Section V
We must be careful that the means by which all
believers are commanded to remember the Lord's death until He returns, does not
become instead a ritual, with efficacy in the object itself, by which we
establish our "purity" in a negative sense. "Negative holiness" can save no man.
Neither can the proximity of one whom we consider a "sinner", even one so close
as to partake of the same cup, endanger our "fellowship" with that one who was
ever and always the friend of "sinners", who touched lepers and lunatics,
harlots and dead bodies — yet in the best sense was still "holy, harmless,
and undefiled" (Heb. 7:26).
* * * * *
Back of the loaf is the snowy flour,
And back of the flour is the mill;
And back of the mill is the wheat and the
shower,
And the sun and the Father's
will.
* * * * *
“If good men would adopt the rule of
refusing to listen to an evil report privately conveyed, until it had been dealt
with to the last stage according to the rule prescribed by Christ, much evil
would be prevented." (R. Roberts)
* * * * *
Samuel ministered unto the Lord (1 Sam. 3:1). How
lovely a picture! The little child growing up in such a holy place, his first
impressions of his surroundings a blend of reverence and delight. Before him was
gradually opened, day by day, that "illustrated book" which was the Tabernacle.
As idea after idea unfolded, God would appear in everything around him: the
garments, the sacrifices, the lamps, the shewbread, the incense rising
noiselessly toward the heavenly throne. With solemnity he would contemplate the
veil which hid the holiest place, tracing on it the figures of the cherubim
— the "living creatures" that mutely declared the unfailing purpose of the
Almighty to fill the earth with His glory! All this Samuel saw, and
more.
* * * * *
"Unto the End"
“I am with you unto the end": Matthew
28:20.
''He loved them unto the end": John 13:1.
"Who shall confirm you unto the end": 1
Corinthians 1:8.
"The rejoicing of hope firm unto the end”:
Hebrews 3:6.
"Beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the
end”: Hebrews 3:14.
"Full assurance of hope unto the end": Hebrews
6:11.
"Keepeth my works unto the end”: Revelation
2:26.
* * * * *
The baby in the manger uttered his first cry, and
thereby his Father staked a claim upon our lives. Thereby the Mighty God of all
creation became also "Abba" — the tender Father of a little child; and our
Father as well! The God whose son was born in that manger ceased being (if He
ever was!) a God of remote abstractions and technical theories. He is now, for
us, a God who loves people, a Father who holds back no blessing from His
"children", who searches out and loves even the least worthy and most
neglected.
* * * * *
Job 39:26: The hawks go north in pairs or as
stragglers, at odd times. But they return south in great flocks, and thus they
are easily noted.
* * * * *
The three crosses of Luke
23:32,33:
The Thief: on the cross of rejection, a scoffer,
a blasphemer, who died in sin.
Christ: on the cross of redemption, a sacrifice,
a benefactor, who died for sin.
The Thief: on the cross of reception, a seeker, a
believer, who died saved from sin.
* * * * *
It can be done! If we stand at the beginning of
our probations and look right to the end, seeing Christ in his perfection, it
may seem an impossible task! But even a "marathon" is the sum total of so many
single steps, and God has told us that He has commanded us to follow His Son,
and to grow up — as he did, step by step, learning obedience through
trials. And to those who obey, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal
Himself in the toils, the conflicts, and the sufferings through which they pass
in the "fellowship" of His Son. More and more, step by step, they will learn who
Christ truly is, and become more conformed to that image.
* * * * *
Elijah was last seen at the river Jordan (2 Kings
2:11); John the Baptist (the second “Elijah”) first appeared to
Israel at the same place (Matt. 3:1,5,6).
* * * * *
''And he spake to them in parables" (Matthew
13:3). The Greek word "parabola" literally means "a setting side by side", a
comparison — in the case of Christ's parables — between something
natural and something spiritual.
Such teaching by picture, symbol, or figure has
several distinct advantages. Being graphic, it is more easily remembered than
dry statements of fact. It is also simple, direct, and emphatic, with the aura
of everyday life about it. And finally, it is calculated to overcome prejudice,
to circumvent that natural wall of resistance, to throw open the locked doors of
the heart. "Thou art the man," was Nathan's bold accusation; the hypocrite was
unmasked and condemned outright by a skillful parable.
* * * * *
Genesis 28:12:
“Alas, we make
A ladder of our thoughts,
Where angels step —
But sleep ourselves at the foot.
Our high resolves look down upon our slumbering
acts."
(C. A. Ladson)
* * * * *
Christ was a student of nature, of the people and
the sights of rural Galilee. In the hand of this master craftsman, the natural
and commonplace became spiritual and profound. The temporal and transient was
transformed into the eternal and immovable.
As God was manifest in a man, so that man's
divine teachings were clothed in an earthly dress. He spoke of the simple farm
life, the planting and sowing and reaping, the orderly flow of days and seasons
and years being the Father's guarantee of order and security in all His
arrangements.
He spoke of the flocks that grazed the hills of
his homeland, and the strong, quiet men who protected them; and his listeners
began to comprehend the surpassing love of that Great Shepherd for even one lost
sheep.
And he spoke of the net and the fishers, the
fowls of the air, and the lilies of the field. He spoke of weddings, of
marketplace transactions, and of lowly household tasks. And always the point was
made, that faith and hope and religion itself were the vital substances of one's
daily life, not the brittle form of a Sabbath or a feast day.
* * * * *
''1t will but little avail us to have Christ
revealed to us, if he is not also revealed in us." (Matthew
Henry)
* * * * *
"For whosoever hath, to him shall be given; but
whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even what he hath " (Matt.
13:12). The parable — that strange mixture of natural and spiritual,
simple and complex — was a test to the hearers. How would they react?
Would they joyfully come to the light, or would they turn away for fear of what
that light would reveal? Like the pillar of cloud and fire (Exod. 14:20), the
same parable may be darkness to the "Egyptian" but light to the "Israelite".
Like the shell or husk, the parable may preserve the precious kernel of truth
for the earnest seeker, and protect it from the lazy and proud and
careless!
* * * * *
"My God, my God, why has Thou forsaken me?"
Consider the monumental character of such a man — a man who suffered
overwhelming temptations and excruciating tortures, and yet.... and yet his
greatest sorrow, his only complaint, was to be separated from his heavenly
Father. It was a terrible trial to one so sensitive, so dependent upon prayer,
so intimate with the Father. It is a measure of our feeble moral stature
alongside him, that our separation from God is for most of the time not a worry
at all! We fret about finances and holidays, about minor bumps and bruises and
how our friends have "wronged" us; only once in a while do we come face to face
with the enormity of the gulf that divides us from God.
* * * * *
While the word ''azavtani" (forsake) is used in
Psalm 22:1, a word of slightly different significance is used by Christ in the
Gospel accounts. We are familiar with it: "sabachthani". One suggested meaning
is "to entangle" and, when so understood, this takes our mind immediately to
Genesis 22. The corresponding noun “sabach" is found in verse 13 there: "a
ram caught in the thicket (sabach)." Christ was the ram caught in the thicket,
the ram provided by God as an offering. In using this slightly different word
his cry becomes an exclamation of assent: "My God, Thou hast ensnared and
provided me as the sacrificial victim!"
* * * * *
The licentious society in which we live comes
quite close to idolizing the naked body, but the whole tone of Scripture is in
the opposite direction. The priests, for example, were commanded to wear
breeches and not robes when they officiated, so that even the sight of a naked
leg would not mar their service. Women in the ecclesias were to be modestly
covered, and no doubt that meant legs and shoulders and chests as well as heads!
In short, flesh is nothing to be proud of! it is far better for our sisters (and
brothers) to cover theirs with a fair amount of clothing instead of a carefully
nurtured suntan.
* * * * *
Why was it necessary that Jesus undergo such
terrible sufferings? Could not sin be covered by something less? These are the
questions that come to us when we force ourselves to look closely upon Calvary's
terrible scene. But God had decreed these very agonies of His only begotten Son
to be essential; nothing else would serve the same purpose. Jesus must be "the
lamb slain from the foundation of the world."
The measure of the sufferings of Christ is the
measure of God's hatred for sin; our natural estimation of these things must be
molded by long meditation and experience, so that God's mind may be in us. The
cross tells us what God thinks of unredeemed man, of how far even sinful flesh
removes us from His full communication. Between God and us there is a great gulf
fixed, and the cross of Christ is the only bridge.
* * * * *
Hold fast:
Hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the
hope (Heb. 3:6).
Hold fast our profession (Heb. 4:14;
10:23).
Hold fast that which is good (1 Thes.
5:21).
Hold fast that which we have already (Rev.
2:25).
Hold fast that which thou hast (Rev.
3:11).
Hold fast what I preached (1 Cor.
15:2).
* * * * *
Comments related to the parable of the Good
Samaritan (Luke 10):
“The Samaritans were neighbors in the most
literal sense, but as for loving them, that seemed impossible. Christ loved them
and caused his disciples to marvel at the manner in which he spoke to the woman
at Jacob's well and afterwards to others who came out to hear him. The Jews as a
whole almost made it a part of their religion to hate the Samaritans, and if
they were able to analyze their own feelings, they would probably have to admit
that the hatred was directly traceable to the fact of their being such near
neighbors. This is a common weakness of poor human nature. Those who are near
but not quite with us arouse more bitterness of feelings that complete
strangers. Then when such an evil feeling has once been started, the deceitful
heart begins to build up fancies to justify the hatred, thus further traducing
those who have been already wronged.” (Islip Collier, The Guiding
Light)
* * * * *
"The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff
which the wind driveth away" (Psa. 1:4). What a terrible amount of denunciation
is crowded into only five words: "The ungodly are not so." Imagine all the good
characteristics of the righteous. Then imagine the complete absence, the
complete negation of those qualities, and you have the ungodly — a vast
and desolate and empty and forbidding landscape. "The ungodly are not so." The
trees of God stood firm against all winds and could not he uprooted. But the
ungodly are like the chaff, which is soon driven away.
* * * * *
"Love does not insist on its own
way."
Have you ever participated in a three-legged
race? You may be the fastest runner at the picnic, but you'll wind up sprawled
on the grass unless you can adapt yourself to the style of your partner. This
principle also holds true in the ecclesia. We are all members of the one body,
and we must learn to function as a unit. We are "yoked together" with our
brethren in many endeavors; we cannot always choose the way that pleases us
most.
Your way of doing things may always be the best,
but I can guarantee you that it won't always be the one chosen by the majority.
Then what do you do? Go along or "drop out"? There have been cases of members
who have left meetings because of absolutely trivial disagreements, in which
they failed to get their own way and just could not bend enough to go along with
others. And they, and sometimes their families, have paid for that stubbornness
with twenty or more years of self-imposed isolation.
* * * * *
“This thy stature is like a palm
tree” (Song of Solomon 7:7).
“The palm tree grows slowly, steadily,
uninfluenced by those alterations in the seasons that affect other trees. It
does not rejoice overmuch in winter's copious rain, nor droop under the drought
and burning sun of summer... (nothing) can sway it aside from perfect
uprightness.” (Thomson, The Land and the Book)
* * * * *
The mind lingers on a picture, perhaps well-known
to many. One boy with a younger one on his back: "He ain't heavy, he's my
brother!" Strain is obviously there, but he bears his burden gladly. All things
are relative, aren't they? Yes, in more ways than one! We are willing to do for
our families what seems intolerable if done for others. Do we sit in the meeting
on Sunday morning, and feel that those with whom we break bread are really our
family? We write salutations like "Dear Sir" to faceless clerks in far away
cities. For all we know, we could be addressing a computer as "dear"! Are our
expressions of "Brother Smith" and "Sister Jones" the same sort of formal,
stylized address, or do they express a reality? If a reality, then let us live
that family relationship with our brethren. Let us rejoice with them that
rejoice, and weep with them that weep. “Let us bear one another's burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2).
* * * * *
God's care for His people is beautifully
expressed in His words to Israel: "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt,
and how l carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself" (Exod.
19:4).
Biblical writers were much impressed with the
swift, swooping flight of the eagle, the largest bird known in Israel. In modern
times the eagle has been observed catching its young in flight, as mentioned in
the Bible: "Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that
spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions" (Deut. 32:11).
The young eaglet might be afraid to fly, but the
parent forces it out of the nest. It may flutter and fall, unable yet to fly
properly. Then the parent eagle can dive and spread its saving wings underneath
the falling young one. This is the imagery of that famous line which promises
God's sustaining presence in time of trouble: "The eternal God is your refuge,
and underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deut. 33:27).
In the long history of God's people, they have
been sustained by the faith and confidence that God cares for them. This has
been equally true with all the saints of the Old and New Testaments. God cares
for all His creatures, but He is particularly concerned for those whom He has
called and who have responded to be His people. This does not mean that they
will be spared the hazards of life. It does mean that God's people can endure
and survive many perils because they know that the LORD cares for them, that
they are borne on “eagles’ wings”, and that underneath are the
"everlasting arms".
* * * * *
All that God has given us... riches, talents,
intelligence, health... diminish with the passing of time. Man grows old and
dies. Only love remains, as a bridge between this life and the life to come, a
bridge over the chasm of eternal nothingness. Every other gift or talent will
fail, just as the Holy Spirit gifts finally ceased. The only thing that endures
is the character of a man, engraved in the infinite mind of
God.
"Greater love hath no man than this: that a man
lay down his life for his friends." The bridge over that chasm is constructed
from the two timbers of the cross. On one is written, "Love God". And on the
other, "Love your neighbor as yourself." By those two principles he lived and
died, and he asks us to do the same — to fill up in ourselves, as best we
can, the measure of the perfect man. We have been children, petulant and selfish
and impatient. Let us now be men, and put away childish things. We have seen in
our mirrors blurred images of the perfect man who is striving to be "born" in
us, but one day we will see the man himself face to face, and we will know at
once by his look whether or not we have made his love our example. For, lest we
ever forget, that is the test by which we shall stand or fall.
* * * * *
“Down, down, down, fall the autumn leaves!
The faded, tattered garments of yet another
year.
How many kindly things might I
Have said, or done, or even
thought,
How many tired steps made
lighter,
How many weary hearts refreshed,
Since first as tiny buds,
These dead, brown leaves I saw,
Had I but thought!"
(W. Wright)
* * * * *
The worst blindness is not that which is literal
— though the literal itself can be very sad. The really tragic blindness
is that of the mind and spirit. Millions of "healthy", "happy" people are living
today, playing tennis and golf, watching television and movies, taking in
natural sensations through their eyes and implanting them upon their brains as
vision — who are nevertheless "blind" as moles and bats. They are "blind"
and they don't know it. They "see" things not as they really are, for all they
see is the passing glitter. Like the Egyptians idols of silver and gold, "eyes
have they, but they see not" (Psalm 115:5).
* * * * *
"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"
(Psalm 22:1). Adam and Eve hid themselves from God (Gen. 3:8). But God hid
Himself from Jesus. Still, the effect was the same. Through no fault of his own
Jesus was compelled to undergo perhaps his greatest trial: separation from the
Father. It was a terrible trial to one so sensitive, so dependent upon prayer,
enjoying such intimacy with the Father. And it is a measure of our feeble moral
stature alongside his, that in the dullness of our spiritual sensibilities we
scarcely if at all feel the horror of that separation from God. Like moles and
bats, we are so used to the darkness that we hardly miss the light. In our guilt
— or perhaps our indifference — we, like Adam, hide from the light
of God's presence. God sent His Son there, into the "darkness", not that he
would be forsaken by God, but that he might find us there, and lead us back to
the light.
* * * * *
l Kings 19: "When men stand in the mouth of their
caverns and declare that they alone are fighting the battle of right, and
distress the hearts and weaken the hands of their fellow-warriors by their
self-centered declamations based upon ignorance of the true state of affairs,
not seeing the faithful attitude of the 7,000, then surely is needed the
earthquake, the fire, and the still small voice to purge them of their
discouraging fantasies." (C.A. Ladson)
* * * * *
"This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius
was governor of Syria" (Luke 2:2, RSV). The AV uses "taxing" in the Old English
sense of a census, although the collection of revenue was probably a secondary
purpose. Luke, in using the word "first" seems to be saying that another
enrollment followed later. The second census, approximately ten years later, is
the one referred to in Acts 5:37. At one time, since secular historians
confirmed this census but knew nothing of an earlier one, Bible critics presumed
that Luke had made a serious error in chronology. Recent discoveries have quite
satisfactorily cleared up this confusion, by confirming the earlier census and
substantiating Luke's record.
* * * * *
"Let them be like the grass on the housetops,
which withers before it grows up, with which the reaper does not fill his hand,
or the binder of sheaves his bosom" (Psa. 129:6,7, RSV).
Travelers in the Holy Land have corroborated this
striking imagery. Thomson tells of climbing to a flat rooftop in Jerusalem for a
view of the Tyropean valley; he found that grass which had grown over the roof
during the rainy season was then entirely withered and perfectly dry. If the
eastern sun did not destroy this housetop foliage, then the constant trampling
of feet would, for the roof was a favorite resort of city folk during the
summer.