10: 49, 50)

What a vivid picture Mark draws! A blind man is seated by the dusty wayside. The distant hum of busy talk and the dull shuffle of sandalled feet fall upon the quick ears of the sightless mendicant. He hears that Jesus the Nazarene is drawing near, of Whom such heart-searching reports of compassionate healing were spreading everywhere.

Often had Bartimaeus in his idle moments pondered upon those tales of His mighty deeds of healing power and His words of gracious speech. How beautifully, as it seemed to him, those tales fitted the ancient prophecies and promises he had heard read in the synagogue every sabbath day!

Surely, Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, the long-expected Son of David. Was He not born in Bethlehem, and would He not now be on His way to Jerusalem, the city of the Great King?

Now the blind man learns that with this oncoming crowd Jesus of Nazareth is passing near him. Filled with the sense of his poverty and wretchedness, he calls aloud to Him for mercy — mercy from the Son of David — blessed mercy at the gate of Jericho, the city cursed by Joshua — mercy for blind Bartimaeus the beggar as there was for Rahab the harlot — mercy for his blindness as it had been shown to other blind men.

His cries for mercy were insistent, dominating the casual chatter of the crowd by the pitiful need behind them, and their very reiteration proved the intense fervency of the appeal. They instantly drew forth the Lord's compassion. His comforting and healing word was soon addressed to the earnest pleader.

But first, a regal summons to His presence was willingly passed to the eager suppliant. He who had been calling so loudly to Jesus heard the words, “Rise, He calleth thee.”

Consider this marvel of mercy! The ark of God with its golden mercy-seat, passing the walls of Jericho, is standing still, and the son of Timaeus is summoned into the presence of Him Who, though lowly Son of man, is the Lord of all the earth. He is invited to press His suit for mercy at the very feet of David's Son and David's Lord.

Obediently to this message from the Lord, Bartimaeus rose up from the posture of alms-seeking, and in his eagerness to obey he threw aside his covering cloak. Herein lies the lesson the blind man teaches today.

It matters not whether the garment discarded was a tattered rag or a costly robe, nor whether Bartimaeus thought that a garment good enough for him when begging alms by the roadside would be unsuitable when he stood before the King. Its renunciation conveys the lesson.

The truth was that the beggar was very properly in a great hurry to obey the royal mandate. The manner of his rising up showed this keenness. He sprang to his feet. This readiness to answer the Master's call also caused him to abandon his long cloak. It would flap about his feet, and hinder his progress. He did not stay to gird it about his loins. He would move more quickly without it altogether. Let it go then. “Throwing away his garment, he started up and came to Jesus.”

Sometimes, then, even the garments that seem necessary to us may hinder our promptness in obeying the commandments of the Lord. Any enveloping circumstance of convenience and comfort may in our case answer to the beggar's robe.

Comfort and convenience are but relative terms, and vary widely, but may hinder equally. A moth-eaten mantle is not to be despised when one is sitting by the wayside, hoping that some passer-by will throw down a farthing, or at least a mite, and all the while the shrewd winds are blowing.

Other men's standards are higher. They require to be clothed in purple and fine linen and rich furs, with coal fires and well-built houses, with fruitful fields, large incomes, and wealthy friends. With what difficulty they enter the kingdom and come into the presence of the King

But, rich or poor, how often the things of this life, whether surplus or necessary, prevent a quick response, or even any response at all, to the words of the Lord Jesus! He once said to the young man who came to Him in the gay clothing of rich possessions, “Come, follow Me.” But his riches entangled his feet. All that he had was too great a sacrifice. He went away. He was not ready to throw aside his garment of respectable religion and follow Jesus in the way.

The call of the Master always decides whether there is active faith in the heart or not. Those who believe in the Lord Jesus, in His kingly greatness, in His ineffable love, are the ones who with alacrity obey His call, “Come, follow Me.” Then, boats and fish, father and home, are, like the beggar's garment, thrown aside as impediments to a wholehearted devoted discipleship.

If we do not strip ourselves for the race, how can we run well in the way of His commandments? If we would closely follow the Lord Jesus, the Leader as well as Completer of faith, there are weights for us to lay aside, and also sin that so easily entangles us. Freed from such fetters we shall run and not be weary.

To get to the breaking of bread, to the gospel preaching, to the prayer meeting, to the reading meeting, requires some effort, some sacrifice of selfish ease. To be regular in one's private prayer and Bible study calls for energy to jettison the pillows and cushions and rugs of comfort. Rise up, He calleth thee.”

These and a thousand other forms of Christian activity await our fulfilment. But, in order to undertake any or all of these tasks as fully as we might, we must forgo our hours of ease, of indolence, of indulgence in the world's favours and pleasures. We must throw away the garment, and spring to attention for ready obedience to the Master's word.

Denial of self is essential for true devotion to Christ. To be “crucified with Christ” is not painless. Like Paul, we need mercy from the Lord in order to be found faithful to Him. To those who, like Bartimaeus, cry to Him for that mercy, the message still comes, as it came along the Jericho road, Be of good courage, rise up, He calleth thee.

Let us then throw aside the rags of our unprofitableness and penury, and come to our Lord that we may receive the “garment of praise” for the “spirit of heaviness,” and also His constant directions for our service as we follow Him “in the way” we have never travelled before.

Running my race in a darkening day;

Hearing His voice, my guide for the way;

Doffing the garment of self and sin;

Striving the goal and its prize to win;

Rising from ease, impelled by His grace;

Quitting the pleasure that slackens my pace;

Freeing my heart from each selfish aim;

Yielding my will to my Master's claim;

Listening to Jesus His word to obey;

Treading His steps in the rough pilgrim way;

Serving and suffering close to His side;

Praying each day with Him to abide;

Counting my garment but dung and dross

Scorning for Him all my shame and my loss;

Won by the love that a beggar could call;

Praising, adoring, before Him I fall.

Tenth Day

The Supper in Bethany

“There they made Him a supper; and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with Him” (John 12: 2)

The supper in Bethany is quite distinct from the paschal supper in Jerusalem two days later. In the latter instance the Lord Himself directed its preparation. He said to His disciples, “Go into the city to such a man, and say unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand; I will keep the passover at thy house with My disciples” (Matt. 26: 18).

But in Bethany the supper was prepared for Him by others. A few there remained faithful in their attachment to the Lord Jesus, and “they made Him a supper.” Their entertainment of Him was of a private and personal nature, unlike the paschal supper, which was the appointed annual observance for the nation at large.

The supper in Bethany came during the final week of our Lord's service among men — a week fuller of disappointment to Him than any. Daily, while teaching the people in the temple courts, His adversaries by cunning questions sought to entangle Him in His talk. Hungry for fruit to His labour, He sought it in vain upon the fig-tree, for it was barren.

Weary with the relentless repulses of His devoted service, the Lord sat upon the Mount of Olives over against the temple, and unfolded to His disciples the long vista of sorrows which would fall upon that doomed city before the millennial day should come when she would know and enjoy the peace and prosperity promised of God, which He had come to bestow.

What an ending to the ministry of Jehovah's perfect Servant! His intense love for man was rewarded by man's bitterest hatred and profoundest contempt. But the greater the sins of the nation the more arduous had been His service. Now at its close, He has to take up the prophetic words concerning that Servant, “I have laboured in vain, I have spent My strength for naught” (Isa. 49: 4).

But if the nation despised their Messiah, there are a few to honour Him. If the mass turned away their faces from Him, a little remnant seek to minister to His wants, and to do Him reverence.

There is always an Abigail to own the fugitive David as the anointed of Jehovah, and to supply him with food in the wilderness. And when David's royal rights are disowned in Jerusalem, Barzillai, the aged Gileadite, brings lavishly of his substance to the impoverished and exiled king.

Now, in Bethany, loving hearts and loving hands were waiting to refresh, so far as they were able, the One Whose faithful service for God has aroused the enmity of the Jews, and was drawing to its close.

“Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening” (Ps. 104: 23). And the evening of the Lord's life on earth was at hand. Even then its shadows were falling, for it was but two days before the final passover and its fearful fulfilment. The hour of Christ's supreme anguish was about to strike.

It was at this juncture that the Father put it into the hearts of these devoted disciples in Bethany to prepare refreshment for Him, which they did in the house of Simon the leper.

But the glory of that house was its Guest. All present had eyes, not for the host, but for the Guest. The Lord had the pre-eminence; they sat at the table “with Him.” The order of heaven prevailed in Bethany.

Custom forbade that the women should be at the table, but they had their part at the feast. Martha served. Mary brought forth her vase of precious ointment, and anointed both the head and feet of her Master and Lord. The fragrance of this act of devoted worship was perceived by all in the house, but its true significance was known only to the Lord and to herself.

Mary, who once in her listening chose “that good part,” now in her doing wrought the best of all. Like Mary, the mother of our Lord, she had kept all sayings in her heart. His word was her secret treasure, her meditation day and night, more precious to her than her precious spikenard. That word now taught her the right thing to do.

Now, two days before the passover, nothing was more vividly present to her heart than the crucifixion and death of Him Whom she had heard say at her brother's grave, “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” She had learned that the Lord Who had raised to life Lazarus after four days' bondage to death would Himself lie three days and three nights “in the heart of the earth,” and then rise again.

Oppressed as Mary was with forebodings of what awaited her Master, she did not wail and lament like the daughters of Jerusalem when Jesus was led to Calvary. Her faith rose above the darkness of the valley of the shadow of death, and expressed itself in a more excellent way. Her ointment was not for the dead body of her Lord, but for His living head and feet.

In advance, Mary brought her costly and treasured spikenard to anoint that holy body, which, though it would rest in the tomb, would “see no corruption.” Her offering of sweet spices was her fragrant tribute to her living Lord, to Israel's anointed King, Who had come to Zion, crowned with meekness and robed with humility and obedience as far even as death, and that the death of the cross.

For Mary, the day of the Lord's burying had come, and her sweet spices had been prepared beforehand and were reserved for this day. Her anointing was an act of faith working by love. The Lord said of the good work she wrought that day, She hath done what she could; she is come aforehand to anoint My body to the burying” (Mark 14: 8).

“She broke her hoarded box with yearning love,

And poured the ointment o'er His sacred feet;

And round her name in earth and heaven above,

The odour of her ointment still is sweet.”

The Holy Spirit in the narrative gives prominence to the act of Mary. Lazarus at the table was the living witness of the glory of God in resurrection. Simon's house was full of those who knew that death had been robbed of its victory in Bethany. Those who had mourned at the tomb were now rejoicing at the table.

But Mary knew more of the secret of the Lord than all the others. She was aware that He Who wiped away the tears of bereavement would not exempt Himself from the dominion of death. Like a subdued spiritual song to the Lord alone, Mary's perfume shed abroad her soul's conviction. The broken box let loose the imprisoned thoughts of her heart. The shattered vase was her memorial of her Lord's death.

We, too, may bring the memorial of the Lord's death to His table. He is still rejected by His own people, Israel. And His word to those who form His assembly is, Do this for a memorial of Me. And in partaking of the loaf and the cup, we show the Lord's death “till He come.”

But the secret of the alabaster box of ointment always is between the Lord and the individual worshipper, though the perfume itself may fill the whole house. It is an honour for us to be at His table; it is grateful to Him when we break our box of precious things at His feet — pouring out before Him the precious things we have gathered up and stored for the occasion.

Eleventh Day

Establishing our Goings

“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD” (Psalm 40: 2, 3)

Up from the quagmire of sin to the mountain-peak where no clouds dim the glories of the ascended Christ; up from the pit of shame to the “Rock that is higher that I” — such is the uplift of grace.

There in those heights of divine favour the redeemed of the Lord, though in the wilderness, can sing their new and heavenly songs, far above the din of earthly strife, in faith at the very gate of bliss itself, though not yet in fact within the courts of eternal peace and joy.

Is then our new life to be a ceaseless song only? Certainly, we must ever sing; “without ceasing, sing.” But there are also other experiences. There are cliffs to scale, torrents to ford, deserts to cross, enemies to conquer. These are our “goings.”

There is a new “standing” that we have upon the Rock, but there is also a new “going.” It is good to be no longer struggling and slipping in the miry clay, but to be resting steadfastly with the feet upon the living Stone, the Rock of ages. But it is not enough to be always standing, whether “at ease” or even at “attention”; in the Christian life there must be movement; progress must be made. The believer is not a statue set upon a solid pedestal; he is a traveller, a climber. There are “goings” behind him and before him.

The word of the Lord to us, as it was to Israel of old, is “Go forward.” The life of faith is one of steady movement onward and upward, of painful striving towards a goal, of pedestrian effort rather than easy, comfortable, speedy transport.

There are no motor roads for faith, but rugged foot-tracks over desolate moors and craggy mountain-peaks. We need One to prepare our way before us. And we have such an One in the toilsome journey of life. Our God establishes the goings of those Who place their trust and confidence in Him, the living God and Father. Our Lord is near to keep us from falling.

In the Gospels we have many a picture of the lame made to walk. Come to the pool of Bethesda, and the crowd of impotent folk in its porches. Regard one hopeless case among them. Think of thirty-eight long years, prostrate in feebleness; thirty-eight years of failure to plunge first into the waters of healing and gain strength to stand upright and walk as a man should do.

Then think of that same cripple's sight of the Man of Nazareth — a bending Form, a pitying look, a whispered word. Behold him rise, stand erect, take up his bed and walk. For such a man, only to stand was a miracle of effort; to walk was a miracle of motion. The Lord established his goings, and afterwards found him in the temple.

Thus the infirm man, by the word of the Lord, was brought up out of the miry pit of weakness and despair, where there was no standing for him. The Saviour's power made him to stand upon the rock of salvation. That same power established his goings so that he walked in the presence of the great multitude of impotent folk assembled there.

It might be said of the healed cripple in Bethesda, as it was of another one also in the temple courts, “All the people saw him walking and praising God” (Acts 3: 9). Both had been brought up out of the miry clay, and their goings were a progressive testimony to the Name of the Lord Jesus.

The word “goings” is equivalent to “steps,” and the phrase “established my goings,” in Ps. 40: 2, is in another translation rendered, “enabled me to step firmly.” Freedom, strength, and steadiness had been bestowed.

Firm steps are not possible when one's feet are in the miry clay. But stability comes when the feet have been placed upon the Rock. At the bidding of his Master, Simon Peter was enabled to set his feet firmly even upon the “liquid” waves; and by his “goings” over the waters, he became a striking witness of the power of Christ causing a man to rise above the extreme limitations of nature.

But, when Peter walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and stood in the way of sinners, and sat in the assembly of the scornful, his steps declined from the way of faithful testimony. In the high priest's palace, Peter was in the miry clay again, and his steps began to slide.

If the apostle had been a prudent man, and had been looking well to his goings (Prov. 14: 15), he would have watched and prayed in Gethsemane, and avoided the place of temptation amongst the enemies of Christ. But there Peter's feet were almost gone; his steps (goings) had well-nigh slipped (Ps. 73: 2). Mercifully, the Lord held him up, and made him safe (Ps. 119: 117). He brought him up out of the horrible pit, and established his goings.

But even if we are careful not to choose the slippery paths of temptation, we must not expect to escape the rough roads of difficulty and trial. Nevertheless, in the latter, He Who according to this Old Testament phrase “establishes our goings,” says to us, in New Testament assurance, “My grace is sufficient for thee.”

In the stony ways of discipleship to Christ, we can always count upon Asher's blessing, “Thy shoes shall be iron and brass; and as thy days, so shall thy strength (or, rest) be” (Deut. 33: 25).

When the foundations of pure testimony seem destroyed, and it is difficult to stand against the crowd of deserters from the faith, we can sing, like Habakkuk, “The Lord God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds' feet; and He will make me to walk upon my high places” (Hab. 3: 19). The prophet's goings were established, though the Chaldeans overran Judah and Jerusalem.

We are on the way, and our “goings” lead to the Father's house. Do we sometimes say, like Thomas, “How can we know the way?” The Lord's answer is recorded to establish our goings: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by Me” (John 14: 5).

As He is the Way there, we must walk with Him, and we shall find His yoke easy, and His burden light. Walking after Him, our goings are truly established, for they become like His goings (1 John 2: 6). Our progress is steady. We learn to “keep rank” with Him and with one another.

Following Christ closely in the way, we do not stumble or stray. His hand supports and guides us. The Israelites needed guidance in the wilderness; they knew not the way, and were “prone to wander.” Hence Jehovah took them by the hand, and guided their steps (Jer. 31: 32). So when the Lord Jesus took the blind man by the hand, and led him out, his goings were safe and sure in the hand of Jesus (Mark 8: 23).

Do not we feel our need of the personal touch of a Hand from on high? What else but the Omnipotent Hand of Love can establish our goings, and keep us steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord?

Blest Lord of love! Through all my pilgrim days,

Hold Thou my hand!

In wilful moods, in idle moments, too,

Hold Thou my hand!

Thy hand upholds the heavens, the earth, the sea

In pitying grace Thy hand was pierced for me.

Should crowding trials shake my faith in Thee,

Hold Thou my hand!

When hellish hosts my onward way oppose,

Hold Thou my hand!

No foe I'll fear, nor sorrows keen and deep,

Since Thou art near, my trembling heart to keep.

When days be bright, and sunshine cheers me on,

Hold Thou my hand!

Should warfare cease, and Satan seem to sleep,

Hold Thou my hand!

My treacherous heart might lead me far from Thee,

Forgetting soon Thy death, Thy life, for me.

Blest Lord of grace! So patient, tender, true!

Hold Thou my hand!

So changeful I! So apt from Thee to turn!

Hold fast my hand!

May Thy strong hand still hold me evermore,

Till home at last, my pilgrim needs be o'er.

Twelfth Day

Tears in Bethany

“Mary therefore when she came where Jesus was, having seen Him, fell at His feet. . . . Jesus therefore, when He saw her weeping, and the Jews that came with her weeping, was deeply moved in spirit, and troubled Himself. . . . Jesus wept” (John 11: 32-35, W.K.)

Are tears discreditable to a Christian mourner? Is it wrong for believers to weep at the loss of loved ones? Never, if we, like Mary, weep at the feet of Jesus. Our Lord has an understanding heart. He knows the depths of our grief better than our dearest friends. Seeing our tears, He comes to us. And His very presence brings a greater relief than our tears.

The pangs of the human heart are known to Him, though He is on high. This was true of old. When Hezekiah was sick unto death, Jehovah's message to him was, “I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears and thy shuddering at the thought of the grave” (2 Kings 20: 5). The king's sorrow had brought the Lord and His anointed together, and Hezekiah's life was spared, and his sadness was turned into songs.

But the divine sympathies with human grief were not fully exhibited until the Son of God Himself came into this world of tears. Now we have seen in Him the comforting power of divine love. Those who saw His sympathy with the mourners in the days of His flesh can say in the words of the prophet, “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows” (Isa. 53: 4).

Jacob, Joshua, Jeremiah never knew the revelation of divine sympathy made in Capernaum and Nairn and Bethany. The pious and patient Job lacked some heart to share his great sorrow, while his eye poured out his tears to God, and his face was “foul with weeping (Job 16: 16, 20).

Job sat himself down in the ashes, silently nursing his grief for seven days and seven nights, his three friends uttering not a single word of sympathy. Heaviness of heart had sealed up his own lips also, and dried up his spirit. In those sad days, the lonely and friendless Job knew nothing of the living presence of the Man of sorrows, Who came to the mourners in Bethany.

Mary sat alone in the house at Bethany, grief-stricken, overwhelmed with sorrow because the dwelling-place that had known the presiding presence of her beloved brother, Lazarus, would know him again no more for ever. She herself had lost the support and solace of her affectionate brother.

But besides her sisterly grief for Lazarus, another dark shadow was upon her heart as a cloud which deepened as day after day passed and Jesus did not come. Why was her prayer for her brother unanswered? She sent a special message to the Master. Why had He not come and preserved the life of Lazarus, His “friend”?

Again, another momentous consideration would add still to Mary's perplexity and grief. She had learned that Jesus was the Sent One of God, the Hope of Israel. As the long-promised Messiah, was He not about to establish His kingdom, and reign gloriously in Zion?

Oh, why then should Lazarus, her brother, whom she knew that Jesus loved (ver. 3), become the prey of death on the eve of that kingdom? Why should he, more than others in Judea less pious, be snatched away from the coming joys of living under the rule of the long-promised Messiah?

Truly, bereavement so often brings many a dark and puzzling thought to the brooding heart, but, thank God, it also brings the Lord Himself to the mourners, as He came to those in Bethany. When Mary saw the Lord, she fell down at His feet in humble prostration and welcome relief.

There, where once she sat to drink in His words of truth and grace, she now utters the plaint of her soul, “Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.” In these words, there was a little truth, for she believed the Lord had power over death itself; a little misunderstanding, for she had thought He must needs come to Bethany to preserve her brother's life; a little ignorance, too, for she did not know that the death of Lazarus was for the glory of God, and that a surprise for her was to come out of the tomb itself.

But the Lord saw Mary's tears. Her words of mild complaint He accepted just as they were uttered, and He made no remark. Her tears, however, awakened and made manifest His inner sympathies. Her brimming eyes told Him the depths of her grief far more than any words could. Even the Jewish neighbours wept also, for sobs and tears are infectious.

But the marvel of marvels was yet to follow. The blessed and Eternal Son of God joined Himself with the weepers. “When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping . . . He groaned in spirit, and was troubled . . . Jesus wept.”

How blessed the tears of Mary that drew forth the tears of Jesus! How we love that shortest and sweetest of all the sweet verses of Scripture — “Jesus wept (shed tears).” Tears of tenderest sympathy telling of the infinite love of His tender heart, burdened also with the myriad griefs of a groaning world!

Though He knew that in a moment or so Mary would behold and embrace the brother she mourned, yet Jesus “shed tears” — tears for the mourners, and tears with the mourners, every tear telling the tale of His sympathies.

Precious monument of divine sympathy raised in Bethany for the sorrowing years that should follow! Today, multitudes of sad-eyed ones are burying their dead loved ones out of their sight. For them all in their sorrow, did they but know it, “Jesus wept.”

But more: that same Jesus, the Son of God, is still “touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” So that, as we believe in His unchanging love, we are comforted by the memory of His tears in Bethany and by the assurance of His present-day sympathies from the throne above. We remember too His promise, “I will not leave you orphans: I will come unto you” (John 14: 18). And when He comes into the heart, we know His sympathy and priestly love, and the desolate places of the soul are refreshed by His encircling presence.

“We know Him, as we could not know

Through heaven's golden years;

We there shall see His glorious face,

But Mary saw His tears.

The touch that heals the broken heart

Is never felt above;

His angels know His blessedness,

His way-worn saints His love.

When in the glory and the rest

We joyfully adore,

Remembering the desert way

We yet shall praise Him more.”

Speaking with Tongues.

A Present-day Delusion.

W. J. Hocking.

Preface.

The following pages were written to help, if the Lord should be pleased to honour the imperfect effort, some who have been attracted by the specious claims of certain persons to spiritual manifestations in this twentieth century of the same nature and degree as those attributed to the Holy Spirit in the first century. It was of the utmost importance to examine these startling claims in the light of Holy Scripture, and the attempt to do so is submitted to the prayerful consideration of those interested in the subject.

Some of our readers may be unaware that similar pretensions were made in London nearly a hundred years ago by Edward Irving and his followers, the founders of the Catholic Apostolic Body. That movement began with utterances in tongues, which were said to be directly of God. It proceeded to appropriate all the gifts and functions of the early church, claiming the revival of apostles, prophets, angels, etc., and ended by the promulgation of blasphemous doctrine concerning the Person of our Lord.

One Robert Baxter, a “gifted” person among them, was mercifully delivered from the destructive snare. He wrote a long and detailed account of his experiences. The following quotation from his “Narrative of Facts” describes how the power came upon him on one occasion, and affords a typical instance of the delusion: —

“By a constraint I cannot describe, I was made to speak — at the same time shrinking from utterance and yet rejoicing in it. The utterance was a prayer that the Lord would have mercy upon me, and deliver me from fleshly weakness, and would graciously bestow upon me the gifts of His Spirit, the gift of wisdom, the gift of knowledge, the gift of faith, the working of miracles, the gift of healing, the gift of prophecy, the gift of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues; and that He would open my mouth and give me strength to declare His glory. This prayer, short almost as I have now penned it, was forced from me by the constraint of the power which acted upon me; and the utterance was so loud that I put my handkerchief to my mouth to stop the sound that I might not alarm the house.”

He says further that “an unnatural and in many cases a most appalling utterance was given to me.” For a time Robert Baxter thought this was of God, but he eventually discovered to his shame that he had been under the power of the great enemy of Christ.

Similar experiences of an uncontrollable power occur in connection with the more modern Tongues movement. Sir Robert Anderson records the testimony of one of the leaders of the movement in India. He relates his first experience of the impulse, for which he praises God!

“For the first time I knelt at the altar on Sunday afternoon, March 17, the power began to seize me, and I laughed all through the following communion service. In the evening, about 11 p.m. . . after some little waiting I began to laugh, or rather my body was used to laugh with increasing power until I was flat on my back, laughing at the top of my voice for over half an hour.”*

{*“Spirit Manifestations, and the 'Gift of Tongues,'” by Sir Robert Anderson.}

We add another instance cited by Miss Ada Habershon. This was a well-authenticated case of a Christian lady, deluded by the Tongues movement. She heard voices in the night, and imagined that she had become a prophetess. In 1907 she was recovered and separated herself from the association, warning others of its evil. Alas, she suffered a relapse, and then she undoubtedly became demon-possessed, as the following evidence, furnished by cautious investigators, shows:-

“The demoniacal manifestations consisted chiefly in fearful contortions of her body and its members . . . and distortion of her features. The organs of speech would not only be used intelligibly, but also in uncanny hissings, whinings and groanings. Awful blasphemies would be hurled against heaven, while the fists would be clenched.”*

{*“The Strong Man Spoiled: The 'Self-Exposure of so-called “Pentecost” Spirits,'” by Ada R. Habershon.}

Happily the lady was again delivered from her fearful condition to warn others still more vigorously than before of the terrible risk of tampering with spiritual manifestations, which, while they often begin with an aspect of piety, often lead on the unwary to open blasphemy, of which she herself was an instance.

The claim of one gift of apostolic days led, in the case of the Irvingites, to the claim of the possession of all the gifts. And the following extract from a periodical now circulating among the adherents of the Tongues heterodoxy displays a similar tendency to rapid development. It shows how those who once venture upon the slippery slope of declension from God's revealed truth are speedily precipitated into the abyss of error, from which few, if any, are reclaimed.

As we read the following boastful extract, we cannot but ask ourselves, Where is this movement likely to end?

“Interpretation is present, prophecy is being bestowed, discerning of spirits is in operation, miracles are not unknown, gifts of healing are in the midst, and of others there are the buds of promise. We frankly admit that they are present in many cases in embryo, but whereas they were unknown absolutely before tongues came, they are in more or less operation now. The need to go on to perfection is agreed upon at once, but as far as He can, the Holy Ghost is bringing the gifts back in the train of the tongues. Ten years ago Acts 19 was a blank to some of us. Today we can affirm that it has all been enacted in the sphere of our immediate knowledge. Hallelujah!”§

{§“Things New and Old,” Vol. 1, No. 3, p. 5(August, 1921).}

These words seem to be an echo of the vain-glorious speech of Laodicea: “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing” (Rev. 3: 17), and they will surely meet a like judgment from the Lord of the churches in the day of Christ. Meanwhile, they recall the maxims of the wise man: “Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness.” “Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain” (Prov. 20: 6; Prov. 25: 14).

16th August, 1922.

Speaking with Tongues.

A Present-day Delusion.

“Love never faileth; but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away” (1 Cor. 13: 8, R.V.).

Great pretensions are being made by persons in some directions to the possession of the Holy Spirit in a special manner, and they seek to support their pretensions by claiming the ability to speak with tongues as was done in the early church. We are exhorted to prove all things, and the assembly at Ephesus was commended by the Lord in that they had tried those who called themselves apostles and had found them false (1 Thess. 5: 21; Rev. 2: 2). It is proposed therefore to subject these modern claims to a brief examination in the light of Holy Scripture.

In the first place, it may be well to state what is an undoubted fact, and what must be accepted as a painful and humiliating truth. An outstanding sin of the present times is the unbelieving neglect of the personal presence of the Spirit of God in the church in that sense in which He became present at Pentecost and in which He was not present in the world prior to Pentecost (John 7: 39; Acts 19: 2, R.V.). Even as the Son of God was ignored and despised when He visited His people, so the Holy Spirit of God is ignored and despised in Christendom today.

Further, it must be admitted with additional shame that many of those who profess belief in the present indwelling of the Spirit in the believer and also in the church do not habitually nor often submit themselves to His leading and to His manifold operations in that degree which would be most glorifying to God and most useful to themselves and to others through them.

While, however, this widespread failure to recognize the gift of the Spirit is true to a deplorable extent and calls for confession and reformation, it is needful to learn from the scripture itself what are the true marks of the presence and action of the Holy Spirit. There are both the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error, and caution and discrimination are necessary. The apostle John wrote to the whole family of God, “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4: 1). We are therefore warranted in making our test of this assumption of modern times. And we accordingly ask whether there is any just ground for believing that the full operation of the Holy Spirit is invariably accompanied by the gift of tongues, or for believing that speaking with tongues constitutes the sole, or even the principal, proof of His presence and unfettered action in an individual? We believe that on examination it will be found that there is no scriptural ground for such a conclusion. On the contrary, the Epistles of the New Testament combine to teach us that the operations of the Spirit of God in the midst of the church are directed to produce in the saints a moral and spiritual conformity to Christ. It is by the activity of the Spirit of the Lord that we are changed into the image of Christ from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3: 18). His fruit in us is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; but in that list signs of outward power are not included (Gal. 5: 22, 23). We do not learn that the Spirit of God enables the saints generally to utter diverse kinds of tongues, but we do learn that He makes intercession for them with groanings which cannot be uttered (Rom. 8: 26).

But we will at once turn to the scripture itself, for it is proposed in this short enquiry to examine the various references given therein to the practice of speaking with tongues at the beginning of the church's existence with the view of ascertaining whether there is any warrant whatever for expecting manifestations of such a power at the present time.

On examination we find that the miracle of tongues is mentioned by three only of the writers of the New Testament, viz.: —

Mark in his Gospel (Mark 16: 17);

Luke in the Acts (Acts 2: 4, 6, 11; Acts 10: 46; Acts 19: 6);

3) Paul in one of his Epistles (1 Cor. 12 — 14).

When these passages are read we gather that each writer has written of tongues from a distinct standpoint, and that the main subject of each of the three passages is as follows: —

(1) Mark records the Lord's promise that this gift of tongues should be bestowed after His ascension;

(2) Luke narrates the historical fulfilment of the Lord's promise in three striking instances which took place in Jerusalem, in Caesarea, and in Ephesus respectively;

(3) Paul gives important principles of truth which shed divine light upon the use and abuse of the gift of tongues.

(1). The Testimony of Mark

We now proceed to consider these three passages in the order named. At the close of his Gospel, Mark relates the terms of the commission given to the apostles by the Lord Jesus immediately before He was received up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. This allusion to be understood must be considered in connection with the scheme of the Second Gospel, which presents Christ as the Perfect Servant. The Servant of Jehovah was about to leave the sphere of His labours on earth, and He deputed these servants to carry on the work for which He had previously called them to Himself. From this same Gospel we learn what was the nature of their work (Mark 3: 14, 15). At their original appointment, the twelve were set apart by the Lord —

(1) to be with Him;

(2) to be sent forth to preach;

(3) to have power to heal sicknesses; and

(4) to cast out demons.

In accordance with this calling, the Lord in due course during His own ministry sent out the apostolic band, two and two, into the cities of Israel to preach that men should repent. They went out therefore and preached, and in virtue of the power given to them they cast out many demons in the name of Christ, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them (Mark 6: 7-13). The signs given accompanied and confirmed the word preached.

Now at the Lord's departure out of the world, these servants received from Him fresh instructions, which had a wider scope than the previous ones. They were now bidden to go out beyond Judea and Galilee into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He that believed and was baptized should be saved, and he that disbelieved should be condemned (Mark 16: 15, 16). Such a task was a far greater one than anything that had previously been assigned to them, and how would they be able to undertake such an increased responsibility, particularly as it appeared to them that they were about to be deprived of the presence of their Lord and Master to whom they had been accustomed to bring their difficulties and failures in service?

In order to dispel any such fears, the servants of Christ, we read, were encouraged to go forward in their future service fortified by the assurance that the power attending their labours would in no wise be diminished by the Lord's own absence. In His words of assurance which Mark records, the Lord declared that exhibitions of power which accompanied their preaching at the first when He was with them would be renewed and amplified when He had Himself gone on high. Formerly, their words were associated with the gifts of healing and exorcism, but after the ascension of Christ, these signs would be granted with greater fulness and variety. The Lord said, “These signs shall follow them that believe:

(1) in My name shall they cast out demons;

(2) they shall speak with new tongues;

(3) they shall take up serpents;

(4) and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them;

(5) they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16: 17, 18).

It will be noted that three fresh signs in connection with apostolic service are named in this list, viz. — speaking with tongues, power over serpents (cp. Isa. 11: 8), and immunity from poison.

The suitability of such endowments made to these worldwide missionaries is apparent. The redeemed to God by the blood of the Lamb were in future to be sought in every kindred and tongue and people and nation (Rev. 5: 9), and the servants for preaching of such varied scope were empowered to speak with new tongues. The effect of this gift in expediting the spread of the gospel message was marvellous. In about thirty years the gospel had spread to all quarters of the known world (Col. 1: 6).

In their labours they would encounter the antagonism of a world under the power of Satan, that old serpent, but He that was in them would be greater than he that was in the world (1 John 4: 4). See the case of literal protection in the incident of Paul and the viper (Acts 28: 1-6). Further, the enemies of the gospel would unscrupulously seek the lives of the preachers, but the Lord promised that they would be safe until their hour had come and their work finished, even when the most subtle means, that of poison, for instance, was employed.

But we need not even consult the later part of the New Testament to find a record of the fulfilment of this promise. Mark does not close his Gospel without recording it in a summary manner: “And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed” (Mark 16: 20, R.V.).

What then do we learn regarding the gift of tongues from this brief testimony by Mark? We learn therefrom that speaking with new tongues was one of five special sign-gifts which, as the Lord promised the apostles, should follow their service as vouchers of the divine character of the gospel proclamation.

The gospel of salvation through a crucified and ascended Christ was a new thing in the earth, and God was pleased to corroborate this announcement of His great salvation by outward signs of a public nature so that the hearers of the apostolic message might have no legitimate excuse for disbelief and refusal to accept its offers. Miracles were introduced in connection with special divine messages for a similar purpose in former times. This, for instance, was the case when Moses was sent from Midian to the people of Israel in the land of Egypt (Ex. 4). Moses had raised objection to this service, and said, “They will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, the LORD hath not appeared unto thee.” Thereupon Jehovah gave Moses three signs which he was to perform in presence of the people — his rod becoming a serpent, his hand becoming leprous, and the Nile water becoming blood. These signs were given to remove all occasion of unbelief from the Israelites in the promise of their speedy deliverance from the house of bondage.

John the Baptist might seem to be an exception to this rule. He did no miracle, and his testimony was unaccompanied by signs. But it must be remembered that his prophecy as the forerunner was that the Messiah was at hand, and the validity of his witness was established by the appearance of the Lamb of God before the eyes of his audience in the presence of the prophet himself at Jordan. No sign-gifts were needed therefore in this case.

When, however, the Lord Jesus entered upon His public ministry, and He preached the gospel of a kingdom which was not of this world, signs were given in confirmation of the word; the things that men heard were corroborated by the things seen. Accordingly, when doubts of the Messiahship of Jesus assailed the imprisoned Baptist, the Lord reminded him of this substantiation of His gospel. “Tell John,” He said to the messengers, “the things which ye do hear and see: the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good tidings preached to them. And blessed is he whosoever shall find none occasion of stumbling in Me” (Matt. 11: 4-6, R.V.).

Thus we see that confirmatory signs were given in conjunction with our Lord's own preaching, and in like manner we find that signs followed the ministry of the servants of Christ after Pentecost. The argument of the apostle in the Epistle of the Hebrews to show his readers the seriousness of neglecting or despising the word of the gospel is based upon this fact. He says, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord was confirmed unto us by them that heard; God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to His own will” (Heb. 2: 3-5, R.V.). The miracles and signs, the existence of which was indisputable, established the authenticity of the new preaching, and made the position of those who rejected it indefensible. The gift of tongues was of course included with the signs to which the apostle refers.

Now, it cannot be gainsaid that tongues (to speak now of this sign alone) were given at the beginning to verify the divine origin of the word of the gospel which was preached everywhere by the apostles and prophets, and which was the means used by the Holy Ghost in the foundation of the church (Eph. 2: 20). Such vouchers were essential at the beginning before the word of God was committed to writing, and before its life-giving subjects were expressed in unchangeable terms once for all by the pen of inspiration. Before the Gospels and Epistles were written, the addresses of preachers delivered in various parts, such as Cappadocia, Pisidia, Macedonia, Italy, etc., were, in the wisdom of God, confirmed by the appointed signs. And only when the pure unadulterated word of Christ was preached would the preaching be guaranteed by the Holy Ghost. Thus the only gospel was safeguarded in its world-wide distribution. Men everywhere heard and received and believed the new tidings which came to them with an authority equalled only by the Old Testament scripture though the message was verbal only and not then in a written form. Those who were duped and blinded by the god of this world and disbelieved the preaching were condemned in their rejection, and by reason of the supernatural signs they had no excuse for their refusal.

The gift of tongues therefore served the purpose for which it was given in the early days of Christianity, but we have now to inquire what warrant there is, if any, in the testimony of Mark to expect the continuance of this supernatural manifestation. And after the closest scrutiny not a single word can be found in these verses which even hints of such a thing. Nothing at all implies that such signs as are mentioned would continue to accompany the preaching until the end of the age.

The commission recorded by Matthew differs in this respect from Mark. The First Gospel looks to the end, and we have the distinct command by the Lord that after His ascension the work of making disciples and teaching them was to continue, and this charge is coupled with the promise of the Lord's personal presence with His followers always until the end of the age (Matt. 28: 19, 20). As the work was to be uninterrupted so the Lord would be with them without intermission as long as the present age lasts. Matthew however records nothing whatever about signs — nothing about their beginning nor their continuance. And Mark who mentions that there would be certain attendant signs at the inception of the church period, gives no indication that they were to be a permanent feature in connection with the work of the Lord's servants.

After carefully examining this passage in Mark, we can discover no support for the modern claim to “speak with tongues.” If any should attempt to argue that because the passage does not specify that the tongues were only temporary, we might reasonably conclude that they were a permanent gift, we should reply that such an argument is self-destructive. If tongues were to continue, then we must believe equally that the other signs named along with them were to continue also. Do those who claim to speak with new tongues, cast out demons also? Do they take up serpents? and drink poison? and heal the sick? These five signs were all mentioned by our Lord together as serving, a similar purpose. And an argument founded on this passage for the continuance of one would apply equally to the continuance of all.

As we may gather from the general scheme of scripture, the truth is that in all the successive ages miracles were never more than temporary. They were exceptional events always, and were wrought for some specific purpose. Without the suitable occasion the miracles did not occur. For example, miracles were worked by the prophets Elijah and Elisha in the course of their service, but not by Ezekiel nor Daniel.

Every believer is therefore entitled on scriptural grounds to suspect any persons who at this late day claim to imitate the supernatural powers which were the signs of the apostles and prophets at the beginning of Christianity.

(2). Tongues in Jerusalem, in Caesarea, and in Ephesus.

“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2: 4).

Mark records the Lord's promise of the gift of new tongues, and the evangelist associates this gift with His command to the apostles, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16: 15-18). Luke in the Acts records the fulfilment of the promise of tongues, and he there associates that fulfilment with the descent of the Holy Spirit. We find, therefore, from the latter account that, in accordance with the promise of the Father, the Lord Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit upon His followers at Pentecost, and as a consequence, “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2: 4).

The other signs besides tongues mentioned in Mark 16: 17, 18, were no doubt bestowed at the same time, since we read, “Many wonders and signs were done by the apostles” (Acts 2: 43).

Further, the sign of tongues was granted to others besides the apostles. The Lord's words to the eleven were: “These signs shall follow them that believe . . . they shall speak with new tongues” (Mark 16: 17). Luke in the Acts shows the fulfilment of this promise in Caesarea in the case of those who believed through the preaching of Peter, and in Ephesus in the case of those who believed through the preaching of Paul (Acts 10: 41-46; Acts 19: 15).

(A). In Jerusalem (Acts 2).

The disciples of the Lord were tarrying in Jerusalem, as He had directed them, in order to receive this gift. The Lord had told them, “Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and ye shall be My witnesses” (Acts 1: 8). When therefore the Holy Spirit came upon them, they thereby became competent witnesses; and one form of their newly-received competency was displayed when they began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. They themselves found that there was a power other than their own with their mouths, enabling them to testify to the truth. The Lord had instructed them beforehand that they need not be anxious in this respect. In an early stage of their training He said, “When they deliver you up, be not anxious how or what ye shall speak for it shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you” (Matt 10: 19). At Pentecost the apostles experienced for the first time the power of the Spirit acting in a manner which was in accordance with this early promise of Christ, and which would soon be demonstrated before governors and kings, as well as before the general populace in Jerusalem.

Outward Tokens of the Presence of the Spirit.

On the day of Pentecost proofs of an external nature were granted by God to show that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was then an accomplished fact. There were phenomena of sight and sound, which constituted outward evidence to the disciples themselves. There appeared unto them cloven tongues as of fire. Also they heard a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, filling the house where they were sitting. In addition to these audible and visible signs, they commenced to speak with other tongues, proving to one another in their own assembly that they were “filled with the Holy Ghost.”

But these outward proofs of the presence of the Holy Spirit were not only given to the disciples themselves in the private or semi-private upper room where they were assembled, but supernatural signs were also displayed in the streets and public places in Jerusalem, to its inhabitants, and to the multitude of visitors from various parts of the world. The power of the apostles to speak with other tongues was demonstrated in the hearing of the crowds assembled, probably in the temple-courts or in other places of general resort. Such an exhibition of power was astonishing and inexplicable to the audiences. Not that the words of the disciples were unintelligible to their hearers, nor that they spoke gibberish, for it is stated that the import of their speech was understood by those that heard.

The wonder to the multitude of “devout” persons that came together was that, as they listened to the Galilean disciples, “every man heard them speak in his own language [dialect].” “How hear we,” they exclaimed, “every man in our own tongue [dialect], wherein we were born?” (Acts 2: 6-8).

These remarks of the multitude indicate that what the people heard was not, as some have supposed, uttered in the upper room itself, where the disciples were assembled at the descent of the Holy Spirit. We find that at least fifteen districts are named (Parthia, etc.) from which representatives were found in the crowd. As some of the districts mentioned covered wide areas of country (cp., “parts of Libya about Cyrene”) it is most likely that more than fifteen dialects were spoken by the disciples and were recognised by the listeners.

Now there is not a word in the record intimating that the multitude of devout persons attracted by the rumour of what had occurred entered the upper room where the disciples gathered for prayer. From the limited character of such accommodation found in those times, it is unlikely that the room would hold many more than the hundred and twenty. The disciples would probably vacate their private meeting place and proceed to the temple-courts for the purpose of public testimony as was customary.

The plain and simple statement of the historian that every man heard in his own dialect the wonderful works of God is proof that there was no confusion arising from several speakers addressing the same audience at once. In the streets on the way to the temple-courts, and in the courts themselves, there would be ample time and opportunity before the third hour of the day (9 a.m.) for the disciples to witness to the wonderful works of God, as indeed we read that they did.

It is important that we should, even at the risk of a charge of repetition, ask our readers to note very carefully the nature of the evidence at this stage. The narrative in Acts 2 clearly indicates that the general public in Jerusalem heard the witnesses of Christ proclaiming their message concerning the “works of God” in a variety of foreign languages and dialects, which the hearers recognised as those with which they had been familiar from their birth. Moreover, they were able to judge that what they heard was not the speech of fools and knaves, but sane utterances by sensible men. The Spirit by whose aid they spoke was, and is, the Spirit of a sound mind (2 Tim. 1: 7), and the “devout” persons who listened said, “We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.” We can ignore the stupid remark of some enemies of Christ and partisans of the Pharisees and Sadducees who said, “These men are full of new wine.” Its absurdity calls for no serious reply today, since Peter answered the insinuation on the spot.

Clearly, the outstanding fact established by Luke is that a number of persons, assembled in Jerusalem on the occasion of a great Jewish feast from the various quarters of the known world, heard natives of Galilee speaking audibly and intelligibly in diverse languages. Those who heard were mystified by the striking phenomenon, and, while unable to deny the fact of the tongues, they were equally unable to account for it on natural grounds. “What meaneth this?” they said one to another.

Peter's Explanation of the Tongues.

The public explanation of what had taken place that day was made by the apostle Peter, who addressed his remarks specially to the men of Judea and the inhabitants of Jerusalem as those who were directly responsible for the rejection and crucifixion of their Messiah, speaking to His audience, no doubt, in the language commonly used in that city.

Peter showed to them that the gift of tongues might have been anticipated from the Old Testament scriptures. To prove this point, he referred to the prophecy of Joel, which definitely foretold the gift of the Spirit prior to the coming of the day of the Lord. It must be observed, however, that the apostle did not declare that the whole of Joel's prophecy was then fulfilled. Plainly, the wonders in heaven above and the signs in the earth have not even yet come to pass (Acts 2: 19). We read below (verse 43) that “many wonders and signs were done by the apostles”; but these were not the ones foretold as “blood and fire and vapour of smoke, the sun being turned into darkness, and the moon into blood” (verses 19, 20); though a promised outpouring of the Spirit did take place in Jerusalem, and the prophecy therefore was to that extent partly fulfilled. This fact the apostle set out to impress upon his listeners. The connection between the apostle's quotation from Joel and the conclusion of his address can be readily traced by the word “poured” which occurs in verses 17, 18 and 33, only it must be noted that in the last instance the word is translated “shed” in the Authorised Version. In the Revised Version we read, “Being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath poured forth this which ye see and hear.”

The effect of the testimony rendered on the day of Pentecost, by Peter mainly, but possibly by others also, was that many (about three thousand) were brought into the company of believers. But this effect was because the word spoken and received was the incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1: 23-25), not because it was uttered by the preacher in a tongue new to him, and which he had not acquired through the ordinary channels of learning a language.* The living and energetic word of God awakened sleeping consciences, but the fact that the speeches were delivered in other tongues awakened surprise and wonder only in the hearers (Acts 2: 7), and without converting, left the great mass in Jerusalem more hardened than ever in their unbelieving hatred of the Messiah whom they crucified but whom God had exalted to His right hand.

{*There is no reason to suppose that Peter spoke in a “tongue” the address recorded in Acts 2: 14-36. But others earlier in the day had spoken in tongues, as is plainly stated in the preceding verses.}

Since the confusion of language which Jehovah inflicted upon men in the plain of Shinar shortly after the deluge (Gen. 11: 1-9), free intercourse among nations was impeded on that account to that extent. And the existence of so many diverse tongues in the earth in the time of the apostles constituted a serious hindrance to the easy and speedy execution of their commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel. But at the outset these servants of the Lord were shown that this difficulty was as nothing when met by the energy of the Spirit of God. He was able in a moment to endow the disciples with the power of addressing men in their native dialect concerning the  “wonderful works of God.” Thus in that one Pentecostal day, there was an open demonstration in Jerusalem of the operation of the gospel scheme whereby the news of salvation was to be carried quickly to the ends of the earth. It was shown that He who made man's mouth could tame the tongue, that unruly member which no man can tame, and as its Lord use it to speak the words of life to men in their diverse dialects.

Moreover, the fact that the dew of the Spirit fell upon the fleece and not upon the ground was a warning sign to the nation of the Jews. Truly those who were filled with the Holy Spirit were Jews, but they were exclusively those Jews who had believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. The mass of the earthly people who did not believe were excepted. They heard as it were the sound of the blowing wind, but they knew not whence it came nor whither it went. The Holy Spirit was the seal of God put upon those who were Christ's. He passed by the priestly families, the elders and the scribes, and came upon the few believers praying together in the upper room. Their power of supernatural speech was the instant and undeniable evidence rendered in Jerusalem that the Promised One had come upon the Nazarenes.

It must not be lost sight of in this inquiry that the gift of tongues, along with other miraculous signs, was given at the beginning in order to establish the authenticity of the messengers and the message of grace as coming from God, as they professed to do. The “works” of Christ's servants showed that God the Holy Spirit was with them. The Lord Himself said, “The works that I do bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me,” and again, “Believe Me for the very works' sake” (John 5: 36; John 14: 11).

The various signs wrought by the apostles established the presence of a new thing in the earth, whether men believed it or not. They could not deny the existence of the diverse tongues, though they refused to accept what the new tongues declared. And these supernatural signs were found with the followers of the crucified Nazarene, and not with the accredited representatives of the Jewish nation. Men were made to see that Israel was no longer the servant of the Lord, but that His testimony was now committed to the confessors of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for widespread distribution. The law was given at Sinai in one tongue, for it was restricted to one people, but the gospel of the glorified Lord and Christ was on the very day of its inauguration set out in many tongues, for, in contrast with the law, it was to be declared to every nation under heaven without restriction or qualification for every man's acceptance.

It is impossible, however, to discover in this second chapter of the Acts any suggestion that there would be a continuance of these miraculous signs in the assembly to the present time. No believer would question that such a thing is impossible, for “with God all things are possible.” This is a fundamental and unchanging truth. But we must inquire, not what God can do, but whether the revelation of His ways warrants us to believe that He will do a certain thing. In this case, we find no such evidence, but we do find that tongues with other signs marked the commencement of a new era which was in sharp contrast with its predecessor. Pentecost initiated the period during which Christ is on high and the Spirit on earth, in which grace succeeds law and faith succeeds works, and in which the overtures of mercy and salvation are extended to the ends of the earth. As soon as the body of the disciples of Christ had assumed its cosmopolitan character, and the gospel had secured believers, and consequently fresh witnesses, throughout the world (Col. 2: 6), the need for supernatural signs disappeared, and the display of New Testament miracles appears to have ceased.

(B). In Caesarea (Acts 10).

In this second case we are instructed that the Holy Spirit was given to Cornelius and to those that were with him at Caesarea, and that they thereupon spake with tongues, as the disciples did in Jerusalem at Pentecost. We now proceed to inquire what were the special features, if any, in this instance which warrant the modern claim that the power of tongues is an invariable accompaniment of the possession of the Holy Ghost.

It will be at once observed that Cornelius and his kinsmen differed in one very important particulars from those in Jerusalem. The latter were Jews who had known the Lord in the days of His flesh, and who had received from Him personally the promise that He would send the Holy Spirit upon those whom He was leaving behind in the world. But those in Caesarea were Gentiles who had believed on the Lord through the word of the apostle. We read, “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God” (Acts 10: 44-46).

In each of the two cases there was a public authentication of the gift of the Holy Ghost by means of the tongues which were bestowed, but the occasions differed. In Jerusalem the persons publicly authorised were preachers and witnesses of Christ, and this gift was known in its exercise not only to the usual dwellers in that city, but to those Jews who had come up from all parts of the Roman world to the headquarters of their religion. In Caesarea, the verification was not of those who did the preaching, but of those who received the preaching.

Hitherto, the gospel had been proclaimed to, and received by, Jews only, the Samaritans (Acts 8), among whom our Lord Himself ministered, being included with the Jews for this purpose. The case now was that of a Roman military officer, who, with his kinsmen and near friends, was in deep exercise of heart and conscience. Officially, Cornelius belonged to the conquerors and oppressors of God's ancient people, nevertheless Peter was specially deputed by the Spirit of God (Acts 10: 19, 20) to carry to him the knowledge of the forgiveness of his sins through faith in the anointed Jesus of Nazareth (Acts 10: 34-43).

This act of Peter was of the highest importance in the history of the church. It was nothing short of the opening, for the first time, of the door of faith to the Gentiles, whereby they were accorded the privileges of grace equally with the Jews. Was such a step of God? and how should it be demonstrated once for all that it was the will of God there should in future be no difference between Jew and Greek? If henceforth converted Romans were to take their places in the assemblies side by side with converted Jews, and if all ancient racial distinctions were for ever obliterated, it was necessary that Peter's preaching to the Gentiles should be duly authenticated in a way that would settle the question for all time. It must be shown by adequate evidence that Cornelius and his friends were accepted of God as confessors of Christ equally with the believing Jews.

Now Luke's history records that while the preaching of Peter was proceeding, God gave the same gift in Caesarea to the Gentile believers as He had done formerly in Jerusalem to the Jewish believers. As God publicly acknowledged the Cornelian company, Peter was thereby empowered to receive them: “Can any man,” he said, “forbid water, that these should not he baptised, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? “And he commanded them to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ.”

Now we find that the right of Peter to recognise the small band of Gentile believers in this manner was challenged immediately by the saints. They very properly inquired what was the apostle's authority for so doing: “When Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them” (Acts 11: 2, 3). The apostle in defence showed the objectors that at Caesarea he acted throughout under the direction of the Holy Ghost. Referring to his preaching to Cornelius and his house, he said, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that He said, John indeed baptised with water; but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as He did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11: 15-17). This evidence showed the brethren at Jerusalem that the reception of the Gentiles was in order, while the fact that they were suddenly endued with the power of speaking with tongues proved that they had received the Holy Ghost, equally with the Jewish brethren on the memorable day of Pentecost.

Yet another reference to this important crisis was made at a later date. This occurred when the great conference was convened at Jerusalem to consider what was the proper attitude of Gentile believers towards the law of Moses. The apostle Peter on that occasion again brought forward what took place at Caesarea. He said, “Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith” (Acts 15: 7-9). Here again the gift of the Holy Ghost is quoted as the voucher upon which the Jewish Christians acted in their first reception of their Gentile brethren to a recognised position in the new community.

It is interesting to observe in passing that this single fact of the bestowal of the Holy Spirit is stated in slightly differing terms in the following various passages: —

(1) The Holy Ghost fell on all them who heard the word (Acts 10: 44);

(2) He fell on them even as on us at the beginning (Acts 11: 15);

(3) On the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost (Acts 10: 45);

(4) These have . . received the Holy Ghost as well as we (Acts 10: 47);

(5) God bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost even as He did unto us (Acts 15: 8).

These varying expressions (falling, pouring out, giving, receiving) all refer to the gift and action of the Spirit whereby these Gentile believers were baptised into the one body (1 Cor. 12: 13). But the special work of the Spirit, it must be remembered, is inward in character. He shall be “in you,” the Lord said. Because He works subjectively, the outward manifestation of His presence is often slow, and is developed only by degrees. At Caesarea some evidence was required at once, so that Peter and those with him might know on the spot that God had granted unto the Gentiles repentance unto life.

Accordingly, the identical sign was given on this occasion as was given at Pentecost — the gift of tongues. The Gentiles in the wisdom of God publicly received equal credentials with the Jews. By such means all prejudice against the whole-hearted reception of believing Gentiles as fellow-members of Christ was removed. And the racial jealousies which survived in the early church in spite of this supernatural voucher is practical proof of the necessity for the precautionary measure taken at the outset to show that there was no difference between them on God's side.

From the above considerations it is evident that the circumstances in which the tongues were given on this occasion were unique, and would not occur again. Once the fact was publicly established that it was God's will that Gentile believers should be admitted into the assembly, there was no further occasion on similar grounds for a recurrence of the miracle. The tongues served a special purpose at Caesarea, which was to constitute an immediate warrant that the Holy Spirit had been given of God to certain Gentile believers, and Peter acted upon that warrant, and commanded that they should be baptised with water. Showing that the evidential value of the tongues was only transitory, we have seen that when Peter referred back to the incident on two subsequent occasions he mentioned the gift of the Holy Spirit, but not the evidence on which he knew they had received that gift, namely, the exercise by them of new tongues.

We conclude, therefore, that nothing can be adduced from the scripture in Acts 10 in support of the idea held by some that the power of speaking with tongues might be expected to continue as an abiding witness of the indwelling of the Spirit of God. They were given then on the unique occasion of the initiation of Gentile believers into the church of God an event which would not be repeated.

(C). In Ephesus (Acts 19).

Here again an exceptional case arose in the course of the apostolical labours which required that a divine witness should be given, corresponding in its character with that previously bestowed at Jerusalem and Caesarean The gift of tongues in this instance demonstrated a further fact, namely, that the action of the Holy Spirit was uniform when such exceptional circumstances arose, whether they arose in the ministry of Paul or of Peter.

The persons concerned at Ephesus were not believers in the Lord Jesus from among the Jews as in Jerusalem, nor from among the Gentiles who knew not God as in Caesarea. The apostle Paul found there about twelve men who were disciples of John the Baptist.

No doubt these men were in their fatherland when John was preaching in the wilderness of Judea that men should repent because the kingdom of heaven was at hand. These men moreover, had believed the preaching of John and were baptised in Jordan confessing their sins.

Now, twenty years or so later, Paul meets with these men at Ephesus, still waiting for the promised King and His kingdom. Not knowing the Lord Jesus, they were ignorant of the Pentecostal gift of the Holy Ghost. Having ascertained their spiritual condition, the apostle spoke to them of the Lord who had come according to the testimony of the forerunner. The men believed the word of Paul, and showed the sincerity of their confession in that they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus.

“And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper country came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples: and he said unto them, Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed? And they said unto him, Nay, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Ghost was given. And he said, Into what then were ye baptised? And they said, Into John's baptism. And Paul said, John baptised with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on Him which should come after him, that is, on Jesus. And when they heard this they were baptised into the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 19: 1-5, R.V.).

Now it is plain from the narrative that when Paul found these followers of the Baptist, they had not believed either in the Son of God or in the Spirit of God. Nevertheless they were separate as a party from both the Jews and the Gentiles who were opposed to Christ (Acts 4: 26.) How then should these be received? Were they to be regarded as upon an equal footing in the church with Jewish and Gentile believers previously received in other places? God showed there and then that they were admitted to a place of similar standing, and they were given the fulness of Christian blessing. Accordingly we read, “And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came upon them, and they spake with tongues, and prophesied” (19: 6).

These disciples of John the Baptist therefore became the nucleus of the assembly in that great city wherein the apostle went on to labour for about three years, and the seal of their acceptance corresponded with that given in the Palestinian cities of Jerusalem and Caesarea. The Holy Spirit, however, would not come upon them while they believed only in a Christ who should come, but when they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus, believing that He had come, and that He was delivered for their offences, and raised again for their justification, and, moreover, was now glorified at the right hand of God, He fell upon them as He did at the beginning upon those of their brethren according to the flesh who believed likewise.

(3). The Testimony of Paul.

“If any man speaketh in a tongue . . . let one interpret: but if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself and to God.” “Love never faileth:

but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether they be tongues, they shall cease; whether there shall be knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part: but when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away” (1 Cor. 14: 27; 1 Cor. 13: 8-10, R.V.).

We now come to the Epistle addressed by the apostle Paul to an assembly that came behind in no gift (1 Cor. 1: 7). Enriched as they were, however, with the gifts of the Spirit in abundance and variety, they had fallen, amongst other grave errors, into the snare of using these gifts for the gratification of their own vanity rather than for the glory of God and for mutual edification. One of the gifts so misused was that of tongues. And it is proposed, therefore, for our guidance today, to examine specially the instruction the apostle gave to the assembly in Corinth on this subject.

First of all, it may be pointed out that the very fact that speaking in a tongue is a gift of the Spirit establishes the important truth that even when it was bestowed in the early days some in the assembly received the gift but not all. For this reason, the modern claim falls to the ground that speech in a tongue is an invariable accompaniment of the presence of the indwelling Spirit and an indication that such a person is full of the Holy Ghost. Young girls in their teens are now claiming to possess the gift of tongues; being carried away in their ignorance and immaturity by foolish delusions on the subject. These delusions must be considered for the most part to be either temperamental or demoniacal.

What is it to be Filled with the Spirit?

We do not find in the scripture any corroboration of the idea that those indwelt by the Spirit are also full of the Spirit, nor of the correlated notion that those full of the Spirit speak with tongues as evidence of that fact. It is the teaching of the New Testament that the possession of the Spirit is a credential of Christianity proper, for “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His” (Rom. 8: 9). All those who have heard and believed the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise (Eph. 1: 13). But it is nowhere stated that all such are consequently full of the Holy Spirit, though all are exhorted to be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5: 18).

Some, however, seeking to set aside this statement, quote from the Acts the passage recording the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples at Pentecost, and refer especially to the words, “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2: 4). But this case at the inauguration of the church was evidently exceptional, and there is no record that a similar case occurred again where the whole company of the followers of Christ were equally filled with the Spirit. The propriety of bestowing the gift in its fulness at the outpouring of the Spirit according to promise can be readily recognised. Then it was indeed true that all were filled with the newly-come Paraclete, and all spoke with tongues.

But to be full of the Holy Spirit is in scriptural language not applied to all believers, but is associated with certain persons on special occasions or under special circumstances. There are even instances which occurred prior to the Pentecostal day. Not to go back so far as Bezaleel (Ex. 31: 3), it is written concerning both the father and mother of John the Baptist, as well as concerning the prophet himself, that they were filled with the Holy Ghost (Luke 1: 15, 41, 67). But in each of these cases the filling was for the utterance of prophecy, and therefore temporary, as in the case of the prophets of olden time (1 Peter 1: 11; 2 Peter 1: 21).

On a special occasion the twelve told the disciples in Jerusalem to look out seven men “full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom” (Acts 6: 3) to undertake the distribution of alms. Clearly the whole assembly was not filled with the Spirit, for if so, such a qualification would not be prescribed. On another occasion, a company of the believers made special prayer to God because they were forbidden under penalties by the Sanhedrin to speak His word. Their prayer was answered, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness (Acts 4: 31).

The same fact is also mentioned as being true on special occasions in the history of Peter; of Stephen; of Barnabas; of Paul; of the disciples at Antioch in a time of persecution (Acts 4: 8; Acts 7: 55; Acts 11: 24; Acts 9: 17; Acts 13: 9, 52). Had it been the case that these persons were always filled with the Spirit and that the same condition was equally true of their brethren, there would be no force in the specific record of the fact in the special instances noted. Moreover, we know that the apostle Paul exhorted the saints generally to be filled with the Holy Ghost (Eph. 5: 18), although he had in the same Epistle reminded them that they had been sealed by the Spirit (Eph. 1: 13; Eph. 4: 30).

It will be seen that the condition of being filled with the Spirit is only once associated with speaking with tongues, and that was when the Spirit was given on the day of Pentecost. On the other occasions it is variously connected with wisdom and joy, and particularly with the rendering of verbal testimony by the servants of Christ to those who knew not or who opposed the gospel. And so far from the ability to speak with tongues being possessed by the whole assembly, we find that the apostle laid down certain directions for the guidance of those who had received this gift, but who were using it improperly. Paul does not at all contemplate that every one of the saints in Corinth had the gift. The exact contrary is implied when he asks them, “Do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?” (1 Cor. 12: 30).

On the other hand, all have received the baptism of the Spirit, for in the same chapter we read, “in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12: 13, R.V.). This scripture shows that the baptism of the Spirit is true of all who are members of the body of Christ, and that it is not confined to those who speak with tongues as some at the present day allege.

Tongues in the Assembly.

Turning now to the Epistle to the Corinthians, we observe that the references to the gift of tongues are all found in the section in which questions of church order are treated (1 Cor. 12-14). Amongst the gifts of the Spirit enumerated, that of tongues as well as that of the interpretation of tongues are both included.

We must remember that the gospel brought believing men of all races, nationalities, and tongues, into close and intimate relationship in the assemblies. Brothers in Christ would be passing in the way of trade and commerce from time to time between such places as Antioch, Ephesus, Troas, Corinth, Thessalonica, and other towns. They would be certain to visit the assemblies as they had opportunity, for because of their faith they were no longer of the world. In the assembly differences of language would constitute a serious hindrance to the fellowship of the Spirit. Prayer, worship and ministry would all be unintelligible to the person ignorant of the language usually spoken in the local assembly. In like manner, if the stranger took part and spoke in his own language, he would be unintelligible to his audience. And the Spirit's ministry of New Testament truth at the beginning was exclusively a spoken, and not a written one. Hence the greater need for tongues to facilitate the communication of truth among the members of the body.

Now we shall see in these chapters that God provided in the body of Christ some who had diverse kinds of tongues and others who were able to interpret tongues. And the apostle enunciates for the guidance of all in this matter that unless there was present one who could interpret, a man with a tongue should keep silence in the church, and speak to himself and to God (1 Cor. 14: 27, 28). Apart from interpretation, the assembly could not have fellowship with him in the exercise of his gift, and he was therefore to remain quiet, and not to make a mere display of his tongue out of the vanity of his own heart.

The matter of tongues is taken up by the apostle in conjunction with other gifts, but in doing so he presents the great facts underlying God's gracious provision for the maintenance of the church as a self-contained unit here in the earth. It will help us in grasping the truth of this Epistle to observe the general subject before the apostle in each of the three chapters: —

12. — The variety of gifts provided by the Spirit.

13. — The superiority of the exercise of love to the exercise of gifts.

14. — The divine order for the exercise of gifts in the assembly.

Tongues a Lesser Gift.

In chapter 12 then we find that the apostle names nine gifts bestowed by the Spirit and wrought by Him. He writes: “For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom . . . to another divers kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as He will” (1 Cor. 12: 8-11, R.V.). Tongues and their complement, the interpretation of tongues, are placed at the close of this list, indicating their relative importance from the divine point of view. The primary gifts are always those whereby the church is developed in love and faith and the knowledge of Christ. The sign-gifts, on the other hand, are always in scripture placed lowest in the scale, though man is apt to value them otherwise and unduly.

This grading is shown also towards the close of the chapter, where apostles are placed first, and tongues last: “And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, . . divers kinds of tongues” (1 Cor. 12: 28). Then Paul proceeds to exhort his readers to mark this order, which is God's order, and to strive after what He regards as the most worthy and useful in the church. They did not all possess all the gifts he mentions, but he exhorts them to covet earnestly the greater ones. “Have all the gifts of healings? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? But desire earnestly the greater gifts” (1 Cor. 12: 30, 31, R.V.). The greater gifts were not miracles and tongues, but apostles, prophets, teachers, which were given for the establishment of the church in the great truths of its heavenly calling and its association with Christ en high. Those who cry up “tongues” today and their paramount importance are at variance with both the letter and the spirit of this apostolic teaching. And as apostles and prophets have not remained until this day, so we are not entitled to expect the continuance of the miracles and tongues mentioned in the same enumeration.

Love Abides, Tongues Cease.

In the next chapter (1 Cor. 13) the apostle shows that love is of much greater value to the saints than tongues, in this way abasing the vain pretensions of those who boast in a mere display. The assembly may make advances in spiritual power and holiness without tongues and miracles, but not without holiness. Love is of God, for God is love. Love is for the eternal state, as well as for the present time.

To excel therefore in love should be the first and foremost aim of every believer. The way of love is the more excellent way, to which the apostle directs the saints in Corinth who were too much enamoured of those gifts which appealed to their senses rather than to their souls. He says to them, “And a still more excellent way show I unto you. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (1 Cor. 12: 31 — 13: 2, R.V.).

Whatever the estimate of the value of tongues in modern days, the apostle rates them, whether of men or of angels, to be, in the absence of love, no more than “a mere instrument of sound without sense, dead, mechanical, devoid of moral worth.” There is much clangour and clatter, but no true ministry of the Spirit bearing witness to the spirits of the saints. No edification results, for it is love that builds up, while tongues like knowledge puff up.

Now as the apostle mentions tongues, prophecy, and knowledge, at the beginning of the chapter, as just quoted, so he refers to all three in the latter part of the chapter, by way of depreciation as compared with love. They are but temporary while love is unending in its character and activities. We must put love first. Prophecy, knowledge and tongues are proper only to the circumstances of an immature state, but love will never be superseded. Love is the atmosphere of glory, even as it is the life-breath of the assembly on earth,

“Love never fails; but whether prophecies, they shall be done away; or tongues, they shall cease; or knowledge, it shall be done away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part: but when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part shall be done away” (1 Cor. 13: 8-10, J.N.D.).

A careful reading of this passage in a version such as that of the Revisers, J.N.D., W.K., and others, wherein the identity of the Greek terms is preserved in the translation, shows us that the cessation of tongues is stated in a special way. Prophecies and knowledge “shall be done away,” but tongues “shall cease.” The different phraseology is the more striking inasmuch as the tongues are interposed between the other two. Prophecy and knowledge shall be abolished, but tongues shall be discontinued. This distinction is difficult to understand if tongues were not to cease until prophecy and knowledge were done away.

Again, the two which shall “be done away” will be abolished “when that which is perfect is come.” What is only partial will give place to what is perfect when it comes. But tongues are not mentioned in this connection. We prophesy in part and we know in part, the apostle says, but he does not say we speak tongues “in part.” Why is this variation of phrase? It must have a significance. Does it not teach that the gift of tongues would lapse in the organisation of the assembly so soon as the wisdom of God saw that the time had come when it was no longer needful?

It has been assumed by some that tongues will continue until the Lord's coming, because it is then that that which is perfect in respect of the saints will come. But it will be seen that only imperfect knowledge and prophecies are actually named as being “done away” at that time, although “tongues” is included with the other two in verses 1, 2, and in verse 8. There must be some special reason for this omission. And it certainly leaves room for the interpretation that the cessation of tongues would take place before knowledge and prophecies were done away.

There are some gifts that abide so long as the church is here; but “tongues” is not named among those that remain “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4: 11-13).

When God's earthly people were scattered and Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in A.D. 70, the sign-gifts seem to have ceased. At any rate we read nothing about them in the later writings of inspiration. There were certain gifts of the Spirit associated with the founding of the church, such as apostles, prophets, miracles, tongues and their interpretation. When the foundation was laid and the word of God was complete (Col. 1: 25), such gifts would lapse as the occasion for their bestowment no longer existed.

Without Interpretation “Tongues” must be Tied.

In chapter 14 the apostle gives regulations for the exercise of Spirit-given gifts in the assembly, and special reference is made to that of tongues. We need not now do more than mention these passages briefly, and state their general teaching. It will be clear, however, from the texts that there was to be no use of the tongues in the assembly unless there was interpretation. And these texts are stated by the apostle to be the commandments of the Lord (1 Cor. 14: 37), a word of solemn warning to those who wantonly set them aside.

(1) The gift of prophecy is superior to that of tongues because he that prophesies speaks to men to edification and comfort and consolation, and the assembly is edified thereby. One speaking in a tongue (without interpretation) speaks not to men but to God, and edifieth himself only. The apostle adds, “I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied; for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying” (1 Cor. 14: 1-5).

(2) If the apostle himself came to Corinth speaking with tongues, he would not profit them unless he spoke to them by way of revelation or prophesying or knowledge or teaching (ver. 6). The apostle further thanked God that he spoke with tongues more than all of them, yet in the assembly he would rather speak five words to instruct others than ten thousand words in a tongue (verses 18, 19).

(3) Prayer which is primarily a direct address to God was not to be in a tongue unless there was interpretation. This also applied to the giving of thanks, for as others in such cases could not understand they could not say, Amen (verses 13-17). Spirit-given communications in the assembly would be intelligible to all present.

(4) The apostle quotes a passage from Isaiah (Isa. 28: 11, 12) to show how they were overrating the spiritual value of tongues. Because of the apostasy of the people of Israel God would not speak to them in the language they could understand: “By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers will I speak unto this people; and not even thus will they hear Me, saith the Lord.” Thus, hearing they would hear but not understand, as the same prophet said in another place (Isa. 6: 9). Why should the Corinthians be so proud of the tongues which were given to attract the attention of unbelievers to what they did not understand, rather than to convince them of its truth? “Wherefore,” the apostle concludes, “tongues are for a sign not to those that believe, but to them that believe not” (ver. 22).

(5) Edifying was to be the prime consideration in the exercise of gifts. This would not be the case if, when the whole church was assembled together, all spake with tongues. Such an exhibition of the lack of spiritual sobriety and self-control would lead a stranger to pronounce the place a bedlam (ver. 23). What a dishonour to the Holy Spirit of God!

(6) If there was speaking with tongues in the assembly it was to be by two or three only who were to follow consecutively, and there must always be one to interpret. In the absence of an interpreter, a man must keep silence in the assembly, and speak only to himself and to God (verses 26- 28). Confusion and disorder are not of God in the assembly, which is His house.

(7) At the end of the chapter the apostle sums up his instructions. He condemns unsparingly the extravagant and unauthorised use of tongues in the assembly, but he does not disparage what the Spirit gave. His gifts must be used under His guidance, which will be in His order and to the edification of the saints, i.e., by interpretation. “Wherefore my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. But let all things be done decently and in order” (verses 39, 40).

We have now considered the relevant passages in this Epistle on the subject in hand, and we ask the question with which this inquiry was begun: is there any ground for believing that the power of tongues was to be perpetuated in the church down to the present day? And our conclusion is that no such warrant exists here any more than in Mark and in the Acts. Miracles and gifts of healing are named equally with tongues as being in exercise at the beginning, but there is no hint of their continuance in the assembly when departure from the faith displayed itself in apostolic and still more in post-apostolic days.

In this Epistle Paul addresses serious warnings to the saints in connection with the various gifts, but it is remarkable that he gives more attention to their abuse of tongues than to that of any other gift. Being showy in its nature, it was on that account attractive to the natural conceit of man, and evidently it became a snare to the assembly then, as it appears to be still, in the case of some misguided ones.

In grading the various gifts according to their value in the church, the apostle places, as we have seen, tongues last on the list in order of merit. It was a sign not to believers, but to unbelievers. It was useless to the assembly unless there was the concurrent gift of interpretation. And the apostle, when pressing upon the church the overriding claims of love, as the mainspring of the assembly life, he mentions that tongues shall, in contrast with love, cease. If then the Spirit-given tongues of the apostolic time have ceased, what are the modern pretensions to that gift? If the latter are not of the Spirit of God, from whom do they spring?

Satanic Speech through Human Mouths

The Jews were guilty of the unpardonable sin of attributing the power of the Spirit of God working in our Lord Jesus to Beelzebub, the prince of the demons (Matt. 12: 22-32). There is a danger today of falling into the converse sin of attributing what is the power of Satan to the Holy Spirit of God. The danger of this egregious error was not absent in the early church. The saints in a heathen city, like Corinth, were specially liable to the introduction into their midst of the oracular utterances of demons. The apostle reminded them of the idolatrous influence exercised upon them in their unconverted days (1 Cor. 12: 2): “led away unto dumb idols howsoever ye might be led.”

Satan, who was so active among the twelve in the days of our Lord, was ever seeking to corrupt the servants of Christ after His departure. At Philippi, for instance, there was the case of a maid, possessed of a spirit of divination [Python, margin], who brought much gain to her masters by soothsaying. She deluded persons by the evil spirit who spoke through her, and she sought to ally herself with the preachers of the gospel by crying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, which show unto us the way of salvation” (Acts 16: 16-13). The utterance sounded well enough, but it was spoken by the spirit of deceit and not by the Spirit of God. And Paul cast it out of the damsel. There were women at Philippi who laboured with him in the gospel (Phil. 4: 3), but the apostle would not have any association with the power of darkness but rather reproved it, and exorcised it in the case of this damsel.

Now Satan would not only use such seducing spirits in the streets, but he would seek to bring such into the very midst of the assembly of the saints. And if a man were speaking in a tongue, how would the assembly decide whether he was led by the Spirit of God or by an evil spirit? When it is known what is being spoken, the saints can prove the utterance by the word of God; for every spirit that confesseth not Jesus Christ come in the flesh is not of God (1 John 4: 1-3). Hence where tongues were used the apostle insisted upon the interpretation of tongues, as at Corinth, so that all might judge whether the utterance in a tongue was from a divine source. Let us not be deceived. Satan can send a lying spirit into the mouth of a man now as of old (1 Kings 22: 22, 23). And unclean spirits can cry out with a loud voice now as they did in Samaria (Acts 8: 7).

We find from scripture that Satan wrought formerly among the people of Israel by using human “tongues” to draw them away from the living God. Instead of having recourse to Jehovah, they were persuaded to “seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards that chirp and that mutter” (Isa. 8: 19, R.V.). These diviners chirped and muttered in cries that were no more intelligible than those of birds and beasts. These weird and mysterious voices of the evil spirits which delude their votaries are again alluded to by the prophet in another connection: “Thou shalt . . . speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust; and thy voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper [chirp] out of the dust” (Isa. 29: 4). See also the reference to “whisperers” in the margin of Isa. 19: 3.

It should not be forgotten that Satan can imitate the miracles and wonders and signs wrought by the Spirit of God in the way of tongues as well as in other ways. The prophet Ezekiel (12: 24) referred to the counterfeit prophecies of his time — the “vain vision” and “flattering divination” in the house of Israel. In the future, the coming Antichrist will, it is foretold, exercise infernal power to such an extent that he will give breath to the image of the political beast, and cause it to speak (Rev. 13: 15). If then Satan used supernatural powers in the past by speaking through men's mouths to deceive, if possible, the very elect, we may be sure he works similarly in our day, though perhaps not to the same degree as he will do in the days of Antichrist.

From the precepts and examples of scripture we therefore come to the conclusion that a man's or a woman's mouth may be taken into possession by a power outside himself or herself, and things may be uttered unintelligible to either speaker or hearer, and that power may be Satanic or demoniacal in origin. As we have no scriptural ground for expecting the operations of the Spirit of God in this way at the present time, the presumption is that the modern movement of tongues is not of God, and that it must lead its adherents further and further away from the truth of scripture as they give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy to deceive and to destroy.

Many earnest believers are led astray because the votaries of this cult of tongues assume a garb of extreme piety. We are warned, however, in the word of God, not to be deceived in this respect. Ravening wolves will come in sheep's clothing (Matt. 7: 15). False prophets wear a hairy mantle to deceive (Zech: 13: 4). Ministers of Satan fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness (2 Cor. 11: 13-15).

We condemn the sincerity of no one; of this God alone is judge. But many are deceiving themselves, and it will benefit us all to heed the apostle's injunction: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits whether they are of God; because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4: 1).

(4) General Remarks.

We have now examined the testimony of Mark, Luke and Paul with respect to the use and abuse of tongues, and in no instance do their words warrant us to expect that the supernatural display of tongues which occurred in the early days of the church would continue throughout or would be revived at the close of the church's history. In the later writings of the New Testament it is significant that there is no mention even of the tongues. Where were they when Paul was a prisoner in Rome, and John was an exile in Patmos? These apostles speak of the apostate condition of the church which had then set in and which was destined to grow worse and worse, but they do not give a single word of promise that amidst the distressing confusion God would bear His witness to the faithful ones by granting unto them signs and wonders as He had done in Jerusalem, Caesarea and Ephesus. By tongues and healings and other miracles God at the beginning showed outwardly that He was abandoning His people Israel and taking up the followers of Christ to be His servants. But having made that distinction plain to all men, and placed the facts on record, it is unwarrantable to assume, as some seem to do, that God means to distinguish between the faithful and the unfaithful in Christendom by the restoration of the signs of power in our time.

We are, therefore, unavoidably led to the conclusion that those who claim to be speaking with tongues today are in the very serious position of being unable to show any reliable scriptural voucher in support of their claim. They deceive themselves and deceive others under the garb of piety. They are guilty of ascribing to the Holy Spirit of God uncanny utterances in an unintelligible jargon, understood neither by the speakers nor the hearers. They are, we feel, very much like the false prophets whom Jehovah condemned through His servant Jeremiah: “I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake I unto them; they prophesy unto you a lying vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their own heart.” “They speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD” (Jer. 14: 14; Jer. 23: 16).

Some of the defenders of this hallucination state that there is no direct scripture in the New Testament indicating the discontinuance of tongues, and therefore they have a right to expect that they will still be given in answer to prayer.

But if such persons carefully considered the present broken and divided condition of the church, foretold in scripture and manifest to every spiritual eye, they would see how inappropriate such petitions would be. Is the church in a condition to exercise the gifts of power?

The Lord admonished Ephesus that He would remove the candlestick from the assembly. unless there was repentance (Rev. 2: 1-7). On its removal, how could unrepentant Ephesus pray for its restoration, when she no longer had her first love, nor did her first works? The church at large fell from her first state of devotion to the Lord even in apostolic days, and the outward marks of power, so conspicuous at first, were removed in consequence. The church at large remains unrepentant today. What misapprehension of the mind of God concerning the present ruin to pray for the restoration of the gifts of external power!

Without a direct scripture, the fact of the discontinuance of tongues is patent to all, except to those deluded to believe otherwise. But reference has already been made to 1 Cor. 13: 8, which does say that tongues shall cease. Apart, however, from the direct bearing of this scripture upon this point, it will be remembered that we have no scripture which affirms the discontinuance of apostles and prophets; of elders and deacons; of the unbroken unity of the church as displayed in Jerusalem; of the common purse for the saints (Acts 2: 41-47). These outward and visible signs of the Spirit's presence and power in the assembly, striking and remarkable as they were, have ceased. We know that the church, even in the days of the apostles, fell from obedience as Adam did, and was corrupted, evil doctrine permeating its ranks in all directions (Acts 20: 28; 29; 1 Tim. 4: 1; 2 Tim. 3: 1; Titus 1: 10, 11). In view of that apostasy Paul did not commend the Ephesian elders to miracles and tongues, which were to be temporary, but to God and the word of His grace, which were eternal and unchangeable and sufficient, whatever the state of the church.

There was no warning in the Pentateuch that the miraculous gift of manna would cease, but when the people entered the promised land it was no longer given (Joshua 5: 12). Similarly, the gifts of power were bestowed at the beginning for the establishment of the church as God's vessel of testimony in the earth. When Israel was finally displaced at the destruction of Jerusalem and the apostles and prophets had completed the foundation of God's spiritual temple which is the habitation of the Spirit (Eph. 2: 21, 22), we hear no more of tongues nor powers of healing. They passed away when the occasion for them passed away. It is for the propagandists of the Tongues movement to show from scripture that there is any occasion for their revival today or that any promise to that effect is contained in the scripture.

Misleading Statements Corrected.

It is now proposed to add one or two further remarks on some scriptures and scriptural phrases which are misused by the supporters of this erroneous doctrine.

(1) The Baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is said that Christians should pray to be baptised with the Holy Spirit that they may speak with tongues as believers did on the day of Pentecost.

This notion is an error of understanding. Pentecost will not be repeated. This baptism in scripture refers only to the sending the Holy Spirit as another “Comforter” to abide with the saints for ever (John 14: 16). The promise of the gift of the Spirit was fulfilled at Pentecost, and not before nor since. The Lord breathed upon His disciples the Spirit of life directly after His resurrection (John 20: 22). This clearly was not the baptism which was promised, because the Lord Himself said to the same disciples subsequently, “Ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (Acts 1: 5). The “many days hence” were only accomplished when “the day of Pentecost was fully come.” Then when the Lord Jesus was glorified He shed forth what He Himself had called the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And since the Lord has long ago fulfilled His promise to baptise with the Holy Ghost, what unbelieving presumption to ask Him to do it again, and to do for individuals what He did for the church in its corporate unity once for all?

Now it is important to observe that baptism is never applied in scripture to the Spirit's action upon an individual. It is the whole company of believers that is baptised, not single disciples, as is wrongfully assumed by the leaders of the Tongues movement. This fact will appear as we consider the references in the New Testament which are few but sufficient to give the guidance we need on the matter. They comprise:

(i) The prophecy by John the Baptist — in the Gospels.

(ii) The promise by the Lord Jesus — in the Acts.

(iii) The allusion by the apostle Paul — in 1 Corinthians.

Taking the references in this order: (i) John the Baptist made this announcement concerning the coming Messiah, “He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire” (Matt. 3: 11; Luke 3: 16) It will be seen that Mark 1: 8 and John 1: 33, in their record of this prophecy, omit the words, “and with fire,” which look onward to the day of the judgment of the Lord when He will come to purge His floor and to burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire (Matt. 3: 12). The application of this clause by the Irvingites to the personal purging from sin of the believer by the Holy Ghost is utterly opposed to scripture generally and to the context particularly.

John therefore foretold this baptism, and said it would be the work of Him upon whom the Spirit descended and remained — the Son of God (John 1: 33, 34). He does not, however, say when this great act of baptism of those who received the Lord Jesus would take place.

(ii) The Lord disclosed the time when the baptism of the Spirit would take place, and where. He instructed His followers to tarry in Jerusalem until they received the promise of the Father, and He also said that the baptism of the Holy Spirit would take place a few days later (Acts 1: 4, 5). The Lord Jesus therefore baptised the whole company of believers with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, as He said He would do.

The Lord having fulfilled His promise, and the Holy Spirit having descended to stay in the assembly which the Lord was building (Matt. 16: 18), there is no need for a fresh baptism, unless indeed the Spirit has departed and the Lord's word has failed! To pray now for His coming is worse unbelief than that of John who sent unto the Lord to ask, “Art Thou He that should come, or look we for another?” The Spirit is here now, as truly as the Messiah was there then.

The Holy Spirit was given to Cornelius and his friends when they received the gospel, but it is not said that they were baptised of Him, as some careless readers of scripture have alleged. Peter said he remembered the Lord's promise, “Ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 11: 16). But it is not said that these Gentiles were baptised, though the Spirit fell on them as on the believing Jews at the beginning (11: 15). The baptism of the Spirit was corporate not personal, and all through the Acts we have no single instance of a recurrence of the term.

(iii) The use of the term by the apostle Paul confirms what has been said already regarding its signification. He shows that the baptism of the Spirit was the great act whereby believers on the earth were consolidated into one living organisation of which Christ is the Head on high. He says, “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For in one Spirit were we all baptised into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1 Cor. 12: 12, 13).

The baptism of the Spirit seems to be His action upon the community as such, maintaining it in that vitalised connection with the Head of the body on high, which began at Pentecost. The Lord adds converts to the company from time to time (Acts 2: 47), and those that receive the gospel of salvation are anointed and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise (Eph. 1: 13; 2 Cor. 1: 21, 22). But it is man not duly subject to the word of God who confounds the anointing and sealing of the Spirit with the baptism, which was spoken only of the initial formation of the body of Christ.

(2) Further Outpouring of the Holy Spirit. It is said God in His word has promised to pour out His Spirit, and we ought to pray for this to be done.

But these promises are made to the house of Israel, and they will be accomplished upon the restoration of the nation to their own land in millennial blessing (Isa. 32: 15; Isa. 44: 3; Ezek. 29: 29; Joel 2: 28, 29). So far as the church is concerned, God did, as none can deny, pour out His Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2: 33; Acts 10: 45). We cannot pray for what is already given to us, nor for what is promised to be given to someone else, that is, to the earthly people. We have no right to pray for it as members of the body of Christ, because to do so would be a total disregard of the Spirit's own testimony in the word that He came at Pentecost to dwell in the church “for ever” (John 14: 16; 1 Cor. 3: 16).

Moreover the Spirit also dwells in individual believers (1 Cor. 6: 19). He is in their hearts (Gal. 4: 6), crying, Abba, Father. In our hearts He also sheds abroad the love of God (Rom. 5: 5). How then can believers pray that the Spirit may be poured out except on the ground that they deny that the gift of the Holy Spirit to the church at Pentecost was a permanent one?

It is said further that the Lord promised that the Father would give the Holy Spirit to those who asked Him (Luke 11: 13). This statement is true, but it is overlooked that this promise was fulfilled at Pentecost, when the Father did give the Holy Spirit to those who continued with one accord in prayer and supplication (Acts 1: 14; Acts 2: 1).

The Holy Spirit is God, and the plain but marvellous truth revealed in the scripture is that He is now here in a sense in which He was not here before the Lord Jesus was glorified. See John 7: 39: “The Holy Ghost was not yet [given]; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.” The Son of God was here as the Word made flesh, and the Spirit of God, though not incarnate as the Son, is now here, the Unchanging Paraclete, abiding among the believing saints to glorify Christ before their eyes and to conform them to His image. It is surely either ignorance or culpable unbelief, certainly not faith, that induces persons to intercede today for a repetition of the Pentecostal event.

(3) The last days. It is said that God promised to pour out His Spirit in the last days, and that these are the last days. Therefore if we seek them, we ought to expect manifestations of the Spirit as at Pentecost.

This statement shows a total misunderstanding of the prophecy of Joel, and of the purpose for which it was quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost. The Hebrew prophet did not foretell the history of the church, and the last days of which he speaks are therefore not the last days of the church.

The subject of the church was not revealed to Old Testament prophets (Eph. 3: 5), and the subject of Joel's prophecies was expressly the nation of Israel and particularly Judah, as his language shows. He treats of the coming of the day of the LORD (Joel 2), which will be the occasion of the restoration of the Jews; of the judgment of the Gentiles; and of the establishment of full millennial blessing in the earth (Joel 3).

Through this prophet, then, Jehovah had undertaken to pour out His Spirit upon all flesh before the day of the LORD should come (Joel 2: 28-31). See also Ezekiel (Ezek. 36: 24-27; Ezek. 37: 14). Those whom Peter addressed in Jerusalem knew these Old Testament predictions of the outpouring of the Spirit. And the apostle quoted the prophecy to convince them that what had taken place was not the result of fleshly excitement, but of the advent of the Spirit, which had now taken place before the coming of the day of the Lord.

It is, however, an error to assume because of its quotation by Peter that this prophecy was wholly fulfilled at Pentecost. Undeniably the Spirit was then given, but the kingdom was not set up for Israel. Joel's general theme was the coming of the day of the Lord, but that day has not yet come. At the same time, the apostle called the men of Judea to observe that as God will pour out of His Spirit before that great and terrible day, and as men will then prophesy, so in Jerusalem He had then poured out His Spirit because the Lord whom the Jews had crucified God had glorified. Therefore, like many others in the Old Testament, Joel's prophecy only received a partial fulfilment; its fulness is yet to come.

With regard to the words, “the last days,” it will be seen that they form part of Peter's quotation: “It shall come to pass in the last days” (Acts 2: 17). The term therefore has its application to the people of Israel. But what are these last days as applied to the earthly people? They are the days in which God spoke to the nation by His Son; as we read, He “hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son (Heb. 1: 2). They are the last days for the Jew which run on to the millennium. The nation now is not only in the “Lo-ammi” state, but under the guilt of crucifying their King. And the fulfilment of Joel's prophecy concerning the pouring out of the Spirit will take place after the church is removed, and before those days close. The careful reader will note that in Joel the phrase “in the last days” is represented by the word “afterward.”

When Paul, writing to Timothy, speaks of the perilous times that shall come in the “last days” (2 Tim. 3: 1), he is referring as an apostle to the last days of the church, in which we now are. But it is inexcusable confusion to suppose that the church period has any connection with the last days mentioned either in Acts 2: 17 or in Heb. 1: 2.

(4) Praying for the Holy Ghost. It is said we ought to pray for the Holy Spirit to come in power and blessing.

Such a prayer by a believer today is one of ignorance. It in effect ignores that the Lord Jesus has fulfilled His promise and has sent the Comforter to abide with His own for ever, that is, until He Himself comes (John 14: 16, 17). It therefore amounts to a denial that the Spirit's own record of His own coming at Pentecost is authentic (Acts 2). As true prayer is by the Holy Ghost (Rom. 8: 26; Jude 20), how can we believe that He would lead a person to pray for Himself to come, when He is already here, and indeed given by God to all those who obey Him (Acts 5: 32)?

(5) Desiring the gift of tongues. It is said that we are exhorted in scripture to covet earnestly that we might speak with tongues.

Though this injunction is strongly and frequently urged by the advocates of the Tongues movement, it is not according to scripture. The apostle does say, “Covet earnestly the best [or, greater] gifts” (1 Cor. 12: 31). But a perusal of the scriptures will show that “tongues” is one of those gifts they were not told to covet earnestly. It is as a gift one of the least in the apostle's estimation, and placed last in his list (1 Cor. 12: 28). He does, on the other hand, press upon them to desire to prophesy, because prophecy edified and comforted the church, while tongues were only a sign to unbelievers. Paul's words are, “Follow after love, and desire earnestly spiritual [gifts], but rather that ye may prophesy.” “Wherefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues” (1 Cor. 14: 1, 39 R.V.).

It is well to observe the distinction the apostle makes in the last verse quoted. The Corinthian saints should covet that they themselves might prophesy, but meanwhile they were not to forbid other persons to speak with tongues. Paul's words were in no sense an encouragement to any one at Corinth who had not the power of tongues to desire earnestly that he might have that power. And yet some refer to it as if such was the bearing of the text.

(6) Unintelligibility. It is said that the possession of the gift of tongues is denoted by the utterance of inarticulate sounds.

We here touch a side of our subject, the seriousness of which it is impossible to exaggerate. The apostle, writing to the Corinthians, insisted that there should be no exercise of tongues in the assembly unless the tongues were interpreted (1 Cor. 14: 27, 28). Why was this? That the assembly might judge what was said. They were responsible to do this even with the greater gift of prophecy (1 Cor. 14: 29) They were not to “despise prophesyings,” it is true; but why do not those who refer to this exhortation in fancied support of the admitted vagaries of modern utterances continue the quotation? We are also to “prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Thess. 5: 20, 21). If one speaks in the assembly the hearers are entitled to prove or test whether it be of God.

Now if a person gives utterance in an assembly to some uncouth gibberish which no one can understand, how do those present know that the person is not cursing the Lord Jesus? We must remember that the apostle starts writing about spiritual workings with such a possibility in view. He says, “Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking in the Spirit of God saith, Jesus is anathema; and that no man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit” (1 Cor. 12: 3, R.V.). They were exposed to the danger of fellowship with demons, and one safeguard against such an abomination was to try the spirits whether they were of God (1 John 4: 1-3) by what they said. How could the Corinthians, and how can we, judge, if the utterances are without sense to the audience? And if a person professes to interpret today, how do we know that the interpretation is not false also? If the gift of interpretation has ceased in the church with the gift of tongues, as we believe, it must be false, and must spring directly or indirectly from the father of lies.

One of the marks of the communications of the Spirit of God is a sound mind (2 Tim. 1: 7). We have no confidence in those who understand “neither what they say, nor whereof they confidently affirm.” When the Lord opened the mouth of Balaam's ass, so that she spoke with a man's voice, the prophet understood what was said and knew it was a message from God. But he would not have known if she had simply brayed in some unusual fashion. We repeat that in cases of senseless jabber no one can be sure that the name of the Lord Jesus is not being blasphemed, though we can be sure it is not of the Spirit of God to minister Christ in such a way.

We feel it right in this connection to draw attention to the fact that many, if not all modern writers in support of the Tongues heterodoxy withhold the title of Lord when mentioning the Lord Jesus. We do not say they always do, but that they do it so frequently that the practice calls for remark. Now the Holy Spirit who came because God had made the Crucified One both Lord and Christ (Acts 2: 36), uses the mouth of man to confess His Lordship, while He is still rejected by the world (1 Cor. 12: 3). Demons do not admit this title. The evil spirit at Ephesus said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know” (Acts 19: 15). He did not say, “the Lord Jesus,” but gave Him no more title than he did to Paul. See also Mark 1: 24; 5: 7. God has decreed that eventually every tongue, including that of infernal beings as well as that of wicked men, shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2: 9-11). This confession evil spirits will not make now, nor those led by them (1 John 4: 3). And the omission marks what is not of God.

It is not hereby asserted that all whose organs of speech are surrendered by their own wills to an influence apart from themselves are under the influence of evil spirits, as in the case of those known as “spiritists,” though they are liable to be possessed at any time. But any who have a knowledge of hypnosis or psycho-therapeutics are aware that it is possible for persons to exercise a power of thorough compulsion over others when the patients submit. In that condition, where the control is human and not demonic, things are said and done of which the subject is quite unconscious. We say no more on this topic, and only allude to it because of the shameful irregularities which have been attributed to the Holy Spirit by the deluded votaries of the cult of Tongues.

Conclusion.

In conclusion, we can only reiterate the warning against an eagerness for miraculous manifestations on the part of the individual Christian or of a company of Christians. The better way is an ever-deepening abasement of self and an ever-nearer and more chastened walk with God. Let us seek neither to quench nor to grieve the Holy Spirit, but to allow that Divine Indweller to possess us thoroughly to the utmost confines of our inner being. So shall we be “filled with the Spirit” (Eph. 5: 18), and fitted for every good word and work.

Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing

My dear Redeemer's praise,

The glories of my God and King,

The triumphs of His grace!

My gracious Master and my God,

Assist me to proclaim,

To spread, through all the earth abroad,

The honours of Thy Name.

Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb,

Your loosened tongues employ;

Ye blind, behold your Saviour come,

And leap, ye lame, for joy!

Charles Wesley, 1741