======================================================================== WRITINGS OF ARNO C GAEBELEIN - VOLUME 1 by Arno C. Gaebelein ======================================================================== A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by Arno C. Gaebelein (Volume 1), compiled for study and devotional reading. Chapters: 99 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 01.00. His Riches Our Riches 2. 01.0000. Introduction 3. 01.01. The wonderful fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was rich 4. 01.02. The more wonderful fact that He became poor for our sakes 5. 01.03. By His poverty we are rich 6. 01A.0.1 Studies in Prophecy 7. 01A.0.2. Dedication 8. 01A.0.3. Contents 9. 01A.0.4. Foreword 10. 01A.01. THE PRESENT AGE: ITS BEGINNING, PROGRESS AND END 11. 01A.02. THAT BLESSED HOPE 12. 01A.03. WHO WILL BE CAUGHT UP WHEN THE LORD COMES? 13. 01A.04. THE CHURCH AND THE GREAT TRIBULATION 14. 01A.05. THE TEN VIRGINS OR THE MIDNIGHT CRY 15. 01A.06. THE REDEMPTION OF THE PURCHASED POSSESSION 16. 01A.07. THE HISTORY OF SATAN 17. 01A.08. THE CONVERSION OF THE WORLD AND THE JEWS 18. 01A.09. THE FEASTS AND THE NAMES 19. 01A.10. “WHEN THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY” 20. 01A.11. PROPHETIC POEMS BY HORATIUS BONAR 21. 02.0.0. STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH 22. 02.0.1. Forward 23. 02.0.2. Introduction 24. 02.01. Chapter 1 25. 02.02. Chapter 2 26. 02.03. Chapter 3 27. 02.04. Chapter 4 28. 02.05. Chapter 5 29. 02.06. Chapter 6 30. 02.07. Chapter 7 31. 02.08. Chapter 8 32. 02.09. Chapter 9 33. 02.10. Chapter 10 34. 02.11. Chapter 11 35. 02.12. Chapter 12 36. 02.13. Chapter 13 37. 02.14. Chapter 14 38. 03.00.1. THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 39. 03.00.3. Table Of Contents 40. 03.00.4. Foreward 41. 03.00.5. Introduction 42. 03.01. Chapter One 43. 03.02. Chapter Two 44. 03.03. Chapter Three 45. 03.04. Chapter Four 46. 03.05. Chapter Five 47. 03.06. Chapter Six 48. 03.07. Chapter Seven 49. 03.08. Chapter Eight 50. 03.09. Chapter Nine 51. 03.10. Chapter Ten 52. 03.11. Chapter Eleven 53. 03.12. Chapter Twelve 54. 03.13. Chapter Thirteen 55. 03.14. Chapter Fourteen 56. 03.15. Chapter Fifteen 57. 03.16. Chapter Sixteen 58. 03.17. Chapter Seventeen 59. 03.18. Chapter Eighteen 60. 03.19. Chapter Nineteen 61. 03.20. Chapter Twenty 62. 03.21. Chapter Twenty-One 63. 03.22. Chapter Twenty-Two 64. 03.23. Chapter Twenty-Three 65. 03.24. Chapter Twenty-Four 66. 03.25. Chapter Twenty-Five 67. 03.26. Chapter Twenty-Six 68. 03.27. Chapter Twenty-Seven 69. 03.28. Chapter Twenty-Eight 70. 04.00. The Harmony of the Prophetic Word 71. 04.00.3. Table Of Contents 72. 04.00.4. Foreward 73. 04.01. Introductory 74. 04.02. The Day Of Jehovah 75. 04.03. The Great Tribulation Preceding... 76. 04.04. The Nations, The Enemies Of Israel 77. 04.05. The Wicked Leaders Of The Apostate Forces 78. 04.06. The Visable And Glorious Manifestation 79. 04.07. The Conversion And Restoration Of Israel 80. 04.08. The Theocratic Kingdom 81. 04.09. The Blessings Of The Coming Age 82. 04.10. Conclusions 83. 05.00.1. THE LORD OF GLORY 84. 05.00.3. Table Of Contents 85. 05.00.4. Preface 86. 05.00.5. Dedication 87. 05.01. The Lord Of Glory 88. 05.02. Jehovah. The "I Am" 89. 05.03. That Worthy Name 90. 05.04. The Doctrine Of Christ 91. 05.05. The Pre-Eminence Of The Lord Jesus Christ 92. 05.06. "Ye Are Christ's--Christ Is God's" 93. 05.07. The Wonderful 94. 05.08. Honor And Glory Unto Him 95. 05.09. Christ's Resurrection Song 96. 05.10. The Glory Song 97. 05.11. The Firstborn 98. 05.12. The Waiting Christ 99. 05.13. A Vision Of The King ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: 01.00. HIS RICHES OUR RICHES ======================================================================== Title Page His Riches—Our Riches by ARNO C. GAEBELBEIN ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: 01.0000. INTRODUCTION ======================================================================== Introduction We have known no time when the Lord had more need of Mr. Valiant-for-Truth and Mr. Hold-fast-the-Faith than now. Our friend who writes this book is one of the few who have determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This little book touches the heart of the whole Gospel. In its first part it renders an adoring tribute to His essential Deity who is rich with Divine glory; in the second, it follows Him in His humiliation, and portrays that mystery of vicarious suffering for which the Cross is the perpetual signal and symbol; and, in the third, we are led up to those Ephesian heights, from which we survey the ultimate Destiny of His Redeemed Saints. This book is eminently adapted to save sinners and feed saints. We prayerfully commend it to the loving favor of our God and Father, as it goes forth on its solemn mission, persuaded that it will not return Arthur T. Pierson. “For ye know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). THESE beautiful words, which we find written in connection with Christian giving, contain the blessed Gospel in a most precious fullness. Like the great heart of the Gospel, John 3:16- it is so very simple and yet so very deep that its depths have never been fathomed. Manoah had seen the angel of the Lord, and when he asked his heavenly visitor, What is thy name? He answered, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is “Wonderful”? (Judges 13:18). And then the angel of the Lord did wondrously before Manoah and his wife and ascended in the flame of the altar. The Holy Spirit through the prophet Isaiah, announcing the birth of the Saviour and the gift of the Son, gives as one of His names “Wonderful.(Isaiah 9:6)” Even so He is. He is wonderful in His Person and His Work. He is wonderful in all He has done, in what He is doing and in all He will yet do. His words, His acts, His Love, His Grace, His mercy, yea all, is wonderful. Three wonderful facts are found in the above verse. Each fact is more wonderful than the other. First: The wonderful fact: He was RICH. Secondly: The more wonderful fact: He BECAME POOR FOR OUR SAKES. Thirdly: The most wonderful fact: By His poverty we are rich. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: 01.01. THE WONDERFUL FACT THAT THE LORD JESUS CHRIST WAS RICH ======================================================================== The wonderful fact that the Lord Jesus Christ was rich This statement leads us back into eternity. The Riches of which this Word speaks are His eternal Riches. He ever subsisted in the form of God as the only Begotten of the Father, absolutely one with Him. With the Father before the world existed, “He was rich.” But who is able to penetrate the mysteries of eternity? The wisdom of man, his reasoning and imaginations are all folly in the presence of such a stupendous statement. We have to turn to revelation to receive glimpses of that which “eye has not seen, nor ear heard” to listen to what God in His Word has to say of the Riches of the Son of His Love. “No man knoweth who the Son is but the Father.” (Luke 10:22) Thus He spake Himself. But it is blessedly true that “God has revealed to us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:10) What then do the Scriptures say about the eternal Riches of Him, who is our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ? The Word of God tells us that the Son of God was rich in all eternity in three things. He was rich in Possessions, rich in Love and rich in Glory. As far as we can learn from revelation His eternal Riches consisted in these three things. But how little we know what they all include! When at last Grace has brought us to the Father’s house, where we shall behold His Glory, when we shall know as we are known, what knowledge of His Riches we shall then enjoy! And yet that which is made known about His Riches is sufficient to fill our hearts with wonder and our lips with praises. Rich in Possessions. Our conception of riches in possessions are limited. If we fill the hands of a child full of glittering pennies, that little one looks upon them as great riches. The great ones of the earth only count themselves rich when they can add millions to millions, houses to houses and land to land. If the whole world were to belong at some time to one person and that one had possession of all the gold and silver, the precious pearls and costly stones, all the treasures of art, yea, all the treasures yet hidden in the mountains and hills of the earth, how rich that person would be! It would be impossible to make known the riches of such a man. Still in comparison with Him who was rich, this person would be only a poverty stricken beggar. What does it mean, He was rich in possessions? Let the Scripture give the answer. “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him and for Him.” In this blessed Word we find the description of the Riches of the Son of God. All things belong to Him, for He created them; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is the Creator of all things, and because He is, they belong to Him, they are His and consist by Him. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.” (Psalms 24:1) None other than Jehovah, the One who ever was in the bosom of the Father, is it who speaks in another Psalm: “Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains, and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.” (Psalms 50:10-13) Again He saith through one of His prophets, “The silver is mine and the gold is mine.” (Haggai 2:8) And then the great sea with its fearful and mysterious depths; of the sea with its mighty waves it is written, “The sea is His, and He made it.” (Psalms 95:5.) How great His possessions; this earth He created with all its wonders and beauties belongs to Him. But His Riches are greater still. He created the things that are in heaven. What a wonderful world it is which is above! Well did the holy singer cry out through the Spirit of God, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork.” (Psalms 19:1) But what are the things in heaven? What are these stars and suns? The human eye can get a few glimpses of that wonderful creation. There are stars and planets hundreds and thousands of times larger than our earth. The Sun is over a million times larger than our planet. It is a marvelous, incomprehensible ocean of fire. And yet the star Sirius has, it has been calculated, a force of light equal to over 140 suns like ours. Stars there are in such wonderful distance from our planet that light, though traveling at 180,000 miles a second, ten million and eight hundred thousand miles a minute or six hundred and forty-eight million miles an hour, takes several thousand years to reach our earth. And oh! the mysteries hid in the impenetrable depths of the universe, which no telescope can reach! And in the heavens are the innumerable angels; their number is “ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.” (Revelation 5:11) And all this He, who is the image of God, created and by right of creation they are all His; all belongs to Him. How rich He was in all eternity! Rich in Love. God did not become Love, but God is Love and has always been Love. Love needs an object. The object of the Love of God in all eternity was He, who is called “the Son of His Love.” In that remarkable passage in the Book of Proverbs, which can only refer to that One, we read how He declares, “I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him.” (Proverbs 8:30) In the fourth Gospel, the Gospel of John, in which the Holy Spirit portrays the Lord as the Son of God, we learn of this eternal Love relation between the Father and the Son. Here in the first chapter we read that “the Word was with God,” and that He was “the only begotten Son, in the bosom of the Father.” (John 1:18) But we have to listen to His own precious words as they came from His lips in His high priestly prayer to hear of that eternal Love He enjoyed, a Love without beginning. (John 17) “Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.” What words these are! Who dares to add to them or attempt to describe that Love? One hears almost the solemn caution of old given by the Lord. “Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place where thou standest is holy.” All attempts to describe that Love or to illustrate it must fail. What that Love was in all eternity, what Riches of Love He enjoyed in the bosom of the Father, what delight was His, no Saint has ever comprehended. It is enough to know before the world was He was “the Son of His Love,” in the bosom of the Father enjoying the Riches of His Love. Rich in Glory. Love puts Glory upon the beloved object. The Father’s Love and the Father’s Glory was His in all eternity. Again we have to turn to His own words to learn of His eternal glory. When He uttered that marvelous prayer in the presence of the Father, He made the following request, “And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory, which I had with thee before the world was.” (John 17:5) How simple and definite this statement is! He had a glory with the Father before the world was; yea, he was the effulgence of the Father’s glory. (Hebrews 1:3) But who can tell what that glory really was? What human eye could fully gaze upon that glory? Seers of old had visions of the Glory of the Lord. They saw the heavens opened and got faint glimpses of the glory of the Lord. Whose glory was it they beheld? A passage in the Gospel of John gives us the answer (John 12:4). “These things said Esaias when he saw His glory and spoke of Him.” The prophet Isaiah saw the Lord and beheld His glory, and the New Testament tells us that it was the glory of the only begotten, the Son of God. What a glory place it must have been where He was in all eternity, which, while on earth, He called, the Father’s house! (John 14:3) What scenes of joy and praise, when the morning stars sang together and the sons of God, the holy angels, clapped their hands for joy! And He was the center of that Glory. To fully understand it all we must wait till we enter that place above when we with all His redeemed people are with Him and when He will show us His Glory. We dare not add another word to that which we have written. Scripture gives us no other description of His eternal Riches, than these three - Riches in possessions; all is His; Riches in Love; Riches in Glory. But what a theme to meditate upon! What joy in believing in Him “who was rich!” Full enjoyment of the blessed Gospel is an impossibility unless we have His eternal Riches before the soul. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 4: 01.02. THE MORE WONDERFUL FACT THAT HE BECAME POOR FOR OUR SAKES ======================================================================== The more wonderful fact that He became poor for our sakes If we have wondered at His eternal Riches, how much greater must be our amazement that such a One, whose Riches are incomprehensible, became poor. Indeed it is more wonderful that He became poor and furthermore that He became poor for “your sakes.” The precious Gospel text before us enlarges and expands and opens up the gracious, unfathomable depths of God’s Love. We shall find that He, who was so rich, became so poor, that He was stripped of all He had. And it was for us, reader! it was for your sake. Ah! can we ever hear enough of it? Do we ever get tired of hearing the old, the blessed story of His Love? There are such who seem to have gotten beyond this precious Gospel. “We want something deeper than the Gospel,” some people said to the writer some time ago. It did not take us long to find out that they never had fully tasted the sweetness of the old, old story of Jesus and His Love. The one who knows it and lives in fellowship with the Father and the Son can never hear it enough. The more we hear the more we realize its preciousness and its marvelous depths. No, we cannot get beyond the Gospel. But let us look at the more wonderful fact, that He became poor for your sakes. What does it mean? Aye, what does it mean! The Holy Spirit in the Epistle to the Philippians gives us the story of this more wonderful fact, the path of Him, who came from Glory to this dark, sin cursed earth. Let us read His words first of all. “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, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Php 2:6-8) And first of all we mention His incarnation. He made Himself of no reputation * * * He was made in the likeness of men, fashioned as a man. The mighty creator who in the hour of creation had formed the body of man out of the dust of the earth, took upon Himself that same form and entered the world He had called into existence. He did not empty Himself of his Deity; He came as Jehovah manifested in the flesh. We read the holy, blessed facts of His entrance into the world in the Gospel of Luke. (Luke 1:35) The angel Gabriel said to Mary after He had announced the coming birth of the Saviour, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” And then He was born. On the bosom of Mary rests He who ever was in the bosom of the Father. In miserable Bethlehem He begins His earthly life as a little babe. “And she brought forth her Firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.”( Luke 2:7) What poverty it was, the poverty of incarnation! For Him who created all, who has all, whose glorious place was with the Father before the world was, for Him there was no room and His first resting place a manger. And yet this poverty in incarnation is far from being the fullest meaning of that, which is before us in this wonderful fact, He became poor for our sakes. All the poverty of the incarnation could not and cannot give peace and rest for the conscience of a guilty sinner. There is a deeper poverty of Him who was rich, than the poverty of incarnation. It has not pleased the Holy Spirit to give us a record of the Blessed One as He grew up to manhood. There is just one record at the close of the second chapter in the Gospel of Luke, when He spoke that significant word, “How is it that ye have sought Me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:48)What consciousness of His Personality and His Work they reveal! And then we read, “He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them.” Nazareth was a poor little place with a poor reputation. There He went, He whose fellowship had been from everlasting with the Father. Had the Holy Spirit given us the story of these years in Nazareth we would have to read, no doubt, a story of poverty, of toil and perhaps want. In the Gospel of Mark we hear Him mentioned as ‘‘the carpenter.” He who later declared in the presence of the Jews in the Gospel of John “My Father worketh hitherto and I work,” (John 5:17). worked patiently, toiled on for years with His own hands. And yet these years of toil and poverty in Nazareth do not make known the full extent of His poverty. Were He still to labor and to toil upon the earth and live here in deepest poverty, all this could not save a single soul from death nor give a single sinner acceptance with God. How poor He was we read too well in the Record of the Gospels. He had not where to lay His head. “The birds have nests and the foxes have holes, but the Son of Man has not where to lay His head.” Such was His mournful utterance; and there often in all probability was no resting place for that blessed, blessed head. He hungered and came to a fig tree and found nothing there. His disciples, too, who had followed Him, were hungry and plucked the ears of corn on the Sabbath day. Women, the weaker vessel, ministered unto Him, and gave to Him, who, as we have seen before, saith, “The silver and gold is mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills.” Great as this poverty was, it is not that poverty, into which He went, for our sake. He became infinitely poorer than that. As he walked in humiliation upon the earth, in the likeness of man, though poor outwardly, poor in Nazareth, poor among His own, He was nevertheless rich. He still enjoyed the riches of the Father’s Love. As a boy He speaks of “my Father.” The Father’s smile was ever about Him and upon Him. God could do nothing else but love Him, who had left His bosom and became man. There was never a moment in that holy spotless life, when the Father’s presence and the Father’s Love were lacking. How precious it must have been for Him in all the poverty He had taken upon Himself, to enjoy the presence and fellowship of Him, with Whom He was and is One. And so as He walked among His own, the Father was with Him. The Riches of Love He still possessed. The Father opened His heavens above Him and said, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 4)This was at the beginning of His ministry, when He came out of the waters. The same voice spoke on the holy mountain at His transfiguration, when His wonderful Glory is upon Him. In the nights He spent in the desert or upon the mountains alone He enjoyed the loving fellowship with the Father, When He was in the desert, tempted by the devil, walking among the wild beasts, the loving arms of His Father were about Him. Beloved reader! the fullest meaning of this more wonderful fact, He became poor for your sake can only be learned in one place and that place is, the Cross. In the story of the Cross do we find written the deepest poverty of Him who was rich There alone we see what it did cost God to bring us to Himself. But who is able to fully understand the poverty of the Cross? Jeremiah amidst the ruins of his beloved Jerusalem broke out in the most pathetic lament, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord has afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger.” (Lamentations 1:12) But what was Jeremiah’s sorrow and suffering in comparison with the one the Man of Sorrows had? He alone could say, “Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.” (1 Peter 1:11)The sufferings of the blessed One had all been minutely predicted by His own Spirit throughout the Old Testament. They were foreshadowed in the sufferings of the Old Testament Saints, such as Abel, Isaac, Joseph, Job, David, Daniel and others. When He came He fulfilled them all and suffered in the shame and poverty of the cross. But who can measure the agony of the cross, through which that holy one had to pass? The so called old masters, great painters, have pictured from their imagination the crucifixion scene. These paintings may be works of art from a human standpoint; spiritually considered they are miserable productions, almost blasphemies. “There they crucified Him,” is all the Holy Spirit tells us of the awful act itself. Oh, what must it have been when He was delivered over into the hands of men, when He who was everlastingly clothed with the Father’s Glory, was stripped and nailed cruelly to that cross! Bleeding with His face marred, carrying upon His Blessed head, the crown of thorns, He is lifted up, on that awful cross, a spectacle for human and supernatural beings. There He hung forsaken by His own, left alone in the hours of His suffering. And yet if we were to stop with this and say that we have descended into the deepest place of the poverty of Him who was rich we would miss the mark. Though the suffering and the shame, the sorrows and the agony, were so great that they cannot be measured, yet do they not give us the fullest meaning of His poverty. There is a poverty still deeper than the physical suffering and shame on the cross. That deepest poverty came up before Him, when He was in the garden Gethsemane. “And when He was at the place, He said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down and prayed, Saying Father, if Thou be willing to remove this cup from Me, nevertheless not my will, but Thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto Him out of heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony He prayed more earnestly and His sweat was as if it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:41-44) Why all this agony? Did He shrink from physical suffering, from the cross and its shame? He did not, but was ready for the joy set before Him to endure the cross and to despise the shame. He knew the deepest poverty, the lowest depths into which He was to descend, the bitter cup He was to drink to the last bitter drop; on account of that He was in an agony. And what then is the deepest poverty of the Rich One, the Creator, the mighty, glorious Jehovah? “Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, that is to say, My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:45-48) In that darkness which enshrouded Him, whose garment was Glory before the foundation of the world, in that solemn, fearful cry which came from His lips out of that darkness, we are face to face with the poverty of Him who was rich. Here we see Him stripped of all that He had. The Riches of Love, the Riches of Glory were gone. No longer is there above Him the Father’s smiling face but in its place a holy, righteous God, whose hand smites the Sufferer on the cross. That Love which He always enjoyed as the Only Begotten, which was His delight while He walked the earth, is now turned into the fearful wrath of God. Stripped of all, smitten of God, He who knew no sin was made sin for us. “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me ?” It is the only time the Lord Jesus addressed the Father as “My God.” But what did it mean? What did it mean for God to put His hand upon that beloved One who ever was His delight, who pleased Him? What must it have been for the Lamb of God to taste that awful death, He who had not deserved it; to be forsaken of Him with whom He ever was? Shall we ever know the depth of His suffering? Shall we ever find out in all eternity what it cost to redeem us? Perhaps we shall never know “the suffering of death” through which the Lamb of God had to pass, stripped of all His Riches, alone, forsaken on that Cross. And now, think of it, “for your sake He became poor” For you, dear reader, He came into the world, for you He went to that cross, for you He drank that bitter cup, for you He was forsaken of God. Well may we sing: O Christ, what burdens bowed Thy head! Our load was laid on Thee; Thou stoodest in the sinner’s stead - To bear all ill for me. A victim led, Thy blood was shed; Now there’s no load for me. Death and the curse were in our cup - O Christ, ‘twas full for Thee! But Thou hast drained the last dark drop, ‘Tis empty now for me. That bitter cup - love drank it up; Left but the love for me. Jehovah lifted up His rod - O Christ, it fell on Thee! Thou wast forsaken of Thy God; No distance now for me. Thy blood beneath that rod has flowed: Thy bruising healeth me. The tempest’s awful voice was heard, O Christ, it broke on Thee; Thy open bosom was my ward; It bore the storm for me. Thy form was scarred, Thy visage marred; Now cloudless peace for me. For me, Lord Jesus, Thou hast died, And I have died in Thee; Thou’rt risen: my bands are all untied; And now Thou liv’st in me. The Father’s face of radiant grace Shines now in light on me. And who are we that He should enter into such depths of poverty and be forsaken by God? Who were these Corinthians let us ask. The First Epistle will give us an answer. “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God. And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). What an awful record this is! Yet for such the Son of God came down and became poor, even to the poverty of the Cross. What an awful record, I hear some one say, and adding, as it is done so often, so deep I have never fallen. In the language of the self-righteous Pharisee, Like the nominal Christians, righteous in their own eyes and despising others, they say “God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers or even as this publican. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess.” (Luke 18:9-12) Reader, is this your language? Is this your confession? If so how little you know of yourself and how little of the sweetness of the precious Gospel. “It is related of the late Bishop Brooks, that, having to preach in the Massachusetts penitentiary, he was stricken dumb as he saw the long lines of fellowmen clad in the livery of shame, shamble, lockstep, to their places in the chapel. For he said: “How may I preach to these men? What know I of thieves, murderers and forgers? I have done none of these things. Between them and myself is a chasm, hell deep, which I can neither overpass to get to them, nor they to get to me.” And then God showed him his own natural heart. Down through layers of Puritan tradition, of moral habit, inherited from generations of God-fearing ancestors, the revealing ray shot and lighted up the real heart underneath, and the man of God saw there the possibility of every crime represented in the long rows of furtive-eyed, low-browed, bestial-faced humanity before him - and then he preached to them as a sinful man to sinful men.” Listen to the description of your heart, the natural heart of man, as given by Him, our blessed Saviour, “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.” (Matthew 15:1-19) All these evil things are in our hearts. There is a murderer there and a fornicator, a thief and a robber. The Grace of God may have kept it back, from the fullest manifestation, but it if there. How true it was when Rowland Hill cried out when he saw a murderer with the rope around his neck led to the gallows, “There goes Rowland Hill, if it were not for the Grace of God.” Such are we. Vile, corrupt sinners; enemies of God. Again let me point you to the Word of God, what God has to say of us, “There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness; their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes * * * all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:10-19.) This is what we are by nature. God Himself tells us all this and He alone knows the depth of our degradation, of our vileness, our sinfulness, our enmity and ungodliness. And yet knowing it all He gave the best He could give. He gave up Him, the Son of His Love. Oh listen! listen! - He put His hand upon Him in that awful poverty of the cross and smote Him in our place. Oh! wonderful, wonderful Love! It passeth knowledge * * * “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. BUT GOD commendeth His Love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-9) Will you not now bow your head and heart in the Presence of God and believe the record! Take your place before Him as a vile, lost, guilty sinner. You have never done anything good; you can never do anything good. Unsaved reader, acknowledge yourself a vile sinner before God and believe on the Son of God. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” What greater proof could God give of His Love than the one He has given, by putting His beloved Son in the place of the vilest sinner. He spared not His beloved Son so that He could be able to spare the sinner, who believes on the Son. He became poor or your sakes, for your sakes. Do you believe it? Will you accept Him as your Saviour? O Thou who didst Thy glory leave, Apostate sinners to retrieve From nature’s deadly fall, - Thou, Thou hast bought us with a price; Our sins against us ne’er can rise, For Thou hast borne them all. See Him for our transgressions given; See the blest Lamb of God from heaven, His Riches - Our Riches For us, His foes, expire; Rejoice! rejoice! the tidings hear! He bore, that we might never bear, Th’ Almighty’s righteous ire. And we who have believed and know Him, know that He died for us we who confess with the great apostle “who loved me and gave Himself for Me,” how we need a greater conception of that mighty Love, which gave Him, that Love which went to the cross into such a poverty. We should look upon every unsaved one, the lowest, the most miserable, the most unloveable from a human standpoint, as one for whom the Son of God gave up His eternal Riches and became so poor. Look at the ones in yonder street of our great cities. How often we see them tottering along or in the gutter. There he lies covered with the filth of the street, perhaps with his own blood sunk beneath the beast. Ah! look upon that miserable one, that homeless tramp, as one for whom the Son of God cried upon the cross “My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me ?” For Him His precious blood was shed, for that one He tasted that awful death. How else can we but love that poor, miserable sinner, that homeless outcast, whom God loved, for whom God gave His Son, for whom Christ died. We are a debtor to that one. The Lord fill our hearts with that burning love which He has for poor lost sinners that we may yearn, yea agonize for the salvation of those for whom Christ became poor. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 5: 01.03. BY HIS POVERTY WE ARE RICH ======================================================================== By His poverty we are rich What a theme we have for our contemplation. The great, the deep, the unfathomable poverty of the Son if God on the cross has procured us riches. How great must these riches be, which are for poor lost sinners, for whom He died and who believe on Him? We shall find indeed that while the Riches of Christ He had with the Father before the world was were wonderful and the fact that such a One became so poor put something still more wonderful before our hearts, yet the most wonderful of all is the riches God has given us in Him. This is the fulness of the blessed Gospel, a fullness which is but little preached and less believed in these days. Some emphasize in Gospel preaching the fact of the forgiveness of sin, how the believing sinner is freely justified from all things. A great blessing it is indeed to know sins are forever put away. That blessedness David knew when he wrote the Thirty-second Psalm. (Psalms 32:1-3) “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” But forgiveness is only a small part of that blessed salvation. Others make prominent the impartation of the new life, the eternal life, the certainty of salvation and the deliverance from the wrath to come. All these and other precious things are some of the most blessed results of the finished work of the Son of God on the cross. There is however a higher revelation of what the believing sinner, saved by Grace has in that blessed One, who became poor. The fullest blessing in Him our beautiful text reveals. We have become rich by Him. And what are the riches, which belong to us on account of the poverty of the Lord Jesus Christ? How rich are we in Him? Have you ever thought of your Riches in the Lord Jesus Christ? In what do they consist? I will not keep you longer from that which cheers the heart of the writer, that which should fill all our hearts with constant praise and worship. We are, saved by Grace, through the poverty of the Lord Jesus Christ, when He was forsaken on that cross, just as rich as He now is in Glory up yonder. This is a great assertion. It is a wonderful claim and yet it is true, true now, true forever and ever, throughout the countless ages of a never ending eternity. And let us first of all ascertain how rich He is who was our substitute on the cross. Where is He now? The tomb could not hold Him; He could not see corruption. The Father raised Him from the dead and after He showed Himself after His passion, He was received up into Glory. What a scene it must have been in heaven when He came again into the presence of the Father. He passed through the heavens. With that cloud, which took Him out of sight of the gazing disciples, He was ushered into the presence of the Throne, that glorious Throne, the great center of the universe. How wonderingly the angelic hosts must have stood about as He returned to the Father. They knew Him there before He took upon Himself the form of man. They had seen Him down on the earth. They were with Him in the desert in His journeys, in His toil and service. He might have commanded a legion of them in the hour when the power of darkness came upon Him. How they must have watched Him as He hung on that cross! They were present when the resurrection morn dawned and they gave the disciples the good and glorious news that He would come again in like manner. What must it have been to the Father, our loving God and Father, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, when His beloved Son returned to Him? He gave Him up, He smote Him on that cross, in the sinner’s place and now He comes back to Him and appears in His presence in the form of Man, the glorified Man. A human being with a body of glory, and still a body of flesh and bones, comes into the presence of the throne of God and that One is the Son of God, raised from the dead, the head of a new creation. How unspeakably grand and glorious it must have been when He came thus to the Father. And now He advances to that Throne and the Father welcomes Him. “Sit Thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” “Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec.” (Hebrews 1, 4) And perhaps under the shouts and praises of the heavenly hosts, He sat down. Where is He now? He is back with the Father, He is in the Father’s presence as the glorified man. And did God do anything else besides welcoming Him, giving the glorified One, with that body in which the nail prints are still seen, a place upon His throne? Yea, He did! God appointed Him heir of all things. God made Him heir of all creation. He gave over into the hands of the glorified man the entire universe. All power in heaven and on earth He gave to the Son of His Love. How rich is He then? All creation belongs to Him. He is the rightful Lord over it all. And what else does He possess? The Father’s Love. The Love of God is centered upon Him once more. That eternal Love He ever knew and enjoyed, the riches of that Love are His once more. Oh! how God must love Him, that lovely One, who did His will, who exalted His eternal righteousness and made known His Love to a lost and guilty world! Is there anything else, which He has received, when He ascended upon high? I look again and cry out: “We see Jesus who for the suffering of death was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with Glory and Honour.” (Hebrews 2:9) There is Glory upon Him. The Father put Glory upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a Glory it must be! Who can tell out His Glory? Who can describe the Glory which He has upon the Father’s Throne, which He will have in the day of His power, when He comes again as Lord of lords and King of kings? And now pause, dear reader. He was rich in all eternity in three things - in Possessions, all belonged to Him; in Love, the Only begotten of the Father; in Glory, the Glory of God. These three things He gave up. He laid them down in that dark period when He hung naked, alone, forsaken on the cross, He was stripped of all. And now in resurrection, we see Him the risen Son of Man and Son of God back with the Father. All power is given to Him and He is the heir of all things; the Father’s Love is upon Him and Glory enshrouds Him once more. Then He has exactly the same riches, which He had before the world was only with this difference, He is now as Man in the Glory. Just as rich as He is the glorified One so rich is the vilest sinner, who has believed on Him, who is washed in that precious blood. The eternal Riches of Him are your Riches, child of God! Open your eye and heart wide and get just a faint glimpse of the Love and Grace of God. He saw this world ruined; men rebels and enemies of Him. He was not taken by surprise when men fell. He knew it in all eternity. He had made provision for it. There is that lovely One in His bosom, by whom and for whom all things were called into existence. He purposes to have others in the place of sons with that One. These vile, lost sinners are to be taken out of the power of darkness and placed alongside of that only One to share His inheritance, the Father’s Love, the Glory in all eternity. How could He do it? He gave Him up. He let Him depart into that dark, dark world. He smote Him, as we saw, on the cross. And then He raised Him up, victor over death and grave, and took Him into His presence again, seating Him at His own right hand in the Heavenly. And in Him He has accomplished His wonderful purpose to have sons in that Son, sharers of His Riches. Could man ever have conceived such a plan? Could all the wisdom of this world ever have discovered such a scheme? The Only begotten of the Father, (Hebrews 1:5) the rich One, who created all things was made a little lower than the angels and now He is made so much better than the angels, obtaining by inheritance a more excellent name than they. And all was done for us lost sinners that we might be sons with Him and share that place, which He has in highest Glory. Just as rich as He is in the Father’s presence so rich are you, so rich is every believing sinner. Are we anything less in Him than Sons of God and as sons Heirs of God? “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.” (Romans 8:16-17) Sonship and Heirship are inseparately connected. We are Heirs of God because as believers we are sons. Our inheritance is nothing less than the inheritance of Him who is the First begotten from the dead. God appointed Him the heir of all things and we are the joint heirs, the fellow heirs of Christ. Can there be anything plainer than that? God told Abraham to walk through the land which He had promised to him and to his seed. We can readily imagine with what joy the father of the faithful walked through that goodly land, with its green pastures, springs of water, rivers and lakes, how his eyes delighted in gazing upon the beautiful mountains. Yet he did not actually possess it then, but in faith he enjoyed it. Our God and Father does not ask us to walk through a land here in this world. He tells us more than that. He has given all to the Son of His Love, the whole earth belongs to Him, the whole universe; and because it belongs to Him it belongs to us. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens above with its wonderful mysteries, its countless heavenly bodies, its unfathomable space, its solar systems beyond the reach of the most powerful telescope. It all belongs to Him. He holds it in His blessed hands and it belongs to us. It is your inheritance. With Him we shall be in the possession and enjoyment of the heavens and the earth. What it all will be, how great our riches are, who can tell? There will never be reached in all eternity a time when we have come to the end of our riches in Him, with whom we shall spend the eternal ages. The Father wants you now to enjoy in faith your riches. What are all possessions here upon this earth, though men may call them riches, what are they in comparison with our riches as sons of God? They are but soap bubbles, miserable toys of poverty, which ere long will pass away. Child of God, look beyond. In wealth or poverty, in abundance or want, yea every day remember your eternal, your abiding riches in the Lord Jesus Christ. Rejoice in faith and triumph in it, over all earthly conditions and circumstances as the future Heirs of God. The riches of Love, He enjoys, the Love wherewith He is loved of the Father is the love with which we are loved. We are the sharers of the same love; that is why believers are addressed in the New Testament as “Beloved of God.” We have to listen to His own high priestly prayer in John xvii to realize that it is even so. Here He tells the Father all about Himself and His redemption work and all about His own, who are given to Him by the Father. It is a wonderful thing that all the great fact of our salvation, our standing before God, our present responsibilities and privileges, our future glory are all revealed by Him, the author and finisher of the faith, in this prayer. This prayer with its blessed depths may be called the germ of all the subsequent unfoldings of the Gospel of Grace, all the great salvation truths as revealed in the great Pauline epistles are herein mentioned. These teachings in the xvii of John may be grouped around seven words and these are: Salvation; Manifestation; Representation; Identification; Sanctification; Preservation and Glorification. Here we hear Him say to the Father: “That the world may know that Thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved me.” (John 17:23.) And again: “That the love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them.” (John 17:25) Then it is truly so, the love wherewith the Father loves the Son, is the love wherewith He loves each who belongs to Christ, who by believing on Him is in Christ. God is Love and oh! how He loves! It was love which gave the Only Begotten and the object in view that He might be able to have us poor sinners sharing that eternal love. Take hold of it in faith, Beloved of God; in Christ Jesus, where Grace has put you, there is for you from the side of God the Father nothing but love. In all reverence we say, God can do nothing but love those who are His children by faith in Jesus Christ. Learn to consider all, even the darkest and the strangest experiences, in the light of His love. Nothing, nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. By nature and by practice, far - How very far from God! Yet now, by grace, brought nigh to Him, Through faith in Jesus’ blood. So nigh - so very nigh to God, I cannot nearer be; For in the person of His Son, I am as near as He. So dear - so very dear to God, More dear I cannot be; The love wherewith He loves the Son, Such is His love to me. And what about the Glory? How great the Glory He has revealed! It belongs to us in Him and with Him. We but need to remind ourselves of another utterance in His prayer. How good of Him that He spoke all these words before He left the world. His disciples heard Him utter these words and from them they learned His love and their glorious destiny. And we, in reading the xvii of John can hear Him still praying. Here then is the word which tells us of Glory: “And the Glory which Thou gavest me I have given them” - “Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which Thou hast given me.” (John 17:22-24.) Is this not sufficient? We shall share His glory! We shall forever be with Him! Our bodies of humiliation will be fashioned like unto His glorious body. We shall see Him as He is and shall be like Him. Our glorious destiny is to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. At last glorified with Him God will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us through Christ Jesus. What a Glory that will be! Forever with the Lord who loved Me and gave Himself for Me. And soon that Glory will be upon us. The Lord is at hand! The blessed moment for which He has waited upon the Father’s throne to have us all with Him, for which generations after generations waited, is very nigh, even at the door. Soon we shall hear the voice of the Bridegroom calling His beloved Bride to come away, to come into His presence and then we shall share His Riches. And is it so - I shall be like Thy Son? Is this the grace which He for me has won? Father of glory, (thought beyond all thought!) - In glory to His own blest likeness brought! Oh, Jesus, Lord, who loved me like to Thee? Fruit of Thy work, with Thee, too, there to see Thy glory, Lord, while endless ages roll, Myself the prize and travail of Thy soul. Yet it must be: Thy love had not its rest Were Thy redeemed not with Thee fully blest. That love that gives not as the world, but shares All it possesses with its loved coheirs. Nor I alone; Thy loved ones all, complete In glory, round Thee there with joy shall meet, - All like Thee, for Thy glory like Thee, Lord, Object supreme of all, by all adored. But alas! how poor and weak our words are! How dull the mind, how slow of heart to believe all and to enjoy it all! How often we go about cast down, disappointed because earthly conditions, the things temporal, did not turn out to our comfort. Perhaps we are murmuring or complaining. If our hearts were fixed constantly upon the Christ of God, upon the wonderful Riches which are His in Glory, which belong to us, there would be no room for care or sorrow, impatience or distress, it would be all praise and thanksgiving. It is this which the Father wants, in which He delights. He loves to hear the voice and praise of such, who were once afar off and now brought nigh, giving thanks in that precious, adorable name. He loves to see His blood bought people rejoicing in His Son. A mother in Israel came to praise Him once. Her prayer had been answered. And as she pours out her heart the Spirit of God opens her vision. In holy joy she cries out: “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes., and to make them inherit the throne of glory; for the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s and He has set the world upon them.” (1 Samuel 2:8) A great conception it was and yet it does not express our glorious inheritance, our riches in the Lord Jesus Christ. Poor beggars upon a dunghill we are by nature and that blessed One who came down to our misery took us from the dunghill to where He is into His Riches, to His Glory, to share His Throne. Ah! how little it is real to us! How little our hearts enter into it all. And yet our God wants us to enter in faith into these wonderful thoughts of love towards us in Christ. More than anything else the true conception of our Riches in Christ, which we shall before long share with Him in Glory, will keep us in the place of separation and teach us to walk worthy of the Lord. With such Riches in view and such a destiny, how holy our lives should be! If these Riches are ever before our soul we shall be satisfied to walk in His path, the path of humility and suffering, satisfied to be nothing now and sharing His reproach. How easy it would be to take the lowest place and with joy we would welcome all that humbles us. For His sake who gave up all, constrained by “ His mighty love with the knowledge of the joy set before us, to be with Him as joint heirs, we too would more and more endure the cross and despise the shame. It is our greatest need. Oh! for a greater vision of Him, His Glory, His Riches and our place in Him now and with Him in all His Riches and Glory before long. But not only are we to share all that with Him, but while here on earth, as saved ones passed from death unto life, waiting for Him and for Glory, we are rich. At the close of that lovely Epistle to the Philippians (Php 4:19) we read this word: “But my God shall supply all your need according to His Riches in Glory in Christ Jesus.” And in the beginning of Ephesians (Ephesians 1:3) we read: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the Heavenly in Christ. “ In Colossians we hear that in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and that we are complete in Him. Let us also remember that precious word which we find on the summit of the Epistle to the Romans: “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” All we need in spiritual blessing, in strength, in power, anything and everything, we have in Him who paid for it on the cross, who became so poor that we might be so rich. How dreadful if we, in possession of such riches, with every spiritual blessing at our disposal, with a Lord who is ready to fill us with the very fullness of Himself, if we do not use these riches, if we neglect so great salvation. We are all guilty of it. But few of God’s people, if any, live up to their fullest riches in Christ. Israel failed with that earthly land and did not take possession of it; we fail in not entering into the riches we have. And if Israel had gone in and possessed the whole land it would have come to an end of the land, for there was a limit. It is far different with the riches we have in Christ; we can never exhaust them; they are like Himself, like God, infinite. Oh, my soul, praise Him, praise Him! And, oh, how feeble is our praise. That Love, these riches, pass praises indeed, It passeth praises! that dear love of Thine, Lord Jesus! Saviour! yet this heart of mine Would sing a love so rich - so full - so free, Which brought a rebel sinner, such as me, Nigh unto God. But though I cannot tell or sing or know The fullness of Thy love while here below, My empty vessel I may freely bring - Thou who art of love the living spring, My vessel fill. I am an empty vessel - scarce one thought Or look of love to Thee I’ve ever brought; Yet I may come, and come again to Thee With this, the needy children’s only plea - “Thou lovest me!” Fill me, Lord Jesus, Saviour, with Thy love; Lead, lead me to the living fount above! Thither may I in simple faith draw nigh, And never to another fountain fly, But unto Thee. Lord Jesus, when Thee face to face I see, When on Thy lofty throne I sit with Thee; Then of Thy love in all its breadth and length, Its height and depth, its everlasting strength, My soul shall sing. And how true it is that we understand, like the little children we are, but little of all the Riches which await us. We are children, but when He comes we shall be full grown sons; what a revelation we shall have then of His Riches and our Riches! What a Glory it will be when He has His completed church with Him and with it His full inheritance in the Saints. What a Glory when He comes as the Firstborn, bringing the many sons with Him to glory! We shall share His Throne. We shall reign with Him over the earth and have control with Him over the works of His hand. And then it shall roll on, the mighty song of praise, but feebly uttered here below by a feeble few: “Unto Him that loveth us and has washed us from our sins in His own blood and has made us kings and priests unto God His Father, to Him be Glory and Dominion forever and ever.” Let us turn more to the Word of Prophecy. What we read here in the Old Testament and in our New Testament prophetic Book, His own Revelation, which He received from God, concerning the coming Glories does not alone concern Him, but it concerns us as His joint heirs. And now, my dear reader, are you saved? Do you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you know this marvelous Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, who, for your sakes became poor that you might be rich? If you are not a Christian, not yet saved, still a stranger to that Grace, what hinders you from accepting Him now? Let me tell you that God wants you, that God more than wants you, He loves you. It was for you He gave His beloved Son; for you He forsook Him on the cross. Could God do anything more than that? And now the good news, the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished all for you and God invites you to come. He tells you that all is ready, He wants to welcome you home. God wants you to come out of all your poverty and your want, out of your sin and guilt, shame and confusion into the Riches of His own Son. Can you doubt this? I am persuaded you cannot. It is too clear, too simple to doubt that God does want the lowest and the vilest, to give them the Riches of Himself. Do you ask the conditions? There are none. God does not ask you to do anything, for He has done it all. All He asks that you come just as you are, as a poor sinner and that you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, by trusting in Him, by casting yourself upon Him. Are you willing to do it now? Just as I am - without one plea But that Thy blood was shed for me, And Thou bidst me come to Thee O Lamb of God, I come! Just as I am - poor, wretched, blind; Sight, riches, healing of the mind, - Yea, all my need in Thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come! Just as I am - Thy love, I own, Has broken ev’ry barrier down; Now to be Thine, yea, Thine alone, O Lamb of God, I come! Just as I am - of that free love, The fullness and the depth to prove, Here for a season, then above - O Lamb of God, I come! The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. “He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life.” All God asks is that you accept the Riches, which the Son of His Love purchased for guilty sinners on the cross. Is this too good to be true? as some one said. If you say so and add a single thing to it, trying to do your share by good works or repentance, then you shut yourself out from that Grace. Oh, believe it. Christ died for the ungodly; He died for you. His anguish of soul on the cross hast thou seen? His cry of distress hast thou heard? Then why, if the terrors of wrath He endured, Should pardon to thee be deferred? We are healed by His stripes. Wouldst thou add to the word? And He is our righteousness made; The best robe of heaven He bids thee put on; O couldst thou be better arrayed? Then doubt not thy welcome, since God hath declared There remaineth no more to be done; Christ once in the end of the world hath appeared, And completed the work He begun. O take, with rejoicing, from Jesus at once The life everlasting He gives; And know with assurance thou never canst die, Since Jesus thy righteousness lives. And should you reject God’s offer of free salvation; what then? It is almost impossible for the writer of these words to believe that any one can reject such an offer, such riches, such love. And yet it is sadly true; thousands turn their backs upon Him who died for them. God grant that not one who reads these lines may reject the Lord Jesus Christ. Reader, if you should reject Christ and go on in unbelief, in self-righteous religiousness, what then? You live on in the poverty, misery, discontent, unrest of the natural man. You could have rest, peace, joy happiness and contentment in the Lord Jesus. You chose the unrest. But is that all? What about eternity? You pass into eternity having rejected that which God did for you. Deliberately you said, No, to God, and instead of the eternal Riches, with Him who loved you so, you have chosen eternal poverty, eternal wrath, eternal shame. Far be it to enlarge upon these solemn, solemn facts of an eternity of misery. Such it must be for everyone who dies rejecting God’s offer of salvation. God’s righteousness demands it. Once more we repeat the text: “For ye know the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor that by His poverty we might be rich;” “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 6: 01A.0.1 STUDIES IN PROPHECY ======================================================================== Studies in Prophecy By ARNO C. GAEBELEIN Editor "Our Hope." Author of Expositions of Joel, Daniel, Zechariah, Ezekiel, Matthew, Acts, Revelation, Etc. Copyright, 1918 By A. C. GAEBELEIN New York, N. Y. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 7: 01A.0.2. DEDICATION ======================================================================== TO MY FRIEND Mr. Sidney T. Smith, Of Winnipeg MANITOBA, IN APPRECIATION OF HIS LOYALTY TO THE WORD OF GOD AND FELLOWSHIP IN THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD, AND HIS FAITHFUL TESTIMONY AND SERVICE IN THE GREAT GATEWAY OF THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST, THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 8: 01A.0.3. CONTENTS ======================================================================== TABLE OF CONTENTS The Present Age That Blessed Hope Who will be Caught up when the Lord Comes? The Church and the Tribulation The Ten Virgins The Redemption of the Purchased Possession The History of Satan The Conversion of the World The Feasts of Jehovah When the Day Breaks and the Shadows Flee Away Prophetic Poems by Horatius Bonar ======================================================================== CHAPTER 9: 01A.0.4. FOREWORD ======================================================================== FOREWORD. BY C. I. SCOFIELD. The present interest in prophetical studies, due to a world-situation so unprecedented as to have no historic parallels upon which a shallow optimism may build futile hopes, is in every way to be welcomed and encouraged. It surely is a divine provision for such a day as this that for the last fifty years the prophetic word has been under the sane and patient study of so many men of devout and trained minds. Amongst these the author of this book has won a foremost place. At the farthest possible remove from fanciful and radical methods qf interpretation, the conclusions which he has reached and which are set forth in this book are trustworthy. The reader may be assured that he will reach truly Biblical views of those things which are coming to pass with startling rapidity. Douglaston, L. I., N. Y. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 10: 01A.01. THE PRESENT AGE: ITS BEGINNING, PROGRESS AND END ======================================================================== THE PRESENT AGE: ITS BEGINNING, PROGRESS AND END Ecclesiastes 1:9 The Book of Ecclesiastes is the Book in which the natural man speaks. The conclusion which the wisest man reached is that all is vanity, and there is nothing new under the sun. In this first chapter we read of generations which come and go. The sun rises and goes down; the wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about to the north again, according to its circuits. The rivers go into the sea, and to the place where they come from they again return. All moves in nature in cycles. What has been is always to be again, and what was done will be done again. This is likewise true in respect to God’s dealings with man and with the earth. That which has been shall be; and what was done will be done again. The future will repeat the past, As the first, shall be the last; Ages of change between. Once the earth was undefiled by sin. It was the Paradise of God. For a brief period it knew no sorrow, no suffering, no curse and no death. That is what has been; but it shall surely be again. Creation will have a second birth, and after its travail pains, death and the curse will flee away. Once peace reigned, no strife was known and no groans heard in all creation’s realm. That is what has been; it shall be so again. Groaning creation will be delivered; peace on earth and glory to God in the highest will follow. Once man, the first man, unfallen, reigned. All things were under his feet. That has been before sin stripped man of his inheritance. But what has been, is that which shall be. The second man, the last Adam, will appear, and under Him man redeemed will again have all things put under his feet. What has been in the past shall be in the future. God executed his judgments in the past. He will do so again. The past has manifested His power and glory; so will the future. The heavens will not always be silent as they are now; for “Surely our God shall come, and not keep silence.” His blessed Son was once upon earth, making known the glory of God in His Person. That was in the past, and it shall be so again; for He comes back to the earth once more to make known His glory, so that the earth shall be covered with the glory of the Lord. How near, how very near, these things that shall be are! The age in which we live is the last stepping stone towards the glorious consummation; and in this age there is but a little step left, and soon darkest night shall end and give way to the brightest and most glorious day the world has ever seen. In these studies of Prophecy we shall first consider the present age, its beginning, progress and end. Other studies will put before us from the infallible Word of God the coming glorious consummation and what leads up to it. 1 The Beginning of the Age In dealing with man and the earth, to work out his own plan of redemption and restoration, God works in certain periods of time which are called ages. Each age has a definite beginning and a definite end. All the different ages which preceded our own age were ages of preparation, for the present age in which we live. In every past age God announced the coming of Him by whom He not only created all things, but by whom He made the ages, that is, His Son. He is the One in whom and for whom all is planned, and through whom the things which have been shall be again, and infinitely more. He was first announced in the Garden of Eden as the Seed of the woman who should bruise the serpent’s head. In the age after the flood Shem was singled out in whom the Name, that is, the Lord of Glory, should be revealed. Then Abraham, a son of Shem received the promise in the Patriarchal Age that He would come from his seed; and later in the Jewish Age He was promised as the Son of David, and David knew Him by the Spirit as his Lord. And so in the fulness of time He came, born of a woman, made under the Law, the Son of God manifested in the flesh. His blessed earth life belongs still to the Jewish dispensation, the age which preceded our own age. He came as the minister of the circumcision; and as such He fulfilled the Law and moved exclusively among His own people Israel, bringing them the message of the Kingdom promised to that nation; a Kingdom in which righteousness and peace is to flourish, and into which all the nations of the earth are to be gathered. The Jewish prophets had announced that Kingdom, but through God’s foreknowledge it was also made known that Christ should suffer first, and be rejected by His people; and this came to pass. The nation instead of giving Him the throne to which He is entitled, delivered their own King into the hands of the Gentiles to be crucified. What Gabriel in his great message had communicated to Daniel, that Messiah should be cut off and receive nothing, happened, and that in the very time as revealed in the ninth chapter of Daniel. The Son of God died, rejected by His own nation, He died the sinner’s death, He died for the ungodly, He died so that the flood-gates of Divine love and grace might be opened; and that a Holy God might be justified in saving believing sinners, both Jews and Gentiles, and making them the heirs of glory. Our age then begins with this fact: Christ rejected by His own people, cast out by the world, finishing on the Cross the work of sin bearing. With this, and the associated events, our age started in. Let us see then what we find in the beginning of this age, and then see how the things we shall mention are affected as this age progresses and comes finally to its close. First, as to the Lord Jesus Christ. As we have already stated, the Son of God came to this earth, was rejected by men, put to death on the cross, and after His burial God raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory. In due time He left the earth and ascended in His glorified human body into heaven, where He is seated now at the right hand of the majesty on high. It is a wonderful fact that in heaven, seated at God’s own right hand, there is a Man. One who was born of the Virgin, lived on earth a holy life, died the sinner’s death on the Cross, was buried and raised by the power of God. Before this age He was also in heaven, but not as man. He was ever in the bosom of the Father as the Only Begotten. Now as the Man Christ Jesus who has conquered He fills that throne, the Father’s throne. He has not His own throne which belongs to Him, nor will He get this throne, the throne of His father David, as long as this age lasts. Exalted in the highest place He has all power, and exercises in behalf of His people, His priesthood and His advocacy, ministering to the needs of His own on earth. Second, let us see next about the Holy Spirit in His relation to this age. He came to earth on the day of Pentecost. In the Old Testament times He visited the earth, but not to abide, as is now the case. He strove with men from the very beginning, He endued prophets, and priests and kings, and all who believed the Word of God, of which He is the Author; but after Christ died and had gone back to the Father, He came as the other Comforter, the One who takes the place of the absent Christ. He is come to earth to accomplish God’s purpose in this present age. Nowhere do we read in the New Testament that the purpose of the coming of the Holy Spirit is to convert the world, and establish universal righteousness and peace. These blessings are not promised for the age in which we live. The great purpose for which the Spirit of God came in the beginning of our age is for the out-taking of the Church, the Body of Christ. He is gathering together Jews and Gentiles who believe on Christ and puts them into this Body. On the Day of Pentecost this Body began; then all the gathered believers were baptized by the One Spirit into one Body. This work continues throughout this age. Then He Himself bestows the gifts which are needed for the upbuilding of that Body. In the beginning of this age He unfolded His special energy in sign gifts, confirming by these the truth of Christianity. These special gifts and signs were only confined to the beginning of the age. Nowhere is it stated that they were to continue to the end, for this age is an age of faith and not of sight. Third, during this age there is preached a special message which was unknown in former ages. This message is the Gospel of Grace. It is true that before Christ died an innumerable company of people were saved, and salvation of course was always by grace. They believed God, confessed themselves sinners, trusted in the promise, and then they were saved. But the Gospel message as it began to be preached after Christ died and the Holy Spirit came to earth, was not known in Old Testament times. That Gospel not only offers remission of sins, but tells the believing sinner that he becomes in Christ a Son of God and a joint heir with the Lord Jesus Christ; that eternal life is his present possession and that he is one spirit with the Lord, for the Holy Spirit makes His abode in him. This then is the great message which was preached with the beginning of this age, and which is to be preached to its very end. It is the only power of God unto salvation, and anything else is a miserable, good-for-nothing substitute and counterfeit, which not alone cannot please God, but upon which the curse of God rests; for anything short of the Gospel of Christ is an insult to God and a denial of His righteousness and love. And this Gospel is to be preached according to the word of our Lord beginning in Jerusalem, in Judea, and Samaria, and to the uttermost ends of the earth. This Divine program given by our Lord has been carried out; the preaching began in Jerusalem, that is where the Gospel stream started; from there it flowed into Judea and Samaria, and then Gentiles heard the Gospel and were saved. Our Lord indicated this world-wide sowing during this age in the first parable of Matthew 13, when He spoke of the sower going out into the field, telling us that the field is the world. Israel in the preceding age was spoken of as a vineyard with a fence about, but in this age there is no more vineyard, no more special place where labor is to be done; but as John Wesley used to say, “The world is my parish.” Fourth, let us also notice that with the beginning of the age there is made known the full Truth of God by revelation. It is the faith which is once and for all delivered unto the saints. When our Lord was on earth He spoke repeatedly to His disciples that He had many things to say unto them, which they could not grasp, but that they should know them afterward. The “afterward” does not mean heaven, but it means the afterward of the Holy Spirit. He told them that when the Spirit came He would take of these things of Christ and show them unto them; and so when He came He brought with Him the fullest revelation concerning Christ Himself, the believer’s position in Him and all the gracious truths connected with it. In this sense, the Word of God was completed in the beginning of this age. Nothing can be added to it, nor must anything be taken away from it. There is no such thing as progress in the Truth of God, that man by research can discover something for himself, as he attempts to do in the different sciences. The Truth and doctrine made known in the beginning of this age is a fixed Truth, it is eternal Truth, it is unchangeable Truth, and as such the only light which man has during this age. Fifth, as to the moral characteristics of this age. The Apostle John tells us that the world lieth in the wicked one, and that the character of the world is antagonistic to the Word of God. The age therefore is branded in every portion of the New Testament as an evil age. Certain exhortations to believers make this clear. All exhortations in the New Testament to Christians are exhortations to separate from this age. In the beginning of Galatians we are expressly told that the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins that He might deliver us out of this present evil age. Then again we read what Paul wrote to Titus that the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men, teaching us that we should deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age. This shows that the present age is evil. And nowhere is the promise made in the Epistles that this present age can ever be anything different than an evil age. It continues evil to the end. Sixth, what is the relation of Satan to our age? He is the enemy of God, and seemingly achieved a triumph when he got man to reject the Lord of Glory. On this account He is called in the New Testament “the god of this age.” He is the domineering spirit of the age in which we live, which is also called Man’s Day. Christ is rejected, with no throne on earth, but Satan instead has his throne in this world and controls the affairs of the age. That this is so may be seen from the very events with which this age started. Persecution soon set in, believers were slain, and in every other way this dark shadow antagonized the work of the Spirit and counterfeited the Truth of God. Therefore the spiritual warfare of believers in this age is to stand against the wiles of the devil, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the wicked spirits in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12). From this we learn that the age is ruled over by Satan and the wicked spirits. Seventh, there is another item which needs to be mentioned in connection with the beginning of this age, and that is the Jewish people. Their measure of wickedness was filled when they delivered the Son of God into the hands of the Gentiles to be crucified. God in mercy lingered over the city for forty years before the announced judgment was executed upon the city and upon the nation. Thousands upon thousands repented and accepted the Gospel; in fact, the beginning of the entire Church was Jewish. But the nation hardened its heart, and finally the tears which the Lord had shed over Jerusalem were justified in the awful siege of Jerusalem, followed by the dispersion of the nation. Ever since they have been in fulfillment of the predictions of their own prophets, scattered amongst the nations of the world, and this is continuing throughout this age. We see then that there is a marked difference between this age and the ages which preceded it. Christ as the glorified Man in heaven, the Holy Spirit on earth, a new message, a new work which the Spirit of God does, the full revelation of God given to men, the world in darkness, Satan its god, and the Jews no longer in their land but wandering amongst the nations with judicial blindness upon them. 2 The Progress of the Age This present age is unrevealed in the Old Testament. When Daniel received the great prophecy which Gabriel carried from the Throne of God to the praying Prophet, he heard that at a certain time the death of Christ should take place, and that the city and the sanctuary should be burned, and the nation scattered. This was at the close of the sixty-ninth week, four hundred and eighty-three years after the command to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem had been given. As we have shown in our book on Daniel this has been literally fulfilled, and as all students of prophecy know there is an unfulfilled week, or seven years, which are yet to come to pass in the history of that nation. The space between the sixty-ninth and the seventieth week is this present age. Nor is there anywhere in the Word of God a revelation which tells us of the duration of this age. There is no hint about it in the Old Testament; and when the disciples asked the Lord about the restoration of the Kingdom to Israel, which manifestly takes place at the close of this age, He told them, “It is not for you to know the times and the seasons.” It is therefore useless trying to find out about the duration of the age. But when we come to the moral and religious characteristics, in connection with the progress of this age, it is different. They are fully revealed by the Lord and also by His Spirit. Especially is this true of the very end of this age. Twice our Lord spoke on these matters, once on earth when He gave the Kingdom parables in Matthew 13:1-58 and spoke of the progress of the age and what should take place during His absence. Again He spoke from heaven about these same things, when He gave the messages to the seven churches. In them He outlined the course of the professing church on earth, and reveals in it what is to take place during the progress of this age. We shall cover the same seven things which we have mentioned in connection with the beginning of this age, and learn how they are affected as this age progresses and nears its end. First, as to the Lord Jesus Christ in glory. Enthroned in the highest glory He can never be affected by what is going on down here. Satan’s power cannot reach Him. The Lord Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. Whatever man does on earth, however great the hatred may be against Him, even if the nations unite to cast off His cords and bands, in the language of the second Psalm, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh at them and hold them in derision.” But there is a comforting truth in connection with this, the comfort of which has been the blessed portion of all God’s people as the age progressed, and its true character became more and more known. “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me,” was the word the Lord Jesus addressed to the persecutor of the Church of God. It shows His loving interest and sympathy for His suffering members on earth. And so as the age progressed in the pagan persecutions and the equally bad, if not worse, Papal persecutions, He has sustained His people on earth, He has never failed them, He has carried them through the water and through the fire. He has presented their petitions before the Throne of God, and answered their prayers. Nor will He ever fail His people until they are gathered home into His presence, the trophies of His grace. Second. Nor can the Holy Spirit and His work be affected by what the progress of this age brings. He knows no failure. His Divine mission cannot fail. In every generation during this age, no matter how dark it may have been, He has continued successfully His work and added to the Body of Christ, in each generation those who believed on the Son of God. Third and Fourth, as to the Gospel and the Truth of God it is different, for we shall notice here at once what the progress of the age has brought about in connection with what God has given to this age. Our Lord tells us in the second parable, in Matthew 12:1-50, that no sooner had the wheat, the Truth, been sown in the field, which is the world, but that an enemy came and sowed the tares. Then He revealed this fact that the wheat and the tares were to grow together until the harvest, which is the end of the age. There is then a development in the progress of this age, a development in the wheat, which is ripening for the harvest, and the development of the tares. The Truth is to shine more brightly as the age progresses, and darkness becomes more dense. We see therefore that after a brief period of purity the evil began in the professing church. The Gospel, even in Apostolic days was being denied, and the Apostles’ doctrines corrupted. What the Lord Jesus taught in the parable of the mustard seed came also to pass as the age progressed. The little mustard seed became a great tree, and the birds began to lodge in its branches to defile the tree. The professing church became a great world institution, and in alliance with the world where the throne of Satan is, became corrupted; instead of being the espoused virgin, she became the harlot and adultress. What the Lord Jesus announced in the Parable of the leaven came likewise to pass as this age progressed. The leaven, which is corruption, evil in every form, especially in Christian doctrine, has been introduced into the pure doctrine of Christ, the three measures of fine wheat. And so we see that as the age progressed the rejection of every phase of Divine Truth set in. The Deity of Christ denied, the Virgin Birth, His atoning death, His physical resurrection, everything denied; the Bible as the revelation of God rejected; and with these denials there came the increase of unrighteousness and moral declension, till the age produced the condition which the Word of God clearly foresaw, a great professing church, with the harlot character, unfaithful to Christ and to His Word; while of course it is equally true that there is the true Church, which remains true to Christ and to His Word. Fifth, as the age progresses there is no change seen in the condition of the world. It is true man has been developing Man’s Day. As the age progressed great inventions and discoveries were made. These are often taken to be indications that the age is getting better. They point to the telephone, and wireless, the great engineering feats, the chemical discoveries, and everything else in these lines as evidences that the age is constantly improving. Before the war we were told that the age had improved to such an extent that a great war would no longer be possible. Everybody was lauding our great civilization to the skies. A few weeks after everything was knocked sky-high, and what is left of all these optimistic ramblings? No, this age does not improve, and everything which the Word of God has to say about it has been solemnly verified and confirmed by the roar of cannons and by the slaughter of millions. Our great inventions and discoveries have not made the world more righteous. On the contrary, unrighteousness and lawlessness have increased, and later we shall show how everything in these conditions points to the very end of this age. Sixth, Satan. The world does not change, neither does Satan. He can never be anything else but the enemy of God, nor can his person and work be arrested by man’s efforts. As the age continues his opposition becomes more marked. We know from the lips of our Lord that he is the liar and the murderer from the beginning. He has made good these titles throughout this age. He tried to stamp out more than once the Truth of Christ by instigating the cruel persecutions of the people of God. They were slain by the thousands and hundreds of thousands during the reign of the Roman Emperors. When he failed in this then he manifested his character as the liar from the beginning. He began to counterfeit the Truth, and partially succeeded in corrupting the professing church and putting a spurious system in control, where he makes good his title as the liar. When in the progress of this age the Spirit of God began reviving the Truth, when the noble men and women refused to bow before Rome, he again acted as the murderer. Thousands upon thousands were tortured, slain, and burned alive, until he discovered that the Truth cannot be stamped out by the fires of persecution, that he was failing again as he had failed in the first century of the age. Then once more he appears in the garb of an angel of light. Now he does his work through demon-cults like Christian Science, Spiritism, Mormonism and others. He manifests himself once more as the liar from the beginning in the New Theology and the Destructive Criticism, so widely accepted everywhere. And thus he continues his work as the age progresses; no change for the better. Seventh, as already stated the Jews are wanderers amongst the nations. We know two things concerning the Jews. The first is that they are given the promise in earthly things, and though they are now blinded, God has not cast them away; and the other is that they are during this age under judgment. These two facts stand out in the history of that remarkable people as the age continues. If we want to see the richest people, the most influential, the brightest, we must turn to the Jewish people. In that fact God witnesses that they are still His people. And then the greatest sorrow, the greatest suffering, the greatest poverty is found amongst them; the witness that they are under judgment. Over and over again in every century has solemnly come to pass what their forefathers cried, “His blood be upon us, and upon our children.” We shall later point out the startling change which is coming upon them as a nation when the age ends. 3 The End of the Age Like every previous age, our age will also come to a close. It is here we find one of the vital errors amongst Christians at the present time. They never think of this age of Gospel preaching and Gospel privilege as coming to an end. If one speaks to them about the end of the age, they think it means after the world is converted, and the passing away of the world itself. Peter has given us the witness that this would be one of the characteristics of the last days, when mockers shall come, saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? for from the day the fathers fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” This is what we find so much in our day. In spite of the horrible conditions in which this age has been plunged, and the confirmation of the predictions of the Bible relating to this age, the mass of professing Christians expect that things will continue, and that after the war the age will speedily improve. We have seen before how impossible this is, for the Bible teaches us that this age is an evil age, and there is not a single passage which promises an improvement. On the contrary, everything in the Word shows that as the age ends, and its real end comes, all the evil conditions present in this age come to a head and climax. We find therefore a great deal said in the Scriptures about the end of the age. The Lord Jesus speaks of it in His parables in Matthew 13:1-58. He has given also a complete panorama of the age-ending in His great Olivet discourse. Then when we come to the Epistles we find that the Spirit of God through every writer gives a warning and a witness about the end of the age. All these warnings and witnesses do not tell us of a converted world, and a world which is won to righteousness, of nations who lay down their armaments and no longer make war; nor do these warnings and predictions speak of a triumph of the doctrine of Christ. They tell us the very opposite. They give warnings that the faith is going to be rejected, that delusions and errors are going to multiply, that nation is going to lift up sword against nation and kingdom against kingdom, that lawlessness and unrighteousness are going to increase, and that the age itself is going to end in a time of trouble such as the world has never seen before. If we turn to the last Book of the Bible we find also an argument concerning the age and its end. Before the heaven opens and He comes, whose right it is to establish His Kingdom over this earth, the wicked and wild conditions prevailing on this earth are described, and that on account of them the judgments of the Lord will be in the earth. And now to follow the same line of thought as in our preceding meditations, let us again notice the same things which we mentioned before in connection with the beginning and progress of this age. First, as this age comes to a close Christ is still on the Father’s Throne. His ministry in behalf of His people both as Priest and Advocate continues unbroken. He has promised, “Lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the age.” We say again, He changes not. As He sustained His people in the beginning of the age and gave them victory, as He kept the feet of His saints in every generation and gathered them home into His own presence, so He will still minister to the needs of His members on earth. Let the age become as dark as it possibly can, His people who trust in Him and walk in His fellowship will be kept and preserved. We do not know all that is going on in glory. We know he is there as the upholder of all things. We know that the greater part of the children of God are as disembodied spirits in His presence. Some day a startling thing will happen in that glory. The hour has come when the redeemed are to have their resurrection bodies, and all the living saints shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. When that hour strikes He Himself will arise from the place at the Father’s right hand and pass out of the third heaven, and then from the air give the shout which will summon all the redeemed to meet Him in the sky. For this the people of God are waiting in the end of this age. [1] See article “That Blessed Hope.” [Transcriber’s note: there was no matching footnote number in the above text, so it is not known what this footnote referred to.] Second, the Holy Spirit also remains the same. His energy is undiminished. The work He came to do and which He has done throughout this age, will be done by Him to the very end. Indeed, while darkness increases and the enemy becomes more active, God’s people may confidently expect that the Holy Spirit will also demonstrate His power in the behalf of those who love and walk in the Truth. Some day He will have finished the work for which He came, the Body will be complete as to numbers; and when that crowning event, the coming of the Lord for His saints, takes place, the Holy Spirit will have His part to do. Not alone Christ will present the Church but the Holy Spirit as well; and then He will leave the earth, no longer to be here to do the special work which He came to do on the Day of Pentecost. He has finished the work. Third, the Gospel is still preached during the end of the age. As long as the Church remains here the true Gospel testimony can never be silenced, because behind it stands the omnipotent Spirit of God and the power of Christ. But as the age closes the true Gospel is being more and more rejected. We see this today; we hear on all hands that man no longer needs to be born again, that the blood of Christ cannot save, that character saves; that the soldiers who die on the battlefield bring a sacrifice like Christ brought on the Cross, and that the hero’s death makes all things right in the past life and opens the gates of glory. On all sides we see these rejections; the Son of God is denied and every phase of His work is set aside. This is exactly what is taught in the New Testament, that men would turn away their ears from the Truth, and that the great mass of professing Christians would only have a form of godliness and deny the power thereof. When at last the Church has ended her ministry the sound of the Gospel of Grace will no longer be heard. While this is true, on the other hand the Gospel still preached up to the end of the age brings about the completion of the Body of Christ. We see this today in a startling manner. While amongst the so-called Christian nations the Gospel is rejected, in heathen countries the Gospel is accepted by thousands upon thousands, and thus the Body of Christ, the true Church, is being made complete. Fourth, when this age closes the whole body of the doctrine of Christ and the Truth will be rejected. The foundation for this has gradually been laid. It started over a hundred years ago in Germany, where the modern criticism of the Bible started. This criticism has constantly been growing, until everywhere throughout Christendom an infallible Bible is being denied. Thus the foundations of the faith have been undermined, and the way is prepared for the final apostasy, the complete falling away from the Truth. Fifth, in regard to the world. As stated previously this age cannot get better, but becomes worse. We see it today, how all inventions and discoveries in which we used to boast as evidences of progress are being made use of in the most horrible catastrophe the world has ever seen. Europe is like a human slaughterhouse. Nations are against nations and kingdoms against kingdoms; and all this was started by a nation which boasted of having the most light in religious things and the best culture and civilization. And all along they denied Christ and the Truth of God; and when the outbreak came it was only a demonstration that behind their Christless civilization and culture there stood the domineering shadow of the prince of this world. When we look closer into the Prophetic Word we find that these conditions continue to the end of the age, and that finally there comes a tremendous crash, when the Lord Himself will deal with these horrible conditions and smite the wicked and the ungodly. But some one might say, “What is the use of doing anything at all if this is the program?” “What is the use of us to fight as a nation?” But this is wrong logic. There are principles of righteousness and justice which must be maintained in this world, for which man must stand up, and as far as our nation is concerned we are on the side of justice and the defense of righteousness, which have the approval of God, for they are in line with His righteous government. When the time comes for the reckoning, not from the human side but from God’s side, this will fall heavily into the scale when the nations are judged. Sixth, as to Satan. Like a huge serpent he has been winding his way throughout this age, leaving everywhere his contamination. While Satan is not omniscient and perfect in knowledge, he has sufficient knowledge of his destiny and how soon that destiny will be accomplished, and so as the age closes he becomes fiercer in his wrath; like a serpent which is attacked and in danger of being caught, his hiss is heard on all sides. He is now actively engaged in counterfeiting the Truth, in putting in his demon doctrines, in perverting the Truth wherever he can. And by and by after the true Church is gone he will put his masterpieces into the world, of whom we shall have more to say in these studies. Then he will blind the nations as never before and rush them on to the final climax of the age. Seventh, as to the Jews. We have seen how they were scattered at the beginning of this age, and how they continued to wander amongst the nations as the age progressed. When we come to the end of the age a startling change takes place with His people. The fig tree, once cursed, puts forth new leaves; the dry bones of the house of Israel begin to show signs of life. There is a movement amongst them, bone comes to bone, they organize, their faces are turned towards the east; they are getting ready for the greatest event in all history. The Lord Jesus Christ said that Jerusalem should be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. When the end of the age comes the times of the Gentiles are about fulfilled; and the startling sign that the age ends is the movement amongst the Jews so prominent today. The capture of Jerusalem and the complete downfall of the Turk are significant signs. Palestine will be given to the Jews when the war ends. Then the stage is set, so to speak, for the predicted end of the age. We have rapidly pointed out the leading features of the beginning, progress and end of this age. The real end is composed of seven years, the last prophetic week of Daniel’s prophecy (Daniel 9:1-27). The true church will then no longer be on the earth. Her translation has taken place. The Saints are with the Lord. But on earth the things will come to pass which are so prominently revealed in the prophetic Word. And when the seven years are over the Lord Jesus Christ will come back in power and glory to establish His Kingdom of righteousness and peace. Then that which has been shall be again and still greater glory added. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 11: 01A.02. THAT BLESSED HOPE ======================================================================== "THAT BLESSED HOPE” “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the glory of our great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ,” Titus 2:13. “That blessed hope” of which the Apostle writes is an exclusively New Testament revelation. The appearing of the glory of our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ is fully revealed in the Old Testament prophetic Word. The Prophets had visions of the day of the Lord, a day in which the Lord will be manifested in power and glory; a day which will bring glory and peace when the Lord is enthroned as King of kings and Lord of lords. The Spirit of God has shown through the prophets what the appearing, the visible manifestation of the Lord will mean, for the people Israel, for the nations and for groaning creation. But nowhere do we find “that blessed hope” made known by the prophets. The Jewish Saints knew nothing of it as it is revealed to the church of God. True they had now and then a glimpse of the future. One of the greatest sufferers was Job. His darkest night was illuminated by the assurance of hope when he uttered his great testimony: “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand in the latter day upon the earth. And if after my skin this body shall be destroyed, yet in my flesh shall I see God. Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another” (Job 19:25-27). But this is not “that blessed hope” the Lord has given to us His people. Old Testament Saints knew of the resurrection of the dead. They knew nothing of a resurrection from among the dead. Yet Enoch and Elijah were taken to glory without dying. No prophet knew the typical meaning of their experience as we know it through “that blessed hope.” For the First Time “That blessed hope” is for the first time mentioned by our Lord. But where in His earthly life did He give it to His disciples? It is not found in the records of the three first Gospels, generally called the synoptics. In these records He spoke often of His Return. He promised a Second Coming of Himself in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He revealed what should take place before His return. In His prophetic Olivet discourse (Matthew 24:1-51, Matthew 25:1-46) He gave the signs of His Coming, the preceding great tribulation, the physical signs accompanying His visible manifestation, the regathering of His elect people Israel by the angels. He revealed how some would then be taken in judgment and others left on the earth to enter the Kingdom (Matthew 24:40-41). He also spoke in parables of how the conditions in Christendom would be dealt with by Him. And finally He gave a prophecy concerning the judgment of the living nations in the day of His appearing. But nowhere in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke did He speak of “that blessed hope.” It was in the upper room discourse that He spoke of it the first time. His eleven disciples were gathered about Him. Judas had gone out into the night to betray Him. For him of whom the Lord said it would have been better had he never been born, there was no blessed hope. The Lord had announced His imminent departure from them. He would leave them. When Peter said “I will lay down my life for thy sake” (John 13:30), the omniscient One told him, “the cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice.” How sorrowful this little company must have been! Despair was probably on all their faces. Their hearts were greatly troubled. Then His beloved voice broke the silence and uttered the never to be forgotten words, “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself that where I am ye may be also” (John 14:1-3). In these words “that blessed hope” is mentioned for the first time in the Bible. What It Is Only those who belonged to Him heard this promise. It is therefore a promise not given to Israel, or to the world, but only for those who know Him as their Savior and Lord, who have believed on Him and are His own. The promise is twofold. He would come again and receive them unto Himself; and that He would take them to the place where He is. And this is “that blessed hope.” His coming for His own to be with Him in the Father’s house to occupy the mansions He has prepared by His atoning work. The contrast of this promise of His Coming for His disciples with the promises of His visible return as given in the synoptics is striking. He does not say a word about any signs. He does not mention the great tribulation. Nor has He anything to say about judgment. He only gives the assurance that He, in person, will come again and then receive them unto Himself. They were not to look for certain signs and events as predicted in Daniel’s prophecy, or wait for the great tribulation and the manifestation of the man of sin. His promise told them to wait for Himself. His Prayer A little while later after He had given this promise of His Coming for them they heard Him pray. This prayer is found in the seventeenth chapter of John. What a prayer it is! As they listened to His voice addressing the Father they had new glimpses of His great love wherewith He loved them. He prayed for their sanctification, for their preservation and finally for their glorification. He made a demand of the Father which confirmed the promise He had previously given to them. He prayed, “Father, I will that they, whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given Me, for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24). In these words He asks the Father to do what He had promised His disciples. His own are to be with Him where He is, to behold His glory. An Unfulfilled Promise and an Unanswered Prayer The promise of “that blessed hope” given so long ago is still unfulfilled; the prayer He prayed is not yet answered. Some say that when our Lord said “I will come again and receive you unto myself” He meant the death of the believer. This is positively wrong. When the believer dies the Lord does not come to the individual believer, but the believer goes to be with the Lord. “Absent from the body present with the Lord.” When the believer dies his body is put into the ground, while the disembodied part goes straight into His presence. But the body is also redeemed and must be fashioned like unto His glorious body. The disciples died and generations upon generations of believers passed away and the promise is still unfulfilled and His prayer not yet answered. The Full Revelation The disciples, though they knew the promise of “that blessed hope” had no knowledge whatever how the Lord would come again and receive them unto Himself. He did not reveal the manner of His Coming when He spoke to them. The Lord singled out the Apostle Paul to give to him the special revelation as to the manner of His Coming for His Saints and how “that blessed hope” would some day be fulfilled. The Apostle Paul is the instrument through whom the Lord was pleased to give the highest revelation in the Word of God, so that he could say that it was given to him “to fulfill (complete) the Word of God.” To him the full glory of the church, the body of Christ, was made known, and through this chosen vessel, who called himself less than the least of all the Saints, the full revelation of “that blessed hope” is given. The first Epistle he wrote was the Epistle to the Thessalonians. The great revelation of the blessed hope is found in the first Epistle. “But we do not wish you to be ignorant concerning them that are fallen asleep, to the end that ye sorrow not, even as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. For this we say to you in the Word of the Lord, that we, the living, who remain to the coming of the Lord, are in no way to anticipate those who have fallen asleep: for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with an assembling shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we, the living who remain, shall be caught up together with them in clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18,--corrected translation). These words, so unique and precious, give the full revelation about “the blessed hope.” Some of the Thessalonian believers had died and those who were left behind feared that their departed ones had lost their share in the coming glorious meeting with the Lord. On their account they sorrowed like those who have no hope. And so the Lord gave to the Apostle this special revelation to quiet their fears and to enlighten them as to the details of the coming of the Lord for all His Saints, those who had fallen asleep, and those who live when He fulfills His promise. The little church of Thessalonica with these sorrowing Saints was made the recipient of this great and comforting message which is for the whole body of Christ as well. Let us examine it. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.” Here is first the blessed fact that “Jesus died.” Of the Saints it is said that they fell asleep; but never is it said that Jesus slept, when He gave His life on the cross. He tasted death, the death in all its unfathomable meaning as the judgment upon sin. For the saints the physical death is but sleep.[Some have perverted the meaning of "sleep," and instead of applying it, as Scripture does, to the body, they apply it to the soul. Soul-sleep is nowhere taught in the Bible and is therefore an invention by those who handle the word deceitfully.] And He who died rose again; as certainly as He died and rose again, so surely shall all believers rise. God will bring all those who have fallen asleep through Jesus with Him, that is with the Lord when He comes in the day of His glorious manifestation. It does not mean the receiving of them by the Lord, nor does it mean that He brings their disembodied spirits with Him to be united to their bodies from the graves, but it means that those who have fallen asleep will God bring with His Son when He comes with all His saints; they will all be in that glorified company. When the Lord comes back from glory all the departed saints will be with Him. This is what the Thessalonians needed to know first of all. Before we follow this blessed revelation in its unfolding we call attention to the phrase “fallen asleep through (not in) Jesus;” it may also be rendered by “those who were put to sleep by Jesus.” His saints in life and death are in His hands. When saints put their bodies aside, it is because their Lord has willed it so. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psalms 116:15). When our loved ones leave us, may we think of their departure as being “put to sleep by Jesus.” But blessed as this answer to their question is, it produced another difficulty. Hearing that the saints who had fallen asleep would come with the Lord on the day of His glorious manifestation, they would ask, “How is it possible that they can come with Him?” Are they coming as disembodied spirits? What about their bodies in the graves? How shall they come with Him? To answer these questions the special revelation “by the Word of the Lord” is given, by which they learned, and we also, how they would all be with Him so as to come with Him at His appearing. “For this we say to you by the Word of the Lord, that we, the living, who remain unto the coming of the Lord, are in no wise to anticipate those who have fallen asleep.” He tells them that when the Lord comes for His saints, those who have fallen asleep will not have an inferior place, and that, we, the living, who remain to the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. When Paul wrote these words and said “We, the living, who remain,” he certainly considered himself as included in that class. The two companies who will meet the Lord when He comes, those who have fallen asleep and those who are living, are mentioned here for the first time. How the living saints will not precede those who have departed and the order in which the coming of the Lord for His saints will be executed is next made known in this wonderful revelation. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with an assembling shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then, we, the living, who remain, shall be caught up together with them in clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” This is the full revelation of the blessed hope in its manner of fulfilment. Nothing like it is found anywhere in the Old Testament Scriptures. In writing later to the Corinthians Paul mentioned it again: “Behold I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:51-52). The Lord Himself will descend from heaven. He is now at the right hand of God in glory, crowned with honor and glory. There He exercises His Priesthood and advocacy in behalf of His people, by which He keeps, sustains and restores them. When the last member has been added to the church, which is His body, and that body is to be with Him, who is the head, He will leave the place at the right hand and descend from heaven. He will not descend to the earth, for, as we read later, the meeting-place for Him and His saints is the air and not the earth. When He comes with His saints in His visible manifestation, He will descend to the earth. When He comes for His Saints He comes with a shout. It denotes His supreme authority. The Greek word is “Kelusma,” which means literally “a shout of command,” used in classical Greek for the hero’s shout to his followers in battle, the commanding voice to gather together. He ascended with a shout (Psalms 67:5), and with the victor’s shout He returns. The shout may be the single word “Come!” “Come and see” He spoke to the disciples who followed Him and inquired for His dwelling place. Before Lazarus’ tomb He spoke with a loud voice, “Come forth.” John, in the isle of Patmos, after the throne messages to the churches had been given, saw a door opened in heaven and the voice said “Come up hither” (Revelation 4:1). “Come” is the royal word of grace, and grace will do its supreme work when He comes for His own. But there will also be the voice of the archangel (Michael) and the trump of God. The archangel is the leader of the angelic hosts. As He was seen of angels (1 Timothy 3:16) when He ascended into the highest heaven, so will the archangel be connected with His descent out of heaven. All heaven will be in commotion when the heirs of glory, sinners saved by grace, are about to be brought with glorified bodies into the Father’s house. Some teach that the voice of the archangel may be employed to summon the heavenly hosts and marshal the innumerable company of the redeemed, for “They shall gather His elect together from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:30-31). But this is incorrect. The elect in Matthew 24:1-51 are not the church, but Israel. Dispersed Israel will be regathered and angels will be used in this work. Furthermore the angels will do this gathering after the great tribulation and after the visible manifestation of the Lord with His saints. The coming of the Lord for His saints takes place before the great tribulation. The trump of God is also mentioned. This trumpet has nothing to do with the judgment trumpets of Revelation, nor with the Jewish feast of trumpets. Some teach that the trumpet is the last trumpet of Revelation. But note the trumpet here is the trumpet of God; in Revelation the last trumpet is blown by an angel. It is a symbolical term and like the shout stands for the gathering together. In Numbers 10:4 we read, “And if they blow with one trumpet, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee.” The shout and the trump of God will gather the fellow-heirs of Christ. “The dead in Christ shall rise first.” This is the resurrection from among all the dead of those who believed on Christ, the righteous, dead. All saints of all ages, Old and New Testament saints, are included. This statement of the resurrection of the dead in Christ first disposes completely of the unscriptural view of a general resurrection. As we know from Revelation 20:5 the rest of the dead (the wicked dead) will be raised up later. He comes in person to open the graves of all who belong to Him and manifests His authority over death which He has conquered. The dead in Christ will hear the shout first and experience His quickening power; they shall be raised incorruptible. What power will then be manifested! “Then we, the living, who remain, shall be caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” All believers who live on earth when the Lord comes will hear that commanding, gathering shout. It does not include those who only profess to be Christians and are nominal church-members, nor are any excluded who really are the Lord’s. The question, “Who will be caught up into glory?” is answered elsewhere in these studies. But see 1 Corinthians 15:23 for an answer. The change will be “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye” (1 Corinthians 15:52). Then this mortal will put on immortality. It will be that “clothed upon” of which the apostle wrote to the Corinthians: “For in this tabernacle we groan, being burdened; not for that we would be unclothed (death) but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life” (2 Corinthians 5:4). Then our body of humiliation will be fashioned like unto His own glorious body. It is the blessed, glorious hope, not death and the grave, but the coming of the Lord, when we shall be changed. And it is our imminent hope; believers must wait daily for it and some blessed day the shout will surely come. When He descends from heaven with the shout and the dead in Christ are raised and we are changed, then “we shall be caught up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” It will be the blessed time of reunion with the loved ones who have gone before. What joy and comfort it must have brought to the sorrowing Thessalonians when they read these blessed words for the first time! And they are still the words of comfort and hope to all His people, when they stand at the open graves of loved ones who fell asleep as believers. Often the question is asked, “Shall we not alone meet our loved ones but also recognize them?” Here is the answer: “Together with them” implies both reunion and recognition. These words would indeed mean nothing did they not mean recognition. We shall surely see the faces of our loved ones again and all the saints of God on that blessed day when this great event takes place. The clouds will be heaven’s chariots to take the heirs of God and the joint-heirs of the Lord Jesus Christ into His own presence. As He ascended so His redeemed ones will be taken up. Caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; all laws of gravitation are set aside, for it is the power of God, the same power which raised up the Lord Jesus from the dead and seated Him in glory, which will be displayed in behalf of His saints (Ephesians 1:19-23). Surely this is a divine and a wonderful revelation. “How foolish it must sound to our learned scientists. But, beloved, I would want nothing but that one sentence, ‘Caught up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air,’ to prove the divinity of Christianity. Its very boldness is assurance of its truth. No speculation, no argument, no reasoning; but a bare authoritative statement startling in its boldness. Not a syllable of Scripture on which to build, and yet when spoken, in perfect harmony with all Scripture. How absolutely impossible for any man to have conceived that the Lord’s saints should be caught up to meet Him in the air. Were it not true its very boldness and apparent foolishness would be its refutation. And what would be the character of mind that could invent such a thought? What depths of wickedness! What cruelty! What callousness! The spring from which such a statement, if false, could rise must be corrupt indeed. But how different in fact! What severe righteousness! What depths of holiness! What elevated morality! What warmth of tender affection! What clear reasoning! Every word that he has written testifies that he has not attempted to deceive. Paul was no deceiver, and it is equally impossible for him to have been deceived.”[Our Hope, February, 1902.] And the blessedness “to meet the Lord in the air”! We shall see Him then as He is and gaze for the first time upon the face of the Beloved, that face of glory, which was once marred and smitten on account of our sins. And seeing Him as He is we shall be like Him. How long will be the meeting in the air? It has been said that the stay in that meeting place will be but momentary and that the Lord will at once resume His descent to the earth. We know from other Scriptures that this cannot be. Between the coming of the Lord for His saints and with His saints there is an interval of at least seven years before the visible coming of the Lord and His saints with Him. The judgment of the saints, by which their works and labors become manifest must take place. There is also to be the presentation of the church in glory (Ephesians 5:27; Jude 1:24). Furthermore the marriage of the Lamb takes place not in the meeting place in the air, but in heaven (Revelation 19:1-10). He will take His saints into the Father’s house that they may behold His glory (John 17:22). But what will it mean, “So shall we be forever with the Lord!” Its Power and Blessedness Such then is “that blessed hope,” blessed indeed, and an imminent hope. It is a hope which if really held in the heart will shape the life and conduct of the believer, and fill, we make bold to say, every need he has in the wilderness down here. 1. That blessed hope will keep the person of the Lord Jesus Christ constantly before the heart. If we really look for Him, wait for Him, pray and long for His Coming, to see Him face to face, He will ever be fresh before our hearts. This hope will keep us in closest touch and fellowship with Him as nothing else. Oh! the blessedness of knowing we shall see Him--see Him in all His glory! Each day ought to be begun with this thought, “I may meet Him today!” Each day should have for its last thought the blessed anticipation that the coming morning may find us in His presence. 2. The blessed hope is a purifying hope. “He that has this hope set upon Him purifieth himself even as He is pure” (1 John 3:3). It is the power for a consecrated and separated life. He prayed in His high-priestly prayer, “They are not of the world as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy Truth, Thy Word is truth” (John 17:16-17). He has redeemed us from the curse, from the guilt of our sins and from this present evil age. We are saints, no longer of this world, though still in the world. With this comes the responsibility to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present age. If a child of God lives a worldly, carnal life it is a denial of the power of the Gospel. If a believer in that blessed hope lives an unholy life it is an evidence that he has never known in his heart what this hope is. It is a hope which teaches us to walk in the light as He is in the light. No believer who knows that blessed hope and waits for its fulfilment can go in the ways of the world to enjoy its hollow pleasures. It is a separating, purifying hope. 3. “That blessed hope” is furthermore a powerful incentive to service for God. One of the charges brought against this most precious doctrine is that it paralyses missionary work and all other activities. The very opposite is the case. It stimulates true service for God as nothing else does. Look at that great model servant, the Apostle Paul. What a witness he gives of his untiring, whole hearted service and the sufferings he endured in connection with it. Read 1 Thessalonians 2:1-20; 2 Corinthians 11:24-33. He had seen the Lord in glory and he knew that His glory belonged to him and that in the day of Christ he would see Him and receive the reward from His hands. This was the secret of his zeal for the Gospel; this gave him joy to endure. Like Moses he “had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” He knew before the judgment seat of Christ he, and with him all the Saints, shall appear to receive the reward for faithful service. He looked upon those for whom he toiled, who were led to Christ by his testimony and nourished by his ministry as his glory and joy in the coming presence of the Lord. “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His Coming? For ye are our glory and joy” (1 Thessalonians 2:19). The most successful evangelists and missionaries have been and are believers in that blessed hope. If we believe that He may come at any time, we shall certainly lose no time to do the work into which His grace has called us. 4. It is a sustaining hope. It sustains in suffering and in sorrow. David wrote: “The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing; thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness” (Psalms 41:3). It is the blessed hope of imminent glory which in sickness and pain gives strength, “yea songs in the night” will come from our lips if that blessed hope is ever first before our souls. And then it sustains the believer in conflict and keeps him faithful in the days of declension and apostasy. 5. It is a comforting hope. “Comfort one another with these words” the apostle wrote after he gave the great message. It is the comfort when our loved ones leave us. When we stand at the grave of the departed ones, who fell asleep in the Lord, we know that the day is coming when that grave opens and they come forth and we shall be united with them “caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 12: 01A.03. WHO WILL BE CAUGHT UP WHEN THE LORD COMES? ======================================================================== WHO WILL BE CAUGHT UP WHEN THE LORD COMES? The doctrine of the first resurrection and the coming of the Lord for His saints is nowhere taught in the Old Testament; it is altogether a New Testament revelation. As it is so well known, the Apostle Paul, who received from the Lord the revelation concerning the church, the one body, received also directly from the Lord the revelation concerning the glorious removal of the church from the earth. As the church had a definite beginning, so she will have a definite end. This end of the church on earth is made known in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17. To read these familiar words and meditate on them, as we have already done in the preceding chapter, and to realize a little of what it all means, fills the heart with praise and joy unspeakable. Oh, for that shout, that assembling shout from the glorified Head to His own members! The dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive shall be caught up together with them in clouds. The clouds will be the chariots of glory which take us into His presence. Then we shall meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. This coming of the Lord for his saints is the blessed Hope, the Hope of the Church, our Hope. We are to occupy ourselves next with the question, who, when the hour arrives, will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Will all true Christians be caught up or only a few? This is an important question, important because that blessed event may come at any time. There is, in our days, a decided increase of teachers who teach what has been termed a “partial rapture.” According to some of these teachings only those who believe that the Lord is coming, and who wait for His coming, who have a correct knowledge of His Second Coming, will be taken, and others who had not light on dispensational teachings, but were equally sincere, will be left to pass through the tribulation. Others again declare that only those will be caught up who attained to a certain spirituality. What is termed “a higher life experience” is, according to these, necessary to share in the rapture. Only “consecrated” Christians will be taken up who are loosened from earthly things. This teaching is found mostly among Christian believers, who are much occupied with themselves, their experiences, and who do not know the blessed position the believer holds through grace in Christ. Then there are numerous groups of people, some of them perfectionists, who are scattered from Maine to California, from North to South and who claim that only the 144,000 will be caught up, and that those who hold these teachings, or, possess their peculiar experience, will belong to that company. These people forget that the 144,000 in Revelation are of Israel. Some of the so-called “Pentecostal people,” now split up in different sects, have imposed another condition, that of speaking in a strange tongue. There is still another view, or rather new presentation of the partial rapture, which seems to have unsettled some believers. We have received a number of letters from students and others have come to us and asked us about it. According to this view only those will have part in the first resurrection whose love and conduct after their conversion have made them worthy of it. We shall quote from a volume which teaches this: “By the first resurrection Christ exercises His power; when, as we shall presently see, those only, whose love and conduct after conversion have caused Him to deem them worthy, will come forth from the dead, to form the complete church and to act as members of the Heavenly Kingdom. “By the final resurrection of all the remaining dead; when those who have been saved, but did not attain to the First resurrection, will be raised to life: and those who have rejected the Saviour will come forth for judgment. This resurrection does not take place until the close of the millennial reign, that is, until at least a thousand years after the First resurrection.” According to this the first resurrection is a reward for faithfulness and right conduct. One has to attain a worthiness, what measure of it is not specified, and could not be specified by anyone. The complete church will be formed by those who are faithful. The other believers who were truly saved, and also indwelt by the Holy Spirit, but less faithful, will see no resurrection till the great White Throne is set up. That this is altogether unscriptural need not to be further explained. No believer, who is saved by grace and hence is a member of Christ, will ever appear before the great White Throne. The second resurrection is of the wicked dead. The author then goes to the Epistle to the Philippians and tries to show from Php 3:1-21 that the first resurrection is a prize. Especially is it the word of the Apostle in Php 3:10-11 he explains as supporting his false theory. We will let him speak in his own words: “But what was the goal towards which Paul was thus directing his efforts? ‘If by any means,’ he continues, ‘I may attain to the select resurrection out from among the dead.’ In other words, his aim was to be numbered with those blessed and holy ones who shall have part in the first resurrection. But we must note, that he had at the time, no certain assurance (italics ours) that he would compass the desire of his heart. “Just before his death, however, it was graciously revealed to him that he was one of the approved.” Speaking on Php 3:13-14, he says: “Here Paul again urges the fact, that, devoted as he was to his Master, he had as yet no absolute certainty of attaining to the first resurrection.” The worst statement on this line in the whole book is the following: “The upward, or heavenward, calling is, of course, contrasted with the earthly calling of Israel. And its introduction here is sufficiently startling for those who have been taught that simple belief in Christ will win heaven for them, and membership in the Lord’s body. For Paul unmistakably affirms that these high privileges are a prize and not a gift, and are accessible only by the gate of the First Resurrection--a gate through which, after all his sacrifices and labors and sufferings for Christ, he was not yet absolutely sure that he would be permitted to pass.” According to this teaching the Apostle, who had received apostleship not of men but from the Lord, whom he saw in glory, the Apostle to whom was committed the Gospel of the Glory of the blessed God and to whom was made known the mystery of the Church, and that all believers are members of that body, this great Apostle and instrument through whom God gave the greatest revelation, did not know himself that he belonged to the body. He did not know it in spite of his sufferings and labors; he had to suffer some more, and only when he wrote Second Timothy had he a special revelation that he had labored and suffered enough. How ridiculous and more than that, insulting to the work and the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ! And if it were true what this book teaches, how dreadful it would be for almost every believer, for but few, if any, labor and suffer as Paul did, and we could have, even if we did, no assurance concerning our membership in the body and our share in the first resurrection, except by special revelation. But such a special revelation is nowhere promised in the Word. We shall return after a while to the argument of Philippians. But let us give the answer to the question, “ Who will be caught up when the Lord comes? “ Every person who fell asleep in Jesus belongs to the company which is mentioned in first Thessalonians, “the dead in Christ shall be raised first,” and every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, who lives when the assembling shout comes from the air, will be caught up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And if believers, as it is the case, were ignorant of the coming of the Lord, had absolutely no knowledge of the fact and therefore did not wait for Him, they will nevertheless be caught up. Let us make the statement as strong as we possibly can. Supposing the Lord came tonight to take His own out of the earth. Let us suppose a person who lived a very wicked life, but an hour before the Lord comes believes in the Lord Jesus Christ and is saved and accepted in the Beloved, made a partaker of the heavenly calling. This one saved by grace, though ignorant of the truth of God, would be caught up like the oldest, most matured Saint who loved His appearing for many years. Think of the dying thief. He pleaded “Remember me when thou dost come into thy kingdom.” The assurance comes back to him, who could do no works to gain a prize, who was so ignorant in all spiritual matters, “To-day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.” When the Lord comes with the assembling shout the body of the thief, saved by grace, as well as the body of Stephen, whose is a martyr’s crown, and Paul’s and every other one who was saved by grace will be raised up and we, meaning every saved one together with them, will be caught up. But let us prove this statement by the only authority we have, the Word of God. Let the Scriptures give an answer to the simple question, “Is the first resurrection and to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air the prize for a holy, consecrated, faithful conduct and life, or is it a free gift of the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ?” The answer to this from the Scriptures is clear; it is put in every epistle as the result of grace and not as the reward for faithfulness and service. To cite all the New Testament passages which acquaint us with the wonderful truth of what grace has called us to and made us in Christ Jesus would fill page after page, and if we would ponder over them and search in its blessed depths under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, would fill our hearts with “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” How clear it is seen in Romans. In the fifth of Romans we read of the blessed results of justification. It is not a question of doing from our side, but it is God’s doing , for everyone who believeth on the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace, perfect peace, towards God. Every believer has it with God in virtue of the blood of the cross. There peace was made. The second, access by faith into this grace, wherein we stand, and the third result of justification, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. And this hope of the glory of God is nothing else than what we have in the first epistle of John, “We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.” Read also Romans 8:29-30, “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son (in resurrection on the day of His coming for His Saints) that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called, and whom He called, them He also justified and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” Justification and glorification are inseparably connected. They cannot be severed. Both are from the side of God, the result of the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has justified and God has glorified. The glorification begins when our Lord leaves the Father’s throne and comes into the air to meet those whom the Father has given to Him. Not one will be left behind. And who are they whom the Father has given to the Son? Everyone who believed and came to the Son. It is in that rich unfathomable epistle to the Ephesians, where we read God’s gracious purpose towards everyone who believes in Christ, accepted in Him, blest with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. We would have to go through all the precious words in the opening chapters, where we learn more fully than elsewhere that it is all the gift of God , not of works, lest any man should boast. “Even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved). And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” Now we are there by grace. God see us there in Christ and bye and bye we shall be there actually. It is clear from a number of passages that when the Lord comes for His Saints all believers without any distinction, whether they are full grown in knowledge, fathers, young men or babes in Christ, will be taken because they are Christ’s and God’s grace has put them there. This is not only clearly seen in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, but also elsewhere. “For our commonwealth is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; Who shall change our body of humiliation, that it might be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself” (Php 3:20-21). But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterwards they that are Christ’s at His coming, “Behold, I shew you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed (1 Corinthians 15:23, 1 Corinthians 15:51). It is clear that all means the whole company of believers. But there are other scriptural proofs that all believers will be taken up when the Lord comes. One is the unity of the body. “For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). It is clear then that all believers are members of the one body. The teaching in the above cited paragraphs is an open denial of the truth revealed of the church as the one body. “There is one body and one Spirit even as ye are called in one hope of your calling” (Ephesians 4:4). This one body, of which every believer is a member, will be joined to the glorified Head, it will be one joining and one presentation of the assembly. Now, if only certain believers are caught up and another number passeth through a part of the tribulation, and still another company is taken later and other believers will not be raised at all till the great white Throne is set up, the revealed truth of the one body, its organic unity and vital connection with Him in glory is completely set aside. Furthermore, the apostasy and the revelation of the Antichrist cannot come till that body, the church, is taken from the earth (see 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17). The appearance of the final Antichrist therefore demands the complete removal of the one body. A remnant of believers, members of the one body, left in the earth during the great tribulation would still hinder the revelation of Antichrist and postpone it. The Saints in the tribulation are not members of the one body, but they are Jewish believers. The next chapter will enter into this more fully. Again, “We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” This is the Bema in the air. All believers will have to appear before Him to receive approval or disapproval ( not salvation or condemnation). Now, if they are all to appear before that seat in the air on the day of Christ--they must all have been taken up. When He comes at the end of the tribulation He comes with all His Saints. Many other Scriptures might be quoted which declare the same truth, Every believer will share in the first resurrection and be caught up when the Lord comes. There are two passages which are generally quoted to support the teaching of a partial rapture. The first is taken to support the theory that it is a question of worthiness, and the second passage is claimed to make clear that only those will be caught up who look for the Lord. Luke 21:36 is the first passage. “Watch ye therefore and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all the things that shall come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.” Our Lord spoke these words in connection with the prophecies concerning the end of the age when the earth and the heavens shall be shaken and when He will come as Son of Man in a cloud with power and glory. The title of our Lord, Son of Man, gives us His relation to the earth. When He was here in His humiliation He was Son of Man, when He comes in exaltation He comes as Son of Man. Nowhere is it said of the members of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ that they will stand before the Son of Man. The exhortation is one which concerns the Jewish remnant, the 144,000 in the Book of Revelation. They will be in the earth during that time of trouble and with them it will be the question of faithfulness to the end to be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of Man. The disciples whom our Lord addressed in these words represent in type that Jewish remnant. Hebrews 9:28 : “So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” This passage has been made to prove that only those who wait for Him will be taken up. The whole passage shows the three appearings of the Christ. He appeared on the earth to put away sin by sacrificing Himself. He appears now in the presence of God for us. He will appear the second time. This is unquestionably the glorious appearing spoken of in Titus 2:13, “The glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” He who appeared and He who appears in the presence of God will be the same who comes back to the earth. Of course when He actually returns from heaven into the habitable earth, as the firstborn, bringing many sons to glory (all His saints with Him) there will be such who wait and look for Him and to them He comes for salvation, and these are the believing Jews. Of this we read in Isaiah 35:9 : “And it shall be said in that day, Lo this is our God; we have waited for Him and He will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” The passage does not teach that only such will be caught up who believe in His coming and look for Him. And now, as so many believers seem to be troubled about the words of the Apostle Paul in Php 3:1-21 we give a short word on that. The position of the epistle to the Philippians is significant. Ephesians speaks of the glories of the church, what every believer and the company of believers, the one body, is in Christ. Colossians acquaints us with the glory of Him who is the Head of the body, Christ. Philippians stands between the two and shows the believer in Christ with the life of Christ in him, living Christ and pressing towards the glory. It is the epistle of experience. In the third chapter the energy of this life in the believer is seen. Paul, of course, knew that he belonged to that glory. He had absolute certainty about the first resurrection. But this divine energy in him presses forward. It is in full harmony with what God’s grace has made him. All in him wants to get there, where the grace of God in Christ had placed him once and for all. The life of Christ in him reaches out for that place and when he says, “By any means,” he gives us to understand nothing shall hinder him, may the cost be what it will, he wants to lay hold of all for which Christ has laid hold of him. He reaches out after that goal, Christ in glory, because he knew he belonged there. Sir Robert Anderson gives a very helpful comment on Php 3:11 which we quote in connection with the above: “If the commonly received exegesis of this passage be correct, we are faced by the astounding fact that the author of the Epistle to the Romans and of 1 Corinthians 15:1-58 --the Apostle who was in a peculiar sense entrusted with the supreme revelation of grace--announced when nearing the close of his ministry that the resurrection was not, as he had been used to teach, a blessing which Divine grace assured to all believers in Christ, but a prize to be won by the sustained efforts of a life of wholly exceptional saintship. “Nor is this all. In the same Epistle he has already said, ‘To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain,’ whereas, ex hypothesi , it now appears that his chief aim was to earn a right to the resurrection, and that death, instead of bringing gain, would have cut him off before he had reached the standard of saintship needed to secure that prize! For his words are explicit. ‘Not as though I had already attained.’ “Here was one who was not a whit behind the chiefest Apostles; who excelled them all in labors and sufferings for his Lord, and in the visions and revelations accorded to him; whose prolonged ministry, moreover, was accredited by mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the spirit of God. And yet, being now ‘such an one as Paul the aged,’ he was in doubt whether he should have part in that resurrection which he had taught all his Corinthian converts to hope for and expect. “Such is the exposition of the Apostle’s teaching in many a standard commentary. And yet the passage which is thus perverted reaches its climax in the words, ‘Our citizenship is in heaven, from whence we are looking for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of His glory.’ “‘Our citizenship is in heaven.’ Here is the clew to the teaching of the whole passage. The truth to which his words refer is more clearly stated in Ephesians 2:6, ‘God has quickened us together with Christ, and raised us up with Him, and made us sit with Him in the heavenly places in Christ.’ More clearly still is it given in Colossians 3:1-3, ‘If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things on the earth. For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.’ “Ephesians and Colossians, be it remembered, were written at the same period of his ministry as Philippians, and in the light of these Scriptures we can read this chapter aright. To win Christ (Php 3:8), or to apprehend, or lay hold of, that for which he had been laid hold of, or apprehended (Php 3:12)--or in other words, to realize practically in his life on earth what was true of him doctrinally as to his standing before God in heaven--this is what he was reaching toward, and what he says he had not already attained. “The high calling of Php 3:14 is interpreted by some to mean Christ’s calling up His own to meet Him in the air (a blessing assured to all ‘who are alive and remain unto the Coming of the Lord’), but this is not in keeping with the plain words: God’s high calling in Christ Jesus, i. e., what God has called us (made us) to be in Christ. “If the passage refers to the literal resurrection, then the words, ‘not as though I had already attained,’ must mean that, while here on earth and before the Lord’s Coming, the Apostle hoped either to undergo the change of Php 3:21, or else to win some sort of saintship diploma, or certificate, to ensure his being raised at the Coming. These alternatives are inexorable; and they only need to be stated to ensure their rejection. “One word more. If the Apostle Paul, after such a life of saintship and service, was in doubt as to his part in the resurrection, no one of us, indeed he be the proudest of Pharisees or the blindest of fools, will dream of attaining it.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 13: 01A.04. THE CHURCH AND THE GREAT TRIBULATION ======================================================================== THE CHURCH AND THE GREAT TRIBULATION Nothing should unite God’s children into a closer fellowship than the blessed hope of the coming of our Lord. This was the case, when the Holy Spirit, almost a hundred years ago, restored to His people this hope, and brought about a revival of the study of prophecy. The midnight cry, “Behold the Bridegroom! Go ye forth to meet Him,” was then sounded, and those who heard and believed the blessed hope separated themselves from all which is not according to sound doctrine, and in so doing manifested once more the oneness of the body of Christ, the church, and the fellowship of the Saints. Such ought to be the results of a real faith in His coming. One of the questions which has agitated believers in the pre-millennial Coming of our Lord is the question of the relation of the true church to that final period of our age, which is designated as the great tribulation. When the blessed hope was first again brought to light, clear distinction was made between the Coming of the Lord for His Saints (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) and the Coming of the Lord with His Saints (Zechariah 14:5; Revelation 19:14). The imminency of His Coming was a prominent part of the prophetic testimony of those bygone days. Then the teaching was introduced by some that the Lord cannot come at any time, that the church is destined to pass, like the rest of the world, through the great tribulation, suffer under Antichrist and experience the judgment-wrath of God. This theory has caused much division and strife among believers in the Return of our Lord, and does so still. In taking up this question concerning the church and the tribulation, we shall first see what the church and the destiny of the church is, and then examine the teaching of the Word as to the tribulation. 1. What is the Church and the Destiny of the Church? The church is an altogether New Testament institution. Nowhere in the Old Testament Scriptures is there said anything about the church, the expression so often used, the Old Testament church, or, the Jewish church is therefore incorrect. It springs from the view that Israel, the seed of Abraham, was the church in the past and that since Israel has rejected Christ, the Christian Church has become Israel and all the promises made to Israel are now being fulfilled in a spiritual way. This theory plays havoc with the Word of God and leads into confusion. The present day condition of Christendom is to a great extent the result of this erroneous view. Israel is not the church, nor has the church taken the place of Israel. All who believed in Old Testament times were saved by grace, in the same way as believing sinners are saved during this dispensation. They were Saints, as we are Saints. But where is there in any portion of the Scriptures of the Old Testament (so-called) a statement that these Jewish believers formed the church of God, the body and the bride of Christ? Israel was not the church in the past and it is equally impossible that the people Israel in their future day of restoration and blessing can become the church. Israel’s calling is earthly; the calling of the church is a heavenly calling. Israel will some day possess the earthly Jerusalem while the church will be in the heavenly Jerusalem. Our Lord mentioned the church for the first time. In the Gospel of Matthew 16:16-18 we find the following words: “And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Peter had made his great inspired confession of Christ as the Son of the living God. Upon this confession the Lord said, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona.” Each believer in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God shares this blessedness. He called Simon by a new name, “Thou art Peter;” which means “a stone.” Then the Lord announced that upon this rock He would build His church. He did not mean Peter, or else our Lord would have said, “Upon thee will I build my church.” He speaks of “this rock” which is He Himself, the risen and living Son of God. He, and not Peter, is the rock upon which the Church of Christ is built. We see that the Lord speaks of the church as something in the future at that time. It was not then in progress, but He said, “I will build my church.” The word church means “to call out” (ecclesia), and denotes a company of people who are called out and called together for a certain purpose. The Lord calls this out-called company “my church.” The formation of this church could only begin after the work of redemption on the cross had been accomplished. He had first to suffer and to die; He had to rise from the dead and ascend upon high; the Holy Spirit had to come from heaven before this church and its building could begin on earth. Therefore He said “I will build my church;” not I am building it now, or it has been building since Adam’s day, but “I will build.” The day on which the Holy Spirit was poured out marks the beginning of this church on earth. The company of believers who were waiting for the promised baptism with the Spirit (about 120- Acts 1:15) were on the day of Pentecost by that baptism united into a body, the church. Ever since then all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and are born again, are put by the same spirit as members into that body. Of this we read in 1 Corinthians 12:13 : “For by our Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” On the day of Pentecost nothing was made known of the beginning of the church. Peter did not mention a word about the church. The full revelation concerning the church was given through the Apostle Paul. Of this we read in Ephesians 3:1-7 : “For this cause I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you ward; how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery (as I wrote afore in few words, whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel; whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.” The Apostle Paul states in these verses that he was made the channel of a revelation concerning a mystery which was not made known in former ages unto the sons of men. This mystery is that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body. The body of which he speaks, is the church. In that body Jews and Gentiles are gathered into one, as the one new man “where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all.” Of this bringing into one we read in the Gospel of John (John 10:1-42) where our Lord spoke of entering the sheepfold (Judaism) and leading out His sheep. Then He mentioned other sheep, which were not of His fold (Gentiles): “Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.” He came and led His first sheep out of the Jewish fold. On the day of Pentecost these Jewish believers were constituted the Church. That Gentiles should be added to that body was not made known then. It was revealed to the Apostle Paul. But the Lord indicates this fact here when He speaks of the other sheep. This He mentioned likewise in His prayer: “That they all (who believe on Him) may be one; as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (John 17:21). The Epistle to the Ephesians, in which the Spirit of God reveals this mystery, makes known the glory of the church, the body of Christ. He is the head of that body and as such the church is His own fulness, “the fulness of Him who filleth all in all” (Ephesians 1:23). Every member in that body shares the life of the risen, glorified head. Every member is quickened together with Christ, raised up and seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:5-6). And furthermore we read that the members of this body, that is, all true believers, saved by grace and born again, are made nigh by the blood of Christ, and have access by one Spirit unto the Father. “Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22). Such is the church the body of Christ. Every member in Christ and Christ in every member, each believer made nigh by blood, accepted in the beloved One, indwelt by the Holy Spirit and one Spirit with the Lord. The church is therefore the temple of God, the habitation of God through the Spirit. Besides this life-relation of the church to the Head in glory, there is also a love-relation. Of this Ephesians Ephesians 5:21-33 bears witness. The church is the bride of Christ. He loved the church and gave Himself for it. She is part of that travail of His soul which He saw, the joy which was set before Him, for which He endured the cross and despised the shame. He also sanctifies the church and cleanseth it with the washing of water by the Word, and finally He will present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. She is the pearl of great price for which He gave all. Her destiny is to be with Him in glory, to be like Him and to share His glory. For this true church there is no condemnation and no wrath, nor anguish and tribulation, but glory, honor and peace (Romans 2:9-10). Wrath is coming for the world, but the Lord Jesus delivers His church from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10). “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:9). 2. What is the Tribulation? The Word of God speaks of tribulation. Tribulations, distresses and all that goes with it are in the world on account of sin. Believers, though saved and no longer of the world, but delivered from this evil age, have tribulation and persecution likewise. Our Lord said to His disciples and to all who are His followers, “In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20). “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (1 Timothy 1:12). What a record Paul wrote of his own tribulations and persecutions. How great was his affliction, persecution, distress and manifold tribulation! (2 Corinthians 11:16-32). “Through much tribulation we must enter into the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22). The believer is exhorted to glory (or boast) in these tribulations (Romans 5:3). Triumphantly in faith he can say, “Who shall separate us, from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” (Romans 8:35). “Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation,” is another exhortation (Romans 12:12). To the Corinthians Paul wrote, “I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Corinthians 7:4). The Thessalonian Christians suffered greatly, but met it all victoriously so that Paul wrote them, “We ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure” (1 Thessalonians 1:4). If we today know but little persecution for Christ’s sake, it is because we do not manifest in our lives separation from the world. “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Php 1:29). Tribulations, persecutions, sufferings for Christ’s and for righteousness’ sake belong to the church. They are really blessings, for all these things must work together for good to them that love God. But there is another tribulation revealed in the Word of God which is of totally different nature. It is a tribulation which God permits as a judgment to come upon all the world, a tribulation in which Satan is concerned, in which he manifests his malice and his wrath. This tribulation has an altogether punitive character. In different portions of the Prophets we read of a great time of distress, such as the sword, famine and pestilence and other tribulations and judgments, which precede the visible manifestation of the Lord to deliver His earthly people Israel. This tribulation is always predicted to come upon Israel and upon the nations of the earth. It is mentioned in the New Testament, as we shall see directly; but the Old Testament gives us the full history of these tribulation judgments. The time when this tribulation takes place is “the end of the age,” which, strictly speaking means the Jewish age. Every student of prophecy knows something of that all important revelation in Daniel ix, the seventy-week prophecy.[ See “Exposition of Daniel,” by A. C. G.] The last prophetic week of seven years has not yet been. We are still between the 69th and the 70th week. Those coming last seven years of that interrupted Jewish age will bring these predicted judgments and the great tribulation. The last 3-1/2 years (or 1,260 days, 42 months) are the great tribulation itself. We quote a few passages: “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it, it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it” (Jeremiah 30:7). “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book” (Daniel 12:1). It is clear beyond controversy that both passages reveal that this great time of trouble comes upon Daniel’s people at the time of the end. It is a wrong interpretation to say that “thy people” means the church. As stated before, the prophets have nothing to say about the church. For what will take place in that time of trouble see Daniel 7:21-25. We turn next to Matthew 24:1-51. The great prophecy of our Lord contained in this chapter has nothing to do with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A. D. It is a prophecy which relates to the time of the end and covers the same seven years of unfulfilled Jewish history. His disciples had asked concerning the end of the age and the Lord answers this question. Significant it is that He calls special attention to Daniel the prophet. This is the key. When our Lord speaks of a time of trouble He means the same trouble of which Daniel wrote: “For there shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). There is nothing in the words of our Lord to indicate that the true church is then on earth. The preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom as a witness to all nations during this time of trouble is the message which the Jewish remnant gives before the coming of the King.[See chapter on “The Conversion of the World.”] When this great tribulation ends the Lord Jesus Christ comes back to earth again “in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:29-30). What takes place then is revealed also by our Lord. “And He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Superficial teachers of prophecy explain this as being the gathering together of Christian believers when the Lord comes at the close of the great tribulation. We have seen from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 how the Lord comes for His Saints. He does not send angels to gather His church from the four winds, but He gives the shout from the air and instead of being gathered the church-saints are caught up in clouds, together with the risen saints to meet the Lord in the air. The elect people who are to be gathered when the Lord returns after the tribulation are the people Israel (see Isaiah 27:13). Their hour of deliverance has come. This is the same deliverance of which Daniel speaks in chapter Daniel 12:1. It is also significant that our Lord after He announced the gathering and restoration of Israel mentions at once the fig tree, which is Israel. The book of Revelation bears the same witness as to the church and in relation to the tribulation to come. The church is only mentioned in the first three chapters. In the church message to Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7-13) a promise is given to the true church which is important: “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of trial which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown.” The hour of trial for all the world is the tribulation period. Here, then, is a definite promise that true believers are going to be exempt from that coming time of trouble. Laodicea marks a final phase of Christendom; it is apostasy. Revelation 4:1-11 and Revelation 5:1-14 reveal what will take place in heaven in the future. We behold in these two chapters the redeemed in glory, singing the new song. These redeemed include all the church saints as well as the Old Testament Saints. Beginning with the sixth chapter we find in Revelation the future things, that is, what will take place after the Lord has come for His Saints. Here the judgments, the tribulation and the wrath are made known which will visit the earth during the last seven years of the age. Revelation 6:1-17, Revelation 7:1-17, Revelation 8:1-13, Revelation 9:1-21, Revelation 10:1-8 cover the history of the last week of Daniel. In these chapters we read nothing of the true church as still on earth. Another important fact as to the tribulation period must be dealt with. During this time of trouble there are those on earth who suffer and whom God owns as Saints. Satan through his instruments, the little horn and the Antichrist is persecuting these Saints and they pass through this awful time of trouble. Daniel wrote, “I beheld, and the same horn made war with the Saints and prevailed against them... and he (the little horn) shall speak great words against the Most High and shall wear out the Saints of the Most High” (Daniel 7:21; Daniel 7:25). These suffering tribulation Saints will receive the Kingdom on earth (Daniel 7:22; Daniel 7:27). In the great vision of John in Revelation 13:1-18, the same beast which Daniel saw is described. Here again we read of Saints: “And it was given unto him to make war with the Saints, and to overcome them” (Revelation 13:7). Now as the church is no longer on earth, who are these Saints? They are Jewish believers who have turned to the Lord and whom He now owns as Saints. Their sufferings at that time, as well as their faith, their prayers and their deliverance is the subject of many of the Psalms. They are the sealed ones of Revelation 7:1-17. [In Revelation 7:1-17 a multitude is seen coming out of the great tribulation. This multitude is often identified with the church. But it is not the church, but those who believe the final testimony, the Gospel of the kingdom and are saved to enter the earth by the Kingdom of Christ.] Many of them refusing to worship the beast suffer martyrdom and are raised up. 3. Important Conclusions We have seen what the church and her destiny is. We have learned the character of the tribulation. It is evident that the true church has nothing whatever to do with this time of trouble. We add some important conclusions with further proofs that the church will not pass through the tribulation. 1. The tribulation is a judgment period. When this predicted trouble comes for the world, for Jews and Gentiles, the church is no longer here, but possesses its promised rest and glory. The Thessalonians had been disturbed by a rumor as if that tribulation preceding the day of the Lord had come. In the second Epistle to them the apostle makes it clear that this was not the case, and points out the fact that those who troubled and persecuted them would have as a recompense tribulation, while the troubled believers would have rest (2 Thessalonians 1:4-9). Nowhere in the Epistles of Paul addressed to the church, and unfolding church truths, is there a word said about that tribulation. If the church would pass through this judgment period with which the ages closes, the Spirit of God would certainly have mentioned it and given His exhortations so suited for such a time. But inasmuch as nothing is said in these church epistles it is a logical conclusion that the true church will not be in the tribulation. 2. Not alone will the church not be in that time of trouble, but that time, the last prophetic week of Daniel, cannot begin as long as the true church is on earth. This is made clear by one of the great prophecies of the New Testament. In the Second Thessalonians chapter ii the statement is made that the day of the Lord (His visible manifestation) cannot come till there be first the apostasy and the Man of Sin, the son of perdition (the Antichrist) be revealed. It is during the last seven years that both of these conditions are reached. But the apostle also states that there is One who hinders the complete apostasy and its leader, the Antichrist. Something is in the way which keeps back the full manifestation of the mystery of lawlessness. This hindering One must be first taken out of the way. The hindering One is the Holy Spirit. He dwells in the body of Christ, the church. As long as He is here on earth in and with the true church the two conditions necessary for the final seven years of this age cannot be fulfilled. Before the tribulation can come the church must have been called away to her heavenly abode. 3. If the church were to pass through the tribulation period all the exhortations to wait for the Coming of the Lord, to watch for Him, to be ready, would have no meaning. It would be more correct to exhort to wait for the coming of the beast. The blessed hope to meet Him, would lose its blessedness. Instead of being a bright outlook to be with Christ in glory, it would be the worst pessimism, for believers would not face immediate glory, but tribulation, judgments, and the persecutions of the beast from the pit. Everything in Scripture is against this teaching, which has been accepted by not a few, that the church must pass through the tribulation, and after all it is an important truth for the spiritual life of a believer. If the Lord cannot come for His Saints till the Roman empire is again in existence, and the two beasts have made their appearance to do their work, if He cannot come till the Jews are back in Palestine and have rebuilt their temple, then the real power of that blessed hope in the daily life of a Christian is gone. The danger then is to say, “My Lord delays His Coming,” and with it drift into worldly ways. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 14: 01A.05. THE TEN VIRGINS OR THE MIDNIGHT CRY ======================================================================== THE TEN VIRGINS OR THE MIDNIGHT CRY Matthew 25:1-13 The study of this most solemn parable spoken by our Lord is very opportune. It is also necessary because certain wrong interpretations are being made of this parable, which have been accepted by not a few of God’s people. We find the parable of the ten virgins exclusively in the Gospel of Matthew, and here it is a part of the great discourse of our Lord, generally known as the Olivet discourse. The Gospel of Matthew is the Gospel of the King and His Kingdom. Three great discourses of the Lord are recorded by the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of Matthew. The first is the so-called “sermon on the mount.” This contains the proclamation of the King concerning His Kingdom. The second discourse is found in Matthew 13:1-58; this is composed of seven parables in which the Lord makes known the mysteries of the Kingdom. In the last great discourse He reveals the future of His Kingdom. First He reveals the future of the Jews, how the Jewish age will close, what great events are yet to take place in the land of Israel. He speaks of the great tribulation, which is yet in store for the Jews and immediately after the days of that great tribulation He will come in power and great glory. At the close of His discourse He reveals the future of the Gentile nations, who are on earth when He comes again. He will take His place upon His own glorious throne and all nations will be gathered before Him. They will be separated by the King, as a shepherd separates the sheep and the goats. Between these two predictions concerning the future, the beginning and the end of this discourse He gives three parables. These parables do not relate to the Jews, nor to the Gentile nations nor do they refer to the period of time, the end of the age, of which He speaks in the first part of Matthew 24:1-51. In these three parables the Lord shows the conditions which will prevail during the time of His absence from this earth. This period of time is the present Christian age. The three parables of the prudent and evil servant, the wise and the foolish virgins and the faithful and the slothful servants, give us a picture of the state of the entire Christian profession. This is seen in the very beginning of this parable. The parable of the ten virgins is one, which relates to the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven has here the same meaning as in Matthew 13:1-58, that is, it means the entire sphere of Christian profession. And now before we follow the different stages of this important parable I want to mention very briefly the two wrong interpretations, which like all other errors in our day, became more and more widespread. The first claims that the virgins do not represent Christians at all, but that they represent the Jewish remnant during the end of the age. The parable, according to this interpretation, will be fulfilled in the future. I am not going to enter into the different arguments which are advanced to support this view, but only wish to point out one fact, which is sufficient to disprove this theory. The ten virgins fell asleep, which, as we shall see later, means that they no longer expected the coming of the Bridegroom. Is it possible to conceive that the believing Jews during the great tribulation, when everything points to the rapid consummation of the age, can go to sleep? This to my mind is sufficient to overthrow this theory, not to speak of other reasons. Another interpretation holds that the ten virgins represent indeed Christians. However, the foolish virgins are looked upon as true Christians, only they lacked a maturity of growth, depth of consecration, were not baptized with the Holy Spirit, or had not the so-called “second blessing.” All this the wise virgins possessed. This is the favoured view with a certain class of holiness people. Others try to prove from it the theory of a first fruit rapture. The wise virgins are the first fruits and they are taken first. The foolish will have to pass through the tribulation and will be taken later. Against such teaching we simply hold up the words of the Lord, when He as Bridegroom tells the foolish virgins “I know you not.” They were never His, they never knew Him and therefore they do not represent true Christians. Never will the Lord say this word to any one who has truly trusted in Him, no matter how weak and ignorant, how imperfect and erring that one may be. And now let us look at the details of this parable, which gives us a picture of the attitude and character of professing Christendom up to the time when the Bridegroom comes. Four historic stages can be easily traced in this parable. Three of them are passed and the fourth is imminent. At any moment the fourth may become actual history. They are the following: 1. A description of the Christian profession in its beginning and its characteristics. 2. The falling asleep of the virgins. 3. The Midnight cry. 4. The Coming of the Bridegroom. We are living in the days when the midnight cry is heard and are facing the fourth great event of this parable, the Coming of the Bridegroom, the entrance of the wise virgins to be with Him and the shutting out of the foolish. And this it is which makes this parable so very solemn in the days in which we are living. 1. “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the Bridegroom.” In 2nd Corinthians we read that the virgin is used as a type of the church. “I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” The Lord in the parable uses the figure of ten virgins, because the parable does not altogether refer to the true church, His Bride, but because He had in mind the conditions of that which professes to be the church. The number ten is the number of testimony and responsibility. Nevertheless we learn from the beginning of this parable what true Christianity is. The characteristics of the Christian calling are three-fold: separation, manifestation and expectation. Separation from the world; going forth with lamps, which are for giving light, to shine as lights while the Bridegroom is not here; and then to go forth to meet the Bridegroom. One can read in these statements the very words and thoughts with which the Holy Spirit describes the Thessalonian Christians, “How ye turned to God from idols to serve the true and the living God and to wait for His Son from heaven.” The emphasis in this parable is upon the last of these characteristics. The whole body of Christians in the beginning went out to meet the Bridegroom. The blessed Hope of the coming of the Lord was the Hope and the expectation of the church in the very start. It was the original attitude of the true church and bears witness to the heavenly hope and heavenly calling of the church. In the next two verses the spiritual condition of the ten virgins is laid bare. It is noteworthy that the condition is stated first, the demonstration of it comes later; after the midnight cry had been sounded the foolishness of the five becomes manifested. The division of these virgins in five wise and five foolish brings out the fact that in the professing church two classes of people are found, the true and the false, saved and unsaved, professing and possessing. The wise represent such who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who have personal knowledge of Christ and are sealed with the Spirit; they have the unction of the Holy One, who is represented by the oil. The foolish are such who have the form of godliness and deny the power thereof. They represent such who have taken the outward profession but lack the reality. As they never truly trusted in Christ they have not the oil, the Holy Spirit. The objection has been made that the foolish virgins can hardly represent unsaved persons, because they are called virgins and went out to meet the Bridegroom. In their profession they were virgins, and in profession they had gone out to meet the Bridegroom. Another objection is raised. Did they not later say “Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out?” Then they must have had some oil, else how could they say that their lamps were gone out? There is no proof at all in this that they had a certain supply of oil. It is distinctly said that they only took lamps, but they did not take oil. They may have made an attempt to light the wick of their lamps only to see that they did not give light and went out. No, they never possessed the oil, just as the great mass of professing Christians in our days have lamps, an outward form, but no reality. Christ was never accepted and therefore the Holy Spirit and His power is lacking. A fearful condition it is! Alas, the thousands and hundreds of thousands who are in that condition to-day! 2. A second stage historically is seen in the fifth verse. “While the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.” Both the foolish and the wise grew heavy, became drowsy and then slept. This has been interpreted in different ways. However, the meaning of it is not hard to discover. The Bridegroom tarried and they no longer expected Him. As the centuries went on the professing church gave up the blessed Hope and ceased looking for the Lord. This is an historic fact. The Coming of the Bridegroom was forgotten and all, the most earnest believers as well as the mere professing ones slept, and for long centuries nothing was heard of the Bridegroom and His Coming. Darkness and confusion prevailed in dispensational truths; the writings extending over hundreds of years witness to this fact. Of the end of the world, a universal judgment day, and the Day of wrath something was heard occasionally, but the blessed Hope as it was known in the beginning was completely forgotten. Nothing is heard of it for many, many centuries. This is the second great historic event. The Lord was no longer expected. 3. And now we come to the third. “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold the Bridegroom! go out to meet Him.” The question is has this period been reached, or are we still to wait for such a startling cry, reaching the ears of both the wise and the foolish, the professing and the possessing? Some teach in our day that that cry is the same as the shout which is mentioned in 1 Thess. 4, the shout which the descending Lord will give to call His own into His presence. But that is incorrect. The midnight cry and the shout of the Lord have no connection. The shout of the Lord is the first word which He will utter. His last word was, “Behold I come quickly.” The next word will be His shout. The midnight cry is not uttered by Himself, but it is given by the Holy Spirit. And has the midnight cry been given by the Holy Spirit? Has there been a revival of the blessed Hope of the Coming of the Lord? Did anything like this of which the Lord here speaks take place? We unhesitatingly answer it with, Yes. We all know of the Coming of the Lord. Most of us are cherishing the blessed Hope and are waiting for Himself. We sing precious hymns full of hope and expectation. Over the entire Christian profession the preaching has gone forth of the Coming of the Bridegroom. This is sufficient evidence that this stage in the parable has been reached. The midnight cry has been given. When was it given? We do not hear anything about the Bridegroom and His nearness during the great reformation period. The great instruments which were used in the reformation had no light on the Coming of the Lord. Luther, for instance, spoke occasionally of the great universal judgment day, which he believed was near, because he believed the Pope to be the Antichrist. In this conception he was followed by all his contemporaries. It was not given to the great reformers to be used in the revival of the prophetic Word and to give the midnight cry. Nor do we hear anything like the midnight cry immediately after the reformation; we go back to the first half of the last century and there we meet with a revival of the blessed Hope, the coming of the Lord. The Holy Spirit flashed forth this blessed truth once more and ever since then the midnight cry has been heard, and it is still being heard. We live in the fulfillment of this period of the parable of our Lord. But what is indicated by these words? You noticed we left out the word “cometh.” The authorized version reads, “Behold the Bridegroom cometh.” The revised version has left out the word “cometh” and that is the right way to read it, “Behold the Bridegroom! Go ye forth to meet Him.” This tells us that the midnight cry is more than a mere announcement of the coming of the Lord. It is, of course, indicated, but the Holy Spirit in the midnight cry calls attention to the person of the Bridegroom. He unfolds His glorious person anew and brings out the fact that His church, whom He has loved, is His Bride and that He is the Bridegroom. And along with this message of the Bridegroom there is a call to go forth to meet Him. What else is it than a call to the original position? It demands a return to that as it was in the beginning. It is a call to separation from all that is false and unscriptural. How can any one, or how could any one honestly believe that that adorable Person, the Bridegroom, is near, soon Coming, without turning away from all that is displeasing to Him, without turning the back upon all which dishonors both His Person and His Word? This then is the significant meaning of the midnight cry. Exactly this took place and still takes place in out present day. Along with the revival of the blessed Hope, the preaching of His imminent Coming, we have a return to other great truths, such as the teaching concerning the church. Just as the giving up of the blessed Hope affected the other great doctrines of the Bible and became in part responsible for the fearful decline, confusion and departure from the faith once and for all delivered unto the saints, so the recovery of the blessed Hope, the imminent Coming of the Lord, results in the recovery of these same blessed doctrines which were given up and leads to a return to the true position. All this has come to pass. All is still coming to pass. The midnight cry, “Behold the Bridegroom, go ye forth to meet Him,” stands in closest connection with the church message to Philadelphia, in the third chapter of Revelation. There the person of Christ, as the Holy One and the True One, is in the foreground. Once more a company of His people at the very last days are keeping His Word and are not denying His name as well as keeping the Word of His patience, which has reference to His Coming, and to His Philadelphia remnant He gives the encouraging message, “I will keep thee out of the hour of trial which is to come upon all the earth.” Philadelphia assuredly originates with the midnight cry. The two are inseparably connected. But to return to the parable of the Lord. We notice that the midnight cry discovers the true condition of the wise and the foolish. They all arose and trimmed their lamps. The message has an effect upon the entire Christian profession. Of the wise we read but little, but the foolish now discover that they have no oil and further demonstrate their foolishness by appealing to the wise to give them oil. The wise in turn direct them to go to those who sell and buy for themselves. The words have occasioned much controversy. It is not at all necessary that in a parable everything must have a definite meaning. It shows simply the utter blindness of these foolish one in looking to human beings for that which they lacked. The oil, the Holy Spirit, can be obtained only from Him, who gives without money and without price. But their foolishness just consisted in this very thing that they came not to Him, who is so willing to give. One can imagine the haste and activity of these foolish virgins in running here and there trying to get oil, to have burning lamps to meet the Bridegroom. It is exactly that which has happened since the midnight cry has been given and which we still witness about us. There is a great deal of religious activity, an immense amount of religious fervor, all kinds of endeavor and service, trying to do this and attempting to be better and do better. The so-called religious world feels that there is something in the air. Something is troubling them and yet they refuse to go to Him who alone can give and whose Grace alone can save and make ready. This is, alas, the sad condition of a great part of Christendom to-day. They hear the midnight cry and yet refuse to go to Him for oil. But the wise arose and trimmed their lamps. They had the oil and they responded to the message, “Behold the Bridegroom! go ye forth to meet Him.” It is a significant fact that the blessed Hope faithfully preached is causing separation between the true and the false. That is exactly why we must preach it and preach it more faithfully. And this continues. It has continued for a good many years, longer than those who were used by the Holy Spirit in the recovery of the blessed Hope, anticipated. The infinite patience of the Lord has delayed the next great event. How long will it all continue yet? Who can give us an answer to this? For all we know the next moment may usher in the actual appearing of the Bridegroom. The next is “the Bridegroom came.” How solemn this is. While the foolish kept on running and seeking and the wise had arisen and the separation between these classes had taken place, He came at last. That is exactly what is before us now. Oh! I wish I could impress it upon every heart that this solemn event may be upon us at any time. Surely the Bridegroom will not delay his coming much longer. When John the Baptist announced the first Coming of the King through the power and energy of the Holy Spirit did it take long for Him to come? And now for so many years already the Holy Spirit has announced the nearness of the Bridegroom, His soon Coming; can it then take much longer? Every waiting one, every spiritually minded believer who has intelligence, answers with thousands of others, “It cannot be much longer. He will tarry no more, but will quickly come.” How it fills our hearts with joy. The Bridegroom is coming and it reads, “They that were ready went in with him to the marriage.” The wise, those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and know Him, are ready. Grace has made them ready and when He comes He will receive them. What a happy and glorious moment it will be at last. Said my little boy, who has an interest in the Coming of the Lord, “I wonder how He will look. I wonder what kind of a face He has when we see Him.” That is exactly what you and I have often thought about and often wonder what it will be when we see Him at last as He is. And we shall see Him. But there is another side, fearful indeed. “The door was shut.” What words these are. The door closed in the face of the rest of the virgins. No more possibility, for them to enter in. Directly they come saying “Lord, Lord, open to us.” But He answered and said, “Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” They find themselves shut out. And let me say this is their final state. One of the fearful things with some of these new theories concerning this last parable is that they meddle with these last words addressed to the foolish virgins, as if they have another chance. No, no, the door was shut and when the door opens again He comes forth not as the Bridegroom, but as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, as the mighty judge. I know you not--what words from such lips! What eternal misery they foretell! And this is the doom which hangs over the heads of the large masses of Christian people, Christians in name only, never saved. The moment He comes the door will be shut for these foolish virgins. Forever outside will be their destiny. Perhaps I am speaking here to some, not many, but some, who have not the oil, who have not the Spirit of Christ and are none of His. Let me address these words to you, and if it is but one person. Delay no longer. Arise this very moment and go to Him who still waits in patience. He waits for you and invites you to come to Him to buy without money and without price. Oh! come now, confess yourself with all your religiousness perhaps and self-righteousness a lost sinner. You need to be no longer in that dangerous position. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; decide it now and I can assure you He will give you that which you lack in your empty profession; and should He come to-night, as may be the case, you will be ready to enter in with the oldest saint of God. He died for you to have you with Himself. Will you reject then the offer of salvation as it comes in this solemn hour? How can you? Delay no longer, but now cast yourself into His arms. And we who know Him and wait for Him with longing hearts, there is more than one solemn message which comes to us from this parable. Think of the awful doom of the multitudes of professing, but unsaved, Christians. Some believers who believe in the eternal punishment of the unsaved act as if it were not true. If it is true as alas! it is, how can we be idle? Brethren, we have a great responsibility towards the foolish virgins, the great mass of the professing church. God forbid that we should be negligent in discharging this duty. Away with the miserable sectarian spirit which takes the skirts together, like the Pharisee of old and says, “I am holier than thou,” and refuses to go to those who need the truth and the Gospel. We have a debt to pay; we are debtors to all. As long as the Bridegroom tarries let us go to those who are Christians in name and who know Him not and He will graciously own our testimony. “Watch, therefore, for ye know not neither the day nor the hour.” Soon all will be reality. Soon we shall enter in to be with the Bridegroom; shut in with Him. God grant that none of us may be shut out. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 15: 01A.06. THE REDEMPTION OF THE PURCHASED POSSESSION ======================================================================== THE REDEMPTION OF THE PURCHASED POSSESSION Ephesians 1:13-14; Revelation 12:1-17 We find in these words a truth revealed, which is quite often overlooked by readers of this great Epistle. It is this: The purchased possession, that which has been purchased for us, is yet to be redeemed. There is a future redemption of the purchased possession. The divine statement includes this fact, that believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, and that He is the earnest or our inheritance until the time when the redemption of the purchased possession takes place. And where do we find these words in this great chapter? If this chapter is at all to be divided, it must be divided into two parts. The first fourteen verses make the first part and then follows the great prayer of the Spirit of God through the Apostle. The statement which is before us for consideration is found at the end of the first part, preceding the prayer of the Apostle. And what precious truth this chapter up to the fourteenth verse contains! It is indeed God’s highest revelation concerning believing sinners saved by Grace. There is nothing higher than that, which is revealed here, and it is safe to say that God could not tell us anything better and more precious than what He has told us in this chapter. First stands the greatest doxology of the Scriptures. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ.” This takes it all together. We are as believers of Christ united to Him, One with Him and therefore we possess every spiritual blessing the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is capable of giving. Then follows the great facts connected with our redemption in Christ. Here we find election, predestination, adoption, or putting into the Son-place, Redemption, the source of redemption as well as the prize of redemption. Let us glance briefly at those glorious steps which lead up to our verse. They are just seven. We can only name them, much as we would like to ponder over each. 1. We are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. He thought of us and loved us before ever a single thing had been created. 2. Marked out for the Son-place through Jesus Christ. According to the good pleasure of His will He has given us the place of a Song of Solomon. 3. He has taken us into the favor in the Beloved. In that beloved One we are beloved forever accepted in Him. 4. We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of offences, according to the riches of His grace. 5. Then we have the knowledge of the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself for the administration of the fulness of times, to head up all things in the Christ. 6. In Him we have obtained an inheritance; and then the last step, the seventh, we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, the earnest of that inheritance which we have obtained. Now let me just say this little word on the last great fact. The Authorized Version reads “after that ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.” This translation is misleading and gives ground to an error which is becoming more and more widespread. It is the error that the Holy Spirit is not given at once when the sinner believes, but that the Holy Spirit is received in a definite experience after we have believed. It is an error; the passage before us does not teach this but the very opposite, for it reads, “in whom also believing, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit.” Every one who has believed received in the act of believing the Holy Spirit. And this blessed gift, not an influence, but the person of the Holy Spirit, is both the seal and the earnest. A seal makes secure and denotes safety. By that seal we are owned by God. We are His property, we belong to Him. Then the Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, the pledge of it. We give an earnest when we buy a property, it is an advance payment, the first installment. So is the Holy Spirit from the side of our God the earnest of the purchased possession. How happy and full of joy we should be with the knowledge of all these precious truths, with the seal and earnest of our possession. But the earnest (not the seal) is up to a certain time and that time is when we come into the full possession of our inheritance “until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory.” This brings us to the whole matter before us. 1. In the first place what is “our inheritance” mentioned here? We find the word inheritance three times in this chapter. “In whom we have also obtained an inheritance” (Ephesians 1:11). Then in Ephesians 1:14, “The earnest of our inheritance.” We find it again in Ephesians 1:18. “So that ye should know what is the hope of His calling and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the Saints.” The inheritance is, according to these passages, twofold. Believers constituting the church have an inheritance and we are His inheritance. The inheritance we have, our inheritance, is nothing less than the inheritance of the Christ. He made Him Heir of all things. He is the Heir of God. The same is said of us as believers. We are heirs of God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. God has put us, according to the good pleasure of His will in Christ, in the place of sons and because He has made us sons He has made us heirs. The inheritance of the first begotten from the dead is the inheritance of all who are by Grace constituted sons in Him. And what is His inheritance which we shall share in all eternity? We find in it the preceding verses, “having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself for the administration of the fulness of times; to head up all things in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth.” In other words, He is the heir of all things and these include both the heavens and the earth. All is put under His feet. And this glorious inheritance belongs to us; we shall share it with Him in all eternity. What mind and heart can grasp it! It is unspeakable and unfathomable. Our inheritance is often lowered in that people speak about the earth as being the inheritance. Certain passages from the Old Testament are quoted in support of this. “The meek shall inherit the earth,” “the earth has He given to the children of men.” But this does not at all refer to our inheritance, but rather to the inheritance of an earthly people in the millennium. Our inheritance assuredly includes the earth, but the heavens are the supreme place for the church. As He is now far above all principalities and power and might and dominion, in the heavenlies, so will the church occupy the heavenlies with Him, the glorified Head, and in the ages to come God will show in this very position and possession He has given to us His exceeding riches of His Grace. But here we read not only of an inheritance, which belongs to us, but it speaks of “the purchased possession.” There is no difference at all between these two terms “our inheritance” and “the purchased possession;” they are one and the same thing. The inheritance, the possession of the heavenlies and of the earth is acquired or purchased and the purchase price is the blood of the Son of God. The precious blood of the Son of God has not only redeemed us and made it possible for us to share His inheritance to the praise of His Glory, but it has also purchased both the heavenlies and the earth. The heavenlies as well as the things on earth have been defiled by sin and needed the purchase; the blood of the Son of God alone could accomplish that. In the same sense we read in the first chapter of Colossians of the reconciliation of all things, the things in heaven and the things on the earth. It is an interesting fact that we find the same word “the purchased possession” as it is translated here at four other places in the New Testament. Twice in Thessalonians, once in Hebrews and once in 1st Peter. Each time it refers to the future. 1 Thessalonians 5:9. “God has not set us for wrath, but (literally) unto acquiring salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who has died for us that whether we may be watching or sleep, we may live together with Him. The “acquiring of salvation” is future and corresponds to the “purchased possession.” 2 Thessalonians 2:14. “Unto which He called you through our Gospel, unto an acquiring of the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:19.... “A people for an acquisition;” that is, a people formed for a possession corresponding to Isaiah 43:2. “This people have I formed for myself, they shall show forth my praise.” This is spoken, of course, concerning Israel. It also finds an application in the church, the royal Priesthood. In the possession of our inheritance we shall make known His excellencies, His Glory. Hebrews 10:39. The word is likewise found also relating to the future, “the preservation of the soul,” the same as salvation in the future sense. 2. And now we reach the main thought of the Scripture before us. The purchased possession, the inheritance, though it has been fully paid for, is completely purchased, is yet to be redeemed. While we said that our inheritance and the expression “the purchased possession” are the same, it is not so with “purchase” and “redemption.” These are two different things. The purchase is by blood, but the redemption here is by power. The purchased possession is to be redeemed by power. Now as this is so the inheritance must be in a state of alienation from God; some power has hold of it who has no right to it. If this were not the case it would be impossible to speak of a redemption by power. It is just like the possession of some land in a frontier state. A person purchases a large tract of land. It is his, he has a perfect title to it. But now he comes and looks over his purchased possession and he finds a number of people who settled upon it. They have erected houses and make a claim that it belongs to them, but they have no right to it at all. Either by law or by force they are to be evicted from the property to which they have no right. At a certain time the owner comes and claims his ownership and casts out these people. And even so that which the Lord has purchased and which belongs to Him and to the sons of God with Him, His inheritance and our inheritance is possessed up to this time by evil, God opposing powers and they have still control of it till the hour of eviction comes. All things are indeed put under His feet, but we see not yet all things put under Him, though we see as a pledge that it shall be so, “Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor.” The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, and yet the earth is still in the grasp of that mighty being, who had shown to our Lord the kingdoms of this world claiming them as his own and offering the same to the Lord. The father of lies spoke the truth then, for the kingdoms of this world are in his possession and they are still his. He is still the god of this age, the prince of the world. The enemies of Christ seen and unseen are not yet made His footstool, nor will they be till the power of God does it in that mighty act of a future redemption. Still there is the groaning of all creation, waiting for something better to come, waiting for the deliverance from the bondage of corruption, waiting to be brought into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The deliverance of groaning creation takes place when the sons of God are manifested, and that is the time of the redemption of the purchased possession. And we also who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of the body. And the redemption of the body belongs to the redemption of the purchased possession. And how is it with the heavens? Surely here we cannot speak of some evil powers holding possessions, and that it is necessary to redeem that possession by power? It is exactly this which is mostly before us in this epistle of the Heavenlies. To some Christians this is almost impossible to grasp and yet it is clearly revealed in the Scriptures that the heavenlies, the sphere above the earth and way beyond, is in the grasp of the evil tenants which under the headship of Satan form mighty principalities and powers and dominions. He himself as head reaches into heaven and has access to the very throne itself. He is not only the god of this age and the prince of this world, but also “The prince of the power in the air.” How mighty he is as such, what powers are at his disposal, how vast his kingdom is, how numerous the fallen beings with him and how the demons fill the air, no saint has ever fully realized, nor shall we ever realize it, till the God of peace has Satan completely bruised under our feet. Think for a moment of what the Scriptures say. There is the first and second chapter in the Book of Job. Some call it fiction. We call it one of the greatest revelations of the Word of God. There is the throne of God, and to that throne comes Satan as the accuser of the brethren. The New Testament verifies that this is still the case, and that at the present time this mighty being still accuses the saints of God before the throne of righteousness. And that is one of the reasons why the Lord Jesus Christ as our advocate appears in the presence of God for us. Again we read the words of a prophet. “I saw the Lord sitting on His throne and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right and on his left.... And there came forth a spirit and stood before the Lord and said, I will persuade him (King Ahab). And the Lord said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets” (1 Kings 22:19-23). And furthermore here in the Epistle to Ephesians in the last chapter we read of the warfare of the Christian believer, which is not with flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against the wicked spirits in the heavenlies. This passage alone is sufficient evidence to show that the heavenlies are up to the present time tenanted by wicked spirits. They hold possession of the heavenlies and have control there. But Christ has triumphed over Satan and his wicked spirits and has purchased that heavenly possession. It belongs to Him and to His church, and when the right time comes the redemption of that possession will take place and the heavenlies will be cleared from these usurpers. 3. This brings us to the third thought connected with this theme. When and how will the purchased possession be redeemed by the power of God? We are not left to speculation on this matter, for while we have here just a few words concerning this great event we have in another part of the Bible a revelation, which may be termed the complete history of the redemption of the purchased possession. There we have the when and the how we have asked completely answered. That book is our great New Testament Book of Prophecy, the Revelation. The parts in which the redemption of the purchased possession by the power of God is revealed are Revelation 12:1-17 and Revelation 20:1-15. Revelation 12:1-17 is one of the great chapters in this marvelous book. It is not only a great chapter, but also an important one. In examining any exposition of the Book of Revelation one does well to turn to this chapter and read what the expositor has to say on it. If he is straight here his book is well worth reading; if not he must be wrong in the greater part of the book. The great vision is the woman travailing in pain to be delivered of a man-child. The catching away of that man-child, which the red dragon was ready to devour. The casting out of Satan after the man-child is with God and in heaven, the persecution of the woman and her seed by the serpent. The erroneous interpretation always concerns the woman. Many make her to be the church, and then the man-child is a select company of the elect church, overcomers, first fruits, or as some call them the 144,000. The woman has nothing to do with the church. She typifies Israel and this is easily verified from Old Testament passages. The man-child destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron is Christ who, according to the flesh, came from Israel. Satan hated Him and would have devoured Him, but could not. The man-child is caught away and then after He is in the presence of God all the other events come rapidly to pass. We notice that a number of important things are passed over entirely in the beginning of this chapter. They are implied, of course. Nothing is said of the earthly life of Christ, nothing of His death and resurrection. They are implied in His being caught away unto God. There is nothing said of this present age and nothing of the church, but she is likewise implied in this scene. The man-child does not stand for the person of Christ alone, but for the completed Christ, I mean by this the Christ, the Head and the Body, the church united to Him in Glory. What is spoken of the Christ in resurrection is also spoken of His church. The promise to rule the nations with a rod of iron is not only to Him but through Him also to those who overcome. “And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my Father” (Revelation 2:28). It is also significant that we do not read of the ascension here of our Lord. If the word were here that the man-child ascended, I doubt if then we could say the church is implied, for the word ascension is never used in connection with the church. But it reads “Caught away,” and the very same word which is used here is used in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18. “Caught up together with them in clouds.” What follows next is the war in heaven and the casting out of Satan. This will not take place till the complete church, the Body and Bride of Christ, is taken up. Then Satan will be completely bruised under our feet. In spite of his malice, in spite of his power and accusations, in spite of his challenge to God and fearful attacks, there is not one member of that glorious body missing, all the redeemed are in the presence of the Lord and then Satan is forced down to the earth by Michael and his angels. In heaven there is a loud voice which declares: “Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them day and night before our God. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. Therefore rejoice, oh ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.” Then Satan as the accuser has no more place in heaven and the advocacy of Christ concerning His own, as He said in His high priestly prayer, “I pray for them,” has an end. They are all safe with Him in glory. The heavenlies are thus cleared of Satan and his hosts when the church is brought in and the eviction is the redemption of the purchased possession. It takes place by the power of God through the mighty Being whose name is “Who is like God,” Michael. Satan the usurper cast out of the heavenly sphere goes down to the earth having great wrath. How fearful must be the wrath of that Being! Who of us can imagine it, what it will be? Surely the Lord would never leave His church, His Bride on the earth, when that awful Being with that great wrath comes down. Indeed what we have said shows clearly that the great tribulation is impossible as long as the church, the complete church, is not yet in glory. For to have the great tribulation on the earth the old serpent must be cast down on the earth. The redemption of the purchased possession begins then with the rapture of the church to be with Christ in His Inheritance in the Heavenlies. This is followed by Satan being cast out of heaven. And then a few years more and the heavens open and the King of kings and Lord of lords appears. The Son in all His Glory is manifested bringing many sons with Him to Glory. It is then that we have the redemption of the purchased possession completed. “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old Serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled, and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and the judgment was given unto them, and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:1-5). Then all of groaning creation will be delivered and Satan will no longer be the god of this age, the prince of this world nor the prince of the power in the air. There will be peace on earth and Glory to God in the Highest. Christ will reign and His church with Him in the Glory above. What a time it will be when it comes. What singing in heaven and on the earth. Then shall He have His full inheritance which we share and also have His inheritance in us His Saints, and He will be admired in all them that have believed. And all this is near. Just a little while longer and we shall hear His shout which calls us and all His redeemed into His presence, with bodies redeemed by His power to enter into our inheritance, the purchased possession. And now two things need to be mentioned in closing. Our conflict is with these evil spirits, the usurpers, both in the heavenlies and here on earth. May we be victors through the power of the Christ in us and His Spirit. The conflict is becoming hotter, especially for those who enter into their privileges and realize in faith their place and future glory. Let us also walk worthy of our calling. Let it be seen that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and have Him as the earnest of our inheritance. A Christian who professes to have such an inheritance and who professes to wait for the redemption of the purchased possession and who grasps after the honors of the world and runs after its riches is a sad spectacle indeed. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 16: 01A.07. THE HISTORY OF SATAN ======================================================================== THE HISTORY OF SATAN Satan is a person and has a history. No intelligent believer in the Bible denies this, for the Bible teaches in both Testaments that such a being exists, and more than that, the history of this person is given in the Word of God. He is not a divine being, but a creature. His origin, his work and his final destiny are revealed in the Scriptures. Yet it needs to be stated that much in connection with this person is obscure and that certain facts can only be learned by inference. Questions are often asked concerning this being, which no one can answer. We mean these questions “Why God created such a being, if He knew that he would be His enemy and do the awful work he has done and which he is still doing,” or “Why does God still permit him to do this work and why does He not end his career?” In such matters it behooves us to confess our ignorance and also our faith in an all-wise God, whose wisdom, sovereignty and justice are perfect. Some day these unrevealed mysteries will be all cleared up for the Saints of God. What Person He Was The conception, which originated in the middle ages, in connection with the gross perversion of the truth of God, that this person is one of repulsive and grotesque countenance, with the figure of a monstrosity, is an invention and cannot be verified from Scripture. The Bible knows nothing of such a being with a horrible face and figure. The very opposite is the teaching of the Word of God. He was originally the greatest and most marvelous creation of God. Though now fallen and the enemy of God, he still retains much of his original beauty and wisdom. In Isaiah 14:12 the word “Lucifer” (light bearer) refers to him. He is called “Son of the Morning.” That must have been his name when unfallen. Still more striking is the description of the same person in one of the great prophetic utterances of Ezekiel. In chapter Ezekiel 28:11-19 we read the following: “Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so; thou was upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.” These words are words of lamentation over the wicked king of Tyrus. While this king is mentioned the description does not fit him at all, but must be applied to the one who was the unseen power behind the throne of the Tyrian king. The great city of Tyrus, once so glorious and now forever gone, is a type of the commercial glory of the world, its wealth and its prince, foreshadowing the final great world-city and world-system Babylon. Satan controlled Tyrus as he will also control the coming, final Babylon. We have therefore here a description of Satan in his original condition as an unfallen creature. He was full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. He was in Eden the garden of God and every precious stone was his covering. He was the anointed cherub that covereth, perhaps an archangel like Michael. He was in the mountain of God and perfect in the day of his creation. We quote another passage from which we may learn by inference his original greatness and majesty. Jude predicts the final apostasy of this present age, which culminates in man despising dominions and speaking evil of dignities. He then makes a statement in which Satan is mentioned: “Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, the Lord rebuke thee” (verses 8-9). It is a unique revelation nowhere else found in the Bible that when Moses’ body was to be laid away, the devil appeared on the scene. Perhaps Michael was commissioned by the Lord to bury the body of Moses. The devil evidently laid claim to the body of God’s servant. Perhaps he wanted the body to be preserved in an embalmed condition as an object of idolatry. When Michael faced him he durst not bring a railing accusation against him. He still recognized in him, though fallen, the greatness of his original being. This is sufficient to show that Satan was once a mighty, glorious, majestic being, full of wisdom and beauty. Being a creature he is not omnipotent, nor is he omniscient or omnipresent. His Fall His fall and how he became the great enemy of God is also revealed. We find it in the two chapters already quoted, Isaiah 14:1-32 and Ezekiel 28:1-26. He said in his heart “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:13-14). Ezekiel’s prophecy tells us that iniquity was found in him. “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou has corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness” (Ezekiel 28:17). In the beginning of this chapter a similar statement is made, which also must be applied to Satan. “Thus saith the Lord God, because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God and sit in the seat of God.” The New Testament also bears witness to the fact and reminds us of the above revelations in 1 Timothy 3:6. Speaking of the qualifications of an elder, we read, “Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.” The word condemnation has the meaning of “crime” in the Greek. He revolted against God; he was not satisfied with the position and place the Creator had given him and aimed to occupy the throne above the stars and be like the Most High. Then he fell and became the enemy of God, which he still is and ever will be. In his attempt to become like the Most High other angels sided with him and shared in the fall likewise. Where Was His Original Dwelling Place If this being attempted to put his throne above the stars, then must he have had a throne somewhere else. If he aimed to ascend into heaven and be like the Most High, he must have had some dwelling place which God had assigned to him. There is no positive Scripture concerning this place. Yet by inferential evidence the knowledge can be gained that our earth in its original condition was the domain of this great creature of God. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” We do not know when this was. In certain Bible editions the date 4004 B. C. is placed in the margin over against Genesis 1:1. But that is incorrect. It would make the earth not quite 6000 years old. Science has demonstrated the fact that our globe is of a very great age. No human being can tell the exact time when God created the heavens and the earth. It may have been 2 million or 20 million or 200 million years ago. We know, however, that the human race became a recent tenant on this earth. The human race is not older than about 6000 years. In that distant past before man was created the earth was in a different form. At that time there was a gigantic animal creation and an equally gigantic vegetation in existence. It has been brought to light through the fossil beds; but in none of these fossils is found a trace of a human being. This great original creation was plunged at one time into an awful catastrophe. Death and destruction came upon it, every living thing was extinguished, while water covered everything and all was enveloped in darkness. This is exactly the condition of the earth as described in the second verse of the Bible. “And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” If we turn to Isaiah 45:18 we find a significant statement: “For thus saith the Lord who created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain; He formed it to be inhabited.” The word vain (tohu) is the same word used in Genesis 1:2 and translated “without form.” From this we learn that God did not originally create the earth as without form and void, enshrouded in darkness. It became this through a judgment which fell upon it. Between the first and second verses of the first chapter of Genesis is therefore a long, immeasurable period of time. Now, if this original earth was ruined and passed through a judgment, why did this ruin and judgment take place? This question must remain unanswered unless we bring that first judgment in connection with the revolt and fall of Satan, who had his dwelling place on this earth. This explains not only the ruined condition of the earth in Genesis 1:2, but throws a great deal of light on Satan’s successful attempt to get back his lost dominion through man and his tenacious hold on the earth, as the prince of the world and god of this age.[The question may be asked by some, “If Satan and his angels possessed the earth and were dispossessed, to what other place did they go?” Undoubtedly the atmosphere surrounding this earth, called the first heaven. Satan is called “The prince of the power of the air” (Ephesians 2:2). Notice also the work of putting the firmament in order, the atmosphere, on the second day (Genesis 1:7) is not pronounced good.] Man Upon The Earth In God’s own time this earth was put into the condition to become the habitation for the human race. Of this we read in Genesis 1:3-31. God then created man in His own image, and said, “Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” (Genesis 1:26). “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over everything that moveth upon the earth.” Thus the earth, which was originally Satan’s habitation, was given to man. The Fall of Man When all this took place this great fallen being was no doubt an eyewitness. He beheld God working in rearranging the chaos of the original earth produced by his revolt. He saw how God created man. He heard how God spoke to man and gave him to possess his former estate which he had lost by his rebellion. He beheld God putting man and woman into the garden of Eden. He listened when God said “Of the tree of knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Then he must have been moved with envy and jealousy. He sees another in possession of his past domain. Something like this must have come into his mind--if I only can get man ruined and turn him against God, if I can make of man a rebel and lay hold on him, I shall get back the place which once was mine and then defy God. Genesis 3:1-24 shows how he succeeded in carrying out this plan. Through the serpent he approached the woman and said, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” God had spoken; the first word to man had come from His lips. Satan’s first work was to make God’s creature doubt God’s Word. The first destructive critic who denied that God hath spoken was Satan. Every man, no matter what learning he may claim, who denies the inspiration of the Bible, and that the Bible is the revelation and Word of God, is the mouthpiece of Satan. Emboldened by the woman’s answer he said “Ye shall not surely die,” an out and out denial of what God had said; and then adds the lying promise, “Your eyes shall be opened and ye shall be as gods.” He wanted to be like the Most High, and now he injects his own character into man. The transgression followed; sin came into the world and death by sin, the moment God’s commandment was disobeyed. What a sneer and laughter, what a triumphant shout Satan must have uttered when the deed was done! And with the fall of man he laid hold again on this earth and became its prince. Satan’s Doom Announced Then the Lord sought that which was lost, the guilty pair, and addressed the serpent. The words the Lord then spoke contain the first prophecy of the Bible. It concerns Satan, how God will deal with him and his final doom. “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Without fully explaining this prophecy, which may well be termed the germ of all subsequent prophecy, we but point out what it means. From the woman there is to come a seed, an offspring who is to bruise the head of the serpent (Satan), that is, overcome the serpent, and that the serpent is to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman. Furthermore, there is to rage a conflict between the serpent and the woman and between the serpent’s seed and the seed of the woman. There can be no question whatever that the seed of the woman means the Son of God in His incarnation. Paul writes to the Galatians, “But when the fulness of time was come God sent forth His Son made of a woman” (Galatians 4:4). He is the seed of the woman, the virgin-born Son of God. His death is mentioned in this first prophecy as the bruising of His heel. Then the final victory over Satan and his final doom, his head is to be bruised. And till that is accomplished there is to be conflict between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, a conflict between those who side with God, believe on and wait for the promised One, and those who side with Satan and his works. Satan heard then from the lips of Jehovah that the seed of the woman would conquer him and seal his doom. His Work and the Conflict Begins The predicted conflict began at once. Two sons are born to Adam and Eve. Satan watched them. He is interested to see if one of them might be “the seed.” He saw Cain bringing an offering of the fruit of the ground (the labor of his hands) unto the Lord. [Cain in rejecting God’s way of approach by sacrifice and bringing instead his own works was the first Unitarian and Christian Scientist.] Satan must have been delighted with Cain, as he beheld him, as a self-righteous man, rejecting God’s provision for him as a sinner. He knew Cain was his man and belonged to his seed. It was different with Abel. Abel brought of the firstlings of the flock and of the fat thereof. “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts” (Hebrews 11:3). He was a believer, who owned himself as a sinner and because he believed, God accepted his offering. As Satan beheld this scene he must have imagined that Abel was “the seed of the woman.” Then he filled Cain with wrath and moved him to slay his brother Abel. Thus Satan manifested himself in the beginning of the human race as the liar and the murderer. Our Lord testified of this character of the enemy when He spoke to those who conspired to kill Him and who belonged to the Devil’s seed: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44). But the murder of Abel was unavailing. Eve bore another son “and called his name Seth, for God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew” (Genesis 4:25). Satan was defeated for the first time. An Interesting History An interesting history follows. The Old Testament history is the history of conflict between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. Satan continually worked to oppose God, attempting to prevent the coming of that promised seed of the woman. He knew if he succeeded in this he would not again be dispossessed from this planet and his own doom would never come. Besides trying to prevent the coming of the promised One, his aim is to control the nations, have dominion over them, and to deny the truth of God made known to man by revelation. He corrupted the human race before the deluge so that the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence (Genesis 6:11). This great being knew well that God is holy and cannot tolerate evil. He plunged the race into great wickedness in the hope that God would destroy the whole race and leave him possessor of the earth. But Noah found grace in the sight of the Lord. When Satan received the knowledge that the seed to conquer him and seal his doom would come through Abraham, he then opposed the seed of Abraham to frustrate God’s purpose. The land which was promised by Jehovah to Abraham and his descendants was settled by the nations which were Satan-controlled and were his willing instruments. Satan’s power in wickedness and vileness was manifested in the Canaanites. That is why the Lord commanded their utter extermination. So that in the land itself there was a steady conflict between the seed of the serpent, the Canaanites, and the seed of the woman, godly Israelites. When Pharaoh gave the command to kill all the male children born to Israel in Egypt, it was another attempt of Satan to make the coming of the promised seed impossible (Exodus 1:16). But God took care and used the Hebrew midwives, the weaker vessels, to bring to naught the wicked plan. Pharaoh brought up in his own palace one of the Hebrew boys, whom Satan would have killed; and that boy became the great leader and deliverer of Israel. All the persecutions of the people Israel in Egypt were Satan’s work. When at last they had left the house of bondage, Satan in impotent rage stirred up Pharaoh to attempt their destruction; but Pharaoh and his army found their graves in the Red Sea. Afterward Jehovah announced that the promised seed should be of the house of David. Then Satan watched David and his descendants. Through Saul he persecuted God’s anointed, but failed to touch his life. Immediately after the Lord had made the covenant with David (2 Samuel 7:1-29) promising him a son whose Kingdom shall be established (the seed--Christ), Satan led David to commit his awful sin. Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, belonged to the seed of the serpent. This wicked son of David slew all his brethren. It was Satan’s attempt to exterminate the descendant of David (2 Chronicles 21:4). Then the Arabians came and slew all his sons except Ahaziah. Still greater was Satan’s attempt to end forever the house of David through wicked queen Attaliah. She was the mother of Ahaziah. When her son had been slain “she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah” (2 Chronicles 22:10). Satan had made the awful suggestion to her and when the seed royal was destroyed he thought he had triumphed at last. “But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the King, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from the King’s sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehorada the priest, hid him from Attaliah so that she slew him not. And he was with them hid in the house of God six years” ( 2 Chronicles 27:11-12). Satan was defeated. Through Haman he made still another attempt to have all the Jews, men, women, and children, killed. God watched over His people again and Satan’s plan was frustrated. And how much else might be added! Throughout Old Testament history he had his chosen instruments, like Nimrod, the kings of Babylon, the Pharaohs, the Assyrian, the Persian Kings, Alexander and others through whom he attempted world dominion. He instigated the cruel and terrible wars. Israel, the people of God, were led by him into idolatry and apostasy. In all this and much besides his aim was the defiance of God and to keep God from carrying out his plan of redemption though the promised seed. The Promised Seed and Satan’s Opposition The promised seed came. The Son of God took on the creature’s garb and became man, the son of David and son of Abraham, according to the flesh. All Satan had done for 4,000 years had been in vain. God had kept His promise. King Herod was the seed of the serpent and when the child was born, Satan moved him to seek the young child to destroy him. Herod, inspired by the murderer from the beginning, “exceeding wroth, sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof from two years old and under” (Matthew 2:16). But God had watched, and the young child was on the way to Egypt when Satan’s suggestion was carried out by the Roman soldiers. And how many more times he must have made the same attempt! When Satan had taken him on the pinnacle of the temple and suggested “cast thyself down,” he tried it once more. The people of Nazareth were the serpent’s seed and under his control when they rushed him out of the city and attempted to cast him headlong down a precipice. The storms on the lake were Satan’s work to take His life. Little did he know that the ship in which the Son of God slept peacefully, though it filled with water, was the only unsinkable ship which sailed the seas. He could not touch the seed of the woman, for He was holy, without sin, and death had not claim on Him. Yet He had come to die “that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” He knew that the Lord Jesus would get the victory and the dominion over this earth by the way of the Cross. That is why he took Him on the exceeding high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. He offered all to the Son of Man, if He but would fall down before him. He wanted Him to keep away from the cross for he knew then and knows now, far better than many a so-called theologian, that redemption for the individual and redemption for this earth, the nations and groaning creation has its blessed source in the work of the Cross. He was defeated in all his malice and cunning. And finally the Cross, preceded by the agony in Gethsemane. Satan was there; with unspeakable hatred he planned His death. He entered into Judas; he used the Pharisees and Sadducees, the priests and elders, which were all Satan’s seed, to have Him put to death. The cry “Away with Him! Crucify Him!” was inspired by himself. He used man to dishonor the Son of God, to revile Him, spit in His face, to scourge Him and finally to nail Him to the Cross. Did he think that he might yet get the victory and keep the Lord Jesus from finishing the work the Father gave Him to do? We do not know if such was the case, but we know that while the Son of God gave Himself, Satan had also his part in His rejection and His death. Our Lord conquered. He won the victory and those blessed never-to-be-forgotten words, “It is finished” tell of the final doom of Satan and the coming glories of a new heaven and a new earth. The thorn-crowned Man of that cross of shame will some day be the glory-crowned Man who claims His inheritance, and because he wore the thorns and paid for all sin’s curse, He will rid this earth from the works of the devil. The tomb was closed with the big stone and then sealed with the Roman seal. A watch too is set. How careful Satan is! What a good memory he has! Yet how blind! He wanted to prevent His triumphant resurrection, as if he had more power than God! On the third day the stone was rolled away. He came forth. Death and the grave are conquered. He is the resurrection and the life. Then the man-child, whom the dragon wanted to devour (Revelation 12:1-17) was caught up to the throne of God, destined to rule the nations with a rod of iron. Like another Joash, He is hidden in the house of God. He fills the throne there and awaits in that place of glorious exaltation the time when Satan will be dethroned and He, the Son of Man, will receive His own throne. The Conflict Continues As stated elsewhere, Satan by having succeeded in getting the Jews and Gentiles to reject the Prince of Life and the Lord of Glory, became what he has not been in previous ages, “the god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4). [See “The Present Age” in this volume.] And so the conflict continues. Satan can no longer attempt to prevent the coming of the promised seed or attack His Person, for He is in glory as the glorified Man. He knows, however, that He has a seed on this earth, a seed which has the promise given that he, Satan, “is to be bruised completely” under their feet. This seed is the church. The enmity and conflict during this present age is therefore between the seed of the serpent and the seed of Christ, those who are in Him and in whom Christ dwelleth. All students of Prophecy know that the seven church messages in the book of Revelation (Revelation 2:1-29 and Revelation 3:1-22) contain a prophetic forecast of the history of the church on earth, from the apostolic age to the time when the true church is taken to glory and the apostate church disowned by the Lord. [“Exposition of Revelation,” by A. C. Gaebelein, unfolds this more fully.] In these prophetic messages Satan’s work in opposition to the church is made known. In the Apostolic age he acted in introducing error; he sowed the tares. After the Apostles had passed away a time of great persecution set in which is indicated in the message to Smyrna. The Roman emperors were the serpent’s seed. They claimed divine honors and worship. As Satan’s instruments they persecuted the church, and thousands upon thousands of believers died the martyrs’ death. The cruel tortures and horrible forms of death were Satan’s work by which he attempted to exterminate the church. When he found that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church, and that the church increased in spite of these persecutions, then he began to corrupt the church. The professing church settled down where Satan’s throne is, that is, she gave up the place of separation and became a world institution. Gradually the Gospel and the doctrine of Christ became perverted, heathenish customs were introduced and finally the culmination was reached in the Romish apostasy. These developments are described in the messages to Pergamos and Thyatira. When the Reformation set in the fires of persecution were kindled again; once more Satan, as the murderer, tries to prevent the victory of the truth of Christ and the Gospel. Satan’s work can thus be traced in the history of the church down to our own times. The destructive criticism of our own times, the so-called “new theology,” the different systems, which deny the Deity of our Lord and which reject His atoning death, like “Christian Science,” belong to the seed of the serpent. And so does Spiritism, Theosophy, Mormonism and other cults. In these systems and cults he appears as an angel of light, blinding the eyes of them that believe not. “And no marvel, for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15). Why He Hates the Church He hates the true church because he knows its members are the blood-bought hosts of the Son of God, destined to rule and reign with Him over this earth, which Satan still holds in his grasp. There is another reason why he has tried to exterminate the true church or to corrupt it. Satan has knowledge concerning the future. When our Lord was on earth the demons cried out “What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” (Matthew 8:29). From this we learn that the demons know the difference between the first and second coming of our Lord. They know when He comes the second time their doom will be sealed and they will no longer be permitted to torment and ruin the bodies and souls of men. Satan unquestionably knows his doom and that it is linked up with the Return of our Lord. He also knows that the church, as the body of Christ, must be completed before He comes again. This must be a leading reason why he hates the church and attempts to corrupt it by evil doctrines and persecutes those who are Christ’s. All his efforts are unavailing for the Lord Jesus Christ keeps His people. World Dominion Satan’s Endeavor Throughout this age this enemy of God also endeavors to control the earth politically and rule the nations. The Roman emperors mostly all aimed at world-dominion and did the devil’s bidding to obtain their object. What horrible things were done and the depths of wickedness history makes known to us. Throughout the centuries of our age, again and again, he raised up instruments and inspired them to great deeds in bloody wars to control nations and kingdoms. Napoleon is a notable example. His ambition was to become the head of a great European empire. A cartoonist of 1812 pictured Satan holding Napoleon in his lap and saying to him, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” If this was true of Napoleon that he was of the seed of the serpent, doing his will, how much more is it true of the Hohenzollern, William II. His deeds and the deeds of his associates in this war of all wars surpass the deeds of Nero, Attila and Napoleon. The devil’s bait was swallowed by this Prussian emperor and he hoped to gain world dominion, but has now found out that the devil is a liar. Nor must we forget the popes with their spurious claims of being Christ’s vice-regents on earth and their attempt to exercise temporal power. Behind their claim there stands the same dark shadow. Satan’s Final Opposition When this age ends Satan will make a final effort in opposing God. He will be permitted to succeed for a brief time and do what is in his heart to do. This takes place after the true church has left the earth. Satan will then be cast out of heaven and coming down to this earth once more in person, he manifests great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time (Revelation 12:12). [See chapter “The Redemption of the Purchased Possession.”] The mystery of lawlessness, which has been at work from the beginning will break out fully and find a consummation through the power of Satan. The thirteenth chapter of Revelation gives the future history of Satan’s seeming success and triumph. He will succeed in forming a great empire, which is the old Roman empire in a revived form. This empire, which is called a beast, will receive Satan’s power, and will have over it a wicked leader, whom Daniel saw as the little horn on the ten-horned beast. [The Roman Empire in its final form of ten kingdoms.] The dragon’s plan to control the earth has seemingly been realized. He then institutes the great tribulation. But there is a second beast mentioned in Revelation 13:1-18. He has two horns like a lamb but speaks as a dragon. This is the Antichrist, the man of sin, the son of perdition. Like the little horn, the political leader, this second beast is Satan’s man. He leads the religious apostasy and tries to stamp out what is left of the truth of God on the earth. He himself claims to be God and takes the place in the temple of God (in Jerusalem), and by lying signs and wonders backs up his claims. His work is described in Revelation 13:11-18 and 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12. Fearful will be those days when the true church is gone and when God, as a judgment, lets Satan rule over those who rejected the offers of His love in His blessed Son. Another work of his is seen in the final Babylon and the scarlet clad woman, who rides the beast (the revived Roman Empire). And finally when the hour approaches of Christ’s visible and glorious return, Satan summons “the kings of the earth and their armies, gathering them together to make war against Him that sat on the horse and against his army” (Revelation 19:19). But then his defeat has come. The King of kings and Lord of lords appears in glory. The glory-flash, the brightness of His Coming strikes down the beast and the false prophet (Antichrist). The battle of Armageddon of short duration is over. Satan and all his hosts are utterly defeated. In Revelation 20 we have the record of what will happen to the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan. He will be chained and cast into the pit of the abyss for a thousand years so that he can seduce the nations no more. He is dethroned and Christ is enthroned. Christ and His Saints reign over the earth. During this millennium righteousness and peace will reign. Wars will be no more, for the supreme war-lord is chained in prison. Armies will be unknown, for he who is behind it all has no more power. Idolatries and its degrading immoralities are no longer known, for he who deceived the nations has been arrested. Nor will there be any more cults which deny the Lord, His virgin birth, His resurrection, for the liar can lie no more and the visible presence of Christ stops every mouth. After this millennium of indescribable blessing and glory, Satan will be permitted to get out of the prison for a little season. [ See “Revelation,” by A. C. Gaebelein, in explanation of this interesting prophecy.] His first work is to begin another war encompassing the camp of the Saints. A swift judgment follows. “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophets are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10). His eternal dwelling place will be the lake of fire, not to be destroyed, but to live on forever and ever. There too will be the beast and the false prophet and all who are not found written in the book of life. (Revelation 20:15). And then what? “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. And John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4). Such is the history of Satan. It is the history of the earth, and a marvellous history it is. The original earth, once Satan’s domain, then judged and covered by water and darkness on account of his revolt. The earth as it is now is given to man and Satan through the fall of man laying hold of it again. Then the long history of the conflict for well nigh 6,000 years. The Son of God, the Creator of all things, appearing on earth to procure the needed redemption; Satan defeated every step of the way. And after Satan’s power manifested to the full, Christ appears and rids this earth, for whose redemption He paid by His blood, of the dark shadow. And finally this earth becomes in its eternal state, as a new earth, surrounded by a new heaven, the eternal dwelling place of God in the midst of His redeemed people. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 17: 01A.08. THE CONVERSION OF THE WORLD AND THE JEWS ======================================================================== THE CONVERSION OF THE WORLD AND THE JEWS The term, the conversion of the world, is nowhere used in the Bible. That there is, according to the predictions of God’s Holy Word, a wonderful future in store for the earth, when nations will learn war no more, but learn righteousness instead, and worship Jehovah as King and Lord, is too well known to every intelligent Christian to need restatement. When that jubilee time comes the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the deep; the groaning creation, now so sadly sharing in the curse of man’s sin, will be delivered from its groans. It is noteworthy that there are no promises in the New Testament which would authorize the Church of God to expect the accomplishment of these predictions as the result of her testimony and activity. If this were her work, to convert the world, to lead nations to know God, to abandon the most horrible result of sin, war--we would have to confess that she has failed miserably. Nor is it true, as some now say, that this world war will, when it ends, bring about these blessed things by man’s renewed efforts. If it is the work of present agencies, the expected world conversion lies in an unreachable distance. According to Prophecy It is in the Old Testament Prophetic Word where we find the promises that the nations of the world will be brought to know God, that all the ends of the earth shall turn to the Lord and that all kings shall fall down before Him. It is written that “All nations shall serve Him,” “All nations shall call Him blessed,” and that the whole earth will be filled with His glory.[We give a few of the many passages which predict these things. Read them carefully with the contex: Psalms 22:27-28, Psalms 47:7-8, Psalms 67:4-5, Psalm 72; Isaiah 60:2-9; Daniel 7:13-14; Zechariah 2:11.] Nor is the Old Testament Prophetic Word silent as to how and when all this is to be brought about. As the writer has shown in his “Harmony of the Prophetic Word,” before this glorious future can come for the nations of the earth the Lord’s return must have taken place; and this event is preceded by judgments upon the nations, and partial restoration of God’s ancient people to their own land, the calling of a God-fearing remnant amongst them, and by the great Tribulation. When these things have come to pass, immediately after the days of that Tribulation, our Lord will appear in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory. The Day of Vengeance has come, but in wrath mercy will be remembered. All Israel living in that day will be saved, and His Kingdom will be established upon this earth. The nations of the earth are then gathered into this kingdom. They will not be gathered into the Church, as is often said, for the Church is no longer here but has entered into glory to reign with Christ over the earth. Daniel in his vision beheld the Son of Man coming with the clouds of Heaven: “And there was given Him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14). As the result of the first coming of our Lord in humiliation and His sacrificial death He receives the Church, which is now forming during this age. When He comes the second time He receives this world-wide Kingdom, in which the nations of the earth will be subjects. When that time comes, and not before, the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, “and He shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 2:15). So much for the conversion of the world, and the blessings promised to the nations and to the whole earth. It is inseparably linked with the second coming of Christ. The Nations which Enter into the Kingdom In Matthew 25:31 our Lord speaks of what will take place when He has returned, “When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.” We are aware that this passage is often looked upon as teaching a universal judgment of the whole human race; but it is not that. Not a word is said by our Lord concerning the resurrection of the dead. The dead are not included in this judgment. This judgment can therefore not be identified with the Great White Throne Judgment of Revelation 20:1-15. Nor is the Church in any way connected with this judgment, because when that takes place the saints are with the Lord in glory. It is the judgment of the living nations which the Lord finds on earth at the time of His second coming. This judgment will cover the first part of His reign as King, when He will first rule like David in subduing His enemies, when Gog and Magog, under the leadership of the Prince of Rosh, will also be dealt with in judgment (Ezekiel 38:1-23 and Ezekiel 39:1-29), and that will be followed by His reign as Prince of Peace, as foreshadowed by the reign of Solomon. Now, at this judgment of the nations, when He divides them as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats, there will be nations which He puts at His right hand, and to which He saith, “Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” These nations are therefore converted nations, righteous nations, declared to be fit for that Kingdom over which He will reign. The question arises, When were these nations converted? Though the Gospel has been preached for about 1900 years yet we do not know of any converted nation on the earth to-day. The nations which we term Christian nations are at present engaged in the most bloody war of all history. Yet in as much as the Lord finds converted nations on the earth when He comes back and receives His throne, these nations must have been converted previous to His coming. It is therefore an important and interesting question, When and how were the nations converted which the Lord at the judgment of nations calls blessed, and bids to enter the Kingdom on earth? They were not converted by the preaching of the Gospel as it is done to-day, for if they were converted as the result of the testimony of the Church they would share in the glorious destiny, “Caught up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” The only alternative then is that they will be converted after the true Church has been completed and taken into glory. Sometimes before our Lord is manifested from Heaven with His holy angels, a turning of nations to God must therefore take place. It will be during the time when God deals with this earth in mighty judgments, when the earth and the heavens are shaken, when Antichrist, Satan’s masterpiece, is on the earth and produces the Great Tribulation. It will be one of the startling events of the end of the age, after the Church has been removed from the earth. During these years of trouble, judgment, and great tribulation, God will give a final witness to all nations. Of this our Lord speaks in Matthew 24:14, “And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come.” Though the Gospel of Grace is being preached world-wide, the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom as a witness unto all nations has not yet taken place. It falls into the seven years preceding the visible coming of our Lord. Who Will be Used in the Conversion of These Nations? But who will be the preachers who proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom if all true Christians have left the earth and the true Church is no longer here? The apostates and destructive critics of to-day, with the mass of professing Christians who received not the love of the Truth will surely not take up the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom, for we read in the Word of God that those who received not the love of the Truth that they might be saved will follow the strong delusion of Antichrist and believe the lie (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11). Who then are the preachers? An elect company of God’s ancient people, Israel. They are now scattered among all the nations of the earth, judicial blindness is upon them; but it will not be always so, for God has not cast away His people. When the Church is gone the Lord will not leave the world without a witness. He will raise up a company of God-fearing people, Israelites; take away the veil from their hearts and use them as heralds. As it was in the beginning of this present dispensation, so will it be at the close. The first preachers were Jews, and the last heralds before the Lord comes in visible glory will again be Jews. To them will be given the last evangel of God’s mercy to a lost world. “To every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6); and the message, “Fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment is come, and worship Him that made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Revelation 14:7). They will preach the Gospel of the coming Kingdom, that the Kingdom is about to come, and then call upon all nations to repent and turn to God. It would be intensely interesting if we could follow the calling of this remnant of Israelites for this testimony as revealed in different portions of the Old Testament. Such a remnant of believing Israelites is anticipated in the Psalms, which speak of the coming final deliverance of Israel. There we read of their persecutions, their prayers, and their expectations. The reader will please turn to Psalms 44:10-26; Psalms 55:1-23, Psalms 56:1-13, Psalms 57:1-11; Psalms 114:1-8, Psalms 129:1-8 and Psalms 130:1-8; Isaiah 63:15 to Isa. 114. And how well this remnant is fitted to give a world-wide testimony among all nations, for they are scattered amongst the nations and acquainted with the different languages. Therefore the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom to all nations will be accomplished before the real end comes. Revelation--Chapter Seven We call attention here to Revelation 7:1-17. In this chapter we read of the sealing of one hundred and forty-four thousand. How much confusion might have been avoided if expositors and Christians had not lost sight of two facts in connection with this sealed company. First, this sealed company cannot be called now, nor are they in connection with the Church of God, because the Church according to the scope of the Book of Revelation is no longer on the earth when this takes place; and secondly, the Word states clearly that these sealed ones are “of all the tribes of the children of Israel.” This sealed company therefore is of Israel, and will be called after the Church has been removed to her heavenly destination. In the second half of this chapter in Revelation we read of another company. John writes, “After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands.” When one of the elders had asked, “Who are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they?” He told John, “These are they which came out of the Great Tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” We learn that this multitude of all nations comes out of the Great Tribulation. It is not the Church, for the Church is not in the Great Tribulation. This great multitude represents the Gentile nations who heard the final testimony and who believed, They turned in repentance to God and were then washed in the Blood of the Lamb. This great company does not stand before a heavenly throne, but it is the millennial throne which is in view here, and their blessedness throughout the millennial kingdom, after having suffered in the Great Tribulation, is described. They are the nations which the King calls blessed, and which will inherit the Kingdom. They are the fruits of the faithful witness of the elect Jewish remnant heralding the Kingdom before the Lord comes. “These My Brethren” When our Lord addresses from His throne these converted nations He says, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” Who are His brethren? He means by this term His brethren according to the flesh, from whom as concerning the flesh He came (Romans 9:4-5). The nations who listened to their testimony when they appeared with the Gospel of the Kingdom, and who believed that message, manifested their belief by treating the messengers with kindness, giving them to eat and to drink, and clothing them. They did what the Gentile Rahab did to the Jewish spies, the advance guard of the victorious host of Israel. And the other nations who despised the final offer of God’s mercy in the preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom showed no kindness to the Jewish messengers; and these nations which spurned the last offer will pass away from the earth. What Else Converted Israel Will Do When the Lord comes all Israel living in that day will be saved, except the apostates (Ezekiel 20:38), those who have worshipped the Beast and followed Anti-Christ. “They shall look upon Him Whom they have pierced, and mourn for Him” (Zechariah 12:10). This converted nation will be a kingdom of priests, and become the nucleus of that Kingdom into which the nations converted during the Tribulation, and all nations throughout the Millennium, will be gathered. Beautiful are the words of Isaiah, speaking of that time (Isaiah 61:6-9): Then the Gentiles shall come to the light which has risen among that nation, and kings to their brightness. Read Isaiah 60:1-22. In fact the entire prophetic Word witnesses to the fact that Israel, so long a curse among the nations, will be a blessing to all the nations. It seems from another passage that when the Millennium begins with the coming of the King, that certain portions of the earth must yet be reached, and that work is to be done among different nations to make known the great events which have taken place. And God will use Israel for this work. Isaiah 66:19 : “And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.” The last sentence of this prophecy, “they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles,” tells us that they will have a work to do after His glory has been manifested. There is another passage in Zechariah which also speaks of how they will be used, Zechariah 8:23: “Thus saith the Lord of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” This necessarily also comes after the Lord has come and set up His Kingdom. Israel will therefore be definitely used in bringing the nations of the earth into the Kingdom. In that coming Kingdom, converted, Spirit-filled Israel will be the head of all nations, and be used in world-wide ministry and blessing. Then will be fulfilled what the Lord said through Isaiah: “Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord; men shall call you ministers of our God; ye shall eat the wealth of the nations, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves.” What blessing is in store for the whole world, when that time comes may also be learned from Romans 11:12-15. Let all true believers pray as never before, “Even so, come Lord Jesus.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 18: 01A.09. THE FEASTS AND THE NAMES ======================================================================== THE FEASTS AND THE NAMES Leviticus 23:1-44 The Lord commanded His people Israel to keep seven yearly feasts. We find them mentioned in their proper order in Leviticus. The feasts, or holy convocations are: The Feast of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of First-fruits, the Feast of Pentecost, the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles. While these feasts had a special meaning for God’s people Israel and their worship they are also “the shadow of things to come;” they have a decided prophetic meaning. In a most remarkable manner they reveal the whole plan of redemption. All the dispensational dealings of God with Jews and Gentiles may be traced in these feasts. We find also in the Old Testament Scriptures seven compound names of Jehovah. These are the following: Jehovah-Jireh (Jehovah provides), Genesis 22:14; Jehovah-Rophekah (Jehovah thy Healer), Exodus 15:26; Jehovah-Nissi (Jehovah my banner), Exodus 7:1-25; Jehovah-Shalom (Jehovah is Peace), Judges 6:24; Jehovah-Roi (Jehovah my Shepherd), Psalms 23:1; Jehovah-Tsidkenu (Jehovah our Righteousness), Jeremiah 23:6; Jehovah-Shammah (Jehovah is there), Ezekiel 48:35. These names are also prophetic; they tell out the story of redemption and may be linked with the Feasts of Jehovah. The interesting fact is that these names are given in the Word in such an order that they correspond with these feasts of Jehovah. 1. The Passover Feast. This was to be observed on the fourteenth day of the month of Abib and was kept in memory of Israel’s redemption and deliverance from Egypt, the house of bondage. The Passover-lamb was slain and its blood sprinkled on the lintel and side-posts of the door. God assured them when they were in Egypt, “When I see the blood I will pass over you.” And so it was. The blood of the slain lamb sheltered them and secured immunity from death. The lamb, as a spotless victim, died that they might live. This feast marked the beginning of Israel’s history as a redeemed people; their years were to be counted from that day (Exodus 12:1). The blessed story of this great redemption was not to be forgotten, but to be remembered from generation to generation (Exodus 22:24-27). The Passover lamb and the sheltering blood foreshadow most blessedly the atoning work of the Cross, the sacrifice of our Lord and His precious blood. The paschal lamb is a type of Christ our Passover. “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us” (1 Corinthians 5:7). Our Lord fulfilled the type in every detail. When the time came for the Lord Jesus Christ to give His life, Satan made an effort that His death should not occur on the Passover-feast. Satan knew that he was the true Lamb, and so he tried to prevent His death at the proper time (Matthew 26:5; Mark 14:2). But the Lamb of God died at the very time, thus fulfilling the Scriptures. Redemption by blood stands first, for it is the foundation of everything. Jehovah-Jireh --”the Lord will provide”--is His name in connection with Abraham when he put his son Isaac as a sacrifice upon the altar. When Isaac asked, “Where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?” Abraham answered, “My son, God will Himself provide the lamb for a burnt-offering” (Genesis 22:8). The ram was provided to be put upon the altar and Abraham called the place Jehovah-Jireh. And so the Lord has provided the Lamb; He has provided a free and full salvation through His own Son. How beautifully this name of Jehovah fits the Passover feast needs not to be demonstrated. Every one can see this. 2. The Feast of Unleavened Bread This feast could not be separated from Passover. Passover without the feast of unleavened bread would have not only been an impossibility, but an insult to God. And so also the feast of unleavened bread without the Passover. Leaven is always the type of evil, corruption and sin. An unleavened condition means the opposite, it means holiness. God redeems unto holiness. What He redeems is destined to share His own holy character. This feast of unleavened bread was to be kept for seven days. In Corinthians (1 Corinthians 5:7-8), where we read of Christ our Passover, the unleavened bread is likewise mentioned. “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; 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.” And before this it is written “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened.” Redemption delivers from the power of indwelling sin. Redeemed by blood, and saved by grace, our calling is unto holiness. Spiritually to keep the feast of unleavened bread means to live in the energy of the new nature, walking in the Spirit. And ultimately His redeemed people will be wholly sanctified delivered from the very presence of sin. He will present the church to Himself, “a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27). That will be when we shall be with Him in glory. Then the gracious work of redemption is completed and crowned. Jehovah-Rophekah, “the Lord thy Healer,” He calls Himself in Exodus 15:26. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies” (Psalms 103:2-4). We look forward to the day when in the kingdom to come “the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick” (Isaiah 33:24), when His redeemed, blood-washed people shall be glorified and then wholly sanctified as to body, soul and spirit. When our body of humiliation is changed that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body (Php 3:21), then shall we know all the gracious power of Jehovah-Rophekah. 3. The Feast of First-fruits. The third feast is the Feast of First-fruits (Leviticus 23:9-14). While the Passover typifies the death of Christ, the waving of the sheaf of the first fruits is the blessed type of the physical resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the third feast; the number three in the Word of God is almost in every instance connected with resurrection. One sheaf only was brought into the presence of Jehovah; this sheaf was the earnest of the harvest to follow. “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept” (1 Corinthians 15:20). “But every man in his own order: Christ, the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His Coming” (1 Corinthians 15:23). The grain of wheat had fallen into the ground and died. But He liveth; the full ear of the sheaf waved before Jehovah typifies the abundant fruit which He brings unto God. It was waved “on the morrow after the Sabbath.” That is the first day of the week, the glorious resurrection morning. Thus we see in this feast Christ risen from the dead, the first-fruits, now at the fight hand of God. And as He was raised from among the dead, so shall His people be raised from among the dead, when He descends from heaven with the shout; while living believers shall be changed in a moment. And all will be with Him in that blessed day when He comes for His own. Jehovah-Nissi, “the Lord my Banner” (Exodus 17:15). Israel, as we read in this chapter, fought with Amalek (the type of the flesh). Joshua was the leader of God’s people in this warfare, while Moses was on the top of the hill holding up his hands that Israel might prevail. And Joshua gained the victory over Amalek. Joshua typifies Christ risen from the dead, who, like Joshua, brings His people through Jordan into the promised land. And Moses on the top of the hill with his uplifted hands also represents Christ risen from the dead, at God’s right hand interceding for His people. Through a risen Christ, whose life we have, and who liveth for us, we get the victory in the conflict down here. He died for us, which gives us peace; He lives for us and in us, which gives us power. The risen Christ is our banner and victory. 4. The Feast of Pentecost (Leviticus 23:15-22). This is the Feast of Weeks, also called Pentecost (the Greek word for fifty) because it was celebrated fifty days after the Feast of First-fruits. After seven Sabbaths had passed by, a new Meal-offering was to be brought to the Lord. It consisted of two loaves, which were of fine flour, leaven also was to be put in them; they were to be the first-fruits unto the Lord. In the beginning of Leviticus we read of the meal-offering. The offering here in the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, was a new meal-offering. The meal-offering in the first part of this book (2:1-16) is the type of Christ in His perfect humanity. In that meal-offering there was no leaven, but fine flour was mixed with oil, and oil was poured upon it before it was exposed to the fire. All this blessedly foreshadows the Lord Jesus in His spotless humanity and the sufferings through which He passed. But here is a new meal-offering, into which leaven was put. Fifty days after Christ arose, when the day of Pentecost had come, the Holy Spirit descended out of heaven. While He filled the assembled believers in Jerusalem, He also baptized them into one body; the church, the body of Christ, began with this great event. The new meal-offering, therefore, is a prophetic type of the church. Let us notice that the loaves of this new meal-offering were also called “first-fruits.” This word identifies them with Him who is the first-fruits of them that slept, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the First-fruits and His believing people are likewise called by that name. “Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first-fruits of His creatures” (James 1:18). Believers have the first-fruits of the Spirit (Romans 8:23). Christ also is the firstborn, while believers are His brethren destined to share His glory (Romans 8:29); and the church is called the church of the firstborn” (Hebrews 12:23). This new meal-offering, a type of the church, was made of fine flour, which comes from the corn of wheat. It typifies the true believer, who is born again, and possesses the new nature, and only those who are born again are members of the true church. The leaven put into this offering is the type of sin and the old nature, which is still in the believer. Therefore the sin-offering was made prominent in connection with this feast, which tells us of the blessed work of Christ as the sin-bearer of His people. The two loaves foreshadow believing Jews and Gentiles, which compose the church. Some day the church will be presented to the Lord, as the new meal-offering was brought into His presence. This will happen when the Lord comes for His Saints. Jehovah-Shalom, “the Lord is Peace” (Judges 6:24). How beautifully this name of Jehovah harmonizes with Pentecost. He has made peace in the blood of the Cross. “Peace be unto you” was His blessed word of greeting to the assembled disciples on the resurrection day. And ever since He is in the midst of those who gather unto His Name and His blessed, precious word of peace remains throughout this age for His redeemed people. Furthermore, “He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, the law of commandments in ordinances, for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace. And that He might reconcile both unto God, in one body by the cross having slain the enmity thereby. And came and preached peace to you which were far off, and to them that were nigh” (Ephesians 2:14-17). But let us notice here that four months elapsed before another feast was kept. During these four months the harvest and vintage took place. The feast of Pentecost had after it this long period before the trumpet was blown for another solemn feast. This interval has a prophetic meaning of much importance. Dispensationally we are still in the Feast of Pentecost. This age is the age of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit is present to accomplish His great mission, which is to gather out the church. This blessed work goes on during this age. But some day the Spirit’s work will surely be finished and the new meal-offering, the church, will be presented in glory. How this will be accomplished we know from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-54. Let us remember then that the four feasts foreshadow the Cross of Christ (Passover); the Work of the Cross which is complete Redemption (Unleavened Bread); the Resurrection of Christ (First-Fruits); the Holy Spirit and His Work on earth, the out-calling of the church (Pentecost). We are living in the interval between Pentecost and the fifth feast. But the next feast in its prophetic meaning will not come till the church is completed and presented unto the Lord. The harvest has to come. And the harvest is in Leviticus 23:22 the same as in Matthew 13:39. Recently a theory has been advanced according to which the Lord must come for His Saints on the Jewish feast of Trumpets. But that is only a speculation. It is disproven by the fact that the new meal-offering on the feast of Pentecost, typifying the church, must be first presented to the Lord, before the feast of trumpets can come. What the feast of trumpets foreshadows we shall see next. 5. The Feast of Trumpets. The feast of trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the feast of tabernacles in their prophetic meaning are still future. Nor will the events foreshadowed come to pass till the harvest, the end of the age, comes, and the church has been removed from the earth. The trumpets here must not be identified with the last trump in 1 Corinthians 15:53 or the trump of God in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18. The feast of trumpets does not foreshadow the Coming of the Lord for His Saints. The feast of trumpets shows prophetically the call of God to the remnant of His earthly people. They are to be regathered and a remnant of them is to be brought back. But the Lord does not regather earthly Israel as long as His heavenly people are still here. An awakening spiritually and nationally is predicted throughout the prophetic Word for His people Israel. See Isaiah 27:13 and Joel 2:1. Matthew 24:31 has often been applied as meaning the church. This is incorrect. The elect to be gathered by the trumpets’ sound is Israel. The blowing of the trumpets on the first day of the seventh month precedes the great day of atonement and heralds that approaching day. Jehovah-Roi, “the Lord is my Shepherd” (Psalms 23:1). Christians have almost universally applied this precious Psalm to themselves and forgotten that Israel also has a part in it. He who is our Shepherd is the Shepherd of Israel. He gave His life as the good Shepherd for all His sheep; yea, He died for that nation (John 11:51). There is a day coming when this loving, caring Shepherd, who was here once and sought the lost sheep of the house of Israel, will seek them again. “Behold I, even I, will both search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his flock that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep; and will deliver them out of all places whither they have been scattered in the day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers and in all the inhabited places of the country” (Ezekiel 34:11-14). And when He gathers them, then will they joyfully praise Him as their Shepherd and know Jehovah-Roi. 6. The Day of Atonement This solemn feast followed immediately the blowing of the trumpets. Leviticus 16:1-34 gives us the full description of that important day. On that day the blood of a sacrificial animal was carried within the vail and sprinkled by the high-priest on the mercy seat. When the high-priest has done this and came out from the Holiest the second sacrificial animal, a goat, was brought before him. He then put his hands upon the head of the goat and confessed upon it all the iniquities, the transgressions and sins of the children of Israel. “And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness” (Leviticus 16:1-34). And here the dispensational aspect comes in. Before the transgressions of Israel could be confessed over the scapegoat and before the goat could be sent forever away with its burden, the high-priest had to come out of the Holiest. As long as He remained alone in the Holiest, the goat could not carry away the sins of the people. When the Lord appears the second time, when He comes from heaven’s glory as the King-Priest, then the blessed effect of His death for the nation will be realized and their sins and transgressions will forever be put away. Then they will in true repentance look upon Him whom they pierced and mourn for Him. And their sins will be forgiven and remembered no more. They will, through grace, become the righteous, the holy, the Spirit filled nation. “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness” (Zechariah 13:1). Jehovah-Tsidkenu --”The Lord our Righteousness.” It is significant that this name of Jehovah appears twice in Jeremiah. Once it means our Lord and connected with the acknowledgement of Him as “our righteousness” is the promise that He shall reign as King. “In His days shall Judah be saved and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is His name whereby He shall be called ‘Jehovah-Tsidkenu’” (Jeremiah 23:5-6). They will know Him as their righteousness, as we know Him as our righteousness. But when? When He has come and they accepted Him as their Lord and King. In Jeremiah 33:5-6 the city of Jerusalem shall be called by that name. One of the future names of restored Jerusalem will be “the Lord our righteousness.” No doubt, because the King has chosen her and manifests His glory in, round about and above Jerusalem. 7. The Feast of Tabernacles. The seventh feast began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and was kept after the harvesting. “Thou shalt observe the feast of Tabernacles seven days, after thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine” (Deuteronomy 16:13). Besides this it was a memorial feast of their wilderness journey of the past. Therefore they made booths of palm trees and willows. The palm is the emblem of victory and the willow the emblem of suffering and weeping. This feast is prophetic of the millennium and the coming glory, when Israel is back in the land and the kingdom has been established in their midst. Then the King will manifest Himself in the midst of His people. It will be a time of rejoicing and victory, when sorrow and sighing, so long the lot of Israel, will no more be heard. It comes after the harvest (the end of the age) and the vintage (the winepress of the wrath of God). The Gentiles, too, will join in that feast; it will be celebrated by Jews and Gentiles throughout millennial times (Zechariah 14:16), while the glorified church dwells with the Lord in the heavenly Jerusalem above the earth in marvellous glory, seen by the inhabitants of the world during the millennial age. It will probably be during that feast that the King of kings and Lord of lords will appear in visible glory in Jerusalem to receive the homage of Israel and the representatives of converted nations. How beautiful is the order of these last feasts of Jehovah! The blowing of the trumpets, the remnant of Israel called and gathered; the day of atonement, Israel in repentance, looking upon Him whom they pierced, when He comes the second time; the feast of Tabernacles, the Kingdom come, the time of peace and glory for the earth. Jehovah-Shammah, “the Lord is there” (Ezekiel 48:35). The name of that city from that day shall be “Jehovah-Shammah”--the Lord is there. This is another millennial name of the city of Jerusalem. The closing chapters of Ezekiel tell us of Israel’s restoration, the overthrow of their enemies, Gog and Magog, the powers from the North. Then the glory returns (Ezekiel 43:1-5), a wonderful temple is seen once more in Jerusalem, the Lord manifests Himself in the midst of the city and living waters will flow forth from Jerusalem. Thus the last compound name of Jehovah clearly points to millennial times. We have seen that the feasts and the names of Jehovah are prophetic. They reveal the great redemption and tell us of the cross, the work accomplished there, how God made provision and redeems unto Himself. We traced in them His resurrection and the victory; the coming of the Holy Spirit, the formation and completion of the church; the regathering and the restoration of Israel, their spiritual blessing and the millennium. His Name is blessedly linked with these feasts. How wonderful is the blessed Word of God! And how we may find His gracious purposes in every portion of this Book of books. Soon the last three feasts may be ushered in. Let us therefore as His heavenly people, with a heavenly hope and destiny, wait daily for the promised home-call, the gathering shout. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 19: 01A.10. “WHEN THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY” ======================================================================== “WHEN THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY” “Until the day break and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense” (Song of Solomon 4:6). For nearly 6,000 years the shadows of sin and death and all which goes with it have been upon the human race. It has been a long and dreary night. Nor has that night become less as centuries passed by. Never before have the shadows of the night, the shadows of sin, been so dark and horrifying as now. Never before has there been so much sorrow, so much weeping and suffering in the earth as during our generation. That it will not be always so God’s holy Word assures us. The night will end some day. “Watchman what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The morning cometh.” What morning did the watchman mean? It is that morning which all the great prophets of God beheld in holy vision. The morning when the day breaks and the shadows flee away. Then that which has been shall be again and peace on earth as well as glory to God in the highest will follow. How and when will that long-promised morning come? Not through man’s efforts. Not even through the preaching of the Gospel or the activities of the church. Not through a progressive civilization or through great reforms. Many expect in our days a better time for this earth as the result of the great struggle of nations. One of the slogans has been; “We fight to make the earth a decent place to live in;” while others believe that after the war a perfect and permanent peace with world-wide brotherhood and prosperity will solve all the problems of the human race. The complete overthrow of autocracy with its horrible crimes is in sight. Democracy will be victorious. Nations, we doubt not, will be brought together in a great league of nations, and all we have been fighting for as a nation to maintain justice and righteousness will be accomplished. But is this going to end sin? Will this mean that all the world turns now to God and to His Son? Will this victory end human suffering and wipe away all tears? Will it bring back the lost paradise? Will famines and pestilences, earthquakes now be stopped? Will as a result of the victory of democracy groaning creation be delivered from its groans by the removal of the curse which has rested upon it so long? Has the perfect day come when all strife ceases forever and the sword can never again be unsheathed? With all the achievements of our times and the realization of our human hopes the age is still “this present evil age,” Satan is not yet dethroned, but he is still the ruler and the god of the age. The night is still on. The promised daybreak has not yet come when the shadows flee away. May God’s people remember this now when a wave of optimism no doubt will soon sweep this world, when everywhere the message of “peace and safety” will be preached, when the rush for world betterment will become almost irresistible. Not Till He Comes Not till the Lord Jesus Christ comes again and is enthroned as King over this earth will that day break when the shadows flee away. He alone can bring that longed for better day for the earth. His is the power and the glory to do it. He came from heaven down into this night of sin to purchase back His alienated creation. He paid the price so wonderfully great which only God can rightly value. The crown of thorns He wore because the thorns are the emblems of the curse which rests now upon creation as the result of man’s sin. He tasted death for everything. On the cross He accomplished the mighty work, procured salvation for believing sinners, sealed Satan’s doom, and that work is furthermore the pledge and guarantee of the victory for God in bringing back creation to its former perfect condition, only with greater glory added. The once thorn-crowned Christ is in glory yonder. There faith’s eye sees Him, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor. But some day He will get the many crowns of which He is worthy, and when that glorious day comes, the shadows flee away. “Come then, and, added to thy many crowns, Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth, Thou who alone art worthy! It was thine By ancient covenant, ere Nature’s birth; And Thou hast made it thine by purchase since, And overpaid its value with Thy blood.” [William Cowper] Let us see then what shadows will flee away when He comes back to earth again and claims His blood-bought inheritance. Let us see what glories are in store for this earth when the Son of Man receives that kingdom which will extend from sea to sea unto the uttermost parts of the earth. 1. As to His Redeemed People. The breaking of the day is heralded by the Morningstar, followed by the rising of the Sun in all his glory. Thus nature teaches us Scripture truths. Christ comes first for His own Saints; that is the Morningstar. And then He comes in fullest glory with all His Saints as the sun of righteousness with healing in His wings; that is the sunrise when all shadows of the night will flee away. The Saints of God wait now for the breaking of the day, for His coming as the Morningstar. And when He comes and opens with His triumphant shout the graves of the righteous dead, and calls the living Saints for the unspeakable change, in a moment, the twinkling of an eye, to put on immortality--then the shadows for His people are forever, yes forever, gone. No more bodies then of humiliation, but glorified bodies; no more separation from loved ones and from saints, but a blessed eternal reunion and fellowship; no more sorrow, but everlasting joy; no more crying and tears, but all tears wiped away; no more sinning, but perfect holiness; no more troubles, but perfect rest. What a glory time it will be when for us, His own beloved people the day breaks, and the shadows flee away. As shadows now increase, because the night is far spent and the day is at hand, the Saints of God should daily think of the soon coming day-break, that blessed, happy moment when we shall see Him as He is and shall be like Him. 2. The Shadows Will Flee Away from Israel and Israel’s Land. No pen can describe the history of this people and the dark shadows which have been upon them. As the homeless nation they have wandered throughout this age, in fulfillment of the predictions of their own prophets, among the nations of the earth. Awful have been their persecutions, and tribulations upon tribulations have been their lot. Suffering and sorrow, the meat and drink of every generation since they were driven from their God-given land. How dark are the shadows which have come upon that people once more as the result of the world conflict. Millions have lost their all. Hundreds of thousands are homeless wanderers in eastern Europe. Perhaps the story of their suffering in connection with the war will never be written. And the end is not yet. On the other hand their national hope has been revived as never before in their history. Regiments of Jews have gone forth into the war with their own flags, with David’s shield in the center and the Hebrew word “Immanuel.” They have been fighting like the Maccabees of old. Jerusalem has been captured from the Turks; all Palestine has passed into the hands of the Allies; never again can Turkey have dominion over the land she has so horribly misruled. What is to become of Palestine and Jerusalem? Let the answer be given through the letter which A. J. Balfour wrote in behalf of the British Government to Baron Rothschild: “The Government views with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing will be done that may prejudice the civil or religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.” Here is the answer of the French Government. “M. Sokolow, representing the Zionist organizations, was received by Monsieur Pichon, Minister for Foreign Affairs, who was happy to inform him that there is complete agreement between the French and English Governments in all matters which concern the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.” Our own country has fallen in line and pledged itself to see that at last the Jew is going to be treated with justice and that Palestine will become an independent Jewish state. No wonder there is great joy among the masses of Jews and that they too see a better day looming up for their people. But do these tremendous events in the East mean that the day has come when the shadows flee away from the seed of Abraham? Not by any means. The time of Jacob’s trouble has not yet been. The last siege of Jerusalem, prewritten in Zechariah’s prophecy (Zechariah 14:1-21) still awaits its fulfillment. To deliver that nation and that land completely and bring about the glories promised in God’s infallible Word needs more than the conquest of the land. The flag of the British lion now flies over Jerusalem. Some day another flag will be raised above that city--the flag of the Son of Man, the Son of David, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Only when He comes again and His blessed feet stand once more upon the Mount of Olives, will that day of blessing and glory break for Israel with all shadows fleeing away. What it all will mean is fully written in prophecy. Much of what is written in the Book of Isaiah from chapter 40 to the end of the vision of Isaiah refers to that glory time, when the King comes back, and when for Jerusalem the shadows flee away. Read especially Isaiah 54:1-17 and Isaiah 55:1-13; Isaiah 66:1-23. In the other Prophets read the following chapters: Jeremiah 30:1-24 and Jeremiah 31:1-40; Ezekiel 34-48; Daniel 7:13-28 and Daniel 12:1-13; Hosea 3:5; Hosea 5:15; Hosea 6:1-3; Hosea 6:14; Joel 3:1-21; Amos 9:11-15; Obadiah 1:17-21; Micah 4:1-13, Micah 5:1-15; Habakkuk 3:1-19; Zephaniah 3:8-20; Haggai 2:6-9; Zechariah 2:6-13; Zechariah 2:8, Zechariah 9:9-14. Here we have unfailing predictions of what will be when the day breaks and the shadows flee away from Israel. 3. The Shadows for All the Nations of the World Will Flee Away In Revelation 20:3 we read that Satan, the Devil, that old Serpent is the deceiver of the nations. As we have seen in the lecture on the history of Satan he is the murder and liar from the beginning. He is responsible for every war which has ever been fought; he is the author of all idolatry; he blinds the nations and keeps them away from knowing God. For this reason peace cannot come till this dark shadow is chained, the world cannot be brought to God and do righteousness till this arch-deceiver is robbed of his power. We can rest assured that as long as this being is loose, world conversion and universal peace are unobtainable. And he will be chained by Him who is the strong One and has conquered him already--our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore when He comes again the shadows will flee away from the nations of the earth. China will no longer be domineered over by demon influences; India, Africa and the islands of the sea will cast their idols away. All swords will become plowshares, all spears pruning hooks. Wars will cease even unto the ends of the earth; nations will learn war no more. The nations will learn righteousness; all oppression will cease; capital and labor has ended its strife; poverty is unknown; wickedness and crime of every description ends, for the King reigns in righteousness, and “in His day shall the righteous flourish and abundance of peace.... He shall have dominion also from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the earth.... all kings shall fall down before Him, all nations shall serve Him” (Psalms 71:1-24). Under His gracious reign of power famines and pestilences can no longer devastate this earth. Sickness and diseases will be banished and those who obey the laws of His kingdom will continue to live on earth, so that death, the common thing now, as the wages of sin, will become uncommon during the coming age. What a glory time there is in store for this earth! But we must not forget that day, when the shadows flee away, will be ushered in by a judgment of nations. Nations now in existence, steeped in unspeakable wickedness, having cast even a skin-deep civilization to the winds and outraged the laws of God and man, will be dealt with in judgment and pass away as nations (Matthew 25:31). 4. The Shadows which are upon Creation Will Also Flee Away The Apostle Paul tells us of creation’s curse, creation’s groans and creation’s deliverance: “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:19-22). Creation has fallen under the curse through man’s sin. As man has continued in sin and has become worse in his deeds of defiance of God, creation has also seen degradation in a like degree. Blights are seen everywhere. Tidal waves and terrific earthquakes have destroyed human lives by the millions. All creation is suffering and groaning under the curse. But it is not to be so forever. The King who comes back is also the Creator, He who called all things into existence out of nothing. He surely will set all things in order and deliver groaning creation. He will put all things back as they were in the beginning and then earth will be once more a paradise. If He would do anything less than that the dark shadow of the one who brought sin and death into the world would have the last word, and could then sneer into the face of God the fact that in spite of the redemption price He could not restore things as they were in the beginning. We quote but one passage from the Book of Isaiah in which this blessed time is predicted when the shadows flee away for a groaning creation: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play at the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den” (Isaiah 11:6-8). Do not say this has a spiritual meaning. It has not; it means what it says, and when the King comes back He will do it all in His mighty power. “O scenes surpassing fables, and yet true, Scenes of accomplish’d bliss! which who can see, Though but in distant prospect, and not feel His soul refreshed with foretaste of the joy? Rivers of gladness water all the earth, And clothe all climes with beauty; the reproach Of barrenness is gone. The fruitful field Laughs with abundance; and the land, once lean, Or fertile only in its own disgrace, Exults to see its thistly curse repeal’d; The various seasons woven into one, And that one season an eternal spring. The garden fears no blight, and needs no fence, For there is none to covet, all are full. The lion, and the leopard and the bear Graze with the fearless flocks; all bask at noon Together, or all gambol in the shade Of the same grove, and drink one common stream. Apathies are none. No foe to man Lurks in the serpent now; the mother sees And smiles to see, her infant’s playful hand Stretch’d forth to dally with the crested worm, To stroke his azure neck, or to receive The lambent homage of his arrowy tongue. All creatures worship man, and all mankind One Lord, one Father. Error has no place; That creeping pestilence is driven away; The breath of heaven has chased it. In the heart No passion touches a discordant string, But all is harmony and love. Disease Is not; the pure and uncontaminate blood Holds its due course, nor fears the frost of age. One song employs all nations; and all cry ‘Worthy the Lamb, for He was slain for us!’” [William Cowper.] “Until the day break and the shadows flee away I will get me to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.” The mountain of myrrh must mean the cross for myrrh means “bitterness” and was used in embalming the dead. As long as He tarries let God’s people tent by His Cross and feast on His great love. And frankincense has the meaning of worship and praise. Let us worship and praise Him--”until the day break and the shadows flee away.” ======================================================================== CHAPTER 20: 01A.11. PROPHETIC POEMS BY HORATIUS BONAR ======================================================================== PROPHETIC POEMS BY HORATIUS BONAR “FOR SOON SHALL BREAK THE DAY” Up to the fair myrrh-mountain, The fresh frankincense hill, I’ll get me in this midnight, And drink of love my fill. O hills of fragrance, smiling With every flower of love; O slopes of sweetness, breathing Your odors from above! Ye send me silent welcome, I waft you mine again; Give me the wings of morning, Burst this still-binding chain; For soon shall break the day, And shadows flee away. Amid time’s angry uproar, Unmoved, unruffled still, Keep, keep me calmly, truly, Doing the Loved One’s will. ‘Mid din of stormy voices, The clamor and the war, Keep me with eye full-gazing On the eternal star; Still working, suffering, loving, Still true and self-denied, In the old faith abiding, To the old names allied; For soon shall break the day, And shadows flee away. From earthly power and weakness Keep me alike apart; From self-will and unmeekness, From pride of lip or heart. Without let tempests gather;-- Let all be calm within, Unfretted and unshaken By human strife and sin. And when these limbs are weary, And throbs this sleepless brain, With breath from yon myrrh-mountain Revive my soul again; For soon shall break the day, And shadows flee away. There my beloved dwelleth, He calls me up to him; He bids me quit these valleys, These moorlands brown and dim. There my long-parted wait me, The missed and mourned below; Now, eager to rejoin them, I fain would rise and go. Not long below we linger, Not long we here shall sigh; The hour of dew and dawning Is hastening from on high; For soon shall break the day, And shadows flee away. O streaks of happy day-spring Salute us from above! O never setting sunlight, Earth longeth for thy love; O hymns of unknown gladness, That hail us from these skies, Swell till you gently silence Earth’s meaner melodies! O hope all hope surpassing, For evermore to be, O Christ, the Church’s Bridegroom, In Paradise with thee; For soon shall break the day, And shadows flee away. THE COMING REIGN King of kings! ascend Thy throne; Visit this Thine earth again; Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh; Take Thy mighty power, and reign King of nations! claim this world With its kingdoms for Thine own. Raze each rebel fortress here, Level every hostile throne. King of Israel! now arise, And rebuild Thy Salem’s walls; Gather Jacob’s scattered flock; Hear Thine Israel when he calls. King of saints! Thy ransomed own, They the members, Thou the head; Speed the great deliverance, First-begotten of the dead. King of glory! King of heaven! King of earth! arise and reign; All creation sighs for Thee; Visit Thine own earth again. King eternal! Son of God! Earth and heaven shall Thee obey; Principalities and powers Own Thine everlasting sway. THESE ARE THE TRUE SAYINGS OF GOD Sure the record; Christ has come! Rich, for us became He poor. O my soul, then know His love; Love Him, serve Him evermore. Sure the record; Christ has died, Bearing on the cross our sin; Is not this the gate of life? Son of Adam, enter in! Sure the record; Christ is risen, He hath broken every chain: Silent stands the empty tomb, Never to be filled again. Sure the promise; Christ will come, Though the promise lingers still; Heavy seems the wing of time, Weary with the weight of ill. Signs are mustering everywhere, And the world is growing old; Love is low and faith is dull, Truth and right are bought, and sold! Then when men are heedless grown, And the virgins slumber all, When iniquity abounds, Then He cometh, Judge of all! Cometh He to raise His own Wipe the tear from every eye; Cometh He to right the wrong. Trodden truth to lift on high. To dethrone the lie of lies, Each dark falsehood to destroy; To begin the age of light, Earth’s long sighed-for Sabbath-joy. THE SUPPER AND THE ADVENT Till He come we own His name, Round His table gathering; One in love and faith and hope, Waiting for an absent King. Blessed table, where the Lord Sets for us His choicest cheer; Angels have no feast like this, Angels wait, but sit not here. Till He come we eat this bread, Seated round this heaven-spread board; Till He come we meet and feast, In remembrance of the Lord. In the banquet house of love, In the Bridegroom’s garden fair; Thus we sit and feast and praise,-- Angels look, but cannot share. Till He come we take this cup,-- Cup of blessing and of love; Till He come we drink this wine, Emblem of the wine above,-- Emblem of the blood once shed, Blood of Him our sins who bare; Angels look, but do not drink, Angels never taste such fare. Till He come, beneath the shade Of His love we sit and sing; Over us His banner waves, In His hall of banqueting. Happy chamber, where the Lord Spreads the feast with viands rare; Angels now are looking on, Angels serve, but cannot share. Till He come, we wear the badge Of the ancient stranger-band; Leaning on our pilgrim-staff, Till we reach the glorious land. Homeless here, like Him we love, Watch we still in faith and prayer; Angels have no watch like ours, Angels have no cross to bear. Till He come, we fain would keep These our robes of earth unsoiled; Looking for the festal dress, Raiment of the undefiled. Ha! these robes of purest light, Fairest still among the fair! Angels gaze, but cannot claim,-- Angels no such raiment wear. Till He come we keep this feast, Emblem of the feast above; Marriage-supper of the Lamb, Festival of joy and love. Angels hear the bridal-song, Angels set the festal fare; Angels hear, but cannot join; Angels wait, but cannot share. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 21: 02.0.0. STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH ======================================================================== STUDIES IN ZECHARIAH. BY A. C. GAEBELEIN. EIGHTH EDITION. PRINTING BY FRANCIS E. FITCH, INC, 47 BROAD ST., NEW YORK. Copyright 1911, by A. C. Gaebelein. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 22: 02.0.1. FORWARD ======================================================================== FOREWORD TO THE EIGHTH EDITION. This little exposition of the Prophecies of Zechariah was written almost 15 years ago. We are thankful to God that it has been a help to so many. The sixth edition has been sold and a seventh has become necessary. We were somewhat reluctant to print another edition. When this book was written the writer did not at all have a clear vision in the prophetic Word concerning the great predicted end events of the times of the Gentiles. Like so many others he did not distinguish between the personal Antichrist and the King of the North. He then held the view, which is still taught by many, that the first beast in Revelation 13:1-18 is the personal Antichrist. This belief led into incorrect views about that part of Revelation. Since writing the book it has pleased the Lord to give the writer better light on these great prophetic unfoldings and for this reason some of the interpretations given, especially on pages 135, 136 and 137, are no longer looked upon by the author as being scripturally correct. In our later books “The Harmony of the Prophetic Word” “Joel,” and especially “Exposition of Daniel,” the truth as revealed in Prophecy concerning the two beasts and the King of the North, is given. We therefore request the reader to consider this when studying this volume. We are sure the Lord will continue to bless the simple unfolding of the greatest Post exile Prophet. So little is written on this great book that we feel that we should not withhold this imperfect exposition from the students of the Word of Prophecy. May the Lord continue to bless it. A. C. GAEBELEIN. Sept. 30, 1911. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 23: 02.0.2. INTRODUCTION ======================================================================== INTRODUCTION. Zechariah, the name of the prophet whose visions and prophecies we desire to study, is not an uncommon name in divine history. Its meaning is Jehovah remembers. He is called the son of Berachiah, Jehovah blesses, the son of Iddo, the appointed time. There is here, as in many other instances in the Bible, a great significance in the Hebrew names. The name of the grandfather of Zechariah (who probably brought him up, as his father must have died early), his father’s name and his own read in English translation, the appointed time, Jehovah blesses, Jehovah remembers. The Holy Spirit has inspired these very names; they are in themselves a commentary to the prophecies and visions God gave to Zechariah, for they speak of an appointed time of God’s blessings for Jerusalem and of His loving remembrance. Zechariah was born in Babylon in the captivity, for when he returned to the land of his fathers he was but a child. Like some other prophets he was a priest as well as a prophet. His work as a prophet was commenced by him when he was a young man, for thus he is called in one of the visions. The time of his opening address to the people is two months after Haggai had opened his lips in Jehovah’s name. Haggai received the word of the Lord in the sixth month in the second year of Darius, and Zechariah in the eighth month of the same year of the reign of that King, about 520 before Christ. Both prophets had the same thought given, namely, to encourage the Jewish remnant in the blessed work of rebuilding the house of the Lord. This work had suffered an interruption; the Samaritans were the cause of it. They had applied to join in the work, but as the remnant considered them idolators and as not belonging to God’s people, the application was rejected. These Samaritans tried after that in various ways to hinder the rebuilding, which had so blessedly begun. At last they succeeded in obtaining a decree which forbade the building of the Temple. All work had to be stopped and ceased for about fourteen years. But when the King who had forbidden the prosecution of the work had died and Darius became King, the building of the Temple was once more made possible. The leaders of the people in the enterprise were Serubbabel and the High Priest Joshua. But again they were hindered from the outside, while on the other hand the people themselves had lost much interest and possessed no longer that love and zeal for God’s house, which was so prominent after their return. Thus Haggai said: This people say, It is not the time for us to come, the time for the Lord’s house to be built . . . It is a time for you to dwell in your ceiled houses, while this house lieth waste. Haggai 1:1-15. In that critical moment these two prophets made their appearance, and God gave them visions of comfort and glad tidings to encourage the disheartened, selfish and unbelieving people. The visions and prophecies of Zechariah, however, do not only give an assurance that there could be no failure in the work the remnant had taken up anew, but more than that in them the glorious future of Jerusalem and Zion is unfolded. They lead up to the grand finale of the history of God’s ancient people, the time when Israel, redeemed and restored forever, will sing the grand and glorious Hallelujah. It is, of course, true that Zechariah did a blessed work for the people who lived in his day; he had a special mission to perform and succeeded in it, but the Spirit of God in the message of comfort for that time gives the history of events then in a distant future. The Babylonian captivity of Israel foreshadows their greater dispersion in which they are to-day wanderers all over the earth, and the restoration which took place in the time of Zechariah is highly typical of that coming restoration for which we hope and pray. Zechariah may therefore be fitly called the Prophet of the Restoration. Surely it is a deplorable blindness in some teachers of the Word, who see in the book of Zechariah nothing but past history, and who claim that all has been fulfilled in the return of the small Jewish remnant from the captivity, and whatever promises of mercy given to Jerusalem and the land of Judah find now their spiritual fulfilment in the church. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 24: 02.01. CHAPTER 1 ======================================================================== CHAPTER I. The Opening Address of the Prophet to His Nation. The Night Visions and Their Meaning. The First Night Vision. The opening address of the prophet (Zechariah 1:1-6) forms an excellent introduction to the visions of comfort and warning which he had and revealed to the people. It is a very pointed and earnest call to repentance: The Lord has been sore displeased with your fathers. They were disobedient and stiffnecked. The former prophets, Jeremiah and Isaiah, had called them to turn from their evil ways, but they did not hear. And now, where are the fathers? They had passed away like the disobedient ones in the wilderness; God’s judgment and displeasure had overtaken them. But the faithful God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whose gifts and calling are without repentance, comes once more to His chosen people, the seed of Abraham, and the Spirit, through Zechariah, speaks a direct message to return, and utters the promise that the Lord will also return unto them. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: Return unto me saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will return unto you saith the Lord of Hosts. The name Jehovah appears three times in this short exhortation. Each time the name is in another connection. Jehovah speaks, they are to return to Jehovah, and Jehovah will return to them. Surely in profane literature such a repetition would be rejected as useless and superfluous, but in the Book where every word and phrase is God-given, we cannot pass it by as having no significance. Like in many other passages in the Old Testament we have here a revelation of the one God as Father, Son and Spirit. This revelation was often made in divine history, and when the measure of Israel’s apostacy was at last filled up, they had indeed rejected Jehovah in rejecting Jehovah-Jesus, and also Jehovah, the Spirit. And while this exhortation was one for Zechariah’s contemporaries, it is the great exhortation to the Jewish remnant for all times. The nation having forsaken Jehovah in His revelations as Father, Son and Spirit, will have to return and listen to Jehovah who speaks, to Jehovah whom they rejected, and Jehovah in His merciful and loving manifestations will return to them as a nation and to their land. This return of Israel to which Zechariah exhorts will take place in a set order clearly revealed throughout the word of God. We hear in Romans 2:1-29 : that Paul speaks of a remnant according to the election of grace. That remnant is the remnant which turns to Jehovah now during this dispensation, and, of course, all Jews who are now turning to Jehovah-Jesus, and to whom Jehovah, the Spirit, also comes, are members of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. As soon as the church, the witnessing body in the earth, is removed by that glorious event which is our blessed hope, another Jewish remnant is called, and that remnant will be Jewish throughout, “keeping the commandments and having the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Of course that remnant will have returned to Jehovah, and will be the witnessing and the suffering body in the great tribulation. The believing and longing cry of that remnant, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord,” will at last welcome Him, the Pierced One and King of Israel as well as King of Glory, to this earth, and then the remnant of the nation in all lands will turn to Him. This is the divine programme for Israel. After these opening words, delivered probably to the assembled people, Zechariah received his wonderful night visions. They were not mere dreams, but the events which he describes passed before him in visions. He saw them all in one night. They are eight in number, and have not found many interpreters. They were not only given in one night, but just as one followed rapidly the other, so are they all closely connected, and giving events which are to follow one after the other. That we have here a revelation which may fitly be termed the Apocalypse of Zechariah is unquestionable. After all these visions had passed, Joshua, the High Priest, is crowned with two crowns foreshadowing Him who is to be a Priest upon His throne. This crowning is a climax in Zechariah’s night visions which lead up to that coronation. Divine interference in behalf of Jerusalem and the land of Judah, God’s displeasure upon the nations for their abominations, and the overthrow of Israel’s enemies are clearly depicted in the first two night visions, while in the others we see the promised prosperity returning to the land, God’s glory appearing once more, the nation once more inhabiting the land and cleansed from their guilt, filled with the Spirit, wickedness judged, Babylon set up and overthrown, and the chariots of God appearing. The first night vision is especially suited for a close study for our times, for the events and conditions in that first vision are a true picture of the peculiarities of the times in which we live. Indeed we are rapidly nearing the fulfillment of this first night vision. This is the vision: Zechariah sees a man riding upon a red horse and he halts in a valley among myrtle trees. He is surrounded by a large army of angels upon red, sorrel and white horses, and the man upon the red horse becomes the centre of the hosts of heaven. The angels give their reports unto the man in the midst, who is also called the Angel of the Lord. These angels had walked to and fro through the earth (like the evil spirit and his demons, Job 1:1-22., so the good angels walk to and fro through the earth), and they report to the Angel of the Lord, telling him that all the earth sitteth still and is at rest. Prosperity and peace seems to be what the angels saw, but over against this bright picture there is the dark scene—Jerusalem trodden down, the house of the Lord unfinished, a persecuted suffering remnant. And now the Angel of the Lord becomes the intercessor for Jerusalem and turns to Jehovah, the Lord of Hosts sitting upon His throne. O Lord of Hosts, how long wilt Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah against which Thou hast had indignation these three score and ten years? He receives an answer of comfortable words. God is once more jealous for Jerusalem, and very angry and sore displeased with the nations, the nations who are in greater part responsible for the condition of His inheritance—they have helped forward their affliction. God promises to return to the city with prosperity, and that the house shall be built in it, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem. The first question which arises in the interpretation of this vision is concerning the person who leads the angelic hosts. He is called a man riding upon a red horse. This does not mean that he was nothing but a man, but it means that he appeared in the vision to Zechariah as a man, he had a human body. Later he is called the Angel of the Lord, and as such, he acts as successful intercessor for Jerusalem, and receives a loving answer from Jehovah. The leader must have been a divine person incarnate. The name Angel of the Lord is one of the Old Testament names for the Son of God, and there can be only one satisfactory interpretation of who the rider upon the red horse is, and that is, He must be the Son of God. There are three chief reasons for this interpretation. In the first place, the color of the horse which He rode was red; this denotes blood, and is the color of the Son of God, for He is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, and He is the Lion from the tribe of Judah, who will arise and slay His enemies, coming to judge the nations (Isaiah lxiii). He is the Leader as well as the Centre of the heavenly hosts, for to Him all power is given in Heaven and in the earth, and all things are in His hands; and in the third place, the intercession which the Angel of the Lord makes is the intercession which belongs to the Son of God. The heavenly company comes to a stop in a deep valley, and the Angel of the Lord stands there among the myrtle trees. Jewish interpretation (in the Yalkut) says: He was staying among the myrtles which were in the Metzullah (depths). Now myrtles (Hadassim) mean nothing else than saints, as it is said (Esther 2:7), and He was bringing up Hadassah (Esther), and the depths means nothing else than Babylon. We believe this as correct an interpretation as any. Myrtles denote lowliness and sweetness, and the dark, dreary valley stands for persecution, suffering, and being outcast. All this was true of the remnant, and it is true as well of the church. What a comfort it must have been to the patriotic prophet and to all true believers among the returned exiles, to learn that in that vision it was made so clear that Jehovah, the Angel of the Lord, was with them in all their lowliness and suffering. The Angel, who so wonderfully delivered their father Jacob, and whom he called the Angel the Redeemer, and who had so often appeared in the miraculous events of the past, this same Angel, with all the army of heaven at His command, was still with them, though the cloud of glory was missing. May we not forget that the Angel of the Lord, the Son of God, our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, is still with His people Israel. He has indeed not cast them away, whom He foreknew. He is their King and their Priest, and for all we know, the mighty angels who are under His direction, may be assembled now as they were in Zechariah’s vision, and He Himself ready to reveal His love and mercy to Jerusalem. And what is the report of the angels to their leader? They have walked to and fro through the earth, they have found nothing but prosperity. All the earth sitteth still and is at rest, the nations at ease, a perfect picture of prosperity. The nations are seen in a flourishing state, but His nation is in trouble and His inheritance laid waste, the nations having like wild beasts trampled it into the dust. While the large cities of the nations are increased and have plenty, the city of a great King is forsaken. History shows that indeed at that time there was no war, but peace everywhere and prosperity enjoyed selfishly by the nations. Should not these nations have an interest in that land and in that people? But they were living for their own ease and comfort. What does it matter if there is yonder a poor and suffering people? Prosperity, universal prosperity, and with it universal peace, is the cry at the close of another century, and will be more so as we advance towards the end of this age. Civilization, world conquest, commercial extension and a universal peace, seem to be the leading thoughts among the nations of our times. Truly it is realized by some that our boasted civilization, liberty and prosperity is nothing but a smouldering volcano which may burst open at any moment and make an end of all boasting, but the majority of the people even in Christendom are sadly deluding themselves with idle dreams. And what of God’s thoughts and His eternal purposes? What of His oath-bound covenant promises? They are being misinterpreted, set aside and forgotten. Thus it will continue till the climax is reached, so clearly foretold in the second Psalm, “Why do the nations rage And the peoples imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord and against His anointed. Let us break their bands asunder And cast away from us their cords.” This is a true picture of the nations as the King of Kings at last will find them when He returns with and in His glory. The great sin of the nations, which is Anti-Semitism, will be considered later. The nations at ease, prosperous and increased, and Jerusalem trodden down, the land waste and desolate, in the hands of the enemy, is the mark of this age up to its end. But now comes the interference of Him who sitteth in the heavens. The angel of the Lord intercedes and cries to the Lord of Hosts, “How long?” It has been so much overlooked that He who is our Intercessor, the Great High Priest in the Heavens, is, according to the flesh, of the seed of Abraham, and He stands there in His place in His glorified humanity. If the High Priest in the Old Testament carried upon a breast-plate nearest to his heart the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, may we not assume that the true High Priest, who is the King of Israel as well, has them just as near to His loving heart? He loves His own, and longs for the time when they will crown Him Lord of all. And is it not very significant that the Spirit at this present time teaches so many children of God to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, that He may establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth? The Spirit and the Bride say “Come,” and surely the dearest thought in the Saviour’s heart is being laid upon the hearts of His children, in whom the Spirit dwells, to pray and intercede with Him for the peace of Jerusalem. This prayer, heard from so many lips to-day in the church waiting for her Lord, is but an echo of His “How long?” and prayer for His people. The interceding angel of the Lord is not left without an answer from the Lord of Hosts whom he has addressed in behalf of Jerusalem. It must be noticed that the answer is not the one which Jehovah gives to the angel of the Lord, but the answer is transmitted by the Lord through another angel who talked with the prophet. So the angel that talked with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. Then follows the message in its details. And I am very sore displeased with the nations that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the Lord: I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of Hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem. Cry yet again, saying, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. We desire to take up separately some of these comfortable words. We firmly believe that the time of their fulfillment is not only at hand, but that we are really living in the days when God once more remembers His suffering people and is about to rise in judgment upon His and their enemies, and turn in mercy to Zion. First then stands the declaration that God is jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. The word used in the original for jealous means burning, and is correctly translated with that word, for jealousy is a burning emotion. Men are jealous of that which is their own when it is in the hands of another or in danger of being taken away and misused. In this sense God is likewise jealous of His own. Jerusalem is His city, the city of a great king; Zion is His holy hill, and Israel His own people. All has fallen into the hands of the Gentiles and is injured by them. His people scattered and dispersed, the holy hill desecrated and Jerusalem trodden down by the Gentiles. True, God has permitted it all, prophets have spoken of it, and their prophecies concerning Jerusalem’s desolation have all been literally fulfilled, but now God is seen to rise and to claim once more in great jealousy that which is His Own. We look away from the partial fulfillment of this prophecy in Zechariah’s time. God looked down from heaven then, and His eyes beheld the sad picture of the desolate land, the unfinished temple and the disheartened and punished people. At the end of our dispensation, God looks down from heaven, and while the nations are prosperous and at ease, He sees His city controlled by His enemies. The holy hill of Zion, where Jehovah revealed Himself so often, has become the place of idolatry. His name is not honored but dishonored. Indeed, the Land and Jerusalem attracts once more the attention of the world. Nations are desirous of owning the Land and gaining a foothold there. The visit to Palestine of the German Emperor, the representative of Lutheranism and the avowed friend of one of the darkest characters of our times, the man whose throne seems almost unshakable, and who holds the Land in the grasp of his bloody hands, is highly significant. All the other nations have watched this visit, and Zionism especially rejoices in the fact of the friendship of the Protestant Emperor with the Sultan and hopes much from it for the realization of its well planned schemes. It is to be expected that as the end draws nearer, Palestine will become the great centre around which the nations gather. Scheming nations, religious and political ambitions for world rule and world power, and connected with it Commercialism, which seems to become more and more the god of this world, are the programme for the near future, and upon the entire scene are the eyes of the covenant-keeping God of Abraham, and with His burning eyes He looks on with jealousy for Jerusalem and very great jealousy for Zion. (Joel 2:18.) These are only the opening words of the revelation which is given to Zechariah. It is God’s attitude. Zechariah hears now a very plain and important statement from the lips of the interpreting angel. The statement is threefold. 1. I was but a little displeased. Jehovah is speaking concerning His inheritance that He was, on account of their apostasy and idolatry, but a little displeased. This was primarily true of the Babylonian captivity. It was but for a moment God was angry. It is so now, though the children of Israel have been in dispersion for well-nigh twenty centuries, but still it is true even now. For a small moment have I forgotten thee. In overflowing wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord, thy Redeemer. His displeasure with His people is never final, it is only temporary. This is clearly seen in the entire Word of God. If it were final, if God would be displeased forever with Israel, we might just as well close the Bible, join the higher critics and end in unbelief, apostasy and perdition. I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee, but I will not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee with judgment and will in no wise leave thee unpunished. (Jeremiah 30:11.) 2. They have helped forward their affliction. The Lord is now speaking of the nations who are at ease. He holds them responsible for a greater affliction than He really had designed to come upon His people. By their attitude towards chastised Israel they have made their affliction much worse than God meant it to be. Of course, it was true during the seventy years God’s people spent in Babylon, but how much more true is it in the dispersion which has been their lot for so many sad centuries. Where shall we begin in treating the awful truth which is put here in such simple language? Where shall we find words earnest enough to picture the terrible facts in connection with it and sound a warning for our times? Some time ago a person said, “The Jews are to-day more stiff-necked and blinder than ever before.” Who has made them thus? Surely judicial blindness and hardness of heart; ears which do not hear are given by God, but, alas, the nations, or so-called Christendom, have helped forward their affliction; they have made matters worse a thousand times, and Satan, who hates Israel, has been the author of all things calculated to increase the affliction of poor down trodden Israel. Surely the increased stiff-neckedness and the increased blindness is one which is traceable to the nations. Every reader knows something of the history of the Jews, what it has been since they left the home land—a long, long tale of suffering, tears and blood. Most unjust outrages have been committed against them; torture upon torture; the stake and worse than that; and all in the name of Jesus. It is a shameful history. Many a time Jews, after hearing the Word preached, have stood up and opened in answer this awful book of history with its blood-stained pages, asking the question, “Can He be our Redeemer, whose followers have treated us thus in His name?” And not a few can tell us of their own sufferings in being banished from foreign lands. Hardly a month passes without some new outrage upon the generally harmless and innocent people in Eastern Europe. Cruelty, injustice, wickedness and crime are practiced against them, and thus their affliction has been increased. The same is true of the counterfeits of the Christian religion. Is it a wonder that the Jew turns away in disgust from religions which demand worship of pictures, statues, holy places, etc.? Satan has used it all to keep Israel from a true knowledge of Him, who is the King of Israel. And in Protestant lands the Jew does so rarely see that pure and true love of Him who came to fulfil the law and in whom God as love has been manifested. Instead of treating the Jew as a brother, beloved for the Father’s sake—nay, for Jesus’ sake, who was a Jew according to the flesh—he has been despised, ridiculed, ostracized and treated as inferior to Gentiles. Still there are worse days coming yet. The nations of Christendom in the past have helped forward their affliction, but Satan, through these very nations, will once more afflict Israel—once more stretch out his hand to touch the nation of destiny. As never before in the history of the world, God’s own chosen people—the Jews—make themselves felt, and correspondingly as never before the Gentile nations are getting ready to rise up against the Jew to down him if it were possible. The enemy, thus prophecy tells us, will try to exterminate the wonderful nation through nations who are doomed to destruction. This is still future. However, these coming events are rapidly approaching. Anti-Semitism is increasing all over the world, and only God’s Spirit and the prayer of the Church keeps back the outbreak which will mark the beginning of Jacob’s trouble. (Jeremiah 30:7.) 3.—I am very sore displeased. This is God’s anger with the nations who have sinned against His people. The crowning sin of the nations is Anti-Semitism, which means anti-Bible, anti-Christ and anti-God. If Christendom would believe the Word of God it could never be the enemy of Israel. Our age will end in the judgment of nations, and that judgment will be on account of the sins committed against His people. For behold in those days and in that time when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Jehosophat, and I will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage, Israel, when they have scattered among the nations and parted my land. (Joel 3:1-3.) Haste ye and come all ye nations round about and gather yourselves together thither; cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord; let the nations bestir themselves and come up to the valley of Jehosophat; for there will I sit to judge all nations round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get ye down, for the wine-press is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, the stars withdraw their shining, and the Lord shall roar from Zion and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be a refuge unto His people and a stronghold to the children of Israel. (Joel 3:17, etc.) For behold the Lord will come with fire, and His chariots shall be like the whirlwind, to render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will the Lord plead and by His sword with all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many. (Isaiah 66:15.) This judgment of nations is likewise referred to in Matthew 25:1-46 by the lips of our Lord. Generally the last part of that chapter is taken to mean the universal judgment, the great white throne. This is an error. The Son of Man shall come in His glory and all the angels with Him. Thus the passage reads: Then shall He sit on the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all the nations, and He shall separate them one from another as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats. The judgment takes place and nations are punished and rewarded according to their treatment of the brethren of the Son of Man, the King of Glory. At that time, when the enemies of Israel are overcome and punished for their wickedness, Israel, once more miraculously saved, will break forth in praise of the Lord and sing the glorious psalms of victory which to-day are still prophetic. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive when their wrath was kindled against us; then the waters would have overwhelmed us, a stream would have gone over our soul; then the proud waters would have gone over our soul. Praise to Jehovah! who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler! The snare is broken and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of Jehovah, who has made heaven and earth. (Psalms 124:1-8) The words which follow, and which are really the good and comfortable words, contain the divine programme of the restoration of His people Israel. What is mentioned here in a few sentences is given in detail in the fourth and fifth night vision as well as in the closing chapters of the prophet. I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies. This does not mean a spiritual return or a return of God’s mercies to Jerusalem only, but it means likewise His literal return when He appears the second time; and connected with this second appearing of the great Jehovah in Jesus Christ will be seen the Shekinah cloud as Israel had it in the wilderness and the first temple. This is seen in the second chapter. The Lord had withdrawn from His people. I will go away and return to my place. (Hosea 5:15.) For behold your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. (Matthew 23:38-39.) The Lord being absent in His person from His people, Israel is forsaken, the land desolate. There can be no true restoration of Israel till He has come whose right it is. So many good people think that the present Zionistic movement of the Jews is that promised salvation for the scattered nation. This is not so. It is an attempted restoration. Here in the good and comfortable words Zechariah hears, the return of the Lord stands first. Then His house is to be built. While it meant in the prophet’s time the building of the second temple, it means in connection with the coming restoration the building of that great millennial temple which Ezekiel saw in visions and describes in detail—the temple which will be indeed a house of prayer to all nations, and the glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former. The rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem is next in order. A line is to be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. The city is enlarged, for from henceforth Jerusalem is to be the centre of the earth. (Ezekiel 38:12.) My cities in prosperity shall overflow. The blessing will not be confined to the Temple and to Jerusalem, but there will be an overflow, and all the cities in the land will flow over with prosperity. For the Lord shall comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places, and He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. (Isaiah 51:3.) Oh, happy time! when wilt thou come? Even so come, Lord Jesus, our Lord and Israel’s King! Other visions will show us that Jerusalem will then indeed be a praise in the earth, for many nations will then be joined to the Lord, and the streams of living waters will overflow and bring joy, salvation and healing to the nations around who join in the Hallelujah chorus of Jeshurun. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 25: 02.02. CHAPTER 2 ======================================================================== CHAPTER II. The second night vision.—The four horns and the four smiths.—The third vision.—The man measuring Jerusalem.—Restoration and glory of Jerusalem foretold. The second night vision of Zechariah is closely connected with the first. In the first vision the time is given when the Lord will turn in mercy to Jerusalem—the time when the nations are at ease, and, having helped forward the affliction of His people, are ripe for judgment. The scenes have passed away, and now the prophet lifts his eyes again and he sees four horns. The question he asks of the angel is answered by him, that these are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem. Then four smiths appear, and the angel informs the prophet that these are come to fray them (the four horns), to cast down the horns of the nations which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it (Zechariah 1:18-21) The four horns are the powerful and proud enemies of the people of God. Why four horns? Some have said because the enemies of Israel have come against the land and Jerusalem from all four cardinal points of the compass, and have scattered the people east and west, north and south. Others mention different nations who were at Zechariah’s time in existence and instrumental in scattering Israel. The horn is a symbol of power and pride, and in prophecy stands for a kingdom and for political world power. The ten horns which Daniel saw on the terrible fourth beast rising from the sea denote ten kingdoms, and in Revelation 17:12 we read, “The ten horns that thou sawest are ten kings.” The four horns in this second vision must be therefore kingdoms—world powers. The number four, as it is well known to every student of the prophetic Word, is found twice in the book of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar’s great image was divided into four parts, each standing for a world power, namely: the Babylonian, the Medo-Persian, the Graeco-Macedonian and the Roman power. The latter is still in existence and will be till the stone smites the image at its feet and pulverizes it. Daniel’s vision (chapter vii) brings before him four mighty beasts, the last having ten horns, just as the limbs of the image ended in feet with ten toes. With such a revelation in the book of Daniel it is very easy to understand that the four horns can mean nothing else than the same powers of Gentile rule and supremacy existing during the entire time when the kingdom has been taken from Israel. These four world powers are horns. They unite strength and pride, and are bent upon scattering Israel. They are the enemies of Israel, and therefore the enemies of God. And now the four smiths appear on the scene to fray them—to cast down the horns of the nations. Four horns are overcome and broken down completely by four smiths. It does not follow that the four smiths must be four other powers. The vision seems to teach two facts: first, the horns will be broken and cast down; and in the second place, God has for every hostile power which has sinned and sins against his people a corresponding greater power to overcome it, break it into pieces and cast it down. However, we believe the vision will have its fulfillment in the time of Jacob’s trouble. The elements of all the four world powers will then in some way be concerned in the onslaught on Jerusalem—a confederacy of nations; representatives of many nations will come up against Jerusalem, and it will be then that the four horns are broken by the four smiths and the casting down will be done. The third night vision is one of the most interesting and instructive. As the third one, it forms the climax of the good and comfortable words which were spoken concerning Jerusalem. The number three stands in the Word of God for resurrection, life from the dead. Thus in Hosea, concerning Israel, “After two days Thou wilt revive us, and on the third day Thou wilt raise us up” (Hosea 6:2). In this third vision Zechariah sees the glorious restoration of Israel, which has been the burden of so many prophecies, and the glory which is connected with that restoration. In this night vision Zechariah hears of a restoration and of a glory which has never yet been fulfilled in the history of God’s people. Those teachers of the Word who see in Zechariah’s night visions nothing but fulfilled prophecy, cannot answer certain questions satisfactorily, and their only refuge must be a spiritualizing of this restoration. Another thought before we take up this third vision. The vision of restoration comes after the enemies of Israel have been cast down. That prophecy might be fulfilled; prophecy about a believing, suffering Jewish remnant; prophecy concerning Jacob’s trouble, etc., a mock restoration, generally termed a restoration in unbelief, is to take place. There can be no doubt whatever that we are privileged to see the beginning of this restoration of part of the Jewish nation to the land of the fathers in unbelief: It is one of the signs of the nearness of that event for which the Church hopes, prays and waits—“our gathering together unto Him.” The world and the lukewarm Christian does not see it, but he who loves the Word and lives in the Word, has eyes to see and a hearing ear and knows what is soon coming. The true restoration, however, will only come as it is seen so clearly in these night visions after the enemies have been overcome, the horns cast down, the image smashed—in other words, after the Lord has come. We may divide the third night vision into two parts. In the first part a man is seen with a measuring line measuring Jerusalem, and the restoration of the city and its enlargement is promised; and in the other part promises of blessings are given as well as glimpses of the glory which will attend the restoration. Zechariah sees a man with a measuring line in his hand. The prophet asks him, Whither goest thou? And he answers, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof and what is the length thereof. There is nothing here which indicates that the man who starts out to measure the city is identical with the man on the red horse of the first vision. This man here seems to be only a person appearing to impress the coming enlargement of Jerusalem upon the prophet’s mind. Similar visions where measuring takes place are found in Ezekiel 41:1-26 : where the temple of the Millennium is measured, and in Revelation 11:1-19 : where a reed is given to John to measure the temple of God, which is the temple standing in Jerusalem during the time of Jacob’s trouble. Here in Zechariah’s vision it is the measuring of Jerusalem. What Jerusalem is it? Of course, the Jerusalem in Palestine, which will, in its restoration, become the centre of the earth. In the new earth, after the thousand years, there will be another Jerusalem in the earth, the new Jerusalem come down out of heaven from God (Revelation 21:2). Of this new Jerusalem we read, “And the city lieth four square, and the length thereof is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with a reed twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height thereof are equal” (Revelation 21:16). Here is the measurement of the new Jerusalem: As long as it is broad and extending upward into the air. What a wonderful city that will be, the glorious centre of a new heaven and a new earth, our home for all eternity! The man in Zechariah’s third vision measures only the length and the breadth of the city because in the coming restoration of Jerusalem there is no height to be measured. Now follows the appearing of another angel who meets with the one who had been speaking to Zechariah, and he brings from the throne of God a message for the prophet. He said, Run, speak to this young man saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, by reason of the multitude of men and cattle therein. The influx of men and cattle to Jerusalem will be so enormous that the city must be enlarged and it will spread out into the plain. Another prophet, the seer of Israel’s glorious future, Isaiah, has spoken likewise of this enlargement in the following beautiful words: “As for thy waste and desolate places, and thy land which has been destroyed, surely now shalt thou be too strait for the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children of thy bereavement shall yet say in thine ears, The place is too strait for me, give place to me that I may dwell” (Isaiah 49:19-20). Notice the city is to be inhabited as villages. This denotes the peace which Jerusalem will then enjoy. A blessed security for the city which for so long a time was trodden down by the Gentiles. There will be no walls. No need of walls to shelter men and cattle, for the enemies of Israel have been scattered and broken down, the warfare of Jerusalem is accomplished. At the end of the Millennium, which will have been a thousand years of unbroken peace for the land which for thousands of years knew no peace, Satan, with Gog and Magog, will come against the land and its inhabitants. This last final struggle the Holy Spirit revealed through the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 38:1-23 and Ezekiel 39:1-29). It is interesting to notice there the condition of the land and the people as the enemy who comes up against the land finds them: Thus says the Lord God: It shall come to pass in that day, that things shall come into thy (enemy) mind, and thou shalt devise an evil device: and thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages. I will go to them that are quiet, that dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates: to take the spoil and to take the prey: to turn thine hand against the waste places that are now inhabited, and against the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the centre of the earth (Ezekiel 38:10-12). What a wonderful Word our God has given us! How everything is harmony! Zechariah’s vision shows what Jerusalem will be in the beginning of the Millennium, and Ezekiel, by the Spirit of God, puts before us the same conditions at the end of the thousand years. The reason of Jerusalem’s peace, security and prosperity will be the glory of the Lord. This glory will be in the midst of the city, and will also form a wall of fire around the city. For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about the city, and I will be the glory in the midst of her. Glory and defence are here combined. They always go together. This has been in a degree already the happy lot of Israel in the past, for He guided them with His glory. It was a cloud by day and a fire at night by which the Lord had revealed Himself to His people, and out of that glory cloud He protected them and punished their enemies. How much greater will that glory and defence be in that time of fullness when Israel is no longer a disobedient, stiff-necked people, but the holy people, the kingly nation. What a glory that will be when the King comes back with His kingly glory, attended by the many, many brethren who have suffered with Him and now share His glory! What a glory that will be when He, who is our life, will be manifested, and we with Him in His glory! It will be unspeakable glory. Cry aloud and shout thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee. And it shall come to pass, that He that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the blast of judgment and burning. And the Lord will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory shall be spread a canopy. There shall be a pavilion for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and for a refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain. (Isaiah 4:1-6 ) This glory during the Millennium will no doubt not only hover over the land, but will be visible over the entire earth, and the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters the sea. It is interesting to see how Talmudical literature falls in with these thoughts. A few quotations from these old writings of the Jews will no doubt be acceptable to the reader. Rabbi Isaac Napcha says: The Holy One said, I kindled a fire in Jerusalem (in wrath) Lamentations 4:11, and I am going to build her up again with fire, as it is said, “I will be unto her, saith the Lord, a wall of fire round about. He that kindled the fire shall surely make restitution.” The Pesikta Rabethi has this: What is this: “And for a Glory I am in the midst of her.” Is it not the case that the glory of the Holy One is none other than on high, as it is said, “His glory is above the heavens.” The glory is in order to show every creature in the universe the superior excellence of Israel, since it is on their account that the Holy One brings down the Shekinah from the highest heaven and lets it dwell in the earth. We have now in the vision a continued description of that happy condition of Jerusalem and all that is connected with it. First, we notice the summons for the Jews who are then still in dispersion. Ho, ho, flee from the land of the North, saith the Lord, for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord. Ho, Zion, escape that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. It is not to be expected that when the glory appears and the King of Glory comes again and His feet stand there on the Mount of Olives, that the entire Jewish nation will then live in the land. This will not be the case; only a part of the nation was restored in unbelief, and in the midst of them a believing remnant, whose faith, suffering and salvation we hope to describe later. Two-thirds of all the inhabitants of the land will be swept away in the great tribulation. After the Lord has come, the others will be restored. It is significant that the land of the North is mentioned here, Late; in the eighth chapter, we read: “I will save my people from the East country and from the West country,” but those living in the land of the North come first. Of course, Babylon was meant as far as this vision had anything to do with the restoration which had taken place in part from the Babylonian captivity. The North country, which figures in the coming restoration, is not Babylon, but another land. Russia is directly north of Palestine, and in this northern land, the territory once inhabited by Gog and Magog, about one half of the Jews now living have their homes. About six millions of Jews are living to-day in European and Asiatic Russia. Their deplorable condition in that land of the North is well known, and there, likewise, the national awakening has been the most marked and Zionism has its most ardent advocates. A large multitude is getting ready in the North country for a mighty exodus. Like their forefathers in Egypt, they will flee from the land of the North, and thus prophecy is literally to be fulfilled. Zion is to separate from the daughter of Babylon. What is Babylon? We hope to answer this question and give a description of her when we come to consider the seventh night vision, the woman in the Ephah. In this third vision of restoration we hear next what is to take place after the glory. The expression “after the glory” means undoubtedly the glorious appearing of the Lord coming with all His saints, sitting upon the throne of His glory, and His glory thus manifested. After the glory hath He sent Me to the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye. Who is the one who is being sent to the nations? It is without a question He, whom the Father sent. He sent Him once, the only begotten, into the world in the form of a servant, when He made Himself of no reputation, but Jehovah will send Him again. And when He again bringeth in the Firstborn into the inhabited earth He saith, And let all the angels worship Him. (Hebrews 1:6-7.) The Father sends Him again to establish His glory, and after the manifestation He is sent to the nations which spoiled Israel. All Scripture speaks of this. While He will in His coming overcome the armies of nations who are gathered in that day against Jerusalem, He will likewise continue, after His glory, to judge nations. He will rule in the midst of His enemies. He will do that among the nations what the second psalm declares, thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel. For, behold I will shake Mine hand over them, and they shall be a spoil to those that served them. In this rule and judgment the Lord of glory will be assisted by the saints. Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world? (1 Corinthians 6:2.) Israel will likewise be used in that judgment. While He is the lion of the tribe of Judah who now roars to the dismay of all His enemies, Israel, His people, becomes the lioness. “Behold the people riseth up as a lioness, and as a lion does he lift himself up. He shall not lie down till he eat the prey and drink the blood of the slain.” (Numbers 23:24.) Israel will then no longer be the tail but has become the head. The true form of government for the earth has been restored, a Theocracy through His chosen and restored people, the seed of Abraham. Things will then be changed completely. The nations shall take them (the children of Abraham) and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and for handmaids, and they shall take them captive whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their oppressors. (Isaiah 14:2.) Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks and aliens shall be your vine dressers. (Isaiah 61:5.) We must not overlook the loving words concerning Israel, He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye. Israel is the apple of the eye of God. Through Moses God declared the same truth. He kept him as the apple of His eye. (Deuteronomy 32:10.) In Hebrew the pupil of the eye is called the gate, because through it enters the light. Thus Israel is the pupil, the gate, through which the light has come and comes, for salvation is of the Jews. And what is so sensitive, so delicate and easily injured as the apple of the eye? And against this apple of the eye of God the nations and Christendom have sinned. May we believing Gentiles understand more fully that Israel is the beloved one and may we be kept from doing harm to His people. The overcoming of the enemies of Israel, the spoiling of these nations which spoiled Israel, and all that is connected with it by the sent One of God, the Son of God will be the evidence for Israel that Jehovah has sent Him. And ye shall know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me. The same statement is repeated in this vision, but we shall see in another connection. It is, so to speak, constitutional with the Jew that he wishes to see and then believe, and surely he will see and believe, or rather know, when the Lord comes. In Zechariah 2:10 we read now that the daughter of Zion will sing and rejoice. The reason of her song and joy is, For lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee. To-day orthodox Jews are chanting in Hebrew the magnificent psalms which speak of a coming deliverance and manifestation of God’s glory, but it is only with their lips, and the heart is still hardened and the eye blinded. The dark night is rapidly approaching, the night in which a believing remnant of Jews will fulfill much of that suffering, waiting, and blessed assurance of salvation which is so clearly outlined in the psalms. And after that, the whole nation will break out in mighty songs of joy, and while there, in the Father’s house, the blood-bought hosts will sing their hallelujah, a delivered, cleansed and spirit-filled nation in the earth will shout her hallelujah, in which nation after nation will join, till at last it has been done what seer after seer saw and heard, the earth as well as the heavens filled with His glory, the Kingdom come, and His will done in the earth as it is done in Heaven. Again, the promise is given that the Lord will dwell in the midst of her. How is this to be understood? Will the Lord dwell continually in person, after his second coming, in Jerusalem? Will He be seen there in His Holy Temple by all who come up to Jerusalem? Some Scriptures indicate that He will be present in His blessed person at different seasons. The strongest statement in this direction is Zechariah 14:16. In this passage we have the fact of a yearly coming up to Jerusalem of nations (probably representatives of nations) to worship the King, and that at the feast of tabernacles. His throne, no longer His Father’s throne, upon which He sits now, but his own throne during the Millennium, will no doubt be in the New Jerusalem which, as a bright and glorious vision, will be seen then by all who live in the earth way up in the firmament, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. A vice-regent, a Son of David, will occupy David’s throne in Jerusalem. The Glory of the Lord will appear in the Holy City, and the new name of Jerusalem will be Jehovah Shamah, the Lord is there. It is impossible to give the details of these glories, for they are not clearly revealed. It is enough to know that the Church, His Body, shall truly be united with her glorified head, and meet her Beloved, her Bridegroom and her Lord. It is enough to know that Israel will surely see the King in His beauty and crown Him Lord of all. Even our brightest imaginations will not reach the glories of that day. Indeed, not half has been told. The Lord cometh to dwell in Zion. Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day and shall be My people. This promise is likewise followed that this will be evidence from which the people will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Him. How often the orthodox Jew has come to us and told us that when Messiah comes all their enemies will be cast down—there will be peace for Jerusalem and the nation Israel; and then saying, Ah, where is that peace?—behold our enemies! When Messiah comes we shall know Him by what He does for us in overcoming our enemies. Likewise the orthodox Jew will say, Where are the many nations who join themselves to the Lord, the nations who worship the Lord of Hosts? When Messiah has come, he will say, We will know Him by the fact that nations shall join themselves unto the Lord. It will hardly do to tell the well informed Hebrew that there are now Christian nations in existence. Thus the Jew waits for the fulfillment of these prophecies at some future time, and seeing them accomplished he hopes to know then his Messiah and King. Only the small remnant, according to the election of grace, sees Him now by the eyes of faith—Him who is altogether lovely, and in whom alone these prophecies can find their fulfillment. To-day individuals from Jews and Gentiles are joining themselves to the Lord, but in that day of His appearing and manifestation nations will be converted, and many nations shall go and say, “Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us His ways and we will walk in His paths.” “Lift up thine eyes and see: they all gather themselves together—they come to Thee. Thy sons shall come from far and thy daughters shall be carried in the arms. Then thou shalt see and be lightened, and thine heart shalt tremble and be enlarged, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned unto thee. The wealth of the nations shall come unto thee, the multitudes of camels shall cover thee—the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, they all shall come from Sheba; they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praises of the Lord.” (Isaiah 60:4-7.) Only then will India and China, South America and Africa be won to Christ and the world converted to God. But the land of Judah is to be the portion of the Lord (Zechariah 2:12). This vision of restoration and the coming of glory ends with one of the sublimest exhortations in the Word of God. Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for He is waked up out of His holy habitation. The exhortation does not belong really to the restoration. It is an appeal to all flesh to be silent before the One who is raised up—the coming One. Now is the time when God is silent. He is silent to the wicked deeds of men. He is silent in regard to the nations who are treading down Jerusalem and who are scattering Israel. The flesh speaks now and is not silent, and the language it speaks is rebellion against God and against His Anointed. And louder and louder speaks all flesh, and in the midst of a boasted civilization, at the dawn of a new century, the days of Noah and the days of Lot are at hand. Gain, pride, possession, expansion, is the universal cry—a mad hunt after Mammon is seen in individuals and in nations; and while the flesh speaks thus, and its language becomes more and more defiant, God keeps silence. But our God shall come and keep silence no longer. Rapidly His day—the terrible day of the Lord—is approaching; the day in which He will roar out of Zion. Oh, what a hush there will come upon those that dwell in the earth when the darkened sun and the falling stars will herald the approach of a God who will keep silence no longer. Oh, dear reader, Jew or Gentile, listen! The signs of the times truly tell us that the Lord who is to come must have already risen from His holy habitation. He is coming. Soon He will gather His saints unto Himself before the day of wrath breaks, when neither gold nor silver will deliver. Wilt thou not become silent before Him, the coming One? Will not every reader yield himself to that wooing spirit of Him, whose power does silence the flesh? Be silent all flesh! He is waked up out of His holy habitation! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 26: 02.03. CHAPTER 3 ======================================================================== CHAPTER III. The fourth vision.—Joshua the high priest accused by Satan, but cleansed by the angel of the Lord—The branch.—The stone and the sewn eyes upon it.—The coming peace. The fourth vision is like the first and second, closely connected with the foregoing one. It gives the crowning event of Israel’s restoration. The prophet recognizes in the figure which is seen by him Joshua the high priest, who is standing before the angel of the Lord, while at his right hand stands Satan to oppose him. Joshua was not clothed with his clean, priestly robes, but he wears filthy garments. Jehovah rebukes Satan and terms Jerusalem a brand plucked from the fire. After the accuser is rebuked, the filthy garments of the high priest are removed, his iniquity is forgiven, and he is clothed with festal raiment. The prophet is so carried away with the vision that he asks that a clean mitre is to be put upon his head. And now, after the high priest is thus clothed, the angel of the Lord charges him with an important message: If thou wilt walk in My ways and keep My charge, thou shalt judge my house and also keep my courts. I will give thee access among those standing here, etc. The servant—the branch—is promised, and the stone which is laid before Joshua is to have seven eyes. The iniquity of this land is to be removed in one day, and the vision closes with the peaceful scene, every man inviting his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree. The authorized version has a superscription for this chapter. “Under the type of Joshua the restoration of the church is promised.” This is not alone very misleading but also erroneous. No restoration of the church is necessary, and as far as fallen, apostate Christendom is concerned, there is no promise of restoration, but the Lord will spew her out of His mouth. Others speak of this vision as a type of the justification of the sinner, but we need not spiritualize Old Testament visions to get assurance of our justification. The Epistle to the Romans is sufficient for that. The High Priest Joshua stands here for Jerusalem and for the sinful nation Israel. The calling of Israel to be a nation of priests is too well known, so we need not to enlarge on it. But it is a nation stiff-necked, disobedient, unclean and defiled. Disobedience and sin have been the cause of Israel’s misfortune and Jerusalem’s ruin. What would be a restoration of Israel to the land without a healing of their sins and a regeneration of the nation? It is this divine forgiveness and cleansing of the nation, which so many prophets uttered in Jehovah’s name, which is here so wonderfully shown in this vision. Like the priests in the temple, standing before Jehovah, thus Joshua and Israel is before the Lord. Though Joshua is standing before the Lord in filthy garments, yet he is still the High Priest. The filthy garments do not change the office to which God had called him. Oh, wondrous truth, which we meet all through the Word! Israel, though in dispersion and in sin, is still the priest, called by Him who is a covenant-keeping God! And is it not a perfect picture of Israel as it is yet to-day? A priest, but defiled and unclean. In Isaiah lxiv we have part of that wonderful prayer which the remnant of Israel is yet to utter. It begins with that sublime prayer, Oh, that Thou wouldest rend the heavens, that Thou wouldest come, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence. And then follows the confession: We are all become as one that is unclean, and all our righteousness is as a polluted garment. Alas, how little Israel knows at this present time of such a confession. On the day of atonement the lips confess sin and unrighteousness in similar words, but it is still the lips and not the heart. But at last Israel will confess her guilt and the bloodguiltiness like David did. In the vision Satan is seen. This is not the enemy who at Zechariah’s time tried to hinder the rebuilding of the temple, but it is Satan, the old serpent, the accuser of the brethren, the adversary. He is the enemy of Israel. He has tried in the past to hurt and to destroy the nation of destiny. He knows the purposes of God concerning Israel better than many a learned doctor of divinity, and therefore, he has opposed that people and opposes them still. His opposition has been mostly through nations. How much could be said on this topic! The end of this age will reveal the enemy of Israel, the adversary, as never before in the history of the world. There is to be war in heaven; Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred, and his angels, and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast down, the old Serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the Deceiver of the whole world, he was cast down to the earth and his angels were cast down with him. (Revelation 12:7-9.) His wrath will be directed against Israel and Jerusalem. It is the time of which Daniel spoke. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time. (Daniel 12:1.) Once more Satan will try to destroy the people, but the Lord shall rebuke him. Israel will be again, as so often before, like a brand plucked out of the fire. So it has been in the past. Way back when Israel was in Egypt and God was about to send the deliverer, He called Moses from out of the burning bush—Israel’s true type, burning, but never consumed. Oh, how the fire of persecution and adversity has been raging, but again and again the hand of God snatched the burning brand out of the fire at the right moment. The Lord who hath chosen Jerusalem will rebuke Satan. This has not yet come. The coming Lord will commission an angel out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he will lay hold on the dragon—the old Serpent which is the Devil and Satan—and bind him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss and shut it and seal it over him. (Revelation 20:1-2.) Then follows the cleansing of Israel and the new charge, all so clearly given in this vision. The filthy garments are removed by those that stand before the angel of the Lord. The iniquity is taken away, and in place of the filthy garments there is the rich apparel and the fair mitre upon the head. How blessedly all this is waiting for its fulfillment in Israel’s regeneration! When He appears after the times of overturning, He whose right it is, His people Israel will be found by Him in true penitence, acknowledging their offence. It will be a national repentance, a mourning on account of Him, which Zechariah describes in detail in Zechariah 12:1-14. This will be followed by national cleansing, forgiveness of sin for the entire remnant which is left, and the new birth of the nation by the outpouring of the Spirit. Israel is the nation to be born in a day (Isaiah 66:8). This great miracle of divine grace, the regeneration of Israel by the blood of the once rejected King, is spoken of again and again in the Word. The Church has taken it all for herself or spiritualized these promises. We can refer only to a few: “He will turn again and have compassion upon us; He will tread our iniquities under foot; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). “I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean. (How ridiculous that teachers and preachers refer to this text in defence of sprinkling as a mode of baptism.) From all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh” (Ezekiel 36:24-26). “I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and I will not remember thy sins” (Isaiah 43:25). “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins; return unto Me for I have redeemed thee. Sing, oh ye heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing ye mountains, oh forest, and every tree therein; for the Lord has redeemed Jacob and will glorify Himself in Israel” (Isaiah 44:22-23). And this is Israel’s triumphant song: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a priest decketh himself with a garland, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels” (Isaiah 61:10). And now comes a very solemn charge. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: if thou will walk in my ways, and if thou will keep my charge, then thou also shalt judge my house, and shalt also keep likewise my courts, I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by. Israel was disobedient and did not keep the first charge. It is now repeated. It is likewise conditionally as was the first, but no apostasy can follow, for a complete healing has made that impossible. In analyzing this charge, we see clearly what Israel’s earthly calling is and wherein Israel’s millennial glory and work will consist: (1) Judging in the house of the Lord, and from there ruling and judging of nations, by Israel the head of the nations. The Church will be higher than this, sitting with Him in His throne, and likewise judging, being with the glorified Head over it all; (2) Israel will keep His courts. In the new millennial temple there will be ordinances, and that temple will be a house of prayer for all nations, while the Church will be in the temple above; (3) Israel will have places to walk among these that stand by. This may have a double meaning—walking among the ministering angels which will ascend and descend upon the Son of Man, and places to walk among those that stand by—the nations. Israel’s cleansing will take place not in heaven but in the earth, and nations as well as angels will be witnesses of it. Among these nations redeemed Israel will have places to walk. The Church will occupy the many mansions in the Father’s house, and go in and out in blessed fellowship with the Lord of glory and all His saints; and, perhaps, for all we know, there may be places to walk for the Church in distant worlds. The whole redeemed and restored nation will then be a miracle. Hear now, O Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee, for they are men which are a wonder: for behold I will bring forth my servant the Branch. The Jews are now God’s standing miracle, but how much more will they be a wonder when the Spirit has filled them! They will heal the sick and do the same works Jesus their Elder Brother did. What will then come to this sin-cursed earth through Israel’s fullness? A miracle—life from the dead. But never before He, whose name is the Branch, appears. Oh, how necessary it is for us to be reminded that it will take place when He appears and the Branch is brought forth. Next comes the stone laid before Joshua, and upon the stone seven eyes, and engraving is seen on it. Generally this stone is interpreted as meaning Christ. One of the names of Christ is—a stone, a rejected stone, corner stone, a precious stone, etc. The true believers are likewise termed stones, living stones. The stone in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, falling out of heaven, smashing the image and becoming a great mountain which filled the entire earth, is both Christ and His kingdom, which is not of this earth (it is and comes from above). However, it seems to us that the only correct interpretation of the stone upon which are the seven eyes is that it means Israel restored, and as such, the nucleus of the kingdom of God and His Christ in this earth. The seven eyes speak of the sevenfold Spirit which will be upon Israel; the engraving of the stone stands for the beauty and glory with which God will bless His covenant people. That this interpretation is the only correct one becomes at once evident when we reach the closing sentence of the ninth verse, and I will remove the iniquity of that land one day. What land? It is Israel’s land, and therefore the whole vision must stand in vital connection with His people. The one day, of course, in the first line, must be that day when Christ died for our sins and Israel’s sins as well, when the veil was rent. But alas, the Jews cried then, “His blood be upon us and upon our children!” How terribly this awful prayer has been answered! Truly the blood has been upon them and their children. But soon—oh may it be very soon—another day will come when the blood shall be once more upon them and their children—when the blood shall cleanse and wash away Israel’s sin—one day when Calvary’s blood, the blood of the Son of God, will remove the iniquity of that land and its inhabitants. All is waiting for that. There can be no kingdom of God in the earth, no conversion of the world, no millennium before Israel has been cleansed, redeemed, restored, and the iniquity of the land is removed. This all-important truth is likewise mentioned in a few words at the close of this, the fourth night vision of the prophet: In that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree. This is the picture of prosperity, peace and love. No prosperity and peace till the millennium has come, no millennium until Israel is restored; no true restoration of Israel until the Lord comes with His saints. What Zechariah hears about that blessed time of peace Micah and other prophets received also from God, “Every man shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid” (Micah 4:4). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 27: 02.04. CHAPTER 4 ======================================================================== CHAPTER IV. The fifth vision.—The candlestick and the two olive trees.—The great mountain becoming a plain.—Zerubbabel the prince finishing the house of the Lord. Zechariah 1:1-21, Zechariah 2:1-13, Zechariah 3:1-10 are the foundation of the entire book. The events in these chapters are again and again touched upon in the following visions and prophecies of Zechariah. For this reason have we paid special attention to these three chapters, which speak so clearly of the time of Israel’s restoration, the restoration itself and the different events connected with it, and much which might be said on the visions of the prophet which now follow can be omitted, as the reader has the key to the situation in the studies made. There was a rest for the prophet between the fourth and fifth night vision. He had fallen into a deep sleep. He may have been overcome by the grand and important visions, and is now awakened by the angel with the question, “What seest thou?” The new vision is a very striking one. A golden candlestick appears before the seer. An oil receiver is seen on top, from which the oil flows to the seven lamps of the candlestick through seven pipes. Two olive trees stand alongside of the candlestick and hang their fruit-laden branches over the golden bowl, filling it with oil, which flows through the seven pipes into the seven lamps. The question of the prophet, “What are these, my Lord?” is answered by the angel with this statement, “This is the word of Jehovah to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might and not by power but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. Who art thou, oh great mountain, before Zerubbabel? Be a plain! He shall bring forth the topstone with shoutings of grace, grace unto it. The hands of Zerubbabel who have laid the foundation shall also finish it, and they shall rejoice and see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel—even the seven. The eyes of the Lord shall run to and fro through the entire earth.” For the third time the prophet asks for information about the two olive trees and receives the answer: “These are the two sons of oil, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” The vision of the candlestick and the two olive trees is one of the most difficult in the Bible and needs prayerful and thoughtful study. The general interpretation is that the golden candlestick represents the Church, that she is the golden light-bearer, so valuable and precious. She is the light in the dark world. The oil and the seven pipes are the Holy Spirit who fills the lamps of the candlestick; the two olive trees, Joshua and Zerubbabel, Priest and King. The victory which the Church is to gain is one not by power or might but by His Spirit, etc. This interpretation seems to fit in with a number of passages in the New Testament, the seven candlesticks in Revelation first chapter and the teaching of the New Testament about the Holy Spirit and His work. However, it is hardly a satisfactory explanation. We do not doubt for a moment that the Church is represented by a candlestick, especially the Churches; or rather, the Church in her seven periods. Of course the Holy Spirit’s type is oil, and He is the one who accomplishes the work, etc. All this we do not and cannot doubt for a moment, but after considering it all it does not satisfy us, and we feel that we must look for a better and a deeper meaning of the fifth night vision. If its fullest meaning is the Church and the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church, how could it be then harmonized with the first night visions of Israel’s restoration? The above interpretation seems to us overlooks entirely the fact that the vision of the candlestick being given with the others in one night, must be connected with them in some way. In other words, the vision of the golden candlestick must have some relation to the restoration of Israel. We desire to call attention to the fact that the vision is one which speaks of perfection, completion, fullness. The perfect and divine number seven is found three times in the vision, seven lamps, seven pipes, and seven eyes. The seven lamps are united to one stem, this is union, and above it, is a golden bowl. The Spirit conquers, and not power or might does it, but His power. The great mountain becomes a plain. The topstone is brought forth and crowns the building which is finished by Zerubbabel. Shoutings, “Grace, grace, unto it,” are heard, and the seven eyes run to and fro the whole earth. It is a vision of fullness and accomplishment. The candlestick shines and sheds its glorious light, its pure gold glitters and reflects the light of the seven lamps. The bowl is filled with oil, and the two olive trees give a continual supply. The high mountain removed, the temple finished, joy and victory abound. The candlestick in the vision is exactly like the one in the tabernacle, only the two olive trees are something new. The candlestick in the tabernacle represents Christ, the Light of the world, and is likewise a type of the Jewish theocracy. Theocracy, the government of this earth by the immediate direction of God, is once to be established, and when it is, it will be like a bright and glorious candlestick shedding light and dispersing the darkness. We think the Yalkut on Zechariah (a Hebrew commentary), is not so very far out of the way when it says, “The golden candlestick is Israel.” It seems to us very clear that the vision represents the Jewish theocracy restored, Israel in their glorious inheritance as the light of the world. But what about the Church as a candlestick? The Lord is seen in Revelation to walk among seven candlesticks, which represent the seven Churches and prophetically the seven periods of this dispensation, ending with Laodicea. The end of this age will not be a bright and glorious candlestick, filled with oil, conquest and glory, but it will be failure and the removal of the candlestick which failed in giving the light. The nominal Church is far from being the light of the world, and Christendom nears rapidly a dark and dreary night. The true believer, who is filled with the Spirit, of course, is the light of the world as an individual, he reflects the light and glory of His Master, and thus every child of God is a light. But the home of the true Church, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, is not the earth, to remain here permanently, but her home is the Father’s house, her destination, union with her glorified Head and sharing His glory. Israel and Gentiles will be left in the earth, while the Church is with her Lord. When He appears, the King of Israel and King of Glory, it will not be to re-establish the Church in the earth, for she is to sit with Him in heavenly places, but Israel, His beloved people, will become the light-bearer, the light which is to enlighten the Gentiles and fulfill its original calling. It is a true saying, whatever is spoken of Christ is also spoken of His Church, and it is just as true, whatever is spoken of Christ is also spoken of Israel. Of the coming Messiah, we read in Isaiah 49:1-26 :, “I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth,” but this is likewise true of his brethren according to the flesh, Israel will be a light to the Gentiles. The candlestick of pure gold, precious, and uniting seven lamps filled with oil, represents Israel’s glorious fullness. All will be united under one Head, and no longer seven candlesticks and confusion of religions teachings, but there will be one Shepherd and one fold. This will be accomplished not by power or might but by His Spirit. He will accomplish God’s blessed purpose in Israel by the wonderful outpouring which is promised through Joel, and which was only partially fulfilled on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem, and never since. The Jew feels still in some degree his mission, and what else is this awakened national life as it is now known by the name of Zionism, than a reaching out for it. But there is still the blinding, money, political powers, in reality their enemies, different influences and combinations are looked upon by them as the means to bring about that which is born into every Jewish heart—supremacy and rule. It is not by power or might, but by the Spirit. He will come yet upon the nation and fill them with His blessed power as He filled once their own rejected Brother Jesus, and what He was Israel will be for the nations left in the earth. Zerubbabel, who is now mentioned, was Israel’s prince at the time of Zechariah. A mountain is seen which is before him, a mighty obstacle, but it sinks and falls, becomes a plain. The Hebrew has it in the form of a command—“Be a plain!” The mountain represents a kingdom, a power, and seems to stand here for anti-Christ and His power. Zerubbabel as prince is the type of the Prince of Peace, Israel’s King. His hands have laid the foundation, just as Zerubbabel had laid the foundation of the temple, and just as Zerubbabel finished it, bringing forth the headstone which crowns the new house of the Lord, thus Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, who has laid the foundation and who is the foundation, the precious stone, He will finish it. He is the Author and Finisher, and it is all grace. When the foundation of the temple was laid there were mighty shoutings, and likewise when it was finished. The priests and the Levites sang one to another in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy endureth forever toward Israel, and all the people shouted with a great shout (Ezra 3:11). What shoutings there will be when at last the fullness of the Gentiles is come in and all Israel is saved, when the headstone will be brought forth, what mighty hallelujahs will be heard in the heavens and in the earth, praising—grace—all of grace. Without pointing out the other details of this vision which are now easily understood, we desire to make a few remarks on the two olive trees standing at the right and at the left of the candlestick supplying the same with oil. There can be no doubt that these sons of oil, as they are called, represented Joshua and Zerubbabel, living at the time of Zechariah, the one the priest and the other the king. What deeper meaning is here? It is probably the easiest explanation to say that these two olive trees are types of Him who is a Priest upon His throne and whose blessed Person will supply the candlestick with the oil, His own Spirit! These two olive trees are likewise seen in Revelation, the eleventh chapter. Here they are the two witnesses who give their testimony during the great tribulation in Jerusalem, and who stand in direct relation to that theocracy which is then about to be established in Israel. We believe that these two witnesses are Moses and Elijah, the same who appeared with our Lord upon the mountain of transfiguration. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 28: 02.05. CHAPTER 5 ======================================================================== CHAPTER V. The vision of the flying roll—The vision of the woman in the Ephah. The three remaining night visions are of a different character. The first visions the prophet had were visions of comfort for Jerusalem and the dispersed nation, the overthrow of Babylon and all their enemies, divine forgiveness and the theocracy restored. Now follow the last three visions, and these are visions of judgment. Judgment precedes Israel’s restoration, and is very prominently connected with it. The sixth night vision is the one of the flying roll. The prophet’s eyes seem to have been closed after the fifth vision, for we read, “And I lifted up my eyes again.” The flying roll he sees is twenty cubits long and ten cubits broad. The interpreting angel tells the prophet that it is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land; for every one that stealeth shall be cut off on this side according to it, and every one that sweareth shall be cut off on that side according to it. The Lord of hosts has brought it forth and it is to enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth by His Name to a falsehood, and it shall lodge in the midst of His house and consume it, both its wood and its stone. That this vision means judgment is evident at the first glance. Ezekiel had a similar vision. “And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe” (Ezekiel 2:9-10). Ezekiel was to eat that book. This reminds us at once of the books in Revelation (Revelation 5:1-14 and Revelation 10:1-11), which are likewise connected with God’s judgments in the earth. The flying roll is written on both sides, signifying the two tables of stone, the law of God. Stealing and swearing falsely are mentioned because the one is found on the one side of the two tables of stone, and the other on the other side. However, it is no longer “Thou shalt not,” but on the flying roll are written the curses, the awful curses against the transgressors of God’s law which are now about to be put into execution. The curse is found in its awful details, as it refers to an apostate people, in Deuteronomy 27:1-26; Deuteronomy 28:1-68. The roll is of immense size, and on it are the dreadful curses of an angry God. The vision must have been one of exceeding great terror. Imagine a roll, probably illumined at night with fire, moving over the heavens, and on it the curses of an eternal God—wherever it moves its awful message is seen; nothing is hid from its awe-inspiring presence. It reminds one of the fiery handwriting on the wall in the king’s palace. Surely such an awful judgment is coming by and by, when our God will keep silence no longer. One of the sublimest judgment Psalms, the fiftieth, mentions something similar to this flying roll. “When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speaketh against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes” (Psalms 50:18-21). The flying roll stands undoubtedly in connection with wickedness, theft and false swearing, as it is found in so many forms in unbelieving Israel, but it finds also a large application in the judgment of wickedness throughout the earth in the glorious day of His appearing. But the roll enters the house of the evil doer and remains there to punish not only the wicked persons but also to consume the timber and the stone. This may stand for the two facts: the secret places will be entered in that judgment, and it will be a thorough judgment which will consume all that is connected with wickedness. In Leviticus 14:1-57 : we read of the cleansing of the leper, that the leper’s house which was infected was completely destroyed. Elijah’s sacrifice was consumed by fire, and not alone the sacrifice but also the wood and the stones and the very water. God’s fire will again fall from heaven to consume the wood, hay, and stubble, nothing will be hid. Oh, what a burning day that day of the Lord will be when His well earned curses will be carried out, and none can escape. Another application still of this vision of the flying roll may be made in connection with the established theocracy during the coming age. However, space forbids an enlargement. The next vision is one of great interest and not a little difficulty. It claims our attention more than any of the other visions. In it we see again wickedness and judgment. The angel now calls the prophet’s attention to some startling vision. He sees an ephah going forth. And he said, this is their aim (literally aijn eye) in all the land. And, behold, a round piece of lead was lifted up, and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness; and he cast her in the midst of the ephah, and cast the weight of lead in its mouth. And I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and, behold, two women came forth, and the wind was in their wings, and they had wings like stork wings, and they lifted up the ephah between earth and heaven. And I said to the angel that talked with me, Whither are these taking the ephah? And he said to me, To build for her a house in the land of Shinar; and it shall be established and settled there upon its own base. That we have here a most striking and intensely interesting vision is at once evident. Alas! that so few students of the Word should pass it by without digging down to the depths and comparing scripture with scripture to find its true and final meaning! The vision is generally taken to mean wickedness in connection with Israel, and having its fulfilment in their captivity. Many other interpretations have been advanced which are, however, unsatisfactory. We have to look deeper and give this vision a very prayerful study. After much study and research we believe that the whole vision is identical with the final Babylon, the great harlot of Revelation, her fall and judgment, and all that is connected with it—wickedness put away, sealed up, the wicked one destroyed, and Satan chained. What are the leading figures in the vision? An ephah—which is a Jewish measure standing here for commerce. The aim (eyes) of all the land (or earth) are upon it. Commercialism is very prominent in Revelation in connection with the full measure of wickedness, the climax of ungodliness. In Revelation xviii merchants are mentioned who have grown rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Then the merchants are seen weeping, for no man buys their merchandise any more. And then a long list follows, including all the articles of modern commerce. Compare this with the awful description of the last times in James 5:1-20 : Rich men are commanded to weep and howl, for miseries are come upon them. They heaped treasure together for the last days, and it was a heaping together by fraud, dishonesty in keeping back the hire of the laborers. They lived in pleasure (luxuriously) and been wanton. Indeed, here is that burning question of the day, capital and labor, and its final outcome, misery and judgment upon commercialism, riches heaped up, and all in wickedness. In Habakkuk 2:12 the woe of judgment of that coming glory of the Lord is pronounced upon him that buildeth a town with blood and establisheth a city by iniquity! The people are seen laboring for the fire and wearying themselves for vanity. Luxuries, increase, riches, etc., are mentioned in the second and third chapters of Isaiah, chapters of judgment. Other passages could be quoted, but these are sufficient for our purpose. They show us that the climax of wickedness as it is in the earth when judgment will come, and Israel’s time commences once more, will be connected with commerce, riches and luxuries. The ephah points to this. In the second place let us notice that in the midst of the ephah there is seen a woman. She is called wickedness. The Hebrew word wickedness is translated by the Septuagint with “ανομια” anomia. We find that the Holy Spirit uses the same word in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, and then shall be revealed the wicked one (ανομος) whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the Spirit of His mouth. The woman in the ephah personifies wickedness. She has surrounded herself with the ephah and sits in the midst of it. Have we not here the great whore having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication? Undoubtedly. This woman is the type of evil and wickedness in its highest form. Let us glance at that wonderful description of that woman in Revelation. She is the great whore sitting upon many waters. She sits upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman is arrayed in purple and scarlet decked with gold, precious stones and pearls. Upon her forehead is seen her name, Mystery, BABYLON the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations in the earth. She is drunk with the blood of the saints. The woman in the ephah represents the same great whore, Babylon the great. This becomes at once clear when we take into consideration that the woman in the ephah is carried swiftly away and a house is built for her in the land of Shinar, and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base. Now the land of Shinar is Babylonia. There it is where the God-opposing power has its home and when it will end in final and total destruction. But it is certainly worth the while to follow this up. The first city erected after the judgment of the first age was the city in the plain of Shinar. There they built a city and in it a tower, whose top was to reach into the heavens, to make themselves a name. Self, worship of the creature, had reached its climax, and confusion and judgment came swiftly. The Babylon of the Revelation is the very same attempt, only in its fullest development. It is Cain’s city—human strength, human wisdom, stored in it. A number of the wicked generation, after the confusion of tongues, remained in the land of Shinar as inhabitants of Babylon. In it wickedness, idolatry, luxuries, earthly glory and commerce prospered. Only a few of the inspired descriptions of ancient Babylon may be mentioned here: The Golden City, Isaiah 14:4. The lady of Kingdoms, Isaiah 17:5. Stand now with thine enchantments, and with the multitudes of thy sorceries, wherein thou hast labored from thy youth, Isaiah 47:12. The praise of the whole earth, 51: 41. Babylon! a golden cup in the Lord’s land, that made all the earth drunken, the nations have drunken of her wine, therefore the nations are mad, Jeremiah 51:7. It is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols, Jeremiah 50:38. O thou that dwellest in many waters, abundant in treasures, Jeremiah 51:13. Babylon was in splendor and outward glory for the kingdoms of the world, God opposing what Jerusalem was for the land. Jerusalem is the city of a great King and Babylon may be termed the city of the prince of this world. According to Herodotus, the walls of Babylon were 60 miles in circumference. They were 87 feet thick and 350 feet high. The city had 25 gates made of solid brass. The city contained 676 squares, beautifully and symetrically arranged. The river ran through the city, surrounded by high walls, and in it were brass gates and steps leading to the river banks. A wonderful bridge spanned the river. No such city ever stood in the earth again. Even the great cities of our days—Paris, London, New York and Berlin—do not reach the splendor, luxury and wealth of ancient Babylon. The king’s palace had a wall around it six miles long. The hanging gardens were considered the wonder of the world. The waterworks of Babylon, supplying the immense city and its hanging gardens from the river Euphrates, were more powerful and larger than any modern water supplies. A Roman historian gives a vivid description of the city. Nothing could be more corrupt than its morals, nothing more fitted to excite and to allure to immoderate pleasures. The rites of hospitality were polluted by the grossest and most shameless lusts. Money dissolved every tie, whether of kindred, respect or esteem. Drunkeness and the grossest immoralities were practised in public. The worship of Babylon was idolatry, and it is a fact that all idolatry can be traced to Babylon. She is the mother of all abominations. Babylon was destroyed, but has a promise of restoration and return of her glory before her final and total destruction comes. Roman Catholicism is generally taken to be the Babylon of the Revelation. It is more correct to say Rome is an offspring of Babylon. Ancient Babylon had a religious ceremonial like the Rome of to-day, Indeed, the ancient Babylonian worship is revived in modern Rome. Babylon is the mother and Rome is the living daughter; while Rome again has her daughters—the “isms” of Christendom. Babylon means concentration and confusion. A boasting, high minded Christendom—Roman and so-called “Protestant”—is rapidly nearing its awful apostacy and judgment. The cry, so popular in our times—the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men and of a social Christianity—is really the cry of old, Let us make us a name; it is concentration. Money, riches and commercialism play a very important part in the popular religious enterprises. All is getting ready for Laodicea—increase in riches and proud boastings. Influential men, money, etc., control the affairs of Christendom. Error and loose morals are spreading in every direction. Great schemes are planned; institutions of learning—in which infidelity, in the form of higher criticism, is taught—are erected and endowed by the “church” with millions of dollars, as if this earth were to be the home of the church for ever. The twentieth century is prophesied to become the most glorious, and one would not know where to stop if all the beautiful air castles and promises of would-be prophets were to be named. The supremacy of the Anglo-Saxon race, its civilising influences and power for good, etc., are harped upon at present as being a mighty factor in the final conversion of the world. But in the midst of this boasting Christendom, heaping their bricks together for their proud tower, blindness has already become greater than the blindness of the Jews. In the midst of Christendom, the sorceries and idolatries of ancient Babylon are being strangely revived and leading many astray. The luxuries of Babylon, fostered by modern inventions and commercialism, are seen on all hands. One only needs to study statistics to see what this “Christian nation” expends a year for luxuries and what for the preaching of the gospel, the only power for salvation. The near future will undoubtedly bring the long looked-for union of churches, concentration for reformation, lifting up of humanity, etc., etc., and when man in his own thoughts and making himself a name seems almost to have succeeded, He who sitteth in the heavens and who laughs at their foolish efforts will no longer laugh but will speak once more in His wrath, and Babylon will fall. Whoever has eyes opened by the Word and the Spirit, must see how well the woman has succeeded in putting the leaven of error and wickedness into the fine flour, and the leaven is doing its perfect work in leavening the whole lump. But we must return to the vision. The ephah is carried, and in it the woman, by two women with wings of storks into the land of Shinar, and there a house is built and it is established on her own base. Babylon as it is described in the Revelation xvii and xviii can hardly mean exclusively corrupted ecclesiastical systems, apostate Christendom as it is seen to-day. The Babylon of the Revelation is still future, and its fullest development falls in the time when the body of the Lord Jesus Christ is no longer in the earth. It is remarkable that certain prophecies concerning Babylon in Isaiah and Jeremiah have not yet been fulfilled. If we hold to a literal interpretation of the Scriptures then of necessity Babylon is to be rebuilt. The desolations of Babylon prophesied by these two prophets have not yet taken place. The destruction is to be suddenly by fire, and that destruction has never been. Still more startling is the fact that the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah concerning Babylon and its final destruction are identical with Revelation 17:1-18; Revelation 18:1-24. The vision of the ephah and the woman in it being swiftly carried to Shinar and housed there upon her own base, as well as other prophecies concerning Babylon, point to an actual rebuilding of ancient Babylon as a great commercial center and world power as well as religious centralization. There are many indications in this direction in our times. Railroads are planned to India. Russia is advancing in the same direction. Maybe the restoration of the Jews in unbelief as it has commenced will hasten such a project as it has been already mentioned by statesmen, an international center for commerce and arbitration in central Asia. It concerns the true believer very little what the final Babylon will be. He does not belong to it, neither to the present Babylon as it exists in Christendom; nor will he see the future Babylon, for the Lord will then have gathered His saints. The removal of the church from the earth will bring about a great change, and all that is to be done will be done swiftly, indicated by the stork’s wings. What men in that gross darkness, when the light of God, His Spirit, and His praying church is removed, will do in their rebellion against God and His Anointed no human being can now estimate or imagine. Finally, the vision of the ephah and the woman, so to speak, sealed up in it, may denote also the overthrow and judgment of wickedness. Babylon fallen, cast down. Anti-Christ, the man of sin, slain by the brightness of His coming. Satan chained in the pit for a thousand years. The last vision of the prophet is likewise a vision of judgment, followed by the crowning of Joshua with the double crowns of silver and gold. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 29: 02.06. CHAPTER 6 ======================================================================== CHAPTER VI. The Last Night Vision of the Prophet.—The Vision of the Four Chariots Coming from Between the Mountains of Brass.—The Crowning of Joshua with Crowns. The prophet lifts up his eyes again and sees four chariots which come out from between two mountains which were of brass. In the first chariot the horses are red, in the second they are black, in the third white, and in the fourth speckled bay. The angel explains that these are the four spirits of the heavens which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. The black and the white horses go forth into the north country, the speckled go to the south country, and the bay went forth and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth, and so they did. The last verse of the vision reads: “And he called me and spake to me, saying, Behold, these that go forth in the land of the north have caused my spirit to rest upon the land of the north.” We notice first the similarity of the last vision with the first contained in the opening chapter of Zechariah. The visions opened with the hosts of heaven upon red, speckled and white horses, having walked to and fro through the earth. We learned from the first vision that its meaning was judgment; that God was displeased with the nations, and is once more jealous for Jerusalem and ready to turn in mercy to Zion, and the hosts of heaven are seen in that first vision preparing for judgment. In the last vision the chariots of judgment are seen coming forth to sweep over the earth, to be followed by the crowning with crowns of the high-priest. The riders of the first vision may be termed the advance guards of the judgment, but the chariots now put the divine decrees into execution. The riders halted in a valley amidst a myrtle grove, but the chariots rush forth to execute their terrible work from between two mountains of brass. These mountains mean undoubtedly Mount Moriah and the Mount of Olives. They rush through the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The brass is mentioned to denote the firmness and stability of these mountains, which shall never be moved. We do not think that in the four chariots there is an allusion to the four world-powers. The judgment of them is now come. The stone is falling and smiting the image at its feet and pulverizing it, putting it completely out of existence. The chariots are God’s powers, agencies for judgment in the earth, which will pass swiftly along, shown by the fast running chariots. In Rev. vi the seven seals are opened, and there go forth the four terrible riders upon white, red, black and pale horses. The riders in the Apocalypse are the riders which go through the earth during the great tribulation, but in the eighth night vision of Zechariah we see the chariots of God’s wrath. The vision falls in the time when heaven opens and He appears riding upon a white horse, His name Faithful and True, coming in righteousness to judge and to make war. Wonderful vision of Him who is clothed with a vesture dipped in blood! He is followed by the armies of heaven upon white horses, all clothed in fine linen white and clean. “And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations, and He shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God” (Revelation 19:1-21). Immediately after the appearing of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords with all His saints, “An angel is seen standing in the sun, and he cried with a load voice, saying, to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit upon them, both free and bond, both small and great.” How terrible that wrath will be, what awful work these chariots will work in slaying the ungodly, rebellious people, and spoiling the armies of military Christendom no human pen can describe. “Before Him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at His feet. He stood and measured the earth. He beheld and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow. The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation. Thou didst march through the land in indignation. Thou didst thresh the nations in anger” (Habakkuk 3:1-19). O how our hearts as believers should praise our God and our Lord Jesus Christ who has delivered us from that wrath to come. And while the tribulation is not yet, and wrath will come after the tribulation, how should we redeem the time and witness of that great salvation to Jew and Gentile, and teach in the words of the second Psalm, “Kiss the Son.” His wrath shall soon be kindled. The time is short, and soon the scenes of terror, tribulation, and wrath will be enacted in the earth. The removal of the Church from the earth will be the signal for the beginning. The angel interprets to the prophet that the chariots are the four spirits of the heavens which go forth from standing before the Lord of the earth. These agencies for wrath were with God standing before Him the Lord of all the earth, but now at His command they descend to scatter death and destruction. They go forth in sets, and the north country and south country both so prominent in the prophetic word are mentioned. The bay horses, however, are not confined to one direction, they go through the entire earth. At last in the judgment of the land of the north the Spirit is caused to rest. The overthrow of the enemies of Israel is complete and the Spirit is quieted. How long may the wrath last and for how long may the chariots do their deadly work? Perhaps longer than we now think. The millennial reign of Christ, as foreshadowed in the bloody rule of David, followed by the peaceful reign of Solomon, may teach us lessons in this direction. The night visions have ended. They may be termed the Apocalypse of Zechariah. Daniel, Zechariah and Revelation go together in a wonderful harmony and explain each other. Alas! that just these three parts of the Bible should be so little studied and so little understood. The long night of visions for the young prophet Zechariah had passed by and the noise of the speeding chariots had left his ears. The morning must have been when he opened his eyes after beholding such wonderful things, and now the Word of the Lord comes to him. A command is given to the prophet, which has a sublime prophetic meaning. The command will surely be once more carried out by Israel on that glorious morning when the Sun of righteousness has risen after a dark and dreary night of sin and tribulation as well as wrath is past. What is the command? Take from the exiles, from Cheldai, from Tobiah, and from Jedaiah, and go thou on that day, go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, whither they have come from Babylon. Take silver and gold and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedek, the high priest, and speak to him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, Behold a man whose name is Branch, and from his place he shall grow up and build the temple of Jehovah. Even He shall build the temple and bear majesty, and shall sit and rule upon His throne, and shall be a priest upon His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both. And the crowns shall be to Chelem, and to Tobiah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen, the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of Jehovah. And they that are afar off shall come and shall build in the temple of Jehovah, and ye shall know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you, and it will come to pass if ye will hearken unto the voice of Jehovah your God. Some consider this to be the ninth vision of the prophet. It is, however, the Word of the Lord which comes to the prophet. There can be no doubt but the command was actually carried out and Cheldai (robust), Tobiah (God’s goodness), and Jedaiah (God knows), gave their silver and gold, and crowns were made out of it and placed upon the head of Joshua the high priest. But the action had a much deeper meaning. It was a highly typical one. It must have astonished Joshua and the people to hear such a command, for the royal crown did not belong to the high priest but to the descendant of David. He must have understood that the whole command had a symbolical bearing. Joshua hears it from the Word of the Lord that another person is only typified by him, “Behold the man whose name is the Branch.” It is this man the Branch who will be a priest upon the throne. This, of course, is our Lord Jesus Christ. The name of the high priest Joshua is in itself very significant, for the meaning is, God is salvation, Saviour, Jesus. Pontius Pilate was fulfilling prophecy when he stood there leading out Jesus of Nazareth before that tumultuous multitude, and when he said “Behold the man.” If the assembled Jews had known the Scriptures they would have recognized the phrase. But how did he then come forth? He wore a crown of thorns upon His meek and loving brow, and the people gazed into the blood-stained face of the Lamb of God now ready to be placed upon the altar and slain. But once again it will sound forth, “Behold the man,” for when He appears it will be after He has gathered His saints, and then He will come as the Son of Man in the heavens, and the sign of the Son of Man will be seen there. He will be crowned again, too, but not with the crown of suffering and shame, but with the crowns of glory. Thus he is seen in Revelation 19:12 as wearing many crowns. He comes to build the temple of Jehovah, bearing majesty, sitting and ruling upon His throne. He is now the builder of the spiritual temple which is composed of living stones (Ephesians 2:21; 1 Peter 2:5). But when He comes again there will be the building of another temple. It is now no longer His Father’s throne but His own, upon which He is a priest as well. The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords has now taken possession of His inheritance. The times of overturning are over and He whose right it is has come. There is a very instructive thought in the fact that the persons of the exile, as mentioned above, were to bring the silver and the gold out of which the crowns were to be made. The time will come when the whole exiled nation, so long scattered and peeled, though even in dispersion, the richest nation of the earth, will bring their silver and gold, their glory and their all and lay it at the feet of the King. Psalms 110:1-7 will then find its fulfillment: “Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” Melchizedek united the offices of a king and a priest in one person. “For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him; to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first, being by interpretation King of Righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is King of Peace. Without father and without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually” (Hebrews 7:1-3). The whole will be realized in the restoration of the kingdom to Israel. Perhaps the fourteenth verse will also find a literal fulfillment then after the crowning of the King by His own people who rejected Him once, and a memorial of that event will be seen in the temple throughout the millennium. They that are afar off are now seen coming, and build not the temple of the Lord but in the temple. The Gentiles, of course, are they that are afar off and who are even now building in a certain sense in the temple of the Lord, but when He has returned and sits upon His throne this prophecy will find its final fulfillment. And when shall it all come to pass? An answer is given which refers us to the opening words of the first chapter. “And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.” In the whole command of the crowning of the high priest, Israel’s future glory is likewise seen. Their great and high calling will be realized in that day when the man the Branch comes forth and turns away ungodliness from Jacob. Israel will be as His earthly people like the Priest upon His throne, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. The kingdom has then come, and the will of God is being done in earth as it is done in heaven. And oh how blessedly for the believer’s heart to think God’s own thoughts and move in the purposes of God. Our own individual salvation eternally assured, we ought to cry continually “Even so, come Lord Jesus.”—Amen, Amen! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 30: 02.07. CHAPTER 7 ======================================================================== CHAPTER VII. The question put to the Prophet concerning the Fast.—The Rebuke given and their Failure shown. The night visions had come to an end. In them, as we have seen, the whole future of Israel, their restoration to the land and regeneration, as well as the theocracy and the judgments connected with it, were revealed. Nearly two years had passed by since that memorable night of visions, and during these two years the people had, obedient to the heavenly visions and encouraged by them, built the house of the Lord. Soon the temple was to be completed and worship once more to be restored. A question rose then in the minds of some of the people about the keeping of certain fast days by which they commemorated events of judgments upon their nation and city. The principal day of fasting was the day set apart for remembering the destruction and burning of the city of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. This day was kept by the Jews on the tenth day of the fifth month. Messengers are sent with this question to the prophet, and this occasion is used by the Lord to give a new message to the nation through the prophet. The seventh chapter is divided into three sections. 1. The occasion for the prophecy (Zechariah 7:1-4). 3. The rebuke (Zechariah 7:4-8). 3. Looking over the past (Zechariah 7:8-14). But Zechariah 7:1-14 does not answer the question put to the prophet. If a reader of the word stops reading with Zechariah 7:1-14, and does not continue to read Zechariah 8:1-23, he will be much perplexed. Zechariah 7:1-14 and Zechariah 8:1-23 go together; in fact they should form only one chapter. The eighth chapter contains two sections. 1. Promises of blessings again and teachings concerning their walk (Zechariah 8:1-17). 2. The solemn fast days will be no more; instead of them there will be feast days. Whole nations will seek the Lord and be joined to Israel. Thus the end of chapter eight answers the question of the people concerning the fast days. At the first glance we notice that these two chapters, though starting from a desire of the people in the prophet’s day, are yet awaiting their final and greatest fulfillment. Israel still fasts and is still the forsaken. Still there is mourning and weeping over the departed glory, and once a year is the solemn fast kept which reminds the seed of Abraham of the sad fate of Jerusalem and the Temple, twice destroyed on the same day. But let us glance at these sections in these chapters, and make a short comment on them. Zechariah 7:1-4. The question—It comes from the people of Bethel. The two men who represent the people have Assyrian names—Sherezer, meaning prince of the treasury, and Regemmelech, the official of the King. Perhaps they were born in exile and received their names there, and may have held the position indicated by their names. Their concern for a human institution not at all commanded in the word of the Lord, as it was the case with the fast day in question, shows the lack of spirituality in them. They should have been more concerned about true obedience than with an insignificant ceremony. It has always been so with the people. When the Lord came He said to the leaders, “Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel” (Matthew 22:24). And they are still concerned with ceremonials and know not the true obedience. But the same conditions, alas! exist too in Christendom. The question itself about weeping on that day for so many years shows that they were tired of it. It was a burden to them. If they had the true faith and in it obedience, they would not have come with that question at all, but with joy and gladness would they have looked to the future, and known that the promised restoration as seen by the prophet was surely to come. II. The reproof. Zechariah 7:4-7.—The word of the Lord comes now to the prophet. The message is for all the people and for the priests. The two fasts are mentioned. The one in the fifth month as already stated was the one in remembrance of the destruction of the city. The fast of the seventh month was kept on the anniversary of the murder of Gedaliah at Mizpah (Jeremiah 41:1-18). But why did they keep these fast days? Why do they keep these days indeed still? The Lord asks, “Is it unto me, unto me?” No, it was not for the honor and glory of God, but their own selfish interests were at the bottom of it. Indeed God had never asked them to fast. These institutions were man-made, and highly displeasing to Jehovah. And is it not so now, not alone with the Jews but with Christendom? Oh, the manmade institutions and outward observances which only dishonor God and are for the selfish interests of the people! The eating and drinking, the fast being over, was not unto the Lord, but unto themselves. It was obedience the Lord required. Had they listened to the words spoken by the prophets they would not have been in captivity, there would have been no need for a solemn fast. Unbelief was at the bottom of it all, and so it is still with the nation in dispersion. III. The closing verses of Zechariah 7:1-14 look over past history. In the first place the Lord says what he desires to see done by them: True judgment executed, mercy and truth shown by every man to his brother, oppress not the widow and the fatherless, the stranger nor the poor, let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart. These precepts were spoken to them by the prophets before the captivity. “Wash ye, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:1-31 :) But they did the very opposite, and continued in an outward service without obedience of the heart. This disobedience became their ruin and brought on the disaster. The description of their waywardness fits that people in their entire history. They refused to attend and offered a rebellious shoulder. They made their ears too heavy to hear, their heart they made an adamant that they might not hear the law and the words which Jehovah of hosts sent by His Spirit. These conditions prevailed in a still intenser form when our Lord Jesus Christ appeared among them. At last God Himself put judicial blindness upon them and still their heart is like adamant, but that heart of stone will be removed at last by the Spirit of God and a heart of flesh given in its place. (Ezekiel 36:1-38). And now follows the manifestation of the wrath of Jehovah of hosts. He had cried and they did not hear, and now they called but He did not hear. The prayers of orthodox Judaism especially on their fast days are beyond description and pleading for mercy. Still there is no answer to the many prayers. “Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of blood.” (Isaiah 1:14-15. ) Alas! it is worship with the lips. The believing remnant alone in the future will be heard in their pleadings, and the Lord will send at last the salvation out of Zion, and the Deliverer will come who turns away ungodliness from Jacob. The fourteenth verse puts the dispersion and the judgment before us in a nutshell. They are whirled among all the nations whom they know not. The land itself becomes desolate behind them. As soon as the people leave whose land it is, the land flowing with milk and honey becomes a wilderness, and when they return it will be again the land of blessing. What a testimony the land and the people is! Both speak of God’s righteous judgment, and the truth of His word. A whole nation scattered among all the nations and still kept intact. Their land trodden down by the Gentiles, waste and desolate. The land mourneth, indeed. Prosperity will come to that land again, but not by human efforts and human wisdom. The attempts of unbelieving Israel now in transforming the wilderness may prove successful, and colonies after colonies will be established. The time of Jacob’s trouble, however, will sweep it all away. The question concerning the fast is answered in the next chapter. The great and wonderful future of the land, the people, and of Jerusalem, prosperity and blessing is clearly shown in it. No more mourning, but joy; no more shame, but honor; no desolation, but restoration and His people saved from the East and West, nations at last being converted through Israel’s blessing and testimony. We will look at these promises and let them pass before us in our next chapter. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 31: 02.08. CHAPTER 8 ======================================================================== CHAPTER VIII. The Gracious Answer to their Question.—Promises of Blessing, Restoration, Prosperity and Salvation.—No more Fast Days.—Nations to be added to Jerusalem. Zechariah 8:1-23 contains the most blessed promises concerning the future of Jerusalem and the people Israel. Now the question concerning the fasts is answered in a way the petitioners never expected. The promises which are given in this chapter were only partially fulfilled in Zechariah’s day in the returned and believing remnant, the actual fulfillment is still future. In the first night vision we heard the words, Cry yet saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem. The eighth chapter gives the details of the promised prosperity. The perfect picture of Jerusalem’s glorious future is unrolled before our eyes. Though still future, with the eyes of faith we can look at it and rejoice in the vision when at last the covenant keeping God of Abraham has established Jerusalem and made her a praise in the earth. It is a grand and glorious prophecy which is before us, and while we now consider it as believers and members of His heavenly people, we may well think of the time when He, who is our Lord and Israel’s King, shall come and we with Him, and when in Him all these blessings will be carried out. Not long ago we saw teachings on this chapter consisting of entirely spiritual applications for believers’ comfort, prosperity and increase, etc. The New Testament contains all the comfort and blessing for believers, and we need not rob Israel of promises belonging to them and connected with their future. We divide the chapter into eight sections, which we will now briefly review: 1. The Restoration Announced. Zechariah 8:1-3. The jealousy of the Lord for Jerusalem is again stated, like in the first chapter, I am jealous for Jerusalem (Zechariah 8:14). Here, however, is the word fury added. The Hebrew verb signifies, I have been and am still jealous of her with great fury. The fury denotes the wrath which fell upon the ungodly nations, the horns of the second night visions, which are now passed out of existence, broken to pieces. Now to Jerusalem, no longer trodden down by the Gentiles, the enemies being scattered, the Lord Himself has returned and His glory is seen there again. It had departed, but now the sign of his presence and favor is again given. The city becomes a new city, called The City of Truth. How different this name is from the others which Jerusalem bore and which so fittingly described her fallen condition and abomination. She was called the city which had grievously sinned, like an unclean woman (Lamentations 1:8, Lamentations 1:17), a harlot and a murderer (Isaiah 1:21) spiritually called Sodom and Egypt (Revelation 11:1-19), but now a new name is given her, The City of Truth. He who is the Truth has turned the lie and ungodliness from Jacob, and truth is the characteristic of the city. The mountain of the Lord of hosts becomes the holy mountain. 2. Jerusalem will have Rest and be Largely Inhabited. Zechariah 8:4-5. What a picture in comparison with the former desolation! Jerusalem was forsaken and a desolation, a city of heaps. It is even so now, few cities of the earth present such an awful misery as modern Jerusalem does. It will all be changed, and just as great as the misery and desolation was the blessing and the increase will be. Old men in the streets, bowed down by old age, and alongside of them boys and girls who run about in childish play. No more fear, they shall dwell safely and none shall make them afraid. The increase in descendants is even now very great among the Jews and the city is rapidly becoming a Jewish city again, and thus everything is preparing for the final conflict. Only after Jerusalem’s warfare is ended will there be peace. 3. They are Brought back from the Captivity. Zechariah 8:7-8. When they heard of a restoration they thought this very marvelous. Had they not been scattered into the four winds? Could they ever be brought together again? Therefore the Lord says, Because it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this nation in those days, shall it be marvelous in My eyes also? saith the Lord of hosts. At this present time Jews and Gentiles doubt the promises of restoration, it is marvelous in their eyes. But He who scattered Israel will gather them again. He knows also where the so called Lost Tribes are, the house of Israel, and we need not try to help God to find them. When the time comes He will bring them all back. In the second chapter we noticed that the North Country is mentioned, and we called attention to the fact that the North Country, Russia, is inhabited by nearly one-half of the entire Jewish race. In that land the persecutions are the greatest and also the desire for a return to the land. The restoration in unbelief is one especially from the Jews in the North Country. Here in the eighth chapter the East and the West countries are mentioned, the far East, India, China, etc., and the West, our own country and the isles of the sea. The rich Jews may now be satisfied in the countries, away from the homeland, where they prospered, but at last they will return and the Lord will send fishers to fish them and hunters to hunt them out. (Jeremiah 16:16.) The Gentiles will bring them back to their own land (Isaiah 66:20). All will then be His people and He will be their God. 4. The Land is Blessed.—Fruitfulness and Plenty.—The Remnant to Possess all these Things. Zechariah 8:9-12. What a contrast there is now seen! For before these days there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast . . . Little fruit was had from the ground, there was nothing for man and beast . . . Neither was there any peace to him that went out or came in on account of the affliction . . . There was no rest, no peace, but uncertainty and affliction. Those that went out from the land had no peace, and they that came into the land found no peace. The curse said, No rest for the sole of their feet, and how literally it has been fulfilled. Again the people seek a resting place in the land without their God and their Saviour, all in the confidence of the flesh. They will succeed in their restoration plans only to find themselves at last in greater difficulties and facing worse afflictions than ever before. Then every one will be against his neighbor (Zechariah 8:10). Money spent by the millions in building channels for irrigation, planting of trees and vines, building railroads, etc. (just what modern Zionism proposes and has undertaken to do), may succeed in transforming the land in spots into a fruitful garden, but the time of Jacob’s trouble will sweep that all away. The Lord will be gracious to the very land in the day of His manifestation. There will be a seed of peace, the vine will give her fruit, the ground her increase, the heavens their dew. They shall build houses and inhabit them, they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them (Isaiah 65:21). For ye shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace, the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the firtree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off (Isaiah 55:12-13). The remnant of the people left after the great tribulation will inherit this all. 5. The Curse Changed into Blessing. Zechariah 8:13-15. They had been a curse among the nations, but now at last the nations of the earth blest in the seed of Abraham. As He had punished them so He blesses them now. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, says your God, speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she has received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins (Isaiah 40:1-2). Literal were the curses threatened concerning Israel and Israel’s land, literally they were all fulfilled. And are there not many more promises of blessing for the people and for the land spoken by the same true and faithful God who uttered the threatenings and carried them out to the very last? And will not the Lord fulfill these promises of blessing literally to the minutest details? Assuredly He will. It is remarkable that this simple truth is not seen and understood in Christendom of to-day. According to the popular idea God has punished the Jews and will continue to do so, and the church has taken Israel’s place and inherited all the blessings. It is this false notion which is responsible in a great measure for the dreadful confusion existing in Christendom. The thing against which Paul warned is practiced in Christendom, Boast not against the branches . . . Be not highminded, but fear. For if God spared not the natural branches (Jews) take heed lest He also spare not thee (Gentiles). God is able to graft them (Israel) in again. (Romans 11:1-36 :) 6. Israel will be a Holy People. Zechariah 8:16-17. These are the words ye are to do, speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor, execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates; let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor and love no false oath, for all these are things which I hate, saith the Lord. Untruth, false oath, speaking one against the other are characteristic sins of Israel. But the character of the nation is now to be entirely changed. They are now indeed to be a holy people, with hearts circumcised, loving God with all their hearts and their neighbors as themselves. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them. (Ezekiel 36:26-27.) 7. No more Fast Days, but Feast Days. Zechariah 8:18-19. The fast of the fourth month and the fast of the fifth and the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and the peace. This is now the answer to their question. The fasts of the fifth and seventh month were the fasts commemorating the burning of the temple and the taking of the city by Nebuchadnezzar, and the other the anniversary of the murder of Gedeliah and his friends. The fast of the tenth month was kept in remembrance of the siege of Jerusalem which was commenced in that month and the fast of the fourth month was kept on account of the taking of Jerusalem. These fasts commemorated therefore all national calamities. A greater calamity happened of course later when at the same time Jerusalem was destroyed by the Roman armies, the temple and the city burned to the ground and not a stone left upon another. The Jews are still keeping national fasts on account of these calamities. Not alone in Jerusalem are there Jews and Jewesses going to the small piece of ancient stone masonry, which is said to be all left of the magnificent temple in Jerusalem, to mourn there especially on the ninth day of Ab, but the mourning among the orthodox Jews on that day is world-wide. In the synagogues of Russia and New York, San Francisco and in South Africa, everywhere where there are orthodox Jews the Lamentations of the prophet Jeremiah are chanted in a mournful tone. But the time is coming when all will be changed. With Jerusalem rebuilt and peacefully inhabited, a temple full of God’s glory, and over it all the heavenly glory and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man, there will be no more need of fasting and mourning, but all will be changed in gladness and joy. The Songs of praise which are found at the close of the book of Psalms will then undoubtedly be sung by restored Israel. 8. The Conversion of the World and Conquest for the Lord will follow Through Converted and Restored Israel. Zechariah 8:20-23. These verses have often been spiritualized. How much harm there is done by taking such words and promises out of their connections and fitting them to a time and people for which they were never meant. Can God give His blessing to such teaching of His Word? We believe not. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, It shall yet be that nations will come, the inhabitants of many cities. And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. And many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. This the world has not yet seen. Individuals have turned to the Lord, and His own are gathered out of all nations and languages, but such a picture as it is seen here has not yet been seen. The conversion of peoples and strong nations is still future. It will not come by modern missionary efforts, consisting not alone of preaching, but as it is done to-day, by educational work in heathen countries, as well as other humanitarian institutions, such as hospital work, orphanages, etc. Nations can never be converted by these efforts, nor has God given His Church promises that nations and the world is to be converted by the preaching of the Gospel of grace. Individuals, of course, are converted and will be converted by the Word faithfully preached. A people is thus taken out for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written, After this I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down (Israel’s time commencing again, in restoration and regeneration) and I will build again the ruins thereof and I will set it up; that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the nations upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. (Acts 15:14-17.) It is sad to think that Christendom ignores such a revelation of the divine purpose and order and goes on in entirely different lines. We are living now in the time of the outcalling of a people, the Church, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ is formed. When that body is completed, which does not mean the conversion of the world, the Lord will come for His outcalled saints and then with His saints in glory. This will be followed, according to the words of the prophets, as we have so clearly seen in these studies by the building again of the tabernacle of David and all that is connected with it, and then the residue of men, the nations, will seek the Lord. It is also to be noticed that these nations will seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and worship there before Him. This means that Jerusalem will become the great center of not alone world government but also of worship. Zechariah 14:1-21 shows nations coming up to Jerusalem on the feast of tabernacles. Zechariah 8:23 is the grandest of all. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, in those days it shall be that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying, we will go with you for we have heard that God is with you. This shows clearly what so often is doubted, namely, that the Jew converted and filled with the Spirit will be the instrument for the conversion of the nations. At this present time when a poor Jew shows himself, even in a so-called Christian (?) land like ours, he will occasionally be followed by ten men or more who will mock him and call him names and perhaps assault him (by no means a rare occurrence). But it will all be changed in the day of Israel’s glory. It will then be known that Israel is the blessed people, and ten men out of all languages will beseech the Jew to take him along to the most blessed spot in the earth, to Jerusalem. Thus ends one of the most striking prophecies concerning the future of the Seed of Abraham and Abraham’s land. How strange that so few Christian people care to study these sublime revelations, which tell us how true and faithful our God is and which make it so clear and plain that the Bible is divine, the Word of God. May He teach us, who love these truths, who love Him and His appearing, who is not only Our Hope but Israel’s Hope as well, may He teach us more and more to know His thoughts and purposes and to find our delight in them. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 32: 02.09. CHAPTER 9 ======================================================================== CHAPTER IX. The Second Part of the Prophecies—The First Burden—Judgment upon Hadrach, Hamath, Tyre and Sidon—His People Kept—The King of Peace and Righteousness Announced—Victory over the Enemies. With Zechariah 9:1-17 begins the second part of the book. In it God shows through the prophet new and glorious visions of the Kingdom, the conflicts which His people Israel will have, their victories and final deliverance, ending with the sublime visions in the fourteenth chapter. The Deliverer, the King Messiah, is seen here likewise, suffering, rejected, pierced and slain, the Shepherd is smitten and rejected, false shepherds take charge of the flock, and calamities follow till the true Shepherd appears again and they look upon Him whom they pierced. The Gentiles are seen at last coming up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts. Like the first part of the book, we have in the second a series of prophecies which are progressive, leading up higher and higher till the whole purpose of God is made known, and the summit of Glory to God in the Highest, Peace on earth, is reached, in the establishment of the Throne of Jehovah in and over the earth. Oh, how blind man is! that he passes by the thoughts of his God and does not consider them, nor find delight and pleasure in them. The words of man are read and studied, and the Word of God is set aside. The great mass in Christendom is wise in their own conceits and hastens on to the great waking up, when it will be too late. It is for the few to look into these things and to know the secrets of our God. Let us do it faithfully and prayerfully. Twice in this second part of Zechariah we meet with the phrase “The burden of the Word of Jehovah.” The first time it stands in the beginning of the ninth chapter, and the second time in the twelfth chapter. We may conclude from this that the ninth, tenth and the eleventh chapters were given as one prophecy, and the twelfth to the fourteenth were perhaps given some time later. The land of Hadrach against which the first burden in chapter 9: commences cannot be correctly located. Its close connection with Damascus and Hamath show that the land of Hadrach must have been a province of the Syrian kingdom then in existence. The Phoenician cities Tyre and Sidon are next, and then mention is made of four Philistine cities. Against these, Syria, Phoenicia, and the cities of the Philistines, a great calamity and overthrow is prophesied by Zechariah. They are conquered by the hosts of an enemy, and the rich treasuries of Tyre are heaped together in the streets—silver as the dust and gold as the mire—the bulwarks are smitten, and she herself consumed by fire. From there the conquest goes on rapidly to the Philistinian cities, and the King of Gaza perishes. The question arises, What conquest and calamity is this? Is it accomplished or is it still future? History records one great conqueror who rapidly overthrew the countries and cities mentioned in this burden. Alexander the Great and his expedition so successfully carried on is undoubtedly meant here. All students of the prophetic Scriptures know how prominently he likewise stands out in the Book of Daniel. The young monarch, after the battle of Issus, besieged and quickly captured Damascus. Sidon was easily taken, but Tyre resisted him some seven months and was burned to the ground. Gaza and the other cities came next. Thus the burden of the Word of Jehovah as uttered here by Zechariah was literally fulfilled in the Syrian conquest of Alexander the Great. However, history tells us that the armies of the youthful monarch passed by Jerusalem a number of times without doing harm to the city. This is remarkable, and in accord with the prophecy of Zechariah, for we read in the eighth verse, “And I will encamp against mine house, against the army, against him that passes through and returns, and no oppressor shall come over them any more, for now I have seen it with mine eyes.” The Jewish historian Josephus gives a very interesting account of the oppressor, and how Alexander the Great punished the Samaritans, and the reason why he did not besiege and conquer Jerusalem. The account which Josephus gives is so important that we have to quote from it. “After the destruction of Tyre, the conqueror marched against Gaza, which was razed to the ground. While Alexander was at the siege of Tyre, he sent to demand the surrender of Jerusalem. The High Priest sent an answer in which he stated that Jerusalem had entered into an alliance with the Persian monarch. After taking Gaza, Alexander advanced suddenly against Jerusalem. Jaddua, the High Priest, and the entire city were much frightened. But in a vision God told the High Priest to be of good cheer, to decorate the city and open the gates wide, and to go forth in his priestly robes with all the priests in his train, and the people of the city clad in white garments. Jaddua obeyed and the doors were opened, and the astonished enemy beheld a startling spectacle. No sooner had Alexander seen the High Priest in his gold embroidered robes with the holy name engraved on the turban, then he fell upon his face and worshipped. His attendants were greatly astonished. The Syrian kings who stood around feared that Alexander had lost his reason. One at length asked why he, whom all the world worshipped, should do homage to the High Priest of the Jews. Alexander replied that he did not worship the High Priest but his God. In a vision in Macedonia that figure in that very dress appeared to me. He exhorted me to conquer Persia. Alexander entered with the priest into the city to offer sacrifices. The High Priest then acquainted him with the prophecies of Daniel, showing that a Greek was to overthrow the Persian empire.” The account is without doubt a correct one, and we relate it here because this prophecy of the Alexandrian conquest shows the wonderful escape of Jerusalem that the oppressor shall not come over it. However, it is to be noticed that the eighth verse says that no oppressor shall come over them any more. This puts before us again the final deliverance of Jerusalem and Israel’s land as it is seen in the last chapter. It is said that history repeats itself, but divine prophecy again and again announces events for the near future, and in it is seen a foreshadowing of other events, and the original prophecy awaits a greater and final fulfillment. The sentence quoted, that no oppressor shall come over them any more, brings the first burden of the word of Jehovah in connection with the coming final deliverance of Israel when they shall be planted upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up. A final destructive visitation will be upon the enemies of Israel and Jerusalem; in fact, many of the ancient foes of Israel are seen revived in prophecy in the latter days then to be swept away, while Jerusalem will again be miraculously saved. In our exposition of the fourteenth chapter we hope to show the details of this. The second section of the ninth chapter, Zechariah 9:9-11, which is so closely connected with the burden from Zechariah 9:1-8, strengthens the above exegesis. Who would say that Zechariah 9:9-11 have seen a complete fulfillment? The greater part of it is still future, and so it is likewise with the third section of the ninth chapter. Let us quote first Zechariah 9:9-11 : Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion, Shout aloud daughter of Jerusalem, Behold thy King cometh to thee, Just and having salvation, Meek and riding upon an ass, Even upon a colt, the she-ass’s foal, And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, And the horse from Jerusalem, And the battle bow shall be cut off, And He shall speak peace unto the nations, And His dominion shall be from sea to sea, And from the river to the ends of the earth. As for thee also, for the sake of thy covenant blood, I send forth thy prisoners from the waterless pit, Return to the stronghold—Prisoners of hope Even to-day I declare I will render double unto thee. This stands in contrast to the Grecian conqueror, and it needs no proofs that the coming King whom Zechariah beholds is the King Messiah. The Jews acknowledge it as such. One of the greatest Jewish commentators says (Rashi): It is impossible to interpret it of any other than King Messiah. An interesting fable is based upon this prophecy, and well known among orthodox Jews. Rabbi Eliezer says, commenting on the words lowly and riding upon an ass, “This is the ass, the foal of that she-ass which was created in the twilight. This is the ass which Abraham our father saddled for the binding of Isaac his son. This is the ass upon which Moses our teacher rode when he came to Egypt, as it is said, And he made them ride upon the ass (Exodus 4:20). This is the ass upon which the Son of David shall ride.” Other interesting quotations could be given from Jewish writings, but this is sufficient to show that the Jews believe it to be a Messianic prophecy. And what blindness that they do not see Him who is the Messiah; but is not the so-called “higher criticism” existing to-day in Christendom being taught in churches and schools, that there are no Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament, much greater blindness? Alas! so it is, and the outcome can be nothing else in the end than the denial of the divinity of our Lord, or Unitarianism. Every reader of the new Testament knows that this prophecy is quoted in the Gospels. Let us look to the Gospels and see its application. First, in the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 21:5 : All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell the daughter of Sion, Behold thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, upon a colt the foal of an ass. The context shows a great multitude there crying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. But soon the cry is changed into, This is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee. Notice the Holy Spirit quoting from Zechariah leaves out the sentence, “He is just, having salvation.” This is not an error, but it is the divine right of the Spirit who gave the prophecies in olden times to apply them correctly in the New Testament. In the Gospel of Mark in the eleventh chapter there is likewise the description of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem, but Zechariah is not quoted. The same is true of the account given by Luke 19:1-48, and here He is mentioned as the King that cometh in the name of Jehovah, peace in heaven and glory in the highest. In the fourth Gospel, John 12:15, the account of His coming to Jerusalem is much shorter than in the other Gospels. It says there, Fear not, daughter of Sion; behold, thy King cometh, sitting upon an ass’s colt. We see from this that the four Gospels give each an account of the entry of the Lord into Jerusalem; two of them quote from Zechariah and the other two do not. The quotations themselves are differing from the prophecy in Zechariah 9:1-17 : in two respects. The first words, Rejoice greatly, is not at all used. In Matthew it is, Tell the daughter of Sion, and in John, Fear not daughter of Sion. The sentence, He is just and having salvation, is left out in both. A superficial exposition of the Word claims that Zechariah’s prophecy was fulfilled in the event recorded by the Gospels. As far as His entry into Jerusalem is concerned, riding upon the colt the foal of an ass (and note in Matthew it is shown that both the colt and the ass are brought to Him. He could ride of course only upon one, but the she-ass had to go along in fulfillment of prophecy), and the way He came, meekly, in this respect the prophecy was fulfilled. This entry of the Son of Man into Jerusalem was His formal presentation to Jerusalem as its King, but, as stated above, the Messianic cry of welcome Blessed is He, soon changes into, Jesus the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee, and that again in the final cry of rejection, Crucify Him, crucify Him! There was no salvation for Israel then, and no kingdom for Him, hence no rejoicing is mentioned in the quotations. It is His second coming to Jerusalem as the Son of Man in His glory which will bring the fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9-11. True, the colt, the she ass’s foal, will not be the animal He rides, but He will come upon a white horse followed by the armies of heaven. He comes then truly for Jerusalem, fulfilling the prophecy, Just is He having salvation (marginal reading, Victory). There will be again the welcome cry of Psalms 118:1-29, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of Jehovah, preceded by the plea, Hosanna, save now. Zechariah 9:10-11 show clearly that the prophecy is yet to be fulfilled and can be only fulfilled in the coming of the Son of Man in His glory. One of the reasons why modern Judaism rejects Jesus of Nazareth, and does not believe Him to be the promised Redeemer, is in this prophecy. Rabbi F. De Sola Mendes, of New York, brings in a little book, “A Hebrew’s Reply to the Missionaries,” the following argument: “We reject Jesus of Nazareth as our Messiah on account of His deeds. He says of Himself: ‘Think not that I am come to send peace on the earth; I came not to send peace but a sword,’ etc. But we find that our prophets ascribe to the true Messiah quite different actions.” Zechariah says (Zechariah 9:10), He shall speak peace to the nations. Jesus says He came to send the sword on the earth; whereas, Isaiah says of the true Messianic time, “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation; neither shall they learn war any more.” Of course the Jew is right in expecting the literal fulfillment of this prophecy, and it will be fulfilled when He comes again and the restoration of all things will follow, as spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets. When He appears again, in like manner as He went into heaven, that is not for His saints but with His saints, there will be peace for Ephraim and for Jerusalem, and the kingdom is then restored to Israel, that is, to the house of Judah and the house of Israel. The chariot, the horse, and the battlebow will be cut off. Not alone will He bring peace to the covenant people but to the nations. He will speak peace. “And He shall stand, and shall feed His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah His God, and they shall abide; for now shall He be great unto the ends of the earth. And this man shall be our peace” (Micah 5:4-5). There will be abundance of peace (Psalms 72:7). His dominion will be from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth. The prisoners of hope to be released, by the blood of the covenant, from the pit wherein there is no water, is the nation whose captivity is now ended. How strange that people should take a passage like this and interpret it as meaning the restitution of the wicked and the ungodly from the pit. There is nothing taught in the Word like that which some people term a larger hope. The restitution (restoration) of all things is not left to the fanciful interpretation of the human mind, but is clearly defined by the Word itself, as spoken by the prophets. In the vision of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-28 : Israel’s complaint is, Our hope is lost. But when He is manifested, who is indeed the Hope of Israel, the prisoners (the captives), will be released and cleansed. Refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears. . . . “There is hope for thy latter end, saith the Lord, and thy children shall come again to their own border” (Jeremiah 31:17). The exhortation to return to the stronghold follows. Israel will then sing, “He brought me up out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings” (Psalms 40:2). Double will be rendered unto them, as promised, “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:2). “For your shame ye shall have double, and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion; therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be unto them” (Isaiah 61:7). And now we come to the third section of this chapter. The scene changes once more. The chapter commences with scenes of war, strife, battles and overthrow, and it ends with scenes of war and words of cheer for Zion. In the middle stands the King and His advent, the kingdom of peace, which He will establish. Alexander’s successor, Antiochus Epiphanes, and Zion’s successful resistance, is undoubtedly the first fulfillment of the third section. The Prophet Daniel speaks likewise of this terrible man of sin, Antiochus Epiphanes (chap. viii). Not like Alexander, passing by Jerusalem, he invaded the land of Judah, and endeavored to force the idolatry of Greece upon the Jews. Entering Jerusalem, he slew 40,000 of the inhabitants, and a larger number were sold as slaves. He then entered the temple, seized the rich treasures stored there, and commanded a big swine to be sacrificed upon the altar of burnt-offering, and with the blood the sacred place was defiled. A bitter struggle commenced, for Antiochus tried to exterminate the Jews and their religion as well. Every observance of the Jewish religion was forbidden, the Sabbath had to be profaned, and unclean food had to be eaten. Idols were set up in the temple. Instead of the Jewish feasts, the feasts of idols, with all their shocking abominations and immoralities, were introduced, and the Jews were forced to join in them. Thousands suffered martyrdom. But all at once a few people stood up against the abominations, the Maccabeans, and in a struggle lasting about twenty-five years, they fought successfully against the enemies. Miraculous victories were achieved, and thousands and tens of thousands of the idolators slain, and Jerusalem and the land freed from the abomination. This terrible visitation of the land and the wonderful victory of the Maccabeans is foretold by the prophet in the closing verses of the ninth chapter. We will quote the passage: “I bend for me Judah and fill the bow with Ephraim, And I will stir up thy sons, Zion, against thy sons, Greece, And make thee like the sword of a mighty man. Jehovah shall be seen over them, And His arrow shall go forth like lightning, And the Lord Jehovah shall blow the trumpet. He shall go with whirlwinds of the South. The Lord of Hosts shall cover them; They shall devour and tread down slingstones, And they drink and make a noise as from wine, And they shall be filled like bowls, as the corners of the altar. And Jehovah their God saves them in that day, as the flock of His people; For jewels of a crown shall they be, glittering over His land, For how great is His goodness and how great His beauty! Corn shall make the young men flourish, and new wine maidens.” But again we have to remark that this prophecy is only partially fulfilled. The terrible tribulation of the land of Judah when Antiochus Epiphanes invaded the land, is but a type of the great tribulation, the time of Jacob’s trouble. Antiochus Epiphanes, in his awful fight against Jehovah and the Lord’s people, is a type of the final Antichrist, and the Jewish saints slain by him are types of the Jewish saints which will be beheaded during the tribulation. Jehovah will fight then, as it is stated here, against those nations in that day (Zechariah 14:1-21). The remnant of Israel will then be victorious. Thus everything is seen in this chapter in a past fulfillment, but only partial, and in it a future fulfillment, which will be complete. We cannot leave this chapter without calling attention to the blessed statement: “For jewels of a crown they shall be, glittering over His land.” The slain who suffered martyrdom are meant, and all those who fought for Jehovah’s name and honor. May not the statement in Hebrews 11:1-40 : refer to this time? “Others had trials of mockings and scourgings, yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with the sword they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins: being destitute, afflicted, evil entreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and in mountains and caves and the holes of the earth” (Hebrews 11:36-39). And all will find a repetition during the coming tribulation. But the time for reward has not yet come. The throne of glory is not yet revealed, and the jewels, the saints made up in a crown, glittering over the land are not yet seen. But the assurance is given, “They shall be Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels” (Malachi 3:17). “Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God” (Isaiah 62:3). “And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” Revelation 20:6. Oh, blessed hope of all the saints! To be with Christ in Glory, in His throne, and sharing His rule. In that day of manifestation, when Christ our life is manifested, and we shall be manifested with Him in glory—glory never ceasing, but ever increasing, in the countless ages to come, redeemed sinners will be the jewels of His crown, and He shall see the travail of His soul and be satisfied. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 33: 02.10. CHAPTER 10 ======================================================================== CHAPTER X. More Blessings promised to Judah and Israel.—The Nation Victorious.—Judah and Ephraim blessed, gathered and restored, and their enemies overcome. Zechariah 10:1-12 continues to unfold Israel’s future blessings and restoration, and in it Ephraim, the house of Israel, is especially mentioned. The chapter begins with a contrast. In the first verse there is a call to prayer, and the assurance of an answer given; in the second verse the idols are mentioned which Israel worshipped and which give no comfort. Ask of Jehovah rain in the time of the latter rain. The former rain and the latter rain are often spoken of in the Word. It is of course first to be understood of the natural rain coming from the clouds upon the land. The rain withheld and the land becomes a desert, the rain given and the land flows again with milk and honey. I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, thy wine and thine oil. . . . Take heed to yourselves that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and the Lord’s wrath will be kindled against you and He shut up the heavens, that there be no rain and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you. (Deuteronomy 11:14-17.) The first rain came upon the seed placed into the ground, while the latter rain was necessary to ripen the fruit. Israel’s sin, unbelief, disobedience and apostacy have shut the heavens and keep them shut so that there is no rain and the land is a wilderness, waste and desolate. An abundance of rain is promised to them when Jehovah appears again. Much of late has been said that Palestine becomes fruitful once more. It is said that the statistics show that during the last years the rainfall has increased by so many inches. This statement is denied by others. Some believers make much of this rainfall and think that it is a sign of His coming, an indication that God’s favor is being restored to the land. This is incorrect. The abundance of rain, the latter rain, is not promised for the land at this present time, but it will come after the great tribulation, and is closely connected with the manifestation of the Lord from heaven in the clouds. The fruitfulness as it is seen now in the land—by no means general, but only in spots—is brought about mostly by artificial means, such as irrigation. During the great tribulation there will be no rain. (Revelation 11:6.) Modern Zionism, in its God-dishonoring unbelief, with its immense resources of wealth and influence, may succeed in transforming the land of the Fathers. Indeed this is their scheme—building railroads, channels for irrigation, factories, mines, institutions of learning, etc. But the great tribulation will sweep it all away once more, and disaster will come swiftly when the plan of a Jewish Kingdom, without Him who is the King of the Jews, seems to be realized. It is not for the believer to look now for the promised latter rain. All this looking for signs has a tendency to foster the idea that the church will pass through the tribulation. If that were the case we might well look to the signs around us and look (as some believers do) where Antichrist is to come from. The latter rain stands in connection with the Lord’s manifestation for Israel. Let us know, follow on to know Jehovah: like the morning His coming is sure, and He shall come like the rain for us, like the latter rain watering the earth. (Hosea 6:3.) O ye children of Zion, rejoice and be glad in Jehovah your God; He gives you the former rain in a just measure, and sends you in showers the early and the latter rain as in times of old. (Joel 2:23.) It is time to seek Jehovah, until He come to rain righteousness upon you. (Hosea 10:12.) But the latter rain is also a type of spiritual blessings. It includes all the blessed promises in spiritual things, and especially does it stand for the full harvest which comes in after the heaven is opened and that great outpouring of the Spirit takes place. (Joel 2:28.) It is unscriptural to expect now in this time such a latter rain, just as it is unscriptural to expect now the rain upon the land of Israel. How many prayers there are now in Christendom, well meant undoubtedly; prayers for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, prayers for a new Pentecost, even prayers for the outward manifestations; all these prayers have no scriptural foundation, and cannot be answered now in the dispensation in which we live. There will be the latter rain, the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh; but it stands in connection with the day of the Lord and with God’s earthly people. Truly, as the beginning of Zechariah 10:1-12 : has it, in the time of the latter rain there will be prayer for it, but the prayer does not come from the lips of church-saints, but it comes from the lips of the Jewish remnant. The assurance is given that Jehovah will send the showers of rain, and before they come He will create the lightning. The lightnings stand for His wrath and judgment, which will proceed before the showers of blessing. In His coming He will be like the lightning falling from the clouds. Zechariah 10:2 puts before us another picture. The apostacy of the nation and their idolatry are now brought before us. The original word for idols is teraphim, and these were household gods, which were consulted by them. Spiritism (or as it is also called Spiritualism), this awful delusion so strong in the last times, is not a new thing. We can trace it to the remotest ages, and the nations which are still in the darkness of heathendom still practice it. It is very powerful in India and in China, and upheld by the father of lies from where it springs. Israel knew it likewise, and was closely connected with its abominations. The teraphim were little figures which in some way by movements or mysterious noises gave an answer to questions. Men did then go about as sorcerers, and mediums had visions and dreams. Hearken not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the King of Babylon. They prophesy a lie unto you. (Jeremiah 27:9.) Let not your diviners that are in the midst of you deceive you. . . . I have not sent them, (Jeremiah 22:8-9.) What an awful sin it was that Israel could thus join themselves to idols and practice the abominable things. Soon the punishment fell upon them and they were carried into captivity, as the second verse states. Therefore they have wandered like a flock, they are oppressed because there is no shepherd. Jehovah had been rejected by them, and in this rejection is seen the rejection which followed when they rejected the Son. Here Hosea 3:4 is to be taken into consideration. The children of Israel shall abide many days (the dispersion in which they are now) without a king and without a prince, without a sacrifice and without an image, without an ephod and teraphim. The next verse speaks of their conversion in the latter days. During their dispersion they will have neither the old worship of Jehovah nor will they hold any longer to the teraphim and ask guidance of them. How truly it has all been fulfilled, However there is a word which the Lord spoke, which is here likewise to be mentioned. It is one of the many misunderstood passages in the New Testament. We find it in Matthew 12:43-45. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and findeth none. Then he saith I will return to my house from whence I came out; and when he has come he findeth it empty, swept and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be unto this wicked generation. The unclean spirit of idolatry had left the nation after the return from the captivity, but there is in that wicked generation at last a return of the same evil spirit with seven others worse than the spirit of idolatry, and the last of that man (unbelieving Israel) is worse than the first. This seems to us is the true application of this passage. Israel is rapidly nearing the time when unclean spirits with idols will have control over them. He who comes in his own name, the false Messiah, the devil’s masterpiece with all his delusions and lying wonders, will be worshipped by them and the outcast demons will enter the house again. This is clearly seen in Zechariah 13:2. It shall be in that day (after the nation has looked upon the pierced one), saith Jehovah of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall be remembered no more; and also the prophets and the spirits of uncleanness will I cause to pass out of the land. A return to teraphim, sorcery, divination, etc., is already noticeable in our day. The superstitions of talmudical Judaism are many, and the modern revival of the ancient teraphim, in Spiritism, through mediums, tables, etc., finds not a few followers among the Jews. What will it be when the man of sin is in the earth? All the world will wonder after the beast. In Zechariah 10:3-5 we see once more the events which belong to Israel’s future. Mention is made first of the House of Judah. Against the shepherds His anger is kindled, and the he-goats will be punished (false leaders of the people and their enemies.) Then Jehovah visits His flock, the house of Judah, and He will make them like His goodly horse in war. Like heroes they are treading down the foes. They fight successfully against the enemies, for Jehovah is once more with them and the day of vengeance has come, and the riders on horses are put to shame by them. The parables of Balaam tell us what Israel will be at last, and how like a young lion they will spring upon the prey. Even now in dispersion the Jew inspires terror and is feared by the nations. This fear, which produces anti-Semitism (so strong in our times), has a good reason, for they will soon be the head of the nations and no longer the tail. The words in the fourth verse, From him (Judah) the cornerstone, from him the nail. . . have been differently interpreted. The nail is in the oriental house a large pin, often very beautifully ornamented, and the most costly things are hanged thereupon. And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house. And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house. (Isaiah 22:23-24.) The Shemeth rabbah, a Jewish interpretation, says on this verse, this is King David; as it is said, the stone which the builders rejected is become the chief cornerstone. Some say it is spoken concerning the Lord, that He is the cornerstone and the nail. It refers to Him no doubt, but what is spoken of Him finds also a fulfillment in restored Israel. Thus Israel is yet to be the cornerstone upon which everything rests in the earth, and the nail upon which hangs the glory. The rest of the chapter speaks of restoration of the house of Judah and the house of Israel. The house of Judah will be strengthened, and the house of Joseph (the ten tribes) will be saved. Ephraim, standing likewise for the house of Israel, shall become like a hero, and their heart shall rejoice, and their sons shall see and rejoice, their heart shall exult in Jehovah. I will hiss to them and will gather them, for I have redeemed them, and they shall increase as they did increase. And I will sow them among many peoples, and in far countries they shall remember me, and with their children they shall live and return. (Zechariah 10:7-9) Their bringing back will be from the land of Egypt and from Assyria. With it is the judgment of the nations; they will be cast down and the restored people shall walk in His name. The prophecy brings before us the old question concerning the ten tribes or the house of Israel. These tribes are generally called the “lost tribes,” and as such they have been found perhaps a hundred times by as many different persons. The North American Indians, the Afghans, the Nestorians, tribes in the interior of Africa as well as in China, and even the Hottentots of South Africa, have been declared to be the lost tribes. We believe that this looking for the lost tribes and to locate them is something against which the Holy Spirit warns when He declares, But avoid foolish questions and genealogies and contentions and striving about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain. (Titus 3:9.) Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions rather than godly edyfing which is in faith. (1 Timothy 1:4) We think it wrong to go into such speculations on matters which the Lord purposely has hid in His Word. We would have nothing else to say on this topic were it not for a very strange teaching which has fascinated many minds and which has become very popular both in England and in America. We have reference to the so-called Anglo-Israel theory. According to this theory the lost tribes have been found in the Anglo-Saxon race, and that God has kept His promises made to the house of Israel and fulfilled them and fulfills them now in the two nations, America and England. It is a theory, and the Word of God is used to prove it. This may be done with any theory, and scripture twisted out of its place can be made to prove almost anything. Anglo-Israel is a delusion, and it is strange that so many believers have become infatuated with it and suffer consequently from it. The theory is based upon a very serious mistake in the exposition of the prophetic Word. All through prophecy we find promises which belong to the house of Israel (and to Judah likewise), the conflicts, the victories over their enemies, temporal blessings, etc. These promises are to be realized in the latter days. The phrase “latter days,” however, is misunderstood, and believed to be the days in which we live; while in fact the latter days are still future and have not yet been reached. Prophecies which are spoken concerning the future are looked upon as already fulfilled. In this way Zechariah 10:9 is misunderstood, And I will sow them among the peoples, and in far countries they shall remember me, and with their children they shall live and return. This passage is often quoted in Anglo-Israel literature, and is always put down as being fulfilled in the Anglo-Saxon race. We claim that it has not yet been fulfilled, but will be fulfilled when the house of Judah has been restored, and they as well as the house of Israel are in the land and form one people, God’s earthly kingdom people. This is true of all the promises which Anglo-Israelism claims to have found a fulfillment. It is true they are now scattered among the nations and the Lord knows them and He knows where they are and in due time He will send hunters to hunt them out and fishers to fish them in (Jeremiah 16:16); and they will be brought back to the land upon horses and in chariots, etc. (Isaiah 66:20.) After that they will be sown among the peoples. They are then in the far countries and increase as they did before and are a blessing to the nations and not a curse. Their seed shall be known among the Gentiles and their offspring among the people, all that see them shall acknowledge them that they are the seed which the Lord has blessed. (Isaiah 61:9.) Judah’s return will be from all directions, but according to the tenth verse Ephraim will be brought back from Egypt and Assyria. Anglo-Israel is a very poor Ishmael attempt to help God to keep His promises. When all this takes place the Lord will pass through the sea and there will be affliction. The Nile is mentioned, and in Assyria the pride will be brought down, no sceptre any longer in Egypt. Only then after this manifestation will they walk (Judah and Israel) in His name, and not before. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 34: 02.11. CHAPTER 11 ======================================================================== CHAPTER XI. Scenes of overthrow and slaughter.—The Shepherd with the two staves, Beauty and Bands.—He is rejected.—The thirty pieces of silver.—The foolish shepherd and his punishment. Zechariah 11:1-17 presents a very dark scene. So far we have seen that the prophet saw in visions and heard from the Lord nothing but blessings and mercies for Israel, restoration both national and spiritual, overthrow of all their enemies, destruction of the world powers, establishment of the theocracy and world conquest; but now the scene changes completely. That which precedes all these blessed events, the events for which indeed the earth and groaning creation is waiting, is now unfolded in all the terrible details, Israel’s apostacy and dreadful punishment on account of the rejection of the Shepherd, and instead of Him there is given a foolish shepherd. We will briefly review the entire chapter before taking up the study of it in details. Zechariah 11:1-3 contain a sublime description of the visitation which was to come upon the land of Israel. In Zechariah 11:4 the nation is seen as a flock of slaughter, and the buyers who slaughter them are not guilty, and their sellers are getting rich by it. The inhabitants of the land are not spared; all is waste and there is no deliverance. In the seventh verse the reason of all this judgment is seen. The Prophet does a symbolic act. As a shepherd he represents the good Shepherd of Israel, the Messiah. He comes to save them from the terrible calamity, but he is rejected. The shepherd has two staves, Beauty and Bands. He breaks one first and asks his price, and they offer him the price of a slave, thirty pieces of silver, which he at the word of Jehovah casts from himself. The second staff is broken. Instead of the staves the Prophet takes the instruments of a foolish shepherd, undoubtedly weapons of destruction. They perish, they stray, they are wounded, they suffer and are devoured. At last the foolish shepherd is punished. This is a birdseye view of the chapter. We will consider the details under three divisions: The judgment upon the land and the slaughter of the flock; the cause of it. The Shepherd rejected and set aside. And in the third place the foolish shepherd. I. The judgment upon the land, the temple, and the slaughter of the flock (Zechariah 11:1-6). Open thy doors, Lebanon; Let the fire devour thy cedars. Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; Because the lofty ones are spoiled. Howl, oaks of Bashan, For the high forest is come down. A voice of the howling of the shepherds: For their glory is spoiled. A voice of the roaring of young lions, For the pride of Jordan is spoiled. What an awful picture these three verses present to us, and how sublime the language! Everything is swept away by a mighty conflagration. It starts among the lofty cedars of Lebanon; the fir tree is its prey, and the oaks of Bashan as well as the high forest come down, and it ends at the Jordan. In the midst of it is heard the howling of the shepherds and the roaring of the young lions. We have in these three verses a description of the terrible and complete judgment which was to fall and which has fallen upon the land of Israel on account of their disobedience and wickedness. The destruction of the temple by fire is of course included in this scene of burning and devastation. Jewish interpretation sees especially in these verses the prophecy of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. The following is a quotation from the Talmudical tract Yoma. “Our Rabbis have learnt from tradition that forty years before the destruction of the temple the lot never used to fall to the right hand but to the left. The lamp of the evening light would not burn, and the doors of the temple used to open of their own accord, until Rabbi Yochanan, the son of Zakkai, rebuked them. He said to it, O Temple, Temple, why art thou terrifying thyself? I know well that thy end is to be destroyed, for already Zechariah, the son of Iddo, hath prophesied, Open thy doors, O Lebanon, and let a fire consume thy cedars!” As the time of Jerusalem’s overthrow and the devastation of the land drew nearer, after the rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ and His apostles, strange signs in heaven and earth were seen in Jerusalem and throughout the land. They were signs of warning of the coming doom, and must have had a special significance for the remnant of Jewish-Christians who still were in the doomed city. Josephus mentions a series of these signs: “A comet which had the appearance of a huge sword hang over the city for a whole year. While the people were assembled at the feast of unleavened bread, at the sixth hour of the night, a sudden bright light shone about the temple. On Pentecost, when the priests entered by night into the temple they said that they heard many voices proclaim, Let us depart hence. A certain Jew, the son of Ananus, began suddenly to cry in the temple: ‘A voice from the East and a voice from the West! A voice from the four winds! A voice against Jerusalem and against the Temple! A voice against the bridegrooms and the brides! A voice against the whole people!’ Day and night in the narrow streets he repeated this cry in a loud voice. He was severely beaten. He uttered neither shriek nor pain nor prayer for mercy, but raising his sad and broken voice he cried at every blow of the scourge, ‘Woe, woe to Jerusalem!’ For four years the son of Ananus paid no attention to anyone, and never spake excepting the same words, Woe to Jerusalem! He neither cursed anyone who struck him nor thanked anyone who gave him food, but continued to cry, ‘Woe, woe to the city and to the temple!’” (Milman’s History of the Jews, Vol. II.) The above event spoken of in the tract Yoma, which the pious Rabbi Yochanan thought to be in fulfillment of Zechariah 11:1, is also mentioned by Josephus. He says, “The eastern gate of the inner temple, which was of brass and very heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by twenty men, was seen to open by itself about the sixth hour of the night.” Once more Jerusalem is to be compassed about by armies and then there will be signs in earth and in the heavens. Earthquakes will shake the city, mountains will sink down and valleys will be exalted, the sun will be darkened and the moon turned into blood, fire and smoke will arise. The climax of it all will be the manifestation of the Lord who will overthrow Israel’s enemies. Other interpreters among the Jews declare that this prophecy speaks of the destruction of the temple. The correct interpretation is that it includes all the devastation of the land, the burning of the temple, the slaughter of the flock, the spoiling of the shepherds, the Jewish leaders and the complete overthrow of the land and of the people. How awful the fulfillment of the prophecy has been! The Lord’s voice full of tears cried, long after Zechariah’s mournful vision, “If thou hadst known, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to 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.” The measure was full. After terrible wars amongst themselves, the fire advanced in the direction from Lebanon, in the form of the Roman army full of vengeance, spreading ruin and misery wherever they went, till after a long and dreadful siege Jerusalem fell, the temple was burnt, and over a million human beings were slain. Not one stone was left upon another. Up to now this judgment has been the most appalling, the tribulation then, the greatest; but there is another tribulation coming of which the former destruction of Jerusalem is but a faint type, and that tribulation which is even now so close at hand will find a climax in the day of wrath, the day of vengeance of our God. The next three verses speak of the flock of slaughter and the last attempt divine love made to save the doomed nation. Zechariah is commanded to feed them. Thus saith Jehovah my God; Feed the flock of slaughter; Their possessors slay them and are not guilty: And they that sell them say, Blessed be Jehovah, for I am getting rich; Their own shepherds pity them not. I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah; I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor’s hands, And into the hand of his king: And they shall smite the land, And out of their hand I will not deliver them. What a dreadful condition of the sheep of His pasture, the lost sheep of the house of Israel, God’s flock! Even so it was, strangers ruled over them, and they were their prey, getting rich on them and not guilty. Still worse their own shepherds, the civil and ecclesiastical rulers of the nation, spared them not. God had indeed given them up. Well may we stop and think for a moment of the apostacy of Christendom and its final overthrow and judgment so clearly seen in the book of Revelation. Even now the flock of slaughter is seen and all getting ripe for the day of wrath! The action of Zechariah by divine command, like the crowning of the high priest in the sixth chapter, is a typical one. Zechariah is a type of the good Shepherd of Israel, the Messiah. The disobedient nation, the flock of slaughter, had taken God’s servants and beat one and killed another and stoned another. When He sent servants more than the first, they did unto them in like manner (Matthew 21:35). After this came the last attempt of divine love. God sent His Son as a Shepherd to seek and feed the lost sheep. He was not accepted, but they rejected Him. We will consider this now in the second section. II. The Shepherd set aside and rejected (Zechariah 11:7-14). “So I fed the flock of slaughter, verily the most miserable sheep. And I took to myself two staves; the one I called Beauty, the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock. And I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul became impatient with them, and their soul also abhorred me. And I said, I will not feed you: the dying, let it die; and the cut off, let it be cut off; and the left over, let them devour each the flesh of the other. And I took my staff, Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. And it was broken in that day, and thus the wretched of the flock who gave heed to me knew that this was the word of Jehovah. And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my wages; and if not, forbear. So they weighed as my wages thirty pieces of silver. And Jehovah said to me, Throw it unto the potter; the goodly price at which I am valued of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and threw them into the house of Jehovah, to the potter, Then I broke my second staff, Bands, that I break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.” Much has been written on this difficult passage. The very first sentence in the paragraph speaks of divine love. He came, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace, in the likeness of man, as a servant and a gentle shepherd to feed the miserable ones. Looking at the multitudes who followed Him when He had come, He was moved with compassion, for they were distressed and scattered as sheep having no shepherd (Matthew 9:36). True shepherds indeed they had not. Prophets sent by Jehovah had long before ceased to come, and those who ruled them were miserable leaders of the blind, concerning whom Jehovah spoke through Ezekiel, “Woe unto the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves; should not the shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, ye kill the fatlings, but ye feed not the sheep. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost” (Ezekiel 34:3-5). But now Jehovah Himself has come to be their Shepherd, “Behold, I Myself, even I, will search for My sheep and find them out” (Ezekiel 34:11). And when He came and God was manifested in the flesh, He turned indeed to the most miserable of the sheep—the publicans and the outcasts, sinners and harlots, gathered around Him. The Prophet as the type of the good Shepherd has two staves. The one is called Beauty (marginal reading, graciousness). The second one is Bands. The Shepherd carries a staff to protect and guide His flock. In Psalms 2:1-12 the returning Lord is seen shepherding the nations with a rod of iron, but here the two staves cannot mean instruments for correction, but they are the staves of comfort and love. God’s mercy and favor are clearly indicated in these two staves. The first one, Beauty, which is cut asunder first, and that before the wages of the Shepherd, the thirty pieces of silver, are given, stands no doubt for the gracious offer with which the King, preaching the kingdom, came among His people, to His own. He proclaimed that which prophets had spoken before, God’s mercy and love, long promised, now to be carried out. He Himself had come to redeem His people and deliver them from their mighty enemies as well as from the false leaders. But the offer, the kingdom preaching, is rejected, the staff, Beauty, is cut asunder, the covenant with the peoples (Amim in Hebrew), His own, is now broken. The kingdom is to be taken away and given to another nation. After the breaking of the staff, Beauty, there comes the giving of the wages, the thirty pieces of silver. The Shepherd who broke the staff is treated like a slave. The second staff in His hands, Bands, speaks of union, binding together, bringing into fellowship. It typifies the priestly side of the good Shepherd who died for the flock. This staff is broken after the thirty pieces were given for Him, and cast into the temple. They cried, Away with Him! we have no King save Caesar! Crucify Him! His blood be upon us and upon our children! The cross bears the superscription, This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, and from the lips of the rejected King and Shepherd there came the prayer for His people, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. The doom came not at once upon the nation. Once more the love of the Shepherd is preached to the miserable sheep, and the remission of sins offered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it ends in rejection too; no bringing together into One followed. The foolish shepherd appears next, and after him the good Shepherd will appear again with His two staves, Beauty and Bands, kingdom and mercy, bringing and binding together. He will then be a Priest upon His throne. This interpretation is the most satisfactory one, and in harmony with the entire scope of Zechariah’s visions and prophecies. Who are the three shepherds to be cut off in one month by the Shepherd? Are they persons or not? Many answers have been given to these questions, and many theories have been advanced to solve the difficulty. It is not necessary to mention any of them. The three shepherds are not persons, but they stand for the three classes of rulers which governed Israel, and were in that sense shepherds. We read of these shepherds in Jeremiah 2:8, priests, rulers, and prophets. The Lord likewise mentions them in Matthew 16:21, elders, chief priests and scribes. When He came He was indeed weary with them, and denounced their hypocrisies and wickedness. They in turn hated and abhorred Him, and conspired to put Him to death. The Lord Himself cut them off. He pronounced His woes and judgments upon them, but the judgment was not at once carried out. When Jerusalem was taken their rule came to an end and they were cut off. But there are mentioned the wretched of the flock that gave heed unto the Shepherd, and they knew that it was the word of Jehovah. These wretched ones are the faithful ones who followed the Shepherd, the small remnant. (Compare with chapter Zechariah 13:7.) The others who rejected the King and the Shepherd were indeed not fed, but were dying and cut off. The wages of the good Shepherd, thirty pieces of silver, and these thrown into the house of Jehovah to the potter is to be considered next. Thirty pieces of silver was the price of a slave who had been killed. If the ox gore a manservant or a maidservant, the owner shall give unto their master thirty shekels of silver (Exodus 21:32). Oh, what unfathomable love! The Lord from heaven became like a slave. The love He looked for He found not. It was refused to Him, and instead He was insulted, mocked, and treated like a miserable slave. There was one of the twelve who was called Judas Iscariot. He went to the chief priests and said, What are you willing to give me, and I will deliver Him unto you? And they weighed unto him thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14). The money at the command of Jehovah is thrown away by the prophet with indignation, into the house of Jehovah, to the potter. Perhaps the prophet never knew the real significance of his act, but we know it from the New Testament. Then Judas which betrayed Him, when he saw that He was condemned, repented himself and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood. But they said, What is this to us? See thou to it. And he cast down the pieces of silver into the sanctuary, and departed and hanged himself And the chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, It is not lawful to put them into the treasury since it is the price of blood. And they took counsel and bought with them the potters’ field to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called the field of blood unto this day. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah, the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of Him that was priced, whom certain of the children of Israel did price, and they gave them for the potters’ field, as the Lord appointed me (Matthew 27:3-9). How striking the fulfillment. However, here is a difficulty. In Matthew it is stated that Jeremiah spoke the prophecy, and Zechariah’s name is not mentioned at all. How can this be explained? The prophecy certainly as it was fulfilled was not given by Jeremiah at all, but through Zechariah. There can be doubt that his name should appear here instead of Jeremiah, but that Jeremiah’s name is quoted must have a meaning. Rotherham in his translation of the New Testament makes a foot note in which he says, “Zechariah 11:12-13 : Perhaps as included in a scroll headed by Jeremiah.” But this is not satisfactory. The question would be if there is anything in Jeremiah which could have a connection with the typical action of Zechariah. There is a similar action in Jeremiah, which, as a whole, speaks of the same event which Zechariah 11:13 has, and which is seen in fulfillment in Matthew 27:1-66 : Read in Jeremiah the eighteenth and nineteenth chapters. The word “Topheth” in Jeremiah means an unclean place, a burial ground. It seems as if Jeremiah’s name appears here so as to call attention to the fact that the prophet spoke of the event likewise, and that Zechariah 11:1-17 : and Jeremiah 18:19 : must be compared and read together. III. The foolish shepherd (Zechariah 11:15-17). And Jehovah said to me, Take unto thee again the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For, behold, I raise up a shepherd in the land; the perishing he will not visit, the scattered ones he will not seek for, the wounded he will not heal, the strong he will not feed, but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and their hoofs he will break off. Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword upon his arm and upon his right eye. His arm shall be utterly withered and his right eye completely blinded. The prophet now impersonates another shepherd, one who is foolish and wicked, and in his hands he does no longer hold the staves of Beauty and Bands, but the instruments of the foolish shepherd to wound and to hurt are in his possession. This foolish shepherd is the opposite from the good shepherd. He came to heal, to seek, to save, and to feed, but the foolish shepherd scatters, does not heal, nor does he feed the flock; but he eats the flesh of the fat. The description of this false shepherd is like the description of the shepherds in Ezekiel 34:1-31 :, as quoted before. Ezekiel’s prophecy concerning the gathering of the flock is future still, but before He gathers the lost and scattered sheep of Israel and brings them back to their land and gives them the one Shepherd and David His servant, there will be false shepherds. The true One rejected, the nation becomes the prey of the foolish shepherds. Poor, blinded Israel! How many wicked shepherds they have had, and how often the prey of wicked leaders. False Messiahs appeared among them again and again to find strong and numerous following. Still the foolish shepherd, the last one, the very embodiment of Satan himself; the accuser, has not yet come. Forerunners there have been many. Herod was one of them, but not that man of sin, the son of perdition who will appear and be worshiped as God, right before the King of kings and the true Shepherd of His flock appears to slay that wicked one with the breath of His mouth and by the brightness of His coming (2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 :). The Lord said, I am come in My Father’s name, and ye receive Me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive (John 5:43). That one who comes in his own name has not yet come, and when at last he is here, it will be for Israel the time of greatest trouble and tribulation for all them that inhabit the earth. The third section of our chapter finds its complete fulfillment in the Antichrist, the false Messiah, the beast, the little horn, the leader of the enemy, the false prince of Israel; thus the foolish shepherd is called throughout the prophetic word. The dreadful punishment will be executed upon the foolish shepherd in the day of the Lord’s coming with His saints for the salvation of His people Israel. Zechariah 11:1-17 is the darkest in Israel’s history. The night began with their apostasy and rejection of the Lord of Glory, their own brother, their loving Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. It ends in darkness greater still under the regime of the foolish shepherd. But the morning cometh after that dark night, and Israel’s sun will never set again. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 35: 02.12. CHAPTER 12 ======================================================================== CHAPTER XII. The second burden, from Zechariah 12:1-14, Zechariah 13:1-9, Zechariah 14:1-21.—Jerusalem and the nations.—The conflict of the end.—The chiefs of Judah and the strength promised to the feeble.—Nations destroyed.—Outpouring of the Spirit and looking upon Jehovah, the pierced One.—The great national mourning. We have before us the second burden, which begins with Zechariah 11:1-17 and closes with the fourteenth. The events seen in the first burden, that is in Zechariah 9:1-17, Zechariah 10:1-12, and Zechariah 11:1-17, were in part fulfilled, but in the second burden we find prophecies which have seen no fulfillment whatever; they are all future. There is only one prophecy which is fulfilled, the one of the smitten shepherd at the end of the thirteenth chapter. The great future events which are recorded in the second burden are: The victory of Jerusalem over the hostile nations, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the appearing and beholding of the pierced One, the national repentance of Israel, the cleansing of the nation, the final conflict and the Lord coming with His saints, the complete overthrow of the enemies and the establishment of the kingdom in the earth, with Jerusalem as a center. These three chapters form indeed a glorious finale to the wonderful visions and prophecies which Jehovah gave to the prophet. Zechariah 14:1-21 is the summit. Not a few interpreters have committed the serious error and have tried to find a fulfillment of these chapters somewhere, and if no historical events could be made to suit the occasion, a spiritual application had to be made and a spiritual fulfillment in the so-called “Israel of the New Testament,” the church, invented, which of course never satisfies the prayerful student of the word. In reading the twelfth chapter carefully, it will be seen at once that here we have prophecies which not alone refer to Jerusalem and Judah exclusively, but which cannot yet have seen a fulfillment. The end of the chapter shows Israel’s conversion. The Spirit is poured out. They look upon the pierced One, Jehovah; repentance and cleansing follows throughout the land. This brings before us the hour of Israel’s salvation, the same which the Holy Spirit unfolds through Paul, in Romans 11:1-36 : It is an event which will take place after the fullness of the Gentiles will have come in (the church removed from the earth). And so all Israel shall be saved; even as it is written, There shall come out of Zion a Deliverer; He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: And this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins (Romans 11:25-36). There is no saved Israel now and there can be no national turning of Israel unto the Lord at this present time, but when the Lord comes and they shall look upon Him, that salvation will be at hand. This coming of the Lord to Israel when they shall see His glory will be preceded by nations rising against Jerusalem. Not one nation, but nations, will make war once more with Jerusalem; nor will Jerusalem in that future siege fall into the hands of the enemies, but the city and the people will be victorious. The period of the Maccabees is not meant, nor is there anything in the past which could even be a partial fulfillment of Zechariah 12:1-14 : It is all future. Let us look now at the details of the chapter. Thus saith the Lord, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him (Zechariah 12:1). The speaker is Jehovah, the Almighty One who created the heavens and the earth, and who formeth the spirit of man within him. Why such a beginning of this second burden? To show that He who has given all these promises is able to do it. Men may fail and are powerless to give help. Indeed, Israel will be utterly helpless then when the enemy comes in like a flood, but in that hour of extremity Jehovah Himself, the Omnipotent One, the One through Whom and in Whom and for Whom heaven and earth were created, will come, and in His majestic appearing deliver Jerusalem and His people at last. But when He appears for their salvation and they look upon Him, they see Jehovah whom they pierced, Jehovah-Jesus, the One who was once rejected, but who now comes in power and in glory. This first verse shows the speaker in the entire chapter is Jehovah, and is one of the strongest Old Testament passages which show that the Redeemer, the One who came as an obedient servant to suffer and to die, is Jehovah. Behold, I make Jerusalem a cup of reeling To all the nations round about; Upon Judah also shall it be, In the siege against Jerusalem. And it shall come in that day, I make Jerusalem A burdensome stone for all the peoples: All that are burdened with it shall be wounded; All the nations of the earth shall gather against it(Zechariah 12:2-3). This brings us back to the first and second night visions concerning the nations that are at ease, and thus helped forward their affliction, the four horns which scattered Judah and Israel. The ending three chapters bring out much of the details of what we saw in Zechariah 1:1-21, Zechariah 2:1-13, Zechariah 3:1-10 in an outline. What an unfolding there is now! Jehovah remembers Jerusalem and is jealous for her, and Jerusalem is now to become a cup of reeling (like a drunken man) unto all the nations round about. Isaiah long before Zechariah saw the judgment coming. The cup of fury which Jerusalem drank is now to be emptied by the enemies, and they will have to drink the cup of reeling. Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury; thou hast drunken the bowl of the cup of reeling and drained it . . . . Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of reeling, even the bowl of the cup of My fury; thou shalt no more drink it again. And I will put it in the hand of them that afflict thee, which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over; and thou hast laid thy back as the ground, and as the street to them that go over (Isaiah 2:17, Isaiah 2:22-22). What a wonderful harmony in the prophetic word! Jerusalem has been drinking all along the cup of reeling, the cup of His fury, even drained the cup; but while Jerusalem is thus drinking divine displeasure, the nations, and with them that awful monstrosity called Christendom, are getting ripe for the cup of wrath. A judgment is hastening rapidly, and Jerusalem will be for the nations the cup of reeling. We saw in the first night vision that the nations at ease were condemned by Jehovah. He is sore displeased with them. They have hurt His people and His inheritance. Terrible accusation against Christendom too, which has always been and is now the great stumbling block to the Jew, with its man-made institutions, creeds and self-exaltation. The reader will understand we do not mean the church, the one body; this is not applicable to true believers. Man-made Christendom is the enemy of Jerusalem, and hates God’s loving thoughts for the peace of Jerusalem. If there is blindness in part upon Israel, it is equally true that blindness is upon the Gentiles. There is planning and scheming for expansion, world reformation and possession in Christendom, which leaves out and ignores completely God’s purposes, and sets aside, as higher criticism does, the oracles of God. No thought in Christendom that Jehovah will ever make good His promises to the seed of Abraham, therefore no thought of the Jew, no love for poor Israel; on the other hand they are despised and hated. It is startling, indeed, to see how Europe, the territory of the Roman Empire, which will form yet the confederacy of kingdoms under one head, is at present boiling over with antisemitism, and the heart of Europe, France, is the very hotbed of it. There was never a time when antisemitism was so strong and so universal as it is now at the end of the much boasted of nineteenth century. What will it be when the salt of the earth, the church, is removed? The restraint is then taken away and the outbreak will come. The Jew is the thorn in the flesh of the nations; he is hated and feared. However, the second and third verses of our chapter do not speak of the enemies of Israel, as they are away from the land of Israel, but the prophecies show the nations having come up against the city of Jerusalem. Before this can be fulfilled Jerusalem must be once more not alone inhabited by Jews, but be the city of the nation again as it was in the past, a partial return of the Jews to Palestine must have taken place, and great prosperity resting upon their endeavors for a time. Mighty armies are seen then coming up against the city and the land, and while in the land and in the city there will be tribulation, the reign of the false Messiah, outside the armies sent out by the confederacy of nations will be gathered. It is of this gathering of the nations before Jerusalem in the tribulation the great, the twelfth chapter speaks. In the exegesis of the fourteenth chapter we will have occasion to describe this coming siege of Jerusalem. In speaking of these coming events it is necessary to bear in mind that they have nothing to do with the church. Believers sometimes are confused in this respect in not holding strictly to the coming of the Lord for His saints, and the absence of the church in the earth during the tribulation, and after this—His coming with His saints. Because the Jews are not yet in possession of the land and Jerusalem is not yet a Jewish city, some have reasoned that the coming of our Lord must be a good ways off yet, and on account of these events not being seen now, they say we cannot say that the Lord can come any moment for His church. There is not one scripture which teaches that before the Lord comes for His church the Jews must have returned or Jerusalem be a national headquarter for Israel once more, etc. It is true a partial restoration of the Jews in unbelief has commenced, and there is a remarkable national awakening such as has never been before, but the full development of this restoration will come after the church has left the earth and has been joined to her Lord in the air. An exodus of Jews will take place, the land will become theirs, and the well laid plans and schemes of the present time will be all carried out. Political combinations will be their chief hopes as well as others for success. As Pharaoh of olden times did hasten after the children of Israel when they had left his domain, so it seems the nations will come after them and besiege Jerusalem. Everything is getting ready for this. Let every believer rejoice in the blessed hope that no saint will be in the earth when at last these sad scenes of a passing dispensation are enacted. In that day, saith Jehovah, I will smite every horse with astonishment, And his rider with madness: I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, And every horse of the peoples I will smite with blindness, And the chiefs of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength, In Jehovah of hosts their God. In that day I will make the chiefs of Judah Like a pan of fire among wood, And as a torch of fire among sheaves; And they shall devour all the peoples round about, On the right hand and on the left; And Jerusalem shall dwell in her own place, even in Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:4-7). These verses are descriptive of the calamity which will befall the enemies of Israel. Jehovah will smite them. The stone falling from heaven will smite the image at its feet and will pulverize it. The enemies of Israel will suffer as complete a defeat and destruction as Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea. In pride and blindness they had rushed on, and while pursuing Israel the face of the Lord looked out of the cloud and confused the Egyptian hosts, and the returning waters swept them all away, the horse and the rider and the chariots. It is but a faint type of what it will be when Jehovah will roar out of heaven, and His glory will appear. The slain of the Lord will then indeed be many. Judah and the chiefs will be used in that judgment. They shall be a devouring fire. The fourteenth chapter will lead us into a closer investigation. The following two verses speak of the order how the coming of Jehovah will save His waiting people. Jehovah shall save the tents of Judah first, That the glory of the house of David And the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem May not lift itself up over Judah. In that day shall the Lord defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; And the feeble one among them in that day shall be as David; And the house of David shall be as God (Elohim), As the angel of Jehovah before them. And it shall come to pass in that day, That I will seek to destroy all the nations, That came against Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:7-9). Judah will inhabit the land and many will dwell in tents, while Jerusalem will be a strong and fortified city. The danger from the hostile armies will be the greatest with the dwellers in the tents. Accordingly, Jehovah will save the tents of Judah first. Jerusalem will come next. The purpose is that the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not lift themselves up over Judah. The house of David is especially mentioned. We have not had David brought before the prophet in the night visions nor in the prophecies which followed, but here in the twelfth chapter the house of David is mentioned not less than five times, which is very significant. We have the glory of the house of David in verse seven, the strength of David and the supremacy of it in verse eight. The spirit of grace and supplication is given to the house of David, and the family of the house of David will mourn. Jews have a tradition which states that the last descendant of the house of David died in Spain centuries ago. There are no genealogies at present to prove that the kingly house of David is extinct or not, but prophecies like the one we have in consideration, and many others which speak of the prominence of David and the house of David in the day when Jehovah will be manifested, make it very clear that among the wandering sons of Israel there are yet lineal descendants of the house of David. If they do not know it themselves, Jehovah knows it, and they will know it through Him. The feeble ones, literally the stumblers, among His people in that day of manifestation will be like David. What a hero David was! A man of war and strength conquering always and never conquered. And now the stumbler in Israel, the weakest one, will have strength and courage like David. And David shall be as God, as the angel of Jehovah before them. This is a startling promise. A similar word is found in Exodus 7:1, And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. The house of David will during the millennium be supreme in rule and in glory. A lineal descendant of David, a prince, will sit upon the throne of his father David and rule as a vice-regent of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose throne is then in the heavens over the earth. Thus in the earth the house of David will be as God and as the angel of Jehovah before them (Ezekiel 34:23-24; Ezekiel 46:1-24 :). The closing verses of the chapter claim our special attention, for in them we have a fundamental prophetic passage. The spiritual side of the salvation of Jerusalem is now brought out. And I will pour out upon the house of David, And upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, The spirit of grace and supplication; And they shall look upon Me whom they pierced, And they shall mourn for Him as the mourning for an only son, And be in bitterness for Him as one in bitterness for the firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, As the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddon. The mourning then is described as a universal one. All the families will mourn; family by family apart, and their wives apart. Such a mourning and weeping has never before been seen in the earth nor will there be one like it again. But why mourning and weeping? Should there not rather be joy and feasting, gladness and hallelujahs? The hallelujahs will come during the entire millennium, but the beginning will be mourning, national, by Israel. The mourning is on account of Him, Jehovah, who has appeared in His glory and whom they now behold. The long expected Messiah has at last appeared, and He is Jehovah. His coming for their salvation is as Daniel saw Him, after the last beast, the terrible one, the nondescript with its ten horns and the little horn between, had risen from the sea. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven, one like unto a Son of Man, and He came even unto the Ancient of days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the people, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed (Daniel 7:13-14). A cloud appears in the heaven over Jerusalem. It is at once recognized as no common cloud, but as the divine glory cloud, (the Shekinah, which had been with Israel of old and was always the sign of Jehovah’s presence with His people). We can imagine in some measure how this sign will be welcomed by the remnant of Israel in the hour of their extremity when there is and cannot be help from man. The cloud speaks as of old, of divine interference. Our Lord puts the whole scene before us when He said in His Olivet discourse, But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light (what an awful darkness that will be! well may then the rejecters of the Gospel seek death from the wrath which is now coming), and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And He shall send forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect (not the church) from the four winds, from one end of heaven unto the other (Matthew 24:29-31). The sign of the Son of Man which is spoken of here will undoubtedly be the cloud of glory which will bring Him from heaven to the earth. Some believers in the coming of the Lord have mentioned the sign of the Son of Man to be seen in the heaven as if that sign stood in relation to the church and would be welcomed by believers, the saved ones, as the sign that their redemption is now at hand. We read not long ago in a pamphlet in which certain coming signs in constellation of stars, etc., were mentioned, as being foretold in prophecy, and teaching the church that the coming of the Lord must be at hand. This is a mistake. There is nowhere in prophecy a sign mentioned appearing in the heaven to show the church that the Lord is at hand. The church, that is the one body, does not need such a sign. When the sign of the Son of Man appears in the heaven there will be no more church in the earth to see it. It will be “immediately after the tribulation of these days;” the church will not be in that tribulation. The sign is for Israel. Ezekiel beheld that glory which is then to be seen in the heavens. I looked, and, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, a great cloud with a fire infolding itself, and a brightness round about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber out of the midst of the fire. And out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. . . . And above the firmament that was above their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it above. And I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire within it round about, from the appearance of his loins and upward, and from the appearance of his loins and downward, I saw as if it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness round about him. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord (Ezekiel 1:5; Ezekiel 1:26; Ezekiel 1:28). This vision will actually be seen by Israel in the day of the manifestation of the Lord. He will return in like manner upon a cloud as the glorified Son of Man as He went up into heaven. In Acts 1:11, where the promise of His return is given, it is likewise to be remarked that that promise does not present the Hope of the church, our blessed Hope, as believers. It is very often used as speaking of that Hope which is so dear to every believer’s heart. However, the promise given by the two men in white apparel, in Acts 1:1-26 :, is a promise to Israel. It is the coming in like manner as He went into heaven, that is the coming of the Lord with His saints and not for His saints. There is still another passage which is in close connection with the appearing of Jehovah, the pierced One, in Zechariah 12:1-14 :, namely, Revelation 1:7, Behold He comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they which have pierced Him and all the tribes of the land shall wail because of Him. Yea. Amen. This passage corresponds with the one before us in Zechariah. The tribes in Revelation are the same as mentioned in Zechariah, and the wailing in Revelation stands for the mourning with which the twelfth chapter in Zechariah closes. What a scene that will be when at last Israel will look upon Him! When the signs of His coming,—the coming of the Redeemer—Jehovah increase, and His coming for their salvation draweth nigh, perhaps their hearts will be gladdened, and there will be rejoicing. They see the sign in the heavens and there will be the glad shout, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of Jehovah, this is our God, we have waited for Him. And now they behold a person upon that cloud. He is a Son of Man. Again they look and they see that His hands and His feet and His side are pierced. Who can this be with pierced hands, feet and side, who cometh thus in power and glory from the heavens to save His people? The truth so long denied by them flashes upon them, This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, the rejected One, the One who suffered that shameful death on yonder hill, whose hands and feet were pierced, and from whose loving side and heart the Roman spear drew forth blood and water. Jehovah-Jesus, the pierced One, is seen again. There way up in the heavens He is seen! Sun and moon have been darkened, as we quoted above from Matthew 24:1-51 :, but instead of their light there flashes another light over the heavens. The veil is lifted. God, Jehovah, has broken the long, long silence. He speaks again. The proud nations tremble, fear and trembling seize hold upon all the children of men. The day of vengeance, the day of wrath, the day of burning and recompense is at hand. All eyes are turned upward to behold that startling vision. The cloud, and in that cloud a throne, and upon the throne the Lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, Jehovah, the pierced One, the Lord Jesus Christ. Not alone are His eyes like a flaming fire, but according to Habakkuk’s vision (Habakkuk 3:1-19), His glory covereth the heavens, brightness is round about Him and rays (of glory) come out of His hands and His side, and there was the hiding of His power. Long, long ago David had by the Spirit of the Lord entered into the sufferings of his Son, whom he called Lord, and in the Psalm which begins with the cry of the forsaken One, My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me? he speaks of His hands and His feet pierced. It is true that the unbelieving Jews and all the enemies of a verbal inspiration of the word of God, higher critics, etc., with them, have tried to change the word “pierced” in the twenty-second Psalm, and make something else out of it. But it is pierced and will be so in all eternity. The One of whom David spoke came and was rejected, suffered, sacrificed Himself to put away sin, was nailed on the cross, and was pierced through. On the third day He was raised from the dead, and for forty days He showed Himself in His glorified body to His friends. In that body of the risen Lord the nailprints and the pierced side were seen. Thomas, unbelieving as he was, and as such a type of Israel abiding in unbelief still, would not believe the testimony of his brethren, and demanded the return of the Lord and to put his hands into His side and to see in His hands the prints of the nails. The second time the Lord appears, and Thomas is called to His side to touch His body, to see the nailprints. Convinced because he sees he cries out, My Lord and my God! And when He took His own to the mountain where He gave them His command and His blessing, when His loving hands were spread out in blessing, they all saw the marks of His passion in His hands and there in His side. And thus He went into heaven, and while you read this, dear friend, He is there in the Holy of Holiest, appearing now in the presence of God for us, the all-sufficient One. Can then there be a doubt that when He does appear again, the second time, to build the tabernacle of David which is fallen down, that these marks of His suffering will not be seen? They will be the marks for Israel. They will know Him by the nailprints as the One so long rejected and hated without a cause. The conversion of Saul of Tarsus is a little sample of what is yet to be with the seed of Abraham. The light which shone around this blinded, self-righteous Pharisee on his way to Damascus, a light brighter than the Oriental noonday sun, will then shine out of heaven in the Lord’s own glory. The Voice which spoke to him, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest, will speak again out of that light to the prostrated nation. It does likewise remind us of the rejected brother who became great and a saviour after his rejection by his own, and who in loving words said to his brethren, so guilty and conscience stricken, I am Joseph your brother. What a wonderful event that will be when at last they that pierced Him shall behold Him. Suspended somewhere in the air will be seen the vision of the Lord in His glory, and thus every eye shall see Him. It will be the day when a nation is born. The Spirit poured out, they will look upon Him, and the great national mourning follows. This great mourning will be like the mourning in Hadad-rimmon in the valley Megiddon. To what events do these places refer? 2 Chronicles 35:22-37, give us the history of that great mourning. Nevertheless, Josiah would not turn his face from him (the King of Egypt), but disguised himself, that he might fight with him, and hearkened not unto the words of Neco, from the mouth of God (these words are found in 2 Chronicles 35:21), and came to fight in the valley of Megiddon. And the archers shot at King Josiah; and the King said to his servants, Have me away, I am sore wounded. So his servants took him out of the chariot and put him into the second chariot that he had and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Josiah, and all the singing men and singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations unto this day; and they made them an ordinance in Israel, and behold they are written in the Lamentations. Likewise in 2 Kings 23:29. In Josiah’s days Pharaoh-Neco, King of Egypt, went up against the King of Assyria to the river Euphrates, and King Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddon when he had seen him. And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddon and brought him to Jerusalem. Hadad-rimmon was a village nearby in the valley of Megiddon. The pious King Josiah died, pierced by an arrow on account of the evil deeds of the nation. After his death there was a great mourning because he had been slain, and his death was soon followed by greater calamities, ending with the Babylonian captivity. The application to the Lord Jesus Christ and the coming national mourning of the nation every reader can make for himself It is interesting to read the Jewish interpretations of this important chapter. We quote from the Babylonian Talmud: That mourning, what was it about? Rabbi Yose and the Rabbis differ on the point. The one says it is for Messiah, the Son of Joseph, when He is killed; and the other says, It is for the Yetzer Horo (evil desire, sin), when it is killed. All is clear in the case of him that says, It is for Messiah, the Son of Joseph, when He is killed, for then we can understand what is written, And they shall look upon Me whom they pierced, and they shall lament for Him (Zechariah 12:10). But in the case of him that says it is for sin when it is killed? Would it be mourning that is needed? Surely rejoicing would then be needed. Thus expounded, Rabbi Jehudah, of the Western house, in the Messianic times, the Holy One, blessed be He, is going to bring forth the evil desire and slay him in the presence of the righteous and the wicked. Unto the righteous the evil desire appears like a mountain, and unto the wicked he appears like a hair. The righteous weep and the wicked weep. The righteous say, How did we ever get the better of this high mountain? And the wicked say, How is it that we did not get the better of this hair? (Yalkut on Zechariah.) The Jews have invented a double Messiah, one who is called the Son of Joseph and the other the Son of David. The Son of Joseph is pierced, and after He has been slain, Jehovah will send Messiah, Son of David. It is not denied that the Son of Joseph is a Messiah, an anointed One. This teaching is to solve the difficulties they have in explaining the suffering Messiah and the victorious Messiah. We have often talked with orthodox Jews for hours on the fact that there is only one Messiah, and He whom they expect as Son of David is truly the One who died and was pierced through for our sins. Human words cannot describe the great mourning when at last it is known by His appearing in the clouds, that Jesus, the Son of David, is the once rejected stone and now become the head of the corner. Zechariah 13:1 belongs to Zechariah 12:1-14. However, we will leave it for the next chapter. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 36: 02.13. CHAPTER 13 ======================================================================== CHAPTER XIII. The fountain against sin and uncleanness opened—Idols and false prophets destroyed—The smitten Shepherd and the sheep scattered—The Remnant saved—Two-thirds cut off and a third part refined by fire. As mentioned in the closing sentence of the exposition of the last chapter, the Zechariah 13:1 belongs to Zechariah 12:1-14. The division of the Bible into chapters is very often at fault and helps much to obscure the real meaning. “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for Uncleanness.” That day will be the day when they have looked upon Him, Jehovah, the pierced One, and the fountain which is opened is the same blessed fountain of which the saints now sing: “There is a fountain filled with blood Drawn from Emanuel’s veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood Lose all their guilty stains.” The fountain was indeed in existence throughout all the long centuries of Israel’s dispersion. But Israel in blindness did not see it, only the remnant according to the election of grace did realize the precious blood of the Lamb of God, which has taken away the sins of the world. Now all is changed. Upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the house of David the Spirit is poured out. They have seen Him who is the first-born among many brethren, the second Adam, the One who is the Head of a new creation, and the blood of Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, is now cleansing them from all sin and uncleanness. Their guilt is pardoned and all unrighteousness and impurity is completely removed. This great event is everywhere spoken of in the Old Testament. We had it under consideration in the third chapter, containing the night vision of the cleansing of Joshua, the High priest. In that vision the blood which cleanses was not mentioned. Now, however, it is seen, that the cleansing is by the blood of the Lamb. It is the same precious blood which cleansed and washed the glorified saints. The great multitude, which no man can number, out of every nation and of all tribes and peoples and tongues; the saints arrayed in white robes with palms in their hands, who washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, and who appear with Him. And while they sing their song of praise, Salvation unto our God which sitteth on the throne and unto the Lamb, Israel will be washed by the same blood and join into the song of worship heard from the glorified lips of the saints of God. In Psalms 103:1-22 we have a prophetic expression of what Israel will rejoice in when that fountain is opened. The cleansed nation will break forth and sing: “Bless Jehovah, oh my soul, And all that is within me bless His holy name; Bless Jehovah, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities, Who healeth all thy diseases, Who reedeemeth thy life from destruction, Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.” The cleansing and healing of Israel in that day will be complete and final. No more going back to sin and apostasy after that. Now they are indeed a holy people, a kingdom of priests. Perfect healing is theirs, not alone in spiritual things, but also healing from their diseases. Jehovah is their healer the moment He, as the Sun of Righteousness with healing under His wings, has risen upon them. “And the inhabitant shall not say I am sick; the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity” (Isaiah 33:24). “Neither will I hide My face any more from them; for I have poured out My Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God” (Ezekiel 39:29). “And the Redeemer shall come out of Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord. And as for Me, this is My covenant with them, saith the Lord, My Spirit that is upon thee, and My words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever” (Isaiah 59:20-21). “For behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy, and I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in My people, and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her nor the voice of crying” (Isaiah 65:19). The cleansing of His people is followed by the cutting off of the names of the idols from the land of Israel. The false prophets who were indwelt by the spirit of uncleanness are destroyed. It is the consequence of the outpouring of the Spirit upon Israel. The entire paragraph beginning Zechariah 13:1-9 speaks of this: “And it shall be in that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, And they shall no more be remembered; And also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirits To pass out of the land. And it shall be if a man still prophesy, His father and his mother who begat him shall say to him, Thou shalt not live, For thou hast spoken a lie in the name of Jehovah; And his father and his mother who begat him Shall pierce him through when he prophesieth. And it shall be in that day the prophets shall be ashamed Each of his vision when he prophesies; And shall no more put on a hairy mantle to lie, And shall say I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground, For a man has sold me from my youth. And one shall say to him What are these wounds between thine hands? And he shall answer, those with which I was wounded In the house of my lovers” (Zechariah 13:2-6). We have seen before in Zechariah 10:1-12 that Israel will return to idolatry in the last days. The unclean spirit of idolatry which was cast out will at last return with seven others and will find the house empty, swept and garnished. And the evil spirit, with the seven others more evil than himself; will enter in and dwell there, so that the last state of Israel becometh worse than the first. This will happen to this evil generation. This section of Zechariah 13:1-0 makes it very clear that when the fountain is opened against sin and uncleanness, that idols will have been in the land, and false prophets prophesy there immediately before the manifestation of the Lord from heaven; for how could the names of the idols be cut off from the land if there were none there? Palestine may well be put down now as the great centre of false worship. Greek and Latin crosses are seen on all sides in Jerusalem and other places, while saints, holy houses and places are worshipped and adored. On the spot where the Lord’s house stood, there stands to-day the mosque of the false prophet. All is idolatry. Of course when the Lord returns these false temples will be destroyed, and the Greek and Latin idolatries, as well as Islam, will forever pass out of existence. There will be a purging of the land from these abominations. This may be included in the prophecy here. Still, it is the people of Israel who are especially concerned in the prophecy before us. The land has often been the scene of idol worship, and the people engaged in that which Jehovah despises. It will be so again, only in a much worse form, when false prophets who are inspired by the unclean spirit, and demons themselves will be their guides. We must look to Revelation for a key. It is well known to all students of the prophetic word that all which comes after the third chapter in the last book of the Bible is future still. We are yet in the things which are present. When the Lord has taken the Church to Himself then the great visions, tribulations, wrath and judgment will be fulfilled. Aside from the scenes in heaven we learn from Revelation the events in the earth during the great tribulation which ends with the wrath from heaven. Now in Revelation 20:9 we read, And the rest of mankind which were not killed with these plagues repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship demons and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see nor hear nor walk. Scripture is to be explained by scripture. The Holy Spirit declares through Paul the very same when he writes in 1 Timothy 4:1, “But the Spirit says expressly that in the latter times some shall fall away from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils through the hypocrisy of men that speak lies branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron.” For this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned which believed not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12). These words have not yet been fulfilled, nor has the time come. Truly there are many indications around us. Doctrines of demons are seen in more than one respect. Mysterious influences are felt in the earth. The hindering power, the Holy Spirit, is still present, and He is keeping back the full manifestation of evil (2 Thessalonians 2:7). But when at last He has gone, in the removal of the body, then darkness indeed will cover the earth. The unclean spirits, and who can count their numbers, will be thrown out of heaven into the earth and take possession of mankind. The voice from heaven declares, Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the devil is gone down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time (Revelation 12:1-17). When our Lord was in the earth preaching the kingdom of heaven He found many persons in the possession of demons, evil spirits, who had complete control of them, and He cast them out. Some cried out in terror, demanding to know if He had come to torment them before the time. They knew Him as the One who would at last send them to their final doom. But when He comes again in His glory from heaven, conditions will be a great deal worse. Satan and his hosts will be in the earth, having deceived the inhabitants of the earth, and seducing with lying wonders and strong delusions those who would not believe the truth, and lead them back to idol worship and to the carnal abominations connected with such a worship. Spiritualism, Christian Science, Buddhism in the very midst of Christendom, as well as the sect of devil worshipers in Paris, London, and Berlin, are but faint samples of the gross darkness which will be when the Church has been removed. There is no human mind which can imagine the condition of things during that time of tribulation, nor is there a pen which could describe the delusions and wickedness which will then flourish for a short time in this world. What praises, then, should be in the hearts of the Saints for having escaped that tribulation and the wrath to come. No, the Lord will never leave His Church in the earth when Satan and his demons have control. The presence of the Church in the earth makes it impossible that these days can come. But while this will be true in the earth generally, the land of Israel will be the center of that great storm, and there the false worship, idolatry, will be established. It is to be remembered that a part of the nation will have been restored to the land in unbelief, and will rebuild a temple, which is the fourth temple. Sacrifices are brought again, but they are an abomination, and the Lord hates them. Isaiah 66:1-24 in its beginning speaks of this fact. We have to turn once more to the book of Revelation to find there a commentary. In the first quotation from the book we learned of the conditions in the earth in a general sense, but when we read Zechariah 13:1-9 we find ourselves on Jewish ground, in Jerusalem. In that chapter we read of the worship of one who is termed the dragon, and this dragon gives power to a beast, who is likewise worshiped. And there was given him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and there was given him authority to continue forty and two months (Zechariah 13:5). . . And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, everyone whose name hath not been written in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain from the foundation of the world . . . (Zechariah 13:9). After this we read in the 11th verse of a second beast. And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like unto a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight, and he maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great signs, that he should even make fire come down out of heaven upon the earth in sight of men. An image of the beast is made. And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which hath the stroke of the sword and lived. And it was given unto him to give breath to it, even to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed (14th and 15th verses). We see here a trinity revealed. The first is the dragon, the second the beast, and after that beast, which is called the first beast, the other, or the second beast. The dragon is the father of lies, the devil, the first beast is his son, the Antichrist, and the second beast is the evil spirit, which causes the dwellers in the earth to worship the beast. It is the trinity of evil as it is yet to be seen in the earth, and worshipped by those who rejected the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This beast is the false Messiah. The one of whom we read in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17 : The son of perdition, he that upholdeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as God. Now this is the great abomination of the great tribulation. Revelation 13:1-18 speaks, as we have seen, of Antichrist having received a deadly wound by a sword, but he lived. It was a miracle that he lived. The dragon gave him power to overcome it. But not alone does he raise up the beast again from death, but he imparts life to the image of Antichrist, which is to be worshipped, so that it could speak, and all who refuse to worship the image are to be killed. Antichrist is a perfect counterfeit of the true Christ. The devil will then place him before the world as a substitute of Christ. The wound of the beast was made perhaps by those who pretended to love him. With the light from Revelation 13:1-18 : Zech. xiii becomes very plain, for the false prophets and idols mentioned in our chapter are connected with the winding up of this dispensation. The sixth verse does not speak of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is generally taken to be a Messianic prophecy and often quoted as such. The context, however, shows beyond a doubt that the person mentioned is the false prophet. And one shall say to him—the false prophet—What then are these wounds between thy hands? And he shall say, Those for which I was wounded in the house of my lovers. Nowhere is this prophecy quoted in the New Testament as being Messianic. Surely if it had any reference to the Lord, the Holy Spirit would have quoted it somewhere in the New Testament. We have here the description of the false shepherd, the Antichrist, the beast with the deadly wound. Of course there will be many false Messiahs in that day when Antichrist reigns. False messengers, lying prophets, with their delusions will go throughout the land and to the nations likewise. But when He appears whose right it is, Antichrist, all false prophets, and all the idols will be forever cut off and the land will be thoroughly cleansed of all these abominations. If it were possible that a man after this manifestation should still prophesy (speaking falsely, a lie in the name of Jehovah), his own father and mother would slay him for it. The true Shepherd is now seen once more in the closing of this chapter, and with him mention is made of the remnant. “Awake, O sword, against My shepherd, And against a man, My fellow, saith Jehovah of Hosts; Smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered, And I will bring back My hand upon the little ones. And it shall be in all the land, saith Jehovah, Two parts therein shall be cut off and die, And the third shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, And I will refine them as silver is refined, And will try them as gold is tried; He shall call upon My name and I will answer; I will say, It is My people, And he shall say, Jehovah is my God.” The question comes to every student of the word, why is here an interruption in the events which we have followed and which are given chronologically? Why is there no continuation bringing out other phases of Israel’s salvation and the coming of the Lord? The change is very abrupt, and there is a going back to events which are the events of His first coming and His rejection. The solution of the difficulty would be almost impossible if we would interpret the sixth verse of the wounded one as referring to the Lord, the Messiah. But the fact that in the sixth verse we have the person of Antichrist answers the question which we have asked. The change and the interruption is made to show the contrast between the Good Shepherd and the false shepherd. The devil’s masterpiece had been in the earth; perhaps he pointed to his wounds in his hands and to the fact that he was dead and became alive again, and mockingly he spoke of Jesus of Nazareth and His claim of having been dead and now living. The true Shepherd has appeared. He too is pierced, but He was pierced for their sins, and to make the whole complete a new thought is brought out which has not been seen so far in Zechariah. It is the same as in Isaiah 53:1-12 : the suffering One, who is a man, and called My fellow, the fellow of Jehovah of Hosts, Jehovah Himself; who speaks here, and what does He speak? The sword is to work against His Shepherd and against His own Fellow. The blessed mystery of the atonement is thus brought out. Indeed it is the heart of the Gospel here. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish but have life eternal. The Lord, laid on Him the iniquity of us all. It speaks of Him, the forsaken One, the Son of God, forsaken in the hour of His agony, the sword upon Him and against Him. In the New Testament we find the passage quoted in the Gospel of Matthew 26:13 : Then saith Jesus unto them, all ye shall be offended because of Me this night; for it is written, I will smite the Shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. In the last verses of the 13th chapter we have once more teachings concerning the remnant. These verses are not alone applicable to the remnant and the sheep in the time when our Lord was in the earth and immediately after he had suffered, they are not alone applicable to the remnant, which was in Jerusalem when the Roman armies came for destruction, but the application is to be made in connection with the people living in the land when Antichrist will reign, and the suffering of the remnant, the one-third, and the glorious privileges of that remnant are likewise future. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 37: 02.14. CHAPTER 14 ======================================================================== CHAPTER XIV. The last conflict—Jerusalem surrounded by armies and besieged and taken—Jehovah’s intervention—The escape of the remnant—Living waters flowing out of Jerusalem—The enemies punished—The remnant of nations live as worshipers in Jerusalem—Jerusalem the holy city. Zechariah 14:1-21 is a very important one. It is a grand summing up and description of the events which stand at the close of the great tribulation, and as such it is one of the most striking chapters in the Old Testament. Post-millennialism surely fails here in trying to find some explanation for these prophecies. The chapter is unfulfilled throughout. Anyone who does not acknowledge this has only one other way of interpretation, and that is to spiritualize the whole and make out of it the development of the Church, the holiness of the Church, etc. this, of course, is a failure and cannot be done. The only true way of interpretation is the literal one, and that will teach us that the events seen in this chapter are future. This ought to be seen by any reader of the Word of God at the first glance. There is no siege and capture of Jerusalem in history which corresponds to the siege and capture which stands in the beginning of this chapter. The Lord never intervened in behalf of Jerusalem in the way that it is said here in going forth and fighting against those nations, nor did His feet stand upon the Mount of Olives for the purpose of completely destroying the enemies of His people. The whole chapter is of such significance that we have to take it verse by verse and illustrate it by many scriptures taken from different parts of the prophetic word. Zechariah 14:1. “Behold a day cometh for Jehovah when thy spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee.” The time when this prophecy will be enacted is here given. A day is coming for Jehovah. Now it is man’s day and God keeps silence, but His day, the day of Jehovah, is coming and will be a day of manifestation, glory, and power. “That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness” (Zephaniah 1:15). “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants in the land tremble, for the day of Jehovah cometh, it is nigh at hand” (Joel 2:1). “There shall be a day of the Lord upon all that is proud and haughty” (Isaiah 2:4). The great tribulation is about past, and now when Jerusalem is not alone besieged but taken, the spoil being divided by the victors in the midst of the city, and when the enemy seems to have succeeded, then the day for Jehovah will come and He will roar out of the heavens. Zechariah 14:2. “I will gather all nations against Jerusalem for battle, And the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women shall be ravished, And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, And the residue of the people shall not be cut off.” This puts before us the last scenes of the times of the Gentiles, the great conflict which in Daniel and other prophecies is likewise described. There are difficulties, especially in regard to Antichrist. If he is then in Jerusalem, and sitting in the temple, worshipped as God, having complete control of Jerusalem, how can he be the leader of the hostile armies of the nations which come against Jerusalem? It is nowhere said that Antichrist is to have this place in the temple for any length of time. We likewise do not know the exact time when he will thus be worshipped. He hears while away from the land of the appearing of the two witnesses in Jerusalem, their success in preaching, and that many Jews become believers in Him who is the Hope of Israel. He invades the land, takes the city, and slays the witnesses. The armies of the nations are associated with him. Daniel gives the history of these events. (Daniel 11:1-45 :) The armies which gather against Jerusalem in that day are the armies of the confederation of nations, sprung out of the territory of the old Roman Empire. It was stated not long ago from post-millennial sides that this in itself was beyond belief. How could it be possible that the progress of civilization could be arrested to such an extent, that the nations of Christendom would unite to march up against the Holy City? The Gospel leaven (?) was at work as never before, and it would be impossible that these nations who will become more and more thus leavened could be occupied with such a campaign. This indeed is the thought of man, but the word of God speaks in an entirely different language. True the leaven is at work, but truth is not leaven, but leaven is evil. We must not forget that Jehovah Himself says, I will gather all nations against Jerusalem. Much reminds us here in chapter xiv of Egypt, and we shall have to refer a number of times to the story of Israel’s deliverance from the house of bondage. Pharaoh, though he had witnessed the judgments of God upon his own land, tribulation and wrath, yet he rushed on in blindness to his doom. So it will be once more with the antisemitic nations. Blinded they will be, though they have also witnessed tribulation and wrath. Perhaps special commercial and financial as well as political interests are at stake, and will be the causes of the campaign against the land and the city. Joel iii speaks of this gathering of nations: “Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears; let the weak say, I am strong. Haste ye, and come all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together; thither cause Thy mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehosaphat, for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, tread ye; for the winepress is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. And the Lord shall roar from Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the Lord will be a refuge unto His people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.” Matthew 24:1-51 is to be considered in connection with Zechariah 14:1-21, for it relates to the same events. Some take Matthew 24:1-51 as having been in part fulfilled, others as being now fulfilled. Both are incorrect. The chapter will be fulfilled after the church is taken from the earth to be with the Lord in the air. “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled, for these things must needs come to pass; the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places. But all these things are the beginning of trouble. Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name’s sake.” . . . All this is predictive of the great tribulation. Matthew 24:1-51 makes it clear that there will be a Jewish-Christian remnant—not church—in the land, and a testimony will be given by them. (See Zechariah 14:14 and compare with Revelation 14:6-7.) Neither Zechariah 14:1-21 nor Matthew 24:1-51 has seen a fulfillment. Jerusalem has never been besieged by all nations, nor was only a part of the people destroyed in its last siege by Titus. Zechariah 14:3. “Then shall Jehovah go forth and fight against those nations, As when He fought in the day of battle.” The hour of their extremity has come and this brings the intervention. The great tribulation in its beginning found a good part of the Jewish people restored in unbelief in the land. Jerusalem had become again a Jewish city, and a temple stands in the city. The tribulation ends with Jerusalem taken, ruin once more, terrible slaughter and suffering, and in the midst a remnant hopeful, waiting for salvation from above. When there seems to be no escape Jehovah will appear and fight against those nations. The heavens will be opened and Jehovah’s glory and power manifested. It will be as it was in the day of battle. “And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, King of Egypt and he pursued after the children of Israel; for the children of Israel went out with an high hand. And the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharoah and his horse-men, and his army overtook them encamping by the sea . . . And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord . . . And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work for you to-day . . . The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace . . . And it came to pass in the morning watch that the Lord looked forth upon the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of cloud, and discomfited the host of the Egyptians. . . . The Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. . . . There remained not so much as one of them.” (Exodus 14:1-31 :) “Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehosaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Fear not ye, neither be ye dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s. Ye shall not fight in this battle, set yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord with you” (2 Chronicles 20:15-17). These are only two samples of what Jehovah will do in His day and how He will save His people. In Matthew 24:1-51 we find the intervention in Matthew 24:27, “For as the lightning cometh forth from the east and is seen even unto the west, so shall be the coming of the Son of Man.” Zechariah 14:4. “And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, Which is before Jerusalem on the east; And the Mount of Olives shall be parted in the middle, Toward the east and toward the west, a great valley, And half of the mountain shall be removed northward And the other half southward.” The east, the place where the sun rises, is made prominent in this manifestation. From the east to the west the lightning flashes, thus shall be the coming of the Son of Man. “God cometh from Teman, And the holy One from Paran His splendor covereth the heavens, And the earth is full of His glory” (Habakkuk 3:1-19). Teman is the country of the sons of the east, and Paran the desert region extending from the frontiers of Judah to the borders of Sinai. But there towards the east from Jerusalem stands a mountain. It overlooks the whole city, and right in front, there is the valley of Jehosaphat, the valley where the nations are assembled (Joel 3:1-21). What a view from this mountain top! There is the city, and its burning ruins are seen, there are the camps of the nations, with their banners and cannons gathered now in fear and in trembling, for the heavens declare the glory of the Lord. Immediately after the tribulation of these days, the sun shall be darkened and the moon . . . and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in the heavens. And now He Himself has descended from the heavens. His blessed feet stand again upon the Mount of Olives. He stands upon the mountain, and perhaps on the very spot where He stood centuries, many centuries, before, after His passion and His resurrection when He blest His disciples and had been removed from them with outstretched arms. There stood the two heavenly visitors in that day with their message, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye here looking into heaven? This Jesus which was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye beheld Him going into heaven.” A long, long time past. Has He forgotten His promise? No, the hour had not come. But men disbelieved the word of promise, I will come again. “And in the last days mockers came with mockery, walking after their own lusts, saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for from the days that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (2 Peter 2:3-4). But now the Lord has come. He, the Son of Man, in His glory, is seen plainly from the city and from the valley, and with Him the heavenly company, His saints. The moment His feet touch the Mount of Olives there is an earthquake which splits the mountain into two halves, and a great valley is formed between these two parts. “The mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt; and the earth is upheaved at His presence, yea, the world and all that dwell therein” (Nahum 1:5). As in the day of battle when the Egyptian hosts were destroyed and He divided the sea, thus will He divide the mountain and make a way for His trusting people, Zechariah 14:5. “And ye shall flee by the valley of My mountains, For the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal; Ye shall flee as you fled before the earthquake, In the days of Uzziah, King of Judah: And Jehovah my God shall come, And all the saints with Thee!” The valley is the way by which the remnant will flee from the city. The earthquake is mentioned only in another passage in the prophets. Amos received the words of the Lord and the visions two years before the earthquake. The details of the earthquake are not mentioned. Perhaps the pious in the city, the Messiah-expecting Jews, hoped then that the Promised One would appear, and they fled from the city. It was during the reign of Uzziah (Jehovah is strength) that it happened. Jehovah who shall come refers us back to the fourth verse, where He stands upon the Mount. Here He is seen not alone in His manifestation, but His saints are with Him. It is an exclamation of joyous surprise, All the saints with Thee! There above the Mount of Olives a startling picture is seen. Countless human beings, glorified, gathered out of all languages, nations, tribes and countries, great and small, in white and shining robes, are seen flowing down from the opened heaven. What multitudes! No man can count them. What light and what glory! Brighter than the noonday sun. And, oh! what hallelujahs, what wonderful singing in joy and praise and adoration! When the shepherds were on the fields near Bethlehem they heard the angels’ song, but when He comes again there will be singing and rejoicing, grander still. Then it will be indeed, Glory to God in the highest, Peace on earth, good will towards men. The singing of the redeemed will be heard. The mighty angels will not be silent in their wake, and all the armies of heaven will escort the King of kings and Lord of lords upon white horses. What a scene in view of the places where He once suffered and died, and beheld by the nations and Israel! And every saint will share His glory then. Oh, wonderful grace for redeemed sinners, which lifts them up to such glory, to come with the Son of Man in His glory, and to share His throne. Why is there now so little praise with His own, His redeemed ones? Why so often coldness? Perhaps if we would gaze more into these visions of glory it would be different, and there would be not only praise but in all the wilderness experiences joy and patience, the patience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus He, our Lord, the Leader and Perfecter of faith, went through this life. “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” And when the Lord comes with His saints the remnant of Israel leaving the city will not be silent. Their song will be, “Lo, He is our God; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest” (Isaiah 25:9). Zechariah 14:6-7. “And it shall come to pass in that day That the light shall not be with brightness and with gloom, And the day shall be One. It shall be known unto Jehovah. Not day and not night And at evening time there shall be light.” Many different interpretations of these two verses have been attempted, most of them in spiritual teachings. The details of the coming manifestation, can hardly be now all understood. This seems to be clear in regard to the above that we have a prophetic description of the phenomena in nature, in the heavens in that day. The Septuagint translates, There shall not be light, but cold and ice. This translation is incorrect. That day will be a day of darkness, gloominess, followed by twilight and ending in the bursting forth of a new light. “Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! Wherefore would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light” (Amos 5:18). “And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in a clear day” (Amos 8:9). “The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come” (Joel 2:31 ). It is the same as in Matthew 24:1-51 : the darkening of the sun and moon, the falling of the stars. It will be one day, a peculiar day, such as has never been before. In the hour of His agony upon the cross there prevailed a darkness over Jerusalem and the land; the same will be the case in His manifestation and will inspire terror. At evening time the light will shine, the Son of Righteousness, now fully risen, with healing under his wings. Zechariah 14:8. “And it shall be in that day That living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, Half of them to the eastern sea And half of them to the western sea. In summer and in winter shall it be.” Living waters flowing out from Jerusalem speak of the blessings which the Lord will give through the city and the inhabitants to the nations of the earth. Jerusalem established will indeed be a praise in the earth. The Holy Spirit has been poured out and living waters flow from the place which is the center of the world. The living waters will never stop flowing. It will be for summer and winter. What a fruitfulness there will follow. The whole earth will be fruitful then, not alone in nature but in spiritual things. “For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Out of Zion there shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as a rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing; the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it; the excellency of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God” . . . (Isaiah 35:1-10). “And he brought me back unto the door of the house (the millennial temple); and behold waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward, for the forefront of the house was toward the east; and the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar. Then brought he me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round by the way without unto the outer gate by the way of the gate that looketh toward the east; and behold there ran out waters on the right side. . . . Now when I had returned, behold upon the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he unto me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go down into Arabah, and they shall go toward the sea; into the sea shall the waters go which were made to issue forth, and the waters shall be healed” (Ezekiel xlvii). The waters flowing from the threshold of the house empty into the sea . . . representing the nations of the earth, and they receive healing and life. Zechariah 14:9. “And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth. In that day shall Jehovah be one and His name one.” The true form of government is established. Jehovah is King. His throne is then established over the earth, and from that place He rules over all the nations in righteousness. The shepherd with the rod of iron and the saints share this rule, while in the earth Israel governs with a Prince of the house of David at their head. True unity has come. The shameful divisions of Christendom, the work of the enemy, the harvest of the flesh ended in a mock union of a Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man. Man attempts now to bring about a unity of the race and unity in religions. He the glorified Head of His body and His blessed atonement is denied. True Christendom ends in a unity, under one head, but he is the Antichrist. In that day of His coming again in glory there will be His name One, and He will be known as the One God, and worshipped as such. Idolatry is abolished. The abominations connected with it have ceased. Satan, the seducer of the nations, is chained and seduces the nations no more. Confusion is forever ended. “Then will I return to the nations a pure language, that they may call upon the name of Jehovah, to serve Him with one consent” (Zephaniah 3:9). Zechariah 14:10. “All the land shall be changed like the plain From Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, And she shall be lifted up and dwell in her place, From Benjamin’s gate unto the gate of the first place, Unto the corner gate, And from the tower of Hananeel unto the king’s wine presses.” It is of little profit to understand the exact location of the places mentioned in this verse; there is some difficulty in doing that. The prophecy shows that in that day when the Lord has appeared there will be a great change in the surface of Palestine. Everything will become a plain. Now it is a land of mountains and hills. But then the hills and mountains will be lowered and become a plain. Jerusalem, however, is lifted up, and is seen shining in her earthly splendor and in it the magnificent temple. In the midst of the millennial Jerusalem in the earth will be another high place, still higher than the city. It is the glorious Mount Zion. “But in the latter days it shall be that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills” (Micah 4:1). Upon this high place the glory will rest. Thus it will be seen and cover the earth as the waters cover the deep. “And the Lord will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of the flaming fire by night; for over all the glory shall be spread a canopy” (Isaiah 4:5). From that high and glorious place in the earth the communications and intercourse between the heavenlies and the earth will perhaps take place, it will be the ladder upon which the angels of God ascend and descend upon the Son of Man. Zechariah 14:11. “And they shall dwell therein, And there shall be no more curse, But Jerusalem shall dwell safely.” The happiness of the Jerusalem in the earth. The curse is entirely removed. While now Jerusalem is one of the most miserable places in the earth, desolate and forsaken, and during the tribulation it will be the place of misery, sin, and curse, it will become the most blessed place in the Millennium. The Lord will show forth there His great lovingkindness, and all the blessings we have reviewed in the visions of Zechariah will all be fulfilled. “There shall be no more thence an infant of days nor an old man that hath not filled his days; for the child shall die an hundred years old, and the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit thereof. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree shall be the days of My people and My chosen people shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass that before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 65:1-25). But that wonderful city in the earth, the city of Jerusalem, in all her blessing, joy, peace, prosperity, praise, and worship, is but a faint type of that still more glorious Jerusalem which is then above. The new Jerusalem, our glorious home, dear reader (if you are in Christ), is then in the air, and at the end of the thousand years it will come down and find its eternal resting-place in the new earth. Zechariah 14:12-15. “And this shall be the plague With which Jehovah will smite all the nations That have warred against Jerusalem: His flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, And their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, And their tongue shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall be in that day There shall be a great confusion among them from Jehovah, And they shall lay hold everyone on his neighbor’s hand, And his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor, And Judah also shall fight at Jerusalem, And the wealth of all the nations round about shall be gathered, Gold, and silver and apparel in great abundance. And so shall be the plague of the horse, Of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, And of all the beasts that shall be in those camps as this plague.” This is the description of the dreadful punishment which will befall the enemies in that day. It is to be read in connection with the third verse, the Lord fighting against those nations, and the punishment will be upon them when He appears. Thus it is seen in Revelation 19:1-21 : He appears, and after His appearing there is the scene of punishment of the enemies. “And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice to all the birds that fly in mid heaven, Come and be gathered together unto the great supper of God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and them that sit thereon, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond and small and great” (Revelation 19:17-18). What an awful judgment it will be! In Ezekiel we have likewise a description of it. It is however to be remarked that the vision of Ezekiel 38:1-23 and Ezekiel 39:1-29 speaks of the judgment which will fall upon the rebels of the last revolt at the end of the thousand years. Still that second punishment is foreshadowed in the first. “And thou, Son of man, thus saith the Lord God, Speak unto the birds of every sort, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves upon every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth. . . . And ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men and all men of war, saith the Lord God” (Ezekiel 39:17-23). “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh” (Isaiah 66:24). How wonderful the prophetic Word is! What a harmony! How dare men who call themselves Christians deny its divinity and infallibility? The wealth of the nations belongs then again to Israel. The nations spoiled them, and now all the riches of the Gentiles become theirs. Even so it is now during their dispersion. The nations who persecuted and robbed the Jews during the middle ages have become the most miserable and impoverished, while the Lord has given greater riches to the Jews, and often drawn from the very countries who stole their goods. From Egypt of old they came forth laden with silver and gold. It will find a repetition, only on a grander scale, in the day of their restoration. Now in unbelief and in dispersion they are the richest of all nations. Oh! that the nations would now understand it—the nations called Christendom—that “they are laboring for the fire, and wearing themselves with vanity” (Habakkuk 2:12), and that the wealth and glory accumulated by them will fall a prey to the Jews. “Ye shall eat the wealth of the nations, and to their glory shall ye succeed” (Isaiah 61:6). Zechariah 14:16. And it shall come to pass All that is left of the nations which came against Jerusalem Shall go up from year to year To worship the King, Jehovah of Hosts, And to keep the feast of Tabernacles. Nations will be left after the tribulation and the wrath—this is clear from many passages of the Word. In the New Testament we have the statement made at the first council in Jerusalem. “Brethren, hearken unto me; Simeon hath rehearsed how God at first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After these things I will return, and I will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up; that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called,” etc. (Acts 4:15-18). Number one is the visitation of the Gentiles, a calling out of a people for His name, and we are still living in number one. Number two is His return, the building again and setting up of the tabernacle of David, which can only come after the calling out of a people is accomplished the fullness of the Gentiles come in; and number two and the events connected with it we have learned from the studies in Zechariah. Then follows number three, the residue of men seeking after the Lord. In Zechariah 14:16, they that are left of the nations correspond with the residue of men in Acts 4:1-37 : The temple will then stand in Jerusalem as the house of glory and a house of prayer for all nations. There will be a perfect worship, grand and glorious, and it will not be confined to Israel, but the nations will join in it. We may learn perhaps from this verse that the Lord will leave every year once His place on His throne over the earth and come down to Jerusalem and show Himself in His glory before the worshipping multitudes in the earth, as He is seen in the New Jerusalem above. The occasion is the feast of Tabernacles. It is the millennial feast. It is a feast kept in remembrance of Israel’s wanderings through the wilderness for forty years and all their subsequent wanderings. It stands also for the ingathering of the full harvest. A feast of joy, praise, and thanksgiving. The Jews keep it to the present day, though few know the full meaning of it. Every year when it comes again they read this 14th chapter of Zechariah. It is strange indeed. What a glorious feast that will be, kept there in Jerusalem, when the fullness at last has come! The fullness of the Gentiles has been gathered in, and is in the New Jerusalem; the fullness of Israel has come in the earth, and their receiving has been life from the dead, and the Gentiles know the glory of the Lord. Some find a difficulty here in the fact that it is stated that the nations, the residue of men, are to come up to Jerusalem, and the difficulty is that it will be impossible for all of them to do that. It is not at all necessary that every individual must go up to Jerusalem once in a year. Perhaps every nation will send representatives to the feast of Tabernacles, and they come in the name of the different nations and bring their presents. This seems to be indicated in the visit of the wise men from the East, who came to Bethlehem to worship the new-born King (Matthew 2:1-23). They brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh, In Isaiah 60:6 we read of the coming of the Gentiles to Jerusalem when the Lord has come again. They shall come from Sheba; they shall bring gold and frankincense (the myrrh is left out here, for it speaks of suffering), and shall proclaim the praises of the Lord. As the wise men who came to Bethlehem were representatives of nations, so during the Millennium the nations will send delegations to the feast of Tabernacles. What a scene that must be! How crowded Jerusalem will be by those from Greenland and from the interior of Africa, from India and the islands of the sea, as well as from the nations which composed the Roman empire. The ends of the earth have seen the salvation of God, and now their praise is heard in the city and mingling with the psalms sung by His own redeemed people. Zechariah 14:17-19. And it shall be that whoso of all the families of the earth Shall not go up to Jerusalem To worship the King, Jehovah of Hosts, Upon them there shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up and come not, Upon them shall be none. There shall be the plague Wherewith Jehovah will smite the nations Which go not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the sin of Egypt, And the sin of all the nations Which go not up to keep the feast of Tabernacles. This is the other side. All those who refuse will be punished, and the punishment will be very swift. From this and other prophecies it is seen that not everything will go so smoothly as it is generally believed during the Millennium. God’s messengers in that day will be the Jews going forth to proclaim the truth of God, and what preachers they will make! Still some will be forced to submit. The end of the thousand years brings a revolt from the side of the nations, which is not a small matter. “And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea” (Revelation 20:7-8). From this we see that many of the nations, Gog and Magog, are only too willing to side once more with the enemy, and to shake off, if it were possible, the yoke of the rule of Jehovah’s earthly people. The last two verses we have to consider make the whole prophecy perfect. It is the declaration that Jerusalem will be holy. In that day there shall be on the bells of the horses Holiness to Jehovah, And the pots in the house of Jehovah Shall be as the bowls before the altar. Every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah Shall be holy unto Jehovah of Hosts. And all they that sacrifice shall come And take of them and sacrifice therein, And there shall be no more Canaanite In the house of Jehovah of Hosts in that day. The most holy person in Israel, the high-priest, carried the inscription, “Holiness to Jehovah” around his mitre, but now even the little bells of the horses bear that inscription. In that temple which stands during the Millennium sacrifices will be brought, but there will be no difference in the vessels, which are used in Jerusalem, the meanest and smallest will be holy. In one word all will be holy, all will be consecrated to Jehovah. What a perfect service that will be of the people which are then, in truth, a holy people. Application can be made of this to believers now. Surely everything the saint has, and his whole life, must be thus consecrated to Jehovah, to the Lord. No Canaanite will be there, nothing unclean. The Vulgate translates the word Canaanite with merchant. It stands, however, with everything that is unclean and an abomination. The city will be completely purged from it And of the new Jerusalem it is written, “There shall in no wise enter into it any thing unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a lie; but only they that are written in the Lamb’s book of life. . . . Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loveth and maketh a lie.” (Revelation 21:27; Revelation 22:15.) We have reached the end of the visions and burdens of Zechariah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, who, indeed, may be termed the Prophet of Glory. We praise our Lord for what He has taught us in these studies, and for His Spirit, who guides His children into all truth and shows us things to come. May he use this volume for the edification of the saints and for a better understanding of the words of prophecy. We are living on the very threshold of the fulfillment of all these visions and words. Soon He will come for His saints, and even now the Spirit groans within us. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 38: 03.00.1. THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES ======================================================================== THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES An Exposition by Arno C. Gaebelein Copyright © 1912 by A. C. Gaebelein edited for 3BSB by Baptist Bible Believer in the spirit of the Colportage Ministry of a century ago http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/ ~ out-of-print and in the public domain ~ This book was originally published prior to 1923, it is therefore in the public domain and free to be posted in its entirety despite recent publication. Please note: If you wish to read (which is absolutely free), simply click on the chapter title. You will have the option to either open it or to save it to your computer. To create a folder, right click and choose new - Folder, and name it the title of the book. GOD bless you from the Baptist Bible Believers website! Please tell everyone you know about this website, pray for this ministry - and that will be payment enough! "Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding" (Proverbs 23:23) ======================================================================== CHAPTER 39: 03.00.3. TABLE OF CONTENTS ======================================================================== TABLE OF CONTENTS 00.4 Foreward 00.5 Introduction 01. Chapter One 02. Chapter Two 03. Chapter Three 04. Chapter Four 05. Chapter Five 06. Chapter Six 07. Chapter Seven 08. Chapter Eight 09. Chapter Nine 10. Chapter Ten 11. Chapter Eleven 12. Chapter Twelve 13. Chapter Thirteen 14. Chapter Fourteen 15. Chapter Fifteen 16. Chapter Sixteen 17. Chapter Seventeen 18. Chapter Eighteen 19. Chapter Nineteen 20. Chapter Twenty 21. Chapter Twenty-One 22. Chapter Twenty-Two 23. Chapter Twenty-Three 24. Chapter Twenty-Four 25. Chapter Twenty-Five 26. Chapter Twenty-Six 27. Chapter Twenty-Seven 28. Chapter Twenty-Eight ======================================================================== CHAPTER 40: 03.00.4. FOREWARD ======================================================================== FOREWORD Judaism and Christianity; Legalism and Grace; the Kingdom and the Church; these are in contrast, at poles apart, and defy all attempts at reconciliation. Ishmael - "the wild-ass man" - untamed and untamable, the son of the bond woman, is unalterably opposed to Isaac - "laughter" - spontaneous and obedient, the son of the free woman. These distinctions, known and observed, are of incalculable worth in Bible Study. In The Book of the Acts there is revealed the passing of Judaism, and the incoming of Christianity: wherein we see how the old wine-skins of legalism are without strength to restrain the expansive spirit of the new wine of grace. This Book of the Acts, showing as it does the transition of Judaism to Christianity, is, therefore, of absorbing interest; and Mr. Gaebelein, whose oral teaching is so abundantly owned and blessed of GOD, has, in this volume of interpretative study, extended the sphere of his ministry to multitudes that may never come within range of the hearing of his voice. The author’s breadth of conception of GOD’s plan of the Ages stamps the book with a peculiar value; while, at the same time, there is of the spiritual application of truth a thorough and clear perception that pervades and illumines the exposition of the text. From the study of this book, so untrammeled by the yoke of traditional interpretation, so far removed from the feverish discontent with the supernatural, so different from the cold and critical analysis of the casuist, so reverent. and so unalterably loyal to the plenary inspiration of the Scripture, one rises in spirit refreshed, in faith strengthened and to new endeavor encouraged. It is a pleasure and a privilege to commend this book. Ford C. Ottman Stamford. Conn. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 41: 03.00.5. INTRODUCTION ======================================================================== INTRODUCTION The book known by the name "The Acts of the Apostles” [*] follows the four Gospel records. This is its proper place. [*] "’The oldest Manuscript, the Sinaiticus dating from the 4th century gives the title simply as "The Acts." The books of the New Testament have been correctly divided into five sections, corresponding to the first five books, with which the Bible begins, that is the Pentateuch. The four Gospels are the Genesis of the New Testament. Here we have the great beginning, the foundation upon which the subsequently revealed Christian doctrines rest. The Book of Acts is the Exodus, GOD leads out from bondage a heavenly people and delivers them. It is the great historical book of the New Testament describing the beginning of the church on earth. The Pauline Epistles are the Leviticus portion. Holiness unto the Lord, the believers separation and standing in CHRIST, what believers have and are in CHRIST by whose blood they have redemption, is the core truth of these Epistles. The Epistles of Peter, James, John and Jude, known by the name of the Catholic Epistles, are for the wilderness journey of GOD’s people, telling us of trials and suffering; these correspond to the Book of Numbers. The Book of Revelation in which GOD’s ways are rehearsed and a review is given of the entire prophetic Word concerning the Jews, the Gentiles and the Church of GOD has the same character as Deuteronomy. By whom was this Book written? There is no doubt that the writer of the third Gospel record is the one whom the Holy Spirit selected to write this account of the establishment of the Church on earth and the events connected with it. This becomes clear if we read the beginning of that Gospel and compare it with the beginning of Acts. The writer in the third Gospel says: "It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed" (Luke 1:3-4). The Acts of the Apostles begin: "The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach." The former treatise known to Theophilus is the third Gospel, called the Gospel of Luke. The writer of that Gospel is also the penman of the Book of Acts. Though we do not find Luke’s name mentioned in the Gospel nor in the second Book he was entrusted to write, there is no doubt that he wrote them both. We find his name mentioned a number of times in the Epistles and these references give us the only reliable information we have. - In Colossians 4:14 we read of him as "the beloved physician." - In the Epistle of Philemon he is called a fellow laborer of the Apostle Paul, and - from the last Epistle the great Apostle wrote, the Second Epistle of Timothy, we learn that Luke was in Rome with Paul and was faithful to him, while others had forsaken the prisoner of the Lord. From Colossians 4:1-18 we also may gather that he was not a Jew, but a Gentile, for with Colossians 4:11 Paul had mentioned those of the circumcision. Epaphras was one of the Colossians, a Gentile, and then follow the names of Luke and Demas, both of them undoubtedly Gentiles. The reason that the Holy Spirit selected a Gentile to write the Gospel which pictures our Lord as the Man and the Saviour and the Book of Acts, is as obvious as it is interesting. Israel had rejected GOD’s gift and the glad news of salvation is now to go to the Gentiles. The Gospel of Luke addressed by a Gentile to a Gentile (Theophilus) is the Gospel for the Gentiles and Luke the Gentile was chosen to give the history of the Gospel going forth from Jerusalem to the Gentiles. There are numerous internal evidences which show likewise that the writer of the third Gospel is the instrument through whom the Book of Acts was given. For instance, there are about fifty peculiar phrases and words in both books which are rarely found elsewhere; they prove the same author for those two books. Then we learn from the Book of Acts that Luke, the beloved physician, was an eyewitness of some of the events recorded by him in this book. He joined the Apostle during his second missionary journey at Troas (Acts 14:10). This evidence is found in the little word "we." The writer was now in company of the Apostle, whose fellow laborer he was. He went with Paul to Macedonia and remained sometime in Philippi. He was Paul’s fellow traveler to Asia and Jerusalem (Acts 21:17). He likewise was with him in his imprisonment in Caesarea and then on to Rome. There is no doubt that Luke had completely written and sent forth the Book of the Acts of the Apostles at the end of the two years mentioned in Acts 28:30, though the critics claim a much later period. The contents and scope of the Book. Acts 1:1 gives us an important hint. The former treatise, the Gospel of Luke, tells "that Jesus began to do and teach." The Book of Acts contains therefore the continuation of the Lord’s actions no longer on earth but from the Glory. The actions of the risen and glorified CHRIST can easily be traced throughout the entire book. We give a few illustrations. - In Acts 1:1-26 He acts in the selection of the twelfth Apostle, who was to take the place of Judas. - In Acts 2:1-47 He himself poured forth the Holy Spirit, for Peter made the declaration: "therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured out this which ye behold and hear." - And in the close of Acts 2:1-47 we behold another action of the risen Lord: "the Lord added to the church daily those that were to be saved." - In Acts 3:1-26 He manifested His power in the healing of the lame man. - Throughout this book we behold Him acting from the Glory, guiding, directing, comforting and encouraging His servants. These beautiful and manifold evidences of Himself being with His own and manifesting His power in their behalf we hope to trace in our exposition of the different chapters. Then on the very threshold of the book we have the historical account of the coming of that other Comforter, whom the Lord had promised, the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost the third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, came. His coming marks the empowerment of the Church. After that event we see Him present with and in His people. In connection with the Lord’s servants, in filling them, guiding them, fitting them, sustaining them in trials and persecutions as well as in the affairs of the church, we behold the actions of the Holy Spirit on earth. He is the great administrator in the church. Over fifty times we find Him mentioned, so that some have called this book "the Acts of the Holy Spirit." While we have no doctrines about the Holy Spirit and His work in the Acts of the Apostles, we find here the practical illustrations of the doctrine found elsewhere in the New Testament. In the third place another supernatural Being is seen acting in this book. It is the enemy, Satan, the hinderer and the accuser of the brethren. We behold him coming upon the scene and acting through his different instruments either as the roaring lion or as the cunning deceiver with his wiles. Wherever he can, he attempts to hinder the progress of the Gospel. This is a most important aspect of this book and indeed very instructive. Aside from the human instruments prominent in this Book of Acts, we behold three supernatural Beings acting. The risen, glorified CHRIST, the Holy Spirit and Satan. Another hint about the contents of this book and its scope we find at the close of the Gospel of Luke. There the risen CHRIST said: "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name to all the nations beginning at Jerusalem." In Acts 1:1-26 the Spirit of GOD reports the commission of the Lord, about to ascend, in full. "Ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." The Book of Acts shows us how this mission beginning in Jerusalem was carried out. The witness begins in the city where our Lord was crucified. Once more an offer was made to the nation Israel. Then we behold the Gospel going forth from Jerusalem and all Judea to Samaria and after that to the Gentiles, and through the chosen Apostle of the Gentiles it is heralded in the different countries of the Roman empire. The parable of our Lord in Matthew 22:1-10 gives us prophetically the history of these events. - First the guests were called to the wedding and they would not come. This was the invitation given by the Lord to His earthly people when He moved among them. They received Him not. - Then came a renewed offer with the assurance that all things are ready. This is exactly what we find in the beginning of the Book of Acts. Once more to Jerusalem and to the Jewish nation is offered the kingdom, and signs and miracles take place to show that Jesus is the CHRIST risen from the dead. In the above parable our Lord predicted what the people would do with the servants, who bring the second offer. They would ignore the message and treat the servants spitefully and kill them. This we find fulfilled in the persecution which broke out in Jerusalem, when Apostles were imprisoned and others were killed. The Lord also predicted in His parable the fate of the wicked city. It was to be burned. Thus it happened with Jerusalem. And after the second offer had been rejected the servants were to go to the highways to invite the guests. And this stands for the invitation to go out to the Gentiles. Jerusalem is in the foreground of this book, for the beginning was to be in Jerusalem "to the Jew first." The end of the book takes us to Rome and we see the great Apostle a prisoner there, a most significant, prophetic circumstance. The division of the Book. The division of the Book of the Acts is very simple. We divide it into three parts. I. Acts 1:1-26, Acts 2:1-47, Acts 3:1-26, Acts 4:1-37, Acts 5:1-42, Acts 6:1-15, Acts 7:1-60. These chapters give us the historical account of the beginning in Jerusalem, the renewed testimony to the nation concerning Jesus as the CHRIST and the Kingdom. The seventh chapter, the stoning of Stephen, closes that testimony. II. Acts 8:1-40, Acts 9:1-43, Acts 10:1-48, Acts 11:1-30, Acts 12:1-25. These chapters mark a transition period. The Gospel goes forth to Samaria. Saul of Tarsus sees the Lord and is converted. Peter goes and preaches the Gospel to the Gentiles. Peter is cast into prison and miraculously delivered. In these two parts Peter is in the foreground. He does most of the preaching and acting. He used the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven in the second chapter by preaching to the Jews and in the tenth chapter by preaching to the Gentiles. III. Acts 13:1-52, Acts 14:1-28, Acts 15:1-41, Acts 16:1-40, Acts 17:1-34, Acts 18:1-28, Acts 19:1-41, Acts 20:1-38, Acts 21:1-40, Acts 22:1-30, Acts 23:1-35, Acts 24:1-27, Acts 25:1-27, Acts 26:1-32, Acts 27:1-44, Acts 28:1-31. These chapters contain the inspired accounts of the travels and labors of the Apostle Paul, the proclamation of the Gospel in the different lands and the events and circum-stances connected with it. His journey to Rome and abode there closes the book. Another division as given by Bengel in his Gnomen is also good. I. Pentecost, with preceding events. Acts 1:1-26, Acts 2:1-47. II. Acts in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and in Samaria among the circumcised. Acts 3:1-26, Acts 4:1-37, Acts 5:1-42, Acts 6:1-15, Acts 7:1-60, Acts 8:1-40, Acts 9:1-43, Acts 12:1-25. III. Acts in Caesarea and admission of Gentiles. Acts 10:1-48, Acts 11:1-30. IV. First Journey among the Gentiles. Acts 13:1-52, Acts 14:1-28. V. The deputation and council in Jerusalem. Acts 15:1-41. VI. Second Journey of Paul. Acts 16:1-40, Acts 17:1-34, Acts 18:1-28, Acts 19:1-41. VII. Journey to Jerusalem and Rome. Acts 19:21-41, Acts 20:1-38, Acts 21:1-40, Acts 22:1-30, Acts 23:1-35, Acts 24:1-27, Acts 25:1-27, Acts 26:1-32, Acts 27:1-44, Acts 28:1-31. In closing these brief introductory remarks to this great book we wish to say that the careful study of its contents is very needful at the present time. It will take us back to the beginning and show us the path which the Lord has marked out for His church on earth. In the light of this book we shall discover the dark picture of the present day confusion and departure from GOD and from His Word. There is much comfort and direction for the faithful remnant of GOD’s people living in our days in this book. There is much earnest exhortation to greater faithfulness, to more holy boldness in preaching the Gospel and standing up for the faith, which comes to us from this book. Most blessed it is to follow the Holy Spirit in His work in, upon and with the believer. With the gracious help of our Lord and the help of His Spirit we hope to touch upon all these blessed phases, and we are confident that He will make the closer study of the Acts of the Apostles a blessing to our readers as well as to the writer. ~ end of Introduction ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 42: 03.01. CHAPTER ONE ======================================================================== CHAPTER ONE Acts 1:1-26 of this book gives the events which preceded the great day of Pentecost. However, of the many things which must have transpired in Jerusalem during the fifty days between the resurrection day and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit not all are mentioned in this chapter. Here, as in the great historical books of the Old Testament and in the Gospels, only certain events are reported while others are passed over. Not man but GOD by His Spirit arranged the matter to give us more than a mere historical account of what took place. As the Book of Exodus in its history foreshadows spiritual and dispensational truths, so, as we shall find, does this New Testament Exodus book teach spiritual and dispensational lessons. The events preceding Pentecost written in Acts 1:1-26 are: I. An account of events preceding the ascension of the Lord, the ascension itself and the message of His personal, visible and glorious return. Acts 1:1-11. II. The waiting company in prayer. Matthias added to the Apostles in the place of Judas. Acts 1:12-26. I. Acts 1:1-3. The first three verses of the chapter form the introduction. "The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: to whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." As shown in the introduction the first verse proves that Luke, the beloved physician, the writer of the Gospel of Luke, was the chosen instrument to write the Book of Acts. Theophilus (Friend of GOD) is as prominent in the beginning of the Acts as he is in the Gospel of Luke, where he is addressed as "most excellent." From a reliable source dating back to the second century we learn that he was an influential and wealthy man residing in the city of Antioch. He dedicated his magnificent palace, called a Basilica, to the preaching of the Gospel. Luke came most likely also from Antioch. He may have belonged to the household of Theophilus. It is not unlikely that Luke had received great kindness from Theophilus; some claim that he used to be a slave and became through Theophilus a free man. That both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts are addressed to Theophilus does not mean that these discourses (the word meaning of treatise) were meant for Theophilus alone. Luke addressed Theophilus as a prominent man, a responsible person, whose name bespeaks close walk with GOD, and through him to that assembly to which Theophilus belonged, and in a larger sense to all the Gentile-Christian churches. According to the address to Theophilus we have in the Gospel of Luke the beginning of what CHRIST did and taught and therefore in Acts a continuation of these. He began on earth and now the scene is changed. He is the Man in Glory and from there He continues His work. It is beautiful to see how the Lord Jesus is brought to our view in these few sentences with which this book opens. How this manifests the One who guided the pen of the beloved physician, that is the Holy Spirit. Seven things are mentioned concerning our Lord. 1. His earthly life of doing and teaching. 2. He charged His Apostles by the Holy Spirit. 3. He was taken up. 4. He had suffered. 5. Presented Himself living with many proofs. 6. He was seen by them for forty days. 7. He spoke of the things which concern the Kingdom of GOD. What an array of wonderful facts we find in these few sentences! The fact of His resurrection after His passion is the leading feature of the passage. It must be necessarily so for His resurrection is the great foundation upon which the Gospel and the Church rests. He presented Himself living with many proofs and was seen by them for forty days. It is only here in this passage that the period of time during which He manifested Himself is mentioned. And during that time the "many proofs" were given. He appeared in their midst; He walked with them, ate with them, they touched His body, His hands and feet, and they found He was not an apparition, but had a body of flesh and bones. Blessed fact, He presented Himself living, He is the living One! That He thus showed Himself with many proofs is beyond controversy. But these forty days are likewise shrouded in mystery. It is easy to make fanciful applications of these forty days and to teach unscriptural doctrines by such applications. For instance, a widespread evil system which denies some of the fundamentals of the faith, holds that the Lord is now present on the earth as He was present for forty days after His resurrection. According to this teaching (Russellism or Millennial Dawn), He came in a secret manner in 1874 and is to remain here for forty years, when He will reveal Himself. Such teaching, if it can be called that, lacks all scriptural support. During these forty days, a number which stands for testing, He not only showed Himself, but also spoke of the things which concern the Kingdom of GOD. The words He gave them at these occasions, the instructions they received from His lips are not reported to us. The verses which follow describe the farewell meeting, His last words to His disciples, the ascension of the Lord, and the promise of His return to earth. "And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also 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" (Acts 1:4-11). This occurred ten days before the day of Pentecost. Their place was to be in Jerusalem and to wait in that city for the promise of the Father, which they had heard from His lips. He had given them this promise, when He talked to them before His death, as written in the Gospel of John. The same command to remain in the city is found at the close of the Gospel of Luke as well as the fact that the promise of the Father was soon to be fulfilled. Then He refers to John and his baptism with water, that they were to be baptized with the Holy Spirit; the “fire" of which John spoke (Matthew 3:12) the Lord does not mention, because the baptizing with fire does not refer to the day of Pentecost, but to the time when: "He shall gather His wheat into the garner and burn the chaff with fire unquenchable;" that is, His second coming. He announced once more the “other Comforter" who was to come to be with them and in them. All this we shall follow in detail when we come to the great second chapter in our study of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Here we only wish to add that the waiting of the disciples for the promise of the Father remaining in Jerusalem for ten days cannot be repeated now. Often people, well meaning and spiritually-minded, have appointed meetings for days of waiting and prayer that “the promise of the Father" might be given to them. Such expectations are out of order. The Father has kept His promise, the Holy Spirit has come. To ask the Father now to keep His promise amounts to the same thing as to ask GOD to make peace by the death of CHRIST. Peace has been made; the Holy Spirit has been given. And now we hear the assembled disciples addressing the Lord. What blessed intercourse they had with Him! He spoke to them in all His former tenderness and sympathy and they could ask Him their questions. And so He is still accessible for His Own who draw dear to Him. "Lord, is it at this time that Thou restorest the kingdom to Israel?" This was their question, and a very natural question it was for them to ask. They were still Jews and knew only the earthly kingdom as their hope. He had risen from the dead and to their minds this must be the time in which the kingdom is restored to Israel. Frequently the inquiry of these men who had believed in JESUS and followed Him is declared to have been prompted by ignorance and selfishness. They were, so it is said, still expecting an earthly kingdom, to be established in the land with Jerusalem as the center; they were not yet delivered from their Jewish ideas. Others tell us that at the time they asked this question, they were ignorant of the true meaning of the kingdom. According to these interpreters the kingdom is the New Testament Church; the Holy Spirit swept away these earthly kingdom expectations. Such and similar reasons have been given to explain the question of the disciples. It has occurred to but a few that this question was perfectly in order for them as Jews, which they were still, and did not emanate from ignorance, but was asked by reason of their superior knowledge of GOD’s purposes as revealed in the Old Testament, a knowledge which is so sadly lacking in the present-day professing church. The Lord does not rebuke their supposed ignorance nor does He tell them that they were mistaken. "And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath placed in His own power [authority]." This answer approves the subject of their question. The Kingdom is to be restored, the times and the seasons were not then to be revealed, for the Father hath put these in His own power. And this answer is most instructive. In connection with the restoration of the kingdom to Israel, the establishment of the theocratic kingdom on earth, as promised by GOD’s holy prophets, times and seasons are expressly stated, and the declaration was made that at the time of the end, preceding the coming of the kingdom, the wise should understand (Daniel 12:10). But the Lord does not here, as He did in His Olivet discourse, direct their attention to Daniel. "For you it is not to know the times or the seasons." A better hope, a heavenly hope was to be theirs, and in connection with that blessed hope of the Coming of the Lord for His Saints to bring them not to Palestine and given them an earthly kingdom, but into the Father’s House in Glory, there are no "times or seasons" revealed. For His Saints He may come at any time. These disciples were soon to be formed into the one body, the church, by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Lord anticipating this gave them this answer. It pointed them away from the earthly Hope of the Kingdom. Others in the future, Jewish disciples once more, a faithful remnant of Israelites, called after the completed church has left this earthly scene, will surely know the times and the seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. Once more He announces their great mission, and that before they could be such witnesses they were to receive power by the Coming of the Holy Spirit upon them. Such was the case on the day of Pentecost as we shall find when we reach the events of that day. One verse only gives us the account of the ascension of our Lord, His Return to the Father. He was taken up, they beholding, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. What a spectacle this must have been! He in whom they had believed, in whose company they had been, to whose loving, tender words they had listened, whom they had forsaken when the hour of His suffering had come; He who had died on a cross, reckoned among the evil-doers, who had rested in a tomb and was raised from the dead by the power of GOD; He who had been with them in a glorified human body and manifested Himself in His resurrection glory and power during the forty days was now taken up, "received into Glory." Gradually He must have been lifted out of their midst. Lovingly His eyes must have rested upon them while their eyes beheld only Him. Now He is lifted higher and still they behold Him in human form. And then a cloud received Him out of their sight. The Greek verb used is "to take in; " so that it reads literally, "And then a cloud took Him in out of their sight." This cloud surrounded Him, and the last they saw of Him was that He disappeared from their view in this human glorified body in a cloud. And that cloud was not a cloud of vapor. - It was the same cloud which had appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration, the Shekinah. - It was the same cloud of glory which had filled Solomon’s temple, - It was the same cloud which so often in Israel’s past history had appeared as the outward sign of the Lord’s presence with his people. The Glory-cloud came to take Him in, to bring Him back to the Father from whence He had come. What human tongue or pen can picture what took place after He had disappeared from human vision! The Shekinah cloud had come to meet Him and where that Glory began sight ceases and faith begins. What must it have been when He came into the presence of the Throne of His Father when He took His seat, greeted with the word of welcome: "Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec . . . sit thou at my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool." What a glorious scene it must have been participated in by the angels in heaven! And now He is back with the Father. In His Name we can approach GOD; He is our Advocate, our Priest in the presence of GOD, appearing for His own. The evidence that He is thus with the Father is soon given by the answered prayer of the first chapter, and the greater evidence, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Coming of the third person of the Trinity. We must not overlook the teaching of one great truth assailed so much in our times by higher critics and infidels. The Lord JESUS CHRIST passed through the heavens with a real human glorified body, a body of flesh and bones and went with that body to a literal place, the throne of GOD, where He sat down and where He is now "the Man" in the Glory. The denial of this fact, so universal in our day, strikes at the very foundation of the Gospel, our salvation and our heavenly Hope. This great truth that the Lord left bodily His own and bodily returned to the Father is indisputably seen in this account of His ascension. May His person, His ascension and bodily presence in Glory be as real to our hearts, dear readers, as it must have been to the hearts of the eye-witnesses of this great event. The cloud had taken Him in and still they were gazing into heaven. It was because they had still a vision of that cloud; "as He was going." The verb indicates this. They could not take their eyes away from that bright spot where He was, their Saviour, their Lord, their Hope, their All in All. This upward look should have been the attitude of the church. Two heavenly visitors appear now upon the scene and they give utterance to that familiar promise of His Second Coming, which establishes that great event beyond the shadow of a doubt. "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." Could human language make it any plainer? It seems almost impossible that any intelligent human being could not grasp the simple fact of His return, personal, visible and glorious, as revealed in this angelic message. The same glory cloud will bring Him back, yea even to the same place, for Zechariah tells us that “His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives" (Zechariah 14:4). However, we must beware of confounding this event given here with that blessed Hope, which is the Hope of the church. The Coming of the Lord is His visible Coming as described in the prophetic books of the Old Testament; it is His coming to establish His rule upon the earth. It is the event spoken of in Daniel 7:14 and Revelation 1:7. When He comes in like manner as He went up, His Saints come with Him (Colossians 3:4; 2 Thessalonians 1:10). The Hope of the church is to meet Him in the air and not to see Him coming in the clouds of heaven. The coming here "in like manner" is His Coming for Israel and the nations. The Coming of the Lord for His Church before His visible and glorious Manifestation, is revealed in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. It is well to keep these important truths in mind. Confusion between these is disastrous. He left them to enter into the Holy of Holies, to exercise the priesthood which Aaron exercised on the day of atonement, though our Lord is a priest after the order of Melchisedec. And when this promise of the two men in white garments is fulfilled, He will come forth to be a priest upon His throne. II. The waiting company in prayer. Matthias added to the Apostles in the place of Judas. "Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day’s journey. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren" (Acts 1:12-14). With what emotions they must have left the blessed spot from which the Lord had visibly gone to the Father! And now we behold them in a waiting attitude. Obedient to the command of their Lord they tarry in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father. Their waiting was unique as a company of disciples, believers in JESUS as the CHRIST. Ten days after, the promise of the Father came, the Holy Spirit was poured out. Ever since He is here. There is no need of waiting now for the promise of the Father. No company of believers in this age could ever be again in the position in which the disciples were before Pentecost. It is, therefore, incorrect and unscriptural to hold prayer meetings, as stated before, waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Persons who expect a repetition of what took place on Pentecost, who pray for and expect another sending of the Holy Spirit are on unscriptural ground. We see the disciples gathered in an upper chamber. This was not in the temple, but in a private house. Perhaps it was the same room, which is mentioned in the Gospel of John. Such rooms of good size were used by Hebrews for prayer and meditations. They do so still and have large assembly rooms for prayer (Beth Midrash) in private houses in different cities. The expression "upper room" is used often in Talmudical writings. Peter’s name is put in the first place, as he appears in the foreground throughout the first part of this book. After the names of the disciples are given and that they gave themselves with one accord to continual prayer the fact is mentioned that the women were present likewise. These, no doubt, are the same mentioned in Luke 8:2-3. They are mentioned not by name. Last of all appears Mary the mother of JESUS and His brethren. That the Holy Spirit gives the name of Mary the mother of JESUS, is most significant. It reminds us of the whole story of the incarnation and the blessed life of Him, the Son of GOD, who came of a woman, Mary, the virgin of prophecy (Isaiah 7:14). But the significance is in the fact that she, who was chosen by GOD’s grace to be the blessed vessel, through whom the Creator, the Son of GOD, entered in human form the world He had created, is mentioned here in company with the other waiting disciples. She has no place of superiority among them, but with the rest, waited for the promise of the Father; when the Holy Spirit was poured forth she too was baptized by the one Spirit into the one body of which through the Grace of GOD, she is a member like any other believer in the Lord JESUS CHRIST. She was fallible and sinful like every other person, and all which a corrupt form of Christianity has made of her is wicked teaching. Not once is she mentioned after this chapter in the Book of Acts. In vain do we look for her name in the Epistles, in which the Holy Spirit reveals Christian doctrine and privileges. Mary, the mother of JESUS, has absolutely no relation to the redemption work of the Son of GOD. Then the brethren of our Lord are mentioned, the same, who with Mary, their mother, attempted to interfere with the ministry of our Lord (Mark 3:21-31-35). Not one of these was an apostle. It is positively stated that up to a certain point His brethren did not believe in Him. "For neither did His brethren believe in Him" (John 7:5). How they believed later we do not know. Their presence in the waiting company shows that they had believed. "And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about a hundred and twenty,) Men and brethren, this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called, in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein; and, His bishopric let another take" (Acts 1:15-20). On a certain day, which is not mentioned, the number of the disciples present were one hundred and twenty. This however, was not by any means the whole number of believers before Pentecost. We read elsewhere that the risen CHRIST had appeared to about five hundred brethren at once (1 Corinthians 15:6). These no doubt belonged to Galilee. On that day before Pentecost, Peter arose in the midst of the one hundred and twenty and addressing them as brethren, laid before them the sad case of Judas, who had been numbered among the twelve apostles. The awful fate of Judas is mentioned once more. There is no discrepancy between Matthew’s account and the words here. He committed suicide by hanging, and the rope broke, and the terrible thing happened, which is reported here. The Apostle Peter, in bringing the case before the disciples, quotes the Word of GOD in a most remarkable way, which shows its inspiration. The question arises at once about the legitimacy of Peter’s action. Was it right to act in this way? Was he authorized to address the assembled company and propose the addition of another apostle in the place of Judas? Or was his action another evidence of his impulsiveness, wholly wrong? We are aware that some good brethren, teachers of the Bible, declare that Peter made a mistake. They tell us that this action was not according to the mind of the Lord. They assert furthermore, that not Matthias, but Paul, should have been the Apostle in the place of Judas. We do not agree at all with their teaching. Peter and the gathered company did not make a mistake. He acted by inspiration and what they did was not only according to the mind of the risen CHRIST, according to the Word of GOD, but it was a manifestation of CHRIST in their midst. It was the Lord who added Matthias to the twelve. To say that Paul was meant to be the twelfth apostle is a great blunder. Paul’s apostleship is entirely different from that of the men, who were called to this office by our Lord, in connection with His earthly ministry. Paul is the apostle of the Gentiles and received from the risen and glorified CHRIST the double ministry, that of the Gospel, which he called "my Gospel" and the ministry of the church. Not till Israel’s failure had been fully demonstrated in the stoning of Stephen, was Saul of Tarsus called to his apostleship. Furthermore twelve apostles were necessary. Twelve is the number denoting earthly government. Inasmuch as there was to be given another witness to Jerusalem after the ascension of our Lord, a national witness, a second offer of the Kingdom (Acts 3:19-20) twelve apostles were necessary as a body of witnesses to the nation. If only eleven apostles had stood up on the day of Pentecost, it would not have been in harmony with the divine plan and order. How strange it would have sounded if the record said "but Peter standing up with the ten" instead of "with the eleven" (Acts 2:14). Twelve had to stand up on Pentecost to bear witness to the resurrection of JESUS CHRIST, therefore another one had to be added before that day. Besides this, there is positive proof that the Holy Spirit endorsed the action of the disciples in the upper room. In 1 Corinthians 15:5 the Holy Spirit mentions the twelve, who saw the Lord, to whom He appeared. Paul then is mentioned apart from the twelve; he saw the Lord in glory as one born out of due season (1 Corinthians 15:8). A closer examination of the record of their action shows that the Lord guided them in this matter. Peter begins by quoting scripture. He does it in a way which clearly proves that he was guided by the Lord. "The Scriptures should be fulfilled" is what Peter said. How different from the Peter in Matthew 16 when he took the Lord aside and said after he had announced His coming death, "far be it from Thee." He had then no knowledge of the Scriptures. Repeatedly it is said that they knew not the Scriptures and that their eyes were holden. Here, however, he begins with the Scriptures. Surely this was the right starting point, and thus ordered by the Lord. He quotes from the Psalms. Part of Psalms 69:25 and Psalms 109:8 are given by him as the foundation of the purposed action. These Psalms are prophetic of the events, which had taken place. The Lord Himself had opened his understanding as well as that of the other disciples. In Luke 24:1-53 we read that He spoke of what was written in the law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms. "Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures" (Luke 24:45). It was a gift of the risen Lord and here Peter guided by the Spirit of GOD uses the prophetic Word. All the company is one with Him in the undertaking. It must be done. The Lord moved them in this matter. “Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection" (Acts 1:21-22). Here he defines the qualification of an apostle. He must be a witness of the resurrection of CHRIST as well as of what He said and did in His earthly ministry. "And they appointed two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles" (Acts 1:23-26). How simple it all is! How can anyone say that they erred in this action! Two are selected. Then they prayed; no doubt Peter led in audible prayer. And the prayer is a model of directness and simplicity. They address the Lord and believe that He had made a choice already. What they pray for is that the one chosen by Him may now be made known by Himself. The lot was perfectly legitimate for them to use. The Scriptures speak of it. "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord" (Proverbs 16:33). As they were still on Old Testament ground, it was perfectly right for them to resort to the lot. It, however, would be wrong for us to do it now. We have His complete Word, and the Holy Spirit to reveal His will. The Lord selects Matthias. His name means "the gift of the Lord." Thus the Lord gave him his place. The Apostolate complete, all was in readiness for the great day of Pentecost. ~ end of chapter 1 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 43: 03.02. CHAPTER TWO ======================================================================== CHAPTER TWO A chapter of great importance is before us. Never was its closest and prayerful study so needed as in our days. Most of GOD’s people are ignorant of that which GOD in His Grace did on the day of Pentecost; they know little of the exact meaning of the great event, which took place and their share and part in it as believers. This lack of knowledge is often responsible for all the fads and fanciful interpretations we meet about us. We divide this chapter into five parts. I. The Outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4). II. The immediate effect of His Presence (Acts 2:5-15). III. Peter’s address (Acts 2:14-36). IV. The result of the delivered testimony (Acts 2:37-41). V. The gathered company in fellowship (Acts 2:42-47). Before we take up the first part and study the text, we desire to make a few general remarks on the great historical event, the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. What took place on that memorable day and what was accomplished? First of all the promise of the Father as well as of the Son was accomplished. It is familiar to every reader of the New Testament that John the Baptist had witnessed concerning Him who was to baptize them with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:1-17). The Lord also had spoken repeatedly to His disciples about the gift of the Holy Spirit. In Luke 11:1-54 we read His words: "If therefore ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much rather shall the Father who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" This promise related to the future. In John 7:37-39 we read: "In the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this He said concerning the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus had was not yet glorified." The promised Spirit could therefore not come, the promise could not be fulfilled till the great work of redemption on the cross had been accomplished and the Lord JESUS CHRIST had risen from the dead and taken His place in Glory. In the subsequent promises in this Gospel, the Lord always spoke of the coming of the Comforter in connection with His own departure. He promised that the other Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, was to be in them; but none of these promises could be fulfilled before He Himself had been glorified. We have already seen how He, before His departure to be with the Father, had told them to tarry in Jerusalem, to await the promise of the Father, and how He had reminded them that: "John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." On the day of Pentecost all these blessed promises were once and for all fulfilled. As all believers are sanctified through the offering of the body of JESUS CHRIST once for all (Hebrews 10:1-39) so all believers share in the accomplished promise of the Father and are in the possession of the Holy Spirit. But we must emphasize that He was not given by measure, but He, the person, came Himself. What a blessed work, a work we cannot fully estimate, the Lord JESUS CHRIST must have accomplished on the cross, that the third person of the Trinity came down from heaven and has made His abiding place in believing sinners! His presence therefore testifies not only to the fact that the promise of the Father has been accomplished, but also to the efficacy of the precious blood, and that JESUS is in glory at the right hand of the Majesty on high. It is therefore incorrect to ask GOD for the gift of His Spirit, or to plead promises which He fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. It is not scriptural to pray for a greater baptism of the Spirit, as it is often done, or, to ask GOD to give more of the Spirit. He has given us His Spirit, He seals every believer and indwells every child of GOD. And what are the purposes of the gift of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost? Without giving a lengthy dissertation on the work of the Holy Spirit in this age we only point out that the purpose of His coming is revealed in the historical event reported to us in this chapter. Other purposes are indicated, and these are later fully revealed in the Pauline Epistles. The Book of Acts, as a purely historical book, does not contain a single doctrine of the Holy Spirit; it rather shows revealed doctrine in its practical side. Two things are at once apparent. He came upon the assembled believers individually, and also did a work in a corporate way. Each believer on that day was filled with the Holy Spirit. He came as the indweller to each. But He also was present as the mighty rushing wind which filled all the house. He did not only come upon each, but all were baptized of the Holy Spirit, and He united them into a body. In 1 Corinthians 12:13 the more complete revelation is given concerning this fact. "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit." The One Spirit is the Holy Spirit as He came on the day of Pentecost, the One Body is the church. All believers were on that day united by the Spirit into the one body, and since then, whenever and wherever a sinner believes in the finished work of CHRIST, he shares in that baptism and is joined by the Spirit to that one body. He may be in dense ignorance about all this, as indeed, the great majority of believers are; but this does not alter the gracious fact of what GOD has done and is doing. There is an interesting correspondency between Luke 2:1-52 and Acts 2:1-47, which we cannot pass by without mentioning. In Luke 1:1-80 we have the announcement of the birth of the Saviour. The angel said to Mary, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." In Luke 2:1-52, the same who penned the book of Acts, we read of the accomplishment of that promise given to the virgin. And so Acts 2:1-47 contains the fulfillment of a similar promise. The Holy Spirit came and the church, the mystical body of CHRIST began. We said that Pentecost marks the beginning of the church on earth. This is often doubted by Christian believers. Some claim that the church began in the Old Testament. Matthew 16:1-28 answers this wrong statement and belief completely. Others teach that the church did not begin on Pentecost, but some time later, after the Apostle Paul had begun his activity. So far has this point been pressed that membership in the body of CHRIST has even been denied to the twelve apostles, that they were exclusively on kingdom ground. That such theories and views are not only fanciful but very confusing and harmful needs not to be demonstrated. It is quite true that the doctrine concerning the church as the body of CHRIST as well as the other relationships was not made known on the day when the Holy Spirit was poured out. In fact, any doctrine would be out of place in a book which gives a historical account. But this does not mean that the start was not made. The foundation of the building as described in Ephesians are the Apostles and Prophets (not Old Testament Prophets, but the New Testament Prophets). Later Gentiles were added to be joint heirs of the same body and joint partakers of the promises. Then through the chosen instrument, the Apostle Paul, the secret which was not made known in other ages was made known. The Apostles and the Prophets knew of it according to Ephesians 3:5, but only to the Apostle Paul was it given to reveal it. That the church as the body of CHRIST existed before Paul ever revealed the mystery is clearly seen from the account of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. The glorified CHRIST was seen by him on the road to Damascus. He heard Him speak and these were His words: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest Thou ME?" He was not persecuting JESUS CHRIST personally, but he was persecuting such who had believed in CHRIST. The Lord from the glory owns these as part of Himself. They were indeed members of His body. We state it again, the Holy Spirit came to each believer on the day of Pentecost, they received Him, He filled them individually and corporately they were united into one body. And what was done then is done in the case of every believing one who rests on the finished work of CHRIST. As a believer each receives the Holy Spirit and becomes a member of the body of CHRIST. "There may be a variety of forms and measures in which His power is displayed; there may be and are different degrees in which the joy of His presence is entered into; but the fact remains (and what can be more glorious and blessed than the fact) that, as to Himself he dwells equally in every believer who rests now on the finished redemption in CHRIST JESUS." [*] [*] Lectures on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Of many other things which might be mentioned by way of introduction we only mention two. The testimony was given by the Spirit filled disciples and every man heard them speak in his own language; those who were present were “out of every nation under heaven." They were all Jews not a single Gentile was present. However, the event shows that the good news was to go forth in the new age, to every nation under heaven. Lastly we call attention to the fact that the events on the day of Pentecost have a special Jewish-national significance. The resurrection of JESUS CHRIST is demonstrated. The signs are given to show unto the people Israel that JESUS of Nazareth whom they rejected is the CHRIST and at the right hand of GOD. The day of Pentecost marks the beginning of a second offer of mercy to the nation. This fact will be carefully studied as we expound this chapter and the chapters which follow. And now we turn to the text itself. I. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit. "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:1-4). Pentecost is a Jewish feast. This name was given to this feast by the Greek-speaking Jews, because it occurred 50 days after the offering of the barley sheaf during the Passover feast. In the Old Testament it has three names. - "Chag Ha Kasir" Feast of Harvest, Exodus 23:16; - "Chag Shavuoth" Exodus 34:22, Feast of Weeks and - "Yom ha-Bikkurim" Numbers 28:26; Day of the First Fruits. The orthodox Jews call it simply "Shavuoth." It commemorates the wheat harvest. After the exile it became the traditional feast to remember the giving of the law, the birthday of the Torah (law). The orthodox Jews in keeping it at the present time, besides the prayers they offer, read publicly in their synagogues the account of the giving of the law as recorded in Exodus. From the prophets they read Ezekiel 1:1-28 and Habakkuk 3:1-19. No doubt this was their custom at the time when the Holy Spirit was poured out. It is not unlikely that the Jews were occupied with the reading of these portions of GOD’s Word, when suddenly there came the sound from heaven. It is certainly a significant fact that some of the outward signs which were present when the law was given, the "tempest," "fire" and "the voice of words" (Hebrews 12:18-19) were prominent on the day when the Holy Spirit came: A new dispensation was inaugurated with outward signs and wonders. But as the outward signs were not present at all times during the dispensation of the law, but simply in the beginning, so in this new dispensation these outward signs were only for the beginning. The reading on the day of Pentecost of Ezekiel 1:1-28 and Habakkuk 3:1-19, especially the latter, is prophetic. It points towards that time when the Lord JESUS will be manifested in visible glory, and when all that will be fulfilled spoken concerning the nation Israel, which was not fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, nor ever after up to the present time. Before we look at the details of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit we wish to mention the day of the week on which the event occurred. This is an interesting question. It was no doubt on the Lord’s day. The best which has been written on this point is by Lightfoot. As his statements are not accessible to all we quote here from his Horae Hebraeicae: "Let us inquire, therefore, whether the day of Pentecost fell on their sabbath day. I know, indeed, that the fifty days are reckoned by some from the resurrection of our Lord; and then Pentecost, or the fiftieth day, must fall on the fiftieth day of the week, that is our Lord’s day; but if we number the days from the common epoch, that is from the time of offering the sheaf of firstfruits, which account doubtless Luke follows, then the day of Pentecost fell on the Jewish sabbath. And here, by the good leave of some learned men, it may be questioned, whether the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples on the very day of Pentecost, or not. The reasons of this question may be these: "1. The ambiguity of the words themselves ’when the day of Pentecost was fully come.’ In Italian they are translated ’E nel finire del giorno delta Pentecoste" that is , when it was fully gone.’ So that the phrase in the Greek leaves it undetermined, whether the day of Pentecost was fully come or fully gone, and what is there could be alleged against it, should we render it in the latter sense? [*] [*] Rotherham translated it "when the day of Pentecost was being filled up." The language shows that the feast was in process. "2. It is worthy of our observation, that CHRIST the antitype, in answering some types that represented Him, did not tie Himself up to the very day of the type itself for the fulfilling of it, but put it off to the day following. So it was not upon the very day of Passover, but the day following, that CHRIST, our passover, was sacrificed for us; it was not on the very day that the sheaf of the firstfruits was offered, but the day following, that CHRIST became the firstfruits of them that slept. And so it was agreeable to reason and to the order wherein He disposed of things already mentioned, that He should give the day following, the day of His own resurrection from the grave; that the Spirit should not be poured out upon the same day wherein the giving of the law was commemorated, but upon a day that might keep up the commemoration of Himself forever. "3. We can hardly think of a more fit and proper reason why upon this day they should be gathered together in one place, than that they were so gathered together for the celebration of the Lord’s day . . . On that day beyond all controversy, the Holy Spirit did come down amongst them." On the Lord’s day they were all together. How large the number we do not know, yet it is more than probable that every believer in the Lord was present. Suddenly something happened. A sound was heard from heaven. The sound was more than a mighty wind; the literal rendering of the description is "as a violent, impetuous blowing." This mighty rushing, blowing wind filled the house where they were sitting. It all came to pass in the twinkling of an eye. Before we continue our meditation on this event we call attention briefly to the mode and manner of the departure of the church from the earth. It will be "suddenly." This is according to His own and last promise, "Behold I come quickly" (lit.: speedily). Some day He will come suddenly for His saints and take them to Glory into His own presence as revealed in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 The birth of the church was an instantaneous event as well as miraculous. The departure of the true church will be the matter of a moment and will be miraculous. But this is only a passing thought suggested by the word "suddenly." The rushing wind, which filled the whole house, was the first sign of the advent of the Holy Spirit. As an outward sign it accompanied the descent of the divine Person who had come to dwell in these believers and to form and start the building, which is His habitation. In 1 Kings 8:10-12 we read that the cloud, the sign of the Lord’s presence, filled the whole house after the sacrifices had been brought. But here was a still greater event than that which took place at the dedication of the great Solomonic temple. The whole house was filled in which the believers were gathered to signify thereby that from now on there would be a nobler building on earth, the church, the habitation of GOD through the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22). Besides this outward sign for the sense of hearing there was also a visible sign that the Holy Spirit had come. There appeared unto them parted tongues as of fire, and it sat upon each one of them. While the filling of the house indicated the fact that His abode would be the church, the parted tongues as of fire sitting upon each, testified to the fact that every one of the company had received Him. There was no difference among them. Peter, John and James did not receive "more of Him" than the youngest and weakest of these believers. The person, not a power or influence: given by measure, had filled each and every believer. He came as the gift of GOD. The parted tongues as of fire were the symbols of the diverse languages in which the testimony concerning CHRIST and the blessed Gospel was now to go forth. The fire was of course not literal fire. It is symbolical of the righteousness and holiness of GOD, as well as of judgment. "The tongues were ’as of fire,’ for the testimony of Grace was none the less founded on righteousness. The Gospel is intolerant of evil. This is the wonderful way in which GOD now speaks by the Holy Spirit. Whatever the mercy of GOD, whatever the proved weakness, need and guilt of man, there is not nor can be the least compromise of holiness. GOD can never sanction the evil of man. Hence the Spirit of GOD was thus pleased to mark the character of His presence, even though given of the grace of GOD, but founded on the righteousness of GOD. GOD could afford fully to bless. It was no derogation from His Glory; it was after all but His seal on the perfectness of the work of the Lord Jesus." And this great gift was not only given to that assembled company of believers, but everyone who is born again throughout this age in which the church is forming, shares in this gift and the Holy Spirit is through Grace the heavenly and abiding guest in the believer. There is no need for the believer to ask Him to come, but the need is to realize in faith that we are the temples of the Holy Spirit and then live and act according to this great truth. But there was a third sign. They began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. Thus we have three great signs: The mighty rushing winds, the parted tongues as of fire and the speaking in other tongues, the result of the Holy Spirit’s inward presence. Wind, fire and voices. As stated before the Law at Sinai was given under some of these accompanying signs. This is likewise true of some of the other Theophanies of the Old Testament, for instance in the history of Elijah, where the tempest, the fire and the still small voice are prominent. All this shows that a divine person, GOD the Holy Spirit, had come. A most interesting Talmudical tradition declares that when GOD gave the Law from Sinai the voice of GOD parted into seven voices; each of the seven voices again parted into different voices, so that GOD heralded the law in seventy different tongues heard by all the nations of the earth. This is only a tradition and no doubt incorrect, but here on the day of Pentecost a miracle took place in that all who had received the Holy Spirit spoke in other tongues. We give this part of the chapter the most careful attention. It is of great importance that we examine this miraculous evidence of the advent and presence of the Holy Spirit as thoroughly as we can. Of late a movement has sprung up, which appears in different sects and calls itself either the Apostolic Faith, or the Pentecost Movement, etc. These movements claim that the Holy Spirit is poured out again and that along with His coming there is the same miracle of the gift of tongues. And now before we take up this subject in detail we read the contents of the next paragraph of this chapter. II. The immediate effect of His Presence. "And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his Own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our Own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying One to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine" (Acts 2:5-15). It is clear from the inspired narrative that all the assembled believers spoke in other tongues, that is, in different languages, and that it was as the Holy Spirit gave them to speak forth. This third great sign which happened on the day of Pentecost has been differently interpreted, and by Some the miracle has been altogether denied. We mention Very briefly some of these different views. One prominent view which was already advanced by some of the so-called "church-fathers," and which has not a few modern followers, is that the miracle consisted in the way the multitude heard rather than in the speaking of the Spirit-filled disciples. According to this view the people heard in the different languages, while the company of the believers only spoke in their own tongue. This view hardly needs an answer, because it states something which is in direct opposition to the words of the record, "they began to speak in other tongues." Some of the critics claim that the speaking and hearing must have been the result of a "magnetic report" between the speakers and the hearers. Such a foolish view is easily answered by the fact that they first spake and there was none there to listen, some time later the multitude crowded in, attracted by the rumor. Others declared that the new or other tongues meant a new spiritual language, or that they spoke in an unusual, enthusiastic poetical phraseology, etc. All these versions as well as others are in such flagrant contradiction with the simple words here before us that it is unnecessary to follow them any further. The speaking in other languages was a miracle produced by the Holy Spirit who had come upon them in mighty power. These Galileans spoke in different tongues, sixteen at least, if not more. "By a sudden and powerful inspiration of the Holy Spirit, these disciples uttered, not of their own minds, but as mouthpieces of the Holy Spirit, the praises of GOD in various languages hitherto, and possibly at the time itself, unknown to them." [*] [*] Dean Alford in Greek New Testament. The significance of this miracle speaking in other tongues is not hard to discover. It was the oral manifestation of the parted tongues of fire, which had come upon each. Besides this it proclaimed the great fact that the Holy Spirit had come to make known the blessed Gospel to all nations under heaven, and though no Gentiles were present when this took place, the languages of the Gentiles were heard, and that from Jewish lips, indicating that the Gospel should indeed go forth to the uttermost parts of the earth. For the unbelieving multitude it was a sign though we do not read anything in the record that they were converted by hearing their different languages spoken. They were amazed and in perplexity, while others mocked; upon those it made no impression at all. The great result on the day of Pentecost was by the preaching of the Gospel from Peter’s lips. This brings before us the question, What did they speak in these different tongues? Did they all proclaim in an orderly discourse the Gospel, or relate something concerning the person of CHRIST, or were their utterances rather of an ecstatic nature, in the form of praising GOD, exalting His Name? We believe the latter was the case. It was rather an outburst of praise to GOD for the great things He had done, than the preaching of the Gospel. All was done, no doubt, in perfect order and not in confusion. The gift was bestowed just for this occasion and not for future use. We look in vain through this Book to find that they continued in speaking in these different languages. It is a wrong conception to think that they exercised this gift ever after in preaching the Gospel. From the sixteenth chapter we learn that Paul and Barnabas did not understand the Lycaonian speech; the Greek language was universally used and made the use of the other languages almost unnecessary. Twice more we find in this book the tongues mentioned in connection with the gift of the Holy Spirit - in Acts 10:46 and Acts 19:6. In the first passage Cornelius and his household having believed the Gospel received the Holy Spirit and they spake with tongues. Not a word is said in this instance that other languages were used. There was no need for it. It was an ecstatic speech glorifying GOD. In Acts 19:1-41 after the Apostle Paul had laid hands upon the disciples of John whom he had found in Ephesus (a thing which Peter did not do with Cornelius) the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. Here again not a word is said about anyone hearing a strange language. The speaking in tongues is here paired with prophesying. These are the three instances in the Book of Acts where speaking in tongues is mentioned. On the day of Pentecost; Cornelius and his house and the Jewish disciples found in the dispersion, waiting for the Hope of Israel. In each case it was for a sign and for a specific purpose, but only in the first instance are different dialects and languages mentioned. - On the day of Pentecost the gift was for a sign to the multitude; - In Acts 10:1-48 the evidence to Peter and the Apostles that the Gentiles had received the same gift (Acts 11:15) and - In Acts 19:1-41 the outward evidence that the Jewish disciples of John had also received the Holy Spirit and shared in the same gift. We read not a word about this gift in connection with the other places visited by the apostles, not a word is said about speaking in tongues in the ministry of Philip in Samaria, nor during the great journeys of the Apostle Paul, with the exception of the case mentioned above. It is therefore clear that the speaking in tongues was neither a universal nor a permanent gift, and that it appeared only in these three cases for a sign. We emphasize these facts on account of these spurious movements which claim that a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit is now in progress, that each believer must seek "his Pentecost" and that the true evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit is the speaking in an unknown tongue. Such claims are unscriptural and cannot at all be confirmed by the historical account of this book for thousands and tens of thousands were saved and baptized by the one Spirit into the one body, the Holy Spirit filling them, without ever speaking in an unknown tongue. Stephen was a believer who was indeed full of the Holy Spirit. Nowhere do we read that he had the gift of tongues. However in the first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians we find a long chapter in which "speaking in unknown tongues" is largely entered into. From this chapter we learn that that gift was prevalent in the Corinthian assembly (1 Corinthians 14:1-40). In 1 Corinthians 12:1-31 where the different gifts of the Spirit are enumerated we find the speaking in tongues and the interpretation of these tongues mentioned. They stand last in the list, showing thereby their inferior place. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, addressed to that assembly of believers who enjoyed the best gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Word of Wisdom and the Word of Knowledge, no mention whatever is made of the speaking in tongues. What the spiritual condition of the assembly in Corinth was we learn from this entire epistle. Their walk was carnal, all kinds of wicked things had been tolerated in their midst; sectarianism and vain-glory held sway. Their spiritual knowledge was very low indeed, and the Holy Spirit could not flash forth the great truths, which He so fully reveals in the Epistle to the Ephesians. Paul had to take up a good part of the Epistle with correcting their evil habits and walk. That the gift of tongues was sought for by these Corinthians can be learned from the chapter in which the Holy Spirit through Paul enlarges upon this gift. May they not have sought it for the sake of display rather than to glorify GOD with it? Then no doubt women were in the foreground, and they are especially cautioned. "Let your women keep silence in the churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home; for it is a shame for women to speak in the church" (1 Corinthians 14:34-35). In this modern movement women seem to be very much in the foreground, acting in many instances as preachers and leaders, and therefore in direct disobedience to the Word of GOD. Eyewitnesses have told us that they were in such "gift of tongue meetings" where women became hysterical, rolled on the floor, uttered all kinds of queer noises, screeched like the former prophets of Baal "Oh GOD, send the power!" One friend said he felt he was among demons. Convulsions, rigor and foaming at the mouth like madmen were also noticed. Some such things may have also happened in Corinth for we read several exhortations in this chapter which point in this direction. "For God is not the author of confusion (lit.: tumult)" (1 Corinthians 14:33). "Let all things be done decently and in order" (1 Corinthians 14:40). We quote here from a pamphlet by Dr. Arthur T. Pierson, on 1 Corinthians 14:1-40. (1) Speaking in an unknown tongue is unintelligible to the hearer. If it be genuine, it is only known as such to GOD, so that even when one so speaks in the Spirit he speaks mysteries to all others-which we take to be the true reading here. (2) Speaking with tongues, therefore, is not in and by itself edifying to men. While prophesying is profitable for "edification, exhortation and comfort," the gift of tongues in itself can do no more than cause the hearer to wonder and be in awe at what he understands not. (3) Speaking with tongues, therefore, is comparatively undesirable and unserviceable. It ranks last among all the Spirit-gifts and manifestations, and is mentioned among the last in the enumeration in 1 Corinthians 12:7-10, where seven other gifts out-rank it. (4) Speaking with tongues is dependent for all real value upon the companion gift of interpretation of tongues, and hence is coupled with it in the previous category of gifts (1 Corinthians 12:10). In fact, only such interpretation of what is uttered can lift it to the level of "that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers" (Ephesians 4:29). There is no speaking with tongues apart from such interpretation, no profit, for it brings no "revelation," "knowledge," "prophesying," or "doctrine" (1 Corinthians 12:6). (5) More even than this: speaking with tongues may degenerate into an empty display of the mysterious - a mere babble, if not Babel, of confusion, like many "sounds" (or "tunes" - margin), in which no one can tell what is sense and what is nonsense, what is spurious and what is genuine. (6) Speaking with tongues is rather a means of dispersion than of closer association. Its tendencies are divergent, not convergent. As at Babel, when they could not understand one another’s speech they separated and scattered, so, if the hearer "know not the meaning of the voice," the speaker will ’be unto him a barbarian" - i.e., a foreigner, and conversely. (7) Such a gift, therefore, acts rather as a hindrance than a help to common joint worship. Part of the power and acceptableness of all worship and service in the assembly depends on the responsiveness of the worshipper to the leader. Whether it be the service of song, praise, or prayer, or hearing of the Word, what is in a dead language cannot evoke the hearer’s "Amen." How can the heart intelligently answer to what is not understood by the “unlearned?" However well the speaker does, the hearer cannot enter into the sentiment of what is spoken, and joint worship or communion is impossible. (8) The Apostle hints further that speaking with tongues alone - independent of interpretation - may even work damage. He pictures an assembly, where all speak with tongues, as impressing an unbelieving outsider so unfavorably that he declares them "mad" (Acts 2:23). In such a jargon of confused sounds, he thinks himself in a mad house. (9) Paul goes even further, and by the Spirit enjoins that, when such gift actually is bestowed, its exercise shall be carefully regulated. And for such regulation he gives two distinct laws: (a) The law of precedence; (b) the law of silence. “If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and 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.” (10) His final argument is that what produces confusion and not order cannot be of GOD, for He is not the author of disorder, but of decent conformity to law and order, and "peace." While, therefore, speaking with tongues is not to be forbidden, it is not to be coveted, but rather the edifying, instructive, intelligible utterances of inspired teaching. (11) It is more than hinted here also that speaking with tongues is peculiarly open to spurious imitation. The Devil, who is the master counterfeiter, is always with peculiar subtlety imitating the manifestations of the Spirit. When GOD is mightily working, so is he; and no one gift of the Spirit is so easily "aped" as this. So long as there be no interpretation to make the language intelligible, who shall tell whether it be blessing or cursing, reverent or profane! Not only can interpretation alone make speaking with tongues edifying, but this alone can attest it as genuine. (12) Some think that the injunction here, bidding the Corinthian "women keep silence in the churches," has special reference to this speaking with tongues. Women in the Orient were then, as now, especially excitable and prone to excess. When once emerging from seclusion and privacy of their home life, and introduced into the new freedom of the Christian brotherhood, they often ran into the wildest fanaticism, and might easily have mistaken an hysterical mania, with its incoherent mutterings, for a gift of supernatural utterance. Another recent writer on the glossolaly or gift of tongues states the matter still more briefly. "We notice that, though Paul spoke with tongues more than all the Corinthians, he does not set a high value on the gift of glossolaly. He ranks it last of the gifts and apparently among childish things (1 Corinthians 14:18-20). For (1) it did not edify others. Rather (2) it tended to cause disorder in the church. (3) The fact that the speaking in tongues lay in the spiritual and not in the rational sphere opened the door to dangerous confusion. Its phenomena might be counterfeited either by evil spirits, or by religious impostors and charlatans of which the world was then full. Again it might be hard at times to distinguish them from similar symptoms due to physical causes, etc." This warning is well founded indeed. It is a territory on which Satan appears as an angel of light and it is to be expected that he will develop an increasing energy in this direction as the coming of our Lord draws nigh. In an address on the characteristics of the age, [*] [*] Published in pamphlet form by "Our Hope." Mr. Philip Mauro spoke a timely word on this matter which bears repeating: "The wicked spirits, or demons, who form part of this spiritual host, display abnormal activity at the time of our Lord’s first coming; and now again, as His second coming approaches, they are aroused to a state of great activity. Spirit ’control’ and ’possession,’ accompanied by unusual physical demonstrations, rigor, protracted unconsciousness, convulsions, hysterics, spasmodic movements, strange noises, which may or may not be articulate speech of some sort (and hence easily confounded with the Holy Spirit’s gift of tongues) are now quite common and becoming more so. These abnormal manifestations are no longer confined to circles where Spiritism, hypnotism and the like are openly cultivated, but are now breaking out among groups of GOD’s people who have been induced to stray away from scriptural ground, and to seek for excitements and ’experiences,’ who are urged by misguided teachers to yield themselves, to come under ’control,’ to seek ’power’ instead of weakness, and otherwise to disregard the plain injunctions of Scripture." Now while it is true that there was such a gift as speaking in an unknown tongue in the apostolic age, and no Christian believer would doubt the power of GOD to impart to a person the gift to preach the Gospel in a foreign tongue, we do not believe that this gift of speaking in an unknown tongue was to abide in the church. Repeatedly claims were made in years gone by that it had been restored (for instance during the Irvingite delusion in England), but in every case it was found to be spurious or emanating from the enemy. The present day "apostolic or Pentecostal movement" with its high pretensions and false doctrines, lacking true scriptural knowledge and wisdom, creating new schisms in the body, with its women leaders and teachers, has all the marks of the same great counterfeiter upon it. The Epistle to the Ephesians, that highest revelation of GOD, speaks of the gifts which are to abide. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers; we still have them. The apostles are of course the men of GOD, the great gifts through whom the Holy Spirit revealed the great doctrines and truths of the New Testament, Peter, John, James, Paul as well as those who were not apostles, but the prophets, the mouthpieces of the Holy Spirit. Evangelists preach the Gospel so that the body of CHRIST may become complete as to numbers; these will ever remain till the last member is added to the body. Then pastors and teachers to shepherd the flock of GOD, for the perfecting of the Saint. These gifts of our risen Head will abide. But there is not a word said about miraculous sign-gifts in this great Epistle. But some have suggested that when the age draws to its close the Holy Spirit will once more unfold special energies to give a last witness, and that in the closing of the age the Gospel of the kingdom will be heralded with accompanying signs and miracles among all the nations. This is partially founded on truth. The Gospel of the kingdom is to be preached and most likely special signs may accompany that preaching during that period known as "the great tribulation." However, the preachers of that last witness are not Christian believers, members of the one body, hut the Jewish remnant will do this great work. On the other hand, everything in the New Testament Epistles as well as in the Book of Revelation, shows that decline, ruin and apostasy and not restoration of apostolic gifts and power mark the close of this Christian age. To demonstrate this fully would be quite impossible in this connection. Before we follow Peter’s great address to the assembled multitude, a brief word on the peoples, which are mentioned as composing the amazed company, may be in order. When it says "every nation under heaven," it does not mean that representatives of all the Gentile nations were there. The phrase has reference to the Jews and proselytes living then in dispersion outside of the land. All the countries into which they had wandered were represented in the multitude. Gentiles as such were not present. Nor were those present only from the house of Judah. The ten tribes were most likely also represented. This may be learned from Peter’s address. He first addresses the men of Judah and all that dwell at Jerusalem; then he addresses them as men of Israel. So that in all probability Judah and Israel, the two houses into which the people of GOD had been divided, were represented. These may have dwelt in Parthia, Media, Elam and Mesopotamia. That the ten tribes were known in apostolic times is also seen by the fact that James addressed his Epistle to "the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad [in the dispersion]." We mention this because occasionally someone inquires about that fanciful theory called "Anglo-Israel," which claims that the Anglo-Saxon race is composed of the lost tribes. Representatives of "all Israel" were present when the Holy Spirit was poured out in Jerusalem upon the believing Jews and when Peter arose to address them. III. Peter’s Address. "But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: and I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Acts 2:14-21). What an impressive scene it must have been when, in the midst of the tumult the outbursts of praise and adoration, the ever-increasing multitude, Peter and the eleven with him arose. Twelve divinely appointed men, the twelve apostles, faced the representatives of the twelve tribes of Israel. Peter is the spokesman. What boldness, courage and directness characterizes now the man and his speech! What a change from the Peter before Pentecost! It was all the result of the coming of the Holy Spirit. Such boldness and courage to witness for the absent Lord is our blessed privilege likewise, for we have received the same Spirit. Peter’s address deals with the great historical facts of the gospel; the heart and center of it is the resurrection and exaltation of the Lord JESUS. In its scope and pointedness it is a most wonderful production. It is in itself an evidence that the Holy Spirit had come and that He witnessed through Peter. The main part of the address has three divisions. Each begins with a personal address to the hearers, states a great vital fact in terse language and closes with a passage from the Scriptures. 1. Acts 2:14-22. In the opening of his address he speaks to them as "men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem." Then, after briefly refuting the charge of drunkenness, he quotes from the book of Joel. With this Scripture quotation the first part of the address closes. 2. Acts 2:22-28. Now he addresses them as "men of Israel." Here we find a brief witness of the life, the crucifixion and resurrection of JESUS the Nazarene. Then he quotes, from the Book of Psalms, the sixteenth Psalm. 3. Acts 2:29-36. The last part he begins with "Brethren"; in it he speaks of the coming of the Holy Spirit as the result of the resurrection and exaltation of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. The briefest but deepest of all the Messianic Psalms is quoted, the one hundred and tenth. The chief part of his address closes with the following words: "Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." After the interruption which followed, addressed to the twelve, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Peter spoke again, and not all his words are reported. "And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation." What a great model this first sermon after the gift of the Holy Spirit ought to be for all who preach the Word. The Holy Word of GOD has the leading part in it to witness to the person of CHRIST. The difference between Peter’s preaching and much of the modern day preaching is indeed appalling. [*] [*] The continual use of anecdotes, pleasant little stories, which make old people smile and send the young folks a-giggling is especially to be condemned in Gospel preaching. The Gospel is too solemn a thing to be mixed with hilarity. But briefly we shall now meditate on these different parts of Peter’s address. Its aim as already stated, was to prove to the house of Israel that the crucified JESUS is raised from the dead and that GOD made Him Lord and CHRIST, witnessed to by the presence of the Holy Spirit. The accusation had been, "these men are full of new wine." To answer this false charge was the first necessary step. Peter lifted up his voice, which means that he spoke in loud tones, which was no doubt needed on account of the confusion which must have prevailed. He declared that it was but the third hour of the day and for this reason it would be next to impossible that the Spirit-filled disciples were drunk with new wine. The third hour corresponds to our ninth hour of the morning. On the Sabbath or other feast days no Jew would eat or drink before that hour; this custom was universally observed at that time, and it is still so with the so-called "Chasidim," the most orthodox Jews. Nothing is tasted before the prayers of the synagogue are ended; these are sometimes prolonged till noon. This fact, apparent to all and not controvertible, disposed at once of the false charge. And now Peter states what it is they were witnessing. He quotes from one of the great Old Testament prophecies in the book of Joel. [*] [*] See Exposition of "The Prophet Joel." Published by "Our Hope." That Peter quotes Joel in connection with his address to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem shows the accuracy of the Scriptures, for Joel’s prophecy was addressed to Judah and Jerusalem. In the next place we notice the language Peter uses in quoting Joel: "This is that which was spoken through the prophet Joel"; careless and superficial expositors have often stated that Peter said that all this happened in fulfillment of what was spoken by Joel. He did not use the word fulfilled at all. Had he spoken of a fulfillment then of Joel’s prophecy, he would have uttered something which was not true, for the great prophecy of Joel was not fulfilled on that day. Nor has this prophecy been fulfilled since Pentecost, nor will it be fulfilled during this present Gospel age. This great prophecy which Peter quotes in part will be accomplished at the end of the Jewish age, that end which has not yet come and which cannot come as long as the church is on the earth. [*] [*] There remains one week (seven years) of Daniel’s seventy-week prophecy to be fulfilled. That last week comes in after the church is completed and these seven years constitute the end of the Jewish age, interrupted by this present church age. Joel’s prophecy will be fulfilled in connection with the coming of the Lord. Before that day comes there will be visible signs of which the prophet speaks. All this is still in the future. Before it can all be fulfilled, the events spoken of by Joel as preceding this prophecy must be accomplished, and, besides this, the church must be removed from the earth in the way as revealed in the Word (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18). Comparing Peter’s words here with Joel’s words we find that Peter uses instead of the phrase found in Joel, "it shall come to pass afterward," the expression, "it shall come to pass in the last days." The prophecy relates, therefore, to the last days. This phrase, found in the Old Testament, has reference to the coming days of the Messiah, when He shall come as King and establish His Kingdom in the midst of His earthly people. See Isaiah 2:2-4; Micah 4:1; Jeremiah 23:20; Hosea 3:4-5, etc. In this sense Peter uses the phrase here and not as applying to this present age at all. He tells the assembled multitude that something similar to that which they now were witnessing GOD had promised in connection with the days of Messiah. With His coming as King, the Spirit was to be poured out upon all flesh. That which they saw and heard was indeed the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but not in the full sense as given in the prophecy of Joel. What took place was an evidence that, JESUS, whom they had crucified, is the true Messiah and that what had taken place is a pledge that in due time all of the prophecy contained in the book of Joel would be fulfilled. What had really taken place was not known to Peter and to the eleven at that time. It was only subsequently revealed that by the one Spirit all were baptized into one body; the great purpose of the gift of the Holy Spirit for this present age was not revealed or stated on the day of Pentecost. It was the fact only which Peter speaks of, that GOD had promised the gift of the Spirit in connection with the coming of the Messiah. In regard to the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy we say once more than it cannot fall into the present age. Nor will it be fulfilled as long as the church is not removed from the earth. It comes with the second visible coming of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, preceding the establishment of His Kingdom. Pentecost was only the earnest of what is yet to take place in Jerusalem. "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know; Him. being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face; for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved: therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance" (Acts 2:22-28). Peter now puts before them in the second part of his address the whole story of the Messiah, whom they had rejected. He could therefore use, not the name as he had confessed Him at Caesarea Philippi, but he speaks of Him as "Jesus of Nazareth." By that name, the Nazarene, the lowly, blessed One had been known to them. That name, too, was written above His Cross; it was the name which was an offence to them. Inasmuch as it was the aim of the Holy Spirit to show the guilt of the nation, to demonstrate the humiliation and rejection of CHRIST and to declare His resurrection, no other name could be used. For us it would be improper to speak of Him as "Jesus of Nazareth"; we call Him by His name as He is revealed in resurrection, "The Lord Jesus Christ." Briefly Peter traces the events during the past three years. These events were familiar to them. This JESUS the Nazarene was a man witnessed to by GOD by works of power and wonders and signs, which God had wrought. Many of his hearers had been, no doubt, eye-witnesses of the power of GOD and the wonders done. They were fully convinced, like Nicodemus, that no one could do these signs unless GOD was with him (John 3:2). This same argument that His works prove Him to be that which He claimed to be was used by Himself. "The works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me" (John 5:36). But the stumbling block was that He had been crucified. Could He be truly the Messiah, who was spit upon, mocked, crowned with thorns, nailed to a cross? Was such an end in a shameful crucifixion not a sure evidence that He was not the One who was to possess glory and honor? The cross of CHRIST was the stumbling-block. But the Holy Spirit removes this and gives His answer. The death of JESUS of Nazareth was by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of GOD. The sufferings of the Messiah had been fully revealed in the Old Testament; He must suffer these things and so enter into glory. All had come to pass according to the foreknowledge of GOD. Eternally, from before the foundation of the world, GOD had made His plan and arranged all in His counsel. But Peter also shows that they were the guilty instruments. They by lawless men - that is, the Gentiles, into whose hands they had delivered JESUS - had crucified and slain Him. They were responsible for what had taken place" Thus the death of CHRIST is described. But next follows the great climax, the resurrection of the One who had been slain. GOD raised Him up from the dead. By resurrection through GOD’s power the final proof is given, yea, the highest proof, that JESUS of Nazareth is the CHRIST. It was impossible that He could be held by the power of death. In being raised from the dead the "pains of death" were loosed. He came forth as the Firstfruits, victor over death and the grave. His redeemed people can now shout: "Oh, death, where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory?" The deliverance for them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage (Hebrews 2:15) had come. Three great evidences are therefore given by Peter that JESUS of Nazareth is the Messiah: - His life, - His death, fulfilling what had been in the counsel and foreknowledge of GOD, - His resurrection. The quotation from Psalms 16:1-11 follows. What mind of man could ever have discovered in that Psalm a prophecy about CHRIST? The Holy Spirit throws His light upon the Psalm. The Spirit who spoke through David had CHRIST in view. What David uttered he said "concerning Him." This ought to silence every "higher critic." All this needs no further explanation. In this portion of his address Peter shows the path of CHRIST from humiliation to the death of the cross and His resurrection and all GOD’s doings. In the next paragraph, the last part of the address of Peter, we behold Him by GOD made Lord and CHRIST. "The Man Jesus of Nazareth was by GOD demonstrated, by GOD wrought in among them, by GOD’s counsel delivered unto death, by GOD raised up, and finally by GOD made Lord and Christ." (Alford, Greek Testament). "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with as unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; He, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:29-36). With these words Peter has reached the climax of his address. "Men and brethren," a Hebraism meaning simply "Brethren," the same phrase he had used in addressing the waiting company before Pentecost, is how he addresses the gathered people. This loving expression shows how the Holy Spirit had filled him with love and how his heart was full of affection for his brethren according to the flesh. But he also is made very bold by the Spirit. His boldness, however, is not harshness, but characterized by tenderness; what he says is couched in humble and polite language. "Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you." He addresses them on the matter of the prophecy already quoted from the sixteenth Psalm concerning "the patriarch David." Here alone David is called a patriarch because he is the progenitor of the kingly race. There was a reason for enlarging upon that prophecy, which becomes the foundation of his appeal. None of the rabbis ever thought of applying the Psalm to the promised Messiah. There is, however, an old tradition, which no doubt was known and believed in that day, which applied the Psalm literally to David. This application was as follows: "Those words, "my flesh shall rest in hope," teach us that neither worm nor insect had any power over David." Peter shows that such a traditional belief that the words referred to David himself were incorrect. They could not mean King David. David had died and been buried (1 Kings 2:10). Moses’ burial place was not known, but the tomb (literally monument) of David was known amongst them in that day (Nehemiah 3:16). David saw corruption. It was, therefore, impossible that the prophecy could mean him. But David was a prophet and as such he spoke, not of himself, but of the promised descendant, who was to come out of his loins to occupy his throne. The promised son of David was none other than the CHRIST. So, "seeing this before" by the Word of GOD (see the similar expression in Galatians 3:8), he spoke concerning the resurrection of the CHRIST; in Him alone were these words fulfilled. And now comes Peter’s witness and that of the eleven as well as the other assembled believers. "This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof We all are witnesses." They had talked with Him, seen His body, knew that it was a real body of flesh and bones. [*] [*] The perniciousness of the denial of the physical resurrection of our blessed Lord as taught in different evil "isms" (Millennial Dawn also called "International Bible Student Association") of the present day is fully laid bare in meditating on these words. But Peter does not stop here with the fact of His resurrection. The Holy Spirit bears witness to an exaltation which human eyes had not beheld at that time. Stephen, Saul of Tarsus and the Apostle John were later privileged to behold the CHRIST in Glory. Here it is the direct witness of the Holy Spirit. This JESUS has been exalted by the right hand of GOD. The presence of the Holy Spirit, who had been poured forth, as they beheld and heard, was the evidence that JESUS was with the Father at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Again the Holy Spirit turns to the Scriptures. How clearly He proves Himself on the day of His advent that He testifies in the Word and through the Word! He quotes now another Psalm, which was known among the Jews as prophesying about the Messiah. "David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool." This is the beginning of that sublime Psalms 110:1-7. This Psalm our Lord had used to silence His enemies. His own testimony had brought out four indisputable facts about that Psalm. 1. That David wrote the Psalm. 2. That he wrote it by the Spirit. 3. That the Psalm spoke of Himself. 4. That it revealed Himself as both David’s son and David’s Lord (cf. Matthew 22:41-46). And now the Holy Spirit uses this Psalm likewise to show that the CHRIST had to ascend into heaven and take His place at the right hand of GOD till the time should come when His enemies are made His footstool. This exalted place JESUS the Nazarene had now taken; that He was really there was fully demonstrated by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. But we must not overlook something else which this prophecy teaches. These Jews might have said, If JESUS of Nazareth is the Messiah, why does He not take the throne of His father David and begin His Kingdom reign? Psalms 110:1-7 gives the answer. He was to go to heaven first and sit upon His Father’s throne. He was to wait there for the promised Kingdom while His enemies are in opposition to Him. How perfect the Word of GOD is! Here, then, was perfect proof, perfect evidence of the rejected One being the promised Messiah, raised from the dead, seated in Glory, waiting for the Kingdom, the throne of His father David. The Holy Spirit witnessed to all this. Solemnly brief is the summing up and the appeal. "Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." The crucified One is Lord and CHRIST. This was the great theme of Peter’s address on the day of Pentecost. And this is still the great and blessed theme of the Gospel, which, whenever it is preached, has the power of GOD with it: - CHRIST died - CHRIST arose - CHRIST is Lord - CHRIST is in Glory - CHRIST is coming again. IV. The Results of the Delivered Testimony. "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls" (Acts 2:37-41). Such were the wonderful results. It could not be otherwise. The Word had been preached. The Holy Spirit carried it home with convicting power to the hearts of the hearers. Before His ascension the Lord had left the promise to his disciples that they were to receive power with the gift of the Spirit. This power to witness had been bestowed upon the disciples and was fully manifested in Peter’s bold testimony. The Holy Spirit backed it with His mighty power and the hearts and consciences of the hearers were pierced. They were convicted, after hearing all these words, of the great sin which had been committed by them in the rejection of JESUS. The guilt had been fully demonstrated, and now they cried out in terror: "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" There is not a moment’s delay in answering the great question. The divinely given instruction comes at once from Peter’s lips. Repentance and baptism stand out very prominently in this answer to the conscience-stricken Jews, and attached to it is the promise of the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. These words not being correctly understood, have led to much confusion. Upon these words doctrines, especially concerning water baptism, have been built, which are not alone nowhere else taught in the Bible, but which are opposed to the Gospel. The words of Peter to his Jewish brethren have been used to make water-baptism a saving ordinance, that only by submission to water-baptism, with repentance and faith in the Lord JESUS, can remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit be obtained. We do not enlarge upon these unscriptural conceptions nor controvert the utterly false doctrine of "baptismal regeneration," but rather, point out briefly what these words of Peter mean. We must bear in mind that Peter addressed those who had openly rejected JESUS. They had, therefore, also openly to acknowledge their wrong and thus openly own Him as Messiah, whom they had disowned by delivering Him into the hands of lawless men. Repentance meant for them to own their guilt in having opposed and rejected JESUS. Baptism in the name of JESUS CHRIST (in which it differs from the baptism of John) was the outward expression of that repentance. It was for these Jews, therefore, a preliminary necessity. And here we must not forget that Peter’s preaching on the day of Pentecost had it still to do with the kingdom, as we shall more fully learn from his second address in the third chapter. Another offer of the kingdom was made to the nation. The great fact that the Holy Spirit had begun to form the body of CHRIST, the church, as stated before, was not revealed then. In this national testimony the word "repent" stands in the foreground, and their baptism in the name of Him whom they had crucified was a witness that they owned Him now and believed on Him. As soon as we leave the first part of this book in which Peter’s preaching to the Jews is prominent, we find the word repentance no longer in the foreground; all the emphasis is upon "believe." [*] * Of course faith and repentance are inseparably connected. The Gospel in all its blessed fullness as revealed to the great apostle to the Gentiles, Paul, which he called "my Gospel," and as preached by him, makes "faith" - "believe" as prominent as Peter’s preaching "repent." Remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit comes by faith in the Lord JESUS CHRIST. In connection with the Jews, baptism was a condition. There is no such condition for Gentiles. The case of Cornelius and those who were assembled in his house to whom Peter preached the Gospel, illustrates this fully. He had not mentioned a word about baptism for the remission of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. When he had declared that through "His Name" whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins, his address was cut short: "The Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the Word" (Acts 10:44). This clearly proves that baptism in water has nothing to do with the gift of the Holy Spirit to these believing Gentiles. Water baptism followed in their case. He commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. "For the Jews who had openly rejected the Lord, baptism is always pre-requisite; they must openly Own Him whom they had disowned." The entire setting aside of ordinances in the case of the Gentiles at once destroys the ritualistic teaching as to baptism. According to this ritualistic teaching Cornelius must have received the Spirit while in an unregenerate condition, for he had not yet received "the sacrament of regeneration!" [*] * Numerical Bible; Acts p. 24. Peter told his hearers that the promise (remission of sins and the gift of the Spirit) is for them and their children. Blessed assurance to them and their offspring! Theirs are still the promises (Romans 9:1-5). In a future day the Spirit will be poured out upon them, after their great national repentance, when they will mourn for Him (Zechariah 12:9-14; Ezekiel 39:29). But the promise is also to them who are afar off, as many as the Lord Our GOD shall call. Those afar off are the Gentiles. Peter, no doubt, could not fully realize the far-reaching meaning of this utterance. The Holy Spirit put these words into His mouth, but Peter did not understand then that the far-off Gentiles were to participate in the gift of the Spirit and become fellow heirs. To make it possible for him to go to the Gentiles the Lord had to give him a special vision. But the statement that the promise is to those who are far off, to as many as the Lord shall call, is otherwise significant. It shows that not all the Gentiles are to be brought into the one body, that not all the Gentiles will accept GOD’s gracious offer during the age which began with Pentecost. Those who received the word were baptized. and in that day about three thousand were added. It is not correct to speak of this as a fulfillment of the prediction in the 110th Psalm, as it has been done repeatedly. There it says: "Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power." The day of Pentecost was not that promised "day of . . . power." Nor is this age the age when He manifests His power. When He returns in power and in glory, the day of His power begins and then His earthly people will be a willing people. What took place on Pentecost was only the earnest of what shall yet take place amongst that nation. V. The Gathered Company in Fellowship. “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; and sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:42-47). About three thousand had been added. We ask, added to what? Certainly to the company of the believers, which by the baptism of the Holy Spirit had been formed into one body. And now we learn at the close of this great chapter, that the church, or assembly, yet unrevealed, was indeed in existence. It is a most precious scene which is pictured to us in the above words. It shows the energy of the Holy Spirit in uniting these believers into one body, gathered together around the blessed person of the Lord. While Peter gave that great testimony to the people, concerning the rejected, crucified and risen JESUS, that He is Lord and CHRIST, those who repented, having believed the message, were added by the Spirit to the body. In the foreground of the description of this happy, gathered company stands the fact that they "continued steadfastly [persevered] in the apostles’ doctrine." There was need of instruction and the Lord had given command that the apostles were to teach (Matthew 28:20). The teaching of the apostles must, of course, have been concerning the Lord JESUS CHRIST. They were, as revealed later, the foundation of the great spiritual building (Ephesians 2:20). That teaching is placed in the first place shows its great importance. True fellowship and prayer as well as right living, is only possible in the truth. Throughout the Epistles, which concern the church, doctrine is always the first thing. One of the last exhortations the Holy Spirit gave through Paul, is an exhortation to be true to right teaching. "Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13). Almost one of the last words in this Epistle Paul wrote from the Roman prison predicts the departure from the doctrine of CHRIST. "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables" (2 Timothy 4:45). This is exactly what we see about us in the present day. An unrecoverable apostasy has set in and the true doctrine, the faith delivered unto the saints, has been given up. In accepting the teaching of the apostles they were in fellowship together. But the fellowship which they possessed and enjoyed was expressed in a special way. It was expressed "in the breaking of bread." Some expositors of this book make this "breaking of bread" a common meal. A learned expositor, after a lengthy discussion on the phrase "breaking of bread," as used by the Jews, concludes by saying, "The breaking of bread must not be understood by their eating together, but of the Eucharist (the Lord’s Supper); which the Syriac interpreter does render so in express terms; a parallel to which we have in 1 Corinthians 10:16 and Acts 20:7." It was the carrying out of the request which the blessed Lord had uttered during that memorable night in the presence of His disciples, "Do this in remembrance of Me." It is significant that we find this mentioned at once in this great historical book. The Holy Spirit having come to glorify CHRIST, did exactly what the Lord had foretold. "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my Name, He shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you" (John 14:26). One of the first things He brought to the remembrance of the disciples was the loving, tender request the Lord had made when He had broken the bread, foretelling the giving of His holy body, and handed them the cup filled with wine, the emblem of the precious blood to be shed. At that time they knew not what it all meant. But now the sufferings were ended; CHRIST had risen from the dead and returned to the Father. The Holy Spirit had come and opened their understanding. United by Him they met, as it seems for a time at least, daily, to break the bread and to pass the cup in remembrance of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. Inasmuch as the Holy Spirit led to this at once He signified by it how pleasing it is to Him to remember the dying love of the Son of GOD. And if we had been there we would have beheld a simple gathering. No long robed priests officiating, no preparatory service, no ritual; nothing of the other things which tradition has connected with communion and by which the request of the Lord has been so completely obscured. They were just together praising GOD; exercising their holy priesthood by giving thanks in His Name. Then someone, moved by the Holy Spirit would arise and give thanks and break the bread, of which all partook, and the same was done with the cup, which passed from hand to hand. It must have been this breaking of bread which kept them close to the Lord and which kept His Person and His great love ever fresh before their hearts. There is no command given anywhere how often the Lord’s supper is to be observed. Elsewhere we find that they came together on the first day of the week to break bread (Acts 20:7). No doubt that was the custom in the assemblies at that time. Is it too much to carry out His loving request every Lord’s Day, the day on which He left the grave? It is a sad evidence of the spiritual condition of Christendom, the way the request of the Lord is ignored. How grieving this must be to the Spirit of GOD. And what shall one say of such, who had the knowledge of the preciousness and simplicity of all this and who have given up the Lord’s Supper altogether because they believe it is an ordinance of the Kingdom. Then prayer is mentioned. They had their prayer meetings in which they prayed to GOD in the name of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. "And fear came upon every soul." The power of GOD was manifested in the gathered company; besides this many signs and wonders were wrought through the Apostles. Then we find something additional. They had all things common and sold their possessions and goods. This was peculiar to Jerusalem and was an additional testimony to the existence of the one body, that they were members one of another. It was like a great happy family, which in reality they were through the Grace of GOD. It has often been attempted to reproduce these conditions, which has invariably led to great failure and dishonor to the Lord and the cause of CHRIST. All this was perfectly in order in the beginning in Jerusalem. We believe it was arranged just in that way to give at once the strongest possible picture of that into which the united gathered company had been formed - one body. They also went to the temple with one accord. In this they fulfilled but their great mission of being a testimony to the nation. The breaking of bread, however, was carried on from house to house; in this respect they were outside of the camp. And how happy they were! They had CHRIST, and that was enough. No system of theology, creeds, set of forms or any such thing, with which historical Christianity abounds - "Nothing but CHRIST." They received their food with gladness and singleness of heart, praising GOD and having favor with all the people. Joy and singleness of heart are the two great characteristics of the true believer. The good work went on. Many more were added to the assembly. They were added not by the efforts of themselves, by all kinds of methods, as it is done in our days to increase "church membership," but the LORD added to the assembly. He alone can add to that body of which He Himself is the head. Some have translated "Added daily those being saved." There is no need of doing this. It is correct - "such as should be saved." All those who were added by the Lord daily were true believers and as such they were saved. And yet they also were to be saved. The clouds of judgment were fast gathering over Jerusalem and over the nation; all who were added to the assembly were to be saved out of the judgment soon to fall upon that nation. Thus ends the great and blessed chapter, the historical record of the advent of the Holy Spirit and the empowerment of the church. ~ end of chapter 2 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 44: 03.03. CHAPTER THREE ======================================================================== CHAPTER THREE After the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church on earth we find in this book the record of a second address given by the Apostle Peter. This utterance is Jewish and national, that is, an appeal to the nation to repent and to accept the rejected JESUS as the CHRIST. Connected with this solemn appeal is the promise of national blessing. Peter promises by the Spirit of GOD "times of refreshing" and “the restitution of all things," two expressions, which describe the kingdom as promised to Israel in the Old Testament. The condition upon which this promise of baptismal blessing is made by Peter is the repentance and conversion of the nation. The second coming of the Lord JESUS is likewise mentioned by the Apostle. His second coming will result in the times of refreshing, and the restitution of all things. This other testimony was occasioned by the healing of the lame man. But we must look at all this more closely. The chapter is clearly divided into two parts: - The healing of the lame man - The address of Peter. The first verses of the fourth chapter belong to the third chapter. We make therefore the following division: I. The healing of the lame man (Acts 3:1-11). II. Peter’s address and appeal (Acts 3:12-26). III. Their arrest (Acts 4:1-3). IV. The blessed results of the given testimony (Acts 4:4). We take up each of these sections separately to point out some of the leading features. I. The healing of the lame man. "Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple; who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked an alms" (Acts 3:1-3). It is not stated when this occurred. It could have been hardly on the same day on which the Holy Spirit came; it must have been a short time afterwards. Peter appears again upon the foreground as the leader. Though John was with him, there is no record of a single word which he spoke. Later we read once more of John when he went with Peter to Samaria. If a human pen had written the Acts of the Apostles, John, no doubt, would have been more frequently mentioned. [*] [*] ’This is the case in "The Mythological Acts of the Apostles," as old work composed of traditions concerning the Apostles. Peter was the chosen instrument to preach the Gospel to the circumcision and deliver to the nation this new message of repentance. He is the leading figure throughout the first part of the Book of Acts. Both Peter and John went together into the temple. Though the Holy Spirit had come and filled them and separated them from the nation as such, giving them a new position, yet they still continued in their Jewish customs and observances. All this was for a purpose as long as GOD’s mercy lingered over Jerusalem. The hour when they went up was the ninth hour, three in the afternoon, the usual hour for sacrifice and prayer. The people assembled for this purpose in the part of the temple called "the Court of the Women," because women were only permitted to go so far and were never allowed to go beyond. This court, 135 cubits square, was generally thronged with people at the ninth hour. The entrance to it was through a magnificent gate covered with bronze. To this place the Apostles went. At the same time a lame man, who had been in this condition from his birth, was being carried towards that beautiful gate. There they laid him down in his helpless condition that he might beg from those who entered in. Daily he was to be seen; most likely for many years had he been there. Then he must have seen the Lord as He went to the temple and the miracles He did; yet this helpless beggar had not been healed. He reminds us vividly of that other lame man, who laid in the five porches and whom the Lord healed (John 5:1-47). From the chapter which follows we learn that this lame man at the temple gate was forty years old. His condition and position is typical of the moral condition of the nation. Like this man, Israel was helpless with all its beautiful religious ceremonies, laying outside, with no strength to enter in. The age of the lame man finds a similar application; forty is the number of testing. The nation’s condition as helpless, unable to walk in the statutes and laws of GOD, without strength, outside, and a beggar, is therefore fully picture in this lame man. "And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God: and they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the Beautiful gate of the temple: and they were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering" (Acts 3:5-11). The beggar had stretched out his hands to receive something from the two apostles. What prompted Peter and John to notice this lame man among the many others, who were there begging as he did, is not mentioned. Some have suggested that there was a special look and appeal in his eyes which attracted the two servants of the Lord. Did perhaps the lame man recognize them from former visits to the temple when they came as. the followers of JESUS of Nazareth? We believe it was the Holy Spirit who directed Peter and John to look steadfastly upon him. The glorified CHRIST was about to act in His gracious power; the two apostles filled with His Spirit were His chosen and willing instruments. Peter’s word had been, “Look on us.” Obediently, the eyes of the lame man rest upon them. His expectation up to this point was to receive some help from their hands. He was indeed to receive something, but a far greater gift than he could have imagined. Silver and gold Peter declared he had not, but he had something else in store for him. He now speaks in that blessed Name, which is above every other Name, in the Name of JESUS CHRIST, the Nazarene, to rise up and to walk. It was then that faith was exercised by the lame man in that Name. The power of GOD is at once manifested. Peter takes hold of him and raised him up and immediately, not gradually, but without a moment’s delay, his feet and ankle bones were made strong. The power of GOD in answer to that precious Name had come upon the lame man and he was instantly healed. He then walked and leaped and entered through the beautiful gate as a worshipper into the temple to praise GOD. What a sight it must have been! But why was this miracle wrought at this time? It was wrought as another evidence for the unbelieving people that JESUS of Nazareth, whom they had rejected and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, is the Messiah and their King. It was an evidence that He who hung on the cross and had been laid into the tomb is living in heaven and that GOD’s omnipotent power was revealed in answer to that Name whom they had hated without a cause. GOD had promised to Israel His people a Kingdom, the blessings and glories of which prophet after prophet had announced. It was not to be a spiritual Kingdom, but a literal one, with the King of Righteousness ruling in the midst of them. One great Kingdom prophecy in the Old Testament mentions the lame man, too. "Then shall the lame man leap as an hart" (Isaiah 35:6). When the King, the Son of David, the Immanuel, had appeared in their midst, preaching the nearness of that kingdom, He manifested His kingly divine power, and the blind saw, the deaf heard and the lame walked. The people rejected Him. And now once more an offer of that Kingdom is to be made to the people. But before the Apostle Peter gives the message he received from the Lord, the rejected One, who had taken His place upon His Father’s throne manifests His power once more in the healing of the lame man. And as this lame man had been perfectly healed, that he not alone walked, but leaped, with songs of praises on his lips, entering the temple, so the Lord was ready and willing to heal His people. The lame man so wonderfully healed, leaping and praising GOD, is a picture of what the whole nation will be in a future day, when they will look upon Him whom they have pierced (Zechariah 12:10). GOD’s promise to them, still unfulfilled, is: "I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgment and do them" (Ezekiel 36:27). Then will the remnant of His people break forth in singing. "In that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise Thee; though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid, for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation" (Isaiah 12:1-2). "And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (Isaiah 35:10). The commotion in the temple was great after this miracle had taken place. There could be no mistake about it. The man who had been healed was too well known by the multitude. They recognized him at once. It was the same familiar face, which they had seen again and again at the temple gate. What a change had taken place! His helplessness was completely removed and he leaped along. Instead of the miserable cry of the mendicant, his lips shouted the praises of GOD. A large multitude came together, greatly wondering. And now Peter opens his lips to speak to the people. II. Peter’s Second Address. "And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; and killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. And his name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all" (Acts 3:12-16). This second address of Peter is characterized by a great calmness. He was not carried away by the great excitement of the astonished multitude. He does not see why they should be astonished at what had happened to the lame man. For some time greater miracles than the healing of the blind man had been wrought in the midst of them. One had walked among them who had rebuked the demons, opened the eyes of the blind, healed all manners of diseases and raised the dead. Why should they be so astonished at the healing of the lame man? But they not only gazed with astonishment upon the healed beggar, they also looked with wondering eyes upon the apostles themselves, as if they themselves by their own power or worth performed the healing. This, Peter disclaims. It was GOD Himself, who had glorified His servant JESUS in the healing of this man. Every word Peter utters, inbreathed by the Holy Spirit, shows the national Jewish character of the address. The Apostle does not speak of GOD as the Father of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, but as the GOD of Abraham, and of Isaac and Jacob. This is GOD’s Name in connection with His covenant people. In vain do we look for this name of GOD in the rest of the New Testament. For us, as believers, GOD’s Name is revealed as "Our God and our Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Then of the Lord, Peter speaks as "His Son Jesus." Peter, indeed, knew the Lord as the Son of the living GOD, for he had confessed Him thus at Caesarea Philippi. It was reserved for another Apostle to make known the full Glory and Sonship, both eternal and by resurrection from the dead, that is, through the Apostle Paul. The first time we find the Lord JESUS CHRIST preached as Son of GOD is in Acts 9:20, and the converted Saul of Tarsus is the preacher. In connection with the earth and His people Israel, the Lord is the servant of GOD. As such He Was predicted and described by Isaiah (Isaiah 53:1-12) and other prophets. That servant had been in the midst of His people and JESUS, the Nazarene, was that servant. The GOD of their Fathers had witnessed to it by healing the lame man; in it GOD had glorified His servant JESUS. But what had they done unto that Servant of the Lord? All their guilt is flashed forth once more. They had delivered Him, and though a Gentile, convinced of His innocence, wanted to let Him go, they had denied Him. That Servant of GOD was more than innocent, the Holy One and the Righteous One He was and they had denied such a one and chosen a murderer in His place; the Author of Life (Greek: the originator of life; what a title of our blessed Lord!) they had slain. The entire story of their wickedness and guilt is briefly rehearsed and pressed home to their hearts by the Holy Spirit. Could anyone of them deny these historical facts? It is a significant fact that at this time many attempts are being made by the Jews to shift the responsibility of the crucifixion of the Lord JESUS CHRIST upon someone else. The strange thing is that rabbis who attempt to disprove the New Testament record of the part the Jewish people played in the death of the Lord are sometimes admitted into evangelical churches to lay their arguments before Christian people. Recently we received a pamphlet from a rabbi, in which an attempt is made to show that the Jewish people at that time had no share in the death of CHRIST. Instead of confessing the sin of the nation and the sin of the rejection of the Holy One they try to justify themselves. But the day will come when they will truly mourn for Him as one mourneth for an only son (Zechariah 12:11-13). Peter likewise refers to the resurrection. GOD had raised him from the dead and they were the witnesses of His resurrection. Then we hear of His Name as the power which had made the man strong and gave to him this complete soundness. The power of GOD had therefore been witnessed by them. Here we mention briefly the fact that healing of this kind was perfectly in order in connection with the preaching we have here. Nowhere do we read that in connection with the church the gift of healing should be continued. That the Lord has the same power to heal, that His Name is as powerful as ever, none can doubt. "And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled" (Acts 3:17-18). What tenderness and mercy breathe in these words! He addresses them as brethren, but in a different sense as the word brethren is used in the church Epistles. As a member of the same nation Peter addressed them thus and offers them mercy. Their guilt could not be denied. All was true what Peter had just uttered; but GOD in His great mercy is ready to treat their great sin as a sin of ignorance. The Lord had prayed on the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And GOD was now ready to answer this prayer. [*] [*] The application of the Cities of Refuge, to which one who had slain a man unwittingly could flee, can easily be made (Joshua 20:1-9). Though they had cried: "His blood be upon us and our children," GOD, in His mercy, delayed the carrying out of this awful wish, uttered by them in their blindness. If they accepted this offered mercy, all their guilt would have been wiped out, but if they rejected and did not repent of what they had done, they set themselves willfully against GOD and Him whom He had sent. And Peter now makes His appeal and gives them the promise of GOD’s mercy. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began" (Acts 3:19-21). These are very interesting words and of great importance. They can only be understood in the right way if we do not lose sight of the fact to whom they were addressed, that is to Jews, and not to Gentiles. They are the heart of this discourse, and as such a God-given appeal and promise to the nation. If this is lost sight of, the words must lose their right meaning. The repentance which is demanded of them is an acknowledgment of the wrong they had done in denying the Holy and righteous One, a confession of their blood-guiltiness in having slain the author of life. This, of course, would result in their conversion and the blotting out of their sins as a nation. This GOD had promised before to the nation. "I, even I, am He that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins" (Isaiah 43:25). Anticipating that glorious day in which this shall be accomplished, a day still to come, the prophet spoke the following glorious words: "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord has done it; shout ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest and every tree therein; for the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and glorified Himself in Israel" (Isaiah 44:22-23). It is significant that in His second address Peter has nothing more to say about the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is in perfect keeping with the scope of his address. It being national, the blotting out of the sins of that people is mentioned first, and in the next place, the times of refreshing and the second coming of the same JESUS who had been received into heaven. The Holy Spirit had been given and that for the empowerment of the church, the body of CHRIST. The present address of Peter has it to do exclusively with the nation and their future, therefore the Holy Spirit, as He came on the day of Pentecost, is not mentioned. However, the promise of the Spirit in a future outpouring upon that nation is included in the promise, "the times of refreshing." This term means a future time of blessing which is in store for GOD’s earthly people. The other expression used, "the times of the restitution of all things" means practically the same as the times of refreshing. In these two expressions the Holy Spirit gathers together the hundreds of promises He gave through the different prophets of GOD, concerning a time of great blessing for His people and through them for the nations of the world. It would be impossible to mention all these promises and in what the times of refreshing and restoration of all things consist. These days of a coming age, the kingdom age, or as we call it, because its duration will be a thousand years, the Millennium, are fully described on the pages of Old Testament prophecy. Not alone will the nation be blessed, but Jerusalem will be a great city, the land will be restored and become the great center for blessing; the nations of the earth will receive blessing and groaning creation will be delivered from its groaning, and the curse which rests upon it. If we interpret the Word of Prophecy literally and cease spiritualizing it, we shall have no difficulty to behold the full meaning of the times of refreshing and the restitution of all things. The latter word does not include a restoration of the wicked dead, a second chance for those who passed out of this life in an unsaved condition. A false teaching refers to this passage as one of the arguments for the restoration of the wicked dead, including even Sodom and Gomorrah. But when did ever a prophet of GOD teach the restitution of the wicked dead? The prophets predicted the restoration of all things, but that restoration is clearly defined as concerning the things on the earth and not the beings which have passed out of this life. Not only in the Old Testament do we find a description of what is to come for Israel, the nations and creation, but elsewhere in the New Testament these times of refreshing and restoration of all things are clearly indicated. See Matthew 19:28; Romans 8:19-23; Ephesians 1:10, etc. But between these two words of promise of what shall be Israel’s portion if they repent, stands another fact: It is the second coming of JESUS CHRIST. This is a great fundamental passage of that great doctrine, the second coming of CHRIST. Peter declares that GOD is going to send JESUS CHRIST. This must mean a second coming. To teach this in the clearest manner, he adds that the heavens received Him, but they will not retain Him forever. He has gone into the heavens till the true restoration of all things comes. The second coming of CHRIST will result in the times of refreshing and restoration of all things. This event is, of course, His visible and glorious coming back to earth again, to the Mount of Olives from where He ascended, and for the deliverance and blessing of His earthly people. The coming of the Lord for His church as revealed through the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 must be distinguished from this visible return to the earth. The resurrected and living saints will be caught up together in clouds to meet the Lord in the air, into which the Lord descends when He redeems His promise to His own: "I will come again and receive you unto myself." Of this Peter had no knowledge at all when he delivered this testimony to the nation. What he speaks of is the coming of CHRIST in power and glory to establish His Kingdom in the midst of His people to extend over the entire earth, so that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters the deep. Of that coming prophets had spoken again and again. Indeed, it is impossible to separate in the prophetic Word the blessings promised for Israel, the nations and creation and the coming of CHRIST in glory as the King of kings. All this is so plain that it seems almost impossible for any man not to see the teaching of the pre-millennial coming of CHRIST, that there can be no age of blessing, no millennium, before CHRIST has returned. And yet one of the most learned men and Bible expositor, Dr. John Lightfoot, labors hard to explain away the literal coming of CHRIST, whom the heavens received. The words of this learned man are the weakest we have ever seen. He says in his Horae Hebraeicae on this passage the following: "Was that JESUS, whom we have crucified, the true CHRIST? (The Jews would ask after hearing Peter). Then is all our hope for refreshing by the Messiah vanished, because He Himself is vanished and gone. Then our expectation as to the consolation of Israel is at an end, because he who should be our consolation is perished. Not so (saith Peter) but the Messiah, and the refreshing by Him, shall be restored to you if you will repent; yet so that He Himself shall continue in heaven. He shall be sent to you in His refreshing and consolatory Word, and in His benefits if you repent." This great scholar allowed himself a great liberty with the Word of GOD and teaches the very opposite which Peter spoke to the nation. The offer of GOD through Peter and his message to the nation contains the great revealed purposes of GOD, as spoken by the mouth of His prophets since time began. Sometimes it is asked, What would have happened if the nation had then repented? Undoubtedly all would then have come to pass. In rapid succession all the events preceding the return of the Lord as recorded in the prophets Would have come to pass and then He would have come and brought the restoration of all things. This, however, was not in the purpose of GOD. He knew that Israel would reject this offer. The Lord had predicted it likewise. The prophets spoke of the dispersion of the nation and a long period of judgment for them. This period is the present age, during which Israel is set aside nationally, and at the same time GOD calls out a people for His Name from the Gentiles, that is the church. This may end at any time. We are living in significant days, surrounded by signs which herald the speedy ending of this present age. Then, once more, after the completion and removal of the church from earth, will Israel hear the message concerning the Kingdom. There will then be the repentance of a national remnant, the return of the Lord JESUS CHRIST and the times of refreshing and restoration of all things as the result of His coming. "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that Prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. Unto you first God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away everyone of you from his iniquities" (Acts 3:22-26). Next Peter mentions Moses, whom the nation held in such great reverence that they called him, and still do so, "Moses our teacher." Moses had spoken in Deuteronomy of another prophet whom the Lord would raise up. GOD promised that He would put His words into the mouth of the prophet. "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." (Deuteronomy 18:19). The one of whom Moses spoke, one greater than himself, was none other than CHRIST. That prophet had spoken and they had not heard. The threatening Word of the Lord was over them as a nation. Then he reminds them of the testimonies of the prophets beginning with Samuel, who all had announced these days. He closes with an appeal, telling them that they are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant and that it is first to them that GOD had raised His servant up. He was ready to bless them and turn every one from their iniquity. This second address of Peter is much shorter than the one delivered by him on the day of Pentecost and yet the brief words, which took a few minutes to deliver, contain the greatest truths. The Name of the Lord is mentioned by Peter in seven different forms: - As the Son of GOD, - The Holy One, - The Righteous One, - The Author of Life, - The CHRIST of GOD, - The Prophet and - The Seed of Abraham. Repentance, Conversion, the Blotting out of sins, the second coming of CHRIST, the coming age and its blessing, besides the suffering, death and resurrection of the Lord JESUS CHRIST are stated. But would they heed these solemn words? - Do we hear the multitude crying out, "What shall we do?" - Do they bow in true repentance? The address of Peter and the words of John, which the Holy Spirit has not put on record, were not finished, when an interruption took place. While they were yet speaking something happened. This we read in the next paragraph, with which the fourth chapter begins. III. Their Arrest. "And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide" (Acts 4:1-3). The large number of people, the news of the healing of the lame man and that the two men were addressing the people in Solomon’s porch, attracted the attention of the priests and the captain of the temple. The latter was a leading figure in the temple with much authority; it is probable that he had a rank next to the high priest. The enemy begins now his acts and the first indication is given that the offer GOD’s mercy was making to the nation would not be accepted. The Holy Spirit was acting mightily through the spoken Word, but these ecclesiastical leaders were hardening their hearts against the Word and the Spirit of GOD. The hate against that blessed Name broke out anew under the satanic power to which they had yielded. Soon it became evident that blindness is to become their portion. And the Sadducees came too. Though not much has been said on the resurrection, yet these rationalists, or as we would call them today, "higher critics," were much distressed because they preached JESUS and the resurrection. The next step is the arrest and imprisonment of the two apostles. Rough hands seize them. Persecution began. Of the Apostles we read nothing else. They submitted. The power of the Holy Spirit now manifested itself in a new way with them. They could suffer and perhaps with great joy, in perfect peace, they allowed themselves to be taken away. IV. The Result of the Testimony. "Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand" (Acts 4:4). Their labor had not been in vain. GOD’s power had accompanied the Word; a remnant heard and believed. The men are numbered and that is specifically a Jewish thing and a feature of the Kingdom. This is the last time that the converts are numbered. There can be no numbering in this church age; no one knows the number of the members of the body of CHRIST, but GOD only. The numbering is only on Kingdom ground. In the Gospels we have two miraculous draughts of fishes. The one in the Gospel of Luke before the cross where the net broke and the fishes were not numbered refers to the present age. The one in the Gospel of John after the resurrection of CHRIST, with Peter as leader, when the net did not break and the fishes are numbered, refers to the Kingdom. ~ end of chapter 3 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 45: 03.04. CHAPTER FOUR ======================================================================== CHAPTER FOUR The first few verses of this chapter giving the record of the arrest of the Apostles we expounded in connection with the third chapter to which they properly belong. What became of Peter and John, their appearing before the ecclesiastical authorities and final release, their return to their own company is given in the rest of this chapter. We meditate on it briefly, dividing the chapter into five parts. I. Peter and John before the rulers, elders, scribes and high-priestly family (Acts 4:5-7). II. Peter’s bold witness (Acts 4:8-12). III. The astonishment of the Sanhedrim, the release of the Apostles (Acts 4:13-22). IV. With their own company, their praise and prayer (Acts 4:23-31). V. The saved multitude one heart and one soul (Acts 4:32-37). I. Peter and John before the rulers. "And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes, and Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?" (Acts 4:5-7). The company before whom they were to appear was the Sanhedrim, the same before which the Lord had also appeared. They were gathered in Jerusalem; perhaps the different members which were some distance from the city were summoned to meet in the city. Besides Annas and Caiaphas, John and Alexander are mentioned. Nothing definite is known about these two persons. They were most likely relations of the high priest. Another view is that the John mentioned is a priest who was famous at that time, Rabban Jochanan Ben Zaccai. He lived to a very old age, and it is said of him that forty years before the destruction of Jerusalem, when the gates of the temple flew open of their own accord, he predicted that the temple was to be destroyed by fire. Before this company, who no doubt had all gazed in the face of the Lord when He stood before them, the two Apostles had to appear. We have here the first fulfillment of the many predictions given by our Lord that His beloved disciples were to suffer persecutions. "Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than His Lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept My saying, they will keep yours also" (John 15:20). "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues" (Matthew 10:16-17). "But take heed to yourselves; for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten; and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them" (Mark 13:9). They had to appear before the council in fulfillment of these predictions. Beaten they were later. In Acts 5:1-42 we read how all the twelve were brought before them, then they were beaten (Acts 5:40), and later other deeds of violence were committed against them. But while these predictions of our Lord were fulfilled then and throughout this entire age, a special end fulfillment is yet to come as it will be seen from the context in Matthew 10:1-42 and Mark 13:1-37. During the great tribulation with which this age closes Jewish disciples will witness as they did in the beginning and then they will suffer once more as did the Apostles and the Jewish Christians. Peter and John must have remembered all these words spoken by their departed Lord. The Holy Spirit brought them to their remembrance and filled them with joy and peace. What a privilege theirs was to appear before this ecclesiastical court before which the Lord had appeared! Then, too, the same question which the chief priests and elders had asked the Lord (Luke 20:1-2) was now put to them by the same men. II. Peter’s Bold Witness. “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:8-12). Here we have another accomplishment of what the Lord had said. "But when they shall lead you and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate; but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye, for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit." Even so it was here. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit as he arose to answer. The Holy Spirit then filled him and spoke through him. This third address of Peter reported in this book is as bold and clear as the previous addresses. How else could it be for he was but the mouthpiece of the third person of the Godhead, GOD the Holy Spirit. It is the briefest address and contains in the only ninety-two words in the Greek. It took only a few minutes to deliver, and yet how comprehensive it is. We notice seven things: 1. Peter brings at once forward the deed which had been done, the healing of the infirm man. This was the cause of their arrest and he is now to make known how this man was made whole. He calls the deed a "good deed." They had done nothing evil; there was no occasion whatever for their arrest. 2. The name of the Lord is next mentioned by him. He does not speak of Him as the Son of GOD but as JESUS CHRIST the Nazarene; the significance of these three words is as simple as it is interesting. - JESUS - that was His name as He walked amongst them; - CHRIST - such He was and is now exalted to the right hand of GOD; - The Nazarene - His name as the rejected One by His own, a rejection which rested upon these rulers of the nation. And now Peter with a holy boldness accuses the assembled Sanhedrim that they crucified the Lord JESUS CHRIST: "whom ye crucified." This was the truth for the Sanhedrim had condemned the Lord. What a change had taken place with Peter. A short time ago he faced a female servant of the high priest, and when that girl accused him of being a follower of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, he denied Him. And now filled with the Holy Spirit he accuses the Sanhedrim in presence of the high priest that, they crucified JESUS. What a contrast with the Peter who had feared that servant. 3. Again the resurrection of the Lord JESUS CHRIST is mentioned in this witness. This was the great object of apostolic preaching: Him "God raised from the dead." 4. The infirm man had been made sound in his body through the name of JESUS CHRIST whom they had crucified. The healing of the lame man was an evidence that the crucified One lives and that He is the CHRIST. The lame man stood there with the Apostles. This shows that when they were arrested, the healed one was likewise put into prison with them, for he stood up with Peter and John before the Sanhedrim. 5. In the next place Peter quotes the Word of GOD. The Holy Spirit puts the same Scripture before these rulers, elders and the chief priests, which the Lord had mentioned in their presence. "By what authority doest thou these things?" the same men had asked Him, who now asked His disciples. And the Lord had answered them in parables (Matthew 21:23-41). At the close of His second parable, the Gospel of Matthew tells us, the Lord quoted the words to them which Peter now uses in their presence: "Jesus says to them, Have ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which they that builded rejected, has become the corner stone; this is of the Lord and it is wonderful in our eyes? Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and shall be given to a nation producing the fruits of it. And he that falls on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it shall fall it shall grind him to powder. And the chief priests and the Pharisees having heard His parables, knew that He spoke about them." The One Hundred and Eighteenth Psalm from which the verse of the rejected stone is taken, belongs to the hymn mentioned in Matthew 26:30. It belongs to the Jewish ritual, known by the name of "the great Hallel," still used by the Jews during the Passover celebrations. But neither the modern nor the older Jewish expositors apply the words about the rejected stone to the CHRIST, their promised Messiah. Some say it refers to David himself, that he was the rejected stone and others apply it to the nation, rejected now but destined to be the corner stone of the nations. But the Lord had told them that He was the rejected stone mentioned in that Psalm, and here the Holy Spirit presses the same truth home to their hearts. They knew that the Lord meant them when He quoted that verse, that they were the builders, who were to reject Him. They had done so in fulfillment of that prophecy. Peter’s words are directed straight at them, He is “the stone which has been set at naught of you the builders." 6. The rejected stone had become the corner stone. The One whom they had delivered up and cast out had been given the prominent place of the corner stone upon whom as the foundation stone everything rests and who unites the building. The truth concerning Him as the corner stone is fully revealed in Ephesians, where we read . . . "Being built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the corner stone, in whom all the building fitted together increases to a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:20-22). The Holy Spirit aimed at their conscience. Will they hear and acknowledge their awful mistake in having rejected the Holy One? Will this striking incident of the healing of the lame man convince them that the rejected stone is the corner stone now? 7. Peter closes with the statement that salvation is only in Him whom they had set at naught. There is no other Name given to men by which man can be saved, and that is the Name of Him who had made this lame man whole. Salvation they all needed. They, too, rulers, elders, chief priests must be saved. But only in Him GOD had procured salvation free and complete for all, who will have it by believing on Him. This salvation was offered to these rulers, the builders who had rejected the Lord. III. The Astonishment of the Sanhedrim. and the Release of the Apostles. "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further among the people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men glorified God for that which was done. For the man was above forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing was shewed" (Acts 4:13-22). The rulers, elders, scribes and the high priest were astonished. But they were not astonished at what they had heard; they did not wonder at the divine voice which had spoken to them through an humble Galilean. The whole account shows how these ecclesiastical leaders had hardened their hearts, how they despised that blessed Name which is above every other name. Their astonishment was on account of Peter’s and John’s boldness. In the presence of this great council, so revered by the whole nation, these two men had uttered a great accusation. They had accused them of having crucified one who not alone was innocent, but who was the long promised Messiah. Then they were astonished on account of the language and Scripture quotation used. They knew they were illiterate and uninstructed (the Greek word is idiots). How then could a man like Peter speak such wonderful words in so brief a period? Then they recognized them as having been with JESUS, which does not mean, as it is so often said, that they were known by their meek manner or spirituality, that they were in fellowship with the Lord, but they recognized them as having been with the Lord JESUS during the last week in Jerusalem before He suffered and died. But their dilemma is still greater. The healed man, who was above forty years old, stood there. It was impossible to deny that the miracle was not genuine. They had nothing to reply. When they find words it is to request them to go outside so that they might speak together on their case and about the situation. There was no repentance, no willingness to accept what had been so powerfully presented to them. Faster and faster these men were rushing into the outer darkness. Peter, John and the healed man went outside under guard, while inside they discussed their case. But who knew what they said? How did it become known? This is one of the many incidents in the Word of GOD illustrating what inspiration is. No one reported to Luke what took place in that council chamber nor the other secret things reported in this book. But One saw and heard, and He the Holy Spirit, revealed these secret things to His chosen instrument, the beloved physician, Luke. We learn what happened. They could not deny the miracle. A miracle had taken place. They could not deny it. If there had been a way to deny the healing of that man, they would have done so. Furthermore, we see their wicked impenitent state. Not a word is said by them about the person of CHRIST. Not one voice is heard to consider the strong witness they had heard. When they mention the Lord’s name it is only in connection with forbidding the disciples to use the Name in speaking and teaching. They charged them never to mention that Name again. The courageous words of the two Apostles need no further comment. In all boldness they declared that they would obey GOD more than man’s word. This holy courage was the product of the indwelling Spirit. And we, too, beloved readers, need such courage as witnesses for our absent Lord. But few of GOD’s people have it and often they fear men and bow to ecclesiastical institutions and leaders, which deny the Holy One of GOD as much as these rulers and scribes did. The Holy Spirit grant us a greater boldness in these last and evil days, when GOD calls to contend earnestly for the faith. The only answer the learned rulers and scribes could give was a renewed threat. They were sorry that they could not punish them. They did not dare to lay hands on them on account of the people. Too many knew what had taken place, and GOD was glorified by those who had been witnesses of the healing of the lame man. The great ecclesiastical council was the coward. IV. With their own company; their praise and prayer. "And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which has made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is; Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spake the Word of God with boldness" (Acts 4:23-31). With great joy they must have turned towards the place where their own company assembled. We do not understand by this expression only the Apostles, but it was a much larger gathering. The news of the arrest of Peter and John must have reached them soon after it took place. And as the assembly made increasing prayer for Peter, when Herod had cast him into prison (Acts 12:5) so in all probability were they continuing in prayer for the two Apostles, who were later called "pillars of the church" (Galatians 2:1-21). There must have been great joy when they appeared again with them. A report is given of what had taken place and what the chief priests and elders had demanded of them. No idle discussion follows; no schemes or plans are made how to act with this injunction against their speaking in His Name. They did something far better and grander. Hezekiah, the good king, when he had received the threatening words of Rabshakeh, the mouthpiece of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king (2 Kings 19:1-37), laid the whole matter before the Lord. So this company in their perplexity turns to the Lord in prayer. It concerned GOD and His CHRIST, His holy servant JESUS; Him they are willing to glorify by serving or suffering. While they had made the positive declaration to the assembled rulers that they could not and would not keep silence, they now ask counsel of the Lord. The precious lessons and instructions we receive from this fact are not difficult to discover. The Holy Spirit leads to prayer, and prayer is the expression of dependence on the Lord. With one accord they lift up their voice to GOD. This does not mean that they all prayed at once. That would have been confusion. Disorder in meetings, a number of people talking at the same time in a boisterous way with outward demonstrations, is an evidence that the Holy Spirit is not leading, for GOD is not a GOD of disorder, but of peace (1 Corinthians 14:33). Most likely Peter uttered the words of prayer and the rest followed in their hearts with one accord. GOD is addressed as the Lord (Master) and GOD who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. Later after the complete revelation of the Gospel of the Son of GOD, prayer is addressed to the GOD and Father of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, which is the proper way now to address GOD. Nowhere in this book is a prayer addressed to the Holy Spirit. Nowhere in the Epistles do we find a prayer addressed to the third person in the Godhead or an exhortation to pray for His coming. Prayer to the Holy Spirit or for Him by those who are indwelt by Him (as every true Christian is) is not scriptural. We also do not find anywhere in this Book of the Acts that the Apostles or the other disciples ever prayed the so-called "Lord’s prayer;" that is the “Our Father." That form of prayer had been given to the disciples for a certain time only. Before He left them He had, so to speak, cancelled that form of prayer. "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name; ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full" (John 16:24). Prayer is to be made in His Name in the power of His Spirit. The foundation of this first recorded prayer in the Acts is the Word of GOD. The Holy Spirit brings the Word to their minds and with that Word before their hearts they utter their petition. This is the true way of prayer. Daniel prayed in this way as well as others. The Scripture which is mentioned is the Second Psalm. Throughout the New Testament the prophetic importance of that great collection of inspired prayers and songs of praise, the Book of Psalms, is seen. The Second Psalm is a great prophecy. The Psalm itself bears no title nor the name of the instrument through whom it was given. Here in this prayer we learn that David by the Holy Spirit is the author of this Psalm. The Psalm begins with a prediction that the Gentiles were to oppose the Lord and His anointed, that is CHRIST. And here we lee a partial fulfilment of this prophecy. Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel had indeed gathered together in that city to do what the hand and the counsel of the Lord had determined before should come to pass. The Anointed of the Lord had been rejected and refused. The Gentiles had an equal share in it. The rulers of the peoples of Israel had given command that His blessed Name should no more be mentioned. All was pre-determined by GOD, which, of course, did not clear them from responsibility and guilt. It is an interesting fact that the text of the Second Psalm does not show that His own people Israel were to have part in that rejection. But this does not exhaust the prophetic meaning of the Second Psalm. The rejection of the CHRIST of GOD by the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel in the beginning of this age is only the prelude to the greater rejection of the Lord at the end of the age. Then the kings of the earth will form a great confederacy and say: "Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us." This will be followed by the great event which is so clearly revealed in Psalms 2:1-12, the Coming of the King to rule over these nations and to break them with a rod of iron. The rejected CHRIST will be enthroned as King upon the holy hill of Zion. Of Him the Lord will declare: "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." (In resurrection from the dead). Only then will the Second Psalm be fulfilled. With such a word before their hearts opened to their vision by the Holy Spirit while they were praying, they can come boldly to the Lord. They implore Him to look upon their threatenings. He knew all. But their prayer was not that their enemies might be destroyed nor that they might be delivered from further attacks. Their prayer was for boldness to speak the Word. They cast themselves upon the Lord for Grace and help. They also ask, which was perfectly in order on the ground they occupied, that His hand might be outstretched to heal and that signs and wonders take place through the name of His holy servant JESUS. Such a prayer which concerned only the Lord and His Glory could not remain unanswered. The answer came at once. The place was shaken; they were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God with boldness. The outward sign was that the place in which they assembled was shaken. The Lord and GOD, the Creator, manifested His power. It was no doubt a shaking of the earth, and in connection with the prediction of the Second Psalm, this is likewise significant. As that place was shaken, so, in the future, when the kings and the nations of the earth are in complete opposition to GOD and His Christ, heaven and earth will be shaken, when the King of king returns. [*] [*] Compare the outward signs on the day of Pentecost and the shaking of the place with 1 Kings 19:11-12. Four outward signs were present when the Lord passed by Elijah: Wind, earthquake, fire and the still small voice. So at Sinai. The filling with the Holy Spirit was not another outpouring or Baptism. He filled them anew. "Be filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18) is the word to us, and He will fill us if our constant aim is in word and deed to glorify the Lord JESUS CHRIST. The filling with the Holy Spirit manifested itself by their boldness in speaking the Word of GOD. They had great courage and liberty preaching the good news in the blessed Name of the Lord. V. The saved multitude one heart and one soul. “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked; for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation), a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet" (Acts 4:32-37). A fresh glimpse is given to us of the assembly in Jerusalem. The first description we had at the close of Acts 2:1-47. After the great events recorded in Acts 3:1-26 and Acts 4:1-37 we behold again the happy condition of the multitude who had believed. This is a precious picture once more. There was a divine oneness among them. While in Acts 2:1-47 we are told that they sold their substance and possessions, here we read that not one said that anything of what he possessed was his own. They realized that their real possessions were now in a better place, no longer on earth, but in heaven. A marvellous change had taken place from the earthly calling and hope of the Jew, to the heavenly calling and heavenly hope. It is true the full revelation of the heavenly had not yet been given, but what they knew of CHRIST, His resurrection and His place at the right hand of GOD was sufficient to detach them from earthly things. It was the Holy Spirit who made this so real to them, and through His power they were enabled to bear such a witness to the truth. That the resurrection of the Lord JESUS is again mentioned in these verses shows the prominence this great event held in their hearts. It was this which separated them and on account of which great grace was upon them all. Well may we remember here the words of the Apostle with which he begins the practical part of that Epistle, which reveals the glory of our risen and exalted Lord: "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3). The great truth of the resurrection and exaltation of CHRIST and that we are raised with Him and belong there where He is can do only one thing and that is, wean us away from the things on earth. How much this ought to be the case in these last days when the Lord’s Coming is so near. In consequence of having all things in common, want and poverty were unknown amongst them. The need of all was supplied. All this was for a purpose. It was a great testimony to the nation. It lasted for but a brief period. We do not find it again. The next chapter begins with a "but" and shows how the sweet picture was marred by the sin of Ananias and Sapphira. In Acts 6:1-15 we have the record of the murmuring one against the other. Thus failure soon came in. On Gentile ground we find nowhere these conditions as given in these verses. One is mentioned especially, Joses Barnabas, as he had been named by the Apostles, the Son of Consolation. He was a Levite, born in the island of Cyprus. He was a well-to-do man, and had relations in Jerusalem, for John Mark was his cousin. The Grace of GOD enabled him to sell the land he possessed. How richly he was blessed and how the Lord chose him for an instrument we shall find later. ~ end of chapter 4 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 46: 03.05. CHAPTER FIVE ======================================================================== CHAPTER FIVE The contents of this chapter are as follows: I. The manifestation of evil in the church; Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-10). II. Signs and wonders by the hands of the Apostles (Acts 5:11-16). III. The second arrest of the Apostles and their miraculous deliverance (Acts 5:17-25). IV. Before the council; the defense of the Apostles, Peter’s renewed witness (Acts 5:25-34). V. Gamaliel’s advice (Acts 5:34-39). VI. The Apostles beaten, dismissed from the council but continuing teaching and preaching the glad tidings (Acts 5:40-42). I. The Manifestation of evil in the church; Ananias and Sapphira. "But a certain man, Ananias by name with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, and put aside for himself part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, laid it at the feet of the apostles. But Peter said, Ananias, Ananias, why has Satan filled thy heart that thou shouldest lie to the Holy Spirit, and put aside for thyself a part of the price of the land? While it remained, was it not thine own? and sold was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men but unto God. And Ananias hearing these words fell down and expired; and great fear came upon all who heard it. And the young men, rising up, wound him up for burial, and having carried him out, buried him. And it came to pass about three hours afterward, that his wife, not knowing what had happened, came in~ And Peter answered her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out. Then fell she down straightway at his feet and expired. And the young men came in and found her dead, and, having carried her out, they buried her by her husband" (Acts 5:1-10). Up to this chapter we have beheld a beautiful picture of the work of the Holy Spirit in the gathering of those who had believed and their fellowship, as well as in the bold testimony of the Apostles. The acts of the Holy Spirit in His mighty power are fully demonstrated in the second, third and fourth chapters of this book of Exodus of the New Testament. Then we likewise saw how the enemy began to act in the arrest of Peter and John. With this chapter the scene changes. Beautiful is the ending of the previous chapter, Barnabas having sold his land, laid the money at the feet of the Apostles. He gave by it a striking testimony how he realized as a believing Jew his heavenly portion, by giving up that which is promised to the Jew, earthly possessions. Our chapter begins with the significant word "But." It is the word of failure and decline. All was evidently perfect; nothing marred the precious scenes of fellowship - "but" and with this little word the story of evil begins. The enemy seeing himself so completely defeated by his attacks from the outside now enters among the flock and begins his work within. The instruments were Ananias and Sapphira, man and wife. They too had an estate, which they sold. They had beforehand agreed to surrender only a part of the money they received from the sale, the balance they were keeping back for themselves. It was deception they had deliberately planned. Behind it stood unbelief; they did not realize in faith that GOD Himself in the person of His Spirit had made His abode in the assembly of which they were a part. They did not consider this stupendous fact that the Holy Spirit had come and was present in the gathered company. But what was the motive? The surrender of possessions as done by Barnabas was entirely voluntary. No one had asked Ananias and Sapphira to do the same thing. The motive was selfishness. Barnabas had done a good deed in obeying the Holy Spirit and no doubt he received praise and blessing for it. This moved Ananias and Sapphira to jealousy and they desired to have the same reputation. But their hearts were covetous; they loved the earthly things and they did not want to part with all the purchase money. Human glory and money were the downfall of Ananias and his wife. They were double-minded. The Spirit of GOD was working in great power, but what they manifested was an imitation, hypocrisy, a lie. [*] [*] There is an interesting correspondency between the sin of Achan, the first failure reported after Israel entered the land, and the sin of Ananias and Sapphira. Satan himself had filled the heart of Ananias using his flesh to commit this sin of lying to the Holy Spirit. Satan had begun his work in the midst of the gathered company and he worked through the flesh of those who had believed on the Lord. Swift judgment followed as to their earthly existence. They were cut off by death. The sin they had done was "a sin unto death" and the sentence, physical death, was immediately carried out. Peter is still in the foreground. We must remember here the words of the Lord which He spake to Peter, after this disciple had confessed Him as Son of GOD. "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:19). The same words concerning binding and loosing the Lord addressed to all the disciples (Matthew 18:18). The binding and loosing refers to discipline on earth. It has nothing whatever to do with forgiveness of sins or eternal salvation. Peter here exercises this authority, it was the first discipline. We must likewise remember that these events happened on Jewish, on kingdom ground. The witness was still to the nation. The sudden judgment which came upon Ananias and Sapphira was a strong witness to the nation that the Holy One of Israel, the Lord, dwelt in the midst of this remnant, who believed in the One whom the nation had rejected. When the kingdom is established on earth and the Lord JESUS CHRIST rules in righteousness, then, no doubt every sin will be swiftly judged by death. If it is asked why such judgments do no longer occur, we answer that the Holy Spirit then was ungrieved; now the Spirit is grieved on account of unfaithfulness and GOD no longer acts in this way to bear testimony to His presence in the church. Besides this it is nowhere stated that such manifestations of His presence were to continue. If GOD would thus act in judgment in every case of double-mindedness, unfaithfulness and sinning against the Holy Spirit, it would be contrary to one great characteristic of this present age. That is "the silent heavens." The many misguided people, who think they have gone back to Pentecost, have received their Pentecost, speak with new tongues, that the gift of tongues and of doing miracles is restored to them and that they are now once more in "apostolic times," should also expect such judgments in their midst. There are some important lessons to be gathered from this solemn event which we cannot pass by. (1) The fact of the presence of the flesh in the believer. Ananias and Sapphira were believers. They gave way to follow the flesh, and Satan came in with his power and tempted them. The doctrine of the eradication of the old nature by having received "the baptism with the Holy Spirit" is unscriptural. In this case of Ananias and Sapphira it is fully demonstrated what is written in the Epistle to the Galatians "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things ye would" (Galatians 5:17). (2) The power of Satan is revealed in the event. What Ananias and Sapphira did was suggested to them by Satan. Vainglory was in their hearts; they followed pride to win fame and get the praise from man. They had the root of all evil "the love of money" in their hearts and yielded to it. Acting thus in the flesh Satan came and suggested the lie to them. Their eyes were then blinded and they lost sight of the great truth so well known to them that He who is "perfect in knowledge" dwelt in them and in the midst of the congregation as the Lord had dwelt in the midst of Israel. (3) The event bears witness to the fact that the Holy Spirit is not an influence but a divine person, He is GOD. Ananias had lied to the Holy Spirit. Peter tells him "Thou hast not lied to men but to God." To tempt the Holy Spirit is to tempt GOD and to lie to the Spirit is a lie to GOD. (4) All sin of the Christian believer is now against the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells the believer and whenever the believer walks not in the Spirit but in flesh, when he is carnally minded, the believer sins against the Holy Spirit. Satan has then an advantage over him. But thanks be to GOD for His gracious provision! We can judge ourselves and confess our sins (not to the Holy Spirit but to GOD), and He is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse us. 5. The presence of the Holy Spirit demands separation from evil. If believers would recognize the great truth, believe it fully that the Holy Spirit dwells in them, they would walk in the Spirit and be separated from evil. With all the singing about the Holy Spirit, the teaching and the great amount of scriptural literature on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, but few believers enjoy the reality of the presence of the Spirit of GOD and are governed by it. Those who are the Lord’s must be separated from evil of every form. One has well said: "In the first days of the Holy Spirit He took out what dishonored Him. In later days He called upon the assembly to act, to purge out the leaven, to ’put away’ that wicked person" (1 Corinthians 5:1-13). In these last days, when the whole has become leavened with legality, worldliness, hypocrisy, sensuality, ritualism and rationalism, the faithful are to come out from among them and be separate, to follow righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart (that is unmixed with any evil). In Israel the Lord judged in the beginning, at once and severely, for "holiness becometh His house forever." But in later days, when all had gone aside, and they who regarded Him were but few they were told to stand apart from the whole. The condition of the professing company may change, but the grand principle remains. The holiness of His presence excluding and separating us from evil." Oh that GOD’s people in these solemn days, when judgment is so near, may hear the call of the Holy Spirit in the last Pauline Epistle, the Epistle which so clearly describes the present apostasy, Second Timothy. It is His call to separation from evil (2 Timothy 2:20-21; 2 Timothy 3:5). II. The Signs and Wonders done by the Hands of the Apostles. "And great fear came upon all the church, and upon all who heard these things. And by the hands of the Apostles were many signs and wonders done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch, but of the rest durst no man join them, but the people magnified them; and believers were more than ever added to the Lord, multitudes (both of men and women); so that they brought out the sick into the streets and put them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter, when he came, might overshadow some of them. And the multitudes also of the cities round about came together to Jerusalem, bringing sick persons beset by unclean spirits, who were all healed" (Acts 5:11-16). Signs and wonders were done by the Apostles. Their habitual place seems to have been in Solomon’s porch. No one dared to join them. They held the position of authority. Though they had been forbidden the public ministry they are back in a prominent place. The people magnified them, too. Then another result was that more believers were added. Added to what? The First Hebrew Christian Church of Jerusalem? The First Jewish Christian Society? No. They were added to the Lord. The sinner believing is saved, receives the Holy Spirit, is joined to the Lord, becomes one spirit with the Lord, a member of the body of which He is the Head. Signs and wonders were done by the Apostles. The sick were healed, unclean spirits were driven out. Multitudes of people from the surrounding country flocked to Jerusalem, bringing their sick, and they were all healed. The streets presented another strange picture. Everywhere one could see the sick on beds and couches. They waited for the time when Peter walked through these streets so that his shadow might fall on some of them. These were great manifestations of the power of GOD. The words spoken by the Lord were then fulfilled. They did the works He did. These signs and wonders, however, are nowhere mentioned as to their permanency throughout this age. They were only for the beginning of this age; after the Gospel of Grace and the mystery hidden in former ages had been fully made known they disappeared. It has been said of late that "God’s gifts and calling are without repentance" and that therefore GOD has not taken back the sign gifts and the extraordinary powers as manifested here in this chapter in connection with the testimony to Israel. The reader must remember that the verse concerning the gifts and calling of GOD is written in Romans 11 and has no application in connection with this age but refers us to Israel’s calling. Nor has GOD promised for the end of this age a restoration of these gifts. When certain men, claiming to be great teachers of the Word, speak of "the latter rain," great spiritual blessings coming in the end of this age, they but reveal their ignorance. Nowhere is there found such a promise. The testimony of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament holds out no hope for a restoration of gifts, but His testimony tells us of apostasy, departure from the faith, and delusions. There will be "signs and wonders" in the end of the age. But these signs and wonders will be the most awful imitations of the power of the Holy Spirit: signs and lying wonders are predicted through the working of Satan. These have already commenced, but the real working of Satan will begin after the true church is removed from the earth (2 Thessalonians 2:1-17). III. The Second Arrest of the Apostles and their Miraculous Deliverance. "And the high priest rising up, and all they that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, were filled with wrath, and laid hands on the Apostles and put them in the public prison. But an angel of the Lord during the night opened the doors of the prison, and leading them out, said, Go ye and stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. And when they heard it, they entered very early into the temple and taught. And when the high priest was come, and they that were with him, they called together the council and all the senate of the children of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came they found them not in the prison and returned and reported, saying, We found the prison shut with all safety and the keepers standing without before the doors, but when we had opened we found no man within. And when they heard these words, both the priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests were in perplexity as to them, what this would come to. Then came one and reported to them saying, Behold the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple teaching the people" (Acts 5:17-25). The startling manifestations of the Holy Spirit in signs and miracles brought forth another and more severe action of the enemy. The second arrest of the bold witnesses is marked by greater hatred and violence than the first arrest. The Apostles were treated like common criminals and were put into the public prison. The Sadducees, the deniers of the resurrection and the miraculous, are mostly concerned in this second arrest. Their miserable unbelief had been endangered by the supernatural manifestations and these again fully demonstrated the great truth they were denying, the resurrection of the Lord JESUS. They were filled with jealousy (the word used in the Greek). But there was another manifestation of the power of GOD. During the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison and led them out. They were delivered by divine interference through the power of GOD by a heavenly messenger. Critics have denied this. One recently has made the statement that the phrase "angel of the Lord" must be understood, "as a Hebraic expression for some divine intervention, the manner of which is not defined. It may have been connivance on the part of an officer, or the help of a friend." Such weak statements need no answer. We shall find the appearance of heavenly messengers again. It was an angel of the Lord who guided Philip, who liberated Peter out of prison, and who smote Herod when he blasphemed (Acts 12:1-25). In the Old Testament we find "the angel of the Lord" (Malach Jehovah) and He is an uncreated angel, the Lord Himself. But here it is a heavenly messenger. He appeared, no doubt, in the form of man, like the two at the ascension of the Lord. Such a manifestation of angels was perfectly in order at that time, and fully corresponds with the other kingdom characteristics in the beginning of the Book of Acts. But the supernatural manifestations soon ceased. Hundreds and thousands of others throughout this present age were put into prison, they remained in dungeons, were slowly tormented, walled up to die a slow death, eaten by vermin, all for righteousness sake, and yet no angels came to open their doors and lead them forth. With this we do not say that the angels have no ministry now toward us. This would be contrary to Scripture (Hebrews 1:14). But visible manifestations of heavenly messengers have ceased like the miraculous sign gifts. It will not always be so. The heavens will speak again and there will be startling manifestations on judgment through angels and with the beginning of the coming age, angels will be manifested once more, and GOD’s power and glory will be visibly displayed. The delivering angel had also commissioned the Apostles to speak the words of life to all the people. This they did at once with the early morning. The assembled council is in great perplexity when the prison is found empty and the report reaches them, that the men are again standing in the temple teaching the people. Yet this evident miracle does not bring them to their knees to acknowledge the power of GOD. IV. Their Trial and Witness before the Council. "Then went the captain with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. And they brought them and set them in the council. And the high priest asked them, saying, We strictly enjoined you not to teach in this Name, and behold ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and purpose to bring upon us the blood of this man. But Peter, answering, and the Apostles said, God must be obeyed rather than man. The God of our Fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree (lit. wood, that is a cross). Him did God exalt by His right hand as a Prince and Saviour, to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins. And we are His witnesses of these things, and the Holy Spirit also, whom God has given to them that obey Him. When they heard that, they were cut to the heart and took counsel to kill them" (Acts 5:26-33). With cowardly fear they led them into the presence of the council. They did not dare to use violence as this might have resulted in an open outbreak from the side of the people, who heard the Apostles gladly. Two charges are brought now against them. They had broken the command of the council. They had been forbidden to speak in this Name and they had continued to do so, utterly disregarding the injunction. This was the first charge and it was true enough. The second charge was but the working of their guilty conscience. They accused them that they purposed to bring this man’s blood upon them. They feared that the people stirred up by their teaching, might take them to task for having condemned JESUS of Nazareth. But another fact stands behind this fear. The people had cried "His blood be on us and on our children." The leaders of the people were responsible for this awful word. They must have remembered it and they feared that this might soon be true in open vengeance from the side of the people against them. It is also a remarkable fact that they themselves do not speak the name of the Lord. They speak of Him as "this man" and "this name." Once more we find the record of the apostolic testimony. It does not differ from the previous bold and powerful witnesses given. After the statement that GOD must be obeyed rather than man, we find three great facts mentioned by Peter: 1. The JESUS, whose Name they were loath to pronounce, whom GOD had raised up, they had slain and hanged on a cross. This fully establishes their guilt. Once more the blood guiltiness is brought home to their consciences. 2. The exaltation of JESUS is mentioned next. Raised from the dead, exalted by the right hand of GOD, He is a Prince and Saviour. In His Name repentance is offered to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 3. The third part of this brief and logical defense concerns the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead. They were witnesses of these things, and also the Holy Spirit. This Holy Spirit is now bestowed upon them that obey Him, that is, who believe GOD. The Holy Spirit was upon them and in them, and with them as a believing company. The witness concerned the three great facts so prominent in the beginning of this book, the death of JESUS, the resurrection of JESUS, and the presence of the Holy Spirit, because the Lord JESUS CHRIST is glorified, highly exalted. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, are thus mentioned. The Gospel is mentioned. Forgiveness of sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit is for them that obey, believe in Him, whom GOD has exalted as Prince and Saviour. Surely this is a fulfillment of that word the Lord spoke to His disciples, when He predicted future events. "But when they deliver you up, be not careful how or what ye shall speak; for it shall be given to you in that hour what ye shall speak" (Matthew 10:19). But what was the result of this other powerful witness of the Apostles by the power of the Holy Spirit? Are they humbling themselves? Does perhaps this stirring testimony backed up by divine interference in the release of the Apostles from the prison make them thoughtful? No. The witness went to the heart; it struck home. But instead of repenting they took counsel to kill them. The story of their Lord is repeated, for they also took counsel to kill them, in order to silence His testimony. Under the control of him, who is a murderer from the beginning they are ready to shed more blood. What might have happened if Gamaliel had not stood up, none can tell. Perhaps they were ready then to rush upon them as later they rushed upon Stephen to murder him. V. The Advice of Gamaliel (Acts 5:34-39). "But a certain man, a Pharisee, named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, held in honor of all the people, rose up in the council and commanded to put the Apostles out for a little while, and he said to them, Yemen of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do as touching these men. For before these days Theudas rose up, alleging himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves and who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to naught. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the census, and drew away a number of people after him; he also perished and all, as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. And now I say unto you, Withdraw from these men and let them alone; for if this council or this work be of men, it will come to naught. But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God" (Acts 5:34-39). Gamaliel was undoubtedly an instrument of GOD to restrain the wicked devices of the council. But who was Gamaliel? The text itself gives the answer, a great man and teacher of the law. He is called in Hebrew writings Rabban Gamaliel the Old. His name means "bestowed of GOD." He was president of the council after his own father, Rabban Simeon, who was the son of Hillel. He is the great teacher at whose feet Saul of Tarsus sat. He died eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem, and died a Pharisee. If his advice here seems that he favored the Apostles, his subsequent career shows that he followed the wicked devices of his contemporaries. A prayer against the heretics (the believers in the Lord) was later formulated to be read in the synagogues, and he fully approved of it and recommended its use. The advice he gave is so well known and the words so simple that they need no further comment. His advice is, leave them alone. Wait for the issue. - If it is of GOD, you then fight against GOD. - If it is of man, like similar movements before, it will come to nought. GOD will take care of His own honor; there would be no need of their interfering. GOD rules supreme. But this advice has also another side. It was after all nothing but a cowardly way to dodge the issue by waiting for light by the issue itself. Ever since up to the present time men have hidden themselves behind the wisdom of Gamaliel. If certain movements spring up which are doubtful and contain erroneous teachings contradicting the revelation of GOD, we hear people say that they are content to wait for the issue. If the movement is of GOD it will stand, if it is of man it will come to nought. But what in the meantime? If it does not become apparent at once whether it is of GOD or of the enemy? There is no need to follow this clever advice of the great Jewish teacher. We are in possession of the completed Word of GOD and must test everything by it. There is no need to halt between two opinions. Evil can be detected and must be judged. But that the council acted upon this in hypocrisy is seen by what follows. And yet we must not lose sight of the fact that GOD used this politic advice of Gamaliel to keep His disciples in that hour of grave peril. VI. The Release of the Apostles. Their Continued Testimony. "And to him they agreed; and when they had called the Apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And daily in the temple, and in every house they ceased not to teach and announce the glad tidings that Jesus is Christ" (Acts 5:40-42). Nothing of all this was known to the Apostles for they had been outside while Gamaliel delivered his address. The Holy Spirit through Luke gives the full account of what had been done under cover. The council agreed. But if they agreed, why did they beat the Apostles? It surely was contrary to the agreement. They should have let them go without laying their hands on them, but wait for the issue. If these men were right, then according to Gamaliel’s word they were fighting against GOD. This was, of course, the case. The beating was according to Deuteronomy 25:2-3. They were treated as wicked men and received the allotted number of stripes, forty save one. Physical suffering and shame was connected with this mode of punishment. This was the first actual suffering of the Apostles for the Name, which is above every other name. Then we see them departing. It was a departure in triumph; they were more than conquerors. If we could have seen them with their bleeding backs, we would not have beheld faces full of rebellion and pain, but we would have seen joyous countenances and heard words of praise from their lips, as later Paul and Silas sang and praised in prison. It was the Holy Spirit who filled them and made them rejoice "that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His Name." Later the Holy Spirit speaks of suffering for CHRIST through Peter in a way which is so refreshing. "But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that when His glory shall be revealed, Ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the Spirit of Glory and of God resteth upon you, on their part He is evil spoken of, but on your part He is glorified" (1 Peter 4:13-14). Thus His Spirit rested upon them and they rejoiced. How little we know of such experiences in our own days! And then they continued. Nothing could hinder them. What a divine steadfastness was theirs. It was the result of the presence of the Holy Spirit in them. He was ungrieved because they exalted CHRIST and magnified Him. A wonderful activity they unfolded. It was indeed true what the council had said. All Jerusalem was filled by their doctrine. The work they did continually was not the working of miracles, or speaking in strange tongues. Some deluded Christians of our times seem to think that these outward signs were the chief things in the beginning of the age. They were not. Greater than doing miracles and speaking in other tongues is that, through which the body of CHRIST is gathered and edified. This is the preaching of the Gospel and the teaching of the Word. This they did. They did not cease teaching and preaching the glad tidings (the Gospel), that JESUS is CHRIST. ~ end of chapter 5 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 47: 03.06. CHAPTER SIX ======================================================================== CHAPTER SIX This chapter has two parts. - In the first part (Acts 6:1-7) we find the record of the murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, and how this difficulty was overcome. - In the second part (Acts 6:8-15) Stephen, one of the seven chosen, is in the foreground. This part properly belongs to the chapter which follows, in which Stephen’s great address before the council and his glorious martyrdom is revealed. I. The Murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews. "But in those days, when the number of disciples multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians (Hellenists) against the Hebrews, because their widows were overlooked in the daily ministrations. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples, and said, It is not right that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of good report, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may establish over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. And the saying pleased the whole multitude; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch: whom they set before the apostles: and when they have prayed, they laid their hands on them. And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith" (Acts 6:1-7). Another failure is brought before us. The enemy acts again. From without and from within Satan pressed upon that which was of GOD. While the Lord JESUS CHRIST and the Holy Spirit acted in Grace and power, the enemy came in to disturb. It is still so. Whenever there is a door opened there are also many adversaries (1 Corinthians 16:9). The flesh manifested itself in murmuring. The assembly took care of the poor; widows being specially helpless, were the objects of daily ministrations. The Jews themselves in connection with the synagogue had special funds for them. They must have also formed a recognized group in the early church (1 Timothy 5:9-10). The ministration is the distribution mentioned in Acts 4:35, and as the multitude was very great, including, perhaps, hundreds of widows, this work was quite a task. Murmurings arose and these were born of jealousy, the result of unbelief. It is the first indication of weakness and failure. This reminds us of the murmurings of Israel as recorded in the book of Exodus. The same old thing, the changeless flesh, shows itself among the saved and united company of believers, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The murmurings were on the side of the Grecians. Their complaint was against the Hebrews that the Grecian widows were being overlooked. The Grecians were not, as some teach, Gentiles, but they were Greek-speaking Jews, born in countries outside of Palestine, and therefore called Hellenists, or Grecians. Between these two classes, the native and foreign-born Jews, there existed considerable jealousy. This rivalry was introduced in the assembly. The Hebrew distributors were accused of overlooking the Grecians. But the murmuring was arrested at once. A divine Person was present, the One perfect in wisdom, the Holy Spirit. As He was ungrieved in their midst, He at once meets the need of the assembly. The murmuring could not advance nor do its pernicious work in dividing the people. Later the Holy Spirit especially warns against murmuring. "Let all things be done without murmurings and disputings" (Php 2:1-30). Murmurings belong to the works of the flesh and will lead to the things mentioned in Galatians 5:1-26 : "hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings." Alas! how sad is the condition of Christian churches at the present time in this respect. If believers walk in humility, in self-judgment, esteeming the other higher than themselves, and are controlled by the mind which was in CHRIST JESUS, all those things would not be. Any murmuring, if it arises through the weakness of the flesh, would at once be cut short by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of GOD, who had, as reported in the previous chapter, acted in judgment by removing the two transgressors, now acts in divine grace. The twelve called the assembly together. As the murmuring of Israel in the wilderness was mostly directed against Moses and Aaron, their divinely-appointed leaders, so the murmuring here was in a certain measure against the Apostles, at whose feet was laid the price of what had been sold. There is no word of rebuke from the side of the Apostles. Neither do we read of any arguments they used. They act as guided by the Holy Spirit. Their great calling and gift was the ministry of the Word; they had been obliged to serve tables more or less. They discerned at once that the Lord had not called them to this double service. Here is another evidence of the existence of the church. The Holy Spirit who had united them at the day of Pentecost into one body, now begins to point out the order in that body. All of this, concerning the different gifts to the members of the body, is not revealed here, but is found in the doctrinal Epistles of the Apostle to the Gentiles, to whom the ministry of the church was committed. Seven men, the Holy Spirit directs through the Apostles, are to be selected from among the assembly. Three conditions are mentioned. - They must be men of good report, - They must be esteemed by all on account of their character, - They must be full of the Spirit, and possess wisdom. The Apostles themselves declared: "we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word." The Holy Spirit thus separated the gifts called to minister in spiritual things, from the ministry of temporal matters. What confusion there exists in this respect at the present time in the professing church, needs hardly to be pointed out. In this word of the Apostles, there is an important statement concerning prayer and the ministry of the Word. It is not the ministry of the Word, teaching and preaching, first, but they put prayer into the first place. There can be no effectual ministry, no effectual preaching of the Gospel and Bible teaching unless it is preceded by prayer. Prayer is the expression of dependence upon GOD. Ministry of the Word must be in utter dependence on the Lord and therefore prayer is the right preparation for it. Then the multitude, that is the entire assembly, chose the seven men, while the Apostles sanctioned their choice. Stephen is mentioned first, and described as a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. Then follow the names of the others, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas. The latter was a proselyte, that is, one who had adopted Judaism. by circumcision; he was from Antioch. There is absolutely no historical proof that this Nicolas formed later a special sect and that he taught wicked doctrines. His name can in no wise be connected with the Nicolaitanes in Revelation 2:6; Revelation 2:15. While we know little of these men and the service they rendered, with the exception of Stephen and Philip, it is an interesting fact that their names are all Greek. In this the grace of GOD is beautifully exhibited. The Grecians were the murmurers, and no doubt they were fewer in number than the Hebrews. A modern day church meeting would have proposed to elect a committee composed of equal numbers of the two parties. But not so here. Grace and wisdom from above are manifested in this action. The entire seven were chosen from those who had complained. This was the blessed rebuke of Grace. The weakness and failure is made an occasion to bring out such graciousness. Into the hands of those who had murmured is given the distribution of the funds. This silenced the murmurings at once. The seven were then set before the Apostles and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. This is the first time we find the laying on of hands in the Book of Acts. As this "laying on of hands" is so much misunderstood, and has been made an act by which authority, power and blessing is claimed to be conferred, we must say a brief word on it. It is always proper in reading and interpreting the Word of GOD, to see if not elsewhere in the Bible the terms or things to be interpreted are used, so that through them the right meaning can be ascertained. The laying on of hands is first mentioned in the Book of Leviticus. In the opening chapters of that book we read how the offerer was to lay his hand upon the head of the offering. Thus we read of the Peace offering: "He shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering" (Leviticus 3:2). This meant the identification of the Israelite with the offering itself. And this is the only meaning of the laying on of hands from the side of the Apostles. They identified themselves and the assembly with them in their work for which they had been chosen. It was a very simple and appropriate act to show their fellowship with them. All else which has been made of the laying on of hands is an invention. There is no Scripture for the present day usage in Christendom, that a man in order to preach the Gospel or teach the Word of GOD must be "ordained." We shall return to this when we reach other parts of this book. The Word of GOD increased. The Holy Spirit gave it power, and after this victory when the enemy attempted to disturb the assembly by the murmuring, He unfolded great energy. The number of disciples increased greatly and especially is it mentioned that a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. The latter was apparently a new thing. No priests were mentioned before. May not the rent veil have had something to do with this great company of priests believing in the Lord JESUS CHRIST? They had found the new and living way into the Holiest by the blood of JESUS. The office of the seven, we may add, was only of a short duration, for soon persecution of the worst type set in and the disciples were scattered. II. Stephen, his ministry and arrest. "And Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake. Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council. And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: for we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. And all that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel" (Acts 6:8-15). With Stephen we reach an important stage in this book. The testimony, as given to Israel, is now soon to be closed and Stephen is the instrument chosen to deliver the most striking testimony to the representatives of the nation. Of the history of this remarkable man we know but little. As already seen, his name indicates that he was a Hellenist; Stephen means "crown." And he is indeed to have a great crown in the day when the Lord will take the award seat and His saints will appear before Him. We learned before that he was full of faith and of the Holy Spirit. He is, so to speak, the link between Peter and Paul; most significantly, at the close of Stephen’s great witness and after his vision of the Glory of GOD and JESUS standing on the right hand of GOD, there is mentioned a young man named Saul, "and Saul consented unto his death." Here in Acts 6:1-15 we read that Stephen was "full of grace and power," the effect of faith, and filled with the Spirit. He is the first disciple mentioned who is not an apostle, who did great wonders and miracles among the people. Then we see those of the synagogues of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, disputing with him. These were also Hellenists, Jews brought up in foreign countries, and of much learning. There were many synagogues at that time in Jerusalem, and as it is the custom still among the orthodox Jews, the synagogues were called by the names of the places from which its adherents came. This synagogue then was composed of Libertines, that is, Jews from Rome, [*] for they were known by that name, Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria. [*] It is wrong to call these "Libertines" free thinkers. Jews had been taken to Rome as slaves. Their descendants who had been liberated were called Libertines, that is freedmen. They were known as such in Jerusalem and hence the name "synagogue of the Libertines." To this synagogue Stephen may have belonged, and if this was the case, his presence with them is easily explained. The fullness of Grace in his heart reached out after them. These Jews disputed with Stephen and he with them; but also those of Cilicia and Asia are mentioned. May not this young man, Saul of Tarsus, the Pharisee of the Pharisees, hailing from Cilicia, been among these disputers? It is more than likely. All their great learning was of no avail in the presence of such a powerful witness. The Holy Spirit bore witness and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit in which he spoke. They would not accept the testimony of this gracious and powerful witness and therefore only another way was left to them. They are filled with satanic hatred against him, and as the chief priests did with the Lord, did these here suborn men who accused Stephen of blasphemy. The charge is "blasphemy against Moses, and against God." They succeeded in their satanic work by stirring up the people, the elders and the scribes. Stephen is arrested and brought before the council. There the charge is repeated. Three things are mentioned by them. He ceaseth not to speak words against this holy place; against the law and that he should have said: "This Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us." And then they looked upon him and behold his face was like the face of an angel. All eyes were attracted to this wonderful sight. Steadfastly they looked upon a face of Glory; a face reflecting heaven’s light, heaven’s Glory; a face reflecting the Glory of Him into whose presence he soon would be called. And may not that young man named Saul also have been there and seen that face? And that dark countenance of that young Pharisee of Tarsus was soon to behold that same Glory-light and then tell the world of the Gospel of the Glory and that "we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory unto glory." ~ end of chapter 6 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 48: 03.07. CHAPTER SEVEN ======================================================================== CHAPTER SEVEN Acts 7:1-60 is the longest in the entire book and one of the most interesting and important. The whole council looked steadfastly upon that shining face, as if it had been the face of an angel. Thus we read in the closing verse of the previous chapter. How long they looked upon Stephen as he stood there we do not know. Perhaps after a few minutes of silence, an ominous silence, like the calm before a storm, the voice of the high priest is heard "Are these things so?" Stephen then begins his great, God-given testimony. He is not permitted to finish it. They ran upon him with one accord and cast him out of the city and stoned him. The chapter is therefore divided into two parts. I. The address of Stephen (Acts 7:2-53). II. The martyrdom of Stephen (Acts 7:54-60). I. The address of Stephen. We shall not quote the text of the entire testimony, which he delivered before the council, but request our readers to read his words carefully. We notice at once a marked difference between the previous preaching by the Apostle Peter and the address of Stephen. The testimony of Peter was marked on the day of Pentecost and at the other occasions by great brevity. Stephen’s address is the longest discourse reported in the New Testament. The name of JESUS is prominent in all the addresses of Peter. The fact that He was rejected by the people, crucified and that He rose from the dead and the call to repentance, were the leading features of Peter’s preaching. Stephen does not mention the Name of JESUS at all, [*] though he has the person of CHRIST and His rejection as the theme of his testimony. [*] The name Jesus occurs in Acts 7:45; and as does Hebrews 4:8, refers to Joshua. At the close of his address he speaks of the Just One of whom they had become betrayers and murderers. Stephen had been accused of speaking against Moses and against GOD, also against the temple and the law. These accusations he is asked to answer. What he declared before the council shows plainly that the accusations are utterly false. His speech is partly apologetic; but it is also teaching in that it shows certain truths from the historic events he cites. And before he finishes his testimony the accused becomes the accuser of the nation; the one to be judged becomes the judge. Indeed his whole testimony as he rapidly speaks of past history in his great and divinely arranged retrospect, is a most powerful testimony to the nation as well as against the nation. Another striking fact is that he puts two persons into the foreground. These are Joseph and Moses. Why they occupy such a prominent place in Stephen’s address we shall see later. Another matter we have to mention briefly before we touch upon some of the special features of the address. A careful reading of the statements made by Stephen and comparison with the Old Testament records show that there are certain things added by Stephen of which we do not read in the previous records; there are also other variations. These are often called discrepancies and are used as evidences against the inspirations of the Scriptures. However, they are far from being that. The Holy Spirit through Stephen adds some details to the already existing records. Stephen who was a Hellenist, a Greek speaking Jew, spoke most likely in the Greek language and then used the text of the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint), which explains some of these alleged discrepancies. We shall not attempt to explain any of the others as that would lead us too far. We turn now to the address of Stephen to examine its different parts. 1. Abraham’s History. Acts 7:2-8. He begins with the great father of the nation, Abraham. Very significant is the beginning of the address. "The God of Glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran." The same expression is used in Psalms 29:3, "The God of Glory thundereth." - In Ephesians 1:17 "The Father of Glory." - In 1 Corinthians 2:8, where our Lord is called by the same title, "The Lord of Glory" - And in 1 Peter 4:14, "the Spirit of Glory." With this beautiful phrase Stephen begins and when his testimony is finished he beheld this very Glory of the Lord and he saw Him of whom he had borne witness, the One who had appeared unto Abraham and unto Moses in the burning bush. This beginning is significant for the greater Glory of the Lord and the light of the knowledge of the Glory of GOD in the face of JESUS CHRIST is now soon to be made known through that chosen instrument to whom was committed the Gospel of the Glory of GOD, the Apostle Paul. From Joshua 24:2 we find that the GOD of Glory had appeared unto Abraham when he was in the country of idolatry, himself an idolater. GOD had graciously called him out of it and Abraham had gone forth in faith, not knowing where he Went; GOD brought him to the land of Canaan. Concerning the promise Stephen said, "And He gave him none inheritance in it, not so much as to set his foot on; yet He promised that He would give it to him for a possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child." Abraham believed the promise and was justified by faith. All this manifested the Grace of GOD. It was unmerited favour. Abraham did nothing nor could do anything to earn all this. There was no temple then to boast of and no law to keep. The promise and the covenant were before the law. But they boasted in the law, which they did not keep and in the temple. It was true of the council then as Paul wrote later "they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Romans 10:3-4). They had this righteousness and Grace offered unto them and they were rejecting it. The argument advanced here is similar to the one which Paul brings forth in Galatians 3:1-29. If the young Pharisee Saul of Tarsus heard Stephen, he heard for the first time, though still blinded, the great truth the Spirit of GOD unfolded through him after his conversion. But Stephen also speaks of Israel’s sojourn in a strange land as revealed unto Abraham. For four hundred years they were entreated evil (Acts 7:6-7). This tells of the suffering of Israel before they came into the possession of the land, a hint, no doubt, of the great truth so clearly revealed in Israel’s history of the suffering of CHRIST and the Glory that should follow. Here the Spirit of GOD once more came to their consciences in this historical outline of their father Abraham. Alas! their hearts were closed. 2. Joseph and his brethren. Acts 7:9-16. Stephen in his inspired testimony passes over the entire history of Isaac and Jacob, and Joseph instead is prominently mentioned. The way the story of Joseph is given, the comprehensive style is really marvelous. The complete history of the suffering and glory, the humiliation and exaltation of Joseph, is pictured in a few sentences and that in a manner which greatly illuminates this interesting portion of GOD’s Word. In bringing Joseph at once before their hearts, what was done to him and to what place GOD exalted him, the Holy Spirit reveals one of the finest and most perfect types of CHRIST contained in the Word of GOD. The main issue of Stephen’s testimony is before us with Joseph’s history. "The patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt." Their own brother, because they hated him without a cause, was sold by them into the hands of the Gentiles. The price was twenty pieces of silver. The meaning of this was so clear that the assembled council must have fully understood the application. The chief priests and elders had hated another one, who was, according to the flesh, their brother. And their hatred against him was on account of envy. Pilate even knew this. "For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy" (Mark 15:10). This JESUS of Nazareth, the name they hated so much, had been sold for thirty pieces of silver. His Own had delivered Him into the hands of the Gentiles, as Joseph had been sold into Egypt. Then we read the brief sentence, "but God was with him." The same phrase is used by Peter in reference to JESUS in preaching to the household of Cornelius (Acts 10:38). The council knew perfectly that GOD was with the One, whom they had condemned. One of their own number, Nicodemus, had even came to the One, they despised and envied, with the declaration Upon his lips "Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him" (John 3:2). A description of Joseph’s exaltation follows. "And delivered him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his house." Then comes a brief account of the famine, which troubled the brethren of Joseph. They had to go and get bread from the brother they had rejected. The second time Joseph was made known to his brethren. The typical meaning is obvious. GOD had also delivered Him, whom they had rejected and crucified. He had raised Him from the dead and made Him, as Peter preached, both Lord and CHRIST. Then there is a great dispensational foreshadowing. The rejected One, like Joseph, is received by the Gentiles. Famine and tribulation awaits the nation who rejected Him who came to His own, they must suffer as Joseph’s brethren suffered. "The second time Joseph was made known to his brethren," refers to the second coming of the Lord. Joseph was the salvation of his brethren. 3. Moses as Deliverer rejected. The rejected One a Ruler and Deliverer. Acts 7:17-38. This is the largest section of Stephen’s address. In Moses they boasted continually. They were proud of him as their law-giver, the mighty man who had led their fathers forth from the house of bondage, through whom the GOD of the Glory had performed His great miracles. They called him, and orthodox Jews do so still, "Moses, our teacher." What was his experience? Was he at once received by their forefathers? Did they accept him when he came to deliver them? How was he treated? The Divine record is unrolled before their hearts and the history, so familiar to the council, speaks once more. Moses foreshadows likewise CHRIST. His experience outlines the experience of Him, who is counted worthy of more glory than Moses (Hebrews 3:3-5). Stephen says "the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham" (Acts 7:17). GOD remembered His Word. The people were in bondage in Egypt and needed a deliverer. GOD provided the deliverer through whom the promise, because the time of the promise drew nigh, should be accomplished. All is pregnant with meaning. The time of the promise of the coming of the Redeemer had indeed drawn nigh. He had appeared, whom GOD had sent to deliver His people. Had He been received? The story of Moses’ rejection was repeated on a larger scale in the story of JESUS of Nazareth. First we find a description of Moses. He was born just in the time when the oppression was great; "in which time Moses was born." Even so, "when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His son made of a woman, made under the law" (Galatians 4:4). Moses was “exceeding fair," That is "fair to GOD;" he was exceedingly lovely. But how much more was He, who came from the Glory, the only begotten of the Father. - Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22); CHRIST is the Wisdom. - Moses was mighty in works and in deeds, but CHRIST was far more than that and manifested His divine power and grace in the midst of His people. The next thing said of Moses is that “he was cast out." The application of this to CHRIST we need not to follow in detail. When Moses was full grown, forty years, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. He appeared for them as a deliverer out of the bondage and it is written "He supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by His hand would deliver them; but they understood him not" (Acts 7:25). He was rejected by those he had come to deliver. "Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?" was the sneering word cast at him. Moses had to flee into a strange land and be among strangers for forty years. And something similar had but recently been repeated in the very midst of the people. The deliverer had appeared. He had visited His people and made Himself known to them; "God by His hand would deliver them." But His own had not received Him. They understood not; they cast Him out and denied Him. Like Joseph, Moses went to the Gentiles, rejected by his people. The application to CHRIST is easily made and we do not follow it in its particulars. But Moses returned and the once rejected deliverer whom they knew not was after all the one who delivered them and brought them forth. "This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush. He brought them out, after that he had showed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and in the Red Sea and in the wilderness forty years" (Acts 7:35-36). The Holy Spirit pressed home these great foreshadowings. Must they not have been reminded of the words spoken before by Peter? "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour" (Acts 5:30-31). "This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner" (Acts 4:11). These were familiar words to them carried to their consciences by the Holy Spirit and now through the historical record of Moses, the Moses of whom they boasted, the same truth is flashed before them once more. "This Moses" - the one who was rejected "The same did God send" meant "this JESUS, whom you crucified - the same whom GOD sent and made Prince and Saviour." Significant too is the event of the burning bush, the angel of the Lord had appeared there in His Glory to Moses and it was by the hand of that angel that Moses became the ruler and deliverer (Acts 7:35). Wonders and signs were then accomplished through him. Of this uncreated angel the council believed that He was the Lord Himself, while their traditions well known and received at that time, spoke of Him as the Messiah. This same Lord had been in their midst and manifested His presence by wonders and signs. The Holy Spirit witnesses also in this to the truth, so often revealed, that in the future, at the second Coming of CHRIST (corresponding to the second time in the history of Joseph), the nation will know and accept Him, whom they rejected before. The history of Moses is the foreshadowing of the history of CHRIST. In Moses they believed and boasted. The accusation was that Stephen spoke against Moses. His testimony proves that he believes in Moses. But did the council really believe in Moses? The accused becomes the accuser. They did not believe in Moses and in his words. "This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me; him shall ye hear." If they believed in this prediction as given by Moses they would have looked for that prophet, whose coming was promised by Moses. That it was fulfilled in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, Peter had stated in his second address (Acts 3:22-23). But they were unbelieving. 4. The Story of their Apostasy and Shame. Acts 7:39-53. Even after the departure from Egypt and after witnessing the signs and wonders wrought, they did not obey Moses, they thrust him from them and their hearts turned back again to Egypt. So they had not obeyed CHRIST and had also thrust Him from them. This is followed by a brief rehearsal of their shameful history. They rushed into idolatry. They worshipped the host of heaven and during the wilderness journey they brought sacrifices to Moloch and Remphan (Amos 5:25-27). Then their coming captivity had been announced. On account of the rejection of the One, who is greater than Moses, whose coming Moses had announced, greater apostasy and dispersion must follow. Then he speaks of the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, made according to the fashion as seen by Moses and how they came under Joshua in possession of the Gentiles, who were driven out of the land (Acts 7:44-45). David is briefly mentioned. He found favour before GOD and desired to build a tabernacle for the GOD of Jacob. But Solomon built Him a house. But the most High dwells not in places made with hands. Solomon himself had made this declaration (1 Kings 8:27) and the Prophet Isaiah had expressed the same truth (Isaiah 66:1-2). Furthermore, the Glory and the Lord of the Glory, who dwelt once in the temple had departed; Ichabod (the Glory is departed) was written there. But more than that the Lord who was present in the tabernacle and whose Glory had filled the house once had appeared in their midst and they had cast Him out and slain the Prince of Glory. Could then that temple be called any longer "a holy place" as they said in their accusation? The tale of the apostasy of the nation was thus told out from the records of the nation. But now the summing up comes. Perhaps throughout the discourse evidences of displeasure from the sides of the council must have been in evidence. If it had been in their power they would have stopped him before. They were, however, constrained to listen. Another power compelled them to hear the arraignment of themselves and of the nation. The climax is reached. Most likely they began to grind their teeth already. Their dark sinister countenances showed the wrath and bitterness of Satan. They are cut in their consciences. Perhaps some arose and disorder was about to issue. Stephen ceases his retrospect. The Holy Spirit now addresses them directly. The accused Stephen becomes the mouthpiece of the Judge who pronounces the sentence. "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do ye. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it." Every word was true. The entire testimony was unimpeachable. Stiffnecked and uncircumcised, resisting the Holy Spirit, persecuting the prophets who prophesied of CHRIST and the murderers of the Just One! This was their condition. With this the testimony of Stephen is ended; more than that the testimony to the nation is now to be closed. No longer is the offer to be made to Jerusalem. II. The Martyrdom of Stephen. "When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my Spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep" (Acts 7:54-60). And now the awful storm breaks. The arrows of the truth of GOD carried by the power of GOD’s Spirit had cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth. In their madness they were dumb. They did not find words to give vent to their burning hatred which Satan had kindled in their stubborn, unbelieving hearts. All they could do in their frenzy was to gnash with their teeth. It was not a sudden outburst but the tense rather shows that it was prolonged. In the midst of this wicked crowd, no longer the council but a murderous mob, stood Stephen. If his face shone like that of an angel in the beginning of his testimony, what glory must have rested upon him now? The heavenly glory into which he was so soon to enter must have been wonderfully reflected upon his face. Three things are said of him. - He was full of the Holy Spirit; - He looked steadfastly into heaven seeing there the Glory of GOD, - He saw JESUS standing on the right hand of GOD. The Holy Spirit in His fulness was upon him. He had testified through him and now as they are gnashing their teeth, ready to seize him and to follow Satan, who is a murderer from the beginning, to the full extent of his power, Stephen stands in great calmness and peace. The Holy Spirit who possessed him so fully directed his gaze away from the earth upward into Heaven. He looked steadfastly into heaven. This is one effect of the filling of the Spirit, the heart occupation with heavenly things. But more than that he saw the glory of GOD and JESUS standing on the right hand of GOD. The unspeakable Glory shone out of the depths of heaven and in that Glory he saw JESUS standing on the right hand of GOD. He of whom he had borne such a good witness, whose blessed name he had glorified in his life and by his words and whom he soon was to glorify in his triumphant death was seen by him. While we read in the Epistles that the Lord sat down, on the right hand of GOD, the attitude which tells of His finished work, we read here that He was seen standing. This is not a contradiction. We do not think it was because He was still waiting for Israel’s repentance, ready to come back. He was seen standing because He had arisen from His seat to welcome into His own presence the faithful martyr. This is the first manifestation of the glorified CHRIST, which we have on record. There are three of them only. - He appeared here to Stephen. - Then (oh! marvelous Grace!) He appeared unto Saul, who consented unto Stephen’s death. Saul beheld Him in that Glory, brighter than the noon-day sun and heard His voice. - The last time the glorified CHRIST manifested Himself was to John in the island of Patmos. These three appearings of the glorified CHRIST present to our view the three aspects of His Second Coming. - First He comes to welcome His own into His presence. He will arise and come into the air to meet His beloved co-heirs there. This is represented by the first appearing to Stephen, standing to receive him. - Then Israel will behold Him, they who pierced Him will see Him, like Saul of Tarsus beheld the Lord. - Then He will appear as John saw Him, the One who judges the earth in righteousness. And now after this great and glorious vision, Stephen bears testimony to it. "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God." He speaks, of the Lord as "Son of Man." This is the only time outside of the Gospel records, that we find this title of the Lord (aside from the Old Testament references in Hebrews 2:1-18). But were not these familiar words to the frenzied council? Had they not heard One saying similar words? But a few weeks ago they had gazed upon Him, whom they hated and envied. The vision of that meek and lowly One must surely have come up before their eyes that very moment. And He had said in the presence of this very council, "From henceforth shall the Son of Man be seated at the right hand of the power of God" (Luke 22:69). And here is the echo of that solemn word on account of which the Holy One was condemned. But it is more than an echo. It is the witness that the Son of Man is there at the right hand of GOD. We do not read of an orderly trial which followed. All order was abandoned. Chaos and confusion reigned. They cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord. Stopping the ears is a frequent occurrence among orthodox Hebrews. We have talked with some of them and after pressing an argument about the Messiahship of JESUS, they would put their hands to their ears, as if to shut out any further argument. The Sanhedrim had been changed into a wild, furious, demon-possessed mob, bent on the murder of GOD’s witness. One thing they do which was according to the law. They rushed him out of the city. Like the Lord JESUS CHRIST he was to suffer "without the gate." The law required this (Leviticus 24:14; Numbers 15:35). And there they stoned Stephen. In this act they were lawbreakers for their own witness had been to the Roman authorities, "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death" (John 18:31). But they make a show of keeping the law. In Deuteronomy 17:7, it is written: "The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hands of all the people." They had witnesses who began the awful work by casting stones upon him first. And that young Pharisee of Cilicia took a prominent part in this terrible scene. He was a prominent figure in it. Saul of Tarsus stands in the foreground. If he was a member of the council, which is more than probable, then he heard the whole testimony of Stephen and consented to his death. In Acts 22:20 we read that he said "I was standing by." This may mean that he had charge over what occurred. One thing is certain, he was intimate with the witnesses. They took off their upper garments so as to be freed to strike hard, and deposited their garments at the feet of Saul. And now the stoning began. The first thing Stephen did was to pray. He called upon the Lord GOD. His prayer was addressed to the Lord JESUS, into whose hands he committed his spirit. Then he bowed his knees and with a loud voice he manifested the love of CHRIST by forgiving his murderers, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." This prayer was answered in the conversion of that young man, whose name was Saul, for the responsibility and guilt was upon him, inasmuch as he had consented unto his death (Acts 8:1). Then Stephen fell asleep. The mighty witness closed his eyes on earth. But what a moment it must have been when his spirit was received by Him whose Glory and Person he beheld, and into whose hands he had committed his spirit. GOD’s gracious offer and CHRIST had now been fully rejected by the nation. Stephen, who bore this last witness, is a striking evidence of the transforming power of CHRIST. How much like the Lord he was! He was filled with the Spirit, full of faith and power, and like the Lord he did great wonders and miracles among the people. Like CHRIST, he was falsely accused of speaking against Moses, the law and the temple, and of being a blasphemer. They brought him before the same council and did what they did with the Lord, bringing false witnesses against him. He gave witness to the truth of the confession, the Lord had given before the council, that He was to sit at the right hand of GOD. He beheld Him there. The Lord JESUS committed His spirit in the Father’s hands, and Stephen prayed that the Lord JESUS receive his spirit; and like the Lord he prayed for the forgiveness of his enemies. May the same power transform us all into the same image. ~ end of chapter 7 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 49: 03.08. CHAPTER EIGHT ======================================================================== CHAPTER EIGHT The final testimony to the rulers of the Jewish people had been given. It was rejected, and the Spirit-filled messenger killed. The last offer had therefore been completely rejected and the Gospel is now soon to be sent far hence to the Gentiles; those that are afar off are to be brought nigh. Acts 8:1-40 is a transition chapter. The Gospel is preached in Samaria. The instrument used is not Peter or John, but Philip. We divide this chapter into five parts: I. The first great persecution (Acts 8:1-3). II. The preaching of the scattered believers. Philip in Samaria (Acts 8:4-8). III. The events in Samaria (Acts 8:9-24). IV. The Gospel in many villages of Samaria (Acts 8:25). V. Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26-40). I. The first great persecution. “And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison" (Acts 8:1-3). Acts 8:1 belongs to Acts 7:1-60. The young Pharisee, who soon takes the prominent place in this book, was in perfect agreement with the awful deed committed. He rejoiced. The death of Stephen was with his fullest approval. He took pleasure in it. He was an eye-witness to the entire suffering of Stephen from the moment the dispute took place to the time when the stones fell upon him outside of the city and his blood was shed. Later he refers to the scene, which must have been impossible for him to erase from his memory. "When the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him" (Acts 22:20). Concerning Saul the Lord said to Ananias, "I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake" (Acts 9:16). What was done unto Stephen was done unto Saul. The Jews and Saul with them, as we believe, disputed and resisted Stephen in the synagogue. The Jews disputed with Paul, resisted him, and rejected his testimony. - Stephen was accused of blasphemy; so was Paul (Acts 19:37). - Stephen was accused of speaking against Moses, the holy place and the customs; so was Paul (Acts 21:28; Acts 24:6; Acts 25:8; Acts 28:17). - They rushed upon Stephen with one accord and seized him. The same happened to Paul (Acts 19:29). - Stephen was dragged out of the city. So was Paul (Acts 14:19). - Stephen was tried before the Sanhedrim; so did Paul appear before the Sanhedrim. - Stephen was stoned and Paul was stoned at Lystra. - Stephen suffered martyrdom; so did Paul in Rome. And yet, with all the sufferings that Paul had to undergo, he rejoiced. His eyes rested constantly upon that glorious one, whom Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, beheld in Glory. Later we hear him crying out from the prison in Rome, "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death" (Php 3:10). The first great persecution then broke out against the church in Jerusalem. The words of the Lord concerning His own, that they were to suffer and to be hated, were fully carried out. Saul was evidently the leader. Perhaps from the very scene of bloodshed he led forth a mob of people, like so many tigers, having seen blood. There is no detailed account of the persecution. They were driven out of Jerusalem. Houses were entered and men and women dragged out of them and put into prison. The Epistle to the Hebrews, no doubt, refers to this first great persecution. "But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of affliction. Partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance" (Hebrews 10:32-34). They were disgraced, flogged, their goods were taken from them and they were driven out of the city. All this they stood joyfully. There is no record of anyone appealing to the Roman law. How many believers would in our day endure such persecution! But even this was only the beginning. Hundreds of years followed of the most cruel and satanic persecutions in which uncountable numbers were tortured, cast into dungeons, starved to death, burned alive, sawn asunder, cast before wild animals; every conceivable cruelty was practiced upon Christians. But the roaring lion had to withdraw, defeated. Saul is the leading figure in this great persecution. He ravaged and laid waste the church. What a miracle of grace to hear him later refer to his conduct, "I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons, both men and women" (Acts 22:4). "I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on Thee. And when the blood of Thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto His death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him" (Acts 22:19-20). "Which thing I did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme, and, being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities" (Acts 26:10-11). He called himself a blasphemer and a persecutor (1 Timothy 1:13). What light these confessions of the great apostle shed upon the brief record here in our chapter. In the Epistle to the Galatians and in I Corinthians he declares that he persecuted the church of GOD (1 Corinthians 15:9; Galatians 1:13). This should for once dispel the new teaching which has arisen, that the church did not come into existence till Paul had received the revelation concerning the church. That the church began on the day of Pentecost is frequently denied. But how could Paul persecute the church, if there was no church at all? Then we see Stephen laid aside. His mangled body was carried by devout men to its resting place, while his spirit was in the presence of the Lord. These devout men were men like Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. Their lamentations were a Jewish characteristic. The Hope of Glory was not known to them. Later even the Thessalonian Christians sorrowed as others, who have no hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Then was made known that "blessed Hope," which should forever dispel the sorrow and lamentations of GOD’s people. But that hope was unknown in the beginning of Acts. II. The preaching of the scattered believers. Philip in Samaria. "They therefore that were scattered abroad went about preaching the word. And Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and proclaimed unto them the Christ. And the multitudes gave heed with one accord unto the things that were spoken by Philip, when they heard, and saw the signs which he did. For from many of those which had unclean spirits, they came out, crying with a loud voice: and many that were palsied, and that were lame, were healed. And there was much joy in that city" (Acts 8:4-8). They were scattered abroad. Only the Apostles remained in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1). This has been explained as a failure on the side of the twelve. It is incorrect; GOD guided them and kept them there. That they were not arrested and also put into prison may perhaps be explained by the fact that they were not Hellenists, but natives of the land. The persecution may have been the severest against the Grecian Jews. And now for the first time we learn that "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." "They that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word." GOD permitted all these hardships, that the precious seed of His own Word might now be scattered abroad by the suffering saints. The Lord had said that they were to be His witnesses not only in Jerusalem, but also in Judea and in Samaria. This He accomplished by the suffering of His people. What a sight it must have been when they went north from Jerusalem! A stream of men, women and children, in bodily pain from the hands of cruel men, stripped of their belongings, pours forth from the gates of the city. They were cast upon the Lord as never before and the Lord became more real to their hearts. And then they went about preaching. Everyone was a preacher. The great head of the church, not some ecclesiastical council, some committee, which ordained them and gave them authority, but the Lord Himself sent them out as His witnesses. Alas! what a contrast with ecclesiasticism of today with its man-made rules, its crystallized forms, ordinations, recognitions, etc. And such an exodus from the city, out of which the Lord had been led forth to suffer outside the gate, has been repeated over and over again in the history of the church with like gracious results in scattering the seed of the Word. We mention only the Waldenses and the Huguenots. Satanic powers produced the first great persecution. But the wrath of the enemy had to praise the Lord. Out of it all there was brought Glory to Himself. And now Philip comes in view. He was not an Apostle, but a Grecian Jew, one of the seven which had been chosen to look after the poor. The first great missionary move was therefore not accomplished by apostolic authority, or apostolic leadership, nor by the decree of an apostolic council, but by the Lord Himself, who chose His own instrument and led him forth into the field. And He led Philip to Samaria where He Himself had gone, yea, to the very city of Samaria, which is Sychar. There He had once gone on the weary journey, and tired on account of the way, "He sat thus on the well" (John 4:1-54). The servant of the Lord JESUS CHRIST went the same road. What a comfort to remember when the servant is tired that He knows of this weariness. The Samaritans were not a race of strangers altogether, but they had Israelitish blood in them. They had claimed to possess the true law and the temple. A division was the result and they were hated. As we read in the Gospel of John, "The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans" (John 4:9). The soil there, however, had been prepared. The Samaritans in large numbers had believed on Him, for the words of the woman with whom the Lord had that memorable conversation at Jacob’s well. They invited the Lord to tarry, and many more believed on Him and these said unto the woman, "Now we believe not because of thy saying, for we have heard Him ourselves, and know indeed that this is the Christ, the Saviour of the world" (John 4:42). Among this people Philip appeared and preached CHRIST. With one accord they gave heed to these things. Had he preached something else it would not have been so. The great message still is to preach CHRIST. Miracles also took place. Unclean spirits were driven out, many taken with palsies and that were lame were healed, so that there was great joy in that city. These miracles in Samaria were of special significance of which we shall hear in the verses which follow. Philip did miracles in connection with preaching the Gospel. Unclean spirits are especially mentioned. They came out of many which were possessed by them. Like Judea, Samaria seems to have been much afflicted by demon possessions. The city where Philip preached and the miracles were done, rejoiced greatly. "There was great joy in that city" (Acts 8:8). Miracles were in order then because the Word of GOD was not yet complete. Now after the Revelation of GOD is complete, miracles are no longer a necessity. Faith rests upon the Word of GOD and not upon miracles. The verses which follow show that there was a special significance in the miracles done by Philip in Samaria. III. The Events in Samaria. "But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also; and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done" (Acts 8:9-13). A sinister person is now introduced in this historical account. Simon Magus, as he is called, was an instrument of Satan - most likely used in a special way to keep the Samaritans in darkness and counteract the work of the Lord, which had been accomplished there (John 3:1-36). He had bewitched the Samaritans, who were much given to all kinds of superstitions. The superstitiousness of this people resulted in the fall of Pontius Pilate. About the year 35 A.D., a deceiver had appeared in Samaria and claimed that the sacred vessels were hidden by Moses on Mount Gerizim and that he would discover them. A very large multitude followed him, but Pilate was there also with soldiers and drove the people away. Large numbers of them were killed. The Samaritans made a complaint to Vitellius, the proconsul of Syria, who had Pilate dispatched to Rome to be tried. Simon was one of the numerous persons who preached all kinds of evil and forbidden things. With his wicked sorceries he had ensnared the people. Suetonius, a Roman historian, who lived in the first part of the second century of our era, gives the information that the whole eastern countries were at that time overrun with all kinds of wonder-workers, astrologers, healers and necromancers. One of the greatest was Apollonius of Tyanaeus, who died about 97 A.D. He was a great sorcerer and worker of miracles. His life and supposed miracles were often compared with those of our Lord. Satan had anticipated the coming of the Gospel and used this man to keep the Samaritans in bondage, to counterfeit the power of GOD, and to oppose the truth. Simon used sorcery, and had amazed the Samaritans with his acts of sorceries. Satan revealed his powers through him, and Simon himself claimed to be some great one, perhaps the incarnation of some higher being. The people of Samaria had believed him and his lying wonders, and even called him "that man is the great power of God." He was a false prophet and his signs and miracles he did, sprung from an evil source. All this is full of significance. Satan still counterfeits the Power of GOD. For the end of this present age there is predicted the manifestation of Satan in all power and signs and lying wonders (2 Thessalonians 2:9). As the age nears its close and with it the advent of the Lord JESUS CHRIST in power and glory, Satan with his host of demons becomes increasingly active, ensnaring the people and leading on into blindness those who reject the Gospel. As in the days of the Evangelist Philip, so now he uses men as his instruments. Simon Magus is reproduced in our days not only in persons who, deluded as they are, claim to be some great one, but in systems, such as Spiritualism, Christian Science and Millennial Dawnism. The hour of deliverance came for the Samaritans when Philip preached the Word, concerning the Kingdom of GOD and the name of JESUS CHRIST. Signs and great miracles followed, and the Samaritans believed and were baptized. The miracles were done to show the power of GOD, to attest the preaching of the Gospel by Philip, and to expose the counterfeit powers of Simon. And he, like the sorcerers of Egypt, had to own that this was the power of GOD. He was amazed when he beheld the great miracles. But more than that, he also believed, was baptized and then continued with Philip. But his faith was not through the Word of GOD. GOD’s word alone can produce faith in man, for faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of GOD. Simon was captivated by the miracles he had seen. He believed in the same way as the many of whom we read in John 2:1-25. "Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, on the feast day, many believed in His name, when they saw the miracles He did." But was this the true faith? Was this a saving faith? Are miracles necessary to believe? John 2:24-25 answer these questions. "But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all and needed not that any should testify of man; for He knew what was in man." He knew their believing on Him was not in truth. And so Simon Magus believed in the miracles. He also submitted to water baptism from the hands of Philip, which completely disproves that unscriptural teaching that water baptism is a saving ordinance, and that the new birth takes place in that act. He continued with Philip. This also is significant. He kept close in the company of the evangelist, no doubt to watch him and see whether he could discover the secret of the power of Philip. In the truth, in the Word of GOD, that wicked man had absolutely no part. Philip did not discern him. The attitude of Simon and his outward profession must, therefore, have been very cleverly devised. The discovery, however, came when Peter and John appeared in Samaria. "Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them; only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost. But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter; for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity" (Acts 8:14-24). From Jerusalem, Peter and John were sent by the apostles to Samaria. The Holy Spirit had not been given to the Samaritans. After the two apostles had prayed for them and laid their hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit. This fact, that the Holy Spirit was given after the prayer of Peter and John, has led to erroneous teaching. Ritualistic Christendom uses this passage in the defence of its traditional teachings of apostolic succession and different rites, which have no foundation in the Scriptures. A recent commentary on the Book of Acts makes the following remarks on these verses: "The Apostles supposed that the Holy Spirit would be given in answer to prayer and the laying on of their hands. Their expectation was justified; and the church has accepted this as the normal method. Luke gives us, in all, four accounts of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-47, Acts 8:1-40, Acts 10:1-48 and Acts 19:1-41). On two occasions (Pentecost and Cornelius household) the gift itself was extraordinary. The two other occasions (Samaritans and disciples at Ephesus) were normal, and the gift was conveyed by prayer and the laying on of hands. These hands were apostolic; in the one case, those of Peter and John, in the other of Paul. Nowhere in the Acts is the laying on of hands by other than apostles mentioned in this connection; and it is evident from this incident that, although Philip was a prophet and one of the seven, although he preached the Word and baptized, yet he did not possess this power. We conclude then that, as Luke states it, through the laying on of the hands of the apostles the Spirit is given. We are justified then, in finding here the beginning of the church’s rite of confirmation." Thus ritualism claims through the laying on of hands by men who are ordained through others, who likewise received ordination, and so back to the apostolic times to confer the gift of the Holy Spirit. Another erroneous teaching, built on the apostles communicating the Holy Spirit to these new believers, is one which becomes more frequent and is the source of much confusion among sincere Christians. It is taught from this historical account that a person may be a believer without possessing the Holy Spirit. The reception of the Holy Spirit, it is claimed, is a work entirely distinct from conversion. A Christian believer may be saved for a long time and be entirely destitute of the Holy Spirit; in order to receive Him, the believer must seek the experience and receive the Spirit; this is a very widespread teaching. The case of the Samaritans is often quoted to uphold this teaching. All these wrong interpretations and wrong teachings would be avoided if the dispensational character of this part of the Acts of the Apostles were recognized. We have no teaching concerning the Holy Spirit and how He is to be received in this passage. The doctrine of the Spirit and how the believer receives Him and His work in the believer is not taught in the Acts of the Apostles. This is a historical account, and if one holds to this and to the fact that Samaria (John 4:19-24) had a controversy with Jerusalem, the coming of the Apostles from Jerusalem, and the withholding of the Holy Spirit from the Samaritans till Peter and John arrived, becomes plain at once. The Samaritan believers had to be identified with those in Jerusalem, so much the more because there was a schism between Samaria and Jerusalem. Samaria had denied both the city of Jerusalem and the temple. This had to be ended and could no longer be tolerated. It was therefore divinely ordered that the gift of the Spirit in their case should be withheld till the two apostles came from Jerusalem. This meant an acknowledgment of Jerusalem; if the Holy Spirit had been imparted unto them at once it might have resulted in a continuance of the existing rivalry. And Peter is in the foreground and uses the keys here with the Samaritans as he did on the day of Pentecost with the Jews and later with the Gentiles. Nowhere in the church Epistles, in which the great salvation truths and blessings in CHRIST JESUS are revealed, is there a word said about receiving the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands, or that one who has trusted in CHRIST and is born again should seek the gift of the Holy Spirit afterward. When we reach Acts 19:1-41 of this book we shall follow this at greater length. There is no record here that the gift of the Spirit was attended by outward signs, such as speaking in tongues. Some manifestation must have accompanied the gift, for Simon "saw" that the Holy Spirit was given by the apostles’ hands. Then the wickedness of his heart was revealed when he offered them money for the same power to impart the gift. He is now completely uncovered. No work of GOD had been produced in his soul or he would not have uttered such wicked words. His whole desire was to get power and pay for it. He made merchandise of that which is the gift of GOD, and all for his own advantage and for vainglory. And this sin, which has been termed "Simony," is still alive in many different phases. One must think here in connection with Simon of the present day movement called "Christian Science." This system uses no doubt occult things and contains philosophical speculation, which were not unknown to Simon the Sorcerer. But to become a successful healer a certain sum of money must be paid. The secret of power to heal is sold. And what else could one say of the more subtle forms of this sin? And now the two Simons face each other, Simon Peter and Simon Magus. Peter at once detected the wicked heart of the man through whom the enemy of GOD had spoken. In holy indignation and condemnation Peter burst forth: "Thy money perish with thee!" The sorcerer with his wicked heart thought that the Gift of GOD could be purchased with money. In this the aim was the Gospel itself. Salvation and all that is connected with it, including the Spirit, is the Gift of GOD, without money and without price; it cannot be earned nor bought. He had no part nor lot in this matter. And this is true of all who in the depravity of their hearts think of obtaining the power of GOD by what they do. He sees himself uncovered and exposed "in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity" in spite of his outward profession, his baptism and association with Philip. And while Peter thus spoke these burning words against him, he also exhorted him to repentance and prayer. Simon Magus is a type of what apostate, self-centered, self-seeking Christendom is, as well as of that person who is the "son of perdition," the personal Antichrist. And what had Simon to answer? "Then answered Simon and said: Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me" (Acts 8:24). He was alarmed. He trembled like the demons, who believe and tremble. There is no confession from his lips, no self-judgment. He does not exhibit confidence in the Lord nor does he ask for forgiveness. He was not moved by repentance, but only by fear. We do not read anything again of him in the Word of GOD. Much is reported of Simon the sorcerer by the most ancient sources, the writings of the so-called fathers. Justin Martyr, who was a native of Samaria, who lived about a hundred years later, tells us that Simon held the doctrines of Gnosticism (the same which have appeared in a modern garb in Christian Science) and that the Samaritans worshipped him as a divine being. Epiphanius declares that he claimed deity among the Samaritans and that he was a Messianic pretender. Other sources say that he became after this a greater enemy of the truth, and having lost his prestige in Samaria he went to Rome and there established a wicked movement, which became a gall and bitterness to the true believers there. That he should have met Peter again in Rome and found his end there is only a legend. It is certain that he did not repent. But the Gospel stream was not arrested. The acts of the enemy came to naught. The roaring lion as exhibited in the Sanhedrim the first persecutions - the more cunning deception of the counterfeit Simon, the sorcerer, all came to naught. IV. The Gospel in many villages of Samaria. "And they, when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans" (Acts 8:25). The apostles had accomplished their mission. They are turning homeward. On that journey they carried out the divine commission to be His witnesses in Samaria. Many villages heard the Gospel from their lips and with joyful hearts they declared the good news. What stir it must have made! They followed the Lord who had gone through Samaria, and what joy it must have been in these Samaritan villages when these two Jews heralded the good news! This is the last thing reported of John in the Book of Acts. Besides the Epistle to Galatians we hear his name only mentioned in the Apocalypse. V. Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch. "And an angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south, unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem, unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? “And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the Scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus: and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he came to Cesarea" (Acts 8:26-40). The last part of our chapter contains the most interesting account of the acts of Philip. Called by the Head of the church to go forth as an Evangelist to Samaria, after his work was finished in Jerusalem, he had been mightily used in preaching the Gospel. There is no record of the numbers who were saved. When the Gospel was preached in Jerusalem by Peter we hear of numbers (Acts 2:41; Acts 4:4), because it was still an offer to the Jewish nation in connection with the promised Kingdom, but now as Jerusalem has rejected that offer and the Gospel goes forth to Samaria, and to the Gentiles, numbers are no longer mentioned. During this age the number of those who accept the Gospel and become members of the body of CHRIST, the church, is unknown. One of the sad features of present day Evangelism with its sensationalism are the reports of how many converts have been made, how many signed cards or promised to lead a better life. To what untruths and other evils such methods lead we need not to follow here. Philip’s ministry was greatly blest and so will every ministry still be used if it is done as under the Lord, in humility and dependence upon Himself. With such a successful field before him Philip might have settled down to strengthen the new converts and reach out after other places in Samaria. But the work of the Evangelist is to move about and preach the Gospel from place to place. Philip is commanded to change his place of testimony. The command was communicated to him by an angel of the Lord. It was a heavenly messenger who was used to direct his way. The angel may not have appeared to Philip in visible form, for the text tells us that he spoke to him and does not mention anything else. His message informs Philip of the way he is to take. Later in the account when it is the question of imparting spiritual instruction and dealing with the eunuch not an angel, but the Spirit speaks to Philip. The direction of the angel calls Philip away from his pleasant field of labor into a lonely and desert road. How many objections he might have made to such a call. Why should he leave the populous city and villages of Samaria where the multitudes heard him gladly and go on a journey which would lead him into an uninhabited region and to a deserted city? [*] [*] Gaza was deserted then. Gaza was a fortress in the extreme south of Palestine. It was destroyed by Alexander the Great in the fourth century before CHRIST. What was not destroyed by him was in the year 96 completely overthrown by the Maccabaean prince Alexander so that it was literally a desert. But Philip realized his place as a servant and that the servant’s work is to be obedient to his Master. His Lord had been in Samaria and Philip had reaped what the Lord had sown. He had been sent to reap that upon which he had not bestowed any labor (John 4:36-38). And now the Lord called and he obeyed. He arose and went. Obedience to the Lord is a beautiful thing and must always result in blessing. Happy is the servant who can say "I do always the will of Him that sent me." If this is the attitude and the heart’s desire the Lord will direct and show us the way in which we are to go. Such a life of dependence on the Lord and obedience to the Lord is truly great and will bring an abundant harvest. The obedient Philip may also be looked upon as a type of the nation itself. Some day the remnant of Israel will go forth in obedience to the call of the Lord and publish good tidings. Then it will be fulfilled what is written in Isaiah. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:7-8). But while the Lord had His eyes upon His toiling servant and directed him in the way, He also saw and knew the inquiring, hungry soul which traveled along that road towards Gaza. He knew his heart and his longing for the truth and then He brought Philip to meet this soul and through Him He graciously brought light and blessing to the eunuch. And thus He works still. Oh! for more childlike confidence in His guidance! A blessed thing it is to watch His leadings and to see His hand in even the minutest things. The person journeying, most likely in a caravan, on the road to Gaza, was a man from Ethiopia. He was a eunuch of great authority under Candace Queen of the Ethiopians; he was her treasurer. He had been in Jerusalem to worship, most likely to attend the feast of Pentecost and was sitting in his chariot reading the prophet Isaiah. Who Queen Candace was, and in what part of Ethiopia her kingdom existed is learned from the Roman writer Pliny, and the Greek geographer Strabo. Both declare that there were several queens by that name ruling over the Ethiopians. The head of her kingdom was Meroe. The eunuch was one of those who looked to Jerusalem, for light and blessing and had gone there to worship. He returned unsatisfied, still a seeker. As eunuch he was by the law an outcast and could not enter the congregation of Israel; however blessings are promised to the eunuchs in the very book from which he was reading (Isaiah 56:3-5). And then the Spirit directed Philip to join himself to the chariot. The Ethiopian read the book of Isaiah aloud and Philip’s question addressed to him was, "Understandest thou what thou readest?" He was reading the Greek translation of that all important chapter, the fifty-third. He read of Him who was led as a sheep to the slaughter and opened not his mouth. By his question the eunuch showed his ignorance in the Scriptures. He did not know that the passage had any reference to the Servant of the Lord, the Messiah of Israel. "One would wonder that whilst he was at Jerusalem he should have heard nothing concerning JESUS. Or perhaps what he heard of Him was the occasion of his studying at this time that passage in Isaiah’s prophecy." [*] [*] Lightfoot in Hebrew and Talmudical exercitations upon the Acts. It was then on that lonely road that Philip preached JESUS unto him. He began at the same Scripture, which indeed is a good starting point. And the message Philip preached, showing JESUS as the One in whom these prophecies were fulfilled, was at once accepted by the seeking eunuch. He who by the law is excluded from the congregation of Israel is now received into another congregation, even joined to the Lord and added to the company which are saved. Nothing could hinder baptism, for he had believed; he himself asks to be baptized. The profession of faith put by this verse in the mouth of the Ethiopian anticipates Paul. The first time that CHRIST is preached that He is the Son of GOD is in Acts 9:20. Peter preached Him as the rejected JESUS of Nazareth, raised from the dead and Philip simply preached JESUS. It was reserved for Paul to declare the fulness of the Gospel of the Son of GOD, that Gospel of which he writes to the Galatians "I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:12). The baptism takes place. Both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and when they were come up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip and the eunuch saw him no more. Philip’s mission was accomplished and now a miraculous event takes place. This is an interesting occurrence. The Greek word for "catching away" is used a number of times in the New Testament and means each time an action by power. It is found eleven times in the New Testament. In Matthew 11:12; Matthew 13:19; John 6:15; John 10:12; John 10:28. Acts 13:39; Acts 23:10; 2 Corinthians 12:2; 2 Corinthians 12:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:17; Jude 1:23; Revelation 12:5. It is interesting to see that in the account of Paul’s rapture into the third heaven this word is used and also in the divine revelation concerning the coming of the Lord for His Saints (1 Thessalonians 4:17). The catching away of Philip after the work was accomplished is a little type of what will take place some day by the mighty power of GOD, when all the living believers will be removed from the scene of their present labors. "Caught up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air," this is the blessed and imminent future of all GOD’s children. And the eunuch? What became of him? Did he go to the queen and did he give up his treasurership and become a great Evangelist through whom all Ethiopia was converted? Tradition may tell us these things but the divine record is silent. The time was not then nor has it come since that time, that “Princes come out of Egypt, Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God" (Psalms 68:31); the fulfillment of this is reserved for the Millennial reign of CHRIST over the earth. The Holy Spirit has just one little sentence about the eunuch. But it is a most precious statement He makes concerning the Ethiopian who had received the knowledge of the truth and had believed the Gospel. "He went on his way rejoicing." He had CHRIST and well could he go on his way with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And, dear reader, this sentence should express the experience of every true believer. If we have CHRIST and are His and He is ours, if we know we are saved, and safe and have before us nothing but glory, then we too should go on our way rejoicing. Yea, even when trials and perplexities surround our path, the joy in the Lord must be our portion. Anything less dishonors the Lord and the Gospel. Philip was found some 20 miles north of Gaza, at Azotus. From there he started out anew preaching the Gospel. In many cities his voice was heard, these coast cities were inhabited by many Gentiles and included larger places like Jamnia, Lydda, Joppa and Antipatris. The day of CHRIST will make known the labors and also the reward of this great Evangelist. Then he came to Caesarea. But did he stop with that? We know not. Twenty years later we shall find him there and Paul was then his guest. ~ end of chapter 8 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 50: 03.09. CHAPTER NINE ======================================================================== CHAPTER NINE Acts 8:1-40 may be looked upon in its main part as a parenthesis. The record now leads us back to the close of Acts 7:1-60 and the person who was connected with the great tragedy enacted there is prominently brought before us. The witnesses of the wicked deed had laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. This is the first time this remarkable man is mentioned. We also learned that he was consenting unto Stephen’s death; he made havoc of the church and committed men and women to prison. While the scattered believers had carried the Gospel throughout Judea, Philip had gone down to Samaria and with great results preached the Gospel, and during the same time Peter and John preached in the Samarian villages, Saul carried on his work of persecution. This we learn from Acts 9:1 : "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest." The conversion of this great persecutor and his call by the risen and glorified Lord to be the Apostle to the Gentiles is the event which is next described. It is the greatest event recorded in Acts next to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Before we expound the most important account of Saul’s conversion and point out its extremely interesting lessons, it may be in order to give a brief description of the young man, who takes the leading part in the remaining portion of the Book of Acts. Saul was born in Tarsus, an old city, and the capital of Cilicia. In that city was situated a great university given mostly to the study of Philosophy. Josephus in agreement with Jewish literature identified the city with Tarshish, to which Jonah attempted to flee. Saul has often been called a "Hellenist," that is, a Grecian Jew. But this is easily answered by his own words, "a Hebrew of the Hebrews." He belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, and his father was likewise a member of the same class, for Saul called himself "a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee" (Acts 23:6). His bringing up was on the strictest Jewish order. All the observances of the law and the traditions of the elders were conscientiously followed by him. This fact he calls to mind when he wrote his great defense of the Gospel to the Galatians: "For ye have heard," he states, "of my conversation in time past in the Jew’s religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God, and wasted it. And profited in the Jew’s religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers" (Galatians 1:13-14). He also witnesses of his life before the Grace and Power of GOD converted him, when he wrote to the Philippians: "Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews as touching the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness, which is in the law, blameless" (Php 3:5-6). This young Pharisee had a strong belief in the GOD of Israel, in His promises and the destiny of Israel. This belief manifested itself outwardly in a zeal for GOD. [*] [*] The same zeal possessed him of which he speaks as possessing his brethren according to the flesh. “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:1-3). While he was thus filled with pride of race, zeal for GOD, but without knowledge, striving to attain righteousness, to fulfill and obey the very letter of the law, he had an intense hatred of what he supposed to be disloyalty to the law. In Tarsus, his native city, he became fully acquainted with Greek customs, Greek life, literature, art and philosophy. The local industry of Tarsus was tent making. These tents were manufactured out of goat’s hair. This trade the young Saul learned. Teaching boys a certain trade is an ancient Jewish custom. His family may have been very influential and wealthy. He had a married sister living in Jerusalem, who must have been very highly connected (Acts 23:16). Saul of Tarsus was furthermore a Roman citizen. This was a high honor and privilege. It could be bought for large sums of money. When Paul was about to be scourged he mentioned his Roman citizenship. The chief captain, a Greek by the name of Claudius Lysias (Acts 23:26), said: "With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was tree born" (Acts 22:28). The prisoner held a higher honor than the captain; no wonder Claudius Lysias was afraid. His family must have had the Roman citizenship conferred upon them as a mark of distinction or reward for some eminent service. Saul received his religious education in Jerusalem. We listen again to his own words: "I am verily a man, which am Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city (Jerusalem) at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye are all this day" (Acts 22:3) . Gamaliel was the greatest rabbi of the Pharisees, the president of the Sanhedrim. He was the son of Simon and grandson of the celebrated Hillel. We have found his name before in the fifth chapter. He was highly esteemed for his learning. The Talmud says, "When he died the honor of the Torah (law) ceased, and purity and piety became extinct." At the feet of this great and learned man, Saul of Tarsus sat. That Saul was highly respected in Jerusalem and close to the leaders of the people, is seen by the letters entrusted to him and the commission to Damascus. He may have been even a member of the council, for "he voted." "When they (Christians) were put to death, I gave my voice (lit., my vote) against them" (Acts 26:10). It may be interesting to say a word on his outward appearance. He has frequently been pictured as a tall, handsome-looking man. But in 2 Corinthians 10:10 we read otherwise. The Corinthians were used to the athletic figures of the Greeks. Of Paul they said, "His letters are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible." A very old apocryphal book, dating back to the end of the first century, "Acta Pauli et Theclae," has an interesting description of his person, which may be genuine. "A man of moderate stature, with crisp hair, crooked legs, blue eyes, large knit brows, and long nose, at times looking like a man, at times like an angel." And now we turn to the chapter before us. It is divided into five parts. I. The Vision of Glory on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-9). II. The Call to Ananias (Acts 9:10-16). III. Saul filled with the Spirit, Baptized and Preaching JESUS, that He is the Son of GOD (Acts 9:17-22). IV. Saul Persecuted and back in Jerusalem (Acts 9:23-30). V Further Acts of Peter (Acts 9:31-43). I. The Vision of Glory on the road to Damascus. "And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink" (Acts 9:1-9). We behold then, this young Pharisee in the zenith of his hatred against the disciples of the Lord. He breathed out threatenings and slaughter. His aim was much like Haman the Agagite, who wanted all Jews exterminated; so Saul was bent on the extermination of the believers in the Lord. The fact that he came to the high priest for letters to go to Damascus would show that he considered his work of persecution and scattering in Jerusalem about completed. There were several large synagogues in Damascus. As this city was in constant communication with Jerusalem, the Jews in Damascus must have heard much of the new and startling events which so recently had come to pass in Jerusalem. The day of Pentecost, in all probability, brought many Damascene Jews to Jerusalem, and perhaps some of them heard the message from Peter’s lips. The good news was carried quickly in a short time; believers appeared in Rome at an early date, among them two, Andronicus and Junia, who were in CHRIST before Paul’s conversion (Romans 16:7). Damascus had most likely a good number of Jews who believed in JESUS as the CHRIST. They had, however, not separated from the synagogue. The leader of them must have been Ananias, and of him Paul says later "a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there" (Acts 22:12). The news of Saul’s commission to arrest believers in the Lord JESUS CHRIST had also preceded him, for Ananias in his simplicity told the Lord, "he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on Thy Name" (Acts 9:14). No doubt they must have earnestly prayed for deliverance from this great persecutor. He received his letters and went on his journey with a heart filled with burning hatred. And now GOD’s marvelous Grace and Power in salvation is to be manifested. Israel as a nation had rejected the offer and Stephen’s death marked the end of that gracious offer. But GOD can manifest even greater riches of His Grace and display His great Love. Saul not alone belonged to the nation, which had rejected CHRIST, but shared in that rejection, but he was, so to speak, the heading up of all the hatred and malignity against the CHRIST of GOD. He personified the blindness, unbelief and hatred of the whole nation. He was indeed an enemy, the greatest enemy, the chief of sinners. Surely only Grace could save such a one, and Grace it is, which is now to be manifested in the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, the Grace, which he was to know first by the vision of the glorified CHRIST, and which he, ever after, was to proclaim and make known to others. And therefore he could say: "Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them, which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting" (1 Timothy 1:16). And we may also look upon the wonderful event which took place on the road to Damascus as a direct answer to Stephen’s dying prayer and the first fruits of the blood of the first martyr. Stephen saw heaven opened; he beheld JESUS standing at the right hand of GOD; he saw the glory. We have mentioned before that Saul, the young Pharisee, stood by and beheld that uplifted face as it reflected the heavenly glory. He heard the words of Stephen testifying of this great vision and perhaps, as Stephen knelt down under the shower of stones, which fell upon him, he saw the dark face of the young Pharisee Saul, and then for him and all who shared in the vile deed, he prayed that Christ-like prayer, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.” And now the heavens are opened once more. He, the chief of sinners, the religious Jew, who hated the name of JESUS and all who believed on Him, is now to gaze into the opened heavens and see not alone Glory and the Person of Him whom he persecuted, but also to hear His voice. What infinite Grace! Stephen, the Saint of GOD, beheld an opened heaven and the Lord JESUS CHRIST, and the next who sees heaven opened and beholds the Lord and hears His voice is the chief of sinners. What happened on the road to Damascus was unique. Saul’s conversion is unlike any other conversion. Nor has such an event taken place since then. That it will be repeated on a larger scale in a future day is assured by the Word of Prophecy. The heavens will be opened once more. Out of the opened heavens there will again shine forth the Glory of the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. In His Glory, He will appear the second time. And when He comes in the clouds of heaven there will be still His blinded people on earth, a remnant of them, and like Saul they will behold the glorious vision. Then will be fulfilled what is written in Zechariah 12:10 : "They shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for His only Son." Saul must have seen the nail prints and the pierced side, as Thomas saw them, when the Lord appeared the second time. Of that second coming it is written, "Behold He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him and they also which pierced Him" (Revelation 1:7). This is future. Those who pierced Him, His own, will see Him in that day and that will mean a wonderful salvation for the whole nation, for all Israel living in that day. In John 19:1-42 We read in a number of passages that things were fulfilled when our Lord was crucified, but when it comes to the Scripture, "they shall look on Him whom they pierced," the Holy Spirit avoids the word fulfilled and substitutes for it "another Scripture saith" (John 19:37). The conversion of Saul is therefore a great type of the national conversion of the people Israel. The vision itself which burst upon Saul on the road to Damascus is one of the greatest in the whole Bible. It has baffled unbelief. Infidels of all descriptions, French rationalists like Renan, reformed rationalistic Jews, and the worst of all, the advocates of the destructive Bible Criticism, have tried to explain the occurrence in some natural way. Renan in his Les Apotres (the Apostles) says that it was an uneasy conscience with unstrung nerves, fatigue of the journey, eyes inflamed by the hot sun, a sudden stroke of fever, which produced the hallucination. And this nonsense is repeated to this day. Others of the critics have stated that it was a thunderstorm which overtook him, and that a flash of lightning blinded him. In that lightning flash he imagined that he saw CHRIST. This is preached by some of these critics, who occupy pulpits. Again, others have tried to explain his vision by some physical disease. Jews and others have declared that he suffered from Epilepsy, which the Greeks called "the holy disease." This disease, they say, put him into a state of ecstasy, which may have greatly impressed his Gentile hearers. In such an attack he imagined to have seen a vision and heard a voice. All these and other opinions are puerile inventions emanating from the Father of lies. The fact is, the conversion of Saul is one of the great miracles and evidences of Christianity. After we have learned the importance and significance of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, as well as the typical and prophetic aspect of the event, we shall now examine the event in its details. Acts 9:1-43 does not contain the full record of what happened on the road to Damascus. The Apostle Paul himself relates twice his own experience in Acts 22:5-16 and in Acts 26:12-18. He also mentions his conversion briefly in 1 Corinthians 15:8, Galatians 1:15-16 and 1 Timothy 1:12-13. The three accounts of Saul’s conversion are not without meaning. The one before us in Acts 9:1-43 is the briefest and is simply the historical account of the event as it had to be embodied in the Book of the Acts, as history. The account in the twenty-second chapter was given by Paul in the Hebrew tongue; it is the longest statement and was addressed to the Jews. The account in Acts 22:1-30 was given in presence of the Roman governor Festus and the Jewish king Agrippa, therefore addressed to both Jews and Gentiles. But are there not discrepancies and disagreements in these three accounts? Such has been the claim from the side of men who reject the inspiration of the Bible. There are differences, but no disagreements. These differences in themselves are the evidences of inspiration. The differences, however, are simply in the manner in which the facts of the event are presented. We shall point out all this when we come to these accounts. It was near Damascus, when suddenly there shone round about the great persecutor of the church of GOD a light out of heaven. Nothing is said in this record here of the time of the day when this happened. In the third account in this book, the Apostle mentions the part of the day when it took place: "At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me" (Acts 26:13). It was in the time of the day when the sun shone brightest. Its glaring rays fell upon the road upon which Saul and his companions were journeying on. Saul was pushing onward in his madness, eager to reach the city in which further demonstrations of his hatred were to be given, when suddenly a far brighter light than the light of the mid-day sun shone round about him and his companions. The light fell out of heaven and was the Glory of the Lord of Glory. On the field of Bethlehem the Glory of the Lord shone round about the shepherds, but here it is the shining forth of the Glory of Him who had died and had risen from the dead, the Glory of Him, who entered into heaven and sat down at the right hand of GOD. And Saul under that Glory-light, fell to the earth; it was too much for a human being to stand. He laid prostrate on the ground. Those who were with him likewise fell down, for Paul in his account says that they all fell to the earth (Acts 26:14). This is one of the alleged discrepancies. While in his account Paul declares that the whole company fell down, the record here states that the men, who journeyed with him stood speechless (Acts 9:7). In our present chapter the companions of Paul are seen standing while Paul tells us later they fell down. This is claimed to be a disagreement. Even some careful expositors like Dean Alford have found a difficulty here. But why should there be any difficulty at all? Paul’s narratives of what happened to him contain the complete account. He tells us that they were all fallen to the ground when this glory-light shone out of heaven. This fact is omitted in the historical account here. We see those who journeyed with Saul standing speechless, after the Lord had spoken to him. It does not say that they stood when the light shone upon them. That would have been impossible. If the band, which had gone after the Lord in the garden to take Him captive, fell backward when the Man of humiliation had uttered His majestic "I am" (John 18:6), how much more must these have fallen to the ground, when the heavenly Glory burst upon them. The text here tells us that the companions of Paul were so amazed at what had happened that they had lost temporarily the power of speech They had fallen to the ground but now had arisen and stood speechless. But Saul had heard a voice out of that bright light. The voice spoke in the Hebrew tongue. This we learn from Paul’s address before Festus and Agrippa. The voice calls him by name. He is fully known to Him who speaks out of heaven. All along in all his work of evil, his persecutions and the hatred he exhibited against those who believed on CHRIST, that eye had seen him and followed him. He had kept silent. He did not interfere in the wicked work Saul had done; but now He kept silence no longer. But more than that, Saul beheld the Lord Himself. In that great light which shone about him, in that opened heaven, he saw Him, who had spoken, the Man in Glory. The Lord JESUS CHRIST appeared unto him. The Son of GOD in the Glory of the Father was revealed unto Saul. Though the record here is silent about the actual vision, it Is clearly seen from other Scriptures that such was the case. Ananias later addressed Saul and said, "Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way" (Acts 9:17). From another verse in our chapter (Acts 9:27), we learn that Barnabas said "that he had seen the Lord in the way and that He had spoken to him." Then in Acts 26:16, the Lord Himself spoke to Saul: " I have appeared unto thee." A more direct testimony is found from the Apostle in 1 Corinthians 15:1-58, where, after mentioning the different witnesses of the resurrection, Paul says: "And last of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God" (1 Corinthians 15:8-9). He saw the Lord in all His resurrection Glory and this, besides the direct call, constituted him an Apostle, for he was now a fit witness to the resurrection of JESUS CHRIST. "Am I not an Apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord?" (1 Corinthians 9:1). Did he know the Lord in person when he walked on the earth? Saul was in Jerusalem at that time; he must have seen Him there. 2 Corinthians 5:16 seems to indicate this. And now that voice, which had spoken with so much tenderness on earth, the voice he had refused to hear, spoke to him from glory: "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou ME? And he said, Who art Thou Lord? And the Lord said. I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." And what a meeting it was which thus took place on the road to Damascus! The Lord who had died for that nation (John 11:51), and he who was the culmination of all the hatred of the nation, who hated Him without a cause, were now face to face. - His eyes gazed upon that figure in Glory, - His ears heard the words which fell from His lips. - The words which came out of heaven were not the words of a stern Judge. - It was the voice of a gracious, loving Saviour and Lord, the same who had once called in the garden to fallen man, "Where art thou"? Saul, the persecutor of the church of GOD, had deserved wrath. Instead of judgment and wrath, Grace, infinite and unfathomable Grace, meets him. That Grace, which he was the chosen instrument to proclaim from henceforth in all its unlimited riches, he must taste first of all. That Grace which flows from the risen and glorified Saviour is first of all manifested in his own case. The possibilities of Grace, the riches of Grace, are indeed fully demonstrated in the great event on the Damascus road. Triumphantly he declared afterwards: "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief. Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering, for a pattern to them that should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting" (1 Timothy 1:15-16). "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" The voice had spoken out of heaven. How could he answer that question? It was unanswerable. From the trembling lips of the young Pharisee there comes the question, "Who art Thou, Lord?" The person he beholds, shining out of heaven surrounded by the glory-light, which of old dwelt in the midst of Israel, can be none other but the Lord. And so the prostrate Saul addresses Him as Lord. And the Lord answers him in His loving Grace, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." The full and awful truth now flashes upon the trembling questioner. The JESUS, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil (Acts 10:38), who was crucified, who was rejected by the nation, the JESUS, whom dying Stephen beheld, into whose hands he had committed his spirit, that JESUS, whom he hated and whose followers he had so cruelly persecuted, is the Lord. The Man, who hung on a cross reckoned among the evil-doers, who died that shameful death, lives and is the Man in Glory at the right hand of GOD. Marvellous revelation as it burst upon the collapsed persecutor in the simple answer, "I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." What was he then with all his boasting law-keeping? Who was he, the Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee? Nothing less than an enemy of GOD and the chief of sinners. In that Glory from above, in that voice, which spoke and declared Himself as JESUS the Lord, the blindness, wickedness and enmity of Israel and the flesh as well, were fully discovered. But if we were to enlarge, it would be necessary to cover all the blessed God-breathed teachings of the Gospel as contained in the Pauline Epistles. The Gospel he preached, which he called “my Gospel," this Gospel of Grace and Glory, the Holy Spirit so blessedly teaches in the great doctrinal Epistles penned through the Apostle Paul, is contained in a nutshell in the event on the road to Damascus. To the Galatians Paul wrote later in his wonderful defense of that Gospel: "But I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel, which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:11-12). That Gospel, which he received was first revealed in that Glory-flash out of heaven; it is the Gospel of the Glory of the blessed GOD. Man has no part nor share in it, but it is all of GOD, all of Grace. But in Colossians 1:1-29 Paul tells us that he is not only the minister of the Gospel but that another ministry was given to him, the ministry of the church, which is His body. The two, the Gospel of Grace and the truth concerning the church, the mystery hidden in former ages go together and are inseparably connected. GOD tells out in the two the completeness and riches of His grace in CHRIST JESUS. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, well termed "the rich Epistle," the Holy Spirit blends into a marvellous gem the two - Gospel and Church truth. And here the man in the dust of the highway, the chosen vessel, learns for the first time the great revelation he was to make known. Listen to him as he writes from the Roman prison: "For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery . . . which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men" (Ephesians 3:1-5). That mystery is the church as the body of CHRIST. Every believing sinner is a member of the body of CHRIST. CHRIST in Glory, the Lord, who spoke to Saul in the way, is the Head of that body, the church. CHRIST is in each member of His body, His life is there; and every believer is in CHRIST. "Ye in Me and I in you." And this great hidden mystery too flashes forth in this wonderful event, for the first time. "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me . . . I am Jesus whom thou persecutest." The poor, hated, despised Nazarenes, whom the mad, Jewish zealot Saul of Tarsus had driven out of Jerusalem: put into prison and delivered unto death, were one with the Lord in Glory. They were identified with Him and He with them. Their persecution meant His persecution, in their affliction He was afflicted. They were members of His body and that body was in existence. The Lord commanded Saul to arise and go into the city where his question "What wilt Thou have me to do?" would be answered. The men then had also arisen and had lost the power of speech "hearing a voice, but seeing no man." We remember years ago how a poor, blinded Jew attended our Gospel meetings and among his claims that the New Testament contradicted itself, he would cite the statement here about the companions of Saul and Paul’s statement that “they heard not the voice of Him that spoke with me" (Acts 22:9). He called this a disagreement. The far more blinded Higher Critics make the same assertion. But there is no disagreement. Luke in his brief account tells us that the men heard a voice. But Paul tells us that they heard not "the voice of Him that spake with me." They did not hear the conversation, they heard the sound of a voice but the voice itself was unintelligible to them. John 12:28-29 explains it perfectly. The Son of GOD heard the Father’s voice. The people who stood by heard the sound waves and some declared that it was thunder, others that an angel had spoken. Only the Son heard what the Father had said. So here. The men heard the sound of the voice, but what was said they did not hear; Saul alone understood the words of the heavenly speaker. Then Saul arose. He is obedient at once. It is the first act of obedience he yields to Him whose bond servant he had become through His wonderful grace. But when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. The vision of the Lord and His Glory had blinded his eyes and his companions had to take him by the hand and lead him. What a change had taken place! The self-sufficient, boasting Pharisee, who had pressed on towards Damascus, had become as helpless as a child. He who led others was now obliged to be led. We wonder what became of the letters he carried from the high priest. Perhaps he flung them at once from his person. The blindness which had come upon him has also its spiritual significance. It indicates the result of the vision of Glory in his own life. He was blind to the things down here. It is said of an astronomer who had looked too long into the light of the sun that he became blind. However, it was not darkness, which enshrouded him; but the brilliant orb of the sun in the heavens ever dazzled before his eyes. Wherever he looked he saw the sun. If he awoke in the darkest night the fiery ball of the sun was the object before his eyes. And Paul after his glory experience had but one object, CHRIST in Glory and the Glory of CHRIST. He truly like the disciples on the mount of transfiguration "saw no man save Jesus only" (Matthew 17:8). The Gospel of Grace and Glory of the Son of GOD must blind our eyes to the things which are seen. Three days Saul was without sight, nor did he eat and drink. He was passing through a grave like Jonah. What must have been his feeling and his experience during these three days? Shut up in darkness; what soul exercise must have been his portion! But He was secure in the hands of Him, of whom He was soon to testify, "He loved Me and gave Himself for Me." II. The call to Ananias. "And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, and hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: and here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake" (Acts 9:10-16). And now the Lord, who had in such grace met Saul on the road to Damascus, goes before him to the city. An humble disciple lived there; he was a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews, who lived in that city (Acts 22:12). This devout follower of the Lord JESUS CHRIST had a vision which concerned Saul. One has well said, "The Lord JESUS as master of the house must, so to speak, complete arrangements for adding Saul to His household." What a great change had been wrought! Perhaps someday, in the presence of the Lord, when all hidden things will be made manifest, we may find that Saul’s hatred was aimed especially against Ananias, who must have been the leader of the assembly in Damascus. Saul had set out to bind Ananias and all that call on the name of the Lord, and put them into prison. But Ananias hears now that he is to go to Saul instead and seek him, who had come to seek and persecute them. It was the Lord who spoke to Ananias in the vision. The childlike and calm answer this disciple gave to the Lord is an evidence of the simplicity and reality of his prayer life. The Lord gave him the directions where to find him. He was to inquire in the house of Judas in the street, which is called Straight. But the Lord furthermore told Ananias that Saul likewise had a vision. "Behold he prayeth" was the cheering message the Lord gave of him. It was the manifestation of the new life in Saul. In answer to the prayer of Saul - prayer, no doubt for light and deliverance - the Lord had given him the vision. He saw Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, that he might receive sight. "A pair of visions, which mutually correspond, as the visions of Ananias and Saul in this instance, removes all suspicion of treacherous phantasy." [*] [*] Bengel Gnomen of N. T. That Ananias was chosen for this mission is very significant. The Samaritans, as we learned in Acts 7:1-60, had to wait till Peter and John came from Jerusalem, before the Holy Spirit came upon them. One would expect that the Apostles were equally needed in the case of Saul of Tarsus. Peter, John nor any of the other Apostles, however, are mentioned in connection with Saul’s conversion, baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit. In their place an humble, unknown disciple is called by the Lord to act. And yet Saul was called an Apostle and chosen to be the greatest of the Apostles. Ritualistic Christendom, with its claims of apostolic succession and authority, finds this hard to explain. Paul’s apostleship “was not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead” (Galatians 1:1). Jerusalem and the Apostles there had nothing whatever to do with his case. One who was not an Apostle at all, whose name is not mentioned again in the Bible, was the chosen instrument to lay his hands on Saul of Tarsus. Here then we have the first indication of what the apostleship of Paul was to be. It was three years after all this had transpired that he went up to Jerusalem to see Peter; and then it was not for any confirmation of his apostleship. Ananias answered the Lord. The evil reputation of Saul had preceded him to Damascus. Perhaps some of the suffering believers, who had been forced to leave Jerusalem, found a refuge in Damascus. And Ananias in a simple and natural way tells the Lord all about it. The task laid upon him seems too great and he acquaints the Lord with what he had heard about this man. This, has been declared, was a foolish thing. Of course, the Lord knew all about Saul; he knew far better the evil work he had accomplished than Ananias could ever know. Further-more the Lord had told Ananias that Saul was praying; why then should he protest against the call and speak thus to one who is omniscient? While unbelief had its share in it and the weakness of the flesh is seen, it is likewise something which brings cheer to our hearts. The Lord in His graciousness does not rebuke Ananias for his unbelieving reply. He bears with the weakness of His servant and condescends to make known unto him the future destiny of the praying Saul. And we, too, fail so much in our prayers, doubting and fearing, when we are addressing Him, who is the omnipotent and omniscient Lord, so reluctant to follow unquestioning His gracious directions. Have we not found Him as loving and condescending as Ananias did? And the Lord takes His servant into His own confidence; He tells him about Saul and what is in store for him. He is a chosen vessel and the Name, which is above every other name, is to be made known by him to Gentiles, Kings and the children of Israel. It is significant that the children of Israel are mentioned last, while the Gentiles are in the foreground. While Paul the Apostle preached to the Jews and went into their synagogues, his mission was to the Gentiles as the Apostle of the Gentiles. His sufferings for His Name’s sake are likewise announced by the Lord. And here we must not forget that the same Lord, who knew all about Saul and his life as it was to be, is our Lord, too, and knows us, plans for us, as He knew him and did with him, who delighted to call himself, "the chief of sinners." What comfort we should take from this fact! III. Saul filled with the Spirit, baptized and preaching JESUS, that He is the Son of GOD. "And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. And when he had received meat, he was strengthened. Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. And straightway he preached Jesus in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. But all that heard him were amazed, and said; Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ" (Acts 9:17-22). The Lord had said to Ananias "go thy way." Ananias went his way. He followed the Lord obediently. Directed by Him, he soon found the stricken Saul in the place, which the vision had revealed to him. The two, Saul of Tarsus and Ananias are now face to face. Saul does not see his visitor, for he is still blind, but he was patiently waiting for him to come, for the Lord had told him all about his coming and even revealed his name. And Ananias saw before himself the former persecutor of the Church of GOD (Galatians 1:13) in a helpless condition. They do not need to be introduced to each other. The Lord had done this. Ananias addresses Saul and the way he does it is extremely precious. "Brother Saul," he said as he put his hands on him, "the Lord Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." He addressed him as brother. The work had been accomplished and the young Pharisee, who had seen the Lord was indeed now "a brother beloved." The Grace of GOD is strikingly illustrated in this. There was no confession to Ananias, no rebuke nor accusation, nothing from the side of Saul of Tarsus; Grace had saved him and made of him a brother in the Lord. And now his blindness is removed under the laying on of hands; he received his sight. When we reach Acts 22:1-30, Paul’s account of this scene, we shall find additional information of what transpired then. Here the record is brief. The laying on of the hands of this disciple[*] of the Lord most likely was the moment when not only Saul’s eyes were opened, but when he was also filled with the Holy Spirit. [*] The learned Dr. Lightfoot in his Horae Hebraicae puts the following questions without answering them. "Could Ananias therefore confer the Holy Spirit? This seemed the peculiar prerogative of the Apostles; could therefore a private disciple do this to an Apostle? By the imposition of his hands could he impart the gift of tongues and prophecy?" Ananias had delivered the message to him that he should be filled with the Holy Spirit and though it is not directly stated here that this filling took place at once in connection with the opening of his eyes, it is perfectly right to assume that such was the case. We discover a variety of modes of the filling with the Spirit. On Pentecost no hands were laid on anyone, but the statement there made was, Repent, be baptized and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Samaritans had been baptized, but for a special reason (stated in our exposition) they had to wait till Peter and John came from Jerusalem and laid their hands upon them. Cornelius and his household were not baptized, nor had hands been laid upon them, when the Holy Spirit fell upon them. The disciples at Ephesus (Acts 19:1-41) were baptized and only after Paul laid his hands upon them came the Holy Spirit upon them. Paul must have received the Spirit first, then he arose and was baptized. Why these different modes? If there had been uniformity in every case it would have resulted in the belief that in order to receive the Holy Spirit, the same uniform method must be followed. This was to be avoided. It must be remembered that all these cases in Acts were unique, falling into the transition stage. The Epistles, however, teach that the Holy Spirit is received by all who believe in the Lord JESUS CHRIST; "in whom also believing ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Ephesians 1:13) is the order now. Saul after this was certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus. Who can describe the happy times in the Lord they must have had! What hymns of praise they must have sung to the Lord for the riches of His Grace, so wonderfully manifested in the salvation of Saul! "And straightway he preached Jesus in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God." The word "straightway" teaches us something. It is the word which occurs some thirty-five times in the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel record, which shows CHRIST as the perfect servant. The word “straightway" manifests the Lord’s prompt and untiring service, which He rendered to His Father. And Saul begins His witness for the Lord with a "straightway." Of all the Apostles he was the most prompt in his service, laboring more than all the others. The glorious vision on the Damascus road, the sight of the Man in Glory and his oneness with Him, as made known to him by revelation, produced this marvellous service in the life of the converted persecutor of the Church. We, too, if we have the Lord ever before our hearts may have our “straightway" service. And what a sensation was produced as he went from synagogue to synagogue and delivered his message! Perhaps as he entered the synagogues his brethren welcomed him most heartily. Had he not done, according to their view, such a good work in Jerusalem? They hated that Name, too, and were glad that Saul had come to bind the believers in CHRIST and bring them to Jerusalem to be dealt with by the chief priests of the nation. But how great must have been their consternation when the celebrated Pharisee and persecutor opened his lips and preached the very name they despised and hated. As he continued in this work in the synagogues his strength increased. The testimony he gave established him and was a blessing to his own soul. The Jews dwelling in Damascus, and their numbers were very large, were confounded. His preaching was exclusively concerning the Lord JESUS, who had been crucified; and he proved that this is the very CHRIST. The question of the Messiah promised to Israel was then agitating the hearts and minds of all Jews, as it does still among those Jews, who still believe in the Law and the Prophets. And what a preacher Saul must have been! He had a remarkable knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures. The Holy Spirit filling him illuminated the many Messianic prophecies and in the power of the Spirit these were applied as being fulfilled in Him, whose name they had refused to accept. He began his great witness bearing in the Synagogues in Damascus. Later we read of the method he used, so effectually. "He reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ" [*] (Acts 17:2-3). [*] This is still the right way in arguing with the Jews. First, showing from the Scriptures the predictions concerning CHRIST. Secondly, showing their fulfilment in the person of our Lord. And to this arguing from Scripture came the powerful argument of his own experience. He had seen the Lord. The one who hung on the cross, whose tomb was found empty on the third day, who had been seen by His disciples after His passion, whom they declared to be risen from the dead, who had left the earth and ascended into heaven, whose resurrection had been fully proven by the Coming of the Holy Spirit and by many signs and miracles, Saul had seen and heard His voice. Therefore he preached JESUS that He is the Son of GOD. Up to this time this name of the risen Lord had not been preached. It would have been very natural for Peter to refer to his former confession of CHRIST at Caesarea Philippi, where he said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God;" but it was not for Peter to preach JESUS thus. Saul had seen the rejected One in Glory and this demonstrates Him the Son of GOD by resurrection from the dead, the great and blessed foundation truth of the Gospel. IV. Saul persecuted and back in Jerusalem. "And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him: But their laying await was known of Saul. And they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night, and let him down by the wall in a basket. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem. And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him. Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus. Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied" (Acts 9:23-30). The Holy Spirit has not given us a record of the "many days" mentioned in Acts 9:23. During these many days he made a journey to Arabia. The first chapter in Galatians tells us of this fact. "Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were Apostles before me, but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus" (Galatians 1:17). This is the only time his journey into Arabia is mentioned in the Bible. How long he spent there and what he did there is unrevealed. It is incorrect to say he spent three years in Arabia; in Galatians the statement is made that three years after his return to Damascus he went to Jerusalem. This does not mean that he was for three years in Arabia. Most likely as other great men of GOD went to the desert, Saul likewise sought Arabia for quietness, meditation and prayer. His reappearing in Damascus was the signal for an outbreak against him. He had confounded the Jews before he went into Arabia, and now with still greater power he was ready to continue his GOD-given message. The Jews then took counsel to kill him. It is the first act of persecution and suffering recorded in this wonderful life of suffering for CHRIST’s sake. He is starting with when the Lord had said, "for I will show him how great things he must suffer for my Name’s sake" (Acts 9:16). But the plot was discovered by Saul. He knew himself in the hands of the Lord. That glorious Lord, whom He had seen, was His shield and He guarded His servant, as He still keeps His servants by His power. The plot was the work of Satan, who had become aroused on account of the great victory the Lord had achieved in translating the persecutor from the power of darkness into His own kingdom (Colossians 1:1-29). He could not wrest him from CHRIST, so he would silence his testimony here; but this Satan could not do. The Jews had the gates watched; but by night he was let down by the wall in a basket. Paul refers to this later: "In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king kept the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desirous to apprehend me. And through a window in a basket was I let down by the wall, and escaped his hands" (2 Corinthians 11:32-33). According to his statement in the chapter which relates his sufferings, this experience of having to leave Damascus as a fugitive was a very humiliating one. What a contrast with the anticipated entrance into Damascus, when he had left Jerusalem to persecute the church and his flight from Damascus to go to Jerusalem! This first visit to Jerusalem took place three years after his conversion. Why did he not return at once? Flesh and blood indeed must have suggested this to him. He was a courageous man. Nothing would have pleased him better than to return at once to the city he loved so well and preach the Name he once despised. But he did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did he go up to Jerusalem to them which were Apostles before him (Galatians 1:16-17). It had to be so to prove that he had his apostleship apart from Jerusalem. This is the reason why this historical account is embodied in Galatians 1:1-24. In his defence of the Gospel contained in that Epistle he shows first that he is an Apostle and how he became an Apostle. The twelve in Jerusalem had nothing to do with it. But when he arrived there he was treated with suspicion. Evidently the testimony he had given so faithfully in Damascus was not fully known in the church in Jerusalem. Could it be possible that this young Pharisee, who but three years ago had scattered the believers in the city, put them into prison and had them maltreated in every way and killed, was now truly a believer? This distrust surely was a sign of weakness in the disciples. Instead of believing the Grace of GOD, which had wrought so mightily in Saul, and rejoicing that he which persecuted them in times past, now preached the faith he once destroyed, they were afraid of him. This must have humbled him much. But He who had become the recipient of such Grace and delighted to call himself the chief of sinners, was gracious, and we hear no complaint from his side on account of the distrust of the disciples. We meet again Barnabas; it is the same of whom we read in the closing verses of chapter 4. Barnabas, whose name means "son of consolation," was all this to Saul. He took him and introduced him to the Apostles, and told out the story of Grace more fully. But we must again examine the historical record contained in the Apostle’s own words in Galatians 1:1-24. There we learn the details of this visit. He did not see all the Apostles, but only Peter and James, the Lord’s brother. The other Apostles he did not see. This detailed statement is made to show that no council of the Apostles was called before which (according to ecclesiastical rules in our day) Saul had to appear to receive the sanction of the Apostles upon his own Apostleship, a kind of ordination. He did not need this; the Lord had called and ordained him. He was an Apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by JESUS CHRIST. He abode with Peter, was Peter’s guest. He had come especially to get better acquainted with Peter. Perhaps he wanted Peter to tell him about the Lord, the blessed words he had heard from Him, the miracles He had done. The Gospel records were then not in existence. What a happy time they must have had together! He abode with Peter fifteen days. His time in Jerusalem was well used. He spoke boldly in the name of the Lord JESUS. He also disputed with the Hellenist Jews. He did the same work which Stephen was occupied with when he was ushered before the council. For all we know it was the same synagogue which he sought out, the man who hailed from Tarsus in Cilicia. And if, as we showed in our exposition of the sixth chapter, Saul was one of those who disputed with Stephen, what a sensation it must have made in the synagogue, when this same Saul arose to perpetuate the mighty work Stephen had left to enter into the Lord’s Own presence! But Stephen’s fate threatened Saul. "They went about to slay him." The brethren knew of it and brought him to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus, his own native city. The reason why Saul readily consented to this is learned from Acts 22:17-21. "And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; And saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: And when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles." He received then in that trance-message his commission. Not Jerusalem and Judea was to be the scene of his activity, but the territory outside of the land; not the Jews’ Apostle he was to be, but the Apostle to the Gentiles. "Depart, for I will send thee far hence to the Gentiles." When later Paul in self-will stepped upon the territory the Lord had told him to leave, he got into great difficulty and became a prisoner. As a result of Saul’s conversion, the Acts 9:31, "the churches had rest." The word "churches," however, must be changed into "church." The translation of church in the plural is founded upon later manuscripts. There were many local churches or assemblies in Judea, but it was but one church, as there is but one church to-day. The church then had rest. The believers walked in the fear of the Lord and comfort of the Holy Spirit. Increase marked this happy condition. V. Further Acts of Peter. "And it came to pass, as Peter passed throughout all quarters, he came down also to the saints which dwelt at Lydda. And there he found a certain man named Aeneas, which had kept his bed eight years, and was sick of the palsy. And Peter said unto him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ maketh thee whole: arise, and make thy bed. And he arose immediately. And all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord. Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and alms deeds which she did. And it came to pass in those days, that she was sick, and died: whom when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber. And forasmuch as Lydda was nigh to Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent unto him two men, desiring him that he would not delay to come to them. Then Peter arose and went with them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber: and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them. But Peter put them all forth, and kneeled down, and prayed; and turning him to the body said, Tabitha, arise. And she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up. And he gave her his hand, and lifted her up; and when he had called the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And it was known throughout all Joppa; and many believed in the Lord. And it came to pass, that he tarried many days in Joppa with one Simon a tanner" (Acts 9:32-43). Acts 9:1-43 closes with further acts of the Apostle Peter. It seems Peter made a kind of visitation, going from place to place. Two miracles happened in this connection. The healing of Aeneas and the raising up of Tabitha, who had died. The significant fact in connection with one of these miracles is that it was an answer to prayer. The one was healing and restoration, the other resurrection from the dead. Both miracles are of deep symbolical meaning. The Gospel was about to go forth to the Gentiles. Peter was to use again the keys of the kingdom of heaven in preaching to the household of Cornelius. Before this takes place the two miracles happened. They are significant in the place we find them, upon the threshold of the great event, the Gentiles to hear the Gospel. But why are they significant? A commentator on these miracles says: "The record of these two miracles at this point makes us fancy that Luke saw in them a double sign of the great event to which they were the preface, viz., the gift of the Gentiles of repentance unto life (Acts 10:18). For they are complimentary: 1. The healing of Aeneas denotes the restoration of activity; and in the parallel sign of the Lord, the healing of the palsied man at Capernaum, this is associated with the forgiveness of sins. 2. The raising of Dorcas denotes the gift of life; and it shows the need of it for the pious such as Dorcas, as for the innocent like Jairus’ daughter, whom the Lord raised. In Aeneas then we may see symbolized the healing of those Gentiles who are sick with sin; in Dorcas the giving of life to those Gentiles who, though full of good works, "are aliens from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them" (Ephesians 4:18). However, the far better application of these two miracles is to Israel. Aeneas, which means "praise," in his palsied condition like the impotent man in the five porches in John 5:1-47 and the lame man in Acts 3:1-26 at the beautiful gate, is a type of Israel, Aeneas’ helpless condition is the condition of that people. And as the lame man at the beautiful gate arose in the name of JESUS CHRIST, so Aeneas is healed and so Israel will be healed some day. His own people, who are far from being a Praise in the earth, will someday be healed of their paralysis and become the miracle of the Lord’s grace and mercy. And as with the case of Lydda and Saron, the inhabitants of these places who saw him, turned unto the Lord, so the Gentiles will receive their full blessing and turn unto the Lord, when Israel is healed. Without following the interesting account of Dorcas in its details, we desire to say she too represents Israel, and Dorcas’ resurrection is a prophetic type of Israel’s coming resurrection. The good works of Tabitha, or as she was also called, Dorcas, her alms deeds and the blessing she was to others, remind us of Israel’s calling to bless all nations. But she died and could no longer do the alms deeds. So Israel is dead spiritually and nationally. Peter came from Lydda to Joppa sent for by the disciples. He kneeled down and prayed, and when he turned to the body he addressed the corpse, "Tabitha, arise." She then opened her eyes and sat up. Peter gave her his hand and lifted her up and presented her alive in the presence of the saints and widows. Many believed on account of this miracle. Even so Israel will someday be raised from the dead and become the source of great blessing. As Peter prayed: so may we long and pray for the restoration of Israel. Some day Israel will rise and receive the life of which that nation is now destitute. "Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem" (Psalms 122:6). "And give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth" (Isaiah 62:7). How little of this prayer for Israel and Jerusalem is known among GOD’s people! and all on account of the ignorance prevailing among Christians concerning the great destiny of the people who are still beloved for the Father’s sake. Peter tarried in Joppa in the house of Simon the tanner. Was he breaking with his Jewish law and customs? Tanning made necessary the handling of skins taken from unclean animals. It was, therefore, as a trade considered unclean by the Jews. But for the great work Peter had to do in opening the door of the Kingdom to the Gentiles he had to be prepared in a special way. ~ end of chapter 9 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 51: 03.10. CHAPTER TEN ======================================================================== CHAPTER TEN In Ephesians 2:11-18, we read the blessed words concerning the Grace of GOD to the Gentiles. "Wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; For through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." Up to this time in the Book of Acts we have seen nothing of this gracious purpose, the blessed result of the finished work of CHRIST on the cross. Jerusalem heard the Gospel first. Once more the good news of the Kingdom was preached with a full offer of forgiveness to the Jews. GOD was willing to blot out their transgressions and to make good all He had promised to the nation. Many signs and miracles had been done in Jerusalem in demonstration of the resurrection from the dead of the Prince of Life, whom they had crucified. We have seen how the seventh chapter in this book marks the close of that special offer to Jerusalem. Immediately after the death of Stephen, the Gospel was carried into Judea and Samaria. In Samaria a people heard and accepted the glad tidings. They were a mixed race and practiced circumcision and obeyed parts of the law. In Acts 9:1-43 the conversion of Paul is recorded and the Lord makes known that the persecutor of the church is to be the chosen vessel to bear His name before the Gentiles. Paul, however, was not chosen to open first the door to the Gentiles as such, but Peter, the Apostle of the circumcision. A new work is given him to do, which was indeed a strange work for a Jew. He was to go to the Gentiles, whom the Jews considered unclean. It was unlawful for a Jew to join himself to any Gentile; an insurmountable barrier divided them. As we read in the words quoted from the Epistle to the Ephesians, Gentiles were "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise." For this reason the Jews considered the Gentiles as unclean, common, spoke of them as dogs, and had no intercourse with them. It is of interest to notice that Peter tarried in Joppa; from this old city he is to be sent forth to preach the Gospel to Cornelius and his household. Centuries ago another Jew had come to Joppa with a solemn message from his GOD, which he was commissioned to bear far hence to the Gentiles. Jonah, the prophet, took a ship from Joppa and refused obedience to the divine call. But here is one who is obedient to the heavenly vision and who is to bring a higher message to the Gentiles, the good news of a free and full salvation. That Peter, the Apostle of the circumcision, was chosen for this great errand, was an important hint that the middle wall of partition had been broken down and that believing Jews and Gentiles were to form one new man. Yet with the vision he had which opened the way for Peter to go to the Gentiles; and the great results he had witnessed when Cornelius and his household believed, and the Holy Spirit fell upon them, the Apostle Peter could later in Antioch put up the same wall of partition which he knew was broken down. "For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles; but when they were come (Jews from Jerusalem), he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them, which were of the circumcision" (Galatians 2:12). He then built again the things he had destroyed. The events of Acts 10:1-48 are divinely pre-arranged; and both Cornelius and those with him, who were to hear the Gospel, and Peter the messenger, are prepared for it. - Peter is divinely prepared and instructed to go, - Cornelius is divinely prepared to send and to hear. We divide the chapter into four parts. I. Cornelius of Caesarea and his Preparation (Acts 10:1-8). II. The trance-vision of Peter in Preparation for his Mission (Acts 10:9-16). III. Peter with Cornelius at Caesarea (Acts 10:17-33). IV. Peter Preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10:34-43). V. The interrupted Message (Acts 10:44-48). I. Cornelius of Caesarea and his Preparation to hear the Gospel. "There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God alway. He saw in a vision evidently, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming in to him, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seaside: he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually; and when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to Joppa" (Acts 10:1-8). The city in which Cornelius dwelt is mentioned first, and it will not be out of place to give some information about that ancient city. It must not be confounded with another Caesarea, of which we read in the Gospel, Caesarea Philippi. The Caesarea here was situated between Joppa and Dora. Augustus, the Emperor, gave this city to Herod; he made a most beautiful city out of it, spending immense sums of money. It was a Gentile city, though many Jews live there also. Cornelius was a centurion, who was at the head of a band, which was known by the name of "the Italian band." A legion in the Roman army had 6,000 men. Each legion was divided into 10 cohorts of 600 each, and a cohort was divided into six centuries, that is, a hundred men in each century. Cornelius was a centurion, he had charge of one of these subdivisions of a cohort. Of another centurion we read in the Gospels. He was in character much like Cornelius, for it is said of him "he loveth our nation and hath built us a synagogue" (Luke 7:5). It is striking that two centurions, soldiers of rank, should be so prominently mentioned in connection with the Gospel. The Holy Spirit had done a gracious work in both of these Gentile soldiers. Cornelius must have been a man of authority. His name indicates this, for he belonged to the house to which also belonged the Scipios and Sulla. He was well known to the whole Jewish nation (Acts 10:22); he also had a large circle of friends in Caesarea. But he had more than a good report. He was a devout man, one that feared GOD with all his house, and who showed his piety by almsgiving and by prayer. "He prayed to God alway." He belonged to that class of Gentiles who, illumined by the Holy Spirit, had turned to GOD from idols, to serve the true and the living GOD. He was godly and a converted man before Peter ever came to him and preached the Gospel in his house. It is wrong, therefore, to speak of the event described in this chapter as the conversion of Cornelius. Nor was he a proselyte who had become circumcised and accepted Judaism. Of salvation through the Lord JESUS CHRIST for himself and the blessed assurance of that salvation he knew nothing. It was at the ninth hour when Cornelius had a divine visitation. He was praying (Acts 10:30) when a man stood before him in bright clothing. It seems Cornelius observed the Jewish hours of prayer; the ninth hour was 3 P.M., the time of the evening oblation. The appearing of the angel filled Cornelius with fear. The angel brought him the assurance that GOD had heard his prayers and that his good works were pleasing to GOD. They sprung from faith. The angel also gave him the directions for sending to Peter, and where Peter was to be found, with whom he lodged and where his lodging house was located. Peter was to tell him what he ought to do. From this we may gather that his prayer must have been to GOD for light and guidance. How blessed and full of comfort all this is! The Lord observed this devout centurion, He heard his prayers. His eye was upon Peter likewise and He knew his movements. And this is still the case. His loving, watching eye is upon all who are His. He still directs and guides those who depend on Him. What honor to serve such a Lord! Yet how little our poor, failing hearts enter into all this. How often we doubt and fear when faith should rejoice and praise. Cornelius called at once two of his household servants and a devout soldier, and after he had acquainted them with the divine message and direction he had received, he sent them to Joppa, and they in due time reached their destination. While they were inquiring for Simon the tanner’s house at the seaside, the chosen messenger had his vision. II. The trance-vision of Peter in preparation for his mission. "On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour: And he became very hungry, and would have eaten; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance, and saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter, kill, and eat. But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven" (Acts 10:9-16). The messenger needed a preparation as well as Cornelius. As a Jew, though filled with the Spirit, he needed a special revelation to send him forth to the Gentiles. On the day of Pentecost he had declared: "For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, as many as the Lord our God shall call." Those "afar off" are the Gentiles. Peter then did not realize the far-reaching meaning of this utterance. And when he heard from the Lord’s own lips the great commission to preach the Gospel to every creature, he little understood that it meant the Gentiles. Had someone demanded suddenly of Peter before this event occurred, that he should go and associate with Gentiles, enter their houses and speak to them concerning CHRIST, he would have drawn back in astonishment, if not in horror. But now the hour is come when it is to be known that indeed the middle wall of partition is broken down. Peter had tarried many days in Joppa. Nothing is said of further service he rendered in that city. He may have been waiting on the Lord for guidance. The messengers of Cornelius were nearing Joppa when Peter went up upon the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. He still maintained Jewish forms. He had not yet broken his fast and while on the flat roof he fell into a trance. The vision he saw, coming out of the opened heaven, was a vessel like a great sheet. The four corners were together and thus the sheet was let down upon the earth. The sheet contained clean and unclean animals. The voice from heaven demanded that Peter should kill and eat. And he who rebuked his Lord while on earth, there at Caesarea Philippi, when he said, after the Lord announced His coming passion, "Be it far from Thee" (Matthew 16:22), does so here again on the housetop of Caesarea. He said, "Not so, Lord." He protests that he had never eaten anything common or unclean. The voice came again the second time, telling him, " What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common." Thrice the same thing was done, and then straightway the vessel was received up into heaven. It returned to the place from which it had been lowered. And what is the meaning? - The vessel is the type of the church. - The four corners represent the four corners of the earth. - The clean animals it contained, the Jews; - the unclean, the Gentiles. But all in that vessel are cleansed. The Grace of GOD in the Lord JESUS CHRIST has cleansed those who are in CHRIST. "But ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:11). Jew and Gentile believing, redeemed by blood, saved by Grace, washed and sanctified, are put into one body. What the great Apostle to the Gentiles wrote to the Ephesians is here made known in a vision. "The Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the Gospel" (Ephesians 3:6). The vessel came down from heaven and disappeared there. This reveals the heavenly origin and the heavenly destiny of the church. The church is a heavenly revelation, and, as the vessel disappeared in heaven, so will the church someday be taken up into heaven to enter upon her heavenly destination. Such are the lessons which this vision clearly teaches. III. Peter with Cornelius at Caesarea. "Now, while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon’s house, and stood before the gate, and called, and asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing; for I have sent them" (Acts 10:17-20). Peter was in doubt about the vision. What did it mean? Did it mean that all distinction between clean and unclean animals was to be abolished and that the great dietary instructions divinely given through Moses were to be abandoned? Perhaps the words of the Lord came back to him, when He had said, "Do ye not perceive that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man it cannot defile him." He was deeply exercised about the vision to know its deeper meaning. But the Lord Himself had the interpretation of his vision ready for Peter. Just at that moment the messengers of Cornelius, who had asked their way to Simon’s house at the seaside, had arrived at the gate. GOD was arranging everything, even in the smaller details. His purpose and plan could not fail, nor can it ever fail. Nothing could hinder that which was to be accomplished. And so it is still. We need to fear no failure, nor do we need to worry, if we are in His plan. And when these men were inquiring for Simon, surnamed Peter, whether he lodged there, Peter was still in deep thought on the vision. He did not hear the calling of the men at the gate. But another One spoke to him: "The Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise, therefore, and get thee down and go with them nothing doubting, for I have sent them." The Holy Spirit now begins His directions. The words reveal the truth of the personality of the Holy Spirit in a very striking way. "I have sent them" is what the Holy Spirit declares. And He who sent the three men to summon Peter to Caesarea, also commanded Peter to arise and to go with them without any hesitation. "Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius, and said, Behold, I am he whom you seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come? And they said, Cornelius the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nation of the Jews, was warned from God by an holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words of thee. Then called he them in, and lodged them. And on the morrow Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied them" (Acts 10:21-23). How great must have been Peter’s astonishment, when he faced suddenly the three Gentiles at the gate. But could he doubt after such a vision? Was not the presence of these three men, uncircumcised, unclean Gentiles, an explanation of the vision? The Holy Spirit furthermore had told him that they were sent by Himself and that he was to go with them. And the men now told him what had happened to Cornelius, the devout centurion, and that an angel of GOD had directed him to Peter. The full light must have flashed upon the Apostle of the circumcision. He called them in and lodged them. This was certainly breaking away from Jewish customs. On the next morning we see a company leaving Joppa. Peter was not like Jonah, who fled from Joppa, but he leaves in obedience to the divine call, accompanied by certain brethren and the three messengers of Cornelius. "And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for them. and had called together his kinsmen and near friends. And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man. And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many that were come together. And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me? And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing, and said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God. Send therefore to Joppa, and call hither Simon, whose surname is Peter; he is lodged in the house of one Simon a tanner by the seaside: who, when he cometh, shall speak unto thee. Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God" (Acts 10:24-33). While the company was journeying on towards the city, Cornelius, who had called together his kinsmen and near friends, was waiting for the heaven-sent messenger. With eager anticipation, longing for the blessed truth he was to hear, he waited for Peter’s arrival. And then he came. No sooner did Cornelius see Peter than he fell down at his feet and worshipped. This happened outside of Cornelius’ house, perhaps at a distance from it. The first act he did was to fall at the Apostle’s feet and to do him divine honor. In this he betrayed his heathen training. Remembering the vision of the angel he looked upon Peter as deserving the greatest honor. But Peter would not tolerate this for a moment. Lifting Cornelius up, he said, "Stand up; I myself also am a man." What Cornelius did was an act of worship. The same word Satan used when he demanded that the Lord JESUS CHRIST should fall down and worship him. GOD alone is to be worshipped. Such reverence which Cornelius did is not to be rendered to a mere man nor to an angel (see Revelation 19:10; Revelation 22:9). "Worship God;" the Apostle John is told as he fell at the feet of the angel which showed him the things he saw. Some Christians have declared that even the Lord JESUS CHRIST should not be worshipped. But this is a serious mistake. The Lord JESUS CHRIST is GOD and worship belongs to him. "That all should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father; he that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent Him" (John 5:23). But what a contrast between Peter and those who claim to be the successors of Peter! That wicked man-made priesthood, which in its assumption has been the corruption of Christianity, demands honor and reverence from man. The pope and the priests accept reverence from man, which belongs only to the Lord. Ritualism, whether in Romish, Greek or Protestant form, always exalts a man and looks upon sinful man as having authority and therefore entitled to honor and worship. "His Worship," "His Grace," "His Reverence," "His Eminence," "His Holiness," etc., are the titles attached by ritualistic Christendom to men. For this there is no authority whatever in the Word of GOD. Peter’s action here repudiates the whole thing. His Epistle in which by the Spirit of GOD he teaches the priesthood of all believers and not once mentions anything about himself, as holding a place above the other believers, is a complete refutal of traditional Christendom. Indeed, Ritualism is a return to heathenish customs; it is idolatry. Such is the teaching of Galatians 4:9-11. Then Peter went with Cornelius into the house, telling him of how GOD had in the vision on the house top delivered him from the traditional Jewish prejudices and that he had now full liberty to enter into the house of a non-Jew and did no longer consider such an act unlawful. Asking Cornelius for what intent he had sent for him, the centurion rehearses once more the answer which GOD had sent him, when he had prayed. He closes his address to Peter with those familiar words, "Now, therefore, are we all here present before God to hear all things that are commanded thee of God." How beautiful all this is and how comforting to the heart! In His days upon the earth our Lord had said: "And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one flock and one shepherd" (John 10:16). Here in His own blessed way the risen CHRIST accomplishes what He predicted. The other sheep are the Gentiles, the one fold (flock) [*] is the church and the one shepherd over all the Lord JESUS CHRIST. [*] Judaism was a fold, but Christianity, according to the New Testament, knows nothing of a fold, but there is one flock. He was the actor in this great event. He drew Cornelius and spoke to him. And He is still the same Lord, who adds to His flock. He still calls the other sheep. Cornelius and his kinsmen knew the messenger was sent of GOD and that the message he brings was GOD’s message. Peter knew he was sent and that souls had been prepared to hear the message. How blessed the meetings of GOD’s people might be if such were always the case, and the servant of CHRIST were conscious in dependence on the Lord as His messenger, sent of GOD, and if those who come to hear, came expecting GOD’s own message for their souls. IV. Peter preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles. "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached; how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; not to all people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. 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 10:34-43). There is a great difference between Peter’s address to the Gentiles and his previously reported addresses to the Jews. The word repentance so prominent in his witness to Jerusalem is absent entirely. These words of Peter may be divided into three parts: 1. The remarks introductory to the Gospel. Peter declares that he perceives that GOD is not a respecter of persons. This statement was made already in the Old Testament. See Deuteronomy 10:17; 2 Chronicles 19:7 and Job 34:19. The Holy Spirit brings this to Peter’s remembrance. Peter had previously looked upon GOD as a respecter of persons, but his experience had convinced him that such was not the case. The same truth is very significantly mentioned in the opening chapters of Romans, the chapters which so clearly prove that there is no difference, but that all, Jews and Gentiles, have sinned and come short of the glory of GOD. In Romans 2:10-11 we read: "But glory, honor and peace to every man that worketh good to the Jew first and also to the Gentiles." The same truth Peter states here: "but in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him." However, this does not mean, as it is so often declared, that the heathen’s natural light and acquired morality renders him acceptable in the sight of GOD. The fear of GOD and the working of righteousness is not the product of the natural heart, but the work of GOD Himself. Such work is not confined to the Jewish soul but is done also through grace in the Gentiles. This is the meaning of the statement. Peter adds something which is often overlooked. He tells Cornelius and his friends that they were not ignorant of the Word which GOD sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by JESUS CHRIST, who is Lord of all. They knew of all this and had heard of it in some way. The blessing was in possession of the children of Israel. For this reason the centurion must have loved the nation Israel and did good unto them. But he had no assurance that that which was preached to Israel was to be enjoyed by him, nor did Peter realize it till GOD revealed it to him that the Gentiles were to be sharers of it. 2. Then Peter explains that word and briefly rehearses the facts concerning JESUS of Nazareth. GOD had anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power. GOD was with Him. It was demonstrated by what He did, going about doing good and healing all that were oppressed by the devil. They had been witnesses of all this. In a brief sentence Peter mentions the death of CHRIST, that they slew Him and hanged Him on a tree. Then follows the declaration of His resurrection. GOD raised Him up the third day. But He was not seen by all the people, but only by those whom GOD had chosen; who did eat and drink with Him. With what interest the centurion and those with him must have listened to this blessed message, much of which was known to them by hearsay, but here stood Peter, one of the eye witnesses of all this which had happened. One directly sent by GOD was telling out all this in their presence. But he was a Jew, who spoke these words. They were Gentiles. What meaning had all this for them? The third part of Peter’s address makes this clear. It brings the blessed Gospel of CHRIST home to their hearts. 3. The Apostle speaks next of the fact that CHRIST had given them a commission. He commanded them to preach unto the people and to testify that it is He which GOD ordained to be the judge of quick and dead. But the centurion and his company could not take any comfort in this preaching. Who else were the people but the Jewish people to whom that risen One had given commandment to preach. The Holy Spirit might have worded His message in another way, which would have revealed the truth in a general way. He might have said that the Lord had given a commission which said: "Go ye into all the world, preach the Gospel to every creature." From this they might have reasoned, we are creatures of GOD, therefore the Gospel is for us. He chose another, a more precious way, a way which was to bring blessing to Peter’s heart as well. The truth flashed at once into Peter’s heart and mind as he spoke. "To Him," he declares, "give all the prophets witness that through His Name WHOSOEVER believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." Some have made the statement that Peter and the other Apostles were not obedient to the Lord’s command when they tarried in Jerusalem, that; it was the Lord’s will for them to spread the Gospel among the Gentiles at once. Instead of carrying out the commission they abode in that city. However, this view is incorrect. They acted according to GOD’s will. Peter did not realize the full meaning of the Lord’s purpose until the proper time had come for it and then the power of GOD made it clear to Him. It was revealed to Peter as he spoke these words that there was indeed no difference, that GOD is no respecter of persons. The truth so fully revealed in a doctrinal way in Romans 3:22 that the righteousness of GOD, by faith in JESUS CHRIST is unto all and upon all them that believe, Jew and Gentile, bursts upon the Apostle of the circumcision through divine illumination. Blessed and precious sentence, which Peter uttered - "through His Name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." Yes, whosoever, it is the word which tells out the meaning of the Gospel for a lost and guilty world. "Whosoever" - the Lord had used it Himself knowing the blessed results of His work on the cross. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." And when GOD closes His Holy Word on the last page, He must tell a sinful world once more that blessed word GOD’s own redeemed people love so well. "And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Revelation 22:17). The great truth has been spoken for the first time. The full and free good news of salvation through His Name has been offered for the first time to Gentiles. What is the result? V. The interrupted Message. "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 forth the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized, in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days" (Acts 10:44-48). Peter’s message was suddenly interrupted. He intended to continue; he had only begun to speak (Acts 11:15) when he was arrested. The Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the Word. Cornelius and those with Him had been ignorant of this very fact, which Peter had made known. They heard that all this salvation, the remission of sins, was for them and in that moment as they heard the Word they believed and as soon as they believed, the very moment they accepted this blessed message, the Holy Spirit fell on them. It was then demonstrated that the gift of the Holy Spirit is given by hearing of faith. The apostle of the Gentiles wrote later to the foolish Galatians, who were falling from grace by going back under the law, "this only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" (Galatians 3:2). Even so in this blessed Gospel the sealing with the Spirit and much else is received in believing. Something new had taken place. - On Pentecost it meant water baptism as a condition of receiving the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38) and the remission of sins; - In Samaria the Apostles, Peter and John, according to the wisdom of GOD, had to lay on hands, but here without water baptism and laying on of hands the Holy Spirit came upon the Gentiles. Nor was there any process of seeking, surrendering, examining themselves, giving up, praying for it, but by hearing of faith, in believing the message of the Gospel the Holy Spirit fell on them. And to show that every barrier between Jew and Gentile had been removed, that nothing inferior had been bestowed upon Gentiles, than that which came upon the believing Jews on the day of Pentecost, Cornelius, his kinsmen and friends spoke with tongues and magnified GOD. It was the conclusive evidence that Gentiles, uncircumcised and unbaptized, received the Holy Spirit like the Jews. "And as I began to speak the Holy Spirit fell on them as on us in the beginning." Water baptism follows. Up to this chapter water baptism preceded the gift of the Holy Spirit. This shows the place water baptism holds on the ground of grace. Water baptism has no place in the proclamation of the Gospel of Grace. It is not a means of grace, nor a sacrament. Peter, however, does not slight nor ignore baptism. "Can any man forbid water?" Then he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. This shows that not Peter himself did this act; it is therefore not a ministerial thing. This, too, was done here in anticipation of what should be made of baptism through "ordained men" who claim apostolic succession. Peter was requested to tarry with the happy company certain days. No doubt he must have fulfilled their request. What blessed intercourse they must have had! ~ end of chapter 10 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 52: 03.11. CHAPTER ELEVEN ======================================================================== CHAPTER ELEVEN The present chapter we divide into four parts: I. Peter’s defence in Jerusalem and its result (Acts 11:1-18). II. The Foundation of the Church in Antioch (Acts 11:19-21). III. Barnabas sent to Antioch (Acts 11:22-26). IV. The Prophecy of Agabus (Acts 11:27-30). I. Peter’s defence in Jerusalem and its results. "And the apostles and brethren that were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God. And 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. But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying, I was in the city of Joppa praying: and in a trance I saw a vision, A certain vessel descend, as it had been a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came even to me: Upon the which when I had fastened mine eyes, I considered, and saw four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And I heard a voice saying unto me, Arise, Peter; slay and eat. But I said, Not so, Lord: for nothing common or unclean hath at any time entered into my mouth. But the voice answered me again from heaven, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common. And this was done three times: and all were drawn up again into heaven. And behold, immediately there were three men already come unto the house where I was, sent from Caesarea unto me. And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man’s house: And he showed us how he had seen an angel in his house, which stood and said unto him, Send men to Joppa, and call for Simon, whose surname is Peter; Who shall tell thee words, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved. 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 baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized 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? When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life" (Acts 11:1-18). Peter had tarried certain days with the happy company in Caesarea, no doubt, telling them more of the Lord, of His life and miracles, His death and resurrection. How blessed this fellowship must have been! It fully demonstrated that the middle wall of partition had been broken down and that the believing Jews and Gentiles were one in CHRIST JESUS. But the report of his action and that the Gentiles had received the Word of GOD reached the apostles and brethren in Judea. Instead of creating rejoicing over what GOD had done, contention arose and the danger of a division was imminent. Failure is seen once more. Murmurings had arisen before (Acts 6:1-15); but here party spirit showed itself for the first time. This subtle work of the flesh (Galatians 5:20) [*] was ready to make a rend among the brethren. [*] The words translated in Galatians 5:20 by "seditions, heresies," means "disputes, schools of opinion." We must bear in mind that two classes of Jews composed the assemblies in Jerusalem and in Judea. The Hellenists and the more strict Palestinian Jews. To the latter class belonged many Pharisees and the large number of priests, who had believed. These were all zealous for the law (Acts 21:20). These still looked upon the Gentiles as unclean. Their belief was that a Gentile in order to be saved had to submit to circumcision and become a Jew. Years later we find them very outspoken about this in the record of the first church council held in Jerusalem. Publicly they stated "that it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses" (Acts 15:5). Here the party spirit asserts itself and the dissenters are called "they of the circumcision," which means that some of them pressed circumcision and the law unduly, for all the Jewish believers were of the circumcision. Gradually they became a strong party in the church. Striking it is, too, that Peter is called later "the apostle of the circumcision," and later his action in Antioch, so inconsistent with the events in Caesarea, brought forth the divine rebuke through the apostle of the Gentiles (Galatians 1:14). The eating with the Gentiles was the one point of accusation here. "They seemed to have heard the fact, without any circumstantial detail from some reporter, who gave the objectionable part of it, as it is not uncommon in such cases, all prominence." [*] [*] Dean Alford in Greek Testament. Peter’s answer is most instructive. He does not refer to his apostolic authority. He might have reminded them of the fact that the Lord at another Caesarea had committed unto him "the Keys of the kingdom of heaven," and that in virtue of this commission he had acted. But no reference to that is made at all by him. Nor does he go to his fellow apostles to lay the matter before them. His defence consists in a rehearsal of what had taken place. We do not need to follow this again, as we have already done so in the previous chapter. The statements given proved irresistible. Here were facts which were unanswerable. They heard these things, they held their peace. But more than that, they began to praise instead of strife; they glorified GOD. Gratefully they acknowledged that GOD had granted to the Gentiles repentance unto life. In the course of time this wonderful opening of the door to the Gentiles was forgotten and "they of the circumcision" became a strong party. Peter but briefly refers in Acts 15:1-41 to that, which he so fully describes here. II. The Foundation of the Church in Antioch. "Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Stephen travelled as far as Phoenice, and Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to none but unto the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord" (Acts 11:19-21). The nineteenth verse (Acts 11:19) connects with Acts 8:4. The great persecution had scattered the believers. Philip had been the chosen instrument to bring the gospel to Samaria. That had to be reported first. And now we are to learn what others did and where they proclaimed the blessed Gospel. They went to Phoenice. This was a strip of coast land some 120 miles long. Tyre and Sidon were cities of Phoenice. There the Gospel was preached and with blessed results, which appear later in this book (Acts 21:4-7; Acts 27:3). Cyprus was closely connected with Phoenice. Many ships sailed constantly from the Phoenician ports to that island. Barnabas and Mnason (Acts 21:16) were from Cyprus. Then others must have gone along the coast and reached Antioch. They all preached to the Jews only. But some of these evangelists were men of Cyprus and Cyrene who, when they came to Antioch, preached the Lord JESUS to the Greeks, that is to the Gentiles. A great number of these turned unto the Lord and believed. Antioch comes into prominence as the other great center of Christianity, second only to Jerusalem. Here the preaching to the Gentiles was begun and fully recognized by the church in Jerusalem. From here the great missionary movement of the apostolic age started. Here Saul appears again to take from now on, as the apostle of the Gentiles, a leading part. In Antioch, furthermore, the disciples were called "Christians" for the first time. In Jerusalem, this name was unknown; they Were termed "the sect of the Nazarenes." All this brings out the great importance as the center of Christianity on Gentile ground. This importance has led some to see in Antioch the place where the church began to come into existence. It is denied that the day of Pentecost was the day that the church was empowered for service, but the claim is made that the church began in Antioch. This is a far-fetched theory, which lacks scriptural support. We have already shown that Pentecost was the day on which the church received power. No event like the baptism of the Holy Spirit took place in Antioch, but Antioch shared in that which had happened in Jerusalem. The Antiochan Gentile believers were simply added by the same Spirit to the church, the foundations of which are the apostles and prophets, JESUS CHRIST Himself being the chief cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20). Antioch itself was an influential city founded by Seleucus Nicator in 300 B. C. It was a beautiful city situated on the river Orontes, with marvellous scenery. It was a luxurious, voluptuous city, steeped in the greatest immoralities. Here the Gospel was to be manifested as the power of GOD unto salvation. It is a very striking contrast with what goes before in this great historical book that the instruments used in preaching the Gospel to the Antiochenes, and in the establishment of the church among them, are not named. The true character of the church, independent of any human, earthly authority, dependent on Him who is Head over all, is indicated in this fact. And yet, as we shall see directly, the new departure had to be acknowledged and recognized in Jerusalem. It needed, however, not apostles to lay their hands upon them, so that they might receive the Holy Spirit. III. Barnabas sent to Antioch. “Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. Who, when he came and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus, for to seek Saul: And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch" (Acts 11:22-26). The wonderful work done in Antioch, the assembling of large numbers of Greeks, who had turned to the Lord, induced the church in Jerusalem to send forth Barnabas. The church in Jerusalem felt a responsibility towards this new evidence of the power of their risen and glorified Lord. They wanted to know in Jerusalem if the reports were true, and if true the assembly had to be recognized as such. This shows that the Oneness of the church, though not yet fully made known by revelation, was nevertheless realized through the Holy Spirit. And that a blessed relationship existed between the assembly in Jerusalem and the one in Antioch, is seen by Peter’s visit in that city, when in the liberty wherewith CHRIST, has made us free, he ate with these believing Gentiles and enjoyed fellowship with them (Galatians 2:11-12). Barnabas was well fitted for the mission. However, he does not come as an apostolic delegate, to baptize, to confirm or to admit these new believers into some fellowship, but his mission was simply to see if "the tidings of these things" were true. And if true the recognition of these Gentile believers had to follow. Barnabas when he came saw the grace of GOD. He saw that a genuine work of the Holy Spirit had been accomplished. This filled his heart with joy. His exhortation was that with purpose of heart they should cleave to the Lord. Nothing else was needed. These Gentile believers were the Lord’s and as such they were to cleave to the Lord. The unity with the fellow believers in Jerusalem was with this recognized. Barnabas did not remain idle while he was in Antioch. The Holy Spirit used him mightily. The exhortations of the good Barnabas, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, resulted in a great crowd which was added unto the Lord. This latter expression is the same as used in Acts 2:42 and Acts 2:47. But here was a great field; a strong man was needed. No angel nor heavenly vision points out that man. Barnabas knew him, and guided by the indwelling Spirit, the Son of consolation, for this is the meaning of Barnabas, departs to go to the nearby Tarsus to find Saul. Saul was his man. Barnabas had introduced him to the apostles and there can be no question at all that Barnabas knew from Saul’s lips and experience, that he had been called by the Lord to preach to the Gentiles. He found him in Tarsus. Patiently Saul must have waited for the right moment when his life’s work should begin. That time had now come. We see them together in Antioch for a whole year; they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. A brief sentence tells us that these Gentiles, who had become believers in the Lord, were first called Christians in Antioch. The movement had attracted the attention of the outsiders. The Jews, it is certain, did not give this name, but the Gentiles invented it. Antioch was famous for its readiness to jeer and call names; it was known by its witty epigrams. So they coined a new word, "Christianoi" - Christians. It is used exclusively by outsiders, as seen in the case of Agrippa, also see 1 Peter 4:16. Jews and Gentiles alike were called by this name, "Christians," so that it bears testimony to the oneness of Jew and Gentile in CHRIST. IV. The Prophecy of Agabus. "And in these days came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch. And there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea: Which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul" (Acts 11:27-30). An additional proof is found in these verses of the intercourse and fellowship, which existed between the assembly in Jerusalem and the assembly in Antioch. Prophets came to Antioch from Jerusalem. This is the first time that New Testament prophets are mentioned. They came as a gift of the Lord to His church next to the apostles. Many were prophets in the early days of Christianity. However, their gift must not be limited to predictions. Anyone who speaks of divine things out of the fullness of a heart, which is in blessed communion with GOD, prophesies. These spiritual gifts were led from Jerusalem to Antioch to minister there. Prominent amongst them is Agabus. [*] [*] The same Agabus who appears in Acts 21:11. He made a prediction that a great famine should soon come. It came during the days of Claudius Caesar. Then follows a precious action, which clearly shows again the blessed fellowship and unity of the church. Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea. The church in Jerusalem was poor, the disciples in Antioch were more blessed with earthly things. And now, according to their ability, it was an individual matter, they gave. They sent temporal gifts to Jerusalem from which they had received so much spiritual blessing. Barnabas and Saul carried the fellowship to the elders of the assembly in Jerusalem. ~ end of chapter 11 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 53: 03.12. CHAPTER TWELVE ======================================================================== CHAPTER TWELVE With Acts 12:1-25 we reach the conclusion of the second part of this book. Jerusalem had heard the second offer concerning the Kingdom and mercy was ready even for the murderers of the Prince of Life. But that offer was rejected. Stephen’s testimony followed by his martyrdom marked the close of that second offer to the city where our Lord had been crucified. Then broke out a great persecution and they were scattered abroad except the Apostles. With Acts 8:1-40 we saw the Gospel preached in Judea and Samaria. From our last chapter we learned that others who were driven out of Jerusalem preached the Word in Phoenice, Cyprus and Antioch. In this second section of the Book of Acts the conversion of Saul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, Peter’s acts and his preaching to Cornelius, the foundation of the church in Antioch as a second great center of Christianity, are reported. Acts 12:1-25, with which this part of Acts closes, is an interesting one. It is not only interesting on account of the historical information it contains, but also because of its dispensational foreshadowing. Once more we are introduced to Jerusalem and see another great tribulation. The wicked King is reigning over the city. James is killed with the sword, while Peter is imprisoned but wonderfully delivered; the evil King, who claimed divine power and worship, is suddenly smitten by the judgment of the Lord. Then the Word grew and multiplied, Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem to Antioch, from where the great missionary operations were soon to be conducted. The events in Jerusalem, James’ martyrdom under King Herod, Peter’s imprisonment and deliverance, as well as the fate of the persecuting King foreshadow the events with which this present age will close. After the true church is taken from the earth, that is when 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 is fulfilled, the great tribulation will take place. While great tribulation and judgment will come upon the whole world, the great tribulation will come upon the Jewish people who have returned in part to their own land. In the midst of the masses of unbelieving Jews, there will be found a remnant of God-fearing Jews, who are converted and bear testimony to the truth. A wicked King, the man of sin, the false Messiah, will then be in power in Jerusalem. Part of that Jewish remnant will suffer martyrdom; these are represented by James, whom Herod, the type of the Antichrist, slew. Another part will be delivered as Peter was delivered. Herod’s presumption and fate clearly points to that of the Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:3-8). All this may well be kept in mind as we study this chapter in detail. I. The great persecution of the church by Herod Agrippa I (Acts 12:1-5). II. The miraculous deliverance of Peter (Acts 12:6-17). III. The Presumption and Judgment of King Herod (Acts 12:18-23). IV. Barnabas and Saul returning to Antioch (Acts 12:24-25). I. The great persecution of the church by Herod Agrippa I. "Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church. And he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to take Peter also. (Then were the days of unleavened bread). And when he had apprehended him he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him" (Acts 12:1-5). The second great persecution broke out. It was about that time when the events had taken place with which the previous chapter closed. Herod, the King, mentioned here is known in history as Herod Agrippa I. He was the grandson of Herod the Great. First he had the tetrarchy of Philip (Luke 3:1), then he received the territory of Herod Antipas, Galilee and Peraea; lastly through political intrigue he added to his Kingdom Judea and Samaria. Much of his time was spent in Rome, where he lived extravagantly. When he came to Jerusalem he tried in every possible way to gain the good will of the Jews by an outward observance of the law and defense of their customs. The persecution of the church was no doubt inspired by the desire to gain favour with the Jews. As far as the historical account goes, it seems his hatred was exclusively directed against the Apostles; James was killed by the sword. This James was the brother of John, one of the three disciples who are specially mentioned in the Gospels. With his younger brother John and Peter, he had witnessed the raising of Jairus’ daughter, had been on the mount of transfiguration and in Gethsemane. No record is given of his work as an Apostle nor anything about his trial; the details of his martyrdom are also passed over. He was put to death in the same way as John the Baptist, beheaded with the sword. This mode of death was looked upon by the Jews as the most disgraceful. The Talmud makes this statement and informs us that this punishment was used in case someone misled the people to worship other gods. Whether this was the accusation or not which was brought against James, we do not know. The two sons of Zebedee, James and John, had desired to sit at the right and at the left hand in His Kingdom. The Lord had answered them, after their declaration that they could drink the cup that he was to drink of, and had said, "Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with" (Matthew 20:23), and here is the fulfillment of this prediction in the life of James. He is the first Apostle who died and the only Apostle of whose death we have an account given in the New Testament. That no record is given of the details of His suffering and death is also significant. Well has one said: "In days of ardent faith and also of expectation of the Lord’s speedy return, death sank into its true place as simply a change of condition; it was but a falling asleep. Accordingly instead of dwelling with morbid interest on the painful details of the martyr’s sufferings, the church pressed forward to reap with joy the harvest of their blood." [*] [*] R. B. Rackham. The bloody deed pleased the Jews and the wicked King stretched out his hand against Peter and put him into prison. Peter was the only remaining Apostle in Jerusalem. This seems to be clear from Acts 12:17. Peter requests that his deliverance be made known to James (the Lord’s brother) and to the brethren. His fellow Apostles, the ten, are not mentioned by him. They were away from Jerusalem at that time. That one of the twelve had been taken away and the others, with the exception of Peter, were not in Jerusalem, is a hint that their work in connection with the nation was ended. Peter was put into prison for the third time. The wonderful deliverance of the same man as recorded in chapter 4 must have been still vividly in the minds of many of the Jews and it may have led to the great caution exercised in this imprisonment. Four quaternions of soldiers guarded him. He was in the inner ward. A soldier was on each side and he was bound with two chains and the keepers before the door kept the prison. Thus he was kept in that prison. Cruel Herod would stamp out the Nazarenes and Peter was to share James’ fate. [*] [*] Four Herods are mentioned in the New Testament. All are types of the Anti-Christ and all were energized by Satan. - Herod the Great who had the children of Bethlehem killed. - The Herod who killed John the Baptist. - The Herod who slew James, - The Herod Agrippa before whom Paul stood and preached. But prayer was made without ceasing by "the church unto God for him." Of this Herod knew nothing; with this fact the cruel despot did not reckon. Nothing is said of prayer having been made for James. Perhaps his martyrdom was a sudden event. Or it may have been that the Holy Spirit indicated at once that James was to glorify the Lord by his death and no prayer could then be made for his release. The church held a prayer-meeting and it was a prolonged prayer-meeting. However, the word translated "without ceasing" means "intensely." It was an intense prayer meeting and of course was therefore carried on without ceasing. The prayer-meeting was held in a private house, as we shall see later. One member suffered and so all suffered. Prayer was their refuge; they were led into it by the Holy Spirit. II. The miraculous deliverance of Peter. "And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals: and so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of its own accord: and they went out and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him. And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews. And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken, named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter’s voice she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, Thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, It is his angel. But Peter continued knocking: and when they had opened the door, and saw him, they were astonished. But he, beckoning unto them with the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go shew these things unto James, and to the brethren. And he departed, and went into another place" (Acts 12:6-17). A few hours before Herod intended to carry out his wicked scheme the prayer of the church was answered. Peter was sleeping between the two soldiers, in all probability chained to each, so as to make another escape an impossibility. And why did Peter sleep so peacefully? It was not the sleep of exhaustion, but must have been the result of a calm mind trusting in the Lord. Perhaps he remembered in that prison the words which the risen Lord had addressed to him at the shore of the lake Tiberias: "When thou shalt be old thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee and carry thee whither thou wouldest not." Thus the Lord had spoken, signifying thereby by what death he should glorify GOD. He was not yet old. He knew his Lord was greater than poor, miserable Herod. Peter rested in the Lord and in His gracious word to him. Oh! that GOD’s people might know the calm rest of faith. Our lives are in His hands. He is over us and no enemy can harm us; nothing can touch us without His will. An angel appeared and delivered Peter. The chains fell from his hands. The light of glory shone in the prison. He obeyed the angel, following him as in a dream. The first and second ward passed, they came to the iron gate, which opened by itself. Outside in the street the angel departed. Then Peter realized that the Lord had sent an angel to deliver him. No further comment on the details of this miracle is necessary. In spite of all the precautions, Peter was delivered, and once more the prison was empty. Still on Kingdom ground an angel was seen. Through this age the ministry of angels is hidden. This book closes with another prisoner, Paul, in Rome; no angel was sent to lead him forth. And ever after there have been unaccountable prisons in which the children of GOD suffered for CHRIST and for righteousness sake, but the heavens were silent and did not interfere. Thousands were tortured and dragged out a miserable existence in prison till death released them, and, though prayers ascended for their deliverance, no answer came. This has been a mystery to not a few and has been one of the taunts of infidelity. But one of the characteristics of the present age are the closed heavens. [*] [*] We recommend to our readers the excellent book by Sir Robert Anderson "The Silence of GOD." It deals with this question. They will not be closed forever. James’ death and Peter’s deliverance foreshadow the death of future Jewish saints during the tribulation and the miraculous deliverance of others. Once more Peter goes to his own company. They are gathered in the house of Mary, the mother of John. The Mary here is the mother of John Mark, and she is here introduced for the first time in the Book of Acts; she was the aunt of Barnabas. The house must have been a large one, for there was a court-yard. In the spacious house a goodly number of believers were gathered, engaged in prayer. No leader was there, for we read that James and the brethren were absent. It was, as we say, an informal gathering, but the Holy Spirit was the leader. Perhaps they were still on their knees when Peter knocked for admission. The maid Rhoda (Rose) hastened to the gate. Gladness filled her heart when she recognized Peter’s voice. For joy she forgot all about that latch at the gate, and instead of opening to Peter she ran back to the house to communicate the good news. She must have interrupted the prayers of the assembled company. The prayer had been answered and praise was now in order. Alas! there was no response from their side. Instead of believing that Peter had been delivered, they looked upon the happy, beaming face of Rhoda and said, "thou art mad." Not one of the company believed that Peter had been released. Rhoda was the one who believed that it was Peter. And this is undoubtedly the reason why her name is mentioned in this book. The poor maid, perhaps a slave girl, pleased GOD because she had faith. While there was great earnestness in that prayer meeting, when the prayer was answered, unbelief manifested itself. When Rhoda could not be shaken in her belief that it was really Peter, the company tried to explain the knocking in a spiritualistic way. "It is his angel," they said. This is generally believed to mean that it was his "guardian angel." Upon this expression, much of the belief in guardian angels is founded. However, it is far-fetched to do so. They meant by this expression, the disembodied spirit of Peter. They thought that he had been martyred and that it was a kind of spiritualist manifestation of the fact. But the door was at last opened, and Peter stood safe and sound in their midst; then they were astonished. After making known how he was delivered, he departed and went into another place. This left James, the Lord’s brother, in Jerusalem. The other Apostles had gone and Peter makes likewise haste to leave Jerusalem. Surely this marks the conclusion of this transition period. Where did Peter go? We do not know. Roman Catholicism declares that he went to Rome. There is absolutely no proof for it, but all is against it. Peter never saw Rome. Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans in 54, and there we learn that at that time no Apostle had visited that city. We see Peter back in Jerusalem in Acts 15:1-41, and it is clear that he had not followed work among the Gentiles. He continued to hold to the gospel of the circumcision (Galatians 2:7-8). III. The Presumption and Judgment of King Herod. "Now as soon as it was day, there was no small stir among the soldiers, what was become of Peter. And when Herod had sought for him, and found him not, he examined the keepers, and commanded that they should be put to death. And he went down from Judea to Cesarea, and there abode. And Herod was highly displeased with them of Tyre and Sidon: but they came with one accord to him, and, having made Blastus the king’s chamberlain their friend, desired peace; because their country was nourished by the king’s country. And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost" (Acts 12:18-23). The escape of Peter was soon discovered, and the soldiers, being responsible with their lives, according to Roman law, were of course greatly distressed. Herod sought for his prisoner, but he was beyond his reach. The keepers were put to death by the king. He followed the footsteps of his cruel grandfather, who had the children of Bethlehem killed. He then left Jerusalem for Caesarea, where he had a magnificent palace. Some difficulty existed between him and the people of Tyre and Sidon. The Phoenician cities were dependent on Palestine for food, as their land was but a narrow strip along the seacoast. They were therefore forced to make peace, which they did through Blastus, their friend and the king’s chamberlain. Most likely the interest of Blastus was gained by a bribe. It also seems that Herod must have cut off the supply of the Phoenicians. They could not buy nor sell. Thus they were forced to bow before the king. In all this, he appears as a type of the man of sin, whose character Herod foreshadows. Then a day came when an audience was granted unto the people. The king appeared in royal apparel. Josephus, the Jewish historian, informs us that his garment was made of the brightest silver, which, with the sunlight falling upon it, dazzled the eyes of the multitude. He sat on his throne, the bema, or judgment seat. Then he made an oration, most likely announcing to the ambassadors of Tyre and Sidon that he was now reconciled. The scene must have been a brilliant one. The people were carried away by the magnificent spectacle and flattering oration of the king, and cried out, "it is the voice of a god and not of a man." No doubt the aim of Herod was this very acclamation. He had planned it all. The zenith of his glory seemed reached. Monarchs were then deified, and Augustus, the emperor, was also worshipped. He gave not the glory to GOD, but usurped His Glory, and the result was a sudden judgment. What happened to Herod is mentioned by Josephus. He, however, tries to shield the king, though he speaks of Herod’s wickedness. He says that sudden pains attacked him, which were produced by the sight of an owl, a bird he dreaded, and which was seen sitting on one of the ropes of the awning of the theatre. The Word of GOD gives us the true account. It was the angel of the Lord that smote him, and he was eaten of worms. A most awful and loathsome disease took hold of him, and literally he was eaten, after a few days, of Worms. "He was seized with violent internal pains, and carried to his palace. There he lingered five days in extreme agony; being eaten of worms, the cause of his intestine disorder." The coming antichrist, too, will claim divine honors and assume the place of GOD. His end is foreshadowed in Herod’s awful fate and the place which is beyond, "where the worm dieth not." IV. Barnabas and Saul returning unto Antioch. "But the word of God grew and multiplied. And Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, when they had fulfilled their ministry, and took with them John, whose surname was Mark" (Acts 12:24-25). Nothing could hinder the victorious progress of the Word of GOD. It grew and was multiplied. Herod’s removal by divine judgment must have had an influence for the truth. Then Barnabas, having been in Jerusalem, went back to Antioch, and John Mark accompanied him. The last verse connects closely with the beginning of the third great part of the book. ~ end of chapter 12 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 54: 03.13. CHAPTER THIRTEEN ======================================================================== CHAPTER THIRTEEN Acts 13:1-52 is the beginning of the third part of this book. The second great center of Christianity comes to the front. It is no longer Jerusalem, but the city of Antioch. The gospel which had been preached in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, which Cornelius and his house had heard, and accepted, is now in a special manner to go far hence to the Gentiles. The city in which the first great Gentile church had been established is the starting point. Peter, so prominent in the first twelve chapters of our book, is no longer the leading actor. He is mentioned only once in this second part of the Book of Acts. In the fifteenth chapter in connection with the council in Jerusalem, his voice is heard once more. The special work in connection with the kingdom of heaven, in opening the door to the Jews and Gentiles (Acts 2:1-47 and Acts 10:1-48) had been accomplished by him. Now he disappears from our view, though he continued to exercise his apostleship in connection with the circumcision (Galatians 2:7). Paul, the great Apostle of the Gentiles, instead appears upon the scene and his wonderful activity is described in the remaining part of the book. The opposition and blindness of the Jews in a continued rejection of the gospel becomes fully evident throughout this section and the book itself closes with the testimony against them: "Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it." (Acts 28:28). Besides this we shall find in these chapters the acts of the Holy Spirit in the call and sending forth of the chosen instruments in the way He guided them, how He filled them, opened doors, and manifested His gracious power in the salvation of sinners and the establishment of the church. We also find the acts of the enemy in opposing the progress of the gospel and in its perversion. We divide the present chapter into four parts: I. The divine choice and call. Barnabas and Saul separated unto the work (Acts 13:1-3). II. The beginning of the journey and the first events in Cyprus (Acts 13:4-12). III. The Gospel in Galatia. Paul’s address in the synagogue (Acts 13:13-41). IV. The Gospel rejected by the Jews; they turn to the Gentiles (Acts 13:42-52). I. The divine choice and call. Barnabas and Saul separated unto the work. "Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away" (Acts 13:1-3). The time was towards the spring of the year 46. The picture unfolded in these few words is as important as it is precious. The new start is about to be made. The whole assembly was undoubtedly moved by the Spirit of GOD and impressed with the fact that an important work was now to be begun. The men who are mentioned were some of the gifts of the Lord in the assembly. Five names are given, the first being Barnabas and the last Saul, but the last, he who delighted to call himself "less than the least of all the Saints," was through the Grace of GOD to take the first and prominent place. Then there was Lucius of Cyrene, an evangelist, Simeon, called Niger, who may have been an Ethiopian. Alongside of him stands the name of one who moved in the highest circles, a foster brother of Herod, Manaen. Grace had not only saved them, but had given them gifts "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12). They were together as a waiting company. Just as in the beginning of this book we behold a waiting company, so in the beginning of the second part we find believers waiting. But there is a marked difference. The waiting disciples in Acts 1:1-26 waited for the coming of the Holy Spirit. He came on the day of Pentecost. The waiting ones in Antioch waited, not for His coming, but for the Holy Spirit, who indwelt them, to speak and make His wishes known. They ministered unto the Lord and fasted. The Greek word for ministering is "Leitourgia," from which comes the word Liturgy. Ritualism claims from this the scripturalness in using a set form in service. It has been stated that the assembled company remembered the Lord, when they were together in this way, and that it was then, when the Holy Spirit spoke. The argument used from ritualistic sides is the fact that the Greek church still calls the Communion "The Liturgy." From this the conclusion is derived that they were together remembering the Lord in the breaking of bread. This is, of course, far-fetched. However, it is true that in the Lord’s Supper Christian believers minister to the Lord in the highest sense of the word. Whenever it is done in the power of the Spirit as a true act of worship, it is the exercise of our holy priesthood. We then offer up spiritual sacrifices, the sacrifice of praise to GOD, that is, the fruit of our lips. While we are comforted in the remembrance of His dying love, He, too, receives a portion from us and beholds then His inheritance in His saints and thus we minister unto Him. The ministry unto the Lord from the side of the gathered ones here was no doubt praise and prayer. They waited on the Lord. The Lord grant unto every reader this conception of prayer, that it is a ministry unto our blessed Lord in glory, and that He delights to receive such service from our feeble hearts and lips! They were not in a hurry to rush into the new departure. They had formed no plans, had appointed no committee. Alas! all that which is so prominent in our modern day Christian activities is entirely absent in this great book of the beginning of the church on earth, and that which is most prominent in the divine record, dependence on the Lord and definite guidance by the Holy Spirit, is almost entirely absent today. In our present day great movements we hear men, money and methods emphasized, and, in great banquets and conventions, an enthusiasm is stirred up, which is but the expression of self-confidence and self-reliance. In the eyes of the world, the simple gathering in Antioch did not look like a great movement; but it was great because the Holy Spirit was the Person who started it and guided in it. And He loves humility, self-emptiness. If we cannot reproduce all this in our day, let us as individuals, called to serve the Lord JESUS CHRIST, serve and walk in dependence upon Himself, and trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The fasting mentioned was most likely specially appointed. And it was then, while they were ministering to the Lord, that the Holy Spirit spoke. This is one of the strong passages from which we learn the Personality and Divinity of the Holy Spirit. Another most important fact is brought here before us. All spiritual Christians long for a continued guidance by the Spirit. If we walk in the Spirit, then we are guided by the Spirit. This is a simple truth. And yet often the children of GOD are perplexed. Some have followed impressions, or inner voices, which they thought were the voice of the Holy Spirit, but they were deceived. The important hint here is this "As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Ghost said-." When we cast ourselves in dependence on the Lord, when we wait on Him and minister to Him, then we may expect confidently the Holy Spirit to speak. In His speaking here at this occasion we learn that He is on earth to be the guide for the church. He is come to take charge of the affairs of the church. The right to choose for service, to call and to send forth, belongs to Him. This is put into the foreground. The whole transaction rested with the Holy Spirit. The words He spoke were brief. "Separate unto Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them." Two of the assembled gifts were separated unto Him to undertake a special work. True Christian ministry is the exercise of a spiritual gift, which is of the Holy Spirit. The exercise of that gift in a practical way is to be under the control of the same blessed Person. The service rests not in the hands of the servant for self-choosing, nor in the hands of the church, but with the Holy Spirit. And immediately after the Holy Spirit had thus spoken they acted in obedience to the divine call, laid hands upon them, and let them go. This action has been wrongly interpreted as an ordination. Hence we have the teaching and practice in evangelical Christendom of ordaining men to go out as missionaries, or ordaining them as pastors of churches or evangelists. Such an ordination is not taught here. It is not taught anywhere in the New Testament Scriptures. The authority to preach the Gospel cannot be conferred by one man upon another man, but it is "neither of men nor by man" (Galatians 1:1). No man nor set of men, according to the New Testament, can give the authority to preach the Word of GOD. That is a gift from Him and, we state it again, the gift must be exercised through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is the teaching of the New Testament. How the professing church has departed from this teaching and how much of the confusion and ruin in Christendom about us is the result of this departure, is only too evident. Multitudes of men have entered into and are today in, what is called "the Christian ministry," ordained by some session or conference, whom the Holy Spirit never called and set apart unto Himself. And the conditions are far worse in the denominations in which ordination in the form of apostolic succession is used to put man into the place of a "priest" in the church. Now Barnabas and Saul needed no ordination whatever by which they were authorized to fill a certain office and preach the Word. They were both preachers and teachers. How could they be ordained to an office if they were in it for a good while? If they were to be ordained to something higher than the office of a prophet and teacher, it must have been the place of an apostle. But that could not be, for Paul was already an apostle. But what did it mean when they laid hands on them? One of their number had uttered that which was the voice of the Holy Spirit. The assembly or church had heard this call. They accepted it as from the Holy Spirit and were obedient to it. Then by the laying on of hands they expressed outwardly their fellowship and identification with the two who had been set apart to do the work to which the Holy Spirit had called. They had nothing to do with their work but to wish them the blessing of the Lord showing their fellowship in it. This is seen by the last sentence in Acts 13:3. "They sent them away." That is "They let them go." The church, or the elders of the church, did not so much send them away, for the very next verse guards against such a thought, for it tells us "They being sent forth by the Holy Spirit." But they did sent them with their blessings. II. The beginning of the journey. The first events in Cyprus. "So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus. And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister. And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus: Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith. Then Saul (who also is called Paul) filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him. And said, O full of all subtilty and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord" (Acts 13:4-12). They set forth under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who had called them to this service and to Him, and not to men they looked. The first place mentioned is Seleucia. This was a fortified city, some fifteen miles from Antioch. No report is given of any work done in this city. The island of Cyprus, visible from the seacoast at Seleucia, the home of Barnabas, was the place they were guided to by the Spirit. The nearest port to Seleucia is Salamis; this they reached. Salamis had a large Jewish population and Barnabas and Saul preached the Word in the synagogues. John Mark is mentioned as being along as their helper. Some take it that he was to baptize the converts, but there is no evidence for it. He was simply an attendant, who assisted them in different ways, perhaps in preparing the simple meals and looking after other matters, so that Barnabas and Saul might give themselves unhindered to the preaching of the Word. No record is given of the result of the testimony in Salamis. Nor is there anything said of their labors throughout the island. The Holy Spirit in giving us the narrative did not report their activity in detail, because He wanted the event in Paphos to take the prominent and first place in this first journey of the Apostle to the Gentiles. And a significant event it was. There they found a sorcerer, a false prophet, a great instrument of Satan, ready to oppose the Gospel as it now was to be preached to the Gentiles. Such evil persons, the special instrument of the enemy, appear repeatedly in this book and always when the Gospel was carried in some new region. - In Samaria it was Simon Magus, - In Macedonia the damsel with the familiar spirit, - Here it is the sorcerer, Barjesus. He was a Jew and his name means "Son of Jesus." The Cyprian name he carried was Elymas, which is not Greek and may mean "The Wise." Paphos was a wicked city of a very bad reputation; Aphrodite, the goddess Venus, was worshipped in a magnificent temple. It was a stronghold of Satan and he had his man there to oppose the messengers of GOD sent forth by the Holy Spirit. This false prophet with his significant name, a Jew, yet practicing the evil things of Oriental occultism, was in close connection with Sergius Paulus, the deputy of that country. He was most likely attached to the household of the deputy. Sergius Paulus was a searcher for the truth, for he called for the two Apostles to hear the Word of GOD from their lips. Then the Satanic opposition from the side of Elymas was brought out. It was an important moment, for it was the first time that the doctrine of CHRIST was presented to the Roman world. Satan through Elymas withstood the Apostles in their testimony and sought to keep Sergius Paulus from the faith. Then Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, set his eyes on him. Just in the moment when Satan’s power came into play the Holy Spirit filled the messenger to overcome the wicked devices of the false prophet and pronounce judgment upon him. As in the case of Simon Magus, so here the Holy Spirit uncovers the true character of the impostor. He is a child of the devil and not a "Bar-Jesus," a son of JESUS, the Saviour. He claimed to be a prophet, in reality he was an enemy of all righteousness. He had perverted the right ways of the Lord and continued in this evil work. Then divine judgment is pronounced upon Elymas. "Thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season." The judgment was executed at once. A mist and darkness fell on him and he went about seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Sergius Paulus then believed, being astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. There can be no question but Sergius Paulus was truly converted. If it be said that he was astonished at the sudden judgment, a doubt might be raised, but he was astonished at the doctrine of the Lord. Signs are for the Jews, but the Gentile needs no sign. This false prophet, the Jew Barjesus, Elymas the sorcerer, is a type of apostate Judaism, which has turned away from the truth, rejected the Gospel and perverts the right ways of the Lord. Such Judaism became after rejecting the offer of GOD’s mercy. As Elymas tried to keep the Word of GOD from the Roman Sergius Paulus, so the Jews tried to keep from the Gentiles the Gospel, which they themselves had rejected. The judgment which fell upon the Sorcerer is likewise significant. Blindness has been put judicially upon the Jews and without a leader they are groping around in the darkness. This judicial blindness was repeatedly predicted by the prophets. We find it mentioned in Isaiah 6:9-10. Their eyes were to be shut. Our Lord quotes this twice and each time in connection with His rejection in Matthew 13:15 and John 12:40. Then the Apostle Paul uses these words for the last time in the New Testament. See Acts 23:25-28. The Salvation of GOD was sent to the Gentiles after the Jews refused to accept it, and the Jews were blinded. But the blindness is not permanent. "Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in" (Romans 11:25). Corresponding to this is the blindness of Elymas, which was to be "for a season." Israel’s season is this present age. When to this age is over, the judicial blindness, the veil which is upon their hearts, will be removed. That this incident is the first one reported in the beginning of the great missionary movement is in full keeping with the scope of the Book of Acts. Of equal significance is it that for the first time, and that in connection with this incident, the name of Paul is mentioned. Some have suggested that he took the name in honor of Sergius Paulus, but that is incorrect. Paul is a Roman name, and means "little." Later he writes of himself as "less than the least of all saints." He took the lowest place and the name, which signifies this comes now into prominence. Barnabas is taking the second place; not Barnabas and Saul, but Paul and Barnabas is now the order. After the significant incident in Paphos, the judicial blindness of Elymas and the faith of the Gentile deputy in the doctrine of the Lord, the Apostle Paul and his company loosed from Paphos. "And when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John departing from them, returned to Jerusalem" (Acts 13:13). Paul occupies now the prominent place. As soon as Perga was reached, John the helper, who had gone forth with them from Antioch, deserted them. It was a desertion, for later we find the statement that he departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work (Acts 15:38). No reason is given why John turned backward. Was it on account of the dangers or the hard labor! Or was it cowardice! The reason of his return was most likely of a different nature. He was still greatly attached to Jerusalem. His Hebrew name is mentioned only in this chapter and not the Gentile, the Roman, Mark. Perhaps he could not fully endorse the complete association with the Gentiles and turned back to Jerusalem to be in fellowship with them who were of the circumcision and "zealous for the Law." No matter what was the motive, he did leave them. It was failure on his part and for a long time John Mark had evidently little or no service. He was unprofitable. Blessed is the information we receive from the Second Epistle to Timothy by the Apostle Paul. He requested Mark’s presence in Rome. "Take Mark, and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry" (2 Timothy 4:11). He had been restored, seen his error and judged himself. There can be no question, but John Mark is the writer of the Gospel of Mark, in which the perfect servant of GOD, the Lord JESUS CHRIST is portrayed in His unfailing service. What encouragement we should take from this! One who failed in service and was graciously restored, then chosen to write the Gospel of the Servant. III. The Gospel in Galatia. Paul’s address in the synagogue of Antioch. "But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them, saying, Ye men and brethren, if ye have any word of exhortation for the people, say on" (Acts 13:14-15). They reached another Antioch. It was situated in Pisidia. The region into which they now carried the Gospel was also known as Galatia. This district was settled by Gauls, Celtic invaders, who had left about 278 B. C. Southern Europe, and took possession of parts of Asia Minor. In 189 B.C., they were subdued by Rome and the Kingdom of Galatia was formed, which comprised besides Galatia proper a number of other provinces, including Pisidia. From the Epistle to the Galatians we know that the Apostle Paul preached the Gospel there and founded the different churches. The record of his visit and work is contained in Acts 13:1-52 and Acts 14:1-28, beginning with Antioch in Pisidia. Antioch had, like other cities at that time, a number of Jews, and therefore a synagogue. To this place they went on the Sabbath, and took their place among the other attendants. The order of service as carried on in orthodox synagogues of today is about the same as in the synagogues of the first century. The "Hear O Israel!" the so-called "Shema" (a recitation of Deuteronomy 6:4-9), prayers and the reading of a prescribed portion of the Pentateuch, and a similar portion from the Prophets, called the "Haftorah." After the reading of those portions, exhortation was in order. It was at this point that the rulers requested the visiting brethren, of whom they may have heard as teachers, to speak if they had any word of exhortation. The rulers addressed them as Brethren. Gentiles who feared GOD had likewise access to the synagogue and a number were present on that Sabbath day. "Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, Men of Israel, and ye that fear God, give audience. The God of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with a high arm brought he them out of it. And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness. And when he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he divided their land to them by lot. And after that he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a king: and God gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, by the space of forty years. And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will. Of this man’s seed hath God, according to his promise, raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus: When John had first preached before his coming the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom think ye that I am? I am not he. But, behold, there cometh one after me, whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. Men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among you feareth God, to you is this word of salvation sent. For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every Sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead: And he was seen many days of them which came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are his witnesses unto the people. And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. “Wherefore he saith also in another Psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you" (Acts 13:16-41). We have before us an intensely interesting record. Whether this is a full report or a condensed report of the address of the Apostle we do not know for certain. We incline to the belief that it is a report in full of what Paul spoke. It corresponds in different ways to Peter’s preaching to the Jews, yet it differs from Peter’s message in regard to the Gospel. As we have seen Peter’s preaching was addressed to the Jews and he offered forgiveness of sins to them who repent and are baptized. But Paul utters a truth for the first time, which Peter did not declare. He said: "By Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." It is justification by faith he now preaches. We have in his first recorded utterance the Keynote of the two great Epistles, dictated by the Holy Spirit to the Apostle Paul; the great doctrinal Epistle to the Romans and the controversial Epistle to the Galatians, the defence of his Gospel. The discourse of the Apostle contains three parts. 1. A historical retrospect, which forms the introduction of his address. Acts 13:17-25. 2. The proclamation of the Gospel of the Son of GOD. Acts 13:26-40. 3. The solemn warning. Acts 13:40-41. He addressed the Jews present as Israel, the covenant Name, and the assembled Gentiles "ye that fear God." He traces rapidly the history of the people Israel, the background of the Gospel he is to preach. GOD had chosen their fathers, exalted the people, delivered them out of Egypt, He carried them through the wilderness and suffered their manners. He furthermore destroyed their enemies and gave them an inheritance. In Exodus 4:22 it is written, "Israel is my son, my firstborn" and in Hosea 11:1 we read: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." It is this history of Israel as the firstborn son the Apostle sketches rapidly. In the promised land they had judges, a prophet and a King. While he mentions Saul, the Son of Cis, reminding them of the failure involved in his case, he speaks more fully of David as the one whom GOD raised up, in whom He was pleased, who was to fulfill all His will. At once he mentions Him, who according to the flesh is the seed of David (Romans 1:3). The connection with David is obvious. The three facts mentioned by Paul concerning David find their fulfillment in the promised Saviour, the Son of David. - He was raised up by GOD (Acts 13:23, Acts 13:30, Acts 13:33-34); - GOD gave him testimony "this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," - He alone could "fulfill all His will." So Paul speaks of the Lord JESUS CHRIST as the promised One, raised up unto Israel as a Saviour. The preaching of John before this Saviour came, calling all the people of Israel unto repentance is the concluding paragraph of the first part of the Apostle’s address. In the second part of his address he preached the Gospel unto them. He addressed the assembled congregation as men and brethren, children of the stock of Abraham; the Gentiles present he also mentioned "whosoever among you feareth God." Then without further delay he uttered the fact of the Gospel, "to you is the word of this salvation sent." One is reminded of the Lord Himself, when in the synagogue of Nazareth He said: "Today is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears." How eagerly the gathered company must have listened to what was about to be announced. The cross of CHRIST, the death of the promised Saviour and the circumstances of His death are immediately proclaimed. There is no salvation apart from the cross of CHRIST. The word of this salvation he preached unto them centers not in the earthly life of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, but in His death on the cross. Like Peter, the Apostle to the Gentiles emphasizes the fact that they that dwelt at Jerusalem and their rulers knew Him not. The reason of their ignorance was because they knew not the voices of the prophets. Ignorance of the written Word led to the rejection of the living Word. It is still so today in Judaism and Christendom. They read every Sabbath the prophecies concerning the Messiah, His rejection and His work, and they fulfilled these predictions in condemning Him. His death on the cross was therefore a fulfillment of Scripture. No cause of death was found in Him. He was delivered into the hands of the Gentiles. All was fulfilled by them, which was written of Him; all the sufferings of CHRIST as the Lamb of GOD were accomplished on the tree. [*] [*] Peter used the word "tree" and Paul writing to the Galatians said: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, for it is written: Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.’’’ (Galatians 3:13). He was taken down and laid in a sepulchre. His death on the cross was thus briefly pictured by the speaker. And then he announced next to the fact of His death, fully proven by His burial in a sepulchre, that GOD raised Him from the dead. It is the order Paul follows here which he later writes to the Corinthians. "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to Scriptures" (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). The proofs of resurrection that He was seen many days are also briefly mentioned. Then he declared the good tidings. As an evangelist he announces what had been accomplished in the death and resurrection of CHRIST. It is a beautiful and concise statement of Him, who had been raised up in incarnation, and who is by resurrection from the dead the Son of GOD. The promise made unto the fathers had been gloriously fulfilled. The Second Psalm had predicted this raising up. GOD sent His Son into the world. On a certain day He entered as the Begotten One into the world. After He had died He became the First Begotten from the dead, destined as such to be the King upon the holy hill of Zion, and to receive the nations for His inheritance. He could not see corruption. This, too, had been predicted in the Psalms (Psalms 16:1-11). The similarity of this first reported evangelistic message of Paul with Peter’s is again seen at this point. But he also speaks of Him as the Pious One, the Holy and Gracious One, in whom now are found the faithful mercies of David. And then he pressed it all home to their hearts and consciences. "Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by Him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." This is the great climax reached. He did not once mention the word repentance. He has nothing to say of baptism. He did not exhort them to do the best they could or to live under that law, which they had. The Law of Moses could not justify them. The Epistle to the Galatians, most likely read by those in Antioch who heard Paul speak, enlarges upon this fully. Justification from all things is offered now by faith in JESUS CHRIST. All that believe are justified of all things is the blessed message of the Gospel of Grace which Paul preached and which is not after man, but by the revelation of JESUS CHRIST (Galatians 1:11-12). How simple the message was. All had been done by CHRIST. He died the Just One for the Unjust; He who knew no sin had been made sin. Forgiveness of sins and a perfect justification from all things is now ready for Jews and Gentiles from the side of a just GOD, who can be righteously the Justifier of him, who believeth in JESUS. And this simple Gospel, this perfect way of salvation is still to be preached. It is the power of GOD unto salvation; what a model for the true Gospel address Paul’s discourse in the synagogue of the Pisidian Antioch is! Then in the third part, in the concluding words, he gives a solemn warning. This must likewise be attached to every true Gospel testimony. The warning is taken from the Prophet Habakkuk (Habakkuk 1:5). It is addressed by the Prophet to "those among the Gentiles." The passage warns against unbelief. The message may be accepted or rejected. The work which GOD worked in Habakkuk’s day was judgment by the Chaldean invasion. It came upon them that believed not. Judgment would surely come upon them if they believed not and rejected the offer of the Gospel. A few years later Paul wrote to the Thessalonians concerning the Jews, "Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always; for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost." The destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the nation was the punitive work GOD worked for those who believed not. Well does every Gospel preacher if he gives the solemn warning that "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." There is a judgment work coming for all that believe not when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." IV. The Gospel rejected by the Jews; they turn to the Gentiles. "And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts. But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy Ghost" (Acts 13:42-52). The offer had been made. Were the Jews in the dispersion to accept it or to oppose the Gospel and reject its gracious invitation? It seems as if a deep impression was created. How else could it have been after hearing such a perfect and able presentation in the power of the Holy Spirit. The request was made that they would speak again a week later. Many Jews and proselytes followed the two messengers. The exhortation of the Apostles that they should continue in the grace of GOD seems to imply that some had accepted the offer of the Gospel. But during the week the enemy did his work. The whole city came together the next Sabbath. Large numbers of Gentiles, many of whom had never before entered the synagogue, crowded in to hear the Word. This was too much for the Jews. Jealousy and envy filled their hearts. It came to a riotous opposition. Paul was again the preacher, and not alone did they speak against the truth as preached by him, but they contradicted and blasphemed. What Elymas, the sorcerer, had done as an individual, the type of the blinded Jew, the Jews did in Antioch. Once more Paul with Barnabas pronounces the word of condemnation. The offer of salvation was refused and now the Jews, judging themselves unworthy of eternal life by unbelief, the Apostles said, "we turn to the Gentiles." Scripture is fully on their side in this action, for the prophet had declared, "I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldst be for salvation unto the ends of the earth." While the Jews blasphemed and rejected, the Gentiles were glad and glorified the Word of the Lord. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed. "The Jews had judged themselves unworthy of eternal life; the Gentiles, as many as were disposed to eternal life, believed. By whom so disposed, is not here declared; nor need the word be in this place further particularized. We know that it is GOD who worketh in us the will to believe, and that the preparation of the heart is of Him, but to find in this text preordination to life asserted, is to force both the word and the context to a meaning which they do not contain." [*] [*] Dean Alford, Greek New Testament. All who accept the Gospel by faith are ordained unto eternal life. The good news spread rapidly throughout all Galatia. All this brought out still more fully the jealousy and fierce antagonism of the unbelieving Jews. They used certain women of the higher classes, no doubt the wives of the rulers of the city. These women were devout; they went to the synagogue. Through these women and the chief men of the city a successful persecution of the Apostles was raised and they had to suffer. Nothing is mentioned of suffering here, but Paul mentions it to Timothy (See 2 Timothy 3:11). They were expelled from that region. The banished Apostles must have known the Word of the Lord about persecutions and shaking the dust off their feet (Matthew 10:14). They did this and passed on to Iconium. The disciples they left behind were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost. ~ end of chapter 13 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 55: 03.14. CHAPTER FOURTEEN ======================================================================== CHAPTER FOURTEEN The concluding ministry of the first missionary journey of the apostles, their sufferings and testimony, as well as their dangers and return to Antioch, are the events recorded in this chapter. I. The work in Iconium and the persecution of the Apostles (Acts 14:1-6). II. Their testimony in Derbe and Lystra, the healing of the impotent man and what followed (Acts 14:7-18). III. The stoning of Paul and further ministries (Acts 14:19-24). IV. The Return to Antioch (Acts 14:25-28). I. The work in Iconium and the persecution of the Apostles. "And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren. Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands. But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles. And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them, they were aware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about" (Acts 14:1-6). Iconium was a Phrygian town, bordering on Lycaonia. Later it became a very influential city, the capital of Lycaonia proper and a center of Christianity in that region. It is also known through an apocryphal book, "The Acts of Paul and Thecla." The heroine, Thecla, is said to have lived in Iconium and that she was converted by the preaching of Paul. [*] [*] The whole story is an invention. Tertullian has shown that it is a fictitious story written by a certain Presbyter, who was a great admirer of the Apostle Paul. The Presbyter was disciplined for his writing. Once more the Apostles sought out the synagogue to preach the Gospel there. Jews and Greeks were present to listen to their testimony. It is a far-fetched theory, which claims that they preached nothing but the kingdom in the different synagogues. The preaching of the Apostles is not reported here, but we may take it for granted that the clear and simple Gospel testimony delivered by the Apostle Paul in the synagogue of Antioch was repeated in Iconium. The message was wonderfully blessed and owned of GOD. They spake so that not only a few, but a great multitude of Jews and Greeks believed. But the acts of the enemy followed at once. He could not permit such a powerful and successful testimony to go on unhindered. Once more the Elymas character of the unbelieving Jews is brought out. They stirred up the Gentiles, those who had no sympathy with the synagogue, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren. But the messengers of the Lord could not be driven from the scene before their testimony was finished. How long they remained is not stated. It was a "long time" they abode there, and with much boldness they spoke the Word of GOD. And the Lord added His seal to the faithful testimony of His servants. Signs and wonders were done by their hands. By these GOD demonstrated once more to the unbelieving Jews in the dispersion that JESUS is the CHRIST. The entire city seems to have been divided. When it came to actual persecutions, and both the unbelieving Jews and unbelieving Gentiles made ready to stone them, and the plot became known, they left Iconium and fled to Lystra and Derbe. No doubt this was the will of the Lord and they followed His guidance. That it was not cowardice or self-protection is seen by the fact that a short time after they returned unto Iconium (Acts 14:21). II. Their testimony in Derbe and Lystra, the healing of the impotent man and what followed. "And there they preached the gospel. And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. The same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We are also men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them" (Acts 14:7-18). The two cities Lystra and Derbe were in Lycaonia proper. The people inhabiting these places were called Barbarians; they heard the Gospel next. No synagogue was located in Lystra, for there were not enough Jews there to form one. However, we know that a pious Jewess had her residence in Lystra. Her name was Eunice. She had been married to a Greek, who had died. Her son was Timotheus, and she lived with her mother, Lois. From Acts 16:1-3 we learn that Eunice had believed. The mother was also a believer (2 Timothy 1:5). Eunice taught her son the Scriptures. We do not know from the report in our chapter that Paul then came in touch with her, but we fully believe this must have been the case and that the apostles perhaps lodged in her house. And now another lame man is healed by the power of GOD. He had been crippled from his mother’s womb and had never walked. He heard the Word. Faith came to his heart by hearing, and the Apostle Paul, beholding him, perceived that he had faith to be healed. Then Paul spoke the word and the Lord answered by healing the lame man so that he leaped and walked. The miracle created a great stir among the people, and they cried out in their own language, "the gods are come to us in the likeness of men." The mythological superstitions took hold of them, and they imagined that the two apostles, Barnabas and Paul, were some of their gods who had taken on human form. In Barnabas they imagined to see Jupiter and in Paul, who did the most talking, Mercurius. But the two apostles did not know what all the commotion meant, for they did not understand the Lycaonian language. [*] [*] They did not possess therefore the miraculous gift of languages and understood not what was said. This answers the statements made by those who believe in the restoration of the "gift of tongues," that speaking in tongues is the evidence of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. The temple of Jupiter or Zeus, as this god is called in the Greek language, was outside of the city. From there the priests brought oxen with garlands, ready to bring sacrifices to the newly-discovered gods. It was then that the apostles heard of it, and rending their clothes, ran among the people to stop their foolish endeavors. These servants of the Lord JESUS CHRIST did not want honors from men, as if they were some great ones. The people tried to idolize them, but they abhorred these wicked proceedings. The enemy lurked behind this, no doubt, but the grace of GOD gave to the apostles the power to act as they did. How much of such idolizing is going on in modern days; how men, professedly the servants of the Lord, seek and love the honor and praise of men, is too evident to be mentioned. Seeking honor from men and having delight in the applause of the "religious world" is a deadly thing, for it dishonors CHRIST, to whom all honor and glory is due. And how much of all this there is in the present day! It is but the result of not giving the Lord JESUS CHRIST the pre-eminence. Powerful were the words which the two men of GOD addressed to the poor Pagans. They did not preach what they were not capable of understanding. They came right down to their level. They showed them the wickedness of idolatry which puts the creature into the place of the Creator. The message was suited to them and to their needs and paved the way for the Gospel testimony. "We are also men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, who made heaven and earth, and the sea and all things that are therein." [*] [*] "What is notable, I think, especially for all those engaged in the work of the Lord, is the variety in the character of the apostolic addresses. There was no such stiffness as we are apt to find in our day in the preaching of the gospel. Oh, what monotony! what sameness of routine, no matter who may be addressed! We find in Scripture people dealt with as they were, and there is that kind of an appeal to the conscience which was adapted to their peculiar state. The discourse in the synagogue was founded on the Jewish scriptures, here to these men of Lycaonia there is no allusion to the Old Testament whatever, but a plain reference to what all see and know - the heavens above them and the seasons that GOD was pleased from old to assign round about them, and that continual supply of the fruits of His natural bounty of which the most callous can scarce be insensible." - W. Kelly. Yet even with these burning words they were almost unable to restrain the people from carrying out their purpose. III. The stoning of Paul and further ministries. "And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch, confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed. And after they had passed throughout Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia" (Acts 14:19-24). Jews from Antioch and Iconium suddenly appeared in Lystra. Not satisfied to make opposition to the apostles and to stir up strife in their own cities, they followed after these men. Word must have reached them of their success in Lystra. They came to stir up the Lycaonians. What evil things they said against the two servants of GOD may well be imagined. They persuaded the people that they were not gods; they must have branded them as deceivers and worse. The mass of people who were ready to worship Barnabas and Paul changed quickly and stoned Paul. Most likely the fury turned against him because he had been instrumental in healing the crippled man. As the stones fell upon him, must he not have remembered Stephen? And may he not have prayed as Stephen did? And after they thought him dead, they dragged his body out of the city. But the Lord, who had announced such suffering for him, had watched over his servant. He was in His own hands, as every child of GOD is in His care. The enemy who stood behind the furious mob, as he stood behind the attempt to sacrifice unto them, would have killed Paul. But he could not touch Paul’s life, as he was not permitted to touch the life of another servant of GOD, Job (Job 2:6). The Lord’s omnipotent hand shielded Paul, and when the disciples stood round about the apparent dead body, he arose and came into the city. This sudden recovery was supernatural. He refers in 2 Corinthians 11:25 to this stoning, "Once I was stoned." Another reference to Lystra we find in his second Epistle to Timothy: "Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured; but out of them all the Lord delivered me" (2 Timothy 3:11). Blessed be His name, He is the same Lord still and will deliver them that trust in Him. The next day finds Paul and Barnabas at Derbe, a small town, some thirty miles from Lystra. Here he preached the Gospel to the entire city and taught many. In Acts 20:4 we have Gaius of Derbe mentioned, who in all probability was a fruit of the apostles’ testimony in that city. From Derbe they returned to Lystra without fear, and also revisited Iconium and Antioch of Pisidia. The divine purpose in this was to confirm, to establish the disciples. They had to suffer persecution in these places, and so the apostles exhorted them to continue in the faith and assured them: "that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the Kingdom of God." The Kingdom of GOD, however, must not be confounded with the kingdom of heaven, which is another term and has another meaning. That they retraced their steps and looked after those who had believed to help them on in the truth and strengthen their faith, is of much importance. Modern evangelism, aiming at big things and large crowds, has lost sight of this. We find in our days but few evangelists who return to the same places to help those who believed and to establish their souls. Besides this the two apostles looked to the proper order for the assemblies. "They ordained them elders in every church" that is; "they chose elders." It was not done when the apostles had first labored in these places, for time was necessary to show who was gifted and qualified for the office of an elder. It is true the apostles looked after this personally, and later Paul commissioned Titus and Timotheus to appoint elders. But the Holy Spirit also has given in the Epistles, for the church throughout the age, the marks of true New Testament eldership. It is the Holy Spirit who calls and fits elders for their work in the assembly, and the assembly, having the Scriptures to show the fitness for the office, must recognize such. Confusion, division and disorder in many assemblies are often the result of having ignored this fact. Those who are gifted for oversight must exercise this gift. After they had accomplished this important and needful work, commending them also in prayer to the Lord, they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. IV. The Return to Antioch. "And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attalia: And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled. And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. And there they abode long time with the disciples" (Acts 14:25-28). No report is given of the result of the preaching at Perga. From there they went to the seaport Attalia, and then they returned to the starting point, Antioch, from where they had been called to do the work, and which they had, through the grace of GOD, fulfilled. They had been gone for about eighteen months. The church in Antioch was gathered together to hear the wonderful story of GOD’s grace and power. What a blessed time they must have had together when Paul and Barnabas related what GOD had done! What praise and joyful exclamations must have welled forth from the hearts and lips of GOD’s people as they listened how the Lord had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles! And there Paul and Barnabas abode in blessed fellowship with the disciples. ~ end of chapter 14 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 56: 03.15. CHAPTER FIFTEEN ======================================================================== CHAPTER FIFTEEN A very critical time had now arrived for the church. An important question had to be settled. That Gentiles can be saved and salvation must be extended to the Gentiles had been fully demonstrated. The Apostle of the circumcision, Peter, had been used to preach the Gospel to a company of God-fearing Gentiles. Evangelists had gone to Antioch and the great Gentile center had there been founded. Paul and Barnabas had completed their great missionary journey and numerous assemblies of Gentiles, saved by Grace, were formed. The question of the salvation of Gentiles could no longer be raised. But we remember from the eleventh chapter of this book, that when Peter returned to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him. They objected to Peter going to men uncircumcised and eating with them. But those of the circumcision had not been fully satisfied with the status of the believing Gentiles. What about circumcision in their case? Should they not also keep the Law? In other words, the question of the relation of the believing Gentile to the Law and to circumcision had to be determined. This question was but the natural outcome of the situation in the beginning of this age. To make this clear we quote from another: "Wherever the Jews went in the Gentile world, their presence gave rise to two conflicting tendencies. On the one hand, the Jew possessed the knowledge of the one true GOD; and amidst the universal corruption, idolatry and superstition of the ancient world this saving knowledge exercised a powerful attraction. The synagogues of the Jews became the center of a large body of seekers after truth, whether actually circumcised proselytes or simply God-fearing Gentiles. On the other hand, this knowledge was enshrined in a law, which imposed upon the Jews a number of distinctive customs and observances and these separated them from the rest of mankind and made a real coalescence impossible. Four characteristics in particular struck the Gentiles, the absence of all images or emblems of the deity in Jewish worship, the observance of the Sabbath, abstinence from unclean meat and especially swine’s flesh, and circumcision. This last was sufficient in itself to prevent the world from adopting Judaism. “But the law of uncleanness caused the Jew on his side to look upon the Gentiles with contempt, as unclean, and put an effectual bar on any real fellowship. The Gentiles in their turn readily paid back Jewish exclusiveness with an ample interest of ridicule and hatred. This double relation to the Gentiles divided the Jews themselves into two schools. On the one side were those who with some consciousness of the brotherhood of common humanity were striving to remove barriers and to present the Jewish faith to the world in its most spiritual and philosophic aspect. Such were the Hellenists of Alexandria. On the other side, the salvation of the Gentiles was inconceivable to the genuine Hebrew, and this was the attitude of mind which prevailed in Judea. There the Hebrews were growing more and more rigid; instead of lowering, they were raising the fence around the law and trying to make the barrier between Jew and Gentile absolutely impassable." [*] [*] R. B. Rackham. From this situation it is easily seen what an important question it was which had to be faced. We must likewise remember that the great controversial Epistle, the divinely inspired defence of the Gospel of the Apostle Paul, the Epistle to the Galatians, was then not written. We shall have to turn to this Epistle in connection with the chapter before us. The interesting account has five parts: I. The false teachers from Judea; Paul and Barnabas sent to Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-5). II. The Council in Jerusalem (Acts 15:6-21). III. The result made known (Acts 15:22-29). IV. The Consolation brought to Antioch (Acts 15:30-35). V. Paul and Barnabas separate (Acts 15:36-41). I. The false teachers from Judea; Paul and Barnabas sent to Jerusalem. "And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised, after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses" (Acts 15:1-5). It was a happy scene in Antioch with which the previous chapter closed. But the enemy never leaves GOD’s people undisturbed in their happiness and peace. The disturbing element were certain men, who came from Judea. Their names are not made public, but they were the instruments of Satan. From Acts 15:24 it is evident they came from Jerusalem and perhaps some of the Judaizing leaders sent them on this errand. What a message it was they brought! "Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved." Here were large numbers of Gentiles who had accepted the Gospel and having believed were saved. Furthermore, they had the gifts in their midst, apostles, evangelists and teachers. The Holy Spirit had manifested His blessed power again and again in the growing assembly. And now, after all these gracious blessings and enjoyment of salvation, these men appear from Judea and taught them - "except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved." No doubt they cited the fact of the believing Jews in Judea and Jerusalem and that circumcision was a divine institution. They came as teachers professing authority. How great must have been the consternation among these Gentile believers when they heard this message! But Paul and Barnabas detected the subtle work of the enemy. No small dissension and strife arose, with many questionings. Paul then must have already thundered forth his great word in Galatians: "If any man preach another Gospel unto you than that which ye have received, let him be accursed." The Gospel he preached had nothing to do with the law nor with circumcision. But the question had been introduced and brought discussion into the Antiochan Church; it had to be settled. It was determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the Apostles and elders about this question. Galatians 2:1-21 must here be considered for it gives additional information on this visit to Jerusalem. "Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation" (Galatians 2:1-2). From this we learn it was fourteen years after his previous visit to the city of his fathers, that Titus accompanied him, and that he had a revelation from the Lord about this visit to Jerusalem. Perhaps Paul was reluctant to proceed to Jerusalem. His Gospel was not received from nor linked with Jerusalem. Why should he go to Jerusalem in defense of that Gospel? But he tells us in Galatians 2:1-21 that his journey to Jerusalem was by revelation. This may have been by some strong intimation given by the Holy Spirit or by a direct word from the Lord Himself. And Titus, whom he took along was a Greek, a pure Gentile, and as such uncircumcised. The reason must have been to present in Titus a specimen of what the Grace of GOD and the gifts of the Holy Spirit can do for a Gentile. The whole assembly had sympathy with the journey. They brought the delegation on their way. The travel to Jerusalem was not in idleness. In Phoenice and Samaria they declared everywhere the conversion of the Gentiles, most likely a rehearsal of what GOD had done on their great missionary journey. Everywhere the brethren rejoiced. From this it is clearly seen that the great majority of the Christians in Phoenice and Samaria were in full sympathy with that Gospel which Paul preached, and opposed to the Judaizing teachers. When they reached Jerusalem the Church received the delegates. Apostles and elders besides the other members of the church were present. In their presence they told out once more what it had pleased GOD to do through them. In Galatians, Paul writes, "And I communicated unto them that Gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation lest by any means I should run or had run in vain" (Galatians 2:2). This is not in contradiction with the historical account in this chapter. He gave an explanation of that Gospel he had received by revelation to the Apostles and Elders privately. But in the Church they simply spoke of the fact how the Lord had guided them and opened such a wide door among the Gentiles and how many of them had believed on the Lord JESUS CHRIST. A protest from the side of the Judaizing Pharisees was at once raised. These may have been the teachers who went to Antioch, and who most likely followed the deputation from Antioch to Jerusalem. They demanded that it was needful to circumcise them (the Gentiles) and to command them to keep the law of Moses. What happened immediately after this interruption is learned from Paul’s own account in Galatians. Titus must have been present and the Pharisees objected to him as an uncircumcised Gentile. But Paul in the contention opposed them, and that successfully. "But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised" (Galatians 2:3). Paul calls these Judaizing teachers "false brethren" and speaks of his opposition he made to them. "And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage; to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the Gospel might continue with you" (Galatians 2:4-5). This was followed by a council in which the important question of Salvation without the law was to be considered. II. The Council in Jerusalem. "And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, 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. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up; That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not ’them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day" (Acts 15:6-21). That which is written in Galatians 2:6-10 took place in the private conference which Paul and Barnabas had with the Apostles and not in the council as reported here. James, Cephas and John, the three pillars of the Church in Jerusalem, then gave to Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship. The larger council followed afterward. This first reported church council is a most interesting event. How different from the Church councils of the present time, with their political trickeries and machinery, their unscriptural division of GOD’s people into clergy and laity, the making of laws and rules and their voting by ballot! The Apostles and Elders were present, but also the multitude (Acts 15:12). There was perfect liberty in disputation. It has not pleased the Holy Spirit to give us an account of the debate which was carried on. Peter rose up and delivered the first address to the council. This is the last time his name appears in the Book of Acts. As the Apostle of the circumcision, and used first to give the Gospel to the Gentiles, he was the right person to be heard. To this fact he refers at once. The Holy Spirit had been given to the Gentiles as He had been bestowed upon the believing Jews. After these well-known facts were stated before the multitude, Peter speaks of the law as a yoke which neither the fathers nor they were able to bear. "But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they." He declares that to force the Gentiles to submit to circumcision and to keep the law of Moses is nothing less than to tempt GOD. Peter, the acknowledged Apostle of the circumcision, is used by the Holy Spirit to show the error of the demand of the Judaizing teachers. Gentiles had heard the Gospel, believed the Gospel, and upon that GOD gave them His greatest gift, next to the unspeakable gift, the Holy Spirit. The law was a yoke for them and their fathers and they could not bear it. As Jews they expected salvation, not by the keeping of the law nor by circumcision, but through grace. The argument was complete. The law and circumcision should not be put upon the Gentiles. The cross of CHRIST has made a complete end of the law. To go back to the law and mix law with that grace by which we are saved, is an evil thing. After Peter’s address the multitude kept silence. It was the evidence that every heart gave full assent to what Peter had so tersely stated. The Judaizing element seems to have been completely silenced. It was the guidance of the Holy Spirit which brought Barnabas and Paul to their feet. They told once more the interesting story of their labors among the Gentiles and restated what miracles and wonders GOD had wrought. And after the multitude had listened to this additional testimony of how GOD in grace had visited the Gentiles, there was another period of silence. What a contrast with the tumult and disorder one sees in modern general church councils, general conferences, and assemblies! In these councils of Christendom everybody tries to be heard and there is a sinful ambition for leadership, which sometimes does not stop short of the most abominable schemes. If we call this gathering in Jerusalem the first church council, then it did not even have a president. The president was the Holy Spirit; He guided and directed the affairs of this important meeting. How long the silence lasted we do not know. Perhaps many hearts were lifted up in prayer and in praise, thanking GOD for what He had done. The voice of James broke the silence. Through the Spirit of GOD he made a most important declaration. It has rightly been called the divine program. It is significant that in this first great gathering in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit lays down the exact plan of how GOD works in this present age and what will follow after the special purpose of GOD in this age is accomplished. And this great truth of the dispensations, so necessary to understand the Word of GOD, is almost unknown today. What would Christendom be if the divine plan and program as uttered by James were believed? How different the work of the great denominational gatherings, if the dispensational facts so prominent in the whole Bible and so fully stated here, were taken into consideration! Worldliness, departure from the truth, and confusion have come in because this divine program has been forgotten and ignored. We give an analysis of the words of James. From Simeon’s word spoken in their hearing, it was fully demonstrated that GOD visits the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. This, then, is the starting point: 1. GOD visits the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name. It is a remarkable fact that, in the quotation, James (evidently the prominent and venerable leader of the Hebraic party) does not use the Hebrew text, but the Septuagint, that is the Greek version of the Old Testament, which brings out the call of the Gentiles more fully. In doing so he was clearly led by the Holy Spirit. And this calling out from the Gentiles a people for His name is the special purpose of GOD in this age. Peter’s testimony, followed by that of Barnabas and Paul, had fully demonstrated that GOD had begun this blessed work. And the Apostle Paul teaches later "that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ by the Gospel." Now that people taken out, called by the Gospel, the Gentiles who are fellow-heirs, are the church. The word "church," in the Greek, is ecclesia -which means an out calling. This out calling still goes on and will go on till the church is completed. There seems to be a tendency in our days among certain Bible teachers to make everything as much as possible Jewish. They tell us that there is nothing about the church in the Gospels nor in the Book of Acts. They want us to believe that the seven church messages in Revelation have nothing to do with this present age, but that these seven churches will come into existence during the great tribulation. Again the Olivet discourse has nothing to do, so they tell us, with our age; it all refers to the Jews. But these fanciful teachers with their speculative theories, which they do not get from the Word of GOD, but bring there, have even declared that the word of James must be read in another light. It has been stated that the visitation of the Gentiles to take of them a people for His name, as declared by James, has no reference at all to this present age nor to the formation of the church. According to this far-fetched theory that visitation of which James spoke almost 1900 years ago will take place in the future. (!) It is not surprising that some good people who adopt such novel and strange expositions, if they can be called that, should become confused. The visitation of the Gentiles began after Israel had rejected GOD’s offer. Cornelius and his house, as well as those reached by the evangelists (Acts 11:20), and the multitudes called out by the preaching of Paul and Barnabas are in view here. All those believing Gentiles constituted with believing Jews the one body, the church. This visitation of the Gentiles through the Gospel of Grace still goes on. What then, is next in the divine program? 2. "After this I will return." In the Hebrew text of Amos 9:11-12 these words are not found. Nor does James state that they are written in that passage, which he partially quotes from the Greek translation (Septuagint). He said, "to this agree the words of the prophets as it is written, after this I will return." The Lord announces His return to His people in these words, "I will return." This return of the Lord to turn graciously to His people Israel is written not merely in one of the prophets, but in the prophets. They all announce this great coming event. Now, according to the statement of James, the Gentiles must be visited first; a people (the church) is to be taken out of them. After this is accomplished and the full number, which constitutes the church, is called out, the Lord will return. It is not His coming for the saints, as revealed in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, but His visible Return in power and glory, of which the prophets speak. [*] [*] The Coming of the Lord for His Saints, who are to be raised from the dead, and with the living believers to be caught up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air, is nowhere revealed in the prophetic books of the Old Testament, which is left to Paul who was tasked with revealing the mysteries of the church. That during the end time the Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached among the nations (Matthew 24:14), a work which will begin after the true church has been removed from the earth, is elsewhere revealed in the Scriptures; but that this work during the great tribulation should be that of which James speaks exclusively is an extremely fanciful conception. The Gentiles had been and were to be visited for the out calling of a people for His name and after this the Second Coming of the Lord JESUS CHRIST will take place. 3. Next we read of what will be the result of the coming of the Lord. "And will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up." This is of course only one of the results of the Return of the Lord. The Kingdom will be established as promised in the Davidic covenant. The divine announcement made to Mary the Virgin concerning our Lord will then be fully accomplished. "The Lord GOD shall give unto Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His Kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:32-33). This, likewise, is announced by the prophets that such a restoration of Israel, the Kingdom as a theocracy, is to take place. All the prophets predicted the coming establishment and glory of the Kingdom in connection with the visible manifestation of the Lord out of heaven. 4. "That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world." The Gentiles, yea, all of them, will be brought to a knowledge of the Lord after the tabernacle of David has been set up. The Gentiles will seek the Lord after He has come back. There will not be another "out calling," but the nations will turn to the Lord and the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. This fourth part of the divine program as given through James corresponds with the vision which Isaiah saw: "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it" (Isaiah 2:2). "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek, and His rest shall be glorious" (Isaiah 11:10). "The abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the wealth of the Gentiles shall come unto thee" (Isaiah 55:5). "And it shall come to pass . . . all flesh shall come to worship before me, saith the Lord" (Isaiah 66:23). And all this wonderful plan GOD had laid from the beginning of the world. The important truths contained in James’ utterance are the following: "GOD gives the Gospel to the Gentiles, through the preaching of the Gospel, a people is called out for His Name. The church is this out called people. The Lord JESUS CHRIST returns after GOD’s purpose in this age has been accomplished. The result of His return will be the setting up of the tabernacle of David, that is, the promised Kingdom. After He has come again the nations of the world will seek the Lord." World-conversion, according to this divine program laid down in the Jerusalem council, cannot take place till the Lord has returned. James likewise stated that these Gentiles who had turned to GOD should not be troubled. The burden of the law was not to be laid upon them; nor should they have anything to do with circumcision. Four things he mentioned from which the Gentiles should be requested to abstain from pollution of idols, from fornication, from things strangled, and from blood. These things were partially connected with idolatry, especially fornication. Immoralities were at the bottom of the worship of different idols. But these regulations were not based upon the law of Moses, but upon the covenant made with Noah and as such binding upon the Gentiles (Genesis 9:4). III. The Result made Known. "Then pleased it the apostles and elders, with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren: And they wrote by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia: Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: it seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well" (Acts 15:22-29). After the important decision had been reached in the Jerusalem council, the result had to be made known to those who were troubled. This was done through a document in the form of a letter, which was addressed to the brethren of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. The whole assembly was of one mind in this matter. Barnabas and Paul, with other chosen men, were commissioned to carry this message to the brethren. The two chosen were Judas, surnamed Barsabas, a Hebrew, and Silas. The latter must have been a Grecian Jew, a Hellenist, for his name, Silvanus, is Latin, and we know that he possessed the Roman citizenship. This we learn from Acts 16:37. The document reveals the wisdom which is from above, that wisdom of which James speaks later in his Epistle. "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, than peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy" (James 3:17). The letter sent to the Gentile brethren bears these blessed marks. It is a most wonderful document, brief and extremely tactful. Much might have been said in the denunciation of these false teachers, but all this is carefully avoided and only the most essential matter is presented. And yet it is firm and decisive. How different from present day ecclesiastical rulings, letters concerning the question of fellowship, etc., with their bitter party spirit and unchristian rejection of brethren! The Hebrew element could not be offended at what the council had decided upon, though circumcision and law-keeping were mentioned as not necessary to salvation. On the other hand, the two brethren from Antioch, Barnabas and Paul, were praised for their conduct: "they had hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Such a loving acknowledgment must have had a very salutary effect upon the much disturbed Antiochian assembly. All was done by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who indeed had indicated all along that circumcision was not necessary for Gentiles, for He had come upon the uncircumcised; therefore the statement -"it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us." IV. The Consolation brought to Antioch. "So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the Epistle: which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation. And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them. And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles. Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still. Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many others also" (Acts 15:30-35). It is a most blessed and happy scene described in these verses. The assembly in Antioch must have been much in prayer while Paul and Barnabas were absent; eagerly they waited for their return. As soon as they had arrived the multitude of Christians came together for a general meeting. The letter then was read and the result was great joy. It was a great consolation to receive such a loving message. But Judas and Silas had been enjoined to tell them "the same things by mouth" (Acts 15:27), that is, orally. They now discharged their commission. They both were prophets, and exhorted the brethren with many words. The gift of a prophet is here described. It is exhortation and speaking for the edification of GOD’s people. Through these exhortations the assembly was confirmed, that is, more fully established. No doubt their chief exhortation must have been "to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." They abode in Antioch for some time and then, perhaps after another assembly gathering, they were permitted to return to the Apostles in Jerusalem in peace, or rather, with peace. From Galatians 2:10 we gain the additional information that the three of whom Paul writes as the pillars, James, Cephas, and John, had made a request which was not embodied in the letter read to the assembly. "Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do." Most likely this request was not forgotten and the poor in Jerusalem were generously remembered by the large assembly in Antioch and the money sent to the Apostles. The preceding verses show that both Judas and Silas were let go to return to the Apostles. Silas, however, must have returned to Antioch, for we find him there according to Acts 15:40. The blessed activity of Paul and Barnabas was renewed in Antioch. They taught and preached the Word of the Lord with many others. What liberty they must have then enjoyed and what gracious results the Lord must have given from this ministry! But the controversy was not altogether overcome. Peter some time later visited Antioch, a visit not mentioned in the Book of Acts. We read of it in Galatians 2:11-14. Paul was then likewise present and withstood Peter to the face when he refused to eat with the Gentiles and build again what he had destroyed. Peter’s visit must have taken place shortly after the return of Paul and Barnabas to Antioch. V. Paul and Barnabas separate. "And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus; and Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches" (Acts 15:36-41). The second great journey of the Apostle Paul had an unfortunate beginning. It started with the separation of the two who had so blessedly worked together and whose joined work had so graciously been owned by the Lord. Human failure and shortcoming were at the bottom of it. It is evident from the inspired record, that there was no waiting before the Lord and no dependence on the guidance of the Holy Spirit in connection with this new start. How different from the first journey! Then the whole assembly was ministering to the Lord and the Holy Spirit said, "Separate unto me Barnabas and Saul." Here prayer is not mentioned, nor does the Holy Spirit indicate a new work for the two messengers and as a result the two are separated, not to fresh service, but from each other. Paul said, "Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the Word of the Lord, and see how they do." His great love for the brethren prompted this action. His heart longed for them, but it was nevertheless his own will and desire, and not according to the mind of the Holy Spirit. The great work the Lord had for His servant was not to go over the same route and in a kind of inspection tour, visiting every place again, but to carry the Gospel into other regions and evangelize new cities and provinces. To go again with Barnabas, from place to place, places already visited, was Paul’s plan; the Lord’s plan was another. And how much self choosing in service for GOD there is in our days! How little true waiting on the Lord and dependence on the Holy Spirit! Many servants who should carry the Gospel into needed fields and teach the Word to those who are destitute of the truth, confine themselves to a small circle of churches and minister exclusively to these. "Let us go again and visit our brethren" - but what about the other members of the same body and the many cities where the Gospel is greatly needed? The servant of CHRIST, whether he is evangelist or teacher, must exercise this gift under the Lord, directed by His Spirit. Paul suggested to another servant, to Barnabas, what he thought he should do. How could he know what the Holy Spirit meant Barnabas to do? Barnabas was quite ready to fall in line with Paul’s suggestion. Nothing is said that they bowed their knees together and asked the Lord first, whether it was His will that they should go again. Soon it became evident that the action was not sanctioned by the Lord. Barnabas had a will of his own, and was determined to take John Mark along. Paul refused this request. He did not care to be associated with one who had failed in his service. A sharp contention followed, and Barnabas and Paul were separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark and sailed away into Cyprus. What their service was is not reported in this book. Such contention and separation of beloved brethren was surely not the work of the Holy Spirit. It was the result of not asking counsel of the Lord. But GOD overruled it all in the end and brought good out of this failure, as He only can in His unfathomable grace. It may be possible that another reason was also connected with this separation. Both John Mark and Barnabas may have had leanings toward the Hebrew side in the matter of the keeping of the law; while Paul stood firmly for what he had so earnestly contended for in Jerusalem. That this may have been the case is suggested by Galatians 2:13 - "and the other Jews dissembled likewise with him (Peter); insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation." But this break of fellowship in service, the subtle work of the enemy, was not permanent. Paul mentions Barnabas in 1 Corinthians 9:6, and of Mark’s restoration and Paul’s love for him we read in Colossians 4:10 and 2 Timothy 4:11. Paul then chose Silas. He took the place of Barnabas in this second journey. The assembly fully recognized the choice of Paul and the brethren commended them both to the grace of GOD. Paul went through Syria and Cilicia first confirming the churches, which does not mean the so-called man-made rite of confirmation, but he taught them more fully, and thus they were confirmed in the truth and established. ~ end of chapter 15 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 57: 03.16. CHAPTER SIXTEEN ======================================================================== CHAPTER SIXTEEN Before we follow the second missionary journey of the Apostle Paul, it may not be out of place to give a little chronological table of the life of this chosen instrument, beginning with his conversion down to the close of the second journey. This will help in reviewing the remarkable activity of the great apostle to the Gentiles and put before us the events from Acts 9:1-43, Acts 10:1-48, Acts 11:1-30, Acts 12:1-25, Acts 13:1-52, Acts 14:1-28, Acts 15:1-41, Acts 16:1-40, Acts 17:1-34, Acts 18:1-28 in a concise form. About A.D. 36 Conversion of Saul of Tarsus. Acts 9:1-43. 36-39 At Damascus-Preaching in the synagogue. His journey into Arabia. Returns to Damascus - and flees from Damascus. His FIRST visit to Jerusalem; three years after his conversion. Back to Tarsus. Acts 9:23-26. Galatians 1:18. 39-40 Rest of the Jewish Churches. Acts 9:31. Paul preaches the gospel in Syria and Cilicia. Galatians 1:21. A period of uncertain length. - During this time he probably experienced many of the perils and sufferings which he recounts to the Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 11:1-33. 40-43 He is brought from Tarsus to Antioch by Barnabas; and remains there a year before the famine. Acts 11:26. 44 Paul’s SECOND visit to Jerusalem, with the collection. Acts 11:30. 45 He returns to Antioch. Acts 12:2-5. Paul’s FIRST missionary journey with Barnabas to Cyprus, Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra. Returns to Antioch, Derbe. 46-49 Labors a long time in Antioch. Dissension and disputation about circumcision. Acts 14:1-28, Acts 15:1-2. Paul’s THIRD visit to Jerusalem with Barnabas, fourteen years after his conversion. Galatians 2:1. 50 They attend the council at Jerusalem. Acts 15:1-41. Return of Paul and Barnabas to Antioch, with Judas and Silas. Acts 15:32-35. Paul’s SECOND missionary journey with Silas and Timothy. From Antioch to Syria, Cilicia, Derbe, Lystra, Phrygia, Galatia, Troas. Luke joins him. Acts 16:10. 51 Entrance of the Gospel into Europe. Acts 16:11-13. Paul visits Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, Corinth. Spends a year and six months at Corinth. Acts 18:11. 52 First Epistle to the Thessalonians written. Second Epistle to the Thessalonians written. 53 Paul leaves Corinth and sails to Ephesus. Acts 18:18-19. 54 Paul’s FOURTH visit to Jerusalem at the feast. His return to Antioch. The second missionary journey of Paul is now before us and the divine record is full of interest. The sixteenth chapter shows the progress of the Gospel from Asia to Europe. We divide this chapter into four parts. I. In Derbe and Lystra: Timotheus chosen and circumcised by Paul (Acts 16:1-5). II. The Holy Spirit forbids the preaching of the Word in Asia (Acts 16:6-8). III. The vision of the man of Macedonia and the journey there (Acts 16:9-12). IV. The Gospel in Europe. Events in Philippi (Acts 16:13-40). I. In Derbe and Lystra: Timotheus chosen and circumcised by Paul. "Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father was a Greek: Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for they knew all that his father was a Greek. And as they went through the cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem. And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily" (Acts 16:1-5). Derbe and Lystra, familiar to us from the first missionary journey, are visited again. In Lystra, Paul had healed the cripple, and there he must have met the Jewess Eunice, who lived with her mother, Lois, and whose son was Timotheus. Eunice was a believer and so was the grandmother of Timotheus (2 Timothy 1:5). He had a bringing up in the Holy Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:15). The young man had an excellent report by the brethren of Lystra and Iconium. The Holy Spirit moved the Apostle to have Timotheus to go forth with him. The Epistles to Timothy shed more light on this. In 1 Timothy 1:18 we read: "This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou mightest war a good warfare." Timothy had been marked out by the Holy Spirit through the gift of prophecy as the proper companion of the Apostle. No mention is made in the record before us of the laying on of hands. However, we read of it in the Epistles to Timothy. "Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hand of the presbytery" (1 Timothy 4:14). "Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands" (2 Timothy 1:6). This laying on of hands by the elders and by the Apostle Paul must have been done in Lystra. The circumcision of Timotheus is prominently mentioned. Paul circumcised him, and the reason of this act - "because of the Jews which were in those quarters." This action of Paul has been often condemned as an action which was not according to the mind of the Spirit. We do not think such was the case at all. That Paul’s act in circumcising Timothy must have produced a stir among the Gentile Christians can easily be imagined. But recently their minds had been agitated about circumcision. The message of the false leaders - "except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved" - was still fresh in their memories. And now Paul himself circumcised one whose father was a Greek. Paul’s teaching on circumcision was well known; he was the apostle of the uncircumcision. Did not this action side him with the law keepers and the Judaizers? But looked upon in the right way, all these charges of inconsistency and going back to the law fall down. The law has nothing to say about the circumcision of the offspring of mixed marriages. It is well known that, if there was a mixed marriage (i.e., between a Jew and a Gentile), the law would have nothing to say to the offspring. "Legally, the Jewish father could not own his own children born of a Gentile mother, or vice versa (see Ezra 10:1-44). Now Timothy being the offspring of such a marriage, there could be no claim, even if there was license to circumcise him; and Paul condescends out of grace to those who were on lower ground, and stops their mouths most effectually." [*] [*] William Kelly, introduction to Acts. His act then was not according to Law, for circumcision in Timothy’s case was not commanded but it was done on the ground of grace; he did not want to put a stumbling block into the way of the Jews. 1 Corinthians 9:20 gives the fullest reason for this act of the Apostle: "And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law." We see then the apostolic band, Paul, Silas and Timothy, going through the different cities making known the decrees of the apostles and elders at Jerusalem, that is, what had been agreed upon concerning the relation of believing Gentiles to the law. How needful this was for these Galatian churches! These Galatians were by nature fickle-minded and unstable. When Paul was with them they were ready to pluck out their eyes and give them to the apostle (Galatians 4:15); some time later they were only too ready to listen to the Judaizing teachers and Paul had to write them: "I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another Gospel" (Galatians 1:6). The effect of the ministry of the apostle and the declaration of the decision of the Jerusalem council resulted in the strengthening of the churches and in an increased membership. II. The Holy Spirit forbids the preaching of the Word in Asia. "Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not. And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas" (Acts 16:6-8). They travel on throughout Phrygia and Galatia. Though there is no record given of work done here, it does not mean that they were idle and had no testimony for the multitudes. But suddenly their plans of evangelization were halted by the voice of the Holy Spirit. He forbade them to preach the Word in Asia. Their intention was to reach now the large province of Asia [*] with its flourishing cities. But the Holy Spirit entered a protest against this plan. [*] At that time a large territory of Asia Minor along the Aegean Sea was called "Asia." He did not want to have the Word preached at that time in Asia. Later Paul spent three years in the capital of the province, in Ephesus, and all Asia heard the Word. Then they reached the northern part of the province, Mysia; obedient to the voice of the Holy Spirit, they did not speak the Word. They then expected to reach Bithynia, which borders the Black Sea, but the Spirit of JESUS suffered them not. He would not let them go there. Bithynia heard the Word at another time, perhaps through Peter, for his first Epistle is addressed to the strangers throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. Christianity became so strong in that province at the beginning of the second century that idol worship was seriously affected. [*] [*] From a letter of the Roman governor Pliny. But the Holy Spirit had His own time and ways for giving the Gospel to these provinces. This shows clearly that the Holy Spirit must guide and direct in service. How He arrested the messengers and suffered them not to proceed is not stated. They followed His guidance obediently. How necessary it is for the servant of CHRIST, be he an evangelist or a teacher, to depend on the Holy Spirit for a direction! Waiting on the Lord and then to go forth guided by His Spirit is the true way of a successful ministry. He must point out the way and the places and the time when and where the precious Word is to be spoken. Such humble reliance upon the direction of the Holy Spirit is but little known in our days. The great movements of our times seem to place more stress on organization, widespread advertising methods and financial support, than on the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit. The servants of the Lord JESUS CHRIST ministering the Gospel and the Word in the end of this present evil age need the guidance of the Holy Spirit as much as the apostle in the beginning of the age. And the Holy Spirit is today the same as He was then, when He suffered them not to minister in Asia and in Bithynia. We also call attention to the true rendering "the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not." The blessed Lord walked on earth in the power of the Spirit and now the same Spirit who led Him while on earth, leads and guides his own into service. In this action of the Holy Spirit He assumed once more His authority, which, as we saw, was not fully recognized in the beginning of the second missionary journey, as He was recognized when Paul went forth the first time. He had to be held back from going in self-choosing to places which were not then to be visited. Thus kept back from ministry in Bithynia they turned towards the seacoast and came to Troas. This seaport was located opposite the European Continent and Macedonia was the nearest province. Not permitted to preach in Asia, held back from ministry in Bithynia, a double course was open to the apostle, either to go back to Antioch or to cross over to Europe. III. The vision of the man of Macedonia, the journey there. "And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; and from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: and we were in that city abiding certain days" (Acts 16:9-12). The Lord, who had kept them back by His Spirit from going into the provinces, which were not to be reached at that time, now makes His will known where they were to go. All the uncertainty and perplexity which had rested upon the little company is now to be lifted. That there was deep soul exercise and continued prayer we may well surmise. They cast themselves completely on the Lord and He now directs them. Paul had a vision during that night. He beheld a man from Macedonia, whom he must have recognized as such by his dress or some other way and he prayed him - "Come over into Macedonia and help us." And after he had seen the vision they immediately decided to cross over into Macedonia. They had gathered first by spiritual intelligence that the meaning of the vision was that the Lord called them to preach the Gospel in that land. All this is full of encouragement to GOD’s servant. If we only learn to wait and trust in Him, He will direct our steps. However, the vision Paul had must not be taken as the common mode of guidance, nor as something which was to be repeated. We are to walk in faith and not by sight, and faith does not want sight, nor expects visions to know the will of the Lord. The prophecy of Joel in which dreams and visions are mentioned does not concern the present age at all. The people who claim to have visions and dreams now, as a result of a greater outpouring of the Holy Spirit, are generally, if not always the subjects of delusion. When a Christian is fully obedient to the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of GOD fills him, he does not want and does not need visions and dreams. The vision Paul had was an extraordinary event. It was unexpected and unasked for. According to the so-called Bezan text [*] they found in the harbor a ship sailing the next morning. [*] A Greek MS. of the Gospels and Acts Written in the Sixth Century, which came into possession of Beza the scholar and reformer. It has many variations from the ordinary text. This may have been the case, for the text shows that there was no delay in their departure. Whenever the Lord calls to a service He also opens the way providentially. The tenth verse is interesting for another reason. The pronoun is now changed from "they" to "we." From this we learn that Luke, the beloved physician and the chosen instrument to write this historical book, joined the party. He does not mention his name at all, but keeps himself completely in the background. May we profit by this beautiful example of humility! From Samothracia they came to Neapolis and from thence to Philippi. Philippi, the first European city in which the Gospel of the Son of GOD was preached, is described as the chief city of that part of Macedonia and a colony (Acts 16:12). This city had been founded by Philip of Macedon, to keep the wild Thracians in check, which were the neighbors of the Macedonians. In 42 B.C., a decisive battle was fought during the Roman civil wars, and Philippi was made a Roman colony and settled with soldiers. It was mostly inhabited by Roman citizens. It was a city filled with idolatry. The presence of Lydia of Thyatira gives the hint that a trade in purple must have existed there. No synagogue was located in the city. The events which transpired here are given in detail and occupy the rest of this chapter. IV. The Gospel in Europe. Events in Philippi. The first incident recorded is the conversion of Lydia, a seller of purple, of the City of Thyatira. "And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us" (Acts 16:13-15). They may have arrived quite early in the week and waited for the sabbath. But there was no synagogue in the city, since the Apostle and his companions to find the few Jews in that city went out of the city by the riverside, where prayer was wont to be made. The river was the small stream Gangites. It was the custom of the Jews to go to the riverside or to the sea for prayer, most likely on account of the different washings commanded by the law. Of this we read already in Ezra (Ezra 8:15, Ezra 8:21). Many other sources speak of this custom. The Apostle and his associates found a company of women gathered there. We wonder if Paul looked for the man whom he had seen in his vision. But there was no man present; only a company of women. But these messengers were not discouraged by the humble audience, the first which ever gathered in Europe to hear the Gospel. They did not despise the small things but were ready to speak to the few women who had come together for prayer. Paul spoke to them. His words are not given, but he had one theme, the Gospel of Grace, and of this and the Lord JESUS CHRIST, His death on the cross and His resurrection he assuredly spoke. Among the women was Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which was situated in the province Asia, where the door had been closed. Lydia was a worshipper of GOD. She had turned to the true GOD and had dropped idolatry. She was a pious soul earnestly seeking after the truth; this piety was seen in her seeking out on the sabbath those who worship the Lord. She was, like Cornelius, converted, but had no knowledge of salvation, because she knew nothing of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. And then the Lord opened the heart of Lydia. A blessed word this is. He Himself must open the doors of the hearts of the hearers. Human hands could not do this; the power belongs to Him alone, unless the Lord goes before and prepares the hearts for the reception of the truth and removes the bars, all efforts are in vain. May those who go forth to preach the Gospel look to the Lord to open the hearts of the hearers. When precious souls accept the truth, let us give the praise and the glory to Him and not to the evangelists. Alas! how much work is being done in which the Lord has no share, in which He and His Spirit is dishonored. There is also a special significance in the fact that Lydia was from Thyatira. It is more than possible that she carried the Gospel to her native city in Asia. An assembly was there and from the words of our Lord in the message to Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29) we learn that another woman corrupted Christianity there. "I have this against thee, that thou sufferest the woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols" (Revelation 2:20). Such a woman had sprung up in Thyatira, the opposite from the gentle Lydia with her beautiful experience and Christian character. Prophetically, Jezebel in Thyatira stands for Rome, "the woman clothed in purple and scarlet." The baptism of herself and her household followed immediately, and having had her heart opened, she now opened her house to Paul and his companions. She besought them and, evidently a rich woman, she showed great humility - "if ye judge me to be faithful to the Lord." And they abode in her house. She fully identified herself with the messengers of the Lord, and must have shown them great kindness. Her house became the home of Paul, Silas, Timothy and Luke, and the gathering place of the assembly in Philippi (Acts 16:40). No doubt later in sending fellowship from Philippi to the Apostle (Php 4:14-16) she had a large share in this. Thus the blessed fruits of the Spirit were abundantly revealed. "And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high GOD, which shew unto us the way of salvation. And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour" (Acts 16:16-18). The second event in Philippi is the deliverance of the damsel, possessed with the spirit of Python. The enemy is now coming to the front once more. He could not leave the entrance of Europe by the Gospel unchallenged and so he begins his work. He comes in the garb of an angel of light and appears as a friend of the servants of CHRIST, seemingly ready to help the cause of the Apostle. A damsel, most likely a slave girl, had a spirit of divination, or, as the word is in the language, of Python. Python was the name, supposedly, of a great dragon at Delphi, slain by Apollo. She had masters over her and brought them much gain by her soothsaying. She was what is called to-day, a medium, possessed by a demon. Such the spiritualistic mediums are, if they are not outright frauds, who deceive their dupes by clever tricks. And it is a startling and solemn fact that some of the leading educators, college professors, literary men and even so-called clergymen are seeking after these demon-possessed girls and women and pay them well for their damnable practices. Of course this goes under the name of "scientific investigation" or "psychical research." The girl here was possessed by a spirit. This was fully recognized by the people of Philippi as well as by the Apostle. "All attempts to explain away such a narrative as this by the subterfuges of Rationalism is more than ever futile.” [*] [*] Dean Alford: Greek Testament. Another commentary on Acts suggests that the damsel was probably a ventriloquist! Through this cunning demon Satan tried to hinder the work by assuming a friendly relation towards the servants of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. She followed Paul and his three helpers and announced before them the fact that they are the servants of the most high GOD and that they show the way of salvation. This she did many days. That demon spoke the truth, though he could not confess CHRIST as Lord and Saviour. Instead of calling them deceivers and warning against the Gospel they brought, this evil spirit applauded them. Instead of assailing the work in an open fashion, he appears as if he would help it along and that by flattery. His attempt was to support outwardly the work of the Gospel by this loud-mouthed advertising and then to hurt it at the same time. But the Gospel does not need such support. Nor does it need the support of the world, behind which Satan stands as ruler, prince and god. The support and applause of the world does not further the Gospel, but it is the most deceptive hindrance of it Satan has ever invented. And how much of all this we see at the present time! How often evangelistic movements with their great schemes seek the alliance and assistance of the daily press, which is generally antichristian, to help along the work of the Gospel by giving to it prominence in the eyes of the world; and other facts we leave unmentioned. The world is always the world and friendship with it must mean enmity to GOD. Such was the attempt of Satan here to ally himself with the servants of CHRIST and then to spoil them. How well he has succeeded in Christendom of to-day! But Paul would not accept this testimony. He ignored the attempt at first and goes on his way without paying any attention to the wild cries of the damsel. At last he was grieved and then in the blessed name of the Lord JESUS CHRIST he commanded the demon to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. "And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers, and brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city, and teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks" (Acts 16:19-24). The enemy having failed in his wily attempt now shows himself in his true character. The masters of the damsel who was delivered from the evil spirit, were just as much in Satan’s power as the demon-possessed girl. Through these men Satan now opposes the progress of the Gospel by force. Paul and Silas are rushed into the marketplace before the magistrates. The accusation was that they taught an unlawful religion. Paul’s preachings of course aimed at the idol worship of Rome and of Augustus. In this at least the accusation was true. But the offence of the two men appeared in a worse light, when it was announced that both Paul and Silas were Romans. To proclaim another religion was paramount with treason. Of course the motives presented before the judges were false and a mere pretence. But Satan succeeded in stirring up the multitudes. The mass of people rose up against them. The Magistrates also joined in and stripped the two messengers of the Lord of their clothes. This was considered a great shame and insult and they must have felt it keenly. Paul refers to it in his Epistle to the Thessalonians - "But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know in Philippi, we were bold in our God to speak unto you the Gospel of God with much contention" (1 Thessalonians 2:2). Then in that condition they were severely whipped, many stripes were laid on them. This is one of the beatings with rods to which Paul refers in 2 Corinthians 11:25 - "Thrice was I beaten with rods." The shame and severe pain from this beating must have been almost unbearable. Then they were cast into the prison and the jailer was especially charged to keep them safely. This individual felt his responsibility and to make them doubly secure he put their feet into the stocks. And thus stripped of the clothes, with lacerated and bleeding backs, their feet were encased in the cruel stocks. The cruelty of man producing such suffering was the work of the enemy. They suffered in patience and the Holy Spirit filling them gave them strength to suffer unjustly. "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here" (Acts 16:25-28). Evening comes on and when midnight is reached strange sounds are heard in the dungeon. Curses and vile language are the familiar tones with weeping and gnashing of teeth, which sounded through these miserable Roman prisons. But now the voice of singing is heard. Player and Praise come from the cell of the two imprisoned evangelists. At midnight Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises unto GOD. The prisoners heard them. No doubt the prayer and praise was fully on the line of the blessed Gospel; they must have praised GOD for the Lord JESUS, that He suffered for their sins and had saved them. They knew the Lord was with them and the joy of the Lord burst forth in these songs in the night. "He giveth songs in the night." How this was verified in their case and what a testimony it was. Sufferings like theirs we know no longer; and alas! if some suffering is the lot of some Christians, or a little tribulation comes, there is often murmuring and doubting instead of rejoicing and praising the Lord. And suddenly there came an answer. The Lord answered the prayers of His suffering servants by an earthquake. He intervened in their behalf in an extraordinary manner. Rationalism has tried either to make it appear as if this was a coincidence or ignored the earthquake completely. [*] [*] Renan in his "Apostle Paul" does not even mention the earthquake. GOD shook the whole place when they were still praising Him. The doors were opened, the bonds of the prisoners were loosed, but the prison itself did not fall. This may be explained by the fact that this prison, like other Roman prisons consisted in excavations in a rocky hillside. The prisoners were chained to the walls and the cave cells were shut by wooden doors with heavy bolts. These burst open and the fetters of the prisoners dropped to the ground. The Lord set the prisoners free. But how many dungeons there have been since then with their uncountable victims with tortured limbs, parched tongues and feverish brow, prisoners who, too, like Paul and Silas, prayed and praised. But no answer came to deliver them. No earthquake opened the doors; they died the death of martyrs-and heaven was silent to their pleas: After GOD’s Revelation is completed the heavens are silent, and GOD expects man to believe His Word. A day is coming when once more there will be intervention from above in the affairs of this world. The jailer was awakened by the shock and was ready to kill himself, seeing that his prisoners had been liberated, for he was responsible, according to the Roman law, with his life for the prisoners. But Paul’s loud cry - "Do thyself no harm; for we are all here" kept him from piercing himself with his own sword. Satan would have rushed the jailer into eternity by suicide; but GOD had something else for the poor Roman heathen. "Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas, and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway. And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house. And when it was day, the magistrates sent the serjeants, saying, Let those men go. “And the keeper of the prison told this saying to Paul, The magistrates have sent to let you go: now therefore depart, and go in peace. But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly un condemned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; and now do they thrust us out privily? nay verily; but let them come themselves and fetch us out. And the serjeants told these words unto the magistrates: and they feared, when they heard that they were Romans. And they came and besought them, and brought them out, and desired them to depart out of the city. And they went out of the prison, and entered into the house of Lydia: and when they had seen the brethren. they comforted them and departed" (Acts 16:29-40). The sudden event, the fact that the prisoners had not escaped, the assurance from Paul that they were all there, and perhaps the singing and the prayers of the Apostles, which he may have heard, all carried conviction to his soul. We see him at the Apostle’s feet a trophy of GOD’s Grace, a witness to the power of GOD and an evidence that the wrath of the enemy must praise Him. "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" was the all Important question which concerns him now more than the few prisoners or even his own physical life. The Grace of GOD had changed the poor jailer into a thoroughly awakened soul. The answer to the anxious soul is not slow in coming, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved and thy house." And upon this they spake unto him the Word of GOD, the story of CHRIST, the blessed Gospel of trusting on Him who died on the cross. Only believing, nothing to do, for GOD had done it all in His own Son. This is the Gospel of Grace, that a free and full salvation is given to the sinner in simply believing on the Lord JESUS CHRIST. It is the same way of salvation to-day as it was then. Everyone who denies and rejects it has no hope and is a lost soul. [*] [*] And how GOD’s way of salvation is rejected in these days is frightful. Salvation by character, a bloodless Gospel is the present day substitute. Thus a certain preacher taught some months ago in a popular monthly "Salvation is not an instantaneous act whereby the sinner is assured of deliverance from hell and enjoyment of heaven, but a lifelong process." Such a statement sweeps the entire Gospel away. And the promise was not only to the jailer, but also to his house. This is a blessed truth alas! too often overlooked by Christian parents or ignored through false teaching. The promise of course is conditional. No one can be saved except by personal faith in a personal Saviour. The Christian home stands for much according to New Testament. The husband is to love his wife even as CHRIST also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, so that the husband represents CHRIST. The wife is to submit under the husband, as the church is subject unto the Lord, and the children are to obey the parents in the Lord (Ephesians 5:22-33; Ephesians 6:1). The exhortation is given to the fathers, "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). We can bring our children to the Lord and as we bring them up according to the divine exhortation we have full assurance that they shall be saved. Not alone did the jailer hear the Word of the Lord, but also all that were in his house, which no doubt meant his household, wife and children and all who belonged to him. And after he had washed their stripes he and all his were baptized straightway. There was no delay with water baptism. In washing their stripes and welcoming Paul and Silas to his home, setting meat before them, the jailer showed the works which follow faith. And faith had brought joy to his heart. He rejoiced, believing in GOD with all his house. The morning brought an order from the magistrates that these men should be dismissed. But Paul now demands to be heard. These magistrates had dealt in an unjust manner and they had to acknowledge their fault as well as the rights of the Gospel. He demanded that they come themselves and fetch them out of prison, inasmuch as they had beaten them uncondemned, and the men whom they had treated in this way were Romans. When the magistrates heard the message they feared. According to Cicero, to bind a Roman was a crime, to scourge him a scandal, to kill him a homicide. It was one of the most valued privileges of Roman citizenship, this immunity from corporal punishment. The cry “civis Romanus sum” (I am a Roman citizen) brought even among Barbarians help and safety. They came therefore out to the prison and besought them, desiring that they should depart out of the city. In this action they acknowledged the wrong they had done. But they were not in a hurry to leave. They first entered the house of Lydia and saw the brethren, whom they comforted. Then they departed. Luke stayed behind in Philippi. The blessed fruit of the ministry of Paul and Silas formed the beginning of the first assembly in Europe, to which later from Rome the Apostle addressed that precious Epistle of Christian life and experience. ~ end of chapter 16 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 58: 03.17. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN ======================================================================== CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Three cities in which the Gospel is next preached are before us in this chapter. But there is a marked difference between these three places. In Thessalonica there was much hostility, the result of the success of the Gospel. In Berea a more noble class of Jews were found. Their nobility consisted in submission to the Scriptures, the oracles of GOD, and in a ready mind. There was a still greater blessing among the Jews and the Gentiles. In Athens the Apostle Paul met idolatry, indifference and ridicule. I. The Gospel in Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-9). II. The Gospel in Berea (Acts 17:10-14). III. Paul in Athens (Acts 17:15-34). I. The Gospel in Thessalonica. "Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was, went into the room, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. And some of them believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few. But the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city on an uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. And when they found them not, they drew Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, These th&~ have turned the world upside down are come hither also; whom Jason hath received: and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, one Jesus. And they troubled the people and the rulers of the city, when they heard these things. And when they had taken security of Jason, and of the others, they let them go" (Acts 17:1-9). No record is given of work done on the way to Thessalonica. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit the blessed messengers of the cross made for the influential capital of the province, knowing that they would find a goodly number of Jews there and a synagogue where they could preach. Thessalonica was one of the most influential cities in those days. Even to-day it is a city of almost 100,000 inhabitants and its ancient name is still to be traced in its present one, that is, Saloniki, the second largest city in European Turkey. It has an excellent location on the Aegean Sea and by a direct road, the Egnatian way, had communication with the capital of the Roman Empire. It was one of the free cities of the Empire and had its own constitution. This was democratic, its authority resting with the Demos, the people. The chief magistrates were called Politarchs, as we would call them now, city fathers or rulers. This word is used by Luke in Acts 17:6 and Acts 17:8. As it is not found at all in classical literature, certain Bible critics accused the writer of the Book of Acts of inaccuracy and impeached in this way the inspiration of the book. But like all other criticism, this charge has come back upon the critics. There is in the British Museum to-day a stone block in which the word "Politarch" is chiseled. The stone was taken from a triumphal arch, which stood in Thessalonica in the first century and which was preserved till 1867, when it was destroyed. The one stone block containing an inscription was transferred to the famous British Museum. The inscription is translated as follows: "The Politarchs being Sopater, son of Cleopatra, and Lucius Pontius Secundus, Aulus Arius Sabinus, Demetrius son of Faustus, Demetrius son of Nicopolis, Foilus son of Parmenio also called Meniscus, Caius Agilleius Potitus." It is intensely interesting to find that some of these names are mentioned in Acts 20:4. In this city the missionaries entered, and Paul at once sought out the synagogue. This was his custom. For three Sabbath days, or, as the margin has it, weeks, he ministered the Word to the Jews. And now we have before us a very interesting record. "He reasoned with them out of (from) the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ must have needs suffered and risen again from the dead: and that this Jesus (he said) whom I preach unto you is Christ." From this we may learn important lessons. His mode of approaching the Jews here as well as elsewhere was not in a regular discourse in the form of a sermon or a lecture. It was just a converse, a discussion permitting questions and giving answers. It was teaching in a conversational way and the Scriptures were the foundation of it. Of course, the Old Testament is meant by the name Scriptures, for the New Testament Scriptures were not yet in existence. Such reasonings suited the Jewish mind well. It is still the best way in which to approach the Jew with the Gospel. The method which Paul followed is by far the best. He opened the Scriptures. The Law, the Prophets and the Writings [*] were opened by him in reference to the Messiah, whom GOD had promised to them. [*] The Old Testament in Hebrew is divided into three parts. Thora, the Law; Nevijm, the Prophets; Kethuvim, the Writings - such as Proverbs, Psalms, Job, etc. He quoted the great Messianic prophecies. He must have turned to the Psalms and opened that blessed book in its many predictions. No doubt the different types as given in the tabernacle and its worship, the sacrifices and offerings, the Passover and deliverance out of Egypt, the brazen serpent and other events were rehearsed by him. But the argument and reasoning was altogether on the Person of the Messiah. He showed that the Scriptures teach that the promised CHRIST had to suffer and to die and rise again from the dead. Then after he had established this fact, independent of who that promised Messiah is, he pressed home another fact, namely, that JESUS whom he preached is that CHRIST. How powerful this reasoning must have been and under the Holy Spirit; it brought conviction to their hearts. Some believed. But the greater success was among the devout Greeks, such as had abandoned idolatry, who were attendants at the synagogue. A great multitude with many of the chief women believed. But many of these Greeks, as we learn from the Epistle to the Thessalonians, were converted directly from idolatry, "they turned to God from idols" (1 Thessalonians 1:9). As servants the Apostle and his companions had perfect liberty to enter these synagogues to deliver the message. This liberty still belongs to all who are servants of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. The servants at CHRIST have perfect freedom to go wherever the Lord opens a door to preach the Gospel. [*] [*] We emphasize this because there are some ultra separationists who form little sects, claiming to be the church. They forbid their preachers and teachers to enter church buildings of the different denominations and have even put some out of their fellowship because they preach the Gospel in a church. Another interesting fact is learned concerning the activity of the apostle in Thessalonica from the two Epistles, which he addressed some time after to the Thessalonians. These were the first Epistles Paul wrote. From these we learn that the Apostle not only preached the Gospel, but also taught the Thessalonian believers prophetic Truths and emphasized the Second Coming of CHRIST and the events connected with it. In the Second Epistle he reminds them of his oral teaching. "Remember ye not that when I was yet with you I told you these things" (2 Thessalonians 2:5). He told them that they were to wait for His Son from heaven (1 Thessalonians 1:10); that there would be the falling away first and the man of sin be revealed before the day of the Lord could come (2 Thessalonians 2:3-7) as well as other truths. He did therefore not think, as it is said so often in our days, that dispensational truths were too deep for these new converts and babes in CHRIST. Nothing in GOD’s Word is too deep for those who are born again and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This apostolic method is absolutely necessary to open up the Truth of GOD and lead newborn saints into it. One of the reasons of present day conditions among those who are no doubt saved, is the lack of dispensational teachings, which the Apostle Paul had so closely linked with the preaching of the Gospel in Thessalonica. But the enemy was soon aroused in the city. Once more the acts of the enemy through the unbelieving Jews are recorded. He resorts to the same tactics as at Philippi to stir up the mob of the city. The rabble stormed the house of Jason, where the Apostle and Silas lodged. Their intention was to drag the two before the people. Failing to find these, they drew Jason and some other brethren before the Politarchs. Then the usual tumult ensued and the accusation was shouted out - "These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also; whom Jason has received, and these all do contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another King, one Jesus." The enemy gave a testimony in this accusation to the power and influence of Christianity. The accusation that they opposed Caesar’s decrees and claiming that another is King, namely JESUS, must have sprung from the fact that the dispensational teaching Paul gave had reached the people in a distorted way. Persecution set in, and from the Epistles to the Thessalonians we learn that the church there had much tribulation. So severe became the troubles that the Thessalonians were greatly disturbed when false teachers spread the report that they were facing the great tribulation. To set their minds at rest on this question the apostle wrote his second Epistle. The rulers here took security of Jason and the others and then let them go. II. The Gospel in Berea. "And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached of Paul at Berea, they came thither also, and stirred up the people. And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timotheus abode there still" (Acts 17:10-14). Paul and Silas were immediately sent away by night. What had become of Timothy? He is not at all mentioned in connection with this visit to Thessalonica nor do we hear anything from him since he joined Paul and Silas at Lystra. However from this we must not conclude that he had left them. There is sufficient evidence that he was with them in Thessalonica. Both Epistles to the Thessalonians are from Paul and Sylvanus and Timotheus (1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:1). This is conclusive evidence that he was with Paul and Silas. (Silas is the same as Silvanus). From these Epistles is also gained the information that Paul and most likely also his companions worked with their own hands (1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8). And now we find them in the City of Berea, some 40 miles from Thessalonica. This city had a magnificent situation at the foot of a mountain range. It is still a good sized city, known by the name of Verna. As soon as they arrived in the city, they went to the synagogue and here they found evidently prepared ground. The Jews they found are described as "more noble than those in Thessalonica." The word noble does not mean, as some have said, a kind of aristocracy, but it consisted in a ready mind to receive and test by the Scriptures what the messengers of the Lord had to say. They searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so. They were anxious to know the truth and in searching the Word they compared Scripture with Scripture. Alas! How little of this readiness of mind and searching the Scriptures one finds among the modern Jews. Many have rejected their own Scriptures and the orthodox Jews are sadly ignorant of the oracles of GOD, while the Talmudical sayings, the oral traditions of the elders and the paraphrases have worked untold mischief. Only when the judicial blindness which rests upon them will be removed, the veil which is upon their hearts (2 Corinthians 3:13-15) will they see Him of whom Moses and the Prophets spake. But the neglect of the Bible is as marked, if not greater, in nominal Christendom. May we search the Scriptures daily. Therefore, because they had a ready mind and searched the Scriptures, many believed. And to the Berean assembly there were also added Gentiles - "of honorable Women which were Greeks, and of men not a few." Satan, however, knows no rest. When an effectual door is opened, then the adversaries begin. News of Paul and Silas preaching in Berea reached Thessalonica and Satan brought his willing instruments, the unbelieving Jews, to Berea to stir up the people. It was thought best by the brethren, no doubt after prayer and direction from the Lord, to send Paul away. Silas and Timothy remained there. III. Paul in Athens. "And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timotheus for to come to him with all speed, they departed. Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews, and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoics, encountered him. And some said, What will this babbler say? other some, He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods: because he preached unto them Jesus, and the resurrection. And they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is. For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean. (For all the Athenians, and strangers which were there, spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing)" (Acts 17:15-21). The exact route which Paul took is uncertain. Some of the noble brethren of Berea conducted him, showing thereby their courtesy as well as love for the servant of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. When they parted the Apostle sent through them a message to Silas and Timotheus to come to him with all speed. And now we behold our great Apostle in the wonderful city of Athens, the capital of Greece. Well has one said: "Paul at Athens, Paul the Jew of Tarsus in the city of Pericles and Demosthenes, of Sophocles and Euripides, of Socrates and Plato - that is a situation to which our pen cannot attempt to do justice: Nor is it less difficult adequately to estimate the place of Athens in the Roman Empire. For at this date Athens was still the intellectual and artistic capital of the world. It was also a religious capital, for it was the stronghold of the Greek mythology, which was generally accepted as the most authentic account of the gods and their history." What a great city it must have been! What splendor in art and architecture the eyes of the apostle must have beheld! Here the great masterpieces of the greatest masters in architecture and sculpture were to be seen. And then the memories of the past and the great philosophical leaders and their different schools. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle had moved and taught in this city and the proud Athenians had erected upon their philosophies different schools. It was furthermore a great religious city, full of idols. Xenophon said of Athens: "The whole of it is one great altar, one sacrifice and votive offering to the gods." One artist tried to outdo the other with filling streets and temples with idol statues. But at the same time this great city was on the road to degeneracy. The Athenians lived on the glories of the past, both in art and philosophy. Of this Acts 17:21 bears a striking witness. Paul in walking through the streets of the city and seeing it wholly given to idolatry was very much stirred in him; he was provoked. He did not halt to examine the temples and great masterworks. Behind the much praised masterpieces he beheld the corruption and wickedness of the human heart. Not alone was his own spirit provoked in him, but the Holy Spirit stirred him to witness against it. In the synagogues, first of all, he disputed with the Jews and the devout persons, Greeks who had turned away from idols, and in the market daily, he spoke with those that met him. The market was the Agora, an open square in the heart of the city. On its sides stood the public buildings what we would call City Hall, courthouses and the temples of different gods. Here also numerous shops were found, and, like in our country towns it was the place of buying and selling, for the people from the country came in with their wares. When business hours were over then the gossipers began. It was the place where new opinions were expounded, where philosophers and traveling orators found a ready audience. From classical literature we learn, that Socrates 450 years before moved in this very place and spoke to individuals and by severe questionings tried to destroy their self confidence and explain his philosophy. But in Paul a greater than Socrates was moving around the Agora, questioning and reasoning with all who would listen. Soon he came across some Epicureans and Stoics. The Epicureans were Materialists. They believed in a certain sense in gods, but held in their belief something like the atomic theory of present day science. They denied a life after death. The Stoics held a belief in a supreme being. They believed that in the Universe there existed an omnipresent spirit and of this spirit the human spirit was a part. The modern Pantheism was their creed. Yet they were religious. But they were extremely self-righteous and proud. The Stoics were much like the Pharisees, while the Epicureans represent the Sadducees of Judaism. With some of these philosophers the Apostle met. As they listened to him they termed him a babbler. [*] [*] The Greek word is Spermalogos, translated, a seed picker. It was a slang word used to describe the people who frequented the Agora and picked up, like birds, a little here and there. Others were more serious and charged him with being a setter forth of strange gods. For this very thing Socrates had been put to death. But we are not left in ignorance of what Paul preached. He knew but one theme, JESUS and the resurrection. So one day they took hold on him and brought him unto Areopagus. The Areopagus was a court corresponding to the Roman Senate. Here he had a representative audience of philosophers, leading citizens and a large number of the gossipers, the folks who spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Here was their opportunity. Standing before the Athenian Court Areopagus he is told in a polite way to defend himself of the accusation made against him. "May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears; we would know therefore what those things mean." "Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from everyone of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Because he hath appointed a day, in the 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. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them" (Acts 17:22-34). The address of the great apostle is one of unusual tact and wisdom. If he became to the Jews as a Jew, here he becomes to the Grecian philosophers as a philosopher. He makes use of both the Epicureal and Stoic philosophy as far as he can and avoids as much as possible what might stumble them. He starts with the belief in GOD as the omnipresent and immanent Creator, the Ruler and Keeper of the Universe. This he could back up by quotations from their own poets. After this ground work he speaks of judgment to come, and introduced Him who is the Judge, and the fact of His resurrection. Let us examine this discourse in its different parts. It has three parts. 1. The Introduction (Acts 17:22-23). 2. Who the Unknown GOD Is (Acts 17:24-29). 3. The Message From GOD (Acts 17:30-31). 1. The Introduction. He addressed them by the usual phrase, "Ye men of Athens." The charge he brings against them is not superstition. What he said was that the Athenians were a very religious people, given to the worship of many deities. It was a wise statement. It would be well if some Gospel preachers would profit by it. In preaching the Gospel to Romanists or to the Jews one does well not to antagonize their customs, but to avoid such controversies. Paul had found in Athens an altar with a strange inscription, "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." [*] [*] Other ancient authorities speak of the existence of such altars in Athena. For instance, Philostratus and Lucian. How this altar came to be in Athens is not known. It certainly bore witness to the fact that the true GOD was an unknown GOD to the Athenians. In this fact the Apostle found the true starting point. The human heart can set up gods and altars, beginning with the likeness of man, then of birds, quadrupeds and reptiles (Romans 1:22), but the true GOD the human heart with its vain reasonings cannot discover. He can only be known from revelation. And Paul is now in the presence of this illustrious audience to make known the unknown GOD. "Him," he said, "I declare unto you." 2. Who the Unknown GOD Is. He unfolds the truth of GOD as a Person. He is a personal GOD and as such He made the world and all things therein. This truth was not owned by the Epicureans or the Stoics. The Epicureans with their atomic theory, that the universe came together by itself, and the Stoics with their cold Pantheism denied this fundamental truth. This bold announcement effectually set aside the philosophical babblings of these wise men, and these few words completely answer the modern Materialists and Pantheists. With the next sentence Paul lays bare the follies of paganism. As Lord of heaven and earth, because He is the Creator, He does not dwell in temples made with hands, nor can He be worshipped with men’s hands as though he needed anything. In this statement he leaned towards the expressions used by the Epicureans, who declared that the divine nature is self sufficiency and needs nothing from us. But at the same time he rebukes the Stoics by showing that GOD giveth to all life, and breath and all things. He is the Preserver as well as the Creator. Next Paul shows that GOD created man and that all nations of men are made by Him of one blood. This was not believed in paganism. Polytheism was closely connected with the conception that the different races came into existence in different ways. The various races therefore had different racial gods. The Greeks had divided the world into two classes, Greeks and Barbarians. That they, the proud Greeks, had sprung from the same stock as the Barbarians must have humbled them greatly. It rebuked their national pride. All the Apostle said to the cultured Greeks, the great philosophers was elementary. The most simple truth about GOD and the origin of man could not be discovered by the keenest intellect. How all this bears out the divine statement in Romans: "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations [reasonings] and their foolish [senseless] heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise (philosophers) they became fools" (Romans 1:21-22). And furthermore Paul states that GOD is the governor over the nations. He has set the bounds of their habitations. The creature is to seek after the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him and find Him, though He be not far from everyone of us. All this, and that in Him we live and move and have our being, is in connection with GOD as Creator, that He is the giver of life and breath and all things. The creature is sustained by Him. Then in connection with this he quotes from their own poets. "As certain also of your poets have said, for we are also His offspring." Two Greek poets had spoken thus, Cleanthus and Aratus. Aratus was a Stoic. Thus he used the expressions of their own poets against themselves. These poets had more wisdom than the philosophers. In quoting this sentence from the poets Paul presses home the truth that man in his nature is the creation of GOD, created in the image of GOD. But where has man drifted to? Idolatry in its wicked foolishness is exposed. The Godhead has been made like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. It uncovered the miserable folly into which their reasonings had led them. How significant that in cultured Athens the great Apostle had to come down to the most elementary things of the truth. 3. The Message From GOD. Their sin of idolatry had been uncovered and now the apostle brings a message to their hearts. He calls the times of their boasted philosophies and progress "the times of this ignorance," and assures them that GOD has overlooked it, passed it by. But now He calls to repentance. He aims at their conscience to awaken them to the sense of need to turn away from idols to the true GOD. GOD sends to all one message, be they Jew or Gentiles, Greeks or Barbarians, to repent. And then he states the reason. A day is appointed in which He will judge the world in righteousness. The one through whom GOD will judge is a Man ordained by Him; then follows the declaration of the resurrection of this Man. The day of judgment here does not mean a universal judgment (a term not known in Scripture) nor the great white throne judgment. The judgment here does not concern the dead at all, but it is the judgment of the habitable world. It is the judgment which will take place when the Man whom GOD raised from the dead, our Lord JESUS CHRIST comes the second time. His resurrection is the assurance of it. But why did the apostle not press home the Gospel and speak of the forgiveness of sins? They were not ready for this. He talked to them as philosophers to stir up their consciences. As soon as they heard of the resurrection of the dead, it was enough for most of them. Some began to mock. They plainly proved that they were far from the condition to hear more of salvation. Others said, as Felix said later, We will hear thee again of this matter. But even this testimony was not in vain. Some clave unto him and believed. No doubt he took these apart and instructed them in GOD’s way of salvation. Among them is mentioned a member of the Areopagus, Dionysius, the Areopagite. Tradition says that he became the leader of the Athenian Assembly. ~ end of chapter 17 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 59: 03.18. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN ======================================================================== CHAPTER EIGHTEEN From Athens Paul journeyed to Corinth. This was the capital of Achaia and a short distance from Athens. It was a different city altogether. Corinth was then a great commercial center and had a cosmopolitan character. Here the Apostle settled down for one year and six months and Silas and Timotheus joined him here. It was one of the most immoral cities then in existence. The grossest immoralities were here practiced in connection with religion. In different ways this chapter is an interesting one. Besides working at his trade as tentmaker and preaching the Gospel, he wrote by inspiration in Corinth the two Epistles to the Thessalonians and the Epistle to the Romans. I. In Corinth with Aquila and Priscilla. His testimony and separation from the Jews (Acts 18:1-8). II. Encouragement from the Lord in a vision (Acts 18:9-11). III. Paul and Gallio (Acts 18:12-17). IV. From Corinth to Ephesus and Antioch. The second journey ended (Acts 18:18-22). V. Establishing disciples in Galatia and Phrygia (Acts 18:23). VI. Apollos, the Alexandrian (Acts 18:24-28). I. In Corinth with Aquila and Priscilla. His testimony and separation from the Jews. "After these things Paul departed from Athens, and came to Corinth; and found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla (because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to depart from Rome), and came unto them. And because he was of the same craft, he abode with them, and wrought: for by their occupation they were tentmakers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks. “And when Silas and Timotheus were come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ. And when they opposed themselves, and blasphemed, he shook his raiment, and said unto them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean: from henceforth I will go unto the Gentiles. And he departed thence, and entered into a certain man’s house, named Justus, one that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue. And Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his house; and many of the Corinthians hearing believed, and were baptized" (Acts 18:1-8). For the first time Aquila and his wife Priscilla are now mentioned. They appear as prominent characters in the Epistles. Paul was guided to them and abode with them, for like himself, they were tent-makers, an occupation which reminds one of the pilgrim character of the child of GOD. Aquila was a native of Pontus, who had settled in Rome. Both he and his wife Priscilla may have been believers, when Paul met them, though the record speaks of him as a Jew. If they had become believers as a result of becoming acquainted with the Apostle the record of this fact would have appeared in this chapter. Perhaps they had heard and believed the Gospel in Rome. A persecution against the Jewish race had broken out in Rome and they with many others were banished from the city. Rome hated the Jews, many of whom had settled in the city. Tiberius had sent some 4000 Roman Jews into an unhealthy country, in hope that the fever there would destroy them, and Claudius in the year 49 had banished them entirely from the capital of the Roman Empire. The Roman biographer and historian Suetonius [*] in his life of Claudius gives the reason for the harsh edict of the Emperor Claudius because "the Jews were constantly in tumult at the instigation of one Chrestus." The word "Chrestus" means undoubtedly "Christos," that is CHRIST. [*] He lived during the reign of Hadrian in the beginning of the second century. This interesting couple had established themselves in Corinth, and what a joy it must have been to the Apostle when he was led to their home. How sweet their fellowship must have been as they toiled together and spoke one to another about the Lord! From the same chapter we learn that after Paul’s ministry had terminated they went to Ephesus (Acts 18:19). From 1 Corinthians 16:19 we learn that they were still there when that Epistle was written. But in writing to the Romans Paul says, "Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus" (Romans 16:3), so that they had wandered back to Rome and were in happy fellowship with the Roman assembly. 2 Timothy 4:19 tells us that once more they were back in Ephesus where Timothy had his abode. "Salute Prisca (an abbreviation of Priscilla) and Aquila." They were indeed strangers and pilgrims, but blessed to know that their wanderings were directed by the Lord. Priscilla is mostly mentioned before Aquila, from which we may learn that she, like other notable women of apostolic days, "labored for the Gospel." It is significant that here it is prominently mentioned that the Apostle worked at his trade as tent-maker. He had also done so in Thessalonica. "For ye remember, brethren, our labor and travail, for laboring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the Gospel of God" (1 Thessalonians 2:9; 2 Thessalonians 3:8). He labored at Ephesus. "Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me" (Acts 20:34). From this we learn that he also supported his fellow helpers. Corinth was a wealthy city. He did not take anything whatever from the Corinthians, of which he reminds them in both of his Epistles. In this way he illustrated most blessedly the gift of GOD, the Gospel, without money and without price. What a contrast with the trafficking in spiritual things we behold about us in our days! And yet it is equally true that the Lord has ordained "that they which preach the Gospel should live by the Gospel" (1 Corinthians 9:14). It seems that Paul followed the same method of work as he did in Thessalonica. First, he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks (Acts 18:4). This must have been altogether on Old Testament ground, showing the divine predictions concerning CHRIST. When Silas and Timotheus arrived, then he was greatly pressed in spirit and testified to the Jews more fully that JESUS is the CHRIST. That there was blessed fruit we learn from his Epistles to the Corinthians. He himself baptized Crispus and Gaius and the household of Stephanas (1 Corinthians 1:14-16). And he was with them in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. His speech was far different from the one he had used in addressing the philosophers of Athens. "My speech was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (1 Corinthians 2:3-4). His presence was base unto them. "Who in presence am base among you" (2 Corinthians 10:1). His bodily presence, these Corinthians said, is weak, and his speech contemptible (2 Corinthians 10:10). It is possible that he was greatly depressed. Silas and Timotheus brought him good news from the Thessalonians: "But now when Timotheus came from you unto us and brought us good tidings of your faith and charity, and that ye have good remembrance of us always, desiring greatly to see us, as we also to see you. Therefore, brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress by your faith" (1 Thessalonians 3:6-7). He must have written the first Epistle to the Thessalonians immediately after the arrival of Silas and Timotheus. They also may have brought to Paul the fellowship from the saints in Philippi, which may have reached Thessalonica after Paul had left (Php 4:15-16). Opposition from the side of the Jews followed after the bold declaration that JESUS is the CHRIST. Not alone did they reject the Gospel but they blasphemed. Alas! this blaspheming is still heard among the Jews, whenever the full claims of the Lord JESUS CHRIST are pressed upon their consciences. For the second time Paul declares that he will go to the Gentiles. Next we behold the Apostle of the Gentiles in the house of a devout Gentile named Justus. His house was next to the synagogue. Here the Lord’s special blessing rested upon the testimony, for the chief ruler of the synagogue, Crispus, with his house, as well as many other Corinthians, believed on the Lord. His baptism as well as the others by the Apostle himself we have already mentioned. II. Encouragement from the Lord in a vision. "Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them" (Acts 18:9-11). It is blessed to see when this encouraging vision took place. Paul had been greatly depressed, and fear and trembling, as seen from the first Epistle to the Corinthians, had taken hold on him. The good news from Thessalonica had cheered him and the conversion of Crispus and the other Corinthians encouraged him much. But he needed a direct encouragement from the Lord. The Lord knew all which awaited His faithful servant. He knew of the plot to bring him before the judgment seat of the deputy of the province. The Lord wanted His servant to be without anxiety and assured him that no man could set on him or hurt him. He also told him that He had much people in Corinth. Perhaps if this vision had not been given to Paul at this time he might have been tempted to leave Corinth, but now he felt authorized to continue for a year and six months. A strong assembly was gathered. As we do not write on the Corinthian Epistles we cannot follow the most interesting theme of the condition of the Corinthian church. But the Epistles mention that the majority of believers were composed of the poorer class. Of another class were Crispus, the once chief ruler of the synagogue, Stephanas and Gaius, who were given to hospitality and therefore must have been people of means; Chloe, a lady who had many servants; Erastus, who held a responsible position, and others. Then there were present diversities of gifts, the gift of tongues being prominent and responsible for certain disorders. After the Apostle had left, divisions came in and the leaven of vainglory and worldliness, even to immoralities, got in amongst them and did its dreadful work. III. Paul and Gallio. "And when Gallio was the deputy of Achaia, the Jews made insurrection with one accord against Paul, and brought him to the judgment seat, saying, This fellow persuadeth men to worship God contrary to the law. And when Paul was now about to open his mouth, Gallio said unto the Jews, If it were a matter of wrong or wicked lewdness, O ye Jews, reason would that I should bear with you: But if it be a question of words and names, and of your law, look ye to it; for I will be no judge of such matters. And he drave them from the judgment seat. Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. And Gallio cared for none of those things" (Acts 18:12-17). Gallio was deputy, or proconsul of Achaia. This proves the accuracy of the record before us. Achaia up to the year 44 was united to the province of Macedonia. But the Emperor Claudius restored Achaia as a province and it had then its own proconsul. We know from Roman historians a good deal of the personality of Gallio. "He came from a Spanish family which had won for itself a distinguished place in Roman letters and society. Annaeus Seneca, his father, was a well known rhetorician, Seneca the Stoic and tutor of Nero was his brother, and the poet Lucan his nephew. His own name was originally M. Annaeus Novatus, but having been adopted by Lucius Junius Gallio he also adopted his name. He had attained the highest office in the state, the consulship. But he was best known by his amiable character; ‘sweet Gallio,’ Statius calls him, and Seneca speaks of him ‘as one who could not be loved enough.’ " Before this man the Jews brought Paul, accusing him that he persuades men to worship GOD contrary to law. The Satanic attempt, however, laid not so much in the accusation as in the insurrection these Jews made. The whole Jewish community was stirred up by them to impress Gallio with the seriousness of the offence. And the accusation itself was couched in deceptive terms. It reads as if Paul had done something against the Roman law. This is exactly what they meant to do, namely, to constitute the Apostle a transgressor of the law of the Roman Empire. But Gallio was too keen for them. He at once recognized the deception. It was their own Jewish law about which they were disturbed. So without even listening to Paul, what he had to say for himself, he settled the case at once by a few well chosen words and then drove them out of the court. Then the Greeks who had witnessed the whole scene turned against the Jews. They had their spokesman in Sosthenes, the chief ruler of the synagogue. He must have taken the place of Crispus, who had believed on the Lord. Upon him the Greeks fell and gave him a good beating. And Gallio had nothing to say to this. Sosthenes deserved all he got. If the Sosthenes who is mentioned in the opening verse of the first Epistle of the Corinthians is the same, then he profited immensely by his experience. Paul addresses him as a brother. We believe he is the same person, for the Grace of GOD delights to take up such characters and show in them what Grace can do. IV. From Corinth to Ephesus, Jerusalem, and Antioch. The second journey ended. "And Paul after this tarried there yet a good while, and then took his leave of the brethren, and sailed thence into Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila; having shorn his head in Cenchrea, for he had a vow. And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews. When they desired him to tarry longer time with them, he consented not; but bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus. And when he had landed at Cesarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch" (Acts 18:18-22). The great Apostle was not in a hurry to leave Corinth; he tarried there a good while. "He that believeth shall not make haste." When the Lord’s own time arrived he took his leave of the brethren and sailed from the port of Corinth, Cenchrea, for Syria. The only companions mentioned are Priscilla and Aquila. The interesting item is the statement concerning the vow and the cutting of the hair. To whom does it refer? Did Aquila or Paul make the vow? Many able expositors believe that Aquila is meant, while others contend that it was Paul who had made the vow: Those who believe that Aquila is in view, call attention to the fact that the name of his wife Priscilla precedes his name and that in this way Aquila is marked out as the person who made the vow. But if the reader turns to Romans 16:3 and 2 Timothy 4:19, he will find that Priscilla is named first, so that this argument does not hold good. Inasmuch as the Apostle Paul is the prominent figure in the account, the statement must refer to him. Every vow made a visit to the temple in Jerusalem necessary (Numbers 11:1-21). But we learn that Aquila remained in Ephesus and did not go to Jerusalem. It is not necessary to charge The Apostle on account of this vow with an out and out violation of the great truths so fully taught in the Epistle to the Galatians. To the Jews he became as a Jew and under the law (1 Corinthians 9:19-23); and no doubt he made certain concessions in this direction. Some Christians seem to look upon the great Apostle as almost infallible in his actions and repudiate the thought that he could have made a mistake. The great Epistles he wrote are infallible, for the Holy Spirit is the author of them, but no such perfection can be claimed for his Christian life and walk. He too was "a man of like passions" and we shall find how faithfully and yet how tenderly the Holy Spirit reveals in the next chapters his actions in self will. Ephesus, which was closed by divine authority (Acts 16:6) in the beginning of this journey, is now reached by the Apostle. It was a fine city known not only by its great commerce and as the capital of the Roman province Asia, but also by the great temple of Artemis. Models of this temple were made to be carried along for a charm or to be placed in houses (Acts 19:24). Ephesus had a very large Jewish population. They were wealthy and influential. The Jewish historian Josephus mentions the fact that the Roman government, as well as the citizens of Ephesus, accorded to them special privileges in the free observance of their customs. Paul soon entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. The request to stay longer was denied by him. We surely see haste here instead of calmness and waiting on the Lord. Having not consented to remain, he bade them farewell, promising them to return, if it be GOD’s will. The reason given for his haste was his desire to reach Jerusalem to keep this feast, which was Pentecost. Why he did not stay with such an opportunity and then telling the Jews of the absolute necessity of visiting Jerusalem is indeed strange. What follows reveals still greater haste with no record at all of what he did in Jerusalem or what was accomplished by him. He sailed from Ephesus, landed at Cesarea and went up, which means Jerusalem, he saluted the church and went down to Antioch. Thus ended the second missionary journey. Perhaps an intense love for his brethren in Jerusalem, his deep yearning for them, led him in this course. V. Establishing disciples in Galatia and Phrygia. "And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples" (Acts 18:23). This work was next laid upon his heart and with it the third journey began. The account is very brief but if we read the Epistle to the Galatians we can well understand how needful and important this work was. Judaizing teachers had invaded the churches which had been founded in large numbers. Their teaching was of the most pernicious kind. - They taught the observance of the law and its works as being absolutely necessary for salvation. - They perverted the Gospel of Grace and preached that Gospel which had the divine anathema upon it, because it sets aside that blessed finished work of CHRIST on the Cross. "For if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Galatians 2:21). "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace" (Galatians 4:4). Their teaching was extremely bold, for they repeated the false teaching which had been brought before the council in Jerusalem, "except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved" (Acts 15:1). At the same time they had impeached the apostolic authority of Paul. The Galatian Christians, who had been so loving and tender towards Paul, so that if it had been possible they would have plucked out their own eyes to give them to the apostle, the same people were now being moved against Paul and the Gospel he had preached unto them. The Epistle to the Galatians was undoubtedly written during the Apostle’s second visit to Ephesus and it shows that perhaps immediately after the recorded visit in this chapter the Judaizing element increased in strength. Most likely the news of the grave danger which was then threatening the Galatian churches had reached him in Antioch. VI. Apollos the Alexandrian. "And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things concerning Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. And when he was disposed to pass into Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace: For he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, shewing by the Scriptures that Jesus was Christ" (Acts 18:24-28). This is an extremely beautiful incident. A new preacher appeared among the Jews in Ephesus, Apollos the Alexandrian. He is described as an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures. In Alexandria, Philo, the great Hellenistic Jewish Philosopher, had flourished. He was born about 20 B. C. and died after the year 40 A. D. He introduced Platonism into Judaism. In all probability Apollos was one of his disciples, but he accepted that which Philo did not believe. He had come most likely in touch with disciples of John the Baptist and had been baptized with John’s baptism unto repentance. He knew that JESUS is the Messiah, knew the facts of His earthly life and the miracles He did. Of the meaning of His death and resurrection Apollos knew nothing, nor had he any knowledge of the Holy Spirit. The entire truth of the Gospel of Grace was unknown to Him. He "taught diligently the things of the Lord", that is, the things concerning JESUS. Yet this little knowledge he had concerning Him who had appeared in the midst of His people, in whom he believed as the Messiah and King of Israel, set his soul on fire. With his great knowledge in the Scriptures, such as the learned Jews possess, he spoke boldly in the synagogue, proving, no doubt, from the Law and the Prophets, that JESUS is the Messiah. Yet how limited was his message. What difficulties must have arisen in his mind! What questions, which he could not answer! Nearly twenty years had gone since that blessed Person, in whom he believed, had disappeared, and that Kingdom which Jewish hope and expectation associates with the King Messiah had not been manifested, and the promises given through the Prophets had not found their fulfilment. Yet he continued to speak boldly concerning the things of JESUS. But GOD did not leave him long in this condition. The Lord had guided him to Ephesus, and the same Lord had arranged it so that Priscilla and Aquila remained in Ephesus. He had a service for them. Both Priscilla and Aquila listened to him and must have been made glad by the courageous testimony of Apollos. They felt at once how little he really knew of the Lord, and they did not turn away from him, but sought him out and took him in to expound to him the way of GOD more perfectly. And the great, eloquent preacher on whose lips hung the multitudes, was humble enough to sit at the feet of a tent-maker and his wife and receive instructions from them. How little of the patience of Aquila and Priscilla and the humility of Apollos we see in our days! If some humble Christian would go now to some great and eloquent preacher to show him the way of GOD more perfectly, what answer would he receive? And how often towards those who are inferior in spiritual knowledge those who are well taught show but little patience. Instead of condemning such who are ignorant of the truth we should seek them out in a loving way and lead them on. His deeper knowledge of the Lord, the truth of His death on the cross, His presence in Glory at the right hand of GOD closed his ministry in Ephesus. The Jews in large numbers may listen to an eloquent man, even if he proves from the Scriptures that JESUS is the Messiah, but the preaching of the cross is the great stumbling block. It is still so in our day. Apollos went to Corinth and became a great blessing to the assembly there. Mightily he convinced the Jew, publicly showing by the Scriptures that JESUS was the CHRIST. What a blessed factor he became in the Corinthian church is seen from the testimony of the Holy Spirit through Paul in the first Epistle to the Corinthians. "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase" (1 Corinthians 3:6). But there likewise was a faction of the Christians calling themselves after this great preacher, "I am of Apollos." Later he left Corinth and returned to Ephesus and was very reluctant to return to Corinth, though Paul had invited him to do so. "As touching our brother Apollos, I greatly desired him to come unto you with the brethren; but his will was not at all to come at this time; but he will come when he shall have convenient time" (1 Corinthians 16:12). As he was such an humble man, it is probable that he refused to return for fear of attracting the people to himself, as it had been the case already. ~ end of chapter 18 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 60: 03.19. CHAPTER NINETEEN ======================================================================== CHAPTER NINETEEN The chapter which we have reached is as interesting as it is important. In the foreground stands another manifestation of the Holy Spirit, when He came upon the twelve disciples of John and they spake with tongues. This is followed by extraordinary blessings and the manifestation of the power of GOD and the power of Satan. The acts of the Holy Spirit and of Satan are very pronounced in this chapter. Then the chapter is important because Paul’s first step towards Jerusalem is recorded. We divide the chapter in five parts. I. The second visit of Paul to Ephesus. The twelve disciples of John (Acts 19:1-7). II. The Apostle’s continued labors. The separation of the disciples. The Province Asia evangelized (Acts 19:8-10). III. The Power of GOD and the Power of Satan (Acts 19:11-20). IV. Paul plans to go to Jerusalem and to visit Rome (Acts 19:21-22). V. The opposition and riot at Ephesus (Acts 19:23-41). I. The second visit of Paul to Ephesus. The twelve disciples of John. "And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus; and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. And all the men were about twelve" (Acts 19:1-7). Once more Paul appears in Ephesus and is brought now in touch with certain disciples. Some have taken them to have been the fruit of Apollos’ labors in Ephesus. If that had been the case and Apollos knew them, he certainly would have imparted unto them the knowledge his own soul so richly enjoyed through the instructions of the godly Priscilla and Aquila. As Ephesus was a large city it is not surprising that the twelve disciples were not known to Paul during his first and very brief visit, nor to Priscilla and Aquila. When Paul met these disciples he must have been impressed with some lack in them. Perhaps the joy and peace which should characterize every true Christian was completely absent in them and therefore the Apostle asked at once a very vital and fundamental question: "Have ye received the Holy Spirit since ye believed?" But the word "since" has more the thought of "when." Upon this little word "since" certain preachers and Bible teachers have built their unscriptural theory that the Holy Spirit must be definitely received in a second experience, which they either term a "second blessing", "baptism of the Holy Spirit" or by some other name. According to these teachers a person may be a Christian, a true disciple, saved by Grace and yet be entirely destitute of the Holy Spirit. The word "since" is always emphasized by these men. “Have ye received the Holy Spirit since ye believed?” You must get the Holy Spirit after you have believed and accepted the Lord JESUS CHRIST. Then a lot of rules how to surrender and to receive the Holy Spirit are given. All this is wrong. If the word "when" is simply understood, this whole misconception would disappear. Paul makes the gift of the Spirit a test of true discipleship. If they were true believers they received the Holy Spirit when they believed, that is when they accepted the Lord JESUS CHRIST as their Saviour. If they did not receive the Holy Spirit then it is an evidence that they did not believe. "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His" (Romans 8:9). But were these disciples whom Paul met Christian disciples? Not at all. They knew nothing whatever of Christianity. Their knowledge about the person of CHRIST was more limited than the knowledge which Apollos possessed. The questions put by the Apostle brings out the fact that they knew nothing whatever of the gift of the Holy Spirit and that they had been baptized with John’s baptism unto repentance. This is how far their creed went: of CHRIST and His great redemption work they knew nothing whatever. Though the record does not give an account of it Paul must have preached CHRIST and the Gospel to those twelve disciples. Then they believed and were baptized in the name of the Lord JESUS. [*] [*] This is the only case of rebaptism recorded in Acts. Notice that it was not Christian baptism with which they had been previously baptized in water. After the laying on of hands the Holy Spirit came on them and they spake with tongues and prophesied. These were the outward signs. They were then sealed by the Holy Spirit and added by Him as members to the body of CHRIST, the church. This is the last time in this book that we read that the Holy Spirit was given and that they spoke with tongues. It is well to review the few times reported in this historical book, when the Holy Spirit was communicated to the different companies of believers. 1. On the day of Pentecost. The one hundred and twenty were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke with other tongues. No laying on of hands is mentioned here. They were all Jews who received the Holy Spirit on that day (Acts 2:1-47). 2. Peter and John went to Samaria. The Samaritans had believed and had been baptized in the name of the Lord JESUS, but the Holy Spirit had not been given to them. The reason was explained by us in the exposition of Chapter 8. Peter and John laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Nothing is said that they prophesied or spoke in tongues. 3. While Peter preached the Gospel to Cornelius and his house the Holy Spirit fell on them which heard the Word. They spoke with tongues and praised GOD (Acts 10:1-48). 4. The last record in our present chapter. Jews in the dispersion receive the Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands by the Apostle Paul. In every case it is the same Holy Spirit, the promise of the Father, who came down from heaven on the day of Pentecost. It would be incorrect to say that He came anew from heaven, when the Samaritans, the Gentiles and the twelve disciples received Him. He came to this earth on the day of Pentecost and no other coming was necessary. It is unscriptural to speak of "another outpouring" of the Holy Spirit or pray for a new baptism with the Spirit. But the different records show different manifestations of the same Spirit upon different groups of people, Jews, Samaritans and Gentiles. That all this is not to be repeated is obvious. Apostles communicated the Spirit by laying on of hands. There are no more apostles and apostolic authority, unless some one believes in that ridiculous, if not evil, doctrine of apostolic succession. That Paul here laid on his hands and the Holy Spirit was given to these twelve men just as the Samaritans received the Spirit after the laying on of hands of Peter and John, proved him to be an Apostle just as much as they. This is striking, for the enemies of Paul, the Judaizing teachers, which were corrupting the Galatian churches, vigorously denied the authority of the Apostle Paul. But the Holy Spirit is no longer communicated in this extraordinary way, but by the hearing of faith, and every child of GOD possesses Him as the indwelling guest. Our endeavor is not to seek more of Him, but to let Him take possession of us, for which He has come to our hearts when we believed on the Lord JESUS CHRIST. To seek the so-called "gift of tongues" as a sign that we have the Holy Spirit, is a morbid condition and a dangerous desire. II. The Apostle’s continued labors. The separation of the disciples. The province of Asia evangelized. "And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading as to the things concerning the kingdom of GOD. But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks" (Acts 19:8-10). Paul continued to labor in the synagogue, but matters had now to reach a climax. For three months he disputed with the Jews. The great theme was the Kingdom of GOD, which means more than the teaching concerning that Kingdom, which is promised to Israel and which some day will be established. No doubt it entered largely into the disputings of the Apostle with the Jews, but it was not confined to that phase of the Kingdom. Jews who believe their own Scriptures and still hold to the Jewish hope are quite willing to listen to arguments touching the realization of this hope; but if the Kingdom of GOD is preached which is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17) they oppose this and harden their hearts. This deeper message of the Gospel was not received by the multitude of Jews. Some hardened themselves and were disobedient and spoke evil of that way. Separation from this unbelieving and disobedient mass was the next step. In this way the assembly in Ephesus was formed. A number of brethren were also with Paul in Ephesus. His own hands ministered unto his own necessities and to them that were with him (Acts 20:34). The same information we gain from the Epistle to the Galatians, which Paul wrote from Ephesus with his own hand (Galatians 1:2). These companions of Paul were Timotheus and Erastus, Gaius and Aristarchus, two brethren of Thessalonica, Titus, Tychicus and Trophimus (Acts 19:22; Acts 19:29; Acts 20:4; 2 Corinthians 7:6). Then there were Aquila and Priscilla and a number of converts. The first fruit was undoubtedly Epaenetus (Romans 16:5), also Onesiphorus and his house (2 Timothy 1:16), Hymenaeus, Alexander, Phygellus and Hermogenes of whose bad record we read in 1 Timothy 1:20 and 2 Timothy 1:15. The assembly had elders and of them and the Apostle’s faithful labors we shall read more in the next chapter. The record here tells us that the work was continued in the school of one Tyrannus, some large building obtained for that purpose. Most likely the assembly itself met elsewhere. Then the entire province of Asia of which Ephesus was the capital heard the Word of the Lord Jesus, both Jew and Greeks. A blessed work of evangelization was done. III. The power of GOD and the power of Satan. "And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul. So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame both of them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed" (Acts 19:11-20). Ephesus was a stronghold of Satan. Here many evil things both superstitious and satanic were practiced. Books containing formula for sorcery and other ungodly and forbidden arts were plentiful in that city. The Jews themselves were contaminated with these evil practices. GOD was pleased to perform special miracles by the hands of Paul. Handkerchiefs and aprons he had used healed the sick and drove out demons. Rationalists and higher critics explain these miracles as being simply superstitions. "But in this and similar narratives Christian faith finds no difficulty whatever. All miraculous working is an exertion of the direct power of GOD; a suspension by Him of His ordinary laws; and whether He will use any instrument in doing this, or what instrument, must depend altogether on His own purpose in the miracle-the effect to be produced on the recipients, beholders, or bearers." [*] [*] Greek New Testament - Alford. GOD wanted to bear witness to His messenger and His message that they were of Him and therefore He manifested here His extraordinary power. But this power was not in Paul nor were such manifestations to continue. They ceased. That which claims to be a continuation in the Romish church (relics, most of them spurious, for which claim is made that they possess miraculous powers) is nothing but superstition and fanaticism. Equally fanatical are the present day claims of a certain class of Christians, that the apostolic Pentecostal gifts are being restored. It is a foolish thing, to say the least, if some of these misguided people imitate what is recorded here in connection with the great Apostle, and send handkerchiefs about, claiming that they actually have cured sickness. That this manifestation of the power of GOD in this most remarkable way was likewise needed to bring to naught the evil powers of darkness, which were so active in Ephesus, is revealed in what follows. Jewish instruments of Satan in the person of the sons of Sceva, a chief priest, men who were sorcerers and dealt in magic, were in Ephesus. This is the fourth time we read of such satanic instruments. - The first was Simon Magus. This subtle instrument claimed to be converted and tried to buy the power of the Holy Spirit with money. - Elymas, or Bar Jesus, was the second, and he opposed the Gospel, going forth to the Gentiles, a type, as we pointed out in our exposition, of the Jewish nation in their opposition and blindness. - In Philippi a damsel with the spirit of Python had cried after Paul and through her the enemy had tried his work. The seven sons of Sceva tried to imitate the power of GOD as it was manifested through Paul; but they knew not the Lord JESUS CHRIST. They were professional exorcists travelling from place to place and preaching the expulsion of evil spirits. All kinds of mysterious things were used by these exorcists; the use of different names of GOD in driving out the evil spirits were especially resorted to. The so-called Kabbala and many parts of the Talmud are full of these mysterious things of magic. In some cases no doubt there was reality, as we learn from Matthew 12:27. The sons of Sceva used the name of JESUS over a man who had an evil spirit. "We adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches." They used simply the name of JESUS and avoided the name Lord. The effect was disastrous. The demon acknowledged that he knew JESUS and Paul, but "who are ye?" The man with fury, energized by the superhuman strength of the demon, overcame the two, tore their clothes so that naked and wounded they had to flee from the house. The demon turned against them. A worse fate will some day befall those, who use the name, which is above every other name, without being His. "Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? and in Thy Name cast out demons? and in Thy Name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity" (Matthew 7:22-23). The punishment which had fallen upon the sons of Sceva made a profound impression upon the whole city and that blessed name which is above every other name was magnified. Many of those who had believed seemed to have been secretly attached to these curious arts - that is, magical things. They were deeply convicted of this sin and then confessed the evil deeds of darkness. But more than that, they brought their parchments and rolls which contained the magical formulas, incantations and adjurations. These formulas and written amulets had at that time a world-wide reputation and were known by the name "Ephesia gramata" - the Ephesian letters. They brought them together and burned them before all men. Some eight thousand dollars’ worth of manuscripts was quickly consumed by the flames. A greater fire would result if the evil books, books on Occultism, Spiritualism, especially that wicked work, which is placed alongside the Bible, the textbook of "Christian Science" - Science and Health, and others were piled up to be burned. But such a day is coming when the fire shall consume these evil works of darkness. A great victory had been gained over the power of Satan. "So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed." IV. Paul Plans to go to Jerusalem and visit Rome. "After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome. So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season" (Acts 19:21-22). We reach now a critical point in the labors of the great Apostle. Acts 19:21 marks an important change, which introduces us to the last stage of the recorded acts of Paul in this historical account. Rome is the goal, which looms up before him. "I must also see Rome." And he saw Rome, but not in the way as he purposed in his spirit, but as the prisoner of the Lord. His journey begins now towards that great city and at the close of the book we find him there a prisoner, "preaching the Kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him." The story of his journey to Jerusalem, a journey in which he perseveres though repeatedly warned by the Spirit of GOD, his arrest in Jerusalem, his trials and addresses before the Jews, before Felix, Festus and King Agrippa, his voyage to Rome and shipwreck and arrival in Rome are the contents of the remaining part of our book. The record of great victories of the Gospel and its spread by the Apostle to the Gentiles comes suddenly to an end and we see that Gospel he preached opposed by Judaism and legalism as well as by the great world-power Rome. The great apostle with his God-given, heavenly-revealed Gospel of the Glory is shut up in Rome. It is nothing less than a great prophecy of what was to happen to that Gospel. A recent writer on the Book of Acts calls this part of the book, "the passing and passion of Paul." He sees a correspondency between the Lord and Paul. Like our Lord, Paul was accused by the Jews and delivered by them into the hands of the Gentiles. The Lord had said of Paul, "I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake" (Acts 9:16). He had sufferings and afflictions in many ways throughout the years of his great activity. In his second Epistle to the Corinthians he rehearses these. "Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep. In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness" (2 Corinthians 11:24-27). But now the time of his special sufferings were drawing near. Of this fact the Holy Spirit testified directly (Acts 20:23; Acts 21:11). The question has often been raised how the purposing of Paul in the spirit to go again to Jerusalem is to be understood. Is the word "spirit" to be written with a capital "S" or not? In other words, did he purpose in the Spirit of GOD after prolonged prayer, to go up to Jerusalem? Did the Holy Spirit guide him to take up to the city of his fathers the contributions from Achaia and Macedonia for the poor saints? (Romans 15:25-26). It could not have been the Spirit of GOD who prompted him to go once more to Jerusalem, for we find that during the journey the Holy Spirit warned him a number of times not to go to Jerusalem. These warnings were not heeded, but they prove conclusively that Paul purposed in his own spirit. He was called to evangelize; to continue to preach the glorious Gospel, and it was a turning aside from the great ministry committed unto him. But behind his burning desire to go up to Jerusalem stood the mighty constraint of love for his own beloved brethren. How he did love them and how his heart, filled with the love of GOD, yearned over them! This love is so fully expressed in his Epistle to the Romans. "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed (or separated) from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh" (Romans 9:1-2). "Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved" (Romans 10:1). This holy love and courage prompted him to say, when once more his brethren had besought him by the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem, "What mean ye to weep and break my heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 21:13). And the Lord in His mercy, who knows the motives of the heart, overruled the error of His servant. Later from the prison in Rome, Paul could write in his joyous Epistle to the Philippians. "But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the Gospel; so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places" (Php 1:12-13). All things, even our mistakes, must work together for good. Before we can follow Paul on his last journey to Jerusalem, we have to consider the account of the riot which took place in Ephesus. V. The opposition and the riot at Ephesus. "And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen; whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands. So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at naught; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. “And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great Diana of the Ephesians. And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre. “And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not. And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre. Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together. And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defence unto the people. But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. “And when the town clerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter; Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly. For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess. Wherefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with him, have a matter against any man, the law is open and there are deputies: let them implead one another. But if ye inquire any thing concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly. For we are in danger to be called in question for this day’s uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse. And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly" (Acts 19:23-41). The Ephesian Gentiles became greatly agitated through the influence of the prince of the power of the air, the spirit of darkness, which worked in them (Ephesians 2:2). The result was the great riot. R. P. Rackham writes: "Fully to appreciate the incident, a more detailed account of Ephesus is required. At Ephesus there met together four authorities. 1. The supreme authority of Rome represented by the proconsul. For judicial purposes the provinces were divided into shires (conventus), each with its assize town. In the province Asia Ephesus was the chief assize town; and accordingly court days (Acts 19:38) were kept there, when justice was administered by the pro-consul. 2. The city itself, like Athens, was ’free’ and it retained its Greek constitution, which was democratic in form. There was a Senate, to which power gravitated in imperial times. But nominally Ephesus was still governed by the Demos or People (Acts 19:30) assembled in their Ecclesia or assembly. "An Ecclesia was held three times a month and these meetings were the regular or ordinary assemblies (Acts 19:32), but an extraordinary assembly could be convened as on the present occasion. Where, as in cities of the empire, the powers of such an assembly were limited to purely domestic and formal matters, the substantial authority would fall into the hands of its secretary-the official who summoned and dismissed the assembly (Acts 19:41), kept the minutes and acted as chairman. Thus the secretary of the assembly or town clerk (Acts 19:35), would naturally be one of the magnates of the city; and this we find to have been the case from the inscriptions, in which the secretary often appears as also holding the highest office, such as the Asiarchate. "3. The Asiarchate was a provincial office. Each province had a council composed of delegates from the chief cities. Their chief business was the supervision of the provincial worship of the emperor, a cult, which furnished, besides a test of royalty, a bond of unity for the empire. A temple and altar to Rome and the emperor were erected in some city and the common worship of the province was celebrated there with games and festivals. “The president of the common council acted as high priest and presided over these festivities and games, which were given at his expense. In return, he enjoyed the title of ’Ruler of the province’ Asiarch (the one over the province Asia), Galatarch - over Galatia, etc. The Asiarchs of Acts 19:31, then, were such high priests of the aristocracy and plutocracy of Asia. There is a difficulty in the use of the plural, for as a rule there was only one Ruler for a province. It has been suggested that the Ruler retained the designation as an honorary title after his period of office. But a better explanation is to be found in the exceptional prosperity of Asia." The great temple, that of Diana (Artemis), was likewise in Ephesus. Excavations of this temple have been made in the past and numerous inscriptions bear witness to the goddess and the worship connected with it. Her name is found in those inscriptions to have been exactly that, which the mob used, "the Great Diana." The usual invocations to these goddesses were "Great Diana" or Artemis, the word used in the Greek. In other inscriptions she was called "the most great goddess." The temple of itself was a magnificent structure. Some parts may be seen in the British Museum. The structure was about 420 feet long and nearly 250 wide. Hundreds of persons, such as priests, eunuchs, temple wardens, virgin priestesses, were in connection with the temple. The temple was stored with rich treasures of gold and silver. A large part of the city lived on the trade, which had been created by the existence of the great temple and the thousands of pilgrims which flocked to the idolatrous festivities and games. There was a guild of silversmiths, and they manufactured shrines of Artemis and most likely all kinds of souvenirs, little models of the temple and the goddess. Demetrius was the leader of this guild and in the meeting he called, he stated before the silversmiths that they well knew that this seemingly religious craft is the source of their wealth. Quite a confession this silversmith made. And it is not different in the great "world religion" though it may have the name of Christian attached to it. The same selling of idolatrous objects, rosaries, candles, statues, blessed (?) objects and many other things by which money is obtained under the cover of religion. But Demetrius also bears witness to the great influence of the Gospel. "This Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands." How active Paul must have been and his testimony was backed up with the power of GOD. Not alone was the craft of the silversmith in great danger, but the great Diana and the temple was in danger of collapse under the preaching of the tentmaker of Tarsus. It may have been a well-plotted scheme when the company of silversmiths in fury rushed out of their meeting room into the streets and shouted at the top of their voices. "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." The whole city was aroused. Gaius and Aristarchus, the Macedonian companions of Paul, were dragged into the theatre. This was an enormous place, being able to shelter about 25,000 persons. Paul himself was ready to face the angry mob, but the disciples opposed him and even some of the friendly Asiarchs cautioned him against assuming such a risk. The whole assembled company was an unruly mob, the great majority, perhaps, did not know what they had come for. Then the Jews put forward one of their orators to address the mob, one Alexander. But he could not bring in a word. He was known as a Jew, and the Jews hated idolatry. For two hours the wild cry of the demonized multitude continued, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." Then the town clerk appeared. He settled the whole question in a very diplomatic way. First he stated the popular superstition that the image of Artemis fell down from Jupiter. Then he exhorted them to quietness, and after some sound advice and showing the danger that the superior Roman officers might hold them responsible for their riotous behavior, he dismissed the assembly. [*] [*] The Greek for assembly is ecclesia, "the out called ones." This word is also used for the church. The ecclesia "of the Ephesian mob was called out by the silversmiths." the “ecclesia" of "the Lord JESUS CHRIST is called out by the Holy Spirit." What might have happened if Paul had gone in person to the theatre may only be guessed at. GOD in His mercy shielded his servants, and the Devil was completely defeated in his efforts. In the beginning of the next chapter, we find the Apostles once more in Macedonia and Achaia. ~ end of chapter 19 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 61: 03.20. CHAPTER TWENTY ======================================================================== CHAPTER TWENTY With this chapter we follow the Apostle in his eventful journey to Jerusalem. We divide the chapter into four parts. I. Paul in Macedonia (Acts 20:1-2). II. His abode in Greece, the visit to Troas and what transpired there (Acts 20:3-12). III. The journey from Troas to Miletus (Acts 20:13-16). IV. The farewell to the Ephesian Elders (Acts 20:17-38). I. Paul in Macedonia. "And after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia. And when he had gone over those parts, and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece" (Acts 20:1-2). The record before us is very brief. Some have thought the reason is the fact that the Apostle had turned aside from His given ministry and therefore the Holy Spirit had nothing to report. We do believe that this is correct. The object of the Spirit of GOD is now to lead us rapidly forward to the last visit of the Apostle to Jerusalem, therefore much is passed over in the untiring service and labors of the great Man of GOD. After the uproar was over in Ephesus Paul embraced the disciples and departed to go into Macedonia. It is the first farewell scene on this memorable journey. He must have visited Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea and perhaps other cities. Besides giving them much exhortation, he received their fellowship for the poor saints in Jerusalem. In this he was fulfilling the request which had been made at the council in Jerusalem. James, Cephas and John had there asked Paul and Barnabas "that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do" (Galatians 2:10). From Macedonia Paul passed on into Greece (Achaia). II. His abode in Greece, the visit to Troas and what transpired there. "And there abode three months. And when the Jews laid wait for him, as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia. And there accompanied him into Asia, Sopater of Berea, the son of Pyrrhus; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timotheus; and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus. These going before tarried for us at Troas. And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow: and continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen into a deep sleep: and as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep, and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead. And Paul went down, and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken the bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed. And they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted" (Acts 20:3-12). Three months were spent by him in Achaia, but we hear nothing of his labors there. Corinth was the place where he tarried. The Jews, who well remembered the defeat before Gallio, the deputy of Achaia (Acts 18:12), laid in wait for him as he was about to sail across to Syria. The plot was aimed at Paul’s life, which most likely had been planned to be accomplished on board of ship, he intended to take from the port of Corinth, Cenchrea. Instead of sailing from there, he returned to Macedonia. Seven brethren accompanied him, and went before into Asia to wait at Troas for Paul and Luke. Sopater (the same as in Romans 16:21), was of Berea. Two were from the assembly in Thessalonica, Aristarchus and Secundus, Gaius was from Derbe, Timothy and the two of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus. The last-named was left sick in Miletus (2 Timothy 4:20). From the little word "we" in Acts 20:6, we learn that Luke, the beloved physician, and the penman, used by the Holy Spirit to write this book, joined the Apostle. He had not been with Paul for about seven years. The last "we" was found in Philippi (Acts 16:16) and here in Philippi it is used again. It is more than probable that Luke spent the greater part of his time in that city. After a brief stay in Philippi and a five days’ voyage, they came to Troas, where they found that the other brethren had arrived before them. In Troas the whole company tarried for seven days. Here something occurred which is of interest and importance. In Acts 20:7 we find a description of how the disciples there kept the first day of the week. We have here the fact stated that the disciples including the apostolic company, came together on the first day of the week. This is the blessed day, which followed the Sabbath, the day on which our ever-blessed Lord rose from the dead, the day on which He manifested Himself to His disciples and appeared in their midst (John 20:19). For this reason the first day of the week is called "the Lord’s day" (Revelation 1:10). And it is right that we call the day of New Testament worship not Sabbath, for it is not the Sabbath; the Sabbath is the seventh day and if we were under the law, we would be obliged to keep that day in the strictest way. Nor should we call the day "Sunday," for it is named after the Sun god, but if we say "the Lord’s day," we speak scripturally. It is a blessed day of privilege. And what glorious memories are connected with that day! If GOD’s people are really in the Spirit, all the wonderful and blessed truths and facts of our redemption in the Lord JESUS CHRIST crowd in upon the soul. The Lord JESUS CHRIST rose from the dead on that day and this glorious truth points back to the cross, where He died, the Just for the unjust, and gave His life for a ransom for many. He is risen and lives; this directs the heart upward to the place of glory, where, at the right hand of GOD we see JESUS, who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor. The blessed hope that we shall see Him as He is and be like Him, is closely connected with this. And these great facts and wonderful truths are the incentives and objects of true Christian worship. And on the first day of the week the disciples in Troas came together. There was only one company. The sad division into sects and parties was then wholly unknown. But why did they gather together? Did the news that the Apostle Paul was in their midst bring them together? Did they come to hear the mighty man of GOD preach a great sermon? No. But we read that the disciples came together not a mixed multitude, but as disciples to break bread. This was their first object in the gathering on the first day of the week. The statement one meets occasionally that the breaking of bread meant that they had a meal together is so superficial and unwarranted that we need not to argue about it. The breaking of bread means the Lord’s Supper. "Do this in remembrance of Me" - our blessed Lord had requested His disciples, and this request was re-stated by the Apostle Paul. In 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, we read: "For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed 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. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the New Testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come." He had received this of the Lord, no doubt in a direct revelation, and he delivered it as His message to the churches. That blessed memorial feast the Lord JESUS CHRIST instituted on the night He was betrayed is to be kept by His own redeemed people "till He comes." Can there be anything more precious than this? What is all service and sacrifice in service, in comparison with the response to His request ere He went to the cross, "do this in remembrance of Me"? What memories flood the soul when in the power of the Spirit of GOD this feast is kept! All the marvellous facts of our redemption are proclaimed at the Lord’s table. His coming into the world, His death on the cross and the infinite worth of that death, what has been accomplished by it, the new and living way which has been made into the Holiest, His resurrection, His presence as Priest in glory, His coming again, all these and much more cluster around the Lord’s table. The question has often been raised, How often should the Lord’s supper be kept? There is no command whatever about the frequency of the observance of this blessed ceremony. From Acts 2:1-47 we learned that in the beginning of the church it was kept daily. The Holy Spirit brought the Lord’s request at once before the hearts of the company of believers and so strong was the love for the Lord that they remembered Him daily in the breaking of bread. The passage before us carries with it the impression that it was the custom of the disciples to come together to remember the Lord on the first day of the week. The Lord’s day and the Lord’s supper belong together and there can be no doubt that the early church celebrated that feast of love each Lord’s day. If we had been present in Troas that Lord’s day we would have witnessed a meeting of praise and worship. After some disciple had given thanks for the bread and for the wine, these emblems of His great love were passed around among the gathered company. After the breaking of bread was over, Paul preached unto them. However, the word preached must be understood here as "discoursed." It was not the preaching of the Gospel to an unsaved company, for such had not gathered to remember the Lord. No unsaved person has a place at the Lord’s table. Only believers being present, Paul addressed them. It has not pleased the Holy Spirit to report this discourse. Following the remembrance of the Lord what blessed truths must have been brought out by the great Apostle! The address was not like the modern day "sermonette" of fifteen or twenty minutes: "he continued his speech until midnight." The meeting place was an upper chamber and many lights were burning. All at once a young man, Eutychus, fell down from the third loft and was taken up dead. He sat in a window and had fallen in a deep sleep till he fell from that height to the ground. Through Paul’s embrace he was raised to life. Life had not gone out of the body and Paul declared that his life (soul) was in him. The functions of life were restored and the bonds between soul and body were re-established. The incident has been much used in an allegorical way. Some see in Eutychus the type of a believer who has fallen asleep spiritually and fallen, and who is restored. Others read the history of the church in this event. Paul then partook of the bread (which in Acts 20:11 means the simple eating of bread and no longer the Lord’s supper) and talked a long while, till the day dawned, when he departed. III. The Journey from Troas to Miletus. "And we went before to ship, and sailed unto Assos, there intending to take in Paul: for so had he appointed, minding himself to go afoot. And when he met with us at Assos, we took him in, and came to Mitylene. And we sailed thence, and came the next day over against Chios; and the next day we arrived at Samos, and tarried at Trogyllium; and the next day we came to Miletus. For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him. to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost" (Acts 20:13-16). The company then took ship to sail to Assos, but Paul made the journey of over 20 miles on foot. He wanted to be alone like Elijah as well as others. What thoughts must have passed through his mind! What burdens must have been upon his heart! What anxieties in connection with that coming visit to Jerusalem! No doubt as he walked along, he stepped along in prayer in communion with the Lord, unhindered and undisturbed by his fellow laborers. How well it is if we follow his example and the examples of all the other great men of GOD, above all the example of our Lord, and be alone, alone with GOD. "For us this is often a wise thing. To be alone, apart from men, but alone with GOD, where we can think of Him, of ourselves and of the work as He sees it. Alone - where in His presence responsibility is felt, instead of activity before men. This communion with Him, as His servants, gives and sustains a blessed confidence in Him, an intimacy of soul with Him, full of goodness and of grace." And how the heart of the child of GOD yearns for such an intimacy with GOD! The enemy of our souls ever tries to keep us from this. Well it is if we tear ourselves loose from our choicest friends and fellowship of saints and service, to seek His presence, to be alone. They took him in at Assos, which they reached before the Apostle had arrived. Nothing but the route is here described. Ephesus looms up. But it seemed impossible for the hurrying Apostle, who was determined to reach Jerusalem at Pentecost, to visit the beloved city. When Miletus was reached he was but thirty miles from Ephesus. IV. Paul’s address to the Elders of Ephesus. From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church. The remaining part of this chapter contains his great farewell address to the Ephesian elders and through them to the church located there. Two great speeches by the Apostle have so far been reported in this book. - The first was addressed to the Jews in Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:16-41). - The second was addressed to the Gentiles in Athens (Acts 17:1-34). The address here in our chapter is to the church. It is of very great and unusual interest and importance. - He speaks of himself, his own integrity and recalls to them his ministry. - He declares his own coming sufferings and his determination not to count his life dear, but to finish his course with joy. - He warns the church concerning the future apostasy and the appearance in their midst of false teachers. But we must study the great address in detail. "And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews: And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which He hath purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn everyone night and day with tears. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have shewed you all things how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all. And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul’s neck, and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship" (Acts 20:17-38). The entire address contains the characteristic phrases so generally employed by the apostle. These phrases used by Paul or in connection with him are often found in the Book of Acts: - "Lying in wait, or plots (Acts 9:24, Acts 20:3; Acts 23:30); - house to house (Acts 8:3); - faith in the Lord JESUS (Acts 24:24, Acts 26:18); - and now behold (Acts 13:11); - bound in the spirit (Acts 19:21); - afflictions (Acts 14:22); - course (Acts 13:25); - I am pure (Acts 18:6); - the counsel of GOD (Acts 13:36); - appointed (Acts 19:21); - perverse (Acts 13:8, Acts 13:10); - the Word of His Grace (Acts 14:3). Compare 1 Thessalonians 1:5; 1 Thessalonians 1:9 with verse 18 in this chapter. - Serving the Lord (Romans 12:11); - humility of mind (Colossians 2:18); - tears (2 Corinthians 2:4); - profitable (1 Corinthians 10:23); - Jews and Greeks (Romans 1:16); - finish my course (Php 3:12, 2 Timothy 4:7); - ministry which I received (Colossians 4:17, Romans 1:5, Ephesians 3:7, Colossians 1:23; Colossians 1:25, 1 Timothy 1:12); - from the Lord (Galatians 1:12, 1 Corinthians 9:23); - see my face (Colossians 2:1); - admonish (Romans 15:14, Colossians 1:28; Colossians 3:16); - covet (Romans 7:7), - these hands ministered (1 Corinthians 4:12, 1 Thessalonians 2:9, 2 Thessalonians 3:8), - laboring (1 Thessalonians 5:12, 1 Timothy 5:17), - help the weak (1 Thessalonians 5:14, 1 Corinthians 12:28), - remember (Galatians 2:10, Ephesians 2:2, Colossians 4:18, etc.)." How many elders (presbyters) had come to Miletus is not stated. Their office and their work is given in Acts 20:28. They are overseers (episcopi), and the Holy Spirit appointed them to feed the church of GOD. Ritualistic churches claim that the office of a presbyter and a bishop, an overseer, are distinct; but such a distinction which is claimed does not exist. It is also incorrect to say that because there are no more Apostles, there can be no more elders. This is as erroneous as if one would say the gifts of evangelists, pastors and teachers have ceased. The word "bishop" - overseer describes the work of an elder - the word "presbyter" an elder, that is one mature in years and experience, not a novice (1 Timothy 3:6). As long as the true church is on earth these gifts and elders are also in existence and they must be recognized. The address of the Apostle Paul falls into four parts: 1. A rehearsal of his integrity and faithfulness in ministry (Acts 20:19-21). 2. The announcement of his anticipated sufferings and his determination to endure (Acts 20:22-27). 3. The charge to the elders and the warning (Acts 20:28-31). 4. The final word (Acts 20:32-35). 1. First then we find a rehearsal of his integrity and faithfulness in his ministry. On account of the prominence given to himself and his labours the Apostle Paul has been charged with egotism and that his address was not spoken by inspiration. Such, however, is not the case at all. One might just as well charge the Apostle with egotism in writing his different Epistles in which the personal element is often so predominant. The fact is that GOD has been pleased to make this great man a pattern in every way. When he refers thus to himself he was led by the Holy Spirit to manifest the Grace of GOD in his own life as a devoted servant of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. He had arrived in Ephesus in the spring of 51 just four years previous. He was among them, as he loved to call himself, as the servant of the Lord, serving Him. And how he served the Lord! These things he mentioned. With all humility of mind. From 2 Corinthians 10:1 and 2 Corinthians 10:10 we learn that his bodily presence was unattractive and base. Paired with an humble bodily appearing was humble-mindedness. "Let this mind be in you, which was in Christ Jesus" (Php 2:15), thus he wrote by the Holy Spirit and the life of CHRIST had produced this very mind, the leading characteristic of which is humility, in the great Apostle. He mentions the many tears, with which he was amongst them. Our beloved Apostle was a man of many tears; he wept much and watered the seed with his tears. The affection and anguish of his heart brought forth tears and under such deep exercise he wrote his Epistles. "I wrote unto you with many tears" (2 Corinthians 2:4). Of the enemies of the cross of CHRIST he spoke with weeping (Php 3:18). And he also served among them surrounded with temptations and dangers. How few such servants we find in our present days! Men are called great servants if they can organize great campaigns, reach thousands, address constantly large audiences and make a great name for themselves and have their photographs exhibited as often as possible. This is man’s pattern of a great servant. But here we have a servant of CHRIST, who is after GOD’s own heart. Serving in humble-mindedness, not seeking great things, serving in love with many tears and in many trials. In his ministry he was as faithful as he was Christ-like in his character. He kept nothing back. He had not shunned to declare all the counsel of GOD. The many who profess to be preachers and teachers in our own times and who shun to declare all the counsel of GOD and keep back certain truths are not the servants of CHRIST, but they are manpleasers. And elsewhere the Apostle says, "If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10). How often this is done. The second Coming of CHRIST for the establishment of His Kingdom and the other great prophetic unfoldings connected with this event are often set aside and kept back, though they are an important part of the counsel of GOD. Then he did not confine his ministry to a sermon on Lord’s day during the years of his presence in Ephesus, but publicly and from house to house he had labored. Nor did he confine his ministry to a certain class of people. He testified to the Jews and to the Greeks repentance towards GOD, and faith toward our Lord JESUS CHRIST. Both repentance and faith belong together and are inseparably connected. He preached and taught that Jews and Gentiles were lost and have to take their true places as sinners before GOD, and trust in the Lord JESUS CHRIST. When the Gospel is preached, and faith by hearing cometh to the heart, true repentance will be the result. 2. In the second place we :find the announcement of his anticipated sufferings and his determination to endure. Dark forebodings are filling his mind. Going unto Jerusalem he is bound in the spirit, which does not mean the Holy Spirit, but his own spirit. The future is dark for him as no revelation has reached him what is to be his fate. But at the same time the Holy Spirit bore witness in every city that bonds and afflictions were in store for him. And yet he pushes on towards Jerusalem. With all the uncertainty about what is to come he possesses the certainty that the beloved saints of Ephesus were to see his face no more. Was he in the Lord’s will when he went on in this way in spite of the Holy Spirit’s warning? Certainly not. But his whole soul must have been filled with a consuming love and burning desire for his kinsmen, his brethren in Jerusalem. What then if bonds and afflictions were to come upon him? What if he were to share in the city of his fathers some of the sufferings of CHRIST? His heart longed for "the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto His death." And later he could write, "I am now ready to be offered." It is the triumph of faith which breathes in Acts 20:24. Though he had gone on his way in self-will, yet in faith he could say: "But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the Gospel of the grace of God." Words of faith these are. And faithfully he had labored preaching both the Gospel of Grace and the Kingdom of GOD, not shrinking from declaring all the counsel of GOD and therefore he was pure from the blood of all. He had preached the truth in its fullness and completeness and with that the responsibility of the servant ends; but the servant of CHRIST who does not declare all the counsel of GOD has a fearful responsibility. Well has one said, there are three kinds of servants: - A good Christian and a good workman, such as Paul; - A good Christian and a bad workman, himself saved, but his work to be consumed; - Then he who seeks to corrupt and destroy the temple of GOD, whose work as well as himself shall perish. And such evil workmen were even then in existence seeking to corrupt the faith. As long as Paul was in the world his spiritual energy resisted and overcame these evil things. What should come after his departure he makes known by the Spirit of GOD in the third part of his address. 3. The charge to the Elders and the Warning. It is a solemn charge the Apostle now delivers. At the same time it is full of instructions. As overseers they were charged with taking heed first unto themselves. Later Paul wrote to Timothy, then in Ephesus, “take heed to thyself, and to the doctrine.” Only in this way could they discharge their solemn responsibility. The flock is mentioned, meaning the sheep of CHRIST and the Church of GOD, to which all the sheep of CHRIST belong, and over these the elders were overseers and called to feed the church. It is a significant expression - "the church of God, which he hath purchased with His own blood." Here the blood of our Lord JESUS CHRIST, the spotless Lamb, is called "His own blood, the blood of God." How great the cost-price! It was GOD Himself in His Son, one with Him, who accomplished the work. If we but could think of all those, no matter where they are, redeemed and saved by grace, as the flock and as the assembly of GOD, which He who is GOD purchased with His blood, what love and graciousness would energize us and what deep concern we would have towards all! And then the reason is given why they should take such heed. Acts 20:29-30 contain a prophecy. The Apostle speaks concerning his departure and he does not mention anyone to take his place. All the talk among Ritualists of apostolic succession is a pure invention and worse. The warning is concerning grievous wolves who would enter in among the flock, and concerning false teachers who were to arise in their own midst, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. How abundantly this great prediction has been verified. And never before has it been so evident as now. Wolves in sheep-clothing, with the most damnable heresies like Millennial Dawnism and Christian Science have entered the flock, while from within false leaders have arisen, who propagate the work of Alexander, Hymenaeus and Philetus (1 Timothy 1:20; 2 Timothy 2:17), and divide the flock. Failure soon appears after GOD has begun a work. Thus it has been in the past and is so now and will continue till the enemy of GOD, who stands behind the wolves and the false teachers, is bound. And all this stamps the teaching that the church increases in power and righteousness and leads on towards world-conversion as an untruth. Paul made no such prediction for the church on earth. The truth is that that which lays claim to increased power and expansion is the apostate thing which long ago has abandoned sound doctrine. 4. The final word. In his final word he commends them to GOD and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build up the individual believer and to give them an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. And blessed be His Name, whatever the apostasy brings, how grievous the wolves may be, how subtle the false teachers with their perverted theories, GOD and the Word of His Grace abide! Nothing can touch these, and that Word can build us up and will build us up. It is the great minister to the need of our souls, and whenever we turn to it we shall find our need supplied, our faith strengthened, and our spiritual lives quickened. A blessed word to remember in these days - "I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up." In the dark days of failure and increasing departure from GOD, no child of GOD needs to be in want. Now, more than ever, we may sing, "My cup runneth over." Another personal testimony of this pattern servant of CHRIST follows. He had coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel. He must have held up his hands, when he said, "Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me." And as they looked upon his hands they saw hands roughened by much toil. In this he had given them an object lesson, that they, too, should support the weak, and that they should remember the words of the Lord JESUS, so beautifully illustrated in the Apostle’s toil - "it is more blessed to give than to receive." This lesson was specially needed in Ephesus where in the heathen worship of Artemis the ministers of the cult obtained great wealth. What a contrast between the luxuriously living, wealth-accumulating priests and temple-servants of the temple of Artemis (Diana) and the humble servant of the Lord, toiling with his own hands! And how this lesson, too, is needed at the present time. The most blessed work on earth, preaching the Gospel and teaching the Word, has been reduced to a profession with a certain income and with fees for service. Charging for such service, which tells out GOD’s unspeakable gift and unfathomable love, is foreign to the teaching of the New Testament. The servant is cast in dependence on his Lord, whom he serves and He will sustain him in all his service. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." [*] [*] One of the beatitudes which circulated in the early church apart from those preserved in the Gospels. Being embodied in Acts this one is proven to be genuine. He had declared and the true servant of CHRIST is called upon to share the blessedness of His Lord by spending and being spent, by giving, and helping the weak. A blessed path it is, and blessed, too, because the servant but experiences what a gracious Lord it is whom he serves, who is mindful of him and abundantly supplies all his needs. An affecting farewell scene closes this chapter. He kneeled down and led in prayer. What a prayer it must have been! What an outpouring of the heart in GOD’s presence! They all wept and fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him. Their greatest sorrow was that they had heard him say they should see his face no more. And they accompanied him unto the ship. ~ end of chapter 20 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 62: 03.21. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE ======================================================================== CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE The final stages of the journey of the Apostle Paul and his companions to Jerusalem, and what befell him there, are the contents of this interesting chapter. I. The journey from Miletus to Tyre and Ptolemais (Acts 21:1-7). II. In Cesarea (Acts 21:8-14). III. The Apostle’s Arrival in Jerusalem and his visit to the Temple (Acts 21:15-26). IV. The Uproar in the Temple. Paul taken prisoner (Acts 21:27-40). I. The Journey from Miletus to Tyre and Ptolemais. "And it came to pass, that after we were gotten from them, and had launched, we came with a straight course unto Coos, and the day following unto Rhodes, and from thence unto Patara: And finding a ship sailing over unto Phoenicia, we went aboard, and set forth. Now when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed into Syria, and landed at Tyre: for there the ship was to unlade her burden. And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. And when we had accomplished those days, we departed and went our way; and they all brought us on our way, with wives and children, till we were out of the city: and we kneeled down on the shore, and prayed. And when we had taken our leave one of another, we took ship; and they returned home again. And when we had finished our course from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, and saluted the brethren, and abode with them one day" (Acts 21:1-7). Little needs to be said on the journey itself, for the Holy Spirit gives no record of anything which took place, save the repeated warnings He gave to the Apostle, who in the strongest determination was hastening to reach the chosen goal, Jerusalem. Coos, Rhodes and Patara are mentioned, and from there they took ship to Phoenicia. The landing place in that ancient country was Tyre, where some of the cargo was to be put ashore, and perhaps an additional one was taken aboard, for the destination of the ship was Ptolemais. In Tyre they found a company of disciples and tarried there for seven days. This rather lengthy stay may have been by request of the Apostle, so that they might be enabled to spend a Lord’s day with the assembly in Tyre. In Troas (Acts 20:6) they also had tarried seven days, and on the first day of the week, as we learned from that chapter, they were engaged in the breaking of bread, remembering the Lord in gathering around His table. Though no statement is made about the Apostle meeting with the believers in Tyre for the same blessed purpose, we can take it for granted that such was the case. And the Holy Spirit through these disciples warned the Apostle at once that he should not go to Jerusalem. This indeed, was very solemn. If these disciples had spoken of themselves, if it said that they were in anxiety over Paul’s journey to that city, one might say that they were simply speaking as men, but the record makes it clear that the Holy Spirit spoke through them. Could then the Apostle Paul have been under the guidance of that same Spirit in going to Jerusalem? As stated before, the great love for his brethren, his kinsmen, burned in his heart, and so great was his desire to be in Jerusalem that he ignored the voice of the Spirit. The answer which the Apostle gave to their inspired warning is not given, but we know that he did not swerve from his purpose. Beautiful is the farewell scene in connection with this visit. It even surpasses the farewell of the previous chapter. "And they all brought us on our way, with wives and children," writes the penman, "till we were out of the city; and we kneeled down on the shore and prayed." It is a sweet picture of love. Even the children came along to get the last glimpse of the great man of GOD, who had tarried in their midst. And what a prayer-meeting it must have been, there on the seashore! In Ptolemais, which they reached next, the brethren were saluted by them, and they spent one day in their company. II. In Cesarea. "And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Cesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judea a certain prophet, named Agabus. And when he was come unto us he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, The will of the Lord be done" (Acts 21:8-14). The journey from Ptolemais to Cesarea was probably made on foot. When they arrived in that city, they found a welcome in the house of one whose name is familiar from the earlier chapters of our book. They entered the house of Philip. As there also was an apostle by the name of Philip (Matthew 10:3), the Holy Spirit tells us that it was not the Apostle Philip, but Philip the Evangelist, one of the. seven (Acts 6:5). We had his history and great activity before. The last we read of him was at the close of Acts 8:1-40. After he had been so blessedly used in the conversion of the eunuch, and had been caught away by the Spirit, he was found "at Azotus, and passing through, he preached in all the cities, till he came to Cesarea." Here we find him again twenty years later, settled in Caesarea, with his family. His gift as an Evangelist, no doubt, he exercised throughout all these years. There is no record given of the blessed activity of this servant of the Lord, but in that coming day his labor and the blessed results of this great Evangelist will be manifested, as shall be all the works of the Saints of GOD. Special mention is made of the four unmarried daughters of Philip, who had the gift of prophecy. This has puzzled some, because elsewhere it is stated - "a woman suffer not to teach," and that women should be silent in the assembly. It has therefore been stated by some, who press this point in a dogmatic way, that these four virgins had their connection with the Jewish and earthly kingdom. But this is far-fetched. Woman is not excluded from the gifts of the Spirit; the exercise of woman’s gift, however, is according to the sphere given to her by GOD. These four daughters possessed the gift of prophesying, and of teaching, and they also made use of the gift. But did they preach and teach in public? Certainly not. If they exercised their gift it must have been in their sphere, that is, in their home, the house of their father. And when Paul and his companions appeared, nothing is said that these virgins made use of the gift in the presence of these visitors. This in itself is very striking. We desire to quote what another has said on this interesting and timely question: [*] [*] W. Kelly Introductory Lectures to the Acts, page 145. "There is no reason why a woman should not have this or most other gifts as much as a man. I do not say the same kind of gift always. Surely GOD is wise and gives suited gifts whether to men or women, or, it may be, I was going to say, to children. The Lord is Sovereign, and knows how, as putting all who now believe in the body of CHRIST, so also to give them a work suitable to the purposes of His own grace. Certainly He did clothe these four daughters of Philip with a very special spiritual power. They had one of the highest characters of spiritual gift - they prophesied. And if they were invested with this power, certainly it was not to be put under a bushel, but to be exercised, the only question is, how. "Now Scripture, if we but be subject, is quite explicit as to this. In the first place, prophecy stands confessedly in the highest rank of teaching. It is teaching. Next, the Apostle himself is the person who tells us that he does not suffer a woman to teach. This is clearly decisive; if we bow to the Apostle as inspired to give us GOD’s mind, we ought to know that it is not the place of a Christian woman to teach. He is speaking on this topic, not in 1 Corinthians 11:1-34, but in 1 Corinthians 14:1-40. He is drawing the line between men and women in 1 Timothy 2:1-15. The latter Epistle forbids the women as a class to teach. The other and still closer word in the former Epistle, commands them to be silent in the assembly. At Corinth, apparently, there was some difficulty as to godly order and the right relations of men and women, because the Corinthians, being a people of speculative habits, instead of believing, reasoned about things. It was the tendency of the Greek mind to question everything. They could not understand that, if GOD had given a woman as good a gift as a man, she was not equally to use it. We can all feel their difficulty. Such reasoners are not wanting now. The fault of it all was, and is, that GOD is left out. His will was not in the thought of the Corinthians. There was no waiting on the Lord to ascertain what was His mind. Clearly, if He has called the church into being, it cannot but be made for His own glory. He has His own mind and will about the church and He has therefore spread out in His Word how all the gifts of His grace are to be exercised. "Now the passages in 1 Corinthians 14:1-40 and in 1 Timothy 2:1-15, appear to me to be perfectly plain as to the relative place of the woman, whatever may be her gift. This may be said to decide only as to one sphere - the assembly - where the woman, according to Scripture, is precluded from the exercise of her gift. I may say further, that in those days it did not occur to them that women should go forth publicly to preach the Word. Bad as the state of things was in early days, they seem to me to have looked for a greater sense of modesty on the part of women. There is not the slightest doubt that many females with the best intentions have thus preached, as they do still. They, or their friends, defend their cause by appeals to the blessing of GOD on the one hand, and on the other, to the crying need of perishing sinners everywhere. But nothing can be more certain than that Scripture (and this is the standard) leaves them without the slightest warrant from the Lord for their line of conduct. Public preaching of the Gospel on the part of women is never contemplated in Scripture. It was bad enough for the Corinthians to think that they might speak among the faithful. It might have seemed that in the assembly women had the shelter of godly men; that there they were not offensively putting themselves forward before all sorts of people in the world, as must be the case in evangelizing. Among the godly they may have imagined a veil, so to speak, drawn over them, more or less. But in modern times the end is supposed to justify the means, Gross as the Corinthians were, I must confess that to my mind the plans of our own day seem even more grievous, and with less excuse for them." [*] [*] The so-called "Pentecostal people" and other "Holiness sects" ignore the divine injunctions completely, besides teaching positive error like the eradication of the old nature in the believer. Surely the Holy Spirit cannot be there in His fulness, as they claim. Another one appears, whose name is known to us from the previous record. Agabus, one who had likewise a gift of prophecy, came down from Judea. In Acts 11:27 he stood up and announced that there should be a great dearth. He made this prediction by the Spirit and it of course came true. When he had come he took Paul’s girdle and with it bound his own hands and feet and then he said: "Thus saith the Holy Spirit, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles." Here then another warning was given. It was the last and by far the strongest. Did Agabus really speak by the Spirit? The literal fulfilment of his predictive action furnishes the answer. The whole company, both his fellow travelers and the believers in Cesarea began to beseech him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then came Paul’s final declaration: "What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus." One cannot but admire the wonderful determination and whole-hearted devotion which breathe in these words of the Apostle. He had indeed set his face like a flint to go up to Jerusalem, whatever the cost might be. And if the Holy Spirit had so solemnly warned him, and he rejected these warnings, the Lord in His own gracious way over-ruled it all to His own glory and to foreshadow what might be termed "the captivity of the Gospel." GOD permitted it all for His own wise purpose. He knows the end from the beginning. The blessed Gospel of the Grace and Glory of GOD committed to the Apostle Paul was soon to be set aside by man and the Judaistic form, that perverted Gospel, to gain the victory. And Paul himself arrested in Jerusalem given over into the hands of the Gentiles and sent to Rome. "The will of the Lord be done" was the last word spoken before He went up to Jerusalem. And a blessed word it is to remember. The will of the Lord will be accomplished in the lives of His people in spite of all their failures. The whole path of all His people is marked out by Himself. What calm it brings to our troubled hearts if we but remember it always! III. The Apostle’s Arrival in Jerusalem and His Visit to the Temple. "And after those days we took up our carriages, and went up to Jerusalem. There went with us also certain of the disciples of Cesarea, and brought with them one Mnason of Cyprus, an old disciple, with whom we should lodge. And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present. And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are zealous of the law: And they are informed of thee, that thou teachest all the Jews which are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs. “What is it therefore? the multitude must needs come together: for they will hear that thou art come. Do therefore this that we say to thee: We have four men which have a vow on them; Then take, and purify thyself with them, and be at charges with them, that they may shave their heads: and all may know that those things, whereof they were informed concerning thee, are nothing; but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, and keepest the law. As touching the Gentiles which we believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication. Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them entered into the temple, to signify the accomplishment of the days of purification, until that an offering should be offered for every one of them" (Acts 21:15-26). It was immediately after those days spent in Cesarea that the Apostle and his companions went up to Jerusalem. As it was before one of the great feasts of Judaism, the road from Cesarea to the City of Jerusalem must have presented a lively picture as large numbers of Jews went up to the feast. Disciples of Cesarea accompanied them, and, as it was almost 70 miles to Jerusalem, the journey had to be made in two days. So they had to lodge in the house of Mnason a Cyprian one of the early disciples. Nothing else is reported of this last stage of the journey to Jerusalem. When they reached their destination at last, they were heartily welcomed by the brethren. With what feeling must the Apostle Paul have entered once more the city of his fathers, which he was to leave as a prisoner! Great are the events, which subsequently took place. On the day following the company paid a visit to James in whose house all the elders had assembled for the purpose of meeting with Paul and his friends. No doubt they were well informed of his purposed visit to Jerusalem. Where were the apostles? They are not mentioned at all in this account; from which we may conclude that they were absent. And now once more the Apostle relates, what no doubt was dearest to the hearts of James and the elders, what GOD had wrought through His God-given ministry among the Gentiles. It must have been a very lengthy account; for he rehearsed particularly, "or one by one" the things, which had happened in His great activity. James, however, does not seem to be the spokesman here as he was in the meeting in chapter 15. After Paul had spoken, "they glorified God." All had progressed nicely up to this point. But now the great crisis is rapidly reached. The meeting had been called in the house of James, and only the elders had been invited for a very good reason. Reports had reached Jerusalem that Paul had taught the Jews among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and even to deny children the covenant sign, circumcision. Most likely the Judaizing element in the assembly of Jerusalem, the men who were so successfully overcome by the bold arguments of the Apostle at the council in Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-41, Galatians 2:1-21), the men who so strenuously taught, that unless the Gentiles became circumcised, they could not be saved - these men were responsible for the rumors. What could be done to convince the multitude that all this was incorrect, that Paul after all was a good Jew? The church in Jerusalem had become strong; its membership numbered myriads (literal translation). But they were in a transition period. They had accepted the Lord JESUS CHRIST, and yet they held on to the law of Moses. They were all zealous for the Law. They kept all the ordinances of the Law, abstained from certain meats, kept the feast days, went to the temple, made vows, and purified themselves. If this great multitude comes together, say the elders to Paul, they will hear of his arrival. With the accusations made against the Apostle, a great disorder could not be avoided. To discover some way to solve the difficulty and avert the danger, the meeting had assembled in the house of James. Now the rumors about Paul were indeed true. He had preached the Gospel as it had been given to him by the risen CHRIST. In that Gospel the law could not be recognized. He had taught the position of the believer in CHRIST and as such the believing Jew was free from the law. The Epistle to the Romans had been written by him through the Spirit of GOD several years before. And yet the Lord in His patience had borne with these conditions, which prevailed in Jerusalem. The fullest teaching on the break which had to come between Christianity and Judaism had not yet been given. The Epistle to the Hebrews furnished this argument and contains the solemn warning of the grave danger of apostasy from the Gospel by clinging to the shadow-things, which are past. To go outside of the camp and bear His reproach is the great exhortation given in that Epistle to these Jewish Christians. No doubt the Apostle Paul wrote that Epistle to his beloved brethren in Jerusalem. His heart was filled with love towards them. In his own soul he knew that all the commands of the law and the law itself had been abolished by the death of CHRIST. The ordinances had been nailed to the cross. The Holy Spirit foreseeing what would happen had warned him, as we have seen, not to go to Jerusalem. He went to the city and with this he stepped upon dangerous ground. He had left the way into which GOD had called him, and though it was his all-consuming love for his own brethren which was the motive, he became ensnared by the enemy. The elders suggest to him that there were four men who had a vow on them. These he should take and purify himself with them as well as pay the charges. This action, they reasoned, would not only demonstrate that the reports were untrue, but that he, the Apostle of Gentiles "walketh orderly and keepeth the law." To make this temptation stronger, they re-stated that which had been agreed concerning the status of the believing Gentiles, according to the decision of the church council years ago. All was a most subtle snare. He was by that action to show that, with all his preaching to the Gentiles, he was still a good Jew, faithful to all the traditions of the fathers, and attached to the temple. Without entering into an examination of what the vow was, and the purifying and offering connected with it, we see the Apostle falling into the snare. He did, as far as the record goes, without a moment’s hesitation accept the suggestion of the elders, and for a number of days we see him a visitor to the temple conforming to the customs of the law. Where was prayer and direction from the Lord? Alas, he had gone his own way against the warning voices of the Holy Spirit! And a strange sight it is to see the Apostle Paul back in the temple, going through these dead ceremonies, which had been ended by the death of the cross. A strange sight to see him, who disclaimed all earthly authority and taught deliverance from the law and a union with an unseen CHRIST, submitting once more to the elementary things, as he calls them in his Epistle to the Galatians "the beggarly elements"! And has not the whole professing church fallen into the same snare? What the results of this subtle and evil advice were we shall find in the next paragraph. IV. The Uproar in the Temple. Paul Taken Prisoner. "And when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews which were of Asia, when they saw him in the temple, stirred up all the people, and laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place: and further brought Greeks also into the temple, and hath polluted this holy place. (For they had seen before with him in the city Trophimus an Ephesian, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple). And all the city was moved, and the people ran together: and they took Paul, and drew him out of the temple: and forthwith the doors were shut. And as they went about to kill him, tidings came unto the chief captain of the band, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. Who immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down unto them: and when they saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they left beating of Paul. Then the chief captain came near, and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and demanded who he was, and what he had done. And some cried one thing, some another, among the multitude: and when he could not know the certainty for the tumult, he commanded him to be carried into the castle. And when he came upon the stairs, so it was, that he was borne of the soldiers for the violence of the people. For the multitude of the people followed after, crying, Away with him. And as Paul was to be led into the castle, he said unto the chief captain, May I speak unto thee? Who said, Canst thou speak Greek? Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers? But Paul said, I am a man which am a Jew of Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city: and, I beseech thee, suffer me to speak unto the people. And when he had given him license, Paul stood on the stairs, and beckoned with the hand unto the people. And when there was made a great silence, he spake unto them in the Hebrew tongue" (Acts 21:27-40). The seven days connected with the vow of these men were almost ended when the Jews, which were in Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up all the people and laid hands on him. In all probability Paul was not known to many people in Jerusalem. The Jews who lived in the city may not have known him at all by sight. But the city was filled with many Jews from Asia, that is the province of Asia, and as Ephesian Jews had come to Jerusalem for the feast, he did not escape their notice. They hated him and as they recognized him, they watched him closely and awaited their opportunity to do him harm. He was recognized in the city when a well known Gentile Ephesian, Trophimus, was in his company. They supposed that the Apostle had brought this Gentile Christian in the temple. The outer court of the temple, which was called the Court of the Gentiles, was open to everybody. Then there was an inner court, which was known by the name of the Court of Israel. This court was separated from the outer court by the middle wall of partition. There were barriers and pillars with inscriptions in Greek and Latin, warning strangers under the penalty of death not to advance into that holy court. Inside the barrier was a high wall, which surrounded the inner court, and in this wall were doors (Acts 21:30). The eastern part of the Court was reserved for women; then a colonnade ran around the Court of the women: In its angles were chambers. One of these was called the House of the Nazarites, where the Nazarites boiled the peace offerings, shaved their heads, and burnt the hair. Here most likely the Jews from Asia discovered the despised and hated Apostle. Now their hour had come to carry out the satanic desire of putting the Apostle out of the way. So they held him; then with a characteristic phrase - "Men of Israel," they cried for help and shouted out their accusation - "This is the man that teacheth everywhere all men against the people (the Jews), and the law, and this place." This language reminds us of what we read in connection with Stephen, he too had been accused by the Jews in a similar manner. Perhaps in that very moment it all came back to the memory of Paul, for he was present when Stephen stood up to answer the accusations. And even then the words of the Lord, as the Jews seized hold on him, may have come into Paul’s heart: "I will shew him what great things he must suffer for my Name’s sake." He had great trials in the past, but now he stood on the threshold of still greater sufferings. But the chief reason these Jews of Asia gave for laying hold on Paul was a false accusation. They charged him of having polluted the temple by bringing Greeks, uncircumcised Gentiles, into that holy place. They had seen him with Trophimus, and took it for granted that Trophimus, and perhaps other Greeks, had followed him into the temple. A fearful scene followed. The news spread like wildfire. It spread in a very few minutes throughout the temple courts, and to the crowds outside, and with their shoutings and gesticulations they soon attracted others, till the whole city was in an uproar. The name of Paul and temple pollution must have been shouted in every direction. Perhaps some of the older Jews may have even then remembered him as Saul the Pharisee, who so many years ago had been such a prominent figure in Jerusalem. And a great crime it was to defile the temple. Stoning according to their law was the penalty, and that fate seemed to be imminent for Paul. They dragged him out of the temple and the temple guard closed the doors. Then they fell upon him. They did not dare to stone him in the place where he was; the place outside of the city was reserved for that. So to avoid another pollution of the temple, they began to beat him. They were endeavoring to kill him. But GOD watched over His servant. His life was not in the hands of the mob but in the Lord’s own hands, and such is the case with all His people. In connection with the temple buildings was a castle, known by the name, "the fortress of Antonia." It was built upon a very steep rock and connected with the buildings below by stairs. This fortress was occupied by a Roman company of soldiers, a cohort with a chief captain (Greek: Chiliarch, commander of a thousand men). The great disturbance in the courts below attracted at once the attention of this officer and he rushed his men to the scene. With soldiers and centurions he came down the stairs, and their appearance brought the beating of Paul to an end. And the next thing! Two chains are put about the Apostle. Agabus’ prophecy is fulfilled. He is a captive now, "the prisoner of the Lord," as later he called himself. Taking the advice of the elders to appease the displeasure of the zealous law-keeping Hebrew Christians, and trying to show that he was a good law-keeping Jew, had led him into this place where he now finds himself. It was all failure from beginning to end. The object was not reached. And now his great heart filled with love for his brethren, had to begin to learn the sad lesson what the Lord told him - "they will not receive thy testimony concerning me." As the chains were put up on him, bruised and bleeding, may it then not have dawned upon him that his love for his Jewish brethren had led him in a way which was not the Lord’s way? It is a blessed study to compare the sufferings of Paul, the treatment he received from his brethren according to the flesh, his behavior, with that which happened to the Lord Himself in the days of His flesh. There is a correspondence and it is quite marked. Such a comparison shows the creature weakness and imperfection in Paul, and the absolute perfection of Him who, as to His office work, was made perfect through suffering. The transportation of Paul into the fortress, however, was beset with many difficulties. One cried this and the other that, as the chief captain asked what Paul had done and who he was. The multitude cried again and again, "Away with him," - "Away with him," - the word which reminds us of another multitude, who rejected the Prince of Life and delivered Him into the hands of the Gentiles. So great was the crowd of people that Paul had to be lifted up by the soldiers in order to bring him by the stairway into the fortress on the rock. When about to be led into the castle, Paul addressed the chief captain in Greek. The captain was disappointed in this, for he thought he was a certain Egyptian, who had led four thousand murderers into the desert. Paul gives the Roman officer his pedigree. "I am a man, a Jew of Tarsus," and then requests the privilege of addressing the furious mob. This was permitted and taking a prominent place on the stairs, where he could be seen by all below, and when after beckoning to the people, silence had been secured, he addressed them in Hebrew. The break of the chapter at this point is unfortunate. The next chapter contains the first address of defence of the prisoner Paul. ~ end of chapter 21 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 63: 03.22. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO ======================================================================== CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO What a scene it was! On the stairs, midway between the temple court and the fortress, stood the Apostle in chains, his person showing the effects of the beating he had received. Around him were the well-armed Roman soldiers, and below the multitude with up-turned faces, still wildly gesticulating and only becoming more silent when they heard the first words from Paul’s lips in the Hebrew tongue. [*] [*] The Aramaic dialect, which was then universally used among the Jews. We find two sections in this chapter. I. The Address of the Apostle (Acts 22:1-21). II. The Answer from the Mob, and Paul’s Appeal to his Roman citizenship (Acts 22:22-30). I. The Address of the Apostle. It is the first address in his defence recorded in this book, and his own person and experience is the theme. Seventeen times he uses the word "I," so that we have in his words a sketch of his life. All is well put and shows the great tact and wisdom of the Apostle. We find that the address contains three well-defined parts. He was not permitted to finish his autobiographical statements, but the mob interrupted him, as many years before Stephen’s address was cut short. 1. Paul’s Account of himself as a Jew. The accusation against him was "that he teacheth all men everywhere against the people, and the law, and this place." This now he tries to meet first of all by the evidence of his past Jewish life. The advice of the elders, too, finds an echo in the opening words of his speech. They had told him that he should prove to the multitude that he walked orderly, keeping the law. "Men, brethren, and fathers, hear ye my defence which I make now unto you. (And when they heard that he spake in the Hebrew tongue to them, they kept the more silence: and he saith,) I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished" (Acts 22:1-5). It was a very wise and tactful utterance with which he began his defense. The crowd below which had used him so roughly and which was ready to murder him, he addressed as "Men, brethren and fathers." This was bound to secure at once their attention, as well as the use of their own language. But we may see in this conciliatory opening of his address an expression of his graciousness. The words which follow were spoken to show that he had had a true Jewish bringing up, and lived an exemplary Jewish life. First, he gives the fact of his birth outside of the land. Many were thus born and educated away from the homeland, but he was brought up in the City of Jerusalem, thereby showing that he belonged to a very jealous class of Jews, who cared for the religion and customs of the fathers. Furthermore, he had as teacher the great and well-known, as well as highly esteemed, Gamaliel. Gamaliel was a doctor of the Torah, the law, and a great leader of the strictest sect among the Jews, the Pharisees. So the speaker had become a Pharisee and had entered upon a life of the most scrupulous law-keeping as well as obedience to the traditions of the elders. Next, he bears witness to his own zeal. He "was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day." One can only admire the tactful courtesy of the speaker. He not only spoke of his own zeal for GOD, but acknowledged the same in his hearers. With these words he even declared the wild scene in which he was so prominently concerned, an expression of their zeal for GOD. In Romans 10:2 he had written: "For I bear them record that they have a zeal for GOD, but not according to knowledge." Next, he illustrates that zeal for GOD, which characterized his career as a Pharisee. Like the assembled mob he had been a persecutor. But he avoids speaking of those he persecuted by name. "I persecuted this way unto death." All, however, knew what he meant by the expression "this way;" it had for them the meaning of the new sect, which had arisen in Judaism. The same term is used by Paul in Acts 24:14. And how had he persecuted this new way, the believers in JESUS? Unto death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. It was a confession of his persecuting zeal. The same confession we read in the beginning of the Epistle to the Galatians: "For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it; and profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers" (Galatians 1:13-14). After he had thus briefly referred to the fact that he had been once energized by the same hatred against this way, he appealed to the ecclesiastical authorities as a witness. He referred to the letters, which so many years ago he had received, to persecute the believing Jews in Damascus, the letters which were never delivered by him. May there not have been a few among his hearers, who then remembered the young Pharisee of bygone days, Saul of Tarsus? Then he begins a brief sketch of a second chapter in his eventful life. 2. The Story of his Conversion. The young Pharisee had disappeared suddenly from the scene, and his persecuting zeal had terminated abruptly. How then had it come about. "And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest. And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spake to me. And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus. And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know His will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of His mouth. For thou shalt be His witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord" (Acts 22:6-16). The remarkable incident we have already followed in our exposition of the ninth chapter. However, some very interesting details are added here by himself, the former account being the inspired historical record written by Luke. First, we note that it was at noon when the wonderful vision flashed before his eyes. While in Acts 9:1-43 we read of a light that shined from heaven about him, here he tells us that it was a great light, and in Acts 26:13 Paul informs us that it was "above the brightness of the sun." In Acts 22:11 he speaks of it as "glory"; even so it was glory of the risen and ascended Son of GOD. In Acts 9:1-43 we read that the voice of the Lord said to him, "I am Jesus," but here a more detailed account is given by Paul, and from it we learn that the Lord had said, "I am Jesus of Nazareth." As that worthy and blessed Name was mentioned by Paul, what dark and threatening looks must have met his gaze from the up-turned faces! And from his witness they learned that this same JESUS, whom they had rejected, is the Lord, and that He lives in the Glory. Of Ananias, Paul does not speak as a disciple at all, but he calls him "a devout man according to the law," who had a good report of all the Jews in Damascus. In all this we have an evidence of the wisdom of Paul. He also avoided the word "CHRIST," though all knew whom he meant when he speaks of "that Just One." Thus he briefly had described how the Lord, the rejected JESUS of Nazareth, had appeared unto him. [*] [*] Some have found a difficulty in the fact that here Paul saith that his companions saw the light and heard not the voice, which spake with him. In Acts 9:1-43 the record states that they heard the voice. There is no discrepancy here. They did hear the voice, but were not able to understand the words which were spoken. They saw no one; only Paul saw the Lord. 3. The Divine Commission. He next touched upon another episode in his experience. The interesting account he gives here is not recorded in Acts 9:1-43. "And it came to pass, that, when I was come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the temple, I was in a trance; and saw him saying unto me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem: for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me. And I said, Lord, they know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee: and when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept the raiment of them that slew him. And he said unto me, Depart: for I will send thee far hence unto the Gentiles" (Acts 22:17-21). Once more the Lord had appeared unto him, while praying in the temple when he was in a trance. In this same temple which stretched out before him, all this had taken place. And what an evidence to them of his sincere character that he had gone to the temple to offer up fervent prayers. He then repeats the words the Lord had spoken to him, "Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusalem, for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me." He himself now bound in chains, standing before the Jewish mob, was the living witness to the truth of these words. If he had but remembered those words and had followed completely the divine commission. At that time his loving heart for his own people had prompted an answer. He told the Lord that he had a peculiar fitness to bear the testimony to his brethren in the beloved city. Did they not know that he had imprisoned and beaten those that believed in Him? When the blood of Stephen, the martyr, was shed, did he not stand by and consent unto his death, keeping the raiment of those that slew him? It is beautiful to read these simple words of the intimate conversation Paul carried on with the Lord. And he could tell the Lord all about his sins and hatred against Himself and His own, recount once more the bitter persecutions he had practiced and the part he took in Stephen’s death. Here we have a beautiful example of a conscience which has been purged, and knows that all is right. All this Paul relates to prove to them his sincerity as well as love for his kinsmen. The last word the Lord had spoken to him at that time was a word of commission: "Depart, for I will send thee far hence to the Gentiles." The Lord had therefore called him to be the Apostle of the Gentiles. His defense was complete. He had fully demonstrated that he accusation against him was false, that he loved his people and the Lord Himself had called him to go to the Gentiles. II. The Answer from the Mob and Paul’s Appeal to his Roman Citizenship. "And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth; for it is not fit that he should live. And as they cried out, and cast off their clothes, and threw dust into the air, the chief captain commanded him to be brought into the castle, and bade that he should be examined by scourging; that he might know wherefore they cried so against him. And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood by, Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned? When the centurion heard that, he went and told the chief captain, saying, Take heed what thou doest: for this man is a Roman. Then the chief captain came, and said unto him, Tell me, art thou a Roman? He said, Yea. And the chief captain answered, With a great sum obtained I this freedom. And Paul said, But I was free-born. Then straightway they departed from him which should have examined him: and the chief captain also was afraid, after he knew that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him. On the morrow, because he would have known the certainty wherefore he was accused of the Jews, he loosed him from his bands, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down, and set him before them" (Acts 22:22-30). They were impatient listeners, the storm broke with the word "Gentiles." Another great tumult resulted and the many voices demanded that such a fellow should not live. It was a scene of utmost confusion. All crying, gesticulating wildly, throwing dust in the air, one of the common occurrences when Orientals get excited; they cast off their outer garments to do so. The chief captain seems to have been ignorant of the Aramaic dialect. He gave orders that Paul be now removed into the castle itself and be examined by scourging so that he might find out why they cried so against him. The torture was to be used to make him confess. He was led away, and everything made ready for the cruel treatment, when the prisoner spoke: "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and uncondemned?" The centurion reported this to the chiliarch, the chief officer, who at once appeared on the scene. When he discovered that Paul was indeed a Roman by birth, a higher type of Roman citizenship than that which the chief captain had obtained by a great sum, they left their hands off of his person, and even the chiliarch was afraid. It was a highly illegal act to bind a Roman. Paul escaped the awful torture. Not a few had pointed to this as a prominent failure in the career of the Apostle. According to these critics he made a grave mistake when he pleaded his Roman citizenship; he should have been silent and taken the unjust and cruel treatment without a murmur. If some of these harsh critics of the beloved Apostle were placed in the same condition, what would they do? As one has truly said: "It is easy to be a martyr in theory, and such are seldom martyrs in practice." He had a perfect right to tell the ignorant officers of the law who he was, and thus prevent a flagrant and cruel transgression of the law. And yet his conduct in Philippi was far different. Why did he not announce his Roman citizenship then? The power of the Spirit rested then upon him; it is different here. He is not acting in the liberty and peace of the Spirit, a fact which becomes more apparent in the next chapter, where we see him before the Sanhedrim. ~ end of chapter 22 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 64: 03.23. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE ======================================================================== CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE In Acts 22:30 we read that the chief captain commanded that the chief priests and all the council should gather together. When this was accomplished, Paul was brought down and set before them. We divide the chapter into four sections: 1. Paul before the Sanhedrim (Acts 23:1-10). II. The vision of the Lord (Acts 23:11). III. The conspiracy against Paul and its discovery (Acts 23:12-22). IV. Paul taken to Cesarea (Acts 23:23-30). I. Paul before the Sanhedrim. "And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day. And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth. Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law? And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God’s high priest? Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people. But when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees, and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee: of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question. And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both. And there arose a great cry: and the scribes that were of the Pharisees’ part arose, and strove, saying, We find no evil in this man: but if a spirit or an angel hath spoken to him, let us not fight against God. And when there arose a great dissension, the chief captain, fearing lest Paul should have been pulled in pieces of them, commanded the soldiers to go down, and to take him by force from among them and to bring him into the castle" (Acts 23:1-10). For the last time, the Jewish council is mentioned in this book. Three times before the Sanhedrim had been called together in connection with those who believed in the Lord JESUS (Acts 2:5; Acts 5:21 and Acts 6:12-15). Peter and John, the twelve Apostles and Stephen, had to appear before the Sanhedrim and now Paul had to stand in the presence of the same body. Looking straight at the council, Paul did not wait for the formalities connected with the proceedings, but addressed the gathered Sanhedrim as men and brethren. This action shows that he did not consider himself at all an accused criminal. And strange are the words with which he opened his defence: "I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day." In this he made a public declaration of his righteousness, which reminds us of his confession as a Pharisee (Php 3:4-6). This self-justification shows that he was not acting under the leading of the Holy Spirit. This bold language resulted in stirring up the anger of the high priest Ananias, who commanded that the bystanders should smite the Apostle on the mouth. And Paul was not slow to reply with a harsh word, calling the high priest "a whited wall" and demanding of GOD to smite him. No doubt the high priest was indeed a "whited wall" and fully deserved the judgment from GOD. But did Paul in speaking thus show the meekness of Him, whose servant he was? If Paul had been in the power of the Spirit and in the knowledge that he was doing the Lord’s will, he would not have opened his mouth, nor acted in this hasty manner. However, the utterance he made was fulfilled, for some time later Ananias was assassinated. Paul recovered himself, professing that he did not know the high priest, who had commanded the smiting. The words - "I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest" contain an apparent difficulty. The Apostle, so well acquainted with the customs of the council, must have known the high priest, both by the position he occupied and by the dress. Some have suggested that the Apostle was afflicted with a severe eye disease which blurred his vision. But this cannot be fully proven. The word "knew" seems to solve the difficulty. This word among the Jews has also the meaning "to acknowledge" or "to make recognition." For instance, it has that meaning in the exhortation "to know those who labor among you." Paul did not know the high priest may therefore mean that he did not want to acknowledge Ananias as the high priest, that he refused to recognize him as such. When Paul said he knew not that it was the high priest, he acknowledged his error he had made in refusing to recognize the president of the council by ignoring him. This seems to solve the difficulty. The next utterance of the Apostle is still more strange. Once again he addresses the council as men and brethren. Then he cried “I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; of the hope and resurrection of the dead 1 am called in question." This is the third claim he makes and it shows how far he had drifted. He had claimed being a Jew, then had pleaded his Roman citizenship, and now before the council, he reminds them that he is a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee. Later from his Roman prison he wrote to the Philippians that he counted this all as dung. He had done so before. Here no doubt is a relapse. The reason which led him to do this was his knowledge that the Sanhedrim was composed of the two warring factions of Judaism, the Sadducees and the Pharisees. With his keen vision and knowledge of the conditions he saw the possible advantage of declaring himself a Pharisee. That might bring them to his side and end the difficulty in which he had become so seriously involved. Besides the confession that he is a prominent Pharisee, he stated the articles of the creed of the Pharisees which were so vigorously opposed by the Sadducees. He mentions "the hope" and "resurrection of the dead," which was really in question. This was a true statement. The hope is the Messianic hope of the coming of the Messiah. He had come in the person of the Lord JESUS CHRIST and yet He is "the hope"; for He is coming again. The resurrection of the dead is closely connected with CHRIST and His coming. The Sadducees were the Rationalists, and denied, besides the existence of spirits, the Messianic hope and the resurrection of the dead. A great discussion arose between these two parties. A big commotion followed. Some of the scribes belonging to the Pharisees cried loudly in defence of the prisoner - "We find no evil in this man; but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God." The latter sentence was a faint echo of the advice given by Gamaliel. The scene which followed beggars description. The shouting must have been terrific and Paul was in danger of being pulled to pieces by the council mob. Lysias, the chief captain, was obliged to interfere. The soldiers, at his command, came down and rescued Paul and brought him into the castle. The cleverness of Paul had been the means of liberating him from the hands of the Sanhedrim. II. The vision of the Lord (Acts 23:11). "And the night following the Lord stood by him, and said, Be of good cheer, Paul: for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome" (Acts 23:11). This is a most gracious and blessed fact, that now the Lord came into this scene of confusion and failure and in greatest tenderness to comfort and cheer His servant. One almost wishes it had pleased the Holy Ghost to give us a more detailed account of Paul in the castle that night and what took place. Two days had passed since the arrest of Paul and they had been eventful days. His body was bruised and full of pain. But how he must have suffered in his spirit! All the warnings frequently uttered by the Spirit of GOD not to go up to Jerusalem came back to his mind. The failure of having not heeded these warnings must have weighed heavily upon him. And the disappointment he had suffered! It was burning love for his brethren which had led him to Jerusalem and now he had received the fullest evidence that they would not receive his testimony. Thinking of what he had done and failed must have greatly humbled the Apostle. And now he was a prisoner. His career in preaching the Gospel among the Gentiles and Jews had been cut short. No doubt left alone in the castle all these thoughts and others crowded in upon him. There he sought his Lord in Prayer. What a prayer it must have been Paul prayed in the castle! How the tears must have flown as he told the Lord all, confessing his failure and telling Him of his disappointment! And then, not an angel, but the Lord, stood by him that night. His loving arms were around His servant. He appeared to cheer him and assure him of His love. There are three things especially to be noticed in the words of the Lord to Paul. He strengthened him by the encouraging word, "Be of good cheer." In the New Testament this comforting expression is exclusively used by our Lord. And what a meaning it has coming from His lips! "Be of good cheer." Disheartening were Paul’s experiences, perplexing his situation, dark and mysterious his future, but the Lord bade him to be of good cheer. What strength must have filled the Apostle’s heart as these words came to him! And we too can hear the words of cheer from our Lord in the midst of our difficulties and failures. He is the same to-day as he was then in that night. With such a Lord at our side we need never to despair. Then the Lord spoke peace into his humbled breast and calmed all the feelings and questionings which had risen in Paul’s mind. How little, Paul may have said to himself, “I told the Jews about my Lord and the Gospel! My testimony was not as faithful as it should have been. But now the Lord tells him that he had testified of Him in Jerusalem.” What Grace is this! The Lord told him that he had after all borne witness of Him. He did not remind him of his mistakes, his faults, and how he might have avoided them, but He reminds him of his faithfulness. Such is our Lord in His gracious dealings with His servants. All his questionings were ended. He knew all was right between the Lord and himself and that he was under His gracious and loving care. And then the Lord assures him also of future service. He had not yet reached the end of his labors. "Thou must bear witness also at Rome." Rome then is his goal, which he has to reach as the prisoner of the Lord. How all this must have set him at rest! The Lord was with him and would bring him to Rome. And that Lord is with us and shall guide and provide for His servants. May our hearts be comforted and encouraged by Paul’s experience during that night in the castle. III. The conspiracy against Paul and its discovery. “And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy. And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to-morrow, as though ye would inquire something more perfectly concerning him; and we, or ever he come near, are ready to kill him. And when Paul’s sister’s son heard of their lying in wait, he went and entered into the castle, and told Paul. “Then Paul called one of the centurions Unto Mm. and said, Bring this young man unto the chief captain: for he hath a certain thing to tell him. So he took him, and brought Mm to the chief captain, and said, Paul the prisoner called me unto him, and prayed me to bring this young man unto thee, who hath something to say unto thee. Then the chief captain took him by the hand, and went with him aside privately and asked him, What is that thou hast to tell me? And he said, The Jews have agreed to desire thee that thou wouldest bring down Paul to-morrow into the council, as though they would inquire somewhat of him more perfectly. But do not thou yield Unto them: for there lie in wait for him of them more than forty men, which have bound themselves with an oath, that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him: and now are they ready, looking for a promise from thee. So the chief captain then let the young man depart, and charged him, See thou tell no man that thou hast shewed these things to me" (Acts 23:12-22). The conspiracy against Paul reveals the condition of the nation. Jerusalem had indeed become a city of murderers (Isaiah 1:21). More than forty had made a religious vow that they would kill Paul. The plan is laid and everything ready for its execution. But they had not reckoned with Paul’s Lord. He was in His own hands and not in the hands of the Jews or the Gentiles, even as the life of all His servants rests in His omnipotent hand. The plot is discovered. A nephew of Paul was the chosen instrument. Paul’s sister, of whom we have no other knowledge apart from this passage, must have been a person of influence, for the son heard of the secret council and had likewise access into the castle. The chief captain heard of the plot from the lips of the young man and was now deeply concerned about Paul and his safety. This was the result of the knowledge this chief officer had gained, that Paul was a Roman citizen. The record needs no further comment. What now follows is all under His control, who had promised Paul that he would have to witness in Rome for Him. IV. Paul taken to Cesarea. "And he called unto him two centurions, saying, Make ready two hundred soldiers to go to Cesarea, and horsemen threescore and ten, and spearmen two hundred, at the third hour of the night; And provide them beasts, that they may set Paul on, and bring him safe unto Felix the governor. And he wrote a letter after this manner: Claudius Lysias unto the most excellent governor Felix Sendeth greeting. This man was taken of the Jews, and should have been killed of them: then came I with an army, and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman. And when I would have known the cause wherefore they accused him, I brought him forth into their council: Whom I perceived to be accused of questions of their law, but to have nothing laid to his charge worthy of death or of bonds. And when it was told me how that the Jews laid wait for the man, I sent straightway to thee, and gave commandment to his accusers also to say before thee what they had against him. Farewell. Then the soldiers, as it was commanded them, took Paul, and brought him by night to Antipatris. On the morrow they left the horsemen to go with him, and returned to the castle. Who, when they came to Cesarea, and delivered the Epistle to the governor, presented Paul also before him. And when the governor had read the letter, he asked of what province he was. And when he understood that he was of Cilicia; I will hear thee, said he, when thine accusers are also come. And he commanded him to be kept in Herod’s judgment hall!" (Acts 23:23-35). The prisoner of the Lord is now delivered into the hands of the Gentiles. A large force of soldiers accompanied Paul for his protection, while horses were also supplied to the Apostle. The danger was great, hence, the great precaution the chief officer, whose name is now mentioned, Claudius Lysias had taken. Could we have read in Paul’s own heart we would have seen there the peace of Christ; the words of His Lord still resounded in that faithful and devoted heart - "Be of good cheer." The letter of Claudius Lysias to the governor Felix is interesting. It shows how Lysias claims the full credit of having rescued Paul, because he was a Roman. He declares him innocent, yet delivers him into the hands of the governor. One would also like to know what had become of the forty conspirators. If they were true to their vow not to eat nor to drink till Paul had been killed, they must have starved to death, which, we are sure did not happen. Cesarea is reached in safety and Paul is delivered into the hands of the governor, who promised him a hearing as soon as the accusers would arrive. Jerusalem now laid forever behind him. Rome was before him. ~ end of chapter 23 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 65: 03.24. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR ======================================================================== CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR The account of the trial of the Apostle Paul before the Governor Felix and how this trial terminated is reported in this chapter. I. The indictment of Paul (Acts 24:1-9). II. The defence of the Apostle (Acts 24:10-21). III. How Felix disposed of the case (Acts 24:22-23). IV. Paul addresses Felix (Acts 24:24-27). I. The indictment of Paul. "And after five days Ananias the high priest descended with the elders and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul. And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence. We accept it always, and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness. Notwithstanding, that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldest hear us of thy clemency a few words. For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. Who also hath gone about to profane the temple: whom we took and would have judged according to our law. But the chief captain Lysias came upon us, and with great violence took him away out of our hands. Commanding his accusers to come unto thee; by examining of whom thyself mayest take knowledge of all these things, whereof we accuse him. And the Jews also assented, saying that these things were so" (Acts 24:1-9). If the Jews, after Paul’s removal from Jerusalem, had not pressed the case against him, he would have been liberated. As he had gone years ago to Damascus to persecute the Christians there, so now the Jews follow him to Cesarea to accuse him before the Roman governor. They evidently did not lose any time. Only a few days had elapsed when a strong deputation from Jerusalem appeared in Cesarea. The high priest filled with much hatred against Paul had taken it upon himself to come in person. This must have been an unusual occurrence for a person of Ananias’ standing to leave Jerusalem. He came not alone but brought with him the elders and a professional Roman lawyer Tertullus. No doubt the scheme of indictment was cleverly laid and the high priest must have counted much on his personal presence and on the eloquence of the hired lawyer. GOD was left out completely. The address of Tertullus is characteristically Roman. He pays a flattering tribute to Felix, which however fell on barren ground. That official knew well the hollowness of these compliments. The words Tertullus used against the great man of GOD are extremely vile and manifest the hiss of the serpent. He calls him "a pestilent fellow," a person of whom society may well be rid of. The indictment contains three counts. First stands a political accusation. This, in presence of the high Roman officer, was of the greatest importance. Any conspiracy against the Roman government was a capital offence. The charge of sedition or treason was thus at once laid at the door of the Apostle. The second offence Tertullus brought against Paul was of a religious nature. As ringleader of the Nazarenes, presented by him as a sect of the Jews, he had abetted that which was against the peace of Judaism and introduced not alone a disturbing element, but had transgressed another Roman law, which forbade the introduction of unrecognized religious sects. The third charge was the profanation of the temple. If this last charge could have been proven against Paul the sentence of death would have fallen against him. The address of Tertullus is most likely not reported in full. There is a difficulty about the words "and would have judged according to our law, but the chief captain Lysias came upon us and with great violence took him away out of our hands, commanding his accusers to come unto thee." In some of the oldest manuscripts these words are not found; in the manuscripts in which they are found variations occur. The critical school has ruled them out. The chief reason given besides the textual difficulty is because the Jews would not have accused Lysias. We believe the words are genuine and that they belong in the text. If they are omitted the words "by examining of whom thyself mayest take knowledge of all these things whereof we accuse him" must be applied to Paul. But that was against Roman customs that the judge should be referred to the prisoner. If they are not omitted then Tertullus meant that Lysias should himself be examined. Acts 24:22 settles the difficulty. Felix said that he would delay his decision till Lysias would arrive. When Tertullus had completed his speech, the Jews, Ananias and his elders fully endorsed the statements of their lawyer. II. The defence of the Apostle. "Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself: Because that thou mayest understand, that there are yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship. And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the city: Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me. But this I confess unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets: And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men. Now after many years I came to bring alms to my nation, and offerings. Whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with multitude, nor with tumult. Who ought to have been here before thee, and object, if they had aught against me. Or else let these same here say, if they have found any evil doing in me while I stood before the council, Except it be for this one voice, that I cried standing among them, Touching the resurrection of the dead I am called in question by you this day" (Acts 24:10-21). For the third time in the history of this book, Paul addresses a Roman officer of high rank, Gallio and Sergius Paulus were the others. His defense is masterly. The Spirit of GOD helped him now as he faced his cunning accusers and his judge. No flattery is used by him. Any kind of flattery is unworthy of a Christian. The flattering tongue is the serpent’s tongue. - "A flattering mouth worketh ruin" (Proverbs 26:28). - "A man that flattereth with his tongue spreadeth a net for his feet" (Proverbs 29:5). - "The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips" (Psalms 12:3). Paul only refers to the fact that Felix was a judge appointed over the nation for many years. His innocence is apparent in the cheerful manner in which he begins his defence. His address contains: - A denial of the first charge; - A confession and admission concerning the second, and - A complete vindication of the accusation of the temple profanation. He points first of all to the fact that only twelve days had elapsed since his arrival in Jerusalem and that he did not go there to cause an insurrection against the Roman authorities, but to worship. He did not congregate a crowd. He did not dispute openly (as Stephen did) nor did he incite the Jews in the synagogues or in the city to rebellion. Boldly he asserts that they have no proof whatever against him as a political offender. But it was different with the second count of Tertullus’ indictment. Here he admits the fact that "the way" which they call heresy, faith in CHRIST, is his way of worshipping the GOD of his fathers. But this way did not change his belief in the law and the prophets, as the accusation might have implied. Then he speaks of hope toward GOD, the resurrection of the dead, both the just and the unjust. He also testifies of his own life and walk as a believer in the way in which he served GOD. He had used self-discipline to have a conscience void of offence toward GOD and men. The great truth he held and for which he had been imprisoned, resulted in a righteous life. In a brief word, he speaks of his own love for the nation, and states one of the purposes of his visit to Jerusalem to bring alms and offerings to his nation. How simple, yet masterly, all this was put. But the last charge had to be refuted. The falsity of what Tertullus had accused him he proves in a few well-chosen words. He had been in the temple, but not to profane it. There was no multitude; there was no tumult from his side. No witnesses were present to substantiate the charge of the profanation of the temple. He even appealed to Ananias and the elders to speak if any evil had been found in him when he had appeared before the Council. He readily owns the statement he had made touching resurrection, the words which precipitated the riot. He had proven the injustice of the charges and by his honest admissions demonstrated his innocence. III. How Felix disposed of the case. "And when Felix heard these things, having more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them, and said, When Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will know the uttermost of your matter. And he commanded a centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, and that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or come unto him" (Acts 24:22-23). Felix had more perfect knowledge of the way. He was acquainted with the truths concerning CHRIST and with Christianity, though he himself was not walking in the way. He knew that the accusations were not true. He refuses a decision. Justice demanded that Paul should be set at liberty. However, Felix defers it all to the time when Lysias, the chief captain, came to Cesarea. But Lysias never showed up. Paul was kept a prisoner. A second hearing before Felix he never received; but Felix heard Paul, as we read in the concluding paragraph of this chapter. IV. Paul addresses Felix. "And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him: wherefore he sent for him the oftener, and communed with him. But, after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix’ room: and Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound" (Acts 24:24-27). Felix was married three times. His wife, Drusilla, mentioned here, was a daughter of Herod, that is Agrippa I, who slew James. Drusilla’s brother was the Agrippa mentioned in the twenty-sixth chapter of our book. Drusilla had been married to the King of Emesa. She had abandoned him for Felix, and was at that time not yet 20 years old. According to some authorities it was she who expressed the desire to hear the Apostle speak concerning the faith of CHRIST. No doubt it was mere curiosity, if not to ridicule the servant of the Lord. Where the audience took place is not stated. Paul knew undoubtedly Felix and Drusilla’s history. The prisoner becomes judge. Instead of satisfying their curiosity, he speaks boldly truths concerning righteousness, temperance and judgment to come which uncovered the wicked doings of the pair and touched the conscience of Felix. He trembled as he saw his heart laid bare and got a glimpse of judgment to come. He refused the solemn message and therefore Paul could not present to him the blessed Gospel. The address of Paul was not completed. Felix broke it off and dismissed the preacher with that familiar excuse, which has led countless souls to eternal ruin, "when I have a convenient season I will call for thee." He did send often for him and communed with him, but it was not to learn the way of life. He expected a bribe from Paul so that he might purchase his liberty. The Apostle remained a prisoner in Cesarea for two years. No doubt during this time he enjoyed the fellowship of the saints. Besides Luke, Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with Paul. We doubt not with the liberty granted unto the Apostle he had many opportunities to minister the Word. Perhaps it was during these two years that Luke, the beloved physician, was moved to write the Gospel record which bears his name and which was addressed to Theophilus. Felix left Paul behind as prisoner, thinking to show the Jews a favor. Porcius Festus became governor in the place of Felix. ~ end of chapter 24 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 66: 03.25. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE ======================================================================== CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Over two years before the history contained in the present chapter transpired, the Lord had spoken to Paul during that memorable night in the castle Antonia, "Be of good cheer, Paul; for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also in Rome." In this chapter we approach the end of this book. Paul appealed to Caesar, and the new governor answered him, "Unto Caesar shalt thou go." After his great speech before King Agrippa, we have the record of the journey, the shipwreck and his arrival in Rome and his presence there. With this the great historical book of the Acts closes. I. Festus and the Jews. Paul appeals to Caesar (Acts 25:1-12). II. King Agrippa visits Festus (Acts 25:13-22). III. Paul brought before the King (Acts 25:23-27). I. Festus and the Jews. Paul appeals to Caesar. "Now when Festus was come into the province, after three days he ascended from Cesarea to Jerusalem. Then the high priest and the chief of the Jews informed him against Paul, and besought him. And desired favor against him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying wait in the way to kill him. But Festus answered, that Paul should be kept at Cesarea, and that he himself would depart shortly thither. Let them therefore, said he, which among you are able, go down with me, and accuse this man, if there be any wickedness in him. And when he had tarried among them more than ten days, he went down unto Cesarea; and the next day sitting on the judgment seat commanded Paul to be brought. And when he was come, the Jews which came down from Jerusalem stood round about, and laid many and grievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove. While he answered for himself, neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar, have I offended any thing at all. “But Festus, willing to show the Jews a pleasure, answered Paul, and said, Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things before me? Then said Paul, I stand at Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest. For if I be an offender, or have committed any thing worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them. I appeal unto Caesar. Then Festus, when he had conferred with the council, answered, Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? unto Caesar shalt thou go" (Acts 25:1-12). The new governor, Festus, had arrived at Cesarea, and then went up to Jerusalem, the capital of the province. The Jews had not forgotten Paul, though they had not attempted another accusation before Felix, knowing that the case was hopeless. But they made at once an effort with the new governor. No sooner had this official made his appearance in Jerusalem, but the high priest and the chief of the Jews made a report about Paul. Most likely Festus had not even heard of Paul up to that time. Ananias was no longer high priest; Ishmael Ben Phabi had taken the office. What really took place in Jerusalem, Festus later relates to Agrippa. When Paul was presented to Agrippa, Festus introduced him by saying, "Ye see this man, about whom all the multitude of the Jews have dealt with me both at Jerusalem, and also here, crying that he ought not to live any longer" (Acts 25:24). A scene of tumult must have been enacted in Jerusalem when Festus showed himself. The mob clamored for the life of Paul. When they noticed the reluctance of the governor, they concocted another plan. They requested that Paul should be brought to Jerusalem. On the way there they intended to murder him. Why did not Festus fall in line with this suggestion? When he saw Paul face to face he asked him the question if he would go up to Jerusalem to be judged there. Why then did he not consent to the proposal of the Jews? He knew nothing of the murderous plot against Paul. It was GOD who kept him from granting the desire of the Jews. That eye which neither sleeps nor slumbers kept watch over Paul as it still does over every child of GOD. Festus demanded instead that some Jews should come to Cesarea and accuse Paul and he would hear the case. After he had tarried in Jerusalem for over ten days, he returned to Cesarea. Paul then appeared before him for trial and the Jews were there from Jerusalem. But it was a wild scene again. They brought many and grievous complaints against Paul, but they could not prove anything. This failure must have been the source of much excitement. It was then that the same scene which took place in Jerusalem was gone through once more. They cried out that he should not live any longer (Acts 25:24). But how calm the Apostle stands in the midst of that scene of turmoil. His words are brief and positive. "Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor yet against Caesar have I offended anything at all." This shows that the same accusations were brought against him. Festus remembered the former request of the Jews to have Paul in Jerusalem. To please them he asked Paul if he would go to Jerusalem. He refuses to be delivered unto them. If he is an offender, he is ready to die. Then it was when he appealed unto Caesar. Did he do wrong? Certainly not. He knew the Lord’s will that he had to testify in Rome. Rome was the goal before him. He acted in this according to the will of GOD. Festus and Agrippa later declared that he might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar. It was not lack of faith Paul exhibited in appealing to Caesar, but an evidence of faith and submission to the will of the Lord. Festus held a meeting with his council and declared, "Unto Caesar thou shalt go." II. King Agrippa visits Festus. "And after certain days King Agrippa and Bernice came unto Cesarea to salute Festus. And when they had been there many days, Festus declared Paul’s cause unto the king, saying, There is a certain man left in bonds by Felix: About whom, when I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews informed me, desiring to have judgment against him. To whom I answered, It is not the manner of the Romans to deliver any man to die, before that he which is accused have the accusers face to face, and have license to answer for himself concerning the crime laid against him. Therefore, when they were come hither, without any delay on the morrow, I sat on the judgment seat, and commanded the man to be brought forth. Against whom when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusation of such things as I supposed: But had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive. And because I doubted of such manner of questions, I asked him whether he would go to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these matters. But when Paul had appealed to be reserved unto the hearing of Augustus, I commanded him to be kept till I might send him to Cesar. Then Agrippa said unto Festus, I would also hear the man myself. To-morrow, said he, thou shalt hear him" (Acts 25:13-22). Agrippa and Bernice paid a visit to the new governor. The father of this king was known as Herod Agrippa and died under awful circumstances (Acts 12:1-25) in the year 44. When his father died Agrippa was in Rome. He was too young to receive the kingdom of his father Herod. Eight years later, Herod, King of Chalcis, the uncle of Agrippa, died. He had married Agrippa’s sister Bernice, and Caesar gave Chalcis to Agrippa. Later Agrippa received the title as king. Agrippa I had left three daughters besides this son-Bernice, Marianne and Drusilla, the wife of Felix. Bernice, who was the wife of her uncle, after his death joined her brother Agrippa in Rome. She married a Celician ruler, but deserted him and joined again her brother, in whose company she paid this visit to Cesarea. The coming of King Agrippa solved the dilemma of Festus. He knew little of the case, yet he was expected to make in the so-called "letters demissory," a full statement of the case. Agrippa was a Jew and he was also thoroughly Roman, so that Festus could expect help from him in knowing the facts about his prisoner. After the visit had lasted many days, Festus lays the case of Paul before Agrippa. No further comment is needed on the words of Festus. He shows his ignorance as a Roman heathen of the Lord JESUS and His resurrection, when he calls this great event a Jewish superstition. Agrippa then expressed a desire to hear the man and Festus was only too willing to show this favor to the king. III. Paul before the King. "And on the morrow, when Agrippa was come, and Bernice, with great pomp, and was entered into the place of hearing, with the chief captains, and principal men of the city, at Festus’ commandment, Paul was brought forth. And Festus said, King Agrippa, and all men which are here present with us, ye see this man, about whom all the multitude of the Jews have dealt with me, both at Jerusalem, and also here, crying that he ought not to live any longer. But when I found that he had committed nothing worthy of death, and that he himself hath appealed to Augustus, I have determined to send him. Of whom I have no certain thing to write unto my lord. Wherefore I have brought him forth before you, and specially before thee, O king Agrippa, that, after examination had, I might have somewhat to write. For it seemeth to me unreasonable to send a prisoner, and not withal to signify the crimes laid against him" (Acts 25:23-27). The presentation of Paul was made a state occasion. Agrippa and his wicked sister Bernice appeared in royal splendor and all the military and civic officials turned out. It must have been a splendid gathering which had come together in the audience chamber. After they had all entered and taken their places, the rattling of a chain was heard and Paul was led into the presence of the assembled company. What a contrast! Perhaps they looked upon him with pity as they saw the chain. But more pity must have filled the heart of the great servant of CHRIST as he saw the poor lost souls bedecked with the miserable tinsel of earth. Festus addressed the King and the whole company. He frankly states what troubled him and that he expects the King to furnish the material for the statements he had, as governor, to send to Rome. ~ end of chapter 25 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 67: 03.26. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX ======================================================================== CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself. Then Paul stretched forth the hand and answered for himself." But his great address before the King is not so much a defence of himself; he speaks of the Lord and His gracious dealings with himself. The Lord’s own words concerning Paul are again accomplished. "He is a chosen vessel with me to bear my name before Gentiles and Kings and the children of Israel" (Acts 9:15). He bears now witness to His Name before a King. I. The Address of the Apostle Paul (Acts 26:2-23). II. The Interruption by Festus and the Appeal to the King (Acts 26:24-29). III. The Verdict (Acts 26:30-32). I. The Address of the Apostle Paul. This is no doubt the greatest of his addresses. It has several parts. 1. The Opening Words. "I think myself happy, king Agrippa, because I shall answer for myself this day before thee touching all the things whereof I am accused of the Jews: Especially because I know thee to be expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews: wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently" (Acts 26:2-3). These are gracious words. Even as he stands in chains the great Apostle counts himself happy. His happiness consisted in the knowledge that he was now privileged to bear witness of His Lord and the Gospel committed to him before such an audience. What an opportunity it was to him and how he rejoiced that he could speak of Him, whom he served. He also honored the King by a brief remark, in which he expressed his delight in speaking before one who was so fully acquainted with Jewish customs and questions. 2. A Restatement of his Past Life as a Pharisee. "My manner of life from my youth, which was at the first among mine own nation at Jerusalem, know all the Jews; which knew me from the beginning, if they would testify, that after the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee. And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise made of God unto our fathers: Unto which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For which hope’s sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the dead? I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Which thing I also did in Jerusalem: and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them. And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities" (Acts 26:4-11). Similar statements we find in his first address as prisoner when he addressed the Jewish multitudes in the temple (Acts 22:3-5). Here, however, he enters more into the character of the accusation brought against him. He had lived conscientiously as a Pharisee. As such he had believed and trusted in the hope of the promise made of GOD unto the fathers. The twelve tribes, that is all Israel serving GOD instantly, expected the realization of this promised hope. This hope is the national one of the nation’s future glory and blessing. But it centers in the Person of the Messiah, CHRIST. He is the hope of Israel, abundantly borne witness to by the Prophets of GOD, whose testimony concerning the future of Israel is always linked with the Holy One, the Redeemer, and His manifestation in the midst of Israel. Thus Paul establishes the fact that he is one in hope and spirit with the nation in their expectation of the fulfilment of the promises of GOD. And on account of this hope, he told the King he was accused of the Jews. At once he touches upon the resurrection of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. Why should it be thought a thing incredible with you, that GOD should raise the dead? The whole history of Israel bears witness to the fact, that GOD can bring life from the dead. The very origin of the nation demonstrates this, for Sarah’s womb was a grave and GOD brought life out of that grave. Many promises of the past vouched for GOD’s power to raise the dead. The nation had this promise that spiritual and national death is to give way to spiritual and national life (Ezekiel 37:1-15; Hosea 6:1-3). The resurrection of the Lord JESUS CHRIST proved Him to be the Holy One and the Hope of Israel. In this sense Peter speaks of His resurrection. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again to a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3). The grave of the Lord JESUS was for the disciples the grave of their national hope, but His resurrection from the dead the revival of that hope. Then once more the Apostle tells of how he persecuted the saints and did many things contrary to the name of JESUS of Nazareth. It is the darkest picture he gives here of himself. He shut up the saints in prison, he voted their death, he punished them in synagogues, he compelled them to blaspheme, he raved against them and even persecuted them in strange cities. And upon that dark background he can now flash forth once more the story of his conversion. 3. The Heavenly Vision. "Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests. At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee" (Acts 26:12-17). Once more, for the last time in this book, the record of his remarkable experience is given. As we have given an exposition of it before we need not enter into it again. The comparison of the different records will show that they are complementary and not contradictory as often claimed. He tells here especially of the quality of the light which burst from heaven upon him. It was above the brightness of the sun, the glory light of Him, whose members on earth he had persecuted. Some day the same glory will flash forth once more and that future manifestation of the Lord will mark the conversion of the nation. Paul’s experience is a type of all this. Then he had received his divine commission. He was to be a minister and a witness of things he had seen and he were yet to see. The latter refer to the subsequent revelations he received from the Lord. But his special ministry was to the Gentiles "unto whom now I send thee." 4. The Gospel Message Declared. "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me" (Acts 26:18). This may be looked upon as the center of the Apostle’s address. Now the proper moment had arrived to state the Gospel message before this company. It is a terse statement of the message which the Lord had committed ’unto him. All the elements of the Gospel are contained in this verse. There is first the condition of man by nature. Eyes, which are blind, in darkness, under the power of Satan. The eyes are to be opened, and through the Gospel man is turned from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto GOD. In Colossians 1:12 the same is stated. Then the blessings of conversion. Forgiveness of sins and an inheritance. Faith is the means of all this; sanctification, that is separation, in conversion "by faith that is in me." One wonders if the Holy Spirit even then did not bless the message to some heart and the Grace of GOD bestowed these blessings upon some believing sinners. It may have been so. The day will make it known. 5. The Obedience to the Heavenly Vision. "Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: but shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. For these causes the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to kill me. Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles" (Acts 26:19-23). He had been obedient to the heavenly vision. How else could it be? His whole life was given up in service to Him, whose Glory he had seen, whose Grace had so wonderfully saved him. In Acts 26:20 he sums up the untiring activity of his life and service. He tells King Agrippa in a brief sentence of the murderous attempt of the Jews. Furthermore he gives GOD the glory for having kept him through the dark experience since his arrest so that he can continue his witnessing. All his teaching and preaching had been in agreement with the testimony of the Prophets. CHRIST should suffer, rise from the dead and blessing for the people (Jews) and the Gentiles should be the result. II. The Interruption by Festus and the Appeal to the King. "And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad. But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds" (Acts 26:24-29). Festus, the Gentile, ignorant of much what Paul so blessedly declared and yet deeply impressed with the prisoner’s eloquent enthusiasm, interrupted him. "Thou art beside thyself" - "much learning doth make thee mad." Thus the Lord himself had been charged (Mark 3:21; John 10:20). Paul in a courteous answer tells the startled Festus that his words were not words of a mad man, but words of truth and soberness. The words of a Spirit guided and Spirit filled man are always such. Then Paul turns to the King and appeals to him. The Jewish King knew that the things he had declared were not inventions of a diseased brain but facts. The facts he had related had not taken place in some obscure corner. The King knew of the appearance of CHRIST, of His death and all the other related events. Perhaps the uneasiness of the King as the matter was directly put before him led to the bold question of the prisoner. The one who was questioned concerning his life now turns questioner. "King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I knew that thou believest." The King was thus brought face to face with the important message. Decision is demanded. Could he, the Jewish King, in the presence of such an audience of Jews and Gentiles commit himself? I know that thou believest, was the declaration of the inspired messenger. He could not deny the fact that he did believe the prophets and he would not confess that he accepted the facts as stated by Paul and that he believed. It was a clever word by which he escaped the difficulty. "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." The meaning is rather "by a little more persuasion you might make me a Christian." No doubt conviction had taken hold on him. In this half mocking way he answers the Apostle. How many after him have acted in the same way and rejected the Grace, which stood ready to save. And then that great heart of the Apostle Paul, filled with divine, yearning love, bursts forth in a prayer for the convicted King and the whole company. "I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds." What a memorable event! Paul before Agrippa and divine love pleading through the prisoner of the Lord. III. The Verdict. "And when he had thus spoken, the king rose up, and the governor, and Bernice, and they that sat with them. And when they were gone aside, they talked between themselves, saying, This man doeth nothing worthy of death or of bonds. Then said Agrippa unto Festus, This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar" (Acts 26:30-32). The audience was over, for the King rose up and that was the signal of the breaking up of the company, never to meet thus again. The verdict of a private consultation is "This Man doeth nothing worthy of death." Herod Agrippa said unto Festus "This man might have been set at liberty, if he had not appealed unto Caesar." If Paul had not made his appeal to Caesar he might have then be freed. We have seen before that his appeal to Rome was according to the will of the Lord. To Rome then he goes. All is ordered by a gracious Lord. ~ end of chapter 26 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 68: 03.27. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN ======================================================================== CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN The remarkable book now draws to its close. The journey towards Rome and the Apostle’s presence in Rome as a prisoner brings us to the end of the record. Shipwreck and the chief actor of the greater part of this book in a prison conclude the story of the early days of the church on earth. Behind the historical account one may easily see the stormy voyage of the professing church; her adversities, tossing about and shipwreck. However, such an application needs caution. It is easy to step into fanciful and far-fetched allegorical teaching. Besides church history, other applications have been made of this narrative. A commentator claims that the keynote to the interpretation is given in Acts 27:34 in the word salvation. "This and cognate words occur seven times in the chapter: Hope to be saved, ye cannot be saved, to be completely saved. While the contrary fate is no less richly depicted - injury, loss, throwing away, perish, kill and to be cast away. The history, then, is a parable of the great salvation, by which man is brought through death to life." We shall not attempt to seek for an outline of church history in the events of this chapter. Here and there we shall touch upon a few lessons suggested by the account of the voyage. The central figure, the prisoner of the Lord, shall occupy us more than anything else. It is said that in all the classical literature there is nothing found which gives so much information of the working of an ancient ship as this chapter does. Even the critics have acknowledged that this chapter "bears the most indisputable marks of authenticity." "Historical research and inscriptions have confirmed the facts given in this chapter, while the accuracy of Luke’s nautical observations is shown by the great help he has given to our understanding of ancient seamanship. None has impugned the correctness of his phrases; on the contrary, from his description contained in a few sentences, the scene of the wreck has been identified." [*] [*] Richard B. Rackham on Acts. The whole account is most clearly proven by a work of wide research on "The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul," by James Smith. We follow then briefly the different stages of the Apostle’s journey towards Rome. I. From Cesarea to Fair Havens (Acts 27:1-8). II. The Unheeded Warning. The Storm. Paul’s Vision and Assurance of Safety (Acts 27:9-26). III. The Shipwreck (Acts 27:27-44). I. From Cesarea to Fair Havens. "And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus’ band. And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia; one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us. And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends. to refresh himself. And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. And when we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, ’Ye came to Myra, a city of Lycia. And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy; and he put us therein. And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone; And, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called The fair havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea" (Acts 27:1-8). Some time must have elapsed after the memorable speech before Agrippa and the beginning of the journey. Perhaps the certain other prisoners had first to be gathered and then Paul with the others were delivered to a centurion of Augustus’ band, named Julius. The great Apostle with all the wealth of divine revelation is now in custody of a Roman officer. From the second verse we learn that besides the beloved physician and inspired author of this book, Luke, Aristarchus was also on board. In Acts 21:18 we learned that he was then also with the Apostle. Later in writing from Rome Paul calls Aristarchus, his fellow prisoner (Colossians 2:10), which however, does not necessarily mean that he was carried along as a prisoner. Had he been arrested with the Apostle as some have stated, surmising that he was with Paul in the temple, when the mob fell on him, then surely some statements to that effect would have been made before. Julius treated Paul with much leniency. He knew of course the verdict given by Herod Agrippa, that he was not guilty and might have been a free man had he not appealed to Caesar. At Sidon, where they landed, Paul is permitted to visit his friends and to refresh himself. Most likely Paul was in a physically weakened condition so that Julius entreated him to leave the ship. The Lord’s gracious and loving care for His faithful servant shines out in this. How clearly the whole narrative shows that all is in His hands: officers, winds and waves, all circumstances, are under His control. So far all seemed to go well; but contrary winds now trouble the voyagers. The ship is tossed to and fro. If we look upon the ship as a type of the professing church and the little company, headed by Paul, as the true church, then there is no difficulty in seeing the issue. Winds which drive hither and thither trouble those who hold the truth and live in fellowship with the Lord, while the professing church is cast about. Then Myra was reached. Here they took a ship of Alexandria. The expositors who attempt to trace the history of the church in the account see much in this statement. They tell us that it is typical of the professing church’s more direct course towards Rome. These different typical applications are often forced. After sailing slowly many days they reached a place called "the fair havens." Then they reached the island of Crete. The place Lasea has been geographically located. But the name of the port was deceptive. "The fair havens" were far from peace and rest, but the place was exposed to the blasts of the winds. There are no fair havens of peace in this present evil age. The fair havens will only be reached when the Lord JESUS CHRIST returns. II. The Unheeded Warning. The Storm. Paul’s Vision and Assurance of Safety. "Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them, And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives. Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul. And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phoenice, and there to winter; which is an haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south west and north west. And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete. But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat; Which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were driven. And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. “And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar; and 10, God hath given thee all them that sailed with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer; for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island" (Acts 27:9-26). The late fall had been reached and navigation was then considered a hazardous thing. Nautical instruments were unknown, and other imperfect knowledge was a great drawback to navigation at that time. Little sea trading was done during the late fall and less during the winter months. They waited till sailing had become dangerous. The fast mentioned which had passed was that of the Day of Atonement. Could we conclude from this statement that Paul and his companions kept the Day of Atonement by fasting? Some believe this, and that the Apostle continued in all the observances of the ceremonial law and even the traditions of the elders. This is incorrect. It was customary to remember these different feasts and holidays simply for the sake of marking time. In this sense it is mentioned here. Most likely a consultation of the commander of the ship and the owner, who was on board, and the centurion, was held, and Paul was present. He gives them a solemn warning and cautions them to beware. This shows his close fellowship with the Lord. In prayer, no doubt, he had laid the whole matter before the Lord and received the answer, which he communicates to the persons in authority. They looked upon it as a mere guess and the centurion rather trusted in the judgment of the captain and the owner. And here we can think of other warnings given through the great Apostle. Warnings concerning the spiritual dangers, the apostasy of the last days, the perilous times, warnings against the seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. The professing church has forgotten these divinely-given predictions. The world does not heed them. Like these mariners, who believed in their own wisdom and disregarded the warning given, Christendom has paid no attention to these warnings. For this reason the ship is drifting, cast about by every wind of doctrine and rapidly nearing the long predicted shipwreck. Their aim was to reach Phoenice, another haven of Crete, to put up for the winter. All went well for a time, but suddenly a terrific tempest arose. The hurricane which struck them was known by the name of Euroclydon. The ship was caught in the high seas and driven by the gale. A small island, Clauda, afforded a little shelter. A smaller boat was trailing behind and was now lifted on board. Helps had to be used to undergird the ship and keep it from going to pieces. Still greater danger was ahead. Large sandbanks were nearby. To prevent the stranding they took in the sail and were once more driven by the wind. All this reminds us of the many endeavors from the side of man to keep professing Christendom together. The power gone, because disobedient to the Lord and His word, things are drifting and all kinds of worldly means and helps are employed to keep from sinking. Paul and his companions were conscious of the fact that they were in the hands of the Lord, who made the sea and at whose command the waves and the wind must obey. Their trouble had just begun. The next day a part of the cargo was cast from the ship to make it lighter. The third day the tackling of the ship followed. The wheat they still kept, for they had need of it. Later even that went (Acts 27:38). Sun and stars were hidden for many days; in despair, they abandoned all hope of salvation. Here we may think of the Satanic influences and power, typified by the continued wind, and of the periods of church history when indeed the sun and stars were hidden, when all testimony to CHRIST and testimony from the side of His people seemed to have ceased. When despair had reached its heights, Paul appears once more upon the scene. When all was hopeless the prisoner of the Lord spoke the words of hope and cheer. He reminds them first of their refusal and disobedience. What had came upon them was the result of having not heeded the warning. He then assures them that an angel of GOD had assured him once more that he would have to stand before Caesar; but GOD had given to him all that sail with him. Only the ship is to go down, the lives of all who sail with him will be preserved. "Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer; for I believe GOD, that it shall be even so as it hath been spoken unto me." And now they were willing to listen to him. They had to acknowledge their disobedience and believe the message of cheer as it came from the divinely instructed messenger, assuring them of their ultimate salvation. And so, at least, in part, drifting Christendom can listen to the Apostle Paul, and if the mistake, the wrong course, is acknowledged, the heavenly-sent message is accepted, salvation is assured. II. The Shipwreck. “But when the fourteenth night was come, as we were driven up and down in Adria, about midnight the shipmen deemed that they drew near to some country; And sounded and found it twenty fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms. Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. “And as the shipmen were about to flee out of the ship, when they had let down the boat into the sea, under color as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off. And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. Wherefore I pray you to take some meat; for this is for your health: for there shall not a hair fall from the head of any of you. And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all; and when he had broken it, he began to eat. Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat. And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls. And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, and cast out the wheat into the sea. And when it was day, they knew not the land: but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into the which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship. And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder bands, and hoisted up the mainsail to the wind, and made toward shore. And falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast, and remained un moveable, but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves. And the soldiers’ counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape. But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose; and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land: And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land” (Acts 27:27-44). How calm the Apostle and his companions must have been after this assurance of their safety. The dreadful wind might continue and the ship drift still further. They knew they were safe, for GOD had spoken. Different it was with the crew of the ship. In great distress they feared the coming disaster and cast out four anchors. The shipmen attempted flight by a clever scheme. Paul discovered their plan and said to the Centurion and soldiers, "Except these abide in the ship, ye (not we) cannot be saved." GOD had given him all who were in the ship. The work of the sailors was needed when the daybreak came. And the soldiers believed the word of Paul, for they cut the ropes, which set the boat adrift the sailors tried to use. Then Paul exhorted them to eat. Once more he assured them that not a hair should fall from the head of anyone. Before the whole company, two hundred and seventy-six persons, Paul took bread and gave thanks to GOD. The Lord had exalted the prisoner and he really stands out as the leader of the distressed company. They all became encouraged by the words and action. All has its lessons. However the meal has nothing to do with the Lord’s Supper. It tells us typically how necessary it is that we must feed on the bread of life in the days of danger, the times when everything breaks up. The details of the account we do not need to follow. The soldiers suggested the killing of the prisoners. The soldiers were responsible for every prisoner with their lives. If some were to escape they would be killed for the neglect. So for this selfish reason they would have killed each prisoner. The Centurion kept them from carrying out this evil purpose. And when the ship went to pieces all escaped safe to land. GOD was faithful to His promise. GOD saved, though the ship went into pieces. Even so GOD is faithful to His promise and all who trust in His ever-blessed Son are saved and safe, and none of them can be lost. The ship, professing Christendom, is breaking up and the ship cannot save. The story of the journey towards Rome and the shipwreck reveals the acts of the adversary once more. No doubt he would have prevented the Apostle from reaching Rome in fulfillment of the Lord’s word and plan. The last attempt was through the soldiers. But none can frustrate GOD’s purposes. Happy are we if we learn that all rests in His hands whose love will never fail and whose power can never diminish. The winds of trial and adversity, the schemes of man and assaults of the enemy must help together in the fulfillment of His own councils. Yea, all things must work together for good to them that love GOD. The next chapter brings us to the end of the journey and to Rome itself. ~ end of chapter 27 ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 69: 03.28. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT ======================================================================== CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT The final stage of the journey to Rome, the Apostle’s arrival there and a brief account of how he called the Jews together in a meeting and delivered them an important message, form the ending of this book. I. In the Island of Melita (Acts 28:1-10). II. The arrival in Rome (Acts 28:11-16). III. Paul calling the chief of the Jews and his message (Acts 28:17-29). IV. The Apostle’s activity in Rome (Acts 28:30-31). I. In the Island of Melita. "And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita. And the barbarous people shewed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god. In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously. And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever And of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him. So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed. Who also honoured us with many honors; and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary" (Acts 28:1-10). Melita, which means "honey," is the island of Malta. It was even then a prominent place for navigation where many vessels wintered. Luke calls the inhabitants Barbarians, a term used by the Greeks for all peoples who did not speak their language. The wrecked company was not plundered by the people of the island, but instead received much kindness and were made comfortable in the cold rain which fell. Those who apply all this in an allegorical way, find much meaning in this. [*] [*] The shipwreck is often applied allegorically to the wrecking of Christianity by the world under Constantine the Great and in the name of Melita (Honey) they see an indication that the professing church supposed then to have reached "the land which flows with milk and honey." But so many other allegorical meanings, many of them forced, are made, that we do not consider such applications at all. The primary meaning of the account is to give us the history of how Paul reached Rome. It was GOD who moved the hearts of these islanders to show such hospitality to the shipwrecked company for the sake of His servants. Paul is active even then. The shipwreck and privations must have told on the great man of GOD physically, yet we see him going about gathering a bundle of sticks for the fire. This labor must have been difficult, since as a prisoner he wore a chain on his hands. A viper, which had been benumbed by the cold and revived by the heat of the fire, fastened on his hand. The serpent did him no harm and he cast it into the fire, where it found a miserable end. We doubt not it was a poisonous viper. This is denied by some critics on the plea that poisonous snakes are not found in the island of Malta. However, that is no proof that such did not exist at that time. The inhabitants of the island expected Paul to fall dead. If it had been a harmless snake, why such an expectation? GOD’s power was manifested in his behalf; it was unquestionably a fulfillment of the promise in Mark 16:18, "they shall take up serpents . . . and it shall not hurt them." How Satan tried to hinder Paul from reaching Rome; how he attempted to oppose GOD’s will and GOD’s plan! By the murderous Jews, by the storms of the sea, the suggestion of the soldiers to kill the prisoners, and now by the viper Satan tried to frustrate the Lord’s plan. But GOD kept His servant and no harm could come to him. In the same keeping all His people rest. We are safe under Him, our omnipotent Lord. The viper which fastened on Paul’s hand reminds us of Satan, that old serpent. He is a conquered enemy. He attacks us, he will fasten on us wherever he can; we are told to resist the devil and he will have to flee from us. In a believing, conscious union with CHRIST, all his attacks will prove harmless, till at last Satan shall be bruised under our feet and the serpent will be cast into the Lake of Fire. Then there was a manifestation of the gracious power of the Lord towards the inhabitants of the island. Publius, the chief man of the island, had shown also much kindness to the apostle and his companions. The father of Publius was severely sick; Paul visited him and after prayer and the laying on of hands he was healed. As this became known, others who were afflicted with diseases came and were healed. The Lord honored His servant and did good to those, who had shown kindness to His own. Along with the healing of diseases, the Apostle must have preached the blessed Gospel. II. The Arrival in Rome. "And after three months we departed in a ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux. And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days. And from thence we fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium: and after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Puteoli: Where we found brethren, and were desired to tarry with them seven days: and so we went toward Rome. And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum, and the Three Taverns; whom when Paul saw, he thanked God, and took courage. And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard: but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him" (Acts 28:11-16). Three months had gone by - the winter months, during which navigation was at a standstill. An Alexandrian vessel, which had wintered in the safe harbor of Melita, carried the company towards their destination, Puteoli, the harbor of Rome. This was in the early part of Spring. After landing at Syracuse (Sicily), and tarrying there for three days, they reached Rhegium, in the straits of Messina, and the next day they came to Puteoli, in the Bay of Naples, almost one hundred and forty miles from the city of Rome. In Puteoli, where a large Jewish colony was situated, they found brethren, who entreated them to stop with them for a week. What an oasis of blessing this must have been for the wearied and tired servants of the Lord! One would almost wish it would have pleased the Holy Spirit to give us a fuller account of the blessed fellowship they must have enjoyed together. And so they came to Rome. The brethren in Rome knew in some way of their coming. They came to meet them as far as Appii Forum and the Three Taverns. Most likely two different companies of brethren are indicated. The first company met them at Appii Forum, some forty miles from Rome, and the second company at the Three Taverns, some ten miles further on. The news of the Apostle’s coming must have been conveyed to Rome from Puteoli. Perhaps the two companies represented the Jewish believers and the Gentile Christians, of which the church in Rome was composed. With what anticipation they must have looked forward to seeing the Apostle, whose face they had never seen. His blessed Epistle addressed to the Saints of GOD in Rome, the Beloved of GOD, had been in their possession for a number of years and had brought untold blessings to their souls. How often they must have read his words, in the beginning of his letter: "I long to see you, that 1 may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; that is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Now, I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that ofttimes I proposed to come unto you (but was hindered hitherto), that I might have some fruit among you also, even as the rest of the Gentiles" (Romans 1:11-13). He had never been in Rome. The Roman assembly was not founded by Paul and certainly not by Peter. The origin of that church is obscure and the Holy Spirit has not given us a history of the beginning of the church in Rome. And now he whom they all loved, whose face they longed to see, was actually on the way to visit Rome. But in a far different way did he come than he expected when he wrote his Epistle. He came as the prisoner of the Lord. What a meeting it must have been! The record tells us that when Paul saw these beloved brethren, who had shown such love to him by meeting him on the way to accompany him to Rome, that he thanked GOD and took courage. It is evident that he must have been cast down and depressed in his spirit. How many questions must have been upon his mind! Perhaps anxiety concerning the assembly in Rome also weighed upon him He faced difficulties on all sides. But when he saw the brethren and the evidences of their love, the cloud passed and he thanked GOD and took courage. Anew he cast himself on the Lord, whose faithfulness and power had been so marked in his experience. There is no better way to meet all depression, anxious feeling, difficulties and obstacles, than the way of thanking GOD and taking courage, which means, confidence in the Lord. After leaving the Three Taverns, the great Appian Way led them for thirty miles across the Campagna to the great city, the city of power, the mistress of the world, the city of the seven hills the mystical Babylon. In Rome at last. What emotions must have filled the hearts of Paul, Luke and Aristarchus when they entered Rome! It is written in Genesis 12:5, "and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came." They went forth to go to Rome and to Rome they came. The Lord had brought them safely to their destination. Julius then delivered the prisoners to his official superior. But Paul is not in the hands of the Romans, but in the hands of the Lord. He guards him. He was permitted to dwell in his own house with a soldier alongside of him. III. Paul calling the chief of the Jews and his message. "And it came to pass, that after three days Paul called the chief of the Jews together; and when they were come together, he said unto them, Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against the people, or customs of our fathers, yet was I delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans: Who, when they had examined me, would have let me go, because there was no cause of death in me. But when the Jews spake against it, I was constrained to appeal unto Caesar; not that I had aught to accuse my nation of. For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain. And they said unto him, We neither received letters out of Judea concerning thee, neither any of the brethren that came shewed or spake any harm of thee. But we desire to hear of thee what thou thinkest: for as concerning this sect, we know that every where it is spoken against. And when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. And some believed the things which were spoken, and some believed not. And when they agreed not among themselves, they departed, after that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto Our fathers, Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive. For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and that they will hear it. And when he had said these words, the Jews departed, and had great reasoning among themselves" (Acts 28:17-29). And now it is for the very last time in this book "to the Jew first." The first service the great Apostle rendered in Rome was not in the assembly, but he called the chief of the Jews together. He knew no bitterness in his heart against the Jews. In writing the letter to the Romans he had written, "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also testifying with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh" (Romans 9:1-2). "Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to GOD for them is, that they might be saved" (Romans 10:1). And now, after all the sad experience he had made, the treatment he had received from his kinsmen, after he had found out their malice and deep hatred, the same love burns in his heart and the same yearning for their salvation possesses him. In Rome he manifests first of all his loving interest in his Jewish brethren. To these leading Jews he testified once more that he was innocent of any wrong doing. Briefly, he rehearsed his whole case and why he had been compelled to appeal to Caesar. For this purpose to talk to them about this matter - he had called them. Then most likely he must have lifted his hands, from which the prisoner’s chain dangled, and said, "because for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain." The Jews, however, wanted to hear more from his lips of - "what thou thinkest; for as concerning this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against." They knew he believed in CHRIST. A great meeting took place a short time later. Many Jews assembled in Paul’s lodging. The meeting lasted from morning till evening. Once more he testified the Kingdom of GOD to a large company of Jews. He also persuaded them concerning JESUS both out of the laws of Moses and out of the Prophets. What a wonderful message must have came from his lips as he unfolded the prophetic testimony concerning the Messiah in the power of the Spirit of GOD! But what was the result? Some believed and some believed not. They did not agree amongst themselves. The end of GOD’s gracious way with the Jews is reached. We repeat for the last time, it was to the Jew first. The final crisis is reached. Judgment must now be executed upon the nation and the blindness is now to come, which has lasted so long and will continue till the fullness of the Gentiles is come in (Romans 11:26). Stephen, whose death young Saul had witnessed and approved (Acts 8:1), had pronounced judgment upon the nation, in Jerusalem. GOD’s mercy had still waited. Marvelous Grace, which took up the young Pharisee, Saul, and made him the Apostle to the Gentiles! Through him, the chosen instrument, the Lord still sought his beloved Israel, even after Jerusalem had so completely rejected the offered mercy. We have seen how the Apostle’s intense love for his brethren had led him back to Jerusalem, though warned repeatedly by the Holy Spirit. And now he is used to give the very last message to the Jews and speak the final word of condemnation. It is interesting to see how the Spirit of GOD quotes through the Apostle the message of judgment, which was given to Isaiah over 700 years before. How long-suffering GOD is. What infinite patience and mercy He manifested in dealing with Israel. Isaiah had announced the hardening judgment, and GOD waited 700 years before it was finally accomplished. Twice before these words from Isaiah 6 are mentioned in the New Testament. In Matthew 13:14-15, they are spoken by our Lord after the people had rejected Him and the Pharisees had charged him with driving out the demons by Beelzebub, the prince of demons. They rejected Him, whom the Father had sent. Again, we find the Lord making use of these words at another occasion. In John 12:37-41, they are applied after the full rejection of the Son Himself and His testimony. Here in our passage they are used for the last time. The rejection is now complete and the result is the threatened blindness rests upon the nation. But we must not forget that the Spirit of GOD had announced all this in the Epistle to the Romans. Romans 11:1-36 unfolds the Jewish question and assures us that in spite of all this, the blindness of Israel is not permanent. GOD has not cast away this people, whom He foreknew. He will yet bring the remnant to Himself and forgive them their sins. GOD’s gifts and calling are without repentance. Paul then announced that the salvation of GOD is sent unto the Gentiles, and they will hear it. This marks the larger beginning of the world-wide proclamation of the Salvation of GOD among the Gentile races. And what a blessed description of the Gospel we have here, "the Salvation of God"! This still continues. GOD takes out from the Gentiles a people for His name. Blessed be GOD for the preaching of the Gospel in regions beyond, and for the blessed members which are added to His body, the church, in Korea, China, India and elsewhere. But the offer of the Salvation of GOD to the Gentiles will likewise close. Romans 11:18-22 contains the solemn message, one of the great forgotten messages of the Bible. Boasting Gentile Christendom will someday be cut off and the broken off branches will be grafted in again into their good olive tree. The apostasy of Christendom, the wicked rejection of the Person of CHRIST, the constant and ever increasing perversion of the Gospel of GOD are sure signs that a change of dispensations is imminent. IV. The Apostle’s Activity in Rome. "And Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him. Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him" (Acts 28:30-31). A prisoner in Rome and yet active. He preached the Kingdom of GOD (not of heaven, the Jewish, earthly aspect of it), and ever speaking of that worthy name, that blessed and adorable Person, the Lord JESUS CHRIST. The ending of the book is sad and it is joyous. Sad to see the great Apostle a prisoner, shut up in Rome with his God-given Gospel. Joyous because the last verse mentions the Lord JESUS CHRIST and an unhindered ministry of the Gospel. The Book begins with Jerusalem and ends with Rome. It is a prophecy of the course of the professing church. The book closes in an unfinished way, because the acts of CHRIST, the Spirit of GOD, and Satan, recorded in this book, are not finished. We hear nothing more of Paul, though we know that from the prison the Holy Spirit of GOD sent forth through him the blessed Epistles, in which He has been pleased to give us the highest revelation. And how much more might be written on all this! THE END ~ end of book ~ ======================================================================== CHAPTER 70: 04.00. THE HARMONY OF THE PROPHETIC WORD ======================================================================== The Harmony Of The Prophetic Word A KEY TO OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY CONCERNING THINGS TO COME BY ARNO C. GAEBELEIN Copyright, 1907 By Fleming H. Revell Company ======================================================================== CHAPTER 71: 04.00.3. TABLE OF CONTENTS ======================================================================== I. Introductory II. The Day Of Jehovah III. The Great Tribulation Preceding The Day Of Jehovah IV. The Nations The Enemies Of Israel—Their Final Opposition To Jerusalem Followed By Judgment Upon Them V. The Wicked Leaders Of The Apostate Forces At The End Of The Age—The Antichrist VI. The Visible And Glorious Manifestation Of Jehovah Over The Earth And In The Earth VII. The Conversion And Restoration Of Israel VIII. The Theocratic Kingdom IX. The Blessings Of The Coming Age—Peace On Earth—Glory To God In The Highest—Israel’s Supremacy And Ministry—All Creation Blessed X. Conclusions ======================================================================== CHAPTER 72: 04.00.4. FOREWARD ======================================================================== FOREWORD Having had the privilege of reading advance sheets of the present book, it is both a pleasure and a privilege to commend it to all who are interested in the study of " the prophetic Word made surer " (2 Peter 1:19). All students of prophecy are sure to be interested in a presentation of the chief contents of the prophetic Scriptures which is so original in scope and method. But I would more especially bespeak for this book the attention of those who are not students of prophecy. Unfortunately this class includes the enormous majority of present-day believers. No fact is at once more patent or more lamentable than that the writings of the prophets are little read and less comprehended. Doubtless there are many reasons for this condition. The characteristic of the present age is a reckless and unreasoning optimism. On every hand we are assured that the church is " marching grandly on to the conquest of the world," and that despite the fact that after one hundred years of missions there are 200,000,000 more heathen to convert than at the beginning of that century. But prophecy, grandly optimistic in its ultimate view, presents anything but a flattering picture of the end of this age, Apostasy, heading up in the man of sin, and the utter destruction of the present imposing world-system by a crushing blow, is the testimony of the prophets. This is an unwelcome message, and therefore is not heeded. It is pleasanter to listen to the self-sent prophets who prophesy " smooth things." Another reason for the neglect of prophecy is found in the undeniable difficulties which encounter the beginner in that study. A bewildering number of new phrases and formulae are encountered, and it is not all at once, nor indeed without long application, that this seeming confusion falls into its truly majestic order. It is precisely at this point that " The Harmony of the Prophetic Word" seems to me supremely helpful. What the beginner could not do at all, nor even the most persevering student for many months, is here done for him by an expert student of the prophetic writings. The method, as will be seen by an examination of the book, is to take up the great prophetic epochs and events, and bring together from the whole body of prophecy the testimony concerning them. This, indeed, thoroughly as the author has done his work, will not be found available as a substitute for personal study of these great subjects—nor was such substitution any part of the thought of the author —but what the present book does do is to present the great subjects concerning which God has revealed the future, and so to assemble and analyse that revelation that any reader of the book will find himself fully introduced to these great and important themes. The final effect of such a synthesis is to leave the mind overwhelmingly impressed with the divine origin and authorship of these ancient oracles. Writing in widely separated ages, under wholly different circumstances, of necessity often ignorant of each other’s writings, the production of one continuous, harmoniously developed testimony is proof unanswerable that, though He employed many penmen, God alone is the Author of the prophetic testimony. C. I. SCOFIELD. East Northfield, Mass. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 73: 04.01. INTRODUCTORY ======================================================================== I. INTRODUCTORY The harmony which exists throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is one of the strongest arguments for the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures. The unity which we find here is supernatural; it is divine. The inspired writers of the Bible cover a period of almost two thousand years, living in so many different ages and under different circumstances, yet all agree perfectly, and there is no clash of opinions. Such unity is a miracle. No human genius could produce it. There is nothing like it in all the literary products of men, and there will be nothing like it in the future. God spake at sundry times and in divers manners (Hebrews 1:1), and therefore all in this precious Book being Godbreathed (2 Timothy 3:16), must be a perfect, infallible whole. What an awful sin to criticise the Bible, to deny its inspiration, to put the Word of God which He has exalted above all His Name upon the same level with profane literature. Yet this is the common drift of our times. Because the Bible is the Word of God and the same Spirit of God spoke in and through the different instruments, therefore its Divine unity. This unity is not confined to matters pertaining to salvation, but it also exists throughout the prophetic Word. Indeed, we shall see that nowhere is the Divine unity of the Scriptures so evident as in Prophecy. In the first and second Epistles of Peter we find two passages which speak of the importance and the content of the prophetic Word. These two Epistles are certainly the right place for such statements, for they are addressed to the sojourners in the dispersion, and believers are viewed in them as pilgrims and strangers. We turn first to the second Epistle of Peter: "And we have the prophetic Word made surer, to which ye do well taking heed, as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawn and the morning star arise in your hearts: Knowing this first, that the scope of no prophecy of Scripture is had from its own particular interpretation, for prophecy was not ever uttered by the will of man, but holy men of God spake under the power of the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter 1:19-21.) We remember that Peter mentions in the first chapter of his second Epistle the transfiguration of our Lord, and speaks of it as manifesting the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. That scene on the holy mountain of which he had been eyewitness was a foreshadowing of the return of the Lord, visibly and gloriously, to the earth. The entire Old Testament prophecy speaks of this great event, the visible coming and manifestation of Jehovah, therefore the transfiguration of our Lord is a confirmation of Old Testament prophetic predictions, and more than that, the earnest of their final and complete fulfilment. In this sense we have the prophetic Word as found in the Old Testament made surer, for in the transfiguration we see precisely that which prophet after prophet had declared. In the above passage we also read the comparison which is made between the prophetic Word and a lamp, and we are exhorted to take heed to it. This God-given lamp shone out from the beginning. Its light was kindled by Jehovah in the garden, its first ray fell upon the guilty pair and brought them hope and cheer, as well as guidance through the dark night outside of Eden. It continued its blessed shining; new oil was constantly added to it. By its light generation after generation by taking heed to it found joy and comfort as faith looked on towards the future. And this lamp, the prophetic Word, is still shining, and we are, like all believers before us, to take heed to it. The "dark place" is the present age, still an evil age. But the lamp will not shine for ever. When the morning comes we blow out our lamps; they are needed no longer. The day will dawn, the Sun of Righteousness will rise, and then the lamp will shine no more, for what the mouth of all His holy prophets declared, the blessed Kingdom has come. Before the day dawn comes the rising of the Morning star, which is Christ Himself, coming for His saints. This precedes the day dawn. Furthermore, notice this passage teaches that no prophecy explains itself as such, none stands for itself. God’s purposes are revealed in it progressively from beginning to end. Holy men of God spake, and each of them and all of them were moved by the same Spirit; therefore the entire prophetic Word must be harmonious, and it must be studied as a whole, comparing Scripture with Scripture. Another striking passage is found in the first Epistle of Peter: "Concerning which salvation prophets who have prophesied of the grace towards you sought out and searched out; searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them pointed out, testifying before of the sufferings which belonged to Christ, and the glories after these. To whom it was revealed, that not to themselves but to you they ministered those things, which have now been announced to you by those who have declared to you the glad tidings by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, which angels desire to look into." (1 Peter 1:10-12.) The prophets were visited by the Spirit of Christ, and He prophesied through them. After they had written down their prophecies they began to read them, and were not able to understand them fully. Not one of the Old Testament prophets had the knowledge of God’s purposes and the things to come which we as believers in Christ may have, for we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. But the main thought in these words is the content of the entire prophetic Word. The Spirit of Christ in them pointed out and testified before of the sufferings which belonged to Christ, and the glories after these. This makes it very clear that the prophetic Word contains two great sections—the sufferings and the glories, and the centre, Christ. The person of Christ, His sufferings in humiliation, the glories which are His in the future exaltation are the great themes of Old Testament prophecy. How truly He said Himself concerning the Scriptures, "They testify of Me" (John 5:30). They testify of the cross and the crown, the first coming and the second coming, the humiliation and the exaltation. It is not our intention to trace the prophecies which relate to the sufferings. This has often been done before. They are past, Christ suffered once. They were minutely foretold. The whole path of the Messiah from His birth in Bethlehem to the sufferings on the cross, His humiliation and rejection, was made known through the prophets; all these predictions have found in our Lord their literal fulfilment. The literal fulfilment of prophecies relating to the humiliation of the Christ is a warrant for the literal fulfilment of the prophecies relating to the glories of the same Lord and Christ. How inconsequent are many interpreters of the prophetic Word in their defence of the literal fulfilment of the sufferings of Christ and the spiritualizing of the prophecies which speak of the glories to come. The sufferings were literal, the glories are literal also. The New Testament gives no reason whatever for the spiritualizing of the Old Testament predictions of the coming glories. It indorses the literal fulfilment of unfilled Old Testament prophecy. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 74: 04.02. THE DAY OF JEHOVAH ======================================================================== II. THE DAY OF JEHOVAH Our first aim will be to show that the entire prophetic Word predicts a day and a time when Jehovah will be revealed in the earth. This day is called repeatedly the day of Jehovah, a day of wrath and of judgment. A day followed by a continued manifestation of the Glory of the Lord and His righteous rule, as well as great blessings for the earth and its inhabitants. It has not yet come, and is still future. How prophecy harmonizes in speaking of this great future day we will now demonstrate. We have a continued and a progressive revelation of it which is not confined to the Old Testament prophets, but extends to the New Testament, with a fitting climax in the last book, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. We do not begin with the prophet Isaiah, whose book is generally considered to be the first prophetic book of the Old Testament. Old Testament prophecy is not contained exclusively in the books which are called "Prophets." Moses and David as well as other men were prophets. Most of the songs in the Bible are not only hymns of praise, but they breathe a prophetic spirit. In Numbers 23:1-30 and Numbers 24:1-25 we find recorded a series of utterances by the Spirit of God through one who had been called by an enemy to curse God’s people. Balaam had to speak and pronounce the blessing, and could not help it. His parables do not alone declare the blessedness of God’s earthly people Israel, with many precious applications to the believer in Christ, but they also unfold what shall be in the end. In Numbers 24:17 we have a statement from the lips of this seer to which we call special attention: "I shall see Him, but not now. I shall behold Him, but not nigh. There cometh a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and He shall cut in pieces the corners of Moab and destroy all the sons of tumult." Reading on to the end of the chapter we find that the Spirit of God through Balaam predicts that when the Sceptre, rising out of Israel, has full sway, the nations will be punished. The quoted verse has always been interpreted by orthodox Jewish, as well as by most Christian, commentators as referring to the Messiah. We have in it His first coming, "A Star out of Jacob," His second coming, "A Sceptre out of Israel." When He arises as a Sceptre assuming the rule, it will be to destroy the sons of tumult and to consume His enemies. The Star has shone forth. The Sceptre will arise by and by. In Deuteronomy 32:1-52 we find another great prophecy. Moses sings here his wonderful prophetic song. What he utters as a farewell to his beloved people is a grand outline of their future history, their apostasy, their subsequent deliverance and restoration to their own land. It is a marvelous prediction, an unanswerable argument in itself for the Divinity of the Bible. It is "a key to all prophecy." (1) At the close of this song, before the announcement that nations shall in future rejoice with His people (Deuteronomy 32:43), we read of what Jehovah will do: "If I have sharpened my gleaming sword, And my hand take hold of judgment, I will render vengeance to mine adversaries, And will recompense them that hate me. Mine arrows will I make drunk with blood, And my sword shall devour flesh." (Deuteronomy 32:41-42) Some expositors have admired the language of these stanzas, but have entirely ignored their prophetic meaning. They reveal a time of future judgment. The nations do not yet rejoice with God’s earthly people Israel, the divine sword of retribution has not yet been unsheathed, and the day of vengeance is still future. The One of whom Moses speaks as coming to take hold of judgment is the "Sceptre out of Israel" of Balaam’s parable. It is He who in His humiliation said to His enemies, "Before Abraham was I am" Jehovah-Jesus. The words in Moses’ song, quoted above, predict His coming as Judge in that day. We listen next to the language of a mother in Israel. Hannah sings a song—praising Jehovah for mercies received. Her song is not less prophetic than Moses’ sublime prophecy. In 1 Samuel 2:10 we read at the end of Hannah’s song: "They that strive with Jehovah shall be broken to pieces; In the heavens will He thunder upon them. Jehovah will judge the ends of the earth; And He will give strength unto His King, And exalt the horn of His anointed." These words, equally sublime, predict a future judgment, a time in which the ends of the earth will be dealt with by the Lord, when the Messiah will be exalted. Here then we have three persons as different as they can be—Balaam, the unwilling prophet; Moses, the great leader of God’s people; and Hannah, a mother in Israel. All are moved by the same Spirit, who makes them His mouthpiece, and each declares that Jehovah will judge the nations and the earth. What a striking harmony we have in this! Hannah’s song is but a faint beginning of what the Holy Spirit unfolds in inspired song in perfect, Divine order in that wonderful collection of songs, the Book of Psalms. We generally look upon the Psalms as expressing all kinds of human experiences, and we often draw much comfort from them. That we can do this none would dispute. However, if we wish to know the full meaning of this book, we must look upon it as a prophetic book. It is a well-known fact that the Psalms are divided into five books. These five books correspond to the five books of Moses or the Pentateuch. So clear is the correspondency that the old rabbis called the Psalms the Pentateuch of David. The Genesis portion of the Psalms extends from Psalms 1:1-6, Psalms 2:1-12, Psalms 3:1-8, Psalms 4:1-8, Psalms 5:1-12, Psalms 6:1-10, Psalms 7:1-17, Psalms 8:1-9, Psalms 9:1-20, Psalms 10:1-18, Psalms 11:1-7, Psalms 12:1-8, Psalms 13:1-6, Psalms 14:1-7, Psalms 15:1-5, Psalms 16:1-11, Psalms 17:1-15, Psalms 18:1-50, Psalms 19:1-14, Psalms 20:1-9, Psalms 21:1-13, Psalms 22:1-31, Psalms 23:1-6, Psalms 24:1-10, Psalms 25:1-22, Psalms 26:1-12, Psalms 27:1-14, Psalms 28:1-9, Psalms 29:1-11, Psalms 30:1-12, Psalms 31:1-24, Psalms 32:1-11, Psalms 33:1-22, Psalms 34:1-22, Psalms 35:1-28, Psalms 36:1-12, Psalms 37:1-40, Psalms 38:1-22, Psalms 39:1-13, Psalms 40:1-17, Psalms 41:1-13. Many of the Messianic Psalms are found in this section. Its character is like Genesis. It begins with "Blessed is the man" (Psalms 1:1-6), which is the Lord Jesus Christ, and it ends with "Blessed is he that considereth the poor," and this is the same Lord. The whole section ends with "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting and to everlasting" (Psalms 41:13). The Exodus part Psalms 42:1-11, Psalms 43:1-5, Psalms 44:1-26, Psalms 45:1-17, Psalms 46:1-11, Psalms 47:1-9, Psalms 48:1-14, Psalms 49:1-20, Psalms 50:1-23, Psalms 51:1-19, Psalms 52:1-9, Psalms 53:1-6, Psalms 54:1-7, Psalms 55:11-23, Psalms 56:1-13, Psalms 57:1-11, Psalms 58:1-11, Psalms 59:1-17, Psalms 60:1-12, Psalms 61:1-8, Psalms 62:1-12, Psalms 63:1-11, Psalms 64:1-10, Psalms 65:1-13, Psalms 66:1-20, Psalms 67:1-7, Psalms 68:1-35, Psalms 69:1-36, Psalms 70:1-5, Psalms 71:1-24, Psalms 72:1-20. Like in the book of Exodus do we find here the suffering of Israel’s remnant and how they are delivered. This section is rich in dispensational foreshadowings of Israel’s future. It begins with the cry for the tabernacle and ends with the vision of the kingdom established. " He shall judge the poor of the people, He shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor." " He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth " (Psalms 72:8). This section ends with a fuller praise than the first. " Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things. And blessed be His glorious name for ever; and let the whole earth be filled with His glory; Amen and Amen" (Psalms 72:18-19). The third book Psalms 73:11-28, Psalms 74:1-23, Psalms 75:1-10, Psalms 76:1-12, Psalms 77:1-20, Psalms 78:1-72, Psalms 79:1-13, Psalms 80:1-19, Psalms 81:1-16, Psalms 82:1-8, Psalms 83:1-18, Psalms 84:1-12, Psalms 85:1-13, Psalms 86:1-17, Psalms 87:1-7, Psalms 88:1-18, Psalms 89:1-52. The very beginning of this part makes it a Leviticus. The opening Psalms are the gift of the Spirit through Asaph, and they celebrate the holiness of God. "Truly God is good to Israel, to such that are of a clean heart" (Psalms 73:1). This refers us to the remnant of Israel in the last days. The last Psalm in this section rehearses God’s wonderful doings in behalf of His people and puts before us the sure mercies of David, that is the full ratification of the Davidic covenant, and how One from David is to be exalted. "And I will make Him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth" (Psalms 89:27). The ending is, "Blessed be the Lord forevermore. Amen and Amen." The fourth part or book Psalms 90:1-17, Psalms 91:1-16, Psalms 92:1-15, Psalms 93:1-5, Psalms 94:1-3, Psalms 95:1-11, Psalms 96:1-13, Psalms 97:1-12, Psalms 98:1-9, Psalms 99:1-9, Psalms 100:1-5, Psalms 101:1-8, Psalms 102:1-28, Psalms 103:1-22, Psalms 104:1-35 Psalms 105:1-45, Psalms 106:1-48. This is in character like the book of Numbers. Here we see Israel in the wilderness; all her ways are traced, but Israel is seen in this section led out of that wilderness and come into her inheritance. The opening Psalm, Psalms 90:1-17, is significant. It is the only Psalm we have, given by Moses, the leader of the people. It speaks of death, and is rightly called the Psalm of the old creation; Psalms 91:1-16 of the new creation. While in Psalms 90:1-17 we see the first man, in Psalms 91:1-16 we behold the second man. This is the shortest section. In Psalms 103:1-22 Israel, redeemed from all her backslidings, sings her new song: "Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies." Then comes the Psalms 104:1-35, the praise of nature. Psalms 105:1-45 and Psalms 106:1-48 are the praise of His restored people, and the doxology in Psalms 106:48 contains the nation’s praise: "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting, and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the Lord." Still more interesting is the fifth or Deuteronomy part, the last book in the Psalms. Like Deuteronomy, it puts before us the end of the ways of God with His people. This section begins Psalms 107:1-43, Psalms 108:1-13, Psalms 109:1-31, Psalms 110:1-7, Psalms 111:1-10, Psalms 112:1-10, Psalms 113:1-9, Psalms 114:1-8, Psalms 115:1-18, Psalms 116:1-19, Psalms 117:1-2, Psalms 118:1-29, Psalms 119:1-176, Psalms 120:1-7, Psalms 121:1-8, Psalms 122:1-9, Psalms 123:1-4, Psalms 124:1-8, Psalms 125:1-5, Psalms 126:1-6, Psalms 127:1-5, Psalms 128:1-6, Psalms 129:1-8, Psalms 130:1-8, Psalms 131:1-3, Psalms 132:1-18, Psalms 133:1-3, Psalms 134:1-3, Psalms 135:1-21, Psalms 136:1-26, Psalms 137:1-9, Psalms 138:1-8, Psalms 139:1-24, Psalms 140:1-13, Psalms 141:1-10, Psalms 142:1-7, Psalms 143:1-12, Psalms 144:1-15, Psalms 145:1-21, Psalms 146:1-10, Psalms 147:1-20, Psalms 148:1-14, Psalms 149:1-9, Psalms 150:1-6. The opening is highly instructive. "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered them out of the lands, from the East and from the West, from the North and from the South." Deuteronomy shows us, in its closing chapters, how Israel is to be scattered into the corners of the earth. All this has been and is being fulfilled. But there is also the promise that they should be gathered again: "... Then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee" (Deuteronomy 30:3). Here in Psalms 107:1-43 we find the fulfilment of this prophecy. This section, and with it the whole book, ends in a continued "Hallelujah." Praise ye the Lord. All is praising Jehovah. Israel, redeemed, praises Him, the nations, all creation, everything that has breath, praise Him. Here we have the great end of all things, the praise and worship of God. Throughout the Psalms we read of Jehovah’s intervention in behalf of His suffering earthly people, His manifestation in glory and wrath upon His enemies. To say that these events were fulfilled in David’s experience, or find now a spiritual fulfilment in the church, is doing great violence to the Scriptures. It dishonours God and His Word. Beginning with Psalms 2:1-12, where the coming King is seen enthroned upon the holy hill of Zion, ruling the nations with a rod of iron and smashing them like potters’ vessels, we can trace the day of Jehovah’s manifestation through the entire book, and hear again and again of the overthrow of God’s enemies, the deliverance of His people, and the establishment of His rule. A closer study of the Psalms and a literal interpretation of all they declare will make this clear to the reader. Here indeed is a mine of wealth in prophetic foreshadowings which is inexhaustible. The phrase, "Day of Jehovah," and its fuller revelation we find only in the books which are generally called the Prophets. "In that day," is a phrase which occurs many times in those prophetic books. Obadiah and Joel are the earliest of prophets. In Obadiah 1:15 we read: "For the day of Jehovah is near upon all the nations; as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; thy recompense shall return upon thine own head." This prophet ends after a description of the day of Jehovah with the declaration, "the kingdom shall be the Lord’s." It is, however, in Joel (Jehovah is God) that we find full mention of Jehovah’s day. He may well be called the prophet of the day of Jehovah. This day is the burden of his prophecy. It is also evident that there is between this early prophet and the prophets which followed the closest relation. Higher criticism declares that the other prophets took the wonderful flow of language and the visions of Joel as a pattern and attempted to imitate it; while others maintain that Joel lived after the exile and copied in his terse style from the writings of the other prophets which preceded him. The Spirit of God unfolds in the later prophets what He had given in Joel, so to speak, in a nutshell. No prophet " imitated " another; each wrote as moved by the Holy Spirit. In Joel we read five times of the day of Jehovah. Swarms of locusts had fallen into the land of Israel. Behind this great calamity there looms up a greater one. The swarms of locusts are but types of enemies who are to fall into the land, and in the midst of all the dreadful scenes of famine and desolation the prophet points to the day of Jehovah and describes that solemn day. See chapters Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1-2, Joel 2:10-11, Joel 2:30-31; in Joel 3:1-21 this great day is vividly portrayed: "The day of Jehovah is at hand in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. And Jehovah shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake" (Joel 3:15-16). Turning to Amos, the herdsman of Tekoa, we find the day mentioned in the very beginning, Amos 1:2. Here Jehovah roars from Zion against the ungodly nations. While the judgment of the nations, as announced through Amos, has seen a partial fulfilment in the judgments of these nations which are mentioned, its final great fulfilment is yet to come. The day of the Lord will bring this. The testimony of the prophet Hosea is mostly about the rejection of Israel and Judah and their final restoration and blessedness as a nation, and one would not expect the announcement of that day in this prophet. However, it is clearly indicated in Hosea 11:1-12 : "I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim: For I am God and not man: In the midst of thee is the Holy One, And I will not come in wrath (to His earthly people). They shall walk after Jehovah. He shall roar like a lion; When He shall roar (in that day), then the children shall hasten from the West, They shall hasten as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of Assyria, and I will cause them to dwell in their houses, saith Jehovah." (Hosea 11:9-11.) In the vision of Isaiah, which so vividly shows the suffering and exaltation of the Servant of Jehovah, the Messiah, as well as the glorious future of Israel, the day of the Lord is often mentioned. Throughout this prophet this day is seen in a threefold relation. The day brings the visible, glorious manifestation of Jehovah. It also brings the deliverance and restoration of the remnant of His earthly people and the overthrow and judgment of their enemies. In the beginning of Isaiah there stands a sublime description of that day, the day when Jehovah arises and man’s day is ended: "For there shall be a day of Jehovah of hosts upon everything proud and lofty, and upon everything lifted up, and it shall be brought low; and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan; and upon alt the lofty mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up; and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall; and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant works of art. And the loftiness of men shall be brought low; and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day: and the idols shall utterly pass away. And they shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of His majesty, when He shall arise to terrify the earth. In that day men shall cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made each for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks and into the fissures of the cliffs, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of His majesty, when He shall arise to terrify the earth" (Isaiah 2:12-21). This and similar passages in the opening chapters of Isaiah point clearly to the great day of Jehovah, and it is seen at once that the vision of Isaiah concerning that day is in harmony with what we have learned so far from the other Scriptures. Isaiah 4:1-6 unfolds the blessed results following the terrible day of the Lord, which, in its fury, is announced in Isaiah 2:1-22 and Isaiah 3:1-26. Isaiah 10:5-34, contains a description of the events connected with the approaching day, events which will transpire in Israel’s land, while in Isaiah 11:1-16, beginning with Isaiah 11:4, still greater blessings are announced to follow the appearing of Him who " shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips slay the wicked." No intelligent believer could claim that these scenes, as predicted in Isaiah 11:1-16, are now seen in the earth; for the spiritualizing of them we have no authority. Another prediction is recorded in Isaiah 13:1-22, the chapter which begins a new section in that prophet, announcing the judgment of nations, partly fulfilled, yet finally to be fulfilled in Jehovah’s day. We quote from this chapter: "Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the earth desolate; and He will destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will make the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will bring low the haughtiness of the violent. I will make a man more precious than fine gold, even man than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make the heavens to shake, and the earth shall be removed out of her place, at the wrath of Jehovah of hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger" (Isaiah 13:9-13). Isaiah 24:1-23, Isaiah 25:1-12, Isaiah 26:1-21, Isaiah 27:1-13, we find a vision which has justly been called " Isaiah’s Apocalypse." Here we have a continuation of the description of the day of the Lord. The wrath of the Lord is again announced. The earth is seen emptied, utterly broken down, dissolved, violently moved, reeling to and fro like a drunkard, and shaken like a night hut (Isaiah 24:18-20). Alongside of the wrath we have the glorious singing of a delivered people, the assurance of the binding of the enemy, the resurrection of the dead, the conversion of the nations. All this is closely connected in Isaiah 24:1-23 and Isaiah 27:1-13, with the day of Jehovah. Isaiah 40:1-31, that chapter of comfort for Jerusalem, is not silent about Jehovah’s manifestation, for Jerusalem’s comfort begins with the manifestation of the Lord. "Every valley shall be raised up, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken" (Isaiah 40:4-5). Some of the other passages in Isaiah speaking of the Lord’s day and His manifestation are the following: Isaiah 61:2; Isaiah 63:1-6;Isaiah 66:6, Isaiah 66:15-16, Isaiah 66:23-24. When we turn to the prophet Jeremiah, we discover that the Spirit of God announces through him likewise such a day as He did through the other men of God. We quote two passages: "And thou, prophesy unto them all these words, and say unto them, Jehovah will roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation, He will mightily roar upon His dwelling place, He will give a shout, as they that tread the vintage, against all the inhabitants of the earth. The noise shall come to the end of the earth; for Jehovah has a controversy with the nations, He entereth into judgment with all flesh; as for the wicked, He will give them up to the sword, saith Jehovah. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great storm shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth. And the slain of Jehovah shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; they shall not be lamented, neither gathered nor buried; they shall be dung upon the face of the ground" (Jeremiah 25:30-33). We learn from this prediction what we have learned before from others: the day is coming for the entire earth, and evil will go from nation to nation. The second passage we quote is from chapter Jeremiah 30:18-24 "Behold a tempest of Jehovah, fury is gone forth, a sweeping storm; it shall whirl down upon the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of Jehovah shall not return, until He have executed, and until He have performed the purpose of His heart. At the end of the days ye shall consider." The "end of the days" has not yet been reached. It is still future. After God’s purpose in this present age, the gathering out from the nations a people for His name, is accomplished, then shall He perform the purpose of His heart. Read also Jeremiah 4:23-26. The prophet Ezekiel is but little studied as a book. Like every other book in the Bible, it has perfect order. It is divided into three parts. The first part, Ezekiel 1:1-28, Ezekiel 2:1-10, Ezekiel 3:1-27, Ezekiel 4:1-17, Ezekiel 5:1-17, Ezekiel 6:1-14, Ezekiel 7:1-27, Ezekiel 8:1-18, Ezekiel 9:1-11, Ezekiel 10:1-22, Ezekiel 11:1-25, Ezekiel 12:1-28, Ezekiel 13:1-23, Ezekiel 14:1-23, Ezekiel 15:1-8, Ezekiel 16:1-63, Ezekiel 17:1-24, Ezekiel 18:1-32, Ezekiel 19:1-14, Ezekiel 20:1-39, Ezekiel 21:1-32, Ezekiel 22:1-31, Ezekiel 23:1-49, Ezekiel 24:1-27; the second part, Ezekiel 25:1-17, Ezekiel 26:1-21, Ezekiel 27:1-36, Ezekiel 28:1-26, Ezekiel 29:1-21, Ezekiel 30:1-26, Ezekiel 31:1-18, Ezekiel 32:1-32; and the third part, from Ezekiel 33:1-33, Ezekiel 34:1-31, Ezekiel 35:1-15, Ezekiel 36:1-38, Ezekiel 37:1-28, Ezekiel 38:1-23, Ezekiel 39:1-29, Ezekiel 40:1-49, Ezekiel 41:1-26, Ezekiel 42:1-20, Ezekiel 43:1-27, Ezekiel 44:1-31, Ezekiel 45:1-25, Ezekiel 46:1-24, Ezekiel 47:1-23, Ezekiel 48:1-35. Ezekiel 1:1-28, Ezekiel 2:1-10, Ezekiel 3:1-27, Ezekiel 4:1-17, Ezekiel 5:1-17, Ezekiel 6:1-14, Ezekiel 7:1-27, Ezekiel 8:1-18, Ezekiel 9:1-11, Ezekiel 10:1-22, Ezekiel 11:1-25, Ezekiel 12:1-28, Ezekiel 13:1-23, Ezekiel 14:1-23, Ezekiel 15:1-8, Ezekiel 16:1-63, Ezekiel 17:1-24, Ezekiel 18:1-32, Ezekiel 19:1-14, Ezekiel 20:1-39, Ezekiel 21:1-32, Ezekiel 22:1-31, Ezekiel 23:1-49, Ezekiel 24:1-27 contain prophecies which were delivered by him before the destruction of Jerusalem. The sins of Judah and Samaria are vividly described and the threatening judgments announced. The sins enumerated are idolatry, adultery, fornication, usury, bloodshed, oppression, and theft. Beginning with the description of the likeness of the glory of the Lord, a glory which is yet to be manifested, for the whole earth to see, every chapter burns with holy zeal for God and overflows with wonderful descriptions of human failure and sin, divine forbearance, righteousness, and the coming day of the vengeance of God. Ezekiel 16:1-63 is one of the finest in the first part of the book. . Ezekiel 24:1-27 begins with the parable of the boiling pot, typical of Jerusalem’s judgment; but the chapter ends with a promise for the escaped, not only applicable to the escaped then, but also to the remnant of Israel in a future day. The second part contains the announcement of the judgment of seven nations and cities. These are: Ammon, Moab, Edom, Philistia, Tyre, Zidon, and Egypt. These prophecies were given after the destruction of Jerusalem. The judgments upon these nations are prophecies of the judgment of nations in the day of the Lord. The great nations now in existence may read their coming doom here as nations. Read Ezekiel 27:1-36, Ezekiel 28:1-26, and compare them with Revelation 18:1-24. Yet while Israel’s enemies are destroyed and their destruction is announced, Israel’s Hope shines bright upon the dark background of divine judgment. While the term "day of the Lord" is not mentioned in the prophet Daniel, this great event is nevertheless clearly revealed throughout the great prophecies of Daniel. The great image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, presents, according to divine interpretation, the four great world powers. The stone, cut out without hands, falling down and striking the image at its toes, pulverizing it, while the stone becomes a great mountain filling the entire earth, is the day of the Lord. Gentile world rule will not cease till He comes. Our Lord speaks of this demolishing of the rule of ungodly nations when He said: " And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder" (Matthew 21:44). In Daniel 7:1-28 Daniel sees in his vision again the day of the Lord, and Him, Jehovah, as Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven. All the other events which cluster around the day of Jehovah are also predicted in Daniel. In the prophet Micah, at the close of Micah 5:1-15, where the Lord’s first and second coming is so clearly described, we read: " And I will execute vengeance in anger and in fury upon the nations, such as they have not heard of" (Micah 5:15). The context shows this will be in connection with God’s earthly people in their final restoration. Nahum prophesied against Nineveh, the wicked city, her wickedness come to the full. That ancient, bloody city, in its awful overthrow, is the prophetic picture of the great and wicked city of the end, and a prediction of the final overthrow of all which is wicked in the earth. Read Nahum 1:1-9, and see how it harmonises with all the rest. Habakkuk in his vision beholds the Lord’s coming in vengeance for the judgment of the nations and the salvation of His people (Nahum 3:1-19). Zephaniah may also, like Joel, be termed " the prophet of the day of the Lord." Like Joel 1:1-20, Joel 2:1-32, Joel 3:1-21, Zephaniah 1:1-18, Zephaniah 2:1-15, Zephaniah 3:1-20 witness fully to that coming dreadful day, and the blessings which are in store for Israel. Perhaps in Zephaniah 1:1-18 (Jehovah hides) we have the finest description of the day: "The great day of Jehovah is near; It is near and hasteneth greatly. The voice of the day of Jehovah. The mighty man shall cry there bitterly. A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of ruin and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and gross darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm Against the fenced cities And against the high battlements. And I will bring distress upon men, And they shall walk like blind men; For they have sinned against Jehovah; Their blood shall be poured out like dust And their flesh like dung.Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them In the day of Jehovah’s wrath; And the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy, For He will make an end, Yea, a sudden one, shall He make of all them that dwell in the land" (Zephaniah 1:14-18). It is clearly seen what wonderful agreement there is between this utterance and those of Isaiah, Joel, Habakkuk, and the other prophets. Other passages in Zephaniah which speak of the day of Jehovah are the following: Chapters Zephaniah 2:1-3, Zephaniah 2:8-15; Zephaniah 3:11, Zephaniah 3:16, etc. Haggai sees the day: " For thus saith the Lord of hosts: Yet once it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth, and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of Hosts" (Haggai 2:6-7). This is still future (compare with Hebrews 12:26-29). Zechariah’s night visions(2) are likewise in part descriptive of events connected with that day, such as the punishment of the nations, the regathering of Israel, the establishment of the theocratic rule, and future glory in the earth. The last chapter is taken up with a detailed account of the events of that day. In that chapter Jehovah’s visible manifestation to fight against the nations that have come against Jerusalem is foretold; and what follows in this chapter of the prophet whose name means " Jehovah remembers" may be termed a fitting climax of Old Testament prophecy concerning the great coming day of Jehovah. But Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, is likewise not silent on the day of Jehovah: "For behold, the day cometh, burning as a furnace; and all the proud and all that work wickedness shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, so that it shall leave them neither root nor branch " (Malachi 4:1). And this word, which harmonizes so fully with all we have learned before, is followed by the gracious announcement to God’s earthly people: "And unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth and leap like fatted calves. And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I prepare, saith Jehovah of hosts." (Malachi 4:2-3.) We have thus briefly shown that Old Testament prophecy harmonizes completely in the prediction of the great day of Jehovah. We have seen how various, yet harmonious, the prophecies are which relate to this day. If they are thus put together, what a solemn picture they unfold before our eyes! Unbelief may laugh at it and ridicule him who expects a fulfilment of these majestic scenes of Jehovah’s manifestation. A false interpretation of God’s Word, in the end nothing less than unbelief, may spiritualize these predictions and call them fulfilled in past events; but the believer, who knows God means what He says, reads these revelations in faith and enters into the thoughts and purposes of God. Faith sees them as being literally fulfilled and rejoices in the assurance of deliverance from the day of the darkening sun and the fierce wrath of God. We wish to add that this clay of the Lord must not be looked upon as a day of twenty-four hours. It is more or less descriptive of the entire age which is to come; it will last a thousand years. "For a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday, when it is past" (Psalms 90:4.). "One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:8.). Now it is still man’s day, and it has lasted thousands of years. The same as the hour which our Lord mentions in John 5:25, when the dead should hear His voice, means this age, and that hour is not yet past. So, when the Lord comes and is manifested in His glory, the day of man ends and the Lord’s day begins. The glorious manifestation of Jehovah-Jesus, and His righteous judgment, will last for a thousand years (Revelation 20:4). And now but a rapid glance at the New Testament. Are the New Testament Scriptures silent as to this great day, that day of fire and wrath, the day of the nations’ calamity and upheaval, of a visible manifestation of Jehovah’s glory and the establishment of His rule? They are not; but make known this day in fullest harmony with the Scriptures contained in the Old Testament. John the Baptist appears, and in harmony with the Old Testament, to which he belongs, announces the first and second coming of Christ. He speaks of the fire baptism which He brings. This is not a spiritual experience of the believer, but the second .coming of Christ. " Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Matthew 3:12.) Then our Lord referred many times while in the earth to that day of His own glory. Whenever He speaks of His coming as Son of Man it refers to His visible manifestations from Heaven in His own day. Nowhere is His coming for His saints, when He comes in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), described as a coming of the Son of Man, but as Lord. In Matthew 24:29-30, our Lord gives a full description of His glorious coming as Son of Man. It does hardly need any further word of comment to show how closely these two verses are linked with the descriptions of Jehovah’s appearing in the prophets. Daniel, Isaiah, Joel, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Zechariah, etc., gave utterance through the Spirit of Christ concerning " His Glories," and in Matthew the Lord Himself, whose Spirit revealed all this to the prophets, presses it all together in a few sentences, and in the presence of His disciples He witnesses of His own glory to come at the end of the age. He speaks of Himself in Matthew 25:31, as sitting upon the throne of His glory to judge the nations. Of the many passages to which we could refer we take but a few. In 1 Thessalonians we have alongside of the blessed hope of the Lord’s coming for His saints, mention made of the day of the Lord. It is in the 5th chapter (1 Thessalonians 5:2). It is clearly seen that day does not concern believers in Christ. The day cometh with sudden destruction upon the careless and ungodly world. In the 1st chapter of the Second Epistle we read of this day again in the following words: "When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with His mighty angels. In flaming fire taking vengeance. on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power" (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9.) In 2 Peter 3:10, we find likewise a description of the day of the Lord: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up." This passage has brought a difficulty to many believers. Post-millennialism, which teaches that the. Millennium, the thousand years of peace on earth and glory to God in the highest, will come before the Lord comes, and that the Second Advent in the day of the Lord brings the burning up of the earthy has used this passage as a strong argument. The apparent difficulty vanishes when we look upon the day of the Lord as the age to come, being a thousand years. That day, lasting a thousand years, will have a beginning with fire, and after the thousand years there will be an end with fire. In 2 Peter the beginning as well as the end of that long day is before us. The book of Revelation is, after the 5th chapter, full of descriptions of events which we find predicted by the prophets and in the Psalms, and all relate to the day of Jehovah. In Isaiah we found the prediction of men hiding themselves in the caves and the rocks for fear of the Lord, and in the Revelation we read similar words (Isaiah 6:12-17). We have also the darkened sun and moon, the trembling earth, the falling stars, the shaking of the heavens, in this last book of the Bible, which we find in the rest of the prophetic Word. The climax of all is the opened heavens and the manifestation of Jehovah at the head of the armies of Heaven (Revelation 19:1-21). May our hearts as believers praise Him who has redeemed us by His blood and delivered us from the wrath to come. Blessedly and forever true it is, he that believeth in Him hath everlasting life and shall not come into judgment. (John 5:24.) 1 Professor Franz Delitsch. 2 Studies in Zechariah, by A. C. Gaebelein, gives a complete analysis and exposition of this interesting book. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 75: 04.03. THE GREAT TRIBULATION PRECEDING... ======================================================================== III. THE GREAT TRIBULATION PRECEDING THE DAY OF JEHOVAH After we have seen how fully the prophetic Word harmonizes in the revelation of the great day of Jehovah, we are prepared to follow throughout the Scriptures the events which cluster around that day, as well as the blessings which are promised to follow. As we continue in this we shall see more and more the perfect harmony of prophecy. We point out first of all the fact that the entire prophetic Word gives us a minute description of the characteristics of the times which precede the manifestation of Jehovah in His day. In this description nearly all the different instruments through whom the Spirit of God spoke fully agree; nor does this description end with the Old Testament. It is continued in the New. We touch now a most important theme of God’s revelation. We are aware of the fact that what we shall learn from the Scriptures is in direct opposition to the beliefs and theories prevalent throughout Christendom. Alas! that so many who call themselves Christian believers should continue in these wrong conceptions and theories, and remain grossly ignorant of God’s eternal purposes revealed in His Word. Men have taught and teach without any Scriptural warrant whatever, that a universal judgment day is to come, and that this day will come after the conversion of the world and the extension of the kingdom (as they term it) over the whole world. According to this almost universal belief, things are progressing favourably, improvements set in on all sides, evil is being rapidly checked, and the common lot of humanity improved; nations are purer than ever before, world-wide peace almost at hand, as well as the conversion of the great heathen nations. All this is an unscriptural dream, something which is completely against the revealed purposes of God. It is true there are many precious promises in the Scriptures which predict world submission, the complete rule of the King of kings over the nations of the earth, as well as peace on earth, but nowhere do we find these blessings predicted to come before the day of Jehovah, but throughout the entire prophetic Word the order is the reverse. First comes that great and terrible day of the Lord, and then world submission, the deliverance of groaning creation, and the nations will learn war no more. May it please our Lord to open the eyes and the hearts of many of His children to see these great fundamental truths. The prophetic Word in its testimony harmonizes in respect to the characteristics of the times preceding the day of Jehovah. The characteristics announced by the prophets are: Evil, trouble, persecution, wickedness come to its climax, rebellious nations arising against God and against His Anointed, as well as upheavals of various kinds. When at last the Wicked One rules and the greatest darkness prevails, the day of Jehovah breaks in all its majestic grandeur. The times preceding the day of Jehovah and His manifestation are everywhere described as days of trouble for God’s earthly people, Israel, and for all the inhabitants of the earth. In Genesis 15:12 we read: "And when the sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him." This was done to announce unto Abram that his seed was to pass through a dark night, a horrible experience. The prophetic vision found its first partial fulfilment in Egypt. The end of that period, when the seed of Abraham was away from the land of promise, was the darkest, full of the severest sufferings. The captivity in Babylon was another national night experience for Israel, and now for well-nigh two thousand years the people whom God has not cast away are in a still greater dispersion. It will terminate like the other dispersions. The end will be, as it was in Egypt, by the intervention of God. However, before this will take place the seed of Abraham will pass through a dark night of suffering, called in different scriptures " the great tribulation." One of the strongest types in the Old Testament foreshadowing Christ, His first and second coming, the salvation He brings for the Gentiles, and finally the blessings for His own who rejected Him, is Joseph. We read there of a famine which came upon the earth, and during that famine the sons of Jacob, who had sold their own brother, came face to face with him whom they had hated without a cause. The famine in the story of Joseph is typical of Israel’s suffering yet to come in the great tribulation preceding the day of Jehovah. We turn again to Moses’ prophetic song in Deuteronomy 32:1-52. As elsewhere in prophecy, the Spirit of God announces here the evil results of Israel’s apostasy. According to the Song of Moses they were to apostatize. "Then Jeshurun grew fat and kicked: Thou art waxen fat, Thou art grown thick, And thou art covered with fatness; He gave up God, who made him, And lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation." (Deuteronomy 32:15.) The Rock of his salvation is the Lord whom they rejected, and here Moses announces this fact. After these words, we read of their present dispersion. What a description of the calamities to come upon them, and what a literal fulfilment of all up to the twentieth century! But we direct our attention mostly to the close of this chapter: "Vengeance is mine and recompense, For the time when their foot shall slip. For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things that shall come upon them make haste, For Jehovah shall judge his people, And shall repent in favour of His servants, When He seeth their power is gone, And there is none shut up or left" (Deuteronomy 32:35-36.) Now, here we have a prediction which is still unfulfilled. It describes the condition of the chosen people immediately before Jehovah intervenes in their behalf. A calamity is to come upon them and their power will be gone. Though Israel has passed through many calamities, yet this great trouble, when they shall be completely prostrated, has not yet been reached. More than ever in our day Israel maketh flesh his arm and is departed from the Lord; they trust in almost everything else except in Him who is the Hope of Israel. They are then to be plunged into trouble and sorrow before the Lord arises for their deliverance. But let us see if we find such prophecies in other Scriptures. We turn our attention next to the Book of Psalms. These prophetic songs are especially rich in predictions and vivid descriptions of the troubles which come upon a remnant of the sons of Jacob. Many Psalms contain the experiences of the Godfearing part of the Jews passing through the tribulation and being delivered out of the hands of their enemies by the coming of the Lord from Heaven. We read of the dangers and perplexities by which this remnant, brought back to the land of their fathers, is surrounded. Their sufferings are clearly portrayed, and we hear their pleadings for divine mercy, deliverance, and interference. The imprecatory prayers, calling God’s wrath down upon the enemies, are then in order, and will be answered by the majestic appearing of the heavenly King. This is the only satisfactory key to these imprecatory Psalms, which call on God to destroy the enemies. Christians cannot use them, for we are to pray for our enemies. The pious Jews living in that time of trouble will utter these words. We can confine ourselves to but a few of the many passages in the Psalms which speak of the days preceding the day and manifestation of Jehovah. To quote them all would take many pages. As previously stated, the Psalms are divided into five books, corresponding to the five books of the Pentateuch. The Exodus part of the Psalms extends from Psalms 42:1-11, Psalms 43:1-5, Psalms 44:1-26, Psalms 45:1-17, Psalms 46:1-11, Psalms 47:1-9, Psalms 48:1-14, Psalms 49:1-20, Psalms 50:1-23, Psalms 51:1-19, Psalms 52:1-9, Psalms 53:1-6, Psalms 54:1-7, Psalms 55:1-23, Psalms 56:1-13, Psalms 57:1-11, Psalms 58:1-11, Psalms 59:1-17, Psalms 60:1-12, Psalms 61:1-8, Psalms 62:1-12, Psalms 63:1-11, Psalms 64:1-10, Psalms 65:1-13, Psalms 66:1-20, Psalms 67:1-7, Psalms 68:1-35, Psalms 69:1-36, Psalms 70:1-5, Psalms 71:1-24, Psalms 72:1-20. As we learn in the book of Exodus of Israel’s bondage, suffering, tribulation, and miraculous deliverance, so we read in this second book of Psalms that which will befall Israel in the latter times, and their lot before the day of Jehovah begins, as well as their deliverance by the intervening power of Jehovah. The reader who is interested in a closer study of the final history of the remnant of Israel should read carefully the Exodus section of the Psalms. Here is the language of the believing remnant in trouble in the last days of this age: "Judge me, O God, And plead my cause against an ungodly nation; Deliver me from the deceitful and wicked man. For thou art the God of my strength; Why hast thou cast me off? Why go I about mourning, Because of the oppression of the enemy ? " (Psalms 43:1-2.) We take another illustration: " Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God; Secure me on high from them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, And save me from men of blood. For behold they lie in wait for my soul; Strong ones are gathered against me; Not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O Jehovah." (Psalms 59:1-3.) It is very interesting and instructive to study these experiences, pleadings, and sufferings of the Jewish remnant in the coming days, the ending of our age, as revealed in the Psalms, and many are the lessons we can learn for ourselves, though we shall not be present on the earth when that day; comes. The book of Joel, as remarked before, speaks of the enemies of Israel under the type of the locusts. Joel 2:1-32 contains a wonderful description of what is still unfulfilled. Before the Lord is merciful to His land and His people and restores all things, as well as pours out the Spirit upon all flesh, there will be an invasion of a hostile army into the land. This awful trouble is followed by the repentance of the people and their prayer, which reminds us of the many similar prayers in the Psalms: " Spare Thy people, O Jehovah, And give not Thy heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them, Wherefore should they say among the nations Where is their God?" (Joel 2:17.) This is at once followed by the coming of the day of Jehovah. He will answer His persecuted and outraged people out of heaven and appear himself for their deliverance. "Then Jehovah will be jealous for His land, And will pity His people. And Jehovah will answer and say to His people, Behold, I will send you the corn, The new wine and the oil, And ye shall be satisfied therewith: And I will no longer make you A reproach among the nations." (Joel 2:18-19.) The same revelation we can easily trace in the other prophets. Hosea, for instance, contains a prophecy which is in fullest harmony with Moses’ song and the other prophecies: " I, I will tear and go away; I will carry off, and there shall be none to deliver. I will go away, I will return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly. Come and let us return unto Jehovah: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us: on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before His face" (Hosea 5:14,Hosea 6:1-3.) In this passage we have the entire history of Israel in a nutshell. Jehovah had been with them, but on account of their unbelief had left them. However, He does not leave them forever. They are to acknowledge their offence and seek His face. When will it be? In their affliction. The history of the Jews, since they cried, " His blood be upon us and upon our children," has been a history of continued affliction, of blood and tears; yet have they not acknowledged their offence. They have not acknowledged their blood-guiltiness, as David did. (Psalms 51:14.) A greater affliction is coming for that nation. The affliction here in Hosea is the great end affliction, the calamity in Moses’ song, when their power is gone, and Jehovah will come in His own day, the third day, to raise up His people. The Spirit of God unfolds the same characteristic of the last days in the vision of Isaiah. The end of Isaiah 10:1-34 gives us a description of these events. The Assyrian falls into the land, and wherever he marches there is trouble, bloodshed, and misery. He comes to the very hill of Jerusalem, where he is arrested by the Lord (Isaiah 10:24-34). The Assyrian of the past is the prophetic type of the Assyrian of the future, one who invades Israel’s land from the north. In Isaiah 24:1-23 we have a description of the day of Jehovah, and in Isaiah 25:1-12 we read the praise of the believing part of Israel in having escaped the terrible upheavals: "For thou hast been a fortress to the poor, a fortress for the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, for the blast of the terrible ones, as a storm against a wall. Thou hast subdued the tumult of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; as the heat by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the terrible ones is brought low" (Isaiah 25:4-5). Turning to Isaiah 59:1-21 we read the following prophecy: "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of Jehovah will lift up a banner against him. And the Redeemer will come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith Jehovah" (Isaiah 59:19-20). In Romans 11:1-36 we find a great New Testament witness concerning the future of the Jewish race. Their national conversion in a future day is maintained in that chapter. The Holy Spirit uses this very passage : " The Deliverer shall come out of Sion; He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob" (Romans 11:26). It is evident then before the Deliverer comes, the enemy comes in like a flood. The enemy rushes in immediately before the Lord comes as Deliverer for His people. Isaiah 60:1-22 gives another prophecy of the same nature: " Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee. For, behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the peoples; but Jehovah will arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen on thee." It is clear that when Jehovah is revealed with His glory in His day, not light, but darkness, will cover the earth. In the prophet Jeremiah we have, almost in the centre of the book, a number of chapters which treat of the future of Israel. The first one is Jeremiah 30:1-24, and here in the beginning we find the great tribulation for Israel announced as it is to take place in the last days: " And these are the words that Jehovah hath spoken concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith Jehovah: We have heard a voice of trembling, there is fear and no peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a male doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it; it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it" (Jeremiah 30:4-8). In the prophet Ezekiel the Lord declares: "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more, until He come whose right it is; and I will give it Him " (Ezekiel 21:27). Here, too, we have a passage which clearly indicates the characteristic of the end of the age. It will be overturning till He comes whose right it is, the Son of Man, in power and glory. The Book of Daniel contains perhaps the completest prediction of this characteristic of the days preceding the Return of the Lord: "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of distress, such as never was since there was a nation until that time. And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that is found written in the book" (Daniel 12:1). It is obvious that this great distress must fall into the future, for the people of Daniel have not yet seen the deliverance promised in the context, nor has Michael, the great prince, stood up for the people. (Compare with Revelation 12:7.) The New Testament throws complete light upon this passage. We shall come to it later. We quote but a few more passages. Micah 7:1-7, describes the evil day when the godly man is no longer in the land; the day of visitation and their perplexity has come. Habakkuk in his vision saw that day of distress and the enemy coming in like a flood, and thus he expressed himself: " I heard and my belly trembled; My lips quivered at thy voice; Rottenness entered into my bones, And I trembled in my place, That I might rest in the day of distress, When their invader shall come up against the people (Habakkuk 3:16). In Zechariah 14:1-21 we have a description of the great siege of Jerusalem, which forms the culminating point of that great day of trouble. Just before Jehovah comes to fight against the nations Jerusalem will be in the greatest distress. History has nothing to show in the way of fulfilment of the last chapter of the prophet of Glory. And if we turn to the New Testament we find that here, too, the same revelation is given. In His Olivet discourse—by far the greater part of it relating to this future history, the end of this age, all yet to be fulfilled—our Lord spoke the following words: "Then shall there be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now nor ever shall be; and if those days had not been cut short, no flesh had been saved; but, on account of the elect, those days shall be cut short" (Matthew 24:21-22). Let us remember that the Jewish disciples of our Lord do not represent the church. No church was then in existence. The question of the disciples was concerning the end or completion of the age. As they had absolutely no knowledge of the present "age", the church age, they meant nothing else than the Jewish age. And the Lord gives them an answer accordingly. He refers them to the prophecy of Daniel (Matthew 24:15). The description He gives of the sufferings and tribulations of a faithful Jewish remnant, which keeps the Sabbath, harmonizes fully with what we have learned from the Old Testament The above passage, in which our Lord speaks of the great tribulation, has nothing to do with the church. The elect are a remnant of God’s earthly people. The days of that tribulation will be shortened, not to keep them from losing eternal salvation, but to save them in the earth so that they may form the nucleus of the kingdom. " Immediately after the tribulations of these days the sun shall be darkened . . . they shall see the Son of Man " (Matthew 24:29-30). The great tribulation thus precedes the visible coming of the Son of Man. In the Epistles, which contain the truths for this present age, which is not Jewish, we look in vain for any passages which speak of the great tribulation. It is true tribulations are mentioned, but nowhere is the believer in Christ warned to look out for the great tribulation. The church has nothing whatever to do with that coming period of distress. She is taken away from the earth immediately before that tribulation begins. In the Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, our Lord gives from above a continued description of the tribulation and distress at the end of the age. Before these mighty scenes of trouble are pictured, and the riders gallop over the earth to reap their awful harvest, the glorified church is seen in Heaven before Him who sits upon the throne (Revelation 4:1-11 and Revelation 5:1-14). The promise given in the third chapter has been fulfilled: " I will keep thee out of the hour of trial." It would lead us too far to describe all which we read in the chapters which follow the fifth. The aspect of all is intensely Jewish. It connects closely with the Old Testament predictions. Perhaps every scene of trouble and wrath mentioned in Revelation is found somewhere in the prophetic Word. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 76: 04.04. THE NATIONS, THE ENEMIES OF ISRAEL ======================================================================== IV. THE NATIONS THE ENEMIES OF ISRAEL—THEIR FINAL OPPOSITION TO JERUSALEM FOLLOWED BY JUDGMENT UPON THEM Throughout the Word a clear distinction is made between the nation and the nations. The special nation which God has chosen for Himself is the seed of Abraham, or, as we generally term that people, Israel. " You only have I known of all the families of the earth" (Amos 3:2). "Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me out of all the peoples— for all the earth is mine—and ye shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:5-6). "Jehovah took pleasure in thy fathers, to love them, and He chose their seed after them, even you, out of all the peoples, as it is this day " (Deuteronomy 10:15). "Thus saith Jehovah, who giveth the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirreth up the sea so that the waves thereof roar— Jehovah of Hosts is His name: If those ordinances depart from before me, saith Jehovah, the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever" (Jeremiah 31:35). "God’s gifts and calling are without repentance" (Romans 11:1-36). But Israel was disobedient and became apostate. The times of the Gentiles, or nations, began then, and they are still running. Israel as a nation is set aside and the dominion of the earth is in the hands of the Gentiles. "And now I have given all these lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field also have I given him to serve him. And all the nations shall serve him, and his son and his son’s son, until the time of his land also come, when many nations and great kings shall reduce him to servitude." (Jeremiah 27:6-7.) Thus it was predicted through Jeremiah. Nebuchadnezzar had his dream of the great image, representing the four great world powers down to their final history (Daniel 2:1-49), and Daniel had his vision in which the history of the times of the Gentiles ending with the coming of the Son of Man in clouds, is revealed (Daniel 7:1-28). The Gentile world powers as seen by Nebuchadnezzar, the golden head, are four, the last divided into ten kingdoms; as revealed to the prophet Daniel in the form of beasts, they are likewise four. Zechariah in his night visions saw four horns, concerning which the Lord says : " These are the horns which have scattered Jerusalem, Judah, and Israel " (Zechariah 1:19). These four horns are in harmony with the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and the vision of Daniel. They all describe the four great world powers. The prophet Joel in describing the locust plague which had devastated the land mentions four species of the insect, or rather the locust in its fourfold development, a type again of the four great Gentile powers who were to prey upon Israel’s land during the time of their apostasy. Everywhere these nations are described as the enemies of Israel, and therefore the enemies of God. The enmity of the nations against Israel, however, appears fully developed at the end of the age. When the Lord, Jehovah, at last arises, He comes to judge these nations for the evil they have done to His people and to Immanuel’s land. The nations, though they have become " civilized" and call themselves " Christian nations," have sinned and are sinning against the chosen people. They have persecuted them and stripped them again and again. The worst, however, is yet to come. If we turn once more to Balaam’s inspired parables, we read there of the invincibility of the people whom Balaam and Balak the Gentile would have cursed: "For there is no enchantment against Jacob, Neither is there any divination against Israel. In its time it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, What God hath wrought! So, the people will rise up as a lioness And lift himself up as a lion." (Numbers 23:23-24.) And so in Moses’ song we read of the enemies of Israel whom the coming Jehovah judges. The Book of Psalms is full of prophetic descriptions of the enemies of Israel and the believing remnant; their prayers for the overthrow and destruction of these enemies are then not only timely but will also be answered. Psalms 2:1-12 finds then its great fulfilment: "Why are the nations in tumultuous agitation And why do the peoples meditate a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves And the princes plot together Against Jehovah and against His anointed. Let us break their bands asunder And cast away their cords." (Psalms 2:1-3.) This will be the final attitude of the nations, and in our day we see already much of this spirit. In Psalms 46:1-11, that glad redemption song of the delivered nation, we see them looking back to what had been. " The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved" (Psalms 46:6). Here is a prophetic picture of what has been and is yet to be: "O God, the nations are come into Thine inheritance, Thy holy temple have they defiled; They have laid Jerusalem in heaps. The dead bodies of Thy servants Have they given to be meat Unto the fowls of the heavens, the flesh of Thy saints Unto the beasts of the earth: Their blood have they shed like water Round about Jerusalem. And there was none to bury them." (Psalms 79:1-3.) (Compare this with Revelation 2:1-29.) But one more illustration from the Psalms. A prayer which will be heard from Jewish lips: "O God, keep not silence; Hold not Thy peace and be not still, O God: For behold Thine enemies make a tumult And they that hate Thee lift up the head And consult against Thy hidden ones; They say, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation And let the name of Israel be mentioned no more. For they have consulted together with one heart; They have made an alliance together against Thee." (Psalms 83:1-6.) From these passages we learn then that the nations are not alone the enemies of God’s chosen earthly people, but that at the end, immediately before the King is enthroned upon Zion’s hill, they will band themselves together, and, consulting together, they will form an unholy alliance against His people, against God, and His Anointed. It is true, history shows in the past such conspiracies of nations against the chosen nation, but the great and powerful alliance of the nations is yet to come.(1) It falls in the period which we described in the last chapter, the great tribulation. The book of Joel, which begins with the description of the locusts, literal locusts, which had played such havoc with the trees and all vegetable life, reveals under the type of locusts an invasion of the land by enemies. They are coming upon the land from the north, and are called " the northern army." This invasion is described, perhaps, in the sublimest language ever used by any prophet. "Before them consumeth a fire And behind them a flame burneth; Like the garden of Eden the land is before them, And behind them—a desolate wilderness. Surely nothing escapeth them. The appearance of them is like the appearance of horses, And like horsemen shall they run. Like the noise of the chariots, on the tops of the mountains they leap; Like the noise of a flame of fire consuming stubble, Like a strong people set in battle array. Before them the people are trembling; All faces turn pale. They shall run like mighty men; They shall climb the wall like men of war: And they shall march every one in his ways, And shall not break their ranks. Neither shall one press upon another; They shall march every one in his path; And they rush upon the weapon, but shall not be wounded. They shall run around in the city; They shall run upon the wall; They shall climb up into the houses, They shall enter in at the windows like a thief. Before them trembleth the earth, The heavens shake, Sun and moon shall be darkened, And the stars withdraw their shining." (Joel 3:1-10.) When this awful invasion takes place, and Israel’s land suffereth the worst, Jehovah will utter His voice and the enemies will be overthrown by His power. "And I will remove far off from you the northern army And will drive him into a land barren and desolate. His face towards the eastern sea, And his rear towards the hinder sea; And his stench shall come up, And his ill odours shall come up, For he hath exalted himself to do great things." (Joel 2:20.) This northern army will be under the leadership of the King of the North, of whom and his allies we will hear in the next chapter. Joel 3:1-21 describes the judgment of the nations who came up against Jerusalem. They will be brought down into the valley of Jehoshaphat and the judgment will be on account of Israel. "I will enter into judgment with them there On account of my people and mine inheritance Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations: And they have parted my land, And they have cast lots for my people, And have given a boy for a harlot And sold a girl for wine and drunk it." (Joel 3:2-4.). "Let the nations rouse themselves And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there will I sit to judge all the nations round about." (Joel 3:12.) In the prophet Amos we find predictions against nations. This prophet began his prophetic office by pronouncing judgment against the enemies of Israel. They had sinned against Israel and done evil to them. There has been a fulfilment unquestionably of these judgments, yet a final fulfilment of it is yet to come. Obadiah’s vision is about Edom. Here, too, we read of a confederacy of nations rising up against Israel. Isaiah’s vision contains many vivid descriptions of the nations, their final onslaught on Jerusalem, as well as their complete overthrow and judgment by Jehovah’s intervention and manifestaion. In the first part of Isaiah the great event of the Assyrian’s invasion, coming from the north, and the miraculous escape of Jerusalem, as well as the destruction of Sennacherib’s army, form the basis of the prophecy. It is typical history of what shall be repeated, only on a grander scale, before Jehovah comes. In this light Isaiah 10:1-34 is to be read. With Isaiah 13:1-22 begins a series of predictions against the nations. The first and most prominent is Babylon, the last is Tyre. These utterances will find their literal fulfilment in the end of this age. Babylon’s past judgments have never amounted to that which is declared in the thirteenth chapter: "And Babylon, the glory of the kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation." (Isaiah 13:19-20.) In Isaiah 29:1-24 Jerusalem is called Ariel. "Ariel (the lion of God), the city where David dwelt." Here we find, first of all, a description of that great end drama of this age: "I will distress Ariel, and there shall be sorrow and sadness and it shall be unto me as an Ariel. And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with watchposts, and I will raise forts against thee. And thou shalt be brought low, thou shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall come low out of the dust and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust, and the multitude of thine enemies shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones as chaff that passeth away; and it shall be an instant suddenly. Thou shalt be visited by Jehovah of hosts with thunder and with earthquake and great noise, with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. And the multitude of all the nations that war against Ariel, even all that war against her and her fortifications and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. It shall even be as when the hungry dreameth, and, behold he eateth; and he awaketh, and his soul is empty; or as when the thirsty dreameth, and behold he drinketh, and he awaketh, and behold he is faint, and his soul craveth; so shall the multitude of all the nations be that war against mount Zion." (Isaiah 29:2-8.) It is, of course, impossible to give a complete exegesis of this most interesting prophecy. We have put "all the nations" in italics, because it has been claimed that this prediction was long ago fulfilled. The term " all nations" and the multitude of all the nations points clearly to the future. Suffice it to say that this passage is in the closest harmony with what we have learned so far and what we shall yet find concerning the ending of the age, and the nations’ attitude towards Jerusalem. We take another prediction from the 34th chapter: "Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye peoples, let the earth hear and all its fulness; the world and all that cometh forth of it. For the wrath of Jehovah is against all the nations, and His fury against all their armies. He hath devoted them to destruction; He hath delivered them to the slaughter; and their slain shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up from their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood." (Isaiah 34:1-3.) Other prophecies in Isaiah relating to this final great conflict might be quoted, but these are sufficient. Isaiah 66:24 is to be connected with the above quotation from Isaiah 34:1-17 : "And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh." (Isaiah 66:24.) These are the carcasses of the slain of the Lord in that day. Jeremiah is not silent concerning the nations and their opposition to Jerusalem. Passing over a number of passages we quote the following: "And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also; and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands. For thus hath Jehovah the God of Israel said unto me: Take the cup of the wine of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it. And they shall drink and reel to and fro and be mad, because of the sword I will send among them." (Jeremiah 25:13-17.) Not for a moment would we say that there has not been a partial fulfilment of this, as well as similar passages. But the first captivity of Israel in Babylon is typical of their second and greater dispersion, in which they are now, and the announcements of Jehovah’s coming in vengeance upon the enemies of His people reach on to the final great deliverance and restoration of His people. Jeremiah 50:1-46 and Jeremiah 51:1-64 describe the judgments to come upon Babylon, the fulness of which will be realized in the future. In the third part of Ezekiel (Ezekiel 32:1-32, Ezekiel 33:1-33, Ezekiel 34:1-31, Ezekiel 35:1-15, Ezekiel 36:1-38, Ezekiel 37:1-28, Ezekiel 38:1-23, Ezekiel 39:1-21, Ezekiel 40:1-49, Ezekiel 41:1-26, Ezekiel 42:1-20, Ezekiel 43:1-27, Ezekiel 44:1-31, Ezekiel 45:1-25, Ezekiel 46:1-24, Ezekiel 47:1-23, Ezekiel 48:1-35), which treats of the coming restoration of the house of Judah and the house of Israel, and which contains so many precious promises to Israel and a description of their literal fulfilment, contains also a prophecy about the nations, especially Gog and Magog, which fall into the land immediately before the time of Jehovah’s remembrance of His people. The dreadful end of these invaders is described. The reader will find this prophecy in Ezekiel 38:1-23 and Ezekiel 39:1-29. The preceding chapter makes known the complete restoration of His people in the vision of the resurrection of the dry bones. These enemies are "Gog, Magog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal." They are accompanied by other nations, " Persia, Cush, and Phut, with them, Corner and all his bands; the house of Togarmah from the uttermost north, and all his bands, many nations with thee." From this we learn again the wonderful harmony of these prophecies. Here, as we have seen in the other passages, a confederacy of nations is accomplished before the day of Jehovah, and these nations come down upon the land. That the land of the north and the immense territory acquired by that land—we mean Russia—will be in that confederacy is obvious.(2) And now let us listen to the word of prophecy concerning the final onslaught of these enemies: "And thou shalt come from thy place out of the uttermost north, thou and many peoples with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great assemblage and a mighty army. And thou shalt come up against my people Israel as a cloud to cover the land, it shall be at the end of days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the nations may know me, when I shall be hallowed in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. Thus saith Jehovah: Art thou not he of whom I have spoken in old time through my servants the prophets of Israel who prophesied in those days, for many years, that I would bring thee against them? and it shall come to pass in that day, in the day when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah, that my fury shall come up in my face; for in my jeaousy, in the fire of my wrath have I spoken. Verily in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel." . . . Ezekiel 38:15-23.) The overthrow of this hostile army and the terrible judgment which overtakes them is the theme of Ezekiel 39:1-29 : "Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou and all thy bands, and the peoples that are with thee: I have given thee to be meat for the birds of prey of every wing, and to the beasts of the field. Thou shalt fall in the open field; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord Jehovah." (Ezekiel 39:3-4, and to the end of the chapter. ) How complete the harmony with the other prophets! We may reach from here into the New Testament and quote a few verses of what John saw and heard in the isle of Patmos: "And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all, free and bond, both small and great." (Revelation 19:17-18.) This event takes place when the heavens open, and the King of kings comes forth, and is to be connected with the prophecy in the two chapters we quoted from in the book of Ezekiel. Notice the fulfilment is to be at the end of days. It is also striking that the Lord saith in Ezekiel 38:17, "Art thou not he of whom I have spoken in old time through my servants the prophets of Israel?" Here then have we a full confirmation of what we said in the beginning. The Lord speaks Himself; the same Spirit through each of these men makes known God’s purposes. Therefore this Divine harmony. How strange—that Christians can pass by these visions and prophecies and can pronounce them as being of little value! How wicked to say the Lord has not spoken, or to declare these sublime revelations to be the " imaginations of Jewish patriots "! All readers of the Word know something of the great importance of the Divine revelations made to Daniel, the captive in the dispersion. It is not strange that both Jews and Gentiles should oppose and reject that greatest of all Old Testament prophetic books. The Jews have put Daniel in the Writings(3) and do not recognize Daniel as a prophet. Of his wonderful prophecies they are sadly ignorant. Worse, however, is the way Higher Criticism has treated this book. The great, final struggle in the land and around Jerusalem is here fully given. The prophecy of the seventy year-weeks is well known (Daniel 9:25-27). Jerusalem’s history ends abruptly with the sixty-ninth week. It is, however, not fully ended. One week remains, the seventieth. The gap between the sixty-ninth and the seventieth week is the present age. This is of much importance. The present age, in which God by His Spirit forms the church, the body of Christ, is not a revelation contained in the Old Testament. As soon as this age is concluded, with the fulness of the Gentiles coming in, the completion of the church, Israel’s history will begin again. The seventieth week will run its course, and in that week the times of the Gentiles (4) will terminate. This last week brings wickedness to the full; the great tribulation falls into that week; it is therefore entirely Jewish. Furthermore, in that last week the nations will fulfil their destiny under the leadership of the evil ones by falling into the land. The events of this great period, the winding up of the day of man, and the beginning of the day of Jehovah, are contained in the last chapters of Daniel. It is not our intention to go through these chapters, as it would lead us into a more detailed exposition, which is not the object of this volume. The great war centering around Immanuel’s land ends with the personal, visible, and glorious manifestation of the Son of Man. The same testimony concerning the nations at the end of this age is found in Micah, chapters Micah 4:13; Micah 5:6; Micah 5:15; Micah 7:16-17. Habakkuk stands personally as a type of the faithful remnant of God’s people, struggling in faith and hope in the tribulation and conflict preceding the manifestation of Jehovah. In Habakkuk 1:1-17 we find a description of the Chaldean army and their invasion. While it is true that such an invasion took place in the past, it is also true that it stands for the coming greater invasion. Habakkuk 3:1-19, to which we shall refer later, makes mention of this great, final struggle. "They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me Whose exulting was as to devour the afflicted secretly." (Habakkuk 3:14.) In Zephaniah, chapter Zephaniah 2:8-15 and chapter Zephaniah 3:6 refer to the same judgment of nations. From Haggai we quote the following words: "I will shake the heavens and the earth; and I will overthrow the thrones of kingdoms and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations; and I will overthrow the chariots and those that ride therein; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother." (Haggai 2:21-22.) Next to the prophet Daniel, in the fulness of the revelation of these great future events, stands the prophet Zechariah. (Zechariah 5:1-11) In the first night vision he hears words from Jehovah which assure His gracious intervention in behalf of Jerusalem and words which denote His displeasure with the nations: "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy, and I am wroth exceedingly with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little wroth and they helped forward the affliction." (Zechariah 1:14-15.) What an awful accusation that the nations helped forward the affliction! We have before indicated that the four horns in the second night vision stand for the four world powers. (Daniel 2:21.) This vision also shows that the horns of the nations are to be cast out. It is in the closing chapters of Zechariah we find many striking predictions of the nations coming against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:1-14 contains several words of Jehovah relating to the closing scenes of the end of the age: "Behold I will make Jerusalem a cup of bewilderment unto all the peoples round about and also against Judah shall it be in the siege of Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in that day that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone unto all peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall certainly be wounded, and all the nations of the earth shall be assembled together against it" (Zechariah 12:2-3). "And it shall come to pass in that day that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem" (Zechariah 12:9). Still more is said in Zechariah 14:1-21. There we have the history recorded of the coming siege of Jerusalem. The historical fulfilment of Zechariah 14:1-21 has often been attempted by critics, but they all have miserably failed. Though Jerusalem has seen many a siege, and perhaps more bloody and heartrending scenes than any other city of the world, but the siege prophetically described in Zechariah 14:1-21 has not yet been. It is to come, and falls into the last half of the seventieth week of Daniel. It will form the awful climax of the great tribulation. "Behold the day cometh for Jehovah, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. And I will assemble all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity; and the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. And Jehovah will go forth and fight with those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem towards the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof towards the east and towards the west . . . and Jehovah my God shall come and all the holy ones with thee." (Zechariah 14:1-5.) In harmony with all the other prophetic predictions touching the punishment of these nations, we read in this wonderful finale of Zechariah the following : "And this shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will smite all the peoples that have warred against Jerusalem; their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongues shall consume away in their mouth. And it shall come to pass in that day that a great panic from Jehovah shall be among them," etc. (Zechariah 14:12-15.) Awful fate which awaits these nations! Little do the nations of Europe dream of what is in store for them. Little does Russia, and all with her, concern herself with her future divinely foretold. Antisemitism is growing everywhere, but the final great outbreak against Jerusalem is kept back by Him, who hindereth. The nations whose future and end is so clearly outlined in the prophetic Word call themselves even " Christian nations," possess the Bible, through which they may know God’s purposes, and yet are ignorant of it all. But how striking the harmony existing in the predictions concerning the nations at the end! If we glance rapidly at the New Testament we find that the testimony of the theme of this chapter is continued there. Our Lord said to His disciples, "Jerusalem shall be trodden down until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." The last treading down of Jerusalem is at the end of the age. The great prophetic discourse of our Lord to which we have to refer again, contained in Matthew 24:1-51, reveals, as stated before, the events which take place immediately before His second visible coming in clouds in power and glory. Our Lord spoke elsewhere of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70, but this siege is not before Him in the first part of Matthew 24:1-51. Here He speaks of the last siege, the siege of Zechariah 14:1-21, and pictures events which are far from being fulfilled at this time. In this chapter He speaks the familiar words: "But you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that ye be not disturbed; for all these things must take place, but it is not yet the end. For nation shall rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. But all these are the beginning of throes. Then shall they deliver you up to tribulation, and shall kill you, and you will be hated of all the nations for my name’s sake." (Zechariah 14:6-9) Addressing these words to His Jewish disciples, representing the Jewish remnant, He tells them that the end of the age will be an end of tumult, political upheaval, and those who are then His faithful witnesses shall be hated by all nations. Later our Lord refers to the " abomination of desolation, which is spoken of through Daniel the prophet," and thereby calling our attention to this fact, that as Daniel’s vision of the abomination of desolation (Daniel 9:1-27) falls in the end of the age, that His words likewise treat of the same period. It is not a parable our Lord gives in Matthew 25:1-46 in the same Gospel. What He says there is the description of a great event following His glorious, visible advent at the end of the great tribulation, a description such as He alone could give. "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit down upon His throne of glory, and all the nations shall be gathered before Him." (Matthew 25:31-46.) It is not a universal judgment of good and evil, believers and unbelievers, but a judgment of all the nations. The event follows His manifestion and is closely connected with prophecies like the one contained in the 3d chapter of Joel and others. The book of Revelation after the 5th chapter is describing these struggles likewise as well as the judgments which fall upon Babylon, the kings and the nations. To follow all this in detail would take a volume for itself. 1 There will be a double confederacy of nations: the confederacy of the nations belonging to the restored Roman Empire, and the confederacy of the nations coming from the north under the leadership of the King of the North. 2 " Rosh " certainly reminds one of " Russia "; " Meshech " of "Moscow"; "Tubal," of "Tobolsk"; and "Togarmah," of " Turcomenia." Gog, Gomer, Meshech, etc., are first mentioned in Genesis 10. They settled in a northern direction. Gog and Magog occupied the territory of Russia of to-day, while Gomer was west of Gog and Magog, covering the territory of Austria and Germany. It is a most interesting fact that Russia is aware of this prophecy. Many intelligent Russians believe Ezekiel 38:1-23, Ezekiel 39:1-29 to mean their land. When the first edition of this volume was published, a Russian princess ordered a copy. It was returned to the publisher, being refused by the Russian censorship, the above passage being the objectionable feature. Russia is the great Jew-hating country. 3 The Hebrew Bible is divided into three parts: Toro, the Law; Nevjim, the Prophets; Kethubim, the Writings. 4 The times of the Gentiles are an entirely different thing from the " fulness of the Gentiles." A people is to be gathered out from the Gentiles for His name; when this is completed the fulness of the Gentiles is reached. The times of the Gentiles began before the calling out of a people for His name took place, and they will continue after the church is taken. The dominion of the Gentiles will end with the coming of the Lord visibly from Heaven. 5 For a complete exposition of this prophet of the coming glory see our book " Studies in Zechariah." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 77: 04.05. THE WICKED LEADERS OF THE APOSTATE FORCES ======================================================================== V. THE WICKED LEADERS OF THE APOSTATE FORCES AT THE END OF THE AGE—THE ANTICHRIST The harmony of the Prophetic Word becomes still more evident when we examine the revelation that wicked ones will be the leaders of the confederacy of nations, and one will be the head of the ecclesiastical apostasy. These leaders are three. The Roman Empire, as seen in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, and Daniel’s vision, will take on the form of ten kingdoms, represented in Daniel’s vision by ten horns on the fourth, exceeding dreadful beast. Out of these ten horns a little horn is to come forth; this little horn stands for the head and leader of the revived Roman Empire in its final form. The beast described in Revelation 17:8, "which was and is not and yet is," is the Roman Empire. The second leader, unquestionably the most important as well as the most wicked, the very incarnation of Satan, is the personal Antichrist, the man of sin and the son of perdition, whose perfect photograph we have in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17, Revelation 13:1-18, Daniel 11:1-45, and other Scriptures. He is in close alliance with the head of the Roman Empire, only that the Antichrist assumes the place of the leader of the ecclesiastical side of things. The third is the King of the North, spoken of as another little horn in Daniel 8:9, the Assyrian of the end time. All three are moved by the same power, Satan, have the same purposes, despising God and His people Israel. It is true they are so much alike that many readers of the Word do not see the distinction clearly, yet to have a clear view of these three wicked persons is quite necessary for a more complete understanding of Prophecy. Now, if our object in writing this volume were to study all prophetic passages analytically, we would enter into these details, and give a closer description of these three persons from Daniel and Revelation. However, this is not our purpose, and so we shall only show that the entire prophetic Word speaks of this fact that at the consummation of the age such evil persons will assume the leadership. We shall therefore not attempt a critical exposition to define the exact position and place they will take. The first promise given to Adam and Eve was " He (the seed of the woman) shall crush thy head and thou shalt crush His heel " (Genesis 3:15). Christ first of all is the seed of the woman. The crushing of the serpent’s head will be fully carried out when the Lord comes again, and when at last, at the close of the day of the Lord, the old serpent, the Devil, will be consigned to his eternal abode, the lake of fire. Now, as Christ is the seed of the woman, and having a seed, so will the enemy. have those in the earth who will be the heading up of all wickedness, the seed of the serpent. Like Christ, so has this wicked one his types. Pharaoh, Saul, Haman, Antiochus Epiphanes, Herod, as well as others, are clear types of these evil ones. We find him and his two associates mentioned throughout prophecy. Balaam had to speak of him in his unwilling declaration of the future and glory of Israel. "His King," that is, Israel’s King, "shall be higher than Agag, and His Kingdom shall be exalted" (Numbers 24:7). Agag is the title of the king of Amalek, and Amalek was the grandson of Esau, who appears as Edom in the prophetic Word. They stand for the flesh, and Agag as king stands here for the false king whose end will be when He comes whose right it is. Moses in his song sees this dark and dreadful one looming up in his vision: "Mine arrows will I make drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; I will make them drunk with the blood of the slain and of the captives, with the head of the princes of the enemy." (Deuteronomy 32:42.) "The head" mentioned is the wicked one. If the Psalms are applied in dispensational light, and the afflicted, persecuted, and driven ones are seen to mean the faithful remnant of the Jews at the close of the age, we shall have no difficulty to find the wicked one, the enemy, fully described in them. Psalms 10:1-18 contains one of the first descriptions of the Antichrist: "His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and oppression; Under his tongue is mischief and iniquity."(Psalms 10:7). Psalms 1:1-6, Psalms 2:12, Psalms 3:1-8, Psalms 4:1-8, Psalms 5:1-12, Psalms 6:1-10, Psalms 7:1-17, Psalms 8:1-9, Psalms 9:1-20, Psalms 10:1-18, Psalms 11:1-7, Psalms 12:1-8, Psalms 13:1-6, Psalms 14:1-7, Psalms 15:1-5 are all descriptive of the condition of things when that wicked one will have the rule. Many other passages could be quoted in which a wicked one, a person, is mentioned, and a godly people suffering under his dreadful regime cries to Jehovah for deliverance. The following verses in Psalms 37:1-40 may be read in this light, making known the comfort the remnant of His earthly people will have: "For yet a little while, and the wicked is not, And thou considerest his place, but he is not. But the meek shall possess the land. And shall delight themselves in the abundance of prosperity" (Psalms 37:10-11). Psalms 43:1-5 shows us this evil person again. ’He is called in this Psalm " the deceitful and unrighteous man" (Psalms 43:1). Still more do we find of him in Psalms 52:1-9 : "Why boasteth thou thyself in evil, thou mighty man ? the loving kindness of God abideth continually. Thy tongue deviseth mischievous things; like a sharp razor practicing deceit. Thou hast loved evil rather than good, lying rather than to speak righteousness. Thou hast loved all devouring words, O deceitful tongue! God shall likewise destroy thee for ever; he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy tent, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah." (Psalms 52:1-5.) Psalms 53:1-6 is almost like Psalms 14:1-7. While critics have found in this fact an argument for their unbelief in God’s Word, we find in it a strong proof of the verbal inspiration. Psalms 53:1-6, standing in the second book of Psalms, occupies the same place which Psalms 14:1-7 occupies in the first book. Like Psalms 14:1-7, Psalms 53:1-6 describes the days of Antichrist in the earth: "Every one of them is gone back, they are together become corrupt; there is none that doeth good, not even one." It is complete apostasy. Psalms 55:1-23 also refers to Antichrist: "He hath put forth his hands against such as are at peace with him; he hath broken his covenant" (Psalms 55:20). Psalms 74:1-23 and Psalms 140:1-13 contain similar references. We found in Joel the vision of the great army coming upon the land from the north. This army has at its head a King. He is called in chapter Joel 2:20, " the Northerner," a person. Edom, concerning which Obadiah had his vision, is a type of the Antichrist. It is he who is described and addressed in that prophet as a person: "The pride of thy heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; he that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith Jehovah " (Obadiah 1:3-4). In the vision of Isaiah we find his person pictured as well as the important part he plays in the final scenes of this age, and his end. The Assyrian, whose invasion and complete destruction is so prominent in the first half of the book of Isaiah, is the type of the Assyrian of the end, the King of the North. God uses him to bring distress upon Jerusalem, but before the very gates of the city, in view of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem, he is broken to pieces. Isaiah 10:1-34 from Isaiah 10:5 unfolds these coming events. The end of the chapter shows his advance upon Jerusalem. He comes to Nob, and shakes his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem. And then we read, "Behold the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, shall lop the boughs with violence; and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty ones shall be brought low " (Isaiah 10:33). It is the sudden appearing of the Lord to punish the enemy of His people. In Isaiah 11:1-16 the Messiah as King is seen in His first and second coming. When He comes to judge the poor and reprove with equity the meek of the earth, He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked. The latter prophecy is applied in the New Testament to the man of sin, the son of perdition (2 Thessalonians 2:1-17). In Isaiah 14:1-32 we meet the wicked one once more under the title "King of Babylon." The Assyrian and the King of Babylon are different persons. The King of Babylon stands for the beast of the book of Revelation, the final head of the world power, the head of the revived Roman Empire ruling in the final Babylon. The King of Babylon of old is but a faint shadow of the dreadful King of the end. We read then a description of his person and his fall: "The whole earth is at rest, is quiet: they break forth into singing. Even the cypresses rejoice at them, the cedars of Lebanon, saying: Since thou art laid down, no feller is come up against us. Sheol from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming, stirring up the dead for thee; all the he-goats of the earth; making to rise from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All of them shall answer and say unto thee, Art thou also become as powerless as we? art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to Sheol, the noise of thy lyres; the maggot is spread under thee and worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning! Thou art cut down to the ground, that didst prostrate the nations! And thou that didst say in thine heart, I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit upon the mount of assembly, in the recesses of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High: none the less art thou brought down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit. They that shall see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that shook kingdoms; that made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew the cities thereof; that dismissed not his prisoners homewards?" (Isaiah 14:7-18). The prophecy has often been applied to Satan himself, who was once Lucifer, " a brilliant star." However, it is to be explained that in these evil leaders, human beings, Satan will be manifested. There are numerous passages in the book of Isaiah which. speak of the Assyrian and his fate; all these refer us to the end and the punishment of the evil one, the last Assyrian: "For through the voice of Jehovah shall the Assyrian be broken down; he will smite him with the rod . . . For Tophet(1) is prepared of old; for the King also it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large; its pile is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it" (Isaiah 30:31-33). Here is his bitter end, and not alone his but that of the King as well, the false Messiah who comes in his own name and whom the Jews will accept. The authorized version has put the little word " yea, for the King " in Isaiah 30:33 and making it appear that the Assyrian is the King. But the King is the false Messiah, and his place will be in Jerusalem, the Assyrian is his enemy, but both will be cast into the lake of fire burning with brimstone (Revelation 19:20). In Isaiah 57:1-21 is another prophecy quite often overlooked as having any reference to Antichrist, but it clearly has. The first nine verses of this chapter show the awful condition of the Jews in their final great apostasy. There is a King mentioned in Isaiah 57:9 to whom they go with ointment, before whom they worship. He is not the King of Israel, but the Satanic counterfeit of the King of kings. While we have no fuller prophecies about the Antichrist and the others in Jeremiah such as we find in Isaiah, there are nevertheless several passages in which he is mentioned. We refer to chapters Jeremiah 23:19, Jeremiah 30:8, and Jeremiah 30:23-24. In the prophet Ezekiel we call the attention especially to Ezekiel 28:1-26. It is the word of Jehovah concerning the prince of Tyre. Such an arrogant prince reigned then, and there can be no question that the word of Jehovah had a special reference to that prince.. But as we read carefully we find that his personality is a type of one who is to come, another prince. It is very striking that expressions which are used here by the Spirit of God concerning the prince of Tyre are repeated later by Him in the description of the Antichrist: "Because thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the heart of the seas (and thou art a man and not God), and thou settest thy heart as the heart of God: behold thou art wiser than Daniel! nothing secret is hidden from thee; by thy wisdom and understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: by thy great wisdom thou hast by thy traffic increased thy riches. Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast set thy heart as the heart of God, therefore behold, I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall tarnish thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of those that are slain in the heart of the seas. Wilt thou then say before him that slayest thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man and not God, in the hand of him that pierceth thee " (Ezekiel 28:1-8). The remarkable statements we find in this passage and which are the signs and marks of the Antichrist are the following: 1. His heart is lifted up in pride. 2. He says, " I am God." 3. He takes his place in the seat of God. 4. He controls the sea and commerce. 5. He claims to be wiser than Daniel. 6. By his craftiness he gains riches. It is the number " six," and as we have his number in Revelation 666—three sixes, meaning man in full opposition to God. We have, therefore, under the type of the prince of Tyre a perfect outline of the man of sin. Compare the above with the language of the Holy Spirit in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-10. His end is also very significant. He is to die the two deaths at once—" Thou shalt die the deaths." And as we read what follows in Ezekiel 28:1-26, we become still more impressed with the deeper meaning of this prophecy: "And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the King of Tyre, and say unto .him, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Thou who sealest up the measure of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, thou wast in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, the topaz, and the diamond, the chrysolite, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the carbuncle, and the emerald, and the gold. The workmanship of thy tambours and of thy pipes was in thee: in the day that thou wast created were they prepared. Thou wast the anointed, covering cherub, and I had set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou didst walk up and down in the midst of the stones. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created till unrighteousness was found in thee (Ezekiel 28:11-15). We see at the first glance that this description can fit but one person, and that is the fallen Lucifer, the son of the morning, Satan. As he stands in connection with the King of Babylon in Isaiah 14:1-32, as we saw above, so he stands here in relation to the prince of Tyre. It is Satan himself who acts through these evil ones. " The prince that is to come "—the King coming in his own name is Satan’s revelation and masterpiece. The fullest revelation of this subject is given in the prophet who received his visions in Babylon, the prophet Daniel. Not alone are here the minutest descriptions in prophetic visions of the three evil ones, but the historic events clustering around Daniel and his faithful companions are foreshadowings of the evil day and the awful persecutions to which the believing remnant of the Jews will be exposed under the regime of the false Messiah. The great image which Nebuchadnezzar the King set up in the plain of Dura is a type of another image which will be set up in Jerusalem, the image of the beast. And as in Daniel 3:1-30, all were to be killed who refused to worship that image, so all who worship not the image of the beast shall be killed (Revelation 13:1-18). Thus all through Daniel the events have a highly typical and prophetic meaning. It is, however, in the great prophetic visions and communications Daniel received we read of the two little horns and the Antichrist, the three terrible ones who will be revealed in the course of the last prophetic week of Daniel with which the times of the Gentiles close. In Daniel 2:1-49, Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and its divine interpretation reveal the times of the Gentiles ending with the great catastrophe of the sudden destruction of the world powers. Daniel 7:1-28 contains the vision of the prophet concerning the same times of the Gentiles. The four great beasts arise out of the tumultuous sea, representing nations. The last, the fourth beast, was dreadful and terrible, exceeding strong; it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped the rest with its feet; it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. It corresponds with the two iron limbs of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream image, and its ten toes mixed iron and clay represents the Roman Empire. This last Empire has passed out of actual existence, yet both the prophecy of Daniel and the book of Revelation show conclusively that it will be revived. Its revival will consist of ten kingdoms joined in a mighty western European confederacy. The beginning of Revelation 13:1-18 speaks of this. The ten horns with their ten crowns are the same horns as revealed to Daniel. Thus we read: "I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another, a little horn, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots; and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of ’man, and a mouth speaking great things’" (Daniel 7:8). The prophet sees after this thrones set and the books opened: "I beheld till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given up to be burned in the fire" (Daniel 7:11). Then after the vision of the coming of the Son of Man from Heaven, the prophet desired to know the certainty concerning the fourth beast, the Roman Empire and the little horn. His desire is granted: "He said thus: The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon the earth, which shall be different from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And as to the ten horns, out of this kingdom shall arise ten kings; and another shall arise after them; and he shall be different from the former, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most high places, and think to change seasons and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and a half time [three and one-half years]. And the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end" (Daniel 7:23-26). The little horn is generally called the Antichrist, while many declare that as it refers to Rome, it must be the Pope. However, this interpretation is incorrect. Inasmuch as this little horn arises from the revived Roman Empire and becomes the domineering power of Rome in the end, the little horn in Daniel 7:1-28 must be the head of that Empire, the wicked leader of the western European confederacy of nations, the final King of Babylon, as he is described in Isaiah 14:1-32. His character as described here, his lawlessness and arrogant pride, harmonizes fully with everything else as revealed through the other prophets. It is likewise so as to his end. " Given up to be burned with fire " (Daniel 7:11). " Thou shalt be brought down to Sheol, to the sides of the pit " (Isaiah 14:15). " And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone " (Revelation 19:20). We come next to Daniel 8:1-27. Here we read first of a great horn. The great horn was broken and in its place came up four notable ones towards the four winds of heaven. This prophecy was fulfilled in Alexander the Great, the great horn. But out of one of these divisions came forth a little horn which waxed exceeding great. Now this little horn in Daniel 8:1-27 is not identical with the one in the foregoing chapter. The little horn in Daniel 8:1-27 rises out of the eastern parts of Europe. That Antiochus Epiphanes and his abominations is a partial fulfilment of the little horn seems clear. Antiochus Epiphanes sprung from one of the four kingdoms of Alexander’s empire. But he typifies also another person, a little horn which is yet to rise in the northeast, and therefore the little horn in Daniel 8:1-27 can be no other person than he who is mentioned in Daniel 9:1-27 by the name " King of the North." He is the Assyrian of the prophet Isaiah, the Northerner of Joel. Antichrist will be the enemy of the Jews in Jerusalem, the Assyrian will press down upon the land and the city from the north. To make one person out of the two or to say that the little horn in Daniel 7:1-28 and the one in Daniel 8:1-27 is the same individual is incorrect. But we must refrain from entering deeper into this subject, interesting and most timely as it is. And what then is said of this little horn ? "And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which became exceeding great, towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the beautiful land. And it became great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and trampled upon them. And he magnified himself even unto the prince of the host, and from him(2) the continual sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. And a time of trial was appointed unto the continual sacrifice by reason of its transgression. And it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised and prospered. . . . And at the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors shall have come to the full, a king of bold countenance, and understanding dark sentences shall stand up (the above little horn). And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy marvellously, and shall prosper, and shall practise, and shall destroy the mighty ones, and the people of the saints. And through his cunning shall he cause craft to prosper in his land; and he will magnify himself in his heart, and by prosperity will corrupt many; and he will stand . up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand." (The fate of the Assyrian.) (Daniel 8:9-13; Daniel 8:23-25.) In Daniel 9:1-27 the coming evil one, the final head of the Roman Empire, is mentioned again. He is "the prince that shall come." "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 wing of the abominations there shall be a desolator, even until that the consumption and what is determined shall be poured out upon the desolator" (Daniel 9:27). Turning to Daniel 11:1-45 we have in it a continued description of the evil one. Much of it refers to Antiochus Epiphanes; but at the close of the chapter is a prophecy which reveals the false Messiah, or, as he is generally called, the Antichrist, the man of sin and son of perdition: " And the King (Daniel 3:1-30) shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god, and speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he shall prosper until the indignation be accomplished; for that which is determined shall be done. And he will not regard the God of his fathers.t nor the desire of women, nor regard any god, for he will magnify himself above all" (Daniel 11:36-37). So then in Daniel we have most comprehensive prophecies concerning the three awful individuals. We refer now but briefly to a few passages in the other prophetic books. Micah 5:1-15 predicts, with the exception of Micah 5:2, which was fulfilled in the first coming of our Lord in humility, events still future. And here we have the Assyrian mentioned: " And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God. And they shall abide; for now shall he be great even unto the ends of the earth. And this man shall be Peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces," etc. (Micah 5:4-5). In Nahum’s burden of Nineveh we read of him. Sennacherib, the Assyrian, must have been meant first of all, but the Assyrian, the King of the North, forms the fulfilment of the prophecy: From this we would take it that while the chief of the Roman Empire and the King of the North are Gentiles, the false Messiah will be a Jew. The Jews will receive only a Jew as a Messiah. "Out of thee is gone forth one that imagineth evil against Jehovah, one who has the wisdom of Belial.(4) Thus saith Jehovah: Though they be complete in number, and many as they be, even so shall they be cut down, and he shall pass away; and though I have afflicted thee (Israel) I will afflict thee (Israel) no more. And now I will break his yoke from off thee, and will break thy bonds asunder. And Jehovah hath given commandment concerning thee (the Assyrian), that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy God will I cut off the graven image and the molten image. I will prepare thy grave: for thou art vile" (Nahum 1:11-14). Habakkuk mentions that wicked one. He refers to him by the Spirit in connection with the coming of the Lord: "Thou didst smite off the head of the house of the wicked, Laying bare the foundation even to the neck" (Habakkuk 3:13). The prophet himself trembles in view of the scenes which his prophetic vision beheld, and he says: "I heard and my belly trembled; My lips quivered at thy voice; Rottenness entered into my bones, And I trembled in my place, That I might rest in the day of distress, When their invader shall come against the people." (Habakkuk 3:16.) Zechariah speaks of the false Messiah as a foolish, worthless shepherd, and his punishment: "For, behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who shall not visit those who are about to perish, neither shall seek that which is strayed away, nor heal that which is wounded, nor feed that which is not sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their hoofs in pieces. Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaves the flock!" (Zechariah 11:15-17.) This, standing at the end of Zechariah, is in closest connection with the siege of Jerusalem, described in Zechariah 12:1-14 and Zechariah 14:1-21. Having rapidly glanced at these remarkable Divine predictions concerning the final leadership of the ungodly, apostate forces, and having seen their harmony, we point out the same revelation in the New Testament. We must turn first of all to the Olivet discourse in Matthew 24:1-51. Our Lord answers the question of the disciples about the end of the age, which we hold, as stated before, to be the very end of the interrupted Jewish age. The first sign of this ending age He gives as the appearing of many who shall say, " I am the Christ." This is followed by wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. If we turn to the 6th chapter in the book of Revelation, we find the same order of events in the opening of the seals. It is the beginning of the time of trouble. The first seal opened shows one upon a white horse, with a bow and a crown, and he goes forth to conquer. Strange that many interpreters make out of this one the Lord, or the universal preaching and conquest of the Gospel. But it is he who comes and says, " I am the Christ"; the false one. Then in Matthew 24:15, we read of the abomination of the desolation spoken of by Daniel. Our Lord Himself refers to the passage in Daniel 9:27. It will be in the middle of the week that the abomination will be set up in Jerusalem. In the Gospel of John our Lord speaks of the wicked one again when He says: "I am come in My Father’s name, and ye receive Me not; if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive" (John 5:43). The one to come and who will be received by the unbelieving Jews is the false Messiah. The book of Acts, the beginning of it, is a foreshadowing of the end of the age. As there was then only a Jewish remnant witnessing and suffering persecution, so it shall be again. King Herod, his awful persecutions and blasphemy, as well as his dreadful end, show clearly that he is a type of the wicked King to come (Acts 12:1-25). 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17, gives a fuller description of him. Here he is not only a false Messiah, but he also stands in relation to apostate Christendom. There is no question that after the church is removed and our gathering unto the Lord has taken place, that there will be an alliance between apostate Judaism and apostate Christendom. We see matters shaping themselves for it in our own day. So then the evil one coming will be for the Jews the false Messiah, and for Christendom the Antichrist: "Let not any one deceive you in any manner, because it will not be (the day of the Lord) unless the apostasy (in its final form) have first come, and the man of sin have been revealed, the son of perdition; who opposes and exalts himself on high against all called God, or object of veneration; so that he himself sits down in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do ye not remember that, being yet with you, I said these things to you? And now ye know that which restrains that he should be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness already works; only there is He who restrains now until He(5) be gone, and then the lawless one shall be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the breath of His mouth, and shall annul by the appearing of His coming; whose coming is according to the working of Satan in all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, and in all deceit of unrighteousness to them that perish, because they have not received the love of the truth that they might be saved" (2 Thessalonians 2:3-13). It is needless to point out to the reader the perfect agreement which exists between this New Testament description and the many prophetic predictions of the Old Testament. Only the Spirit of God can produce such a harmony. In the first Epistle of John the one who comes in his own name, the man of sin and son of perdition, is called the Antichrist He has many forerunners, but at last the personal Antichrist will be manifested. He denies the Father and the Son. Space forbids to follow the final revelation of this trinity of evil persons as revealed in the last book of the New Testament. In it we have the whole Old Testament revelation, especially as given in Daniel, taken together, and the beasts and the false prophet are described in their actions, their wickedness, their end, as well as all that which is in connection with them (Revelation 13:1-18, Revelation 14:1-20, Revelation 15:1-8, Revelation 16:1-21, Revelation 17:1-18, Revelation 18:1-24, Revelation 19:1-21). We must leave it to the reader to search and research these Scriptures, comparing Scripture with Scripture. Surely it is meat in due season. The time is near. All is getting ready for the manifestation of these masterpieces of Satanic cunning and power. Yet none of us who are Christ’s shall see that evil day with its evil leaders. Our feet shall be like hinds’ feet, and we shall walk in our places (Habakkuk 3:19). 1 2 Kings 23:10. 2 Notice the erroneous translation in the authorized version, "by him." It is from him the "prince of the host" 3 Called King because to be the false Messiah he will have to claim to be Israel’s King. 4 It is most significant that the " wicked counsellor" of the authorized version is in the Hebrew—one who has the wisdom of Belial. 5 We write "He" with the capital "H" because we believe it refers to the Holy Spirit. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 78: 04.06. THE VISABLE AND GLORIOUS MANIFESTATION ======================================================================== VI. THE VISIBLE AND GLORIOUS MANIFESTATION OF JEHOVAH OVER THE EARTH AND IN THE EARTH From the dark scenes of the tribulation and the description of the evil persons playing such an important part at the close of the times of the Gentiles we turn next to the bright and wonderful prophecies relating to the visible and glorious manifestation of Jehovah. These prophecies, which reveal the opened heavens and out of these opened heavens coming forth with unspeakable glory a Divine person in the form of a man, like almost everything else in the prophetic Word, have been grossly spiritualized, or, as someone called it, " phantomized." All kinds of spiritual applications have been made from it; the most favoured is to see in it " the glory of the church." Others admire these prophetic descriptions as remarkable and highly poetical productions of the Jewish patriotic heart, etc. Strange, indeed, it is that but few believers throughout Christendom look upon all these promises of a personal, visible, and glorious manifestation of Jehovah, as real promises of God, as real as any promise contained in the New Testament, and that all must be literally fulfilled. Oh, how much such readers of the Word of God miss in the joy of knowing the secret things of Jehovah, He has been pleased to reveal to us! To many it seems almost fabulous that all these prophecies should be literally fulfilled, as if the Lord is limited in His strength. Others again speak of a visible manifestation of Jehovah as a too materialistic conception. These forget that Jehovah did reveal Himself in the past, and that for a time His glory was with His earthly people Israel. They forget that the closed heavens during this age will not be closed forever, and the silence of God existing for so long will at last be broken and He will speak again. And who is He of whom we read as Jehovah, whose glorious person will be revealed? None other than Jehovah-Jesus, the God-man, the Lord of Glory. He is to come in His power and glory. He is the One who created the worlds and the angels, who was made a little lower than the angels in incarnation, and who, after He made purification of sins by Himself and by resurrection declared the Son of God in power, the first begotten from the dead, went into the highest heavens, above the angels, and sat down as the glorified Man at the right hand of the Majesty on high. The Jehovah whose visible and glorious manifestation we shall follow in comparing Scripture with Scripture is our Lord Jesus Christ. There is much in the Old Testament besides the more direct prophetic predictions foreshadowing Jehovah’s manifestation and the manner in which it will take place. There are, for instance, the Theophanies (Appearings of God). They not only foreshadow the first coming of our Lord, but also His second coming. We can only hint at a few of the many things which might be mentioned. It is a well-known fact that Jehovah Himself dwelt with His people Israel and manifested His glory in their midst. With the presence of Jehovah there was associated an outward sign, which was a cloud: " And Jehovah went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light to go by day and by night." (Exodus 13:21.) Out of that cloud Jehovah looked upon the hosts of the Egyptians, and by that look they were troubled and confused. (Exodus 14:24.) The glory of the Lord appeared in that cloud. (Exodus 16:10.) The Lord descended in a cloud and stood before Moses. There was also the cloud upon the mercy seat. Jehovah came down repeatedly in a cloud (Numbers 11:25; Numbers 12:5, etc.), and later the glory of Jehovah filled the temple after Solomon’s prayer, and that glory came in form of a cloud. All this is very significant and important for us to notice in these brief remarks, for it has much to do with the great coming manifestation of Jehovah. If we turn to the book of Exodus, Exodus 19:1-25 and Exodus 20:1-26, we find there the record of a manifestation of Jehovah to which the Holy Spirit refers repeatedly through the Prophets, and which is used to foreshadow the coming glorious manifestation of the Lord. Here we read: " And it came to pass on the third day when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a heavy cloud on the mountain, and the sound of the trumpet exceeding loud . . . and the whole of Mount Sinai smoked, because Jehovah descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook greatly." (Exodus 19:16-18.) In Deuteronomy Moses utters next to his prophetic song a blessing which undoubtedly will see its fulfilment in the coming age when Israel is restored to the land. In the beginning of Deuteronomy 33:1-29 we find a word which not only refers us to the past but to the future as well. As Jehovah is described there rising up from Seir, shining forth from Paran, coming with the myriads of the sanctuary, so will He come forth to bless Israel again. And now as we look to the prophetic testimony contained in the book of Psalms and the visions of the prophets we shall find how clearly these outward signs of glory are given again and again, besides many other descriptions of the glorious manifestations of Jehovah, the Creator and Saviour, Lord of lords and King of kings. In the book of Psalms, where, as mentioned in previous chapters, a future remnant of Jews is seen suffering and waiting for deliverance by Divine interference, we find some of the most glorious descriptions of Jehovah’s manifestation. In Psalms 18:1-50 we have one which leans closely on the manifestation of Jehovah described in Exodus 19:1-25 and Deuteronomy 33:1-29. It is a superficial Bible study which can claim a fulfilment of this Psalm in the experience of King David. As far as we know he never had passed through an experience such as related in this Psalm. It is Christ first of all who is before us in this sublime song. He went into death and the deliverance was resurrection. But it is not Christ alone but also the remnant of His earthly people who will have to cry in the great tribulation: " The bands of death encompassed me, and the torrents of Belial made me afraid. The bands of Sheol surrounded me, the cords of death encountered me. In my distress I called upon Jehovah, and I cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of His temple, and my cry came before Him into His ears" (Psalms 18:4-6). This Psalm also stands at the close of David’s history— signifying that it has to do with the end-history of David’s seed. The description therefore which follows the pleadings for deliverance in the last days of the great tribulation can have only one meaning—the manifestation of Jehovah from Heaven visibly and in glory. If all these descriptions have such a marked resemblance to the events which took place when Jehovah delivered His people out of Egypt and when He gave them the law, it is a very simple indication that as Jehovah acted then and appeared in glory, so will He act once more and show His glory. Here then is the Spirit of God witnessing to the great future event, looking on towards the future and giving it in the language of a past event: "Then the earth shook and quaked; and the foundations of the mountains trembled and shook, because He was wroth. There went up a smoke out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth devoured: coals burned forth from it. And He bowed the heavens and came down; and darkness was under His feet. And He rode upon a cherub, and did fly; yea, He flew fast upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness His secret place; his tent round about Him; darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness before Him His thick cloud passed forth hail and coals of fire. And Jehovah thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice; hail and coals of fire." (Psalms 18:7-13.) Sublime picture, is it not? It will all be fulfilled. In Psalms 29:1-11 we find another description of the display of the power and majesty of Jehovah in His glorious day. It is the voice of Jehovah which is made prominent here: "The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters; the God of glory thundereth: Jehovah upon great waters. The voice of Jehovah is powerful; the voice of Jehovah is full of majesty. The voice of Jehovah breaketh cedars; yea, Jehovah breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. And He maketh them to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young buffalo. The voice of Jehovah cleareth out flames of fire. The voice of Jehovah shaketh the wilderness; Jehovah shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. (Psalms 29:3-8.) It is the manifestation of His person, and His voice will be heard. Psalms 45:1-17 likewise describes Jehovah the King coming in His glory. What a Psalm it is! He who is addressed as God in this Psalm is also called " the fairest among the children of men," and it is said of Him, " Thou lovest righteousness and hatest wickedness." This has been fulfilled in our Lord, God manifested in the flesh. And He who was made a little lower than the angels, has received a throne and will have a sceptre, is described in this Psalm in His royal glory when He enters the earth again with His sword girded on His thigh, the victorious Conqueror who comes to rule the nations with a rod of iron. His beauty as the bridegroom is seen also in this song, the product of " the ready writer," the Holy Spirit. Psalms 50:1-23 and Psalms 68:1-35 give us additional descriptions of the glory of the coming of Jehovah, and in Psalms 76:1-12 we read of it likewise. We cannot mention here all the other Psalms which predict Jehovah’s manifestation at the end of Jacob’s great trouble for the deliverance of the remnant of His earthly people. In Joel we read that Jehovah shall utter His voice (Joel 3:11), and the mighty ones come down with Jehovah in the earth when the nations are assembled, while the sun and the moon are darkened and the stars withdraw their shining. Isaiah is rich and full of Divine predictions of what will be seen by the people Israel and the nations of the earth when the day of Jehovah comes. In Isaiah 2:1-22 He is seen arising to shake terribly the earth, and it will be in the glory of His majesty (Isaiah 2:19). In Isaiah 4:1-6 the visible glory cloud which comes with Him as it surrounded Him when He dwelt with Israel is described, and we are told the glory will rest over Jerusalem. His sudden appearing is described in Isaiah 10:33-34. In chapter Isaiah 11:4 He comes to smite the earth with the rod of His mouth. Israel will welcome Him and say, " Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us; this is Jehovah; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation " (Isaiah 25:9). In chapter Isaiah 30:27-30, we read: "Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from afar, burning with His anger, a grievous conflagration: His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue as a consuming fire: and His breath as an overflowing torrent, which reaches even unto the neck, to sift the nations with a sieve of destruction, and to put a bridle into the jaws of the peoples, that causeth them to go astray. . . . And Jehovah will cause the majesty of His voice to be heard, and will show the lightning down His arm with indignation of anger, and a flame of consuming fire, with water, flood and storm and hailstones." And again it is promised to Israel: " Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty " (Isaiah 33:17) ; " And the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of Jehovah has spoken it " (Isaiah 40:5). How often is the term " Glory of Jehovah " spiritualized. It means in this and in many other passages His outward glory, that glory of which He once emptied Himself. As He stood on the mount of transfiguration His glory was revealed. When He ascended and was received by the cloud in the heavens glimpses of the glory with which He comes back and which will be witnessed by all flesh were seen. But one more quotation from Isaiah: "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with deep red garments from Bozrah? this that is glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore is redness in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the peoples not a man was with me: and I have trodden them in mine anger, and trampled them in my fury; and their blood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all mine apparel. For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed was come." (Isaiah 63:1-4.) Here the King of Glory is seen coming from the battle with His enemies. Ezekiel 1:1-28 describes the vision of the whirlwind and the great cloud and the fire. It is the vision of the glory of the Jehovah, which the prophet by the River Chebar beheld. The heavens were opened, and he saw visions of God. At the close of Ezekiel 1:1-28 we read what this glory of Jehovah was like: "And above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was a likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the look of glowing brass, as the appearance of fire, within it round about; from the appearance of his loins and upward, and from the appearance of his loins and downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah." (Ezekiel 1:26-28.) This then is the description of the glory of Jehovah. It was then leaving Israel. The visible sign of Jehovah’s presence was leaving His people, but when He returns the King of Israel then His glory will be seen again welcomed by the glad worship song of His earthly people, " Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." In the closing chapters of Ezekiel we read of this returned glory: "Afterwards he brought me unto the gate, the gate which looked towards the east. And, behold, the glory of the Lord of Israel came from the way of the east: and His voice was like the voice of many waters; and the earth was lit up with His glory. And the appearance of the vision that I saw was according to the vision that I had seen when I came to destroy the city: and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river debar; and I fell upon my face." (Ezekiel 43:1-4.) Daniel’s familiar vision is well known, the coming of one like a Son of Man in the clouds of Heaven (Daniel 7:13). It is the vision of the coming of Jehovah to rule and to reign over the earth. In Habakkuk 2:1-20 we find the promise of the glory of the Lord: "For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea." (Habakkuk 2:15.) The previous verse declares what days all this shall take place. The people shall labour for the very fire and weary themselves for vanity, a prophecy the fulfilment of which is only too apparent in our day. It is in Habakkuk 3:1-19 where we find one of the finest descriptions of the visible and glorious manifestation of Jehovah. Habakkuk did not borrow, as some have said, from the description of the manifestation of Jehovah when He gave the law, or from other prophets, but the Spirit of God gives through him the same testimony concerning this great event as He did through His other chosen instruments. That there is a marked reference in this chapter to the manifestation at Sinai is seen at the first glance. It is an interesting fact that the orthodox Jews in keeping the feast of the Firstfruits read from the Law the chapter from Exodus which describes the manifestation of Jehovah at the giving of the Law, and from the prophets they read Habakkuk 3:1-19 and Ezekiel 1:1-28. And now we quote part of this chapter (Habakkuk 3:3-7) "God comes from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covereth the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise. And His brightness is like the sun; rays stream from His hand; and there is the hiding of His power. Before Him goes the plague, and burning pestilence follows His feet. He stands and measures the earth: He looks and makes nations tremble; the everlasting mountains are broken in pieces, the eternal hills sink down: His ways are everlasting. I saw the tents of Cushan in trouble: the tent curtains of the land of Midian tremble. • ••••••. The mountains saw thee, they writhe: a flood of water passes over: the abyss utters its voice, it lifts up its hands on high. Sun, moon stood back in their habitation, at the light of thine arrows which flew, at the shining of the lightning of thy spear. In anger thou marchest through the earth, in wrath Thou treadest down the nations." (Habakkuk 3:10-12) We call attention to but one fact. The Holy One who is here seen advancing, His glory flashing over the heavens and filling the earth with glory, has rays streaming forth from His hands. This is significant, for these hands were once outstretched on the cross and pierced. When He comes the nailprints will be visible, and from these hands emanates the glory now. In the prophet of glory, the prophet Zechariah, His visible and glorious manifestation is pictured in a number of passages. In Zechariah 9:9-10, He is seen as the coming King. Thus He came once to Jerusalem and was rejected; He will come the second time and be received. In Zechariah 12:10, the penitent nation looks upon the Holy One, upon Him whom they have pierced, and in the last chapter we read that His feet will stand in that day, in the day of Jerusalem’s extremity, upon the Mount of Olives. It will be the day of Jehovah’s visible manifestation, and not only His manifestation, but the manifestation of His saints as well. " And Jehovah my God shall come; all the saints with thee " (Zechariah 14:5). The last book of the Old Testament speaks of this glorious manifestation as the rising of the Sun of Righteousness with healing beneath His wings. In this picture the Holy Spirit gives us a faint indication of what His visible manifestation will be —Brightness, Glory, and Power. The testimony of the Spirit in the New Testament is not different from His witness in the Old at which we have glanced in this chapter. All the descriptions of Jehovah’s outward glories, His majestic appearing, the cloud of glory accompanying Him, His voice, His brightness greater than the sun, His work in judgment, and His mercy in wrath are all repeated. We learn, above all, that it is our Lord Jesus Christ to whom all applies, and that the fulfilment falls in the day of His visible return to the earth. To quote here the passages contained in the New Testament, which so fully harmonize with the predictions in the prophets and the Psalms, is an impossibility. We call the attention to but a few facts. Our Lord in speaking of His return as Son of Man always mentions the outward glory and that He will come in power. In Matthew 16:1-28 He reveals for the first time His death and resurrection, but He also speaks of His glory: " For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then shall He reward every man according to His works. Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom." (Matthew 16:27-28.) The last verse is to be brought in connection with the transfiguration which followed six days later (Matthew 17:1-27), and which is, as we have stated from 2 Peter 2:1-21 in our introduction, a foreshadowing of our Lord’s coming in His kingdom. And there He stood as Son of Man in His glory, His face shining like the sun, His raiment white as the light. And there was also the bright cloud, the Shekinah cloud, the cloud which tarried once with Israel, the cloud in which Jehovah descended in olden times, the cloud which Ezekiel saw departing and returning. In Matthew 24:30, He speaks of the signs of the Son of Man which shall appear in the heavens. It will be the bright cloud which the remnant of Israel will recognize at once as the sign of Jehovah’s presence. Then shall all the tribes of the land, Israel’s land, mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory. In the book of Acts we read of His ascension. He was taken up and it was a cloud which received Him out of their sight. The event took place on the Mount of Olives. Still gazing upward, the disciples heard the words of the two men in white apparel: " 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." (Acts 1:11.) In like manner—surely this does not mean a spiritual coming. If it means a spiritual coming, one might just as well say His ascension did not really take place. We have to look at it as spiritual, or, as some say, allegorical. No —in like manner means His visible and glorious return. The cloud took Him up, the cloud brings Him back. Jewish disciples (not the church, for there was no church when our Lord went back to Heaven) saw Him returning to the glory; Jewish disciples will see Him coming back in like manner. He left the earth from the Mount of Olives; He returns to the earth to the Mount of Olives. (Zechariah 14:5.) The conversion of Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:1-43) is also giving us lessons concerning the return of the Lord. Paul in his Epistle speaks of it as a pattern. It is the pattern of Israel’s future national conversion. Saul saw the heavens opened,(1) and He saw Jesus and heard His voice. The light which he saw was above the brightness of the sun (Acts 26:13). The sun paled before that light of Him who is the Sun of Righteousness. Like Saul of Tarsus, Israel will see His glory and hear His voice. The many other passages we do not mention here, but refer to but one more in the book of Revelation, where His return in power and glory is described: "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and one sitting on it called Faithful and True, and He judges and makes war in righteousness. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head many diadems, having a name written which no one knows but Himself; and He is clothed with a garment dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in the heaven followed Him upon white horses, clad in white, pure fine linen. And out of His mouth goes a sharp two-edged sword, that with it He smite the nations; and He shall shepherd them with an iron rod: and He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. And he has upon His garment and upon his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords." (Revelation 19:11-16.) It is all in fullest accord with the witness of the Spirit in the Old Testament. In conclusion we wish to remark that the coming of the Lord, the blessed Hope of the church, is something entirely different from the visible and glorious manifestation of the Lord. The blessed Hope is our gathering together unto Him. (2 Thessalonians 2:1.) Such a Hope is not revealed in the Old Testament, for the church was then unrevealed. This blessed Hope means that the complete Body of Christ, the saints who have fallen asleep and the saints who are alive, shall be caught up together in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. No one knows when this Body may be complete, therefore this Hope is an imminent Hope. He may come for His own to-day. Gathered there in the air with Him, seeing Him as He is, we will appear before Him at His judgment seat, and sit down at the marriage supper, while in the earth the scenes of tribulation and judgments go on. When at last the moment comes of Jehovah’s visible and glorious manifestation over the earth and coming down into the earth, the manifestation of the church will follow, for she is His bride. " When Christ our life is manifested, we will be manifested with Him in glory." He as Son brings many sons to glory. No eyes of such who are believers now saved by grace will see Him coming in the clouds, for they shall be with Him when He appears. Well may we earnestly pray, " Even so, come, Lord Jesus," the prayer to take us unto Himself. 1 Three manifestations of the glorified Christ are given in the New Testament. He appeared unto Stephen, who saw Him standing (Acts 7:1-60) Then to Saul on the road of Damascus, and the last to John in Patmos. Thus He will appear to His own, represented by Stephen, to receive them, to Israel and to the world, as seen in Revelation. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 79: 04.07. THE CONVERSION AND RESTORATION OF ISRAEL ======================================================================== VII. THE CONVERSION AND RESTORATION OF ISRAEL We begin now to look at the blessed things which are connected with the manifestation of Jehovah, our Lord Jesus Christ. From the preceding chapters we have learned that His appearing will be in the day, which is called "the day of the Lord," that this day will come at the end of the great tribulation, during which the nations form ungodly alliances to oppose God and His Anointed, and that Jehovah’s manifestation will bring their judgment. But while that day is a day of wrath, it is also a day in which Jehovah will show mercy and fulfil all that which He spoke through the mouth of His holy prophets. A new age will begin, the age long foretold, when righteousness and peace kiss each other, when the nations learn war no more, and the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the deep. We shall look first of all to the Harmony of all Prophecy in predicting the conversion and restoration of Israel. This topic is one of the most prominent in the prophetic Word. We find it quite a task in the limited space we have to condense all in such a way that the reader will get the correct, scriptural view of it, and to show at the same time how the Spirit of God bears witness to this great future of Israel. It may not be altogether out of place to say whom we mean by Israel. There is so much wrong teaching about, that one is forced to refer almost constantly to the most simple foundation truths. The fact is that the most popular interpretation of the Bible makes Israel mean the church. Thus it has come to pass that all these wonderful prophecies which speak of a restoration of Israel and the blessings in store for them have been claimed to mean the " spiritual Israel," the church, and that this present age sees the fulfilment of these promises. This is totally wrong. This method of spiritualizing promises which relate exclusively to one people and one land has thoroughly carnalized the church. When God says Israel He means Israel and not the church. When God reveals the mystery hid in former ages, unknown in the Old Testament, the mystery of the church or assembly and His gracious purposes concerning this body, He does not mean Israel. So let us understand that Israel is Israel, namely, the descendants of Abraham, God’s ancient people, the earthly people of God. When we speak therefore of the restoration of Israel, and cite from the Scriptures prophecy after prophecy, we mean that which God the Holy Spirit meant, the literal fulfilment of all these prophecies in the literal Israel to whom their own prophets transmitted these oracles of God. It has been our privilege to witness during the past twenty years to thousands of believers concerning God’s faithfulness towards Israel and their glorious future, and many have told us and more have written that the right key for the Bible was put into their hands when they saw Israel means Israel and not the church, when they understood God’s loving purpose concerning that people whom He, in His sovereign mercy, chose to be His people. And so it is. If we begin to divide the Word of Truth rightly concerning the Jews, the Gentiles, and the church of God, and see that God has His plan clearly outlined in His Word for each of the three, and has fully revealed that when He began to take out of the nations a people for His name, the gathering of the church, He has not completely and finally cast away His earthly people Israel, we shall then surely have the right key which opens up all in God’s Word. But this key has been lost by Christendom. If it were in the possession of the Higher Critics they could no longer sit in judgment upon the infallible Word of God, and all the present-day confusion of a professing church trying to attend to the calling and work of Israel in a future age, and worse than failing in it, dishonouring God and the Master who bought them, this confusion could no longer exist if it were understood God means Israel and that there is a restoration of Israel coming which places that people at the head of the nations, who will be brought to the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord by that restored people. Now, perhaps the best way to approach this subject is by turning first to the Epistle to the Romans. In this Epistle the salvation in Christ is unfolded, which is for him who believes. This salvation is for the believing Jew and the believing Gentile, who are seen in the first part of the Epistle as guilty before God. With the 4th chapter the Jew, so to speak, is left out of sight, and we read only of what God has done for us in the gift of His Son and the place He gives in Him to every believing sinner. After this is fully made known, ending in the 8th chapter and before the Spirit of God speaks of the walk of the one who is in Christ, the Holy Spirit inserts three chapters, Romans 9:1-33, Romans 10:1-21, and Romans 11:1-36, in which He makes dispensational facts prominent. He shows that God, in His dealings with the nations or with the Jews, is not unrighteous, and especially does He prove that the temporary rejection of Israel is not a complete rejection, nor is it final and permanent. And why this in Romans? We can well imagine the Jew stepping up after reading and hearing of a salvation in which Jews and Gentiles are treated alike, saying, " What about the promises made to my fathers? What about our peculiar place God in His sovereignty has given to us, and the hundreds of unfulfilled promises which were given to us through the prophets?" To tell the inquiring Jew that God didn’t mean exactly the Jews when He gave these promises, that God had the church in mind, and that now He is through with the seed of Abraham and Abraham’s land, would never satisfy him, he would and certainly could then accuse God of being unrighteous in breaking the oath-bound covenants made with the fathers. This is the reason why the Spirit of God puts into Romans this parenthesis of three chapters. And the fact that God is faithful to Israel, that He has not cast away His people Israel, that His gifts and callings are without repentance, is of great importance to us as believers of the Gentiles. Supposing it were so, as it is so generally claimed, that God is done with the seed of Abraham and that what He said through the prophets about Israel He meant for the church; what assurance could we have that God would be faithful to His promises made to us and do what He said? Who could guarantee us then against the possibility that God doesn’t exactly mean what He promises about the church now and in a future age. May He not drop those He took out of the nations and saved in Christ, as He dropped Israel? How comforting, then, the fact that God’s gifts and calling are without repentance. And this is shown about Israel in these chapters. In Romans 9:1-33 we are told that to Israel belongs the adoption, the glory, the covenants and the law giving, and the service and the promises, but it is in Romans 11:1-36 in which the Holy Spirit asks the question: " Hath God cast away His people ? " and in which so emphatically He says " Far be the thought! " and gives His own answer to that question, proving that Israel is Israel still, and what God promised to them He is going to keep. That chapter must be studied in detail to be fully understood. First, Paul is mentioned as an argument that God has not cast away His people. In him, his conversion and his life, God gave a sample and a type of what He can do and will do with Israel, as unbelieving, fanatical, and zealous without knowledge as Saul of Tarsus was. Then He refers us to the fact that there was never a time in the history of Israel when in their greatest apostasy God had not reserved a remnant for Himself. Elijah’s time is used as an illustration. Though he complained of a universal apostasy, God had seven thousand and knew them who had not bowed the knee to Baal. Even so now God has a remnant according to the election of Grace. Answer upon answer follows in this chapter showing God’s purpose towards Israel and their final conversion and restoration as a nation. There is the illustration of the good olive tree and the wild olive tree, and then the mystery is, made known so that the Gentile believer should not be wise in his own conceits. " For I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, of this mystery, that ye may not be wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel shall be saved, according as it is written, The deliverer shall come out of Sion; He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. And this is the covenant from me to them, when I shall take away their sins." (Romans 11:25-26.) Alas! Christendom has been and is wise in their own conceits and is boasting against the broken-off branches. Christendom heeds not the warning "Be not highminded but fear: if God, indeed, spared not the natural branches, lest it might be He spared not thee either." Even these most simple statements about Israel and their final conversion in Romans 11:1-36 have been taken to mean the church. This is as bad as a person who came to us last year after having spoken on the verse "Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled." After showing Jerusalem’s future the person said, "But God can’t mean the Jerusalem in Palestine; He means the Jerusalem above." This is a fair example of what some of the commentators have done and what some of the modern preachers do with the declarations of God’s holy prophets. If they read of Jerusalem trodden down by the Gentiles—the Jews punished for their sins and unbelief, their land taken from them, and they scattered among the nations—of course it must mean Jerusalem and the Jews. But when the same verse says Jerusalem shall not be trodden down by the Gentiles forever, Jerusalem shall become the city of a great King, the dispersed of Israel shall be gathered and brought back, etc., then we are told " it can’t mean this same Jerusalem, we must apply this to the church, there is nothing left for the Jew." Oh, the blindness, unbelief, and arrogant pride of professing Christendom in rejecting God’s purposes. We have thus briefly indicated that the subject before us, which is so fully revealed in the prophetic Word, the conversion and restoration of Israel, is a very pronounced New Testament doctrine and is a part of the faith once and for all delivered to the Saints. We shall now turn our attention to the Old Testament Scriptures. In the prophecy of Noah, Shem stands out prominently, and his supremacy is there indicated. (Genesis 9:25-27.) Later God called out of Shem one man, Abraham, and He made to him unconditional and absolute promises. " The God of Glory appeared unto our father Abraham " (Acts 7:2), said Stephen in beginning his testimony to the national leaders. "And Jehovah said to Abram, Go out of thy land, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, to the land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and bless thee, and make thy name great: and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed." (Genesis 12:1-3.) " And Jehovah appeared to Abram and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land" (Genesis 12:7). "And Jehovah said to Abram, after that Lot hath separated himself from him, Lift up thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all the land that thou seest will I give to thee and to thy seed for ever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if any one can number the dust of the earth, thy seed also will be numbered. Arise, walk through the land, according to the length of it and according to the breadth of it; for I will give it to thee" (Genesis 13:14-17). " On the same day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto they seed I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates" (Genesis 15:18). These and similar promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the germs of all which the prophetic Word has to say of Israel’s future restoration. A very little of what God promised unconditionally to Abraham has been fulfilled. He never possessed the land, nor did his seed possess it in the dimensions as promised to Abraham in the above passage. God came to Jacob and in the vision at night He said to him: " I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land on which thou liest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south; and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold I am with thee and will keep thee in all places to which thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for / will not leave thee until I have done what I have spoken to thee of." (Genesis 28:13-15.) The wanderer proceeded, and away from the land which was his by God’s free gift, he suffers and sees evil days, yet God keeps what He said, never leaves him, and brings him back to the land. As He did to Jacob so does He to Jacob’s seed. He will surely do all He has promised them and bring them back to their land. The fact that Jehovah does it, that it is His hand that accomplishes it all, is seen everywhere in the prophetic Word. "I will" is the word of Hope for Israel. It would take many, many pages to follow all which is revealed in the Word concerning Israel’s future and to trace the ever-increasing expansion of the promises made to the fathers of the nation. So we have to pass by much and cannot take up prophecies such as Jacob’s in Genesis 49:1-33, in which the events are predicted which will befall the sons of Jacob in the last days. We confine ourselves to only a few of the large numbers of prophecies. If we turn once more to the utterances of Balaam, the man who came to curse Israel and was used by the Spirit of God to declare the blessedness of God’s people, we shall find much which relates to this topic: "Lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone, and not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel?" (Numbers 23:9-10.) Israel is a separated people. The separation took place from the side of Jehovah. " I am the Lord your God, which have separated you from other people." " I have severed you that you should be mine." They are still a people dwelling alone and not reckoned among the nations. All the fires of persecution, inquisition, and tortures could not wipe them out, nor force them to abandon their peculiar and separated position. Assimilation with other nations, which is so much advanced by some of their own leaders, has failed likewise. Their separation and miraculous increase vouchsafe a future distinct work for them. Their separation and preservation is a Divine miracle. Again, Balaam said: "He hath not seen iniquity in Jacob, neither hath He seen wrong in Israel" (Numbers 23:21). This shows how God looks upon that people. They were sinful and are so now in their apostasy and unbelief. Yet God looks upon them in the light of His own marvellous Grace. They are a nation to be fully justified of all things—by God’s sovereign Grace, as we as individuals are justified. Oh, let us not forget that important Word in the Gospel of John spoken by another one like Balaam, who had to declare a truth he did not know himself. Caiaphas, the high priest, prophesied and said that one man (our Lord) should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself, but being a high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should ’die for that nation. (John 11:49-52.) Our Lord died for the nation, and on account of that precious blood that nation will be justified, and the day will come when it shall be true as God beholds them " no iniquity in Jacob, no wrong in Israel." And once more we listen to Balaam’s prophecy: "How goodly are thy tents, Jacob; and thy tabernacles, Israel! like valleys are they spread forth, like gardens by the river side, like aloe trees which Jehovah has planted, like cedars beside the waters. Water shall flow out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in great waters." (Numbers 24:5-7) Here is a description of a future blessedness which is still to come and of which prophet after prophet speaks as moved by the Holy Spirit. At the end of the book of Deuteronomy we read of the blessings and the curses which are in store for that people. The curses as they are enumerated in Deuteronomy 28:1-68 have been literally fulfilled and are still being fulfilled in that nation. Centuries before it ever came to pass the Spirit of God outlines through Moses the history of the people whom he had led forth out of Egypt. Here is a fact which silences infidelity. As it has often been said, the Jew and his history of blood and tears and his miraculous preservation is the most powerful argument for the Divinity of the Bible. In Deuteronomy 30:1-20 we read something still more startling than the curses in the preceding chapters. Here we have a prophecy which foretells the future of Israel. It is still waiting for its fulfilment: "And it shall come to pass when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt take them to heart among all the nations whither Jehovah thy God has driven thee, and shalt return to Jehovah thy God, and shalt hearken to His voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy sons, with all thy heart and all thy soul; that then Jehovah thy God will turn thy captivity and have compassion on thee, and will return and will gather thee from all the nations whither Jehovah thy God has scattered thee. Though there were of you driven out unto the ends of the heavens, from thence will Jehovah thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee; and Jehovah thy God will bring thee into the land that thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it; and He will do thee good and multiply thee above thy fathers. And Jehovah thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. And Jehovah thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, who have persecuted thee. But thou shalt return and hearken unto the voice of Jehovah, and do all His commandments, which I command thee this day" (Deuteronomy 30:1-8). Let us briefly notice the predictions and promises which are given in this passage. First we notice the sentence, "Thou shalt take them to heart among all the nations whither Jehovah thy God has driven thee." This is a prophecy relating to the present dispersion of the Jews among all the nations. Some have said that this prophecy found its fulfilment when God sent the Jews into the Babylonian captivity and in the return of a small remnant. It will be seen by the first glance that it relates to another dispersion and to greater blessings than those which followed the restoration of the remnant of Jews who returned from Babylon. In the second place, the promise declares that their captivity among all the nations shall be turned and Jehovah Himself will return. This return of Jehovah means, as we find later in prophecy, the Second Coming of Christ, the glorious manifestation of Jehovah, as we described it in the preceding chapter. Thirdly, the passage predicts that after Jehovah returns they will be gathered from all the nations and be brought back to the land of their fathers, and there He will do them good. The circumcision of the heart is their conversion. Of all this, only their scattering among all the nations is accomplished, and all the rest is not yet. But He who scattered them will surely gather them. His Word is forever settled in the heavens. We cannot very well pass by Deuteronomy 32:1-52 and Deuteronomy 33:1-29. Deuteronomy 32:1-52 has been before us a number of times. While Moses here, through the Spirit of God, predicts the great apostasy of the people and the results " scattered into the corners of the earth," he also predicts the end and the blessings for poor Israel. It is Jehovah who says in this song of Moses, " I kill and I make alive. I wound and I kill " (Deuteronomy 32:39). It is His solemn pledge to Israel. He has slain them on account of their disobedience. Their death is spiritual and national. He will make them alive. They have been wounded, they shall be healed by Him. The last stanza of this song declares the happy future of the nations and of Israel in the coming age, which will be ushered in with the manifestation of Jehovah. "Rejoice, oh ye nations, with his people [Israel] ; for He will avenge the blood of His servants and render vengeance to His adversaries, and will be merciful to His land and to His people " (Deuteronomy 32:43). Deuteronomy 33:1-29 gives the glorious state of all Israel in the coming age when they are converted and restored. Then it shall all be true what we read here: "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, Who rideth upon the heavens to thy help, And in His majesty upon the clouds. Thy refuge is the God of old, And underneath are the eternal arms; And He shall drive out the enemy from before thee, And shall say: Destroy them! And Israel shall dwell in safety alone, The fountain of Jacob, in a land of corn and new wine, Also His heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, Israel! Who is like unto thee, a people saved by Jehovah, The shield of thy help, And the sword of thine excellency! And thine enemies shall come cringing to thee; And thou shalt tread upon their high places." (Deuteronomy 33:26-29.) And what shall we select from scores of prophecies found in the Book of Psalms? Here, indeed, the blessedness which awaits God’s ancient people after the long night of their suffering is fully described, and all in fullest harmony with the testimony of the prophets. We can take but a little from the rich revelation of this theme in the Psalms. " Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When Jehovah turneth again the captivity of His people, Jacob shall be glad, Israel shall rejoice." (Psalms 14:7.) This is one of the first passages in the Psalms relating to Israel’s salvation. It is to come out of Zion, and the assurance is given that the captivity of His people is to be turned. Precisely that which God’s Spirit declared through Moses. In our last chapter we quoted from Psalms 29:1-11, a judgment Psalm. If we turn to Psalms 29:11, we read what will happen after the voice of Jehovah has been heard upon the waters. "Jehovah giveth strength to His people, Jehovah blesseth His people with peace." It is after the manifestation of Himself that He blesses His people. The next Psalm, Psalms 30:1-12, continues this revelation, and in it we hear Israel’s voice, restored and delivered, praising her Lord: "Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness; that my glory may sing psalms of thee, and not be silent. Jehovah my God, I will praise thee forever." Even so it shall be with God’s people beloved for the Father’s sake. Their weeping endureth for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. After Psalms 45:1-17, which shows the coming of the King, we find the next three Psalms revealing what will be the result of this coming for the people who rejected Him once. Israel knows Him now and breaks forth in singing: "He subdueth the nations under us and the peoples under our feet. He hath chosen an inheritance for us, the excellency of Jacob, whom He loved." (Psalms 47:3-4.) Or if we turn to Psalms 80:1-19 and Psalms 81:1-16, we find another prophecy. In Psalms 80:1-19, Israel pleads for deliverance. It is that turning with the heart unto Jehovah of which Moses speaks in Deuteronomy 30:1-20. The remnant of Israel says here: " How long shall thine anger smoke against the prayers of Thy people ? " Three times they plead, "Turn us again, O God! let thy face shine upon us and we shall be saved." The ending of this Psalm is the most significant. "Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the Son of man whom thou hast made strong for Thyself. So will we not go back from Thee. Revive us, and we will call upon Thy name. Restore us, O Jehovah, God of Hosts; cause Thy face to shine and we shall be saved." The Son of Man, the Man at the right hand of God, the Man raised from the dead and made strong, is our Lord Jesus Christ, and He at last will be the restorer of Israel. So, then, in harmony with this we read in the next Psalm: "Sing ye joyously unto God our strength, shout aloud unto the God of Jacob. Raise a song and sound the tambour, the pleasant harp with the lute." Psalms 103:1-22 stands dispensationally for the praise of restored Israel. So Psalms 118:1-29. It is the language of the converted nation: "I will give thanks unto thee, for thou didst answer me. Thou art become my salvation. The Stone which the builders rejected hath become the head of the corner. This is of Jehovah, it is wonderful in our eyes. Blessed be He that cometh in the name of Jehovah." (Psalms 118:22-26.) Read Matthew 21:42-45 and Matthew 23:39. Here we have a chain of predictions which can only be literally fulfilled. He, our Lord, was the stone, and they rejected Him. His last word to them was that He would be hid from their eyes till they would say that word, " Blessed is He that cometh in the name of Jehovah." Psalms 118:1-29 tells us that it will be so. What a harmony! How dare men reject the book of Psalms and declare that there is nothing about Christ in that book! But we have to leave this wonderful collection of inspired songs, the last of which are rising higher and higher in praise and worship of Jehovah for what He has done in earthly deliverances for His people Israel. From Joel, the seer of Jehovah’s day, we quote the following unfulfilled prophecies: "Then Jehovah will be jealous for His land and will have pity on His people. And Jehovah will answer and say unto His people, Behold, I send you corn, and new wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations" (Joel 2:18-19). The spiritual blessings are also promised to the restored people in that day. "And it shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; your old men shall dream dreams; your young men shall see visions. Yea, even upon the bondmen and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my Spirit" (Joel 2:28-29). It will be seen from this prophecy that the fulfilment of this passage falls into the time of Israel’s restoration. Persons who apply it to the present age make havoc of God’s purposes and often drift into fanciful teachings or even delusions. At the close of the prophet Amos we have a very simple prophecy, one which has special interest because the Holy Spirit quotes it in the beginning of the Christian age: "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David which is fallen down, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old: that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations upon whom my name is called, saith Jehovah who doeth this" (Amos 9:11-12). It is in Acts 15:13-18, where the Holy Spirit lifts this, His own prediction, into prominence. There He unfolds the divine programme of the ages. 1. He takes out a people for His name; which is the formation of the body, the church, still going on. 2. He returns. His coming again. 3. He rebuilds the tabernacle of David, etc. The restoration of Israel. 4. The residue of men, after Israel’s restoration seek the Lord, which is world conversion. How simple it is to comprehend and understand it! But the last verse of Amos has a still greater significance. Will not our brethren who spiritualize all these predictions or who put their fulfilment in the past event of a returning remnant of Jews from the Babylonian captivity look carefully at this verse? "And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, saith Jehovah thy God" (Amos 9:15). Now, it is evident God speaks here concerning the people who were plucked up out of their land. The "church" was never plucked out of a land. It is Israel. He promises to plant them into their land again, and assures them that they shall NO MORE be plucked out of that land. There is then a double possibility: either this Word was fulfilled (as it is claimed) in the return of a Jewish remnant from Babylon, or it was not, and then it must be fulfilled in the future. It was not fulfilled in the return of the remnant, because that remnant was plucked out of the land. Therefore, every believer who believeth that God spake all these words must believe in a future restoration of Israel. Hosea gives us additional proofs. Read Hosea 2:14-23, and find there one of the many striking and plain predictions of the restoration of that people who for a time were " Lo Ammi," not my people. In Hosea 3:1-5 we read the passage which hardly can be spiritualized: "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod and teraphim. Afterwards shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king; and shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days" (Hosea 3:4-5). They are now in the condition as described in the 4th verse, and they shall by-and-bye return and be converted as a nation. Still other passages are in chapter Hosea 6:1-3, the confession of the nation in turning to Jehovah. Notice how they plead. It is in the language of Moses’ prophetic Song (Deuteronomy 32:39.) Wonderful, is it not? And they tell us there is nothing in prophecy, no harmony, and no intelligence! Hosea 14:1-9 shows the coming conversion and restoration of Israel. To quote all which the Spirit of God reveals in the prophet Isaiah about Israel’s conversion and future restoration, as well as the glory promised to them, would take many pages. Isaiah has been called " the Evangelical Prophet"; he might be called also " the Prophet of Israel’s deliverance and glory." The scope of the book shows the aim of the Holy Spirit to reveal through past events and past deliverances of the nation the still greater events connected with Israel’s restoration. If we turn to Isaiah 11:1-16 we find there one of the most simple and unanswerable predictions of the restoration of Israel. Isaiah 10:1-34 describes the advance of the Assyrian and his downfall, typical as we have seen before of the final Assyrian. The coming of Jehovah is seen in the beginning of Isaiah 11:1-16. He comes to judge in righteousness, and with the breath of His mouth He slays the wicked. Then follow the blessed results, such as Deliverance of groaning creation, Peace on earth, and the restoration of Israel, "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people, which shall he left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He shall lift up a banner to the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth" (Isaiah 11:11-12). It is strange that even such a plain prediction has been spiritualized or explained that it all happened long ago by the return of some 45,000 Jews from Babylon. This latter statement is easily disproved. The passage declares that " it shall come to pass in that day "—which is the day of Jehovah’s visible manifestation. Furthermore, it is said that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people. It is then clearly stated that it is a second recovering. Besides this, we read that the recovery takes place of those who are in Assyria, and also from the islands of the sea. Now, in the Babylonian captivity none were brought back from the distant islands of the sea. Let us also notice that the outcasts of Israel will be assembled then, and the dispersed of Judah gathered. Those who returned from the Babylonian captivity were only Jews. Israel and Judah will be regathered and reunited in that day. It is a vain speculation to try and find the so-called ten lost tribes now. The Anglo-Israel theory is unscriptural and a delusion. The Lord knows where the whole house of Israel and the house of Judah is, and He will bring them all back. Isaiah 12:1-6 is the record of the song of praise which God’s restored earthly people will sing. Isaiah 13:1-22 predicts the downfall and judgment of Babylon, and in the beginning of Isaiah 14:1-32 we read what is closely connected with the judgment which falls at last upon the enemies of God’s people. "For Jehovah will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in rest in their own land; and the stranger shall be united to them and they shall be joined to the house of Jacob. And the peoples shall take them and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of Jehovah for servants and handmaids, and they shall take them captive whose captives they were, and they shall rule over their oppressors" (Isaiah 14:1-2). In the midst of the chapters to which we referred before, Isaiah’s little Apocalypse, we read the’ following: "In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city: salvation does He appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates and the righteous nation which keepeth faithfulness shall enter in. Thou wilt keep in perfect peace the mind stayed on thee, for He confideth in thee. Confide ye in Jehovah for ever, for in Jah, Jehovah, is the rock of ages. For He bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city He layeth low, He layeth it low to the ground, He bringeth it even to the dust" (Isaiah 26:1-5). This is the song which the redeemed seed of Abraham will sing in the land of Judah when once more Jehovah dwells with them. In Isaiah 32:1-20 we read another very striking prediction: "Upon the land of my people shall come up thistles and briars, yea, upon all the houses of joy of the joyous city. For the palace shall be deserted, the multitude of the city shall be forsaken, hill and watch-towers shall be caves for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks" (Isaiah 32:13-14). This, then, is judgment. It has been literally fulfilled. The land which flowed once with milk and honey has become one of thistles and briars. The joyous city is a joyless place now, and the palace of the king is deserted. But this is not all. We stopped in the middle of a sentence and we must read on and see what is said of the same land, city, and people who are in judgment now. "Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. And judgment shall inhabit the wilderness and the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness, and assurance for ever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places" (Isaiah 32:15-18). The present desolation of the land and Jerusalem will have an end. The Spirit from on high will be poured upon them, and with this great coming event the changes promised in the above passage will take place. Let none say the Spirit from on high has been poured out upon the land. The condition of the land of Israel and the palace proves that the Spirit has not been poured out in the full sense of the word. It is a promise in harmony with the one in Joel 2:1-32. In Isaiah 33:1-24 there is another comfortable word spoken, which will be realized in the future. "Look upon Zion, the city of our solemnities; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tent that shall not be removed, the stakes whereof shall never be pulled up, neither shall any of its cords be broken; but there Jehovah is unto us glorious, a place of rivers, of broad streams, no galley with oars shall go there, nor shall gallant ships pass thereby" (Isaiah 33:20-21). But what shall we quote from the second large section of Isaiah? Here indeed is prophecy upon prophecy which relates to Israel’s conversion and restoration. The 1st chapter of the second part begins with the sublime assurance of the comfort of God for His people Israel. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her time of suffering is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of Jehovah’s hand double for all her sins" (Isaiah 40:1-2). All through the chapters which follow there is a golden thread of comforting predictions relating to the topic before us. Israel restored and converted is seen as the servant of Jehovah, while in Isaiah 53:1-12 the Messiah, the suffering One, is revealed. That chapter is much quoted and enjoyed by all believers, because it speaks of the blessed fact of the atonement made, the peace which was made in the blood of the cross; but we should not forget it has a deeper meaning. It is the repenting nation in the great national mourning to come, when Jehovah comes from Heaven, which will believingly say: "Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, and we, we did not regard Him, stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:4-6). Isaiah 54:1-17 is one which is all occupied with the blessed results for Israel, after such a confession has come from their hearts and lips. What gracious promises! What assurances for their final blessings in the earth through the Mercy of God! Then it will be that another gracious word given through Isaiah will be fulfilled. A word which will surely be fulfilled, when Israel looks upon Him whom they rejected. "I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins return unto Me, for I have redeemed thee. Sing, ye heavens, for Jehovah has done it; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye mountains, the forest and every tree therein! For Jehovah has redeemed Jacob, and glorified Himself in Israel" (Isaiah 44:22-23). It is the actual manifestation of Israel’s justification, as we heard it from Balaam’s utterance. He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob. That which with the second coming of Christ, Israel’s conversion, will take place is seen also from Isaiah 59:1-21. "And the Redeemer will come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith Jehovah. And as for me this is my covenant with Him, saith Jehovah: My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith Jehovah, from henceforth and for ever" (Isaiah 59:20-21). Romans 11:1-36, as we have seen, quotes the passage, and there the Spirit of God reveals the mystery that when the fulness of the Gentiles has come in all Israel shall be saved. The three chapters which follow Isaiah 59:1-21 are chapters which acquaint us with the results of Jehovah’s manifestation for the deliverance and salvation of Israel. What chapters these are, Isaiah 60:1-22, Isaiah 61:1-11, and Isaiah 62:1-12! The spiritualizing of these chapters is the almost universal way in which they have been treated. We must leave this prophet and see how the Spirit of God speaks of the same event in the prophet Jeremiah. Here we have numerous prophecies which, if closely examined, can mean nothing else but a literal restoration of Israel. Jeremiah 3:12-19, is one of the first predictions in that prophet. In Jeremiah 16:1-21 we find the following interesting passage: "Therefore, behold the days come, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be said, As Jehovah liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but as Jehovah liveth, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither He had driven them. For I will bring them again into their land, which I gave to their fathers" (Jeremiah 16:14-15). The great deed of Jehovah in taking His people out of Egypt is not only a type of the spiritual salvation which it so completely foreshadows, but it is also typical of the great coming, national conversion and restoration of Israel. The former shall be forgotten because Jehovah has stretched out His arm and brought His children back from the land of the north and from all the lands whither He had driven them. The Jew in dispersion now still looks back to the deliverance out of Egypt. He keeps the memorial of that great event, the Passover, the feast of unleavened bread. Longingly he prays every year, " This year here, next year in Jerusalem; this year servants, next year free." He will not be disappointed in his hope and expectation, and when at last he is brought back he shall substitute the phrase, " as Jehovah liveth who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north," for the phrase, " as Jehovah liveth, who brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt." In Jeremiah 23:5-8 is another prophecy which plainly foretells their literal restoration and the establishment of the theocracy in their midst. As we consider the theocratic kingdom in our next chapter, we shall pass this passage by. But there are other prophecies in Jeremiah which relate to Israel’s conversion and return to the land. "Thus speaketh Jehovah the God of Israel, saying, Write thee in a book all the words that I have spoken unto thee. For behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, when I will turn the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith Jehovah; and I will cause thee to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it" (Jeremiah 30:2-3). That this word refers to the coming restoration is seen by the context which predicts in connection with it the time of Jacob’s trouble. The same chapter contains other revelations of Israel’s hope. "And thou, my servant Jacob, fear not, saith Jehovah; neither be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return and be in rest, and at ease, and none shall make him afraid. For I am with thee, saith Jehovah, to save thee: for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have scattered thee; yet of thee will I not make a full end, but I will correct thee with judgment, and will not hold thee altogether guiltless" (Jeremiah 30:10-12). Jeremiah 31:1-40 is one continued message of comfort and peace for Jerusalem. Their return and joyous singing is vividly described. The Word of Jehovah is also addressed to the nations. " Hear the Word of Jehovah, ye nations, and declare it to the isles afar off and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd his flock" (Jeremiah 31:10). This is followed in the chapter by the prophecy that a new covenant shall be established, and what blessing will be theirs as a nation in that covenant. "I will put my law in their inward parts, and will write it in their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more any man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for they shall all know me, from the least of these unto the greatest of them, saith Jehovah; for I will pardon their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:33-34). This is their national conversion. It is ridiculous to claim a past fulfilment of this prediction. Still it has been done, and it has been said that the remnant of Jews returning from Babylon had forgiveness of sin, and now the Jews have ceased to be a nation forever. The Holy Spirit evidently anticipated such a denial as well as the almost universal teaching of Christendom that the seed of Abraham is no longer a nation and has no national hope and national future. Therefore He adds the following: "Thus saith Jehovah, who giveth the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, who stirreth up the sea, so that the waves thereof roar, Jehovah of Hosts is His name; if those ordinances depart from before me, saith Jehovah, the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation from before me for ever. Thus saith Jehovah: If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth be searched out beneath, I will also cast off the whole seed of Israel, for all that they have done, saith Jehovah" (Jeremiah 31:35-37). The sun still shines and the moon still sends forth her given light, the waves still roar, the heights of the heavens and the foundations of the earth are still unmeasured and unsearched, therefore Israel’s end as a nation has not yet come. And all this is not the word of man; it is the Word of Jehovah, for we read twenty times in this chapter, " Thus saith Jehovah." But we have to see what other prophets declare. From Ezekiel we take but a few of the many passages. Ezekiel 16:1-63 is one of the largest in that prophet. It begins with relating what Jehovah had done for Jerusalem, how His mercy had lifted her up, and it shows the fall of the nation, their terrible apostasy, but at the close of the long rehearsal of his misery Jehovah assures her of His mercies towards her. He is the God who changeth not. " And I will establish my covenant with thee, and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah; that thou mayest remember, and be ashamed, and no more open thy mouth because of thy confusion when I forgive thee all thou hast done, saith the Lord Jehovah." In Ezekiel 34:11-31 Jehovah reveals Himself as the Shepherd of Israel. He Himself will gather the lost sheep of the house of Israel and bring them back to their land. "And they shall no more be a prey to the nations, neither shall the beasts of the earth devour them; but they shall dwell in safety and none shall make them afraid" (Ezekiel 34:28). Ezekiel 36:1-38 is Israel’s comfort. It is in the closest connection with Deuteronomy 30:1-20. There the Lord said what He will do, and here His Spirit repeats this assurance. "Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy name, which ye have profaned among the nations whither ye went. And I will hallow my great name, which was profaned among the nations, which have profaned in the midst of them; and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah, saith the Lord Jehovah, when I shall be hallowed in you before their eyes. And I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your uncleanness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances, and ye shall do them. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and ye shall be my people and I will be your God" (Ezekiel 36:24-31, and to the end of the chapter). All this has been and is spiritually applied, and Israel has been robbed of her comfort and coming glory. The same has been done with the vision of the dry bones, which follows in Ezekiel 37:1-28. Ezekiel 37:11 makes clear what the Lord means with the vision: "And he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold they say our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are cut off! Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O my people, and bring you into the land of Israel." (Ezekiel 37:11-12) In the same chapter we read the prophecy of the coming union of both houses, the house of Judah and the house of Israel. Till then the ten tribes are hid, but in that day the children of Israel will be brought together out of the nations. Another passage we quote from Ezekiel 30:1-26 : "And they shall know that I am Jehovah, their God, in that I caused them to be led into captivity among the nations, and have gathered them unto their own land, and I leave none of them any more there. And I will not hide my face any more from them, for I shall have poured out my Spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord Jehovah" (Ezekiel 39:28-29). These verses cannot be fulfilled because they are not yet in the land. Therefore they must be brought there in the future never to be under the displeasure of God again. The Spirit of Jehovah will then be poured out upon them. This is in perfect agreement with what we learned from Joel 2:1-32 and Isaiah 32:1-20. In Joel the Spirit is seen poured out after the Northern army is removed. In Ezekiel the same statement is made after the invasion of Gog and Magog from the north. Such is the harmony of God’s prophets. The end of Ezekiel describes the wonderful temple which will stand once more in Jerusalem, and that the very name of the city shall be changed to " Jehovah Shammah," Jehovah is there. Of this more in the chapters which follow. Daniel’s prophecy concerns mostly the Gentile nations, yet he also indicates the fact of Israel’s restoration and their final deliverance. The whole episode from the life of the prophet Jonah as contained in the book which he wrote typifies Israel’s disobedience, Israel’s temporary rejection, and Israel’s restoration. Jonah is a type of Israel, besides being a type of Christ. The whole history of the seed of Abraham, past, present, and future, is contained in a nutshell in that book. Jonah’s call. He is sent by Jehovah to preach to Nineveh. He knows God while Nineveh is in darkness. So God prepared Himself Israel a nation to show forth His praises. Salvation is of the Jews. Through them He desires to make known His loving kindness and His redemption. In the seed of Abraham all the nations of the earth are to receive blessing. These are God’s gifts and calling. They are without repentance (Romans 11:29). Jonah is disobedient. He turns his back upon God and flees from His face. He goes on board of a merchantman. He goes in the opposite direction. So Israel became an apostate people, and the Jew turns merchant. They forsook God and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation. Like Jonah, disobedient to the heavenly vision, instead of being a blessing they became a curse among the nations. Trouble soon comes upon Jonah, the disobedient servant of God. The storm of disaster tosses his ship upon the wild waves of the angry sea. Everything is against him because he rebelled against God. Thus with the Jews. Misfortune after misfortune, storm after storm, has broken over them since they rejected God and their King Messiah. They are tossed about by the nations. The sea always represents nations in the Word. Jonah does not deny his God and his nationality. He said, " I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord, the God of Heaven, which has made the sea and the dry land." So the Jew in his apostasy still professes to be a believer in God, fears His name, and does not deny that he is a Jew. Jonah is cast overboard. He is given up to the angry waves. He is seen struggling in the waves. Typical of the Jew being cast away, though not forever. The men in Jonah’s ship when they saw that as soon as Jonah was in the water the waters calmed down, these men, who were all heathen, feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord and made vows. What a wonderful illustration of the very statement in the Epistle to the Romans, chapter Romans 11:11 " By their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles." The Gentiles have received salvation when the Jew was set aside nationally. Jonah is miraculously preserved in the belly of a sea monster. (There is nothing in the Hebrew to show that it was a whale.) He is to have his abode there for three days and three nights. He does not lose his life and existence, but he is put into a grave and is there wonderfully preserved. The Jew is likewise in his grave among the nations, nationally dead, but still God keeps the Jew as He did Jonah. The Jew is God’s standing miracle. No infidel can explain away the Jew and his miraculous existence. Jonah was not digested by the fish. He remained there undigested. The nations have not digested the Jews. This people shall dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations. The Jew is still a Jew. Assimilation has failed. Jonah at the end of the appointed time commenced to repent in his grave. He cried to God. He wished himself back to His holy temple, and he finished his prayer with the believing shout, " Salvation is of the Lord." The Jews will also repent. There are unmistakable signs of a changed attitude of the Jew noticeable. Still, before that great national repentance comes, there will be likewise first a great tribulation. Like Jonah, many are today desiring for His holy temple, and they are getting ready to return to the land. At last they will acknowledge that salvation is of the Lord, and welcome their King with the shout, " Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord." God made the fish vomit out Jonah. He that scattered Israel will gather them again. They will be brought back to the land and restored. They will build the waste places, the desolations of many generations. Jonah is sent the second time, and he follows the command. So Israel is yet to fulfil its grandest mission. Their King, our coming Lord, will commission them again and send them forth to proclaim His salvation. Israel will then follow obediently. The whole city of Nineveh repented after hearing the apostate, the punished, and the restored Jew preach. A whole city was swept by a revival. The masses were saved. Now is the time for the salvation of individuals. There is no such thing at this present time as saving the masses or converting the world. The masses will be saved and the world converted through the preaching of the Jews when they are converted and restored in the land and Jesus is crowned as their King and sits upon the throne of His Father David. This, then, illustrates, at least in part and in a faint way, what their reception is and means, " Life from the dead" (Romans 11:15). From the rest of the prophets we give but a few quotations, in which the Holy Spirit gives the same witness concerning the future of Israel. "I will surely assemble, O Jacob, the whole of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of pasture; they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. One that breaketh through is gone up before them; they have broken forth, and have passed on to the gate, and are gone out of it; and their king passeth on before them, and Jehovah at the head of them" (Micah 2:12-13). Micah 4:1-13 also speaks of the restoration of Israel in the coming age, their blessedness and the kingdom established in their land. Micah 5:1-15 continues this theme, and at the end of the prophet stands that sublime Word, which the orthodox Jew remembers from time to time and which shall find its fulfilment when at last the wanderings of the nation are over. "Who is a God like unto thee, that forgiveth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of the heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, because He delighteth in loving kindness. He will yet again have compassion upon us, He will tread under foot our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform truth to Jacob, loving kindness to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old" (Micah 7:18-20). Surely Israel will not be disappointed in her hope and expectation that the oath-bound promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will ever fail. Zephaniah 3:1-20 shows the restoration and conversion of Israel after the day of Jehovah, which is predicted and described in Zephaniah 1:1-18. "Sing, O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel; rejoice and be glad with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem: Jehovah has taken away thy judgments, He hath cast out thine enemy: the King of Israel, Jehovah, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more. ... At that time will I bring you, yea, at the time that I gather you; for I will make you a name and a praise, among the peoples of the earth, when I shall turn again your captivity before your eyes, saith Jehovah" (Zephaniah 3:14-20). In Zechariah’s night visions and prophecies nearly all relates to the future of Israel. The first two night visions show what Jehovah will do to the Gentiles, and the third contains the vision of the restoration of Israel, the gathering of His people, and the manifestation of His glory (Zechariah 2:1-13). The fourth night vision typifies under the cleansing of the high priest the cleansing of the nation, the high priest among the nations of the earth; and the fifth, the vision of the candlestick, is Israel cleansed and restored, the light for the Gentiles. Zechariah 8:1-23 predicts directly the restoration of Jerusalem and her glory. The conversion of the nation is vividly described in Zechariah 12:1-14. "And I will pour upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; and they shall look at me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him, as one mourneth for an only son, and it shall be in bitterness for Him, as one that is in bitterness for His first-born ... In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness" (Zechariah 12:10-14; Zechariah 13:1) . This passage, besides being a confirmation of the witness contained in the other prophets of a coming outpouring of the Spirit, brings another interesting fact before us. It is Jehovah who speaks, and He speaks of Himself as pierced. What else does it mean than that He who comes and who appears before them is the One whom they rejected and delivered into the hands of the Gentiles, the One who speaks in Psalms 22:1-31, " They have pierced my hands and feet." When He comes the nail-prints in His hands and His feet will be visible to Israel. They were visible in His glorified body, and unbelieving Thomas, who put his fingers into them and cried out, " My Lord and my God," is a type of Israel. Unbelieving still, they will see Him at last as He is, and mourn for Him in a great national mourning. In the last chapter of Zechariah we see the nation delivered and restored. The prophet Malachi closes this wonderful and harmonious testimony of Israel’s restoration and conversion in that he says through the Spirit of God that " the Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in His wings, and ye shall go forth and leap like fatted calves" (Malachi 4:2). The Sun of Righteousness is Jehovah in His visible manifestation. Though we have devoted considerable space to this chapter, we have quoted only a few passages of the many which relate to Israel’s future. However, enough has been given to show how great the harmony is which exists throughout the Word in the revelation of Israel’s restoration and conversion. It has also been shown when this will take place. It is closely connected with the manifestation of Jehovah. To deny this great core doctrine of the Old Testament is to reject the very Word of Jehovah. In the beginning of this chapter we showed how prominent the future of Israel is made in the New Testament. There is absolutely nothing in the New Testament, no word from our Lord, nor in the witness of the Holy Spirit in the Epistles, which would authorize us to say this great theme of the Old Testament prophetic Word meant events in connection with a spiritual Israel. In the next chapters we shall show restored Israel, her glory and work in the theocratic kingdom and throughout the coming age. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 80: 04.08. THE THEOCRATIC KINGDOM ======================================================================== VIII. THE THEOCRATIC KINGDOM A Little while before our Lord Jesus Christ was taken up before the eyes of the assembled disciples, they asked Him, " Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? " (Acts 1:6.) According to many interpreters of the Word these disciples were prompted to ask this question out of selfish motives and out of gross ignorance. It has been said they did not know any better. However, the Lord does not blame them, nor does He rebuke them, for asking this question. " And He said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power." This answer is certainly an affirmation that the kingdom will be restored to Israel; only the times and seasons when it shall be are hid. When our Lord came and began His ministry among His own He came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He preached the kingdom of the heavens at hand and demanded repentance. The same message was first preached by the forerunner, John the Baptist, and when the Lord sent forth His disciples with the command to preach " the kingdom of the heavens is at hand," He also gave them power to heal the sick, to cleanse the lepers, to raise the dead, and to drive out demons. The preaching of the kingdom was not received by the nation. The offer was rejected. First, the forerunner’s message was rejected and he himself slain; then the Lord’s offer was likewise rejected, which was followed by the rejection of the Lord, the King Himself. Now the question is, What kingdom was it which our Lord offered to Israel? It was the kingdom which He promised to Israel in the Old Testament, a literal kingdom, which has for its seat Jerusalem; the throne of David established in it and upon this throne, ruling, a son of David. This kingdom is promised to extend from Jerusalem over the whole earth. This kingdom the Lord offered to Israel, and He Himself is the King and the rightful heir to the throne of David. This kingdom and their own King the Jewish people rejected. We are aware we are once more at issue with the greater part of Christendom. The generally accepted teaching is that John the Baptist and our Lord meant forgiveness of sins, conversion, the gift of the Holy Spirit, etc., by kingdom of the heavens, and of that promised literal kingdom nothing is said, or it is rejected. The outcome of ignoring the true meaning of the kingdom of the heavens in its relation to Israel and the earth, has been a deplorable confusion, a constant mixing up of promises which relate to the coming kingdom age, and to this present age. The simple gospel has also been affected by it, and there is in Christendom a continual talking of " building up the kingdom," and " working for the kingdom," and endeavours to bring " the masses into the kingdom," etc., which is unscriptural. The kingdom promised to Israel and their King was then rejected by the nation; however, this does not alter the fact that our Lord is the King of Israel, heir to the throne of David, and that this promised kingdom is His and will yet come in power and glory. It has not been abandoned by Israel’s unbelief, but only postponed. Its coming is connected with the return of our Lord as Son of Man in glory. Christendom aims at having a kingdom without the king. The church is not that kingdom, nor could the church ever see a fulfilment of the earthly promises connected with the kingdom, for the church belongs to the heavenlies. Everything in its order. First: The King came and offered the kingdom, and they rejected both His kingdom and Himself. Second: The King comes again, and with His coming that kingdom once rejected will be established in the earth. Between this first coming of the King and His second coming is this present Christian age with its mysteries which were hidden in former ages. We only call attention in connection with these introductory remarks to this chapter to the fact that our Lord speaks of Himself as " the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom." He mentions His own throne upon which He will sit. He speaks of Himself as One who has gone into a far country to receive a kingdom, and that He will return. Still more striking is the Word of God, the Word of Divine appointment, as it was transmitted through Gabriel to Mary. "And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary; for thou hast found favour with God. And behold, thou shall conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:30-33). The little word " shall " we put in italics. It will be seen that it is found seven times in these three verses. Four of these divine " shalls " have been literally fulfilled; the other three await their literal fulfilment. The first four relate to the suffering of the Lord, to His humiliation, and the last three to His glory and His kingdom. As truly as Mary conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit and brought forth a Son and His name was Jesus— He was great and called the Son of the Highest —just as truly will the other three unfulfilled " shalls " be fulfilled. He will receive the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob and will possess a kingdom, which shall have no end. Well did the Spirit of God declare through Simeon, who held the child in his arms and who blessed the parents, for the child had no need of his blessing, " Mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel " (Luke 2:30-32). The glory of His people Israel is yet to come, and means the kingdom which will be set up in their midst by the Lord’s return. Now, throughout the Old Testament Scriptures we find prophecies upon prophecies which give us a complete description of this kingdom and Jerusalem, the glorious centre of it. We shall have to quote many passages which contain unfulfilled promises relating to this theocratic kingdom, its rule and the blessings through the same. In the course of these quotations we shall call the attention of the reader to some important facts concerning the rule in the earth and over the earth, the glory which is manifested in Jerusalem and the glory of the heavenly Jerusalem, the throne which stands in Jerusalem below and the glorious throne, which is in the heavenlies and visible from the earth. These distinctions have but little been recognized, and generally the church is placed in the earth during the kingdom age. We remind the student of this volume briefly of the utterances of Balaam, which we considered before. Relating to the future and blessedness of the people he came to curse, we have in these several passages which speak of the King of Israel and His kingdom. " Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a King in his midst" (Numbers 23:21). " His King shall be higher than Agag, and His kingdom shall be exalted" (Numbers 24:7). "A Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, He shall cut in pieces the corners of Moab and destroy all the sons of tumult" (Numbers 24:17). The Spirit of God declared through Balaam that Jehovah is with Israel. Jehovah Himself was the King of His people. Up to Samuel, Israel had a theocratic rule. Then the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said, "Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." Futhermore we read: "And Jehovah said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. Now, therefore, hearken unto their voice, only testify solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of king that shall reign over them " (1 Samuel 8:5-9). Samuel then described the King they were going to have. Six times it is said of Him, " He will take." Yet in view of the dark picture the people said, " We will have a king over us." So they had rejected Jehovah their King and Jehovah gave them a King. The history which follows, the history of Saul and the history of David and his son Solomon, is extremely rich in its typical application. Israel under Saul is the type of Israel under the wicked king when Jehovah is rejected. David, of course, as shepherd-king, the man after the heart of God, is the type of our Lord. His sufferings and glories to which He comes through conquest are here richly foreshadowed. The Davidic reign typifies the beginning of that coming kingdom, when He who is the Son of David, according to the flesh, comes forth victoriously to subdue all His enemies and tread them under foot. Solomon, meaning peace, is the type of the Lord likewise. The Solomonic reign is the type of our Lord, Son of Man and King ruling the earth as Prince of Peace. Much as we would like we cannot enter into a closer study of these histories at this time. We shall, however, quote the words which form the basis of the Davidic covenant and which we find so often repeated in the prophets. "And it came to pass that night that the Word of Jehovah came to Nathan, saying, Go and say unto my servant David, Thus saith Jehovah: Wilt thou build me a house for me to dwell in? For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but I went about in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all my going about with all the children of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build me not a house of cedars? And now, thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts: I took thee from the pasture grounds, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people, over Israel; and I have been with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and I have cut off all thine enemies before thee, and have made thee a great name like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people, for Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and be disturbed no more; neither shall the sons of wickedness afflict them any more, as formerly, and since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. And I have given thee rest from all thine enemies, and Jehovah tellest thee that Jehovah will make thee a house. When thy days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. It is he who shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his father and lie shall be my son. If he commit iniquity I will chastise him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the sons of men; but my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul whom I put away from before me. And thy house and thy kingdom shall be made firm for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever. According to all these words, and according to all this vision. So did Nathan speak to David" (2 Samuel 7:4-17). David wanted to build a house for Jehovah; instead of that Jehovah tells him that He will build him a house. David praised Jehovah for these words of promise, trusting in every word the Lord had spoken through Nathan. That Solomon, the son of David, was partly in view is clear, but that this covenant Jehovah made with the house of David was not realized in Solomon and his reign is equally clear. The Messiah, the Zemach of David, Son of David, is here in full view, and in Him and through Him alone can this Davidic covenant be carried out. The Word in this passage, " I will be His Father and He shall be my Son," is quoted by the Holy Spirit in Hebrews I as referring to our Lord Jesus Christ. How harmonious it all is as we look at this covenant and then hear the message from God again, " He shall give Him the throne of His Father David " (Luke 1:32). For this reason, to prove the legal title of Jesus Christ to the throne of David, do we find a genealogy the first thing in the gospel of Matthew, the royal gospel. To David Jehovah made the promise, and He swore unto him that the throne of his kingdom is to be established forever, and one from his seed is to have this throne. In our Lord, the Son of David, according to the flesh, this oath-bound covenant will be kept and He will come forth as King of Israel and rule as such as well as King of kings and Lord of lords. Then the heavens are opened and He is manifested and comes back to earth once more, back to the Mount of Olives. He will assume the rule and receive His throne. However, it is here where we shall have to make some remarks which we trust will be helpful to a better understanding of the theocratic rule. Not a few believers look upon the continued personal presence of our Lord as King, Son of David upon the throne of David, in the earth throughout the coming age as a scriptural fact. They look altogether to the earthly side, and believe the Lord must sit upon a throne in the earthly Jerusalem for a thousand years. They forget, however, that there is not only an earthly Jerusalem, but also a heavenly Jerusalem, and that the Lord is not only the King of Israel but also head of His body, which is the church. The abode of the church is with the Lord. The church will occupy His throne and rule and reign with Him over the earth. The place for the church, however, is not Jerusalem in the earth, but the heavenly Jerusalem. Nowhere is it said that the Lord and His body will be in the earth during the age which comes, when Israel’s fulness has come. If the church is in the heavenly Jerusalem and not in the earth, then the Lord must be there and His throne must be there; how then can He be in the earth and can have an earthly throne ? This is a difficulty with not a few; however, it is easily explained. Mount Zion in Jerusalem will be the place of the Lord’s glory. That mountain will be lifted up in the coming age above all the other mountains, and on top of it there will rest the glory. This glory will be the glory of the New Jerusalem, which will extend upward into the heavens. It will be an unveiled glory, visible to the eyes of men. As we look now upon the starlit heavens and behold the countless stars, which declare the wisdom of God, so in the age to come the earth dwellers will look up and see in the air, in the heavens, a vision of undescribable beauty and glory, and then the heavens will declare the righteousness of Jehovah. When Jacob went out from Beersheba and went towards Haran he saw in that night in his dream the heavens opened and a ladder was set upon the earth and the top of it reached to the heavens. And the angels of God ascended and descended upon it; Jehovah stood above (Genesis 28:1-22). There can be no question that our Lord had this heavenly vision in view when He said: " Verily, verily, I say to you, Henceforth ye shall see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man " (John 1:51). Never has this been fulfilled. The time for its fulfilment will be when Jehovah-Jesus is King, and then there shall be a wonderful intermingling of the heavenly and the earthly, a glorious intercourse between the Jerusalem above and Jerusalem in the earth, and the ladder, so to speak, will be Mount Zion. The Lord, the King, will reign and manifest His glory in Jerusalem; His glorious rest and throne is over Jerusalem, in the heavenlies. In Jerusalem will stand the throne of David, and it is the Lord’s throne, but there will also be a vice-regent of Christ in the earth, a lineal descendant of David, who will occupy the throne under Jehovah-Jesus. All this will become clearer as we have Scripture after Scripture relating to the kingdom pass before our view. In the book of Psalms, where we found such a mine of prophetic teaching, we shall find much more relating to the kingdom as promised to Israel and as it shall be established by the return of the King, our Lord. To quote all is again an impossibility. In Psalms 2:1-12 we hear the Word of God when the tumult of the nations is at its height. "And I have anointed my King upon Zion, the hill of my holiness. I will declare the decree; Jehovah hath said to me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I will give thee nations for an inheritance, and for thy possession the ends of the earth. Thou shalt break them with a sceptre of iron, as a potter’s vessel thou shalt dash them to pieces" (Psalms 2:6-9). The New Testament gives us a perfect commentary to these words. In Hebrews 1:5 we learn that it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is addresed as above, " Thou art my son," and in Acts 13:33 we read that it is His Sonship in resurrection which is declared. " God hath fulfilled the promise unto us, their children, in that He has raised up Jesus again "; as it is also written in Psalms 2:1-12, " Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten Thee." That He, as the Son of Man, is to be enthroned and receive the dominion of the earth, is here clearly indicated. The homage, the kissing of the Son, will take place when He has come; "Wherefore also God highly exalted Him, and granted Him a name, 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 " (Php 2:9-11). In Psalms 8:1-9 the Son of Man, under whose feet all things are put, who has the dominion of the earth, is our Lord (Hebrews 2:1-18). Psalms 9:1-20, which follows, contains the rule of Him who was made a little lower than the angels, and who is to rule as King in the earth. "Jehovah sitteth forever; He has ordained His throne for judgment. And it is He that will judge the world in righteousness; He shall execute judgment upon the peoples with equity " (Psalms 9:6-8). Psalms 16:1-11 foretells clearly the resurrection of Him who became obedient, obedient unto death, and Psalms 18:1-50, as we learned before, shows the manifestation of the King, Jehovah. At the close of this Psalm praise is given for Jehovah’s loving kindness, which He shows to the seed of David forever more. The King in Psalms 21:1-13 is none other than the Son of Man, Jehovah-Jesus. His heart’s desire is given to Him. He has a crown of pure gold and has length of days for ever and ever. Majesty and splendour is laid upon Him and He is made a blessing forever. All this could not mean David, but it means David’s Son and David’s Lord. Psalms 22:1-31, that Divine portrait of the suffering One, reveals not only death, but resurrection, life, and the kingdom as well. "All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn unto Jehovah, and all the families of the nations shall worship thee. For the kingdom is Jehovah’s, and He ruleth among the nations" (Psalms 22:27-28). All this is often explained as meaning a spiritual rule. However, inasmuch as the sufferings of the Lord were literal, and the entire first part of Psalms 22:1-31 was literally fulfilled, the second part will be likewise literally fulfilled. The kingdom will come, and then, and not before, the families of the nations will worship the King. Psalms 24:1-10 is another kingdom prophecy: " Lift up your heads, ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle" (Psalms 24:7-10). Then the earth will be Jehovah’s, and the fulness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein. If we could follow Psalm after Psalm we would discover many precious revelations concerning the kingdom to come. Psalms 45:1-17 reveals the King, who is fairer far than the sons of men, and who is addressed as God at the same time. He is seen coming with the sword girded at His side, and His enemies fall under Him; then it is said: "Thy Throne, O God (Christ—Hebrews 1:8), is for ever and ever; the sceptre of Thy Kingdom is for ever." The Psalms which follow show the kingdom established in the earth, with Jerusalem the city of a great King and Jehovah in possession of the earth. "All ye peoples clap your hands; shout unto God with the voice of triumph! For Jehovah, the Most High, is terrible, a great King over all the earth" (Psalms 47:2). "For God is the King over all the earth; sing psalms with understanding. God reigneth over the nations; God sitteth upon the throne of His holiness" (Psalms 47:7-8). "Great is Jehovah, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the hill of His holiness. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King" (Psalms 48:1-2). It is true these prophetic Psalms are mostly read now in Christian rituals or sung in a spiritualized form to elaborate music, and their great prophetic meaning is not recognized. The city of the great King mentioned above is Jerusalem, and Mount Zion will be elevated and becomes beautiful, the joy of the whole earth, because in the top of that mountain the heavenly Glory will rest. We shall see so later from the Word. Psalms 65:1-13, Psalms 66:1-20, Psalms 67:1-7, and Psalms 68:1-35 are kingdom Psalms. Here again we find Zion the centre. It is the appointed place from which the rule and the blessing go forth. Psalms 68:1-35 is extremely rich. It is a wonderful prophetic picture of the future. The Psalm begins with that word which Moses spake by Divine command when the ark was moved: "Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered, and let them that hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven, thou wilt drive them away; as wax melteth before the fire, the wicked shall perish at the presence of God." (Psalms 63:1-2). As the Lord was then with this people, so will He be with them again and scatter the enemies. In Psalms 68:16-17 we read also of the mountain of God. "Why do ye look with envy, ye many peaked mountains, upon the mount that God hath desired for His abode? Yea, Jehovah will dwell there for ever. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, thousands upon thousands; the Lord is among them; ’tis a Sinai in holiness." This is Zion, once more the seat of Jehovah’s glorious government in the coming kingdom age. Who the King is who rules there is seen in the 18th verse of this Psalm: " Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive." It is our Lord who descended and who ascended and led captivity captive. He came down and He went up again. And in the beginning of the kingdom, He comes down to establish His rule, and ascends, and again He descends in His glorious Person, as the King, and receives in the earth the homage of the nations. Of this more in our next chapter. And what shall we say of Psalms 72:1-20? It is one of the most complete prophecies of the theocratic kingdom and its extension which it pleased the Holy Spirit to give. " For Solomon," reads the inspired heading of the Psalm, and Solomon means " Peace." Peace on earth when He comes and His kingdom rules. Righteousness and peace kiss each other. This Psalm reveals Him, the true and everlasting Melchizedek, King of Righteousness and King of Peace. His dominion will be from sea to sea, the dwellers of the desert will bow before Him and His enemies lick the dust. " Blessed be His glorious name for ever; and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen. The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended." These are the words with which the Psalm closes. How significant that at the close of such a revelation of the kingdom, David, to whom the revelation was made and who is the instrument, says: " The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended "! He says with this: The end has come; what Jehovah promised to me, David, He has fulfilled; my prayers are ended, for they are answered. Psalms 89:1-52, which closes the third book of the Psalms, brings once more the Davidic covenant into the foreground and the kingdom which will be established. "I have made a covenant with mine elect, I have sworn unto David my servant: Thy seed will I establish for ever, And build up Thy throne from generation to generation. Selah. And the heavens shall celebrate thy wonders, O Jehovah, And Thy faithfulness in the congregation of the saints." (Psalms 89:3-5.) Here we have the earthly and heavenly glory predicted. When the throne of David is established and Jehovah rules, then will the heavens celebrate the wonders of Jehovah; and they are wonders of grace. " And the heavens shall declare His righteousness" (Psalms 50:6). In Psalms 89:1-52 we also read of the Son of David, the one who is the vice-regent of the King of kings, and who sits as prince upon the throne in Jerusalem. From Psalms 89:29-32 the prince of David and his earthly seed throughout the kingdom age is before us: "And I will establish his seed for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven. If his sons forsake my law and walk not in mine ordinances; if they profane my statutes and keep not my commandments, then will I visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes." In Psalms 96:1-13, Psalms 97:1-12, Psalms 98:1-9, Psalms 99:1-9, Psalms 100:1-5 we have a series of prophecies which reveal the coming of Jehovah and His reign over the earth. He is come to judge the earth in righteousness. In Psalms 97:1-12 we read once more that the heavens declare His righteousness, and all the peoples see His glory (Psalms 97:6). The heavens declare now the wisdom of God, the Creator, and His omnipotence. When the kingdom has come the heavens, besides declaring still God’s wisdom, will declare the righteousness of Jehovah as in the heavenlies, the church, that one body with its millions and millions of glorified members, all sons with Him in glory, will be seen. They will look up and behold His glory, and we look down and see the earth subdued and ruled in righteousness. That this Psalm and all its revelations is connected with the coming of the King is also proven from the New Testament. The Holy Spirit quotes Hebrews 1:7, " Worship Him, ye angels." " And again when He brings in the firstborn into the habitable world, He says: Let all the angels worship Him " (Hebrews 1:6). This should be a conclusive argument for any Christian believer, that Christ is coming to the earth again, that He will step into the habitable world worshipped by angels, and that Psalms 97:1-12 is a kingdom Psalm, relating to the rule of Jehovah in the earth. Space does not permit to follow all this. The reader can search for himself and find Jehovah’s place above the earth (Psalms 97:9), His worship as King (Psalms 98:6), His reign and greatness in Zion (Psalms 99:1-2), and many other events in connection with the kingdom. But we have to pass by the many other Psalms and quote from only one more, Psalms 132:1-18. We learn from Psalms 132:1 that David and his endeavour is in view. Then in Psalms 132:11 we read of Jehovah’s covenant with David again: "Jehovah hath sworn unto David, He will not turn from it: Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. If thy children keep my covenant and my testimonies which I will teach them, Their children also shall sit upon thy throne. For Jehovah hath chosen Zion; He hath desired it for His dwelling; This is my rest for ever; Here will I dwell, for I have desired it." From the great mass of passages found in the prophets which all relate to the theocratic kingdom we can call attention to but a few of the most striking, and to some others which will give additional light upon some of the statements made. In Joel’s ending vision of the day of Jehovah we read that " then Jehovah your God will dwell in Zion and Jerusalem shall be holy" (Joel 3:17). The book of Joel ends with the assurance, " Jehovah dwelleth in Zion," while the prophet Obadiah ends with that sublime word, " The kingdom shall be Jehovah’s" (Obadiah 1:21). In Amos we have the definite promise that in that day the Tabernacle of David, which is fallen down, will be raised up (Amos 9:11). This is the same of which Peter speaks, " The restoration of all things as spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets," connected with the second coming of Christ (Acts 3:19). The throne of David will be raised up and become Jehovah’s throne. In Isaiah we find still more. "And it shall come to pass in the end of days, that the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow into it. And many peoples shall go and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and Jehovah’s word from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations and shall reprove many peoples; and they shall forge their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruningknives; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more" (Isaiah 2:1-4). This is a picture of the theocratic kingdom and its earthly blessings. In the 4th chapter we read, in harmony with the testimony of the Psalms, that the glory of the Lord will dwell upon Zion (Isaiah 4:5). Isaiah 11:1-16 manifests the King, the kingdom and the blessings with it. In Isaiah 25:6, we hear that in this mountain Jehovah will make unto all peoples a feast of fat things, and in Isaiah 25:10 it is written, " For in this mountain shall the hand of Jehovah rest." Furthermore, the kingdom and reigning of the King is emphatically declared in Psalms 32:1-20 : "Behold, a King shall reign in righteousness, and a Prince (1) shall rule in judgment, and a man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the storm; as brooks of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land" (Isaiah 32:1-2). Isaiah 35:1-10 shows the kingdom established. And how much else might be quoted from the second half of Isaiah—all the comforting promises of Jehovah being with His people and blessing them, the promises for the storm-tossed people and the downtrodden city, the desolate land—all will be fulfilled when the King reigns. From Jeremiah we mention two passages which are so very clear and in fullest accord with all prophecies about the theocratic kingdom. In Jeremiah 23:1-40 we read: "Behold the days come, saith Jehovah, when I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, who shall reign as King and act wisely, and shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. "In His day shall Judah be saved and Israel shall dwell in safety; and this is His name whereby He shall be called, ’ Jehovah, our righteousness.’ " He is our Lord, the Branch, and as literally as He is Jehovah Zidkenu, so literally will He reign as King. The second passage is still more significant. "Behold, the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will perform the good word which I have spoken unto the house of Israel and unto the house of Judah. In those days and in that time, will I cause a Branch of Righteousness to grow up unto David; and He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell in safety. And this is the name wherewith she shall be called: Jehovah our Righteousness. For thus saith Jehovah: There shall never fail to David a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; neither shall there fail to the priests the Levites a man before me to offer up burnt offerings and to burn oblations, and to do sacrifice continually." (Jeremiah 33:14-18.) Here Jerusalem is called "Jehovah our Righteousness," for she will be holy and the city of a great King. And once more the Word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah: "Thus saith Jehovah: If ye can break my covenant in respect of the day, and my covenant in respect of the night, so that there should not be day and night in their season, then shall also my covenant be broken with David my servant that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne" (Jeremiah 33:20-21). What a word this is! What a challenge of Jehovah! Oh, poor critics, blind leaders of the blind, what are you doing! You charge Jehovah with being untrue to His Word. But He challengeth, " Can you break the law of day and night? " If ye can, then my covenant with David will be broken. It is therefore unbreakable. Ezekiel received likewise Jehovah’s Word concerning the theocracy, and in this prophet we read much of the prince. "And I will set up one shepherd over them, and He shall feed them and shall be their shepherd. And I Jehovah will be their God, and my servant David a prince in their midst; I Jehovah have spoken it" (Ezekiel 34:23-24). "And David my servant shall be King over them; and they shall have one shepherd; and they shall walk in my ordinances and keep my statutes and do them" (Ezekiel 37:24). From Ezekiel 40:1-49 on we have a prophetic description of the future temple for Jerusalem. In Ezekiel 43:1-27 we read that the gate towards the east is the place through which the glory of the God of Israel will enter in, and if we turn to the chapter which follows we find something else there. "And he brought me back toward the outer gate of the sanctuary which looked toward the east; and it was shut. And Jehovah said unto me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter in by it: for Jehovah, the God of Israel hath entered in by it; and it shall be shut. As for the prince, he the prince shall sit fa it to eat bread before Jehovah: he shall enter by way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the way of the same" (Ezekiel 44:1-3). After Jehovah our Lord, has come and visibly. shown Himself and passed through that gate it will be shut; only the prince, the vice-regent, has a place there. This prince cannot be our Lord, for he has a portion only of the land (Ezekiel 45:7). Ezekiel closes with the change of name of the City of Jerusalem; her name will be " Jehovah Shammah "—the Lord is there. The revelation of the kingdom in Daniel is so well known that we might pass over it. However, to make it complete, we speak of it briefly. "And in the days of these kings shall the God of the heavens set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the sovereignty thereof shall not be left to another people: it shall break in pieces and consume all the kingdoms, but itself shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver and the gold,—the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter" (Daniel 2:44-45). This then is the first passage. Gentile dominion and world power, all forms of human government, monarchies and republics, will cease. A great catastrophe will fall upon Gentile rule. A stone out of Heaven falls down and strikes that image and it passes away, while the stone becomes a mountain filling the whole earth. The stone is Jehovah and His kingdom. "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like a son of man, and he came up even to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom, which shall not be destroyed" (Daniel 7:13-14). No need for further explanation of these verses. In Hosea the kingdom is likewise mentioned, for the children of Israel shall return and seek Jehovah, their God; and David, their King; and shall fear Jehovah and His goodness in the latter days (Hosea 3:5). The prophet Micah, who was contemporary with Isaiah, received the same vision which is contained in Isaiah 2:1-22 (Micah 4:1-4). In Zephaniah we find a prophecy which confirms what we have learned so far. "Jehovah hath taken away thy judgments, He hath cast out thine enemy. The King of Israel, Jehovah, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more" (Zephaniah 3:15). In the prophet Zechariah we have numerous passages which predict the coming of the King and the world-wide kingdom, with its centre to be established in Jerusalem. "Sing aloud and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah" (Zechariah 2:10). The crowning of the high priest Joshua with crowns of silver and gold was but a typical action. It is a type of the crowning of Him who will be a priest upon His throne. "Thus speaketh Jehovah of Hosts, saying, Behold, a man whose name is Branch, and he shall grow up in his own place and he shall build the temple of Jehovah; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both" (Zechariah 6:12-13). In Zechariah 9:1-117 a prophecy speaks of the King coming to Jerusalem. A part of it has been fulfilled, for the King was presented to Jerusalem, and if they had then received Him, all which the Spirit of God announces through Zechariah would have been soon fulfilled. But Jerusalem cast Him out, and the cry, " Hosanna, Son of David, King of Israel!" was changed to " Crucify Him! Crucify Him! " When He comes again the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9-11 will come to pass. "Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, thy King cometh to thee; He is just, having salvation; lowly and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem. And He shall speak peace to the nations; and His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth." Here we have once more the King, who is Jehovah, and His kingdom, world-wide to the ends of the earth, in perfect agreement with other prophecies. In Zechariah 14:1-21 that kingdom to come, Jerusalem its centre, and the nations gathering to Jerusalem, is most fully revealed. As we have seen before from this chapter, Jehovah comes to Jerusalem and His feet stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives. Then we read: " And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth; in that day shall there be one Jehovah and His name one" (Zechariah 14:9). Zechariah likewise sees Jerusalem, and with it Zion lifted up. " And Jerusalem shall be lifted up and shall dwell in her own place " (Zechariah 14:10). Here is another kingdom prophecy: " And it shall come to pass, that all that are left of the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, Jehovah of Hosts, and to celebrate the feast of tabernacles" (Zechariah 14:16. But this will be sufficient after pointing out the most prominent passages which foretell the kingdom, which is to be established, to prove the perfect harmony of the entire prophetic Word on this topic, a harmony as Divine and complete as the other great events of the closing of this age and the beginning of the new. " Wilt thou, Lord, at this time restore again the kingdom of Israel ? " thus they had asked, as we mentioned in the beginning of this chapter. What perfect right they had to ask this question with such prophecies given through the mouth of God’s prophets! The Lord Himself had taught them to pray in the prayer He gave to them, " Thy kingdom come," and it could mean only one kingdom, that kingdom which prophet after prophet describes and which is so prominent in the Psalms. It has been postponed, but it will surely come. It will come with the appearing of the King. It will come not gradually in a spiritual way, but it will come accompanied by tremendous upheavals, the tribulation, the day of Jehovah, the visible and glorious return of the Lord. What a foolish dream it is to claim a kingdom without the King; it is unscriptural. Well said old Dr. Chalmers, " You may talk as you please, but the Scriptures make it clear that this dispensation is going to end with a smash." As believers we wait not for this kingdom nor for the King, but we wait for the Lord, our glorified head. Our prayer is not " Thy kingdom come," but " Even so come Lord Jesus." The dying thief cried out, " Remember me, Lord, when thou comest in Thy kingdom," but the Lord had something better for him, saved by grace, and told him, " Verily, I say to thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." Our portion is with the Lord in glory in the rule over the earth. He has made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father. The kingdom in the earth has for its subjects Israel and the nations, but in the church, His body, it shall be fulfilled what is written, " That He might display in the coming ages the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." (Ephesians 2:7). 1 The prince is a son of David, the vice-regent ======================================================================== CHAPTER 81: 04.09. THE BLESSINGS OF THE COMING AGE ======================================================================== IX. THE BLESSINGS OF THE COMING AGE--PEACE ON EARTH—GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST—ISRAEL’S SUPREMACY AND MINISTRY —ALL CREATION BLESSED Like one who ascends a high mountain, and the nearer he comes to the summit the grander becomes the view, so have we reached the consummation, and as we advanced the horizon has widened and the things to come were viewed by us. Now as we reach the summit and look out over the revelations of the prophetic Word and behold some of the blessings which are promised for the coming age, the age of the kingdom, the millennium, we shall have the grandest view of all. Many nations have records of a so-called golden age, which is to come, and their poets have written about it. But only in the Word of God have we a true description of that age and the blessings it will bring. Christendom generally believes in such an age of blessing, but it has, with its spiritualizing method, turned everything upside down. The millennium is generally put down as " the universal triumph of the church and the conversion of the world by the church." Such a millennium as it is taught now was unknown in the apostolic age and for many centuries after. The present-day teaching of a Christless and kingless millennium originated in the beginning of the eighteenth century. Its father was a man who held wicked doctrine. Whitby, the originator of postmillennialism, the theory of a church-millennium without Christ having returned, denied the absolute Deity of our Lord and the Deity of the Holy Spirit. Now the fact is, when the millennium comes it will not be an age of blessing for the church in the earth, for the church is then passed out of the world and rules and reigns with Christ, her Lord, in the heavenlies. The church has no promise of a millennium, but the blessings of the coming age are for Israel, the nations and creation. And how rich and full is the revelation of this age of blessing, which will be ushered in with the mighty shaking of the heavens and the earth and the manifestation of Jehovah! We gave only a small portion of Scriptures in our preceding chapters describing these great coming events and showing the harmony of the prophetic Word; we shall be obliged to confine ourselves again to a few passages in treating this theme. By far the greater part of prophecies are prophecies of blessing in the coming age. How numerous are the Scriptures which declare the blessedness of converted and restored Israel! His people, no longer the tail of the nations, but the Head and Jehovah’s witness in the earth. Converted, born again, Spirit-filled, this nation will be at last God’s " first born Son" in the earth, and bring nations to the new birth, so that converted nations, a thing unknown in this age, will be added unto Israel, the leader and head of the nations. Idolatry will cease completely. Blessings immeasurable will be upon Israel. They will walk now in the statutes of the Lord and keep His laws. Once more will the Word of Jehovah and the law go forth from Jerusalem and Zion, and nations will be taught to walk in these ordinances. Jerusalem will be the great centre of the world. There, as we saw before, the mountain of Jehovah’s Rest, Zion, will be seen in all its beauty, and a most blessed intercourse between the heavens and the earth will take place, and the glory of Jehovah which appears there will spread like a canopy over the land; the knowledge of that glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. In Jerusalem there will stand a marvellous temple, which will be a house of prayer for all nations, and there an elaborate ritual will be kept. Nations and representatives of nations will come up to keep the feast of tabernacles. War will be unknown in the earth, for the Prince of Peace will speak to the nations and they will learn war no more; praise and worship will be in the earth. All creation will be blessed likewise. Groaning creation will be delivered and restored to its normal condition. But we have to quote some of these prophecies to learn of these blessings to come and see once more the perfect harmony of prophecy. We turn again to the great prophecies which were before us throughout this volume. Balaam speaks through the Spirit of this age of blessing for Israel. "How goodly are thy tents, Jacob, And thy tabernacles, Israel! Like valleys are they spread forth, Like gardens by the river side, Like aloe-trees, which Jehovah has planted, Like cedars beside the waters. Water shall flow out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in great waters." (Numbers 24:5-7.) Here we have a picture of Israel’s blessedness, planted and kept by Jehovah. "The water flowing out of his buckets," is a prophecy which relates to the day when the living waters shall flow forth from Jerusalem; when the Spirit will be poured forth upon all. The last verse of Moses’ Song, which showed us so much, is a short and concise description of the coming millennium, and to this little verse prophecies recur again and again. If we found so much in the Book of Psalms before, we shall find much more now. The descriptions of the blest and delivered nation, their joy and worship, the subdued earth, the joy of the nations, and other blessed events falling into the coming age are very numerous. In Psalms 46:1-11 we read, "There is a river the streams whereof make glad the city of God, the sanctuary of the habitations of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved. God shall help her at the dawn of the morning" (Psalms 46:4-5). This will be when the new age begins and the river of God will flow forth from Jerusalem. The " eternal city," not Rome, but Jerusalem, will receive her help, her glory and exaltation at the dawn of the morning, when the Sun of Righteousness rises. In the same Psalm we read of another scene which will be at the beginning of the millennium. "Come behold the works of Jehovah, what desolation He has made in the earth, He hath made war to cease unto the end of the earth; He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear asunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire" (Psalms 46:8-9). The two Psalms which follow contain millennial descriptions. We take another illustration from Psalms 66:1-20 : "Shout aloud unto God all the earth; sing forth the glory of His name, make His praise glorious; say unto God, How terrible are Thy works! because of the greatness of Thy strength, thine enemies come cringing unto Thee; all the earth shall worship Thee, and sing Psalms unto Thee; they shall sing forth Thy name" (Psalms 66:1-4). This description is followed by Israel’s confession and calling upon the people to bless their God (Psalms 66:8), and their own worship, " I will go into thy house with burnt offerings; I will perform my vows to thee " (Psalms 66:13). Much could be quoted from Psalms 68:1-35, but we call attention only to a few verses at the end. "Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto Thee. . . . Great ones shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall quickly stretch out her hands unto God—Ye kingdoms of the earth, sing unto God; sing Psalms of Jehovah" (Psalms 68:29, Psalms 68:31-32). All this will be fulfilled when Jehovah has come and His glory is known in the earth, and because of that glorious temple in Jerusalem the kings come to bring their presents. The kingdom Psalm, Psalms 72:1-20, gives the millennial blessings still more fully. Justice will be given then to the afflicted, the righteous will flourish, and there will be abundance of peace. " The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall render presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer tribute; yea, all the kings shall bow down before Him; all nations shall serve Him" (Psalms 72:10, n). "There shall be abundance of corn in the earth, upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon; and they of the city shall bloom like the herb of the earth" (Psalms 72:16). Then famines will have an end and poverty will be unknown in that coming kingdom age. Psalms 84:1-12 and Psalms 85:1-13 are further prophecies of the blessings to come. "Thou hast been favourable, Jehovah, to thy land (Immanuel’s land—Palestine); thou hast turned the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people; thou hast covered all their sins" (Psalms 85:1-2). We have seen before when this takes place. Not before the Redeemer comes to Zion and turns away ungodliness will the people Israel have forgiveness of sins. If we turn to the end of this Psalm we find what is revealed in connection with this event. " Loving kindness and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other; truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from the heavens. Jehovah will also give what is good, and our land shall yield its increase. Righteousness shall go before Him, and He shall set His footsteps on the way" (Psalms 85:10-13). This is the perfection and glory of the age tocome. In Psalms 96:1-13 and those connected with it we have a still wider description of the kingdom blessings. " Worship Jehovah in holy splendour, tremble before Him, all the earth. Say among the nations, Jehovah reignethl Yea, the earth is established, it shall not be moved; He will execute judgments upon the people with equity. Let the heavens rejoice and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar and the fulness thereof. Let the field exult and all that is therein. Then shall all the trees of the forest sing; for joy" (Psalms 96:9-12). Psalms 103:1-22 is one which is used much in Christian ritual and song. Prophetically it is. Israel’s song throughout the millennium, and other nations will learn to sing that song after Israel. " Bless Jehovah, O my soul; and all that is within me bless His holy name. Bless Jehovah, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; who forgiveth all thine iniquities and healeth all thy diseases. Who redeemeth thy life from the pit, who covereth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies" (Psalms 103:1-4). A similar song of praise is Psalms 113:1-9. It will be sung in the millennium, and Jehovah’s name will be praised from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same. The Psalm closes with that significant verse: "He maketh the barren woman to keep house as a joyful mother of sons. Hallelujah." The barren woman who will be a mother is Israel. The shortest of all the Psalms, Psalms 117:1-12, refers to the coming age, while the longest Psalm, Psalms 119:1-176, gives the description of the righteous nation occupied with the law and the Word. How Jehovah will keep His people in the age to come is learned from Psalms 121:1-8. Psalms 122:1-9 is a beautiful one. It shows how they go up with rejoicing into the house of Jehovah. They go there in the millennium to give thanks unto the name of Jehovah. " For there are set thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David." Peace, too, will be in Jerusalem. This shows the time when this will be. But we dare not tarry longer in these precious songs in which the Holy Spirit reveals the high and blessed position of redeemed Israel in the earth, in the midst of the nations. As we read through the fifth book of the Psalms we find that praise to Jehovah increases and there is not a word said that it will ever stop. Israel praises Jehovah, the nations praise Him, and all creation, mountains and hills, beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowls, every thing that hath breath, will praise Jehovah. Our view into these coming earthly glories widens as we turn to the prophets. That judgment and restoration chapter, Joel 3:1-21, gives us a glimpse of the millennial glory. " And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the watercourses of Judah shall flow with waters; and a fountain shall come forth from the house of Jehovah, and shall water the valley of Shittim" (Joel 3:18). We must leave it to the reader to find the perfect agreement of all these prophecies relating to the blessings of the coming age and to find them is an easy task, with the key we have given. In the ad chapter of Hosea we find a predictive description of the blessings which Jehovah will give when He has arisen and had mercy upon Zion. " And I will make a covenant for them in that day with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will break bow and sword and battle out of the land; and I will make them to lie down safely. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; and I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving kindness and in mercies; and I will betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know Jehovah. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith Jehovah, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth; and the earth shall hear the corn, and the new wine, and the oil, and they shall hear Jezreel" (Hosea 2:18-22). And in Hosea 14:1-9 we read the assurance that Israel shall then blossom as the lily and his beauty shall be as the olive tree. Richer than all other prophets is Isaiah in his God-given visions of what is in store for Israel, the nations, and the entire creation. Such perfect blessings for this sin-cursed world are unfolded here that the searcher becomes overwhelmed by the wonderful and gracious ways of our God and Father, and praises Him that He has made known these exceeding great and precious things. We quoted from Hosea 2:1-23 before without looking at the details of the Word which Isaiah saw. Here, as well as in Micah 4:1-13, we read the nations shall come to Jerusalem, to the house of Jehovah, to be taught by Him, and that the nations will learn war no more and lift no longer a sword against other nations. Now a universal peace is attempted by an international court of arbitration, and it—fails. Peace on earth will only be when the Prince of Peace comes and begins His rule over the nations. Turning to Isaiah 11:1-16 we find still more here. Groaning creation is delivered from the curse resting upon it now and restored to its normal Edenic condition. There is no warrant whatever to spiritualize these familiar words, " The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatted beast together," etc. (Isaiah 11:6-10). These words mean what they say. When the first Adam with his helpmeet stood in the garden all creation was subjected to them; neither did the leopard spring upon the kid to tear it to pieces. Sin, coming in, changed all. But now the last Adam, the second man, has everything put under His feet (in this age we see not yet all things put under Him— Hebrews 2:1-18). With Him in that age to come is His bride, the church, and His earthly bride, Israel. Then that deliverance for which all creation waits will have come. Other millennial events in Isaiah 11:1-16 we are obliged to pass by. Isaiah 12:1-6 is redeemed Israel’s song of praise, so harmonious with many of the Psalms. Isaiah 25:1-12 may serve to put another millennial scene before us. "And He will destroy in this mountain (Zion) the face of the veil which veileth all the peoples, and the covering that is spread over all the nations. He will swallow up death in victory. And the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of His people will He take away from off all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken" (Isaiah 25:7-8). In Isaiah 26:1-21 Israel’s glad millennial praise is once more recorded, and in Isaiah 35:1-10 we find additional promises to be fulfilled in the kingdom age. The wilderness will be glad and the desert will rejoice; " they shall see the glory of Jehovah, the excellency of our God" (Isaiah 35:5). "Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf be unstopped; then shall the lame man leap as the hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out and torrents in the desert. . . . And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return and come to Zion with singing; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away." What an age it will be when all this has come literally true! With Isaiah 40:1-31 we find many more prophecies relating to the topic of our chapter. " Behold I do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the waste. The beast in the field shall glorify me, and the jackals and the ostriches; for I will give waters in the wilderness, to give drink to My people, My chosen. This people have I formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise" (Isaiah 43:19-21; see also Isaiah 41:18-19). Here is Jehovah’s address to the nations, and His chosen people Israel will deliver the message to them: " Gather yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations. They have no knowledge that carry the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save. Declare and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath caused this to be heard from ancient time? Who hath declared this long ago? Is it not I, Jehovah? And there is no God else besides Me; a just God and a Saviour, there is none besides Me. Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God and there is none besides else. I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Only in Jehovah shall one say, have I righteousness and strength " (Isaiah 45:20-24). From Isaiah 49:11-26 we select another passage: "Behold, these shall come from afar; and behold, these from the north and from the west and these from the land of Sinim. Shout, ye heavens; and be joyful, thou earth, and break forth into singing, ye mountains; for Jehovah hath comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted ones" (Isaiah 49:12-13). Isaiah 53:1-12 makes known the suffering Servant of Jehovah, that is the Messiah, Jehovah Himself, and His atonement as well as Israel’s confession that they knew Him not. Upon this confession and the assurance of the exaltation of Him who went into death, follows a chapter which falls entirely into the coming age. Read through this chapter and learn still more of Israel’s Hope and its full realization after this present age is passed. It is precious to read all this now. " Thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, not comforted! Behold, I will set thy stones in antimony, and lay thy foundations with sapphires, and I will make thy walls with rubies and thy gates of carbuncles and all thy borders of precious stones. And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah and great shall be the peace of thy children" (Isaiah 54:11-13). And in Isaiah 55:1-13 it is written: " For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn there shall come up the cypress, and instead of the nettle there shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be Jehovah for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off" (Isaiah 55:12-13). Still more impressive become these predictions of blessings to come, as we turn to the end of this prophet. There are three chapters so full of millennial prophecies, Isaiah 60:1-22, Isaiah 61:1-11, and Isaiah 62:1-12. In Isaiah 60:1-22, Israel is told that nations shall walk by her light. She is to lift up her eyes and see the multitudes from the nations and from the sea coming unto her. In Isaiah 60:6 we read: " They shall bring gold and incense, and they shall publish the praises of Jehovah." It is generally said this was fulfilled in the wise men coming to Bethlehem to worship the young child. However, the wise men brought gold, incense, and myrrh. Myrrh typifies the bitterness of death. Those coming in the millennium, according to the verse above, bring no myrrh, because the sufferings are now passed. Again, that coming glorious age is described in the following words: " For bronze I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood I will bring bronze, and for stones iron; and I will make thine officers peace and thy rulers righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders, but thou shalt call thy walls salvation and thy gates praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee, but Jehovah shall be thine everlasting light and thy God thy Glory. Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall the moon withdraw itself; for Jehovah shall be thine everlasting light and the days of thy mourning shall be ended" (Isaiah 60:19-20). No more sun then for Jerusalem, because a brighter Sun, the Sun of Righteousness, the Glory of Jehovah, shines above Jerusalem. In Isaiah 61:1-11 Israel is seen as the priest among the nations, ministers of God they are called, and the chapter ends with Israel’s hymn of praise (Isaiah 61:10) and a short description of the blessings among the nations. " For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as a garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord Jehovah will cause righteousness to spring forth before all nations" (Isaiah 61:11). Just as rich is Isaiah 62:1-12, and at the close of Isaiah 65:1-25 the Spirit of God speaks even more fully of what Jehovah, the Jehovah who was made sin for us, who was raised from the dead and returns in power and glory, will do. We must quote this: " But be glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy. And I will rejoice over Jerusalem, and will joy in my people; and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thenceforth an infant of days, nor an old man that has not completed his days; for the youth shall die a hundred years old, and a sinner being a hundred years old shall be accursed; and they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit thereof: they shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat; for as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands, they shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth terror; for they are the seed of the blessed of Jehovah, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I shall answer; I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like an ox; and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, saith Jehovah" (Isaiah 65:18-25). It would take many pages to expound this most interesting prophecy. We take it literal; why should we not ? When it says " dust shall be the serpent’s meat," it means most likely that of all animals only the serpent, the instrument of Satan once, will still have the mark of the curse " crawling upon its belly " during the millennium. The last chapter of Isaiah adds still more to these complete visions of the blessings in the coming age. Here again we read, " And it shall come to pass from new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship before me, saith Jehovah." And outside of Jerusalem there will still be seen the carcasses of the men which sinned against Jehovah, and in that mass the worm is not dying and the fire is not-quenched (Isaiah 65:24). It is a most solemn warning, for glorious as that coming age is it ends too with man’s failure. Satan, bound a thousand years to seduce the nations no more, becomes loosed for a little while and finds in his final revolt abundant material among the nations. From Jeremiah we take but one passage, which perhaps is less familiar to readers of prophecy. It is in chapter Jeremiah 16:19-21. The verses before tell us of Israel being brought back from the nations, their coming great restoration. In connection with this we read the following: "Jehovah, my strength and my fortress in the day of distress (thus will Israel say), unto Thee shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and they shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited falsehoods and vanity; and in these things there is no profit. Shall a man make gods unto himself and they are no gods? Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know my hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is Jehovah." This tells us that idolatry will cease on the earth. Ezekiel’s wonderful description of the millennial temple and its ceremonies we cannot follow now. Suffice it to say that such a glorious temple, a house of prayer for all nations, and Levites attending to the ceremonies, will be built in the coming age. What a house it will be! Of the many, many other passages which might be quoted we give but a few from the prophet Zechariah. "And many nations shall join themselves to Jehovah in that day, and shall be unto me for a people" (Zechariah 2:11). This word stands in the night vision in which the prophet sees the restoration of Jerusalem and the return of Israel to their land. It is, therefore, that day in which nations shall join themselves to Jehovah. The 8th chapter in Zechariah is another chapter which treats of the restoration and the blessings in connection with it. "Thy seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all things" (Zechariah 2:12). " Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Yet again shall there come peoples and the inhabitants of many cities; and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily, to supplicate Jehovah and to seek Jehovah of hosts; I will go also. And many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek Jehovah of hosts in Jerusalem and to supplicate Jehovah. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: In those days shalt ten men take hold, out of all languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you; for we have heard that God is with you" (Zechariah 8:20-23). It was promised to Abraham that through his seed all the nations of the earth are to be blest. Here is the fulfilment. Israel’s land, the centre of the world. Jehovah’s glory spread over it will be the goal of the desires of the nations of the earth during the millennium. Then as the Jew goes among the nations and shows himself there, the nations will no longer cast him out and ridicule him, but they cling to his skirt and ask him to take them along to the glorious land.—Through Israel world conversion at last. In Zechariah 9:1-17 we read once more of " Peace on Earth/’ for " He shall speak peace to the nations." In Zechariah 14:1-21 the nations are also seen coming to Jerusalem to worship Jehovah, and that Jerusalem will be a holy city. Malachi, who describes the Return of Jehovah as the rising of the Sun, says it will be with healing beneath His wings. Healing for Israel, for the nations and for groaning creation. But is there anything said in the New Testament ? We read little of it there. This has led some to say that the blessings spoken of in the Old Testament Scriptures must mean the church. The reason why the Epistles say nothing on the millennium is because the millennium is not for the church. The church is like the sheet which Peter saw. It came out of heaven and it was taken back again. The church belongs to the heavenlies, and she is not to be blessed with the earthly things and expect a fulfilment of earthly blessings. Nevertheless, do we find a witness of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. Our Lord preached not only the kingdom of the heavens to be at hand, but with His preaching came the signs of that kingdom. The multitudes were miraculously fed, the blind saw, the deaf heard, and the lame leaped (Isaiah 35:1-10). In Matthew 19:1-30 He speaks as sitting upon His own throne in the regeneration. By regeneration He means the coming age. Still clearer does that age stand out in the great chapter of our redemption in Christ, Romans 8:1-39. There the Spirit of God speaks expressly of the deliverance of groaning creation, and that term includes all, Israel, the nations, and the rest of creation. The deliverance will take place when the sons of God will be manifested. The sons of God will be manifested when He, the first-born, comes forth from glory. In the book of Acts we read also of it, when it is said that after the Lord has returned and the tabernacle of David is built again the residue of men will seek the Lord. (Acts 15:1-41) From the book of Revelation we learn that this coming age will last a thousand years; for this reason it is called a millennium. (Revelation 20:1-6.) God has revealed His plans, and He wants us, the future heirs of all things with His Son, to know now a little of the things to come. Oh, why are we so slow to take hold of them? How different it would be with all of us if we would search, and search deeper and deeper, in the Word of our God and let the Spirit of God show us these things to come! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 82: 04.10. CONCLUSIONS ======================================================================== CONCLUSIONS We have briefly shown in this volume the harmony of the entire prophetic Word concerning the great future events to come. It would have been an easy task to enlarge each chapter and add hundreds of passages from the Word of Cod. What we have written and give in this volume, however, seems to us sufficient to prove conclusively two great and important facts. The first fact proven is the wonderful harmony of the prophetic Word, and the second fact, springing from the first, is the verbal inspiration of the Old Testament Scriptures. No sane man would believe that such a perfect agreement in the description of these coming events, written by so many different men, living centuries apart, writing independently of each other, is of purely human origin. That these men wrote down their own imaginations, their own thoughts, and that the Spirit of God had nothing to do with it, is harder to believe than the fact which we have demonstrated, that this wonderful harmony is supernatural. Our aim has likewise been to produce a short handbook of Old Testament prophecy, and point the way to a better and more correct understanding of the little read and less studied prophetic books. If under the blessing of our Lord some of His children receive help through this volume, and our little work will be used to open up God’s precious Word to some hearts and unfold some of God’s gracious purposes, we shall thank and praise Him for it in all eternity. May the blessing of our Lord rest upon every reader, and, living in these significant times, when the fulfilment of all this volume teaches is so near, may we all be "like men who wait for their Lord." FINIS ======================================================================== CHAPTER 83: 05.00.1. THE LORD OF GLORY ======================================================================== THE LORD OF GLORY MEDITATIONS ON THE PERSON, THE WORK AND GLORY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BY A. C. GAEBELEIN PUBLICATION OFFICE OF "OUR HOPE," 456 Fourth Avenue, New York, N. Y. PICKERING & INGLIS, L. S. HAYNES, GLASGOW, 502 Yonge Street, SCOTLAND TORONTO, CANADA Copyright 1910 by A. C. Gaebelein. Printing by Francis Emory Fitch of New York *Book was originally published before 1924, and is now in the Public Domain. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 84: 05.00.3. TABLE OF CONTENTS ======================================================================== Table Of Contents 00.4 Preface 00.5 Dedication 01. The Lord of Glory 02. Jehovah. The “I am” 03. That Worthy Name 04. The Doctrine of Christ 05. The Pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ 06. Ye are Christ’s—Christ is God’s 07. The Wonderful 08. Honor and Glory unto Him 09. Christ’s Resurrection Song 10. The Glory Song 11. The Firstborn 12. The Waiting Christ 13. A Vision of the King 14. The Fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord 15. Out of His Fulness, 16. The Twenty-second Psalm 17. The Exalted One 18. A Glorious Vision 19. My Brethren 20. The Patience of Christ 21. He Shall Not Keep Silent 22. The Love of Christ 23. The Joy of the Lord 24. This same Jesus 25. The Wondrous Cross 26. His Legacy 27. What Have I to do with Idols 28. The Never Changing One 29. Be of Good Cheer 30. Make Haste ======================================================================== CHAPTER 85: 05.00.4. PREFACE ======================================================================== Preface. For a number of years the first pages of each issue of "Our Hope" have been devoted to brief meditations on the Person and Glory of our adorable Lord Jesus Christ. Three reasons led the Editor to do this: 1. He is worthy of all honor and glory, worthy to have the first place in all things. 2. The great need of His people to have His blessed Person, His past and present work, His power and glory, His future manifestation constantly brought before their hearts. 3. There is an ever increasing denial of the Person of our Lord. In the most subtle way His Glory has been denied. It is therefore eminently necessary for those who know Him to tell out His worth. Long and learned discussions on the Person of the Lord have been written in the past, but are not much read in these days. We felt that short and simple meditations on Himself would be welcomed by all believers. All these brief articles were written with much prayer and often under deep soul exercise. It has pleased the Holy Spirit to own them in a most blessed way. Hundreds of letters were received telling of the great blessing these meditations have been and what refreshing they brought to the hearts of His people. Weary and tired ones were cheered, wandering ones restored and erring ones set right. Many wrote us or told us personally that the Lord Jesus Christ has become a greater reality and power in their lives after following this monthly testimony. Suggestions were made to issue some of these notes in book form so that these blessed truths may be preserved in a more permanent form. We have done so and send this volume forth with the prayer that the Holy Spirit, who is here to glorify Christ, may use it to the praise and glory of His worthy Name. We are confident that such will be the case. A. C. G. New York City, October 1, 1910. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 86: 05.00.5. DEDICATION ======================================================================== Dedication. "Unto Him who loveth us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God His Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever."-- Revelation 1:5-6 "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing."-- Revelation 5:12 "Then they that feared the Lord spake one to another: and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon His Name." -- Malachi 3:16 "Let us go forth, therefore, unto Him without the camp bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. By Him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips, confessing His Name." -- Hebrews 13:13-15 "Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so. Come Lord Jesus."-- Revelation 22:20 ======================================================================== CHAPTER 87: 05.01. THE LORD OF GLORY ======================================================================== 1. The Lord of Glory. 1 Corinthians 2:8 OUR ever blessed Lord, who died for us, to whom we belong, with whom we shall be forever, is the Lord of Glory. Thus He is called in 1 Corinthians 2:8, "for had they known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory." Eternally He is this because He is "the express image of God, the brightness of His Glory" (Hebrews 1:3). He possessed Glory with the Father before the world was (John 17:5). This Glory was beheld by the prophets, for we read that Isaiah "saw His Glory and spake of Him" (John 12:41). All the glorious manifestations of Jehovah recorded in the Word of God are the manifestations of "the Lord of Glory," who created all things that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, who is before all things and by whom all things consist. He appeared as the God of Glory to Abraham (Acts 7:1); Isaac and Jacob were face to face with Him. Moses beheld His Glory. He saw His Glory on the mountain. The Lord of Glory descended in the cloud and stood with him there (Exodus 34:5). How often the Glory of the Lord appeared in the midst of Israel. And what more could we say of Joshua, David, Daniel, Ezekiel, who all beheld His Glory and stood in the presence of that Lord of Glory. In the fulness of time He appeared on earth "God manifested in the flesh." Though He made of Himself no reputation and left His unspeakable Glory behind, yet He was the Lord of Glory, and as such He manifested His Glory. In incarnation in His holy, spotless life He revealed His moral Glory; what perfection and loveliness we find here! We have the testimony of His own "We beheld His Glory, the Glory as of the only begotten of the Father" (John 1:14). "They saw His Glory" (Luke 9:32) when they were with Him in the holy mountain. They heard, they saw with their eyes, they looked upon, their hands handled the Word of life, the life that was manifested (1 John 1:1-2). In His mighty miracles the Lord of Glory manifested His Glory, for it is written "this beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and manifested forth His Glory" (John 1:11). And this Lord of Glory died. The focus of His Glory is the cross. He was obedient unto death, the death of the cross. He gave Himself for us. Without following here all the precious truths connected with that which is the foundation of our salvation and our hope, that the Lord of Glory, Christ died for our sins, we remember that God "raised Him up from the dead and gave Him Glory" (1 Peter 1:21). He was "received up into Glory" (1 Timothy 3:16). "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His Glory" (Luke 24:26). The risen Lord of Glory said: "I ascend unto my Father and your Father; to my God and your God." He is now in the presence of God, the Man in Glory, seated in the highest place of the heaven of heavens "at the right hand of the Majesty on high." He is there "far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come" (Ephesians 1:21). He is highly exalted, the heir of all things. In that Glory He was beheld by human, mortal eyes. Stephen being full of the Holy Spirit "looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the Glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:55). This was the dying testimony of the first Christian martyr. Saul of Tarsus saw this Glory; he "could not see for the Glory of that light" (Acts 22:11). John beheld Him and fell at His feet as dead. And we see Him with the eye of faith. "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death crowned with Glory and Honor" (Hebrews 2:9). But this is not all. The unseen Glory of the Lord and the unseen Lord of Glory will some day be visible, not to a few, but to the whole universe. He will come in the Glory of His Father and the holy angels with Him (Matthew 16:27). The Lord of Glory will be "revealed from heaven with His mighty angels" (2 Thessalonians 1:7). He will come in power and Glory, come in His own Glory (Luke 9:26) and sit on the throne of His Glory (Matthew 25:31). His Glory then will cover the heavens (Habakkuk 3:3) and "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Habakkuk 2:14). The heavens cannot be silent forever and He who now is the object of the faith of believers, and the One whom the world has rejected, will come forth in all His Majesty and Glory and every eye shall see Him. Then every knee must bow at the name of Jesus and every tongue confess Him as Lord. In that manifestation of the Lord of Glory and the Glory of the Lord we His redeemed will be manifested in Glory. He will then be glorified in His saints and admired in all them that believed (2 Thessalonians 1:10). He will bring His many sons to Glory (Hebrews 2:10). We are "partakers of the Glory that shall be revealed" (1 Peter 5:1). The God of all Grace hath indeed called us unto His eternal Glory by Jesus Christ. "And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of Glory that fadeth not away" (1 Peter 5:4). "But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, that when His Glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13). But ere this visible Glory is manifested over the earth and on the earth and He comes forth as the King of kings and Lord of lords His own will be gathered unto Him and be caught up in clouds to meet Him in the air. Then we shall see Him as He is and be like Him. The Glory which the Father has given Him as the head of the body will be bestowed upon the whole body; for thus He prayed "the Glory, which thou hast given me I have given to them" (John 17:22). And in the Father’s house where He is, in the Holy of Holies we shall behold His Glory. We shall be changed into the same image "that He might be the first born among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). And now, dear reader, joint heir with the Lord of Glory, called by God unto the fellowship of His Son, in meditating on these wonderful facts given to us by revelation, does not your heart burn within you? What a blessing, what a place, what a future is ours linked with the Lord of Glory, one with Him! What a stupendous thought that He came from Glory to die for us so that He might have us with Him in Glory! And these blessed truths concerning the Lord of Glory and the Glory of the Lord we need to hold ever before our hearts in these dreary days when darkest night is fast approaching. To walk worthy of the Lord, to be faithful to the Lord, to render true service, to be more like Him and show forth His excellencies, we but need one thing, to know Him better and to behold the Glory of the Lord. It is written "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the Glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." Guided by the Spirit we can look on the Lord of Glory and His Glory, mirrored in all parts of the Word of God. And then as we look on this wonderful person and His relation to us and ours to Him, as we behold His glory both moral and literal, in humiliation and exaltation, past, present and future, we are changed into the same image. Our path will be from Glory to Glory! And some day there will come that supreme moment when we shall be suddenly changed "in a moment, the twinkling of an eye." Oh child of God see your need! It is Christ, the Lord of Glory set before your heart; all worldly mindedness, all insincerity, all discouragement, all unbelief, all unfaithfulness must flee when we follow on to know the Lord and daily behold "as in a glass the Glory of the Lord." "Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His Glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 88: 05.02. JEHOVAH. THE "I AM" ======================================================================== 2. Jehovah. The "I Am." WHEN Moses in the desert beheld the burning bush God answered his question by the revelation of His name as the "I Am." "And God said unto Moses, I am, that I am: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (Exodus 3:14). He who spake thus out of the bush to Moses was the same who in the fullness of time appeared upon the earth in the form of man. Our Lord Jesus Christ is no less person, than the I AM. If we turn to the fourth Gospel in which the Holy Spirit pictures Him as the Son of God, one with the Father, we find His glorious title there as the I AM. In the eighth chapter of that blessed Gospel we read that He said to the Jews, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). And the Jews took stones to cast them upon Him. In the fifth chapter we read that they wanted to kill Him, not only because He had violated the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God (John 5:18). They wanted to stone Him because in saying that word "Before Abraham was, I am" He had claimed that holy name for Himself, which was revealed to Moses. The Jews then, as the orthodox Jews do still, reverenced that name to such a degree that they did not even pronounce it, but substituted in its place the word "Adonai." Little did they realize that the same "I am" who spoke to Moses out of the bush, saying, "I am;" who descended before Moses later in a cloud and proclaimed the name of the Lord (Exodus 34:1-35) was standing in their midst in the form of man. And this is not the only time He used this word. We find it in the 18th chapter of John. When the band and officers of the chief priests and Pharisees came with lanterns, torches and weapons, Jesus stepped majestically into their presence with the calm question: "Whom seek ye?" When they had stated that they were seeking Jesus the Nazarene He answered them with one word "I AM." What happened? They went backward and fell to the ground. What a spectacle that must have been. The dark night, a company of people, all on the same satanic errand, with their lanterns, torches and different kinds of weapons. And then the object of their hatred steps before them and utters one word and they fall helpless to the ground. What warning it should have been to them. Once more He asks the question; again He answers with the "I am" and with the understanding that His own should be free, He allows Himself to be bound. He likewise called Himself "I am" in talking with the Samaritan woman. In John 4:26 we read, "Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he." This does, however, not express the original. This reads as follows: "I AM that speaks to thee." After this mighty word had come from His lips the woman had nothing more to say, but left her waterpot and went her way back to the city. The I AM had spoken to her. In John 6:20 and John 8:28 we find Him using the same "I am" again. In the former passage "It is I" should read "I am." Besides these passages in which He speaks of Himself as the self-existing Jehovah, the great "I am," He saith seven times in this Gospel what He is to His own. I am the Bread of life (John 6:35). I am the Light of the world (John 9:5). I am the Door (John 10:7). I am the Good Shepherd (John 10:11). I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25). I am the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 16:6); and I am the true Vine (John 15:1). But this does not exhaust at all what He is and will be now and forever to those who belong to Him. In the Old Testament there are seven great names of the "I AM" which are deep and significant. In them we can trace His rich and wonderful Grace. Jehovah.--Jireh --The Lord provides. The lamb provided (Genesis 22:1-24). Jehovah Rophecah--I am the Lord that healeth thee (Exodus 15:1-27). Jehovah --Nissi--The Lord is my banner, He giveth the Victory (Exodus 17:1-16). Jehovah shalom, the Lord is Peace. He is our Peace (Judges 6:1-40). Jehovah Roi--The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (Psalms 23:1-6). Jehovah-Tsidkenu, the Lord is our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:1-40). Jehovah shammah, the Lord is there (Ezekiel 48:1-35). But this does not exhaust what He is. I AM--what? Anything and everything what we need in time and eternity. "When God would teach mankind His name He called Himself the great, I AM, And leaves a blank--believers may Supply those things for which they pray." Happy indeed are we, beloved reader, if we know Him, who died for us as the I AM, if we learn more and more to trust Him as the all sufficient One and know that the I AM will supply all our need. In these days in which the person of Christ is so much belittled, attacked; He as the Holy One, the great Jehovah rejected, not by the outside world alone, but by those who call themselves after His own blessed name, let us have for an answer to all these attacks of the enemy a closer walk with Him, a more intimate fellowship with the I AM; a better acquaintance with our Jehovah-Jesus, our gracious Lord. Oh what a union is ours, One with Him the I AM, what a happy, glorious lot. Hallelujah. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come (Revelation 2:8). I am the bright and morning star (Revelation 22:16). What, oh what will He be for His own in all eternity! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 89: 05.03. THAT WORTHY NAME ======================================================================== 3. That Worthy Name. James 2:7. IN James 2:1-26 the Holy Spirit speaks of our ever blessed Lord as "that worthy Name." Precious Word! precious to every heart that knows Him and delights to exalt His glorious and worthy Name. His Name is "far above every Name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come." (Ephesians 1:21.) It is "as ointment poured forth" (Song of Solomon 1:3); yea, His Name alone is excellent (Psalms 148:13). But according to His worth that blessed Name is far from being fully known and uttered by the Saints of God. "Thou art worthy" and "Worthy is the Lamb" shall some day burst from the glorified lips of redeemed sinners, brought home to be with Him. In that blessed day when at last we see Him face to face, forever with the Lord, we shall begin to learn the full worth and glory of that Name, the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In a feeble way here below we get glimpses of His precious, worthy Name, of His beauty and loveliness, and then only through the power of the Holy Spirit. The aim of the Spirit of God dwelling in our hearts will always be to tell us more of Himself. Like Abraham’s servant who had so much to say to the elect bride about Isaac, so the Holy Spirit ever delights to show us more of Christ, the Christ of God. Oh! how He is eager to tell us more of His worth, of His glory, of His grace and of all He is and all He has. How it grieves Him when our hearts do not respond to the great message He has for us and when instead we turn to something else to give us joy and comfort. Only Christ can give joy and comfort, peace and rest to the hearts of those who are His. The days are evil and the time is short. Is your heart increasingly attracted to that worthy Name? Do you have a greater burning desire in your heart for Himself? Does He, that worthy Name, become more and more day by day the absorbing object of your heart and life? Do you often weep over your coldheartedness, your lack of real devotion to Him and communion with your Lord? Do you appreciate Him more than ever before? Is the Apostle’s longing cry "that I might know Him" coming also from your heart? Dear reader, these are searching questions. A better knowledge of our blessed Lord, a deeper acquaintance with that worthy Name and greater devotion to Him, is the only true spiritual progress which counts. If you live but little in the reality of all this you lack that joy and rest which is true Christian happiness and the Spirit is grieved. Oh let Him unfold to your heart that worthy name and show you from His Word, His wonderful person, then His power will attract your heart more and more. This is what all God’s people need. "That worthy Name," the Lord in all His blessed fulness and glorious reality is what we need. And what the written Word has to tell us of "that worthy Name"! Oh, the titles, the attributes, the names, the glories, the beauties of Himself. And we have discovered but so few of these blessed things. Perhaps a few hundred of the descriptions of that worthy Name are known to God’s Saints; but there are hundreds, still hidden, we have never touched. Yes, God’s Spirit is ever willing to make them known to our hearts. Just for a few moments think of some of the familiar titles and names of that Name which is above every other name. How these titles of our blessed Lord, what He is and what we have in Him should fill our hearts with praise and our lips with outbursts of praise, lift us above present day conditions and give us courage and boldness. "That worthy Name"; who is He? The Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father, the living God, the eternal Life; Emmanuel, the God of Glory, the Holy One; Jehovah, the everlasting God, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord of Peace, the Lord our righteousness, the Upholder of all things, the Creator, the Alpha and Omega, the express image of God. He is the Word, the Word of God, the Word of Life, the Wisdom of God, the Angel of the Lord, the Mediator of the better covenant. The good Shepherd, the great Shepherd, the chief Shepherd, the Door, the Way, the Root and offspring of David, the Branch of Righteousness, the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the valley, the true Vine, the Corn of Wheat, the Bread of God, the true Bread from heaven. He is also the Light of the world, the Day dawn, the Star out of Jacob, Sun and Shield, the Bright and Morningstar, the Sun of Righteousness. Thus we read of that worthy Name, that He is, the Great High-priest, the Daysman, the Advocate, Intercessor, Surety, Mercy Seat, the Forerunner, the Rock of Salvation, the Refuge, the Tower, a strong Tower, the Rock of Ages, the Hope of Glory, the Hope of His people, a living Stone. And what else? the Gift of God, the Beloved, the Fountain of Life, Shiloh, He is our Peace, our Redeemer, He is precious, the Amen, the Just Lord, the Bridegroom, the Firstborn from the Dead, Head over all, Head of all principality and power, Heir of all things. He is Captain of the Lord’s Host, Captain of their salvation, Chiefest among Ten Thousand, the Leader, the Counsellor, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Governor, Prince of Peace, the Prince of Life, the Prince of the Kings of the earth, the Judge, the King, the King of Israel, King of Saints, King of Glory, King over all the earth, King in His Beauty, King of kings and Lord of lords. All these names and attributes of that worthy Name are familiar. What dignity, what power, what grace and blessing for us for whom He died and shed His precious blood they express. Who can fathom these names? Who can tell out His worth? And hundreds more could be added, and many, many more, which are still undiscovered in the Word of God. What a Lord He is! We worship and adore Thee, Thou worthy One. Draw us O Lord and we will run after Thee. What a joy and delight it ought to be to follow Him, to exalt Him, to be devoted to such a One! Oh! our failures! And still He carries us in kindness and patience. And He also has a Name, which expresses the fulness of His work and glory. No one knows what that is. "He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself" (Revelation 19:12). That unknown Name may never be made known. But oh! the blessedness which is before us His redeemed people. Of us it is written "They shall see His face": That blessed, blessed face of that worthy Name, we shall behold at last. We shall see His face! Oh the rapture which fills the heart in the anticipation of that soon coming event. "And His Name shall be on their foreheads" (Revelation 22:4). We shall be like Him, we shall be a perfect reflection of Himself. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 90: 05.04. THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST ======================================================================== 4. The Doctrine of Christ. 2 John 1:9-11. "WHOSOEVER transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed. For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds" (2 John 1:9-11). What then is the doctrine of Christ? It is the revealed truth concerning the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He is the Son of God, whom the Father sent into the world. "God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." This is the doctrine of Christ. Anyone who does not hold the doctrine of Christ that He is absolutely God, one with the Father come into the world, hath not God. He is without God and hope in the world. He is an Anti-christ. "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God; and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that spirit of Anti-christ, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world" (1 John 4:2-3). Such a denier of the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is no christian at all and all fellowship even to the greeting must be denied to him. This seems severe and intolerant. But it is not if we consider what the denial of the Person of our holy and blessed Lord means. God grant unto us, who hold the doctrine of Christ, a divine jealousy for His honor and glory, manifested by separation from all who in any way deny the doctrine upon which all Christianity rests. But how blessed to faith to see in the first Epistle of John the doctrine of Christ revealed and the blessings and comforts brought forth, which are for those who abide in this doctrine. In the Gospel of John the beloved disciple writes by the Holy Spirit about the Son of God, how He came from the Father and was in the world and how He left the world to go back to the Father. The Son of God is also the theme of the Holy Spirit in the first Epistle of John. "Our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3). This fellowship means that we share the Father’s thoughts about His Son and to enjoy with the Son His own blessed and eternal relationship with the Father. In the measure our faith enters into the doctrine of Christ in that measure we shall have deeper fellowship with the Father and His Son. Is your cry, dear reader, for more reality in this fellowship? There is one way only which leads to this. It is an increase in the knowledge of the Son of God and as you abide there, you have the Father and the Son. And now we shall call to our remembrance other passages in the first Epistle of John in which our blessed Lord as the Son of God is mentioned. They are sweet and precious to faith and if read in the Spirit they will bring the joy, the blessing, the peace and the comfort of the doctrine of Christ to our hearts. "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). That precious blood, His own blood, has cleansed us once and for all. "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8). "And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another as He gave us commandment. And he that keepeth His commandments (which are: believing on Him and loving one another) dwelleth in Him and He in him. And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us" (1 John 3:23-24). "In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son into the world to be the propitiation for our sins." "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another" (1 John 4:9-11). "And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God and God in him" (1 John 4:14-16). "Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" (1 John 5:5) "If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He hath testified of His Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave to His Son. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (1 John 5:9-12). "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us" (1 John 5:13-14). "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:20). May our faith lay hold anew of these simple yet deep and precious revelations. They are the doctrine of Christ. Into this we must enter constantly and manifest in our lives the fruits of this doctrine, love and righteousness. The increasing rejection of the doctrine of Christ demands the increased appreciation of that doctrine. The more the enemy attacks the Person of Christ, the more the Holy Spirit demands of us, who belong to Christ, that we exalt Him. Everything in the present time seems to be aimed at the setting aside of the doctrine upon which our Hope rests. Higher Criticism, the evil doctrines, which reject the eternal punishment of the wicked, the spurious gospels, ethical teachings and every other false doctrine strikes at the blessed Person of our Lord. The shadow of the Anti-christ is cast in our days. Let us heed God’s Word. Let us be separated from those who deny Christ or we are partakers of their evil deeds. The path of the true believer becomes narrower. It must be so. But Christ becomes more precious, more real to our souls. What awful times are coming upon this age according to God’s Word! With the rejection of the doctrine of Christ this age sides completely with Satan and that wonderful being is both blinding his victims and using them for his own sinister purposes. The blindness is fearful. It will be worse before long. The rush into complete apostasy and from there into the delusion with the lying wonders and on into the darkness forever will come next. Let us praise God for the doctrine of Christ, which is our salvation, and may God give us faith and courage to walk according to that doctrine. What day of joy awaits us, when we shall see him as He is and know the depth of the Love of God by being like Him! ======================================================================== CHAPTER 91: 05.05. THE PRE-EMINENCE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST ======================================================================== 5. The Pre-Eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. WHAT a blessed theme the Person and Glory of our Lord! How inexhaustible and unsearchable! How refreshing to the souls of His redeemed people as well as to the heart of our heavenly Father, who, loveth the Son! To meditate on Him, to behold the Glory of the Lord under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Word of God, means spiritual growth and spiritual enjoyment. This only can make the unseen Person a blessed reality in our daily walk. We pray that all our beloved readers are drawn closer to Himself through these brief meditations. Can we truly say the Lord is more precious to our hearts and that we are living more in His presence than ever before? Has He become the absorbing object of our hearts and lives? Are we more devoted to Him? God grant that this may be the case with all of us. It is the great need we have. It is the good part, which Mary, resting at His feet, had chosen. In the great chapter which begins the Epistle to the Colossians, after that blessed description of the Son of God, stands this word "that in all things He might have the pre-eminence" (Colossians 1:18). But who can tell out what a pre-eminence, the pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ is? Some day we shall see Him in all His Glory. He Himself will lead us into the Holiest of the third heaven to behold the Glory the Father has given Him (John 17:24); then we shall know His pre-eminence fully. And yet from Scripture we can learn even now the pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. In all eternity the Son of God was the object of Love and Glory. "Son of God the Father’s bosom ever was Thy dwelling place." He ever subsisted in the form of God. In all creation He has the pre-eminence. This is made known to us, as man could not discover it, by revelation. We accept this in faith. "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Hebrews 10:3). And all which was called into existence was created by Him and for Him. "For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). What a marvellous survey! What power and glory belongs to the blessed Son of God! "All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made." "The world was made by Him" (John 1:3, John 1:10). He has the pre-eminence in sustaining His creation. All things consist by Him. He upholds all things by the Word of His power (Hebrews 1:3). In the Revelation of God He has the pre-eminence. Both books, the book of Nature and the Book of all books, the written Word of God, the Bible, tell out His Glory. The Bible may be compared to a living organism, like the human body. Every book in the Bible has a specific place and service like the members of the body; the life in that marvellous divinely constructed organism of the revelation of God is the Son of God. Apart from Him there is no revelation from God and no manifestation of God. He reveals God throughout the Bible, in every part, He holds the pre-eminence. Greater still is His pre-eminence in redemption. Redemption would be an eternal impossibility without Him. He came from the Father’s bosom to redeem us. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father but by Him. He gives eternal life. Furthermore as the first born from the dead He is the head of the body. That body is the church and every believing sinner is a member in that body. Each is united to Him and possesses His life. This body with its many members He keeps, nourishes, builds up, sanctifies and ultimately glorifies. In all the great and glorious redemptive work He has the pre-eminence. As the glorified Man He is the Heir of God and as such He holds the pre-eminence in heaven. He has been made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Far above all the angelic beings, higher than the archangel is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Man in Glory. There is a future pre-eminence for Him. The day of His visible Glory and power is approaching. Now He is rejected, then He will be enthroned. Upon the holy hill of Zion He will be the King of Glory. His Glory will cover the heavens and His Majesty the earth. He will be King of kings and Lord of lords. He will rule as the only potentate and every knee must bow before Him. The song must at last rise in heaven and on earth "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory and blessing." Such is, briefly sketched, the pre-eminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yea, in all things He hath the pre-eminence. Can we do anything less than to give Him the first place in all things? He is worthy of it. He died for us. He drank the cup of wrath in our stead. His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree. How great has been and still is His love for us, the love, which passeth knowledge. He is worthy of the first place every moment of our lives. He is worthy to possess all we have and are. We are bought with a price, we are not our own. We belong to Him. What unspeakable grace from God the Father, that He has brought us into fellowship with Him to whom He has given the pre-eminence. We please the Father as we delight ourselves in the Son and walk in that blessed fellowship. We must honor Him whom the Father has honored, and as we serve the Lord Jesus Christ and accord Him the first place, the Father will honor us (John 12:26). Our hearts too can never fully know the blessed peace of God and rest of faith till we give our Lord the first place. Anything less than that will mean dishonor to Him. "Not I--but Christ" must be the constant cry of our hearts. Not I--but Christ in our daily walk; Not I--but Christ in our service. Oh! that we might realize our great and holy calling, our wonderful privilege, a privilege which is ours for but a little while longer to live Him, live for Him, who has in all things the pre-eminence. "Nothing save Him, in all our ways, Giving the theme for ceaseless praise; Our whole resource along the road, Nothing but Christ--the Christ of God." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 92: 05.06. "YE ARE CHRIST'S--CHRIST IS GOD'S" ======================================================================== 6. "Ye are Christ’s--Christ is God’s." ONLY a few words, yet how blessedly full of peace and joy! How precious they are to faith! If we, to whom they apply, would remember them daily, how happy in Him we would be. In all our ways, in good and evil days, yea, every moment the truth contained in these words ought to be real to the true believer. Is not all our failure due to the fact that we live not sufficiently in the consciousness and reality of this wonderful fact, that we belong to Christ, that we are one with Him? Before these words in the third chapter of First Corinthians we find the statement "all things are yours." And after these words it is written "Christ is God’s." We are Christ’s and Christ is God’s; all things are ours because Grace has brought us into this marvelous relationship. "Christ is God’s" gives us once more the whole story of God’s Love and Grace. As the Only Begotten He ever subsisted in the form of God, the Image of God, one with Him, absolutely God. But He came down, took upon Him the form of a servant, taking His place in the likeness of man. In the form of man He wrought the great work of redemption on the cross and now after His resurrection, by which He is proven Son of God and His presence as the glorified Man in the highest heaven, He is the one in whom and through whom, God the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ gives all blessing. "Christ is God’s," then, means what we learn from the following scriptures: "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hands" (John 3:35). "Whom He hath appointed heir of all things" (Hebrews 1:2). "Christ is God’s" is a word which tells us that He who is the Creator of all things, the visible and the invisible, came in incarnation, redeemed us and is now, the beginning, the first-begotten from the dead and the Head of His Body, which is the Church. This is how God has brought us to Himself in the person of His own Son by whom he has redeemed us, in whom He has exalted us and with whom He has given us all things. To that wonderful person, Christ, the Christ of God, we belong. We are His, who is One with God, by whom and for whom all things were created. The Son of God for such as we are, became poor, even to the poverty of the cross. There He took our place and in His own body He bore our sins and died for us. He saw us then the travail of His soul. We can look back to the cross and say, as His Apostle said: "Who love me and gave Himself for me." We belong to Him, who has all power in heaven and will have all power before long, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords on earth. We are Christ’s, whom God has appointed as the second Man, the head of the new creation as Heir of all things. We are Christ’s, who is the Head of the Body, to which we belong. In Him and with Him we are the Heirs of God. God and Christ are inseparable and so are Christ and we who have trusted in Him and have His life. All Christ has belongs to us; all Christ is we shall be; where Christ is there we shall be in all eternity. Reader! Child of God, pause! Does your faith lay hold of this? Do you read it only and enjoy it just for a moment or is this great fact of your union with Christ and God becoming daily a greater reality in your life? Is it really so that you enter deeper and deeper into that love which passeth knowledge? Oh! that it may be so with the writer and each believer who reads these feeble words on so great a theme. "Ye are Christ’s." Then we are not our own. That is exactly what is elsewhere stated in First Corinthians. "Ye are not your own; we are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s" (1 Corinthians 6:20). Our hearts occupied with Himself, increasingly attracted by the glorious Person of our adorable Lord, realising by the power of His Spirit our glory and destiny with the Lord of Glory, we shall act and walk as such, who are Christ’s. Every step of the way it will resound in our hearts "ye are Christ’s." In all we do we shall always remember we are Christ’s. Cares, anxieties, worldly ambitions, all manner of temptations, will fall before the fact grasped in faith "I am Christ’s." We are convinced that only the Person of Christ put before the heart of the believer through the Word of God and the power of His Spirit can keep the Christian in these awful days of apostasy from going along with the fearful current of the last days. If Christ and our blessing in Him become more real to us we will be beyond the reach of the god of this age with his wiles and sinister purposes. Furthermore the demand of the hour is for us to exalt Christ. How He is dishonored is a dread reality. The rejection of Christ was never so marked and never so satanic as in these days. God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ expects from us His children that we exalt Him in the days of His rejection and thus share His reproach. Let us do it! And lastly, if we ever have the Person of Christ before our hearts, we shall walk in obedience to Him as our Lord. Then if we exalt Christ and are obedient to Himself we have the fullest assurance that the Holy Spirit will be with us, upon us and fill us. There is no need to seek "the power" as some express it, nor a baptism of the Spirit. He will be with us and in us in the measure as we exalt Christ and walk in Him. "O gracious Lord, when we reflect How apt to turn the eye from Thee, Forget Thee, too, with sad neglect, And listen to the enemy, And yet to find Thee still the same-- ’Tis this that humbles us with shame. Astonished at Thy feet we fall, Thy love exceeds our highest thought, Henceforth be Thou our all in all, Thou who our souls with blood hast bought; May we henceforth more faithful prove, And ne’er forget Thy ceaseless love." "Him will I make that overcomes And stems the advancing flood, A pillar of might, with glory light, In the temple of my God. On him shall the blest Name divine, And my new name be graven; And the City’s name, Jerusalem, That cometh down from heaven." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 93: 05.07. THE WONDERFUL ======================================================================== The Wonderful. Isaiah 9:6. HIS name shall be called "Wonderful" (Isaiah 9:6). And long before Isaiah had uttered this divine prediction the angel of the Lord had announced his name to be Wonderful. As such He appeared to Manoah. And Manoah said unto the angel of Jehovah, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honor. And the angel of Jehovah said unto Him "why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is Wonderful" (margin, Judges 13:17-18). This angel of Jehovah, the Person who appeared repeatedly in Old Testament history is an uncreated angel. Of this Being we read that He is the Redeemer, for Jacob speaks of Him "the angel which redeemed me from all evil" (Genesis 48:15). He is the angel whose voice must be obeyed, who has power to pardon transgressions, in whom the name of God is (Exodus 23:20-23). He is the angel of His Presence who saved them (Isaiah 63:9) and Exodus 33:14 must refer to this Being "My presence shall go with thee and I will give thee rest." This angel of Jehovah speaks in the Book of Judges and declared, "I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you into the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said I will never break my covenant with you" (Judges 2:1). He appeared unto Moses in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush and He spoke to Moses as the I am! (Exodus 3:1-22) The same One appeared before Joshua and he worshipped in His presence. With Him Jacob wrestled, with Jehovah, the God of hosts (Hosea 12:4-6). Malachi 3:1 shows that the Lord Himself is this Angel, the Angel of the Covenant, who also visited Abraham in the form of Man (Genesis 18:1-33). And after all these manifestations, seven hundred years after Isaiah had announced Him, as the Wonderful, He appeared in human form in the midst of His people. And now we know by divine Revelation in the completed Word of God that He is wonderful in His Person and in his work; but no mind can fathom, no heart can grasp, no pen can describe, how wonderful He is. He is wonderful if we think of Him as the Only Begotten of the Father. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:1-3). "By Him were all things created that are in Heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were made by Him and for Him; and He is before all things and by Him all things consist" (Colossians 1:16-17). He is the image of the invisible God, the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person. How wonderful such a One, who ever was, with no beginning, One with God! How wonderful His humiliation. "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, and was made in the likeness of men, and being in fashion as a man He humbled Himself" (Php 2:6-8). "For verily He took not on Him the nature of Angels, but He took on Him the seed of Abraham" (Hebrews 2:16). Wonderful condescension that He who created the angels should be made lower than the angels and lay His Glory by, to appear in the form of man on earth. Wonderful is He in His incarnation, "that holy thing" as the angel announced Him, truly God and Man. Born of the woman, resting on the bosom of the virgin as a little child and yet He is the One who ever is in the bosom of the Father. Wonderful that blessed life He lived on earth of which the beloved disciple bears such a beautiful witness. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of Life. For the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear witness and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us" (1 John 1:1-2). Wonderful are the blessed words which came from His lips, wonderful is His moral glory, His untiring service, His love, His patience and everything which the Holy Spirit has been pleased to tell us of His earthly life. The more our hearts contemplate Him the more wonderful He appears. But still greater and more wonderful is it that He went to the cross to give His life as a ransom for many, that the Just One should die for the unjust, that He who knew no sin was made sin for us and pay the penalty of sins on the cross. He is the Wonderful in His great work on the cross, the depths of which have never been fathomed. And what can we say of His wonderful Glory, His wonderful Place, His wonderful Power, His wonderful Grace! How wonderfully He has dealt with us, with each one of us individually. How wonderful it is that He knows each of His sheep, that He guides each, provides for, loveth, succors, stands by, restores, never leaves nor forsakes each who has trusted in Him and belongs to Him. How wonderful are His ways with us, that He guides with His eyes and that His loving power and omnipotent love is on our side. In His coming manifestation He will be wonderful. Wonderful He will be when we shall see Him and stand in His presence. What a day it will be when we see Him face to face! Then we shall know all the loveliness and wonderfulness of His adorable Person and His wonder ways with us. With what wonderment we shall then behold Him. And when He comes with His Saints, when the Heavens are lit up with untold glory, when He comes to judge, to establish His Kingdom, to speak peace to the nations, to restore creation to its right condition, when He reigns and all His redeemed ones with Him--Oh how wonderful it all will be! He is altogether lovely and he is altogether wonderful. Glory to His name! Well has one said: "He pervades the whole of the New Testament with His presence, so that every doctrine it teaches, every duty it demands, every narrative it records, every comfort it gives, every hope it inspires, gathers about His person and ministers to His glory." So dear does He thus become to the heart of the believer, that Luther may well be excused for exclaiming, ’I had rather be in hell with Christ, than in heaven without Him.’ "We believe in Him as our Saviour, Acts 16:31; confess Him as our Lord, Romans 10:9; we have redemption through His blood, Ephesians 1:7; we look to Him as our Leader, Hebrews 12:2; we follow Him as our Teacher, Ephesians 4:20-21; we feed upon Him as our Bread, John 6:48; we go to Him in our Thirst, John 6:37; we enter by Him as our door, John 10:9; we are in Him as our vine, John 15:5; we find in Him our rest, Matthew 11:28; we have in Him our example, John 13:15; He is our righteousness, 2 Corinthians 5:21; we are succored by Him in temptation, Hebrews 2:18; we turn to Him for sympathy, Hebrews 4:15; we obtain through Him our victory, 1 Corinthians 15:57; we overcome by Him the world, 1 John 5:5; we have in Him eternal life, 1 John 5:11-12; we gain by Him the resurrection, Php 3:20-21; we appear with Him in glory, Colossians 3:4, we exult in His everlasting love, Revelation 1:5-6." May the Holy Spirit fill our hearts and eyes with Himself and reveal to us through the written Word more of the matchless beauty of the wonderful Person of our Saviour and Lord. We honor and adore Thee, blessed, blessed Lord, and while Thou art rejected we thy feeble people would know more of Thyself and keep closer at Thy feet. Amen. "We would see Jesus, for the shadows lengthen Over this little landscape of our life, We would see Jesus, our weak faith to strengthen, For the last weariness, the final strife. We would see Jesus, this is all we’re needing; Strength, joy and willingness come with the sight; We would see Jesus, dying, risen, pleading; Then welcome day, and farewell mortal night." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 94: 05.08. HONOR AND GLORY UNTO HIM ======================================================================== 8. Honour and Glory Unto him. IN Revelation 5:1-14, that great worship scene, beginning some day in heaven and going on into future ages, we read of the Lamb to whom honor and glory are due. He alone is worthy. And every heart who knows Him rejoicing in His love, cries out, "Thou art worthy!" Yea, the sweetest song for the redeemed soul is the outburst of praise, which we find on the threshold of His own Revelation. "Unto Him that loveth us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." Soon the great worship John beheld prophetically may become reality. As long as we His people are here in this present evil age it is God’s call to us to honor and glorify His Son. This surely is God the Father’s expectation from His children, who are begotten of Him. This is His call to us in the last days of this rapidly closing age. It was on the mountain of transfiguration that the Father bore witness to His Son. "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." The Father bore not alone this witness, but He vindicated the honor of His Son, whose glory flashed forth on that mountain. Peter had spoken; in fact, he was still speaking when the Father’s voice was heard. "Lord, it is good to be here; if Thou wilt let us make here three tabernacles, one for Thee and one for Moses and one for Elias." These were Peter’s words. At the first glance they appear harmless. Indeed, they are generally used in spiritual application of having a good time here. But they have a far different meaning. Peter had spoken once more in the impulsiveness of the flesh. By putting the Lord of Glory alongside of Moses and Elias, he had lowered the dignity of Him. The One whom he had but recently confessed as the Christ, the Son of the living God, he now put into the same position and place with Moses and Elias. He lost sight of the wonderful and glorious person of Christ. When he uttered this human suggestion the Shekinah cloud appeared and its glorious splendor covered them. Out of that cloud came the Father’s voice vindicating the honor of His Son. Who is Moses? Who is Elias? Sinful men they were, man of failure and weakness. But here is another. This is my Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear Him. And how that beloved Son is in our day dishonored! He was in all eternity the beloved Son. When God created all things, for Him and by Him, He was the delight of God. This is the foundation of our faith. When he spoke of coming into the world, as we read in Hebrews 10:1-39, to do the Father’s will, the Father’s love and delight was upon Him. In humiliation beginning there in Bethlehem He was the beloved Son of God. In all He did, every step of the way, the Holy One had above Himself the loving Father. And then He went to the cross, putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. In the awful suffering on the cross, in the hours of darkness, when as the substitute of sinners He tasted death, God’s holy hand rested upon that beloved One in judgment, so that He uttered that never to be forgotten cry "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And God in His mighty power opened the grave and brought Him forth. He raised Him from the dead. He was received up in the Glory, exalted into the highest position. He is the heir of all things, the upholder of all things, all things consist and exist by Him. God has given Him the pre-eminence in all things. And this blessed One, the beloved Son of God is denied, He is rejected, dishonored and refused. God speaks in Him, by Him, and he who has made known God, in whom redemption for man was procured is dishonored. But how is He dishonored and robbed of His Glory? And where is He dishonored? Not in the world as such so much but in Christendom. The harvest of this destructive and evil criticism of the Bible, rejecting the Bible as the inspired Word of God is being reaped. After the written Word has been attacked and lowered the enemy who stands behind "Higher Criticism" in a disguised form has thrown off the mask and bluntly strikes at the Person of the beloved Son of God. First the devil in the garb of "reverend criticism" denied Isaiah 7:14, the promise of the virgin bringing forth a son, as having anything to do with Christ, and now the harvest, the denial of the virgin birth of our Lord. It would take many pages to mention all how our ever beloved Lord is robbed of His Glory, how His Person is dishonored. This denial of the Person of Christ is the apostasy. It is the very breath of the personal antichrist, the man of sin, which we feel in these last days. The Father’s voice is not heard in these days as it was heard on the transfiguration mountain. The heavens are silent to all the dishonor heaped upon Him, who is in the heaven of heavens. But God the Father looks to His people in whom the Holy Spirit dwells to honor and glorify His Son. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to stand as bold witnesses for Himself and to contend earnestly for the faith once and for all delivered unto the Saints. The Father expects us that we stand up for the honor of His Son. His voice to us is "Honor my Son!" We feel deeply impressed with this great call of God to us at the present time of increasing darkness and apostasy. Let each child of God act accordingly. Honor your Lord wherever you are. "Be thou not ashamed of the testimony of our Lord" (2 Timothy 1:8). If you cannot publicly stand up and honor Christ then honor Him, speak well of Him, in the home circle or wherever you are. O child of God, walk close to Him! Sit more at His feet! Cast yourself more upon Him! Let Him be your all in all! And as He is the sole object of your heart you will honor Him in the day when He is rejected. But this will mean something else. It means separation. God’s call to His people is to stand aloft from all which dishonors His Son. This means much in our days. How can we honor the Beloved One if we have fellowship with that which dishonors Him? No child of God should go on with any institution, school or church where the written Word is set aside or belittled. The second Epistle of Timothy, which has special reference to our times is very clear on this separation. No one needs to wait for a special call from God to act and separate from the corruption of Christendom. It is all given before hand by the Holy Spirit. "From such turn away" (2 Timothy 3:5). And those from whom God commands us to separate are persons who have the form of godliness and deny the power thereof. Again it is written: "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 honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master’s use, prepared unto every good work" (2 Timothy 2:20-21). Hear the Word of the Lord! Hear His call! Be faithful to Him! Keep His Word and do not deny His Name! Honor and glorify Him who is our Lord whom we soon shall see face to face. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 95: 05.09. CHRIST'S RESURRECTION SONG ======================================================================== 9. Christ’s Resurrection Song. WHEN the blessed Lord appeared in the midst of His disciples and they beheld the risen One in His glorified body of flesh and bones and He ate before them, He told them that all things which were written in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning Him, had to be fulfilled (Luke 24:44). While on the way to Emmaus He said to the two sorrowing and perplexed disciples "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded unto them all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." It seems to us He must have then spoken much of the Psalms, these wonderful prayers and songs of praise, with which His Jewish disciples were so familiar. In the Psalms the richest prophecies concerning Christ are found. There we behold Him in His divine perfections as well as in His true humanity; in His suffering and in His glory; in His rejection and in His exaltation. Oh that we, the Lord’s people, might read the Psalms more, so that the Holy Spirit can reveal Christ more to our hearts. In many unexpected places we can find Him in these songs. There is for instance the 37th Psalm, so much enjoyed by the Saints of God. It contains such precious exhortations to faith, to be patient and to hope. But in taking the comfort of these blessed exhortations and their accompanying promises, we are apt to overlook some verses which tell us of our Lord. Psalms 37:30-33 apply to Him. "The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom and His tongue talketh of judgment. The law of His God is in His heart; none of His steps shall slide. The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay Him. Jehovah will not leave Him in his hand, nor condemn Him when He is judged." Our Lord is this righteous One. Words of wisdom and judgment, mercy and truth flowed from His lips while righteousness in heart and life, and perfect obedience were manifested in Him. Then His death and deliverance are indicated in these words. However, care must be taken not to apply all the experiences of the Psalms to Christ. We saw recently an exposition of Psalms 38:7. The words "For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease and there is no soundness in my flesh" were applied to Christ. This is a very serious mistake. He knew no sin and therefore no loathsome disease could fill His loins. Such exposition is evil. Many joyous expressions of praise to God are found in the Psalms which properly belong first to Him, who is the leader of the praises of His people (Hebrews 2:12). One of these sweet outbursts of praise is contained in the opening verses of Psalms 40:1-17. The first three verses (Psalms 40:1-3) may be called "the resurrection song of Christ": "I waited patiently for the Lord, And He inclined unto me And heard my cry. He brought me up also Out of an horrible pit, Out of the miry clay; And set my feet upon a rock, Established my goings. And He has put a new song in my mouth; Praise unto our God; Many shall see it and fear, And shall trust in the Lord." (Psalms 40:1-3) It is the experience of our Saviour, which must here first of all be considered. Patiently He had waited for Jehovah. Himself Jehovah He had taken the place of dependence under God His Father and patiently He endured. He was obedient unto death, the death of the cross. He endured the cross, despising the shame. He cried to God. "Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and fears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though He were Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered" (Hebrews 5:7-8). The place of death is given in this Psalm: "the horrible pit and the miry clay." Who can describe all what is meant by these words! "Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken and smitten of God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:4-5). He went into the horrible pit, or as it reads literally, the pit of destruction, the place which belongs to fallen man by nature, so that we might be taken out of it. He went into the jaws of death and there the billows and waves, yea all the billows and waves of the judgment of the holy God passed over Him. In another Psalm the Holy Spirit describes His agony. (Psalms 69:1-36). There we read His cry "Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying, my throat is dried; mine eyes fail while I wait for my God." And deeper He went for our sakes. The miry clay has a special meaning. Any one who sinks into a pit filled with miry clay cannot help himself. All his struggling does not help; the more he labors the deeper he sinks. One who is in the miry clay cannot save himself. And does this not remind us of the Lord and of what was said of Him "He saved others, Himself He cannot save." He was in the miry clay. He might have saved Himself but He would not. His mighty love it was, that love which passeth knowledge, which brought Him from Heaven’s Glory down to the horrible pit, the miry clay. But the sufferings of our adorable Lord are not so much before us in this Psalm as the fact of His resurrection. His cry was heard. The prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears were answered; His resurrection from the dead was God’s blessed answer. While in other Scriptures it is stated that Christ Himself arose, here His resurrection is seen as an act of God. "He brought me up." This act of God bears witness to the completeness and perfection of the accomplished salvation. "We believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Who was delivered for our offences and was raised again for our justification" (Romans 4:24-25). But we read also that His feet were set upon a rock. "And set my feet upon a rock." He is the first born from the dead. Sin and death are abolished by His mighty work. "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" (Romans 6:9-10). Upon that rock the feet of every believing sinner securely rest. But His ascension is likewise mentioned in this resurrection song. "And established my goings." He "whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2) and who came from everlasting glory to walk in obedience to the cross and the grave has gone back into heaven. He was received up into glory; He ascended on high and led captivity captive. And the mighty victor sings now a new song. It is the triumphant song of redemption, to the praise of God. On account of Him, what He has accomplished in His death on the cross and Who is raised from the dead and in glory "many shall see it and fear and shall trust in the Lord." But this wonderful resurrection song the Lord sings not alone. We, who have trusted in Him and know Him have part in this song. Believing in Him we are taken out, yea forever, from the terrible pit and the miry clay. There is no more death and no more wrath for us. We are also risen with Him, our feet are planted upon the rock, our goings are established. We belong to the heavenlies where He is. We sing praises in His name unto our God, His God and our God, His Father and our Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh! that our hearts may enter deeper into this song of accomplished redemption "praise unto our God;" the loving God who spared not His only Begotten. And indeed "many shall see and fear and trust in the Lord." This reaches into the future. Israel too will be taken from the place of spiritual and national death, and raised to life to join the new song. Nations will see it and fear and trust Jehovah. At last the great new song of resurrection and the new creation will swell in its divinely revealed length and breadth, heighth and depth. Now He sings the song, and His co-heirs sing it too in feebleness, yet by His Grace and through His Spirit. Ere long in His presence all the Redeemed will praise in Glory with glorified lips. Heavenly beings will utter their praise and in a wider circle down on earth, every creature will join in. "And they sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof; for thou was slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue, and people, and nation. And hast made us unto our God, Kings and priests, and we shall reign over the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands. Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength and honor, and glory and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, blessing, and honor, and glory and power, be unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the lamb forever and ever" (Revelation 5:9-13). That song will never end. Oh may we learn to sing it now, and in His Name sing praises unto our God. May we follow the great leader of Praise, Him who is anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. May the path He followed down here become more and more ours. May we serve, be obedient, give up, wait patiently for the Lord, after His own pattern, suffer with Him, be rejected with Him, bear His reproach and through it all rejoice in Him and sing "the new song." How happy we ought to be as linked with Him, the blessed Christ of God. And as we walk in His fellowship the heart longs to see Him as He is. Even so; come Lord Jesus. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 96: 05.10. THE GLORY SONG ======================================================================== 10. The Glory Song. Revelation 1:5-6. "UNTO Him who loveth us and washed us from our sins in His own blood and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father: To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen" (Revelation 1:5-6). This great outburst of praise may well be called "the Glory Song." It glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ; it reveals also the Glory of those He has redeemed and will be heard throughout eternity. There will never be a moment in the countless ages of eternity when this Glory song will be hushed or forgotten. We begin to sing it here on earth. The more we know the Christ of God and His great love for us, the more we delight to praise and to worship Him. Such worship of the heart in the power of the Spirit is the atmosphere of heaven upon earth. And some day we shall see Him whom we worship and adore in faith. In that glorious moment, when we shall see Him as He is we shall realize for the first time the length and breadth, the heighth and depth of His love and know the Glory to which He has brought us. Then we and all the redeemed will sing this song in a better and more perfect way than we have ever done here. "Thou art worthy... for Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign over the earth" (Revelation 5:9-10). This blessed Word of Praise is placed by the Holy Spirit in the foreground of the book which bears the name, the Revelation, or, Unveiling of Jesus Christ. In it is found the great unveiling of the future, the great coming tribulation and judgment period through which the earth must pass, events which precede the glorious manifestation of the Lord. But in this last great Bible book there is also a complete unveiling of the Person, the Glory and the dignity of Him to whom all judgment is committed. Not alone are in this book many of the prophecies, given of old by the holy men of God, rehearsed, but all He is, His Name, His power, His Glory, His work, and many of his titles are restated. Think of what He is called and how He is described in this book. We find Him called the Son of God, the Son of Man, the Almighty, the Lord, the Alpha, the Omega, the First, the Last, the Beginning of the Creation of God, the Amen, the faithful Witness, the First begotten from the dead, the Word of God, the Lamb, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the mighty Angel, He that liveth, He that was dead, He that is alive evermore, the Root and Offspring of David, the bright and Morning star, the Prince of the kings of the earth, the King of kings, the Lord of lords. What an array of titles. On earth great ones, kings and princes, have numerous titles. They concern only earthly glories; they are but for a moment. But His titles concern the earth and the heavens. They belong to Him because He is God, while others are acquired through His great work of redemption. His Glory and His dignity are indescribable. One who reads the Book of Revelation and reads it again will be increasingly impressed with the Glory of Him, whom John beheld in all His Majesty. Before the Spirit of God records this Glory song, the utterance of praise to be used and to be enjoyed by redeemed sinners, He mentions three titles of our Lord. The faithful Witness; the First begotten from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. These three titles take in His earthly life, His redemption work and His future Glory. On earth He was the faithful witness. He glorified the Father. He had come into the world to bear witness unto the truth. He was faithful and nothing marred His witness. He came as the Only begotten of the Father and the faithful witness, the Son of God went to the cross to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. The open and empty tomb is the witness that it was perfectly and righteously accomplished. Now He is the First begotten from the dead as well as the First fruits. His death and His resurrection are, therefore, in view in this second title. His glorious future is beheld in the third title, the Prince of the kings of the earth. The kingdoms of the earth belong to Him; He has a perfect right and title to the earth and its government. Now still the god of this age rules, but ere long He comes "whose right it is" and claims His inheritance. In these three wonderful titles we behold all the Son of God as Son of Man has accomplished in His mighty work. He lived the path of faith and obedience on earth, as the faithful witness. He has put away sin and conquered death and the grave as well as him who has the power of death, that is the devil. In the future He will be King of kings and Lord of lords. And then follows this outburst of Praise. The Holy Spirit, who is here on earth to glorify Him, breaks forth at once into singing and directs the heart to worship Him. Beloved readers if the Holy Spirit is ungrieved in us He will lead our hearts into such praise and adoration of the Lord; nothing grieves the Holy Spirit more than when a believer does not appreciate the Lord Jesus Christ and manifest this appreciation by praise and worship. Three things are stated in this blessed doxology: He loved us. He washed us. He hath made us. These three things correspond to the three titles which precede this doxology. Love it was, which brought Him down from the Glory to walk upon this earth in humiliation, the faithful witness, and that love knew and saw the cross. Love led Him there to die for such as we are. What love it was! Who can ever declare it! The true translation is not "who loved us," but "who loveth us." His love is an abiding love. He does nothing but love those who belong to Him, who have trusted Him and are the Beloved of God. Our sins, our weaknesses, our infirmities and failures can never affect or diminish His love. Never, oh child of God, doubt His abiding love. Yea, whatever our circumstances are, in trials, in the hard places, in troubles, burdened with cares and full of anxiety, in all our failures we can look up and say, "He loveth me." It is an ever present and eternal love. Never, oh child of God, measure that love by your changing feeling or by your experience. And this love He manifested by dying for us. He has washed us from our sins in His own blood. To this His title as "The First begotten from the dead" refers. "Who His own self bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye are healed" (1 Peter 2:24). The precious blood of Christ has washed us from our sins. They can never come up again. Oh blessed knowledge! Cleansed by His own blood, the precious blood of the Lamb without spot and blemish! And the blessedness of all that is connected with this! "Oh, the peace forever flowing From God’s thoughts of His own Son! Oh, the peace of simply knowing On the cross that all was done! Peace with God, the blood in heaven Speaks of pardon now to me: Peace with God! the Lord is risen! Righteousness now counts me free. Peace with God is Christ in glory; God is just and God is love; Jesus died to tell the story, Foes to bring to God above." But more than that "He hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father." This belongs also to His mighty love. His future of Glory as the Prince of the Kings of the earth, the King of kings and Lord of lords, His fathomless love leads Him to share with those for whom He died, whom He purged and fitted by His own blood. He hath made us kings and priests. It is all His work. A more correct translation is "He hath made us a Kingdom." This, however, does not mean that He has linked us with a Kingdom in which we are to be subjects and governed by Him. We are not subjects of a Kingdom, but are a Kingdom, partakers of it in rule with Himself. We shall rule and reign with Him over the earth. And because He will be "a priest upon His throne" (Zechariah 6:13) we, too, will be priests. What it all includes, what glories await us, what enjoyment with Him, what riches and blessings, power and honor, no mind can grasp and no tongue nor pen can describe. "To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever, Amen." All glory and dominion to Him! Thou art worthy! Thou art worthy! This is the heart’s cry, which really knows Him and is devoted to Him. "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power." Our crowns we cast before Thy throne. Amen and Amen. Reader can you add your "Amen"--your, "be it so" to all this? Do you sing this Glory song? In a day when He, who is worthy, is but little praised, do you praise Him thus? Do you live in the daily enjoyment of His love? Do you give Him the pre-eminence to whom God has given the pre-eminence in all things? Amen! And oh the happy thought, which helps us so in these evil days, that soon He, who loveth us, who washed us, who hath made us a Kingdom and priests, may call us into His own glorious presence. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 97: 05.11. THE FIRSTBORN ======================================================================== 11. The Firstborn. "THE Firstborn" or "The Firstbegotten" is one of the names of our blessed Lord. It is applied to Him after His resurrection from the dead. As the Only Begotten He came into this world, the unspeakable gift of God to a lost and ruined world; after the accomplishment of His work on the cross He left the earth, He had created, as the Firstborn. As the Firstbegotten He is now in the highest heaven and as the Firstbegotten the Man of Glory He will be sent back to this earth and rule in power and glory. Paul wrote to the Philippians "to write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous but for you it is safe" (Php 3:1). Peter’s preaching in the opening chapters of the Acts might have been called monotonous, for he knew but one theme. The Spirit of God filling him gave but one message and that was, the rejected Jesus of Nazareth risen from the dead. In the Gospel of the Glory of the blessed God (1 Timothy 1:11), as revealed to the Apostle of the Gentiles we have one theme, one abiding, ever satisfying, eternal object and that is Christ who died for our sins, risen from the dead, as Firstborn in Glory and our blessed union with Him. Paul who knew Him as the Firstborn so well found it not grievous to write the same thing. Indeed the more He knew Him the more His heart cried out "that I may know Him" (Php 3:10). There is an attraction in Him which is supernatural. Every child of God will increasingly enjoy the contemplation of this old yet ever new and blessed theme, the Firstborn from the dead. Only in this our hearts can find perfect rest and abiding joy. And if your heart, dear reader, is not attracted and absorbed by Himself, it is because there is a broken communion between you and your Lord. Oh, return unto thy rest, my soul! The drifting masses of Christendom have no use for such a theme. The words written in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 find a fearful application in our time. "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this age hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God, should shine unto them." How little of the Gospel of the Glory is preached! It is not wanted. All the present day preaching of ethics, of doing good, self improvement and self culture is anti-christian. The preaching which leaves out the cross of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the Glory of Christ, differs not in the least from the ethical-philosophical jumble of Buddhistic and other oriental heathen teachers. It is an awful thing which is done in Christendom today, this rejection of the Lord, the Firstborn. Some day and that soon, God will judge those who have rejected that Gospel and deal with them for the sin of all sins which is unbelief (John 16:9). But our hearts, beloved in the Lord, must turn more and more to Him and find their delight in Him, who is the Firstbegotten. And this we shall do now by meditating on a few Scriptures which tell us of Him. "He is the Firstborn from the dead" (Colossians 1:18). "Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the Firstbegotten of the dead, and the Prince of the Kings of the earth" (Revelation 1:5). What blessed declarations these are! In the first chapter of Colossians it is fully revealed who He is, who was dead and who is alive for evermore. Not a creature but the Creator, the one who images forth God, because He is God. By Him were all things created, "that are in heaven, and that are on earth, visible and invisible, thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by Him and for Him." And such a One made peace through the blood of His cross. Such a One took our place on the cross of shame, tasted death in our stead and all the billows of wrath and judgment passed over His holy head. Because He wrought out our redemption it is complete and perfect. Raised from the dead, not held by death but bursting forth, leading captivity captive, He is the Firstborn and to Him belongs all Glory and Power. "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the Firstfruits of them that slept" (1 Corinthians 15:20). By His glorious resurrection He became the Firstfruits. All who believe in Him will rise too by virtue of being one with Him, who is the Resurrection and the Life. The mighty power of God which raised Him from the dead and seated Him in the highest place, at His own right hand, that exceeding greatness of His power is towards us, who believe. That power has quickened us with Christ, raised us up together and seated us in the heavenly. In some future day that mighty power, which raised Him so that He became the Firstfruits will raise all the saints to meet Him in the air. "And again, when He bringeth in the Firstbegotten into the world, He saith, and let all the angels of God worship Him" (Hebrews 1:6). God will bring the Firstbegotten back to this earth again. This is a very strong passage revealing the second coming of Christ to this earth. The same blessed Person, who walked on this earth as man, who is Emanuel, God with us, who died on the cross for our sins, who became the Firstbegotten from the dead, the Firstfruits of them that slept, He who is now as Man in Glory, the same Person, the Firstbegotten, will be brought back to this world by the power of God. Then worshipping angels will be His attendants and He will bring His Saints with Him. "For whom He foreknew, He also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). Conformed to the glorious image of God’s ever blessed Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the destiny of all, who have cast themselves as lost sinners upon Christ and have been saved by Grace through faith. It is true even now by beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). It is true if we abide in Him, we shall walk even as He walked (1 John 2:6). The exhortation in our great salvation Epistle is, not to be conformed to this age, but to be transformed, or as it might be translated, transfigured (Romans 12:2). But to be fully conformed to the image of His Son is never to be expected in this world, where sin is ever present; When the Firstbegotten calls us into His own presence, when the Heir of God summons His beloved co-heirs to meet Him and to enter with Him into the blood-bought inheritance, then each saved sinner will be conformed to the image of Himself. Each will shine forth the excellencies of the Firstbegotten. We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is. Hallelujah! This is why God gave up His Son, that He might be able to lift those who are His enemies by wicked works into the Sonplace and make them like His Son in Glory. "Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the degree; the Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten Thee" (Psalms 2:6-7). In this prophecy He is likewise seen as the Firstbegotten. It does not mean the eternal Son of God, for as such He had no beginning, but the day in which He was begotten is the third day when He was raised from the dead. Paul gives us this truth when He spoke to the Jews in Antioch and said: "God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee" (Acts 13:33). Up to this time He is not yet enthroned upon the holy hill of Zion. When He returns as the Firstbegotten and finds the nations of the earth not converted, but in opposition to Him (Psalms 2:1-3), He will become the King and take His throne. "Also I will make Him my Firstborn, higher than the Kings of the earth" (Psalms 89:27). This reveals the exalted station, which He will assume, when His blessed feet touch this earth again. He will be the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. This is the Glory of the Firstborn, the loving Sinbearer who endured the cross and despised the shame. He is the Heir of God, the Heir of all things, the Head of all principality and power, the Head of His redeemed people, the church. He that filleth all in all, the Firstborn, will share His glorious title and possessions with His redeemed. The church to which God’s marvelous Grace has brought us is the church of the Firstborn. (Hebrews 12:23), because the Firstborn is the Head and beginning and those who are begotten again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead have their portion with the Firstborn. Oh! glorious future we have as His redeemed people! God our Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Thy Holy Spirit, keep the Glory of Thy Son, the Firstborn, before our hearts, that we may be changed into the same image and overcome in these dark and evil days. Amen. "Soon shall our eyes behold Thee With rapture, face to face; And, resting there in glory, We’ll sing Thy pow’r and grace: Thy beauty, Lord, and glory, The wonders of Thy love, Shall be the endless story Of all Thy saints above." ======================================================================== CHAPTER 98: 05.12. THE WAITING CHRIST ======================================================================== 12. The Waiting Christ. WAITING for the coming of the Lord is one of the blessed characteristics of true Christianity. In the parable of the ten virgins the three great marks of a true believer are stated by our Lord. These are: Separation, indicated by the virgins having gone forth. Manifestation, they had lamps, which are for the giving of light, and Expectation, they went forth to meet the Bridegroom. With five of them it was only an outward profession. The foolish virgins are the type of such who are Christians in name only and do not know the reality of these characteristics. The Lord knew them not. These three characteristics are seen in Paul’s first epistle to the Thessalonians. That model assembly was composed of such members who possessed these three things. They had turned to God from idols (separation); they served the true and the living God (manifestation); they waited for His Son from heaven (expectation), 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10. The same is revealed in the epistle to Titus. "For the Grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." That Grace accepted separates unto God. "Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world." This is manifestation. The Grace of God enables us to live thus. "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Here we have expectation. Other similar passages could be quoted. If we divide the New Testament Scriptures into three parts we have the same order. In the Gospels the Grace of God in the Son of God appeared. In the Epistles we are taught how to manifest Him by walking in the Spirit. The great New Testament prophetic book, the Revelation, looks on towards His Coming. And how His Coming is forgotten! How few of His people truly wait for Him! How few pray that important and almost forgotten prayer, Even so, Come Lord Jesus! But we must also remember that our Lord is likewise waiting. Innumerable multitudes of disembodied spirits who are saved by Grace are waiting in His own presence for the moment when they will receive their resurrection bodies, which will be when He descends from Heaven and comes into the air. The faithful remnant of His people on earth wait for His Coming. Israel and all creation wait for Him as well as the unseen beings in the Heavenly. But He Himself is waiting. This is the testimony of the Word of God. First it is the subject of prophecy. In the brief but great Psalms 110:1-7 that waiting is predicted. The Christ, who is so often seen in the Psalms and in the Prophets as King, ruling in His earthly kingdom, whose glories in that rule are so blessedly described, is seen in the beginning of that Psalm seated at the right hand of God; this heavenly place will be occupied by Him till His enemies are made His footstool. How the Holy Spirit witnessed to this fact at once after His descent on the day of Pentecost is more fully revealed in the second chapter of Acts. In Hebrews 10:13 we read of His waiting attitude in heaven. "But this man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool." The better word for expecting is "waiting." We may well emphasize the word "Man." Our blessed Lord is not in the presence of God as a Spirit Being, but He is there in the form of Man. The blessed body He had on earth, which He gave on the cross and which laid in the tomb could not see corruption. He was raised on the third day. He ascended in that glorified body into heaven and He is on the right hand of God as Man, in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Just one Man is there in Glory. But oh! what it means! He is the Head of His body, the church and in the future all His redeemed people will possess glorified bodies, like unto His glorious body. No wonder the enemy ever aims at the denial of the Lord’s bodily presence. From many pulpits it is declared to be "too material." The denial of this great truth, the Man in glory, is a denial of the entire Gospel. It is at this the enemy strikes. As the glorified Man on the Father’s throne He is waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. This does not mean, as so many believe and teach, that the Lord Jesus Christ is waiting till His enemies are gradually overcome, till the church on earth succeeds in converting the whole world. It does not mean that. His enemies will be made His footstool in a far different way. It will be a sudden event. All His enemies will be humbled, all things will be subjected under His feet at the time of His second Coming. As there was an appointed time by the Father for His first Coming, so is there an appointed time for His second Coming, when the power of God and His own power will triumph over all His enemies. As He is in His redemptive work subject to the Father, therefore is He waiting for that hour. Then the Father will bring in the firstbegotten into the world (Hebrews 1:6) and He will receive the nations for His inheritance (Psalms 2:1-12). He is waiting for this great event. But He is also waiting for His co-heirs, which constitute the church. The church, His body, must be first completed as to numbers before the hour can come in which His enemies are made His footstool. He is patiently waiting for that moment. John speaks of that when he calls himself "a companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:9). Centuries have come and gone since He took that place upon the Father’s throne, unseen by human eyes, and during all this time, while the calling out of the church proceeded, He has waited patiently. Some day His waiting will come to an end. His church will be completed and then He Himself arises from His seat and descends to that place in the air, where He will meet His own, for whom His loving heart yearns so much. What a moment that will be at last! Then His waiting as well as His patience will be ended and He will receive His kingdom and be crowned Lord of lords and King of kings. No longer will He then be unseen, but His Glory will flash out of heaven and He Himself will be manifested in Glory. Then the world can reject Him no longer but must accept His righteous rule in which His redeemed people will share. What child of God does not wish this to be soon, very soon. Oh that we might cry more earnestly, more in the Spirit, yes, incessantly, "Come Lord Jesus." But while He waits and the hour has not yet come we must wait as He waits on the throne. To the Thessalonians who had listened to teachers who judaized the blessed hope, fearing they were facing the day of the Lord with its tribulation and wrath, the Apostle wrote: "And the Lord direct your hearts in the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ" (2 Thessalonians 3:5). But we must not only wait patiently for Him but also wait with Him. He is the rejected One. The world cast Him out. As the rejected One He waits in patience for the hour of His triumph and His Glory. This place of rejection is our greatest privilege to share. And where is He more rejected than in that which calls itself by His Name! To bear His reproach in these closing days of this present age is our blessed opportunity. To suffer with Him, if not for Him, should be that for which our hearts should long, yea, pray. And we will be glad to be rejected with Him, to be nothing at this present time, to have fellowship with His sufferings, if He as the patient waiting Lord is ever before our hearts. At the close of Psalms 110:1-7 stands a word, which we should also remember. "He shall drink of the brook in the way, Therefore shall He lift up the head." It has puzzled many readers what this saying might mean. It speaks to our hearts of His humiliation and exaltation. One thinks at once of the three hundred of Gideon and how they stooped down to drink. The brook is the type of death. He drank of the brook in the way. His way was from Glory to Glory, and between were His sufferings. And, therefore, He shall lift up the head. Wherefore, God has highly exalted Him. May we all, dear readers, follow in His path and suffer with Him; ere long in His triumph and glory we shall triumph and glory. "And if children then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ; if so be we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:17-18). ======================================================================== CHAPTER 99: 05.13. A VISION OF THE KING ======================================================================== 13. A Vision of the King. ONE of the most blessed occupations for the believer is the prayerful searching of God’s holy Word to discover there new glories and fresh beauties of Him, who is altogether lovely. Shall we ever find out all which the written Word reveals of Himself and His worthiness? This wonderful theme can never be exhausted. The heart which is devoted to Him and longs through the presence and indwelling of the Holy Spirit to be closer to the Lord, to hear and know more of Himself, will always find something new and precious. The Holy Spirit can do this and reveals to our hearts from the inexhaustible Word of God the Glory of Him, whom to exalt the Spirit has come. Much depends on how we desire just Himself. And Christ alone and the heart knowledge of Himself can satisfy the believer, who has His life and is one Spirit with the Lord "O Christ Thou art enough The heart to satisfy." Soon we shall see Him, whom we contemplate now in faith. Soon we shall be in His own glorious presence and look upon that face, which was once marred and smitten, but which now shines out Heaven’s and the Father’s Glory. The kingly Glory of our blessed Lord is one of the great themes of the Bible. The Man of humiliation, who here on earth walked in dependence on God, who did His will, suffered and died is now in the Father’s presence and on the right hand of the Majesty on high. There He sat down with His Father in His throne, waiting for the moment when His work as the Priest and Advocate of His beloved people on earth is accomplished, and when the Father will establish Him as King, when He will receive the kingdom. Alas! that all this glory, which belongs to Him and which is still future, His Kingship, His kingly glory and rule, as it must be some day, is so unknown and even disowned in Christendom. It is but the uncovering of the condition of the heart of the great majority of professing Christians. They may talk of religion, of great reform movements, of service to mankind, world progress, but the Christ of God in all His Glory, past, present and future, has little attraction. Far different it is with the heart which knows Him and has given Him the place He is worthy of, the first place. That heart delights to meditate on all His Glory and longs for the time when He will appear, and when at last, crowned with many crowns, He will assume His righteous rule. Great is our joy and delight when we follow through the Scriptures His earthly life so full of His moral Glory. Or when we think of Him as He died for us and bore in His own body on the tree our sins; we praise Him for His mighty Love. But what joy to think of Him as coming at last into that which belongs to Him the Lord of Glory, by right of redemption, when He will take possession of this earth and claim its Satan ruled kingdoms for His own. Then it will be true, "The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." Then the Seraph’s song will be realized, "The whole earth is full of His Glory." How much the Word has to say about the King and His Glory; and we have never yet taken hold of it with our dull hearts! Take the Book of Psalms, for instance, that book which has been so belittled by the destructive criticism. While we read so much in those precious productions of the Holy Spirit of Christ’s sufferings, His humiliation, His prayers, His death, we may find there much more about Him as King and His coming manifestation. The tumult of the nations, as predicted in Psalms 2:1-12, and about to be realized in our own times, the tumult of the nations against the Lord and His Anointed, will be silenced by the coming of the King. "I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion;" this is what God declares. The God-man Christ Jesus, the Man, who is with Him now is, His King. His destiny is the government of the nations, with a rod of iron. The entire Psalms 21:1-13 tells out the Glory of the King. Christian expositors have rarely discovered this. But Jewish exponents always knew it. Saith a leading Jewish authority of the middle ages: "Our old teachers have always applied this Psalm as meaning the King Messiah." Read its stanzas: "The King shall joy in Thy strength, Jehovah; And in Thy salvation, how greatly shall He rejoice. Thou hast given Him His heart’s desire, And hast not withholden the requests of His lips. For Thou hast met Him with the blessings of goodness; Thou hast set a crown of pure gold on His head. He asked Life of Thee; Thou gavest Him length of days forever and ever. His Glory is great through Thy salvation; Majesty and splendor hast Thou laid upon Him. For Thou hast made Him to be blessings forever; Thou hast filled Him with joy by Thy countenance. For the King confideth in Jehovah. Through the loving kindness of the Highest He shall not be moved." Then comes His future action, when He whom faith sees now crowned with Majesty and Splendor, who rejoices in the Presence of God, appears to execute the judgments of God. "Thy hand shall find out all thine enemies; Thy right hand shall find out those that hate Thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery furnace In the time of Thy presence. Jehovah shall swallow them up in his anger, And the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shall Thou destroy from the earth, And their seed from among the children of men. For they intended evil against Thee, They imagined a mischievous device, Which they could not execute. For Thou wilt make them turn their back, Thou wilt make ready Thy bowstring against their faces. Be Thou exalted Jehovah in Thine own strength; We will sing and celebrate Thy power." And in Psalms 24:1-10 we have prophetically that triumphant shout, which will be heard when the King comes back to enter His City, Jerusalem, again. "Lift up your heads, ye gates And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; And the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory? Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle." Psalms 45:1-17 is a song of the Beloved, touching the King. He is described as coming in His Majesty and Splendor, how He deals with His enemies and that He will be surrounded by His own redeemed ones. The Glory and dominion of His Kingdom He will receive is described in Psalms 72:1-20. "He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth." And other Psalms enlarge upon these glorious visions, which will all be true when the King comes. Then Jerusalem will be a praise in the earth. "Also I will make Him, my Firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth" (Psalms 89:27). And how rich are the prophets in telling us of the Glory of the King and the glories of His kingdom. "Behold a King shall rule in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment" (Isaiah 32:1). "Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; they shall behold the land that is afar off" (Isaiah 33:17). "A King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth" (Jeremiah 23:5). "And there was given Him dominion and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations and languages, should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom, that which shall not be destroyed" (Daniel 7:14). "The King of Israel, the Lord, is in the midst of thee (the earthly Jerusalem); thou shalt not see evil any more" (Zephaniah 3:15). "And the Lord shall be King over all the earth" (Zechariah 14:6). These and many, many more utterances of God’s blessed prophets give us a vision of the King, of the Glory of Him, who was crowned with a crown of thorns, the thorns of man’s curse, and over whose cross it was written, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." And the New Testament fully brings out the same Glory of Him as King. He is "King of Peace" (Hebrews 7:2); "King of saints" (Revelation 15:3); "The Lord of lords and King of kings" (Revelation 17:14). At last the unfulfilled message of Gabriel will be gloriously fulfilled. "The Lord God shall give unto Him the Throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end" (Luke 1:32). But nowhere is He called "King of the church," nor are we authorized as believers to address Him "Our King." He will be King, but then He will not be our King, but we shall be Kings with Him. He is not King of the church, but the Head of the Body, the church; Head and Body together, Christ and His church, will rule and reign over the earth. Glory to His Name! In loving tenderness He looks upon us, who possess His life, He is not ashamed to call us "brethren," for He is Man, the second Man, and He beholds in us those, who will ere long share His Kingly Glory, His Kingly rule. Oh, Beloved readers! does it not warm our hearts! Does it not make us feel like falling down on our faces and confess to Him our indifference and our nothingness, and humble ourselves in the dust. How little, oh how little we enter into all this. The Lord help us to have through His Word and in the power of His Spirit a greater vision of the King and our blessed, eternal lot with Him. "They crown Him King on high; Shall we not crown Him here, The blessed Christ of Calvary, To ransomed sinners dear? They worship Him above, Shall we not worship too, The Son of God, the Lord of love, To whom all praise is due? Up there they see His Face, The Lamb who once was slain, And in a new song praise His Grace; Shall we not join the strain? Yonder His servants still Serve as their Lord commands; Oh may we also do His will With loving hearts and hands.--M. F." ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-of-arno-c-gaebelein-volume-1/ ========================================================================